Transcendent One Punch Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Porter with Vengeance

Kakang! Skak-!

“Ugh.”

“Lay down your sword and surrender.”

“Bullshit! Not a step further!”

Kugung─

Crash!

The sounds of tearing fabric, screams, and the deafening roar of battle came in rapid succession from the living room.

Hearing those horrific sounds, Yujin trembled in her mother’s embrace.

“Mom…”

“It’s okay, Yujin. It’s okay.”

Yujin’s mother.

Yumi A, the Vice Guild Master of the Destiny Guild and a 7-star Hunter.

She tried her best to comfort Yujin.

But her expression, full of urgency and anxiety, was so apparent that even 13-year-old Yujin could clearly understand.

This definitely wasn’t okay.

‘B-but, Uncle said they were guests.’

Yujin resented His uncle.

Uncle Namgung Myung, who was the adopted brother of her father.

He had only mentioned that the Order’s paladins would visit the house.

The paladins of the Gaiah Order, hailed as the world’s protectors.

The excitement of seeing them up close was brief.

‘Paladins… I thought they were apostles of justice…’

They were not.

They were cruel.

They had come to end the peace that Yujin’s family enjoyed.

“Gwaah!”

Soon followed by a desperate scream.

It was his father’s.

The 7-star Hunter, known as a prestigious ranker in South Korea, who always showed a reliable appearance… her father’s scream.

And then.

Bang-

“Brother-in-law.”

“Namgung Myung! What in the world are you doing—”

“Well, isn’t it the succession of the throne?”

Namgung Myung, holding a bloodstained dagger, entered the room, chuckling.

A high-ranking guild member and her father’s adopted brother.

And Yujin’s favourite uncle, Namgung Myung.

“U-uncle…?”

But the current Namgung Myung was so far from the uncle that Yujin had liked.

A trembling, youthful voice.

Yujin momentarily couldn’t understand the situation.

What was this?

Why was his uncle holding a knife towards them?

What was that blood on the knife?

Could it be that he killed her father…?

“Our little one, you’re quite shocked.”

It was a voice as gentle as usual.

But Yujin couldn’t respond, frozen.

Why did those words sound so chilling?

“…Please spare Yujin.”

“Oh, is that something I can decide?”

“Please…”

Thud.

Yumi A knelt.

It was inevitable.

She could fight against Namgung Myung alone.

But there was someone behind Namgung Myung whom she couldn’t possibly face alone.

Clunk.

Heavy footsteps.

Someone was entering the room from the living room.

‘…Father!’

Yujin hoped for a moment.

Hoping that his always reliable father would solve this situation.

But.

“The outside is done. Finish it here quickly.”

It wasn’t her father.

It was the leader of the Gaiah Order’s paladin squad, who had come as a guest today.

Wearing full white Armor and a helmet covering his face, he held a bloodstained sword.

A bloodstained sword with the Gaiah emblem clearly engraved.

“Yes, Paladin Squad Leader.”

Namgung Myung answered briefly and approached Yujin and Yumi A while aiming his dagger.

“Don’t resent me too much, sister-in-law. You should learn to bend a bit. If you’re too rigid, you’ll break, you know.”

“……”

She didn’t respond.

Was she resigned?

From Yujin’s position, he could only see his mother’s back and couldn’t read her expression.

At that moment.

Swoooosh──

A tremendous surge of magical power swirled around Yumi A.

“Wh-what!”

The backlash caused Namgung Myung, who had been approaching with the dagger, to hurriedly assume a defensive posture and retreat.

Yumi A was a 7-star Mage.

Even if it was impossible to turn the situation around, maybe she could take one of them with her.

“Mom?”

Yujin called out to his mother in a daze.

There was no answer.

Instead, the answer came from the Paladin Squad Leader.

“Spatial movement magic.”

“Shouldn’t we stop it!?”

“No, it’s unnecessary. There’s no reason to stop someone who’s willing to exhaust their own strength.”

“But……”

“It will fail anyway. It’s magic that can’t possibly be used by a mere 7-star Mage.”

