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CHAPTER 125 – RYU MIN’S REQUEST
Before going to the warehouse,
Ma Kyung-rok was walking through the night streets.
It was because of Ryu Min’s call telling him to come out into an alley—he had something he needed to say in private.
‘What could he possibly have to say to me in the dead of night?’
If he had something to say, he could’ve done it over the phone, but he was calling him out like this?
And at such a late hour?
Ma Kyung-rok found it strange—behavior that wasn’t like the Prophet at all.
That sense of strangeness continued even after he met Ryu Min.
“Ah, Prophet. You’re here.”
“……”
“By the way, you said you had something to tell me?”
“……”
Ryu Min wasn’t even pretending to respond, just setting a mood.
‘What on earth is so important that he’s putting on this kind of atmosphere?’
Judging by his expression, he looked as serious as if he were carrying the world’s worries all by himself.
“Representative Ma. This is sudden, but there’s something I need to confess.”
“A confession?”
At the word “confess,” Ma Kyung-rok’s mind ran through several possibilities.
‘No way. Not that.’
The worst-case scenario flashed through his head, but he erased it right away.
It was the kind of development you’d only see in a trashy drama.
“In truth, I know your secret.”
“……A secret?”
Wariness immediately entered Ma Kyung-rok’s eyes.
“As you know, I’m a Prophet. And because of that, unintentionally, I saw your future. That’s when I saw your secret as well.”
A long sigh flowed out of Ryu Min’s mouth.
Ma Kyung-rok didn’t know it was thoroughly calculated acting.
“In reality as well… you’ve been hunting, haven’t you?”
“…….”
“I know. That you don’t just hunt ordinary civilians—you only pick criminals and hunt them. That’s why I don’t think badly of you. Of course I don’t consider you an enemy, either. If I did, would we have been partners all this time?”
“…….”
“However, I also haven’t considered you a completely trusted ally. Knowing you kill as a hobby every night and saying I don’t stay wary would be a lie.”
He didn’t say it out loud, but Ma Kyung-rok understood.
No matter who the target is, if you kill, you’re a killer.
From an outside perspective, it would be repulsive.
That was the normal reaction.
And Ma Kyung-rok had expected all of this.
He just hadn’t expected such a blunt confession.
“Prophet. Have you ever killed an insect?”
“…….”
“Of course you have. Even if not recently, when you’re young, you cut off an insect’s arms and legs. If you’re a child who doesn’t understand what kind of pain that causes, you end up doing cruel things out of curiosity. Without even realizing it’s cruelty.”
“…….”
“That was me. When I was young, I killed countless insects. Because they were filthy. I had it drilled into me that things that look unpleasant and filthy should be stomped out. And it was the same when I grew up. To my eyes, they were wearing human skin, but I could see disgusting insects swarming everywhere.”
This time, Ryu Min fell silent.
“I decided to start cleaning up insects back in high school. There was a leech-like bastard who found out I was chaebol and clung to me, sucking off me at my side. He disgusted me. So I couldn’t hold back the impulse and I disposed of him. It was simple. There was nothing money couldn’t do.”
“…….”
“That was the beginning. When I started cleaning up insects in earnest. If I say this, I’ll sound like a psycho, but honestly, it felt refreshing.”
“…….”
“After that, I don’t know how many I killed because I never counted. I’ll just say fingers and toes wouldn’t be enough.”
Ryu Min looked at Ma Kyung-rok with an expression like he didn’t know what face he was supposed to make.
Ma Kyung-rok continued as if he still had more to say.
“Is what people commonly call a psychopath referring to me? I don’t know whether it’s true or not, but one thing is certain: I don’t touch ordinary civilians. I only touch the breed that stinks of filth. You know that too, Prophet.”
“…….”
“Prophet. When I first saw you, I expected it to some extent. If you can see the future, wouldn’t you be able to see this hobby of mine too? If so, then have you been leaving it alone all this time even while knowing? Why?”
“…….”
“I had questions, but I didn’t ask until now. I didn’t want to expose my dirty side and ruin my image. But I never imagined you would bring it up first, this frankly.”
Ma Kyung-rok’s face as he spoke quietly was more serious than ever.
“You knew I was a murderer, and you let it slide. Why? Why didn’t you report me to the police?”
“I’ll be honest.”
Ryu Min said, acting tense.
“Because I wasn’t confident. Not confident I could fight you and win, and not confident I could bear the losses that would come from it.”
“…….”
“Besides, there isn’t any evidence left, is there? If I went to the police and said it based on the future, would they believe me? No—even if they did, would it become evidence?”
“Then why are you revealing it to me now?”
When it came time to get to the main point, Ryu Min shifted into a more serious expression.
“I want to ask Representative Ma to clean up trash.”
“What do you mean? Don’t tell me…?”
“Yes. It’s the trash you’re thinking of. There’s a place I know that’s overflowing with trash. I desperately need Representative Ma’s help.”
The “cleaner” Ryu Min was talking about was Ma Kyung-rok.
As long as he was siphoning black mana from humans, there was no one more suitable than him.
“Have you heard of Plseba?”
“Yes. Isn’t it a café that only Players can join?”
“You know it. Even so, you never thought about joining?”
“I’m not into online meetups. Even if I joined, I wouldn’t have time to meet offline anyway. But why are you suddenly talking about a café…?”
“The truth is, when you look closer, that café is crawling with murderers.”
“What?”
Ryu Min smiled slightly and began explaining in detail.
Plseba’s murder interview method, and the way they trapped Players, binding them.
