Chapter 95
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: A Perfect Plan
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The location was perfect.
He had called him to the most secluded alley in all of Suwon.
'It's broad daylight, but that won't be a problem. Surprisingly few people pass through here at this hour.'
He was sure of it, having watched and analyzed the area for days.
'I've already secured an escape route, too.'
If a witness were to appear, he could just hide in the two-story building behind the alley. No problem.
There were no CCTVs, so he could slip away without a second thought.
'The plan is perfect, too.'
Once the guy was ten steps closer, he would detonate the corpse hidden in the clothing donation bin.
'Then, as he staggers from the damage, I'll cast the Curse of Fear and bring him to his knees.'
After that, a simple stab to the neck with a dagger would finish it.
'But I have no intention of killing him easily. I'll toy with him, make it as painful as possible.'
He would make him pay the price for pissing him off.
With that in mind, Joo Seong-tak stood in the alley and waited.
Waited for the buyer to draw near.
'Yes, just a little more. Five more steps.'
The unsuspecting buyer walked toward him.
The distance to the clothing donation bin was closing.
'Four steps, three, two... Just one more step and...!'
Just then.
*Halt—*
The buyer stopped, just one step short.
Joo Seong-tak's expression soured, naturally.
'Dammit, why'd he suddenly stop?'
The distance between them was a bit too far for a normal conversation.
Yet the buyer stood his ground and shouted from afar.
"Hey! Are you the one selling the Immortal Skin Fragment?"
"Yes, that's me."
"What are you doing over there? Are we making this trade or not?"
Seeing him gesture for him to come over left him dumbfounded.
'Fuck, one more step and he'll be in the corpse explosion's blast radius!'
The man kept gesturing, but Joo Seong-tak couldn't get any closer.
'If I go closer, *I'll* be the one in range of the explosion.'
Corpse Explosion damaged friend and foe alike.
There was no way he could approach.
Of course, he could just forget the explosion, walk up, and cast the Curse of Fear to easily subdue him.
But that was no fun.
More importantly.
'That's not the plan I made.'
The fact that things weren't going according to his plan made Joo Seong-tak hesitate.
"What are you doing? Aren't you coming?"
"C-Could you come over here? My legs are hurting..."
It was a ridiculous excuse, even to himself, but he had no choice.
'I just need him to take one step, just one.'
But the other man wouldn't budge, as if his feet were glued to the ground.
It was just a single step.
Instead, he crossed his arms and scowled.
"Ah, seriously, you think you're the only one with sore legs? If anyone's hurting, it's me, after coming all this way."
"I have a disability. It's hard for me to move."
He even resorted to the extreme excuse of having a disability, but...
"A disability? For someone with a disability, both your feet look perfectly fine."
The buyer wasn't falling for it at all.
'That fucking bastard, is he doing this on purpose?'
No, that couldn't be.
Who would ever imagine there was a corpse in a clothing donation bin?
He wouldn't know his class was Shaman, either.
And he certainly wouldn't know that one more step would seal his fate.
'Then why the hell won't he stop arguing and come over!'
The buyer, still standing stock-still and making his displeasure obvious, shouted.
"Fuck, you don't actually want to trade, do you?"
"Wh-What the...?"
"You don't even have the item, do you? You son of a bitch, huh?"
The sudden outburst caught Joo Seong-tak off guard.
"Wh-What are you talking..."
"You're flustered, so I must be right. You fucking lured me here to rob me, didn't you? That's why you keep telling me to come further in. Right? You goddamn bastard."
"..."
It seemed like a misunderstanding, but the words were incredibly grating.
When was the last time he'd been cursed out like this?
Probably not since his time in the military.
'St-Stay calm. I can't let him get to me.'
Joo Seong-tak had to clear up this misunderstanding, no matter what.
After all, if he could just get him to take one more step, it would all be over.
He could make this bastard kneel at his feet.
"I-I think you're misunderstanding something. It's not like that."
"Not like what, you fucker."
"Such vulgar language."
"Vulgar my ass, you piece of shit. You expect me to speak politely to someone who posts a fake item listing just to rob people?"
