Chapter 23 (1/2)

Just because your eyes are open doesn’t mean you see everything.

One of the main reasons is saccadic movement. People’s eyes make 3-4 rapid jerk-like movements every second. Even if you think that you are concentrating on one thing, your eyes are constantly moving. The length of time your eyes are fixed and are taking in information is about 0.1-0.3 seconds. Excluding that, while your eyes are making rapid (saccadic) movements, you are in fact not taking in any information.

Along with that, within a 180-degree field of view, only the middle 2 degrees can be constantly maintained. If something was even 2 degrees away from the center, your vision would plummet by 50%.

Choi Hyuk laughed loudly. Everyone’s gazes turned towards him. They were like ‘What the?’ In that short period of time, there were some whose eyes were locked onto Choi Hyuk and others whose eyes suddenly looked at a gangster or a grandpa. And then,

Bang!

Without any notice, Choi Hyuk jumped forward.

The people whose eyes were looking at something else obviously weren’t able to follow him. Even the people who already had their eyes on him lost him.

Choi Hyuk didn’t jump in a straight line but up, in a parabola. Eyes had more difficulty tracking vertical movement than horizontal. Choi Hyuk, who jumped up, was instantly 2 degrees away from the center of their vision. His enemies tried to follow Choi Hyuk’s movements but the eyes have a 0.1-0.2 second delay. Even if they wanted to follow him, ‘tracking’ was comparably slow when targeting a moving object, while ‘saccadic movements’ limited their field of view.

A swiftness that aimed for both weaknesses of the eyes and the mind! The result was brutal.

Boom!

A sound that was too frightening to believe. The sight that was captured by their eyes was a cloud of blood exploding like flour.

The endurance of the gun-holding gangster wasn’t even 1-star. The moment Choi Hyuk’s fist imbued with 10 (★★) Power and 10 (★★) Speed stats made contact with his face, it literally turned into powder.

Four gangsters held guns in the beginning and since one had just died, three were left.

However, Choi Hyuk didn’t need to prioritize the gangsters who held guns.

Crack!

Slam!

With a single jab, another man’s neck bone shattered and with a kick, another one’s chest collapsed. Only then did the gangsters hastily start to react.

While leaning forward slightly, Choi Hyuk glanced at his enemies. As his Retribution Points were already at 2-stars, Choi Hyuk’s eyes, which had already exceeded the limits of humans, were incredibly fast and precise as they distinguished their enemies. Instant saccadic movements. Instant perception. The gangsters felt their hairs stand on end.

‘Our eyes met…!’

At the same time, everyone thought they had met eyes with Choi Hyuk. A predator looking at its prey.

Bang!

Someone shot their gun in a last-ditch effort but Choi Hyuk had already run to the side. Once again, he disappeared from their vision.

‘Huh?’

The gangsters looked like they were bewildered spectators at a magic show.

“Uaackkkk!”

Was there anything scarier than an enemy you couldn’t clearly see? Choi Hyuk’s movements had a strange movement. They weren’t able to properly lock onto him. The moment they thought they caught up to him, he was already two steps away, killing one of their comrades. Would an ant being squashed by a child feel the same way? A certain fear and despair they hadn’t felt when they fought monsters overcame them.

Bang! Bang! Baang!

Guns fired off in a last-ditch effort.

The grandpas of the a.s.sociation of Comrades in Arms moved back to avoid stray bullets but Choi Hyuk was calm even at a close distance.

And that was the same for Baek Seoin.

Pew!

A spark flew off in front of Baek Seoin’s eyes. The intercepting ability of the [Necklace of Protection] he was given had activated. A bullet bounced off. Although it would only activate three times every hour, that was more than enough in this situation.

Ffftt!

The s.h.i.+eld Baek Seoin threw slammed into a gangster’s face. The teeth of the gangster who shot the bullet sprayed out. Bits of flesh were still attached. Baek Seoin charged forward. He stabbed and sliced at the gangsters with his longsword. He was a warrior who had 1-star stats. Gangsters who had maybe 1 or 2 1-star stats or none at all were no match for Baek Seoin.

“Sa… save me.”

After Baek Seoin finished off 3 people, Choi Hyuk had already ended the situation. He had beaten everyone to death with his bare hands.

The gangsters couldn’t even leave behind their moans. They only ended up as brutally beaten corpses. A strange silence fell.

The only living person was begging Choi Hyuk for his life.

Choi Hyuk’s left hand was tightly clenched around his neck. He was young. He seemed to be at most twenty or perhaps he was even the same age as Choi Hyuk. He was the youngest among the gangsters.

He begged with a face splattered with tears and snot.

“Please…”

Choi Hyuk asked.

“Headquarters?”

“KT… The KTT building. I’m sorry. Please…”

Choi Hyuk indifferently let the pleading man down. Choi Hyuk wasn’t moved because the young gangster was young. He was Choi Hyuk’s age. Choi Hyuk himself believed he was all grown up. Then, the  young gangster too was all grown up.

So Choi Hyuk tilted his head.

“When you came at me shooting guns, did you not think of the consequences?”

The young gangster opened his mouth as if wanting to say something but.

Crunch.

Choi Hyuk’s hand was faster. He was unable to let out a word and slammed into the ground, leaving him with a shattered neck.

Baek Seoin who was watching this slightly frowned. However, that was all. He didn’t say anything. Though Choi Hyuk’s ruthlessness didn’t fit well with Baek Seoin’s morals… he didn’t think Choi Hyuk’s judgement was wrong either.

‘What’s it to me when the world is ending.’

Baek Seoin was originally an emotional man. He was even quite the worrier.

However, once he resolved himself to avenge his parents, he decided to think more simply. His values were slowly changing.

‘It’s easier if they die.’

Above all, it meant that they wouldn’t be held back by them again.

A sudden thought even crossed his mind that it might be good to use this situation more aggressively to their favor.

“Let’s split it evenly.”

Choi Hyuk calmly said.

“No, we have way more people…!”

A grandpa wanted to express his dissatisfaction.

“Uh, okay. Let’s do that. You’re quite amazing for a young fellow. It’s like what I’ve heard.”

The sungla.s.ses wearing grandpa who was the leader held the others back.

Choi Hyuk wordlessly took exactly half of the supplies.

Rations, clothes, toiletries, Barrier of the Weak, item order requests, amongst others.

At the same time, Baek Seoin was scavenging items off the gangsters.

“Ah d.a.m.n… He has a Speed Enchant. What a waste for it to end up with a guy like him.”

As a follower of Choi Hyuk who goes around killing monsters by the hundreds, Baek Seoin almost had a complete set of items. No matter how many new items came out, he didn’t really feel like replacing them.

However, enchants were an exception.