Underworld Tour (2)
At my words and Kim Dokja’s, the executive dokkaebis turned their heads and looked at one another.
Then the face of one executive dokkaebi twisted into something grotesque, and he looked down at us with a vicious smile.
Apparently the executive rank still counted for something. The executive dokkaebis shot Baul sidelong glances as if they had already figured something out, snickering among themselves.
“…What?”
Of course the clueless Baul had no idea what was about to hit him. He just kept looking back and forth between the two of us and the executives with a blank expression.
The moment the executive finished speaking, Kim Dokja’s and Baul’s bodies rippled—
and their forms reappeared inside a transparent dome that had formed in midair.
Second, then.
Fine by me. There was something I needed to prepare before I wrecked that bastard.
Kim Dokja exchanged a few words with Baul, then simply charged him and drove a fist straight into his face.
Kuuung!
The sight of Kim Dokja punching a dokkaebi sent a shock through the party, the incarnations gathered in Yongsan-gu inside the Seoul Dome, the dokkaebis, and the Constellations alike.
Amid the murmuring of the crowd and the Constellations’ chat, I gave a small nod and opened the door to My Room right beside me.
“Huh? Jinwoo, why are you suddenly going into My Room?”
Jung Heewon tilted her head as she watched me step toward it.
“Ah, just something I need to take care of real quick.”
I gave her a vague excuse under her suspicious stare and slipped inside.
Once in My Room I headed straight to my personal chamber, activated the housing system of My Small Hideout, and reconfigured the walls, ceiling, and floor.
A large number of Constellations look around your room.
A considerable number of Constellations wonder what you are doing.
“Sorry, but that’s a secret.”
Snap!
Set Effect ‘Secret Corner Room’ blocks all Constellation gazes, sounds, and indirect messages.
I flicked my fingers. The walls, floor, and ceiling of the room lit up faintly, and a single system message rang out.
“Story Shop never disappoints. Performance is insane.”
I looked over the walls, floor, and ceiling I had bought from the Story Shop for thirty thousand coins under the name ‘Secret Corner Room’ and smiled.
These pieces only showed their true power as a complete set. Individually they were just ordinary walls, ceiling, and floor with zero effect. Assembled together, however, they became items that completely blocked Constellation gazes, sounds, and indirect messages.
What I was about to do was nothing the Constellations needed to hear or know about. In fact, they would only get in the way, so I had taken precautions.
Wearing a deep smile, I pressed the record button on my smartphone.
And because Rule Breaker had already severed the existence oath bound to my heart, I was free to destroy Baul’s hearing… no—to deliver my absolutely breathtaking singing skills. I sang with everything I had.
Story, ‘Singer Even Storytellers Despise,’ wears a chilling smile.
After recording five songs, more than fifteen minutes had already flown by.
Realizing that, I hurried out of My Room in a panic.
A considerable number of Constellations wonder what you were doing inside My Room!
The moment I stepped out I saw the indirect message and smiled.
“You’d get hurt if you knew.”
I meant it. If the Constellations ever heard my professional-grade singing, they would faint with blissful expressions on their faces.
As soon as I emerged I looked toward the transparent dome holding Kim Dokja and Baul.
First ‘Dokkaebi Private Audience’ has ended.
Kim Dokja’s body rippled again, and she reappeared beside the party.
Everyone instantly crowded around her, praising how satisfying it had been and how well she had done, clinging to her.
I glanced at them once, then looked past them at the future Shin Yooseung who was lingering behind the group.
“Hm?”
Future Shin Yooseung noticed my gaze, turned, and for a moment the two of us simply looked at each other.
I smiled at her.
“I’ll get your revenge for you.”
“…Yeah. Thank you.”
Her eyes widened for a second, then she gave a soft smile and a little eye-smile of her own.
Tss-tss-tss!
My turn had come. My body rippled.
I closed my eyes against the strange sensation; when I opened them again I was already inside the transparent dome with Baul.
Click!
I set an old alarm clock I had bought ages ago to twenty minutes and casually tossed it onto the floor.
Then I pulled out, one by one, the tools I had purchased for this exact moment.
“………!!”
Baul, still sprawled on the floor after Kim Dokja’s beating and gasping for breath, stared at the tools I had scattered with trembling eyes.
Noticing his gaze, I looked up at the sky and shouted.
“I’ll say this only once—!!”
Constellations within the channel look at you.
I felt every Constellation’s gaze lock onto me at the sound of my voice.