"I never lied! Look!"
Feeling genuinely wronged, Joo Seong-tak took the item out of his inventory.
It was the Immortal Skin Fragment he had listed for sale.
Only then did the man's aggressive demeanor soften.
"Oh? You really do have it."
Joo Seong-tak smiled inwardly, triumphant.
'Good. Now I can use this to lure him closer...'
But something was strange.
The buyer, who had been cursing just moments ago, was now smiling gently.
'What the? That bastard. Why the hell is he smiling like that... so creepy.'
In that instant, it felt as if a gust of wind blew past, and then the feeling in his arm vanished.
"Huh?"
An arm lay at Joo Seong-tak's feet.
His own left arm, still clutching the material item.
"Ah, aaargh!"
The delayed wave of pain jolted him to his senses.
'Wh-When? When did he get so close? There was a good distance between us!'
He looked up, and the buyer was still standing there, smiling.
'W-Wait, he didn't move a single step?'
Then how was his arm cut off?
He glanced to the side and saw a man holding a sword.
He turned his head back, and the smiling man was still there.
"T-Two of them...?"
Dumbfounded, he looked back and forth between them.
They were identical, like twins, from their clothes to their faces.
"Two? What are you talking about? There's only one of me."
At his words, he turned his head, and the man in front of him had vanished in the blink of an eye.
All that remained was the one beside him, holding the sword.
It was utterly baffling, like something out of a ghost story.
In truth, he had used a clone to draw his attention, but Joo Seong-tak had no way of knowing that.
"H-How did..."
"Do I really need to explain that, too?"
With that, the man casually picked up the material item from his severed arm.
Then he put it in his inventory as if it were his own.
Joo Seong-tak was so stunned he couldn't speak for a moment.
"Y-You fucking bastard!"
Finally shouting, Joo Seong-tak looked into the man's eyes and used the Curse of Fear.
Curse of Fear.
The first skill a Shaman learns after their class advancement, an overpowered skill that plunges the target into terror.
Joo Seong-tak had used it to easily subdue most of his enemies.
The moment the curse was cast, a hundred out of a hundred would be paralyzed with fear.
He had no doubt the man before him would be the same.
But then, the unexpected happened.
[The target has resisted fear.]
[Casting Curse of Fear has failed.]
'What? Failed?'
Joo Seong-tak thought he must have misread it.
In all his time fighting through six rounds, he had never seen that message before.
"No need to be surprised. With an 18% success rate, it's only natural for it to fail most of the time."
"What are you..."
Before he could even ask what he meant, a fist slammed into his jaw.
"Keok!"
Teeth scattered as his mind went hazy.
'Such damage...'
Didn't he have a sword?
But the force of his fist was this strong?
'Just how high is his Strength stat...?'
Absurdly, his surprise at the man's strength overshadowed the pain.
*Thwack—*
"Puheok!"
A blow to the stomach sent him doubling over, spitting blood.
Joo Seong-tak was on the verge of death, but...
*Shaaaa—*
A warm energy washed over him, and all his internal and external injuries healed.
"Wh-What just happened?"
"I healed you."
The man said nonchalantly.
"Because I wanted to beat you up some more."
*Crack—!*
Before his jaw could even snap back into place, the next punch landed.
*Thwack— Pak— Crack!*
A series of one-two punches sent him stumbling backward until he fell.
*Shaaaa—*
He almost lost consciousness, but once again, his wounds healed and he was perfectly fine.
"Y-You fucking bastard..."
"Still haven't had enough?"
Joo Seong-tak was being beaten senseless without knowing why.
His opponent had a sword, but he only used his fists, as if the blade wasn't even necessary.
'Fuck, if only I could land the Curse of Fear...'
The cooldown for Curse of Fear was one minute.
He'd been hit dozens of times, but since he still couldn't use it, the minute must not have passed yet.
'One minute is fucking long.'
But even time that feels eternal eventually passes.
An opportunity finally came for Joo Seong-tak, who had been enduring it all.
[Curse of Fear cooldown has reset.]
'You're dead, you motherfucker.'
