episode_0143

143.

The Pungwol Clan.

Founded by one of the legends of South Korea, the clan holds significant influence in Gyeongsangnam-do.

As the leading clan, they possess immense power, wealth, and reputation.

And they have worked hard to maintain public order with their strength.

Since the Pungwol Clan took charge of public safety, the criminals in Gyeongsangnam-do were cautious.

The criminals feared the members of the Pungwol Clan more than the police or associations.

In fact, one could say that the Pungwol Clan was the group protecting Gyeongsangnam-do from monsters and villains.

But now…

“Time can be cruel, can’t it?”

“Ugh, haa, huff.”

“I might sound a bit hypocritical since I lost, but honestly… disappointed, right? If I knew it would be like this, I would have faced it alone.”

*Cough.*

…Gu Hwanhyung, the representative and legendary hero of the Pungwol Clan, could only choke on his blood and taste humiliation.

A girl with ash-gray hair was mocking him, but there was nothing he could do.

Because he had lost.

Not only him, but other clan members were also lying unconscious like trash. There was no one to save him. No one.

“Hey, everyone seems busy dealing with that monster.”

Yoo Dahee tilted her head and looked in a certain direction.

In the middle of the city, a monster was rampaging like crazy.

A giant monster spewing flames, as if trying to burn everything in the world.

The giant was destroying the civilization humanity had built as if it were a toy.

“Aaah!”

“Fire, no! Please!”

“Medics…!”

“Damn it! Quickly evacuate the citizens!”

“Ugh, nooo! Ugh, aaah!”

Every time the giant breathed fire, waved its hands, or stomped its feet, the screams of people echoed like an orchestra.

Citizens, police, heroes, everyone was engulfed in chaos and turned into mere ashes.

The overwhelming power of the giant.

It was a level of strength almost unseen before.

“Hmm. Is he stronger than the Ouroboros we summoned last time?”

The name of that giant was Surtr.

Originally, he was supposed to appear as a raid boss, the embodiment of fire.

But with the twist in the original story, the embodiment of fire appeared in a place where the protagonist and his team were not present, turning Gyeongsangnam-do into a battlefield.

“Do you think your clan members and people can defeat that giant? Aren’t you curious?”

Most of the Pungwol Clan members were mobilized to face the fire giant.

As a result, the clan’s main forces were weakened.

Gu Hwanhyung, as the clan’s representative, couldn’t act recklessly, and being old and frail, he decided to stay in the clan to handle rear support. However, he was caught off guard by Yoo Dahee’s group.

Still, they had decent forces guarding against any unforeseen circumstances, but it wasn’t enough to stop Yoo Dahee’s attack.

“Everyone seems so busy dealing with that giant.”

Yoo Dahee was surprisingly strong for her age.

Her talent, abilities, and strength were far beyond common sense.

If she had used that power for good, she could have achieved everything she desired. Money, fame, power, everything.

But why waste her talent on burning people?

Why…

“Huh? Ahaha. Why does everyone keep asking the same questions? It’s getting annoying to answer by now, don’t you think?”

Yudahee chuckled and shrugged her shoulders.

She was tired of these kinds of questions.

It was getting annoying.

She raised her arm slightly, watching the flames burning in the city.

“Just wanted to see the world burn?”

“You…”

At Yudahee’s insane answer, Gu Hyeonghwan gritted his teeth, but Yudahee suddenly laughed as if it was a joke.

“Ah, just kidding, just kidding.”

She waved her hand and whispered, “Actually, I want to show people that the era built by heroes is coming to an end.”

“Why?”

“Well…”

Yudahee smiled mischievously.

“…I don’t like heroes.”

Gu Hyeonghwan realized in that moment.

Yudahee, who had always joked and laughed, was sincere in her hatred for heroes.

“Grrr, grrr, grrr!”

At that moment, the thunderous roar of a giant pierced through Yuda’s group and Gu Hyeonghwan’s ears.

As Yudahee turned her head, she could see the giant collapsing weakly.

“Wh-what?!”

The raging fire had disappeared, and the giant lay motionless on the dirty ground, splattering blood.

A moment of silence.

It seemed like it was dead.

The avatar of fire.

“Whoa, ahh!”

“Damn, finally dead, you damn monster.”

“Ugh, my arm…”

“Injured, hey! Someone take care of the injured!”

“Dammit, I thought today was my last day, seriously.”

With the combined efforts of the police, mercenaries, and heroes, they finally succeeded in defeating the powerful monster.

People hugged each other and cheered.

Some cried as they looked at the dead bodies, others writhed in pain from serious injuries, but everyone rejoiced at the death of the giant.

The cheers reached Yudahee’s ears.

“Everyone coming together to fight against great evil and emerge victorious… Hmm, what a magnificent sight.”

There seemed to be a considerable number of casualties, but Yudahee admired the people who didn’t give up and managed to defeat the avatar of fire in the end.

Honestly, she thought they wouldn’t be able to defeat it until reinforcements arrived from other regions.

But they managed to subdue the giant in a short amount of time.

Well, credit where credit is due.

Impressive, those guys.

“But you know.”

Yudahee looked at the people cheering and slightly frowned.

“I don’t like this kind of spectacle.”

The laughter, cheers, and joyful faces of the people… she really didn’t like it.

“So, I have to let them know.”

She turned her head sharply.

In front of Yudahee was Gu Hyeonghwan, who had no strength left to resist.

“I have to make it clear to them that an unwanted era is approaching.”

“Wait, what?”

Yudahee had reached Gu Hyeonghwan in an instant, grabbing his throat tightly with her rough hand.

“Gah, g-gasp?!”

“We must make it clear to those people that the glorious era has already passed, right?”

And a few days later.

A package resembling a delivery box was found at the Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Office.

