I Became the Final Boss in the Game

Chapter 5 : Chapter 5

Chapter 5. Noksan (1)

While the flight continued peacefully for a short while.

Kyle said to me.

“Take a shower. We're scheduled to land in an hour.”

“A shower?”

“You smell terrible. You need to change your clothes too. You're not thinking of going after escaped convicts in that prison uniform, are you?”

“Ah.”

It was true that there was no way I could have washed properly in that hellhole of a place, Mugan.

I entered the shower located in the corner of the transport plane.

And the very first thing I did was…

“Bluuuurgh.”

I rinsed my mouth with water first.

Because the bizarre taste of the seafood jam I had eaten earlier still lingered in my mouth.

An insane concoction where salty, fishy, and greasy flavors were all jumbled together.

It was a taste that made me genuinely wonder what kind of demographic they were trying to satisfy by coming up with such a combination.

I thought I was going to die pretending it was delicious and casually spreading it on a biscuit.

'Why does this guy Kyle like something like this? No, did his personality turn out that way because he keeps eating this stuff?'

After rinsing my mouth, I took off the prison uniform I was wearing.

A gaunt, skinny body was revealed.

Then, I casually looked in the mirror and froze on the spot.

“…Ugh, what is this?”

Beneath the prison uniform, something far more shocking was in its place.

Tattoos.

There were tattoos that completely covered my entire body.

Tattoos so dense that it would be faster to point out the places without them.

My chest, abdomen, back, and arms and legs were covered in black tattoos.

In effect, every part of my body except for my face, neck, hands, and feet was tattooed.

The reason I had only discovered these dense tattoos now.

It was because the tattoos were located only in the areas covered by long sleeves and long pants.

I looked at my body in the mirror and muttered.

“…I can't get used to this.”

In my previous life, I had absolutely no connection with tattoos.

I hadn't even gotten my ears pierced because I was scared, so tattoos were out of the question.

“Ugh, how unsightly.”

I decided to take a shower first.

Squeak-

Swoooosh-

When I turned the faucet, hot water poured from the showerhead.

I began to vigorously scrub away the thick layer of grime and my very greasy hair.

* * *

After finishing his shower, Riman received new clothes from Kyle.

The clothes were a long-sleeved black top and black slacks.

And he received a pair of combat boots and a dark brown military coat.

It was just a hardboiled set of clothes that fit right into this world.

To hide the tracker fastened around his neck, Riman popped the coat's collar high and buttoned it up.

Once he was fully dressed, Kyle spoke.

“First, take this.”

What Kyle handed him was an electronic device that looked almost identical to a smartphone.

In fact, its functions were similar as well.

However, it had a few additional functions that a smartphone did not.

“When you kill an escaped convict, use that to photograph their face, analyze their genome, and send the data to us. Once that's confirmed, we'll transfer the bounty.”

“Does the bounty get deposited to this phone too?”

“Yes. And if you ever need to talk to Brother Lancelot or me, you can use that. We'll also use it to relay any orders to you from our side.”

Riman looked down at this phone with a strange gaze.

An object he had seen so often in the game.

To make a living as a bounty hunter, this piece of equipment was essential.

My bounty hunter character, of course, had one of these.

So even though it was the first time he had physically touched it, he already knew exactly how to use it.

'…Even with how things turned out, I still end up becoming a Headhunter (bounty hunter).'

Although there was the minor problem of his status being that of a criminal.

Vroooom-

The transport plane soon entered Korean airspace.

It was now not long before the actual landing.

Kyle began a simple briefing.

“The escaped convicts used 'teleportation' to escape. That large number of prisoners scattered to various parts of the world through teleportation magic.”

“Hoh…”

“Because of that, tracking their route is virtually impossible. Because there is no route. It's a situation where we have to search the entire world on foot.”

“Then why did we come to Korea first?”

“Because it's one of the few regions where the teleportation phenomenon was observed. We don't know which escaped convicts came, but it's certain that at least some of them went to Korea.”

Riman nodded his head.

For reference, Riman knew one more fact that neither Kyle nor Lancelot knew.

That the destinations of the teleportation magic used by the escaped convicts were 'random'.

Because of that, even Riman, who had played hundreds of times, could not know the exact locations of the escaped convicts.

Because the destinations of the escaped convicts changed randomly every time.

And because of this, the plan to 'hand over all the location information of the escaped convicts to Lancelot to wipe them out in one go' was fundamentally impossible.

So he had to go and catch them one by one on foot.

'But it doesn't matter.'

Riman knew their abilities, behavioral patterns, personalities, and relationships inside and out.

There were endless ways to track and annihilate them.

On top of that, this body was a multi-type magic user.

There was no need to worry about being outmatched in combat power.

Whoooosh-

The transport plane began to lower its altitude.

They had finally arrived.

In the Republic of Korea of the year 2200.

* * *

Vrooooom-

After dropping Riman off at the military airport, the transport plane took off again.

Because Kyle had to go to another country.

With escaped convicts spread all over the world, they didn't have the luxury of deploying combat powers of Riman and Kyle's level in one region.

Anyway.

'How do I move? I don't have money or a car.'

As he was pacing back and forth, contemplating.

“Hello.”

A soldier approached Riman.

“You're Mr. Leman, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

Since he couldn't openly use the name Riman Solaris, Kyle had created a fake identity, 'Leman'.

“Mr. Kyle asked me to see to your convenience, Mr. Leman. Is there anything you need?”

Oh.

“Then, could you give me a ride?”

“It's possible as long as it's not too far.”

“Then, please take me to the Noksan Junkyard.”

“That place isn't far. I'll give you a ride.”

