Level 4 Human in a Ruined World

Chapter 312: Noble Family (4)

‘Hmm, having a competent subordinate is certainly convenient.’

After entrusting his mother with the matter of the thank-you gifts, Yeongwoo, who had fled to Gangnam, was now looking at the COEX building that had started to appear in the distance.

‘At least my house is still intact. But where is the mutant?’

The reason Yeongwoo had outsourced the thank-you gift matter to the conglomerate leader and left the area was because of the mutant in Gangnam.

If mutants had appeared in Gwangjin-gu, it was only natural to think that something similar might have also appeared in Gangnam.

However, contrary to his expectations, there were no signs of mutants in Gangnam at all.

Only a few blue pillars of light—symbols of monsters—were visible here and there, slowly disappearing one by one.

In other words, the monster hunters had been active, and nothing major had happened in Gangnam so far.

‘What’s going on? This doesn’t make sense.’

As Yeongwoo tilted his head in confusion and headed toward the entrance of the Parnas Hotel to meet with Taewon’s people, he was greeted by Lim Suna, who had been waiting for him there.

“Mayor…!”

“…”

Seeing Lim Suna, who had taken it upon herself to start calling him "Mayor" without being asked, Yeongwoo wore a slightly displeased expression.

“My title has changed to \'Mayor\' already?”

“Well, you are the mayor, after all.”

“Anyway, what happened with the mutant? I might have been a bit late getting to Gangnam because I stopped to see my mother.”

“Your mother…?”

Clearly caught off guard by the unexpected word, Lim Suna\'s face briefly showed confusion before she composed herself again.

“Your mother is here?”

“Yes, but isn’t there something more urgent than that right now?”

The mutant.

What had happened to the mutant in Gangnam?

There was no way it had simply disappeared on its own while the top fighter of the district was absent.

Whip.

As Yeongwoo continued to look around, searching for any sign of the mutant, Suna glanced behind her and cautiously said,

“If you’re looking for the orb, it’s at the Kyunggi High School baseball field.”

“Kyunggi High School?”

Kyunggi High School was located a bit to the north of Samsung-dong, not far from here.

If the orb was there, it meant the mutant in Gangnam had already been dealt with.

“A golden orb is there? Are you sure?”

As Yeongwoo asked in disbelief, a tall man emerged from the hotel lobby behind Suna.

Thud, thud.

“…Huh?”

The person was none other than the self-proclaimed "Strongest Spear of Gyeongbuk," Kang Yechan.

He was a 2-meter-tall high school student from a world that had already collapsed.

“When did you get here?”

Surprised, Yeongwoo asked as if he hadn’t expected him, and Yechan dropped the bags he was holding to the ground.

Clang!

It was the 8.6 million in gold coins that Yeongwoo had been promised from Busan.

“I’ve been here for a while. What have you been doing, running around without even checking on your house?”

Yechan, who now had a stronger presence befitting a warrior, asked accusingly, making Yeongwoo flinch momentarily.

‘Uh… My mother’s position as second-in-command might be in danger at this rate.’

Come to think of it, Yechan’s martial prowess was extraordinary too.

After all, he had been able to fight off the Japanese masters who had invaded Busan by himself.

“So, you dealt with the mutant?”

“Yes. I saw the mark as soon as I arrived.”

“…That’s a relief.”

Since this whole Gangnam situation had been Yeongwoo\'s fault, he had no excuse.

Thankfully, Yechan had arrived in time, bringing good fortune to the residents of Gangnam.

“Anyway, take the money quickly and show me around Seoul.”

Yechan nudged the bags of gold coins with his foot, but Yeongwoo looked troubled.

“You’ve really done a great job coming here, but it’s a bit difficult right now.”

“…Huh?”

Yechan’s expression, which had been full of excitement, turned cold at the unexpected rejection.

“Why? Do you have someone more important than me to attend to?”

“Oh.”

Yeongwoo immediately responded as if he had just realized something.

“I have a very important guest.”

“…What?”

“My mother has arrived.”

“...Whose mother?”

“My mother.”

“Huh?”

Yechan’s face twisted into a ridiculous expression.

“You’re an orphan, aren’t you?”

“Unfortunately, not anymore.”

“What? So now I’m the only orphan?”

The orphan solidarity was broken.

“This can’t be happening.”

Yechan’s world came crashing down at that moment.

How could Yeongwoo, the top output of the orphan world, no longer be an orphan?

It was unbelievable.

“Where is your mother now?”

“She’s in the neighboring district. Probably catching up with my father.”

“You have a dad now too?”

When Yechan shouted in disbelief, Yeongwoo raised his hand, gesturing for him to calm down.

“Honestly, being an orphan might be better. It all depends on the parents.”

With that, Yeongwoo handed the bags of coins Yechan had brought to a goblin.

-Kiieek!

The amount of coins Yechan had brought totaled exactly 8.6 million Karma.

Flash!

*Available Karma: 12,779,605

*Available Defense Funds: 0

Thanks to this, Yeongwoo’s cash reserves returned to over 10 million, but it still didn’t feel like enough.

There was a time when he had more than 100 million, after all.

‘I need to get the money from Master Bang soon. I also need to do some equipment farming today.’

Now that the mutants had been dealt with, merchants would soon start appearing all over.

To shop, Yeongwoo needed cash.

