The Buffs I Raised Are Too Strong - Chapter 12

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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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Episode 12.
After the large-scale guild evaluation.
White Lotus was now marked by the Awakened Management Bureau.
The guild members couldn’t even preserve a shred of private life.
Baek Yul-heon, the guild leader himself, had to feel the shadow that followed him even when he stepped out of the house to run errands.
Baek Yul-heon carried no small burden of responsibility for this situation.
It wouldn’t have mattered if it were just him.
He couldn’t bear his guild members suffering alongside him.
‘I need some kind of card to play.’
Not everything, perhaps.
But something that could strip away at least one layer of suspicion.
‘For example… rescuing civilians or something like that.’
The most reliable method was a media play.
No matter how powerful the Awakened Management Bureau might be.
They couldn’t recklessly probe a guild that had captured the public’s attention.
“There’s got to be something good out there somewhere.”
If you left things alone too long, even a wound would fester.
Then.
Beep-beep-beep—!
“…Who could this be at this hour?”
An incoming call.
An uneasy premonition began to creep in.
‘Surely they’re not harassing me by calling at this hour…?’
For a moment he considered ignoring it.
But then he picked up his phone just to see who was calling.
And.
“So, So Hyuk!?”
His heart sank.
‘I almost ignored So Hyuk’s call…’
But what could So Hyuk need at this hour?
From what he’d heard from So Hyun, this should be the middle of his sleep.
‘Let me take it.’
Before things got worse, he pressed the answer button.
Then.
—Guild leader!!
“Geez, you startled me…”
An urgent voice.
He could even sense a slight tremor in it through the phone.
‘…This is an emergency.’
Something had happened to So Hyuk.
There was no other way to interpret it.
And that hunch proved correct.
So Hyuk came out with shocking news.
“What!? A t-terror attack?”
—Yes! There’s an Awakened person acting like they’ve lost their mind! They’re about two meters tall—a huge guy—and it looks like they’re using an Explosion Ability!
‘Explosion?’
Two meters. Explosion.
Baek Yul-heon’s mental roster of Awakened began to unfold.
‘A flame caster? No, if that were it, they would’ve said fire. A two-meter giant who wraps explosions around their body…’
“Ah.”
One person.
A face flashed through his mind.
Cold sweat began to bead on Baek Yul-heon’s forehead.
‘So Hyuk is in danger.’
If it was an Explosion-type Ability, the destructive power and lethality would be formidable.
If the person he was thinking of was indeed the culprit…
—I’m sorry to impose, but could you send any available guild member?
“I’ll send someone right away. Your sister’s at another location on guild business, so I can’t get her there, but I’ll send someone capable. Don’t worry.”
—Thank you!
“No, I have to go myself. Just keep your distance from that guy and stay hidden, So Hyuk. It should take me about fifteen minutes to get there.”
―1, 15 minutes?
“Might be a bit slow. I’ll send the fastest one we have, so stay sharp!”
Click.
The call dropped.
“Yu! Is Chae-rin at the guild right now? Get her here!”
Baek Yul-heon immediately dispatched one of his guild members.
‘Losing So Hyuk is not an option. Not now.’
Cold sweat beaded across Baek Yul-heon’s brow.
The Awakened terrorist attacks that had been declining recently—of all places, one had erupted at the mart where So Hyuk was shopping.
‘Chae-rin will arrive in time. So Hyuk said he’s safe, so it should be fine. He’s an Awakened, after all.’
“First things first. Stay calm.”
Haaah―
He steadied his racing heart with a deep breath.
This was no situation for emotion.
The mind must always stay cold.
A heated head loses even the prey laid before its eyes.
‘Use the situation.’
Look at it dispassionately, and what do you see?
The very crisis the guild had been hoping for.
Baek Yul-heon began to trace through the scenario methodically.
‘So Hyuk’s trust. The White Lotus’s achievement in preventing a major terrorist attack.’
“…Achievement?”
Bang!
