Chapter 228
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 228
Chapter Title: Methodical Murder - 3
I used Ability Analysis on him.
Level 21... His stats and skills were nothing special.
He had filled in his lacking stats with items, but the important thing was his level.
Additional effects were tied to levels.
In Mi-kyung's case, her combat ability had skyrocketed after learning Clone at level 25.
No need to mention her current level 30 self.
A girl in her early to mid-twenties risking danger to hunt, while this guy...
With that thought, my gaze toward him turned cold.
Lee Beom-seok hesitated for a moment before sitting on the edge of the bench.
"I've heard rumors that you've been digging into me a lot lately."
"Cut the time-wasting and get to it. You met Go Ho-kyung, right?"
His lips twitched.
"Yeah, I did."
"Must've heard some great stories. Right?"
"Talk about how the world works, about the future..."
What bullshit.
But if I thought about it, it wasn't entirely a lie.
He would've been told how Judecca and his minions would ruin the world and rebuild it their way.
"So, inspired by your dear Judecca, you decided to become a monster?"
"You talk like you're not monsters. Between you and Hwang Seok-hyun, that's nearly 1,500 kills. Who's the real monster?"
Is this guy actually an idiot?
"Weren't you a politician? Does a general directing his troops to kill the enemy count as a massacre? Should politicians discipline generals in those situations?"
"The site had enemies mixed with civilians. You could've separated them..."
What's this lunatic trying to lecture me on?
"What does a guy holed up in a shelter know? Is separating them even possible? Why did they burn whole villages in Vietnam? They could've separated soldiers from civilians."
At that point, Lee Beom-seok bit his lip hard.
And the words he barely spat out:
"In the end, both were wrong wars... no, massacres..."
"Impressive critic you've become. Can't do shit on your own. If Seok-hyun or I hadn't done it, hundreds of Koreans would've died."
"..."
Lee Beom-seok stared straight ahead in silence for a moment.
I wondered if he'd gotten the point, but a guy like that wouldn't have come this far.
"Your massacres accomplished nothing."
"What do Judecca's massacres accomplish?"
"Creation... Go Ho-kyung said the current destruction is for future creation."
"Destroying humanity to create monsters? If you're convinced by that, something's wrong with your head."
"Mock me all you want. My mind's made up."
"Then I'll kill you before you fall further."
I drew the mithril blade from my dimension slot, but surprisingly, he stayed calm.
He even smiled at the sight of the sword.
"Haha... I thought it was weird. Figured you'd swing at me the moment we met."
This guy met Go Ho-kyung more than once.
Otherwise, he wouldn't face death so indifferently.
"What did Go Ho-kyung tell you?"
"He said they're evolving even now... Your old tricks won't work anymore."
Storing bodies in the dimension warehouse to prevent revival, maybe.
But I couldn't fully believe it.
Lee Beom-seok's status window was clean.
If he'd received Judecca's power, it should show in the effects.
Wait a minute.
I recalled An Geun-seok's trait.
He couldn't create, but twisting situations was easy for him.
Not everything was as it seemed.
To confirm, I'd have to kill him.
But I needed to make him a villain first. That could be tricky.
Now Lee Beom-seok looked to the sky and rambled on.
"Thinking about it, none of this is Judecca's fault. The Silver Spore meteor was just coincidence."
"And using monsters to massacre people after?"
"On that point, I win. That's not Judecca's fault."
"Whose is it then?"
"There are those who created Judecca and threw him in the Great Labyrinth. He followed their will at first. Not sure if you know."
This was bait to fish info from me.
Judecca and his crew knew I roamed the Lotus Continent.
So they were trying to extract info from me.
Even giving a little away didn't matter.
I changed the subject.
"Since we're here, spill it. What did Judecca promise? Let's see if it's worth more than your ties to Jang Won-taek."
For the first time, Lee Beom-seok got excited.
"I... have never betrayed the President."
"You never served him as a superior to begin with."
My jab made him more agitated.
"Don't make me laugh. I still want to serve him."
"Then quit the bullshit and go back to the office."
"I can't... Because I have to give what I received to the President too."
My momentum deflated.
He'd fully become a Judecca cultist.
"Well, well, now you're proselytizing? What do you want to give him?"
"Power, and immortality... Things we can't get no matter how hard we struggle. We'll make the world better with them."
"A world crawling with monsters. Sounds great."
"Sarcasm won't help. You can't do anything in this apocalypse. Only Judecca... and us can change this cursed world."
I nearly swung my sword.
One thing was clear: he'd tasted Judecca's power, even a little.
Otherwise, he couldn't hold such a twisted conviction.
Maybe politicians fell for it easily.
They were good with calculators...
From a third party's view, Judecca's side did seem stronger.
"So... you'll betray Jang Won-taek and toss aside the world he dreamed of like trash?"
"It's about possibilities. Choosing the higher one is no problem."
"Soon tentacles will sprout from your nostrils, monster man."
"Tentacles aren't everything. I told you, Judecca's still evolving. They're just a phase."
"Guess you're scared of tentacles from your nose too."
"...Enough."
Lee Beom-seok stood, turned his back to me, and said again.
"We only want one thing. Hand over supplies and guns, and we'll leave quietly."
"Then take Judecca's power and attack the Korean shelter?"
"Not interested in the shelter itself. I only want the President. I'll... build a new shelter. One monsters won't attack. Cool, right?"
"Peace permitted by monsters. Very cool."
"We're at a parallel, then."
"Always have been."
Changing people's minds is incredibly hard.
