Chapter 40

I finished meditating. Fortunately, no customers had come during this time. I paid for bandages and ointment with my own money at the convenience store, took off my uniform, hung it on a chair, and opened my mouth:

“Login.”

As the scenery around me changed to Ardenia, I took out a dagger from the inventory and threw it with all my might.

Klang!

The sharp dagger bounced back as if hitting a metal plate.

‘Hoshin-ki.’

However, regardless of how much Hoshin-ki was used, there would be some impact. It was because the dagger infused with Inner Force was thrown by an ogre’s monstrous strength.

The body staggered. Yet, Khan Slasher seemed more surprised about something else than being hit by the dagger.

“No, what? You cut my neck?”

“Almost got you.” jae-yeon threw his dagger again as he spoke. Khan Slasher attempted to dodge using his footwork, but jae-yeon’s aim was locked on the Wolf King.

“You little…!”

Klang!

Khan Slasher gritted his teeth and batted away the dagger. However, unlike the previous encounter, the Wolf King didn’t fall for the same trick this time.

Fwoosh!

A wave of red flames erupted from its mouth without even acknowledging the incoming dagger! Meanwhile, Khan Slasher used sword energy instead of just swinging his blade to deflect the dagger, causing him to momentarily pause rather than being pushed back by the force behind it like before.

“Ack! It burns!”

“W-wha—?! Stop that monster fr—”

In the moment of surprise, Khan Slasher’s sword covered with sword energy swung horizontally. It was an attack that couldn’t be avoided by lowering my stance or jumping, and if I retreated then the sword energy would separate my upper body from my lower body.

However, anyway…

[Sword Energy Manifestation]

I didn’t intend to avoid it.

”…What?” Khan Slasher’s expression distorted with astonishment as he saw me stepping forcefully on the ground.

Then I raised my sword.

Clang!

There was an explosive sound as Khan Slasher’s arms shot up like he was cheering.

“Crazy, what strength…!”

The force of my upward strike lifted Khan Slasher more than two centimeters off the ground. Naturally, he couldn’t maintain his proper posture, and I forcibly changed the trajectory of my sword to hit Khan Slasher.

It was an extraordinary display of strength.

Ching!

Puk!

The moment I struck his body…

Shiiing.

His sword energy, stretched like a curtain, hit my shoulder. The mithril armor instantly split apart, and I felt my arm go limp.

“Log out!”

I returned to Earth. Looking at my shoulder, I saw that the trapezius muscle had been severed. It was a fatal wound, but it healed after working a one-hour part-time job at a convenience store. There was no need to open chakras. This rare Songpyeon buff wasn’t a joke.

“Login.”

Ching!

Using footwork, I immediately descended towards Khan Slasher, tracking him with a sword wrapped in sword energy. Despite not having corrected its posture yet, Khan Slasher managed to block. Its swordsmanship was incredibly subtle, bordering on astonishing.

Paak!

“Guk?!”

However, it couldn’t block my subsequent low kick.

‘It hurts…!’

Khan Slasher still had superiority in swordsmanship skills. It was natural. A Sword Master could be considered as someone who has perfected their sword technique and is advancing beyond that level. However… even such a being couldn’t ignore my attacks. I possessed ogre-like strength, along with excellent control over my body to fully utilize this power. My swordsmanship skill wasn’t lacking, just my proficiency in handling mana. After all, I have survived for 20 years in the Late Middle Ages Land wielding only a single blade…!

Slash!

“Ome.”

My wrist was severed. Despite foreseeing it, I couldn’t avoid the attack. Khan Slasher engaged me in sword wrestling, restricting my movements while our blades were locked together.

“Logout.”

I escaped to Earth and immediately took control of my body.

Tap! Tap!

Ignoring the left hand that fell on the ground, I strained all the muscles in my left arm with all my might. Fortunately, it had an effect, allowing me to stop the bleeding.

“I’ll be in big trouble if blood is spilled at my workplace…”

Of course, no matter how much I tightened the muscles, I couldn’t completely stop the bleeding but at least I could prevent it from spurting like a fountain. I raised my left hand, placed it against my wrist, and tightly wrapped it with a bandage prepared beforehand.

“Ah…a low kick can cut off your hand once. Isn’t this too high an exchange rate?”

With trembling hands, I formed a seal. It took longer since I was using only one hand, but fortunately, no customers arrived during that time.