As if struck by sudden inspiration, Baek Yul-heon slammed his palm against the desk and rose.
“We can do this… media play.”
* * *
The world moves slowly.
A cool wind sweeps across my skin.
Death hovers inches from my face.
A fist wreathed in flame.
Nearly as large as my head.
A direct hit means certain death.
“Ugh―!”
Boom!
By the narrowest margin I twist free and roll aside.
The boost to my physical capabilities is unmistakable.
‘Glad I made it in time…’
He’d closed the distance far faster than expected, and I nearly went down without ever activating an ability.
If his fist had grazed me, my face would’ve been obliterated.
That’s right―the ability.
The moment I provoked him.
I invoked the World Tree’s Authority and borrowed an ability.
The ability I borrowed belongs to Baek Yul-heon.
‘Wind Thunder Fist Technique.’
Honestly, I have no sense of what this ability does.
My sister’s ability requires a Great Sword.
Jeong Cheong-un’s Sensory Enhancement leaves him barely able to stand.
By process of elimination, it had to be Baek Yul-heon’s.
‘I got lucky.’
Physical enhancement.
Refined movement.
Those seem to be the extent of it so far.
To learn the details, I’d need to check my Status Window.
‘But I don’t have time for that…’
“What, you dodged?”
Crash.
Because I sidestepped, the massive brute tumbled forward into the wreckage.
He shoved through the burning debris and climbed to his feet.
Crack, crack-crack.
He cracked his knuckles, readying his stance.
“You…… you’re not an ordinary person, are you? An Awakened?”
“…….”
Without exciting the other party.
He retreated very slowly.
Even just being caught in the aftermath of an explosion would deal considerable damage.
“Why won’t you answer? Are you an Awakened?”
“…….”
He kept his mouth firmly shut.
There was no obligation to exchange words with a terrorist.
Once you began conversing with an opponent,
there was a risk of accidentally growing excited or losing focus.
Especially if the man was intoxicated by something, like that brute.
‘……Intoxicated?’
The brute resembled someone thoroughly drunk on alcohol.
Extremely worked up.
Eyes seeing nothing.
Even as he faced me now, his gaze looked past—
toward the children trapped beneath the rubble.
‘Are the children alright……?’
Damn it.
This was no time to worry about others.
He cast away every stray thought.
He had to focus solely on the opponent’s movements.
One moment’s lapse meant death.
“Boring bastard…… doesn’t matter. I decided to kill everyone in sight anyway.”
As I widened the distance,
the brute prepared to leap again.
“This time you won’t escape. I’m just going to fly at full speed and blow you apart.”
‘Full speed……?’
That wasn’t his fastest before?
Bang! Pop-pop-pop!
A volley of firecracker-like sounds erupted in succession.
Flashes and smoke began rising from the brute’s feet.
His shoes were reduced to rags by the continuous explosions.
‘Run? No, running won’t help—he’s far faster. Dodge like before? Can I even react to something faster than that?’
His mind raced.
He’d never fought once in his life, so it was inevitable.
‘I don’t know…….’
In the end, he neither moved
nor fled—instead taking his stance in that spot.
He didn’t even know what stance it was.
An unconscious movement.
Perhaps the doing of the Wind Thunder Fist Technique’s power.
Even with the correction granted by the ability,
the image of death grew steadily more vivid.
The brute seemed to have finished his preparations.
He stared at me with an unpleasant grin.
“Kheh…… get blown to pieces.”
And then,
Whoosh—!
‘Faster than the sound of explosion……!’
Crack—!
* * *
“15 minutes 36 seconds…… a bit late.”
At the entrance to the Mart.
A woman in dark clothes checked her wristwatch and clicked her tongue.
“Hell…… don’t tell me someone’s already dead?”
Hyun Chae-rin.
A combat-type guild member of the White Lotus.
A conqueror of the 39th floor.
She had come to the Mart at Baek Yul-heon’s request to capture an Awakened terrorist.
