Chapter 49

The Judge with the Longsword (2)

"Three victories, two defenses..."

Yeongwoo carefully examined the record of Chungju's First Sword displayed in the regional status window.

So after becoming the First Sword, they've only killed two people. If the number's that low, maybe they're not the type to go around murdering everyone.

The number of "defenses" a First Sword had was effectively the number of challengers they had killed. The more ruthless a person was, the higher that number tended to be.

Conversely, someone who avoided unnecessary killing would naturally have a lower defense count.

I've already killed a Mutant this time... Hopefully I won't have to fight anyone else.

Of course, there was still a variable.

Yeongwoo needed to meet the merchant who had appeared in Chungju.

But what if Chungju's First Sword didn't welcome contact between merchants and outsiders?

His gaze shifted to the notification that had been blinking quietly in the corner of his vision.

You have one unclaimed Achievement Reward.
Would you like to claim it?

It was obviously the reward for the achievement he had earned by using the Ancient Tome.

Was it a Gold-rank achievement? Either way, I won't be able to use it while negotiating with the merchant.

Click.

With a reluctant sigh, Yeongwoo accepted the reward.

He immediately realized it had been a mistake.

Clink.

A familiar metallic sound echoed through the empty air inside the vehicle.

"...Wait."

Pop! Pop!

Ten blue coins suddenly materialized before his eyes.

Ten blue coins—

That amounted to a staggering 500,000 Karma.

Yeongwoo's eyes widened at the unexpected fortune.

But something even more astonishing happened next.

—Kiiit!

The Golden Goblin, which had been quietly curled up between his legs until now, shot forward like a bullet.

Before Yeongwoo could react, the creature swept all ten floating coins into its dimensional sack in an instant and landed gracefully back where it had been.

"..."

Even Myeongmae, who had been wearing a blank expression, stared in shock.

Jongsu, having barely sensed the movement, alternated his bewildered gaze between Yeongwoo and the goblin.

"W-What was that just now? I didn't even see it."

Even if he had turned around sooner, he probably wouldn't have seen it clearly.

After all, even Yeongwoo—the First Sword of Gyeongbok—had failed to follow the goblin's movements.

So it'll automatically pick up money too... Well, I guess that makes sense.

Golden Goblin — Gold-Rank Slave
• Stores items in a subspace.
• Picks up anything valuable.

It was basically the equivalent of a game pet with an automatic loot function.

Yeongwoo quietly watched the now well-behaved goblin before gathering the luggage scattered around the back seat and placing it beside the creature.

The goblin glanced at him briefly, opened its dimensional sack without a word, and swept all of his belongings inside.

So it doesn't pick up absolutely everything.

It prioritizes things that clearly belong to me... and only collects anything else if I specifically order it to.

Then what if someone else's property was clearly identified?

Would it still take it if he ordered it to?

As soon as the thought occurred to him, he turned to Jongsu.

"Jongsu."

"Yes?"

"Do you have any coins on you? Any kind."

"O-Of course. You should always carry cash..."

As Jongsu shrugged and pulled out a crimson coin from his pocket, Yeongwoo gave the Golden Goblin a command.

"Bring me that."

—Kiiit!

The goblin exploded forward once again.

Like lightning, it snatched the coin from between Jongsu's fingers and returned to Yeongwoo's side before Jongsu even realized what had happened.

"W-What?!"

Jongsu reacted a beat too late.

Yeongwoo accepted the coin from the goblin and immediately handed it back.

"Sorry. I wanted to run a little experiment."

"N-No, it's fine... It just startled me."

Jongsu's face had turned noticeably red.

Anyone would panic if a strange creature suddenly rushed over and stole their money.

"The world's becoming... unbelievably strange."

Myeongho, who had been silently watching through the rearview mirror, finally spoke.

Then he nodded toward the road ahead.

"And it looks like Chungju has gotten just as strange."

Following his gaze, everyone looked outside.

Yeongwoo's eyes widened.

People...?

There were people gathered from the very entrance to the city.

He had encountered the elderly bandit group near Sangju's entrance before...

But Chungju was different.

"Whoa... What is this?"

Even Jongsu couldn't help staring in amazement.

There had to be over a hundred people within sight alone.

They didn't look like bandits.

They were simply scattered throughout the fields and roadsides.

"Mr. Yeongwoo... have you ever seen anything like this before?"

The fact that Myeongho referred to seeing lots of living people as "something like this" said everything about how unusual the post-Reset world had become.

Yeongwoo shook his head.

"I've visited several cities, but I've only seen parts of each one. Still... this is definitely unusual. I've never seen this many people gathered together."

It was probably connected to the fact that there weren't any Mutants left in this region.

Are there really this many people inside the city too?

"Slow down a little. I'd like to talk to someone by the roadside."

At Yeongwoo's request, Myeongho gently eased off the accelerator.

As the SUV slowed, the people scattered across the surrounding fields gradually turned their heads.

Only then did Yeongwoo realize something.

They weren't waiting to greet outsiders.

Even while curiously staring at the SUV, their eyes constantly wandered toward the sky.

They're waiting for monsters.

They're all here to earn money.

Only then did goosebumps spread across his arms.

Among the crowd were boys who looked no older than middle school students.

"Uh... I don't even know how to describe this. It's incredibly surreal."

