Chapter 16

Chapter 16
Chapter: 16

## Chapter Title: Hermes’ Shoes

“Hermes’ Shoes”

“Jinwoo oppa…”

Kim Seoyeon made a frantic attempt to pull him back, her face twisted in a display of panic, but the gesture was hollow.

I was well aware that the ‘distress’ written across her features wasn’t out of concern for a man intervening on her behalf.

She was panicked because of the web of lies she had just spun.

To be honest, it was pathetic.

In what world do people reflexively slander their former partners as ‘stalkers’ the moment a breakup turns even slightly sour?

‘She’s squeezing out every last drop of drama.’

Even the decent memories I had were beginning to sour. Looking back, I realized I had been living like a complete fool.

And the man who actually swallowed those fabrications wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders either.

Birds of a feather. A pair truly made for each other.

“Excuse me. The more you talk, the more garbage comes out of your mouth.”

That was the moment Kim Hana decided she’d had enough.

She stood up abruptly, her gaze sharp and unforgiving.

The man, Jeong Jinwoo, let out a condescending smirk.

“And who are you supposed to be? Some escort he hired to look good?”

“What did you just say?”

“How much is he paying you? Based on your looks, maybe 500,000 won? If he’s making 2.3 million a month, he must be breaking the bank for this. I’ll give you double that, so why don’t you learn your place?”

He even knew the exact figure of 2.3 million.

It seemed Kim Seoyeon had vented every detail about me to him. Naturally, she focused on the negatives while omitting anything good.

Five years of shared history were being flushed away like waste.

“…I made this reservation myself, and she’s here because she helped me out. Don’t start barking just because you have a mouth…”

“Four sessions? 2 million should cover it, right?”

Jeong Jinwoo pulled out his billfold and held out a thick stack of 50,000 won notes.

Kim Hana stared at him as if he were a pile of rotting trash, her expression one of pure loathing.

“What kind of absolute prick are you?”

“This prick?”

“Yes, this prick. You think your money fixes everything? How can you be this pathetic? Where did all those years go if you grew up to be this useless?”

“…Is this woman insane?”

Jeong Jinwoo’s expression turned cold as he lifted his hand.

A typical person might have just made a threatening motion, but Jeong Jinwoo swung with full intent.

Just as Kim Hana reflexively clamped her eyes shut in anticipation of the blow.

Thwack!

I caught his wrist mid-air, causing his eyes to widen in surprise.

“Ha, look at you trying to play the hero.”

“Let’s settle this outside.”

“There’s no need for that. Get down on your knees and beg for mercy first… Hng?!”

Crunch!

Jeong Jinwoo’s words died in his throat.

An agonizing sensation, as if his skeletal structure was being pulverized, radiated from his wrist without warning.

‘What—? How is this guy this powerful?’

This wasn’t the grip of an average person.

How many people on this planet actually possessed this kind of raw physical force?

As far as Jeong Jinwoo understood, Park Hyun-myeong was the sort of individual who avoided physical exertion at all costs.

Work, home, and dates—otherwise, he was a shut-in playing video games like a loser. There was no possible way he had undergone professional strength training.

So, could it be?

‘A player?’

Someone who had achieved synchronization using a Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule?

No, that was impossible. Synchronizing as a player transforms you into your Pangeniar persona. But the Park Hyun-myeong standing before him was clearly just the same old Park Hyun-myeong.

Did that mean he was just born with this level of strength? That made even less sense.

“Are you interested in talking outside now?”

“You little…”

Jeong Jinwoo wrenched his wrist free and massaged it, his face contorted in a scowl.

Go outside?

Not a chance.

‘You messed with the wrong person.’

He could tolerate many things, but being humiliated by a nobody like this wasn’t one of them.

Park Hyun-myeong and he existed in different spheres, possessing entirely different levels of status. Giving even an inch to a punk like this would be the ultimate disgrace.

In that instant, ripples of golden radiance started to coil around Jeong Jinwoo’s frame.

Jeong Jinwoo was indeed a player.

By utilizing the Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule, he was able to manifest his power in the physical world.

Transforming into a Pangeniar combatant provided a level of transcendence that a thousand ordinary humans could never hope to match.

Regardless of how strong the man’s grip was, he was still just a civilian. Overpowering a synchronized player? Not a chance.

Jeong Jinwoo let out a chilling grin.

‘I’ll make him crawl and beg for my favor.’

The vision of forcing his rival to the floor kept his smile firmly in place.

The world had shifted, after all.

Players were the architects of the future.

They were already being hailed and celebrated as Dimension Warriors.

Who would possibly hold him accountable for putting one insignificant normal person in their place?

“W-What is happening?”

“It’s a Dimension Warrior!”

“Is he changing? He’s actually undergoing a transformation!”

