Yu Na-kyung wore a bewildered expression at the out-of-the-blue question.
“When did I ever die?”
“You haven’t, I suppose?”
“Then why would you ask something like that?!”
“I wonder.”
Limon tilted his head.
Yu Na-kyung was clearly a human being, not a zombie, and he had never once heard a rumor of her death.
In other words, it was only natural that she was alive.
Despite that, Limon felt a strange sense of cognitive dissonance toward that obvious fact.
It was as if he had personally witnessed her dying before.
‘Why did I ask that?’
Limon pondered his own incomprehensible behavior.
Seeing her boss like that, Yu Na-kyung gave him a look of blatant suspicion.
“Team Leader, have you finally gone senile?”
Thwack!
“Ow! I told you to stop hitting my forehead! This is strictly workplace violence!”
“Do you want me to show you what real violence looks like?”
“…No.”
Limon clenched his fist.
Yu Na-kyung shook her head vigorously.
She knew from experience that if this unhinged boss of hers truly got violent, it wouldn’t end with a mere flick to the head.
Having silenced Yu Na-kyung, Limon set his confusion aside.
Instead, he asked bluntly, “Who is it this time?”
“Oh? How did you know a report came in?”
“If you woke me up for anything less than an emergency, my Five-Finger Exploding Barrage would be currently embedded in your skull.”
“Aren’t you being too harsh to your only team member?!”
Despite her grumbling, Yu Na-kyung pulled out a report.
She quickly scanned and read the key points aloud.
“9:12 PM, identified a violation of the Special Player Management Act at coordinates BVI-52.15. 9:15 PM, the suspect fled after evading the responding police officers. 9:17 PM, the suspect’s identity was confirmed…”
“Summarize it.”
“Some crazy guy is drunk and rampaging, and they want someone to catch him.”
“Good grief. Am I really being deployed to catch a single drunkard now?”
Limon furrowed his brow.
In the old days, he was hailed as a hero and a guardian deity, appearing only for matters of national importance.
Now, not only had he been pushed down to a low-ranking position with only one subordinate, but he was also being stuck with chores like this.
No matter how much times had changed, this was too much.
He couldn’t help but feel a profound sense of how much the world had moved on.
“Nobody would say anything if you didn’t go. You’re off the clock today anyway.”
Limon made no effort to hide his irritation.
However, Yu Na-kyung didn’t seem particularly bothered by his mood.
She simply nodded nonchalantly and tossed out a single question.
“So, are you not going?”
“…”
Limon grimaced as he looked at his subordinate’s brazen face.
It was as Yu Na-kyung said.
He was off duty today.
Even if a report came in, he had no obligation to respond.
Even if he weren’t off duty, it wouldn’t matter.
Even if he had been demoted to a mere Team Leader, there was nobody who could scold him for slacking off.
“Stop talking nonsense and bring me my coat.”
“Yes, sir! Here it is!”
Limon finally sighed and reached out a hand.
Yu Na-kyung, as if she knew this would happen, handed him the pre-prepared coat with a beaming smile.
Limon glared at her obnoxious face as he took the white coat and threw it over his shoulders.
He then picked up his sword and asked, “So, who is this bastard I have to grab by the hair and shove into a liquor barrel?”
Vroooooom!
***
[Seo Yong-chan, stop immediately! This is a violation of the Road Traffic Act!]
“Screw off! Who do you think you are, telling me to stop? You’re just a pig living off my taxes!”
[What was that? I tried to be nice! Hey, stop right now! If you don’t stop, I’m going to ram you!]
“Pwahahaha! Ram me if you can!”
Times change.
The Golden Age, where life sprouted.
Primitive humans, little more than beasts, communicated with spirits to build civilization, and Spiritists and Shamans cared for the world with the power and wisdom of those spirits.
The Silver Age, when the Avatars descended.
The peoples who received divine teachings established agrarian societies and prospered, while Priests and Witches ruled the world with magic granted by the gods.
The Bronze Age, when the seven dragons awakened.
After sleeping for ages to escape ancient disasters, the seven dragons woke up and devoured the Avatars.
Their followers conquered the world using Psionics taught to them by the dragons.
The Heroic Age, when humans slew the dragons.
After the first Sword Master, the Sword Emperor, cut down the seven dragons.
Sword Masters reigned as the ultimate symbols of power, and no one dared to challenge their stronghold.
But, times change.
The Iron Age, when the Constellations appeared.
After the appearance of dungeons and Constellations.
The myth of the Sword Master declined.
