The dead of night.
Yohan glanced around, then turned back and spoke in a low voice.
“Hey! Load it up!”
“Yes!”
No sooner had Yohan spoken than the Yoon family hurriedly began hauling boxes out of the mart.
Watching the kids load up the Porter with large and small boxes for a moment, Yohan turned away.
The youngest, Sejeong, was gazing at her dad with sparkling eyes.
“Dad, what should I do?”
“Dad has to carry stuff too, so Sejeong, you keep watch.
If someone you don’t know… no, no, if anyone comes, you have to tell us right away. Can you do that?”
“Sejeong’s not a kid! I can do it!”
‘Yeah, you are a kid.’
He wanted to say that, but he didn’t have the confidence to comfort Sejeong if she got upset.
So, Yohan just encouraged her once more and hurried into the mart.
Carrying armfuls of canned goods that others couldn’t even lift, the Porter was filled in no time.
“Alright, let’s go.”
Yohan’s family set off in the Porter and SUV.
These past few days, every night, the whole family had been moving things like this.
Their destination was a café they had stopped by to rest at before.
After the last game, the neighborhood had been devastated by the Giant Hunter, making it no longer a safe zone, so they had to move in a hurry.
The reason for sneaking their belongings out in the middle of the night was, of course, to avoid people’s eyes.
Moving as quietly and discreetly as possible, they soon arrived at the café.
The café they’d stayed at before was hardly recognizable now.
Junga had been put in charge of building it up with Blocks until it was practically a fortress.
On top of that, the outer wall had been built up four times over—so thick that even a Giant Hunter might have trouble breaking through.
Gazing at the thick ramparts for a moment, Yohan parked the Porter inside and began unloading things into the warehouse built within the fortress.
Once they unloaded the groceries and daily necessities they’d scraped together from the mart shelves and storeroom, everything would be inside.
“Wow! Is this our house now?”
Sejeong, visiting the shelter for the first time, ran around excitedly and asked Yohan.
“That’s right.”
“Wow! It’s huge! I think it’s even bigger than our old house!”
“Of course it’s bigger. Sejeong, your eyes are drooping. Let’s go inside and sleep.”
“Mm, I’m sleepy. I’ll go to bed first! Where should I sleep?”
“Come with me, sis!”
“Oh, sounds good!”
Watching Junga and Sejeong head inside, Yohan put a cigarette between his lips.
Jeonghu, standing beside him, asked,
“There was still a lot of food left in the mart. Are we just leaving it all?”
“Other people will take it. They need to eat too, right? Besides, most of it has a short shelf life—no way we could eat it all anyway.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“Ah!”
Seoyoung, who had been quietly standing nearby, clapped her hands and let out a short cry.
“Why?”
“What’s wrong?”
“There’s that thing in the mart storeroom.”
“What thing?”
“The generator. Remember, back when it was really hot, some drunk driver crashed into a utility pole and caused a blackout? We bought it in case something like that happened again, so the refrigerated food wouldn’t all spoil.”
At that, Jeonghu scratched his head and asked,
“So what?”
“You dummy! You never know when there’ll be another blackout. We should at least bring that!”
“Did you just call me a dummy?!”
“I called you a dummy because you were acting like one, dummy!”
“Come on! I’m not a dummy!”
“You really are, man. Anyway, we should definitely bring the generator.”
At that, Jeonghu stood up and brushed himself off.
“Should I go with you?”
“No, it’s nothing big. I’ll go get it myself. You rest.”
Yohan declined Jeonghu’s offer and got into the car alone.
Glancing at the time, he saw it was already past four.
To be honest, he hadn’t slept properly for several days.
Maybe it was thanks to the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, but he hadn’t really felt tired—yet after several days, the mental exhaustion was catching up to him.
‘They say the scariest thing is habit. Not sleeping feels weird.’
‘Once I get back to the shelter, I need to finally get some sleep,’ he thought, hurrying a bit. But as soon as he entered the marketplace, he sensed something was off.
Yohan’s sensitive ears picked up the “murmur” of people.
“What’s going on at this hour?”
He grew more uneasy as he went.
The ‘noise’ seemed to be coming from the mart he’d left open.
Sure enough.
A group of people was gathered in front of the mart.
Having lived in the neighborhood for so long, he recognized some familiar faces among them. Among them…
“Huh? Grandma, you’re still here?”
There was even the grandmother who lived on the fifth floor of his villa.
He’d thought everyone had evacuated, but apparently she’d locked herself in and hidden away.
Yohan got out of the car and approached the people.
“Grandma, you’re here?”
“Oh my, isn’t this Jeonghu’s dad?”
The old woman looked a bit embarrassed as she greeted him.
“Well, you see, it’s not that I have any bad intentions… it’s just… there’s nothing to eat… I was going to pay for it…”
Just as she said, the grandmother was clutching a crumpled bill in her hand. Smiling, Yohan replied,
“It’s fine. We can’t do business anyway, so I left it open for people to take what they need. Please, take as much as you can carry.”