He might have gotten lucky last time, but this time...
*Stab— Stab—*
"Huh?"
Joo Seong-tak panicked as his vision suddenly went black.
An excruciating pain erupted from his eye sockets.
"Ah, ah!"
"In the afterlife, the parents who bore a creature like you must be shedding tears of blood. Just like you are now."
"Keuk... you son of a bitch!"
*Swish— Swish—*
He immediately drew his dagger and swung it to counterattack, but his blind strikes had no chance of landing.
"You dare try to trick me?"
*Thwump—!*
A kick sent Joo Seong-tak flying, rolling across the ground.
Though he couldn't see, he could still grasp the situation.
'That bastard... did he deliberately stab my eyes right as the cooldown ended? Nah, no way.'
How could he possibly know that the curse required eye contact to work?
It must have been a coincidence.
'Fucking hurts like hell. Anyway, what do I do now?'
He was blind and missing an arm.
If his opponent hadn't used some method to heal him, he would have died from shock long ago.
'Is there really no way to beat this guy...?'
Just then, a clever idea came to mind.
Didn't he still have one more skill?
'You son of a bitch. You underestimated me.'
Even if he died, he would take that bastard with him.
With that resolve, he cast the skill.
He didn't know if it would work, but...
'It's do or die.'
[Corpse Explosion]
'This is it.'
*KABOOOOM—!*
* * *
When the explosion erupted in the alley, nearby shopkeepers rushed over.
"Wh-What happened?"
"Gasp, over there!"
Black scorch marks, a shattered clothing donation bin, and bits of flesh.
The people who immediately called the police had no idea.
That someone was watching them from a distance.
'Phew, I almost killed this bastard, too.'
Ryu Min, who had taken refuge inside the two-story building, looked at the unconscious Joo Seong-tak in the corner.
'Crazy bastard. Using Corpse Explosion while he couldn't even see.'
If he hadn't read his thoughts and stopped him, this guy would have been blown to pieces as well.
'Well, he deserves to die a hundred, no, a thousand times over, but...'
Ryu Min had no intention of killing Joo Seong-tak just yet.
If he had, he would have taken the material, slit his throat, and left.
'He's a psychopath, but he has his uses. The Rune of Drop he possesses is very valuable.'
Joo Seong-tak's nickname was [Dumb Idiot].
Like Ma Kyung-rok, the [Cheonma], he was a talent who vied for second or third place in the entire zone.
But he was a serial killer, which made him problematic as an ally.
'Of course, I have no intention of taking him to Round 20. But I can use him to take down bosses before then.'
The Rune of Drop was exactly what it sounded like: a rune that increased item drop rates.
In particular, it increased the drop rate of special items from boss-level enemies by ten times.
'In other words, it's an overpowered rune that can turn a 10% drop rate into 100%.'
This was how he'd managed to get a legendary material from a High Orc.
'If I use his rune wisely, it can be a great help to me.'
Didn't he just list a legendary material for sale on the PlePle Market?
He was a skilled player, so it was obvious he would continue to find good materials.
'The problem is that he's a serial killer...'
If left alive, he would surely kill innocent people, which made letting him go a difficult choice.
'But it's not like I don't have a way to deal with that.'
Ryu Min raised his Hwandudaedo.
There was no need to use the scythe and give them a reason to track him.
*Slice—*
One arm was already gone, so he just cut off a leg.
He left him with just one arm and one leg, then used Emergency Treatment.
The wounds closed, the severed surfaces becoming smooth.
'I used it on his eyes too, so his sight should return when he wakes up.'
However, he chopped up the severed limbs so they couldn't be reattached.
Joo Seong-tak was now a man with one arm and one leg.
'If I cripple his real body, he won't be able to go on killing sprees. All I need is his body in the Otherworld, which can still acquire items.'
Even if he was disabled like this, his avatar in the Otherworld would be fine.
Now he could leave without any worries.
'Of course, he saw my face, so he'll surely try to get revenge when he wakes up...'
But that wasn't a problem.
Because the face Ryu Min had shown him was that of the deceased Hwang Yong-min.