Chapter 109
Chapter 109
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 109
Chapter Title: Belated Revenge
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‘I should have realized it back when Hwang So-wook let Shin So-hee stay by my side.’
But he had realized that fact far too late.
To be more precise.
‘I trusted her.’
He had trusted Shin So-hee.
No, he had wanted to trust her.
Back then, by Kang Hyun-soo’s side.
‘There was no one else but Shin So-hee.’
The others.
‘They were all dead.’
But that wasn’t the case now.
‘There’s Song Hana and Throwing Emperor.’
On top of that, though he had half-deceived him.
He had made Ivan Yamelikonen, his one and only friend before regression, into a subordinate.
And others as well, though their relationships were formed based on mutual gains and losses.
Golden Lord Saemaal, Dark King Cecilia, and Demon-Slaying Spear King Jin Gu-pyeong were by Kang Hyun-soo’s side.
‘Is Jin Gu-pyeong really one of them?’
A chuckle escaped Kang Hyun-soo’s lips without him realizing it.
‘I’m not alone anymore.’
He now had plenty of comrades and subordinates who would stand by his side forever.
‘Well, finding satisfaction in something like this means I’m not exactly normal either.’
The painful experiences before his regression had mentally toughened Kang Hyun-soo.
But they had also worn down his spirit in equal measure.
Especially a deep distrust of others that had burrowed deep into his heart.
‘This is enough.’
Even if their bonds were a mess.
Having gained people who would never betray him.
Kang Hyun-soo was satisfied.
However, Kang Hyun-soo didn’t know.
To Song Hana, Throwing Emperor, and the others.
Kang Hyun-soo was their lifesaver.
And a lifeline from the heavens in their moment of despair.
Even without the commander appointment.
They would have remained his friends and comrades.
The commander appointment itself.
From their perspective, it was simply a fair trade of what each needed.
Not something forced through threats or coercion.
Even if Kang Hyun-soo had taken advantage of the situation.
The choice had been theirs alone.
And they were the type to take responsibility for their own decisions.
Moreover.
Though Kang Hyun-soo himself was unaware.
In meeting Song Hana, Throwing Emperor, and the others.
The wounds etched in his heart were slowly healing.
If time continued to pass like this?
Scars would remain, no doubt.
But the wounds in his heart would fully heal.
“Um… did I do something wrong by any chance?”
Kwak Dong-su, the tanker from Balhae Guild, spoke to Kang Hyun-soo again, who had been silent.
“No, it’s nothing. But there’s something I want to show you. Could you spare a moment?”
At Kang Hyun-soo’s words, Kwak Dong-su nodded.
From Kwak Dong-su’s perspective, Kang Hyun-soo was his lifesaver.
Granting a small request like this was only natural.
“Then let’s go.”
Kang Hyun-soo took the lead.
The Balhae Guild players followed behind him.
On top of that.
‘They’re following after all.’
Mid-sized guild players who had been watching out of curiosity now trailed behind Kang Hyun-soo and the Balhae Guild players as well.
“Where is this?”
The expressions of the Balhae Guild players hardened as they followed Kang Hyun-soo.
They realized they were heading into a hunting ground under Goryeo Guild’s influence, where the battle had just taken place.
“Isn’t that guy from Goryeo Guild?”
“Don’t talk nonsense. Then why would he kill his own guild members?”
“To lure us in?”
“If that were the case, he would’ve killed us right there.”
The Balhae Guild players whispered among themselves.
But they couldn’t stop their feet.
They had no choice to begin with.
This was a hunting ground.
A world of the law of the jungle with minimal laws or order.
From their position, they couldn’t defy the strong one, Kang Hyun-soo, even to survive.
“Everyone, quiet down. We owe our lives to him. Have you already forgotten that?”
At Kwak Dong-su’s words, the Balhae Guild players shut their mouths.
Not because they recalled owing their lives to Kang Hyun-soo.
But because they remembered his overwhelming power that had swept away the Goryeo Guild players in an instant.
A short while later.
Kang Hyun-soo spotted Song Hana and Throwing Emperor.
“Over here!”
Song Hana waved her hand.
“You’re here?”
Throwing Emperor smiled and welcomed Kang Hyun-soo.
“Yeah.”
After a short reply, Kang Hyun-soo checked the faces of the Goryeo Guild players with Song Hana and Throwing Emperor.
‘As expected.’
Their faces.
Were identical to those of the Goryeo Guild players who had just died by his hand.
“What the hell?”
“Why are those guys alive?”
The Balhae Guild players jumped in shock.
It was only natural—they had just seen the Goryeo Guild players die right before their eyes, only for them to be perfectly fine now.
The Goryeo Guild players were just as shocked.
“What in the world is going on?”
“We were clearly attacking and got killed by those guys?”
As the Balhae Guild and Goryeo Guild players fell into confusion.
Kwak Dong-su’s face filled with horror.
For one simple reason.
“That’s me!”
The doppelganger that Song Hana and Throwing Emperor had captured alive had Kwak Dong-su’s exact face.
It wasn’t just the face.
Height, build, even the hairstyle—everything was identical.
“Brother Dong-su has a twin?”
“Not twins, but what is this?”
“Even twins wouldn’t look this identical.”
Players from Balhae Guild and Goryeo Guild alternated stares between Kwak Dong-su and the doppelganger in bewilderment.
That was when Kang Hyun-soo stepped forward.
“These guys are doppelgangers, a type of demon race. They perfectly mimic a player’s appearance. They can even imitate skills to a superficial degree.”
“So the ones who attacked our party were demons?”