“Anyone who hates violence! Anyone who doesn’t want to watch someone get beaten into the dirt on a rainy day! Anyone who likes dokkaebis! Change the channel or close your eyes!”
I stripped off my subspace coat, then my T-shirt, and kept going.
“Same goes for everyone active in the Seoul Dome—!!”
I felt the gazes of the party and every incarnation in the Seoul Dome focus on me as well.
“Anyone who’s young! Anyone who hates violence! Anyone who feels goodwill toward dokkaebis! Anyone who doesn’t want to watch someone get their revenge! Close your eyes!”
I turned my head slightly and continued.
“Especially our Jihye, little Yooseung, and Gilyoung—close your eyes and cover your ears if you can. What’s about to happen is going to be extremely violent.”
I tore the hems of my pants for easier movement, glared down at Baul, and roared.
“From this moment on, for my personal revenge, I’m going to beat the living hell out of you.”
I picked up an aluminum bat from among the tools laid out on the floor and walked toward the dokkaebi lying there.
“You look like shit. Suits you perfectly.”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
I swung the bat through the air, building terror.
It worked. The more I swung, the more the sound drained the color from his face until it was pure white.
“Don’t even hope my coins are low.”
“U-ugh…! S-save…! Somebody s-save me…!”
I watched Baul crawl like a maggot trying to put distance between us, then slowly closed in while speaking.
“I’m not Kim Dokja.”
I looked up at the sky again.
“Watching a dokkaebi get beaten is refreshing. First time seeing someone beat a dokkaebi—interesting. This dokkaebi bastard always rubbed me the wrong way. Any reason is fine. Sponsor me.”
I raised the aluminum bat high and brought it down on Baul’s head.
Kaaang!
“Keheok?!”
You have injured a dokkaebi inside the ‘Private Audience Space.’
Penalty: 500 coins consumed.
I had deliberately held back for the first hit, but even that was enough to send blood spraying from Baul’s head.
“The more you sponsor, the more enthusiastically I’ll beat this bastard. So shut up and donate.”
With that I started beating Baul properly.
Kaaang! Kaaang! Kaaang! Kaaang!
“Keheoeuk…!”
I brought the aluminum bat down without mercy on the head and body of the dokkaebi crawling like an earthworm.
I scattered sand inside the transparent dome, piled it up, and buried Baul’s body in it. Then—
Clang!
I tossed aside the now-mangled aluminum bat and picked up a golf club.
“Don’t move. If you mess up, it won’t be your teeth—your eyeballs will burst.”
“U-ugh… p-please spare me…! S-spare…!!”
Pak!!
The golf club smashed into his mouth. Baul’s body lifted into the air, and broken tooth fragments rolled pitifully across the floor.
I sprinted toward the floating form, kicked lightly off the ground, and leapt.
Thrashing in pain and screaming silently, he looked up in shock when he saw me hovering above him.
I grinned.
“I like that expression too.”
Kwaang!!
I drove the golf club into his abdomen. Baul’s body plummeted back to the floor.
“Who would’ve thought a mid-rank dokkaebi would end up like this. You never know how the world turns, right?”
I casually tossed the golf club—now snapped in two from the last blow—and picked up a wooden club from the floor.
Constellation, ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband,’ is excited by the refreshing action scene.
I glanced at the Great Sage’s indirect message, then recalled my grudge with Baul.
“I’ve been waiting for this since Anguk Station.”
I still remembered the bastard looking down on us while we risked our lives clearing scenarios and saying we had been “acting up too much lately.”
“I remember Kim Dokja, Lee Hyunsung, and Jung Heewon being put in danger because of you. And from that day I swore I would personally beat the shit out of you someday.”
I remembered the time he didn’t lower the scenario difficulty but instead dropped a hidden scenario that nearly killed Jung Heewon, Lee Hyunsung, Lee Seongguk, and Jung Minseob.
“And finally the chance has come.”
I remembered Kim Dokja dying once because of him.
Griiiip.
I walked slowly toward him and looked down at the creature drooling and sobbing from the agony in his face and body.
“I still remember how you arbitrarily adjusted scenarios just because you didn’t like us.”
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!
I began pounding his entire body with the wooden club.
After watching blood spray with every blow for a moment, I turned my gaze to my comrades outside the dome.
Right now they were staring at the dome—no, at me.
Lee Hyunsung watched with a serious face, eyes reddening. Jung Heewon, clearly remembering those days, twisted her expression and shouted something. And among them Kim Dokja clutched her coat tightly, staring this way.
