Chapter 133

Chapter 133

Swish-!

“Ah, Brother…! I was just wondering how I could be of help to you…”

When Dojae raised his hand, Yeongjin hurriedly covered his forehead.

But Dojae slowly lowered his hand and placed it on Youngjin’s head.

Swish-swish-.

“You’ve been through a lot. It must have been scary.”

Do-jae gently stroked Young-jin’s head.

This was a first for Yeong-jin, and his nose stung.

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s fine. It’s already in the past, and I know you didn’t mean any harm.”

At first, Young-jin had hidden what she had done.

But under Dojae’s persistent questioning, he answered honestly, afraid he might get scolded.

But as his head was stroked so gently, an inexplicable warm, fuzzy feeling rose up inside him.

“…Hyung-niiiim!”

“Ugh… Get off me…”

Young-jin suddenly hugged Do-jae tightly. Do-jae frowned but held him still.

Then he patted Young-jin’s back.

“By the way, you’ve grown so much in such a short time.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. At your current level, you’re probably at least an A-rank Awakened one.”

When they defeated the boss monster, the ‘Earth Kraken’, Young-jin’s level was 77.

But now, Youngjin’s level had skyrocketed to 101 in an instant.

And it was clearly due to the iron chains wrapped around both of Youngjin’s wrists.

Clang.

[This target cannot be summoned as a golem.]

‘Just as I thought.’

Dojae tried casting his Golem Summoning skill on the magic stone embedded in the chains.

As expected, the summoning failure message appeared.

‘This is a golem not connected to me…’

The magic stone of the iron chain.

It was the magic stone he had once turned into a golem to block the bullets fired indiscriminately by Queen Havi of Blood Town.

But it had been dissummoned afterward.

The plan was to retrieve it from Youngjin upon returning from America and put it to use.

If it had been a low-grade or mid-grade magic stone, he wouldn’t have minded just giving it to Young-jin. But this was an A-grade, top-tier magic stone.

It was a magic stone capable of reaching a level where it could develop sentience, which is why he intended to retrieve it.

But not only did this magic stone turn into a golem on its own, it even broke free from Dojae’s will and now only responds to Youngjin.

“Really? I do feel way stronger than before. Hehehe.”

“What’s your skill called?”

“It’s the same as yours, hyung. Golem Armor.”

“Show me.”

Yeongjin stood up.

Clang!

The coiled chains unraveled and fell to the floor.

Then, the chains began to move like a living snake, climbing up Young-jin’s legs.

Soon, it enveloped his entire body, transforming into something resembling the chain mail worn by medieval European knights.

The only difference was that it covered everything—hands, feet, even his face—in one seamless piece, leaving no gaps.

And it perfectly accentuated Young-jin’s solid muscle lines.

“How’s that?”

“Not bad… No, it’s way better than most A-grade stuff.”

“Whoa! Really? Holy crap, this is huge!”

Dojae checked Youngjin’s stats and marveled.

His stats had skyrocketed after putting on the Golem Armor.

Just like Dojae’s did.

‘Did my mana mix in and affect Youngjin? That’s why the skill is Golem Armor too…’

While the mana he gave Youngjin wasn’t entirely Dojae’s own pure mana, it still contained a significant amount of his own.

Therefore, he cautiously speculated that perhaps Dojae’s skills had been transferred to Youngjin.

“So, can you summon a golem too?”

“No. It seems he can’t summon them like you can, hyung. I can’t think of any summoning method at all.”

While the other skills were given by the Seekers, the Golem Armor skill was one Doja created himself.

So it seems the only skill Youngjin can use is the Golem Armor.

Even so, as Dojae’s primary skill, the Golem Armor is by no means inferior to other skills.

There’s no doubt that with just the Golem Armor alone, Young-jin has gained strength that’s on a completely different level from before.

“Don’t get cocky. If you get strong too suddenly, your body won’t adapt. Take your time and make it your own.”

