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Seong-Il had been going in and out the nearby boundary throughout the previous night. Perhaps he did that in an attempt to shake off his sense of loss. Of note, his smile was back on his face. He grinned as he walked toward me from afar, and I saw he was hiding something behind him. I smelt alcohol, and then he sat in front of me while waving a crushed pack of soju.
“Look what I found. It’s soju. Soju!”
Then, he took out a package of biscuits and giggled as if it meant the world to him. He seemed to have been waiting for this moment. He carefully scraped off the blood clots that had hardened on the soju and biscuit packages and treated them like treasures.
“They were stuck deep in the bodies. Although I took them out from rotting flesh that smell like a sewer, these are treasures. My Sense is the best thing ever. Do you want some?”
“Of course.”
We took turns and drank a sip of soju each time.
“The System gives only a little XP, so I don’t even know when I’ll be able to level up. The motherfuckers are still roaming around.”
He meant the monsters from the Stage Two spire. We fought against the Kciphos Corps in Act One, Stage One, but the spire in Stage Two was closely related to Doom Entegasto. Doom Entegasto’s main stage was the Land of the Dead, which was the place I had wandered in for more than three years to find the skeletal dragon.
The Awakened around the world would have experienced only part of it in the form of dungeons, but that wasn’t the case for me as I was specifically in the dragon’s habitat. One of the cults that worshiped Doom Entegasto was the rat-like Barba Corps, but they didn’t even exist there since their mainland existed in a different dimension.
Then, what was the Land of the Dead?
That question crossed my mind after I was given the quest ‘Birth of Doom Man.’ The Land of the Dead might have been the dimension where Doom Entegasto was born. Then, would the future Earth look similar to the Land of the Dead if Doom Man was born on Earth? This was just a guess I had. If that were truly the case, then the quest would have to be canceled immediately.
Seong-Il chattered, “I was originally a heavy drinker, but I can handle liquor even better now after becoming an Awakened. This pack is too little. Oh, well.”
I interjected, “About the trait you mentioned
”
“Fist Destroyer?”
I nodded. “I’d like to take a look.”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
Seong-Il replied as if it was not a big deal, which was different from my thoughts on it. From my perspective, it was rude of me to look without asking permission first. After all, Seong-Il had also spent the past six months in the mainland of the Baclans. He had lost many of his limbs to the flesh-eating monsters over and over again. Furthermore, battles occurred every day, and the enemy always came in groups. Basically, Seong-Il was obviously no longer a novice and had gone through a lot of hellish training. Therefore, I couldn’t just peek at his stats without giving him a heads up even if I was the one who had nurtured him.
[You have perfectly seen through the subject. (Skill, Night Eye)]
[Name: Kwon Seong-Il
Level: 351 (Diamond)
Health: 410 (+10), Strength: 509 (+10), Agility: 400, Sense: 456
XP: 47222 / 59971
Attack Power: 2170
Physical Defense: 10000 / 10000
Magic Defense: 3000 / 3000
Trait(1), Skill(3), Insignia(0), Item(1)]
[Fist Destroyer (Trait)
Trait Class: S
Effect: The user’s basic attack power increases even without a weapon being used.
Proficiency: LV.1 (2.5%) - Attack Power: 609 (+509)]
[Kronos’ Breastplate (Item)
Item Class: A
Item Level: 431
Effect: Health +10, Strength +10, significantly increases the user’s injury regeneration rate
Physical Defense: 10000 / 10000
Magic Defense: 3000 / 3000 ]
I kept deleting the other notification windows that popped up on my screen and focused on Seong-Il’s new trait. I had never seen it before in the past, but it was definitely worthy of being rated an S-class. With the trait, it was the same as using an A-class weapon even if there was nothing equipped. This was bound to become more powerful as proficiency increased. It was good compensation for coming back alive from the Baclan mainland.
