Serial Murders in Stozanya City

The room salon manager, with his keen instincts honed from years in the gangster business, immediately sensed danger from the murderous glint in the eyes and the intimidating aura of the chaebol heirs.

‘If I screw up, I’m dead meat?’

Victor stepped forward and asked,

“Is there a problem with nobles killing commoners?”

“Hahaha. Not at all. But we’ve suffered immense losses. I don’t know if we can keep the room salon going…”

Victor pulled a pouch filled with jewels and gold coins from his pocket and tossed it onto the floor.

Tuk

“That’s for the fun we had tonight. Take it.”

The room salon manager picked up the pouch with a smile.

“Hehehe. Thank you. I’m glad you had a good time.”

The room salon manager, fearing any fallout, quickly disappeared with his gangster juniors.

Once only the Heroes remained, Florike shouted in an excited voice.

“Let’s kill all those bastards protesting in front of my pharmaceutical company! They’ve been pissing me off!”

“Okay~!”

The nine Heroes raced towards Florike’s Vogue Pharmaceutical Company, showing no signs of fatigue.

Vogue Pharmaceutical Company was notorious for coercively injecting experimental drug candidates into its workers and firing them without compensation when side effects arose.

In front of Vogue Pharmaceutical Company, hundreds of workers and their families, suffering from rashes and coughs due to the drug’s side effects, were protesting, while security forces physically blocked the pharmaceutical company’s main gate.

“Vogue Pharmaceutical Company, compensate the human experimentation workers! Compensate!”

“Give me back my youth! Kuluk! Kuluk!“

As the nine Heroes approached, a worker spotted Florike and yelled,

“There’s the granddaughter of the Vogue Pharmaceutical Company chairman! I got skin cancer after applying your chemicals! Pay for my treatment!”

As the worker rushed forward, Florike sneered.

“Kyahahaha! Commoners are meant to be used like bugs!”

“What did you say!”

As the worker tried to grab Florike by the collar, Florike punched the worker in the head, splattering it.

Kwajik!

Silence fell instantly.

Florike shouted in an excited voice.

“Let our Heroes teach those bugs a lesson!”

The nine Heroes simultaneously roared and charged into the protesters, beginning their slaughter.

Kwajik Peok Pajijik

A worker, enraged, swung a hammer at Victor.

“Uwaaa! You devils!”

Victor flicked the hammer with his hand, changing its trajectory and causing it to swing harmlessly.

Victor jumped and smashed his knee into the worker’s head, crushing it and killing him instantly.

Pulseok.

The moment Victor landed, he shot forward and pierced the heart of a sick worker’s mother with his hand, shouting,

“Euhahahaha! I am a Hero!”

The sick worker wailed and charged.

“Mother!”

Victor side-kicked the sick worker in the stomach.

Peoeok!

The worker’s spine shattered, and the worker bent over backward in a “ㄱ” shape.

The protesters scattered in terror, screaming.

“Uwaaaa! Everyone’s gone crazy!”

“Kyaaaak! Where are the security forces!”

The security forces, being the heirs of the Stozanya chaebols, couldn’t touch them, but as the situation worsened, they approached the chaebol heirs and tried to dissuade them.

“Victor-nim. What are you doing? Chairman Stozanya will be angry. Please calm down.”

“Florike-nim. Why are you acting like this, when you were such a quiet young lady? The chairman will be furious.”

As the security forces tried to stop the Hero chaebol heirs and send them home, the surrounding protesters and workers shouted in anger.

“You bastards! So many people have died, and you’re letting them off because they’re chaebol heirs!”

“Kill those murderers now! If a worker commits murder, you kill them on the spot!”

The security team leader came and shouted at the workers aggressively.

“You were illegally occupying and protesting in front of the Vogue Pharmaceutical Company’s main gate! Consider yourselves lucky to be alive! The security forces will investigate this case!”

A worker shouted in anger.

“How many workers have chaebol heirs killed so far! Are you going to sweep it under the rug again this time!”

At that moment, one of the chaebol heirs raised his middle finger and sneered.

“Poohehe! You should have been born as a chaebol heir too. Let’s do it by the book~ Call your lawyer!”

A security officer stopped the chaebol heir.

“Young master. Please restrain yourself.”

The chaebol heirs left the scene at the security forces’ recommendation.

In the hearts of the workers, the anger of wanting to smash everything was still burning fiercely.

