Chapter 23
The Superhuman of Beombal (1)
Riiing!
Riiing!
"What is it this time...?"
Hearing a ringing sound through his sleep, Yeongwoo slowly opened his eyes.
Sunlight was pouring through the motel room window.
Then—
Riiing!
He turned his head to the left.
The motel telephone beside the bed was ringing loudly.
"Seriously..."
Checking his wristwatch, Yeongwoo picked up the receiver.
8:02 a.m.
Click.
"...Hello."
The habitual greeting slipped out automatically.
The being on the other end remained silent for a moment.
Then a voice that sounded like a mixture of a man and a woman spoke:
"One hour and forty-eight minutes remain until checkout."
"What the hell was that?"
Goosebumps ran across his body as he instantly woke up.
Yeongwoo carefully picked up the receiver again after unconsciously tossing it away.
But the caller had already hung up.
"Still..."
The wake-up call had been incredibly effective.
Not only had it awakened him, it had instantly restored his sense of reality.
"W-what was that?"
Yechan had also jumped awake at the ringing phone and was now staring around with frightened eyes while clutching his blanket.
Yeongwoo looked toward the woman's corpse still lying near the entrance.
Then he checked outside the window and confirmed that the red fog had completely disappeared.
"It was a checkout reminder. We should get going."
There was still plenty of rental time remaining, but now that they were fully awake, there was no reason to waste time here.
Yeongwoo opened the refrigerator and downed a can of coffee and a canned tea.
Then he retrieved the dagger from the dead woman's severed arm lying on the floor.
Just as she had done, it might prove useful for catching enemies off guard.
"Now what's left..."
His gaze shifted toward the backpack the woman had brought.
He wasn't interested in the spare weapons or miscellaneous junk.
There was only one thing he was looking for.
After rummaging through the backpack for a while, his hand touched something familiar.
Clink.
As expected, piles of coins had been hidden at the bottom.
When he turned the backpack upside down and shook it, not only crimson coins but even brilliantly shining commemorative coins poured out continuously.
Clatter!
"How many people did she kill?"
Yeongwoo practically accepted as fact that she had looted room after room before entering theirs.
After totaling everything on the floor, the amount came to a staggering 364,000 Karma.
32 commemorative coins
44 crimson coins
"I should be thankful I met her before she converted all this into stats."
His total cash assets now stood at 810,000 Karma.
Equivalent to 810 stat points.
Determined not to repeat the woman's mistake, Yeongwoo immediately began allocating his points.
"Since Golden Flash steals senses, I don't need Sensory stats urgently."
That left:
Strength
Stamina
Durability
Strength had already risen by another 100 due to the Enraged Goblin effect, reaching 400.
Stamina and Durability remained at only 150 each.
"Durability should come first. My body still can't handle my maximum output."
After some thought, he left 10,000 Karma as spending money and poured the remaining 800,000 into his stats.
Character: Jeong Myeongwoo07
Strength: 600 (19 + 581)
Stamina: 350 (21 + 329)
Durability: 550 (13 + 537)
Senses: 100 (24 + 76)
This distribution was based on the assumption that Golden Flash's sensory theft would also work against monsters and mutants.
The basis for that assumption was his newly acquired ring:
Murderer's Finger – Ring
Increases stats by 10% in PvP combat
[Empty Slot]
The key phrase was "PvP combat."
"If Golden Flash only worked on humans, its description would've specifically used a term like PvP too."
But Golden Flash's description read:
Steals 50% of an enemy's senses during battle.
Not "human opponent."
Just enemy.
And it wasn't even Legendary-grade equipment.
So Yeongwoo was convinced it would affect mutants as well.
As soon as he finished investing his stats, the familiar surge of vitality flowed through his body.
After taking a few useful items from the woman's backpack, he removed the bathrobe and put his clothes back on.
Only then did Yechan, who had been blankly watching him, hurriedly start getting dressed too.
