The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1262

Super Ribbon stared blankly up at Shiverwock.

It rested its enormous dokkaebi club casually over its shoulder. Even at a glance, its build had become monstrous.

“U-Ummmm. Mister dokkaebi?”

Though Super Ribbon called out to it, it silently scanned the room with a deep scowl, its already fierce expression growing darker. “This place is a god-damned mess.”

It then walked toward Jin Ah-Reum, who had been moving like someone possessed just moments before. This time, it gripped the club with both hands and prepared to swing it again.

Park Seong-Yool and Kim Ah-Rin had already fainted. Bae Yoon-Seung was the only one still conscious, but barely. Even he looked dazed, apparently on the verge of fainting.

No one there could stop Shiverwock.

“Wait! Not Ah-Reum sunbae!” Super Ribbon, who had been standing still in shock, instinctively rushed forward. She hurried to stop Shiverwock, but its powerful grip didn’t falter.

“Step aside.”

Crack!!

The club came down on Jin Ah-Reum’s stomach with a sickening crash.

Crack!!

Then, something shocking happened. The club shimmered like an illusion and passed straight through her. Yet, it hit something nonetheless.

Sploosh!!

A pitch-black crow with unnaturally long, thread-like feathers abruptly burst out of her chest at what seemed like mach speed. It then slammed into the wall, crushed on impact.

“Not bad. Had some potential, that one.” Shiverwock glanced at the blob of black feathers and turned to Super Ribbon. “Why’d you even come to a place like this? That thing couldn’t harm you, but those humans? They’re a different story. That girl was nearly fully possessed. Practically done for.”

Hearing its cold and firm assessment, Super Ribbon cradled the unconscious Jin Ah-Reum in her arms. “Can you fix her condition?”

“Easy.” Club resting on its shoulder, Shiverwock grinned. “All I gotta do is beat the living hell out of everything here that’s pouring out ghost energy. Just leave those ones here and follow me. You’re under my protection, after all, so I’m not leaving you behind.”

Those ghosts were only terrifying because humans normally couldn’t do anything to them, and because they were mysterious beings.

They were notorious demonic spirits that possessed humans and, if left unchecked, could potentially kill them. Yet, Shiverwock took them down as casually as if it were going for a walk in the park.

“Technically, it’s bad manners to go stomping around in someone else’s territory... but who cares?” He suddenly picked Super Ribbon up with one hand.

“Kyah?!”

“Stop squirming. It’s annoying.”

* * *

The ghost energy emanating from the massive abandoned hospital was far beyond anything Super Ribbon had expected.

Shiverwock listened as Super Ribbon quickly explained the current situation.

“But weren’t you with us the whole time?”

“I was asleep. Dokkaebis, after all, are ghosts known for being heavy sleepers.”

Facing its ridiculous answer, Super Ribbon puffed out her cheeks in frustration.

From the start, Shiverwock had always been far too powerful to be dismissed as just a ghost. She had heard someone was assigned to guard her in place of Killer Rabbit, but she never imagined it’d be them.

“Still, the ghost energy here feels strange,” she added.

“Nothing strange about it,” it replied flatly, continuing to walk toward the corridor on the left that Bae Yoon-Seung had originally pointed out.

“Can ghost energy even be this dense? I know this is Earth, so it’s not like the spectral essences from Tionis, but still...”

“This place belongs to that thing. Seems like it’s been here long before this building was even constructed.”

“Hmmm.” Super Ribbon rubbed her chin thoughtfully, still not fully grasping what was going on. Then she mumbled, “But, Mister dokkaebi...”

“What is it now?”

Super Ribbon squinted her eyes, looking up at it. “I’m sorry, but... could you stop using me as a dumbbell?”

The massive dokkaebi, who had been casually lifting her up and down by the waist, suddenly paused. “Hmph. You’re too light. Eat more and put on some weight.”

“Sorry, but this body doesn’t change.”

“Tsk. That weak physique won’t do you any good.” It resumed using her for curls as it returned to the task at hand.

Super Ribbon let out a long sigh, visibly annoyed. “If you keep that up, I’ll tell my dad and have him cut you down.”

“Heh. Scary.” It suddenly noticed something. “Hm? Something’s here again.”

It stopped in front of a large restroom. Inside, there was a shower room for washing patients. Shockingly enough, there was something lurking inside.

It floated slightly off the ground, dangling as though it were hanging by the neck, clearly shaped like a human figure. Long black hair trailing to its knees, it wore a patient gown stained with blood.

Anyone else would’ve fainted on the spot.

Ssss.

As if it sensed Shiverwock’s presence, the floating ghost slowly began to turn. The way it slowly moved was the epitome of scary.

However, before it could even finish turning, Shiverwock had already set Super Ribbon down and grabbed its club.

