Chapter 56: Search (3)

Vrooom!

Two motorcycles raced down the road.

Han-seong controlled the Phantom to grasp Ye-eun’s waist, then pressed its feet firmly against the motorcycle. This way, there was no chance of falling off.

After stopping the Phantom’s control like that.

“Phew…”

Han-seong closed his eyes tightly.

An overwhelming sense of fatigue. It was understandable.

He had been searching for his parents’ whereabouts for 15 hours straight since morning. Taking a short break, he checked the notification he hadn’t seen earlier.

[Remote: Inventory activated]

[Loot detected within collection range]

[Loot will be automatically stored.]

A message that had appeared right after subjugating the elite monster, the Moving Statue. At the time, he had ignored it because he was busy showing the family photo to Sang-min and Ye-eun.

[Loot List]

▷Clockwork Statue

The loot was just one unidentified statue.

Probably because his contribution wasn’t that high. So without much expectation, he took out the statue stored in his inventory.

And then…

Thud!

Suddenly a heavy sound was heard.

Of course, since the statue was as big as a person. Han-seong examined the statue’s appearance with surprised eyes.

‘It’s bigger than I thought?’

And there was one peculiar point.

Unlike the body mostly made of stone, only the old clockwork watch held in the statue’s arms was made of steel, not stone.

More importantly, it would be better to check what this statue’s abilities are first. Han-seong placed his hand on the statue, and soon its information was revealed.

[Name]: Clockwork Statue

[Effect]: One of the Moving Statue’s minions.

-When using a skill while placing a hand on the statue, the cooldown of that skill is reduced by 50%.

[Cooldown]: 12 hours

Han-seong’s eyes widened.

To think it would reduce skill cooldowns by half. Although the statue itself had a 12-hour cooldown attached, it still seemed quite useful.

Since he had several skills with long cooldowns among those he possessed. Han-seong recalled the most representative of those skills.

‘Magic Spear.’

A skill that boasts more powerful effects the more mana is charged. This skill has a cooldown of 24 hours.

But if he activates the skill while placing a hand on the statue? It means Magic Spear’s cooldown would be reduced to 12 hours, half of the original.

‘This is truly an item made for me.’

The statue is about the size of a person.

Of course, it’s incredibly heavy accordingly.

There’s no way to carry this around and use it. On the other hand, Han-seong hardly ever moves except when changing bases.

‘Then shall we test it right away?’

Conveniently, the cooldown for Magic Spear stored in the bracelet yesterday had just reset. Han-seong activated the skill while touching the statue.

[Activating skill.]

[Remote: Magic Spear]

[Mana charging begins.]

As a result of pouring in mana while even drinking potions.

Over 6,000 mana was injected.

Meanwhile, during the process of charging mana, the statue’s clockwork spun rapidly.

And as a result.

[Magic Spear has been completed.]

[Current Charged Mana: 6,500]

[Detailed Effects]

▷Effective Range: Up to 80km

▷Impact Range: 130m radius

▷Loaded Amount: 5

▶Special Effect (1): Meteor Fall

▶Special Effect (2): Rune: Splitting Spear

Although the impact range decreased due to the effect of Splitting Spear, instead five mana spears with a range of 80km were loaded.

Moreover, if he activates the skill while holding the Mage’s Staff? The effective range and impact range would increase up to three times.

‘This is amazing.’

To think he could now use a skill of this power every 12 hours. Han-seong patted the statue’s head with a satisfied smile.

Just then.

Screech!

The motorcycle came to a stop.

They had arrived at their destination.

Realizing this, Han-seong focused on controlling the Phantom again. As he was getting off the motorcycle.

Familiar faces greeted him.

“Oh my, sir!”

“I’m so glad you’re safe.”

The people who had fled with the vigilante members right after the elite monster, the Moving Statue, appeared.

They apologized, saying they had only belatedly realized Han-seong wasn’t on the bus. On the other hand, Han-seong shook the Phantom’s head.

As if it didn’t matter at all.

‘Their decision was for the best.’

Ordinary people with almost no combat ability.

Rather, if they had waited for Han-seong instead of fleeing, the damage could have been even greater.

Fleeing is actually helping.

Thinking this, as he was finishing the conversation, suddenly a scene caught his attention.

“Hurry up and move!”

“We’re joining the advance team. Hurry!”

Men rushing through the streets in a hurry.

The armed men all had the same armband on their left forearm. They were vigilante members.

They were hurriedly boarding buses, when Sang-min, who had noticed this belatedly, approached and spoke to them.

“Hey, where are you going now?”

“Huh? Ah! We’re on our way to support the subjugation operation underway at Yuseong Elementary School, but…”

“If it’s that, don’t worry. It’s already been subjugated.”

