Chapter 115
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Preparations for Shop Control
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A few days had passed since the Plunder skill was added.
Nothing special seemed to have happened in the meantime.
Every morning, I'd wake up, teach Seo-yoon how to control her demonic energy, and hold a briefing on the dungeons that So-hee and Ha Dong-seok had cleared while sweeping up nearby zombies the day before.
Thanks to that, we discovered there were surprisingly several dungeons around that we hadn't known about.
For starters, subway stations had a high chance of turning into dungeons, and on top of that, large buildings had transformed into them as well.
The Difficulty 1 dungeons in those places had been cleared by So-hee and Ha Dong-seok on their own, while the Difficulty 2 ones had taken both of them working together to barely clear.
As I expected, Difficulty 2 was the limit for those two's skills, and it turned out I was spot on.
I'd planned to personally hunt down and clear any Difficulty 3 dungeons nearby, but unfortunately, there weren't any around my base.
Higher-difficulty dungeons would probably require venturing farther out to find.
Since those two were working hard, I gave Ha Dong-seok some coins to share with his men to help them grow stronger.
I told So-hee to use coins to upgrade her skills and get stronger, but she said she'd handle that herself and to use them to pay off her current debt instead.
She said the fact that she owed me right now wasn't a good situation.
After hearing their morning reports, everyone scattered to handle their own tasks.
I roamed around, heading much farther from the base than usual to gather as much information as possible, taking down every zombie that crossed my path to collect coins and demonic energy along the way.
In the process, I confirmed that Joo Jae-geun—who I'd given a slight nudge—had properly taken over Yeouido.
I'd sicced the raiders on Yeouido to attack it, and the next day when I swung by for a quick look, I saw Joo Jae-geun leading his men to corner Park Seok-gyu and declare that he'd run Yeouido however he pleased.
"Wh-what is the meaning of this?!"
"What do you mean? It means 'Paradise' here is mine now. You're just the guy who makes supplies for us with your double skills. Do that well, and I'll keep treating you like I have been."
Park Seok-gyu scowled at Joo Jae-geun's words, looking like he wanted to say something, but he knew better than to challenge him without the strength for it—he didn't make a reckless move.
He probably knew full well what half-assed resistance might lead to right now.
All the armed forces in Yeouido had fallen under Joo Jae-geun's command.
Rebelling against him there would now get you executed on the spot without anyone batting an eye.
In other words, Joo Jae-geun's daughter, Joo Hye-ri's status had skyrocketed to the heavens.
She looked blissfully happy, lounging with handsome guys under her thumb like they were footstools.
One of them even seemed to be Park Seok-gyu's son—I saw her kicking him in the balls to torment him.
She looked like she owned the world.
That made my mood even better.
I wondered how it'd feel when she plummeted from that high straight down to rock bottom.
Of course, I told Seo-yoon about the whole situation.
"Joo Hye-ri's living like a total queen right now, you know? It's best to drag someone down when they're at their happiest—got it?"
"Yes, Master. I... I'll work really hard to master black magic as soon as possible."
"Good, that's the spirit. Once you're ready, we can move right away, so keep at it."
I didn't know the exact details of how Joo Hye-ri had tormented her in the past, but Seo-yoon's eyes showed just how massive her pent-up rage was—she wanted to return it tenfold.
Meanwhile, Guro Apartment had sent a signal that they needed my help.
Raiders attacking people had come for Guro Apartment, but unlike with the Haedong Faction, I'd designated it as an extra zone, so I teleported in and arrived right on time this go-around.
The timing was perfect: the raiders were just storming into the apartment to kill people. I swiftly slaughtered them all and ended the crisis.
The people there, seeing me appear out of nowhere via teleport, became even more convinced I was a messenger of God.
The best part? They offered up the coins they'd earned, saying it was to help God's messenger.
They just handed over coins without me lifting much of a finger—how great is that?
The amount wasn't huge, but if I left it alone, it'd add up nicely, so I had to keep a close eye to avoid repeating the Haedong Faction mistake.
As for Lee Kang-jin, who'd defected from Haedong to our base, I'd helped him get revenge on the raider who'd wiped out his group.
He'd begged me, saying he could never forget the bastard who'd slaughtered his family-like comrades in an instant, so I'd brought the guy I'd stashed away earlier right to him.
I told him to toy with the guy or kill him outright, whatever he wanted, and when I checked back the next day, he'd turned the man into a total wreck.
Not just pulling out nails and teeth raw—basic stuff—but peeling off patches of skin just enough to keep him alive, avoiding vitals to prolong the agony.
I could understand having a mind like that. It'd be weirder not to rage at the one who'd butchered your longtime comrades in a blink.
On top of that, Lee Kang-jin asked me to have Ye-jin heal him midway—to raise her skill proficiency.
No skin off my back, so I allowed it and told Ye-jin to patch him up partway so they could start over from scratch.
According to Ye-jin, it was pure madness; even standing nearby, he looked possessed by a demon—it terrified her.
She said she learned ways to inflict cruel pain on people that she never wanted to know.
But in the end, the guy died.
Ye-jin could heal physical wounds with her skills, but not mental ones, and he'd gone completely insane.
He couldn't even react properly to Lee Kang-jin's tortures anymore, so revenge lost its point. Lee Kang-jin finished him off.
After that, I told Lee Kang-jin and the women he'd brought to leave the base. I'd helped with his revenge as promised, and that was the end of what I could do for him.
To stay at my base, you had to prove you weren't dead weight, and with his current abilities, he couldn't. Sorry as I was for our past connection, it couldn't be helped.
Lee Kang-jin accepted my words and was about to leave to settle nearby, but the women who'd come with him stopped him.
They asked if there was nothing they could do for the man who'd protected them until now, so I told them to sell their bodies for Ha Dong-seok and his men if they wanted.
That was the only thing they could offer at this point.
I figured they'd take the hint and leave with him, but surprisingly, the women accepted.
They said repaying the debt they owed him meant they could do at least this much.
With that level of resolve, I had no choice but to take Lee Kang-jin and them in.
I put Lee Kang-jin under Ha Dong-seok to earn coins, and had the women satisfy the men's urges.
Of course, I didn't treat them like subhuman trash like other scum might. I set work hours so they could service from night till dawn, and let them live freely the rest of the time.
Days passed like this with various matters unfolding, and finally, that time arrived.
The shop opening day...
Last time, the zombie wave had kept me too busy to manage it properly, but this time, I planned to control the shops and rake in some coins.
The day before the shops opened, I gathered So-hee, Ha Dong-seok, and all his men and laid out my plan.
"What? You want to pull the same thing as last time?"
So-hee, who'd seen me control the shops before, frowned and spoke in a surprised tone.
"If that's what Jae-hwan wants, we'll do it."
Ha Dong-seok just nodded in agreement without question.
"But can we control it with just our strength? Regular folks might back off at the sight of guns, but... if someone with a unique skill shows up, it could be tough."
Ha Dong-seok looked at me anxiously. He probably figured if a monster like me popped up, shop control would be the least of their worries—their lives would be at stake.
"Don't worry about that. I've got it all figured out. You all just follow my orders and take control of every shop in the area."