Chapter 61

Ch. 61 Sword God From The Ruined World  

Crunch!  

A man eating potato chips that released a savory aroma while staring at the large TV.  

Though his face wasn’t clearly visible under his deeply pulled hood, he was tall—over 180 cm—with a slender build.  

“That guy… what is he? He’s so different from other Heroes.”  

“Right? He turns monsters to dust with just one punch…”  

“He’s a South Korean Hero, right? The one who unilaterally beat up that famous Japanese Hero?”  

“Didn’t the Brazilian Hero Association Chairman beg him not to leave?”  

“Didn’t you see the photo? That arrogant Hero Association Chairman bowed his head to him.”  

“There was a photo like that?”  

“Want me to show you?”  

As one young man took out his phone, the other three huddled around him.  

Whether the group was being noisy or not, the hooded man kept his gaze fixed on the South Korean Hero dominating the TV screen.  

‘Turning a Deambsi to dust with one punch… Not bad for an insect.’  

Unlike the rest of the world, which was in shock, the man only sneered in amusement.  

Contrary to his disdain, every broadcast worldwide was treating the South Korean Hero like a protagonist.  

Crunch!  

Just as he grabbed another chip, one of the young men nearby, fooling around, accidentally bumped into him.  

“Ah, sorry.”  

The youth casually apologized before returning to his friends, laughing and chatting.  

“Insects daring to…”  

The man dropped his bag of chips on the floor.  

Then, muttering something under his breath—  

Whoosh—!  

“Kyaaaaah!”  

“Aaaah!”  

Crimson flames erupted beneath the laughing youths, swallowing them whole in an instant.  

As chaos erupted around him, the man turned away indifferently and disappeared.  

Meanwhile, on TV, the South Korean Hero—Seo Do-jun—had begun his full-scale rampage.  

***

The magical attacks from the Magician Guild Heroes were… passable, at best.  

Since only a tiny fraction of Earth’s Heroes wielded magic, they were often glorified as extraordinary. But from Seo Do-jun’s perspective, they were neither impressive nor disappointing.  

‘The most basic level of skill.’  

Even in the ruined world, mages were rare.  

Only one in ten thousand was born with magical talent, and only 1% of those ever became proper mages.  

Merely being born with talent wasn’t enough—one had to be noticed by a mage and formally trained in magic manipulation, an almost impossibly slim chance.  

But if one succeeded, life as a mage was smooth sailing.  

While Knights had to swing their swords hundreds of thousands of times in grueling training, mages needed none of that.  

A single incantation could unleash magic stronger than a Knight’s sword strike.  

Even just manipulating the four basic elements (fire, water, wind, earth) made hunting most monsters trivial.  

The problem?  

The newly appeared monsters—Deambsi, Utidum, and Herutun—had unusually high magic resistance.  

And their physical defense wasn’t weak either. Their overall durability was top-tier.  

But defense was always relative.  

Crunch!  

One punch from Seo Do-jun reduced a Deambsi’s rock-hard torso to dust.  

Splat!  

A casual kick split an Utidum’s shadowy body like torn cloth.  

Boom!  

Every slap in the air made a Herutun explode like overripe fruit.  

The global audience, who had been marveling at the Magician Guild’s flashy spells, was now stunned into silence by Seo Do-jun’s overwhelming violence.  

Naturally, the Heroes witnessing it firsthand were even more shocked.  

“…H-how…?”  

Or:  

“…Th-this can’t be real…”  

These were the most common reactions.  

Faced with Seo Do-jun’s unreal strength, the Heroes realized how frog-in-a-well they had been—how insignificant their past arrogance truly was.  

Among them, one stood out:  

“Hic! Hic! H-hic!”  

Japan’s representative top-three Hero, Yamaguchi Hiro, couldn’t stop hiccuping as he watched Seo Do-jun slaughter monsters.  

‘H-he was like this?! Wh-what was I thinking back then…?!’  

“I came to see how great you were, but… you’re just an overhyped fraud.”  

“I don’t know what you did to Takashi, but it won’t work on me. I’ll repay the shame you brought upon Japan!”  

He had boldly declared war on a monster far worse than any monster.  

Now, he wanted to travel back in time, grab his past self by the collar, and slap himself awake.  

‘Idiot! Hiring assassins against that thing?! I was lucky to survive!’  

Yamaguchi swore to himself that if he ever met Takashi again, he’d curse him out properly. That idiot’s terrible judgment had nearly doomed all of Japan.  

When Seo Do-jun’s gaze briefly met his—  

“Hiiik! G-gulp!”  

Just that fleeting eye contact forced Yamaguchi into the loudest, ugliest, most humiliating hiccup of his life.  