I tossed the wooden club that had cracked from the repeated pounding and picked up a pair of nunchaku.
“I still remember everything you did at Gwanghwamun.”
I remembered how, just because Kim Dokja refused to sit on the Absolute Throne, you dropped a sub-scenario that split people apart and made them fight one another.
“A lot of people died there because of the sub-scenario you issued. Quite a few of Cha Sangkyung’s and Min Jiwon’s people who were helping us died too.”
I remembered the members of Cha Sangkyung’s and Min Jiwon’s forces who had stepped forward to help us only to die for nothing.
I looked outside the dome again.
Cha Sangkyung and Min Jiwon, standing outside, seemed to recall that time as well; both watched with solemn faces.
“And the fact that you teleported every single one of us somewhere else just because we smashed one stupid throne still grinds my teeth. Because of you the whole party was scattered and we all suffered like dogs for days.”
Outside the dome Yoo Sangah watched me with her lips pressed tightly together.
Yoo Joonghyuk frowned at me, while Lee Jihye and Lee Gilyoung shouted something with stiff faces.
Even the kind-hearted Lee Seolhwa had her hands clasped in front of her chest, watching this place.
I remembered Yoo Sangah’s anguish when Gong Pildu drew attention to save her and then volunteered to sacrifice himself in her place.
I remembered what Kim Dokja and Han Sooyoung had done at Minosoft, and Yoo Joonghyuk poisoned by Lee Seolhwa’s attacks while she was controlled by Antinus.
I remembered Lee Jihye dropped into the trauma-filled Taepung Girls’ High, and Lee Hyunsung suffering in the army—a place every man understands is full of trauma.
Jung Heewon had been sent to the bar where she once worked as a bartender, and though Lee Gilyoung never appeared because he was a real-world person rather than a character, he must have suffered terribly as well.
Paak! Paak! Paak!
Using the nunchaku I had handled more flexibly and skillfully than any other kid at the taekwondo dojo I attended as a child, I beat Baul with pure joy.
“And because you butted in at the end of the fifth scenario and sabotaged us, my stress piled up to the sky.”
Crack!
I tossed the finally cracked nunchaku without a shred of regret, unzipped a punching bag, dumped out all the filling, and stuffed Baul inside.
“Gleipnir. Lift it.”
There was no ceiling here to hang a punching bag from, so I used Gleipnir to float the bag and lock it in place at the same time.
Then I slipped on gloves and lightly loosened my upper body.
“Just thinking about how much our little Shin Yooseung suffered because of you makes me want to burn you at the stake right now.”
I glanced at Shin Yooseung, who was staring at the bag containing Baul with reddened eyes and clenched fists.
Tok! Tok! Tok!
I eyed the bag and slowly began stepping.
“And when I think about how you turned the tiny hope future Shin Yooseung finally found into despair, you absolutely cannot be allowed to die easily.”
No—he deserved to have every bone crushed and thrash in agony for the rest of his life.
I turned my head and looked at future Shin Yooseung, who was staring blankly this way with tears streaming down her face.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!
Then I started punching the bag.
“Our comrades suffered a lot because of you. Same for everyone active in the Seoul Dome.”
So this was revenge.
Revenge for the grudge that had continued since Anguk Station.
Proxy revenge for me, the party, and the incarnations of the Seoul Dome—and at the same time revenge for the moment, before I entered this ‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’ world, when Kim Dokja believed she had saved the disaster Shin Yooseung, only for you to turn it into complete chaos.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!
I punched and punched and punched until the outer surface of the bag tore.
Thinking of that bastard Baul, using the emotion called ‘rage’ as fuel, I hammered the bag in front of me like a madman.
I ignored the Constellations’ indirect messages, ignored their sponsorships, and focused solely on Baul as I beat him.
After several minutes of continuous punching, Baul’s groans from inside the bag suddenly stopped.
He wasn’t dead. He had simply fainted under the overwhelming pain crashing over him.
Who the hell gave you permission?
I forced strength into my thoroughly exhausted body and opened the general store.
Then I summoned ‘Attorney Jeon.’
I ripped open the shredded punching bag and pulled out Baul, whose entire body was covered in blood.
Chi-ji-ji-jik!
“K-keueuk…?!”
Attorney Jeon pressed against Baul’s neck did its job. At the lawyer’s roar Baul’s eyes snapped open and his body trembled.
“Who said you could faint, you piece of shit? There’s still time left.”
I glanced at the alarm clock I had set earlier.
According to the clock, five minutes remained.