The Paladin Squad Leader dismissed Namgung Myung’s words.

To an 8-Star like him, it was an act of suicide.

Spatial movement is considered one of the most difficult spells among 8-star magic.

To attempt it with only 7-star magical capabilities?

The spell would fail, and the Mage would lose control of their mana and die.

And Yumi A was not unaware that this was a suicidal act.

Failure or success, she would die.

So, by performing this act, she was certain to die.

But.

She risked her life.

For only one purpose.

‘Yujin… must survive.’

With eyes filled with bloodshot resolve, she cast the spell, consuming her life force.

And.

“……Yujin.”

Yumi A turned to look at Yujin with trembling eyes and struggled to speak.

“Mom!”

“Live. You must live.”

Tears streamed down Yujin’s face.

He didn’t know why.

He just couldn’t stop the tears as he looked at his mother’s face.

“Paladin Squad Leader?”

“Hmm?”

“Is it… successful?”

“…Hmm. It seems so. How did she manage that?”

“No, damn it!”

Suddenly, light enveloped Yujin’s body.

Yujin realized then.

“M-mom?”

“……”

Yumi A, bleeding from her mouth, just smiled at him.

This wasn’t magic for the survival of ‘both’ of them.

It was magic that she had sacrificed her life to complete, solely for Yujin’s survival.

“This… this! She can’t escape!”

Realizing the same fact, Namgung Myung rushed towards Yujin.

He couldn’t leave any future troubles.

But.

Whoosh!

In an instant, Yumi A stepped in front of him and was stabbed instead.

The tip of the knife protruded through her abdomen.

Spurt-!

Blood gushed from her mouth, splattering Yujin’s face.

“Y-Yujin… live….”

Betrayed and dying by the hand of someone she trusted.

Yet, with her face covered in blood, she only smiled at her son.

It felt like her heart was being torn apart.

An uncontrollable sadness pounded in Yujin’s chest.

Yujin turned his head away from his mother’s face with effort.

And.

He focused on another face.

“Damn it!”

The face of his uncle, once thought to be an angel, now roaring like a demon.

Seeing him charge to kill him, Yujin thought.

‘Revenge.’

Thump—

‘Someday, definitely…….’

He suppressed his sadness.

And filled the space with anger.

He vowed revenge.

Thus, he thought.

‘I will definitely repay this grudge…….’

Boom-!

─He survived.

*

“Haah!”

It was a nightmare from that day ten years ago.

A dream he always had, but never seemed to get used to.

His back was drenched in cold sweat.

“Damn it.”

He hastily looked around.

Even though he knew the chances were almost nil because he had cleaned up his identity and a lot of time had passed…….

‘They might still be looking for me.’

Such thoughts arose moment by moment.

Especially when he had nightmares about that day ten years ago.

But what he saw was no different from usual.

The back mountain of his residence, the place where he always trained.

Traces of his primitive physical training with logs, rocks, and metal scraps were scattered everywhere.

“Hah.”

He returned to reality.

With a sigh of relief, his chest was covered in bitterness.

“…I must have passed out.”

Not only had he passed out, but he also had a nightmare.

Clearly, the training had been too much to handle in his current state.

Twinge.

“Ugh.”

Intense pain surged through his right arm.

The aftermath of excessive training that had led to him fainting.

Twinge.

Zzzz.

It wasn’t just his right arm.

His whole body ached as if it were about to break apart.

“Damn ‘Overcharged Mana’……”

All of this was because of my unique trait.

“After awakening, to have such a half-hearted unique trait. Ha.”

I am an Awakened.

I survived with the dream of revenge and have always strived to become stronger.

Maybe because of that will.

Three years ago, I awakened.

But the unique trait I gained then was the problem.

‘Overcharged Mana’.

My mana recovery speed was fast.

Very.

Extremely.

So much that consumption couldn’t keep up with recovery.

At first, it was good.

Wasn’t it almost like having infinite mana?

I thought I had obtained an S-rank trait.

But….

‘There was a fatal drawback.’

The enormous mana couldn’t be handled by the weakened body.

