Chapter 28

The Final Human (2)

Six thousand.

The amount of karma Yeongwoo had obtained from the elderly robber gang in Sangju was only six thousand.

There had been six old men, meaning each of them had possessed just one crimson coin.

"Just enough money to survive one night."

No—more precisely, it was only enough to pay the tax collected that night.

When night fell, the abnormal weather would return, and to avoid it one had to use the room-rental service.

Unless some philanthropist opened their room for free, merely having enough money to pay the tax was no guarantee of survival.

"Then those old men were probably committing robberies just to earn enough for lodging fees..."

A small sense of guilt welled up inside him.

But what could he do?

This was humanity's daily reality now.

Unless someone scattered commemorative coins every day, the system was structured so that people would inevitably run out of money.

And if you ran out of money, there was a very high chance you would die that very day.

"It's not like every nation's First Sword is going to perform a miracle and shower everyone with Golden Rain... If not, people are going to keep dying every day no matter what."

By now, corpses had already begun appearing along the roadside again.

Unlike in Gimcheon, however, they didn't seem to have been killed by monsters.

"No signs of being eaten. Humans killed these people."

Judging by the messy wounds and numerous stab marks, it wasn't the work of a skilled fighter either.

Most likely people of similar strength had fought each other to the death, or perhaps a robber group like the elderly gang he had encountered earlier had swept through the area.

"Are all cities across the country like this? Either completely devastated or turned into lawless zones?"

As Yeongwoo paused to examine the bodies, something suddenly moved at the edge of his vision.

"...?"

There was no way he would miss it.

The moment he turned his head, the figure startled and immediately ran in the opposite direction.

It was a man who looked to be in his forties.

What stood out was the excessive number of bags he was carrying.

At least ten of them.

"What the hell is that?"

The bags created such a distinctive silhouette that Yeongwoo couldn't help but follow him.

Besides, they happened to be heading in the same direction anyway.

"Excuse me!"

Using the gentlest voice he could manage, Yeongwoo chased after the man.

Naturally, the distance between them shrank dramatically within seconds.

The man panicked and spun around.

"W-What do you want?!"

He was terrified.

The trembling knife he held in front of him made that obvious.

"What do you mean what? You suddenly ran away, so I followed."

To show he had no intention of attacking, Yeongwoo casually raised both hands.

The shield was still attached to his left arm, but Early Bird and the dagger remained peacefully sheathed.

Even so, the man's fear didn't fade at all.

His eyes were glued to Early Bird hanging at Yeongwoo's waist.

"Just what kind of things have the owners of Early Bird been doing around here?"

As Yeongwoo glanced at the weapon himself, the man finally spoke.

"D-Do you need bags? I'll give them to you. Just don't hurt me."

"Huh?"

The man had mistaken him for a robber.

"I wasn't planning to hurt you, but why are you carrying so many bags?"

Yeongwoo pointed at them with the edge of his shield.

The man flinched and stepped backward.

"T-They're for sale."

"For sale? But you just said you'd give them to me if I wanted."

"...Well, that's still better than dying."

Again the man nervously watched his reaction.

"So you're making a living selling bags?"

"Y-Yes... you could say that."

However, his customers were limited to people weaker than him or roughly at his level.

If he encountered someone obviously stronger who looked unlikely to pay fairly, he either fled immediately or handed over the bags without resistance and tried to save his life.

"That's ridiculous."

"That's an incredibly unstable business."

Still, in a world where government and law had vanished, safe transactions couldn't be expected.

"Actually, this guy might be the unusual one. He chose to earn money through trade instead of robbery."

Whether he lacked the desire or the ability to rob others was another question.

Either way, he had chosen a relatively honest method.

And his product choice wasn't bad either.

"Since bags didn't turn into stone, he probably got inventory without any starting capital."

He had likely scavenged abandoned houses or searched corpses along the roads.

"So is everyone in Sangju surviving like this? Either robbing people or selling things like you?"

"No. Actually... most people who tried business like me are already dead."

The man's explanation exceeded Yeongwoo's expectations.

"Most people... sell their bodies."

"What?"

Yeongwoo frowned deeply.

The man immediately looked frightened and shut his mouth.

"No, keep talking. What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said. Their bodies are the only thing they have left to sell. They're basically slaves."

His voice dropped at the end.

"And some literally sell their bodies too."

This time it was Yeongwoo who looked horrified.

"It's only the second day since the reset. People are already buying and selling human beings for karma?"

"It's less that they're paying karma and more that they're paying to keep people alive. Without money, you really do die."

The man wore a bitter expression as he continued.

