Chapter 143
Chapter 143
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 143
Chapter Title: Hell
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Hell
“This is a false accusation! I’m innocent!”
“I’m really wronged too! This is a frame job!”
Hwang So-uk and Shin So-hee raised their voices, protesting their innocence.
“There’s plenty of evidence and witnesses, so denying it won’t do you any good.”
But the investigator continued the interrogation with an expressionless face.
No matter how much the two insisted on their innocence.
With all the evidence fabricated by Kang Hyun-soo and the witnesses created by Doppelganger King Talisman, their claims of innocence had no effect.
As the investigation dragged on.
Hwang So-uk and Shin So-hee could only painfully realize that they were trapped in a snare they could never escape.
Then.
“It was all my doing. Shin So-hee is completely innocent.”
Suddenly, Hwang So-uk admitted to all the crimes and claimed Shin So-hee’s innocence.
What was even more surprising.
“Hmm, in that case, we’ll need a full reinvestigation on Shin So-hee.”
Was that the investigator accepted it.
‘Something’s off.’
Kang Hyun-soo had deployed doppelganger summons alongside the investigator to thoroughly monitor Hwang So-uk and Shin So-hee.
‘The investigator is Sword King Jang Seok-won’s subordinate.’
Sword King Jang Seok-won was under Kang Hyun-soo’s command.
In simple terms, this was no different from a trial with a predetermined outcome.
Yet in such a situation, the investigator suddenly decided on a full reinvestigation for Shin So-hee.
‘I need to check it out myself.’
Kang Hyun-soo summoned Sword King Jang Seok-won and entered the interrogation room together.
“Guild Master, what brings you here?”
The investigator asked Sword King Jang Seok-won with a puzzled expression.
“You’re dismissed.”
“Pardon? But the interrogation...”
“I said leave.”
“Ah, yes, sir.”
At Sword King Jang Seok-won’s words, the investigator left the room.
“Guild Master, I’m truly sorry! The truth is, it was all my doing! Everyone else, including Shin So-hee, was just used by me!”
“Tell that to the new investigator. We’ll investigate thoroughly again.”
Sword King Jang Seok-won said, patting Kang Hyun-soo’s shoulder.
“Yes, Guild Master.”
Kang Hyun-soo replied as if he were the new investigator.
“Alright then.”
Sword King Jang Seok-won exited.
Kang Hyun-soo recited the listed crimes from the documents while pretending to be the investigator, keeping an eye on Jang Seok-won and Shin So-hee.
‘Jang Seok-won is not the type to take the fall for someone else’s crimes.’
If anything, he’d pin his own crimes on Shin So-hee.
Yet here was Jang Seok-won.
‘Trying to take the blame for Shin So-hee’s crimes.’
On top of that, the investigator’s attitude had shifted dramatically.
‘There must be a reason.’
Kang Hyun-soo continued the interrogation with a calm expression.
At that moment.
[You have been targeted by the mental control skill Marionette.]
[You have perfectly resisted the mental control skill Marionette.]
A system message appeared before Kang Hyun-soo’s eyes.
“Marionette?”
As Kang Hyun-soo muttered, Shin So-hee’s face turned ashen.
‘She had a skill like this?’
It was blatantly labeled as a mental control skill.
Just the name alone made its effects obvious.
One strange thing.
‘I never detected a skill like this before regression.’
Before regression, Kang Hyun-soo had used his unique skill Replica on Shin So-hee thousands of times to raise its proficiency.
But.
‘I never once acquired a skill called Marionette.’
Kang Hyun-soo glared at Shin So-hee and spoke.
“What skill did you just cast on me, Miss Shin So-hee?”
“Th-that...”
“It would be wise to come clean about the mental control skill you used on me. Did you perhaps cast Marionette, the mental control skill, on Mr. Hwang So-uk as well?”
At Kang Hyun-soo’s question, Shin So-hee bowed her head deeply.
At that moment.
“It was all my doing, I tell you. Miss Shin So-hee just got caught up in it.”
Hwang So-uk repeated the same claim.
‘What’s going on?’
If he had heard what Kang Hyun-soo just said.
Hwang So-uk should have realized what Shin So-hee had done to him.
Yet.
‘Is he completely unaware?’
Even though Kang Hyun-soo had openly mentioned Hwang So-uk and the mental control skill Marionette.
“I’m truly sorry to Miss Shin So-hee.”
Hwang So-uk acted as if he hadn’t heard a word.
“Miss Shin So-hee, disclose the information on your mental control skill.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Shin So-hee denied it outright.
“You think you can weasel out of this by playing dumb?”
Kang Hyun-soo’s tone changed.
“Playing dumb? What exactly have I done? I’m innocent. That’s it. Just continue the investigation, Investigator.”
Kang Hyun-soo let out a scoff at Shin So-hee’s venomous words.
“Investigation? You’d be better off confessing honestly. You know what investigations in the Atlantis Dimension are like, don’t you?”
The investigation so far had been gentlemanly.
Civilized, one might say.
But the Atlantis Dimension had far more barbaric methods.
“Would the Guild Master believe a confession obtained through torture or threats?”
Sword King Jang Seok-won was a civilized man.
“Come in!”
As Kang Hyun-soo raised his voice.
Sword King Jang Seok-won, waiting outside, entered.
“Take Hwang So-uk out.”
“Yes.”
Sword King Jang Seok-won bowed politely and escorted Hwang So-uk away.
“Who the hell are you?”
Shin So-hee asked in shock.
“Does it matter?”
“You’re from Dark Knight. And the way you treat Sword King Jang Seok-won like a subordinate... you must be the Demon-Subduing Blood God.”
Shin So-hee quickly figured out Kang Hyun-soo’s identity.
“Fine. I’ll tell you.”