Taking their place were the Players.
Through contracts with the Constellations, they gained a power called ‘Skills’ and instantly became the mainstream of society.
Constructing skyscrapers with a single gesture.
Creating machines that transcended the era.
Curing incurable diseases with ease.
The world developed rapidly because of the skills of Players, who made the impossible possible.
Because of this, Players became objects of admiration.
A Sword Master was a being that someone born with talent might or might not become after a lifetime of effort.
On the other hand, the existence of a Player, who could obtain guaranteed power without any training, was far too alluring.
In particular, high-level Players with unique skills acquired immense wealth and fame.
However, Officer Hwang thought differently.
He didn’t believe the emergence of Players had brought only positive influences to society.
Why?
Because if there were no such things as Players, he wouldn’t be engaged in this insane high-speed chase in the middle of the city.
Vroom, vroom, vroom!
“Yeeeeee-haw!!”
“That son of a bitch!”
A young man was racing down the road like an unbridled colt.
Officer Hwang gritted his teeth as he drove the police car in pursuit of Seo Yong-chan.
In police work, you often see people who run more fiercely when told to stop.
However, the reason Officer Hwang was so enraged was that Seo Yong-chan wasn’t just some ordinary speeder.
“If you’re drunk, you should just go to sleep! Where do you get off going on a rampage on a summon?!”
A body larger than a truck.
A torso made entirely of brass.
Two horns as sharp as spears.
To top it off, sulfurous smoke billowing from its nostrils.
Officer Hwang spat out curses as he watched Seo Yong-chan riding the Brass Bull, which was nothing short of a monster.
‘Damn Players!’
If it were a sports car or something, he might have closed his eyes and considered ramming it.
But he couldn’t do that against that Brass Bull.
The summons of even Level 20 Players could knock over an average truck with a body slam.
Moreover, Seo Yong-chan, who was riding that Brass Bull, was a high-level Player in his 80s.
There was no way a mere police car could stop that monster, which might not even go down if hit by a missile.
This was why Officer Hwang hated Players.
Even if their level was only slightly high, they treated the police like background scenery, and there was no way for the police force to contend with them.
“Hey, what about the PAB?”
“They say they’re on their way!”
“Damn it, it’s been forever since we radioed them! Why are they still on the way?”
Officer Hwang felt anxious.
If the PAB agents arrived, even Seo Yong-chan could be caught.
The PAB was an organization created for that very purpose.
The problem was the damage that would occur until then.
Crash, bang, boom!
“Hahaha! I am a free man!”
“You… you…!”
Perhaps he felt bored just running.
The Brass Bull, despite not being a car, even drifted and crushed parked cars with its hindquarters.
Officer Hwang was appalled as he watched Seo Yong-chan shouting with his arms wide open in excitement.
A few cars being destroyed?
That didn’t matter at all.
The problem was that Seo Yong-chan had deviated from the course.
“Stop, you bastard! Traffic hasn’t been cleared that way!”
The reason there hadn’t been any casualties despite this massive commotion was that they had evacuated people from the major roads wide enough for the Brass Bull to run on.
Conversely, that meant traffic control was still incomplete outside of those major roads.
If something like that jumped into such an area?
He couldn’t even imagine how many casualties there would be.
“Eek?!”
“Wh-what is that?!”
“Holy shit!”
His ominous premonition became reality.
The Brass Bull, which had been racing like mad, leaped into a road where cars and people still remained.
Fortunately, because the Brass Bull made such a thunderous roar as it ran, the people crossing the crosswalk were startled and fled to the left and right.
But not everyone was so lucky.
“Kyaaa!”
“Waaaah!”
“No, wait!”
Perhaps she had twisted her ankle while being pushed by the fleeing crowd.
Officer Hwang’s eyes widened as he saw a woman unable to get up in the middle of the crosswalk and a small girl clutching her hand and crying.
He grabbed the megaphone microphone and screamed at the top of his lungs.
[Seo Yong-chan, you bastard! Don’t you see the people in front of you?! Stop, stop right now!]
“Huh?”
Whether it was because he was drunk or his eyes were rolled back in his head.
Seo Yong-chan looked flustered, as if he had only just discovered the mother and daughter who had fallen on the crosswalk.
But that was all.
Seo Yong-chan could neither stop the Brass Bull nor cancel the summoning.
The Brass Bull was too fast to take action, and Seo Yong-chan’s alcohol-addled brain couldn’t even make the judgment that he had to stop.
‘It’s over!’
