Part 1 Chapter 10 30

It’s obvious, but the protagonist’s battle with Changyeom’s Phoenix was limited to a battle with the monster Phoenix.

Unlike other executives, it was a mandatory event where there was no fighting in human, monstrous human, or monster forms, so Phoenix could only fight in its monster form.

So, what was Phoenix’s fighting style as an executive? I was quite curious about that, but there was no way to find out.

Even on a personal route, Phoenix never fought in human form, and it was common for half of the enemies to burn away with just a flick of a finger.

So, in Phoenix’s body, I fought using the combat style I was most familiar with, the pugilism I learned from the true Fire Fist Kim Cheol-su.

Phoenix’s body, capable of infinite regeneration and resurrection with just a little endurance of death’s pain, became the driving force for my overwhelming and swift victories.

And Changyeom volunteered to correct my fighting style. From the moment Changyeom designated the background created in the mental space as ‘Yeouido Hangang Park,’ I was certain that a battle would be inevitable.

But.

I didn’t expect this.

“If you don’t move, you’ll get shot!”

Changyeom was a gun-wielding ranged attacker.

* * *

Bang!

A magic bullet grazed my earlobe. I dodged, so it was my earlobe; if I hadn’t, it would have been my eye. The bullet was overflowing with murderous intent, and Changyeom was fully intent on killing me.

Thwack!

Two bullets were fired in succession. One from the front, and another from the right. I raised my arms and legs to block the attacks, each following a different trajectory.

“Don’t block, dodge!”

Changyeom yelled at me. At the same time, the bullet spiraled and pierced my armor.

Thwip!

A hole was torn in my armor. The bullet that pierced my body lodged inside. My wrist and calf felt searing hot, as if they would tear off, but I endured the pain and ran in the direction Changyeom had yelled from.

“Mana keeps flowing out!”

“Just win and then heal!”

“Whatever!”

Changyeom ran sideways and aimed a gun at me. Unlike her image color, blue, one was red and the other was yellow.

“The red one is called Apo, and the yellow one is Calypse!”

“So, Apocalypse for short?!”

“Correct!”

Apocalypse spat fire. It was the worst naming, but the worst power. Changyeom was refining her blue flames into bullets from her twin pistols and firing them at me.

I dodged the magic bullet aimed at my head by turning my head,

dodged the bullet aimed at my stomach by twisting my body sideways,

and dodged the bullet aimed at my foot by stopping my steps.

Including those fired previously, seven bullets had been shot at me. Normally, she would have to change magazines, but since Changyeom used her mana as bullets, there was no need to reload.

“Then why are you doing a reloading motion?!”

“It’s called having leeway, isn’t it? Fufufu.”

Changyeom, truly at ease, even tilted the gun barrel sideways and shrugged her head.

“Alright! Let’s do this!”

I patched up my wounds with flames and kicked off the ground, running. Changyeom erased her smile and aimed her gun at me as I ran in a zigzag.

Bang!

The gun barrel spat fire. The muzzle was aimed at my heart. It was an angle where a direct hit could kill me.

Thwip!

So, I twisted my body just slightly, avoiding a direct hit to my heart. The magic bullet had immense stopping power, but I forcibly pushed mana into my body to overcome the recoil of the impact.

“Tch!”

And thanks to that stubbornness, I succeeded in reaching Changyeom’s immediate vicinity.

“Do you like pestering from afar?”

I raised my clenched fist from below my waist. Changyeom crossed her two pistols in an X to block my fist, then leaped back, deflecting my attack.

“I won’t miss!”

Once I closed the distance, I wouldn’t let it widen again. Before Changyeom could fire a magic bullet, I closed the distance again and threw a punch.

Changyeom grimaced fiercely at my fist flying towards her face. And I read Changyeom’s thoughts.

– Aiming for the face, how awful.

But I retorted.

– Gender equality. And respect for the strong.

Man or woman, who cares about the face when I’m about to lose? I thrust my gauntleted fist at Changyeom’s face.

“Hmph!”

Changyeom dodged my punch by snapping her head back. At the same time, she raised her gun barrel towards me.

Shooting at point-blank range wouldn’t work. The Fire Fist’s punch was faster than a gunshot. Before Changyeom could pull the trigger, I threw another punch at her abdomen much faster.

“Fool.”

