Chapter 55: The Indomitable Reward

-The game has ended.

With those words, the monsters that had been roaming the streets vanished without a trace.

Watching them soar back up into the sky, Yohan sighed and then looked at Taehyun, extending his hand.

“Good party.”

“Ah, yes…!”

Taehyun, who had been staring blankly at the ruined neighborhood as if the vanished giant turtle had left a mark of its existence, finally snapped back to reality and clasped Yohan’s hand.

“Really… it was a truly good party.”

Truly, Taehyun came to realize how there could be a sky above the sky.

He had secretly believed that he was the strongest person in Bucheon based on abilities alone, but that man completely shattered everything.

Taehyun was barely holding on, exhausted in body and mind after using the 7th Circle spell Inferno, only managing thanks to his wife’s healing.

Meanwhile, Yohan, who demonstrated equally tremendous skills without even needing a single heal, radiated confidence from his expression.

Putting aside the overwhelming power, that man was literally a human weapon.

Magic had its limits, but Yohan could easily devastate dozens of small turtles without much effort and, depending on the situation, could even freely unleash techniques comparable to the 3rd or 4th Circle.

Unlike himself, who felt like half a man, this guy was the real deal.

Undeniably, Yohan was probably the strongest man in Bucheon.

“Since the game’s over, I’ll be going now.”

“Ah, yes. If fate allows, can we meet again?”

Taehyun’s question made Yohan hesitate for a moment.

‘Should I tell him where the shelter is?’

After a brief moment of thought, Yohan scratched his head and said,

“Well… my hideout is in the northern part of the central district… uh, yes, near Bucheon High School. If fate wills it, we might run into each other there.”

“Bucheon High…!”

“Why?”

“I’m from there.”

“Heh, looks like you studied a bit.”

Taehyun blushed at Yohan’s words and scratched his head.

“Well… I did study hard until first year of high school, haha…”

“Ha ha, well… if fate allows.”

With that, Yohan said no more, leapt up, and disappeared like the wind.

Watching him vanish, Ji-young said,

“He’s gone.”

“Yeah.”

“Shall we go too?”

“…Where to?”

Ji-young stretched her arms and said,

“For now, let’s go home and pack our things. Even if not the furniture, we should at least gather our clothes, right?”

“That’s true.”

They had jumped into this without much thought, but now it felt empty, as if they had lost their home and everything.

“How much time left on the lease?”

“Now that you mention it, we didn’t even get the deposit back. I wonder what happened to the landlord? He was a good man.”

“Yeah. He said he wouldn’t raise the deposit and that we could just live there and eventually buy the place.”

“Talking about the deposit makes me regret it…”

“Look on the bright side — half of that was a loan anyway.”

“It’s good not having to pay back loans.”

As they exchanged trivial talk while walking, they eventually arrived at Seonga Village.

Taehyun stopped at the village entrance.

“What’s wrong?”

“The gym.”

Entering through the back gate, the elementary school gymnasium was visible at a glance.

Even from a distance, the smashed door and the severity of the damage were obvious.

“Oh my, why is it like that over there?”

“Yeah… something’s definitely wrong.”

They passed along the stone wall path by the elementary school on their way home, and a sharp metallic smell of blood pricked their noses.

“Did the Self-Defense Force pull out too? It can’t be like this.”

“Maybe he went out and the others followed?”

“Could be…”

“To me, it’s clear the Self-Defense Force all left, and Kim Sunja’s gang is to blame.”

“Seems so.”

The mood was unpleasant.

Though they had fought and left, they had once lived together.

“Well… that’s karma.”

Unlike Taehyun’s gloomy face, Ji-young clicked her tongue and spoke firmly.

“That’s true. If they hadn’t abused their power from the start, none of this butterfly effect would have happened.”

“You need to be tougher in this game.”

Her surprisingly pragmatic words made Taehyun nod heavily.

“But that’s not easy. If someone ordered me, I could grit my teeth and do it.”

“Wow… my husband’s slave mentality runs deep!”

“Ha ha, the woes of a salaried worker.”

Even Ji-young thought her husband could be a great subordinate, but not a great leader.

Thinking about that…

“That man.”

“Hm?”

“Yoon Yohan, that guy.”

“Oh, him? Why?”

“His charisma was no joke. No matter what he did, he gave orders decisively. Military background, maybe?”

“Don’t know. But he’s definitely an amazing guy.”

Unlike her husband, Yohan, who had been in the same party, seemed a born leader.

‘Maybe I should have joined his faction instead?’

Lost in such thoughts, the couple soon stopped in front of their home.

“Hey, everyone?”

“Oh! Taehyun! You’re still here?”

The group blocking their way were the Self-Defense Force members and their families, gathered in front of the apartment.

“Why are you all here…?”

“See? I told you only Kim Sunja’s gang was left at the gym.”

“Yeah, after we left, the turtle squad came back and attacked.”

Just as expected…

“Why follow a woman who’s all bark and no bite?”

“Because she’s stupid, just stupid.”

“Right now, following someone strong is better than someone rich.”

Ignoring the murmurs, a man stepped forward.

It was Minseo’s dad, who had rallied the Self-Defense Force after Taehyun left.

