Chapter 21

Chapter 21

I took a moment to appreciate the item in my hand.

The shabby hwando from a moment ago has been transformed into a beautiful work of art after being synthesized.

Its sheath was now dyed in a beautiful purple and red varnish, and inlaid elaborately around it were wolf patterns in an oriental style.

I slowly drew the sword.

Wuung–

An eerie cry resonated.

The surface of the sword was smooth as if looking into a mirror. On the strangely clean blade, my face covered with blood was clearly reflected.

I slightly cut my finger on the tip of the sword, but there was no pain or feeling.

But soon after, drops of blood began to rise between the skin that I thought was fine.

Good.

This sword was very sharp.

Rather than a sword made for fighting, it seemed to be more suited as a surgical tool.

Before, if I had cut a person with such a weapon, I would have probably died of old age before I could even kill one person.

But it was different now.

Classification: Sword

Grade: A

Description: A sharp sword that emits an eerie cry and is sharp enough to put even its owner in danger.

*Indestructible.

*The more blood it soaks up, the more demonic energy is emitted from the sword. (Effect: Sharpness increases).

* – Accelerates thinking and improves dexterity [3/3] (24 hours recharge cycle).

* – Nullify any attack once [1/1] (1 week recharge cycle).

The effect that had blossomed at the expense of which had kept my feet dry for a while.

– Indestructible.

Thanks to this, ‘Red Velvet Curse’ will never dull, even if my arms break in the future.

When I think about it again, it seems the option paired well with the sword.

On top of that, the original sword and pendant effects were also successfully extracted even though they were slightly lowered.

Anyway, the options that were removed from the sword were the damaged ones, so it didn’t mean much now.

The effects extracted from the pendant also had their charging time increased or the number of uses decreased, but the difference wasn’t that significant.

But if there’s one thing that’s lacking,

Despite synthesizing a weapon with five option slots at best, there were only four options.

Nevertheless, since the options related to physical and mana were lost, I can cover it with Vampiric Touch.

Anyway, in conclusion…

I had gotten such a great item!

This is why I can’t give up the taste of synthesizing. As expected, there needs to be RNG in games.

Perhaps because I’ve killed a lot of bad guys in this round so far, I thought I was really lucky whenever I played gachas.

But…What should I do now?

I looked at the scraps left over from the synthesis.

The socks, which had always been clean, became dirty like the feet of beggars,

And the pendant which was given to me had lost its antique gloss and has somehow turned into something like a Chinese fake.

Of course, it was still an elaborately crafted pendant, but honestly, the design looked like something a child with hero-syndrome would make, so I didn’t really want it.

Hmm…I should just give it back to that punk.

Although he was gay, he was still the one who had given me an A-grade item. It would be polite for me to show at least that much sincerity.

Thinking about how happy he would be, I put the pendant into my inventory.

And at that moment.

“T-that bastard over there!”

The terrorist, who had ran away while I was looting the items, reappeared with his colleagues.

Roughly counting, there were about 20 people.

The bald masked man at the forefront of the group spoke.

“So…Everyone was attacked by that naked punk?”

“Yes, yes! That’s right! So quickly…Keuk!”

The bald man suddenly hit the back of the subordinate’s head. His face crumbled and he spoke.

“Hey, you punk! Are you kidding me in this situation? What kind of dangerous child would take off all of their clothes like it’s some playground?!”

Then the subordinate standing next to him hurriedly spoke.

“I-I’m telling the truth! There’s no reason for me to joke around! T-that guy is really crazy. I think he’s at least as strong as Vera.”

“This punk really wants to die. How dare you mention Vera? What if she hears you?”

“P-please believe me. If I’m lying, you can have all my share of the money this time.”

“Hmm…are you really telling the truth?”

The bald man seemed to be agonizing for a while, and soon he began to approach me with his subordinates as if he had made a decision.

I don’t know if he really believed what his subordinate had said or if he’s just cautious in the first place.

They slowly built a siege by drawing their swords against a young child like me.

“I wanted to try this even if you guys hadn’t. This is good.”

*One use has been deducted.

*Charges remaining [2/3].

The effect from the newly acquired weapon was activated. And then the world turned red in an instant.

My blood began to pump faster, and my heart felt as if it was beating out of control.

And…Except for me, the world began to move slowly like a broken clock.

Hmm, so it was this kind of effect.

It seems to be an acceleration buff similar to the one Feoria had used.

I took a step forward in the world that had turned red.

My body shot at a high speed like a spring that had been released.

The terrorists were still out of their minds. In a blink of an eye, I was in front of them.