Time was already running short.
Without hesitation, she bolted through the entrance.
“Ugh… smoke…!”
Fire.
The entrance of the Mart was sealed off by a barrier of flames.
‘An Explosion Ability, then…’
With the entrance blocked like this,
it seemed safe to assume no one had escaped.
Unless there was a back exit.
“Of all things, an explosion… and the lethality must be disgustingly high too…”
There was no time to waste on complaints.
She immediately activated her Ability and began searching for the perpetrator.
“Acceleration.”
Whoosh—!
She began to run.
Everything around her whipped in the wind.
Where should she start? Such questions never crossed her mind.
The criminal’s trail of destruction lay plain before her.
‘Quite the spectacular rampage…’
Thankfully, no blood or bodies in sight yet.
But they were still near the entrance.
She couldn’t be sure those things weren’t waiting further inside.
‘It’ll be hard to avoid all deaths, but please… if only more than half survive…!’
Screeeech—!
As she tore through the Mart searching for the criminal,
something caught her eye.
“What is this…?”
Damage that bore no comparison to the entrance.
The Garden Section.
“Ugh… the smoke…!”
True to its name as a Garden Section,
living plants,
artificial flowers,
furniture and fixtures related to plants—
everything flammable was packed in here.
As a result, the Garden Section was engulfed in flames that could only be described as a major fire.
“Why did they rampage only here…?”
Against ordinary civilians,
it was hard to imagine an Awakened—much less one with such lethal power—would go this far.
A gentle explosion at close range would kill most people.
This was almost as if…
‘…signs of combat.’
Then,
“Waaaahhh…!”
“Sniff… Mom… Mommy…!”
‘Children…?’
The sudden sound of weeping reached her ears.
Had they heard her arrival in this place?
Either way, she ran toward the sound.
‘How are they even alive…?’
The question arose unbidden.
With damage of this scale,
how could small children have survived?
“Kids! Where are you!”
“Sniff… h-here…!”
She moved toward the source of the voice,
pushing through fire and debris.
And what she found was shocking.
“Huh?”
A hollow breath escaped her lips unbidden.
The scene unfolding before her eyes refused to feel real.
A large man sprawled unconscious on the ground.
Children huddled beneath a water-soaked blanket.
“Did you… did you two do this……?”
He stood nearly two meters tall.
By any measure, this man had to be the culprit.
And yet.
What in the world was he doing collapsed in a place like this?
The children hesitated for a moment before answering.
“It wasn’t us—the older brother who saved us knocked him down.”
“……An older brother?”
‘Another Awakened……?’
Just then.
Urgent footsteps echoing from somewhere distant.
“……!”
Hyun Chae-rin immediately shifted into combat stance.
There was only one person who would walk through this inferno of their own accord.
‘The one who brought down this man……!’
She examined the large man more closely.
There were almost no visible wounds.
His clothing hung in tatters from her own explosion, the damage obvious.
His shoes in particular.
‘This wasn’t even a proper fight.’
What stood out most was.
The vivid red mark starkly impressed on the man’s jaw.
‘One punch to the chin, and out cold.’
According to what Baek Yul-heon had told her.
This large man’s name was Kim Wi-gang.
She hadn’t had time for details, so she’d caught only the essentials.
An Awakened who had cleared the Tower up to the twentieth floor.
‘A level-twenty Awakened, defeated utterly…….’
Likely affiliated with a Guild.
Tap-tap-tap-tap!
The footsteps drew closer.
‘Now!’
“Kids! Are you okay!? I found a safe passage, so come on—huh?”
“Huh?”
A man burst through the flames.
The instant she saw him, Hyun Chae-rin dropped the Short Sword she’d been holding.
‘The priority target…… So Hyuk……?’
Why are you here?
My Buff Is Too Strong
Author |
Naengmyeon Hwachae
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Editor-in-Chief |
Editorial Department
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dreambooks
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Copyright © Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. / Dream Books. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of Dream Books.

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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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