“Why the hell would they do this?”
“Why? To pit us against Balhae Guild, obviously.”
The Balhae Guild and Goryeo Guild players weren’t fools.
They quickly grasped the doppelganger’s objective.
“There’s a simple way to distinguish doppelgangers.”
With those words from Kang Hyun-soo.
Slash!
He made a small cut on the doppelganger’s arm.
Drip! Drip!
Red blood fell to the ground.
Ting!
When Kang Hyun-soo dropped a silver coin into the pooling blood.
Sizzle!
The silver coin melted away.
“Doppelganger blood is toxic. That’s why silver can easily tell them apart.”
“What if you tampered with the silver coin?”
One Goryeo Guild player raised an objection to Kang Hyun-soo with a suspicious look.
At the same time.
“Yeah!”
“Doppelganger? Mimicking not just appearances but skills perfectly? No way that’s possible!”
“The blood is toxic enough to melt silver, but the grass on the ground is fine!”
“He definitely tampered with the silver coin!”
“The guys hiding their faces and refusing to reveal who they are—how can we trust them!”
Some of the mid-sized guild spectators sided with the objecting Goryeo Guild player and treated Kang Hyun-soo like a con artist.
At being called a con artist, a face.
‘Found you.’
Bright smile bloomed on Kang Hyun-soo’s face.
‘There could be doppelgangers among the Balhae Guild or Goryeo Guild players too.’
And among the spectators as well.
But pinpointing them exactly was difficult.
‘If they step forward like this, it makes things easier.’
For now, the ones raising objections were the prime suspects.
‘I’ll uproot them completely.’
Exposing and executing the objectors right here by testing their blood or saliva would be easy.
But.
‘That would only catch the ones here.’
If he let them go with a tail on them, though?
‘They’ll definitely make contact with the other doppelgangers.’
Doppelgangers were demons with human-level intelligence.
‘They all belong to one organization.’
All doppelgangers that had crossed into the Atlantis dimension.
Moved under the orders of their leader, the demonic noble doppelganger.
Their identity exposed.
The fatal weakness of being distinguishable by silver.
‘They have no choice but to report this to their superiors.’
Rumors would spread anyway.
But they couldn’t withhold such crucial information from their superiors.
‘They’ll have to report about me, the one who exposed their identity, too.’
Kang Hyun-soo issued orders through his brigade composition to summon humanoid summons and have them tail the players who had just raised objections.
“Take off your helmet and reveal your identity, and I’ll believe you.”
The Goryeo Guild player who had objected demanded Kang Hyun-soo reveal himself.
‘This one’s definite.’
Kang Hyun-soo’s group had donned full armor and face-concealing helmets the moment they arrived at the hunting ground.
To avoid unnecessarily revealing their identities.
Yet here was someone demanding he reveal a deliberately hidden identity?
The only ones who would benefit from that.
‘Are the doppelgangers.’
In simple terms.
“Yeah! Reveal your identity!”
“We can’t trust someone whose face we haven’t seen!”
Those echoing his words were highly likely doppelgangers too.
“I can’t remove the helmet.”
“Then we can’t…”
“But I can reveal our identity. We’re the Dark Knights.”
As soon as Kang Hyun-soo finished speaking.
“Dark Knights?”
“The ones who made a big splash in Muran Kingdom?”
“Didn’t the Dark Knights never operate in Terra Kingdom?”
Murmurs erupted.
“That makes it even harder to trust. How can we believe words from people of the enemy nation, Muran Kingdom?”
The objecting Goryeo Guild player kept pressing.
“I’m not from Muran Kingdom?”
“Then show your seal to prove your identity.”
‘They’re thrashing about.’
Showing the seal would reveal nationality and name.
Not huge information.
‘But they want even that minor detail.’
He had planned to let all the suspected doppelgangers here go for now.
‘But no need for all of them.’
Catching just this one right here wouldn’t cause issues.
‘Plus, it might give the major guilds a healthy dose of tension.’
Whoosh!
Kang Hyun-soo lightly swung his sword.
Slash!
A red line bloomed across the chest of the objecting Goryeo Guild player.
Splurt!
Red blood sprayed out like a fountain.
“What the—!”
“Party leader!”
The shocked Goryeo Guild players pointed their swords at Kang Hyun-soo.
Ting!
At that moment, Kang Hyun-soo flicked a silver coin with his finger into the blood.
Sizzle!
The silver coin, covered in red blood, melted in an instant.
“So you were a doppelganger after all.”
At Kang Hyun-soo’s words.
“Our party leader is a doppelganger?”
“No way!”
The Goryeo Guild players panicked greatly.
“Eek!”
With its identity exposed, the doppelganger disguised as a Goryeo Guild player attempted to flee.
But.
Slash!
Thud!
Without Kang Hyun-soo needing to act, Song Hana’s sword severed its right leg.
And Throwing Emperor’s kick crushed the bones and joints of its remaining left leg.
“If you suspect someone, toss a silver coin you have into their blood.”
At Kang Hyun-soo’s words, Kwak Dong-su was the first to step up and drop a silver coin into the blood puddle.
Sizzle!
The silver coin melted.
“It’s real!”
Kwak Dong-su was greatly shocked.
Then the others followed one by one, tossing in their own silver coins.
The results were the same.
“We need to report this to the guild master as soon as possible.”
At Kwak Dong-su’s words, the other Balhae Guild players nodded.
“We should report this to our guild master too.”
The Goryeo Guild players also recognized the severity of the situation.
Their party leader was a doppelganger?
An unimaginable outcome.