The Dark Humans around them snapped photos of the scene with mana cameras.

That very day, the labor union quickly published the photos and details of the incident in propaganda and scattered them throughout the streets of Stozanya City.

The brutal acts committed by the chaebol heirs against the workers and the unreasonable actions of the security forces were made known to all the citizens of Stozanya City.

With the rift between workers and the wealthy already deep, this incident became the fuse for an explosion.

Approximately 800,000 workers and their families in Stozanya City, armed with clubs, hammers, burning torches, and other weapons, turned into rioters and poured into the streets.

Dark Humans and labor union members incited the rioters.

“We are not bugs!”

“We can only win our rights if we fight!”

The worker rioters advanced towards the middle-class streets, wealthy streets, and factory areas, destroying and burning every luxurious item and building in sight, and killing anyone who looked rich.

“There’s a car! Burn it!”

“Uwaaaa!”

They threw burning torches and poured oil on the car, and the car burst into flames.

One worker struck a woman covered in luxury goods with a hoe.

“Kyaaaa!”

Pajik.

In the factory area, workers entered the factories and smashed the machinery with hammers, killing the remaining factory executives.

“My son lost his finger because of this machine! Goddamn it!”

Kwang Kwang Kwaaang

One worker pointed at an executive and threatened him.

“Do you remember hitting us?”

“I, I’m sorry!”

The workers collectively beat the executive with clubs, and the executive screamed.

“Kkeuaaaa!”

The executive was killed with a full-body fracture.

The shops in the city center were in chaos as workers looted them, taking advantage of the opportunity.

“Wow! This is a Mermes bag! I can’t believe I’m getting to hold this!”

The workers smashed the display cases with hammers and clubs.

Jjaenggeurang

“This jewel is mine! Hahaha! This is the first time I’ve touched a jewel like this!”

The middle class was quietly hiding in their homes, and the Stozanya members, as the situation became serious, had all fled to Marquis Miriam’s mansion.

The mansion of Marquis Miriam was densely guarded by knights and soldiers.

In the mansion, Marquis Miriam scolded the Stozanya members.

“This happened because your kids killed too many workers at once! What are you going to do about it!”

Stozanya Chairman Lucian bowed his head and apologized.

“I’m really sorry. The kids lack situational awareness.”

“Where are the kids!”

“That’s… we haven’t found out where they went yet.”

“Haa… If we leave this as it is, the damage will get worse. We need to declare martial law.”

The mayor could declare martial law in the city under the mayor’s authority.

Marquis Miriam called Aiden, the commander of the Knights, and ordered him to suppress the rioters along with the declaration of martial law.

All the troops guarding the walls of Stozanya City, except for the troops, began to block, beat, and kill the workers.

A group of workers was moving through the factory area when the army approached from the front.

Cheok cheok cheok cheok

A worker shouted.

“We came for the rights of the workers! Workers are people too!”

The army commander ignored the worker’s words and ordered.

“Prepare arrows!”

The soldiers trembled.

“C, Commander. Aren’t those people civilians?”

The commander shouted.

“Those guys are rioters! Killing rioters is for the safety of the city and the duty of the army!”

The soldiers self-hypnotized themselves with the gruesome reality.

“That’s right. Those guys are bad. We’re just catching rioters.”

The commander ordered.

“Fire arrows!”

Syu syusyuk syu syuk syusyusyusyu

As the rain of arrows fell on the workers, the workers cried out in agony.

“Kkeuaaaa! Workers are people too!” (Thud)

The workers scattered in terror, shouting in anger.

“This city’s government is not on our side!”

Clashes between workers and the army occurred throughout Stozanya City.

Some workers, enraged by the deaths of their comrades and families, charged at the army and fought.

The atmosphere in Stozanya City was reminiscent of a battlefield.

While Marquis Miriam was clutching his head in stress, the Inquisitors came to visit the Marquis.

Marquis Miriam met with Commander Roshan and Deputy Commander Umakant.

Umakant explained to Marquis Miriam.

“This incident was intentionally caused by the Dark Humans. Those who distribute propaganda and incite the workers are mainly Dark Humans. Isn’t there a limit to how many citizens your soldiers can kill? We will eliminate the Dark Humans.”

Marquis Miriam pondered for a moment.

‘Damn it. My son got strange ideas from hanging out with the workers in the Dark Human Association. I need to get rid of all the bug-like guys around my son. If all the Dark Humans leading the riots die, my son will come to his senses, and the workers will stop resisting. It would also be good to shift the responsibility for the slaughter to the Inquisitors.’