“Blessed Body. Great Door. Open.”

Zzzziiip!

Steam rose from my bandaged wrist. I concentrated and focused the recovery chakra on my left wrist. Unlike magic power where control was completely lost when using Heal, causing it to spread throughout the body, chakra moved according to my will. This training up to Great Door was entirely due to my enlightenment.

“Hwoo… Hwoo…”

I regulated my breathing while wiping away the blood spilled on the floor.

“Ahigo. That’s enough for today.”

I activated the ventilation system to remove the smell of blood.

“Hey hyung? What is that on your neck?” Sehan arrived at work with a magic book in one hand and was surprised by the scar on my neck. I gave a rough answer, “Training.”

“What kind of training cuts your neck… Wow, this wound must’ve gone deep enough to hit bone. Even though I usually train hard, you’re terrifying.”

After exchanging words with Sehan, I returned home. I turned on automatic hunting mode, ate some Songpyeon and logged in.

Puk! Chik!

I punched Khan Slasher’s face and received a stab to my side.

“Kuuk! You bastard!”

Shunk!

With sword energy wrapped around it, my blade struck Khan Slasher’s pelvis, severing its left leg.

[Your stamina has increased by 1 point for an unknown reason!]

[Your health has increased by 1 point for an unknown reason!]

[Your stamina has increased by 1 point for an unknown reason!]

Pick up Songpyeon. Log in. Strike once and receive a stab. Logout. Rotate body chakra to reattach the severed body parts. Go to work. Set automatic hunting mode and perform duty. Login. Receive a knife wound near the heart.

Log out. Deal with troublesome customers at the club.

“You bastard! Hey, you! Do you know who I am?! You want to pick a fight, peace-loving boy?!”

Shling!

As the menacing man drew his sword, all the clubbers and waiters around him were shocked.

“Ack! H-He pulled a sword!”

“Qi Sword Manipulation (御氣充劍)! He is an Inner Force expert!”

“Are you crazy? Why bring a real sword to a club? Is it because you haven’t been here long?”

“W-We should call the police…”

I saw the frightened people. Everyone in this club was a superhuman. Despite many of them having reached quite a high level, nobody stepped forward. I knew the reason why:

‘This is District 34.’

This was a peaceful world without war or conflict. Everyone learned superpowers, but how many people trained for ‘fighting’ rather than employment or health reasons? Even police officers and soldiers who were involved in combat only trained according to their aptitude; less than 0.1% of them had ever killed someone before. It was natural—how could you employ a ‘murderer’ as a public servant?

“Hey! You bastard! Watch your eyes?” A man swung his sword towards me when I stepped forward to resolve the situation. The not-so-long sword brushed past my face, cutting off some strands of hair.

“Ackkk!”

“Dangerous!”

Screams erupted from various places, but I didn’t bat an eye. This guy emitted killing intent… However, it felt ridiculous compared to facing a sword master aiming to kill me several times over.

Indeed, it was just a joke.

Pfft!

I avoided the swinging sword and suddenly closed the gap between us. The man was startled but tried to swing his blade again. However, I grabbed him by the shoulder, rendering him immobile.

“Hey.” I whispered into his ear, “Do you want to die?”

”…!”

The smell of blood was strong. It was the blood of magic beasts, monsters… And most importantly, human blood. In Late Middle Ages Land, where humans didn’t view others as fellow beings, their hostility wasn’t a joke or a threat.

For 20 years, I lived in a neighborhood where people were killed over a piece of bread or accidentally bumping shoulders on the street.

“Gasp… Ha… Gasp… Ughhh…” Unable to control his labored breathing, the man’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed. I snatched the sword from his hand, ending the situation.

“Wow… boss, you really are amazing. What did you do originally?”

While the other staff members were cleaning up, Changsik approached me and exclaimed with admiration.

“I was just a soldier.”

“That’s cool! Were you in special forces? Or maybe a gigas pilot? You had real charisma back there!”

‘Nope. I was just a regular soldier.’

There was some commotion but we finished our duties without any problems. The owner of Club Star Gate, Big Man, appeared and tapped my shoulder.

“Well! You did something today, huh? As expected from someone with military background!” Big Man laughed cheerfully. “We almost got police trouble due to that incident, so thanks for handling it well. This is my token of appreciation.”

