“Who are you? State your affiliation!”
Yohan slowly raised his hand and activated his Scouter.
[5420], [8550], [6002], [9332], [7452]…..
Except for the soldier who had called out to Yohan from the front and the group with abilities in the 8,000 range, all the others were roughly on the same level.
Of course, compared to the ability stats of the kids waiting for him at home, their levels were no small matter, but to Yohan, they were just average.
‘My ability stat is 18,000…
If you add up the numbers, their total is higher, but a fight isn’t decided by the sum of numbers.
It’s no different from the logic that five five-year-olds can’t beat a twenty-year-old just by combining their ages.’
“If you don’t reveal your identity, we will open fire. State your identity.”
“Team leader.”
Apparently, the leader of the group with the highest ability stat was called the team leader. A soldier called out to the team leader and whispered something in a low voice.
Even though it was a whisper, Yohan heard the words clearly.
“It seems to be the Code Red announced in yesterday morning’s meeting. The appearance matches exactly what we saw on the CCTV.”
‘…CCTV? The CCTV in Bucheon was actually working?’
Yohan had never even checked if the CCTV was operational, nor had he been near Bucheon City Hall, so this was the first he’d heard of it.
“The person who took down the Bucheon Brothers Clan?”
“Confirmed.”
Moreover, the soldiers had been shown via CCTV the moment Yohan fought Nam Taegu, the leader of the Bucheon Brothers Clan.
The only saving grace was that even though they had identified Yohan yesterday, they still hadn’t pinpointed his exact location.
“Correction: surrender peacefully and follow us.”
Fortunately, there was no immediate hostility.
‘Did they really think with their numbers they could capture me and bring me back safely?’
Yohan pondered.
Should he kill them all, or just run away as is?
For now…
‘Run.’
As soon as Yohan made up his mind, he struck the ground in front of him with the Asura Blood God Palm.
“Attack!”
A thick cloud of dust erupted so quickly that Yohan couldn’t even see how they responded.
Immediately, using the Projection Step technique, he grabbed only the Stone of Drake and escaped.
After getting away, he took care to avoid the CCTV as usual and finally arrived near his shelter.
Yohan first located the CCTV around the shelter.
Luckily, there were only two CCTV cameras on the main road, and even in the school zone, there was only one CCTV near the elementary school.
“There’s hardly any CCTV even in the school zone…”
If the game hadn’t started, he might have filed a complaint at City Hall.
Still, it was an unsettling situation.
It would take some time, but just as criminals get caught on CCTV, Yohan’s shelter could one day be compromised by it.
With a heavy heart, Yohan headed toward the shelter.
“Dad! Are you okay?”
Seoyoung, standing guard in the watchtower, saw Yohan and immediately jumped down to run to him.
“I’m fine.”
“There was an explosion where the dragon was. What happened?”
“The military sent a huge force into Bucheon.”
“Then that explosion was…?”
“Yeah. But I handled the cleanup and got the Stone of Drake.”
“It’s huge. But… Dad, your face looks…”
Seeing Seoyoung’s worried expression, Yohan said,
“The CCTV operated by Bucheon City Hall seems to still be functioning. They recognized me because they saw the footage of me fighting the Bucheon Brothers Clan leader.”
“Ah…”
Seoyoung instantly understood it wasn’t good news.
Regardless of Yohan’s safety, the fact that CCTV was still operational posed a serious threat.
“What should we do?”
“For now… I think we need to attack Bucheon City Hall before the military pinpoints our location.”
“But even if we destroy it, there might be backups, right?”
“There could be, but there might not be decisive information on backups. What matters is the future, Dad. If we don’t destroy it now, we’ll be watched forever.”
Nodding at Seoyoung’s words, Yohan said,
“As expected, my eldest daughter is the smartest. Right, we have to destroy the CCTV command center at Bucheon City Hall.”
Maybe because Dad agreed so enthusiastically, Seoyoung began explaining excitedly,
“It’s confirmed the CCTV command center is in City Hall, but we don’t know which floor, so we have to enter from the first floor. It won’t be easy though. Since CCTV is critical for intelligence, I expect there will be a lot of soldiers guarding it.”
“That’s right, it won’t be easy.”
“There’s no way but to lure someone out and sneak inside…”
“Seoyoung, you don’t know much about the military. No matter how bad they are, soldiers maintain strict security. The group tracking us is probably a 5-minute response team on standby, and guards are constantly watching City Hall.”
“Then… what should we do?”
Yohan stroked Seoyoung’s head and said,
“We definitely have to destroy the CCTV command center. Right?”
“Yes.”
“But if we destroy it, we’re going to be complete enemies to them.”
“Ah… I guess so.”
“Before we destroy the CCTV command center, we need to decide whether we want to make enemies of the military or surrender and go under them.”