For someone my age or Lee Beom-seok's, nearly impossible.
There's a saying you can't fix people.
Old sayings are never wrong.
I gripped the mithril blade and stood.
"Not giving you shit. Get out."
"If not, no choice."
He shrugged and walked away from me.
I knew he'd omitted the part about taking it by force.
Go ahead and try.
I'll make you a villain.
The Korean shelter went into shutdown.
The shelter was sealed, all external activities banned.
Only the most routine actions were allowed.
People were baffled.
Quests were coming soon; shouldn't we prepare?
Some went to the office, but couldn't get Jang Won-taek's answer.
He was meeting a few people in his office.
Office workers who followed Lee Beom-seok.
They came on strong, seeing Jang as an easy mark.
"We'll leave if you give us supplies."
"No need to make a fuss, right?"
"..."
Jang Won-taek leaned back in his chair, eyes closed as always.
He looked a decade older from recent stress.
"Jang Won-taek."
Someone called rudely, and he opened his eyes.
"-ssi" wasn't technically wrong.
But calling the former President that way? Tacky.
Jang Won-taek smiled faintly at the speaker.
"Congrats on your new superior."
He shrugged instead.
"We have no superiors. Everyone's equal."
"Equal under Judecca's name?"
"Believe it or not, we're free. No one's orders."
"And... we haven't decided to follow Judecca. Kinda fishy."
"We'll form our own faction."
"Isn't that weird?"
Jang Won-taek raised his voice at them.
"Just recently, you hated going out. Now you want to lead? Doesn't make sense."
They immediately pushed back.
"When did we hate going out? No chances."
"You misunderstand. We'd go if we had guns."
Lies.
Jang Won-taek chuckled inwardly.
He'd spent nearly a year with them.
Working together, he knew their thoughts plainly.
Simple: Avoid duties, claim rights.
Non-combat, so not much hunt help. Fine.
But defense, watch, night shifts? They could.
They banded together, claiming paperwork and inventory were grueling.
Fighters returning from monsters would be stunned.
But some had to handle admin for the shelter to run.
Can't run fist-bumps without records.
Jang thought specializing them was best.
Even kept them out of the Chinese war.
'That was the mistake.'
Office workers didn't grasp fieldwork.
Didn't know tension of humans as enemies, not monsters.
They'd been holed up since apocalypse start.
Reluctant to say, but levels super low.
Level 10? Probably.
Opened shop with others' help to level.
Jang had tried forcing apocalypse reality on them there.
They resisted desperately.
Claiming shelter couldn't run without them.
Now they wanted guns.
Jang knew guns alone wouldn't save them here.
They must have secret promises.
'You... had to end like this...'
Lee Beom-seok likely led them astray.
Promised shelter safe from monsters for a while.
Those hating Sung-ho bit.
'Hilarious.'
Hate people, love monsters?
He couldn't understand blind faith in Lee Beom-seok's promise.
Maybe lost touch with reality from hiding.
"Jang Won-taek! Jang Won-taek!"
A call snapped him back.
He stated firmly.
"No. Can't give supplies."
This was Sung-ho's demand.
He'd shut down the whole shelter recently too.
Sung-ho wanted the shelter dead quiet.
Didn't know why, but probably quest-related.
So follow it...
Jang felt huge fatigue this incident.
Nearly a year running shelter, never wanted to quit like now.
People got heated.
"Why not? Give our share!"
"10 people, 10 portions. Hard to get?"
"We know the warehouse best..."
Threatening theft if no.
Not bad.
Jang reaffirmed.
"Absolutely not."
"Tell us why!"
Shouts erupted in the office.
Sung-ho listened from lodging.
I ate with members in the lodging.
Menu: seafood and sashimi.
Ji-man got from Lotus shelter.
Here June, there near winter; fish fatty.
All raved, devoured sashimi.
Even Yeo-ul, who dislikes seafood, chopsticks flying.
Then Soo-yeon glanced out.
"Shelter's so quiet... Like no one's here."
Not just shutdown.
Recently, headaches from Lee Beom-seok and ten.
Daytime office shouts.
Office workers demanding supplies clashed with Jang.
No violence, but bad vibes.
Mi-kyung glanced, asked me.
"Oppa, telling us not to go out... reason, right?"
"Shh."
She pursed lips at my finger.
Shelter, could be rats.
I wrote small on note.
This is to activate Villain Subjugation quest.
—Early quests: farming, hunting,攻略.
—System assigns based on actions.
—Lots of hunting? Hunting quests. No activity? Highlights influential one.
—Office workers raging at Jang daytime, future theft... all to trigger villain quest.
Lee Beom-seok behind them, he'll be villain.
Normally no early villain quests.
Can't do nothing.
Producer-unknown bug.
Passed note; eyes widened in shock.
All sighed, chests tight, ate quietly.
Normals would've said: just tell ahead.
Then awkward cohabitation with malcontents.
No one wants cancer lump.
Best: surgical removal.
I waited for their outburst.
That night.
Sleeping in lodging first time in ages, someone screamed outside.
"Thief! Thieeef!"
Thud sound, messages scrolled.
Sleepers jolted up.
"What the hell..."
"Heart stopped."
"What's that? Deathmatch start?"
I checked gear, read messages.
Villain Subjugation quest popped.
Challenge Quest: Villain Subjugation
📍 Content: Exterminate villain Lee Beom-seok and his 10 followers
⏰ Time Limit: 24 hours
🎁 Reward: 1 Elixir
Elixir here, huh.
Methodical Murder - 3 End