The Automatic Rooting Range Is Too Wide - Chapter 207

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Auto Looting Range Too Wide Episode 207
Chapter

Episode 207: Homecoming (2)
When people asked about the city of Daejeon, a common answer invariably came back.
“Daejeon? That boring city?”
Daejeon carried a strong reputation for being utterly uninteresting.
It couldn’t be dismissed as mere slander or false accusation.
Even the residents of Daejeon acknowledged it to some degree, and the city itself had embraced self-deprecating humor about it.
The Gosung, a department store built recently, was an ambitious project that Daejeon had actively pursued to shake off that very image.
It sprawled across more than 90,000 square meters.
The 1st Floor housed world-renowned luxury boutiques.
Experience halls where visitors could directly engage with various scientific principles.
A place where culture, shopping, and entertainment converged into one.
Truly, it was Daejeon’s new landmark.
…Or so they said, but Mincheol had little interest in such details.
It was newly built, after all!
They said it was enormous!
I planned to satisfy my curiosity while exploring, and fill my stomach in the process.
“My, it really is quite massive.”
The moment Mother arrived by taxi, she gasped in amazement.
Mincheol, who had lived in Seoul, was equally astonished.
Compared to the large department stores he’d seen in Seoul, this one lacked nothing.
“Where are the restaurants?”
“There are some in the Underground, and others on the 7th Floor.”
A quick check revealed that the Underground housed mostly snack foods.
For a proper meal, the 7th Floor seemed the better choice.
“There’s an employee stationed at every entrance?”
“Some of the luxury boutiques require reservations to browse. That’s probably why staff are waiting around.”
Mincheol explored the department store with Mother before heading to the 7th Floor.
Restaurants lined the expansive space in neat rows.
Mincheol entered a Korean restaurant with Mother.
As I sat down and glanced at the menu, Mother’s eyes suddenly widened.
“A set meal costs over 30,000 won? Should we just eat at home?”
“Come on, what’s 30,000 won? You think your son can’t afford that much?”
30,000 won per person meant 60,000 won total for two.
Spending 60,000 won on a single meal?
Unimaginable in the past, but for Mincheol now, it posed no problem whatsoever.
‘I’m someone who can spend 100,000 won on a single meal now.’
Of course, anything beyond that made me break into a cold sweat, but I could manage up to 100,000 won.
I was no longer the Mincheol of old!
“What? Don’t you like the menu? Should we go somewhere else?”
“No, Mother, it’s fine. I’m just worried that my son is spending too much money.”
Mother touched her water glass as she spoke.
“Especially when you’re earning money doing such dangerous work….”
Suddenly, memories from the past surfaced.
When Mincheol had worked his first part-time job and earned money.
He had given all of it to Mother.
But Mother had refused to accept it.
She said she couldn’t possibly take money her son had worked so hard to earn.
“…What are you talking about? I told you already. It’s not dangerous at all.”
Mincheol spoke with an deliberately bright smile.
The reason he had suddenly visited Mother today was precisely because of this.
Recently, Mincheol had been climbing the Tower so frequently that he often lost contact.
Though I didn’t show it, Mother was clearly worried.
So I had deliberately made time to come down and reassure her.
“Don’t you trust your son? Surely you don’t think I’d do something dangerous?”
“Well, our son isn’t the type to risk danger just to make money. You’re too much of a scaredy-cat.”
When Mother agreed so readily, Mincheol felt a peculiar sense of disappointment.
Even if I am a coward, she accepts my excuses far too easily every time.
Still, I had accomplished my purpose of reassuring Mother, so I decided to be satisfied.
“I’ll just use the restroom quickly.”
With those words, Mincheol stepped outside the restaurant.
And then I encountered a problem.
‘Where is the restroom?’
The department store was so vast that finding the restroom proved difficult.
After wandering for quite some time, Mincheol finally managed to locate it.
Because it was tucked away in a corner, Mincheol was the only one using it.
