Chapter 116

Crunch!

As the head containing the Dark Seed separated from the body, the monster flower’s movements ceased as if time had stopped, then it slowly began to melt away like dripping candle wax.

“Ptooey!” Jun-sang spat out the mouthful of blood and flesh as if gagging. Then he looked at the target’s head in his hand. The woman’s head, still emitting black haze, was twitching its lips with a terrified expression even at this moment, completely severed from its body. It truly was an astonishing vitality. Enough to make one wonder if it would reattach itself if brought back to the body. Indeed, the severed neck was still twitching like a tentacle, its blood vessels protruding.

Jun-sang looked at it indifferently, then held the head in one hand and began to strike it with the other. Thud, thud-thud! Only after several more horrifying thuds did the skull finally crack, revealing the Dark Seed hidden within. If a typical Seed was the size of a sunflower seed, this Dark Seed was almost the size of a black bean. Was it more powerful because it was larger?

The moment Jun-sang had that thought, his bracelet reacted, and the Dark Seed in his hand vanished. In a corner of his vision, the quest information updated.

Recover the Dark Seed. :This wicked Dark Seed is an object that should not exist in this world. Sanction the user and recover the Dark Seed. [This is a solo quest.] -> Completed! Reward: Much Experience, Special Mission Reward Box. -> Claim rewards now? (Y/N) _(Warning) Unclaimed rewards will be automatically deleted after 7 days.

Only after seeing that message did Jun-sang realize there were still unclaimed quest rewards. He had left them to gain a level-up effect in a crisis, but when he actually needed them, he hadn’t thought of them. It truly was a foolish oversight.

He looked around and saw that most of the monster flower’s body had shriveled like a deflated balloon, sprawling like a jellyfish washed ashore. Since there was no space to use Phase Shift, Jun-sang slowly walked out through the sticky, unpleasant remnants and noticed Seo-yoon and his party looking at him with disgusted expressions.

Oh, right. Had they seen everything? Jun-sang swallowed a bitter laugh. Well, what did it matter now, even if they had seen him like this? He stepped into a suitable position, used Grunwald’s Cloak to conceal himself, then used Phase Shift to exit the area.

Seo-yoon and his party, who had been momentarily stunned, snapped back to reality only when he disappeared.

“That… that was him, right?”

“Ah, probably…”

“My God…”

It wasn’t their place to judge others, but the sight of him suddenly appearing and swinging large axes, and then charging at the woman’s form on the monster flower and tearing off her neck, was clearly etched in all their minds. Perhaps the only saving grace was that they hadn’t clearly seen Jun-sang frantically biting the woman’s neck, due to the thrashing tentacles in front of them and Jun-sang’s posture and position with his back turned. But just the sight of him walking out of the monster flower’s remains, his face and upper body completely drenched in blood, was enough to send shivers down their spines.

As they all stood deep in thought, staring at the now completely limp remains of the monster flower, Seo Yoo-mi quietly spoke. “Did he… fight things like this… all by himself until now?”

“…” Only then did they realize again. That this might not be the first time such a monster had appeared in reality.

“Come to think of it… that monster asked if we were returnees too,” Jin Se-ah muttered, and Jung Da-bin immediately chimed in, “That’s right. She definitely said that.”

“Are you returnees too?” This implied that she had already been fighting returnees before they arrived. If so, the most likely candidate for that returnee was Jun-sang, who had defeated the monster flower.

“Huh…” Yoon Seong-ryeol shook his head. He thought to himself that he had only fought zombies, skeletons, and slightly stronger boss monsters at best, but Jun-sang had been fighting such absurd monsters. Well… that’s probably why he was so strong.

As they were each lost in various thoughts, police cars and black armored vehicles, appearing to be from the police mobile unit, emerged from across the road with blaring sirens. They quickly set up a cordon quite far from the now limp monster flower, then pointed their guns at Seo-yoon’s group and shouted, “Don’t move! Move and we’ll shoot!”

“…” The group gave a bitter smile at their completely misguided actions. It was impressive that they had even arrived this quickly, considering the traffic situation in bustling downtown Seoul. But the bigger problem was that they might accidentally be credited for defeating the monster that Jun-sang had taken down. They only then realized why Jun-sang had disappeared without a word, but it was already far too late a realization.

“What do we… do?”

“I don’t know.” Jin Se-ah’s words made Im Seo-yoon shrug, then he continued, “It seems… we’re destined to clean up Jun-sang’s messes, no matter what.”

“Ugh…”

While Seo-yoon’s group was surrounded by the police, Jun-sang roughly washed himself with emergency water he had stored by the lake, changed his clothes, and returned to the hotel.