As mana surpassed a certain threshold, it didn’t remain idle.

Like overflowing spring water causing a flood, mana began to erode the body.

The moment he lost control over his mana, his body started to break apart.

It felt as if his bones had turned into mechanical pencil leads.

Living with his hands holding the pencil leads, controlling them to prevent breakage required extreme concentration.

And.

‘Even that, as mana increased, became increasingly difficult.’

While the pencil leads (his body) remained the same, the gripping force (mana) kept increasing.

Control was slipping further and further from his grasp.

It was truly a case of ‘Too much is as bad as too little.’

Such a description fit perfectly as his mana was excessively abundant.

Therefore, he had to expend mana and work on enhancing his physical abilities.

The training here was a direct result of that.

But.

“…To the point of fainting now.”

Even these temporary measures were nearing their limits.

Physical ability improvements were slow, while mana continued to increase.

He needed a different method somehow.

Well….

It wasn’t that there were no methods.

The problem was that those methods were extremely troublesome.

*

In the local small guild and black market enterprise, ‘Ironclad Faction.’

I work here as a porter.

The reason I work in this place rife with all sorts of injustices, verbal abuse, and violence?

Only one.

“No, A Sudden increasing from 300,000 won to 500,000 won overnight? Does that make any sense?”

“If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. You know only I can make this, right?”

“…This is driving me crazy.”

Because of the illegal drug ‘Mana Suppressant’ available only here at the ‘Ironclad Faction guild’.

With ‘Mana Suppressant,’ he could temporarily stave off the issues caused by his unique trait, ‘Overcharged Mana.’

But.

‘Damn. There’s a limit to how much you can fleece.’

Perhaps guessing his situation, the guild’s supply officer raised the drug’s price almost twice overnight.

What a scumbag.

“Hey. By the way, why are you so obsessed with this drug even though it doesn’t contain any narcotics?”

The supply officer, Lee Se-han, asked with a sneering face.

Shaking the drug container in his hand.

‘…Hah.’

He held back his gaze that wanted to follow the drug container.

Yeah.

He needed that drug.

One bottle a day.

The Mana Suppressant was a drug that, as the name implied, suppressed the action of mana in the body, with effects lasting only a single day.

It was an illegal drug, and the only place to obtain it was the ‘Ironclad Faction’ guild.

‘It would be different if I could get it elsewhere….’

Unfortunately, the only person who could make it was the ex-convict with the ‘Alchemist’ trait standing in front of him.

Clenching his fist, he replied.

“I don’t know.”

“Do as you please. Anyway, if you’re not buying, get lost. I’m busy as hell.”

Lee Se-han’s dismissive remark.

But he couldn’t give up.

Without it, even the strenuous training he had been managing couldn’t be carried out.

No.

‘Even daily life would be impossible.’

Perhaps, he was living on borrowed time.

A precarious state where even a momentary lapse in control could cause his body to break apart from his mana.

“What’s up? Are you gonna hit me?”

Lee Se-han, seeing his clenched fist, asked.

A contemptuous look as if a mere porter was going to do something.

“No. That’s not it.”

Though he had a strong urge to hit him, using physical violence here was the act of an amateur.

“When the Lamia Heart came in before. You tricked us with the quantities, didn’t you?”

“……!”

“Even if you let a few Magic Stones slide, how about such expensive materials?”

“You, you… how did you know…!?”

There was a good method of intimidation, so why?

“Of course, I have evidence, so don’t think about denying it.”

“…What do you want?”

“I don’t ask for much. Just give me the Mana Suppressant at the original price.”

Hmph.

Even while threatening, the taste in my mouth was bitter.
I never expected to use this card like this.
The exchange rate was not favourable.
Objectively, the demands were at their limit.

“Ugh. Fine, I’ll give it to you, but that evidence—”

“That’s not possible.”

How much more should I suffer?
I spoke firmly.

“If you don’t raise the price in the future, the fact that you tried to deceive me will never be exposed.”

“……”

Lee Se-han pondered for a moment before eventually handing over the Mana Suppressant.

“Will you keep your promise?”