Wuung–

Along with an eerie cry, my sword was unsheathed. I cut the neck of the man who was closest without using mana.

Swish–

I couldn’t feel any resistance as if I had cut down water. Because of this, the blade came out the other end at the same speed.

Even though I had cut down one person, my world was still red. I took another step.

Shocked expressions gradually spread across their faces. They twisted their bodies little by little to try and avoid my blade.

But will it work?

I, like a batter who had returned to the bench after hitting a home run, passed by while looking over the backs of these guys.

Swish–

The blade penetrated their backs and even the bones were neatly cut. However, far from becoming dulled, it was getting easier and easier to cut.

Even when I took the life of the last guy in line, they couldn’t even tell what had passed.

Thus, I broke through their siege.

At that moment, the scenery of the world regained its color, and the time that had slowed down returned to normal.

Only then did screams belatedly come one step later.

“K-keuk…”

“Aahh! M-my back…!”

When I looked back, dismembered bodies were scattered everywhere. Only half seemed to have been taken care of.

Passable?

It was a very satisfactory result.

And the Red Velvet Curse that had cut them became colored with a subtle redness as it emits a demonic aura.

The frightening aura made me feel as if my arm would be cut off just from holding it.

It could be said that this would be okay to put it in the collection of famous swords that I had collected in the first round.

There weren’t many weapons that could cut people down so easily without using mana.

However, the taste I felt holding it was slightly disappointing, so I think the score should be reduced a little.

Well, if I meet a stronger guy later, I’ll still get the taste of cutting one way or another.

As soon as I thought that, the bald guy from a while ago shouted as if he was having a fit.

“Y-you, w-who are you?! Are you from Namgung?!”

He was twice as big as the rest, with thick muscles around the whole body, and even a large sword as big as his own body.

I stared at him. I don’t know if he’ll be able to satisfy me, but…

Lifting my sword again, the Red Velvet Curse let out another roar.

Then I slowly approached him. But the man stepped back and trembled pathetically.

“A-answer me! Who are you? If you are a hero, I’ll surrender right away!”

He threw his large sword on the floor and raised both arms. Then other terrorists next to him also threw their weapons and knelt on the floor.

“W-we made it clear that we are no longer willing to resist! So you must guarantee our right to life under the Anti-Oversuppression Act!”

“T-that’s right. Frankly, this is oversuppression!”

“You animal! I’ll report you to the Human Rights Committee and have you stripped.”

The terrorists suddenly uttered strange words and began to act confident.

“Hmm?”

I had no choice but to tilt my head. I think they mistook me for a hero when they saw my righteous self.

I’m naturally going to be a hero soon, but I’m undoubtedly not one yet, so I didn’t want to intentionally mislead them.

I honestly confessed what they were mistaken for.

“I’m not a hero yet.”

“H-huh? Then why are you…”

The bald man, who was moving back while on his knees, fell over after being caught against a dead body.

Pointing my sword at him, I answered.

“What’s the reason for playing games? Simply because it’s fun.”

Swish–

I split his body in half. Unfortunately, I couldn’t feel the taste from my hands that I was hoping for.

* * *

“From now on, you guys will act in pairs! The goal is to secure the safety of the citizens and to find the child from earlier. No matter what happens, de-escalation before engagement! Understand?”

“”Yes sir!””

Kim Taehee and the investigators who had followed her spread out and searched the inside of the hotel.

She even ran around the hotel with mana.

However, everywhere were only the scattered bodies of dead guests, and no survivors were seen anywhere.

Furthermore, the hotel was large, so there were more than a dozen areas in the lobby alone.

If they were to include other auxiliary facilities and rooms, even a whole day wouldn’t be enough to search it all.

“Damn! Fuck! What the hell!”

She cursed while running.

Even now while they were searching, the criminals were slaughtering innocent people.

Every second delayed was another loss of life. With that heavy responsibility, sweat flowed down to the point where her shirt was soaked.

Then suddenly, an unfamiliar landscape came into view.

Different from the dead guests she had seen so far, it was a dead body wearing a black mask. The profile was the same as the terrorist she had seen on the tablet earlier.

She rushed to the body. It was neatly cut off at the neck.

And she could feel it intuitively.

‘This is…the child’s work.’

Having experienced numerous villains using swords, she knew one fact.

That it’s rare to cut a person’s neck during a battle like what is seen in movies and games.

This wasn’t a matter of morality or conscience. It was simply human anatomy.

The human neck is surprisingly difficult to cut with a single stroke.

Therefore, it was natural to attack a wider and easier-to-kill area rather than aim for such a narrow area during a desperate battle.