“Thank you, really. But…”
For some reason, the grandmother didn’t look happy.
Glancing nervously into the mart, Yohan stepped forward and looked inside.
“What the…?”
Three men, sitting in chairs of unknown origin, were blocking the entrance.
“Who are those people?”
“Well…”
Strangers he’d never seen before had suddenly occupied the mart, making him instinctively wary.
Just then, one of the men noticed Yohan and spoke up.
“Who are you?”
The man’s speech had the distinct accent of a Josenjok.
This area was known for having lots of Chinese and Josenjok residents, but Yohan knew most of their faces.
Looking closely, he saw some of the people unable to get into the mart were also Chinese and Josenjok heads of families from the area.
“And who are you?”
“Why do you care? I’m the owner here.”
“The owner? I never sold this place to anyone.”
The man smirked and replied,
“So, you’re the owner of this mart?”
“Exactly. That’s why I’m asking what you’re doing in my mart.”
“What do you think we’re doing?”
“Well, it’s obvious. You’re blocking the entrance to my store. I need to get in, so could you move aside?”
“Sorry, but this mart is ours now.”
“Heh…”
Yohan let out a laugh in disbelief.
He’d left the place open so others could get food and survive, but these three Josenjok had taken it over, blocking everyone else from using it.
“And who are you to do that?”
As he spoke, Yohan quietly gathered his inner power, just in case.
The men’s gazes sharpened dangerously.
“Ha! Have you lost your mind? Hey, guys, this punk says he’s the owner. What should we do?”
The man sitting in the middle seemed to be the leader.
As soon as he finished speaking, the two men on either side spread their hands—one held an axe, the other a sword.
They looked like the kind of flashy weapons you’d see in a fantasy game.
Judging by the dried blood smeared all over them, they’d killed more than a few people.
Watching them exchange glances, Yohan glanced back.
Sensing the tension, the bystanders had quietly scattered.
Though none had actually run away—they all seemed eager to watch the fight.
He turned back to face the men.
‘Three of them. Can I win?’
The hesitation didn’t last long.
As if reading each other’s intent through their eyes, the man with the axe charged at Yohan.
A fierce blue aura surged from the axe.
With that momentum coming from all sides, dodging seemed impossible.
Yohan wasted no time and unleashed the Asura Blood God Palm.
Asura Blood God Palm, Third Form: Asura Blood Sea at Dusk!
Yohan’s hands instantly turned red, and without pause, he thrust both hands forward.
Dang!
With a sound like a bell ringing, the red energy gathered in Yohan’s hands burst forth in all directions.
Bang!
As the palm wind of the Asura Blood Sea at Dusk collided with the blue aura, it exploded. In that instant, Yohan charged at the axe-wielding man.
With a storm-like movement, his hands brimming with the Asura Blood God Palm’s energy, he knocked the opponent’s belatedly swung axe aside, spun, and thrust his hand at the man’s abdomen.
Bang!
First Form: Asura Blood Wind.
It was the simplest palm technique, but a normal person couldn’t withstand its force.
The man took a direct hit to the abdomen, flew backward, and crashed through the store shelves, rolling across the floor.
“You bastard!”
The man with the sword, who had dodged to the side, swung his blade down at Yohan.
Like the man with the axe, a fearsome aura clung to the sword.
Yohan met the swing with the Asura Blood God Palm.
Bang! Bang bang!
In the blink of an eye, the sword aura and Yohan’s palm energy clashed three times, sending violent waves of energy throughout the area.
The man, overwhelmed by Yohan’s power, was flung back in surprise.
As he reeled, Yohan calmly unleashed the Asura Blood God Palm, Second Form: Asura Light Spirit.
Just as the name suggested, the Asura rampaged wildly, driving the opponent back.
The man with the sword, swinging desperately, began to retreat rapidly.
“You filthy bastard!”
As his ally started losing, even the leader charged in, cursing in their own language.
Given how he acted like a boss in this lawless chaos, Yohan figured he’d be skilled—and sure enough…
Pat!
The man swung something gleaming in his hand at Yohan’s face.
Startled, Yohan jerked his head back and narrowly dodged it.
It was a dagger.
One in each hand.
No.
They were ornate weapons that belonged in a fantasy game, but more importantly, unlike the other two who just swung their weapons around cluelessly, this man…
‘He knows how to fight.’
He was a martial artist.
‘Giving a gun to someone who’s never fired one is less dangerous than giving it to a soldier. No matter how good someone is at games, a martial artist is far more dangerous than an ordinary person.’
‘This guy is just like that.’
As Yohan watched the man wave his daggers like a snake’s head, he lowered his stance, wary.
Just then—
“Take this!”
The man with the sword, who had been pushed back, gritted his teeth and swung his blade.
A blue aura shot out in the shape of a blade toward Yohan.
Yohan deflected the attack with the Asura Blood God Palm, but in doing so, he left an opening for the Josenjok martial artist.
The dagger-wielding man seized the opportunity and lunged at Yohan.
The sharp dagger, like a snake’s fang, aimed straight for Yohan’s side.
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