When the ghost fully turned its eerie face to face them, its gaze locked onto Shiverwock. Its eyes then slowly widened.

It wasn’t supposed to be seen clearly, yet to Shiverwock, who was pretty much a ghost itself; and Super Ribbon, who was no different from a divine sword, it was as clear as day.

Crack!! Smash!!

[Ugh! Aaah!]

Shiverwock crushed the ghost in an instant, then picked Super Ribbon back up and resumed walking.

If guns or knives worked on ghosts, they wouldn’t be scary to begin with. They were terrifying because they were unknown and impossible to kill. However, its spiked club disregarded those rules like they didn’t exist.

“Wasn’t that a bit harsh?” Super Ribbon asked.

“If it dared to bare its ghost energy before the dokkaebi King, then it deserved to be crushed.”

In that sense, Shiverwock was brutally straightforward. From that point on, it kicked down every door they passed, unhesitatingly bashing every ghost that dared show itself.

“There’s a lot of them here. Oh, you’re at sixty now,” Super Ribbon casually commented.

“Time for a set break then. This place is so heavy with ghost energy, just the number of spirits buried in the basement alone must be in the hundreds.”

Super Ribbon, now fully resigned to being used like a dumbbell, didn’t even bother complaining anymore.

They eventually reached the basement after passing through the second and first floors.

“These little rats can hide as carefully as they like, but there’s no way they’ll be slipping past my legendary club of dokkaebi justice., Shiverwock arrogantly declared.

Super Ribbon started to get a little uncomfortable once they reached their destination. “This place feels so damp...”

“You’ll understand once we go in.”

The basement was in utter disarray, filled with shattered medical tools and debris. There was even graffiti covering the walls.

Compared to the second, third, and fourth floors, the basement radiated a different level of yin energy, despite there only being three rooms.

After putting Super Ribbon down, Shiverwock walked slowly toward the door directly in front of it.

Bam!!

It smashed the door with its thick leg and strode inside. The chilling cold immediately swept their feet.

“This is...” Super Ribbon wasn't sure how to describe what she saw.

“There it is.” Shiverwock pointed at something that hadn’t been there a moment before, having suddenly occupied the corner. A mass of incredibly long hair was spilling out of the wall like a swarm of crawling insects.

Ssssss.

As the eerie sound echoed, a slamming echoed wildly from behind.

Thud! Thud! Thud!!

Something pounded against the walls nonstop.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Water droplets fell as well.

Whatever controlled the room shook and dominated the space as if to unleash their rage.

Shiverwock just shoved a finger to pick at its own ear, bored.

“Hmm?” Super Ribbon didn't know how it was planning to handle the phenomenon.

“Wait here.” It walked slowly toward the corner where the hair flowed, saying, “So this is what you ran for? This?”

It stomped on the floor, and the room answered with the sound of something breaking.

“Get out!! You crazy monster! Get out of here!!” Two terrifying eyes blinked between the strands of hair spilling from the wall.

“Why is the fuckin’ Dokkaebi King here?! This shit is ridiculous! I won’t let this slide! I’ll kill everything! I’ll kill them all!!” Its crazed scream soaked with madness echoed through the room, and the pounding behind them grew louder.

Yet Shiverwock didn’t care. It simply lifted its club, casually telling Super Ribbon, “They probably have reasons to rage, but does that give them the right to challenge this king’s turf?”

Each time it acted, the ghost energy that saturated the hospital shuddered as if struck.

“This is my territory! My area! How dare a floating spirit roam intrude in my domain?!!”

“Bitch all you want, asshole!!”

Boom!!

The club, crackling with crimson lightning, smashed the wall once more.

“Aaaaargh!!!” Its blood-curdling scream echoed further. The shriek was terrifying enough to make anyone nearby cover their ears and hunch over, but Shiverwock kept swinging regardless.

Thump! Thump! Thump!!

It beat the walls again and again without mercy.

“This isn’t fair... Not fair!”

The black hair that had been enveloping the room began to disperse like powder. Some strands then tried to retreat back into the wall as if fleeing.

However, Shiverwock was there to stop them. “Where do you think you’re running to?”

It ripped great handfuls of hair with its brutal hands and pinned them down, then swung its club through the air.

Boom!!

It was a merciless beating. Brutal.

* * *

It took quite some time before the Travel Club members regained consciousness.

The first to stir was Bae Yoon-Seung. Groaning, he clutched his pounding head and staggered upright. “Ugh... Damn, my head...”

As he stumbled, he spotted Park Sung-Yool and Kim Ah-Rin slumped over like they’d fainted. His eyes widened. “Seong-Yool! Ah-Rin!!”

He rushed over, shaking them frantically. “God, what the hell is this mess?!”

Once they groaned awake, Yoon-Seung hurried over to Jin Ah-Reum. “Ah-Reum! Jin Ah-Reum! Wake up!”

