Chapter 48

Chapter 48

Part 47

In that instant...

An enormous flash of light erupted from Yugeon's fingertips and struck Arthur in the abdomen.

"Urgh..."

Thud.

And that was the end of it.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Complete silence settled over the entire examination ground.

What had just happened?

The world's number-one Awakener had charged forward.

Han Yugeon had moved his hand once.

And Arthur Bale had collapsed.

The end.

That was all there was to it.

"Huh...?"

The commentator sitting in the broadcasting booth let out a bewildered sound.

"I-Is it over already?"

No one could answer his question.

At that moment, the referee finally came to his senses and rushed toward the fallen Arthur.

"Awakener Arthur Bale!"

The medical team also hurried onto the examination ground.

Yugeon calmly dusted off his hands.

"He's not dead."

"Pardon?"

"He's just unconscious."

In fact, this was precisely why Yugeon had activated Timeless Realm and chosen to fight barehanded.

He needed to control his strength.

If he had used Heaven-Annihilating One Sword without Timeless Realm, even a barehanded strike would have punched a hole straight through Arthur's body.

"His breathing is normal!"

The moment the medical team shouted those words, the spectator stands erupted.

"What?! Are you telling me that really happened?!"

"One hit?!"

"He actually finished it in one hit?!"

"The world's number one?!"

Camera flashes went off like crazy.

Reporters jumped out of their seats and shouted at one another.

Representatives from major guilds around the world stared at Yugeon with rigid expressions.

Meanwhile, in one corner of the stands...

"Bwahahaha! That's our Hyung!"

Mincheol was holding his stomach and laughing all by himself.

"Hyung, I don't think this is the kind of atmosphere where you should be laughing."

"So what? Our Hyung won!"

Woojin glanced around nervously and tugged Mincheol's arm down.

Hwarin simply smiled and applauded quietly.

With the medical team's assistance, Arthur Bale was carried away.

About ten minutes later, once the examination ground had been cleared, a group of Association officials gathered in the center.

"We will now announce the assessment results."

The middle-aged man holding the microphone was trembling slightly.

Naturally.

Even he still couldn't quite believe what he had witnessed a short while ago.

"Awakener Han Yugeon has defeated Arthur Bale, the world's number-one Awakener. We have determined that his combat abilities and qualifications as a national-level military asset are more than sufficient."

Murmur. Murmur.

"Therefore, the World Awakener Association officially declares that Awakener Han Yugeon has passed the Great Star qualification assessment."

Click! Click! Click!

Camera flashes went off without pause.

Korea's first Great Star.

And the birth of the world's eleventh Great Star.

The reporters had already begun writing their articles.

However, amid all the excitement...

Yugeon raised his hand.

"Just a moment."

"Yes, please go ahead, our newest Great Star."

"I'm not becoming a Great Star."

"...Pardon?"

The man holding the microphone froze in bewilderment.

The spectator stands also fell silent for a moment.

"W-What did you just say?"

"I said I'm not becoming a Great Star."

"But wait a moment. You've just passed the assessment. All that's left is the registration process..."

"I agreed to undergo the assessment. I never said I would become a Great Star."

"..."

The middle-aged man's mouth fell open.

Technically, Yugeon wasn't wrong.

The condition he had negotiated hadn't been a condition for becoming a Great Star.

It had been a condition for taking the assessment.

"B-But if you become a Great Star, you'll be eligible for various international benefits..."

"I don't need them."

"You'll also receive considerable support from the Association and additional privileges when operating in other countries."

"Not particularly interested in those, either."

Yugeon shrugged.

There had only ever been one reason he agreed to take the assessment.

He wanted to establish an official system for distributing Monster Wave information.

That goal had already been achieved.

Whether or not he held the title of Great Star made no difference to his actual strength.

Yugeon glanced around the spectator stands.

Countless cameras were pointed directly at him.

This moment was probably being broadcast live around the world.

"I don't need an empty title like that."

"..."

With those words, he turned around.

"W-Wait! Awakener Han Yugeon!"

"Please answer just one question!"

"Are you really giving up your Great Star qualification?!"

"Why would you give it up after defeating the world's number one?!"

The reporters frantically threw questions at him.

But Yugeon didn't even look back.

And everyone watching the live broadcast was left utterly dumbfounded.

• What the hell did I just watch?

• He knocked out the world's number one in one hit, and now he doesn't want to become a Great Star?! Why?!

• Seriously, what is this guy?

• Maybe he doesn't need the Great Star title because he's already stronger than the Great Stars?

• Wait a minute! Then what happens to the world rankings?

• The Korean government is probably about to have a meltdown.

• They did all that publicity about their future Great Star too. LMAO.

Not just the broadcast's live chat, but practically every online community was soon flooded with posts about Yugeon.

Three days later.

Inje County, Gangwon Province.

WHOOSH!

Yugeon was running at high speed using his Lightness Art while checking the navigation app on his phone.

There were fifty kilometers left until he reached the area near Jejin Station.

I got here faster than expected.

