Chapter 82 : A Different Life
Chapter 82: A Different Life
“…!”
A woman’s scream reached Baek Woohyun’s ears just as he was about to move. Along with the desperate cry “Please save me!”
His face hardened, and he immediately moved toward where the sound came from. Because he instinctively sensed a civilian who hadn’t evacuated was in danger.
Leaping almost several meters with each step as if flying, he was able to spot a woman just before being caught by Goblins.
Chwareureuk-!
Baek Woohyun threw his chain scythe first without question. Because if he delayed even a little, a Goblin would stab its chipped dagger into the woman’s back.
The scythe that flew like a shot cleanly severed the arm of a Goblin that was reaching toward the woman, and the emaciated green arm rolled on the ground along with blood.
Then, as Baek Woohyun gripped the chain and moved, the scythe that swiftly changed trajectory pook! dug into the eyes of the Goblin staring in shock at its severed arm.
–Kereureurk?!
–Kek! Kereurk?!
Only then realizing Baek Woohyun’s appearance, the Goblins made their characteristic phlegm-like sounds expressing surprise, but if they wanted to live, they shouldn’t have done that.
Somehow they should have grabbed the woman and threatened her life to stop Baek Woohyun who was rushing over.
At the point they were just chattering among themselves, the Goblins’ doom was already as good as decided.
“Heuup!“
Whether a Goblin was skewered on the scythe or not, Baek Woohyun didn’t care and gripped the chain with both hands and swung it.
As a result, the chain scythe swung with superhuman strength pushed away the other Goblins far enough to make a crashing sound, along with the corpse with eyes pierced.
At the same time, he who had charged like the wind stood boldly between the woman and the Goblins. Meaning now if the Goblins wanted to target the woman, they had to break through him.
Naturally, that was absolutely impossible. Maybe if there were dozens or hundreds of Goblins, but there were only three.
“……!”
Whoong whoong whoong-!
Now that the woman who could have been a constraint had entered under his protection, Baek Woohyun had no reason to wait for them.
He swung the chain scythe like a storm and literally tore to shreds the Goblins who belatedly shouted and charged.
Not an expression mixed with exaggeration—his chain scythe really tore the Goblins apart. Because the swinging force was so strong that just getting hit once ripped their bodies apart.
The Goblins were smashed into the blood pooled on the ground, torn into at least three pieces, at most five pieces.
Moreover, the terrifying point was that all this was done without him moving a single step from his position.
It was a scene that would have immediately silenced those who said his build was a close-range specialized build.
Because it meant that if he held a weapon with long range like a chain scythe, he could also sufficiently fight at range.
“…Whew.”
“Th-thank you!”
The woman timidly offered thanks to Baek Woohyun as he retrieved his chain scythe.
Her face was a confused mix of relief at finally meeting an Otherworld Management Bureau agent and the fear of death that still hadn’t subsided.
In terms of ratio, about 4 to 6, but it was understandable for a civilian who had never experienced a life-threatening crisis, let alone encountered invasion entities.
“If you go that way, you should be safe. If not, enter a building in this area and hide.”
“Y-yes, yes! I’ll hide!”
“And when hiding-“
Recalling civilian evacuation procedures he had seen ‘over there,’ Baek Woohyun explained precautions in a calm voice.
Things like drawing curtains over windows to prevent seeing inside, or blocking entrances with desks or such.
Perhaps because her life depended on it, the woman listened intently to his words as if she might miss a single letter.
“Lastly, even if a commotion occurs outside, you must not check.”
“I understand! I absolutely won’t look!”
“Then go.”
“Yes!”
-I thought she’d ask him to stay and protect her, surprisingly not
-Yeah~ If she did that, instant abandonment~ Trash move~
-But his explanation is so detailed along the way
-There’s evacuation procedures they tell agents ㅋㅋ I read it out of boredom too
-“There were evacuation procedures? But wait, you read that out of boredom?”
-“Huh.”
‘Epic Saga’ donated ‘1000 won’!
[As a story fan, it was worth reading ㅇㅇ]
-This is real madness;
-Average story fan ㄷㄷ
-But thinking about it, Hackphysical read it too, right?
-He even explained it to the rescued NPC according to procedures, so Hackphysical is one level above
The woman who had nodded vigorously departed, and Baek Woohyun watching her back soon closed his eyes.
Generally, when one sense closes, other senses open wider.
Though not as much as during PVP, still, with [Perfect Being] present, he could vaguely sense presences presumed to be human around him.
At least a dozen or so people were hiding in fear.
‘More than I thought? Well, the rampage was quite sudden.’
“Hmm.”
Currently, Baek Woohyun had two choices.
One was to ignore the small-fry Goblins as initially planned and only search for the boss entity to end the Reverse World rampage.
The other was to kill all the Goblins while reducing the possibility of those who hadn’t evacuated being in danger.
Both choices had various pros and cons, so it was unavoidably a situation requiring consideration.
‘What should I do.’
Baek Woohyun, who had leisurely brushed back his hair, smiled briefly.
