Chapter 2 :

Episode 2. Beware of the Raging Bull.

 

At that out-of-nowhere question, Yu Na-kyung stared at him in disbelief.

 

“When exactly did I die?”

 

“You probably never did?”

 

“Then why are you asking something like that?!”

 

“…Good question.”

 

Limon tilted his head.

 

Yu Na-kyung was a perfectly ordinary human being, not some zombie, and he had never once heard any rumor that she had died.

 

In other words, it was only natural that she was alive.

 

And yet, Limon felt an intense sense of incongruity about that perfectly natural fact.

 

Almost as though he had personally witnessed Yu Na-kyung’s death before.

 

‘Why did I even ask something like that?’

 

Unable to understand his own behavior, Limon fell into thought.

 

Watching her superior, Yu Na-kyung openly gave him a suspicious look.

 

“So which bastard is it this time?”

 

“Huh? How did you know a report came in?”

 

“Because if you woke me up when it wasn’t an emergency, I’d plant my Five-Finger Explosive Barrage straight into your forehead.”

 

“Aren’t you being a little too harsh on your one and only team member?!”

 

“Team Leader, don’t tell me you’ve gone senile?”

 

Flick!

 

Yu Na-kyung grumbled as she took out the report.

 

Then she quickly read through the key details written on it.

 

“Kyaaah! I told you to stop hitting my forehead! This technically counts as workplace violence!”

 

“Want me to show you what real violence looks like?”

 

“…No.”

 

Limon clenched his fist.

 

Yu Na-kyung vigorously shook her head in front of him.

 

From experience, she knew that if this reckless superior of hers actually decided to use violence, it would not end with a simple forehead flick.

 

After silencing Yu Na-kyung that way, Limon stopped thinking about the matter.

 

Instead, he asked casually.

 

“At 9:12 p.m., an act violating the Player Special Management Act was confirmed at coordinates BVI-52.15. At 9:15 p.m., the suspect shook off the responding police officers and fled. At 9:17 p.m., the suspect’s identity was confirmed…”

 

“Keep it simple.”

 

“Some lunatic got drunk and started rampaging, so they want someone to go catch him.”

 

“…For fuck’s sake. I have to deploy just to arrest one drunk now?”

 

Limon frowned.

 

In the past, he had been called both a hero and a guardian deity, and he had only ever stepped in for matters of national importance.

 

Yet now, not only had he been pushed down to a low-ranking position with only a single subordinate,

 

he was even being made to handle things like this.

 

Even if times had changed,

 

he could not help but feel how drastically the world had transformed.

 

Even though he had now been reduced to nothing more than a team leader, there was still no one who could really criticize him for slacking off a little.

 

“No one would say anything even if you didn’t go, Team Leader. You’re off duty today anyway.”

 

“Enough chatter. Bring me my coat.”

 

“Yes, sir! Already prepared!”

 

Even so, Limon eventually sighed and held out one hand.

 

As though she had known that would happen all along, Yu Na-kyung grinned and handed him the coat she had prepared in advance.

 

Limon glared at her irritatingly smug face, took the white coat, and put it on.

 

Then, picking up his sword, he asked,

 

visibly radiating irritation.

 

But Yu Na-kyung did not seem particularly intimidated.

 

She merely nodded with an innocent expression before casually asking him one question.

 

“So, are you not going?”

 

“…”

 

“So, who’s the bastard whose hair I need to grab before dunking his head into a barrel of booze?”

 

Limon grimaced at his shameless team member.

 

Yu Na-kyung was right.

 

He was off duty today anyway.

 

Even if a report had come in, he had no obligation to respond.

 

And even if he had not been off duty, it would not have mattered.

 

***

 

Woooooooong!

 

[Seo Yong-chan, stop immediately! You are violating traffic laws!]

 

“Fuck off! You cops live off my tax money, and you dare tell me when to stop?!”

