Chapter 19 – Start

After the portal explosion incident, I was frequently contacting Jong Ho.

To be honest, it was because I could obtain vast amounts of information from hyung.

Friendship to information ratio was about 3:7?

Jong Ho said that he became an Awakened while he was working as a manager for the Awakened. It was like debuting to be an idol while working as the manager for one.

Of course there was information from the guild, but since I had nearly no chances of meeting high ranking guild members, the information from the ranker manager felt much sweeter.

After my first combat with succubi, I continued to run the level 13 dungeons to level up.

The succubi allowed me to level up greatly.

The method was like this.

Kill all but one or two out of a 200 succubi group.

Then step on a succubus’ corpse. Just recklessly stomp on them!

Even in this situation, I could not forget to continuously cast Piercing Sword.

Casting it with each hand, even if it was a skill without cooldowns, small gaps would be created in between repeated casts.

So I cast the spell on each of my hand with 3~5 seconds of delay after another.

The fallen that were stepped on had red bloodsucking lights pierce the surviving succubi since the lights could not reach me due to being blocked by my Heugdo.

Thus, 200 revival succubi would be created.

After that, the boss incubus would appear and revive them again.

‘Like boiling bone soup, boil again. Boil again. Boil again.’

The experience I earned from succubi was 16 million, and through the revival succubi I was able to earn 30 million twice. In one clear, including the boss, the experience I earned was around 80 million!

Unlike others that avoided the corpses while hunting, I recklessly stepped on them.

Even the stone rank was C.

When my luck was good, even B ranks dropped, and since the boss was a C ranked with the rise of a level for the dungeon, I was obtaining rewards that couldn’t be even compared with the previous lower level dungeons.

As my level rose and the money pooled, I thought of my mother.

Next to the bed lay a rainbow paper box.

In there was 500 million. After visiting the association, I also received 260 million.

To show my mother, I had saved it up and brought it all here.

Ha… It was a moment that I was waiting for… It was a success that I dreamed about, but only today did I realize how difficult it was to tell her.

So today! I decided to bring my mother with me.

I wanted to surprise her.

While riding the car back, I made the necessary preparations to convince her and to fulfill my filial duty for the first time in 18 years.

* * *

“Driver, please take me in front of the market.”

“Yes. To the market.”

As the taxi meter clicks, I was looking outside the window and saw there were many destroyed buildings being rebuilt.

Even now, many suffer, die, and fight.

Thanks to the ones who cause harm, I am earning money.

Someone’s pain, becoming my dream and hopes…..

If you thought about it, it was very double sided and ironic.

There must have been damages from the rebellion, but civilian areas like the heart of the city, unlike the government areas, were all due to the monsters.

“It’s 13,000 won.”

“Yes, thank you for your hard work. Drive safely.”

After handing the money and a light greeting, I left the taxi.

There it is.

A small Guk-su-jib located near the entrance to the marketplace.

It was a place my mother worked for 7 years now.

Through the entrance made of glass, I saw my mother.

I took a deep breath and headed towards there.

As soon as I opened the door to the restaurant, I heard angry yelling.

“This bitch, are you joking with me! You brought this for me to eat?”

The plates were then smashed.

“Oh no, I apologize.”

A heavily drunk man was holding a chair and threatening my mother.

The noodle soup was thrown to the ground and the bowl was broken, just like my mother’s dignity.

I saw how my mother continued to apologize.

They say people become tunnel vision when angry, and I only saw him, that bastard in my field of vision.

Instantly, I smashed open the store’s door and grabbed him by the collar.

It was a situation that made my fists clench and teeth grind without realization.

I glared at him as if to kill without a word.

“Uh! Uh? Who is this bastard.”

“Min, Min-Cheol-ah…..”

With my mother’s short words, I felt surprise and shame.

But I heard a little bit of relief mixed in. That was enough.

She was a person who didn’t complain once during my elementary years when a person called father beat her to near death.

I wished that she’d rely on me now.

To a mother like that, happening again in front of me!

I could not stop my rage. I grabbed his collar roughly again.