Honestly speaking, the answer was already as good as decided.
‘If it were ‘over there,’ I wouldn’t have helped…’
If it had been the time when just taking care of comrades was overwhelming, helping strangers would have been a luxurious action he wouldn’t have chosen.
During the contract worker period when he had gained some strength, he wouldn’t have even glanced at it, asking why he should waste effort on something that didn’t bring money.
The period when he properly began his revenge needn’t even be mentioned. When just catching and killing enemies kept him busy, how could he help others?
‘…Here is different.’
Choosing to become an Otherworld Management Bureau agent, Baek Woohyun had resolved to live a different life from ‘over there.’
That didn’t simply mean having a different status from ‘over there.’
It was closer to meaning he would make choices he couldn’t, wasn’t able to, and didn’t make ‘over there.’
Like saving even people he’d never met before.
“Good.”
Baek Woohyun, who had briefly murmured, moved toward where he felt presences. To kill Goblins roaming around that area.
If he killed all visible Goblins, safety would be temporarily secured until Goblins emerged again from the passage connected to the otherworld.
Even if it was an act no different from pouring water into a broken jar—wouldn’t the water that filled even a little quench people’s thirst?
–Kereurk!
Seogeok!
Who knows which numbered Goblin had its upper and lower body separated by Baek Woohyun’s swung chain scythe.
Naturally, the extended chain scythe didn’t stop there.
Drawing a bizarre trajectory and bending, it also cut the Goblin behind into three pieces: Go/Blin.
It even wrapped the chain around another one’s neck and broke it to death.
“…!”
‘This is bad.’
However, Baek Woohyun had to move without even time to rejoice at his small victory or catch his breath.
Because he felt Goblins approaching toward where people were hiding in the distance.
If even a little time was delayed, their lives would be endangered.
Clicking his tongue, he liberated a surviving Goblin’s head from its body, then started running quickly.
Today, in this place, he intended to allow not a single casualty. Only then could he say he had walked a different path from ‘over there.’
If it was him who was once called ‘Superhuman,’ it would be sufficiently possible.
–Keeeeeek!
Was it compensation for prioritizing others’ safety and acting accordingly?
Having torn Goblins to shreds and reached near the Bukhansan hiking trail, Baek Woohyun encountered a giant Goblin.
A monster Goblin one head larger than ordinary Goblins, boasting not an emaciated body but a burly muscular one.
‘Hobgoblin!’
Baek Woohyun immediately recognized that the monster Goblin holding a machete was the boss entity called Hobgoblin.
Because he had killed them several times ‘over there’ while clearing Reverse Worlds where Goblins appeared. Not just ordinary Hobgoblins, but even mutant Hobgoblins.
Perhaps because of that experience, his attitude dealing with the Hobgoblin was extremely calm.
–Kek? Keeeeek!
The Hobgoblin sniffing around soon roared in rage. It seemed to have smelled the blood of the Goblins Baek Woohyun had killed to get here.
Its face distorted with hatred and killing intent, it charged straight at Baek Woohyun. A rush of strength and speed hard to believe for a Goblin.
Reaching right in front of Baek Woohyun in an instant, the Hobgoblin swung the machete it was holding.
Sswaeaek-!
The machete slashing through the air, striking down!
Of course, Baek Woohyun wasn’t one to just take it. He lightly stepped back and dodged the machete aimed at his head.
Normally, a merciless counterattack would have followed here, but strangely, Baek Woohyun only stared at the Hobgoblin without taking any action.
The Hobgoblin, unaware it could even die, recklessly continued its attacks.
Sswaeaek! Sswaeaek!
–Keeek!
“……”
The Hobgoblin’s wildly swung machete couldn’t inflict even the slightest wound on Baek Woohyun.
At most, only a few strands of hair were cut as the machete passed at a close distance—that was all the damage Baek Woohyun suffered.
Even that wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t tried to dodge by a paper-thin margin.
However, what was strange was that despite seeing several opportunities to counterattack while dodging, Baek Woohyun took no action.
The Hobgoblin’s body tensed up and its posture grew larger with each missed attack, to the point where now it was almost full-swinging every attack.
-“What’s going on? Why isn’t he counterattacking?”
-“Hackphysical seems to have his own thoughts—but I have absolutely no idea why.”
-“Looking at his expression, it’s not that a problem occurred. Then not counterattacking and only dodging is entirely Hackphysical’s choice. Hmm.”
-Why not kill it??
-Just now even I could have stabbed
-Making it tired to kill, big picture ㄷㄷ
-Hobgoblin extremely enraged ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
“……”
Baek Woohyun looked with cold eyes at the machete passing right in front of his nose.
His gaze passed from the hand gripping it, along the firm forearm, over the thick shoulder, across the Hobgoblin’s face, and headed toward behind it.
An attitude as if the struggling Hobgoblin wasn’t even in his sight, and in reality it was so.
What he was focusing all his nerves on right now wasn’t the Hobgoblin, but the gaze watching him from far away.
‘Who is it?’