“…Pardon?”

The vigilante member asked back with a blank expression.

Soon, as he was making a confused face.

“U-urgent news! Urgent news!”

Someone came running breathlessly from inside the City Hall building. An unarmed vigilante member. He soon shouted towards the members on the bus.

“The order to cancel the dispatch of support troops just came down! They say the elite monster in that area has been subjugated!”

The eyes of the armed members widened.

Probably the subjugation notification appeared to those who had participated in the subjugation with Sang-min. Someone who saw that must have withdrawn the support request.

“By the way, where’s the Commander?”

“Ah! That, about 10 minutes ago, he received a support request and went to the scene with some others…”

“…Looks like we missed each other.”

“Well, if we wait there, he’ll probably come.”

Ye-eun shrugged her shoulders.

Sang-min silently nodded and headed inside the City Hall. Han-seong, who had been quietly watching this, also moved the Phantom’s feet.

Thud thud thud!

Footsteps echoing in the corridor.

The City Hall building was like a fortress.

Barricades were installed not only at the main entrance and entrance, but also in the middle of corridors. Bullet marks were also found on walls here and there, as if proving that battles had taken place.

Three men blocked the way.

“Hey, Mr. Yoon.”

“Suddenly a subjugation notification appeared, but…”

“Did you perhaps handle it?”

Men who looked to be in their early to mid-50s.

Judging by the bandages on their arms, legs, and necks, they seemed to have been injured in battle.

Meanwhile, Sang-min shook his head.

“No, it wasn’t me.”

“What? Then who…”

“It was this person.”

Ye-eun pointed at the Phantom.

At those words, everyone looked at the Phantom.

“Oh, I haven’t seen that face before…”

“They say he came over from Sejong.”

“Ah, so he’s from outside.”

“Then did the three of you subjugate it?”

“No, we just watched.”

“…What?”

“This person took it down alone. Using numerous skills, bam bam bam!”

Ye-eun said with exaggerated gestures.

Meanwhile, the three men who heard the situation explanation looked at the Phantom with blank faces. A gaze mixing disbelief, surprise, confusion, and so on.

They looked like they had many questions.

At that moment, Sang-min blocked the way.

“I’ll report to the Commander first, then give you a detailed explanation later.”

“Oh, oh. Right. Do that.”

“Please do the hard work.”

Thanks to Sang-min’s timely intervention, the conversation ended early without dragging on. Han-seong asked while watching the three men going down the stairs.

“Those people are…”

“That’s Mr. Park who runs the fish shop, Mr. Jang who used to run the rice cake shop, and the Chicken Feet Uncle.”

That’s not what I was asking.

The last one isn’t even a name. That’s when the desired answer came from Sang-min.

“Those people are the ones who faced the Moving Statue with us earlier.”

“…Ah.”

Then it’s understandable that they’re curious.

After all, the elite monster they couldn’t defeat was suddenly subjugated. Han-seong nodded as if understanding and looked back at Sang-min.

“Then is the Commander also a shop owner?”

“No. The Commander is…”

“He’s a priest!”

“A priest?”

Ye-eun interrupted with the answer.

Han-seong tilted his head at the somewhat unexpected words. However, no detailed explanation followed, and Sang-min who had been walking in the lead stopped in his tracks.

At the end of the 2nd floor corridor.

Soon the door marked Commander’s Office opened.

“Come in.”

The interior of the room was simple.

All that could be seen were a sofa, a desk, and a map of Daejeon City hanging on the wall.

Other than that, there was a wooden cross decoration and a Bible placed on the desk. As if proving what Ye-eun had said earlier about a priest.

“Sit wherever you’re comfortable.”

At those words, Han-seong moved the Phantom to sit in the corner of the sofa. Sang-min sat on the opposite sofa, and Ye-eun sat next to the Phantom.

A moment of silence that followed.

Sang-min pointed at the Phantom’s helmet.

“By the way, aren’t you going to take off that helmet?”

“I can’t take it off due to circumstances.”

This much at least cannot be removed.

Inside the helmet was a mixture of part of a mannequin’s head and scrap metal, a sight that anyone would recognize as inhuman.

An awkward silence filled the room at the firm answer. Unable to bear this? Sang-min cleared his throat and opened his mouth.

“Ahem! It seems awkward to just sit quietly until the Commander arrives, so why don’t we introduce ourselves?”

“Oh, then I’ll go first!”

Ye-eun stood up as if she had been waiting.

She bowed her head slightly towards the Phantom with a friendly smile.

“I’m Jung Ye-eun, a Hunter belonging to the vigilante group. Thank you for helping us earlier.”