“Yes! Understood!”

Dojae shared his own experience.

Youngjin, who had been struggling to gauge his own power anyway, nodded vigorously and replied with enthusiasm.

“That’s a relief. Now I can go without worry.”

“Huh?”

“No. Gonggol is coming back. Let’s slowly make our way out of the dungeon.”

Dojae rose from the rock.

The black golem, Gonggol, and the other golems were returning together.

They had hunted and cleared every monster in the dungeon.

Shush-shush-.

Plop-plop-.

At Dojae’s gesture, the three buried in the ground emerged.

They were still bound within Dojae’s golem armor.

“I’ll make sure to leave breathing holes, so there’s no chance of suffocation. Don’t worry.”

“I’d rather die…”

Before Park Han-kyung could even finish asking to be killed.

The golem armor covered his entire face, sealing his mouth shut.

“Let’s go, Youngjin.”

“Yes! Understood, brother!”

Dojae led the three bound prisoners out beyond the dungeon entrance first, and Youngjin followed with a pleased expression.

***

One day later.

Inside an abandoned warehouse.

“You’re here sooner than I expected.”

“When Mr. Lee Do-jae calls, I’d come in a heartbeat—even if it were the farthest reaches of space, not just America.”

Men dressed in black suits approached Dojae.

One of them steps forward and greets Dojae.

“Long time no see.”

“Who?”

“Don’t you remember? Back then, at the Incheon port…”

“Ah, was I there? Lim Moo-seok.”

Do-jae looked at the man standing before him.

The other man recognized him, but Dojae didn’t recognize him.

And no wonder—back then, Dojae had only Do-young on his mind. He wasn’t the kind of person to remember every single man in identical uniforms.

“So you do know my name. You see things, just like you did back then.”

“Let’s say that’s true. Team Leader Im Moo-seok.”

“Even that… Thanks to you, I was able to rise to the position of team leader.”

“Is that thanks to me? Kim Soo-kyung appointed you.”

“It’s the same thing. Anyway, are these the ones?”

Lim Moo-seok looked at the stone-like figures beside Do Jae, their eyes the only things visible.

Park Han-kyung, Lee Min-ki, and Choi Chang-hoon—the ones who kidnapped Young-jin.

“Yes. Investigate them thoroughly. Find out who ordered Young-jin’s murder and what their intentions were. That’s your specialty, isn’t it?”

“Understood. We’ll find out every last detail about these bastards. Just leave it to us.”

“That level of detail isn’t necessary…”

Lim Moo-seok spoke with a serious expression.

Because of that, Dojae felt his words seemed genuinely sincere.

Maybe it really was sincere.

“Then could you release the restraints for a moment? Just enough to see their necks.”

At Im Moo-seok’s request, Do-jae positioned the men so their necks were exposed.

Then another man in a black suit, who had been standing behind, came forward carrying a bag and pulled out several syringes from inside.

“Then I’ll administer the injection.”

He inserted the needles of syringes filled with a milky liquid into their necks one by one.

The men tried to struggle, but they couldn’t break free from Dojae’s tightly clamped golem armor. They could only glare with eyes reddened by rage.

“Please keep them restrained just a little longer until they lose consciousness.”

“Right.”

How much time had passed?

It wasn’t a long time, but their eyes began to flutter. Soon, their pupils rolled back behind their eyelids, leaving only the whites visible as they lost consciousness.

“That’s enough.”

“Phew… Now I can finally rest.”

Dojae released the golem armor enveloping the three.

The unconscious bodies fell limply to the floor.

Dojae had to guard the dark warehouse, unable to move until the MID arrived.

It wasn’t difficult, but he felt refreshed to be freed from the three men.

“Then we’ll be moving on first.”

“You got it.”

Before long, Park Han-kyung, Lee Min-ki, and Choi Chang-hoon were packed into a large bag.

