“Hey, this isn’t some run-of-the-mill item, you know? Can’t you see I’m the only one alive while all my guys are dead?”
“Yeah, I see it. I see a pig who survived while all his own underlings died, acting cocky.”
“Underlings? Ha! You don’t get it. These guys are just my subordinates, and if I lose them, I can always make more!”
No sooner had he finished speaking than three chains shot out from the thug’s back, aiming straight for Yohan.
Clang! Ka-kang!
As the loud clash of metal against metal rang out and the chains tumbled across the ground, the thug’s expression hardened slightly.
“You shouldn’t be able to block this with just ordinary metal…”
“Well, this isn’t just ordinary metal, either.”
It was a rare item, and on top of that, it was the Heavenly Demon Spear imbued with energy. There was no way it would break so easily.
“If you keep acting cocky just because you trust your item, you’re going to get hurt. Take it off and hand it over, quietly.”
At Yohan’s words, the thug’s gaze turned sharp.
“Ha! Look who’s talking.”
Charrururuk.
Dozens of chains sprouted from the thug’s back.
Yohan took a stance, preparing to meet the attack as the chains writhed like snakes.
At that moment,
“Black Dragon Ascension!”
A booming voice rang out from behind the thug.
Jeonghu drew the Black Dragon Talisman and slammed his axe against the ground as he glared at the man.
“What the heck, who are you attacking!”
Yohan shouted in confusion, wondering why Jeonghu was striking the ground instead of the enemy in front of him. But to his surprise, from the spot where the axe met the earth, a black dragon, taller than a person, shot up as if ascending to the heavens, whipping up a fierce wind as it charged the thug.
“What the hell is this?!”
Charrururuk!
The chains that had been aimed at Yohan now shot toward the black dragon.
The moment the chains and the black dragon collided, the dragon transformed into a massive whirlwind, swallowing up the chains.
The black dragon, now a typhoon at least three times larger than a person, sucked in everything in its path. Not only did it devour the chains, but it also began absorbing the remaining lengths as well.
“Huh? Huhhh?!”
The thug, owner of the chains, began to stumble as he was being dragged in by the force.
“What the hell is going on?”
Charruk, charruk!
Unable to withstand the power of Black Dragon Ascension, the panicked man started to slowly take off his chainmail armor to resist being sucked in.
Yohan didn’t miss his chance and swiftly hurled the Heavenly Demon Spear at the thug.
Whoosh!
Crash!
Slicing through the air, the Heavenly Demon Spear pierced straight through the man’s head.
Thud.
The body collapsed limply, trembling as it lost its head. In that instant, the Black Dragon Ascension turned into a stream of wind and vanished into the sky.
“Whew… I told you, if you trust your items too much and act cocky, you’ll die.”
No matter how good an item is, the moment you become overconfident, death can come in an instant.
This time, it wasn’t even Yohan who took the initiative, Jeonghu had shaken things up with the skill of the Black Dragon Talisman, and Yohan just finished it off.
Still, the thug’s blind faith in his item had led to his death.
“See? You shouldn’t get overconfident just because you trust your items. Always stay cautious, understand?”
“Of course, I’m not an idiot like that. What do you take me for!”
“What else? An idiot. Let’s check out the loot.”
“Okay.”
Jeonghu picked up the pile of chains that had fallen pathetically to the ground, then dropped them right back down, his eyes wide in shock.
“Why? What is it? What’s wrong?”
Surprised, Yohan approached and touched the pile of chains Jeonghu had picked up.
[Demon King’s Chainmail of Annihilation (Legendary)]
-Armor made from the chains that once sealed the Demon King who dreamed of humanity’s destruction in the legendary era. Possesses the greatest defensive and offensive power.
-Strength +150
-Health +50
-Mana +50
“Wow! A legendary item!”
Yohan had mastered legendary martial arts, but this was his first time seeing a legendary item.
As expected, the stats were incomparable to the rare Black Dragon Talisman.
Yohan couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.
“This is insane, Dad!”
“I guess the guy had reason to be cocky. It’s even better than the Black Dragon Talisman.”
“Seriously. Who should wear this… Sejeong? Or should you just take it, Dad?”
“Sejeong? No, you should wear it.”
“Me?”
Yohan nodded.
With just the Black Dragon Talisman and this armor, Jeonghu could pull his weight as much as Yohan himself.
“Really, I can wear it?”
“Of course. Wear it, and earn your keep.”
“Awesome!”
While Jeonghu celebrated as he put on the armor, Yohan searched through the other items.
Maybe it was because they’d just gotten a legendary item, but there didn’t seem to be anything else worth taking.
Actually, most of the other items were just common or high-grade, and there wasn’t even a rare item, let alone another legendary one.
No, there was one left.
“A staff.”
It was something the young man had originally owned, which his family had taken from him, and after killing the whole family, the thug had claimed it.
It didn’t seem to have any magic-using skills, but just in case, Yohan picked up the staff.
[Amplification Staff (Rare)]
-An item crafted by the genius archmage Grun in his youth. A ridiculous item that can triple the power of even the weakest magic.
-Mana +50
“This… is perfect for Seoyoung.”
It didn’t come with any extra magic skills, but for Seoyoung, who could use Fireball, there was no better item.
“Looks like we’re off to a good start, Dad.”
Jeonghu, now wearing the chainmail armor with his clothes layered over it, commented.
“Yeah. But we still don’t know what these guys were up to.”
“They looked like thugs to me—couldn’t they be from the Bucheon Brothers Clan?”
“Who knows… But luckily, it looks like someone survived.”
“Huh?”
At Yohan’s words, Jeonghu glanced around.
There were only grotesquely mutilated corpses scattered everywhere, hard to even look at—so where was this survivor?