“Hunter as in…?”

“Ah, it’s a term we use within the vigilante group, referring to combat personnel who fight monsters. It comes from the meaning of hunting monsters.”

Now that I hear it, it’s a fitting term.

Han-seong nodded the Phantom’s head. Meanwhile, Ye-eun continued her introduction.

“I’m level 24. My job is Butcher.”

Butcher, huh.

It’s quite a vicious-sounding job, unlike her delicate appearance. As if sensing this thought.

Ye-eun laughed awkwardly.

“Haha, I think it might be because I ran a butcher shop before the Upheaval. Actually, my butchering skills are quite good.”

Butcher. A job in the Warrior class.

She said her main skills involve dismembering targets to identify weak spots. However, like earlier, most skills are useless against monsters that aren’t living creatures.

“By the way, I’m twenty-three years old. I look forward to working with you!”

Ye-eun bowed her head again.

From her tone of speaking and the way she doesn’t seem shy, she appears to have quite an outgoing personality.

After Ye-eun finished her self-introduction, next Sang-min stood up.

“Yoon Sang-min. Level 22. I’m a Druid. Before the Upheaval, I ran a flower shop in the market.”

“A flower shop… you say?”

“That uncle likes things like wildflowers. Isn’t it completely different from how he looks?”

“I can hear everything.”

Sang-min frowned.

As he just said, his job is Druid.

He said he has skills for handling plants or controlling animals like mice or birds. So he takes on roles like reconnaissance or cover.

“That’s enough about me.”

Sang-min, who closed his mouth, sat down.

Now it was Han-seong’s turn. He made the Phantom stand up and opened his mouth.

“Kang Han-seong. I’m a Mage. I’m twenty-seven years old.”

“Hmm? A Mage, you say?”

Ye-eun asked back, seeming a bit surprised.

Sang-min had a similar expression. After a while of silence, Sang-min narrowed his eyes.

“…You’re not perhaps the Mage of Fire Thunder?”

“Come on, no way. That Mage is known to be in Seoul, right? He’d be busy enough subjugating monsters there, why would he come all the way down here?”

“Hmm, that’s true, but…”

Han-seong neither denied nor confirmed.

He was planning to reveal his identity if they kept pressing, but there was no further questioning.

“Anyway, it’s interesting. I know there’s a job called Mage, but this is the first time I’ve actually seen one.”

“Me too. Oh, what did you do before the Upheaval?”

“I worked as a webtoon artist.”

“Wow, really? I used to read a lot of webtoons before! What kind of webtoon was it?”

“Ah, that’s…”

Why are you curious about that?

It’s not like you’ll be reading webtoons anymore.

As he was pondering whether to answer or not, Sang-min conveniently brought up a different topic.

“More importantly, what level are you?”

“Ah! I was curious about that too.”

Ye-eun’s eyes sparkled.

On the other hand, Han-seong pondered for a moment.

‘How should I answer?’

Honestly? Or should I lower it a bit?

Actually, there was no need to ponder. There was nothing particularly to gain by hiding his level.

So he just answered truthfully.

“I’m level 43.”

“What…?”

Sang-min asked back blankly.

Ye-eun spat out the water she was drinking, and Sang-min, who ended up covered in it, immediately frowned.

“Don’t joke around.”

“It’s true.”

“…Alright. If you don’t want to say, we’ll just assume it’s higher than ours. You must be, since you took down an elite monster even with low health.”

Sang-min shook his head.

He clearly doesn’t seem to believe Han-seong’s answer. The same was true for Ye-eun.

Han-seong silently closed his mouth.

‘If you don’t believe me, that’s fine.’

As long as he revealed the truth, there shouldn’t be any problems even if the facts come to light later. Just as silence was about to fall again, Ye-eun spoke up.

“By the way, what’s your relationship with that lady you were looking for earlier? Are you perhaps her son?”

“That’s right.”

“Huh? R-really?”

Ye-eun asked back with a surprised face.

Sang-min chided her for this.

“You should have realized that much already.”

“…You’re talking as if you knew from the beginning?”

“Of course I had some idea. If it wasn’t a family relationship, there would be no reason to risk his life coming all the way here from Sejong.”

“Ugh, that’s true, I can’t argue with that.”

Ye-eun frowned.

But only for a moment, she soon recovered her original expression and turned back to the Phantom to ask.

“If it’s okay to ask, what do you plan to do after you find your mother?”

“I’ll look for other family members.”

“And after that’s all done?”

“Well, then…”

Han-seong trailed off.

Actually, he hadn’t thought about what comes after that.

But thinking about it now, creating a safe zone would probably be the priority. That way his family could live there with peace of mind.