The MID agents vanished just as quietly as they had appeared, slinging the bags over their shoulders.

“Ugh…”

After leaving a message for Young-jin to book the flight, he spread his arms wide.

Though it was a day or two later than originally planned, the schedule in the US was now complete.

Tonight, he planned to rest thoroughly before returning home.

“Then at least relax for one night… Ah…!”

Ji-yoon’s sudden request flashed through his mind.

Scratching his head, Dojae stepped out of the warehouse door.

***

“Wilson, if you have any leftovers, give me one.”

“Same old story, Jake.”

“Next time, I’ll buy it.”

“You’ve been saying that for ten years now.”

A prison in the United States.

Two guards, Wilson and Jake, are sharing a doughnut, chewing slowly.

As if to prove their bulging bellies, old empty boxes are stacked in layers beside them.

“Heard a dangerous guy came in the day before yesterday?”

“Didn’t you hear? He’s on special watch. You should go give him his meds soon. It’s your turn.”

“Really? That’s scary… What if it attacks?”

“That joke’s been going on for ten years now. Don’t you ever get tired of it? While the medicine works, the guy just becomes a perfectly normal person. There’s absolutely no way you’ll get hurt.”

“Hahaha, I only say it because you always take me seriously.”

Though they’re two burly, rotund guards, they’re not just ordinary humans.

They too were Awakened Ones.

The probability of them, D-rank Awakened Ones, being attacked by a special surveillance prisoner wearing mana suppression items and taking medicine was one in a million, no, one in ten million.

“Alright, I’ll be off then.”

Jake stood up and headed toward the solitary confinement cell housing the special surveillance subject.

He passed through several doors made of special material, impossible to escape.

Soon, the solitary confinement cells housing the special surveillance subjects would appear.

But for some reason, another guard was standing beyond the bars of the solitary confinement cells.

“Who is it? Ryan? Jess?”

Jake asked as he unlocked the door, but there was no answer.

“It’s my turn for the medication today… Hey, you! Who are you?”

Jake hurriedly picks the lock, opens the iron door, and steps inside.

But the guy stands motionless in front of one particular cell.

“Hey! Who are you… Gah!”

The moment he approaches the figure, Jake clutches his throat and collapses.

Blood poured out like a faucet had been turned on.

Jake couldn’t even take a few steps before collapsing right there.

Thud.

The man standing quietly in front of the room rummaged through Jake’s pockets and pulled out a bunch of keys.

He found the key with the room number and opened the door.

Squeak-.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

A man slowly walked out from inside the room.

He was 2C.

“You’re here already.”

CRASH!

Too-ssi crushed the man’s head right there on the spot.

Then he began to laugh arrogantly.

“Kwahahaha! Almost back to normal. That potion sure packs a punch.”

Two-C, the former guildmaster of Blood Town, emerged from solitary confinement after just two days.

Boom-!

He kicked through the wall, preparing to leap out.

Thanks to him, criminals imprisoned in other cells also shouted for someone to get them out.

Then, a sharp voice rang out.

“Me too! Let me out of here too!”

A woman straining her face through the small window in the door, shouting.

Queen Havida.

“Oh… right. There was you.”

Wiiing- Wiiing-!

The alarm blared loudly throughout the entire prison, but T-san approached Queen Havida with a relaxed gait.

Then, grabbing both cheeks of Queen Havida, whose face was the only part sticking out, he kissed her fiercely.

“I love you.”

After the brief kiss, Queen Havi spoke softly.

Tu smiled brightly at her.

But his next words twisted Queen Harvey’s face.

“I’m sick of it now.”

“Gulp… gulp…”

Squish-.

Too-ssi crushed Queen Havi’s head in both hands.

“Kwahahaha!”

He burst into maniacal laughter, ignoring the prisoners’ cries to be released as he approached the wall.

Then, licking the blood from his hands, he leaped over the wall.

Slap-!