Chapter 170
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 170
Chapter Title: Bang Tae-wan
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“You, what the hell happened to you?”
Bang Tae-wan freaked out upon seeing his younger brother lying in the hospital bed.
His face was badly bruised, as if someone had punched him, and his arms and fingers were broken, requiring surgery.
“Which bastard did this...? Who turned you into this?”
“N-No one did this. I-I just tumbled down the stairs by accident...”
“What do you mean no one! Anyone can see these are beating marks!”
“......”
“I asked who it was! I’ll kill the fucker right now!”
At his brother’s shout, Bang Tae-gyu recalled Ryu Min’s warning.
If he sought revenge or reported to the police, he’d be hunted to the ends of the earth and have his other arm snapped too.
“I-I can’t tell you. If th-that guy finds out, I’m really dead.”
Seeing his brother trembling in terror, Bang Tae-wan couldn’t press further.
“Phew, let’s talk later when you’ve calmed down.”
He already knew his brother was a bully.
For a middle schooler, he had a solid build, and he could take down even nearby high schoolers.
‘My brother, who’s like that, got beaten like this?’
What deadly sin could he have committed to deserve being beaten this badly?
Staring at his brother shuddering like he had PTSD, Bang Tae-wan made a vow.
‘I’ll pay that bastard back in kind.’
Even though his brother wouldn’t talk, tracking down the culprit wouldn’t be hard.
“The brother of some guy named Ryu Won?”
“Yeah. I heard his name’s Ryu Min.”
“Why’d you fight?”
“Well...”
He learned the full story by asking his brother’s bully friends he hung out with.
They’d been using a shuttle named Ryu Won from their class, his brother found out, got pissed, and came looking for payback—the usual revenge drama.
‘Fuck, even so, this is too much, right? Just for making him run errands, beating the kid this bad?’
It had been Ryu Min’s measure to prevent bigger trouble, but Bang Tae-wan had no way of knowing that.
The important thing was that his own brother had come home beaten like a dog.
‘I’ll kill him.’
Revenge.
With that sole thought, he scouted out where Ryu Min and Ryu Won lived.
But they’d already moved, so in the end, he shelled out big money to hire a private investigator.
The response that came back, however, was despairing.
“No SNS activity, no records—we couldn’t find a single trace. No mail, no photos, nothing left behind. We’ve been in this business ten years, and this is the first time we’ve seen someone leave zero traces.”
“Th-Then how the hell am I supposed to find him? If you can’t, refund my money!”
“Don’t worry, sir. It’s not zero results. We did track down the ID that Ryu Won kid uses a lot. Search Google for that ID every day to see if anything pops up. If he makes an SNS account or a game ID, you’ll find him.”
* * *
“So, you searched that ID, found the young master’s game ID, and tracked him all the way here?”
“That’s right.”
Yamtti clicked her tongue after hearing the details from Bang Tae-wan.
“Ha, persistent bastard. Pretending to be a game friend for months just for revenge.”
Ryu Won, listening beside her, couldn’t hide his shock.
‘No wonder he kept prying about our home address and my brother whenever we gamed...’
But more bewildering than that was the woman calling him young master.
“Uh, excuse me, what’s your name?”
“Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. Call me Yamtti, young master.”
“Y-Yam...tti?”
“It’s my nickname. As you can see, I’m a Player. It shows, right?”
“Ah, yeah...”
“How old do I look?”
“Huh?”
“Don’t I look early twenties?”
“Y-Yeah, you do.”
“See, young master? You’ve got a good eye. I take good care of myself. Not that I’ve had any plastic surgery.”
“Um, but... have we met somewhere? Why do you keep calling me young master...”
“Oh? Didn’t I mention? I’m an acquaintance of Ryu Min’s.”
“My brother’s...?”
At the mention of his brother’s name, Ryu Won’s eyes went wide.
‘Brother had an acquaintance like this?’
Just as he made game friends, it seemed his brother had built a network of Players in the other world.
Nine months was longer than he’d thought.
‘Well, I don’t know all of Brother’s connections anyway.’
Yamtti flashed a friendly smile and explained how she’d ended up here.
“Ryu Min got worried when he heard the young master was meeting a friend, so he told me to tag along and check it out. That goes to show I’m the most trustworthy person to him. Hohoho.”
“I-I see.”
Hearing she was his brother’s acquaintance finally put him at ease.
‘Did Brother foresee something like this?’
Either way, thanks to his prophet brother’s foresight, he’d survived.
“Thank you, Yam... Yamtti. You saved my life.”
“Oh, I didn’t do much. It’s all because Ryu Min told me to go ahead and check—I could stop it in time.”
“I should thank Brother too.”
Ryu Won, who’d grinned, glanced at Bang Tae-wan standing there blankly.
“But how’d you do it? He’s not the type to obey so meekly...”
“It’s my ability. I can charm someone in an instant and turn them into a subordinate.”
“Ah, so that’s...”
Now grasping the situation, Ryu Won nodded along, then asked,
“But you’re really my brother’s acquaintance, right? Not dating or anything?”
“Huh? You think so?”
“No, it’s just... you keep calling me young master even though you’re not married to him or anything...”
“Hmm, who knows if we’ll get married. Future young master.”
“Huh?”
“Kidding, kidding. Anyway, young master?”
Yamtti pushed forward Bang Tae-wan, under mental control.
“What’ll you do with this trash? Want me to hand him a knife? You should vent a bit.”
“Ehh? Th-That’s a bit...”
“Don’t worry about loose ends. I can clean up traces easily, and no one’ll care if trash like this dies. He came to kill you first—gonna just let him go? At least use him as a punching bag.”
“Hmm... I-I’m scared to hit someone...”
Ryu Won had never hit anyone in his life.
