Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Psycho_path's Diary
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*Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!*
“Ack! Aaargh!”
“What is this…!”
The persuasion began with a beating. However, contrary to Lee Shin’s expectations, Cedric held out with surprising stubbornness.
“Ugh…! This won’t change anything!”
“Oh, really?”
“I am a priest! To threaten a priest, do you not fear the wrath of a god!”
He even had the nerve to try and intimidate Lee Shin.
Of course, it had no effect on Lee Shin, but it did on Jeong Yu-ra.
Her expression hardening slightly, Jeong Yu-ra approached Lee Shin and asked.
“Is this really okay?”
“What is?”
“He said a god would hold a grudge….”
“He’s talking nonsense.”
Facing the glaring Cedric, Lee Shin answered nonchalantly, without batting an eye.
“What can Yata do?”
“What?”
“I said, what can Yata do? A god whose name is barely even known.”
“What…!”
At Lee Shin’s blatant disrespect, Cedric’s head shot up as if he were having a seizure, but Lee Shin cowardly attacked with facts.
“No followers, no temples… and the few temples that do exist are so poorly managed because they don’t receive enough offerings. Can a god even use their power like that?”
“Th-That’s….”
“It’s basically a failed religion.”
‘…I’m a follower of Yata, too.’
Jeong Yu-ra grew sullen at Lee Shin’s harsh words.
However, Lee Shin didn’t notice and approached Cedric again.
Now that he’d silenced the noisy mouth, he intended to continue what he was doing.
*Thwack! Thwack!*
“Have you had a change of heart yet?”
“This won’t change anything!”
“I doubt that.”
No matter how strong a god’s influence was in this world, in the end, the most powerful influence was the violence right in front of you!
Lee Shin steadfastly continued the beating.
*Thwack, thwack!! Thwack!*
The crisp sound of the beating echoed.
“Uwaaaargh! Ack!”
“Still nothing?”
“I will never submit….”
*Crack! Crack!*
“…Aaaaaargh!!”
Jeong Yu-ra grimaced and turned her head away.
At the same time, she whispered to Lee Shin, asking if maybe he should stop.
Even if the man was a wanted criminal, the ear-piercing screams triggered an instinctive revulsion!
But Lee Shin was different.
‘He’s just an AI, anyway.’
He barely empathized with real people, so there was no way he’d feel pity for a pile of data in human form.
Lee Shin continued his actions without stopping.
Since his opponent was an AI, there was no need to be careful; he wouldn't be penalized for any cruel acts.
The result.
*Thwack, thwack! Thwack!*
[A critical hit has occurred.]
[A critical hit…]
[The target’s health has fallen below 50%….]
[…Feeling the threat of death, Cedric begins to fear you!]
“Kuaaargh! S-Stop! Please…!”
“Again.”
*Thwack, thwack!*
“…*Sob*! Please, spare me…!”
“There we go.”
Finally, his spirit broke! At the switch to polite speech, Lee Shin stopped the beating and lifted Cedric’s blindfold.
Tears welled in Cedric’s reddened eyes.
“*Sob, sob*…!”
A pathetic sight, unbecoming of a high-level NPC!
Cedric’s eyes trembled as he saw Lee Shin smiling in satisfaction at his crying form.
“*Gasp*…!”
[Cedric feels extreme fear towards you.]
‘Good.’
Now they were ready to talk again.
Lee Shin dusted off his hands and opened his mouth.
“Alright.”
“……?”
“Thinking about it, my first offer was a bit too much.”
At the unexpectedly warm words, Cedric’s eyes quivered.
“Wh-What….”
“To demand you obey me for life… it must have been hard for you to accept, having already sworn yourself as a servant of Yata. I’m sorry.”
“……!!!”
Lee Shin, administering the poison and then the antidote!
Behind him, Jeong Yu-ra watched with an indescribable expression.
‘Can you even gaslight an AI?’
Setting aside her surprise at Lee Shin’s unimaginable actions, she thought there was no way this would elicit a positive response.
…But she was wrong.
The AI in Avala Online was designed to be remarkably similar to real people.
