I’M A Max-Level Regressor [EN]: Chapter 46

Chapter 46

‘Why are those guys acting so cocky?’

Shin-hwa knew exactly why.

The Sinchon area was practically the Hongyeon Guild’s territory.

From the beginning, the entire commercial district had been developed to cater to Hongyeon Guild members and their associates.

Even the local police, responsible for security, were influenced by the Hongyeon Guild, leading some to act with impunity.

‘Just looking at them, I can tell they were born with silver spoons in their mouths and became Awakened, making them arrogant beyond belief.’

They were the ones who started the trouble.

If he wanted to avoid a confrontation, he could simply apologize and leave.

‘If humility is necessary, fine, but if I’m ignored and act foolishly, that’s just being an idiot.’

Shin-hwa’s personality wouldn’t allow such nonsense.

“What? You son of a bitch?”

The guy grabbed Shin-hwa by the collar.

The fuse was slowly burning.

“That person, is he with the Hongyeon Guild? What should we do? If we get on their bad side, we’re in big trouble…”

“Didn’t some kids get beaten up pretty badly recently?”

The customers in the bar whispered, looking at Shin-hwa.

Perhaps worried about getting caught in the crossfire, no one stepped forward.

Many were ordinary people, not Awakened, so intervening could be genuinely dangerous.

“Calling someone names for asking people who are already drinking to move is the crazy thing to do. What else would it be?”

Shin-hwa didn’t back down.

Then, Choi Ji-hyuk stopped Shin-hwa, bowing repeatedly to the man.

“Shin-hwa, there are plenty of other places. Don’t get too angry. Okay, okay, we’re sorry. We’ll leave, so you guys enjoy your drinks here.”

“Hey, you old man, stay out of this. I need to get an apology from this punk. He needs to kneel and beg for forgiveness.”

“Ah!”

Thud! Thud!

With the man’s rough shove, Choi Ji-hyuk lost his balance and tumbled awkwardly to the floor.

“Hey, have you ever kneeled before trash? I haven’t.”

Shin-hwa helped Choi Ji-hyuk up, provoking the man in a calm voice.

Was that the trigger?

The man’s eyes changed in an instant.

Whack!

In a flash.

The man grabbed an empty beer bottle next to him and tried to smash it over Shin-hwa’s head.

Using a weapon, or something that could become a weapon, nearby.

Shin-hwa had already anticipated it, as it was a common tactic among those lowlifes.

Thwack! Pow!

Clang!

“Cough!”

The situation reversed.

Shin-hwa explosively used the strength in his legs to change his position, grabbed the man’s hand, and forced him to smash his own forehead with the beer bottle.

He ended up hitting himself in the head with the beer bottle he was trying to use on Shin-hwa.

“You damn bastard!”

“Get him!”

A touch-and-go situation right before turning into a complete mess.

Shin-hwa was planning to deal with the guys who had bothered him, but he didn’t want innocent customers to get caught up in it.

There were witnesses everywhere.

Anyone could see that the man who seemed to be the leader and the other three, the four-man gang, had initiated the attack.

The Awakened Special Act encourages and justifies active self-defense because it’s an act of protecting one’s own life.

That’s why Shin-hwa was planning to respond actively.

“You guys started it!”

Whack!

No sooner had he finished speaking than Shin-hwa grabbed the leader who had fallen and the guy next to him by the collar.

Then, using the strength of his enhanced arms, he threw them straight out the window.

Crash!

“Kyaa!”

“It seemed better to fight outside than inside. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

Shin-hwa offered a sort of apology to the customers who were screaming in surprise.

“Father, please check the cost of the broken window and damaged items.”

And after calmly asking Choi Ji-hyuk to take care of the aftermath.

He grabbed the remaining two guys by the collar and threw them outside as well.

Suddenly, a brawl broke out in the middle of Sinchon’s ‘Street of Youth’.

With a loud commotion, the four Awakened fell from the second floor, startling people who quickly backed away.

Of course, they weren’t weak enough to be injured by this, so they all brushed themselves off.

“Aren’t those guys… the infamous vigilantes? I heard their parents are all tycoons, so they don’t care about anyone.”

“Vigilantes, my ass. What kind of vigilantes beat up innocent people?”

‘So that’s it.’

Shin-hwa understood the situation as he listened to the people who recognized the four-man gang.

Immature rich kids.

Trash who relieve their pent-up frustrations with their power, oppression, contempt, and violence.

That seemed to be what these guys were. Nothing new.

From the start, Hongyeon Guild Master Mok Jin-woo’s motto was, ‘Power proves and represents everything.’

The underlings couldn’t be any different. Rather, it would be a model for them.

“You son of a bitch, daring to insult us in front of people.”

“You’re not thinking about what you did, just seriously spouting nonsense.”

Shin-hwa pointed at the four-man gang with a pathetic expression, even pretending to pick his ear.

“Kill him!”

The leader shouted.

It was the beginning of a bad relationship, as they swallowed the bait of Shin-hwa’s provocation.

* * *

The gang’s leader, Jo Gwang-seok, was planning to overwhelm them with his power, as always, and show them the true taste of humiliation.

He would take pictures and upload them to the Awakened community, and put in a word with various guilds so they wouldn’t be able to join.

His parents had the connections to do so, and Jo Gwang-seok had always actively used those connections for his misdeeds.

It was a kind of amusement.

In a boring daily life, he would feel a sense of superiority by suppressing weak ordinary people or Awakened who were inferior to him.

