Thud.
The ground caved in slightly under the force of the impact, and the shock of the fall rattled Kim Su-hyun’s body.
Of course, with his incredible durability stats, feeling pain was out of the question.
But the suddenness of the situation left his mind in a whirl.
“Ow, ow, ow… damn it…”
Groaning softly, Kim Su-hyun grimaced and waved his hand in front of his face.
The dust kicked up by the collision was thick, but strangely, with just a few flicks of his hand, it all dispersed and cleared away.
A moment later, as he looked around, his eyes widened in surprise.
“This place… Atlanta?”
Atlanta, the new frontier on the Northern Continent.
Since it was his main base of operations, it was only natural he recognized it immediately.
Still, he hesitated slightly at the name—because the scenery before him was noticeably different from the Atlanta he remembered.
Kim Su-hyun’s expedition to Atlanta had taken place between the third and fourth year of this cycle.
After successfully conquering it and undergoing years of large-scale reconstruction, Atlanta now boasted a grandeur that made places like Barbara look insignificant.
But the Atlanta before him now was nothing but dilapidated and rundown.
It was as if he had stumbled upon the city during the early days of the expedition.
“Did a meteor hit this place or something?”
Muttering to himself, Kim Su-hyun stood up and brushed the dust off his shirt.
Suddenly, he caught sight of something.
He sensed a group of people rapidly approaching.
Standing still, he waited.
Sure enough—
“There! There he is!”
“Huh? Over there!”
“We’ve found a suspicious person!”
“Who are you? Identify your faction!”
About twenty people rushed over, quickly surrounding Kim Su-hyun and pointing their weapons at him.
Staring blankly at the sharp spear tips mere inches from his face, Kim Su-hyun scratched his cheek in confusion.
The phrase “Identify your faction!” felt oddly unfamiliar.
If they had said “state your affiliation” or “reveal your identity,” it would have been one thing.
But “faction” carried a different nuance.
It was a subtle gap only someone who had lived nearly twenty years in the Whole Plain could understand.
More precisely, the word “faction” was rarely used outside the first cycle’s Warring States period.
And despite the unmistakable loud boom that had just echoed, the group that quickly surrounded him was no ordinary bunch.
Their movements resembled a military unit.
At the same time, the users surrounding Kim Su-hyun also sensed something off.
They didn’t just see him as suspicious; his calm, contemplative expression rubbed them the wrong way.
He seemed indifferent to his surroundings, as if he had forgotten his own situation.
And his appearance was strange.
A plain white short-sleeved T-shirt and worn-out jeans.
Nothing else.
Not even shoes.
He looked like a slacker freshly summoned from Earth to the Whole Plain.
“Could he be a new user?”
“No. The Inn of Beginnings has been quiet for the past four months.”
The man aiming his spear, who seemed to be the leader, gripped the spear shaft tightly.
“Well then, what’s your faction? Identify yourself.”
His words came out in clipped, broken phrases.
He looked ready to strike at any moment.
Only then did Kim Su-hyun raise his eyes and blink.
“Ah, I’m a mercenary…”
“Mercenary? That’s a lie! We’ve never seen a clan member like you!”
The shout cut him off sharply, narrowing Kim Su-hyun’s eyes.
He knew he was in another world.
It was possible that the Kim Su-hyun of this world acted differently.
But a mercenary clan existed here, and yet they didn’t know him?
Saying “we’ve never seen a clan member like you” meant the mercenary clan was well-known.
Something didn’t add up.
“You’re definitely a spy. Answer within three seconds or you die. One!”
The man barked, counting loudly.
Kim Su-hyun sighed quietly.
“Two!”
He subtly lifted one foot.
“Three!”
At almost the same moment the man thrust his spear forward with all his might, Kim Su-hyun stomped hard on the ground.
Boom!
A deep rumble echoed from beneath the earth.
The ground at the epicenter began to ripple like waves, spreading out in circles.
The spear aimed at his face grazed the man’s nose and was knocked upward uselessly.
“Ahhh?”
“Ughhh!”
It wasn’t just the man.
All twenty surrounding users lost their balance, stumbling and eventually falling flat on their backsides.
The stunned leader tried to get up immediately but couldn’t.
A heavy force gently pressed down on his entire body.
No matter how hard he struggled, the immense energy tightened around him like unbreakable chains.
He could only roll his eyes to see that all his comrades were in the same predicament.
They sat slumped, trembling like leaves in the wind.
“Ah, excuse me.”
The man looked up at the figure standing calmly in the center, disbelief written all over his face.
“So, there really is a mercenary clan in Atlanta?”
The mysterious user looked down at him with a serene expression.
The man nodded without realizing it.
Kim Su-hyun smiled approvingly.
“Could you show me the way?”
Of course, there was no chance of a gentle escort.
If the suspicious person did as told, he’d be disqualified as a user that very day.
But Kim Su-hyun hadn’t been attacked again.
For some reason, the man felt an overwhelming authority from him—something impossible to resist.
Too strong.
A level of power deeply ingrained in his very being.
Still, he couldn’t just comply meekly.
After much hesitation, the man decided to step back, considering that Kim Su-hyun showed no hostility.
He would guide him, but given the circumstances, he asked if he could be detained first.
His tone was extremely polite, and Kim Su-hyun, seeing the logic in it, agreed without hesitation.
The shackles binding him could be broken with a little effort, and he had no desire to cause unnecessary trouble.
So, Kim Su-hyun was led, shackled from head to toe, to the place where the mercenary clan was said to be.
“This is a bit much.”
Kim Su-hyun smiled wryly and licked his lips.
He had been locked in a solitary cell for over four hours now.
It was well past the time a report should have been made.
Yet, not a single mercenary clan member had shown up.
Only the occasional noise of footsteps running down the hall or shouting could be heard.
He had become a sitting duck.
No matter how perfectly restrained, this was unheard of under normal circumstances.
Except for one very specific case.
“Something’s not right.”
The man had brought Kim Su-hyun not to an outer city, but to the inner city.
As they traveled, he observed everything carefully and noticed more than a few oddities.
There were many users, but most were rushing about frantically.
Occasionally, he saw injured people, and the air was thick with the smell of blood and acrid smoke.
Most of all, the city was shrouded in a gloomy, oppressive atmosphere.
Kim Su-hyun, who prided himself on his experience, couldn’t ignore the chilling vibe.
It was war.
The word “faction.”
The military-like movements of the users.
The rundown appearance of Atlanta, as if newly discovered.
And above all, the urgency of the situation—so pressing that they had no time to care about a suspicious individual.
Putting all the clues together, one event stood out as the most likely.
“A betrayal…”
Kim Su-hyun’s eyes gleamed sharply with near certainty.
The infamous incident that occurred right after the conquest of the New Continent.
The event that sparked the Atlanta Reclamation Battle, known as the worst war in history.
Just then, while Kim Su-hyun was lost in thought, the firmly closed door suddenly swung open.
Today’s chapter is a bit shorter.
I think the fatigue has been catching up to me—I woke up quite late this evening.
I need to start preparing for my morning lecture soon, so I ask for your understanding, dear readers.
(__)