Sea Fog and the Thick-Fingered Thief

Kim Hwang-je, blissfully unaware of the Lost Association members' thoughts, hailed a taxi with a spring in his step and headed home.

Now that he had 1.2 billion won, what should he do first?

But to Kim Hwang-je, the most important thing was escaping his moldy basement studio. He was utterly sick of that damp, musty smell.

'I wonder if this works with installments?'

He pulled out the black card. It looked like an ordinary card at first glance, yet nothing was printed on its surface.

Well, it didn't matter. With a card that let him swipe up to 1.2 billion won anytime, he could just buy an apartment outright.

1.2 billion wouldn't get him a spacious luxury home in Seoul.

Still, it would be enough for a decent place to live alone. It was a moment he had only dreamed of.

As these thoughts ran through his mind, the taxi window gradually fogged over. It looked like mist was rolling in. Something felt off.

The road from Jongno toward his house was transforming into an unfamiliar landscape.

White fog rose thickly, obscuring even the road ahead. Streetlights flickered and dimmed, and naturally, not a single person could be seen on the sidewalks.

"Aigoo, what in the world is happening?"

The driver’s legs trembled violently. Shaking your legs while driving was dangerous! Just as Kim Hwang-je opened his mouth to speak, something flew through the air and slammed into the windshield with a wet thud.

Screeeeech—

The taxi jerked to a sudden halt.

"Aaaaaah!"

"Aaaaaah!"

Startled by the driver’s scream, Kim Hwang-je shouted along with him. The wiper scraped against a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠severed arm. Cracks spiderwebbed across the windshield.

"I didn’t hit anyone!"

The driver cried out in panic.

"I know, sir! Just reverse! This is sea fog!"

"Sea fog?"

"Ocean mist!"

Only then did the fishy stench reach the driver’s nose. It was an overpowering, rotten smell—like deep-sea mud dredged up by an excavator.

There was no way trucks hauling seabed sludge would appear in the middle of the city. This had to be a marine monster.

"A monster? There was no alarm!"

"Just turn the car around and floor it already!"

The driver’s face went pale as he grabbed the wheel to reverse. At that moment, a heavy thud shook the taxi as a massive hoof stomped down on its right side.

Rumble.

The ground split open. The taxi lurched violently. Kim Hwang-je pressed against the window and looked up.

Through the swirling fog, a colossal leg draped in seaweed strode past overhead. It was the figure of an undersea giant marching somewhere.

"Aaaaaah! A-young! A-young!"

The driver was paralyzed with terror. Kim Hwang-je slapped his shoulder. It was rigid with tension.

"Sir, sir! Stay calm and drive the other way!"

"A-young!"

"Who the hell is A-young?! Get a grip and step on it!"

"My daughter!"

The driver screamed and slammed the accelerator. Perhaps his desperate love for his daughter lent him strength—the next giant footstep missed the taxi and instead sent it flying through the air.

"Urgh..."

What were the survival odds inside a rolling car again? At least he could still think, which meant the wreckage hadn’t caved in his skull. Regaining his senses, Kim Hwang-je crawled toward the bleeding driver slumped over the airbag.

"Sir! Wake up! You have to get back to your daughter."

The car hadn’t flipped. The driver was unconscious, head buried in the airbag. Kim Hwang-je was too afraid to shake him.

Shaking an accident victim could damage their spine. At construction sites, you waited for paramedics. But leaving him here...

Enduring the nauseating fishy stench, Kim Hwang-je looked up. A seaweed-covered back loomed in the distance. Through the fog, massive clumps of seaweed fluttered like scattered radish leaves.

Rumble—

The giant continued its rampage, the terrible stench trailing behind it. He didn’t know how it had slipped past the radar into Seoul, but the government would surely start bombing soon. Until then, he had to free the driver himself. For A-young’s sake!

'Right. Skill. I’ll use a skill.'

None of them inspired much confidence. 'Outstanding individuals,' huh. Still, they might be stronger than ordinary soldiers defending a castle wall. Right now he needed to tear the seat free, so among them, the Thick-fingered Thief seemed the most delicate.

Controlling the skill with his mind, Kim Hwang-je activated Resident Summon.

Ding—

A chime rang out. A tiny white lump the size of a mechanical pencil lead shot from Kim Hwang-je’s chest and landed beside the car.

It rapidly swelled and transformed into a large man.

'Ah. Charm 0.5.'

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

One look was enough to understand. Hair slicked back with pig grease. Scars covering his entire body. A man wearing nothing but a leather vest over his naked torso.

Grime streamed down his skin, and the stench was no joke. He looked like a wild man from before the concepts of "washing" and "using the toilet" had been invented. His clothes were caked in filth and stuck to his body.

'That's not a thief. That's a mountain bandit. Probably the boss of some bandit stronghold.'

He was the kind of person who would never hear the words "you lack presence" in his life.

