Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: A Game Prepared for You (1)
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“......”
Shin Jong-oh slowly opened his eyes.
Throb!
Pain shot through his entire body.
A quick check revealed no part of him left unscathed.
Well, how could it be otherwise?
He’d been beaten half to death with a golf club.
He couldn’t fathom why a tool meant for hitting golf balls was being used to club a person.
“......Fuck.”
A curse slipped out on its own.
His hands trembled.
Had he ever been beaten like this by anyone in his life?
And it was his first time getting hit.
By his grandfather, of all people.
“Pfft.”
A laugh suddenly bubbled up.
“Pfft, hahaha!”
A raspy sound leaked from between his lips.
Shin Jong-oh outright slammed his head on the ground and shook with laughter, shoulders heaving.
‘Fucking old bastard.’
Chairman Shin Joo-yong had truly erased him from the family registry.
Not content with that, he’d stripped away every asset owned by the company.
The place where he’d woken was clearly a deserted alley.
Cigarette butts littered the street, and the air reeked of foul sewage next to a garbage dump.
The implication was simple.
From chaebol third generation to neighborhood beggar.
An unbelievable fall.
“It’s all that bastard’s fault.”
Grind!
Shin Jong-oh gnashed his teeth.
“Joo Dong-hoon, that fucker.”
At first, he’d only meant to teach him his place.
‘Ranker Gi So-yul might be interested in you, but that doesn’t mean you’re hot shit.’
‘You’re all destined to grovel like dogs under privileged people like me.’
‘Defy that fate, and you’ll just make things harder for yourself.’
That was how the world worked, and he’d only wanted to remind him of it.
But.
The guy had pushed back hard.
He’d cleanly ignored the invitation to come see him and brazenly opened his own workshop.
‘Workshop, my ass.’
At first, he’d laughed it off, of course.
Workshops were the kind of business even conglomerates failed at.
But Joo Dong-hoon was different.
He had some business savvy and talent to boot.
Despite constant interference, he’d clawed his way up.
And then.
‘You can make S-rank weapons?’
That had genuinely startled him.
He’d felt real anxiety that Demir Workshop might grow big.
So he’d ordered the hit.
Anyway, putting that aside.
“Truth is.”
Shin Jong-oh chewed his lip.
“All that fucker’s good at is making weapons. That’s it, right?”
In his mind, Joo Dong-hoon was just a lucky son of a bitch.
Everything he’d achieved was thanks to the rankers around him.
Even his grandfather ending up like that was ultimately because of the Berserker.
The assassination he’d ordered failing was all because of Gi So-yul.
Joo Dong-hoon himself hadn’t done a damn thing in any of it.
“Why the fuck can’t everyone just stay off that bastard’s side! Fuck!”
Shin Jong-oh bellowed as he staggered to his feet.
He absolutely couldn’t give up like this.
One of them had to die for this to end.
The guy’s combat ability was probably at B-rank producer level anyway.
If he could just shake off that Gi So-yul hovering around him, he could take him out somehow.
‘I’ll show him how terrifying a man with nothing left to lose can be.’
The moment Shin Jong-oh’s eyes filled with murderous intent.
“You’re here, Shin Jong-oh!”
A shout came from behind him.
“Hm?”
Turning his head, he saw what looked like a male high schooler in his late teens.
Shin Jong-oh tilted his head.
“......Who’re you.”
The face seemed familiar, but he couldn’t place it.
Didn’t seem like anyone memorable......
“You trash! You devil! You ruined people’s lives from the ground up, and you don’t even remember?”
“What the hell’s with this guy...... again.”
“Serves you right, you little shit! How’s it feel to have your life ruined? Get my position now?”
“What......?”
Shin Jong-oh’s irritation spiked instantly.
He was already pissed off at Joo Dong-hoon—what was this nobody he couldn’t even remember?
That’s what he was thinking when.
“Shin Jong-oh, so you were here.”
“Perfect timing, you son of a bitch. How’ve you been?”
“Hey, heard you got beat by your family and kicked out? Huh? No more chaebol status?”
“You look just like a stray now. Always boozing like an animal, and now you really are one. What now? No money or friends to protect you anymore?”
Thud thud thud.
People started pouring out from the alley one by one.
Some were civilians, others low-rank hunters.
One thing was clear: they were all people he’d bullied.
“W-what the hell. Suddenly. You fuckers.”
Shin Jong-oh backed away in panic.
Fine, they’d tracked him down somehow.
But how did they know already?
He’d been beaten just yesterday.
Were rumors really spreading this fast?
The gathered crowd’s eyes burned with rage.
One young man stepped forward.
“Remember? You rounded up your hunter buddies back then, locked my little brother in, and said what? This is a human-monster dungeon? Beat you all to survive, or die? My brother’s still lying in the hospital as a vegetable from the beating. You inhuman fuck. Just one question. Why the hell did you do it?”
“Huh? You too, mister? That happened to my friend as well.”
“Me too! Me too!”
“......”
Shin Jong-oh clenched his fists.
He knew exactly what they were talking about.
It was a kind of game, a role-play.
He and his underling hunters played monsters, the victims were hunters who’d stumbled into the dungeon.
Show some spirit and escape the crisis, and he’d even give a big prize.
