World's Strongest Survivor-Chapter 40

Entering the Mountains for Training

Just by looking at them, it was obvious the three burly men didn't have good intentions. Seowoon's mouth opened after scanning them up and down.

"What do you want?"

The man in front twitched his brow at Seowoon's casual tone—especially since Seowoon looked like a green rookie—and responded with irritation.

"A brat like you thinks it's okay to talk down to people?"

The way he spoke and dressed screamed gangster, but the aura he gave off said otherwise.

He looked just like the thug Seowoon had dealt with at the mineral spring last time, but inside, he was completely different.

As the three men began to close the distance, Seowoon spoke again.

"So, you're here to fight?"

Before he even finished speaking, he raised his energy.

The moment he prepared to attack, the three men instinctively stopped, sensing the pressure.

"Hold on. Just come with us for a bit. We're handling matters on behalf of busy people in the government. Cooperate and nothing bad will happen."

"Why do I get the feeling I'll never see the outside world again if I go along with you?"

Just as the man in front was about to curse loudly in response, another man held up his hand to stop him and quickly stepped in front of Seowoon.

"Have you heard of the National Security Law?"

"I've heard of it."

"Under the revised version of that law, you're basically considered a terrorist. If you cooperate and go through the investigation, there's no problem. But if you cause trouble here, you'll officially become a terrorist. Think carefully. This is a residential area. Just revealing your abilities here is a crime."

Seowoon stared at the man wearing sunglasses at night for a moment.

"I've heard about it. There's some shady group that works as a proxy for the National Intelligence Service. Targeting rookies, right? I'm not exactly with the resistance, but let's just leave each other alone and go our separate ways."

As Seowoon drew out a bit more of his energy, the man who had cursed earlier finally realized what was happening, and his face turned pale.

The pressure emanating from Seowoon spread in all directions, making it increasingly difficult for them to even breathe.

"...So you're saying you won't cooperate?"

"I don't really have a reason or a desire to. If you really want cooperation, come back with a warrant and someone from the actual NIS. I'm not going to let myself get dragged away by a rogue group with no legal authority."

As he finished speaking and his figure wavered, six copies of Seowoon suddenly surrounded the man in sunglasses.

It all happened so fast that the man couldn't react at all.

—Rookie hunters. Do I look like a rookie to you?

The six emotionless voices spoke in unison, creating a terrifying atmosphere.

Only then did the men realize they had picked the wrong target.

—As long as you don't mess with me, I'll stay quiet. Don't come looking for trouble.

With those words, Seowoon walked past them, back turned, nonchalantly heading away. They couldn't do anything to stop him.

There was one thing Seowoon had learned from reading the online community.

Unless you:

revealed your abilities,

committed crimes using them,

or were powerless,

neither the NIS nor rogue groups would touch you lightly.

If they provoked the wrong person and lost, it was like handing a powerful asset over to the resistance.

'It really is a transitional period.'

That phrase described it perfectly.

A chaotic time brought on by the sudden rise of ability users.

And Seowoon, now in his second round, was not weak enough to be trifled with.

Even after Seowoon left, the man with the sunglasses remained frozen before finally speaking.

"R-Report it. He's not a rookie."

"Yes, sir!"

"Should we assign a surveillance team?"

"Are you crazy? We drop it. There's no need to provoke him further."

"Yes, sir!"

Back at home, Seowoon was still on edge.

'Should I move? How did they find me? Was it because I sold that necklace? But to track me down so fast...'

He'd shown a fair amount of power, so it was unlikely they'd try anything for now. But being listed as an ability user wasn't exactly welcome news.

'What should I do...'

He kept pondering until sunrise finally broke through the darkness, and he reached a decision.

'Even if I move, they'll find me again soon. I've already revealed my power, so I'll just see what happens.'

If the NIS already had his name, tracking him would be easy.

If they came back to bother him, he'd just show them real power next time.

One thing he had confirmed through the community and his recent encounter with Kichan—

At this stage, even as someone only in his second round, he was absurdly powerful.

He wasn't overestimating himself—being 2nd place in his first round and 1st in his second wasn't a fluke.

Just barely surviving for twenty rounds might only get you 100 coins.

In the end, without a high rank, you couldn't advance—even if you didn't fall behind.

Without power, you were forced into a miserable life and subjected to unfair competition.

That was true both on Earth and in this otherworld. And it still applied during this chaotic transition.

After finally organizing his thoughts, Seowoon sat cross-legged, circulated his energy, and went to bed.

When he woke up and checked his phone, it was past 1 PM.

Fortunately, it was Saturday. Seowoon immediately called Kichan.

"Hyung!"

A cheerful voice answered, and Seowoon got straight to the point.

"Can we meet now?"

"Of course! Where should we meet?"

"I'll send you the address. Come to my neighborhood."

After hanging up and sending the address, Seowoon opened his subspace and took out the ramen and portable stove set he'd stocked up on earlier.

