Chapter 37
Loners (8)
With one punch from Kang Hyeon, Jang Jae-seon fell down, foaming at the mouth. Once the situation was settled, Shin Seong-ah and Lim So-hee’s group, who had been hiding and shooting, joined up.
“Hey! Did you come to rescue me!?”
Lim So-hee came running while waving her hand repeatedly.
“What? You were here too?”
Kang Hyeon looked at her with eyes that said ‘why are you here?‘
Lim So-hee’s eyes narrowed and her lips jutted out in a pout.
“Of course I came to rescue Shin Seong-ah. But since you’re here too, that worked out well.”
“Tch…”
“Logically, how would I know you were here to come rescue you? Besides, you’re not even a member of our guild.”
“I get it, so stop going on about it!”
When Lim So-hee burst out angrily, Kang Hyeon snickered as if finding it amusing.
“Mr. Kang Hyeon. You’re awake…”
Shin Seong-ah didn’t know yet that Kang Hyeon had woken up. So seeing Kang Hyeon who came to rescue her, she quietly wiped her eyes.
“I’m really sorry. Because of my carelessness, I unnecessarily… Your body probably isn’t well yet.”
“No, it’s fine. You weren’t hurt or anything?”
“Yes. Thanks to Ms. Han Se-yeon and Mr. Kim Yi-hyeon arriving at the right moment, I was able to escape without any major issues.”
“Ah, thank you.”
At Kang Hyeon’s words, Han Seyeon silently nodded her head.
“By the way, how did you and Lim So-hee end up getting caught together?”
“During a mission, I saw Ms. Lim So-hee being attacked and helped her. Then after realizing we were fighting against a common enemy, we decided to help rescue the children they had captured, but…”
“You got caught instead.”
“I’m ashamed…”
“Well, as long as it ended happily, that’s what matters.”
As soon as Kang Hyeon finished speaking, Lim Sohee, who had been listening from the side, cut in.
“Wait. Speaking of the children.”
“What?”
“I’m planning to take those children to Badass Town. Could you possibly help arrange suitable accommodation? I’ll pay for it!”
Lim So-hee explained everything about how the children were orphans and going through mutations. She judged it better to explain everything upfront rather than risk being misunderstood for hiding things by not speaking up.
“Hmm… Accommodation…”
However, Kang Hyeon didn’t particularly care about whether they were mutants or whatever. His concern was whether there were any empty houses in a city that was bursting with people.
“I don’t know.”
After thinking for a moment, he really didn’t know anything.
“How about it? Would it be possible?”
“Yes. I’ll look for an appropriate place.”
“It shouldn’t be impossible.”
Hearing the responses from Shin Seong-ah and Ahn Yu-seong, it didn’t seem like it would be a particularly difficult problem.
“That’s what they say. Don’t worry about the money. I owe you a debt, so I should at least do this much.”
When fighting the monster Ulkall that came from the rift. If Lim Sohee hadn’t finished it off, Kang Hyeon could have really died. Since it was practically the same as owing her his life, he wanted to just do this small favor.
“No way. I received payment for that time, so that’s the end of it. I don’t particularly want to make a fuss about showing off favors. Business and personal matters should be kept strictly separate.”
“Do whatever you want.”
Despite his indifferent tone, Kang Hyeon smiled inwardly with satisfaction.
***
Ippotranslation
***
Kang Hyeon and his companions returned straight to Badass Town after finishing their business in Pyeongtaek.
“Now, let’s have that conversation you were so eager about.”
As soon as they returned, Kang Hyeon sat down Jang Jae-seon and the man in the robe and began the interrogation.
“First, you in the rags. What’s your name?”
“Kang Dong-il.”
The man in the robe had a surprisingly ordinary face and an ordinary name.
“Kang Dong-il. Kang Dong-il… Tsk tsk… How could someone with the same surname Kang do this? Which Kang is it?”
“It’s the Kang character.”
“What? You were Chinese?”
The surname Kang was a Chinese surname, and there were very few people in Korea who used this surname.
Kang Dong-il silently nodded at Kang Hyeon’s words.
“I’m Chinese-Korean.”
“You bastard! How dare a Chinese person act so cocky with me!?”
