Chapter 25

The Superhuman of Beombal (3)

"What the hell is this...?"

The moment the golden flash activated Sensory Deprivation, Hong Myeong-tae's expression twisted.

He felt it too—something strange was happening to his body.

"You... what are you?"

Just as Hong Myeong-tae asked suspiciously—

WHAM!

A gray streak slammed into his face with the sound of something breaking.

CRACK!

"Ghk, fuck!"

Yeong-woo had smashed his shield directly into the man's molars.

"What are you doing? Not even guarding?"

As he pulled the shield back out of Hong's mouth, six or seven shattered teeth fell onto the ground.

Clatter.

"Y-you crazy bastard!"

Hong Myeong-tae covered the collapsed side of his face with one hand, unable to believe what had happened.

It was absurd.

Until now, he'd never encountered a true rival. Everyone he faced had been unable to exchange even a single proper blow with him.

The situation itself was incomprehensible.

"W-what the hell are you? How are you this strong...? Aren't you people supposed to be the ones being punished? Isn't this cheating?"

"What?"

Yeong-woo raised an eyebrow and assumed a striking stance once more.

Instinctively, Hong Myeong-tae took a step backward.

"Who said we're being punished? Did you hear that from somewhere?"

"W-well... he didn't exactly say it was punishment..."

Hong mumbled the rest.

When he noticed Yeong-woo wasn't immediately following up with another attack, he cautiously stepped forward.

"What I heard was..."

What happened next was painfully obvious.

A brutal sneak attack.

"Kehk!"

WHOOSH!

Hong suddenly swung the arm covering his mouth, launching a surprise strike.

"They said we'd be perfectly capable of carrying out judgment with our own power..."

KWAAANG!

The attack was so vicious that even the air splitting around it sent chills down one's spine.

If Yeong-woo hadn't possessed superior sensory perception, his chest might have been torn open long ago.

In both raw power and reach, Hong Myeong-tae held the advantage.

"...!"

Even though he'd predicted the ambush, Yeong-woo barely avoided it.

However, the reduced distance between them gave him more opportunities to counterattack.

Break.

Break.

Break.

"You've been marked."

Seeing the marks, Yeong-woo's eyes sharpened.

For an instant, fear flashed across Hong Myeong-tae's face.

And then—

BOOM!

A strike to the right elbow.

Another to the left side.

Then a finishing blow to the liver.

Hong staggered backward again, unable to hide his panic.

Before becoming a Mutant, he had been human too.

He had never experienced a beating of this magnitude.

The confidence he'd had about carrying out "judgment" vanished like smoke, leaving only primal fear.

"W-wait...! I seriously can't breathe! Time out!"

The sight of a three-meter-tall beast man clutching his side and stumbling backward was truly bizarre.

Even the Gimcheon heroes who had been desperately fleeing stopped to watch.

Meanwhile, Yeong-woo sensed that his opponent's fighting spirit had broken.

He sheathed the Murli bird at his waist.

Click.

Because he intended to beat the remaining pride out of him.

"Come here. I've got questions."

Carrying only a shield, Yeong-woo strode forward.

Hong's voice became even more frightened than before.

"W-why...? Just ask from there!"

Step.

Step.

"I said ask whatever you want!"

Hong even raised both hands in surrender.

But Yeong-woo didn't stop walking.

Step.

Step.

Only after getting close enough to feel the creature's ragged breathing against his hair did he move.

WHOOM!

He leapt four meters into the air and smashed down on Hong's yellowed skull.

BAM!

WHACK!

"Gugh!"

With Hong's head forced downward, beating him became much easier.

There was no longer any need to rely on the Gumi Sword Technique.

Too many openings had appeared.

THUD! THWACK!

The spectators weren't impressed.

They were bewildered.

The scene was simply too surreal.

A superhuman from Beombal had suddenly appeared and was mercilessly beating a Mutant.

"Could that guy be a Mutant too? How is that even possible?"

"He's got 'Gumi's First Sword' written above his head, so... I guess he's human?"

Should they continue running?

Or should they stay and watch the once-in-a-lifetime spectacle of a Mutant losing a one-on-one fight against a human?

The heroes of Gimcheon hesitated.

Meanwhile, Hong Myeong-tae's face was becoming completely mangled.

Worried he might accidentally kill him with the shield, Yeong-woo eventually switched to using only his fists and feet.

His boots were soaked red with Hong's blood.

His fists weren't much different.

"Huff... damn, you're tough."

Only when he began running out of breath did Yeong-woo finally stop.

Hong immediately stumbled away and collapsed backward, barely catching himself before vomiting blood.

PWAH!

The barrage of fists and shield strikes had continued nonstop.

Each time, the Gimcheon heroes watching from afar edged closer.

"Is this... a dream?"

"What the hell is going on...?"

"P-please stop now... You've done enough..."