‘Then after that, we’d have to prepare for the apocalypse.’

The apocalypse. Invaders from other dimensions.

Besides the Chaos that Swallows Stars, there were still three more enemies threatening Earth.

Only after repelling all their offensives could they truly regain their original daily lives. So if he wanted true peace, he would have to face the apocalypse.

As he was quietly finishing that thought.

Ye-eun suddenly spoke up.

“If you haven’t decided yet, how about joining the vigilante group? With your skills, the Commander would welcome you with open arms.”

“Plus, if strong people stick together, we can overcome crises more easily. What do you think?”

Ye-eun’s eyes shone like stars.

Feeling burdened by her attitude, Han-seong slightly moved the Phantom’s body backwards. On the other hand, Ye-eun persistently followed, and as he was feeling troubled by this.

Sang-min stopped her.

“That’s enough.”

“But why?”

“He hasn’t even met his family yet, it’s obvious he’d feel pressured hearing such things.”

“Ah, you’re right. I’m sorry.”

Hearing Sang-min’s words, Ye-eun quickly apologized as if she had finally grasped the situation. As Han-seong was waving his hand as if to say it was okay.

Knock knock!

Suddenly there was a sound of someone knocking on the door.

Everyone’s gaze turned to the entrance, and soon after the door opened. Then a man in his early 60s appeared.

“Excuse me.”

“Oh? Commander?”

Ye-eun’s eyes widened.

“Why are you knocking on your own office door…”

“Haha, well, I heard we had a visitor. Ah, I suppose this is our guest?”

Sparse white hair. A wrinkled face.

He was wearing the attire of a cathedral priest and had an old rosary on his wrist.

The old man wearing large black-rimmed glasses looked at the Phantom with a gentle smile.

At this, Han-seong immediately activated Detection.

Soon the old man’s information was revealed.

[Name]: Lee Seok-hwan

[Owned Skills]:

▷Healing Touch (+Recovery Aura)

▷Divine Shield (+Barrier Field)

Holy Weapon, Holy Armor, Dispel, Anti-Magic, Mind Eye, Strength

‘Archpriest?’

Is it a job similar to Healer?

No, looking at the skills, it seems like a higher tier than Healer. Not only healing skills, but also various skills like protective barriers.

As he was secretly viewing the information like that. Suddenly Seok-hwan knelt on the floor.

“I’m sorry, but before we exchange greetings, may I offer a prayer? I hadn’t been able to pray for the two who died rushing here…”

“Of course.”

“Certainly! We’ll pray too.”

The two people who lost their lives in the process of subjugating the Moving Statue earlier.

It seems to be a prayer for them.

Seok-hwan closed his eyes and clasped his hands together, and Sang-min and Ye-eun also prayed for the fallen.

Some time later.

“Thank you for waiting.”

Seok-hwan, having finished praying, sat on the sofa.

Next to Sang-min. He extended his hand to the Phantom with a benevolent smile.

“I’m Father Lee Seok-hwan of the Daejeon Vigilante Group. I’m serving as the Commander, though it’s more than I deserve.”

“I’m Kang Han-seong.”

As they were finishing the handshake and introductions.

Suddenly Sang-min interjected into the conversation.

“I’ll report on the situation first.”

The process of subjugating the elite monster and how they were able to eliminate it thanks to Han-seong’s help. When the detailed explanation ended, Seok-hwan bowed his head to the Phantom.

“Thank you so much. Thanks to your help, brother, we were able to minimize casualties.”

“It’s nothing. I just did what needed to be done.”

Han-seong answered nonchalantly.

He had no intention of dragging out this conversation in the first place. There was something more important.

“There’s something I’d like to ask Father.”

“Yes, I’ll answer anything I can.”

“Do you perhaps know this person?”

The photo taken out of the Phantom’s pocket.

Meanwhile, Seok-hwan, who received the photo, narrowed his eyes while adjusting his glasses.

“Hmm, this person is…”

I wonder if he really knows her? I hope he does.

Han-seong waited for Seok-hwan’s answer with a trembling heart. And finally, the answer came.

“Ah, it’s Sister Jung Hyun-sook.”

The moment he heard that name.

Unknowingly, all the strength left his body.

Because it was his mother’s name. Meanwhile, Seok-hwan, who was looking closely at the photo, kept adding words.

“Oh, come to think of it, the person next to her must be her husband. I believe his name was… Brother Kang Il-han, is that right?”

“…Yes, that’s correct.”

First his mother’s name, and now his father’s.

It’s certain. This person definitely knows his parents. Han-seong spoke with a choked voice.

Then there was only one thing left to do.

Just ask about his parents’ well-being. So Han-seong asked with a trembling voice.