Kangbyeon Motel, Second Floor
The moment the two stepped into the hallway—
Riiing!
Riiing!
Loud ringing assaulted their ears.
It was coming from all the other rooms on the second floor.
"...?"
Every door stood wide open.
As Yeongwoo walked down the corridor, he could see inside each room.
"My God..."
The corpses strewn throughout the cramped motel rooms made it easy to imagine what had happened during the night.
Most of the victims were men.
Some were wearing only bathrobes.
Others were completely naked.
Some had only partially managed to put their clothes back on.
A few rooms contained both men and women.
The woman assassin had apparently struggled more in those rooms.
Compared to the others, signs of combat were much more obvious there.
"Still impressive."
Yeongwoo was genuinely amazed.
Not merely by her combat ability.
How had she managed to get into all those rooms?
Each room had different occupants, different gender ratios, and different circumstances.
Yet she had somehow convinced them to let her in every time.
"Then again, I opened the door too."
Continuing down the corridor, Yeongwoo eventually stopped in front of the last room.
Inside lay two women who appeared to be mother and daughter.
Neither held a weapon.
As he approached the doorway, a blue barrier appeared.
Since their rental period was still active, outsiders couldn't enter.
Ironically, however, the room's owner was already dead and could no longer deactivate the barrier.
Click.
The world had truly gone insane.
Turning around slightly, Yeongwoo saw Yechan standing there with a dark expression.
He probably should have asked if Yechan was okay.
But he didn't.
"We should go."
"...Yeah."
They brought their bicycles downstairs, passed the corpse of the Grade-1 Extra whose head and body were still separated, and exited the motel.
Although daylight had fully arrived, the streets remained largely deserted.
Perhaps because checkout time hadn't arrived yet.
With one foot on a pedal, Yeongwoo thought:
"Where should I go now?"
This was a crossroads.
South or north.
Going south would quickly bring him to the major city of Daegu.
Going north would allow him to visit the smaller cities of Sangju and Mungyeong one after another.
And if he headed slightly west first, he could also stop by Gimcheon.
"Surely the strongest swordsman of Gimcheon or Mungyeong is weaker than Daegu's strongest."
He decided to monopolize mutants by rapidly clearing the smaller cities first.
Creek.
His bicycle wheel turned westward.
Without a word, Yechan followed.
The bicycle carried Yeongwoo at the maximum speed physically possible.
Toward the southwest, where the Gyeongbu Expressway lay.
In terms of route, they were effectively backtracking.
But the scenery was entirely different.
Corpses littered both sides of the road like victims of a plague.
"The red fog killed them."
Or more accurately:
"Poverty killed them."
People had received warnings two hours before the fog appeared.
Anyone with money could have secured shelter.
Which meant that those who died on the streets were overwhelmingly likely to have been penniless.
As a result:
"Tch."
"Another poor one."
People who had come out early to loot corpses clicked their tongues in disappointment.
Yeongwoo and Yechan rode past both the dead and the living.
Because of their speed—or perhaps because people noticed the Early Bird sword at Yeongwoo's waist—nobody dared stop or attack them.
"Do mutants appear at fixed times every day? If so, I could plan around it."
So far, Yeongwoo had identified the world's major schedule:
9 PM — Room Rental Service begins
10 PM — Daily tax collection
11 PM — Abnormal weather event
10 AM — Rental period expires
And sometime before sunset, monsters and mutants appeared.
But except for taxes, the patterns of the other events remained unknown.
Whether they occurred at the same time every day, for example.
"I'll find out tomorrow."
They quickly crossed Sinpyeong-dong and reached Gumi Jungang-ro.
Then he spotted the elevated roadway ahead.
"That's it."
The overpass belonged to the Gyeongbu Expressway.
"I'll just jump up there. I should be able to do it now."
He might even be able to carry Yechan while doing it.
Excited to test his near-superhuman body, Yeongwoo pushed harder on the pedals.
Then—
Crack!