A suspicious package with no shipping label.

Who could have left this here?

People cautiously checked the box, fearing it might be a box terror, but some who looked inside fell asleep on the spot.

Because inside the box.

It was the head of Goo Hwanhyung, the pride of Gyeongsangnam-do, who had gone missing some time ago, beautifully packaged after being treated.

***

Clang!

“Ugh!”

Yi Siwoon dropped his sword.

The training steel wooden sword spun in the air and soon fell.

Thud! The sound echoed throughout the training room, and Yi Siwoon gently rubbed his wrist and let out a small sigh.

He never thought he would lose like this.

Thanks to the hellish training of the swordsmen from early summer until now, he thought there were only a few who could dare to face him in his age group.

At most, Jin Soyeon, Yoo Dahee, Baek Yurin, and Kang Daehan?

But now, one more person was added here.

Even the swordsmen of the world were quite impressed by Yi Siwoon’s skills, ranking him from mid to high tier to a top tier hero.

He even mentioned that he might be able to catch up with the monster named Baek Yurin in the future.

To be so easily defeated by a guy he never expected.

Yi Siwoon’s expression turned a little bitter.

He wanted to fight a little more, but since he had already lost his sword, there was no way he could do anything more.

He didn’t even have the confidence to fight that guy without his sword.

That’s how excellent that guy’s skills were.

Even more than Yi Siwoon.

“I… I lost.”

“Hmm.”

The guy who was holding the sword towards Yi Siwoon nodded his head at Yi Siwoon’s surrender and put down his sword.

He felt a bit strange about defeating Yi Siwoon.

Of course, he thought he could easily defeat Yi Siwoon, but it felt a bit strange to actually win the fight, right?

Because Yi Siwoon was originally a mountain that could never be crossed.

Although it was a sparring match, he felt a bit proud of winning against the male protagonist of this world.

‘…What an absurd ability.’

Yi Jinhyuk thought as he slightly clenched his hand.

For the past few weeks, Yi Jinhyuk had conducted numerous experiments to discover his extraordinary ability, and finally realized something.

That the extraordinary ability he possessed was of a very absurd kind.

In other words, he could become infinitely stronger if he completed a specific condition, but on the contrary, he could become infinitely weaker if he failed to complete a specific condition.

The peak was abnormally high, but the bottom was also abnormally destroyed.

‘If this ability is known to others, I won’t be able to use it at all…’

An extraordinary ability that would be useless if known to others.

With considerable risk, it had an immense potential.

He didn’t know where the limit of the ability was, but theoretically, he could become stronger than anyone else?

Theoretically, that is.

“I’ve been hiding this level of skill until now… I fought you once during the midterms, but even then, I was just watching…”

“No, I’m sorry.”

“Even during the performance evaluation, it seemed like the Black Hand Long-Armed Monkey was hit by your attack and weakened rapidly… It was all thanks to you, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

Thanks to the apple juice.

– Clap clap clap.

Yoo Seolhyun, who had been quietly watching the sparring, approached with a smile, clapping her hands.

She had a look of having enjoyed the interesting spectacle.

“Hehe. You really defeated Yi Siwoon? Well, considering your true identity, it was a natural result, right?”

“….”

Yi Jinhyuk scratched his cheek.

Due to the lie he had told Yoo Seolhyun about his hidden identity(?), she was firmly under the misconception.

Normally, if he was an ordinary person, he would have dismissed it as nonsense and ignored it. But Yoo Seol-hyun had a keen interest in what Lee Jin-hyuk was hiding.

Thanks to that, it was quite easy to deceive Yoo Seol-hyun.

Well, he didn’t believe it when I said it, so I showed it to him directly.

Who he really was.

“Identity?”

“Oh, come on, Lee Jin-hyuk, you still haven’t told him? Wasn’t that the agreement?”

Yoo Seol-hyun lightly laughed at Lee Si-woon’s questioning expression.

“It may be hard to believe, but Lee Jin-hyuk, he’s actually… that person.”

“Who?”

“You know, that person who was quite famous as the villain Baekjeong a few years ago.”

“Villain Baekjeong? Oh, really?”

“Yes.”

Yoo Seol-hyun nodded and said.

“Villainante. Lee Jin-hyuk was actually Villainante?”

Lee Si-woon reacted with a bit of surprise.

He looked at Lee Jin-hyuk as if seeing him again for the first time.

If it was Villainante, wasn’t he a quite famous dark hero?

But was it true that Lee Jin-hyuk was Villainante?

Then he must have been active since middle school, at that age, with that level of skill…?

Well, thinking about cases like Yoo Da-hee, Baek Yoo-rin, and Jin So-yeon, it might not be entirely impossible.

So, did he focus on his studies during the day and act as Villainante at night? Hmm.

No matter how small the land of South Korea is, it was still quite surprising.

“…”

Lee Jin-hyuk just smiled without saying a word.

Of course, it was obvious that he wasn’t Villainante.

Lee Jin-hyuk had been busy studying all night since old times. He couldn’t have been active at night like Villainante.

But he had no choice but to lie that he was Villainante, right?

Because lying that he was Villainante was very effective in utilizing his extraordinary abilities.

Of course, it was a bit risky because there was a possibility of the lie being exposed.

But wasn’t Villainante already dead?

The sword and scabbard, which could be considered as Villainante’s unique belongings, were already secured by Lee Jin-hyuk.

Thanks to that, it was quite easy to lie that he was Villainante.

Well, considering Villainante’s actions and activity hours, he might find contradictions with Lee Jin-hyuk, but so what?

After all, Villainante was a figure who operated in secret with his face covered.

Even if there were some contradictions in Villainante’s actions, he could just claim to be an imitator who mimicked him.

In fact, there were quite a few people who committed crimes imitating Villainante, so it was enough.