The building he had discovered in the Emperor Guild's main server...

To be precise, it wasn't directly beside Jejin Station.

It was in a remote location some distance from the station.

According to the map, it was an old logistics warehouse that had been taken out of service years ago.

The same day. At the exact same time.

The Emperor Guild had transferred identical sums of money to this location and another building in the Seoul metropolitan area.

They weren't small sums, either.

A considerable amount of money had been involved.

Yet there were no documents explaining what the money had been used for.

WHOOSH!

"Huh? Didn't something just pass by?"

"Wasn't it a bird?"

"No way a bird could be that big."

"Could it have been a monster?"

"...Don't tell me it's a monster that escaped during the wave?"

A couple traveling toward Sokcho froze in alarm when something shot past them at an incredible speed.

Ding!

[Accumulated growth is being reflected in your stats.]

Strength +50

Stamina +71

Agility +52

"I suppose running more than two hundred kilometers will do that."

His stats had increased enormously.

He hadn't simply been running along roads, either.

He had also crossed mountains, which explained the particularly large improvement in his stamina.

"Hmm."

Yugeon stopped and surveyed the area.

There wasn't a single person in sight.

An old railway.

An empty lot overgrown with weeds.

And a few buildings that looked as though they hadn't been used in years.

That was all.

There's nothing at the station itself.

He began walking around slowly, checking for traces of activity.

Step. Step.

At first glance, nothing seemed particularly unusual.

However, when he went around to the back of the station, he noticed something.

"Tire tracks."

There were marks left by tires on the dried dirt.

A vehicle hadn't passed through here just once or twice.

Judging by how deeply the ground had been compressed, something had traveled along the same route dozens of times.

The problem was the direction.

The tracks didn't lead toward a road.

Instead, they continued along an abandoned path covered in waist-high grass.

So vehicles have been coming in through here regularly.

Yugeon crouched down.

There were human footprints beside the tire tracks.

Footprints belonging to several people.

The soil hadn't even completely dried yet.

Someone had been coming and going until very recently.

"Found it."

Step. Step.

Yugeon followed the tracks.

After walking for some time, he came across an old metal fence and an abandoned warehouse.

From the outside, there appeared to be nothing unusual about the place.

A rusted shutter.

Broken windows.

Vines growing all over the walls.

It looked like a deserted building that hadn't been touched by anyone in years.

But upon closer inspection, several things stood out.

The insulation on the electrical cables running behind the building was clean, as though the cables had recently been replaced.

And the fallen leaves piled up in front of the warehouse had been pushed aside along the path taken by vehicles.

Someone had deliberately made the building look abandoned.

Even the doorknob is new.

There was a small iron door on one side of the warehouse.

Its handle was unusually clean.

Yugeon approached and pulled on the door.

Click.

Locked.

"Ah, looks like I'll have to use that technique I always relied on when infiltrating places."

CRUNCH!

Yugeon ripped the handle off and opened the door.

Thanks to his considerably increased Strength stat, the handle broke apart as easily as Styrofoam.

"Now that's what I call infiltration."

Creeeak.

He opened the door.

Inside was a dusty warehouse.

A few empty boxes.

Some rusted shelves.

That was all.

No.

Yugeon's gaze dropped to the floor.

The entire warehouse was covered in dust, except for one clean area.

A rectangular patch.

Thump. Thump.

When he tapped the floor with his foot, a hollow sound came from beneath it.

"Tsk, tsk. How careless."

BOOM!

Yugeon kicked the floor.

A thick iron plate buckled and fell away.

Beneath it, a brightly lit staircase leading underground came into view.

Step. Step.

The atmosphere changed completely as Yugeon descended deeper underground.

White walls.

Lights embedded in the ceiling.

Security cameras installed at regular intervals.

And the sound of machinery coming from somewhere in the distance.

This facility is bigger than I expected.

Yugeon narrowed his eyes.

This wasn't some small basement built beneath a warehouse.

He had no idea how far underground it extended, but he could already sense dozens of people farther below.

Just then...

BEEEEEP!

[Intruder detected.]

[An intruder has been detected in Underground Sector 1.]

"You're a little late noticing."

Click! Click!

As the alarm sounded, armed men came rushing out of the corridor ahead.

"Who are you?! Stop right there!"

"How did you get in?!"

"Identify yourself!"

"Don't feel like it."

"What?"

Yugeon answered casually and continued walking forward.

"Kill him!"

Dash!

The men charged at him together.

However, Yugeon simply attacked them with an indifferent expression.

THUD!

"Urgh!"

The man at the front was struck by Yugeon's fist and sent flying into the wall.

BOOM!

"What the...?!"

THUD!

WHAM!

Two more men were slammed into the floor.

Yugeon didn't even draw his sword.

He simply walked forward, removing anyone who blocked his path.

"Th-That bastard! Han Yu...!"

CRUNCH!

WHOOSH!

Grab!

Yugeon seized the last remaining man by the neck.

"Is this an Emperor Guild facility?"