He also had to prepare for all the taxes that would be due soon.

‘Come to think of it, now that I have both parents, I won’t be eligible for tax deductions.’

The single-parent family tax deduction reduced taxes by a whopping 30%.

But now, he had to give up this massive benefit.

‘In this world, even parents are a luxury.’

However, paying more taxes wasn’t necessarily a bad thing when it came to competing for planetary shares, so it wasn’t an immediate loss.

“Let’s just move on for now.”

“Uh, to where?”

“Gwangjin District, and then we need to head to Sajikdan. A very important guest will be arriving there soon.”

“A guest even more important than your parents?”

“…That’s how it is.”

This is the weight that the mayor of Metal Seoul must carry.

Clang!

As Yeongwoo mounted the Negwig once again, Yechan looked at the otherworldly metal horse with an uneasy expression.

“Am I riding too?”

“Of course. Can you run faster than this?”

“I’m probably three times faster than you think.”

“What?”

Yeongwoo blinked, momentarily stunned, knowing that Yechan wasn’t the type to make a casual joke.

‘Wait a minute… This guy came up from Busan, didn’t he?’

Only now did Yeongwoo realize the mystery behind Yechan.

It was just past 1 PM, but Yechan had come all the way to Seoul, despite starting from Busan.

‘The Road of Vengeance is only available to me and my brothers.’

No one else had been registered to use the high-speed travel route.

In other words, Yechan had covered the vast distance by foot in just a few hours that morning.

“How are you so fast? Are you wearing like ten pairs of speed-boosting boots?”

No matter how much he farmed, it was impossible for Yechan, who didn’t even have a gear Catalog, to—

Yeongwoo’s thoughts trailed off as he looked at Yechan’s hands, then bit his lip.

“You’re absolutely insane.”

Indeed, all ten of Yechan’s fingers were adorned with rings.

He even wore several bracelets on each arm, making him look like a luxury carpet vendor from some foreign land.

‘Without a Catalog, that’s what you end up looking like.’

This meant a lot.

No matter how much karma one accumulates, without breaking through certain limits like a gear Catalog, there’s a ceiling to how strong one can become.

Sure, stats could be increased indefinitely, but raw stats alone wouldn’t compare to the effects of hundreds of gear pieces a Catalog user could access.

“Why don’t you have any equipment, Mister?”

Noticing Yeongwoo’s gaze, Yechan blinked and asked.

However, Yeongwoo couldn’t bring himself to reveal that he could store an infinite amount of certain types of equipment and benefit from all their effects simultaneously.

How shocked would Yechan be if he learned the truth?

“I’ll… I’ll tell you later.”

Swish.

Yeongwoo’s head tilted north.

“For now, let’s focus on what we need to do. Our important guest will arrive soon.”

* * *

After retrieving the golden sphere from Gyeonggi, they moved on to Gwangjin District.

The distance was short; at Yeongwoo’s level, using the travel route seemed almost unnecessary.

But the journey left a strong impression.

Tat tat tat!

It was painful to admit, but Yechan’s mobility, while wearing ten rings, was beyond imagination.

‘What the hell? He’s turned into a complete monster.’

Running alongside the Negwig the entire way to Gwangjin, Yechan displayed the peak of human capability within the ‘normal range.’

‘Why is it that there’s not a single normal person around me?’

Yeongwoo stared at Yechan in disbelief, only to see him grinning.

“How’s that? Pretty amazing, right?”

“Yeah. I admit it. It’s incredible.”

Yeongwoo couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty again.

What would Yechan think if he learned about the high-speed travel routes?

‘But then again… I could use this guy as my debt collector. For intercontinental travel, I’d just let him use the routes, and with his speed, he could catch anyone owing me money in no time.’

Unlike the late Im Dupyeong’s debt collectors, who were slow and often had their stashes robbed by bandits on the Korean Peninsula, Yechan would be different.

He was arguably the strongest human around, excluding the extraterrestrial proxies operating on Earth.

So there’d be no chance of someone overpowering him to escape paying, and his speed would be unmatched.

“Yechan, would you perhaps—”

Just as Yeongwoo was about to offer him a job after finishing his calculations—

“Hey!”

Yechan suddenly cried out in shock, his eyes wide.

“Mister! There’s a huge dragon over there...!”

Yechan had finally spotted the Ice Dragon, Song Jiseon.

So Yeongwoo shrugged and pointed at his mother with his index finger.

“Oh, yeah. That’s...”

“What are you doing? Get ready to fight! That thing must’ve already seen us!”

“What?”

Before Yeongwoo could say another word, Yechan dashed forward with his usual swift movements.

Tat tat tat!

“Ye—Yechan! That person is...!”

Yeongwoo hurriedly tried to explain the dragon’s true identity, but he stopped short.

He was curious.

Right now, Yechan was the strongest human within the ‘normal’ limits.

In other words, he was the true strongest in the reset world.

And while his mother was an extraordinary mutant, she had returned to this world through legitimate means, a recognized threat.

‘So, who would win if they fought?’

In a way, this fight was supposed to be part of the ‘true history.’

So instead of revealing that Yechan was rushing toward his mother, Yeongwoo decided to say this instead:

“Yechan! Be careful! That thing looks incredibly strong! It’s definitely not your average mutant!”

Thus began the duel to decide the second strongest in Seoul, right in front of the mayor himself.