“Hmm… I don’t think we can decide that on our own. We don’t know if they’ll accept it or not. Dad, do those people really know who you are?”
“Hmm… I don’t know the details, but they seemed to recognize me from when I fought the Bucheon Brothers Clan.”
“Then for now… it’s better to sneak in and destroy the CCTV command center quietly.”
“Quietly…”
Come to think of it, as long as his identity wasn’t revealed when breaking in and destroying the CCTV command center, that would be fine.
The information they knew about Yohan was probably only that he wielded the Heavenly Demon Spear and used the Asura Blood God Palm by hand.
Since he had killed the Bucheon Brothers Clan leader, they could infer he had taken the Heavenly Demon’s Strong Energy.
But those were just skills and finishing moves. Yohan was an overwhelmingly strong being even without them.
With the titles Diamond Body and Herculean Might, he could block most attacks and unleash tremendous strength without even using Internal Energy.
Adding Internal Energy only increased his power and defense.
Yohan made up his mind and said,
“I’ll go and check it out first.”
“Just you?”
“Yeah, better alone. I can go in, and if it gets tough, I have the ability to run away alone anyway.”
Seoyoung’s heart grew heavy at Yohan’s words.
She wanted to be helpful, but in the end, it always seemed like Dad carried all the burden.
Feeling like dead weight, it was hard to be at peace.
Unaware of Seoyoung’s feelings, Yohan simply smiled and said,
“Good thing I made a shelter in the mountains beforehand. I’ll finish off the lizard and retreat quickly. You and your brother move as much food as you can to the mountain shelter.”
“Yes, Dad.”
Striking while the iron was hot, Yohan entered the storage room.
“I think I have something to hide my face…”
While rummaging through the items piled up like a hoarder, Yohan’s hand came across a robe.
The robe didn’t have any special properties besides keeping body heat, but he had kept it for Sejeong, who caught colds easily when winter came.
Dusting it off roughly, Yohan slipped on the robe and went into the living room to check himself in the mirror.
Not quite satisfied, he also put on a mask he had bought in bulk because of the fine dust.
Now somewhat concealed, Yohan took a deep breath and left the house.
It might be impromptu without preparation, but he felt now was the perfect time.
If the group that hunted the dragon—the Drake that Yohan had last killed—disbanded, they might strengthen the City Hall’s defenses even more.
They might even use Bucheon City Hall as a base with its CCTV command center and various facilities.
“Wait, then what happened to the City Hall staff?”
As questions kept forming, Yohan arrived at Central Park near Bucheon City Hall.
Once a favorite picnic spot for Bucheon citizens on weekends, it now lay in ruins, abandoned and ravaged by monsters.
While scanning the area, Yohan spotted a building next to City Hall.
It was an unfinished mixed-use apartment building.
The framework was complete, but it had no paint or windows. It seemed to be unused, and no one was inside.
Looking back and forth between the building and City Hall, Yohan ran toward the building.
Climbing up the stairs with no railings, he looked down to get a clear view of Bucheon City Hall.
True to its name, even though some areas had no electricity, the streetlights outside Bucheon City Hall were brightly lit.
“They don’t care about the electricity bill…”
Clicking his tongue, Yohan’s gaze shifted to the defensive outposts built with sandbags all around.
They were so thorough that recklessly entering would mean walking into a hornet’s nest.
Whoever set them up clearly knew how to build proper military fortifications.
Yohan activated his Scouter using Internal Energy.
“They’re all just ordinary people.”
In a world full of gifted individuals, those with low ability were basically civilians.
Just a few hours ago, Yohan had faced soldiers composed of skilled ability users, so he guessed the military also had separate units operating strong ability users.
Most importantly, the scariest things here were the K-2 and K-3 machine guns.
“This is doable.”
Still, Yohan didn’t want to attract unnecessary attention from the start, so he backed away quietly and focused his Internal Energy in his dantian.
Tat-tat-tat-tak!
He leapt out the window and used the Projection Step’s rotation technique to fly swiftly forward.
The soldiers still looked ahead, unaware an enemy was descending from above, allowing Yohan to land safely on the City Hall rooftop.
Creak.
Yohan broke down the locked rooftop door with force and pressed his ear to listen.
‘They’re thorough.’
Not only were there guards below, but he could hear the distinctive sound of combat boots on the top floor as well.
They were maintaining a lookout from above toward the lower floors.
They clearly regarded Bucheon City Hall’s CCTV command center as extremely important.
It made sense.
Knowing your enemy and yourself means a hundred battles, a hundred victories.
Securing the CCTV meant knowing the enemy’s numbers and movement paths—too important to overlook.
Of course, for Yohan’s family, it was a distant dream.
Avoiding the soldiers’ gaze, Yohan moved toward the elevators.
Checking the floor directory panel next to the elevator, he cautiously took the stairs down and entered the third floor.