NOVEL WEB chapter 4
4 – The Situation in Incheon
As if a storm had passed through, the villains who were welcoming an unexpected guest were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.
“Is he gone…?”
“He’s gone…”
After the uninvited guest disappeared, they held their breaths for at least 5 minutes. Realizing that he had truly left, they slumped into their seats.
“Ugh…”
“Hey, hey, try to lift the youngest one up.”
“Ah.”
Whether he was hit too hard on the head or not, their youngest was still out cold on the floor.
“Is he not brain-damaged?”
“Damn, it’s better for that bastard to be brain-damaged than for all of us to be f*cked. Damn, what’s happening because of one idiot.”
“Hoo… Just forget it, damn, I don’t even want to think about it.”
“uuu… Who the hell was that guy to do this…”
“Mouth, mouth!”
Chap, chap! The youngest, whose lips were swollen and bursting from being hit, asked with a tearful and unfairly treated expression.
“That person…”
“Can’t you watch your mouth?”
“Who… who was that person to do this…”
He, being a regenerator, quickly recovered and asked his older brother.
“… Since you’ve already seen him, you should know. That person is someone we villains in Incheon, no, in all of Korea, should never mess with.”
“You just said person.”
“Shut the hell up! Just listen!”
“Yes, big brother…”
His older brother was enthusiastic about disciplining the youngest brat, who seemed to have multiple lives as a regenerator.
“Follow me.”
The villain, taking the youngest with him into their hideout, took out whiskey and two glasses from the cupboard and sat at the dining table.
“Sit here.”
“Uh, isn’t that whiskey?”
“Traditionally, you have a drink when telling old stories, kid.”
“Ohhh… That’s why you’re the big brother!”
“Ah, what’s so great about this, you stupid kid…”
He pours the cheap whiskey into a glass. Glug, glug, glug, the scent of whiskey fills the air.
The villain takes a swig and starts to speak.
“Do you know what they call Incheon here?”
“Yes, I know. They call it Demonic Incheon.”
“But living here, have you ever felt it deserved to be called that?”
“Well… honestly, no. It’s kinda like that, but it’s not sh*t, right?”
“sh*t… It is sh*t, but if you go around talking like that, you’ll get your head taken off, won’t you?”
“Hey, I do have a brain.”
“Do those with brains charge at that guy… Anyway, originally, Incheon was number one in the nation’s villain rankings. Moreover, it was a crime city recognized worldwide.”
“What? Honestly, that doesn’t make sense. No offense, but isn’t Incheon weak?”
There was a time when it was. Incheon was too weak of a city. Whether it was the number of villains. Or their average level.
The bank incident that occurred today was a typical case. So, they only had small-time criminals.
“Do you say that with your own mouth? This is really an old-fogey.”
“Honestly, isn’t it true…”
“Well, that’s true. But back then, it was like that. Incheon had more than five internationally wanted villains.”
“International wanted villains…”
International wanted villains, ones who have been verified by the world federation system for the danger and brutality of their abilities and have high bounties on them. They are not simply wanted at the city or national level, but receive attention from the entire world.
“I only know three. Firstly, international wanted villain Hwanggang Chan, alias Surtr.”
A pyrokinetic capable of conjuring flames reminiscent of the mythical giant Surtr, who destroyed the world with fire. His exact ability was fire control.
“The real Surtr? The one who raided the Vatican, killed the Pope, and got away?”
“That’s right. The Surtr who killed six paladins and the Pope and fled.”
“And for half a year, they couldn’t rebuild the Vatican because of his brutality!”
“Shut up.”
“Yes…”
While there was a hero nerd somewhere, here there was a villain nerd.
???: Excited because you know something.
“And I don’t know his name, but he’s a famous guy. Vlad Tepes, Dracula.”
A villain who could infinitely summon thorns harder than iron and filled a city with thorns.
“Wow, that guy was really scary. Just flicking a finger, dozens of thorns sprang out and tore people apart!”
The villain, recalling humans being torn to shreds, which he still remembered, with tears.
The youngest, still not having touched the alcohol in the glass, was immersed in the story.
“Rather than overwhelming strength, his ability was specialized for mass slaughter, I heard.”
The villain takes a sip of the slowly dripping alcohol and continues speaking.
“Right, right. Massacring civilians was his main specialty.”
“Wow… the lineup is no joke, even though I only heard two.”
“hehehehe, the last one is the real deal. I don’t know what the hell he was doing to crawl all the way to Incheon. Anyway, that villain from Europe. His name was… it doesn’t matter what his name was. The immortal Siegfried. If you don’t know, you’re an idiot, he’s that famous.”
“Si, Siegfried…!”
Dragon slayer Siegfried, immortal Siegfried. When he was an S-rank hunter before, he was called a dragon slayer, and after becoming a villain, he was called immortal.
Siegfried, his originally awakened ability was a piercing attack,
but he became immortal by killing a dragon in an SS-rank dungeon and bathing in its blood.
“Is it really that dragon slayer…?”