Of course, there were cases where people with sadistic hobbies would cut off the victims’ neck, but most of them were non-combat situations or something that happened in the process of unilateral slaughter.

‘But it’s different with the boy.’

He had aimed for the neck when he didn’t have to. As if there’s a great grudge against the terrorists.

So in this hotel, the boy was the only one who would do this.

‘I have to hurry…’

She hurried her steps. Soon after, a few more dead bodies appeared.

As if they had died while running away from something, the bodies were split on their backs.

It was a common wound that appeared frequently on victims of terrorist attacks.

She left the corpses alone and kept running. Like the fairytale Hansel and Gretel, the scattered bodies on the floor guided her.

And the moment she finally turned a corner, she had no choice but to widen her eyes.

“?!”

What came into view was just the color red.

Everywhere was dyed in red.

There were as many as 20 scattered corpses, and all of which had died in an unrealistic way.

Even including the days when she was a hero, she has never seen such a scene before.

“Uh…Uh…”

She unknowingly blurted out nonsensical sounds as she looked at the terrible scene. As she was staring blankly at the scene, at that moment, at the end of her gaze, she could see the child she had been looking for.

It was definitely a naked boy without a single piece of clothing, but at first glance it looked like he was dressed in bright red clothes.

How much blood did he spill to make it look like that? She couldn’t even begin to guess.

At that moment. The child raised his arm. He had a long sword in his hand.

And where the sword was headed, she could see a terrorist who was still alive and shaking.

The moment she saw it, she rushed straight to the boy.

“W-wait, stop!!”

But as soon as she was about to grab the boy’s arm, an alarm rang in her head.

Woosh–!

The blade that tried to hit the terrorist suddenly changed its direction and fell on her.

A blow without giving her a chance to defend. However, with the instincts she had learned from her long experience, she was barely able to respond to the attack.

*Gauntlet

Thick carbon gloves were produced along her arm.

Armor of the hardest material on Earth which had made her a B-class hero in the past.

The armor and the boy’s blade collided.

Boom–!

“Keuk!”

She spat out a small groan. A very light wound had formed in the place where the blade had struck.

The power in the attack itself wasn’t very strong, but the boy’s sword was sharp enough to break through her absolute defense.

‘Luckily I fended it off.’

The moment she tried to persuade the boy again, the blade of the sword, which was blocked by her armor, turned straight and aimed at her waist.

‘D-dangerous!’

An unexpected attack that caught her off guard. She never imagined that he would attack again.

She instinctively activated her mana and blocked the attack.

“Keuk!”

And the boy, who couldn’t overcome the backlash, flew back and rolled away.

“Ah, no!”

Realizing what she had done, she tried to run straight to the boy.

But fortunately at that moment, the boy jumped to his feet and pointed the tip of his sword at her. It was a surprising amount of concentration that even ordinary heroes didn’t have.

Then the boy smiled and spoke.

“Ajumma, you’re really robust.”

Instead of being intimidated by the attack, the boy was smiling as if he was having a lot of fun. As she had expected, the child wasn’t normal.

‘And…He tried to kill me with all his heart just now.’

It had been a really long time since she had felt such a blatant killing intent. For some reason, her spine chilled.

However, it wasn’t a matter to think about now. She hurriedly shouted at the boy who was about to charge at her.

“W-wait a minute! I’m Kim Taehee, a senior investigator at the Hero Association!”

Tuk–

At her words, the boy stopped moving.

Then he asked with a suspicious look.

“How can I believe that? You could be lying to me.”

“H-hold on. I’ll show you my ID.”

She hurriedly took out her ID card and threw it at the boy. And when he received it, he looked at the ID card and Kim Taehee alternately and spoke.

“This is a different person no matter how I look at it.”

“T-that…”

“As expected, you were a terrorist.”

The boy lifted his sword again with a betrayed look. She blushed and said in a hurry.

“N-no! In fact…it’s because of filters and the angle…”

“Hmm…how can I believe that? Then show me now. I’ll judge based on that.”

“W-what are you talking about?”

“Take a selfie and show it to me.”

“…”

The boy said and looked at her with his arms folded. Looking at his expression, he seemed to be serious.

Why does she have to take a selfie at a bloody site like this? She felt like she was losing her mind.

“D-do I really have to do it? I’m really Kim Taehee! You can’t tell by how it looks? I’m obviously Kim Taehee! M-my subordinates can verify it once they come in a little while.”

“As expected, a terrorist…”

“No, I’m not! H-hold on a second.”

Looking at the boy who had lifted up his sword again, she took out her smartphone.

