WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Abandoned Tank is a Disaster-class Awakener ◈
Chapter 54
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“How... how did you get here?”
Park Gang-sik’s eyes widened.
I rose from the sofa as I looked at him.
“A crafty raccoon always prepares several dens.”
His gaze shifted behind me.
He seemed to be checking whether anyone else was there.
I looked around the living room.
Expensive furniture and paintings.
And beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, the sea.
“Looks like you were planning to build yourself a little kingdom.”
Park Gang-sik’s lips pressed tightly together.
“But I can’t stand the thought of you and your son living comfortably here.”
“Who told you?”
I did not answer.
The person who had told me about this place was Park Gang-sik himself.
It had been before my regression, when his personal safety was threatened.
I had come to this island on a protection assignment.
I had surveyed the surroundings, stood guard, and protected the mansion where he slept.
He had made me guard the refuge he had built with embezzled money.
Of course, he must have prepared other hideouts afterward.
But this time, he had never brought me here.
To him, this island was still a safe place no one knew about.
“Han Jeong-woo?”
“Are you still more curious about who betrayed you?”
Park Gang-sik glared at me.
At the same time, he discreetly rubbed his ring once.
“Let’s talk first.”
“...Go ahead.”
“Why are you going this far?”
Why this far?
That was such a Park Gang-sik way of thinking.
“I know you have complaints about the Association. But the Association isn’t run for you alone. Equipment and personnel were limited.”
“So you gave them to your son?”
Park Jun-hyeok’s face twisted.
Park Gang-sik did not look at his son.
“I merely judged him worth investing in.”
“What about Olena, Evelyn, and Claire?”
His mouth stopped moving.
“Was that a judgment too?”
“You have no intention of listening to anything I say.”
Park Gang-sik’s voice lowered.
“Wasn’t taking my position enough? Did you have to chase me all the way here?”
My position.
To him, the elected position of Association chairman was a guaranteed throne.
“What exactly did I do so wrong to you?”
“The fact that you still don’t know is what you did wrong.”
Park Gang-sik closed his mouth.
And at that moment.
Hummm!
Light rose from the floor.
A pattern stretched along the edges of the living room.
The light climbed the pillars and connected at the ceiling.
Ssssh.
Shell’s protective barrier vanished.
‘Skill Sealing.’
The power within my body remained unchanged.
But when I tried to activate a skill, I could not use it, as though an invisible wall blocked me.
Inside this barrier, all I could use were the stats already accumulated in my body and the basic bonuses from Relics.
“Hahaha!”
Park Gang-sik laughed.
The final light faded from his ring.
“You really are a naive fool. You accepted my words far too easily.”
He had prepared the barrier while we talked.
Shing.
Park Jun-hyeok drew his sword.
The shoulders that had been hunched until moments ago straightened.
“Do you know how many Elixirs Jun-hyeok has consumed? And the Relics? I selected only powerful Relics beyond anything you could dare imagine.”
Park Gang-sik stepped aside.
“I don’t know how you became strong, but without that skill, you are nothing more than a Novice.”
He lifted his chin.
“Jun-hyeok.”
“Yes.”
“I would prefer never to see that insolent bastard again.”
Park Jun-hyeok smiled.
“Of course.”
In that fleeting moment while they continued talking.
Bang!
I had already kicked off the floor.
His eyes moved too late.
The sword was still beside his shoulder.
I grabbed his face.
“Uh...?”
And slammed him down.
Craash!
The marble burst.
Cracks spread beneath Park Jun-hyeok’s body.
The sword slipped from his hand, bounced across the floor, and stopped before Park Gang-sik’s shoes.
“For someone who ate so much...”
I raised my head.
“...You’re nothing special, are you?”
“Urgh!”
Park Jun-hyeok grabbed my wrist.
But I grabbed his collar with my other hand and pulled his upper body up.
I clenched my right fist.
Thud!
His head snapped to the side.
Thud!
By the time the hand clutching my wrist slowly loosened.
Bang!
I slammed him into the ground again.
Park Jun-hyeok sprawled across the floor.
One arm twitched, but he could not get up.
Drip.
Blood fell from my fist.
“...”