It was while I was washing my hands after finishing.
Suddenly, Cardmos burst through the wall.
-Wow, what a fascinating place this is!
Cardmos spoke with an excited expression.
While Mincheol spent time with Mother, Cardmos and Sihae Yeomhwa had been exploring the department store separately.
From what I heard, they could be separated by up to 100 meters.
“You seem to have enjoyed yourself?”
-I thought this dimension was nothing but a backwater, but the level of civilization is quite high. There’s plenty to see.
“And Teacher Sihae Yeomhwa?”
-Waiting outside. She said a woman couldn’t enter such a place.
As Mincheol stepped outside, Sihae Yeomhwa, who had been waiting, flew over.
-Disciple! Disciple! Do you know what I just saw? There was a child carrying an enormous cloud! And it was eating the cloud too!
Sihae Yeomhwa spoke in an excited voice.
Based on appearance alone, she looked remarkably innocent, like a middle schooler.
‘Does the other dimension not have cotton candy?’
I was just about to explain cotton candy to her.
“Everyone, listen up! We’re killing anything that moves!”
A booming voice echoed from a distance.
Wondering what was happening, I turned toward the source of the sound.
The opposite end of the restroom where I stood.
A group of men was emerging from the location where the elevator was.
They were wearing armor made of leather and metal plates.
Meanwhile, they held rifles and pistols in their hands.
“Huh? What’s going on?”
“Is someone filming for YouTube?”
The people on the 7th Floor stared at the men with bewildered expressions.
Then the men shouted again.
“Everyone, kneel down! Stay quiet and we won’t kill you!”
The people didn’t comply with the order. They simply stared blankly.
As if they couldn’t comprehend the situation unfolding before them.
Bang!
One of the men fired a pistol toward the ceiling.
Crash—
A sharp sound accompanied the shattering light fixture.
“Kyaaaah!”
“It’s… it’s a real gun!”
Only then did the people understand their situation.
“Kneel down! Lower your heads! Don’t look at our faces!”
The men shouted as they swept across the 7th Floor.
The people immediately dropped to their knees on the ground.
The men’s actions didn’t stop there.
“You lot, get out here now! Unless you want to die!”
They dragged out everyone sitting inside the restaurant.
Among them was my Mother.
The moment I saw my Mother being dragged out roughly, her clothes clutched in their hands, my mind went completely white.
Just as I was about to rush out to break the man’s neck, a voice reached me.
—Calm yourself. There are hostages, are there not?
—Student, if you act rashly like this, your identity might be exposed.
At those words, I barely managed to stop myself.
Both of them were right.
I couldn’t act without a plan when hostages were involved. If my Mother got hurt in the process, it would be catastrophic.
There were far too many eyes watching.
The moment I displayed movements as the Butcher in front of people or CCTV cameras, my identity would undoubtedly be exposed.
“…What should we do?”
Mincheol asked the two of them.
I hadn’t fully suppressed my anger yet, making it impossible to make rational judgments.
-They don’t seem to have any intention of harming the hostages immediately.
-For now, let’s observe the situation and gather information.
-Take out that smartphone. A commercial facility this large has been attacked. There’s no way there wouldn’t be any activity.
Mincheol opened his smartphone.
Since the incident had just occurred, no news had appeared yet.
But among YouTube’s trending videos, there was something strange.
【Live Broadcast: We Demand the Liberation of Awakened Ones】
Mincheol played the video.
In the live footage being broadcast in real time.
A bald man with grotesque tattoos covering his scalp was issuing various commands.
[Manage the hostages first! It doesn’t matter if one or two escape! It’s impossible to keep them all restrained anyway!]
[Hey, be careful with your hands. Seriously, whenever someone mentions watches, your eyes start spinning.]
Remarkably, the location was the 1st Floor of the department store where Mincheol was located.
I could tell because the luxury brand sections I’d visited with Mother were visible.