Changyeom’s subsequent action, as she twisted the corner of her mouth at me, was an insane act that far exceeded my expectations.

Clang!

My fist hit something. Changyeom subtly pushed her pistol into the trajectory of my punch.

“Damn it-“

A gun that couldn’t be broken by a fist was ultimately no different from a blunt weapon held in hand. Changyeom, having deflected my punch with her pistol, stepped on my thigh and leaped up, placing one foot on my shoulder and aiming her gun.

“You really don’t listen at all.”

Changyeom smiled brightly with the sun at her back. The scorching hot gun barrel was pressed against my forehead.

“……I lost. My defeat.”

I readily admitted defeat. Changyeom nodded, smiling broadly.

“Cool your head a bit.”

Bang.

My consciousness flew away again.

* * *

“No matter what, isn’t it a bit much to calm someone down by killing them?”

“What are you talking about? If you’re annoyed, try winning.”

Changyeom rested her head on my thigh and giggled. It seemed she could easily materialize furniture filled only with the highest quality products, as if mimicking my penthouse in Yeouido.

“Do you know how many times you’ve died to me today?”

“47 times.”

“Correct. And how many times did you successfully attack me?”

“……0 times.”

It was embarrassing, but true. I hadn’t dealt a single point of damage to Changyeom.

“It’s a bit late to say this, but I don’t understand. Why does an Otherworld Spirit suddenly have a gun, Katana?”

“Excuse me. Where is the region I’m in charge of?”

Changyeom asked a question in return. Knowing that she intended to answer, I readily replied to her question.

“America.”

“Wrong. It’s the Americas.”

“……All that vast land by yourself?”

“Yep.”

Changyeom operated the remote control and brought up a world map on the TV. On the flat world map depicting the five oceans and six continents, Changyeom began coloring each region with seven different colors.

“First, Rusalka of Snowy Night. She was in charge of East Asia, Russia, and the entire Arctic.”

“Right. And then she drifted down to the Sea of Okhotsk and Heo Yun-hwan picked her up.”

“It’s quite a coincidence that she didn’t fall in Japan but in the East Sea, isn’t it?”

“……Anyway, next.”

Changyeom giggled and moved the screen to the next region. Central Asia and the general East Asia, with China to its east, were hatched in gray.

“Chaos Dragon is here. If he hadn’t stolen someone else’s burial ground and hidden underground, he would probably have controlled the largest territory, unlike the other executives.”

“Because Chaos Dragon was inactive, the other executives gradually expanded their influence eastward.”

I rummaged through my memories and placed a flag on the map. Changyeom read my intention and changed the flag’s color.

“Next is Gaetcheongwangma, right?”

“He was discovered in India. But I don’t know where he is now. I don’t.”

I looked down at Changyeom. Changyeom just smiled and didn’t answer.

“Alright. Just tell me this instead. Is he awake now too?”

“Yes.”

“That’s enough then.”

If she were the type to tell me what she was up to 20 years ago, she would have blabbed already. I had long since given up, and temporarily removed the red-yellow flag corresponding to Gaetcheongwangma.

“Well then, Fenrir is definitely in the UK.”

“Perhaps she was there and then moved to Northern Europe?”

“Probably, right? And then she probably devoured Rusalka, who came out to intercept her.”

I wondered where she learned such a strange and archaic way of speaking; it must have been from living in the British royal family and learning by listening.

I couldn’t even imagine that Gawain, a core member of the Round Table, would be so brazenly infiltrating the British royal family, which he frequented daily, as a cat.

“As they say, ‘Even a dog at a village school for three years can recite poetry.'”

“Next is Jiryung.”

Jiryung’s Hydra. I roughly guessed its location.

“Greece, right?”

“That was the place where Hydra was awakened into Jiryung, but I don’t know where the real one is. To begin with.”

Changyeom drew a circle around the African region.

“He conquered all of this and came up, didn’t he? The battleground where he awakened was just the Parthenon Temple.”

“Didn’t you tell him to hide somewhere?”

“I…. Ah, I almost fell for it again.”

Changyeom poked my side and grumbled. I thought it was a chance to extract information, but unfortunately, Changyeom didn’t fall for it.

“Well, it probably doesn’t matter if I tell you. They’re probably just awake, but they’ve gone somewhere else, haven’t they?”

“Don’t they usually set up a base right in their starting area?”