The onlookers began to murmur as they witnessed Jeong Jinwoo’s physical shift.

Azure hair. Sculpted musculature. A formidable combatant clutching a spear.

There were fewer than a hundred recognized Dimension Warriors in Korea at this time. Jeong Jinwoo wasn’t officially among them, but the rare spectacle left everyone in awe.

The rise of a hero!

Jeong Jinwoo’s chest puffed out with arrogance.

“Get on your knees, you worm.”

Jeong Jinwoo felt completely at ease. It was a waste of his Golden Rule duration, certainly, but this was a unique opportunity. He would erase the image of Park Hyun-myeong from Kim Seoyeon’s heart once and for all.

But his confidence was short-lived.

Rumble!

‘…An earthquake?’

The floor beneath them suddenly buckled, and fissures began to crawl up the walls of the establishment.

And the strangeness didn’t stop there.

“M-Monster!”

“Aaah!!”

Colossal pill bugs.

Roughly a meter in length with jagged mandibles, they came crashing up through the floorboards.

Creatures that had no business existing on Earth.

Yet, they were recognizable shapes.

‘Chidworms! An Incursion?’

The dimensional erosion had resumed.

Jeong Jinwoo tightened his grip on his weapon.

‘Just level 2 garbage.’

No matter the quantity of level 2 pill bugs, they were still just bugs.

They were sluggish and lacked aggression.

In reality, the Chidworms had emerged but weren’t actively preying on the humans.

However, humans are easily terrified by the mere presence of monsters.

People shrieked and scrambled away in a frantic rush.

“You… consider yourself very lucky.”

With the erosion underway, Park Hyun-myeong was no longer his priority.

Jeong Jinwoo seized the opening.

This was a golden chance to be seen as a savior.

“Everyone! Do not panic! I—Jeong Jinwoo—will defend you!”

How many individuals had achieved instant fame following the Giant Mantis incident?

There was no reason he couldn’t become a legendary figure himself.

Slash!

He drove his spear into a Chidworm.

Its shell split wide, and its innards sprayed out. Viscous fluid splattered everywhere, but he pressed on.

There were four Chidworms within the restaurant.

He eliminated them in a matter of seconds, then flourished his spear into a ready position, surveying the room with a self-satisfied look.

Click! Click!

Everyone immediately reached for their phones, capturing images of Jeong Jinwoo.

‘Perfect.’

He celebrated internally.

It was done. Once these clips hit the internet, he’d be a celebrity by the morning.

The thought of it made him beam.

Rumble!

However, the erosion and the subsequent invasion were far from over.

Chidworms were now flooding in from the street.

Swarms of them were pouring through the entrance.

“These disgusting insects…”

The numbers were high, but that only made the scene better.

It was the perfect stage to demonstrate his valor to the public.

He continued to cut down the Chidworms rushing through the door, one after another.

-…Who has harmed my offspring?

Something that was definitely not a Chidworm entered the fray.

The Chid Mamba.

A creature featuring a bloated, humanoid torso grafted onto the lower body of a Chidworm!

It arrived amidst a cloud of toxic vapor, and Jeong Jinwoo’s face turned pale instantly.

‘Why is the primary raid boss appearing here?’

The Giant Mantis was a field raid boss.

But the Chid Mamba occupied an entirely different tier.

Much like the Hydragon, it required a team of at least ten to bring down. In fact, it was ranked even higher than the Hydragon.

“Ah…”

Jeong Jinwoo’s muscles seized up.

The Chidworm fluids had been converted into a neurotoxin by the Chid Mamba’s passive skill, leaving him immobilized.

The Chid Mamba gazed down at the slaughtered Chidworms.

-My poor children. This human has murdered these innocents.

“Aah…”

Drip, drip, drip.

As the Chid Mamba drew closer, Jeong Jinwoo lost control of his bladder out of sheer dread, urine pooling around his feet.

I’m a dead man. If I stay here, I’m finished.

But his limbs refused to obey. The Chid Mamba’s fingers grazed his skin. Enveloped in the poisonous mist, Jeong Jinwoo began to convulse, his eyes flickering.

“I’ll slaughter all of you! You monstrous freaks!”

Hallucinations began to take hold.

Jeong Jinwoo started lashing out with his spear at the innocent bystanders.

“R-Run!”

“W-What is he doing? Why is he attacking us?!”

Chaos erupted. To Jeong Jinwoo’s distorted vision, the civilians looked exactly like Chidworms.

Before long, his focus settled on Kim Hana.

She was paralyzed with fear.

‘Ah…’

Jeong Jinwoo had completely lost his grip on reality.

She had encountered her share of unstable people, but this was on a different level.

His eyes were filled with nothing but bloodlust.

Her feet felt like they were cast in lead.

“Grr, grrrgh!”

It was pure insanity. He was a complete madman.