@smile_a456 : What is this? Is this actually happening?
@hyunchul_y32 : Isn’t this The Gosung Department Store’s Daejeon branch??
@tyty_w13 : Why are people kneeling down?
Live chat messages streamed up continuously.
Among them, one caught my eye particularly.
@QWER_a602 : Wait, that bald tattooed man! That’s Kim Taek-su! Why is that bastard filming this?
Mincheol paused the video and searched for information about the man.
Numerous crime articles appeared.
Kim Taek-su.
A mid-tier Awakened who had involved himself in various crimes.
His criminal record was impressively extensive.
Prison escape, extortion and robbery targeting businessmen. There was even an attempted kidnapping of a sitting congressman.
“This guy’s insane?”
-He’s certainly not an ordinary criminal.
-Why would such a villain target this place?
Mincheol played the YouTube video again.
Kim Taek-su’s face filled the screen.
[It looks like enough spectators have gathered. Shall we begin?]
Kim Taek-su grinned, baring his teeth.
As wrinkles formed on his scalp, the tattoos became even more grotesque.
[First, let me make this clear. We are not criminals.]
-From my experience, guys with something to hide always say things like that.
-That’s right. He’s just rationalizing it.
Cardmos and Sihae Yeomhwa each chimed in with their own jabs.
Of course, Kim Taek-su couldn’t hear them.
[We stand here to advance the rights of Awakened ones. That’s why our organization is called the Gakgwon-hyeop. The Awakener Rights Association!]
This is absolutely pathetic.
Mincheol thought as much while keeping his eyes on the broadcast.
[Until now, we’ve tried to resolve this through peaceful means, but society hasn’t even pretended to listen.]
It sounded as though he was blaming them for not listening.
[Our demands are simple! Establish a political party for Awakened ones and secure fixed parliamentary seats….]
Mincheol heard it in one ear and let it pass out the other.
Even someone like Mincheol, who had no interest in politics, could tell it was all empty fantasy.
That’s when it happened.
Suddenly, a loud commotion erupted from the broadcast.
The camera’s image shook violently.
Soon after, Awakened ones came into view, smashing through the department store’s main entrance and surging forward.
[Get inside! Capture Kim Taek-su first!]
[If we just catch Kim Taek-su, we can rack up serious precedence points!]
From the way they mentioned precedence points, it was clear these Awakened ones had been summoned by an emergency Quest.
Mincheol cheered them on.
If they managed to capture Kim Taek-su, the situation would end quickly.
But Mincheol’s hopes were dashed in an instant.
[You domesticated fools—where do you think you’re going!]
Kim Taek-su charged forward alone and beat every last one of the Awakened ones to death with nothing but his bare fists.
@Gray_n665 : What? Kim Taek-su is that strong?
@DoReMi_k222 : I heard he was a mid-layer Awakened, but….
@Castellan_w36 : Isn’t this basically on par with a Class 3 most-wanted criminal?
Even the viewers watching the broadcast were stunned by Kim Taek-su’s overwhelming power.
[Listen well! My subordinates are currently occupying the department store! If something like this happens again, I cannot guarantee the hostages will survive!]
Kim Taek-su screamed, his face splattered with blood.
Mincheol let out a heavy sigh.
All the Awakened ones who’d received the emergency Quest were completely wiped out.
The Gakgwon-hyeop now held hostages and was making threats.
There was no way to expect outside help in this situation.
From now on, I had to step in directly.
The problem was how to keep my identity hidden.
“So what do we do now?”
-Hmm….
-Well….
The two of them didn’t seem to have any particularly clever solutions either.
That’s when it happened.
“What did this kid do wrong?!”
A shout rang out from the direction where people had gathered.
The problem was that the voice was far too familiar to Mincheol.
Mincheol rushed to peer outside.
There stood my Mother, clutching a small child in her arms.
“What’s this woman babbling about? Are you telling me to ignore that brat’s whining?”