I accepted the envelope and left work. Inside, there were thirty 50,000 won bills imbued with his unique order. A total of 1,500,000 won.

“Woah.”

I felt better now.

“I’ll be going! Goodbye!”

“Yes.”

After changing shifts with another part-timer at the counter, I said:

“Login.”

My forearm was cut off. Despite being stabbed, I managed to swing my fist but unfortunately didn’t hit anything.

“Login.”

The shoulder bone was broken! Instead, I succeeded in striking his right arm with a sword. The Hoshin-ki blocked it so I couldn’t cut through, but I heard the sound of bones breaking.

“Login.”

His throat was slashed again. If I had been careless for just one moment, things might’ve turned out badly.

“Login.”

Two fingers were lost. I need to pay more attention while using Parzi.

“Login.”

“Login.”

“Login.”

Stab!

Sword energy cut across my chest but I didn’t log out. The injury wasn’t serious enough for that.

“You! You! You bastard!” A bloodied orc shouted angrily and swung its sword to deflect flying arrows. Hundreds of soldiers had formed a blockade around us, preventing escape.

“What is this regeneration?! No, can it even be called regeneration?” The leisurely attitude from our first meeting was gone, replaced by a look of bewilderment as if encountering something incomprehensible.

Of course, none of this bothered me.

Clang! Thud! Crack! Cling! Snap!

Our swords clashed repeatedly. I blocked its headbutt with my shoulder, kicked low while stomping on its foot, only to then get pierced by the sword’s energy.

Shhhk!

Flesh tore, spilling blood. It was painful, yet this was an experience I’d endured countless times before.

“Log Out.”

I returned to Earth. I lay down in the bathtub of my one-room apartment and formed a seal with trembling hands.

“Body. Great Door. Open.”

The bathtub was already filled with blood. The bed and clothes were constantly soaked in blood so I always logged in while naked in the bathtub.

[For unknown reasons, your health has increased by 1 point!]

“The Songpyeon buff… still two hours left.”

I rested for a moment in the bathtub before lightly washing my body and getting out. In the full-length mirror in the bathroom, my scarred body reflected like Frankenstein’s monster.

“I have to keep eating songpyeon due to these scars.” Murmuring, I sat down at the computer.

It was the last day of Chuseok. After today, no more Songpyeon would drop, so I needed to maximize…

Pick up as many

Let go…

Boom!

I hit my head on the desk and woke up to see it was 6 o’clock.

“Ack! I fell asleep?!” Startled, I quickly jumped up. On the monitor, my character stood idly.

I jumped up with surprise. The character on the monitor was standing blankly.

“I should’ve set it to auto-hunt!” Feeling aggrieved, I summoned some Songpyeon and logged in.

Then…

And then…

Puok!

“Ku…kuk. You…bastard…I will come back again…”

The Valhalla (Hero) +6 pierced through my heart. I had suffered similar injuries many times before but this one seemed different as my green-skinned body convulsed like a fish out of water.

“Huh?” For a moment, I watched blankly at the scene unfolding. Khan Slasher’s bloodshot eyes glared at me, his heartbeat stopped, and his breathing ceased.

“Hmm?”

My groggy mind suddenly cleared.

“He collapsed!”

“We won! We won! We defeated that monstrous creature!”

“Wooooh! We survived! We’re alive!”

Cheers erupted from various directions.

“Wake up! T-This bleeding is too much!”

“Heal!”

“Here! Here they need surgery! Quickly prepare…”

I saw soldiers and healers running around frantically.

“Ah!” I hastily took out Songpyeons from my inventory.

“Flower!”

“In that building… Yes! Lordship!”

“Give these Songpyeons to the wounded! Their regeneration will increase! Here, in order, normal, advanced, rare.”

“Yes!”

The effect of the Songpyeon was already widely known, so there were no questions as it was executed. After taking out numerous Songpyeons accumulated for main characters and sub-characters, I looked around.

Fwssshhh…

Just then, Sword Master Khan Slasher’s body disintegrated into dust and scattered away. In his place, there was a significant amount of gold along with one item:

[Blessed Armor Reinforcement Scroll (Ordinary)]

“…huh?”

I stared at it blankly. There were no other items.

“No, wait a minute. Several people just died here.”

Of course, this battle wasn’t fought for drops, but still! This is ridiculous…

Only one ordinary item?

“Ahhh, damn game…” I groaned before losing consciousness.