Chapter 34

Of course, it wasn’t that they hadn’t touched weapon-related legislation at all.

No matter how stubborn politicians might be, they weren’t so out of touch with reality as to blindly prohibit weapon possession when monsters were actively killing people and destroying cities.

Nevertheless, there were various reasons why weapons-related legislation still hadn’t been revised.

“You say you’ll permit weapon possession and use, but what if some madman armed with knives and guns goes on a rampage in the middle of the city!”

“We can issue weapon possession and use permits only to Contractors who pass criminal background checks and psychological evaluations, and have them store weapons at nearby police stations to check out only when needed. By expanding existing laws…”

“Are you joking? Monsters are running rampant right now – how long would it take to test and issue permits to each person? And why can only Contractors possess and use weapons? What about ordinary people?!”

“Shouldn’t we first solve production-related issues, like how to supply weapons like swords, blades, and spears rather than just kitchen knives?”

A miraculous collaboration born from the synergy of bureaucracy and red tape!

Of course, this was just the situation with the higher-ups – people in the field were more afraid of the monsters right in front of them than distant laws, so they managed to obtain and carry weapons through various excuses like self-defense and right to survival.

The problem was the state of those weapons.

“Wouldn’t it be better to bring something like those people over there?”

Everyone gathered near the barricade was carrying weapons without exception.

The problem was that these weapons were things made for everyday use like kitchen knives, metal pipes, and hammers. Though they had weapon-like functions, if asked whether they were real weapons, the answer would be ambiguous – items that straddled that line.

The soldier sighed seeing people crowding in with crude weapons to face monsters that even rifles struggled to take down, but compared to being empty-handed, they could be considered heavenly maidens.

“My bare hands are enough. I don’t need weapons.”

“Among those who’ve said that and gone in, not many have returned…”

“It’s fine, just let me through.”

“…Alright.”

As Yuseong gave a slight bow to the concerned soldier and was about to enter, he paused at a voice from behind.

“Wait! Are you going in there right now?”

“Yes, what about it?”

“If you don’t mind, could we accompany you?”

A party of three – a muscular middle-aged man holding a pool cue, a blonde Westerner who seemed about Yuseong’s age holding a wooden sword, and a high school girl.

“That would be…”

Yuseong was about to refuse outright but fell into thought for a moment.

Though he had gained considerable experience fighting chimeras, secret agents, and academy students, that was all in other worlds using others’ bodies rather than Earth with his own body – his only real combat experience on Earth was fighting orcs when he was much weaker than now.

Focused only on selling the gold coins and magic stones, he had forgotten that he didn’t even know how strong he was now or what kinds of monsters appeared here.

In this situation, was it really right to move alone?

‘Get it together. This isn’t a quest. This is Earth, not another world. If you die, that’s the end.’

Slap!

After lightly slapping both cheeks to focus his scattered thoughts, Yuseong looked straight at the man and said:

“There are already three of you. Why do you want to follow me?”

“Well, we’re just nervous.”

Like the people gathered near the barricade, there were quite a few who came hoping to make a big score after hearing monster corpses and belongings sold for high prices. However, few had the courage to enter monster territory with crude weapons, and even fewer returned safely.

“I don’t have the guts to go in alone so I gathered some people, but that didn’t make me any braver. Too scared to go in but too regretful to turn back, I was hesitating when I saw you about to go in alone without hesitation. Felt like if I missed this chance, there wouldn’t be another. Would you mind helping us out?”

“Help, huh.”

‘The possibility that they’re actually bandits trying to lure me somewhere isolated to kill me…’

Yuseong pressed his forehead and stuffed the suddenly emerging thought into a corner of his mind.

Though he originally liked being suspicious and thinking things through, after experiencing all sorts of extreme situations during quests, paranoid delusions kept popping up to a concerning degree.

While being thorough in analyzing and preparing for anything wasn’t bad, everything had its limits. Suppressing his suspicions, Yuseong approached the negotiation as objectively as possible.

“I don’t know what kind of help you’re thinking of, but I’m not that strong. If you’re asking me to save your lives in any situation, you’ve got the wrong person.”

“Nothing that grand. We haven’t even fought monsters, let alone seen one in real life. We lack confidence more than ability. Just encourage us to get used to monsters and fighting them, and help a bit with combat – that would be enough.”

“What about the spoils? It seems unfair to split them equally when you’re just following me unilaterally?”

“4:6. You get 4, and since there are three of us, we each get 2.”

In normal circumstances it would have been a satisfactory condition, but Yuseong was here to disguise his quest rewards as hunting spoils. Even thinking of it as a commission fee, giving up more than half was too much.

