Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Chapter 7: Murderer (7)
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I neither affirmed nor denied it.
But my actions had already given my answer.
My overall skill was clearly superior.
However, there was one drawback that rendered all those advantages meaningless.
I had never killed anyone before.
‘Damn it.’
There had definitely been chances to strike at his neck and heart.
Yet right before landing the finishing blow, my movements froze.
In an area I wasn’t consciously aware of, it happened naturally, as if it were the most obvious thing.
Han Chang-sik didn’t miss those openings and slipped away every time.
And after it happened twice, he caught on.
‘I didn’t realize it was this bad.’
I knew I was more sensitive to death than the average person.
It was probably trauma from when my parents passed away.
I hadn’t overcome it—I had just gritted my teeth, stood back up, and buried it deep.
That explained my sharp reaction when John tried to kill Ethan.
Why I felt sick when I learned through the community that people were dying.
Why my body moved on its own when I thought Nam-gyu might die in front of a gun barrel.
Why I hesitated when the bounty mission popped up.
Why I grimaced at the sight of corpses when I first arrived here.
The truth was, I was hypersensitive to death.
‘If it had been a monster, none of this would’ve happened.’
It seemed my triggers were limited to ‘human deaths.’
Even in kill-or-be-killed situations against monsters, their deaths didn’t faze me much.
At most, it was just wariness toward the unfamiliar.
In fact, I hadn’t hesitated when massacring those monster spawns.
But Han Chang-sik was different. No matter that he was a villain and a murderer, he was undeniably human.
That fact was unconsciously putting the brakes on me.
A complicated feeling settled in.
That was when Han Chang-sik, having pinpointed my weakness, charged first.
“Tch.”
I immediately thrust my spear to keep him at bay.
But Han Chang-sik twisted his body, dodging the spear aimed at his chest.
I capitalized on the spear’s design, hooking the left blade around his neck and yanking.
It was the perfect opportunity to slice his throat like a sickle cutting rice roots.
Yet my hand froze again.
Han Chang-sik quickly bent at the waist and pulled back.
As I gritted my teeth, he closed in.
Thud, thud-thud.
In a single breath, we exchanged seven blows.
The moment my weapon switched to a dagger, we traded strikes up close, each targeting vital points.
To a normal person’s eyes, it probably wouldn’t even look like our hands were moving.
The close-quarters combat grew fiercer, and my expression twisted more with each exchange.
‘Damn it.’
Compared to our first clash, Han Chang-sik’s reaction speed had improved.
He was adapting to that body.
I couldn’t give him more time to get used to it.
Gritting my teeth, I gripped the dagger in reverse for an effective slash.
A red line appeared on Han Chang-sik’s jaw as he leaned back.
At the same time, another skill stone shattered in his hand.
Unsure what skill he’d use, I decided to pull back first.
“You……!”
But vines sprouting from my feet snagged my ankle, making my retreat pointless.
I jumped backward to widen the gap, but it was useless.
The vines grew faster than I could react, wrapping my legs and climbing my body.
Before I knew it, my limbs were bound.
Han Chang-sik, who had chased after using the skill stone, was swinging his sword down.
In a span too short for a normal person to perceive, multiple things happened at once.
「Sensory Expansion activates.」
The sword descending to bisect me slowed.
The muscles in my vine-bound body swelled taut.
Sparks erupted from me, and just before arriving here, the barrier I’d practiced formed around me at its smallest size.
Boom!
With a deafening crash, Han Chang-sik’s sword clashed against the barrier.
“Grah!”
He convulsed violently, as if electrocuted.
I’d poured every last bit of my attribute mana into the barrier’s mana.
Using attribute mana on the barrier’s structure coats the translucent wall with my lightning attribute.
I’d come up with this application while pondering the skill.
It allowed simultaneous defense and offense.
‘But I can’t use it often.’
My mana and attribute mana were too low for free use.
‘At full capacity, maybe three times max.’
Even that was by minimizing the barrier’s area to conserve mana.
Pairing it with other skills would reduce it further.
I’d already used plenty of mana in this fight.
The barrier had just depleted my attribute mana.
‘I have to end this.’
Forcing my arms apart, the lightning-charred vines crumbled away.
Before Han Chang-sik could recover, I stepped forward.
Scraaape!
The longsword gouged the ground, tracing a diagonal upward slash.
Out of habit, my body nearly froze just before the blade reached him.
‘Don’t hesitate.’
In my slowed perception, I recalled the corpses strewn at Han Chang-sik’s feet.
If I stopped here, one of those could become someone precious to me.
Whipping myself onward, finally.
‘Don’t weaken now, Kang Hyun-woo!’
For the first time since this game began, I bathed in red blood.
* * *
Before the masked man appeared, Han Chang-sik had been massacring the squad members. His end was pathetic.
From his left shoulder to his head, Han Chang-sik’s body was cleaved clean through. It floated briefly in the air before thudding to the ground.
The space, filled with noise until moments ago, fell silent.
The entire scene was live-streamed to the situation room via the squad’s body cams.
“Target… k-killed. Situation… terminated.”
Second Lieutenant Yu Min-hoon, the highest-ranking survivor, reported in a choked voice.
He struggled to steady his trembling gun barrel.
‘I couldn’t… see it.’
The masked man’s swing had been invisible.
And it wasn’t just that once.
The two so-called Players had shown inhuman movements throughout.
Yu Min-hoon had lost sight of them multiple times during their clashes.
It defied human limits.
On top of that—fire, ice, vines, and now threatening sparks.
Faces of comrades burned alive in massive fireballs flickered in his mind.
Just then, the mysterious man who killed Han Chang-sik staggered.
“Urk.”
Hearing the faint groan, Yu Min-hoon lowered his gun slightly and watched him.
