Chapter 14: Josenjok

Yohan twisted his side in a hurry.

Getting stabbed in the side by a dagger would be a disaster. It could only be fatal.

‘Even if I get hurt, I hope it’s just a graze,’ he thought, twisting his body as he desperately summoned the Asura Blood God Palm.

It was then.

‘Kagagak!’

A strange ‘sound’ came from his side where the dagger grazed past.

His side felt hot and flushed, but there was no pain.

The guy’s eyes widened in shock.

He couldn’t miss that fleeting moment.

Yohan swung the Asura Blood God Palm, which he had already gathered, at his opponent.

His posture wasn’t perfect, so instead of a vital spot, he struck the opponent’s shoulder. The guy was blown away by the force and slammed far into the wall.

Only after seeing the opponent’s head slump did Yohan check his own side.

Where the dagger had grazed him, there was a clear red mark as if scratched by a fingernail, but not a single wound.

At that moment.

-System: A part of your body has received a certain amount of impact.

-System: Diamond Body leveled up.

-System: 1LV → 2LV

“…!”

It was a title he had obtained by killing the Gray Ogre.

‘So this is coming in handy after all.’

Thinking that, Yohan turned his body to face forward again.

There was still one left.

The last guy, seeing his boss go down, was flustered and didn’t know what to do. He knew Yohan was far too strong for him to handle.

“What are you doing? Come at me.”

Yohan casually took a stance toward the guy and wiggled his hand like Bruce Lee.

Hesitation vanished from the man’s eyes, replaced by a vicious glare.

‘It’s do or die now’, the man seemed to think as he charged.

Yohan didn’t even bother to summon his inner energy—he simply waved his hand lightly.

Puck!

He hadn’t even used his full strength, but the man who got slapped flew away.

The Defying emission of energy that covers the world title had activated.

‘I thought I wouldn’t need it since I had inner energy, but this is useful too. Without having to waste precious inner energy, I can still display monstrous strength.’

“Phew……..”

Having roughly settled the situation, Yohan looked outside.

Before he knew it, many people had gathered at the store entrance, staring at him.

“If you need anything, just take it.”

He said that to them, then turned his gaze to the three men sprawled on the floor.

He easily picked them up and piled them together, then looked over their weapons before picking them up.

-System: Items bound to another cannot be used.

It was a notification he’d heard before, just in passing.

‘Yohan clicked his tongue in disappointment.’

‘How nice would it be if I could use other people’s items?’

‘Jeonghu, who can only use guns, Junga, who can only do block stacking, Sejeong, who only has a kids’ racing car—if I could give each of them an ability like this, they could at least keep themselves safe.’

Crack.

There was no reason to keep things he couldn’t use, nor to return them to these lawless thugs.

Yohan started with the sword in his hand, destroying all the weapons the thugs had.

At that moment.

-System: You have destroyed Twilight Sword and absorbed its energy.

-System: You have destroyed Flame Saber +3 and absorbed its energy.

-System: You have destroyed Assassin’s Legendary Dagger and absorbed its energy.

“…What’s this?”

These didn’t appear when he smashed an opponent’s item last time.

Not knowing why, Yohan checked his status window.

“…2 stars..”

Nothing else had changed much, but the Heavenly Demon Divine Art had advanced a level.

‘Right, now that I think about it, in the Game Murim Alliance, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art could absorb not just opponents’ inner energy, but also the energy of objects to build up internal strength.’

‘It was just luck that the Heavenly Demon got that nickname by mastering the Absorbing Great Technique, and when he created the Heavenly Demon Divine Art later, it was influenced by that, wasn’t it?’

‘Yeah, this is it.’

‘In a Game where you don’t level up but build up inner energy and martial insight to become a master, the most decisive reason why the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was the best martial art and basically a cheat code was because you could absorb inner energy from anything, anytime.’

‘To think I could use that in reality.’

While Yohan was lost in thought—

“Grrk, you bastard…….”

“What, you awake?”

The man who seemed to be the boss glared at Yohan with terrifying eyes.

Seeing his weapon smashed, it was only natural that he looked ready to kill.

Yohan stared back calmly.

“That’s what you get for killing innocent people. I don’t touch good people.”

“…Bullshit! Where are there any good people in this world?”

“It’s because of bastards like you that good Josenjok or Chinese people get blamed, you punk. Shut up.”

At Yohan’s words, the Josenjok Boss let out a snort of laughter.

‘He laughs?’

That wasn’t the attitude of someone who’d just lost his weapon.

“You think there’s only three of us?”

“You have an organization?”

“Hehehehehe.”

The Josenjok Boss laughed.

Yohan didn’t like the look of him and swung his hand.

Puck.

Seeing the guy pass out again, Yohan dusted off his hands and stood up.

Still, it left an unpleasant feeling, as if he hadn’t cleaned up properly.

‘Feels like I’ve made an enemy I might run into again someday.’

Worried that more of them might show up, Yohan hurried into the warehouse.

The generator he’d bought “just in case” for blackouts was just sitting there, covered in dust.

As he quickly loaded the generator onto the Porter, a Josenjok Lady he recognized approached him.

“Boss, you know those guys just now are dangerous types, right?”

“Well, nothing I could do. I almost died back there.”

“That’s not it, boss. There’s more than just a few of them.”

“Haha, then I’d better run before they show up.”

Yohan quickly finished packing and got in the car.

He smiled and greeted the lady who warned him to be careful, then drove off in a hurry.

Navigating the narrow market road toward the exit.

Brrrrr.

As Yohan was about to leave through the exit, another car came in.

The high beams blinded him, making him frown and bite his lip.

The approaching car’s intent was clear—it wasn’t normal.

Yohan quickly backed up and turned into a side alley.