“Whew…” Jun-sang first went into the bathroom and filled the bathtub with water. Then he summoned Henes and Mong-mong.

“Jun-sang?” Henes was slightly surprised to be summoned to a hotel suite, and then again by Jun-sang’s somewhat tired appearance. “Um… the quest…”

“It ended well, so you don’t need to worry.”

“I see.”

“I’m going to wash up and rest a bit, so you should rest too.”

“Okay.”

Jun-sang said that and headed to the bathroom. He took off his clothes and stepped into the bathtub, which was still less than half full. And slowly, feeling the water rise, he closed his eyes.

“Whew…” He didn’t know for sure, but the repercussions of this incident would certainly not be small. It was the second time for Jun-sang, but for others, the very fact that such an absurd monster had appeared in reality was a shocking event, something that didn’t even need separate thought. If there were no evidence, it could be dismissed as nonsense, but since he had left the monster’s corpse, even if information control was implemented, the government would not take this situation lightly.

The problem might be that the government would start bothering returnees, trying to figure out the cause of this incident and formulate countermeasures.

“Seo-yoon will handle it well, I guess.”

Come to think of it, it was remarkable that they could rush there when everyone else was busy fleeing. For Jun-sang, it was unavoidable since he had received a quest, but they didn’t have such a reason, did they? Of course, it was a reckless act considering their abilities, but if they could use this incident as an opportunity to re-evaluate their own powers, that wouldn’t be so bad either.

At any rate, the government probably had two possible courses of action. One was to conceal the incident itself and conduct an internal investigation. The other was to completely reveal the incident and turn Seo-yoon’s group into heroes. However, concealing the incident wouldn’t be easy. When the monster flower first appeared, it had already been seen by many people. In an age of advanced media like today, it wouldn’t be strange if videos and photos had already spread across the world. Considering that the mysterious phenomenon of returnees was already public knowledge, admitting it and creating heroes might be an easier solution. Seo-yoon and his group would have some headaches in the future, but if their public profile rose, it would also be easier to proceed with things like Seed acquisition, killing two birds with one stone.

“But the real problem isn’t actually that.”

Through this incident, Jun-sang realized that Dark Seeds were something on a completely different level from ordinary Seeds. Jun-sang had acquired numerous rare Seeds with powerful effects through his quests so far. However, none of them possessed an effect as powerful as the Dark Seed that appeared this time. To be able to have such immense power with just one Seed… Those thirsty for power would not be able to resist its temptation.

Moreover, what the target woman said was also concerning. When she sensed Jun-sang’s presence, she immediately said: “Did he send you?” This implied that the woman was in contact with someone else, and also that there were many beings who cooperated with “him” or carried out his orders. She also said: “The taboo has already been broken. Nothing can stop me anymore!” These words explained why she had to cautiously hunt humans as a dancer until now. The problem was likely the conditions for the taboo being broken, but upon reflection, the answer was surprisingly simple. Since it wouldn’t apply in life-threatening situations, there might be exceptions to the taboo, like self-defense.

But if that were the case, this was problematic. Because it could mean that the quests were a leash that had been restraining the actions of Dark Seed users who had been moving secretly, and that leash had now been broken. Of course, this was merely a conjecture combining a few clues, so it wasn’t certain. But this was the best answer Jun-sang could come up with at the moment.

“What a headache.” He closed his eyes and lay submerged in the hot water, deep in thought, when he suddenly heard the bathroom door open. Jun-sang, opening his eyes in response to the sound, saw Henes peeking into the bathroom, then quickly hiding herself upon seeing his naked body.

“What is it?” Jun-sang asked, and Henes stammered severely, “Th-that is… um… well…”

“…” After waiting silently for a moment, he suddenly heard Henes shout from behind the door, “I-I’ll scrub your back!”

“…” Jun-sang sighed inwardly. He roughly guessed what had happened. He had sent them together to buy necessary things, but they had injected her with useless knowledge.

“It’s alright, don’t worry about it.”

“Okay…”

Somehow, the image of Henes answering with slumped shoulders from outside the door appeared so vividly that Jun-sang couldn’t help but inwardly chuckle.

After a leisurely bath, he went out, and Henes, as if she had been waiting, approached and began to massage his shoulders. Even so, the actual effect of the massage was almost nonexistent, as before, but her soft touch gradually calmed Jun-sang’s mind, which had still been sharp from the lingering effects of battle.

Jun-sang enjoyed the sensation of her soft hands kneading his shoulders and picked up the remote control. When he turned on the TV, sure enough, the recent incident was already being broadcast as breaking news.