Park Gang-sik could only gape at the sight unfolding before him.
“Actually...”
At my words, his gaze turned to me.
“...I was hoping you wouldn’t let yourself be captured so easily.”
I took a step closer.
Park Gang-sik stepped back.
“I hoped it wouldn’t end with you being investigated, tried, and receiving a set punishment.”
“You...”
“That way, I could get an opportunity like this.”
His eyes moved to the scroll on the table.
But I picked it up first.
I pressed a finger into the center of its pattern.
Ffft.
The silver line snapped.
I crumpled the paper after it lost its power.
“Until now, I could have let it go.”
“Yes. There were misunderstandings. When you run an Association...”
“Even pushing me aside to protect your position.”
His words stopped.
“That is ordinary political maneuvering.”
I could have dismissed it as incompetence and corruption.
But then.
“You laid hands on my people.”
Park Gang-sik hurriedly spoke.
“I never told them to kill anyone from the start. I only told them to issue a warning, but...”
“Even now, you are desperate to make excuses.”
His mouth shut.
“The moment you commissioned an assassination, you crossed the line.”
I had no intention of forgiving someone who crossed that line.
As I moved closer.
Thump.
His knees gave out.
“S-Save me.”
When power, excuses, and justifications no longer worked, he chose to beg.
“Seong-un. Listen to me.”
Park Gang-sik braced himself against the floor and backed away.
When his back reached the wall, he raised both hands.
“I’ll give you everything.”
He pointed at the bag.
“My wealth and my Relics. Take them all. I don’t need anything.”
I picked up the sword lying on the floor.
It was the sword Park Jun-hyeok had used.
As I lowered its tip, his gaze followed it down.
“Please. Just spare my life.”
Park Gang-sik looked up at my face.
“I, I discovered you. I discovered you when you had nowhere to go, and I deserve credit for raising you this far.”
That was certainly true.
Park Gang-sik had recognized my potential when I was an orphan with no particular hope for the future.
But that did not absolve him.
The hands that took the rewards I brought back.
The mouth that asked for the date of the next expedition after reading the death notices of my comrades.
That mouth was now speaking of affection.
Swish.
I raised the sword.
But then.
Rustle.
I heard cloth dragging behind me.
“...”
I stopped the sword.
Park Jun-hyeok was bracing himself on the floor with one arm.
His other hand went into his clothes, and soon, it emerged holding a short dagger.
A dark red blade.
Fine patterns.
And at the end of the handle was a carving of a person’s face with closed eyes.
‘Sacrificial Dagger.’
I could guess what he intended to do.
I stepped to the side.
At that moment, color returned to Park Gang-sik’s face.
“Y-Yes.”
He hurriedly nodded.
“You made the right choice. What good would it do to dirty your hands?”
Park Jun-hyeok dragged himself closer.
Park Gang-sik did not take his eyes off me.
“I’ll live here for the rest of my life. I won’t go outside. I won’t contact anyone...”
“...Father.”
Only then did Park Gang-sik turn his head.
“...Jun-hyeok?”
Relief spread over his face.
He reached out to his son.
“Can you get up? It’s all right. Now...”
Park Jun-hyeok’s hand stopped.
He looked at Park Gang-sik’s face for a moment.
Then he looked at me.
“...”
Our eyes met.
I did not move.
Strength entered Park Jun-hyeok’s hand.
Stab!
Park Gang-sik’s words cut off.
His son’s hand was against his chest.
Only the handle remained visible. The dagger had plunged deep inside.
“J-Jun-hyeok?”
Park Gang-sik grabbed his son’s wrist.
Park Jun-hyeok did not raise his head.
Gritting his teeth, he pushed the dagger in deeper.
“...I’m sorry.”
The dark red pattern glowed.
Park Gang-sik’s mouth opened.
But no sound came out.
Hummm! Hummm! Hummm!
Red energy flowed along the dagger.
Park Jun-hyeok’s arm trembled violently.
Crack.
A sound came from within his shoulder.
He threw his head back.
“Grrrrr!”
Thick veins rose along his arm.
His bent back straightened, and his legs pushed against the floor.
Park Gang-sik’s hand fell away.
Slide.
