Creeeeak—
The turret turned to aim at me.
But it wasn't frightening enough to justify the panic erupting around me.
After having a mole cricket burrow into my body and tear its way back out, was I supposed to be scared of some tiny turret?
With Yoo Joonghyuk absent, there was no one here stronger than me.
[Need some information.]
[Sigh... It changes depending on the regression turn, but in 'Ways of Survival,' the main villains are called the 'Ten Evils.']
[And what does that have to do with this situation?]
[Listen to the end. The leader of the Landlord Alliance in front of us is 'Gong Pildu, the Armed Fortress Lord of Chungmuro.' In other words, one of the Ten Evils.]
So she was saying that if I touched these bastards, I'd provoke Gong Pildu?
Or was she trying to say something else?
[Then why bring up Gong Pildu?]
[Because that turret belongs to Gong Pildu, and Gong Pildu is the only one I intend to use.]
That was practically permission to kill.
Everyone except Gong Pildu... she was leaving them to my judgment.
Then what was I supposed to do right now?
Smash the turret in front of me and beat those bastards to death?
No.
That wasn't enough.
I had to carve fear into them.
A sense of absolute helplessness—the kind that makes you realize that no matter how much you struggle, you will never stand up again.
Twitch.
"Why aren't you firing?"
"You crazy bastard!!! Shoot!!!!"
Kiiiiiiing!
Boooom!!
The turrets stationed on both sides spat fierce flames at me.
"R-run away!!!"
"Aaaagh!!!"
People fled in terror, afraid they'd be caught in the turret's blind fire.
And I, the one standing in the center of the concentrated barrage, ironically...
felt nothing at all.
The only thought crossing my mind was a slight worry that my clothes might get torn.
Whoooosh.
The bombardment died down, and the people who had scattered began to gather again.
Were they coming back just to see how miserably I'd died?
"If he'd just quietly handed over his Coins and left, he wouldn't have ended up like a pincushion."
"Exactly."
"Drag out that brat who just went inside."
So that bastard was Gong Pildu.
A bald man swaggering around while reading a magazine.
Judging by how he barked orders at the others, it had to be him.
But touching Gilyoung was out of the question.
"Says who?"
"!!! H-how?!"
"E-even so, you must be hanging by a thread!"
There was only one thing I felt from that attack.
What do you think it was?
Gong Pildu's potential?
Or the fear of Gong Pildu being one of the Ten Evils, as Dokja had mentioned?
Wrong. All of it.
What I felt was complacency.
The arrogance born from the delusion that as long as Yoo Joonghyuk wasn't around, he was the king.
Because of that, he had simply occupied the most strategic location, exploited those weaker than him, and lived in luxury.
And since Yoo Joonghyuk had left them alone, his ego had only grown.
"You must be Gong Pildu. What? Did you think that if Yoo Joonghyuk wasn't here, you'd actually be king?"
"You bastard!"
"In this cramped little city of Seoul, did it really never occur to you that there might be an Incarnation stronger than you? Someone who could openly crush you in your own territory?"
Seoul was a Scenario area, and the Scenarios were designed to incite competition between Incarnations.
If he thought he'd never run into someone like that... then he was just a fool.
"Hyung."
"Oh, Gilyoung. I've got something to discuss with this mister here. Go stay beside Dokja."
"Okay."
Gilyoung couldn't have failed to hear all that.
Maybe he'd been waiting for the right moment to slip away?
Even while I was potentially being shredded by turrets?
Or maybe he knew my strength even better than Dokja did.
Sharp little brat, for a kid.
Though, because he was a child, even that felt cute.
"Did this turret really look invincible to you?"
Kkiiiiiik!!!
"Th-the barrel... it's completely bent..."
Thank you.
Mister from the Landlord Alliance whose name I don't know.
Thanks for providing the commentary.
"Mr. Gong Pildu. Are you starting to understand the situation now? Do you get who's the boss and who's the subordinate?"
Even if he hurriedly tried to set up another turret now, which would be faster?
