Chapter 41
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: The Rune of Inner Thoughts
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck...!"
Jang Seok-hyun, who had been spewing a stream of curses, glared with wide eyes.
At the one who had crushed his vitals.
"I'll kill you. I'll kill you, you son of a bitch."
The female owner had fled, but that didn't matter.
His lust had long since vanished.
Only a murderous intent to kill the man before him gleamed in his eyes.
"A fine attitude. I'd have been rather perplexed if you'd given in so easily."
As if enjoying the situation, the other man's voice was impossibly light.
He couldn't be sure, but it even sounded like he could hear laughter.
"You son of a bitch! What's so funny you're grinning like an idiot!"
Jang Seok-hyun charged, ignoring the pain.
A normal person wouldn't have even been able to stand, but as a Player, he could at least move.
'If I can just get close, a guy like him is nothing!'
He'd be no big deal at close range.
Fortunately, the man didn't move, standing still as a statue.
'Stupid bastard!'
A dagger had already been summoned into Jang Seok-hyun's right hand.
He swung the dagger wildly.
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-!
He was confident in his skill, which had pierced the necks of goblins.
However.
His opponent was skilled enough to pierce an eyeball with a scythe.
With his inferior level 9 stats, it was nearly impossible to even graze the clothes of his level 30 opponent.
'H-He's dodging all of this?'
He predicted and dodged the close-range dagger thrusts as if he were a ghost.
Thrusting left, thrusting right, slashing diagonally—no matter what crazy shit he tried, he only cut through empty air.
"To think you're still carrying something like a goblin's dagger."
The opponent spoke chidingly and swung his scythe low.
Tripped by the long handle, Jang Seok-hyun fell and grimaced in agony.
A sharp pain shot up from his groin.
"Kugh."
"Is it painful?"
His opponent, Ryu Min, smiled from behind his mask.
"We haven't even started yet."
The scythe flashed, and Jang Seok-hyun's wrist was sliced clean off.
"K-kuaaaargh!"
"Stop being so dramatic."
Ryu Min swung his scythe again, severing the other wrist.
He was now effectively unable to hold a weapon.
"K-huuuhk..."
Perhaps deciding he had no chance like this?
Jang Seok-hyun stood up, enduring the pain, and his body began to glow with a pure white light.
No, it attempted to glow.
"Huh?"
But when no light was emitted, Jang Seok-hyun panicked.
'Wh-what's happening? Why isn't it working?!'
His hands were cut off, but his feet were fine.
If he could use his light-emitting ability to blind his opponent, he should be able to escape.
'I definitely used it, so why!'
But his body showed no reaction, as if the ability had vanished.
There was only the same pitch-black darkness as before.
Ryu Min laughed inwardly at the sight of the panicking Jang Seok-hyun.
'It's useless no matter how much light you try to emit. Before the Night of Death, no light is permitted.'
He had anticipated this and cast the Night of Death skill in advance.
Jang Seok-hyun's rune was now useless.
'If I hadn't passed level 20 and learned the Night of Death skill, I would have been the one on the receiving end.'
I would have surely been flashbanged and blinded.
Even if I had closed my eyes in advance, I wouldn't have been able to stop him from escaping.
'Well, I probably would have cut off his ankles before that, though.'
As if the thought prompted him, Ryu Min swung his scythe.
Slice-!
With a gruesome sound, Jang Seok-hyun collapsed pathetically.
Only after seeing his severed ankles did he belatedly scream.
"K-kughhh!!!"
"You can't run away now, can you?"
Jang Seok-hyun, who had lost his wrists, ankles, and that crucial place, cried out in a voice filled with anguish.
"K-huuk, you... you demonic bastard! Why are you doing this to me? Whyyyy!"
"Why am I doing this?"
Stab-!
"Keuk!"
The scythe plunged into his thigh and was pulled out.
"What's the reason for exterminating a bug?"
Stab-!
The other thigh was also pierced by the scythe.