The man shuddered as if suppressing pain.
But after a brief moment, he exhaled a long breath as the pain faded and straightened up.
The man, drenched in the blood from Han Chang-sik’s severed body and head.
He turned to the surviving squad members.
Someone gulped loudly, the sound booming like thunder.
Followed by the stranger’s casual voice.
“Can you connect me to Team Leader Yang Jo-cheol?”
Yu Min-hoon responded swiftly.
“Yes, we’re linked to the situation room right now.”
The man beckoned with a hand at the tense reply.
Yu Min-hoon licked his parched lips and approached, handing over his earpiece and the mic clipped inside his bulletproof vest.
The man took them, sighed deeply, and spoke.
“Did you see what Players are like?”
The response came from the earpiece he hadn’t handed over.
『…Yes.』
It was Yang Jo-cheol, the operation’s commander.
“You admit these people survived because I stepped in?”
『…Yes.』
“Whew.”
The man’s voice grew slightly hoarse as he swept back his blood-soaked mask.
“Then, as payment for their lives, cover up the Gwanak-gu incident. No casualties, right? The kid acted impulsively, wanting to live a little—please handle it.”
『…We’ll take measures. Thank you for saving the squad.』
“Thank you. And what I say next isn’t a request—it’s a warning.”
A heavy silence began on the other end.
“What you just saw? That’s the level of Players who’ve cleared 1- or 2-level missions. Know how many mission levels there are?”
『Ten basic ones, plus unmeasured missions on top, I’ve heard.』
“Good, no need to explain. From now on, don’t directly intervene in Player-related incidents.”
He added chillingly: you’ll just die pointless deaths.
“Your role in this insane game is simple.”
The man spoke flatly to the silent Yang Jo-cheol.
“Use public authority to monitor Players so they don’t wreak havoc in society, and cooperate to keep them from disrupting the existing order. That’s it.”
『…….』
“Unless you’re dropping bombs, contact me through the community if something like this happens again.”
『…Understood. Who should we look for in the community?』
After a brief pause, the man replied.
“K—that’s my code name.”
『Ah… I’ll remember.』
“The Gwanak-gu kid who caused the incident is friended with me, so reach out through him.”
A heavy sigh escaped him.
“Name’s Im Nam-gyu, twelve years old, Bongum Elementary School, fifth grade class three, address in Gwanak-gu…”
His voice reciting the child’s address was unnaturally flat.
It felt deliberately fabricated.
Somehow unsettling, Yu Min-hoon swallowed dryly.
“He’s currently at Han-yul Motel in Guro-gu. I’ll have him come outside—pick him up.”
『Yes, sending agents right away.』
“And.”
The man blinked, his gaze turning icy for an instant.
“Don’t dig into me. Do that, and you’ll see me rampage like the bastard I just killed.”
With that, he ripped off the earpiece and mic, and his figure faded away.
* * *
Buying that barrier was truly a godsend.
Without it, I’d have died the moment the vines got me.
But I didn’t die—Han Chang-sik did.
My best efforts paid off again.
Yet, unlike the thrill from my first 2-level monster kill, no shiver came.
Instead, my body felt limp.
After warning Yang Jo-cheol about Players and leaving, my memories blurred.
When I came to, I was blankly staring at my apartment door.
No idea how I got here.
Glancing down unconsciously, I saw my blood-reddened hands.
Han Chang-sik’s blood had left stubborn traces.
My heart sank imagining I’d crossed central Seoul like this, but luckily, I’d enveloped my body in mana.
I’d been using invisibility.
‘Even in this state, I kept it up.’
I tried laughing it off to shake the turmoil, but it didn’t help.
If anything, it backfired.
“Fuck…….”
Staring at the dried blood, my hands began to shake.
Visions of Han Chang-sik’s head rolling on the ground flooded back.
The tactile feedback at my fingertips as the blade cut through living flesh.
The sound as it softly severed what should’ve been solid bone.
The direction the blood sprayed when his heavy, blood-soaked shoulder and head hit the floor.
Everything was vividly etched.
My breathing grew ragged, sensations distancing.
“Hah, hah.”
I knew what this meant.
I’d been through it before, around my parents’ death.
Heart racing at the sight of cars, hallucinations of intact vehicles crashing and exploding on the road.
PTSD—post-traumatic stress disorder—from watching hit-and-run CCTV footage at the station.
Seo Jong-hoon’s private diagnosis after examining me.
Back then, loss, despair, and shock entangled, making even car shadows unbearable.
The car had triggered memories of my parents’ accident and absence.
Now, the trigger was human blood.
This blood was dredging up memories I wanted to forget.
‘I killed a person.’
Feeling my throat tighten, I gasped for air desperately.
‘Stop it.’
Freaking out now wouldn’t change anything.
Killing Han Chang-sik was the best choice. If I went back to that moment, I’d do it again.
Better me become a murderer than my loved ones dragged into this game and die.
Repeating it like a mantra eased my breathing slightly.
Stumbling out of the apartment building.
Hoo, hoo.
I consciously exhaled long breaths.
Ducking into a narrow alley, I roughly pulled off the mask.
Dried blood flaked off like powder.
Stowing the mask in my inventory, I pulled out my phone.
It rang briefly before being answered.
『What?』
It was Jae-hyuk.
“Where are you?”
I couldn’t help my voice trembling slightly.
『…Home, obviously. What time is it? Why aren’t you sleeping? Don’t you have work tomorrow?』
“What about your dad?”
『He got an emergency call and left earlier. Did something happen…?』
“Then lend me some clothes.”
『Huh?』
No time to explain to the questioning guy.
“Be out front in about twenty minutes.”
I said only what was needed and hung up.
Goddamn System
