Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: The Art of Persuasion
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“Are you insane?”
The genuine thought shot out before it even passed through his brain!
As Lee Shin stared down at Dokgo, Dokgo, belatedly realizing what he had just said, sucked in a sharp breath.
“...Gasp!”
“What, you don’t want to apologize?”
At Lee Shin’s question, Dokgo’s lips twitched.
“...”
A fierce internal struggle between pride and practicality.
But no matter how he thought about it, this just wasn’t right, and he soon shot back harshly.
“...You bastard, it’s not that I don’t want to. What did I even do wrong? You need a reason to apologize.”
“Oh, so you’ve done nothing wrong?”
“You’re the one who killed our guild members first!!!!!”
“Because you guys were blocking the dungeon entrance.”
“Then you should have just shown us the pass! If you’d shown it from the start instead of bringing knights, we would’ve let you in!”
“...”
He had a point.
No matter how coercively the Black Tiger Guild controlled other players, they wouldn’t dare do the same to a player with connections to the territory’s authorities.
If Lee Shin had shown the pass from the beginning, he would have been able to enter the dungeon without any trouble.
Lee Shin shrugged and said.
“Anyway, the bottom line is you don’t want to apologize, right?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to...”
Dokgo tried to correct Lee Shin’s poor choice of words, but Lee Shin cut him off sharply.
“But sometimes in life, you have to do things you don’t want to do.”
“...Can’t, what?”
“Because if you don’t apologize, I’m going to kill one of your guild members every minute.”
“!!!?!?”
“...!!”
At Lee Shin’s words, the Black Tiger guild members, who had been listening quietly to their conversation, were startled and pressed themselves against the iron bars.
“What did he just say?”
“He’s going to kill us?”
A commotion erupted.
In an instant, the place was in an uproar.
Lee Shin ignored Dokgo, who was looking up at him with an expression of disbelief, and reached his hand out toward Arthur.
“Give me that.”
“Sir?”
“The noise-canceling scroll.”
“Ah, yes. Here you go.”
Soundproof Scroll
• When used, blocks all sound within a certain range.
A Soundproof Scroll.
As the name suggested, it was a scroll that blocked sound, one of many he had bought in bulk from the general store (with Count Aaron’s money).
After using the scroll, Lee Shin spoke to Gillaim.
“From now on, kill one person every minute.”
“Is that alright? We don’t have permission for an execution. This could be considered a crime under the territory’s laws.”
“It doesn’t matter. Do it.”
“...Understood. How many should I kill?”
“Until I tell you to stop.”
At Lee Shin’s firm command, Gillaim swung his sword at one of the players.
*Stab!*
“...!?!?”
[You have executed a prisoner.]
[Your notoriety has increased.]
[You have executed a prisoner without the lord's permission!]
[If this becomes known, you may be punished according to the territory's laws.]
At the same time, warning messages flooded in.
But Lee Shin remained unfazed.
He had an ace up his sleeve.
[Activating special skill, <Exemption>.]
[Your crime has been erased.]
The Exemption skill.
With a single skill activation, Lee Shin’s crime was wiped clean.
On the other hand, for Dokgo and the Black Tiger guild members, who had been watching in disbelief, the situation had just become dire.
“What the hell!”
“H-He’s really going to kill us!?”
“This is insane...!”
The players, their hands and feet bound in chains, struggled and stared at Lee Shin.
Lee Shin simply turned his head.
Naturally, the players’ gazes followed his.
And at the end of their line of sight was Dokgo, standing there dumbfounded with his mouth agape.
“...!”
“...!”
Perhaps because their lives were suddenly on the line, the players figured out the situation very quickly.
From Lee Shin’s simple gesture, they inferred the meaning: ‘If you want to live, beg your guild master!’
Thanks to that, all the pressure was soon directed at Dokgo.
“Guild Master!”
“Guild Master, save us! Please!”
“What’s so hard about it...! Just close your eyes and apologize!!”
The players were desperate!
A flustered Dokgo tried to calm them down, but Lee Shin wouldn’t let him.