At that moment, Jang Jae-seon, who had only his head sticking out from being buried in the ground, started to act up. Jang Jae-seon spat out curses with veins popping on his neck. He didn’t cower like before even when Kang Dong-il glared at him.
“What? What are you going to do if I look at you!? Are you going to act crazy like before!? Huh!? Try it, you Chinese bastard!”
Kang Hyeon, who was listening from the side, kicked some dirt.
“Pfft! Puhuhuh!”
Jang Jae-seon, who got a mouthful of dirt while yelling, frowned and spat out the dirt.
“Didn’t you call me a flower? Since when do flowers have mouths to talk? Huh?”
“Someone once said not to hit flowers, but I’m a man who hits flowers, so shut up.”
When Jang Jae-seon quieted down, Kang Hyeon looked back at Kang Dong-il.
“Right. That should be enough basic information, next question…”
As he spoke, Kang Hyeon stared straight into Kang Dong-il’s eyes.
“What’s with your eyes?”
Kang Dong-il’s eyes were red. Not orange-mixed red eyes like Kang Hyeon’s, but pure red eyes. It was an appearance reminiscent of the undead.
“This… Is a side effect. After receiving the body modification, my eyes suddenly turned red.”
“I’m sure. But I’m not curious about what surgery you had, I’m curious about who performed the surgery on you?”
“Why do I sense magic similar to bones from you? This is quite puzzling. I want to dissect you to find out.”
Kang Dong-il, who had been avoiding Kang Hyeon’s gaze, finally admitted.
“The one who enhanced me was an undead…”
“You Chinese bastard! How dare you work with the undead? And then to me…!”
Kang Hyeon threw dirt at Jang Jae-seon’s face as he tried to interrupt.
“Did a sea worm eat this bastard’s brain or why is he so thoughtless? Why do you keep butting in tactlessly?”
“If you interrupt one more time, I’ll treat your mouth by filling it with pesticide.”
“Yes…”
“And stop saying ‘Chinese bastard’. Chinese food is so delicious, you bastard.”
Kang Hyeon had been craving rich Chinese food lately. But now they lived in a world where they couldn’t even see Chinese food. That was quite stressful, and Jang Jae-seon kept scratching at that part which made him more annoyed.
“Anyway, so an undead enhanced you, right?”
“Y-yes… yes…”
Kang Dong-il, who had switched from casual to formal speech without realizing, nodded.
“It’s annoying to keep asking like this, so why don’t you just tell me everything from the beginning. How it started, and how you ended up here.”
“Alright. To start the story, we need to go back to when Lord Agon died.”
To summarize Kang Dong-il’s long story:
After Agon died, the undead legion was largely divided into two factions. The radicals, who believed they should take revenge on Kang Hyeon and conquer Earth. The moderates who believed they should stop fighting and block the dimensional rifts. Both groups followed Gusa Adraz, but Gusa himself said he had little interest in leading the undead.
“Wait, Gusa Adraz? Who’s that?”
“Originally, the Legion of Immortals was led by the Absolute One Lord Agon and three Adraz. And Lord Gusa Adraz is the only one who survived among them.”
“Is that bastard on Earth now?”
“Yes.”
“Damn…”
Although Kang Hyeon didn’t know, on the day of the final battle with Agon. Gusa Adraz had crossed over to Earth one step ahead of Agon. He didn’t even know Gusa had come because he quickly distanced himself from the battlefield as soon as he arrived on Earth.
‘This has become troublesome.’
Kang Hyeon, who had fought them directly, knew best about the power of an Adraz-level being. They were completely extraordinary beings standing right before the threshold of transcendence. In fact, when Kang Hyeon dealt with Mosha Adraz, he was in an incomplete but transcendent state. Even when he dealt with Agon, he had reached transcendence in the end. In other words, the possibility of Kang Hyeon defeating Gusa Adraz in his current state is close to zero.
‘That administrator said transcendence would be impossible forever…’
Currently, Kang Hyeon’s transcendent status is permanently sealed. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s truly impossible. If Kang Hyeon keeps getting stronger like this, there’s a slim chance he could reach transcendence. However, the problem is that if that happens, Kang Hyeon’s mind will collapse and go Berserker.