They didn’t operate on logic alone.
Sometimes (usually when faced with extreme situations), they were incredibly unstable, and that made them all the more three-dimensional.
This tendency was especially strong in high-level NPCs like Cedric.
Just like right now.
“…*Sob*!”
[Cedric’s fear is alleviated.]
[Persuasion chance temporarily increased by 50%!]
[When Cedric regains his senses….]
Before Cedric could recover from his weakened state of mind and body, Lee Shin continued speaking.
“So, let’s do this instead.”
“*Sniffle*…?”
“What’s your bounty?”
Cedric’s bounty was 900,000 gold.
It was on the extremely high end, even among wanted criminals.
“I’m no saint, so I can’t just let you go. Right?”
“……”
“So, how about this? When you’ve done work worth double that amount, I’ll set you free.”
“But the god….”
“This is different from a slave contract. There’s a set limit. And surely, your god wouldn’t want a follower to just die, would they?”
“Huh? Well….”
“Of course not. They’d want you to survive somehow. The god loves all their followers. Isn’t that right?”
“……!”
Cedric was already being swayed!
He seemed to ponder it for a moment before finally accepting Lee Shin’s offer.
Surviving was the most important thing, after all.
“…I’ll do it!”
“A wise choice.”
Lee Shin quickly went to the auction house and bought a contract.
[The High-Grade Contract has been consumed.]
[The contract has been established.]
Cedric would be set free once he completed work equivalent to 1,800,000 gold.
‘How can I increase his debt?’
…Of course, Lee Shin had no intention of making it easy for Cedric to pay off his debt, but there was no way for Cedric to know that.
* * *
After signing the contract, Lee Shin’s first order was for Cedric to teach Jeong Yu-ra.
“You need to train her to at least the level of an intermediate priest.”
“I-I understand.”
“Hm? Relax. It’s just an employment relationship.”
“Th-Then… I understand.”
[An order has been given to Cedric.]
[200,000 gold has been deducted from the debt.]
[Up to 300,000 gold may be deducted based on performance.]
‘A bit expensive.’
Still, it was a necessary expense.
He would be traveling with Jeong Yu-ra for at least a month, so to make her useful, she needed to be taught something.
“For now, stay here until I call for you again.”
“Why?”
“The Royal Knights are nearby.”
“…! O-Okay.”
Cedric flinched at Lee Shin’s words. He took Jeong Yu-ra and headed deeper into the cave.
Only after the two had completely disappeared did Lee Shin and Arthur return to the orc settlement.
Lee Shin checked the quest status.
[Settlements Subjugated: 177/1,000]
‘Oh?’
Lee Shin wore a satisfied expression.
An incredibly fast pace!
When he had arrived, it was just over 100, and now it had increased by about 70.
He thought they might slack off since they were half-forced into it, but it seemed their desire to finish quickly and be done with him was stronger.
‘It’ll be finished by tomorrow.’
Returning to the party, Lee Shin and Arthur began hunting.
Lee Shin would lure the prey, Arthur would take out the troublesome ones (shamans, warriors) with his musket, and Lee Shin would wipe out the rest.
[You have defeated an enemy.]
[You have acquired experience.]
[You have acquired experience.]
[You have acquired…]
[…]
[…The orc settlement has been completely wiped out!]
[You have acquired a large amount of experience.]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
After one round of hunting ended and they were moving to the next location.
Arthur remembered something and spoke up.
“Oh, right. Hyung.”
“What.”
“I finished editing that video.”
“…What video?”
“You know, the one from the arena event. When you beat Kim Hyeon-seong.”
“…Ah, that.”
Lee Shin finally recalled the match with Kim Hyeon-seong and turned his head.
He’d asked Arthur to do it since he said he could edit videos, but he’d forgotten about it with all the other incidents that had happened in between.
“Do you want to check it?”
“No, it’s fine.”
He probably did a good job.
Lee Shin had looked up the ‘Lee Shin Highlights’ video Arthur had edited and uploaded in the past, and if the quality was around that level, it was more than enough.
Besides, it wasn’t like he knew enough about video editing to make any further requests even if he did watch it.