"Not everyone, but that's how things are in the city center. Most of the supplies are there, so everyone with money gathers there. People willing to become slaves just to survive gather there too."

Yeongwoo couldn't help being shocked.

This was a completely different kind of horror from fighting two-meter-tall goblins.

Something similarly disturbing had happened in Gumi after the Golden Rain.

People who had lost their commemorative coins to robbers had begun occupying supermarkets and convenience stores, selling goods and services.

"There were people selling their labor back then too. Offering to carry luggage and things."

But what would happen if even that wasn't enough to earn money?

What if failing to obtain money before ten o'clock tonight meant certain death?

What if money had become so valuable that ordinary labor couldn't earn enough?

Would people really choose slavery?

"Damn it. People would really go that far just to survive? At that point I'd rather..."

His thoughts drifted back to the elderly robbers outside Sangju.

"If you won't kill yourself, then hurting others becomes the only option."

And those who bought slaves couldn't easily be targeted.

After all, having enough wealth to spend on other people was itself proof of strength.

"The people buying slaves are mostly those who've successfully hunted demons, right?"

"Probably. Most likely."

"Then surely there were people who opposed this? Human trafficking and all that."

"There were."

The man paused.

"Then they died."

"...What?"

"The one who started buying people with karma was Sangju's First Sword."

"...Ah."

Without thinking, Yeongwoo opened the regional status window.

Current Region: Sangju
Regional First Sword: Dokgo Sehwan01
Generation 2, Defense Count: 147

Yeongwoo had already suspected from the start that the man was a complete lunatic.

But leading human trafficking?

That was beyond even his expectations.

"From what I've heard, he also controls demon hunting. Probably to prevent too much karma from entering circulation."

"Then the Mutant must be the same."

"The Mutant? Whether he controls it or not, isn't that something only a First Sword could kill?"

The man looked at him as if he had said something absurd.

Yeongwoo gazed toward the northern road.

"By the way, you seem to know a lot about what's happening around here."

"Well, I've lived here my entire life... and I hear all kinds of stories from customers."

Most of those customers, he added, had fled the city center for various reasons.

"Then let me ask one last thing."

"Go ahead."

"Where would I find the people involved in the slave trade?"

"The buyers or the sellers?"

"The buyers."

"The area around City Hall is basically one giant trading district."

A trading district.

The term sounded strangely unsettling.

The elderly robbers had also told him to head to City Hall if he wanted to meet the First Sword.

The information matched.

"Thanks for your time. I should head there now."

"Why bother? Wouldn't it be better to leave for another city?"

"What about you?"

"Huh?"

"Shouldn't you be the one leaving? You could die here at any time."

The man stared blankly for a moment before replying.

"Do you think other cities are any different? At least I know the terrain here."

"Any where's probably better than this place."

Yeongwoo turned toward the road leading to City Hall, then suddenly looked back.

"You know that whoever kills the Mutant can distribute money to everyone, right?"

"What...?"

The man blinked in confusion at the abrupt question, then nodded.

"Ah, yes. I know."

That meant even if the killer chose the three-million-karma reward, everyone would still receive the announcement message.

"Tonight I'm going to kill the Mutant. And if I succeed, I'll distribute karma to everyone."

"Excuse me, but the Mutant is—"

The man was about to repeat what he'd said earlier—that only someone on the level of a First Sword could challenge such a creature.

So before he could finish—

Tap.

Yeongwoo revealed his title.

『Gumi First Sword』

"G-Gumi... First Sword?"

The man's eyes widened as he slowly read the words above Yeongwoo's head.

His entire body trembled.

"You're the Gumi First Sword?"

Only now did he truly examine Yeongwoo's strange appearance.

The golden gloves and bracelet.

The mysterious whistle and sandals.

At first he'd only noticed Early Bird and assumed Yeongwoo was some powerful outsider.

Now he realized there had been clues everywhere.

"What brings someone like you here?"

Without realizing it, the man lowered his body respectfully.

He looked ready to kneel.

Considering what a First Sword represented in this world, the reaction wasn't surprising.

"I came to kill the Mutant and earn an achievement... but it seems that won't be enough here."

Yeongwoo glanced once more at the regional information.

Sangju First Sword.

147 defenses.

"The Sangju First Sword won't let you kill the Mutant peacefully. You'll have to fight him."

"That works out. I needed another First Sword title anyway. If my opponent is a Final Boss too, all the better."

With that, Yeongwoo stepped onto the road.

"If I win, Golden Rain will fall. Collect the commemorative coins and leave this place."

"W-What if the rain doesn't come?"

"Then I died."

Yeongwoo smiled faintly.

"In that case, go somewhere else. Personally, I'd recommend Gumi."