Level 4 Human in a Ruined World

Chapter 244: Powdered Bean (4)

Fear.

There are countless fears in the world, but perhaps the greatest is the fear of the unknown.

It’s something that cannot be predicted because it has never been seen before, yet it can be instinctively recognized as threatening.

In fact, the “reset” itself falls within the broad category of the fear of the unknown, and its byproduct, the mutants, should have been a massive fear for humanity.

Goblins, orcs, trolls, dragons… These are all beings humans have imagined for a long time, but they’ve never actually existed in the world.

And now, Song Taeho, who appeared in Seoul today, is a 40-meter-long steel dragon.

The largest mammal known to exist on Earth, the blue whale, can reach up to 33 meters in length.

So it was natural for Song Taeho, with his 40-meter body that could fly and rain steel, to be a subject of fear.

Song Taeho himself thought so too.

At least, until he met a man claiming to be his nephew, Joseon’s Strongest Sword.

Chop, chop, chop!

“This battle is brought to you with the support of the intergalactic weapon brand, Dogo!”

A self-proclaimed bastard of the Jinhyeon family, drenched in blood, spouted strange lines.

Of course, he was only a human being, just 2 meters tall, a mere bug compared to Taeho, who had a height of 20 meters.

But…

―What the hell is he saying?

Imagine that bug doesn’t die even when stepped on and quickly crawls up, leaving ominous bloodstains on the ground.

You wouldn’t want it to come any closer.

You wouldn’t want to get bitten by it.

Taeho felt a clear fear of this small creature that was only a tenth of his size.

―Get away!

Just as the steel dragon Song Taeho was about to open his mouth and breathe fire.

“「Dogooooooo」……!”

An otherworldly language shot out from the mouth of Joseon’s Strongest Sword, Jeong Yeongwoo, trailing a long tail.

Only a being that has sparkled for even a moment among the countless creatures in this vast universe can possess the power of an otherworldly language.

―Gah!

Learning the concept of an “intergalactic weapon company” through the word “Dogo” spoken by his opponent, Song Taeho was so shocked that he breathed fire into the air.

Puaaah!

It was like a martial artist spitting blood after suffering from inner demons.

Crash!

Song Taeho’s breath, composed of fine steel fragments, turned into rice-sized steel rain that fell to the ground.

“Seriously, how troublesome.”

Grumbling, Yeongwoo evaded to the side while thinking he wanted to lock his uncle in the returnee’s room.

With a monster of this caliber, the power when summoned as a “friend” would be tremendous.

Also, there wouldn’t be a shortage of hands in the returnee’s room.

They wouldn’t manage with just three people assembling the player’s statue and stepping on the pedal for laser bombardment.

“Uncle! Are you going to keep fighting? Why don’t you make peace with me?”

Yeongwoo shouted, looking at Song Taeho’s head hanging 20 meters high in the air, and another accurately aimed breath came flying.

Kuahhh!

It was probably a sign of rejection.

―Why should I be an uncle to a monster like you? Isn’t it just your claim?

Song Taeho, who had regained his composure, raised a valid question.

To be honest, the only connection between Yeongwoo and Song Taeho was Yeongwoo’s one-sided claim that he was the illegitimate child of Jinhyeon family.

So, aside from that claim, Yeongwoo was just a monster wielding excessive power with the sponsorship of an intergalactic company.

And above all…

―It’s really surprising that Gangnam was in the hands of aliens. But that’s only until today.

“What…?”

Yeongwoo realized that his uncle’s constant reference to Gangnam as “my city” was heartfelt.

―I will liberate Gangnam, no, Seoul!

Song Taeho shouted solemnly, as if he were a freedom fighter.

“Why are you saying it like that?”

Yeongwoo tried to correct his uncle’s misunderstanding, but it was no use.

Thud!

Suddenly, a disturbing presence was felt from beneath the ground.

Thud, thud, thud!

Huge steel spikes the size of houses shot up.

“What the hell!”

It turned out Song Taeho could not only rain steel but also tear up the earth.

“Are you really going to do this?”

As Yeongwoo leaped high into the air to avoid the spikes, he met Song Taeho’s eyes for the first time.

Song Taeho, displeased, opened his mouth wide.

―Die! You alien lackey!

“What…?”

―Seoul belongs to humans…!

An enormous explosive sound erupted from inside Song Taeho’s mouth.

It was the breath of judgment.

Kuaaaa!

This time, the breath struck directly from the air, leaving Yeongwoo with no way to avoid it.

‘What does he know about calling someone a lackey?’

The black steel breath engulfed Yeongwoo, who swung his Bastard to deflect part of the breath but ended up crashing into the ground.

Thud!

The first crash of Joseon’s Strongest Sword, Jeong Yeongwoo.

Seeing this, Song Taeho straightened his long neck, feeling triumphant.

―You claim to be the bastard of our family? It’s possible, maybe.

Thud!

Song Taeho took a massive step toward the embedded Yeongwoo.

―But do you know what they call a bastard?

Crunch.

As Song Taeho raised his massive upper body, a long, dark shadow extended endlessly.

―It’s called a ‘mistake.’

The mistake of the Jinhyeon family.

Defining Yeongwoo this way, the pureblood supremacist Song Taeho gathered his strength to erase this family mistake.

Gooooo!

He was about to deliver the final blow to the bastard of Jinhyeon, who was still embedded in the ground, seemingly lifeless.