Riman began to travel by car with the soldier.

* * *

Once they left the base, the landscape of the Gyeonggi-do outskirts unfolded.

The landscape of Korea in the year 2200.

It was not good.

In a word, a dystopia.

Gloomy smog was always present, high-rise buildings that completely ignored the right to sunlight were packed tightly together, the back alleys were teeming with trash, gangs, and junkies, and the gap between the rich and poor was at its highest level ever.

Of course, thanks to the rise of magic stone engineering, technology had developed to a considerable level.

They had even developed the unprecedented technology of 'magic'.

But since the development of technology did not lead to the happiness of humanity, this gray hellscape had come to pass.

“Um, by the way, you're a mage, right, Mr. Leman?”

“Yes.”

“Wow… that's amazing, a mage.”

Sincere admiration flowed from the soldier's mouth.

This was how mages were viewed in this world.

Objects of admiration and fear.

It was understandable.

A mage was a being who embodied miracles in a human body.

In other words, a human-shaped strategic weapon, that was a mage.

Of course, there were augmented humans and superhumans who had greater combat power than mages.

But the peak of combat power that could be reached with a purely human body was the highest for mages.

On top of that, only a few individuals from the 'Magic Towers' could become mages.

Therefore, the human resource of a mage was always a rare and mysterious existence.

It was no wonder this soldier was making such a fuss.

“Actually, my son dreams of becoming a mage too. By the way, which Magic Tower did you graduate from, Mr. Leman……”

“Let me off here.”

“Ah, uh, th-yes, I understand.”

There were still about 200 meters left to the Noksan Junkyard.

But Riman decided to get off and walk.

He planned to formulate a strategy while walking.

“Thanks for the ride. Get back safely.”

After sending the car off, Riman started walking.

As he walked, he tested a few spells on a small scale on the palm of his hand.

'This level of magic should be enough for now.'

In the meantime, Riman had arrived in front of the junkyard.

Noksan Junkyard.

The escaped convicts who reached Korea would definitely pass through this junkyard.

It was to dispose of the vehicles they brought from Mugan to destroy the evidence and to get new cars.

But why did the escaped convicts come by car when they had even teleported?

The reason was that they couldn't withstand the load of the teleportation magic cast from Mugan with their bare bodies.

So they got into cars and used the vehicles as armor to teleport.

Riman approached the junkyard.

A faint tension ran up his spine.

Because he had seen the mana detector installed at the entrance of the junkyard.

The mana detector, a facility that blared a loud siren when a person with mana passed by.

If an augmented human, superhuman, or mage passed under it, the siren would go off.

The moment one passed through it, the gang of this junkyard would all gather.

It was a given that a one-versus-many battle would break out in an instant.

Riman let out a short sigh and thought.

'A fight that's going to happen anyway. It's better to finish it all at once.'

Riman passed under the mana detector with a slight tension.

And nothing happened.

'…?'

It was quiet.

Riman looked back at the mana detector with a puzzled expression.

When a mage-type class passed by, that detector was supposed to go off without fail.

But the detector was silent.

'What's going on?'

As a test, he circulated the mana in his body.

The circulation was working properly.

He could still use magic properly.

'But why isn't that thing going off? Is it broken?'

Well, whatever, it was a good thing if it didn't go off.

Riman continued to walk deeper into the junkyard.

At that moment.

“Hey, who goes there?”

A man with a fierce impression approached Riman with a smirk.

“Here to scrap a car? Or buy a used one?”

“Didn't a group of people come here a little while ago to scrap a car?”

“Hmm?”

“It was probably a vehicle with a World Federation mark on it. I'd like to see that.”

The man's smile completely vanished from his face as he spoke.

“Who the hell are you? Are you ordering me around now?”

“Let's not make things difficult.”

“I agree. So turn around quietly and get the fuuuuck out of here. If you don't want to die.”

“I advise you, it would be better to resolve this quietly before I have to use force.”

“Ha, this bastard…”

Shing!

The man pulled a dagger from his waist and aimed it at Riman's neck.

Riman let out a hollow laugh inwardly.

Because the way he brandished the knife was so incredibly crude.

Even more so since he had just experienced the swordsmanship of an expert named Kyle.

So Riman just watched until the man brought the blade right up to his neck.

The man spoke.

“I don't know who you are, but you can really get yourself killed, you bastard.”

“That's what I'm saying. You could really die if you keep this up.”

“This fucking bastard…!”

The man pressed the blade firmly against Riman's neck.

The cold sensation of the blade was transmitted through his neck.

Just before the blade pierced his neck.

Riman activated a spell.

[Discharge]

Crackle!

A black electric shock erupted from the surface of Riman's neck.

The current traveled through the blade and was delivered directly to the man.

“Kuaaaargh!”

After the current had thoroughly fried the man's body and subsided.

The man collapsed onto the floor.

Riman looked down at the man and said.

“You didn't even put an insulation coating on the blade, did you? I knew it.”

Saying so, Riman picked up the man's dagger.

“A dagger. Not bad for a secondary weapon.”

At that moment, he heard the voices of other men from behind him.

“Wh-what are you?!”

“Oh.”

There were about 30 of them.

They were the ones who had flocked after hearing the scream of their electrocuted comrade.

The employees of the Noksan Junkyard.

They were by no means benevolent and ordinary citizens.

All of them were gang members.

Because Noksan itself was a gang's headquarters as well as a junkyard.

Every single one of them was scum.

People for whom crime was a way of life.

In other words, they were the kind of people he wouldn't feel much guilt about completely crushing.

“…It looks like I'll have a proper fight for the first time.”

A faint smile appeared on Riman's lips.