He boiled a single packet of ramen for a quick meal. As soon as he finished, his phone rang.

"I've arrived."

"I'll come out now."

When he stepped outside, Seowoon saw Kichan standing next to the sleek car he had seen yesterday, Haabusai's impressive body gleaming in the sun.

"Let's head to a nearby café first."

At a quiet neighborhood café, they sat down with coffee in hand. Kichan bounced excitedly like a puppy that couldn't contain itself.

"I didn't think you'd contact me this quickly!"

"Ah, something came up."

"What happened?"

"It's not the Central Bureau, but... those private organization guys followed me yesterday."

Kichan's expression instantly stiffened.

"You ran into them?"

Seowoon nodded, and Kichan asked cautiously.

"You didn't... clash with them, did you?"

"I did show a bit of strength, but there wasn't any real physical conflict. They just told me to come with them out of nowhere."

"You should never go with them."

"If I had, you wouldn't be seeing me today."

Kichan nodded solemnly.

"But how did they track you so quickly? You've only participated twice so far. Did you cause some kind of trouble?"

As Kichan asked whether he'd caused any trouble, Seowoon slowly opened his mouth.

"I needed cash, so I pawned Askro's necklace at a gold shop."

"Ah..."

Gichan stared at Seowoon in a daze for a moment, then awkwardly forced a smile as he regained composure.

"Th-that's a common mistake. That gold necklace's worth barely a single coin, anyway."

The way he stammered made it clear it wasn't actually that common a mistake.

"I was a bit reckless because of the money at the time. I didn't know about those who hunt newbies, or the existence of the Central Bureau."

As Seowoon admitted it readily, Kichan tried clumsily to console him.

"Askro's necklace is worth more in money than in coins. I always make sure to take it when I find one too."

"But you didn't get caught."

"Well... I melted it down before selling it."

"I-I see."

That thought hadn't even occurred to him.

Honestly, even if it had, he wouldn't have known how to melt gold, or had the tools to do it. He'd only ever heard of kingsmiths melting gold in dramas.

"Still, they won't be able to mess with you easily. You don't need to worry too much. How could they touch someone who made Top 5 two rounds in a row?"

"That's what I thought too. I considered moving, but I figured I'd just stay put."

"If you ever decide to lay low, I can help. I know how to avoid tracking—fake accounts, that sort of thing."

Now that he thought about it, Kichan was young but had been active on the deep web as a hacker. He'd likely done plenty of shady stuff online and would know how to evade pursuers.

"Hm..."

As Seowoon looked hesitant, Gichan added,

"The Central Bureau probably won't press further. If there's any worry, it'd be that the pro-Central groups might overstep."

"Pro-Central?"

"Yeah, the ones who came to you. As you can guess, most ability users tend to lurk in the shadows, and globally, a lot of them end up joining illegal organizations. In our country, the ones who cooperate with the Central Bureau are collectively called 'pro-Central.'"

"So basically, thugs got powers and now live well by sucking up to the government?"

Kichan gave a bitter smile and nodded.

"It's a mutually beneficial relationship. The Central Bureau can control and track ability users with limited manpower, and those guys can continue their shady operations without worrying about government interference."

"Isn't the Bureau supposed to prevent crimes by ability users?"

"To be precise, they aim to prevent ability users from disturbing social order. Pro-Central types never do anything that catches public attention."

"Yeah, that's why they came at night. Still, for something so secretive, they were pretty sloppy."

Kichan crossed his arms and smirked.

"Pro-Central groups are mostly made up of stragglers, and they have a lot of backups."

"Backups? What's that?"

"Ah... to put it simply, think of them like second-generation infectees."

Seeing Seowoon's confused look, Kichan quickly swallowed his coffee and explained further.

"You know how abilities obtained from Cloyd can be passed on to regular people, right? They can't use the system, so the efficiency's low, but stuff like secret arts or circle stones can be handed down. Other items too—when given to regular people, they change so they can be used."

"What?!"

Seowoon's voice rose in shock.

"Why so surprised? It's obvious, isn't it? For example, magic weapons or stat-boosting items can be used by anyone without restriction."

"Sure, but... a regular person learning martial arts or magic without the system?"

"Yeah. But like I said, the efficiency sucks. Just absorbing a circle stone can take half a year, and learning magic means studying it by hand and casting it manually—it's totally different from how we do it. It's more like the original way."

"If they use elixirs to help, though..."

"Then, for martial arts, they might speed up a bit."

"Then shouldn't the Central Bureau be cracking down hardest on those pro-Central guys? They're basically mass-producing ability users."

"Well, people tend to protect their own. Honestly, if anyone's trying to expand their backups, it's probably the Bureau. It's just a rumor, but supposedly, governments around the world are already raising armies or organizations made up of ability users."

Seowoon nodded without realizing it.

Soldiers were directly tied to national power.

And soldiers with abilities? Raising such powerful, appealing forces—not doing it would be stranger.