“Just keep handling it.”
“Give me your email, I’ll send you the video.”
“Email?”
“Yeah. Or do you want to upload it right away? Do you have a channel?”
“No. I’ll make one now.”
He could just upload it to his existing account, but it was more convenient to separate it from an account intended for monetization.
He created a new account in no time.
‘What should the name be?’
Most streamers used their own name or a broadcast alias in their channel name for accessibility.
Just like how Kim Hyeon-seong had a channel named after himself.
[Kim Hyeon-seong TV, Kim Tube]
‘…I can’t do that.’
But Lee Shin’s case was a bit special.
Due to his past deeds, the name Lee Shin was already steeped in infamy.
If he blatantly named it something like ‘Lee Shin TV,’ it was obvious what would happen next.
‘Subscribers would increase quickly, but…’
Among them would be a horde of his enemies from Avala Online 1, drawn by the name Lee Shin.
At first, they might wonder if it was an impersonator, but as he continued to upload videos, it was highly likely his identity would be exposed sooner rather than later.
There’s a saying that you see what you believe.
Watching a video thinking it’s a random person versus watching it while suspecting from the start that the person might be Lee Shin were two completely different things.
“……”
But choosing a completely generic name wouldn’t be good for attracting viewers.
After long deliberation, Lee Shin came up with a channel name that was moderately provocative without revealing his identity.
[Psycho_path's Diary]
A diary written in a virtual space, containing Lee Shin’s true persona.
After creating the channel, Lee Shin immediately uploaded the video he received from Arthur.
The title was as concise as possible.
But anyone who watched the video would understand its meaning.
[Kim Hyeon-seong]
* * *
-The video has been uploaded.
After uploading the video, Lee Shin posted the link on the Avala Online community forums with a suitable title to spread it.
The board moved so fast that it would likely get buried immediately, but it was much better than doing nothing at all.
“It’ll take some time to see the overall reaction.”
“How long?”
“A few days? But there might not be much of a reaction. It’s still the first video, after all.”
‘That’s true.’
It wouldn’t be strange if it got buried.
Dozens, even hundreds of posts like that were made on the forums every day.
He hadn’t created the channel with any grand expectations, so he decided to wait for a reaction while continuing with his tasks.
‘Time to hunt.’
Lee Shin silently resumed hunting, just like the day before.
In the afternoon, Jeras came looking for him.
He looked haggard, as if he had pulled an all-nighter.
“…It’s done!”
“What? Already?”
[Settlements Subjugated: 1,000/1,000]
“You really did it.”
“…So I can go now, right? I did everything you told me to.”
“Hmm……”
“……You son of a bitch! You said it would be over when this was done!!!”
Jeras flew into a rage as Lee Shin stroked his chin with a noncommittal expression.
A smirk played on Lee Shin’s lips as he waved his hand dismissively.
“Just messing with you.”
“There are things you can joke about and things you can’t…!”
“Go.”
“……R-Right.”
As if worried Lee Shin might change his mind, Jeras swallowed his anger and vanished like the wind.
The party disbanded just as quickly.
[Jeras has left the party.]
[Alex has left the party.]
[Suu has left the party…]
[…]
Clearing away the stream of party-leaving messages, Lee Shin called out to Arthur.
“Get your reward.”
“Yes.”
[Quest complete.]
[You have acquired a large amount of experience.]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[…]
Lee Shin gained enough experience to level up seven times at once!
This alone was a great reward, but Arthur, the original owner of the quest, received one more thing.
[You have completed the special quest, ‘Kin Slayer.’]
[You have acquired a large amount of experience…]
[Additionally, you may choose and acquire one special skill!]
“It says to choose something.”
“Choose what?”
“A special skill… I’ll read it to you verbatim.”
…An orc who has betrayed his kin is surrounded by enemies. Therefore, you must either become strong enough that none can challenge you, or if that is impossible, learn to bow to the strong.
There is no right or wrong choice, but it is yours alone to make.
1. Path of the Solitary Warrior.
2. Please Raise Me, Master!
Think carefully, and choose your path from the two options above.
“……??!”