“Ugh...” Holding her aching head, Jin Ah-Reum lifted her face with confusion. “Huh? Where... are we?”

“Where do you think, you idiot? We're in the abandoned hospital.”

“W-What?!” she shrieked.

“You got possessed, and we all came in here looking for you. What the hell were you thinking, wandering into this place? You're not a cat with nine lives.”

Hearing his explanation, Jin Ah-Reum trembled and clung to him, terrified. If anyone could be relied on when it came to ghosts, it was him. “Y-Yoon-Seung, I’m scared!”

“Enough. If you’re awake, get up. We need to find Hyun-Ji and get out, fast.”

They had been unconscious for quite a long while, though Yoon-Seung assumed it had only been a couple of minutes.

“Why are we even... Ugh!! Shit! Was I possessed just now?!” Sung-Yool shot up with a scream, glancing around wildly. The musty, foul stench triggered every survival instinct in his body. “W-We need to get out! Where’s Hyun-Ji?!”

“Super Ribbon! Shit, she’s gone too!” Ah-Rin woke next, screaming as she scrambled to her feet, “Yoon-Seung! You’re a shaman’s kid! Do something—”

“I told you, this isn’t a place I can handle!” He turned his head around, drenched in cold sweat. They had come for Jin Ah-Reum, yet now Hyun-Ji and Super Ribbon were missing. His nerves were stretched thin.

A clear, calm voice rang out. “Don’t worry, I found Hyun-Ji sunbae.”

Everyone turned to see Super Ribbon walking in from the ICU entrance.

“Super Ribbon!”

“Thank goodness you’re all safe,” she said with a sigh of relief.

“And... Hyun-Ji?” one of the club members cautiously asked.

“She’s right there.”

They looked where Super Ribbon pointed. Park Hyun-Ji was slumped unconscious against the wall.

“She was deep under possession. Any later and it would’ve been quite serious.”

Hearing that it was so dangerous, Bae Yoon-Seung hurriedly pulled rice from his bag and scattered it all over Hyun-Ji like holy water. “Begone, ghosts!!”

Only after throwing rice multiple times did he finally sigh in relief. “I swear, I just lost ten years off my life. If I ever come back here, may my name be damned.”

Ah-Rin, still shaken, nervously asked, “But... What about you, Super Ribbon? You’re okay?”

Super Ribbon nodded. “Yes. The dokkaebi took care of everything.”

“The... dokkaebi?”

Right then, a massive dokkaebi stepped out from behind her while carrying something, and looked down at the group.

“Humans are the problem,” was all it said. Then it hurled the pitch-black vinyl figure it was carrying onto the ground. It was shaped like a human body. “They were exposed to a curse so vile that it’d drive even devilish spirits insane. That’s why they rampaged so crazily.”

“U-Ugh.”

The sheer oppressive ghost energy made Bae Yoon-Seung groan in shock, while Sung-Yool and Ah-Rin could only stare at Shiverwock, speechless.

“A... A dokkaebi?!”

“Yes. My father sent it to guard me. It showed itself when things got too dangerous and helped out.”

It sounded absurd, but none of them pressed the issue. They were too exhausted to care.

“What the hell happened... and what is this thing?” Bae Yoon-Seung’s face hardened as he stared at the object Shiverwock had tossed.

Super Ribbon informed them, “We found it in the basement. According to Shiverwock, some human brought it here and performed a summoning ritual with it. That’s what enraged the spirit that ruled this place...”

“Because of that doll?” Ah-Rin’s trembling voice asked Super Ribbon as she looked at the grotesque figure.

Bae Yoon-Seung answered instead, “It’s a curse doll, and certainly not the work of an amateur. Whoever did this knew curses very well. Something like this is used to summon spirits and place a curse on someone. It’s pure evil.”

He pulled out a lighter without hesitation and glared at the doll. “Damn it. Gods of heaven and earth...”

Lighting one of his talismans, he pressed the burning charm to the doll’s belly.

Flames spread quickly, devouring the figure. He muttered prayers under his breath as the cursed object burned.

Once the doll had finally been reduced to ashes and the stench of charred fabric filled the air, he muttered with a tired face, “The ghost energy in the hospital... it’s all gone. But don’t tell me...”

“The dokkaebi beat the rest to death while it was at it...”

Hearing Super Ribbon’s awkward reply, he scanned the area with a hollow look. “Unbelievable. I’ve got nothing to say.”

The abandoned hospital, infamous among the spiritual and shamanic community, had been stripped clean of all taint. There wasn’t a single spirit left! Yet, the reason was disarmingly simple.

“Well, at least it’s settled, I guess... Let’s just get back. I’m so exhausted, I’ll probably need to sleep for days.”

The others, still dazed, murmured their agreement.

Just like that, Super Ribbon’s first trip with the Travel Club came to an abrupt end.