‘I can’t do this or that.’
The possibility of transcendence is slim, but if he transcends, he’ll go mad. And a transcendent being going mad means the complete end of Earth. That had to be prevented at all costs.
‘Fine. It’s not a problem that will be solved by worrying about it now anyway.’
After pondering briefly, Kang Hyeon put that issue aside.
“So. This Gusa guy isn’t interested in being the bone folks’ leader?”
“Yes…”
“That’s fortunate. Continue with your story. Where were we?”
“The radicals and moderates, sir.”
“Ah, right.”
The radicals who prioritized conquering Earth. And the moderates who prioritized blocking the rifts. Among them, Kang Dong-il identified himself as belonging to the moderates.
“You’re not human?”
“Of course I’m human, but I’ve followed them from the beginning.”
“I see…”
It seemed to be related to how the undead had been approaching things religiously.
“Well, putting that aside. What brings a moderate like you here?”
“We predicted a large-scale dimensional rift would occur in Korea… And came to take measures.”
“Oh, I see. I see.”
Kang Hyeon kept nodding.
“Can you tell when large-scale dimensional rifts will occur?”
The Badass Guild could predict the timing and scale of normal dimensional rifts.
But there were exceptions, and especially with large-scale dimensional rifts, it was completely unknown territory.
“We can’t know exactly either, only make rough predictions.”
“Right. I understand the general situation… Did you think I would?”
“Pardon…?”
Suddenly Kang Hyeon grabbed Kang Dong-il by the collar.
“You bastard, where do you get off playing games. Did you think I would naively go ‘Ah, I see!’ and fall for your bullshit?”
***
Ippotranslation
***
Kang Dong-il’s eyes trembled madly as Kang Hyeon grabbed his collar.
‘H-how did he figure it out?’
What is the most effective way to deceive people?
It is gradually hiding lies within the truth. Most of what Kang Dong-il said was actually true. The lie was that he was part of the moderate faction. In reality, he belonged to the radical faction, and came under orders to establish a position in Korea for the future. And his claim about knowing about the large-scale dimensional rifts was also a lie made up as an excuse.
‘But there shouldn’t have been any information to notice this…! Is he just testing me?’
As if reading Kang Dong-il’s thoughts,
Kang Hyeon smirked.
“Don’t try to mess with me. I can hear everything.”
“You were thinking ‘Is he just testing me without knowing anything?‘ right?”
“No…”
“What do you mean no, you bastard. I can hear the gears turning in your head from here.”
“You’re curious how I figured it out, aren’t you?”
Kang Hyeon asked with a mischievous smile. Kang Dong-il kept his mouth shut without answering.
“Do you remember what you said to me before coming here?”
“Dimensional rifts have nothing to do with you. It’s purely coincidental! That’s
what you said. Would someone who came to stop rifts talk like that?”
“At that time, I didn’t need to give
you information, so I just made up an excuse.”
“Bastard. You’re good at making up stories.”
Kang Hyeon continued with a smirk.
“Sure. Just hearing that could make sense. But that’s not the really strange part.”
“From the way you talk, you seem to have incredible loyalty to Agon? Even adding honorifics and all.”
“I’ve dealt with many cult members, so I know well. There’s no such thing as moderates in cults. They’re all crazy.”
“That’s unreasonable!”
“Unreasonable? Then prove it.”
Kang Dong-il strongly objected but suddenly became flustered when asked to prove it.
“W-what proof do you mean?”
“Call your superior. You’re moderate, right?
I can call a temporary truce if it’s to stop dimensional rifts.”
“We can have a constructive relationship, sharing information about rifts and joining forces in emergencies. How about it?”
“That’s… not possible…”
“Why not?”
“How can I trust your words? You might harm us after saying you want to cooperate.”
“Hahahahaha!”
For some reason, Kang Hyeon suddenly started laughing loudly. Then he abruptly turned serious and brought his face close to Kang Dong-il’s.
“You seem to be misunderstanding something, I’m not asking.”
Eyes that seemed to burn with madness as fuel stared at Kang Dong-il.
“If you don’t bring them, your value ends there. Then you just die. Got it?”
“If you want to live, bring them somehow.”