I explained, “Having that trait is basically the same as obtaining a weapon named after a god. It’s good since you don’t have to carry a separate weapon, so you will have one more extra slot for an item compared to other Awakened. It’s an excellent trait. It might become your main mode of attack.”
Seong-Il smiled, maybe because he was recalling the items I had collected from him before.
“People say that we can somehow make a living if we focus on one thing. Don’t you think so? But I’m really worried that something might have happened to Mary noona. How long are we going to stay here?”
I responded, “Until tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? We are going into town tomorrow, right? Then, I’m going to save some mana stones,” Seong-Il said in excitement as he stood up. It looked like he was going to scrounge around for some food instead of mana stones. However, he probably knew that the probability of him finding some soju would be quite low. Anyway, Seong-Il soon disappeared beyond the boundary.
***
Craaaack!
Seong-Il tore off a monster’s head in a wild manner. His method resembled how he used to ferociously wring open soju bottles, but instead of guzzling down soju and licking up the last drop, he pulled out a mana stone with his hands instead.
Sniff, sniff.
Seong-Il kept flaring his nostrils, but the only thing he smelled was a gutter-like stench.
Along the way, he had come across the dead body of a human. Seong-Il covered the face of the man which had already decomposed.
“Have you seen soju? I’ll share some if you tell me where it is.”
He talked to himself while looking at the body, then smacked his lips. Although there was probably soju left in the village, he had a hunch that the price would have soared to an unbelievable amount. People might have had to spend all their mana stones for even one. Therefore, he had definitely hit the jackpot last night when he had scrounged up some soju.
Seong-Il and Seon-Hu had spent hours wandering around and hunting all the monsters they faced. Compared to the ox-heads Baclan Corps, these furry and walking zombies didn’t fill up their stomachs. After crossing the land full of darkness and stench, they arrived at the boundary. There was another abandoned village. Seong-Il was flaring his nostrils even then, but only the smell of stale air penetrated them.
Seong-Il peeped through the destroyed buildings. The boundary that separated the area beyond the darkness from the village greatly reduced anything he could sense, but he could still feel the number of people exponentially increasing. Seong-Il sat on the roof of the building in the direction where people would show up and waited for them. Time passed, and people finally began to appear from the boundary.
He muttered, “What the fuck.”
They were marching in a procession that never ended, and they swarmed like ants. Seong-Il had estimated earlier using his muffled Sense that there were probably hundreds of people coming over, but, in fact, there were clearly over a thousand.
Seong-Il shouted at the man who was leading in the front, “Is there a war going on?”
Even then, more people were still coming out from the boundary. He not only saw the captain of Shield Squad Kang Joo-Hyuk, but also many other familiar faces. He was curious about whether anything had changed in the Gold Squad and the Mana Stone Bank as both had been under Lee Soo-Ah in the past. After all, six months had passed. The people at the forefront with the Gold Squad crest explained everything.
“Hyung!”
Seong-Il jumped onto the road when he saw Joo Pan-Seok. To his surprise, everyone there was completely armed.
There must have been a war, but when did the number of people increase to something like this? Seong-Il wondered.
He was about to ask Joo Pan-Seok if he had soju, but the atmosphere was too stiff. Then, the procession stopped, and Joo Pan-Seok approached Seong-Il on his mount while the people in the front were exchanging looks with each other.
Joo Pan-Seok said with a bright smile, “Yo, look at this. Isn’t this Seong-Il? Wow, you are alive?”
“Haha, that’s funny. Aren’t you glad to see me? Wait, but didn’t he tell you that he saw me?” Seong-Il pointed to Kang Joo-Hyuk with his chin.
Joo Pan-Seok shook his head. “Nah, I would have sprinted here if I knew you were here.”
“By the way, you succeeded, bro! Are you the captain of the Gold Squad now? Your armaments are fancy. Nice to meet you again, bro.”
Seong-Il stretched out his gigantic hand and chattered while asking for a handshake.