The center of gravity suddenly dropped.
"Huh?"
He managed to catch himself with one foot.
But the bicycle beneath him completely collapsed.
"..."
The frame had failed to withstand his power output.
Apparently he'd gotten too excited after spotting the highway.
As he stared at the shattered bicycle, Yechan hurriedly stopped beside him.
"Are you okay?"
"The bike's ruined. That's all."
Though awkward, Yeongwoo didn't think it was a serious problem.
"I can just run."
With:
Strength 600
Stamina 350
Durability 550
He might actually be faster than city traffic.
He secured his belongings tightly to his body.
Then—
Crack.
He launched himself toward Yechan.
Bang!
Yet after only two steps—
BOOM!
"...?"
His shoes exploded.
They couldn't withstand the stress of his speed.
But since his feet didn't particularly hurt, he simply kept going.
A violent wind roared around him.
"Is this even real?"
As he marveled at his absurd athletic ability, the expressway rapidly approached.
The elevated roadway towered above.
Yet somehow he felt certain he could reach it.
"I can do this."
His legs were already fully coiled.
Then—
BOOM!
His right foot smashed into the ground.
His body shot skyward.
The force was overwhelming.
"Good grief..."
Effortlessly, he rose to the height of the expressway and landed atop it.
CRASH!
The rough asphalt beneath him shattered under the impact.
After checking his feet, he called down to Yechan below.
"Can you make it up here?"
Yechan slowly wheeled his bicycle toward the overpass.
"No. Not like you."
His tone sounded strangely heavy.
"...?"
Sensing something odd, Yeongwoo tilted his head.
"You okay? If you can't get up here, I'll come back down and carry you."
Yechan looked up at him quietly.
"...Would that really mean anything?"
"Huh?"
He glanced around before placing a foot on his bicycle pedal.
"Even if I got up there, I couldn't keep up with you anyway. I guess this is where I stop being a burden."
"What are you talking about—"
Before Yeongwoo could respond, Yechan continued:
"Go on. I have weapons now. And some money. I'll manage somehow."
"...You're really choosing to go on your own? Just like that?"
"We weren't family to begin with. It's not independence. It's just time for us to part ways."
Yechan smiled sadly.
Only then did Yeongwoo realize he was serious.
Could someone that soft really survive in this insane world?
"No. I'm meddling too much. We weren't family."
He forced himself to accept it.
From a practical perspective, Yechan would only become more of a burden.
And for Yechan's own growth, independence was probably the smarter choice.
Still, relationships weren't built on practicality alone.
Yeongwoo had grown attached to him.
"I'll eventually head to Seoul. If you survive, let's meet there someday."
For a moment Yechan looked stunned.
Then he laughed.
"Seoul? Sure. By then, maybe I'll be somebody too."
Both knew the odds of Yechan reaching Seoul alive weren't high.
"...Take care."
"You too. Thanks for everything."
Yechan bowed deeply.
Then, without hesitation, he rode away beneath the overpass.
Soon he became a tiny dot.
Then disappeared into the distant city.
Though his first companion had left, Yeongwoo couldn't afford to dwell on it.
He immediately turned toward a nearby road sign.
Gimcheon — 27 km
"I can run that."
Something that would once have been unimaginable now felt entirely possible.
The highway was empty.
Only scattered stone-transformed vehicles remained.
Yeongwoo took a deep breath and sprinted forward.
BOOM!
The scenery began flying past.
"Running like this barely tires me. I've really become a monster."
And it had only been two days.
"If I'm already like this, how strong are the other strongest swordsmen?"
Just then—
Something changed in the distance.
"Huh?"
Far ahead, he thought he saw a faint reddish beam.
Less than a minute later, uncertainty became certainty.
A massive crimson pillar of light was descending from the sky.
"A mutant marker."
Yeongwoo's expression hardened.
That could only mean one thing.
The mutant in Gimcheon had not been eliminated yesterday.