Thud thud thud!

Clutching his spear, he sprinted toward Kim Hana like a wild animal.

“Die!”

Kim Hana squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the end.

Crack!

Thud!

The sound of something dense being sliced through echoed, and then silence.

Kim Hana opened her eyes.

Jeong Jinwoo was staring down at his own body in a state of utter shock.

“Huh? What? Where are my arms? Why are they… why are they on the ground…?”

His arms were missing.

From the elbows down, they had been severed as easily as if they were paper.

It took several moments for the reality of the situation to sink in for Jeong Jinwoo.

“M-My arms! Aaaagh! My arms!!”

He collapsed to the floor, howling in excruciating pain.

Someone had lopped off both of his limbs.

But who?

Jeong Jinwoo struggled to lift his head.

There stood the man responsible for the deed.

He held a massive greatsword, and his eyes were like a bottomless, frozen void.

He looked down as if observing an insignificant insect.

The mere eye contact sent a wave of terror through him.

This man was a force of destruction.

A being who had clearly ended more lives than he could ever comprehend.

“P-Please… spare me… have mercy.”

As he begged for his life, the man simply turned and walked away.

As if he wasn’t even worth another glance.

Like he had simply cleared a minor obstruction from his path…

It was a final, crushing insult.

But Jeong Jinwoo was powerless to respond.

Ssssh!

The Golden Rule reached its limit.

The transformation faded, and he reverted to his ordinary human form.

But his arms did not reappear.

“Ah.”

The realization hit him, and Jeong Jinwoo’s eyes filled with pure hopelessness.

This had to be a nightmare.

This must be a dream.

He had acted like a big shot, pissed himself, hallucinated, and attacked innocent people. Then his arms were cut off.

How could it possibly get any worse?

He had genuinely believed he would be a celebrated hero by the next day.

His hope had evaporated into total despair in a heartbeat.

Click!

Even now, people were taking pictures, filming the scene, and broadcasting his humiliation live on social media.

Every single one of his failures was being recorded for the world to see.

…Yeah. A dream. This couldn’t be real.

If he just woke up, it would all be over.

But no matter how many times he blinked, the nightmare remained.

‘Player.’

Jeong Jinwoo had definitely utilized a Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule.

That was undeniable proof of his status as a player.

【Lv. 4】

However, his level was pitiful.

Being a player implied at least a year spent within Pangeniar.

And yet, he was only level 4.

Did he, like me, select so many talents that his experience requirements had ballooned out of control?

But after watching him combat the Chidworms, I knew that wasn’t it.

‘The game and reality are different things. He was too cowardly to actually hunt.’

He was paralyzed at level 4 because he was terrified of death.

Not everyone is fortunate enough to start with the Iron-Blooded Lord’s Heart like I did. His level was actually a more realistic representation.

But it was strange.

I synchronized with Randolph and became significantly powerful in the real world as well. Yet Jeong Jinwoo, despite being a player, wasn’t much stronger than a fit human.

Am I the anomaly? Or is he just exceptionally weak?

I had many questions, but one thing was certain: Jeong Jinwoo was a world-class idiot.

He acted as if slaughtering a sudden wave of Chidworms made him a god.

He hadn’t even managed to progress through the main quest properly.

‘His class belongs to a high-tier spear master lineage. He must have ranked in the class acquisition quest to earn his logout rights.’

It was a waste of a good class.

He must have logged out immediately after securing his class in the main quest, then used the fragment.

‘…Wherever Chidworms appear in large groups, a Chid Mamba is always close by.’

Generally speaking, Chidworms are passive.

The rule is: do not kill them without cause.

If you do, the Chid Mamba will appear to seek vengeance for its brood.

While the crowd was distracted by the drama between Jeong Jinwoo and the Chid Mamba, I moved away unnoticed and activated a Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule in a secluded area.

I then returned to sever his arms with Michella’s Sword just as he was about to strike Kim Hana.

-Ooh. A very appetizing human.

【Lv. 6】

As a major raid boss, it was far more dangerous than the Hydragon.

The Chid Mamba watched me, its tongue flickering as it anticipated a meal.

My current level was only 3. Even if I called upon the Hydragon, this wouldn’t be a simple fight.

But I wasn’t concerned.

《You have equipped ‘Michella’s Armor.’》

《You have equipped ‘Michella’s Helmet.’》

《Set bonus ‘Heavenly Dragon’ is now active!》

《You have equipped ‘Hermes’ Shoes.’》

《Your current attributes are below the equipment requirements.》

《‘Fairy Queen’s Tear’ significantly reduces the requirements for ‘Hermes’ Shoes.’》

《The skill ‘Swiftness’ is now available for use.》

I couldn’t help but smile at the notifications appearing before me.

‘I’m certainly glad I hit that hidden auction house ahead of schedule.’