novelburst-info
Chapter 62
Chapter 62
1.
Codename: Spider-Man.
A C-rank Awakened One who helped Ha Eun-eung with the cleanup, he was designated a level-2 surveillance target by the association.
For a while, he suffered under the watch of his colleague, So Gyeong-seok, but one day, due to a sudden change in higher-ups' policies, he was freed from surveillance and became a free man.
“Could it be that there’s no longer a need to monitor me?”
At first, Ha Eun-eung thought he had gone missing, and the thought sent chills down her spine.
However, she was relieved to see him broadcasting normally.
“You’re really something. You say you can’t understand the devotion of uncle fans who obsess over idols, but how are you so into game streamers?”
“Same goes for you, you were bored of regular idols and now you're hunting for star Awakened Ones. Don’t be too harsh, we’re both getting old, so let’s be kinder to each other.”
Though they bickered, they stood arm in arm, exchanging messages on their screen phones.
[Why was your surveillance lifted?]
[I’m not sure either. I heard the entire Association’s Surveillance Team C, both field monitor and surveillance teams, got wiped out.]
[Suddenly?]
[They must have crossed a line, messing with someone they shouldn’t have.]
[Does the Silent Swordsman have backing?]
[Maybe they did it themselves.]
The two of them, experienced freelance Awakened Ones, had some knowledge about the Association's dirty dealings and were quite excited by this unusual situation.
Whether it was their own doing or the support of a hidden power, a powerful group of Awakened Ones had fought the Association from the shadows, effectively forcing their surrender.
[Still, it feels kind of disappointing.]
[Disappointed? What’s there to be disappointed about?]
[My small streamer getting supported by a hidden power? That feels off.]
“You’re crazy.”
So Gyeong-seok, unable to hold it in any longer, scolded him out loud.
“How is a streamer with 230,000 subscribers and an average of 13,000 viewers ‘just your little streamer’?”
“I mean, that’s just how I say it.”
“Wake up, you idiot. People like us don’t live in the same world as someone like that. Do you really think someone who’s constantly called in by the Association, who could die any day, would be interested? Insurance companies won’t even sell them life insurance.”
“Who said I want to get married?”
“You’ve been in active duty for years, and you don’t even know this much about me? Give it up. If you’re lucky, it’ll be over in one try.”
Spider-Man’s hand twitched.
He patted his shoulder and began preparing for patrol.
The words hurt, but they were right.
‘Really, I was lucky.’
It was exceedingly rare for an Awakened One to be released from surveillance by the Association.
‘And she wasn’t just any woman.’
She was a powerhouse who had wiped out a dozen Unknowns in an instant.
And the backing behind her?
It could very well be a villainous organization powerful enough to destroy the Association’s surveillance team.
‘Who am I to chase after a woman who might be a member of a villainous group? There’s no way I could handle it.’
His first love, who suddenly appeared one day,
was like a flower’s scent carried by the wind,
vanishing the moment you tried to hold it.
Spider-Man thought.
Perhaps he’d never get another chance to speak with Ha Eun-eung again.
Not until his wrist-screen phone vibrated violently,
and an emergency alarm blared.
<Gate 2, Myungho District, Air Raid Warning>
Myungho District.
The same place where he had first seriously set his sights on her,
a woman with divine beauty and a kind heart.
The place where he first met Ha Eun-eung.
And now, something had happened there.
“Wait, isn’t this the place we were deployed to last time?”
“That’s right.”
“Hey, Spider-Man. You’re not thinking anything weird, are you? What’s with that expression?”
“Sorry, I’m heading out first.”
“Hey, hey! Damn idiot…”
Ignoring his colleague’s curses, he kept running, dodging monsters that filled the eight-lane road,
swinging between the streetlights and webs.
He sent the rescue request list frantically, over and over.
‘I found it!’
It wasn’t Ha Eun-eung herself,
but the woman who had been with her before, Jua-Young.
“…Why does it have to be there?”
The location was a convenience store near the Gate.
In the detailed statement from the other requester, Ihaechan,
the people in the store were said to be three:
two women and one man.
If they weren’t just random customers,
the two women might have been Jua-Young and Ha Eun-eung.
‘Would it really help if I rushed to someone much stronger than me?’
Stop being an idiot.
You could rack up Association contributions this way.
Fighting against the impulse of desire,
he barely made it to the scene after seven minutes.
‘It’s already cleaned out.’
In the middle of the street, filled with monster corpses,
a woman with a seemingly carefree expression twirled an umbrella on her shoulder.
She looked perfectly fine, not injured at all,
and Spider-Man’s legs slipped as he lost his strength.
‘This is embarrassing.’
With a crash, not a landing,
Spider-Man tumbled into the rescue scene.
[C-rank Awakened One Spider-Man has arrived at the scene.]
The notification from his screen phone came a moment too late,
making his embarrassment double.
“Are you alright?”
“Ha ha, I’m sorry. An Awakened One from the Association, receiving worry from the rescue target.”
“Honestly, at least you came here in the middle of all this chaos.”
Spider-Man, trying to downplay his discomfort, reassured Jua-Young.
In truth, he wasn’t alright at all due to his humiliation.
‘What a disgrace in front of my first love.’
If only he could turn back time.
Desperately praying in his mind, he saw the monster corpses scattered around and came up with a quick solution.
“With this level of merit, you’ve probably gathered a lot of magic stones. How about entrusting their collection and sale to the Association? I’ll personally oversee the process.”
