novelraw Chapter 51 : Chapter 51
Chapter 51 : Chapter 51
Chapter 51: Golden Fruit Salt Aid Premium
Whirr- Clatter!
As the automatic door of the arcade room closed, the distinct, tingling electronic sound and the crowd's commotion instantly subsided.
Seo Seungbeom led his gang out, with Ryu Jinwoo accompanying them.
Just as they were exiting the arcade room, a loud Bang—! sound along with a voice full of annoyance spilled out from the slot machine zone right next to them.
“Tch, this is boring as hell.”
It was a long-haired man in a black jacket.
The gang members’ gazes momentarily gathered on him.
However, Seo Seungbeom's eyes never once turned in that direction.
All his attention was focused solely on Ryu Jinwoo.
‘This goddamn bastard......’
He wasn't merely enraged because he lost a game.
The memory of being defeated by Ryu Jinwoo in the specialty training still lingered strongly in Seo Seungbeom's mind.
That alone was irritating, but Lee Junhyeok, his rival and the Sword Emperor’s son, was even praising this guy and giving him special treatment.
For him, Ryu Jinwoo had become an existence he needed to take down decisively.
He couldn't stand it without putting a damper on the guy's inflated ego.
Yet, he was mocked in a simple game he intended to toy with him in.
It was intensely unpleasant.
At this rate, he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.
He absolutely had to land a blow.
Seo Seungbeom subtly looked sideways.
Ryu Jinwoo was sipping something with a languid expression.
The golden liquid glowed faintly inside the transparent glass.
A grand name: ‘Golden Fruit Salt Aid Premium.’
The color, created by adding copious amounts of edible gold flakes, was a symbol of pure vanity.
It only looked special on the surface; in reality, it was sweet, salty, and unnecessarily expensive.
Ryu Jinwoo was currently drinking that beverage, which Seo Seungbeom would normally scoff at, saying, 'Who would pay that much for that?'
‘And with my money, too.’
The sight of him leisurely drinking it through a straw was bothersome.
He couldn't be unaware of why we were taking him outside, yet he was so nonchalantly sipping a drink amidst this.
Where did this composure come from?
‘He’s annoying, this bastard......’
Seo Seungbeom clenched his fist.
Leading his gang, they exited the building and moved away from the main road, and the alleyways gradually grew darker.
Even before sunset, the areas shaded by the buildings were gloomy.
At this point, there were no people coming and going.
At most, a few early-drunk homeless people staggered past.
“Hey, I think that ajussi has been following us since earlier......”
At that moment, one of the gang members whispered quietly into Seo Seungbeom's ear.
Seo Seungbeom turned his head and briefly glanced behind him.
His friend said it was the man who had slammed the slot machine earlier.
Long black hair covering his shoulders, a sharply defined nose bridge.
At a glance, he had a refined impression, but his bronze skin and a deep scar cutting across one side of his face suppressed all of that.
His always-frowning brow was so stern that it made one wonder if he had ever smiled, and his light attire of a leather jacket also gave off a sense of incongruity.
“Ignore him. Even if he is following us, what's he going to do?”
Seo Seungbeom dismissed it sharply and turned his head.
Not long after, the man turned into a different alleyway midway.
In the end, only Seo Seungbeom's group and Ryu Jinwoo remained.
Finally, reaching a narrow back alley where people rarely walked, Seo Seungbeom stopped and slowly turned around.
“Good. There won't be anyone to bother us here.”
His eyes were already completely distorted.
Fzzzt-
The current sparking from his fingertips touched the damp wall, making a sharp, tingling sound.
Even the steam from his labored breath seemed to be surrounded by the blue light of the current.
“Now, let’s have a fight. You son of a bitch.”
***
We had finally reached a damp and gloomy back alley.
As 'Reporter's Sense' had forewarned, Seo Seungbeom naturally headed for the back alley.
Ding-!
[Arrived at the Coverage Location! 1,000SP is paid.]
[‘Urgent Coverage’ quest begins.]
[You have headed to the back alley following the Reporter’s Sense. Observe and cover the events occurring here.]
[Various rewards will be provided depending on the success of the coverage and the quality of the article.]
‘I don't know what I'm supposed to be covering yet.’