“Calm down! There’s no guarantee he’ll spare us even if I apologize! In times like these...”
“Kill another one.”
“Yes, sir.”
“?!!?”
*Stab! Stab-stab!!*
[Executing a prisoner.]
[Without the lord's permission...]
[Activating special skill, <Exemption>.]
[Your crime has been erased.]
“This crazy...!”
“Aaaaargh! Guild Master! Guild Master!”
In truth, it wasn’t that they didn’t know how absurd Lee Shin’s demand was.
Just as Dokgo had said, you need a reason to apologize, don’t you?
Kneeling and apologizing to a player who had killed three of their guild members and fled was nothing short of humiliation.
But this was not a situation where such rational judgment was possible.
The reason was that their opponent, Lee Shin, was a madman beyond imagination.
They thought, ‘He wouldn’t actually kill us, would he?’ but he had killed two in a row without hesitation.
As a result.
‘Won’t he just scare us and stop, considering the notoriety?’
‘Even if he kills someone, won’t it just be one person as an example?’
This was the common-sense thinking of ordinary players, but it had been completely shattered, and everyone fell into a panic.
The thought occurred to them that he might seriously kill everyone here, regardless of the notoriety.
“Damn it, just apologize before we all die!”
“Have you all lost your minds!?”
“Lost our minds? He said he’ll spare everyone if you just apologize! Are you going to abandon your own guild members?”
“...You, just shut up, please!”
It was chaos.
The players were crying and screaming for Dokgo. Lee Shin just smirked, fanning the flames.
“This bastard... *Grind*. You just wait.”
Enraged to his core, Dokgo glared at Lee Shin with eyes so fierce they seemed to hold killing intent, but it had no effect on Lee Shin.
He was already used to it...
...and because those who threatened him with ‘Just you wait’ or ‘I won’t let you get away with this later’ rarely ever turned out to be an actual threat.
Lee Shin casually checked the time and muttered.
“What are you doing? It’s been a minute.”
“Sir? Ah, yes.”
*Stab, stab.*
[Executing a prisoner...]
“Save me, please!”
“...I-I told you, I can’t!”
“Oh, Guild Master!”
“We’re all going to die at this rate...!”
The players went from urging their guild master to begging him.
Dokgo’s eyes wavered, but he gritted his teeth and held on.
A heartless leader!
...Not quite. There was a reason for his stubbornness.
He believed Lee Shin was just acting calm.
‘...There’s no way that bastard can kill all of us! He wouldn’t be able to handle the notoriety.’
These bold executions were probably just a ploy to throw them into a panic and seize control.
In fact, it was a fairly rational assumption.
“From now on, kill them two at a time.”
“...!”
“...!!”
...If his opponent hadn’t been Lee Shin.
***
30 minutes later.
“...”
“A minute’s passed. Kill them.”
“Yes, sir.”
“...”
*Stab. Stab-stab.*
[You have executed a prisoner.]
[Without the lord's permission, a prisoner...]
[Special skill, <Exemption>...]
[...]
[...Skill has been used 76 times.]
[Skill usage limit has been reached! Use of the special skill, <Exemption> is canceled.]
[The skill usage limit increases with the lord's trust.]
“Hm?”
The number of exemptions had already reached its limit!
It was a consequence of killing so many people.
Thanks to this, Dokgo, who had been gritting his teeth and enduring under the assumption that ‘he’ll probably kill a few more and then stop,’ was now muttering blankly, as if he’d been struck on the back of the head.
“What is this...”
His expression was that of a man whose soul had left his body.
It was only natural, given that half his entire guild had vanished in the blink of an eye while he was hesitating.
But even so, Dokgo’s situation could be considered relatively fine.
He wasn’t under any direct threat yet.
In contrast, the guild members who had witnessed several of their own being randomly killed every minute were now half out of their minds.
“You fucking bastard, I’ll fucking kill you! You piece of shit, huh? I’ll fucking...!”
“...”
“*Sob sob*, please, just stop...!”
From players who had reached the end of their patience and were spewing curses, to those who were blankly waiting for their turn, to those shedding thick tears and begging.