Me killing Gong Pildu now that I've closed the distance?
Or Gong Pildu attacking me or my companions with a turret?
"...What do you want?"
"Let's just get along quietly and nicely."
It was a simple warning: don't get in my way.
That was all.
"Master, it's them! They're the ones who pretended to be your companions!"
Even in the middle of this chaos, that voice cut through everything.
Was that a skill too?
"I'm not Yoo Joonghyuk's companion. If anything, I hate her like hell."
"...That's one thing I can agree with."
"Hm. We've met before, haven't we?"
The Yoo Joonghyuk standing in front of me was visibly shaken.
Had she not expected me to come back alive?
It wasn't exactly a wrong assumption.
If not for Dokja, I really might have died.
"I didn't notice the first time I saw you, but you're definitely pretty. I get why Dokja kept saying you were."
"...A confession?"
"What the fuck did you just say, bitch?"
Never in my life did I think I'd end up cursing out a high school girl.
"I'd rather get blown apart by Gong Pildu's turret than date this gorilla."
Shing.
"You know pointing a sword at me isn't going to scare me, right?"
"I'm not pointing it at you."
"Well, thanks for that. I could've handled this without you anyway."
"Can you shut up for once?"
"Why? Does your neck hurt from having to look up at me because you're so short?"
I really was going to have to fight her now.
Because I didn't think I was ever going to like her.
"You want to have a go with me?"
"You only just figured that out? With all those amazing abilities of yours, you're awfully quick on the uptake."
Even if I died to her here, I still had to repay what happened on the bridge.
"You swore on your own sister that you wouldn't touch Dokja at least until we crossed the bridge, and then you threw her in as food for the sea dragon?"
"Your sister threw herself in of her own will."
"That's such an obvious lie."
Slide.
She sheathed her sword.
Was she trying to apologize?
Thud!
Baaang!!
"!!"
"You threw the same punch on the subway. It won't work twice."
That powerful punch that had sent me flying in a single blow.
Getting hit by it once was enough.
If she'd put away her sword, that meant she intended to go easy on me.
I'd make her regret it.
Boom.
"Kghk!"
"You don't think you're the only one who's gotten stronger, do you? I trust you didn't think you're the only one who's gained experience."
Yoo Joonghyuk had figured me out after fighting me once.
And I had figured her out too.
Of course, the two of us couldn't be placed on the same level.
The difference between me now and me back then was, at most, that my stats had reached the Scenario cap.
But Yoo Joonghyuk?
It wasn't just her raw stats. Since she had a sword now, her whole style had changed.
Boom!
Slash!!
Sent flying by my kick, Yoo Joonghyuk drew her sword from within the smoke and charged at me.
Baaang!
Slice.
"!!"
Yoo Joonghyuk's sword and my fist collided.
After taking one hit, she'd apparently decided getting hit again was too dangerous, so instead of blocking, she focused on dodging.
Meanwhile, I couldn't avoid those attacks and was stuck doing nothing but blocking.
Thankfully, even when I blocked, it only left a few wounds, but if too many of those piled up, things would get troublesome.
Slice!
Rumble...!
Clang!!
Had I lost too much blood?
My head was spinning.
Especially after that sword started getting wrapped in something like aura, the wounds became much deeper.
I knew there was a difference when skills were involved, but wasn't this a little too much?
Slaaash!!
That was... the same motion from when she first drew her sword and rushed me.
Grab!
"I told you it wouldn't work twice!!!"
Puuunch!!
"Kuhk!"
"Hoo..."
Every blow I threw was powerful, but I couldn't land them properly.
Yoo Joonghyuk was fast, but she lacked a decisive finishing strike.
The fight had already reached its peak. Now only the result remained.
"What are your stats?"
"All of them are at the Scenario limit."
"..."
What was that?
"Do you have a Sponsor?"
"Do I look like I'd take help from those swindlers?"
Why was she suddenly interrogating me in the middle of a fight?
"Come with me."
"...What?"
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