‘It started as just a joke.’
But as it became routine, it had gotten harsher.
Truth be told, he’d originally called Joo Dong-hoon for that very game.
But.
“......So what?”
Shin Jong-oh muttered.
That’s what you all are anyway.
People who licked his boots for the money he tossed them.
Vulgar lowlifes with no pride or lives beyond chasing cash.
“What do you want me to do about it, you shits.”
He even puffed out his chest defiantly.
“You’re all the same, aren’t you? You hypocrites! The world’s always been like this—why bitch only at me? Straight up, the Berserker smashing buildings and ignoring the law is fine, but me ignoring the law and bullying you isn’t?”
“Crazy bastard.”
“......What kinda dogshit logic is that?”
Rather than intimidated, the victims looked disgusted by Shin Jong-oh’s brazen shout.
“Wanna curse some more?”
Glancing around, Shin Jong-oh snatched up a rusty pipe from the ground.
“Ever since hunters appeared, the world’s been about the strong taking all for a long time. If it pisses you off, get stronger yourselves.”
Whirr!
He infused the pipe with ‘ki.’
He was a C-rank hunter.
And none of the people he’d bullied were B-rank or higher.
Meaning no one here was stronger than him.
“Yeah, my life’s hit rock bottom. So what? You gonna do something about it? What, fight me? Pfft! Hilarious. What can a bunch of bugs like you do?”
Clang! Clang!
Shin Jong-oh slammed the pipe threateningly against the ground.
“So, who wants to get fucked up first, huh?”
And then.
His eyes locked on the young man at the front.
“Yeah, you first.”
Whoosh!
The moment Shin Jong-oh charged and swung the pipe.
“Tsk.”
A tongue-click echoed in his ear.
“Is this truly a world where humans live too? It’s been ages since I’ve seen evil comparable to the humans of our world.”
Clang!
A bone spear suddenly appeared, violently batting away the pipe.
“Urk!”
The heavy impact made Shin Jong-oh drop his weapon with a clatter.
His hand throbbed numbly.
“W-what? Who?”
Shin Jong-oh whipped his head around.
In his panicked vision was unmistakably......
A skeleton holding a spear.
When it came to skeletons, only one person came to mind.
Joo Dong-hoon.
‘Damn it!’
He spun to grab the fallen pipe, but.
Swoosh! Clang!
An arrow from afar knocked it far away.
“Erm, I sense a filthiness that can’t be purified even by ritual magic. Utterly unclean.”
“......What the hell’s that?”
Shin Jong-oh doubted his own eyes.
“A skeleton with a bow?”
What’s more, an archer so precise even his C-rank hunter eyes couldn’t track it.
And right before his eyes.
The man he loathed with every fiber of his being.
The culprit who’d reduced him to this state.
“Whew, first time seeing you like this, right?”
Joo Dong-hoon stood there.
* * *
“......Joo Dong-hoon.”
Shin Jong-oh ground his teeth, chewing over my name.
He looked furious.
Honestly, I felt a bit wronged.
He was the one who kept bullying me—why get mad at me?
“These things....... You gathered them all, didn’t you?”
Shin Jong-oh jabbed a finger at the victims.
“‘These things’? People aren’t objects.”
“Doesn’t matter, fuck off! These guys banding together is all your doing!”
“Hm, you know that already, so why ask?”
I grinned and shoved both hands in my pockets.
Sorry, but I planned to deal with him right here without moving a step.
That would be more than enough.
“I did a little digging, and your rap sheet’s impressive. Miracle you haven’t been caught. Posted on the boards looking for people to come along, and they swarmed like bees.”
“......You motherfucker, you think you can crawl in here......? Decided to die, huh?”
Whoosh!
Ditching the pipe, he lunged with a punch aimed at my face.
But.
‘Too slow.’
To me, training daily with the old man, his attack looked like slow motion.
Slap!
No need to go all out.
I just dodged slightly and backhanded his cheek with my right hand.
“Gah!”
Crash!
That alone sent him tumbling across the ground a couple times.
‘Oh.’
I didn’t even need the skeletons.
Turns out I’m pretty strong on my own?
Compared to my E-rank hunter days, it was like a dragon rising from a slum.
“Hey, your already puffy face swelled up even more.”
“Y-you fucker!”
“How dare you speak disrespectfully to the lord.”
Thwack!
This time, it was Taeyang-i’s spear.
Not stabbing with the tip, but a smack with the shaft.
Of course, its power was stronger than mine, not weaker.
“Gaaah! F-fuck!”
Rolling another turn, he writhed in agony before abruptly jumping up and turning tail.
He knew he couldn’t win and was bolting.
I chuckled.
“Just seconds ago you were cursing and charging, now you’re tucking tail? Pathetic. Truly pathetic.”
His frantic sprint toward the opposite end of the alley looked comical, almost pitiful.
Until now.
I’d wasted my precious time on a loser like him.
Was I still wasting it?
I’d meant to ignore him, but I couldn’t.
Forget future troubles.
The more I investigated, the clearer it became: he was the type you couldn’t just leave alone.
“Go on, run all you want.”
Of course, I didn’t budge an inch from the spot.
There were 55 skeletons scattered all around this place anyway.
“I prepared a game just for you.”
The game was only just beginning.