“7:3. I get 7.”

“7 just for you alone? Aren’t you being too greedy?”

“If you don’t like it, you can just leave. I’m not the one who needs this, you are.”

He had been considering 8:2 but thought such an extreme case might break the deal, and considering they could serve as witnesses that he obtained the gold coins and magic stones through legitimate means if needed, he conceded a bit more.

“Hmm, how about 6:4?”

“7:3.”

“6.5:3.5…”

“7:3.”

“Haah, fine. Let’s do 7:3.”

7:3.

Even that had to be split among three people, meaning the difference in spoils between Yuseong and the others was 7-fold. Though it was enough to feel uncomfortable about, perhaps thinking survival was the top priority, they showed no particular reaction.

“Good. Let’s go.”

“Before that, let’s introduce ourselves. I’m Seo Chang-hoon. Call me whatever you like – brother, mister, whatever’s comfortable.”

After Chang-hoon’s introduction, the other two who had been listening from behind also spoke up.

“Carl Rogers. Call me Rogers.”

“Lee Ha-young.”

“I’m Han Yuseong. As I just discussed with Mr. Chang-hoon, I can’t guarantee I can protect you all safely. But I’ll do my best within my capabilities, so until we return, please follow my orders.”

As Yuseong took a step forward, the hesitating group soon began following.

“……”

Broken windows and sidewalk blocks, cracked asphalt, clothes and items scattered here and there.

Though the electricity wasn’t out, so lit buildings and faint music from stores helped ease the desolation, seeing the silent city without a single person in sight created an indescribable sense of terror.

“Feels like watching a realistic apocalypse movie.”

Hearing Rogers’ low voice, Yuseong responded.

“Which country are you from?”

“America.”

“Why is an American doing this here?”

“Came for tourism but got stuck when all flights back to America were canceled. No money and prices skyrocketing daily – what choice do I have but to hunt monsters to avoid starving to death?”

Looking sympathetically at Rogers who had suddenly gone from tourist to foreign worker, Yuseong turned to look at Ha-young.

“I’m the only survivor after my house collapsed. No place to go, no money for food, no clothes to change into, so I came to earn living expenses.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You were going to ask why I’m wearing a school uniform and what a high school girl is doing here, right?”

At Ha-young’s snippy attitude, Yuseong exaggeratedly shrugged his shoulders.

He instinctively felt it was better to just go along with the conversation while agreeing appropriately rather than awkwardly trying to show sympathy and understanding by saying things like he hadn’t meant that or it must have been hard.

“The other two have weapons but you don’t?”

“You don’t have a weapon either.”

“I can fight without weapons. If you also have an ability that lets you fight without weapons that’s fine, but if not…”

Snap!

As Ha-young lightly snapped her fingers, a faint wind began swirling around the group.

“Okay. I understand. How well can you control it?”

“What do you mean how well?”

“Simply calling wind can’t be all you can do. Exactly how far can you utilize your ability?”

“…I’ve never experimented so I don’t know.”

“Try it out when monsters appear. Like creating and throwing wind blades, or manipulating air around faces to block breathing – I’ll teach you ways to use your ability.”

Ha-young’s face turned slightly pale, having never even thought of using her ability in such ways.

“…Yes.”

“A pool cue and wooden sword – Mr. Chang-hoon and Rogers, your weapons are spear and sword styles, right?”

“That’s right. I wanted to get something more impressive but this was all I could find.”

“Used up all my money buying this. Why is this country so strict? No guns is one thing, but they won’t even sell swords? And all I could get was just a wooden sword.”

‘Two vanguards and one rear support. Not bad.’

Since he could take either vanguard or support positions himself, he could just adjust his position according to the situation.

“This is different from what I expected though.”

“What’s different?”

“I thought we’d see monsters right after crossing the barricade. But we’ve walked quite a while and nothing’s appeared. I’m worried we might come up empty-handed.”

“That won’t happen, so don’t worry.”

If they didn’t encounter any monsters today, Yuseong was planning to stage something using his Thorny Vine skill to go through the process of laundering the spoils. However, fortunately that didn’t seem necessary.

“Looking at how clean the streets are…”

Swoosh!

‘Head. Chest.’

A small axe flying toward him at the front.

After easily twisting his body to dodge the attack using Asura Perception Way, Yuseong spotted orcs emerging from the shadows of a collapsed store and raised both fists.

“Let’s start with a light warmup”

His heart pounding heavily and mana circulating through his whole body with each beat.

It was time to find out exactly how strong he was – not someone else, but himself.