“Damn…….”

But what greeted him was another car.

Looking back, he saw that another car had entered from the opposite alley as well.

They were clearly targeting Yohan.

‘So I’m surrounded on all sides now.’

“Hey! Why don’t you get out of there?”

“You, come here for a second!”

One by one, people started getting out of the cars.

Even for a van, there were quite a lot of them.

All together, there were at least fifteen.

‘If I count the ones who came in through the main market gate earlier, that means there are well over twenty of them, huh?’

Just then.

A man appeared in the middle of the group.

If the Josenjok Boss from before was a mid-boss, this guy seemed to be the real leader of the group.

From the long scar running diagonally across his face, to his thick beard and wild, unkempt hair—nothing about him looked normal.

“…Is that Hwanghae?”

All he needed was a bone in his hand, and he’d look just like the protagonist from that movie.

Well, he didn’t have a bone, but he was holding something even more menacing—an Axe. A black double-bladed axe with an ornate dragon carved into it.

“Did you come alone?”

*Movies really do ruin multicultural families like this.*

“Sorry, ended up a single dad by accident.”

“Huh, you’re a funny one.”

‘Tok. Tok. Tok.

That Axe, tapping a steady rhythm against his palm, was extremely annoying.

All the while, the distance was shrinking.

Yohan quietly got out of the car.

“Hey. Are you guys really going to gang up on me like cowards?”

“When it’s life or death, who cares about being cowardly? The one who survives and wins is king.”

No sooner had the boss finished speaking than the thugs drew their weapons.

Every single one gleamed with a cold, deadly light.

‘Wait, why does nobody have a gun? Jeonghu said Battle Survival is all the rage these days—everyone’s supposed to be playing it.’

Yohan quickly darted his eyes around.

‘There we go.’

Perched on the rooftops of houses, he saw guys aiming guns at him.

‘These guys are pretty organized.’

Suddenly, he was curious.

‘Could the Diamond Body title from the Gray Ogre block bullets too?’

‘No, before that… Can I even beat a group of more than twenty?’

‘Srrng.’

At some point, the Heavenly Demon Spear was in Yohan’s hand.

“What are you all waiting for?!”

At the boss’s shout, enemies charged at Yohan from all directions.

Yohan swung the Heavenly Demon Spear wide, keeping them at bay, and quickly ducked behind the Porter.

‘Tatata-tang!’

“My car! Do you know what kind of car this is…”

It might look shabby to others, but to Yohan’s family, the Porter was their bread and butter.

If not for that Porter, hauling cheap goods and vegetables, the Yoon Family’s mart wouldn’t have become the best in the market.

“Damn bastard…….”

“What did you say, punk!”

Meanwhile, two Josenjok Thugs rushed at Yohan from behind the Porter, swinging their weapons wide.

Staring at the weapons radiating blue energy, Yohan stretched out his hand.

Puh-ung!

The Asura Blood God Palm erupted with a red aura, sending the two charging men flying at once.

Taking advantage of the opening, Yohan dashed forward.

As Yohan cut through his own enemies, the shooters had to stop firing.

He unleashed the Asura Blood God Palm again.

‘Second Form: Asura Light Spirit!’

Just as the name implied, red energy exploded in every direction like a berserk asura.

The enemies couldn’t approach, scrambling to dodge or block the shockwaves.

“Argh!”

“Uwaaah!”

Those without the skill to dodge were struck down by the force.

With the space cleared, Yohan grabbed a few enemy weapons and slipped between the narrow alleyways of the multi-family houses.

“What are you doing?! Don’t just stand there! Catch him! Bring him back here!”

With the boss’s booming voice, the enemies who’d been dodging the shockwaves finally started chasing after Yohan.

With the houses packed so closely together, the gaps between walls were barely wide enough for a single adult man to squeeze through.

As Yohan darted into the narrow alley, his eyes gleamed coldly.

He never intended to run away, no matter how many there were.

Crack!

-System: You have destroyed Cloud Iron Sword and absorbed its energy.

-System: You have destroyed Heavenly King Saber +3 and absorbed its energy.

Destroying the enemy items he’d snatched, Yohan quickly refilled his depleted dantian, then glanced back.

Confirming the number of Josenjok Thugs charging after him, oblivious to the trap they were running into, Yohan spun around and charged right at them.

“What the—!”

The thug in front tried to swing his sword in panic, but—

Crack!

With no room to swing in the narrow alley, his sword got stuck deep in the brick wall.

Yohan grinned at the startled man and drove his fist into his face.

Crack!

He dropped, face smashed, and Yohan did the same to the next one right behind him.

In such a tight space, with one-on-one fights and no way to get surrounded, Yohan was practically invincible.

No matter how wild the enemies were, none of them could use inner energy to fight barehanded.

All they knew was to gang up and bully people, never thinking to hunt big monsters to gain new powers or get stronger.

Meanwhile, Yohan—just an ordinary dad until now—had fought countless monsters and even people, quickly adapting to real combat.

After taking out five Josenjok Thugs in a flash, the rest hesitated to approach.

“Why, aren’t you going to keep coming?”

At Yohan’s words, only a torrent of fierce Yanbian curses came back—none dared to charge in.

And then.

-System: The third Game is starting.

A sudden notification echoed.

He’d known the Game started irregularly, but why now, of all times!

As Yohan’s expression hardened—

-System: This Game is a Raid.

-System: You may steal and use your opponent’s abilities or items.

A new rule had appeared.

If he were in the shelter, he’d be thrilled, but right now, new Game rules were the last thing on Yohan’s mind.

His thoughts were filled only with worry for his children waiting at home.

“So, if I kill you, I get your abilities, right?”

The Josenjok Boss slung the black axe over his shoulder, grinning as he approached.