Chapter 28 – Rule 13: The Leader Does Not Get Ambushed by Villains (3)

 

To reiterate,

 

It took quite a long time after my reincarnation for me to embrace the simple yet obvious resolution to ‘live happily.’

 

All children born in Academy City undergo a similar process.

 

They are confined to small rooms, protected by caretaker robots, and subjected to near-brainwashing levels of educational videos once they reach learning age.

 

If they even momentarily look away or get distracted from the educational videos, the AI detects it and uses a cane as punishment.

 

For someone like me, with past life memories and the ability to discern things earlier than others, it was a torturous time.

 

The arduous magic cultivation technique became my refuge—so much so that it tells you how dire my situation was.

 

Spending time in a place devoid of human warmth and lamenting the mysterious phenomenon that caused my reincarnation, I naturally developed a strong thirst for human connection.

 

The first person to appear before me and become my ally was the woman standing before me now.

 

Kim Dalbi.

 

“Long time no see?”

 

In a cold tone, I greeted my childhood friend, who retained the villainous appearance from the game.

 

I couldn’t calm the turmoil in my chest.

 

It felt like finding a long-lost family member, but I suppressed the overwhelming emotions as much as I could.

 

I was grateful for the past where I had trained to maintain a poker face. If I hadn’t known how to manage my expressions, my face would probably be a sight to behold right now.

 

“…….”

 

Kim Dalbi’s eyes widened briefly, as if she hadn’t expected to see me here. Then, her expression settled.
Dalbi stared at me and slowly blinked. The time it took felt long.

 

“…It’s been a while, Woo-jin! How have you been?”

 

Dalbi greeted me with a cheerful smile, as if we were friends who had just seen each other yesterday.

 

Her voice echoed inside the goblin mask. My heart reacted to that voice.

 

The emotional contrast was stark compared to when I received Dalbi’s letter years ago.

 

Hearing Dalbi’s voice in person reignited the emotions I thought had long died out.

 

The words ‘I missed you’ were on the tip of my tongue. I swallowed them down with effort.

 

I approached Dalbi with my mouth tightly shut.

 

Bomber Ha-min and the goblin were in the way, but I didn’t care.

 

“How is the Disciplinary Committee Leader here…?”

 

Still in shock, Ha-min gritted his teeth and pulled a remote control from his pocket.

 

“You bastards…, are you ignoring me!?”

 

Ha-min’s lips trembled as he forced a grin.

 

“I still have plenty of bombs…! Hah…! I can kill everyone in this street! I’m not someone you can just ignore…!”

 

As I walked, I leaped towards Ha-min like an arrow, swinging my expandable baton.

 

Boom!!

 

The powerful strike and the electric shock wave enveloped him.

 

Caught off guard, Ha-min was struck hard on the head and flew through the air.

 

Boom!

 

He crashed into the wall again, where he had been smashed before.

 

Ha-min was silent.

 

He had passed out.

 

Bomber was an insidious villain who played explosion games while efficiently evading capture.

 

Well, it was only troublesome when I didn’t know his whereabouts.

 

When nearby, he was this easy to deal with.

 

I approached Ha-min and casually destroyed the remote and wristwatch.

 

I also threw a restraining device.

 

Clack!

 

A belt sprang from the restraining device and tightly bound Ha-min.

 

With that, the hindrance was gone.

 

I looked back at Dalbi. She was calmly watching me with her arms crossed.

 

‘So relaxed.’

 

It was understandable.

 

It was obvious that Dalbi was overwhelmingly stronger than me.

 

Dalbi was a powerhouse close to the 7th tier.

 

She could wield the power of goblins, and additionally, goblin troops followed her. In terms of numbers and firepower, her combat strength was second to none.

 

It was a godlike unique ability.

 

Surprisingly, unlike other unique abilities, it had no noticeable activation conditions or penalties. If there were any, even the community hadn’t figured them out.

 

So I didn’t know what Dalbi’s weakness was either.

 

I only judged that fighting her with the maximum firepower of the Disciplinary Committee was the best course of action. After all, I became the Disciplinary Committee Leader because of monsters like her.

 

Ultimately, fighting Dalbi here would clearly result in my defeat.

 

However, I was prepared to fight if necessary.

 

There was no place to escape anyway.

 

I reached into my pocket and quickly sent a simplified text message using speed dial number 1 on my smartphone.

 

The recipient was Vice-Leader Oh Baek-seo.

 

She was probably carrying out my orders, identifying the characteristics of the small drone bombs and working with the control room to dispose of them.

 

I could give these instructions because I knew how to deal with Bomber.

 

Now that Bomber was captured, there was no urgency.

 

It was better for Baek-seo to join me in dealing with Dalbi rather than continuing the mission with the control room.

 

Crackle!