He flailed about, growling.

“What is this… Is this your son? Ha, you and your mother are both are nonsensical. Son of a bitch, why don’t you let me go?”

“Shut the fuck up…..”

“What? You piece of shit!”

He struggled free of my grasp and threw the chair, missing my mother’s forehead by a hair’s breadth.

My mother’s forehead was cut, and deep red blood spilled down her cheek.

My temper lost, I threw him.

With a smash, he went into the table.

The table broke apart instantly, and he rolled about the floor with the dishware.

“Ugh… This piece of shit, you have a death wi-…..”

I didn’t listen to the rest of his cursing.

Because my left hand was grabbing his head already.

I roughly lifted him up.

“Ugh! Let me go! Why aren’t you letting me go?!”

“…..”

Instead of answering, I gathered lightning in my right hand.

Today I will kill this man and go to hell.

Even in hell, I will chew him up so much that no one can ever find nor remember him.

I promised to protect, and I felt that it was a promise I can keep now.

But that promise broke apart now, and I felt rage and lament as though a person who lost everything.

As I moved my right hand hold condensed magic towards him…! I heard my mother’s voice as she grabbed onto my arm.

As I heard those words, I regained my sanity.

“Min-Cheol-ah… That’s enough. You can stop now…..”

I saw my mother shaking her head.

Letting him go, I released the condensed power in my right arm.

Despite being drunk, he must have felt my killing intent as his pants was soaked.

Before long, the police arrived.

Receiving the report from the police, a group of ‘Awakened incident cleanup crew” was dispatched.

One of the police officers took my mother to the hospital, and after that, I told them about the incident.

The incident was explained as him glancing my mother with a chair.

Even if it was his fault, since an Awakened got involved, the cases were separated into two, one between him and my mother, and one between him and me.

I was interrogated for an hour at a local ‘association investigation station’.

Unfortunately or thankfully, I was able to leave without any worries as the man I tried to kill was only lightly injured.

After leaving, I went back to the noodle soup restaurant.

I came with the thought to pay for the broken items and disrupting business.

It was a place my mother had worked for 7 years, and the owner bowed his head in apology that he couldn’t stop it first.

I had asked what the cost of damage would to the cops beforehand, and gave the amount with a little extra to the owner.

With the words to hire someone else to replace my mother.

After solving the incident, I went to the hospital.

Opening the patient room’s door, I saw my mother.

As soon as she found me, she raised her injured body and spoke.

“Son. Have you eaten? If only I spoke better and turned him away without incident…..”

“Are you okay?”

“Of course! Mother is fine! I’ve gone through combat on the ground, water, in the air, and even battles involving bombardment. You think I’d lose to someone like that?”

“Miss Bak, when did you become so tough?”

I had to hit my vocal cords and stop the sudden urge to cry.

“Mom, you don’t have to work at the restaurant anymore. You saw right? That your son is super strong?”

“…..”

“I’ll take of everything now, so please don’t suffer anymore mother.”

“Son, don’t you remember what mother said? That I can live without money but I can’t live without my son? The debt can be canceled after I die you know?”

“Don’t say that! Why would you have to die? I’ll take care of the debt myself. You don’t have to worry anymore…!”

She stopped my words and looked directly into my eyes.

“Isn’t hunter work dangerous? I saw a lot of it on the news. What kind of a parent would send their child to a tiger’s den to make money!”

40 years ago, born in the age where the monsters arose, she was illiterate and uneducated yet valued her own son so much that she endured all the suffering to make sure that her son would not share the same fate.

I understood my mother’s feelings of flatly denying it.

However I had to take this opportunity that did not visit just anyone.

I told her about my ability.

“There is no way that I will get hurt or die, mother.”

“Is that true?”

“I’m telling you that it’s true?”

“If you get hurt or die, I’m going to die on the spot too so promise me!”

“I understand, promise.”

Convincing her continued for a long time, and finally did my mother give me permission to begin after taking my fingerprint as signature on my promise.

Finally I could give her an easy and comfortable life.

‘Now we begin.’