My body, which had been overworked fighting the disaster Shin Yooseung and saving the incarnations of the Seoul Dome—most of it blackened and burned by the probability storm aftermath—screamed.
It screamed that this was the limit, that I should stop. I ignored it and pulled out the sauce from Buldak spicy noodles, canary fish sauce, salt water, a wooden stick, and packing tape that I had prepared in My Room.
Panting, forcing my trembling legs to move, I walked toward Baul, who lay limp on the floor staring up at me with eyes soaked in terror and pain.
“Looks like you’re tired. I’ll give you something to drink for a bit.”
I bent down and forcibly pried open Baul’s mouth, where several teeth were missing or broken.
Perhaps he had given up on everything; he just stared up at me with empty eyes.
But what did that matter? Sweating coldly, I generously poured Buldak spicy-noodle sauce into his mouth. Then I clamped it shut.
“…………?!!?!??!”
A moment later light returned to those empty eyes, and he thrashed like a caterpillar, screaming.
“How’s human technology, you bastard?”
Hiding how hard it was, I looked down at him writhing from the fiery taste of the Buldak sauce and snickered.
When I removed the hand sealing his mouth, his curses mixed with screams echoed inside the dome.
“…Kyaaaaak!! Wh-what the hell did you feed me…!! You fucking bastard…!!!”
“Spicy sauce, you idiot.”
I put the Buldak sauce away, picked up the canary fish sauce, and opened the lid.
“After spicy comes the fishy sauce.”
I planted a knee on the thrashing body to pin him down, forced his mouth open again, and poured the canary fish sauce past his lips.
“―――!?!???!!”
The fishy taste following the spicy one made him thrash even harder.
Satisfied by the intensifying struggle, I left the gagging Baul alone and picked up the salt water.
“D-don’t come near me!! Y-you monster bastard…! Y-you’re not even human…!! Do you have no human heart?!”
“A few years ago I saw a line in a manga called Parasyte that stuck with me.”
“Wh-what? What the hell are you….”
Baul panted, face twisted, staring blankly up at me.
I looked down at him and continued.
“‘Shinichi, I looked up “demon” in a book. The creature closest to it seems to be humans after all.’”
I stared down at the terrified Baul with eyes full of killing intent and murderous will.
“So I’ll ask you. In your eyes, do I look like a ‘human’? Or a ‘demon’?”
With that I poured the salt water over his wound-covered body.
“Kyaaaaak…?! Uwaaaaak…!!”
I quietly watched Baul convulse as the salt water seeped into the wounds Kim Dokja had made and the ones I had made.
Then I picked up the wooden stick, followed by the packing tape, and walked toward Baul rolling on the floor.
Ziiip! Ziiip!
I pressed Baul’s body against the lower part of the wooden stick and wrapped packing tape around him, fixing him to it.
And then—
Swish. Swish. Swish. Swish.
I carefully began wiping the floor stained with blood, tool fragments, tooth shards, Buldak sauce, canary fish sauce, and salt water.
That’s right.
Right now I was using Baul as a substitute mop for cleaning the floor.
“Good thing your fur is white. You can see how well it cleans, can’t you?”
“U-uek…! Mmph, mmmph…!! P-please stop…! P-please stop…! I-it hurts…! It hurts…!!”
After mopping the dome floor adequately with the mop (Baul), I flung him away.
Kung! Kung! Kung!
Watching the mop (Baul) roll splendidly across the floor, I pulled out the last two items.
One was a small bottle; the other was a headset.
I looked down at the creature trembling face-down on the floor, slipped the headset over his ears, and opened the small bottle.
The lid of the bottle was labeled ‘Albocyl.’
I opened the Albocyl, paired the Bluetooth headset I had registered on my phone while in My Room, and played him the songs I had recorded.
Story, ‘Singer Even Storytellers Despise,’ cheers that it is finally getting to shine after a long time!
“Kyaaaaak…!! !#@(#)!”
After hearing my fantastic singing for a moment, he writhed as if having a seizure and began screaming unintelligible sounds.
But I didn’t care what he did.
I dripped the contents of the Albocyl bottle little by little onto Baul’s wounds.
“@($!+!_#*(!#!#)!#(!!!!!”
The more Albocyl fell on the wounds, the more he screamed in unknown alien languages.
Just as I was about to empty nearly the entire bottle on him—
Briiing!!
Second ‘Dokkaebi Private Audience’ has ended.
Along with the alarm I had set, my body rippled—
and the next moment I was standing in front of the party.