None of them could fathom where Lee Shin’s limits lay, so they had completely given up hope.
‘...Hey.’
‘?’
‘I’m going to wait outside.’
Even Jeong Yu-ra had found it too difficult to watch and left with Arthur partway through (after a few players, unable to get through to Lee Shin, had started begging her instead)...
...which just went to show how mercilessly Lee Shin had pushed them.
“...”
Still, it was almost over.
Reading the room, Lee Shin stood up and approached Dokgo.
Having confirmed that most of his initial venom was gone, it was time to offer a compromise.
Of course, it wouldn’t be much different from his initial demand...
...but for Dokgo, who was already pushed to his limit, it would be an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“Still haven’t decided?”
“...Shut up.”
“Hmm.”
His eyes certainly showed more hesitation compared to before.
Lee Shin turned around and said.
“Gillaim.”
Gillaim approached at Lee Shin’s call.
“Yes, sir.”
“Call the guards outside and move all of them somewhere else.”
“By ‘them,’ do you mean the prisoners? Why the sudden order?”
“I’ll explain later. For now, just do it.”
“...? Understood.”
Although Gillaim tilted his head at the sudden command, he followed the order faithfully.
All the players except for Dokgo were soon moved to another cell, following Gillaim.
Lee Shin spoke again.
“Is this a little better?”
“...”
“No one’s watching. Wouldn’t it be better to just get it over with?”
“Shu... *Hoo*.”
Dokgo clutched his head.
A clear sign of rejection.
But with no one watching, the psychological resistance was clearly lessened, as he pondered for quite a while this time...
“...it.”
“What?”
“I’ll do it! The apology!”
...Finally, he broke.
“Then do it.”
[Recording has started.]
It was the moment Dokgo had a fatal weakness seized by the worst predator player of all time.
***
-I’m sorry.
-For what?
-For arbitrarily blocking the dungeon entrance and imposing a toll...
Lee Shin nodded in satisfaction.
‘Got a good recording.’
With this, another apology was added to Lee Shin’s collection, right after Jeras’s.
The more of these he had, the more power he would have later.
He wouldn’t have to worry about retaliation, and for people like Dokgo or Jeras who had a lot to lose, it would be difficult to refuse Lee Shin’s demands when threatened with this as leverage.
‘The timing is perfect, too.’
Swept up in an unplanned main quest, he didn’t know what kind of crisis might arise later, so having high-level personnel he could forcibly mobilize like this was a boon.
Lee Shin turned his head.
Dokgo flinched for a moment when he met Lee Shin’s eyes, but soon spoke with a complicated expression.
“...I’ve apologized. Are we done now?”
Unlike before, he no longer had any energy left to struggle.
Forget revenge; his expression clearly showed he just wanted to get out of this situation as quickly as possible.
Let’s never meet again!
But Lee Shin had no intention of letting him go so easily.
Lee Shin shook his head.
“Nope.”
“...!? That’s not what you said, you bastard!!!”
“Is an apology a one-way street?”
“What?”
“An apology is only an apology when the other person accepts it, right?”
“!!!!!”
“Now I need compensation for damages. I think I can only accept your apology after that.”
“Compen...!?”
Dokgo was on the verge of fainting at Lee Shin’s absurd words, but Lee Shin was unfazed.
Filming the apology video was just to break his opponent’s spirit; it wasn’t his main objective.
Lee Shin’s goal from the start was the dungeon.
“The... dun...geon?”
At the mention of the dungeon, Dokgo, who had been raging as if he was about to kill him, suddenly froze as if he’d malfunctioned.
From that reaction, Lee Shin was certain.
‘He hasn’t cleared it yet.’
It seemed this whole mess had happened right when they were on the verge of clearing it.
Seeing him fidgeting like someone having an anxiety attack made it certain.
Lee Shin replied with a wicked smile.
“That’s right, the dungeon.”
“The dungeon? Why all of a sudden...?”
“I heard the clear reward is still up for grabs...”
*Flop!*
“...N-Not there!!!!”
“...”
Dokgo immediately prostrated himself.