"Because if you leave it alone, it becomes a pest."
"Kuuugh... Fuck, you perverted psycho bastard."
Ryu Min actually laughed at Jang Seok-hyun's glare.
"Let's see how long that fighting spirit of yours lasts."
Ryu Min's scythe was merciless.
Like slowly torturing a bug by tearing off its legs one by one.
He sliced the limbs and punched holes in the torso.
A pool of blood spread out from Jang Seok-hyun like a carpet.
A desperate situation where he could neither emit light nor escape.
"Uwaaaaaah..."
With his mind steeped in nothing but pain, Jang Seok-hyun couldn't think straight.
'Fuck... why is he doing this to me. What grudge does he have against me?'
It was unfair.
And it was painful.
'Should I just bite my tongue and die rather than suffer like this?'
Just as he decided that would be better and tried to bite his tongue.
Thwack-
Ryu Min's scythe lifted Jang Seok-hyun's head.
"What? Trying to bite your tongue and die?"
"..."
He couldn't open his mouth because the blade was propped against the tip of his chin.
"Do you think I'd let you go so easily?"
"..."
"Until you beg me to kill you, you are not allowed to die."
The scythe moved like lightning, stabbing him twice in the back.
Stab- Stab-!
"Hwaaaaargh!"
Blood splattered as pain washed over him.
'I... I have to end the pain.'
Just as Jang Seok-hyun desperately tried to bite his tongue.
Ryu Min's blade once again lifted his chin, sealing his mouth.
Stab-stab- Stab-stab-!
"Mmmph!"
Stab-stab- Stab-stab-!
"Mmmmmmph!!!"
While holes were being punched into his body, Jang Seok-hyun attempted suicide countless times.
But each time, Ryu Min detected it like a ghost and kept his mouth clamped shut.
Slice- Slice-!
"H-guuuuuuph!!"
His consciousness grew faint from the pain.
The only thought in Jang Seok-hyun's mind was the desire to die.
"K-ki...ll... m...e..."
"What was that?"
"K...kill me... please..."
"Do you mean it?"
Jang Seok-hyun nodded.
He didn't want to suffer anymore.
Was he satisfied with those words?
Though hidden by the mask, a pleasant smile graced Ryu Min's lips.
"You probably don't know why I'm going this far. You and I have never met before."
"..."
"Actually, it's not quite right to say we've never met. Jang Seok-hyun. We have met before."
A flicker of surprise crossed Jang Seok-hyun's eyes.
'He knows... my name?'
Jang Seok-hyun stammered.
"D-don't tell me... are you... related to the owner..."
"That's not it. I have no connection to that woman whatsoever."
"Then..."
"You kidnapped my younger brother. Then you blackmailed me and demanded information on a hidden piece."
"I-I did? I didn't do..."
"Of course you didn't. It's an event from a future that hasn't happened yet. Though for me, it's an event from the past."
Regardless of the incomprehensible look on Jang Seok-hyun's face, Ryu Min continued.
"If I hadn't stepped in, you probably would have obtained the Rune of Inner Thoughts."
"The Rune of... Inner Thoughts?"
"There's a hidden rune concealed in this place."
'Really?'
Jang Seok-hyun's eyes widened at this new information.
"Do you know the condition for manifesting the Rune of Inner Thoughts? It's hearing another person's true voice."
"A true... voice...?"
"A voice that comes from the heart, one filled with the utmost sincerity."
"..."
"If I hadn't intervened, you would have raped and tormented that woman until you heard her true voice begging you to spare her life."
"..."
"And after obtaining the Rune of Inner Thoughts, you would have used it for more crimes, running rampant as if you owned the world."
Jang Seok-hyun couldn't refute any of it.
Because he had seen through his patterns of behavior perfectly.
"It's a fact I've verified over several regressions. Even without that, you deserve to die just for being a piece of trash with twelve prior convictions."
"I-if I deserve to die... then kill me quickly..."