I decided to focus on the current situation for now.
Seo Seungbeom, positioned with his gang behind him, was already glaring at me with eyes that had lost reason.
The menacing sparking current suggested that a violent incident was imminent.
“You ‘requested’ me to follow you, and now you’re threatening me?”
When I asked, chiding him, Seo Seungbeom's brow furrowed.
“Shut up. You knew, didn't you? Why else would I drag you out here?”
He responded, seething.
He was right. I knew and followed him out.
The suggestion to follow him out has traditionally meant 'Let's fight' ever since the days of the Maljugeori Cruelty Incident.
Even if it wasn't now, this guy would look for an opportunity to take me down at any time.
If so, now was better.
Better to thoroughly deal with him right here and now.
Fzzzt-!
The blue current from Seo Seungbeom's body began to erupt more and more fiercely.
The current coursing through his entire body gathered at his fingertips, crackling like sharp lightning and making the air vibrate.
The moment I felt his muscles tensing.
The current began to entwine like vines around his arms and shoulders, emitting a blue flash.
Crack-! Crackle-!
Sparks flew, and the damp alley wall vibrated sharply.
Seo Seungbeom in front of me looked less like a human and more like a beast materialized from anger and electricity.
The killing intent he emitted made even his gang members hold their breath.
“Don’t even dream of walking out of here unscathed!”
The moment his foot touched the ground, the earth was tinged with the crackling current.
Following that, the punch he threw, using that impact as propulsion, flew straight toward me.
The fist rushed in the blink of an eye, as if the frames had been skipped.
It wasn't a simple strike.
It was a blow tangled with current and force.
The moment it connected, not only would bones shatter, but all the flesh might be burnt away.
Swoosh-!
In a fleeting moment, I barely bent my knees and twisted my body, avoiding the trajectory of his hand.
But there was another problem.
Fzzzt-!
The current gathered in his fist was transmitted through the air.
Instantly, a sharp, tingling pain wrapped around my entire body.
“Ugh!”
Although it was just a passing sensation, I knew from that alone.
It was dangerous. The moment I took a direct hit from that, my body would be paralyzed, and the fight might be over.
Ding-!
My vision flashed, and a familiar window popped up.
At the same time, I felt a sensation as if my nerves were taut and a breeze was passing deep through my veins.
[Ryu Jinwoo]
[Agility: 13 (+1)]
‘......My stat went up?’
What appeared was the status window.
However, all other stats remained the same, but the ‘Agility’ stat had a (+1) appended to it.
Electricity flowed, and the Agility stat increased?
Suddenly, a past memory flashed through my mind.
During the specialty training, when I felt an intense tingling sensation in my arm while swinging the sword slowly, my Dexterity stat had increased. Along with Stamina.
I had already vaguely sensed that the source of my strength was fundamentally in ‘pain.’
‘Perhaps the stat that increases differs based on the type of pain?’
An interesting conjecture crossed my mind.
I briefly thought, Should I check? But.
‘No. Not now.’
I immediately shook my head.
I couldn't test it right here.
Even if electricity increased Agility, there was no reason to take Seo Seungbeom’s punch with my entire body just to prove it.
It would be better to acquire a Taser or something later and experiment alone.
For now, focusing on the combat in front of me was the right move.
“Die!”
Another punch flew toward me.
Whiz-
It grazed past my right ear.
The numbing pain of the erupting current enveloped my body once more.
I saw Seo Seungbeom's face.
He looked like an excited beast, raging, intoxicated by his power.
Conversely, my breathing quieted.
I just had to approach it like playing [Rooftop Fighters].
I just had to see the choice he made and react according to that rhythm.
And I looked down at my hand.
The bulk-sized drink tightly gripped in my hand.
‘Golden Fruit Salt Aid Premium.’
The name was grand, but in reality, it was a bizarre hybrid—unnecessarily expensive and completely tasteless.
The thick sweetness of concentrated fruit juice first overwhelmed my entire mouth, and then a merciless saltiness, as if to counteract the sweetness, violated my tongue.
Add to that the feast of edible gold flakes generously added for vanity.
A menu that made me feel a sandy coarseness in my mouth every time I took a sip, making me never want to drink it again.
So why did I choose this?
