Chapter 4
The Chaebols Turn into Dragons (4)
Only that much.
A sword.
It felt far lighter than it looked.
At most, it weighed only a few hundred grams.
And judging from the tooltip that appeared the moment he gripped the handle, it really was designed to be that light.
“Early Bird” – Hero One-Handed Sword
【Extremely light】
But there was no other information.
No attack power—something that would normally be displayed in a weapon item tooltip—was shown at all.
All he could tell was that it was light.
But for now, that alone was enough.
“Move! From now on, anyone who touches me dies!”
As Yeong-woo shouted with the sword clutched in both hands, the people surrounding him flinched.
But they didn’t immediately run away.
They had seen his blade trembling violently.
A strange silence settled.
A weak-looking body, a face battered into a pulp, a posture that looked like he could barely stand.
Could this man really kill someone?
On top of that, a sword was far more valuable than currency coins. With a sword, he could take others’ coins whenever he wanted.
And it was a rare item—there weren’t many in the area.
“…So I look like an easy target, huh.”
Sensing a subtle shift in the crowd’s intent, Yeong-woo tightened his grip on both hands and forearms.
WHOOSH!
Just as expected, a large presence erupted behind him. Someone rushed in to grab his arms.
“…!”
Yeong-woo twisted his body and swung the sword backward.
SWISH!
A wet sound followed the flash of the blade’s trajectory.
THUD!
The blade buried itself into the attacker’s trapezius muscle.
“Uh…!”
Unlike movies or comics, the blade didn’t slice cleanly through.
What actually happened was that the man’s muscle reflexively contracted and clamped down on the blade.
…Twitch.
The faint tremor of contracted muscle transmitted through the hilt.
This was human flesh.
What kind of life had begun for him? Just yesterday, his life had been nothing but factory and dormitory—it now felt like a dream.
SHHK!
When he pulled the sword out, a bit of blood splattered, and the sound of reality finally rushed into his ears.
“Get him!”
“Ahhh!”
The others, assuming his first strike had failed, rushed in all at once.
But strictly speaking, it wasn’t a failure.
It had been an unintended kind of “zeroing shot.”
He had learned the weapon’s impact point, and also realized that if the blade got stuck like before, that alone was a loss in damage efficiency.
And above all—
‘Killing a person… isn’t easy.’
That realization mattered.
Because from this point on, he would start using thrusts.
WHOOSH.
It wasn’t a proper stance.
He simply tilted the blade horizontally and aimed for the attacker’s throat.
But the effect was devastating.
THRUST!
The blade pierced straight through the throat.
“Guh…!”
As the victim’s eyelids trembled, the others froze.
They saw the blade protruding out of the back of his neck.
“Th-this bastard…”
“…Wait.”
In an instant, the situation reversed.
“I told you already! If you touch me again, I’ll kill you!”
As Yeong-woo, enraged, gripped the sword for another thrust, the attackers finally began to flee.
TAP! TAP!
But the distance was still close.
SWISH!
The second thrust struck another fleeing man’s nape.
“……”
Another different texture.
He could feel the blade touching the cervical bone with a faint clack.
“Aaah…!”
The victim screamed as he twisted, but Yeong-woo was already watching the last fleeing man.
‘Two.’
Two who escaped unscathed.
‘Damn it. I should’ve killed them all.’
It was obsession—anger, revenge, and a strange compulsion.
If some were killed and others weren’t, it felt unfair.
But it was too late to chase them.
So the only option was to remember them for later.
‘Damn.’
As he frowned, the faces of the two escapees blurred into his memory.
At least now he would recognize them if he saw them again. If the chance came, he would kill them immediately.
Maybe this was what “karma” meant.
“Ugh… ugh…”
One of the injured men was still suffering.
Yeong-woo, a bit late, ended his suffering.
STAB.
And as if waiting for it, a system message appeared.
|Basic living funds have been issued.
|Prepare yourself.
“Ah.”
Right. He had only received the “Early Bird” reward. He hadn’t received the main quest reward yet.
CLINK.
A familiar sound rang out, and three red coins appeared in front of him.
FLASH!
“Ah!”
Startled, Yeong-woo quickly grabbed them.
‘One red coin is 1,000 Karma… so this is 3,000 Karma as basic living funds.’
Enough to cover basic survival for a while.
Then the 30,000 Karma from exchanging his “karma points”…
“……”
He suddenly remembered the police and the coins scattered in the exchange center, but forced the thought away.
‘They’re probably dead… or worse. There were too many people there.’
The coins would have scattered to different owners.
So the priority now was simply to escape this hell.
‘Where now?’
As Yeong-woo looked around with his sword, a new quest appeared.
[Main] “Novice”
Follow the arrow to the Mountain of Swords and change your fate.
Survival equipment
‘Mountain of Swords…?’
His gaze instinctively drifted to the Early Bird.
He sensed what the next quest meant.
‘A weapon supply zone.’
“Change your fate”… what did that mean?
This time there was no first-come condition. Anyone who survived to reach the Mountain of Swords would get a weapon.
What kind of world was this that handed out weapons like this?
“….”
There was no point in overthinking it.
He stopped thinking and looked at the arrow at his feet.
‘West… towards Gwangpyeong-dong.’
A residential district adjacent to the industrial area he was in.
He was familiar with it—factory workers often ordered food from there.
The problem was that the Mountain of Swords was supposedly there.
Another massacre was coming.
But there was no choice.
He stepped forward following the arrow.
– A new monster type, “Troll,” has been added to this world.
– A new system element, “Extreme Weather,” has been added.
As Yeong-woo ran, the world kept changing.
But in the industrial outskirts, nothing felt different yet.
Only factories and crashed exchange centers filled his view.
However, something had changed.
‘Why?’
No one was blocking his path anymore.
Not only that—people were actively moving out of his way.
‘Why?’
He hadn’t suddenly gained overwhelming pressure just because he had killed someone.
Then he realized.
‘It’s not me they’re afraid of. It’s the Early Bird.’
It had already been dozens of minutes since the exchange centers landed.
Early Bird owners across different centers would have been forced into brutal fights.
So—
‘Simply owning the Early Bird means you’re strong.’
It had become a symbol.
A badge of dominance.
“Hey—watch out behind you!”
People who were much larger than him were now scrambling away.
A strange thrill rose in him.
It was the first time he had ever become someone others feared.
But he quickly reminded himself of reality.
Because he had already encountered the true owner of the Early Bird.
TAP!
A man appeared like a flash at his right diagonal, about 10 meters away.
Tall. Dark-skinned. Extremely muscular.
The 80 cm sword in his hand looked small in comparison.
“….”
For a moment, their eyes met.
The man glanced at the Early Bird in Yeong-woo’s hand.
Then he sprinted past.
FLASH!
The distance widened instantly.
Yeong-woo stepped into the cleared path behind him.
‘What happens at the Mountain of Swords?’
He swallowed.
Just then, noise erupted from his left.
“…?”
Dozens of people in white shirts and reddish ties came into view.
Office workers?
No.
He realized something belatedly.
‘There is one place where that many people in uniforms exist.’
Geum-o High School.
Students weren’t exempt from the reset.
They had already survived the exchange center chaos and reached this far.
And the leader was even holding an Early Bird.
‘So they formed a group around him.’
A high school faction armed with Early Birds.
Yeong-woo couldn’t help but be wary.
The arrow at his feet began tilting.
‘Almost there.’
Then—
CRACK.
A sharp breaking sound echoed, and the sky ahead changed.
His pupils dilated.
What he saw was—
Weapons raining down from the sky.