Chapter 6

Chapter 6. First Request (3)

“Boss! Boss, we’ve got big trouble!!”

“Who is it? I just finished dealing with something annoying and was finally about to have a drink!”

The Silver Fang gang’s hideout, located at the southern edge of Lakehill.

Deep within its innermost reaches.

At the urgent shout of his subordinate, the gang boss, Jeogwi, scowled fiercely.

“Tch!!”

Then he carefully set the top-shelf whiskey he had just taken from storage down on the table.

“Didn’t I tell you not to bother me when I’m having a drink?”

“But Boss, this is really serious...”

“Goddamn it, it better be serious! What happened?!”

“It’s Gold Claw! They’ve attacked us!”

“What?!”

If it had been something trivial, he had planned to beat the subordinate senseless for interrupting his pleasant time.

But this clearly wasn’t an ordinary matter.

Immediately afterward.

―Bang!! Ratatatata!

Gunfire, explosions, and screams really did echo through the building.

“We agreed on a ceasefire with those bastards! So why the hell are they suddenly attacking?”

“I-I don’t really know either...”

“Fuck! That potbellied golden pig bastard!”

Jeogwi hurriedly sprang up from the sofa.

“He already took that much money under the table, and he still manages to screw up something that would’ve been finished if he just waited a week?!”

Grinding his teeth, he smashed one of the nearby sofas before roughly shoving his subordinate aside.

“I’ll crush that bastard myself!!”

“Boss! Before you go, what should I do with that...”

The subordinate trailed off while looking at the whiskey Jeogwi had placed on the table.

“Don’t touch it! I’m going to come right back after crushing that pig bastard and drink it!”

“Yes, Boss! Oh, and one more thing...”

“You little shit, you’ve been yammering nonstop since earlier―”

Jeogwi snapped at the subordinate who kept continuing the conversation.

“―What do you think is the easiest way to infiltrate a gang hideout?”

Jeogwi stopped walking and turned around.

“What?”

Once the heat in his head cooled down a little, he finally took a proper look at the subordinate.

A black-haired man who had not even removed his sunglasses after entering the dim room.

“...Who are you?”

Of course, there was no way Jeogwi could remember the face and name of every single gang member.

But.

The tactical mask the man before him wore was not even a custom gang-issued item.

Nor did it bear the silver fang emblem that symbolized the Silver Fang.

“The answer to my question is...”

Without answering Jeogwi’s question, the man removed his sunglasses and mask.

“Turns out all you have to do is shout, ‘Look over there! The enemy’s attacking! Hurry, we have to go tell the boss!’”

He said so in a relaxed voice.

Lee Gang-sik grinned at the prey he had been eagerly waiting for.

____________

“Phew... I worked hard not to let it show that I was out of breath.”

I tossed my sunglasses aside and continued.

“Why do you guys always stick your hideouts way out on the outskirts? You should’ve built yours inside a business like Gold Claw.”

I quickly scanned the room and added in the most mocking tone possible.

“And what is this, an anthill? Your room is all the way at the deepest part... Cat got your tongue? Why aren’t you answering, you alcoholic praying-mantis bastard?”

He looked furious at my question, but he gritted his teeth and spoke.

“That bunch of pigs raising hell downstairs... is that your doing?”

“Ah, that?”

I grinned and continued.

“I pretended I was sent by Silver Fang and ‘goaded’ them just enough. They came chasing after me immediately.”

I lightly loosened my shoulders and steadied my breathing.

“Then I guided them straight to your hideout entrance, like leading a bull in a bullfight. Maybe you should’ve gotten along better with them.”

“You bastard...!”

Jeogwi glared at me while grinding his teeth.

In reality, it was true that I had lured them to the entrance.

But after that, I came ahead through a secret passage only someone who had played the game would know.

Still, seeing that bastard get this angry feels pretty good.

“Do you have any idea how expensive a deal you just ruined?!”

“Why the hell should I care?”

The veins in Jeogwi’s forehead bulged as though they were about to burst.

Good. Let’s piss him off some more.

“Why the hell are you doing this...!”

“I accepted a request, so I’m resolving it. Does a hunter need any other reason?”

Though I also had the personal reason of wanting to obtain the hidden trait.

“Wow, must be nice being you. A gang boss living it up and drinking expensive liquor like this.”

I picked up the whiskey from the table and gently swirled it around...

―Crash!!

At that moment, his confusion and rage finally seemed to exceed their limit.