 

[What did you say? You little bastard, I tried asking nicely! Hey, stop right now! If you don’t, I’m going to ram you!]

 

The Heroes Age.

 

The age when humans slew dragons.

 

After the Sword Emperor, the first Sword Master, cut down the Seven Dragons,

 

Sword Masters reigned as the ultimate symbol of power, and no one dared challenge their supremacy.

 

But eras change.

 

“Puhahahaha! Then ram me if you can!”

 

Eras change.

 

The Golden Age, when life first blossomed.

 

Primitive humanity, barely distinguishable from beasts, communicated with spirits and built civilization, while Spirit Masters and Shamans watched over the world using the power and wisdom of spirits.

 

The Silver Age, when Incarnations descended.

 

The peoples who received the teachings of gods prospered by establishing agricultural societies, while Priests and Witches ruled the world with magic granted by the gods.

 

The Bronze Age, when the Seven Dragons awakened.

 

After sleeping for ages to avoid an ancient calamity, the Seven Dragons awoke and devoured the Incarnations.

 

Their followers then conquered the world with the Psionics taught to them by the dragons.

 

The Iron Age, when the Constellations appeared.

 

After Dungeons and Constellations emerged,

 

the legend of the Sword Masters began to fade.

 

And Players took their place.

 

Through contracts with Constellations, they obtained powers known as Skills and swiftly established themselves as the dominant force in society.

 

They could construct skyscrapers with a wave of a hand.

 

Create machines far beyond the technological level of the era.

 

Or effortlessly cure incurable diseases.

 

Thanks to the Skills of Players, which made the impossible possible,

 

the world developed at a tremendous pace.

 

That was why Players became objects of admiration.

 

A Sword Master was someone even a naturally gifted individual might fail to become despite training for an entire lifetime.

 

Players, on the other hand, could obtain definite power without undergoing any training at all.

 

Naturally, such an existence was incredibly alluring.

 

High-level Players with Unique Skills, in particular, obtained immense wealth and fame.

 

“If you’re drunk, just pass out somewhere! What kind of lunatic gets on a summon and goes on a rampage?!”

 

But Sergeant Hwang thought otherwise.

 

The appearance of Players had not brought only positive changes to society.

 

Why?

 

Because if Players did not exist,

 

he would not have had to participate in a deranged chase through the middle of the city like this.

 

A body larger than a truck.

 

A body made entirely of brass.

 

Two horns as sharp as spears.

 

And sulfurous smoke pouring from its nostrils.

 

Watching Seo Yong-chan rampage atop the monstrous Brass Bull, Sergeant Hwang cursed.

 

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!

 

‘Fucking Players!’

 

“Yaaaaahoooo!”

 

“That bastard is really asking for it!”

 

The young man raced down the road like an unbridled colt.

 

Driving the police car after Seo Yong-chan, Sergeant Hwang ground his teeth.

 

When working as a police officer, you naturally saw far more criminals who ran even harder when told to stop than people who obediently complied.

 

Even so, Sergeant Hwang was furious because Seo Yong-chan was no ordinary reckless driver.

 

If he had been driving something like a sports car,

 

Sergeant Hwang might have considered simply closing his eyes and ramming him.

 

But he could not do that against the Brass Bull.

 

Even summons belonging to Players only in their twenties could send an ordinary truck flying with a body slam.

 

And Seo Yong-chan, the owner of that Brass Bull, was a high-level Player in his eighties.

 

There was no way a mere police car could stop a monster that might not even go down after taking a direct missile hit.

 

That was why Sergeant Hwang hated Players.

 

Once their level rose even slightly, they treated the police as though they were nothing more than scenery, and ordinary police forces had no way to deal with them.

 

“Hey, what about the PAB?”

 

“They’re on their way!”

 

“Damn it, how long ago did we radio them? Why are they still on their way?!”

 

Perhaps running normally had grown boring,

 

the Brass Bull, despite not even being a car, began drifting.