“Come out.”
Yohan called out, looking toward where a wrecked car was parked by the roadside.
“Not coming out?”
He couldn’t see anyone, but his senses clearly detected a human presence.
“If you don’t come out, I’ll smash the car you’re hiding in along with you.”
As Yohan began to gather his inner energy,
“I’m coming out! I’m coming!”
A man appeared from behind the car, hands raised.
He was so tall it was a wonder he’d managed to hide behind the car, and his clothes screamed “thug” from head to toe.
Just from his fashion sense, it was clear he was part of the same gang as the thugs they’d just killed.
“Your survival instincts are impressive. You slipped away like a ghost.”
In fact, Yohan had spotted this thug slipping away at the perfect moment when he was about to unleash Asura’s Raging Wave.
Maybe it was a skill from the Game, or maybe he was just born with an uncanny will to survive—either way, the guy was definitely lucky.
He was alive, after all.
“Alright, sit down. If you tell the truth, I’ll let you go.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You guys aren’t from the Bucheon Brothers Clan, are you?”
“No, sir, we’re from the Sinjung-dong Faction, sir.”
“Don’t call me sir.”
“Yes, uh… Sorry.”
Yohan had the thug, who was a head taller than himself, sit down across from him and questioned him.
“So, what’s the Sinjung-dong Faction?”
“Our organization’s been around for about ten years now. We’re real gangsters, sir.”
“And you know about the Bucheon Brothers Clan?”
“Of course, sir. There’s no way we wouldn’t know.”
No way he wouldn’t know?
“So you were a rival group fighting over turf in Bucheon?”
“Not exactly. The Bucheon Brothers Clan was only formed a few months ago, sir.”
“What? Then they’re not even real gangsters?”
“Uh… The guy who calls himself the boss of the Bucheon Brothers Clan was originally the operations chief of the Sangwon faction in Incheon, sir. Somehow, when the Game started, he was in Bucheon, and since then, he’s been building his own organization and taking over Bucheon, acting all high and mighty.”
‘If I go by what he’s saying, the Bucheon Brothers Clan is a newcomer that settled in Bucheon and started building an organization after the Game began.’
“And you guys from the Sinjung-dong Faction just let that slide? That’s not like you, is it?”
“Well, the boss of the Bucheon Brothers Clan is just freakishly strong, sir. During the last Second Game, he raided our organization and took out our boss and everyone else. He only took along those who surrendered, and the rest of us have been on the run ever since, always being chased.”
“Oh! So the rolling stone was so big and tough that it smashed the ones already there, huh?”
“That’s a perfect analogy, sir. Anyway, we were running away, and since this third Game was a looting battle, we went out to snatch some items… and, well, this happened.”
Yohan placed two cigarettes in his mouth, lit them, and handed one to the thug as he sat down next to him, subtly showing a bit of camaraderie to put him at ease before asking again.
“Alright. So how many people does the Bucheon Brothers Clan have?”
“Just from absorbing the guys from our group with powers, that’s thirty-five. Then there are about thirty more he recruited or forced to join, and if you count all the random stragglers, there’s got to be at least a hundred, sir.”
“A hundred, huh…”
Yohan took a deep drag on his cigarette, his expression turning grim.
There were more people than he’d thought.
Of course, a good number of them were probably weaklings who joined for protection, but the important thing was that the boss himself had recruited at least fifty by force or persuasion.
Juhui had already killed over thirty of their guys, but there was no guarantee any of them were elite members of the Bucheon Brothers Clan, and it was impossible to know how many of the recruited were the real deal.
There was one thing he could be sure of, though.
They were definitely not going to be easy. In fact, they might even be dangerous.
“So, what kind of power does this Bucheon Brothers Clan boss have that makes him so strong?”
“Uh… It’s hard to describe. He’s super strong, super fast, can fly… stuff like that.”
“What, is he Superman?”
Jeonghu chuckled, but Yohan’s expression only grew more serious.
“Son, this isn’t a joke. He really could have powers like Superman.”
“Come on, Dad. There’s no Game with Superman in it… Oh! Wait, there is.”
“There is?”
Jeonghu scratched his head.
He’d overlooked it because most of the Games so far had been mobile or PC Games.
“You know, PlayStation. There might be a game where Superman’s the main character. I’ve seen Spider-Man and Batman games, after all.”
“See? There’s no Game that doesn’t exist in this world.”
“Now that you mention it, that’s kind of scary. There could be people with godlike powers, right?”
Yohan nodded.
“At least we can be thankful that there’s no one with divine powers in Bucheon.”
“How do you know that?”
“If there were, they would’ve taken over Bucheon already. Or maybe they just don’t like to show themselves.”
“Oh…”
Yohan turned his gaze back to the thug.
“So, where’s their hideout?”
“You mean the Bucheon Brothers Clan? Their base is Bucheon Station. They’ve taken over the E-Mart there and are gathering people. They’re so strong even the military avoids them, so they’re basically the emperors of Bucheon.”
“Tch.”
No wonder the military avoids them.
As far as Yohan knew, there weren’t any military bases in Bucheon with tanks or other heavy weaponry.
In that situation, fighting the Bucheon Brothers Clan with only guns and small arms would be a huge burden.
“Well, anyway, got it. You gave us good info, so I’ll let you live. Just don’t let me see you again.”
“Thank you!”
The thug wasted no time getting up.
Yohan chuckled at how quickly the big guy ran off, but then the thug suddenly stopped and turned to him.
“Oh, I forgot. There’s something the boss of the Bucheon Brothers Clan always calls himself.”
“What is it? Superman?”
“No. Uh… Heavenly Demon? Yeah, he called himself the Heavenly Demon.”
“…Heavenly Demon?”
The words struck a nerve with Yohan.