“It’s natural for a child to cry when they’re scared!”
“Has this woman lost her mind!”
The man grabbed my Mother by the hair.
The instant that scene burned into my eyes, my mind went completely white.
Crack.
Blood trickled down from the corner of my mouth.
I had bitten my tongue hard to regain my senses.
‘Kim Min-chul, think rationally.’
Subduing the Gakgwon-hyeop wouldn’t be difficult.
The problem was that if I openly displayed my power, the odds of my identity being exposed were dangerously high.
Even if I concealed that I was the Butcher, it wouldn’t matter.
An Awakened who had never joined a Guild and never shown their face suddenly appears and performs heroically?
There was no way they’d let such a suspicious figure slide.
I didn’t want to leave any traces of myself in reality, no matter what.
‘There has to be a way… there has to be.’
Suddenly, a single thought flashed through my mind.
‘…An Emergency Quest!’
Awakened who receive an Emergency Quest are summoned to the incident site.
It wouldn’t be strange for anyone to appear.
If I pretended to have appeared after receiving an Emergency Quest, I could hide my identity and deal with the robbers.
I opened my Inventory and equipped my gear.
‘If I burst out of the Restroom directly, the CCTV will catch everything.’
I wrapped the Cloak of Obscurity around myself.
Using my concealment skill, I rushed toward the enemies.
“Strangle that brat’s neck, kick him, do whatever it takes to shut him up!”
The man aimed his gun. My Mother’s face turned deathly pale.
I couldn’t delay any longer. I tore off the Cloak of Obscurity.
“Those claiming to fight for Awakened rights, yet resorting to such pathetic tactics against ordinary people.”
At my sudden appearance, all eyes turned toward me.
The moment the Gakgwon-hyeop Awakened saw me, their brows furrowed sharply.
“What is that? How did they get in here?”
“An Emergency Quest? No, even with an Emergency Quest, they wouldn’t be summoned this close, would they?”
“Wait, isn’t that the Butcher?”
At that moment, one of the Awakened recognized me.
At that sound, every member of the Awakener Rights Association’s face went rigid.
“Damn it, the Butcher! The Butcher appeared on an emergency Quest!”
“Kill him! Damn it, kill him!”
An Awakened standing directly ahead leveled his gun at Mincheol.
No matter how skilled Mincheol was, dodging bullets was impossible.
But evading the barrel itself was entirely possible.
Whoosh—
Mincheol moved in a dizzying blur, slipping away from the gun’s trajectory.
“Huh?”
The man panicked, swinging the barrel frantically left and right.
But he could only chase Mincheol’s shadow.
In a flash, Mincheol closed the distance, seized the gun, and wrenched it upward.
Shock flooded the faces of the Awakener Rights Association members.
“What, how is he this fast—”
I drove my elbow hard into his torso.
His solar plexus caved inward as the man flew backward.
“Damn it!”
Another Awakener Rights Association member pulled the trigger.
The barrel erupted in flame, bullets pouring out in a torrent.
【’Dark Horn Bullet Form’ activates.】
【Consuming 140 mana.】
But I had already launched myself toward the ceiling.
Pushing off the ceiling, I descended diagonally and stomped on the man’s head.
Crash—
His head slammed into the ground. From the way his limbs trembled, he was unconscious.
“Don’t just stand there! Grab the hostages!”
A man beside Mother shouted.
At his command, the Awakener Rights Association members lunged desperately toward the civilians.
In that instant, a thin, sharp metal rod materialized in my hand.
I summoned the needle-shaped shuriken stored in the Miraculous All-Purpose Gloves.
【’Kaela Marbenia’ activates.】
【Consuming 210 mana.】
【Please designate an item from your Inventory.】
The world lurched into sluggish motion.
My eyes darted rapidly, pinpointing every enemy position.
A cascade of throws.
Six shuriken pierced through the enemies’ bodies.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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