“I permit it. But you must not kill my son, Norbert.”

Roshan frowned and asked back.

“Yes? Norbert is also a Dark Human, though?”

The Marquis warned.

“If you kill my son, all the soldiers and knights in the city will kill you.”

“What. I understand. We can kill everyone except one, right. Hahaha!”

The Marquis felt a chill for a moment but didn’t show it and issued an order to dismiss them.

Roshan and Umakant, with joyful faces, took 40 Inquisitors and began to head to the factory area, where the workers and the army were fiercely confronting each other.

Roshan shouted cheerfully.

“Hahat! Now I can kill Dark Humans to my heart’s content. A-men!”

The Inquisitors chanted in unison.

“A-men!”

---

The Hero party was listening to the situation in the labor union building with Norbert and a few executives.

The workers, due to the cruel acts of the chaebol heirs, had exploded with pent-up resentment and had risen up all at once, destroying, killing, and looting throughout Stozanya City.

In modern Earth, it could have been resolved through an agreement between the labor representative and the company representative or through non-violent protests.

However, labor union leader Norbert was from a Dark Human background and had no intention of resolving it peacefully, and the workers, due to a lack of education, only knew destruction and resistance.

And the nobles had not yet accepted the concept of “workers’ rights.”

Soon, as news came that the city’s army was attacking the workers, the Hero party seriously debated what to do.

Norbert said miserably.

“Damn it. My mother is trying to suppress the protests by force. If we don’t step in, many workers will die, and the surviving workers will face even more terrible oppression.”

Serena, with tears welling up in her eyes, grabbed Park Gyeong-cheol’s hand and pleaded.

“Gyeong-cheol… we have to save the workers.”

Park Gyeong-cheol sighed.

“In the end, do we have to fight each other? Is there no peaceful way?”

I said my thoughts.

“You guys know how I rescued the Elf slaves and obtained the territory, right? The Elves shed countless blood to gain the right to live peacefully. There is no right without blood. It would be nice if the wealthy gave in on their own and improved the workers’ rights, but you know that’s impossible. I think we have three paths.”

“What are they?”

“One is to side with the wealthy. This will speed up the suppression of the protests and prevent greater damage, but the lives of the workers will become more harsh. The second is to stay still. We will be free from responsibility, but the fight between the army and the protesters will continue, causing more casualties, and Stozanya City may enter a long civil war. The third is to side with the workers and lead the revolution to success. If the revolution succeeds, a world where workers’ rights are recognized may come.”

“I see.”

“There’s no time. The workers are uneducated and will destroy and loot everything in sight. And they will die fighting the soldiers. Someone has to lead them and make the revolution a success.”

Park Gyeong-cheol pondered for a moment and then made a firm decision.

“I… I will help the workers and lead the revolution to success.”

Serena hugged Park Gyeong-cheol tightly.

“Gyeong-cheol! I believed in you!”

Nisa, Gilluk, and Aibos agreed with Park Gyeong-cheol in turn.

“I’ll follow Gyeong-cheol~”

“Dwarves prioritize their friends. I will follow my friend Park Gyeong-cheol.”

“Gyeong-cheol is important to me too. I’m not very interested in other humans.”

Andre said with a bitter face.

“I will not participate.”

Park Gyeong-cheol asked in surprise.

“Why?”

“I am a prince of the Hamel Empire. Both the wealthy and the workers are all imperial citizens. It may seem cowardly, but I don’t want to cut down citizens with my sword.”

I defended Andre.

“Gyeong-cheol. Andre must have thought hard before making his decision. We should be grateful that he’s not stopping us.”

Park Gyeong-cheol nodded.

Saintess Asha said.

“Ah! Goddess Elia-isiyeo! As a Saintess, I cannot kill the same humans. I will follow Park Gyeong-cheol, but I will not participate in the battle and will help anyone who is injured.”

We decided to act according to our respective beliefs.

Park Gyeong-cheol, Norbert, Serena, Gilluk, Aibos, Kyle, Nisa, and Asha, the eight Hero party members, led the labor union executives and headed to the factory area.

The labor union executives called out to the people in loud voices.

“The Hero is with the workers!”

“Everyone gather here! Let’s join forces!”

As the surrounding workers gathered, Park Gyeong-cheol’s group grew larger and larger.