“How many did you bring? I can’t even tell.”
Joo Pan-Seok responded, “Just shy of twenty thousand.”
Seong-Il’s lower jaw opened. “Time changes everything, and nothing escapes time. But, what happened to you?”
“You are so weird. You disappeared out of nowhere, and now you’re spewing nonsense. What happened?” Joo Pan-Seok replied.
Seong-Il shrugged. “Well, we had stuff going on.”
“What stuff?”
Seong-Il’s lips twitched. “Nah, it was pretty bad. Let’s talk about that later, it seems like something is going on between you guys, not us. Did a war break out? I don’t think it’s against the furry corps. What kind of bastards are they?”
Joo Pan-Seok smiled wryly. “Why? Are you going to help us?”
Seong-Il nodded vigorously. “Yes, of course. We are bros. Also, I’m part of the Sky Guild. I can help you if it’s something we can finish today.”
“Don’t be offended, but where is your weapon?” Joo Pan-Seok asked vaguely.
“Haha, this one is better than all of your weapons combined.”
When Seong-Il tapped his chest, brilliant rays of light flashed and then disappeared.
Joo Pan-Seok asked again, “But why are you alone? Where is Odin?”
Seong-Il shrugged. “Ah, I guess that guy keeps everything secret to himself. Well, that’s what a man should do.”
Seong-Il directed that part to Kang Joo-Hyuk, who had been standing silently this entire time. He waved his hand to Joo-Hyuk as he felt sorry for acting coldly to the other man last time. He was in a terrible mood back then because Soo-Ah and Kyung-Ah couldn’t escape from Doom Arukuda’s control.
Seong-Il continued, “Odin is in the village across the street, but why are you asking?”
Joo Pan-Seok’s eyes flickered. “What about the former guild leader and her sister?”
Seong-Il scowled. “...She is the former leader now? Stop being such a jerk and answer my question. Should I help you or not?”
“Do you know who we are against?” the other man hedged.
Seong-Il threw up his hands. “The monsters? I don’t need to know the details as they are all weaker than us.”
“Even though we’re mobilizing twenty thousand people? What happened to you while you were gone? You have lots of confidence now. Good for you, man,” Joo Pan-Seok slightly tapped on Seong-Il’s shoulder.
“Nah, dude, I’m a man. I’m always confident. My penis gets smaller the moment I lose my confidence, haha. But why do you keep changing the subject?”
“...Odin is in the next village? And you are alone?”
This novel is available on bit.ly/3iBfjkV.
Seong-Il had been smiling this entire time as he was glad to see his old friend again. However, he could tell that there was something off, so his eyes sharpened and the smile on his face disappeared unnaturally.
Is this why he keeps asking me about Odin?
Seong-Il laughed awkwardly, then he smushed his face against Pan-Seok’s cheek while putting his arm around the other man’s shoulder. Then, he stared at him fiercely.
“Hey, Mr. Joo. You are being such an asshole. What have we told you every time you tried to get in trouble with money? I told you to at least give us a sign before causing an issue, right? You definitely forgot our advice, you jerk.”
To his surprise, Joo Pan-Seok’s placid expression didn’t change one bit. “Haha
 Can you not see what’s behind me?”
Seong-Il snarled quietly, “Huh? I only hear the dog barking next to me.”
Joo Pan-Seok raised his voice, “I’m telling you not to cause any trouble, Seong-Il.”
Seong-Il snapped, “What the fuck are you talking about? You are the ones who are causing problems. Ah, I’m so scared that I’m going to wet my pants. Fuck you, you ungrateful bastards.”
“You better stop and follow me, brother. If things sort out well with Odin, we won’t touch you at all. So no need to be afraid of us,” Joo Pan-Seok warned.
Seong-Il burst out into laughter. “Afraid? Did you just say ‘afraid?’ Hahaha.”
“There are almost twenty thousand people behind me.”
“So what? I have Odin.”