“Don’t you know that if you’re poor and have no resources, you have to move to another sweet spot and pioneer it?”

“I’m the type to dig in and start right where I am.”

Changyeom and I had differing opinions. But since there were no other issues, we decided to continue the strategy meeting for now.

“Then all that’s left is Azhdahak.”

“Leave Azhdahak alone. He’ll probably come running out if you just annoy him a little at night anyway.”

“Right? Then the priority is….”

I set the order from top to bottom.

“Karna, Hydra, Azhdahak, Fenrir.”

“Gaetcheongwangma, Jiryung, Azhdahak, Jeolpung.”

“Isn’t there no need to specifically correct them to their Spirit names?”

“I don’t want to call them by names they were brainwashed into by others. Hmph.”

Changyeom closed her eyes and opened her mouth. I plucked the stem off a strawberry placed beside me and put it into her mouth.

“It’s a mental world, can you taste it?”

“It’s recalling memories. A familiar taste. Everyone does that, right? It’s like that.”

Changyeom opened her eyes. Her pupils, burning with blue flames, sparkled more than ever.

“In that sense, how wonderful would it be if you took me to a strawberry buffet?”

“If I say I’ll go, will you let me go? Huh?”

“……Hmm, hmmm.”

Changyeom began to ponder seriously. It was quite amusing that she was suddenly comparing her concern for me with her preference for strawberries, but I silently put the next strawberry into Changyeom’s mouth and self-mocked.

“It’s fine. You’ll probably just think about it and then drop it anyway. You wouldn’t think of keeping me tied here forever, so when I get back, I’ll take you right away.”

“…….”

Changyeom mumbled the strawberry and fell silent. Her furrowed brows indicated a deep internal conflict.

“First, I need to make Gaetcheongwangma an ally.”

“……Since he’s a fighter, you just need to create a suitable place for him to fight, don’t you?”

Changyeom, who had swallowed the strawberry, operated the remote control and brought up a calendar. The calendar was densely filled with the schedule I had input into my mind.

“Ugh, why is there no empty space?”

Changyeom, perhaps not having read the schedule I set, recoiled at the densely packed hourly plans. Yet, she seemed curious about how I lived.

“Let’s see. July 3rd, take Fenrir for a 6-mint challenge? Visit New Seoul and get a dog collar? If awakened, don’t buy, if unawakened, tie her up in the penthouse? What were you trying to do?”

“I was planning to keep her by my side and raise her until she came to her senses.”

It was a plan that had become utterly useless now. I erased all schedules related to Fenrir.

“And let’s see. Persuade Baekhui-a to bring her to Incheon. Hmm, good. The ship she operates seems quite comfortable, so I’d like to ride it too. Besides Baekhui-a, also….”

I covered Changyeom’s eyes.

“Move your hand.”

“It’d be better if you didn’t look.”

“I’ll look first and then decide.”

Changyeom moved my hand away and checked the schedule. It was densely filled with the locations of the Cubes I remembered.

“……Oh.”

Changyeom blushed and closed the schedule. I also couldn’t meet Changyeom’s gaze.

“……Was our last aerial date that impressive? Is your top priority just thinking about dates once you get a Cube?”

“……Since I’m traveling all over the world anyway, that much isn’t bad, is it? A person living this busy life should have that much leisure.”

“You just have thoughts of meeting me in your head, fufufu. Do you like me that much?”

“Well, it’s definitely better than 200 billion won, but, hmm….”

I toyed with Changyeom’s hair with my hand.

“Is there anywhere you want to go? If there’s a place you want, we’ll set that as our travel destination. …Though Europe or Southwest Asia might require a bit more careful planning.”

“You’re going to push through with it even after your date plans have all been exposed?”

“I’ll make a new one.”

“Fufufu, that’s good. Then let’s talk about that when we part ways.”

Changyeom snapped her fingers. The surrounding background changed, and we returned to Yeouido Hangang Park.

“You’ve rested enough, right?”

“Yes.”

Changyeom rose from the bench and stretched. Her pure white, one-piece dress revealed Changyeom’s naked body, which had no underwear, but I had no time to feel any lust for that body.

“Bang!”

Changyeom fired her gun without warning.

I shattered the bench and rolled my body away.

An hour later.

Changyeom shoved the back of my head into the Han River and pulled the trigger.

48th defeat.

I lost consciousness again.