Jo Gwang-seok and his gang’s antics weren’t new, and the guild didn’t say much about it.

But the problem was…

‘Why?’

From the start, the other three guys besides Jo Gwang-seok himself were instantly knocked out.

“Kuaaa!”

“Aaaah! My knee! My knee…!”

In the blink of an eye, Shin-hwa’s attack, ignoring Jo Gwang-seok and tearing through the space between them, crushed the three men.

The three were Jo Gwang-seok’s juniors, who were wearing active suits, though not the highest quality.

But the moment Shin-hwa kicked their knees and shins as if kicking a soccer ball!

Crack! Snap!

Regardless of the suit, the sound of knee joints and leg bones shattering at once was refreshing.

It was the first time in a long time that he had heard such a satisfying bone-breaking sound.

‘My D-rank juniors are being taken down this easily?’

Jo Gwang-seok was experiencing extreme cognitive dissonance with the current situation, which was completely different from the future he had imagined. The current situation was so absurd that it felt like he was dreaming.

“The picture is very different from what you thought, right? If it’s 4 against 1, I should be a sobbing mess right now, burying my face between your legs and begging for forgiveness.”

“Shut up, you son of a bitch!”

Shin-hwa’s confident appearance felt offensive.

Whoosh!

Jo Gwang-seok took out his real sword, which he had been keeping in the form of a wooden sword with a guard.

“Using a real sword in a place like this? Are you crazy! Let’s report it quickly! We have to report it!”

“Isn’t that man going to die?”

“Die? He already messed up three guys. Can’t you see those legs over there? They’re bent outwards.”

In the three locations pointed out by the passersby, there were indeed three people whose legs were bent in directions they shouldn’t be.

They were already foaming at the mouth from shock, trembling.

This was because Shin-hwa had shattered their knees and left deep wounds on their faces and chests at the same time.

Not expecting Shin-hwa’s level, they were on the verge of crossing the River Styx [the river separating the living from the dead in Greek mythology] due to Shin-hwa’s concentrated attack, which surpassed A+ rank.

“Shin-hwa!”

“It’s okay. Don’t interfere!”

When Jo Gwang-seok took out his real sword, Choi Ji-hyuk, flustered, tried to stop him.

But Shin-hwa pushed him away.

It wasn’t because he was in the way, but to prevent him from getting hurt by getting caught up in unnecessary worries.

“Die!”

Soon, Jo Gwang-seok’s sword accurately aimed for the center of Shin-hwa’s crown, striking down in a vertical line.

The red sword path was clearly visible, a powerful swordsmanship that was undoubtedly born from talent.

“Kyaa!”

“Aaaah!”

Everyone watching either squeezed their eyes shut or screamed.

They were on the verge of seeing a person split in half and die before their eyes.

An ordinary sword strike would end with a part of the head splitting, but an Awakened’s attack was different.

A grotesque scene that could only be seen in horror or scary movies could unfold.

The next moment.

Ttaaaang!

“……?”

Jo Gwang-seok, who had launched the attack, Choi Ji-hyuk, who was nearby, and all the passersby who were watching.

They heard an unexpected sound that they thought they would never hear.

It was a clear and melodious metallic sound made by a sword hitting metal.

“What kind of talent is this… Keheob!”

While Jo Gwang-seok was surprised to witness the talent of Steel Enhancement for the first time, Shin-hwa casually reached out and grabbed his neck.

The time Shin-hwa could maintain Steel Enhancement with his current magic power was only about a minute. But this was enough.

“I really hate guys like you. Even though there are many Awakened with much higher skills than you, you’re just bugs who want to look down on those below.”

“Keuheok! Neck! Neck! Keuheob!”

Bang! Ttaang! Kkang!

Instead of answering, Jo Gwang-seok flailed his body and tried to hurt Shin-hwa with the real sword he was holding.

But there was no way to penetrate Shin-hwa’s skin, which had turned into a material stronger and harder than a sword.

“Wow, he turned into a living statue from head to toe!”

“Did Awakened have a talent like that?”

“Awesome! If you have that kind of talent, you’d be completely invincible against Awakened who use weapons, right?”

“Serves him right, that bastard! He was so arrogant and causing trouble, he’s getting a proper lesson today!”

“Oh? That person! Isn’t that Kang Shin-hwa who was on the news recently?”

“Kang Shin-hwa? That person from the Yanghwa Guild?”

People searched for Shin-hwa here and there, and some recognized Shin-hwa’s appearance from the articles.

“Keueueuek!”

Regardless of the increasing attention on Shin-hwa, Jo Gwang-seok, dangling from his hand, made a sound as if he was about to suffocate.

It was an extreme pain, as if his neck bones were being crushed by a press machine.

He desperately struck Shin-hwa’s wrist with the real sword several times, but of course, it didn’t budge.

“Let’s get hit a bit. I can’t just let you go.”

Shin-hwa stared at Jo Gwang-seok’s eyes, which had only whites left, and pulled back his right hand, which had room to move, with all his might.

From now on, he was going to give him a good beating. So that he couldn’t spout any more nonsense about being a vigilante.

But right then.

“Could you stop for a moment?”

A calm voice of a man was heard from behind.

At that moment, everyone’s attention was focused on him.

Shin-hwa recognized him.

The red-haired man who appeared on the scene.

It was Mok Jin-woo, the Guild Master of the Hongyeon Guild and an SS+ rank Awakened.

‘Even after regression, the bad relationships continue.’

Shin-hwa frowned.