Information you couldn’t know unless you joined personally.
“A café where insect-like bastards parasite….”
Disgust surfaced in Ma Kyung-rok’s expression.
He looked like he wanted to kill filthy things right this second.
“But Prophet—how do you know all this? Don’t tell me you joined…?”
Ma Kyung-rok was suspecting more than just joining.
It was information you couldn’t know unless you were at least executive-level.
“Drop the misunderstanding. I’ve never joined. I only happened to meet one of their executive-level Players and saw his future.”
“Ah. If that’s the case…”
The suspicion vanished from Ma Kyung-rok’s eyes.
“So if I summarize what you’re saying: the Players who joined a café called Plseba are all bastards who passed a murder interview, and they’re all trash that needs to be dealt with. And right now, you’re asking me to deal with them.”
“That’s correct. Right now, after the executives changed, the murder interview has been completely abolished, but the existing members are all suspected of participating in or aiding murder. Considering the present and the future, they’re a group we can’t possibly ignore.”
“Is there a reason you’re entrusting it to me instead of reporting them?”
“Even if you report them, realistically it would be impossible to punish them. Most evidence has already been destroyed, and since they’re Players, it’s not like you can lock them up by force.”
“That’s true.”
“That’s why I need Representative Ma’s help. For building up the Dark Knight’s black mana, there’s nothing better than killing people, is there?”
Ma Kyung-rok’s eyes widened in surprise.
“……You really know a lot about my job.”
“Of course. When you see prophecies, you end up learning various things.”
Ma Kyung-rok nodded, then asked again as if confirming.
“Specifically, what do you want me to do?”
“Kill all of Plseba’s trash. If you lure them somewhere quiet, Representative Ma can go there, relieve stress, and gain black mana. You won’t be able to kill them all in a single day. There are so many that it’ll take months.”
“How are you going to lure them?”
“If we scare them with wanted posters made by compositing their faces, and lure them by saying we’ll help them flee overseas, that should do it. I’ve already turned one of their executives to my side, so there won’t be a problem supplying people.”
“Hm.”
He didn’t show it, but Ma Kyung-rok was quietly shocked by Ryu Min’s proposal.
‘He already had a concrete plan?’
To be honest, he’d suspected it might be a joke.
He’d even prepared himself to laugh idiotically if the Prophet suddenly flipped it into some surprise “just kidding.”
‘Now I get it. The Prophet is 100% serious.’
If it was serious, then it changed everything.
‘This is an opportunity. An opportunity to get a steady supply of black mana easily.’
The Dark Knight job demanded an enormous amount of black mana.
High performance, but like a foreign car that guzzles gas.
That was why it was overwhelmingly stronger than ordinary jobs, but also burdensome.
‘And the Prophet is saying he’ll reduce that burden?’
All Ma Kyung-rok had to do was put his spoon on a fully prepared table.
It was an undeniably tempting proposal.
There was no reason to refuse.
And yet, Ma Kyung-rok stalled a little.
There was something that held him back from accepting too readily.
It was the burden.
This wasn’t murder he’d been committing privately—this would be murder carried out jointly with the Prophet.
Sharing the dirty secret of murder made the weight entirely different.
Ryu Min knew that.
‘He needs a push.’
He didn’t need some grand motivation.
If he nudged him a little, Ma Kyung-rok would move on his own.
Ryu Min pulled an item out of his inventory.
“Take it.”
“Huh? This is…?”
Receiving something out of nowhere, Ma Kyung-rok looked bewildered.
“A Black Mana Potion. I thought you might need it.”
“Ah.”
Only then did Ma Kyung-rok check the item’s options—and he was surprised.
It truly was a potion meant for him.
“It’s a bribe. I’m not asking you to help for free, so don’t feel too burdened.”
“Ah…”
It felt like receiving an unexpected gift.
In that moment, Ma Kyung-rok’s burden vanished.
“You set the table, and even a gift like this…”
“It may be a set table, but it won’t be easy.”
“I’ll use it well, Prophet. Leave the trash cleanup to me.”
Ma Kyung-rok and Ryu Min both smiled in satisfaction.
“Ughhh….”
Ma Kyung-rok tapped the dying Player’s face—someone who was letting out a sound like he was on his last breath.
“Is this all?”
“Ghk…”
“Answer me. I’m asking if you don’t have anything else.”
“Th-there isn’t… everything in my inventory, I coughed it all up….”
Ma Kyung-rok looked at the items spread out in front of him and asked again.
“You sure?”
“I-I’m sure. Ghk. S-so please…”
The Player’s body trembled.
“Get this monster off me… ngh!”
Dark Aura was stuck to the man’s lower body like a leech, gnawing away at his life little by little.
It was agonizing, but more than that, the fear of being eaten alive by a beast was even greater.
“Alright. I’ll believe you.”
Ma Kyung-rok gathered his strength.
The blade was covered in Dark Aura.
“As promised, I’ll kill you cleanly.”
“Th-thank yo—”
Before he could finish, the Player’s head fell to the floor.
Ma Kyung-rok put the sword he’d swung into his inventory.
‘They were going to die anyway. It’s not like extorting a few items will be a problem.’
A satisfied smile formed at the corner of Ma Kyung-rok’s mouth.
He’d collected more items than expected.
Most of them were the Prophet’s share.
‘If you’re Korean, there should be a give-and-take affection.’
Grinning, Ma Kyung-rok used Trace Erasure.
The five corpses disappeared as if it were a lie.