The Brass Bull charging like a madman.
As if to protect her daughter from those hooves.
The woman wrapped her arms around the girl and covered her with her body.
It was a futile effort.
Just a graze from that massive torso would instantly turn a human body into minced meat.
Just as Officer Hwang’s face contorted as he imagined the gruesome scene about to unfold.
Flash!
They appeared.
“…What?”
Officer Hwang momentarily doubted his eyes.
The crosswalk where only the mother and daughter had been moments ago.
Two people, a man and a woman, had appeared there out of nowhere.
In his brief moment of surprise, Officer Hwang’s expression instinctively brightened when he saw the pure white coats they were wearing, emblazoned with intricate patterns.
In this day and age, there was only one group that went around dressed in such an outdated fashion.
‘PAB! They’re finally here!’
If they were PAB agents, it made sense that they appeared as if they had sprung from the ground.
The Player Administration Bureau.
Commonly known as the PAB, it was an organization specifically formed to regulate high-level Players.
As such, most of its agents were also high-level Players.
Specifically, if it were a space-type Player using 『Teleportation』, it would be more than possible to save that mother and daughter immediately, even if they couldn’t stop the Brass Bull.
The immediate catastrophe had been avoided.
But just as he felt relieved, Officer Hwang couldn’t help but be flustered again.
This was because the PAB agents, who he thought would take the mother and daughter and flee, were standing firm in their tracks.
‘What? Why aren’t they moving out of the way?’
Shring.
After being confused by the unexpected behavior for a moment.
The man in the white cloak stepped forward and drew his sword.
Officer Hwang was horrified once he finally understood the intent.
“Are you crazy?! You’re going to block that head-on?!”
A man who was dying to be killed.
That was what Officer Hwang thought of the man.
Even if he was in the Level 80 range, someone like Seo Yong-chan was within the top 0.01% of all Players worldwide.
The Brass Bull, in particular, was a combat summon.
Yet, he was going to block the charge of such a monster alone, and with a measly single sword at that.
No matter how you looked at it, it was an act of insanity.
Such a feat was only possible for the ten Great Lords or some of the Archdukes who could be compared to them.
However, the moment he actually moved.
Officer Hwang’s mouth, which had been spewing curses, could only hang wide open.
Slash! Boom!
“…!!!”
One step as he severed the thick neck.
One step as he cut through the four legs that were moving even in death.
One step as he spun his body and delivered a kick to the flank.
With just three steps, the man slaughtered the Brass Bull and shoved its remaining carcass to the side of the road before sheathing his sword.
Then, he grumbled to the woman standing behind him.
“Hey, you said I just had to catch one drunkard. What’s with this cow head?”
“Maybe he was carrying it around as a snack.”
“Is there anyone who eats brass as a snack?”
“If it’s a Player with a skill that uses metal by consuming it, they might be registered.”
“…Damn it, there’s not a single normal one among these Players.”
“I’m a Player too, you know?”
“That’s why I said there are no normal humans.”
“Team Leader, what on earth do you think of me?!”
Even though he had smashed a bull as large as a house.
He watched the man casually chatting as if he had just swatted a fly, his face blank with shock for a long time.
What brought Officer Hwang back to his senses was the dazed voice of Officer Kim sitting in the passenger seat.
“Officer Hwang, what did we just see?”
“We saw a Level 80 summon get smashed in less than a second by just one person.”
“Does that even make sense?”
“…Maybe a Lord-class Player could do it?”
“But I’ve never heard of a Lord like that.”
“I suppose not.”
Officer Hwang instinctively agreed.
Among the countless Players in the world, only ten were qualified to be called Lords.
Only those Lords who had signed contracts with Lord-class Constellations and reached the ultimate realm of Level 100.
However, as far as Officer Hwang knew, there was no such white-haired man among those ten Lords, nor among the Archduke-class Players in the top 100.
‘No, wait. White hair?’
Officer Hwang’s eyes widened.
He examined the man in detail.
Because when he saw that pristine white hair, one person came to mind.
A moment later, after discovering a small scar near the white-haired man’s eye, he unconsciously murmured a single name.
“Could it be… Aspelder?”
“What? Aspelder? You don’t mean that Limon Aspelder, do you?”
“Yeah, I’m certain.”
Officer Hwang spoke with conviction.
Though few mentioned him now, he was once the most famous person in the world.
Until the Iron Age began and Players appeared, he was a hero who had been called humanity’s guardian deity.
“The last Sword Master of humanity.”