‘…It’s all for the safety of the citizens.’

She, who has reigned as a tyrant in the counterterrorism investigation team, gave up thinking straight.

Kim Taehee puffed up her cheeks and took a selfie at an angle.

The boy who was covered in blood and the terrorist watched with a serious expression.

Click–

She quickly added a filter to her selfie and threw the smartphone at the boy. The boy looked back at her and the picture, showing it to the terrorist behind him and asking.

“What do you think? Do you think it’s right?”

“I-I think it’s right. My eyes for a person aren’t great but…I think this is the same person.”

Kim Taehee, who was hearing all of this, couldn’t help but shake at the feeling of being deeply humiliated. She just felt fortunate that none of her subordinates were here.

After some time, the boy threw the smartphone back at her and spoke.

“Ah, so you were telling the truth. I’m sorry. I attacked you because I thought you were a terrorist.”

“No…it’s fine…I understand.”

The boy smiled brightly.

Somehow, she felt like she was being teased, but she recalled her purpose for coming here.

She was here to protect such a reckless boy from danger.

‘But that’s a relief. He understands my words.’

Perhaps he was a righteous boy at heart, even if he was just a little lacking in the head.

Considering that the place where the boy was located was the venue where the nursery schools gathered, there must have been no opportunity to receive a proper education.

‘It’s important for a child to grow up in a proper environment…’

If something goes wrong, a boy with such a promising future may be corrupted and become a villain.

Even though the guys that the boy had murdered today were criminals, they were also human lives.

If the boy begins to take the weight of life lightly, he might commit another murder at the drop of a hat.

On the contrary, if someone could take good care of such a gemstone, then it could become an important talent to protect the citizens in the future.

But who in the world would do that?

A child with such a personality might cause a big accident if they let their guard down for even a little. And it’s probably hard to find parents with the will and ability to control it.

‘Maybe I…’

As soon as she fell into thought, the villain who was kneeling on the floor shouted.

“I-I’ll surrender!”

“Under the Anti-Oversuppression Act, I hope there will be no more harm that comes to me.”

She clicked her tongue when she heard it.

‘Awful human rights laws.’

These bastards always start bringing out human rights when their positions are at a disadvantage.

Did they really deserve to talk about human rights?

She recalled the bodies of countless civilians she had seen on her way here. There were young children, young couples, and bodies with traces of sexual assault.

‘Did those people know that they were going to die today…?’

And every moment such as this, she would feel skeptical about what she was doing.

“Trash like you should really be grateful for the law.”

“Haha…I’m always grateful for it.”

She took out handcuffs and approached the terrorist.

At that moment.

Swish-

A red solid line formed on the terrorist’s neck, and then he fell to the side. And next to it, she saw the boy putting his sword back in its sheath.

“W-what the fuck! What the hell are you doing?”

She couldn’t have imagined such an unexpected action from the boy, so she unknowingly cursed.

But the boy spoke in a very calm and composed tone.

“I have to kill all the terrorists.”

It sounded as if killing them was his only reason for living.

A blind sense of goal that doesn’t waver no matter what anyone says.

What had happened to this young child for him to hate terrorists so much?

Then she realized. The reason why she couldn’t take her eyes off the child.

‘Ah…As expected….Does he have the same pain as me?’

It was as if all the puzzle pieces were coming together one by one. Perhaps his family was a victim of terrorism.

She looked at the child who was still smiling. The smile began to look different.

‘I see…even now…he’s crying.’

For him to not even be able to express it, how much pain has the boy been carrying? She managed to hold back the tears that were about to burst.

At that moment. The boy suddenly turned around and began to walk toward the elevator.

“Wait, where are you going?”

The boy spoke.

“It’s not over yet. There’s more terrorists above.”

The boy calmly confessed that he would continue to kill. But she couldn’t say anything about it.

As an adult, and as a former hero responsible for the safety of the citizens, she had to stop the boy right now.

But…At the same time, as a mother who had lost her daughter, she had no choice but to make a foolish decision.

She wondered if her daughter would have looked like the boy now if she had died and her daughter had survived instead.

‘If that’s what it takes to save you…I’ll protect you from the side.’

Before the boy could do so, she pressed the button on the elevator with a confident step.

And then she looked straight into the boy’s eyes and spoke firmly.

“This is originally my job. I won’t say anything about you following me anymore, but I won’t forgive you for spilling anymore blood on your hands.”

As she spoke, the look in her eyes resembled that of the hero ‘Black Tank’ that was active in the past.

* * *

All of a sudden I was standing in front of an elevator with a woman who was trying to act cool.

