With an anxious heart, I headed in.
Without fail, my intuition for misfortune was spot on.
There were three pairs of shoes at the entrance.
I recalled the hooligans from before.
The midget and his goon were sitting in the living room.
They sat there with their feet up as if owning the place.
One thing that put my mind at ease was that my mother was standing tall and proud without fear in front of those hooligans.
It was something so incredibly different from what it was like two months ago.
I could no longer see my mother bowing her head in apology.
It was a welcoming sight to see.
It was then while I saw the situation unfold before me.
The small fry lean his head forward and told my mother.
“Hey. Mrs. Pak Se-Ran. If you had the money to buy a house like this, shouldn’t you be paying off the debt to us? Since it looks like your son is an Awakened and is able to earn money.”
“Huh? Honored? Why are thieves talking about honor?”
“What? Since I’m saying this nicely, are you looking down on me?”
The small fry pulled out an envelope from his breast pocket and raised his voice.
“Look at this. It’s the loan agreement with your name on it! I helped you following the law! I have the right to receive my money.”
“I heard that my son gave you 1 million. And before that, he even gave you 10 million won. We already paid off more than half of it before that. So why are you barging in at another person’s house this early in the morning, you thug?”
“Do you think this is a charity? Even banks have interests on loans. Do you think that I am digging the ground to earn money? Are my words not getting through to you, b*tch?”
It wasn’t a time for me to just stand still.
I couldn’t help but move the moment he said ‘b*tch.’
Instead of saying that, he should have said, ‘Pak Se-Ran, Pak Se-Ran banzai! Please show us mercy.’
Tossing my luggage at the entrance with a ‘took’, I walked towards the midget and the hooligans.
When my mother saw me, she gave me a small but strong smile.
“So you guys came back again? I didn’t drag my feet and gave you the money, why are you coming back and bothering us?”
“Haah. You don’t have any manners. Did you win the lottery? Aren’t you acting a little bit crazy? Kid, do you not see the adults behind me? It looks like you’re not afraid of anything just because you’re Awakened. But, if you don’t want to end up in a cold coffin like your father, then shut up and give me the money!”
As soon as his words ended, the two goons who were only watching cracked their necks and stared at me.
Thinking back, when I was helpless and couldn’t do anything before, my rage boiled over.
If the anger was directed at myself previously, now it became anger that made me question how to crush these bastards.
And then.
The anger that I had towards them changed to a feeling of superiority and bemusement.
The guys that I couldn’t even approach before now were below me.
Clearing my thoughts, I gave out a fake laughter.
“Ha! Are you a bunch of thugs? How much money do you get a month doing this? Why don’t you use this time to hunt instead of sucking this midget’s ass hole?”
“Haah…”
One of the two gave a fake laughter back as it didn’t make any sense to him.
I was always ready to fight.
‘Come here, you b*tches, are you weak? Guess I’ll have to teach you a lesson.’
“Ah, does it not make sense that a child is talking like an adult? I’m right. Looking at you two, it looks like you’re level 60-70 Awakened and can earn over 1 million won even if you can’t hunt very well. Isn’t it true? Or did I overestimate you all?”
“Do you want to die, b*tch?!”
Looks like those two became angry at what I said for they walked towards me with their arms folded.
‘Okay.’
Without a hitch, they moved as I predicted.
But then.
“Wait.”
The midget stopped the angry goons.
“If Awakened fight in a household like this, it’ll cause big problems. We are pure, innocent people who follow the law dutifully.”
With a smile that could sicken the heaven and earth, he looked towards me and my mother.
“Oh, isn’t your son so brave! Isn’t he, mother Pak Se-Ran? You must be so happy to have a son like this. As the senior to life, I should have a quiet conversation with your son. What do you say, child?”
I could tell what he was thinking, it was obvious.
This was a household in the center of the city and it involved my mother who wasn’t an Awakened.
If we made a ruckus in a situation like this, then the Awakened clean-up task force will be dispatched and would cause more complication.
He was probably trying to set this up because he was afraid that the ‘legal’ acts they were doing would be exposed.
It was obvious that he was trying to take me to a dungeon or someplace shady like that to dispose of me.
‘It’s a situation I can’t even laugh about. Yeah! If I killed them here, then it would become complicated. Let’s go somewhere nicer. It wasn’t that long ago that I bought the sofa and the television.’
Even though I was thinking about how I would convince these guys to go to the dungeon so I could dispose of them, they already did the work for me.
“Sure.”
“I’m glad that you’re brave, let’s go.”
Hearing my answer, my mother showed nervousness on her face.
She knew about my growth, but was uncomfortable about how I was being dragged along by vile villains.
Instead of answering or giving her an explanation, I gave her a wink.
Looking at my cheesy expression, she smiled as if her heart was reassured.
She looked at the window without a word.
***
I entered the car owned by the midget that was parked in the parking lot in front of the house.
Similar to a criminal having been caught by the police, the shorter goon sat in the driver seat while the taller goon and the midget sandwiched me in the rear seats.
Since they could attack me at any time, I didn’t let down my guard.
Since the Heugdo was a sword that the blacksmith made, it was impossible for them to know the abilities of my sword.
As we drove through the streets for a long time, the midget that was sitting on my left opened his mouth.
“How long have you been Awakened for?”
“Three months or so?”
“Kukuku, three months? Have you heard about the manticore? We’re going to the level 11 dungeon. Since you’ll have to become stronger in order to pay off the debt quicker, right?”
‘…Haah. This doesn’t make any sense. It’s like promising an elementary kid that you’ll buy them pork cutlets but finding out that they were taking them to the hospital instead. Are you really trying to bait me with something like candy?’
Thinking about what would happen afterwards, I wanted to laugh whole heartedly but held it all in and pretended to know nothing.
“Oh yes, are you trying to helping me out?”
“Of course! That’s what we’re trying to do.”
After all the driving, we reached in front of the level 12 dungeon.
It wasn’t like the dungeon that I ran as if eating meals, but instead was a dungeon in a place far away from civilization in the middle of a forest path.
Saying that they would take a quick smoke break, they headed towards the corner.
Of course, they were probably discussing how to get rid of me.
I was unable to hear what they said.
While I was waiting for them, one word I recalled the midget said was the ‘refrigerator.’
I thought that the rotten bastards were not only doing illegal loans but were also involved in murder.
How far did these guys fall to give fear to people in similar situation like mine, or perhaps to do something even more sinister.
Well, it doesn’t matter.
The only thing in my head was that while we’re here at an isolated place like this, then it was a chance for me to not only dispose of the midget but also the other two hooligans.
After throwing down the cigarette and extinguishing it by stepping on it, they yelled at me.
“Alright, let’s go in!”
“Of course, let’s go. Let’s go.”
‘I struggled to think of how to raise my Heal skill level, so until I go to school, I guess I’ll perform nightingale bing-ui.’
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