Unlike before, there was neither rage nor fear in his voice.

Only resignation.

I guess now's the time.

Yeong-woo finally decided to start asking questions.

"What was that judgment thing you mentioned earlier? Who told you that? Where did you come from?"

Hong instinctively looked up at the sky.

"I-I don't know. Seriously. I was just waiting in a really dark place."

"Waiting?"

"Yeah... A voice said that when the time came, we'd return one by one."

He was probably talking about returning to the world as a Mutant through the red pillar of light.

"Then whose voice was it? Does that thing manage all of you?"

"...I don't know that either. It's just a voice. I can only hear it."

Hong looked at Yeong-woo fearfully as he answered.

Apparently, he believed that if his answers weren't satisfactory, he'd get beaten again.

Doesn't seem like he's lying.

What he said was very similar to what Jang Seon-bok had mentioned before dying.

"What year is it now?
I don't know how long I've been trapped."

"The first day? Then was I the first one to return? Hah... is that so?"

In other words, the Mutants had been isolated somewhere outside this world and were returning according to some unknown order.

"What else? Like a return function?"

"Return...?"

Hong looked confused.

Then suddenly his battered face trembled.

"Ah!"

His right hand suddenly glowed blue.

"Holy shit!"

Thinking it might be some kind of self-destruct attack, Yeong-woo instantly drew his sword.

SHING!

But Hong looked even more alarmed and shook his head.

"N-no! It's not dangerous! This is..."

A blue shape formed inside his hand.

It was—

A door.

A glowing blue icon shaped like an arched doorway.

"You probably won't believe me, but someone else has to grab this. With their right hand. Without holding a weapon."

"So if I do that, you return?"

"I... don't actually know. I was only told to use this if I had nothing left to do here or if I regretted choosing to become a Mutant."

Judging from the circumstances, it really did seem like a return button.

But only if he was telling the truth.

This bastard was a lunatic even before he died. Why should I trust him now?

Yeong-woo's first reaction was suspicion.

Yet the more he thought about it, the more it seemed plausible.

Returning meant abandoning a Mutant's duty and quietly leaving.

A kind of betrayal.

Maybe that's why they made it difficult.

For example, requiring assistance from someone who had been trying to kill you moments earlier.

And besides—

[Special Welfare Worker]
Return a Mutant alive.

Not just anyone would think of asking a Mutant about a way to return.

Only someone with an achievement like Special Welfare Worker would even consider it.

Another choice.

This time it wasn't even presented as a formal quest.

As Yeong-woo hesitated, Hong slowly began curling his fingers inward.

"S-so what now? I wasn't lying. If you don't believe me, that's your problem. But if you're not sending me away, then don't beat me anymore."

The blue door still remained.

What a ridiculous situation.

After a moment of thought, Yeong-woo entrusted his fate to instinct once again.

"Fuck it."

He sheathed the Murli bird and extended his right hand.

Hong flinched.

But he neither retreated nor prepared another trick.

He knew his prospects weren't exactly optimistic otherwise.

"I'm not trying to do anything to you. Trust me."

"I don't trust you. I'm trusting the situation."

With that, Yeong-woo reached forward.

At last, human and monster's right hands overlapped around the blue door.

And immediately, Yeong-woo realized something.

The action resembled a handshake.

"...Huh?"

Hong stared into empty space, eyes widening.

"What? What's happening?"

No answer came.

Fwoosh—

Because he was fading away.

The three-meter-tall monster, Hong Myeong-tae, was disappearing.

His long snout vanished from sight.

The rough sensation Yeong-woo had felt through their joined hands disappeared as well.

"Hong Myeong-tae? Did you really leave?"

As he spoke into empty air, a golden sphere appeared where Hong had been.

"Ha."

The exact same sphere he'd seen after killing Jang Seon-bok.

[You have defeated a Mutant.]
[Please select a reward to complete the procedure.]

A familiar system message appeared.

If he distributed Karma to everyone again, he could probably earn the Golden Foundation achievement.

Then another notification arrived.

Ping!

Proof that he had truly sent Hong Myeong-tae away alive.

Achievement Unlocked: Special Welfare Worker

Achievement Grade: Legendary

Completion Rank: First

So I was right.

Clenching his sweat-soaked right hand, Yeong-woo had a feeling that his achievement tendencies had become even more firmly entrenched.

A stubborn idealist.

[Recommended Achievement List Updated.]

So when one achievement disappears, a new one takes its place.

Yeong-woo continued learning the rules of this world at a rapid pace.

But even he hadn't expected what came next.

Flash!

A bright light appeared along with another message.

[You Can Obtain a New Title.]

"Huh?"

Reading the lines that followed, Yeong-woo couldn't help blurting out his surprise.

Overwhelming! Countless candidates for the title of First Sword have witnessed your martial prowess.

No one will be able to dispute the fact that you are the 'First Sword of Gimcheon.'