What’s wrong with this aunty?

Strangely, there seems to be a lot of people trying to stick to me these days. And regarding this, if I had to guess why…

*Favorability increases easily.

As expected…isn’t it because of this?

Gaining popularity among the public was naturally very important if I want to be a hero.

However, it could be annoying at times when people appear out of nowhere like now.

Nevertheless, I can say that it was rather helpful this time.

Considering that her defense had deflected my Red Velvet Curse a moment ago, I thought she would be perfect to use as a meat shield.

Well, it wouldn’t hurt to take her along like this.

I had heard from the terrorists earlier that their goal was Namgung Taesu.

And the head of the terrorist group, a crossbreed between a troll and a human, was going to attack him.

Apparently he was a terrifying powerhouse equivalent to a B-class hero.

On the other hand, looking at my ability, it was around E and D class. Like hitting a rock with an egg, it was virtually impossible.

But as I have various skills that others don’t have, it wasn’t right to simply consider the general hero level.

Even when I was a villain in the past and was always on the run from the Hero Association, I always fought and won against heroes of higher grades.

In addition, now that I have Red Velvet Curse, I am far beyond my grade in terms of offensive power.

It was worth a try.

Ding-

The elevator arrived. The door opened and bullet marks could be seen embedded in several places.

Looking at it, I felt as if I was just about to enter the boss room of a dungeon.

Come to think of it, I had almost forgotten.

I opened my status window without getting onto the elevator.

It’s a rule to set up the skill again before entering the boss room.

I had gained 3 levels from the venue earlier, and then 2 more in the lobby. In all, I’ve reached level 24.

The lobby had a lot more monsters, but that’s a given when you kill weak monsters. Then again, it was thanks to them that my level rose this much.

I invested the Fragments of Growth in Body and Mana.

Body: 2.15 -> 2.77 (+0.62)

Dexterity: 2.01

Mana: 1.67 -> 2.17 (+0.50)

Spirit: 2.08

*0 Fragment of Growth

And then…

[All stats have exceeded 2 points.]

[Physique has increased by one stage.]

Every stat has finally exceeded 2. Because of that, my physique has grown one stage and my durability has increased.

I can worry less about dying now.

And next is skill. I used the Skill Selection I had gained after a long time.

[Used 1x Skill Selection (Low).]

[One of the following skills can be obtained.]

(1)

Classification: Mortal

Grade: E

Description: Introductory martial art method that is good for laying the foundation.

(2)

Classification: Magic.

Grade: E.

Description: Create a protective coating that defends against physical attacks.

.

.

.

Perhaps because it’s a level 20 Skill Selection, but it seems that there are quite a few useful skills now.

But I scrolled down without paying attention to these skills. There was another list of skills that were shining.

[Special Selection.]

I was wondering if it was the case, but it’s there as expected.

The achievement I had gained this time was also a ‘feat.’

Looking back on the previous case, I thought it would be difficult for these new achievements to give out useless skills.

I carefully looked through the skill lists.

(a)

Classification: General

Grade: C

Description: Additional damage against targets larger than yourself. (*Another additional damage against Giant type.)

(b)

Classification: General

Grade: C

Description: You can hear the voices of plants.

[Level 25 Skill Selection will be forfeited if you select a Special Skill.]

In any case…I saw a trash skill.

Even without that skill, I was already suffering from hearing the conversation of plant obscenities.

Just because it’s a Special Selection didn’t necessarily mean all of them would be good.

I chose one of the skills without hesitation.

[You’ve learned .]

In fact, it wasn’t much of a choice.

Considering that my body is that of a child now, I’ve acquired a very useful skill.

And…wasn’t there a saying that trolls are descendants of giants?

I didn’t think everything would fall into place like this. As expected, this world is a game of luck.

A smile leaked out without me realizing it.

And I guess because I’ve been standing still for a while, Kim Taehee quickly began to pour out words.

“What’s wrong with you all of a sudden? Hmm? Are you scared? If you’re scared, you can go back now! You’ve done enough. No, it can be said that going back now is true courage and revenge! Because…”

I ignored her, who was talking nonsense with a rather solemn look, and reopened the elevator door.

“Are you coming?”

“Huh? Y-yeah…L-let’s go.”

She had a surprised look on her face as she hurried into the elevator. As the door slowly closed, I had a thought.

In the end, it seems to always come down to catching a troll to get your beginner license.

After today, I’ll graduate from being a newbie.

== Translator’s Note ==

1. Please report any typos, grammatical/spelling errors, sentences you find weird, and other etc…in the comment section.