Then.

“…Safari.”

Yeongwoo, buried in the ground as if dead, muttered something.

This caused Song Taeho, who was gathering his steel breath, to pause and tilt his head.

―What?

“I said safari.”

―What nonsense is this? What safari?

“Number 48183…!”

―Huh…?

Realizing this was a kind of serial number, Song Taeho quickly opened his mouth again, sensing something ominous.

Tchuck!

He thought he must kill the enemy before he finished reciting that number.

However.

“4437-02!”

The serial number was not long, and it had already been fully pronounced by Yeongwoo.

And this number was none other than:

〔Earth-482-183-4437-02〕

The coordinates of a point in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.

Of course, Song Taeho couldn’t even imagine it might be bombardment coordinates.

Goooo!

Only when he heard a sound breaking through the sky above his head did he realize something was wrong.

―What have you done?

Looking up in panic at the sky, Song Taeho asked, and Yeongwoo, who had raised his upper body from the ground, replied.

“Double advertising.”

And immediately.

Paaaaat!

A laser cannon provided by another intergalactic military contractor, ‘Toma,’ pierced through Earth’s atmosphere and struck Gwangjin-gu.

―These damn bastards!

Terrified by the unimaginable scale of the sniper attack, Song Taeho hurriedly turned around, only to see the mad bastard had already dashed away to safety.

―Hey, you dog bastard!

“Yes? My mother is not a dog, but a dragon.”

Yeongwoo, who had reached a safe zone, calmly looked back.

He then saw his uncle running on all fours.

And soon, a white laser beam shot down upon him.

Kuaaaaa!

―Aaaaah!

As could be easily inferred from Song Taeho’s pitiful scream, the bombardment hit… well, partially hit.

While his head wasn’t obliterated by the laser cannon, about a third of his right wing was blown off.

‘At least now he won’t be able to escape to the sky.’

Yeongwoo, standing far from the bombardment site, saw his uncle staggering with his damaged wing and took a step forward again.

Tchuck!

In the meantime, about 40% of his skin had regenerated, so blood was no longer flowing from his feet, and his face was gradually returning to its original form.

Of course, with parts of his skin still missing, his overall appearance was even more grotesque than when his outer skin was completely gone.

For instance, since the skin on his left jaw hadn’t regenerated yet, the muscles holding his mandible and the teeth attached to it were fully exposed.

He was truly the embodiment of the undead.

“Stop right there. You didn’t think there was only one shell, did you?”

As Yeongwoo, holding the ‘Bastard’ in his right hand, stepped towards his uncle, Song Taeho trembled the tip of his wing and glared at his nephew.

―Are you really… the son of Song Jiseon?

Finally beginning to genuinely believe Yeongwoo’s lineage, Song Taeho realized that sufficient power was indeed the key to everything.

“If you want, I can even get you a family relationship certificate. Intergalactically.”

Of course, whether such a certificate existed with his uncle was uncertain.

But the important thing was that due to the 「Dogo」 Yeongwoo had shouted earlier, Song Taeho now had some understanding of the universe.

So he could instinctively sense that Yeongwoo’s “intergalactically” wasn’t just empty words.

―Then where is your mother now? I mean Song Jiseon.

“Uh, that….”

Yeongwoo naturally looked up at the sky.

“She doesn’t seem to have arrived yet. I heard you have a very close relationship with her. You really want to see her, right?”

Song Taeho.

The eldest son of the Jinhyeon family, who lost a management rights dispute with his youngest sister, Song Jiseon.

Yeongwoo knew well that such a man would still harbor resentment towards his mother, Song Jiseon.

So he suggested making peace and waiting for his mother together.

―Jiseon? Yes, I must see her. I must.

Song Taeho also lifted his head to the sky, following Yeongwoo.

Swoosh.

However, it was unclear whether he was looking at his youngest sister somewhere out in space or at the laser cannon that had given him a hot taste earlier.

―If I reconcile with you, then what happens? Do I stay here?

Song Taeho looked around the desolate Gwangjin-gu.

Yeongwoo shook his head.

“No. There’s a place where those who have made peace with me live. You’ll be moving there.”

―A place?

“Yes. It’s an alternate space somewhat distant from Earth… You’ll find it livable. There are many famous people there, and there’s plenty to enjoy.”

There wasn’t a single lie in his statement.

And perhaps because of that, Song Taeho saw the truth.

―Am I mistaken? Why does it sound like prison?

“I can summon you to this world three times a day. Then you can meet my mother.”

―The way you say it, it definitely sounds like prison. Is that it? The ‘peace’ you talked about is a form of imprisonment.

At some point, Song Taeho’s tone had changed significantly.

It was natural; he realized that his nephew wouldn’t just leave someone who declared Gangnam as “my city” alone.

There can’t be two suns in the sky.

In fact, the reason Taeho tried to create a reconciliatory mood was to temporarily halt the battle and plan for the future.

―This isn’t right. What kind of nephew puts his uncle in prison?

“Isn’t that the life of the rich?”

―What?

“Whatever it is, I can’t leave you in a transformed state. The moment I turn my back, it feels like you’ll try to devour the city.”

―……

Song Taeho didn’t bother to refute this.

So Yeongwoo extended his right hand towards his uncle and said,

“Shake hands with me. If you don’t accept this handshake now, the next bombardment will fall on your head.”