His body slumped against the wall.
His eyes remained fixed on his son until the end.
Park Jun-hyeok did not look back.
His swelling chest tore through his combat uniform.
The armor’s fastenings burst.
Snap! Snap!
His wounds healed.
Layers of muscle rose over his arms and legs.
The body that had been crawling on the floor slowly stood.
His head rose well above my eye level.
Sacrificial Dagger.
A Transcendent-grade Relic that restored a damaged body and temporarily raised physical abilities by sacrificing the life of the person most precious to the user.
The increase was a full 300 percent.
It granted strength four times that of the original body.
Even the Sealing Barrier could not block that power.
It was not the user’s skill, but a Relic’s power activated by accepting a sacrifice.
“...”
I glanced once at Park Gang-sik, slumped against the wall.
At least one thing was clear.
His father had been precious to him.
Clang!
The dagger, its light gone, fell to the floor.
Park Jun-hyeok clenched his fist.
A dull sound came from his knuckles.
Then he looked at me.
“How long do you think I’ll keep losing to you?”
Even his voice had deepened.
“My teammates, Kang Seong-un. The Association, Kang Seong-un. My father, Kang Seong-un. Kang Seong-un, Kang Seong-un, Kang Seong-un! Aaaah!”
He shook his head wildly from side to side.
It seemed that his pride had driven him to the brink through all the comparisons to me.
Then again, that was probably why he had killed his own father.
But.
‘You don’t know your place.’
I watched his stance.
His feet spread wide.
His weight leaned forward.
His hands kept clenching as he checked his changed body.
“Come on.”
Park Jun-hyeok kicked off the floor.
Bang!
His huge body rushed toward me.
He was fast.
Nothing like before.
Whoosh.
Seeing his right fist fly toward me, I shifted my left foot.
The fist brushed past my face.
Craash!
The wall behind me collapsed.
I pushed his elbow and turned.
Unable to pull back the force of his swing, Park Jun-hyeok’s body lurched toward the wall.
“Your shoulder moves first.”
He turned his head.
Another fist flew at me.
I angled the shield on my left arm.
Bang!
The impact traveled up my arm.
I twisted the shield to redirect his fist outward and kicked the inside of his knee.
His leg buckled.
His upper body tipped forward.
I drove the edge of my shield into his solar plexus.
Thud!
Park Jun-hyeok was shoved backward.
This time, he did not fall.
He scraped his feet across the floor and held his ground.
He had become tougher.
He bared his teeth.
“I’m different from before!”
Park Jun-hyeok kicked the table.
I swung my sword.
Crack!
He reached through the splintered wood.
His hand was reaching for my throat.
But I drove my sword into the shoulder he had exposed.
Stab!
The blade pierced his body and embedded itself in the floor.
“Aaargh!”
He twisted his body.
“Gasp, gasp.”
His ragged breathing filled the living room.
“No matter how strong you are, if you lack the fundamentals, everything is obvious.”
I adjusted my grip on the sword’s handle.
“Jun-hyeok.”
His eyes shook.
I had called him that before my regression as well.
I went ahead and cleared the way for him.
I cleaned up his mistakes and created chances for him to return alive.
Every time, he must have thought he survived because of his own skill.
“Even the power you gained by killing your father...”
I looked down at him again.
“...is this weak.”
“No...”
Park Jun-hyeok shook his head.
His muscles were still swollen.
His strength had not disappeared.
And yet, he did not try to get up again.
“Wait. I was only trying to survive...”
I placed the sword’s tip against his chest.
Park Jun-hyeok reached out.
“P-Please.”
The same words Park Gang-sik had said moments ago.
“Father and son really are... alike.”
With those words as my last.
Stab!
I pushed the sword down.
“Urgh!”
His hand stopped in the air.
Then.
Thump.
It fell to the floor.
His swollen muscles slowly shrank.
After confirming that he had stopped moving, I withdrew my sword.
Only two corpses remained in the living room.
A father who used his son as a shield.
A son who offered that father as a sacrifice.
I placed the bloodstained sword on the floor.
Slap.
The sound of waves came from beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows.
A kingdom prepared for just the two of them.
But its king could no longer exist there.
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