Shin So-hee changed her attitude in an instant.
And she disclosed the information on the mental control skill Marionette.
[Marionette – SSS-Rank]
- Active Skill
- Mental Control Skill
- Consumes half of your Magic stat to dominate a player’s mind.
- The lower the target player’s Mental stat is compared to the caster’s, the higher the success rate.
- If the dominated player’s Mental stat exceeds the caster’s, the control gradually weakens.
- If the dominated player’s Mental stat is more than twice the caster’s, the mental domination breaks.
- Can dominate up to 9 players’ minds.
- By consuming all your Magic stat, you can eternally dominate one of the 9 players.
‘Replica.’
Kang Hyun-soo copied the Marionette skill with Replica.
Since the opponent had disclosed it, he succeeded on the first try.
“How did you acquire this skill?”
“It’s my unique skill.”
“What’s eternal domination?”
“It eternally dominates one of the players under Marionette.”
“Regardless of Mental stat?”
“Yes, eternal domination targets can’t escape Marionette no matter how high their Mental stat is.”
“Is Hwang So-uk the eternal domination target right now?”
“Yes.”
“Can you freely change the eternal domination target?”
“No. You can only designate a new one after the current eternal target dies.”
The mystery was solved.
‘She must have used Marionette on me before regression too.’
Kang Hyun-soo had trusted Shin So-hee right up until the betrayal.
He hadn’t suspected her in the slightest.
He’d thought it was just the circumstances, but.
‘It was because of the Marionette skill.’
Kang Hyun-soo gritted his teeth.
“Hwang So-uk didn’t react at all to mentions of mental domination or Marionette.”
“Of course. I made it so he can’t perceive it even if he sees or hears it.”
“Does getting hit by Marionette turn someone into a puppet that obeys your every command?”
“That would be ideal, but it’s not that absolute.”
“Hwang So-uk was even willing to take all the blame to prove your innocence.”
“That’s because he’s the eternal domination target. I made him value me more than his own life. For regular domination targets, the best you can do is impose some restrictions or implant a few emotions.”
“What kind of emotions?”
“Making them strongly depend on me and deeply trust me. Actually, forcing absolute loyalty would be best, but you can’t create emotions that didn’t exist. If you could, you could manipulate them to min-max their Mental stat low and keep them under eternal control.”
“What happens when the mental domination breaks?”
“That’s it. It just ends.”
“The target never realizes they were under mental domination?”
“No, they don’t. Once it hits, it’s over. The only ones who notice are cases like you, who resisted Marionette.”
“You’ve failed before, then.”
“Yes, I tested it on a player with a higher Mental stat than mine and it failed.”
“You survived somehow?”
“I’m not an idiot. I cast it from a distance, hiding among people.”
What happens when you resist a mental skill?
You just get a resistance message.
It doesn’t reveal the caster.
She exploited that.
“After that, I only used Marionette on newbies with special skills.”
One of those newbies who fell to Marionette before regression was Kang Hyun-soo.
“If the test had succeeded, I would have turned Sword King Jang Seok-won into my puppet. Too bad.”
If Marionette ignored skill resistance like Replica.
Shin So-hee could have taken over the Palhae Guild in one go.
“Have you ever changed the eternal domination target?”
“No. The penalty is too severe, so I couldn’t change it after designating Hwang So-uk. Truthfully, Marionette itself has such heavy penalties that I don’t use it lightly. Just now, things were getting urgent, so I cast it consecutively on the investigator and you.”
That made sense.
Marionette’s activation cost half your Magic stat.
Eternal domination required the current target’s death plus all your Magic stat.
‘So that’s why she abandoned me before regression.’
Kang Hyun-soo was a player with the Emperor’s Title.
Whereas Shin So-hee?
She was a named player, but.
‘Bottom of the bottom.’
Likely, as Kang Hyun-soo’s Mental stat rose, the control gradually weakened.
‘Maybe it had already faded before the final battle.’
If the control was gone.
From Shin So-hee’s perspective, she had to eliminate Kang Hyun-soo no matter what.
If Kang Hyun-soo with Replica acquired her Marionette and realized he’d been manipulated?
‘She wouldn’t have let me live.’
It was fortunate that the SSS-Rank 1-Second Regressor had barely become an EX-Rank Regressor right before the final battle.
Thanks to that, Shin So-hee never learned about the EX-Rank skill Regressor.
“I’m a pretty useful player. It’d benefit you more to keep me alive than kill me. I’ll pledge full loyalty to you. Soul contract, oath of conviction—whatever you want. So please spare me.”
Kang Hyun-soo let out a hollow laugh at Shin So-hee’s bold demand.
“You wouldn’t make the foolish choice of killing me, right? I’ve learned quite a few skills. The odds of a Marionette skillbook dropping from my unique skill are astronomically low. Plus, you have to consider the permanent Magic stat drain every time Marionette is used.”
Shin So-hee seemed quite confident.
Frankly, if weighing pure pros and cons?
It’d be more profitable to collar Shin So-hee and keep her as a tool.
Most would choose that.
But Kang Hyun-soo thought differently.
“My real enemy wasn’t Hwang So-uk—it was you all along.”
Shin So-hee’s face filled with confusion at Kang Hyun-soo’s words.
“What do you...?”
To Shin So-hee, Kang Hyun-soo was a complete stranger.
But not to Kang Hyun-soo.
Whoosh!
Kang Hyun-soo’s hand seized Shin So-hee’s throat.
“Gack! Why? Please spare me! This is a loss for you too!”
Shin So-hee cried out in plea.
“Don’t worry. I won’t snap your neck.”
Relief washed over Shin So-hee’s face.
However.
“I’m not planning to give you such a merciful death.”
Her face twisted in despair at Kang Hyun-soo’s following words.