Ryu Min shook his head.
"I'm not going to touch you."
"What...?"
"Why do you think I've been rambling on this whole time? I was waiting for you to die on your own."
Thwack-
Jang Seok-hyun's open mouth was forced shut by Ryu Min's scythe.
"You're going to die from blood loss anyway. Just lie there, feel the pain, and die slowly."
"Mmph! Mmph!"
Jang Seok-hyun tried to bite his tongue to commit suicide, but it was no use.
The scythe was pressing on his chin, preventing him from even opening his mouth.
"Mmmphhh..."
Even lying still, he felt ceaseless pain from the holes riddling his body.
He was in a state where he couldn't break the chain of pain even if he wanted to.
'J-just kill me already... It's too painful...'
He couldn't even utter the words his opponent wanted to hear—the plea to be killed.
'You said you needed to get the Rune of Inner Thoughts. You said you needed to hear a true voice from the heart!'
Unable to speak, he could only stare with a pleading gaze.
'I'm trying to say what you want right now! I'm trying to sincerely ask you to kill me! So why won't you let me speak!'
Did he read that look in Jang Seok-hyun's eyes?
"Why won't I let you speak?"
Ryu Min answered.
"Because I wanted to test the Rune of Inner Thoughts."
'What?'
He hadn't read his gaze.
"Too bad for you, but I've already obtained the rune."
He was reading his thoughts.
"Don't you remember? You already asked me to kill you. Sincerely."
'Come to think of it, I think I did say that at the beginning...'
"That's when the rune reacted to your true voice. I was able to obtain it right then. The Rune of Inner Thoughts."
'He already got it, but he pretended not to...'
"I ran a performance test, and as you can see, it works quite well."
'You got what you wanted, so you might as well kill me now...'
"No. You don't get to die easily."
Ryu Min said in a chilling voice from behind his mask.
"Because that would be unfair to the people who suffered at your hands."
'Fuuuck, you demonic bastard...'
As if giving up, Jang Seok-hyun let out one last curse and his body trembled violently.
His eyes glazed over as his consciousness faded, and a moment later, he stopped breathing.
Watching him, Ryu Min said indifferently.
"He's dead."
A brief observation.
There was no emotion in his voice.
Having killed him dozens of times already, it was only natural.
"Still, killing him like this each time, with the maximum amount of pain, is probably for the best for his victims."
Even if it takes a bit of time.
'I have plenty of time, after all.'
He had obtained the rune he wanted.
He had enough time to afford this little detour.
He had been worried that the woman he'd saved might not have run away and could be watching.
'There were no witnesses nearby.'
Presence Detection didn't pick up anyone.
He could rest easy.
'Not that it matters even if I'm seen, since I'm wearing a mask.'
Ryu Min's gaze turned to the message that had appeared a moment ago.
[You have drawn out a true voice from the target.]
[The activation condition has been met.]
[You have discovered the 'Rune of Inner Thoughts,' a hidden rune concealed in this location!]
[The acquired rune will now be automatically engraved onto the Player's body!]
This was the message that had appeared the moment he heard Jang Seok-hyun ask to be killed.
Ryu Min opened the information window for the newly acquired rune.
[Rune of Inner Thoughts]
- Effect: Read the thoughts of a visible target. By staring intently, you can also faintly read their innermost thoughts. Can only be used on targets within a 30m radius.
It was, quite literally, a thought-reading rune.
By staring continuously, he could even see through to their inner thoughts.
'Even if the target is in a state of no-mind.'
Information gathering, situational response, identifying friend from foe, and so on.
Its applications were endless.
There was a reason it was on the list of 18 essential runes to acquire.
Ryu Min's gaze fell upon Jang Seok-hyun, who had departed for the next world.
"Now that I've gotten what I wanted, shall I clean up a bit?"
He used a common skill he had recently learned.
And then.
Jang Seok-hyun's corpse vanished as if by magic.