 

Its rear smashed through parked cars.

 

And watching Seo Yong-chan spread both arms and shout joyfully from its back, Sergeant Hwang nearly had a heart attack.

 

A few cars getting wrecked?

 

That did not matter in the slightest.

 

The real problem was that Seo Yong-chan had left the controlled route.

 

Sergeant Hwang grew anxious.

 

Once the PAB agents arrived, they would probably be able to capture even Seo Yong-chan.

 

That was exactly what the PAB existed for.

 

The problem was how much damage would occur before then.

 

“Stop, you bastard! Traffic hasn’t been cleared over there!”

 

Bang! Bang! KABOOM!

 

The only reason there had been no casualties despite such chaos was that civilians had already been evacuated from the wide main roads where the Brass Bull had been running.

 

But conversely, that meant traffic had not yet been fully controlled outside those major roads.

 

What if something like that charged into one of those areas?

 

He could not even imagine how many people might die.

 

“Wahahaha! I’m a free man!”

 

“Th-That bastard…!”

 

“Eek?!”

 

“W-What the hell is that?!”

 

“Fuck!”

 

“Huh?”

 

His ominous feeling became reality.

 

The crazed Brass Bull charged onto a road where cars and pedestrians were still present.

 

Fortunately, the Brass Bull was so loud as it thundered forward that the people crossing the street panicked and scattered to either side.

 

But not everyone was fortunate enough to escape.

 

“Kyaaah!”

 

“Waaaaah!”

 

“N-No!”

 

Perhaps he was so drunk that even his eyes had gone unfocused.

 

Only belatedly noticing a mother and daughter who had fallen in the crosswalk, Seo Yong-chan looked startled.

 

But that was all.

 

Seo Yong-chan could neither stop the Brass Bull nor cancel the summon.

 

The Brass Bull was moving too quickly for him to take any action,

 

and Seo Yong-chan’s alcohol-addled brain could not even properly reach the conclusion that he needed to stop.

 

‘It’s over!’

 

Perhaps she had twisted her ankle after being shoved by the fleeing crowd.

 

Sergeant Hwang stared wide-eyed at the woman who had fallen in the middle of the crosswalk and could not get up,

 

and at the little girl who had fallen with her while clutching her hand and was now bawling.

 

He grabbed the loudspeaker microphone and screamed at the top of his lungs.

 

The Brass Bull charged forward like a mad beast.

 

As though trying to protect her daughter from its hooves,

 

the woman wrapped both arms around the girl and covered her with her own body.

 

It was useless.

 

Even a glancing blow from that enormous body would instantly reduce a human body to mangled flesh.

 

[Seo Yong-chan, you bastard! Can’t you see there are people in front of you?! Stop! Stop right now!]

 

Just as Sergeant Hwang grimaced, imagining the horrific scene that was about to unfold,

 

Crackle!

 

they appeared.

 

“What?”

 

Sergeant Hwang doubted his eyes for a moment.

 

Until just a second ago, only the mother and daughter had been standing in the crosswalk.

 

But now, a man and a woman had suddenly appeared there.

 

His surprise lasted only a moment.

 

When Sergeant Hwang saw the pure-white coats they wore, decorated with elaborate patterns,

 

his expression brightened without him even realizing it.

 

There was only one group in the modern world that still walked around dressed in such outdated clothing.

 

The Player Administration Bureau.

 

Commonly known as the PAB, it was an organization specifically created to regulate high-level Players.

 

Naturally, most of its agents were high-level Players themselves.

 

Especially if one of them was a spatial-type Player capable of using Teleportation.

 

Even if they could not stop the Brass Bull,

 

rescuing the mother and daughter should have been easy enough.

 

The immediate disaster had been avoided.

 

Relieved by that realization, Sergeant Hwang soon found himself confused again.

 

The PAB agents, whom he expected to grab the mother and daughter and escape,

 

simply stood where they were without moving.