“You son of a bitch! I’ll tear you to pieces!!”

Jeogwi charged at me with a monstrous roar.

Both of his arms split open and transformed into a pair of enormous sickles like the forelegs of a praying mantis.

This is my first time seeing them in person.

They’re certainly intimidating.

“If you can, go ahead.”

“Die!!”

The two enormous sickles descended toward my neck.

―CLANG!

“?!”

But what followed was a sound like two masses of metal colliding.

Instead of dodging his sickles, I blocked them with my metalized shoulder, making his expression twist.

‘As expected of a Unique Trait.’

No matter how low its growth rank was, there was no way something of a lower grade could break through it.

Originally, even though I wouldn’t die, I would still have to endure some damage, so I planned to repeatedly hit and run...

But thanks to this, there’s been a major change of plans.

I’ll beat him head-on in a straight-up slugfest!

“How―”

“Hup!”

Instead of answering, I put as much strength as I could into my right hand.

At the same time as I shifted the metalization into that hand, I drove it straight into his exposed chest.

―BANG!

“Ghk?!”

Good, thanks to him letting his guard down, my first decisive blow landed cleanly!

At that moment.

Jeogwi, who had gone rolling across the floor with a short groan, suddenly opened his eyes sharply.

However.

“What?!”

His expression twisted violently once more.

Then it changed into one of utter disbelief.

“What? Surprised because there isn’t a single piece of cyberware in my body?”

“Impossible! Are you some kind of half-blood? One of the Families? How can an N-Tek who isn’t even an Awakened do this?!”

“That’s none of your business!”

―CRASH! BANG!

Amid the increasingly loud explosions and gunfire.

I charged at him again and threw my fist with all my strength.

If you had to pick one of the most notorious player-grinder bosses of the early-to-mid game, Jeogwi would always make the list.

“Die!!”

―SHRAK!

Jeogwi swung his sickle hard, slicing straight through a concrete wall and the rebar inside it.

Unlike Kang Geum-man of Gold Claw, who was mostly all show, this guy was the real deal.

The equipment you could obtain in the starting area was no different from scraps of cloth against those sickles.

And that was just based on raw specs.

When you added the effect of his trait on top of that, the difficulty of defeating him skyrocketed even further.

That effect was―

【Seize control of and disable all electronic devices within a five-meter radius.】

A walking EMP, malicious code, DDoS bot, and virus hub.

The Jeogwi from the original folklore that inspired this bastard was likewise an evil spirit that spread disease.

‘In other words, even though he looks like an obvious melee fighter...’

He merely prefers close combat. At his core, he’s a hacker.

“Ghk, damn it! You’re not even an Awakened...”

“You sure do yap a lot!”

Therefore, if you faced him after the middle stages, when your equipment became much stronger.

You could experience an utterly insane level of difficulty.

‘The only time you even have a chance is early on.’

But like I said, with those sickles, a newbie-level character would die instantly if even one attack grazed them.

He was especially the ultimate natural enemy of pure androids and cyborgs fitted with modified parts.

To begin with, this request wasn’t even a ‘subjugation’ mission, but an ‘item recovery.’

In other words, it was an infiltration mission.

Games usually have at least one enemy like that, right?

A boss monster designed to be absolutely unbeatable at the moment, just to teach you something about the system.

“That’s exactly why I need to crush you now!”

If I don’t kill him here, I won’t get another chance until much later.

And by then, his specs will have been inflated several times over.

Compared to that version, the one in front of me now was practically a child.

“Your boss fight was always so disgustingly annoying it made me want to puke!”

“What nonsense are you―”

“There’s a reason!!”

Besides, I didn’t have any equipment for him to disable.

And since I could deflect his attacks with metalization and fight him head-on...

I was also his absolute worst matchup!

“Haaap!”

I struck him again with my fist, and he swung his sickle wildly in desperation.

It cut rapidly through the air toward my exposed neck.

Jeogwi’s wide-area attack with the longest recovery time and most obvious windup.

‘I was waiting for this!’

This wide-area attack always came down toward the opponent’s neck, making its trajectory easy to predict.

Following that trajectory, I metalized my mouth and jaw...

―CRUNCH!

And stopped his sickle by biting down on it with my hardened teeth and jaw.

“With your mouth?!”

He had only a moment to stare at me in shock.

When I clamped down hard with my jaw, his right arm shattered like a cracker.

―CRRRUNCH!!