"Unbelievable. They crack down on ability users in the name of social order..."

"They probably know it's only a matter of time before they can't anymore. So they're preparing in advance."

"Preparing by establishing state power to control ability users?"

"Bluntly put, yeah. How else can they maintain order? Even now, we've got lunatics doing all kinds of crazy things with powers."

"Anyway, enough about the Bureau. I called you because of the training you mentioned. That's the real reason."

Kichan's eyes sparkled.

"Perfect timing! I just went on break today!"

"Nice. But... I don't really know how this works. Where do ability users usually train?"

"Deep in the mountains? Or somewhere far from people's eyes, maybe?"

"You don't sound too sure. I thought you knew all about this?"

"I usually did it that way. I heard that other people go to uninhabited islands with fixed team members or something like that, but I've never done it with anyone else."

"Then where did you usually do it?"

"There's a place I know near Wonju. It's a small mountain area that's pretty much untouched by people. I even got a house set up nearby."

"A house?"

"Land there is cheap. I bought a mountain and built a small house."

That was a pretty grand statement coming from a high schooler.

"I'm just curious... but aren't you a little too well-off for a teenage head of household?"

"I focus on loot that brings in money, so while my grades aren't that great, I have a decent amount of funds."

Seowoon nodded, watching Kichan speak so casually.

A handsome, wealthy high schooler who's also the head of his family. It was a title that didn't quite seem to fit.

"So when can we go?"

"Right now, if you want?"

"What about your younger sibling? If we go, we'll probably be gone for a while."

"My sibling went to a relative's place yesterday. My aunt runs a small orchard in the countryside, and they went down there to help out—well, that's the excuse anyway. She helped us a lot when things were tough, so they follow her like a mother."

"Oh... I see. Then I guess we can head down right away."

"Yeah. We can stop by a store on the way and pick up what we need."

As Seowoon packed some simple gear into his subspace and watched Kichan start up the Haabusa, he asked,

"You're not seriously planning to ride that all the way to Wonju, are you?"

"Yeah. I can't take it on the highway, but it's still faster than a bus."

"..."

Being a pedestrian, it was hard to argue. And besides, he'd always wanted to ride a Haabusa.

They rode the Haabusa and arrived at a secluded place surrounded on three sides by forested hills.

It was surprising there was even a narrow road paved here, and the modern house Kichan had built stood out starkly in the middle of the otherwise untouched landscape.

The house, with three LPG tanks lined up outside, looked strangely out of place in the natural scenery.

"You actually managed to build a house here, huh."

"Well, I just paid for it. The laborers did the hard part."

Even though he said it so casually, it still felt unreal that a high schooler owned real estate.

"How much are you worth, exactly?"

"...What?"

Kichan looked a little flustered by Seowoon's blunt question.

"I don't have that much compared to other players."

"You're saying that to someone who got caught selling a necklace just to get a few hundred thousand won?"

"Ah, no, it's just... Let's see... Including this place, I have two houses, some land and a mountain near Wonju, a few blue-chip stocks, and just under 800 million won in cash savings."

Seowoon's jaw dropped as Kichan listed his assets in detail.

He started to regret footing the bill for the groceries they picked up on the way just because he was the older one.

Just the rice and other necessities alone had cost nearly 800,000 won.

And on top of that, he had a well-balanced portfolio of real estate, stocks, and cash.

"You're rich! You made that much with just 13 runs?"

Kichan smiled and replied politely.

"Well, it depends on your play style. Even if it's only 13 runs, that's over a year's worth of time. I also knew about Cloyd in advance. But you—based on total coins—you've probably made way more than I have..."

His voice trailed off, as if wondering why Seowoon didn't have more money.

"I mean... I did earn just under 500 coins."

"W-wait, five hundred?!"

Kichan's voice rose in shock.

"Winning first place in the second round helped. I got 355 coins just from that."

"My total so far doesn't even break 200! Who are you calling rich?"

Even with Kichan's complaining tone, Seowoon still felt that the handsome high school head-of-household seemed far wealthier.

"Shall we head up, then?"

"Yeah." freewēbnoveℓ.com

Without any bags, the two began ascending the untamed mountain.

Though they looked like they were just lightly jogging, each step covered ground like a flying creature, and the two vanished up the mountain in an instant.

"Whoa, impressive."

About halfway up the mountain, Kichan had created a spacious flat area, almost like a park surrounding a spring.

"I got a lot of flak from the workers for making this."

No wonder. Even if the mountain wasn't that high, clearing a space like this wasn't easy.

Especially in a place where heavy machinery couldn't be brought in—what a grueling task that must've been.

"Just a moment."

Kichan pulled a small leather pouch from his subspace and walked toward the edge of the clearing.

Seowoon, recognizing the familiar type of pouch often seen in the other world, quietly watched to see what he would do.

As Kichan walked the perimeter, he took out amethysts one by one. When he placed the last of the five stones, they resonated and glowed briefly.

[T/L: Read extra Chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]