Yet the moment he saw Kim Hwang-je, he dropped to his knees without hesitation.

"Your Imperial Majesty! Please give your command!"

The skill was truly remarkable.

Kim Hwang-je managed to keep a straight face.

"...First, get this man out safely."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Keep your voice down! Please."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

His booming reply was so loud that Kim Hwang-je worried the giant might turn around.

At that moment, the whirring sound of rotors echoed from afar. It was a UH-90 unmanned bomber helicopter with four propellers.

Its appearance meant the government was about to rain down bombs.

Kim Hwang-je urgently looked at the Thick-fingered Thief.

The bandit was frantically mashing the red button on the seatbelt buckle, apparently unaware of how to release it.

"Ugh!"

Frustrated, he shot to his feet and flexed his thick arms. Kim Hwang-je’s gaze followed those muscular forearms to the corner of the front seat.

Crack— The bandit gripped the plastic seatbelt mount with both hands and snapped it like a twig. The plastic shattered far too easily. He brushed the red fragments away, then slung the unconscious driver over his shoulder.

"Kuhaha, refreshing!"

"..."

Right. Seatbelts were made of strong fibers that couldn't be torn by hand. But plastic was weak, so it could be crushed with grip strength... or not.

"Carry him carefully. He's injured."

"Yes, Your Majesty. From what I can see, his back and meridians are fine! He'll probably wake up soon!"

"I said keep it down."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Kim Hwang-je ground his teeth. The bandit’s rugged muscles suggested he knew his way around a gym, but some rules still had to be followed.

"U-urgh... the smell..."

"Sir, are you awake?"

"The stench..."

"..."

The driver lost consciousness again. Being carried by a mountain bandit was apparently too much cultural shock for a modern man.

Tatatatatata—!

The UH-90 finally opened fire with its heavy machine gun from above. Explosions lit up the night sky in brilliant white.

"Guoooooh—"

The giant screamed as its body was torn apart, seaweed raining down. But the fallen seaweed began writhing and rising. The fluttering seaweed looked disturbingly like the fins of sea eels.

"Parasites!"

"I shall escort you, Your Majesty!"

"U-urgh!"

The bandit shouted loudly and hoisted Kim Hwang-je onto his other shoulder.

With the driver on one shoulder and Kim Hwang-je on the other, the Thick-fingered Thief sprinted forward, dodging the falling eels.

Whoosh—

Just then, a figure blurred past Kim Hwang-je. Through the bandit’s stench, a strong fragrance hit him.

How could anything overpower this man’s body odor? That scent was either perfume or the powerful natural scent of a woman—

Looking back while dangling from the bandit’s shoulder, Kim Hwang-je saw a cream-haired woman carrying six swords on her back charging toward the giant. The fog parted around her.

Not only that—completely black-and-red armored knights and enhanced soldiers ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sprinted past on both sides of Kim Hwang-je.

"Whoa, was that Arun Sepia who just passed by?"

Kim Hwang-je’s mouth fell open.

She was the young swordswoman known as the Iron Blood Division’s "Saint."

Elite knights in perfect formation followed her, their black cloaks making them hard to see.

Now he understood why the unmanned helicopter was using machine guns instead of missiles—it had been buying time for the Iron Blood Division to arrive.

Behind them came apprentice knights in factory-made powered suits.

"Stand back!"

"Secure the area! Protect the civilians!"

With their appearance, the fog rapidly cleared, allowing the trapped people to see one another.

"Neutralizing sea fog!"

A girl in a mage’s robe winked and smiled. Beside her, healers frantically tended to the wounded, patching them up just enough to walk.

But the healthy citizens, seeing the parasitic monsters crawling toward them with flapping fins, screamed and scattered in every direction.

"This area is under Iron Blood Division control! All civilians, fall back!"

"Crimson-black armor. It’s the Iron Blood Division!"

"The Iron Blood Division is here! Help us!"

"The injured, head to the emergency treatment camp in the rear! Mages and healers are standing by!"

The apprentice knights in powered suits shouted. Then came a rumbling sound.

The elite knights at the front swung their weapons like swatting flies, carving a path through the parasitic monsters.

"Whoa..."

"Enemy parasitic monsters incoming! Apprentice knights, draw your weapons!"

Kim Hwang-je’s vision blurred.

The powered suits of the apprentice knights looked like they had stepped straight out of a movie or game—sleek, beautifully angular, and imposing.

The thick metal had been forged so smoothly that—

While he was observing, one of them pointed at the bandit.

"You there! Stop spreading your stench and get lost! You’re interfering with the formation!"

"What?"

The bandit’s eyes widened, but Kim Hwang-je slapped his back.

"Go. Let’s go."

But the bandit rolled his eyes and roared.

"You little shit, how dare you speak to His Imperial Majesty like that, you trash! I’ll rip your tongue out! You son of a—"

"..."

Kim Hwang-je covered his face ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with his hand.