Even Myeongho felt uncomfortable watching countless people standing silently in the fields with weapons in their hands.

Jongsu, however, reached the same conclusion as Yeongwoo.

"They're probably waiting to kill monsters the moment they appear."

After all, Jongsu was an Early Bird user.

He had been aggressive since the beginning of the Reset, so his conclusion came naturally.

"You're saying all those people came out just to hunt monsters?"

Even after hearing that, Myeongho still found it hard to believe.

Jongsu shrugged.

"Hyung, that's just the result. They survived because they fought this hard."

As he spoke, one hand naturally rested near the Early Bird weapon at his waist.

There were too many strangers nearby.

He was preparing for the possibility of an ambush.

Indeed, several people had already begun approaching the vehicle.

"Mr. Myeongho, stop the car up ahead."

The SUV came to a halt.

Immediately, even those who had only been watching from afar began gathering around the roadside.

Seeing that, Myeongmae recoiled from the window in alarm.

"Is... is this really okay?"

Her eyes trembled just as they had when she first saw the Orcs.

What should he say to reassure her?

After a moment's thought, Yeongwoo pointed toward her window.

"Why don't you see if your husband is here? It looks like Chungju managed to survive this disaster pretty well."

While Myeongmae unconsciously looked back outside, Yeongwoo opened the opposite door and stepped out.

The entrance road to Chungju was covered in black asphalt.

As Yeongwoo walked across it barefoot, the pale skin of his feet stood out dramatically.

Perhaps that was why—

"Huh?"

"Oh my..."

Several Chungju citizens surrounding the SUV immediately noticed his bare feet.

"He's barefoot."

"He really is."

Some people asked why that mattered.

Most, however, seemed to understand.

Once a person's physical abilities exceeded a certain level, wearing shoes became almost impossible.

Which meant—

Their First Sword walks around barefoot too.

In other words, these people had lived alongside a barefoot First Sword and survived.

Yeongwoo normally hid his title, leaving the space above his head empty.

Even so, the citizens already seemed to regard him as someone on the level of a First Sword.

"W-Welcome!"

Someone in the crowd suddenly called out a greeting.

Others awkwardly followed.

"Welcome!"

"Welcome to Chungju!"

"It's nice to meet you!"

Finally, the bravest among them stepped forward and asked what everyone really wanted to know.

"...May I ask why you've come to Chungju?"

The moment those words were spoken, the noisy crowd instantly fell silent.

Everyone had wanted to ask the same question.

Yeongwoo looked around before answering indirectly.

"Most of the cities I've passed through became ruins within a single day."

"But this place is different."

Depending on how one interpreted it, those words sounded terrifying.

After all, how could they know whether this barefoot outsider had personally destroyed those cities?

The smiles on the citizens' faces stiffened.

"Well... everyone's doing their best."

Once again, it was the brave man who answered.

"We believe this disaster will eventually come to an end."

"So we're all working together to restore the city."

Restore the city.

It was the first genuinely forward-looking phrase Yeongwoo had heard since the Reset.

Whatever their secret was, Chungju had clearly responded to the catastrophe far better than the other cities.

Interesting... Are all large cities like this?

Yeongwoo glanced toward the distant black pillar of light.

Originally, he had only intended to meet the merchant before leaving.

Now, he felt it might be worth meeting Chungju's First Sword as well.

Current Region: Chungju

Regional First Sword: Shin Myeongju22
Record: 3 victories, 2 defenses

Shin Myeongju22—

A rising powerhouse who had inherited the First Sword title by killing its previous owner.

Most likely the central figure behind Chungju's reconstruction efforts.

As far as Yeongwoo could tell, he was probably the most responsible First Sword he had encountered so far.

He wanted to ask him something.

How do you plan to live from now on?

Yeongwoo himself was the First Sword of Gyeongbok, yet beyond simple survival, he had no real purpose.

Perhaps Shin Myeongju22 was different.

"...Well then..."

The brave man noticed that Yeongwoo's gaze remained fixed on the black pillar.

With an uneasy expression, he prompted him to continue.

He wanted to know why this outsider had really come.

Yeongwoo looked toward the distant cityscape of Chungju and opened his mouth.

"I came here to meet Chungju's First Sword—"

"An attack!"

"Emergency!"

Before he could even finish speaking, everyone—including the brave man—turned pale and immediately sprinted toward the city.

They had all assumed the outsider had come to challenge and kill Chungju's First Sword.

And there was only one way to inherit the title:

By killing its owner.

The sight of over a hundred citizens racing across the fields resembled a herd of gazelles fleeing from a lion.

"...What just happened?"

Myeongho climbed out of the SUV, completely dumbfounded.

Jongsu got out as well, but unlike Myeongho, he looked thoroughly amused.

"Haha... This place has already built a proper warning system."

"I bet things worked exactly like this in the old days too."

"The old days...?"

Myeongho tilted his head in confusion, but Yeongwoo understood exactly what Jongsu meant.

Now that almost everything had turned to stone, neither the internet nor telephones worked anymore.

So how would people report emergencies?

By sending human messengers.

People simply had to run and deliver the warning themselves.

Of course, that only worked if the messenger survived long enough to reach the destination.

Fortunately, Yeongwoo had no intention of fighting.

There was no reason to hurt anyone.

"...Either way, Chungju's First Sword will probably come here soon."

"We might as well go meet them."