“Oh right! Sister, magic stones are highly valuable! We should sell them, now that we’ve caught monsters.”
Who would turn down the chance to gather the money left lying on the ground?
[Can I take a look?]
“Ah, you want to inspect the quality. Of course, go ahead.”
Spider-Man personally retrieved a magic stone from a corpse and wiped off the blood before handing it to her.
At first glance, it looked like a small gem, the size of a baby’s fist.
Ha Eun-eung, with cold eyes, looked down at the stone,
flung it into the air, and then…
Scrape
She swung her sword, slicing it in half.
With a clink, the magic stone shattered, its pieces rolling across the ground, all eyes watching.
“Sister! How could you break such an expensive thing?”
“Gasp! M-maybe the Association didn’t sit well with you?”
[There was a bad energy coming from it.]
“What?”
Inside the magic stone was a form of natural energy.
If it could be drawn out, it would have sufficient utility.
But the problem was that the energy was tainted.
‘Just exposing myself to the tainted energy has harmful effects, and using a magic stone that’s basically a lump of tainted energy will never result in anything good.’
Being someone who can read the purity of energy,
Ha Eun-eung was certain.
Magic stones were like containers for contaminated substances, and their energy should never be tampered with.
Not understanding Ha Eun-eung’s reasoning,
Ihaechan, from the perspective of a third party, felt genuinely sorry for Spider-Man.
‘He’s offering genuine kindness, and she just shut him down… that scary woman. He might really cry.’
Considering that the rank of the lizardmen wasn’t very high individually despite their group strength,
the value of a magic stone from a lizardman was about 200,000 won.
But there’s always the risk that the stone might break during the battle or due to the shock of death,
so not all of them would yield 200,000 won.
The average value was only about a third of that.
However, Spider-Man had taken down over 60 lizardmen, so his estimated earnings were about 4 million won.
Adding the price of elite lizardman stones, at 1 million won each, his total income was 5 million.
Meanwhile, the Silent Swordsman, who had killed more than double, would have earned at least 10 million.
‘It’s like offering a 10-million-won ring and getting shut down right in front of you.’
Ihaechan, feeling pity for him, decided to help a little.
“There was a crazy guy who sprayed glowing paint on the main road. He might still be around here. Shouldn’t we search for him?”
Grateful for the opportunity to go unnoticed,
Spider-Man eagerly grabbed the lifeline.
“Such an unforgivable act! Don’t worry, I’ll find him right away.”
After receiving Ihaechan’s tip,
it didn’t take long for the Association to capture Choi Ho-pil, who had been trying to destroy the CCTV footage while secretly tampering with it.
Choi Ho-pil had been watching Ha Eun-eung’s massacre from start to finish.
‘What did I get myself into?’
Even Choi Ho-pil, whose temper was out of control,
couldn’t help but tremble with fear at the thought of facing the consequences of his actions.
Her strength was nothing to scoff at.
‘I need to erase the evidence, quickly!’
Blinded by his desire for revenge, he had acted impulsively, but now it seemed that his life was on the line.
“Damn it, just breaking the cameras isn’t enough.”
He rushed into a nearby shop with CCTV,
destroying the video data,
and pried open the parked cars to remove the black box memory chips.
Desperately trying to erase the evidence,
he was caught by an Association Awakened One, Spider-Man, and apprehended.
“This is the guy. He was caught in the act of destroying evidence.”
Handcuffed and thrown onto the street,
Choi Ho-pil’s heart sank with the sound of...
Thud
A loud noise as an umbrella was forcefully thrust into the ground in front of him.
The end of the umbrella pierced through the concrete,
about 3 inches (9 cm) deep,
and Choi Ho-pil’s head slowly creaked upward.
[We’ve met before, haven’t we?]
She, who had sliced through monsters like meat,
was an opponent whose rank was beyond estimation.
[Actually, I was thinking of looking for you. This worked out well.]
In the world of martial arts, grudges are always settled.
“I-I didn’t mean this! I’ll accept the punishment. I’ll confess in court, just please don’t do this. Damn it, please spare me. I don’t want to die!”
With a look of clear disdain,
Ha Eun-eung glared at him.
Still with handcuffs, Choi Ho-pil was dragged by the umbrella
into the alley full of lizardman corpses.
“Even if he deserves to die, is this really okay? Shouldn’t we avoid causing you trouble, sister?”
“That guy already removed all the CCTV in the area. No one will know what happens here.”
Spider-Man’s words were the final blow.
Jua-Young’s last worry disappeared,
and Ihaechan, unable to hide his anger, understood how Ha Eun-eung felt
when Choi Ho-pil screamed and struggled.
After all, the two had almost died because of him.
No one stopped Ha Eun-eung when she made her decision.
“Did you do something inside?”
[It’s better if you don’t know.]
Jua-Young and Ihaechan felt uneasy,
and Spider-Man’s doubts were confirmed.
Even an Awakened One with a license to kill doesn’t usually cross the line like this.
Considering the pleading screams for death,
it was the work of a true professional.
‘She really is a member of a villainous organization.’
Ha Eun-eung, the only one to emerge from the alley where they had disappeared,
casually flicked blood off her umbrella against the wall.
Her unbothered demeanor was calm in a way that even Awakened Ones with licenses to kill couldn’t easily match.
Any chance of misjudging her had evaporated.