“Mr. Minseo’s dad.”

“The giant turtle was killed, right? Was that you, Taehyun?”

“…More precisely, someone stronger than me was with me.”

Minseo’s dad’s eyes went wide.

“There’s someone stronger than Taehyun in this neighborhood?”

The Self-Defense Force were small fish in a big pond; they hadn’t met many people, but objectively, Taehyun was strong.

It was hard for them to even imagine anyone stronger than Taehyun, who performed miracles like a god.

“Ha ha, yes, there is.”

“Heh… the world is wide. So I guess there are plenty of strong people in other areas too?”

“That’s right. That’s why I said we should unite and fight hard to get stronger… but nobody expected it to be used like that. Instead of building strength, they took the chance to seize power.”

“Crazy woman got involved, that’s why. But we’ve still… improved a lot, right?”

Taehyun looked at the Self-Defense Force.

They had kept fighting, each gaining experience and mastering their abilities. Being similar in age and having played similar games made it easier to plan strategies and work well together.

‘Yeah, this is a big improvement.’

And a significant one at that.

“In that sense… how about you lead us and build our faction, Taehyun? We’re all thinking the same thing.”

When Minseo’s dad turned back, everyone in the Self-Defense Force and their families nodded in agreement.

Taehyun looked at them and felt his chest tighten.

“I… I’m…”

He was burdened.

He lacked confidence.

Becoming their leader meant being responsible for their lives and overseeing everything — food, shelter, everything.

He wasn’t sure he could handle such a heavy responsibility.

Most likely, he’d be crushed by it and fail at what he was already doing.

Suddenly, a person flashed through Taehyun’s mind.

Someone overwhelmingly strong, who knew how to handle people and strategize against enemies.

Yoon Yohan.

‘If it’s him…’

“I have something in mind, everyone.”

Taehyun resolved to seek him out.

To bring them all together.

Carrying a massive boulder, Yohan arrived at the shelter.

“Dad!”

“Father!”

As the sun began to set, the children, preparing dinner and waiting for their father, greeted Yohan with bright smiles.

“All right, nothing happened, right?”

“Of course, nothing would happen with me around.”

“I worry because you’re here, kid.”

“Good grief… I’m disappointed.”

After playfully smacking his eldest son’s head, Yohan rubbed the cheek of his adorable youngest.

“Dad, it’s time to eat!”

Junga said to Yohan.

“So, what’s for dinner?”

“Budae Jjigae!”

The kids’ eyes sparkled.

For Yohan and his family, budae jjigae was a nostalgic dish.

Sitting around the plentiful dinner table, chatting quietly, Yohan checked his status window.

[ Yoon Yohan ]

View overall record [Open/Close]

Affiliation: Bucheon Region

Faction: Heavenly Demon Divine Cult / Position: Leader

[ Personal Record ]

Game attempts: 4th round

Survival

Kills: 182

Drake: 1, Castle Turtle: 1…

-Two A-rank monsters killed.

-Congratulations. You have achieved 1st place in the Bucheon Region.

-As the 1st place privilege of the 4th game, you may choose one legendary ability from the list to acquire.

-As the 1st place privilege of the 4th game, you will receive one random mythic item.

-As the 1st place privilege of the 4th game, you will be granted 100,000 merit points to distribute among your faction members.

First place.

His first time ever.

No wonder the privileges were tremendous.

A legendary ability and a mythic item.

Apparently, mythic was the rank above legendary.

100,000 merit points.

It didn’t seem like much, but if distributed to kids with low merit in this game, it was enough to grant them a position each — a huge amount.

When Yohan told the kids this, their faces brightened.

“Wow… that’s worth being first place!”

“Hmm.”

“Something tells me this is a setup to let people become stronger and make them play harder.”

“That makes sense. It forces people to get involved in the game and fight.”

Junga, who had been quietly eating, looked up and said,

“Then the factions are the same, right?”

“Exactly. People can’t unite. And if you think about faction privileges, everyone will want to make factions, fight, and clash.”

Jeonghu said bitterly,

“The more that happens, the fewer survivors there will be.”

“Well… that’s true.”

Yohan said, checking the total Bucheon region stats.

[ Region Record ]

Region: Bucheon

Game attempts: 4th round

Total participants: 210,234

Survivors: 179,924

Factions participating: 89

Surviving factions: 31

Kills: 97,984

Orcs: 12,391, Humans: 8,342…

Among the many kill records, the number of humans killed by humans stood out.

About eight thousand.

Though there wasn’t a war, the fact that eight thousand humans had been killed by other humans made Yohan sigh deeply.

Considering that only two people had died to the same person in the first game, this was an immense number.

The recent Loot War and the formation of factions greatly increased conflict between humans.

If this continued, more people would die.

Yohan fell into the dilemma of whether protecting only his family was enough.

Hero complex?

Not exactly, but he hated seeing people die and wasn’t sure if he could stand against even stronger factions born through killing and power struggles.

Yohan desperately felt that the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult needed more than just his family — it needed more people.

‘Kim Taehyun…’

The first people who came to his mind were the young couple, Taehyun and Ji-young.

To be continued in the next volume.