“Of course.”

Thus, a cool deal was made.
I turned around immediately.

Time is being wasted. The party leader will start causing trouble again.

A sigh let me.
In many ways.

I’ll need more cards to blackmail the supply officer…

Given Lee Se-han’s twisted expression, it seemed that something would happen soon.
A greedy bastard with a narrow mind.
That was my subjective evaluation of the supply officer Lee Se-han.
Surely, he would harbor resentment over this incident, so I would need more means of blackmail.

Just as I was thinking this.

Bang!

“Ouch.”

“What’s this?”

Stars appeared in front of my eyes.
The door suddenly opened and hit me hard.
Looking up, I saw a long-haired Hunter.
He was the party leader for today’s dungeon and the leader of Hunter Team 8, to which I belonged.

“Kim Yujin? I was wondering why I couldn’t see this porter and found you here?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Although it wasn’t late, I apologized anyway.
It was an unavoidable reality.
There was no logic in madness.

“This bastard’s slacking off. Hey, are you not going to do it properly?”

“……Sorry.”

I’ll explain again, but I haven’t done anything wrong.
It’s just that being a porter makes me an easy target for bullying.
But today, it was particularly bad.

“Oh, thank you.”

Lee Se-han suddenly approached and snatched the Mana Suppressant from my hand.

What is he doing?

I glared at him with that meaning.
The long-haired party leader also looked at Lee Se-han with puzzled eyes.

“What’s going on here?”

“As you can see, this porter was caught trying to steal something. Hehe.”

“……”

I was momentarily stunned.
Has he lost his mind?
Did he forget the content of the blackmail?

“Oh, these porters nowadays really have no manners. Haha!”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll make sure to give him a proper lesson today.”

“I’ll trust only you, Team Leader 8!”

“In that sense, about that request I made before…”

“Oh, of course!”

But I couldn’t argue about that right now.
Our party leader had a fairly close relationship with Lee Se-han.
If I exposed it here, it would only result in losing my own position without gaining anything.

“You dumb porter.”

“……”

I quietly endured the scornful glares directed at me.
There was no other choice at the moment.

But.

You bastards.

I won’t forget this grudge.

Right now, even now, I was disassembling the orc corpses with a heavy backpack full of magic stones after getting thoroughly beaten.
The epitome of inefficiency.
Yet, I couldn’t argue.
I was a powerless porter, and they were the powerful Hunters.
Especially in this dungeon, the law to protect the weak was utterly meaningless.

Hisss-

A hot sensation suddenly seared my skin.

“Ugh.”

“Oh, what’s this? You’re holding up well. Haven’t you gotten tougher thanks to me?”

The long-haired party leader sneered as he extinguished his cigarette on my forearm.

‘Damn it.’

If you’re a leader, you should have some sense of responsibility.
Stop tormenting the powerless porter, drunk on your pathetic authority.

“Hey, what if that guy Awakens? Haha!”

“Even if he does, what would change? He’d still be a nobody.”

“That’s true. Hahaha!”

The other Hunters were no different.
The only one who didn’t torment me was the female Hunter covered in tattoos.
Not that it mattered much.
She was just a mercenary brought in from outside for today’s dungeon.

Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind.
‘Should I just kill them all?’

I could surrender to the surging rage.
If I gave up suppressing my Mana and actively used it…
My body would break, but I could at least kill one of them.

But.

‘…No. That’s not why I’ve been living like this.’

In the end, I held onto my sanity.

‘Revenge for my parents.’

That was the reason I had been tenaciously holding on.
It wasn’t for petty revenge like this.
Still, I couldn’t help but sigh.

‘Hoo. Will there ever be a day when I overcome this accursed trait and soar?’

Or rather.
‘Will I even survive today?’

That was the bigger problem.
I hadn’t taken the Mana Suppressant today.
I could already feel the violent Mana rampaging inside me.

The immense Mana, which I had been controlling through superhuman effort aided by the ‘Mana Suppressant,’
was slipping out of my control.

Crack!

A sudden pain shot through me.
It felt like the Mana was crushing my muscles.