“Yes. I saw his face, how could I not recognize him.”
“But, a shape-shifter or something…”
“This kid, not believing he’s immortal.”
“A little… isn’t it? Siegfried, before being immortal.”
“But when did I say Siegfried was dead?”
“So Incheon became like this because Siegfried was defeated… Is he dead?!”
“That’s right. He died quite spectacularly. How did you know, even though I didn’t say it?”
When Demonic Incheon still lived up to its name, there was a time when it was difficult to report on Incheon’s news unless it was a big incident that could be photographed from a satellite.
But now it’s nationwide ranking is dead last.
“Back then, it was difficult to hear any news from Incheon. But now… all those guys are dead, so it’s like this, isn’t it?”
The villain, who corrected that the youngest was a blockhead but not a complete idiot, took another swig.
“Anyway, what do you think of Incheon now?”
“Well, it’s sh*t.”
“Can’t you say anything but sh*t?”
“Then what should I call sh*t other than sh*t!”
“Trash? Anchovy?”
“There isn’t any.”
Whether he was angry because he lost to the youngest in a war of words, or because the youngest was being stubborn, he smacked him on the head.
Smack!
“Anyway, how does Incheon look to you now.”
“What, it’s sh*t, right?”
“Can’t you say anything but sh*t?”
“Then what else should I call sh*t!”
“Songsa
-ri? A tiny anchovy?”
“There isn’t any.”
Smack! Whether he was angry because he lost to the youngest in a war of words, or because the youngest was being stubborn, he smacked him on the head.
“Anyway, what do you think of Incheon now.”
“What, it’s sh*t, right?”
“You, damn, can you not say anything but sh*t?”
“Then what should I call sh*t other than sh*t!”
“Songsa-ri? Anchovy?”
“There isn’t any.”
Whether he was angry because he lost to the youngest in a war of words, or because the youngest was being stubborn, he smacked him on the head.
“Anyway, what do you think of Incheon now.”
“What, it’s sh*t, right?”
“Can’t you say anything but sh*t?”
“Then what should I call sh*t other than sh*t!”
“Songsa-ri? Anchovy?”
“There isn’t any.”
Whether he was angry because he lost to the youngest in a war of words, or because the youngest was being stubborn, he smacked him on the head.
“Anyway, what do you think of Incheon now.”
“What, it’s sh*t, right?”
“Can’t you say anything but sh*t?”
“Then what should I call sh*t other than sh*t!”
“Songsa-ri? Anchovy?”
“There isn’t any.”
Whether he was angry because he lost to the youngest in a war of words, or because the youngest was being stubborn, he smacked him on the head.
“Ah! Why are you hitting me?”
“If you don’t want to be hit, don’t talk back.”
The villain was unable to realize that he had started the quarrel himself.
“Shh, shh…”
The youngest, reddening and hissing in pain, couldn’t speak. The villain continued speaking, deciding to let him off the hook for now.
“Anyway, Incheon, worthy of being called a demonic realm, was like that until exactly 2 years and 6 months ago.”
“…2 years and 6 months ago? With Siegfried’s death and all, did all the S-rankers from around the world rush in or something?”
“If they did, Incheon would now be a pile of dust that used to be Incheon.”
The heroes from all over the world and suspiciously numerous heavyweights in the demonic Incheon. Of course, the heroes would have been the winners of that massive collision, but in the process, Incheon would either have become ashes or received a verdict of being impossible to reconstruct.
“It was just one person.”
The villain, who had brought out another bottle of liquor and was drinking it straight, was bringing up the old story, bolstered by the heated intoxication.
“One damn person killed all those crazy bastards with national-level powers at once! Damn it! One person!!”
“Uh…?”
“Do you know why I only know three? Damn it! Because those national-level guys died without even being able to use their abilities!! How is that a human?!”
“What exactly…”
“You damn! You’re alive even after talking sh*t to that crazy monster.”
“……”
The youngest, temporarily brain-frozen by the sudden acceleration, soon understood the content and his face paled. His significantly burnt, bronze skin paled, losing all its color, and his lips turned blue.
“Surtr, whom you admired, burned to death in his own flames, and Dracula became a skewer on his own summoned thorns.”
The youngest, now pale all over, seemed ready to faint.
Whether the problem was that the person he had cursed was such a great figure, or just the fact that such a person existed, it was terrifying.
“The immortal you praised so much died crawling on the floor, limbs severed. And the one who did that is.”
It’s that person you were cursing because you’re an idiot.
Watching the youngest now fainting with his whispered words, the villain spoke quietly.
“Now you understand. Damn it, we almost died because of you.”
The villain picked up the youngest, who was hunched over.
“All we have to do is pay protection money and say ‘Please don’t kill us…!’ and worry about what to do if we cross the line. We’re damn, not villains, but vigilantes! Keeping that bastard from having any trouble!”
Ending his words, the villain collapsed onto the table, his skin as pale as the youngest’s.
But if that’s the case, shouldn’t escaping Incheon be the right choice? The youngest thought so.