He’d never felt rage toward anyone or even raised his voice.
He’d just shrunk away and bowed his head.
Of course he’d be terrified.
‘They’re brothers, but his personality’s totally opposite the master’s?’
She didn’t quite get not wanting punishment, but she’d respect it.
He was the future young master, after all.
“I’ll respect the young master’s opinion. But I can’t just let this guy go. I need to report to Ryu Min and get his input.”
“Ah, yeah, sure. Do that.”
“Trash. Stay quiet while I make a call.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
Ryu Won stared in wonder at Bang Tae-wan, now a obedient doll, then glanced at Yamtti checking her phone.
‘Charming people and making them subordinates... That’s why Players are so dangerous.’
As he thought how scary that power was, Yamtti suddenly looked up.
“Young master?”
“Yeah?”
“But really, how old do I look?”
* * *
“Huff, huff.”
Moving non-stop had left him gasping raggedly.
He didn’t even know how many minutes had passed.
Joo Seong-tak’s mind was filled only with the thought of touching the bastard.
But.
Swish— swish—
‘This motherfucker won’t get caught once...!’
No matter how he swung his hands, kicked, feinted, or flailed wildly, the guy dodged like a ghost.
He’d ditched the heavy dagger long ago.
A single bare-handed touch, and it’d be Joo Seong-tak’s victory.
Then the system would make the guy his slave.
‘Once he’s my slave, I’ll make him apologize, then kill him in the most painful way.’
But things didn’t go as planned.
“Why so sluggish? Move faster.”
“You motherfucker...!”
“Aigoo, still got breath for barking? Save that energy for when you tag me. Tsk tsk.”
“Fuck you!”
Ryu Min deliberately taunted him to drain his stamina faster.
Even with an overwhelming stat gap, using Fear Curse put Ryu Min at risk too.
‘If it lands even once, I can’t move for 3.4 seconds.’
The penalty prevented equipping gear, leaving his resistance very low.
Just base 15% plus 20% from the tower—multiplied, only 32% defense.
‘Meaning 68% chance to get hit by Fear Curse, and 3.4 seconds duration if it lands.’
In a duel where one slip meant defeat, 3.4 seconds frozen was deadly.
That’s why he kept distance when the guy timed his curse.
‘Time to end this.’
Tap tap tap tap tap—
Dodging Joo Seong-tak’s swipes, Ryu Min racked up touches.
Head, back, shoulder, arm, etc.
Dodging while mockingly tagging his body.
“Fuck, why won’t you get hit! Why!”
The guy thrashed in frustration, but the count filled to 99.
“One more touch, and I win.”
“Fuck this!”
As Joo Seong-tak panicked.
Bang bang bang bang bang bang—!
Pounding at the front door, with voices from outside.
Gangsters from downstairs.
“Hey, you crippled fuck! Come out! Can’t nap because of you, you shit!”
Couldn’t take the ongoing noise complaints anymore, they’d come up.
“Come out! What’re you doing banging around like that, legless cripple! Get out here! Player my ass, I’ll kill you!”
The gangster bellowed, but Joo Seong-tak grinned instead.
The guy’s presence was hope to turn the tide.
Dash—!
Joo Seong-tak bolted to the door to open it.
Ryu Min, who’d read the play, chased, but the moment the guy looked—
[You’ve fallen into the abnormal status ‘Fear.’]
Of all times, Joo Seong-tak’s Fear Curse landed.
He’d anticipated even that and kept enough distance, so no touch risk.
Click—
Enough time for Joo Seong-tak to open the door.
“Finally opening, you fuck. I told you to stay quie— Gurk!”
A dagger thrust like lightning stabbed and withdrew from gangster Kim Jong-seon’s throat.
Thud—
Securing a corpse in seconds, Joo Seong-tak stepped over into the hallway.
Now Joo Seong-tak and Ryu Min faced off, corpse between them.
“Kekeke, come on, punk. Get close, and I’ll blow you up with corpse explosion.”
“What a pain. But you know what?”
Crackle crackle—
Electricity sparked over Ryu Min’s body.
“Dodging a corpse blast is all it takes.”
“Fuck? What? Penalty means no skills!”
“This is a rune.”
Boosted by the lightning rune’s speed, Ryu Min closed the gap instantly.
Joo Seong-tak, panicking, tried to chant late.
“Corpse explo...”
Smack—!
No time for the skill.
His face crushed by immense force, Joo Seong-tak slammed into the wall and died on impact.
[The duel has ended. Victory for ‘Black Scythe.’]
[Opponent defeated, so becomes slave and will serve ‘Black Scythe’ as master for life, obeying.]
Ignoring the messages, Ryu Min eyed Joo Seong-tak.
The supposedly dead guy’s face had already regenerated.
Since it wasn’t a deathmatch duel, he’d revived.
Though his mind hadn’t recovered.
“Won, at least. Though there’s a casualty.”
He’d blocked corpse explosion, but not the gangster’s death.
Pushing aside regret, Ryu Min erased the corpse with cleanup.
Just then, his phone rang from Yamtti.
“What’s up? What? My brother?”
Hearing something happened to his brother but it was handled, Ryu Min asked for details.
“Yeah? You kept him alive?”
-Yes. What should I do, Master?
On Bang Tae-wan’s fate, Ryu Min replied simply.
“Send me the address. Bring him here.”
Hanging up, he immediately woke Joo Seong-tak.
“Hey, Joo Seong-tak.”
“Ungh?”
The guy, who’d lunged at sight of Ryu Min before, now meekly bowed his head like a lamb.
“G-Greetings, Master. Give me your orders.”
“Yeah. First order.”
Ryu Min smiled cruelly.
“A guy named Bang Tae-wan will come here soon. Kill him.”