From then on, every time he saw Seo Do-jun, he’d hiccup uncontrollably—a trauma-induced habit that became his greatest shame.  

***

“Still think Kassal isn’t worth the pay?”  

Gloria Tyler’s question made the white man beside her frown.  

Patrick Tyler—her brother and the only other S-rank Hero in their family.  

The Tyler siblings were the world’s only S-rank sibling Heroes. While families awakening as Heroes wasn’t unheard of, two S-ranks from one household was unprecedented.  

Gloria had been the first to propose Seo Do-jun’s 10 million dollars daily fee.  

Naturally, many opposed it as absurd.  

To sway them, Gloria did the one thing that would work—she called Daniel Lopes, Chairman of Brazil’s Hero Association, on speakerphone.  

“10 million dollars? Not a small sum. But if a monster wave breaks out due to unforeseen variables, I wouldn’t hesitate to pay it. Kassal… is someone worth paying even more to have on your side. If he hadn’t left early, our operation would’ve ended much sooner.”  

Daniel’s voice was full of regret—yet Brazil’s rift closure operation was now nearing completion. Even after Seo Do-jun left, Daniel’s special team had made rapid progress.  

Though many Heroes had to leave for the U.S. crisis, Brazil’s own forces were now sufficient. Daniel’s mind had never been more at ease.  

Regardless, his words silenced most opposition.  

But some still doubted Seo Do-jun’s worth—including Gloria’s own brother, Patrick.  

“…At least he’s not shameless.”  

When Seo Do-jun accepted the 10 million dollar fee without hesitation, Patrick had resolved to see his skills for himself.  

If they weren’t exceptional, he’d slash the pay to half—no, even less.  

‘This is beyond absurd. How was someone this strong hiding in a small country like South Korea?’  

Seo Do-jun wore no flashy Hero suit, wielded no weapon—just his fists and feet. Yet he was annihilating Deambsi, Utidum, and Herutun—monsters even S-rank Heroes struggled against.  

Patrick clenched his fists unconsciously, his palms sweating.  

There’s always someone better.  

Watching Seo Do-jun, he seemed like a being above all Heroes.  

Gloria knew better than anyone how shaken Patrick truly was.  

And she was no different.  

‘I doubted it, but…’  

Now she understood why Daniel Lopes had clung to Seo Do-jun so desperately.  

‘If only Casel would stay in the U.S….’  

She shook her head immediately.  

No one could—or should—force that.  

But persuasion wasn’t out of the question, right?  

Naturalization would be ideal, but even that felt greedy.  

Just having him prioritize the U.S. after South Korea would be a huge win.  

And… beyond nationality or patriotism, Gloria’s personal curiosity about Seo Do-jun had grown.  

‘They don’t seem to be in a relationship yet…’  

As a woman, she could tell Hyun Joo-yeon’s gaze held something more.  

But Seo Do-jun’s reactions were… different.  

Of course, relationships could escalate quickly—she couldn’t relax just yet.  

‘Then now’s my chance.’  

Love wasn’t about yielding or consideration—it was about taking.  

Sorry, Hyun Joo-yeon—but Gloria decided then: she would make Seo Do-jun hers.  

***

At that very moment, Hyun Joo-yeon was watching Seo Do-jun’s exploits on TV.  

“The U.S.?”  

“A decent request came in.”  

“Was it… Gloria who contacted you?”  

“Correct.”  

“Is… is it absolutely necessary?”  

“No reason not to go.”  

“Then I’ll come too—”  

“Weren’t you focusing on absorbing the Hero magic Stones?”  

Hyun Joo-yeon had bought all the Hero magic Stones Seo Do-jun possessed and was waiting for the right time.  

To maximize their efficiency, her body needed to be in peak condition.  

She couldn’t explain it, but as a Hero, she could feel when her body was ready to accept magic.  

She’d felt it strongly since closing the rifts in Brazil—as if the stones were calling to her.  

So upon returning to South Korea, she’d planned to absorb them in seclusion.  

But coincidentally, Seo Do-jun left for the U.S. at the same time.  

Even without Gloria’s request, the U.S. Hero Association had formally asked for support, and South Korea’s association had called for volunteers.  

Hyun Joo-yeon could’ve gone with Seo Do-jun, but with her body’s condition unpredictable, she had no choice but to stay.  

Just then, the TV aired behind-the-scenes footage of how Seo Do-jun ended up in the U.S.  

Surprisingly, it was Gloria Tyler who had brought him there.  

As drone footage of her face appeared on screen—split alongside Seo Do-jun’s—any viewer would suspect something between them.  

“Of all times…”  

Hyun Joo-yeon bit her lip nervously, her expression uneasy.