They quietly gathered around me. Without looking at them, I calmly stared down the lower-rank dokkaebis who were looking at me with terror-soaked eyes and deathly pale faces.
“I won’t say it twice. Don’t act up in front of me.”
I pointed at the intermittently twitching Baul and continued.
“Any dokkaebi who wants to end up like that bastard can act up in front of me. Got it?”
Shake! Shake! Shake!
Some lower-rank dokkaebis lowered their eyes the moment they met mine.
Others broke out in cold sweat and shook their heads vigorously.
Then an executive dokkaebi approached Baul, who hung limp in midair, and gave a low whistle.
With those words the executive opened a portal in the air and vanished into it together with Baul and Bihyung.
I watched them for a moment, then turned my eyes to check my held coins.
Hm?
I felt something odd about my current coin total and stared at it.
I had hit Baul exactly three hundred twenty times.
That meant my held coins should have been 1,867,263 in total.
Yet the amount had actually increased beyond what I originally held. I thought carefully and soon realized why the coins had gone up.
I hurriedly checked the system message history.
And there—
500 coins sponsored.
1,000 coins sponsored.
500 coins sponsored.
1,500 coins sponsored.
500 coins sponsored.
3,000 coins sponsored.
…
…
…
Countless sponsorship messages from Constellations filled my vision.
Yeah, they really dumped a ton of coins on me.
Well, unlike Kim Dokja’s boring punches and kicks, I had tormented the bastard with every tool, sauce, salt water, Albocyl, and my singing. It would have been weirder not to get coins.
If I’d beaten him a little longer I could’ve gathered even more. A bit of a shame.
Anyway, having finally settled the grudge that had lasted since Anguk Station, I felt light and looked up at the sky with a smile.
“Thanks for the sponsorships. Still, I put on a good show, right?”
Constellations within the channel smile and nod.
Constellation, ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband,’ says it was an enjoyable spectacle.
Constellation, ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire,’ says she was moved by your actions.
Constellation, ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon,’ grumbles that it was a little cool.
Constellation, ‘Secretive Plotter,’ smiles faintly and says he is satisfied.
Demon King, ‘Demon God of Wrath and Lust,’ says it was a delightful feast and smiles.
Constellation, ‘Lily Blooming in Aquarius,’ says it was a little cool and reacts primly.
Constellation, ‘God of Wine and Ecstasy,’ praises without reserve that it was truly excellent side dish.
Constellation, ‘Maritime War God,’ is moved by the camaraderie you displayed.
Constellation, ‘Bald General of Justice,’ sheds tears of emotion at the camaraderie you displayed.
Constellation, ‘Goryeo’s First Sword,’ says it was truly magnificent and smiles.
Constellation, ‘King Heungmu,’ snorts and praises that you did well.
Constellation, ‘Hwarang of Unyielding Battle’ ….
Constellation, ‘Last Hero of Hwangsanbeol’ ….
Constellation, ‘Goddess of Love and Beauty’ ….
Constellation, ‘Blacksmith of the Volcano’ ….
…
…
…
Countless indirect messages from the Constellations covered my eyes.
I gave them appropriate replies while looking at the messages, then turned my head to future Shin Yooseung.
“How about it? Satisfied a little?”
She nodded gently, smiling softly through her tears.
“…Yeah. Really, really… I was satisfied…. Thank you… thank you so much….”
With her words, Lee Gilyoung and little Shin Yooseung ran over and clung tightly to me.
“Hyung! You were so cool earlier!”
“Oppa was the best!”
Then Jung Heewon and Lee Hyunsung spoke.
“It really cleared my chest, you know?”
“That’s right. This time you were truly amazing.”
Lee Jihye and Lee Seolhwa approached next.
“You were a tiny bit cooler than our master, oppa!”
“Hehe. You were really incredible.”
Then Kim Dokja and Yoo Sangah came forward.
“You worked hard.”
“You worked hard, Jinwoo.”
At the party’s praise I smiled softly and looked at the last person who still hadn’t complimented me.
“What are you looking at?”
“No compliment from you?”
“…Did you think I would praise you?”
“Yep.”
Yoo Joonghyuk frowned and glared at me for a while. Then she let out a sigh, moved her lips a few times, and finally spoke slowly.
“…Haa. Good work.”
“Yeah, you must have tried hard too, with that.”
“Got a complaint?”
“No. Still, thanks for the compliment.”
At Yoo Joonghyuk’s praise I smiled, looked over the party, and raised my eyes to the sky.
“Ah, feels like a ten-year-old lump in my chest is finally dissolving.”