 

‘What the hell? Why aren’t they getting out of the way?’

 

Shing.

 

‘PAB! They’re finally here!’

 

He was baffled by their unexpected behavior only for a moment.

 

The man wearing the white coat drew his sword and stepped forward.

 

Only then did Sergeant Hwang understand what he intended to do.

 

And he nearly screamed.

 

If they were PAB agents, that at least explained how they had appeared out of nowhere.

 

“Is he insane?! He plans to stop that thing head-on?!”

 

The guy must have a death wish.

 

That was Sergeant Hwang’s immediate thought when he looked at the man.

 

Seo Yong-chan might merely be called a Player in his eighties,

 

but that was enough to place him among the top 0.01 percent of all Players worldwide.

 

And the Brass Bull was a combat summon.

 

Yet this man intended to stop that monster’s charge by himself,

 

with nothing more than that insignificant-looking sword.

 

No matter how he looked at it, it was madness.

 

Only the great Ten Monarchs,

 

or perhaps a handful of Grand Dukes comparable to them,

 

could possibly pull off something like that.

 

But the moment the man moved,

 

Sergeant Hwang’s cursing mouth fell wide open.

 

One step as he cut through the four moving legs.

 

One step as he spun around and kicked the creature in the side.

 

With only three steps,

 

the man slaughtered the Brass Bull and sent what remained of its body crashing into the roadside.

 

Then he sheathed his sword.

 

And complained to the woman standing behind him.

 

Slaaash! BOOM!

 

“Hey, you said I only needed to arrest one drunk. What the hell is this bull?”

 

“Maybe he was carrying it around as a drinking snack.”

 

“What kind of bastard eats brass as a drinking snack?”

 

“There are probably registered Players with Skills that let them consume and make use of metal.”

 

“…Fuck. Seriously, there isn’t a single normal bastard among these Players.”

 

“I’m a Player too, you know?”

 

“That’s why I said there isn’t a single normal person among them.”

 

“Team Leader, what exactly do you think I am?!”

 

“…!!!”

 

One step as he severed its thick neck.

 

He had just smashed apart a bull the size of a house,

 

yet he casually chatted as though he had merely swatted a fly.

 

Sergeant Hwang stared at the man in a daze for a long moment.

 

What finally brought him back to his senses was the dumbfounded voice of Officer Kim sitting beside him.

 

“Sergeant Hwang, what exactly did we just see?”

 

“We saw a level-eighties summon get destroyed by a single person in less than one second.”

 

“Does that even make sense?”

 

“…Maybe if he were a Monarch-class Player?”

 

“But I’ve never heard of a Monarch like that.”

 

“Of course you haven’t.”

 

Then Sergeant Hwang studied the man carefully.

 

The sight of that clean white hair reminded him of someone.

 

A moment later, when he noticed the small scar near the white-haired man’s eye,

 

he unconsciously muttered a name.

 

“Don’t tell me… Asphelder?”

 

“What? Asphelder? You don’t mean that Limon Asphelder, do you?”

 

“Yeah. I’m sure of it.”

 

Sergeant Hwang unconsciously nodded.

 

Among the countless Players in the world, only ten were qualified to be called Monarchs.

 

They were the only ones who had formed contracts with Monarch-class Constellations and reached the ultimate realm of level 100.

 

But as far as Sergeant Hwang knew,

 

not one of those Ten Monarchs,

 

nor even any of the Grand Duke-class Players ranked within the world’s top one hundred,

 

was a white-haired man like this.

 

Sergeant Hwang spoke with certainty.

 

Few people mentioned him anymore,

 

but there had once been a time when he was the most famous person in the world.

 

Before the Iron Age began and Players appeared,

 

he had even been called humanity’s guardian deity.

 

“He’s humanity’s last Sword Master.”

 

‘Wait a second. White hair?’

 

Sergeant Hwang’s eyes widened.