While he stood there dumbfounded, I used the momentum to bite straight through the center of the sickle and destroy it completely.

Then I immediately shifted the metalization into my leg.

And kicked him in the solar plexus with all my strength while his balance was broken.

“Ghk!”

As he went flying far away.

―Crunch, chew.

I diligently chewed and swallowed the sickle fragments in my mouth.

“Phew...”

The pieces of metal went down my throat along with his foul body odor, including the stale stench of alcohol.

[You have consumed a fragment of the D-rank “Jeogwi” Scythe Hand.]

[Your body will be strengthened using the consumed material.]

[You have gained a large amount of proficiency.]

[Your hunger has decreased significantly.]

Looks like materials from named enemies are displayed with their danger rank and name instead of rarity.

Feeling the strength in my fist change, I headed toward the fallen Jeogwi.

[You have partially fulfilled the conditions required to obtain an additional trait.]

[Complete the remaining conditions to obtain the trait.]

With the final notification, I stood before him.

“Y-you’re chewing up pieces of metal... You crazy bastard, are you really human?”

Jeogwi coughed up blood and stared in horror at his shattered sickle.

“Don’t tell me you’re that unidentified N-Tek who supposedly wiped out those orcs overnight...”

I let Jeogwi’s muttering go in one ear and out the other as I stomped down on his body.

“Ghk!!”

“You sure talk a lot. Did anyone ask?”

―CRUNCH!

I shattered the remaining sickle on his left arm as well.

“Ghk! W-wait!!”

Having lost the sickles on both arms that he was so proud of, Jeogwi cried out desperately.

“You said you were a hunter?! Whatever they offered you for the request, I’ll pay double... No, I’ll pay several times as much! Whatever amount you want! No, I’ll give it to you!”

Jeogwi’s servile laughter mixed with the gunfire and shouting drawing steadily closer.

“...”

“I-if you don’t want money, then something else! I’ll give you anything you want! Drugs? Weapons? Or should I connect you to a corporation? With your abilities, sir―”

“Hmm, anything I want?”

“Y-yes! If we take control of Jamsil, our investor will give you anything you want...”

“So you’re asking me to spare you?”

When I finally replied, he seemed to think I had accepted his offer.

His expression brightened.

Jeogwi nodded more frantically than ever.

But.

“Why would I?”

Why would I let this bastard go over something meaningless like that, only to cough up blood over it later?

That’s what you call ‘buying yourself trouble.’

I may not be a genius, but I’m not that stupid either.

Ignoring Jeogwi’s desperate shouting, I clenched my fist tightly.

“W-wait just a―”

―CRUNCH!

Jeogwi’s head was crushed as though struck by a sledgehammer.

“Ugh, this feels disgusting.”

I shook his blood and bits of flesh from my hand.

Then rummaged through the debris near his neck and pulled out a small chip.

This was the data IC chip used by people who installed cyberdecks directly into their bodies.

Simply put, it was the storage device of a computer implanted in the brain.

“It’d be annoying if information about me got leaked.”

That ‘investor’ he mentioned might come after me too.

I even dragged the Gold Claw bastards here specifically as a diversion.

If I left behind information, all that work would’ve been pointless.

I wiped the blood off on Jeogwi’s clothes and put the chip into my pocket.

“Now, is it finally time for the settlement I’ve been waiting for?”

―Crunch.

I picked up every relatively clean fragment of his broken sickles, tossed them into my mouth, and carefully chewed them down.

[You have consumed a sufficient amount of fragments from the D-rank “Jeogwi” Scythe Hand.]

[You have gained additional proficiency.]

[Your hunger has decreased.]

The familiar notification rang through my head.

Come on.

You’ve got something else to tell me.

[You hunted “Jeogwi” on your first attempt without taking any damage.]

[You have fulfilled a special condition and obtained the hidden trait “Mental Barrier (E).”]

The moment I heard the voice, my mind cleared and my senses became even sharper.

“That’s it...!!”

Hidden traits concealed throughout the city, obtainable only through special methods.

One of them was firmly engraved within my body.

I Became an Immortal Who Chews on Steel

Author |

Mwiu

Publisher |

Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.

Managing Editor |

Editorial Department

Published by |

Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. - Dream Books

Address |

Rooms 806-810, Kolon Science Valley I, 187-10 Guro-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul

ISBN |

G720:N+A063-20261006118

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blog.naver.com/dreambookss

Twitter (X) |

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