The first reason was naturally because it was expensive.
With this menu, I could inflict proper economic retaliation on Seo Seungbeom, who tried to screw me over.
But there was a more important reason.
The key was that I had added ‘salt’ and ‘edible gold flakes’ as extra options to this already salty and coarse menu.
Thanks to that, I had to forcibly suppress the urge to grimace every time I drank it.
And now was the time to fully utilize it.
When Seo Seungbeom thrust his fist at me once more.
I didn't hesitate to twist my wrist and pour the drink directly over Seo Seungbeom’s head.
Splash-!
A moment of brief silence ensued.
“......You, you don’t mean?”
For a split second, Seo Seungbeom’s eyes widened to the extreme.
But that was only for a moment.
Fzzzt- Crackle-!
The electricity surrounding his body began to spark irregularly, causing a blue flash.
The ‘Blue Thunder Family,’ which Seo Seungbeom belonged to, was a family that prioritized the control of power above all else.
The magic power of current was a force more difficult to handle than any other attribute.
It was the most high-difficulty attribute; if one was even slightly careless, it could break free from control and consume its owner.
That was why the swordsmen of the Blue Thunder Family were famous for only converting and using the amount of power they could manage.
But the current Seo Seungbeom was different.
So enraged by me, he had somewhat abandoned control to boost his output.
It was powerful, yet unstable.
In other words, a state where a single slip could lead to a rampage.
What if the custom drink I chose encountered that current?
Fzzzt! Zzzzzzzt!
As if foretold, the current flowing through his whole body sparked wildly, searing the walls and the floor.
The lightning-fast current, following the golden liquid, began to run amok like an unbridled colt.
Salt and gold flakes, water mixed abundantly with them.
All of it was the best conductor for releasing current.
Seo Seungbeom’s current lost control and began to discharge as if vomiting out in all directions.
I immediately threw my body backward.
I could easily visualize the surrounding area turning into a mess.
A moment of imminent crisis that was decided in an instant.
Crush—!
Seo Seungbeom clenched his teeth and slammed his fist into the ground.
With a roar, the ground split open.
Zap, Fzzzt-!
Soon, blue currents poured out like a river into every crack that split open.
‘Grounding?’
The irregularly sparking currents were sucked into the cracks in the ground like a fierce torrent.
The earth sucked in the blue flash into the ground as if it were a massive vacuum cleaner, and the unstable energy that vibrated the air gradually subsided.
Only the smell of char and a slight burning smell began to waft.
From the posture of slamming his fist into the ground while hunched over, Seo Seungbeom slowly lifted his head.
The ferocious energy that had covered his face was subsiding, and he was slowly regaining his composure.
“......Did you choose that goddamn drink aiming for this?”
A fierce look in his eyes.
A quiet killing intent was flashing.
‘So he’s not an idiot who’s going to just let himself be defeated like this.’
It would have been great if it had ended here.
Then again, if he were the type to be easily defeated, he wouldn't have been able to enter Zero Academy.
Seo Seungbeom stood up, dusting off the concrete shards and dirt on his hands.
The guy, who had been breathing roughly in silence for a moment, finally spoke.
“Fine, good. I understand.”
The guy looked at the fist mark engraved on the floor.
“I understand that you're no ordinary opponent. That simply cornering you with force won't work.”
Seo Seungbeom continued, his expression heavily twisted as if a thorn was caught in his throat.
“So, I’m going for real. It would be best not to expect luck like just now from now on.”
Pure magic power flowed through his body.
A blue current flowed gracefully along his arm and shoulder, pulsating stably like a part of his body.
The drink that had soaked his head and shoulders began to vaporize, emitting steam.
The rising steam made his appearance even more menacing.
“I’m going all out.”
Clank-
The moment the guy put his hand on the sword hanging at his waist.
His figure distorted and vanished.
Pishook-!
A sharp wind grazed past my cheek.
A thin cut conveyed a stinging sensation.
Zap-
The current etched on my cheek lightly pulsed.
“Are you just going to keep dodging?”
Seo Seungbeom's voice rang out sharply.
His sword tip had stopped right in front of my eyes.
“Draw your sword too.”
The current quietly flashed at the tip of the sword.
Like a warning that things would not be easy from now on.