“Ugh.”

A groan escaped my lips due to the sudden pain.

And then.

“Hah, look at this guy. Is something bothering you? If it bothers you─”

It quickly became a good excuse.
The party leader raised his arm to hit the back of my head.

However.

Squelch!

The party leader’s action was abruptly halted.

“Ku, argh. Wh-what are you doing…?”

“Oh, sorry. I came here with this in mind from the start.”

Slash.

Splat!

The female mercenary suddenly killed the party leader.

‘Wha…?’

The unexpected murder caused my mind to go blank for a moment.
‘I was planning to kill that bastard of the party leader…’

Ah, this isn’t the point.

“You bastard, you killed the boss!”

“Is this a betrayal?”

“No, it’s not. I was never part of your group from the start.”

I snapped back to my senses as I listened to the conversation between the female mercenary and the Hunters.

‘Stay calm. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a murder, is it?’

I calmed my breathing and looked up at her.
A tattooed woman wielding a dagger.
Judging by her sudden action, she seemed to be a Red Hunter who kills Awakened ones.
To put it simply, she was a Player Killer (PK).

“Damn it. That stray mercenary!”

The Hunters of the Ironclad Faction drew their weapons toward the tattooed woman.

“She’s a Red Hunter! Kill her!”

“You guys can’t handle me. Just become my experience points quietly.”

The tattooed woman swung her dagger at them in response.

‘What the hell is going on?’

We had won the battle against the orcs, but suddenly, the situation turned into a fight among humans.
The fortunate part was that they had no interest in me.
I was just a mere porter.
I had no power.

That’s why the Hunters didn’t care about me.

It was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune, but I couldn’t just stay put.

‘I need to run away.’

If you get caught up in this situation, you won’t be able to do anything.

First, I need to escape and assess the situation…

“Kraugh!”
“Aaagh!”
“Guh!”

…There’s a problem.
The Hunters from the Ironclad Faction who were fighting the tattooed woman got sliced up in an instant.

‘Damn idiots.’

I knew they were better at talking big than actually fighting.
But this was just too much.

‘How did three of them not last even a minute against one woman?’

In the end, only two people were left in the dungeon: me and the tattooed woman.

We made eye contact.

“Would you consider sparing my life…?”
“Do you think so?”
“…I knew it.”

Damn.

Boom!

I threw the bag full of mana stones onto the ground.
It was ridiculously heavy.

The tattooed woman gave me a pitying look.

“Judging by what those guys were doing, you seem quite pitiful too. But still, it can’t be helped; I have to kill you.”

She muttered something about not being able to leave witnesses alive.
Such crocodile tears.

“Just think of it as having bad luck.”

Luck, huh.
It’s true, I’m not exactly lucky.
I lost my parents when I was young, and even the unique trait I awakened was almost useless.
But.

“Hoo. It doesn’t seem like you’re that lucky either.”
“?”

The tattooed woman frowned at my sudden change in attitude.

“Turns out, I didn’t take my Mana Suppressant today.”
“Hmm? What does that have to do with anything…?”

Ignoring her words, I let go of the suppression over my mana.

Boom—

The remnants of the Mana Suppressant were easily pushed aside as an enormous amount of mana surged through my mana circuits like a storm.

“W-What is this!?”

It seemed she could feel it too, as the tattooed woman was visibly alarmed.

“You know,”
In terms of pure mana, well, I’ve never measured it exactly, but it’s probably more than that of an 8-star Hunter.

“It’s not because I’m weak that I work as a porter.”

My unique trait is “Overcharged Mana.”
Mana builds up in my body like crazy, an unbelievably ridiculous trait.

“…It’s because I have too much power that I work as a porter.”

It overflows to the point of self-destruction, but anyway.
I have power.

‘I might not survive this.’
Still, it’s a better chance than sticking my neck out and waiting.

“Y-You’re insane!”

The tattooed woman twisted her body in panic.
She seemed to be trying to flee, but…

“It’s too late.”

Fwooosh—

Using the overflowing mana as fuel, my fist shot toward her.