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Chapter 128 – Investigation
Fourteen hours before killing Jang Bok-chul.
Ryu Min found a familiar name on the murder register.
‘Ju Seong-tak? This guy joined Plseba too?’
The name and age matched for sure, but the nickname was slightly different.
‘The nickname is [Poopers]? It should’ve been [Poop Dumbasses], though?’
And since even the rank he’d written down was different, it seemed he’d joined while twisting the information a little.
‘So that’s why Ju Seong-tak wasn’t in a manager position.’
Ju Seong-tak was a powerhouse—ranked around 2nd or 3rd across all zones.
If he’d been a manager, Ryu Min would’ve met him long ago, but if he’d falsified his info like this, of course he wouldn’t have.
‘Looking at the join date, he signed up a long time ago… did he join and just never do anything?’
He dug through the café, but there were no posts and no comments.
It looked like he’d simply passed the murder interview and kept quiet.
‘This guy obviously deserves to die, but… he still has value to use, for now…’
Ryu Min decided to spare him as an act of “generosity.”
Either way, like the others, he was as good as dead.
All that changed was that his deadline had been extended.
‘Huh?’
As he scanned the list again, he saw a nickname that felt familiar, like he’d seen it somewhere.
‘Name Hong Seon-a. Nickname Bolbbangbbang Jjinppang. Age 22, and her job is actress.’
In an instant, Seo Arin came to mind.
Same age, and same job.
If they’d acted in the same production, they probably would’ve been close.
‘Should I search her up?’
When he typed “Hong Seon-a” into the internet, multiple articles came up.
[Round 8 survival actress Hong Seon-a—her chameleon-like charm!]
[Hong Seon-a, Seo Arin, Gu Yeon-seung, Jang Bok-chul, and other popular celebrity Players survive this Round as well…….]
[Actress Hong Seon-a signs an advertising contract with a major agency! She’s found a reason to keep living!]
[Hong Seon-a confirmed to appear on the variety show ‘Players’! Anticipation builds over what role she’ll take…….]
From the look of it, she was a surviving actress in her 20s who—along with Seo Arin—was gaining value and attention.
‘She stood by while Plseba committed murder, and she still struts around working in the entertainment industry… what a shameless bitch—she can throw her conscience to the dogs.’
The fact she’d stood by and enabled murder was information only the managers knew.
If the managers kept their mouths shut, it would never reach the public.
And Plseba’s side wouldn’t expose it either.
It would be like spitting straight up and getting it in their own face.
‘She knows that, so she moves around openly.’
Clicking his tongue, Ryu Min went to Hong Seon-a’s Instagram to gather more information.
There were many photos—among them, photos taken with Seo Arin as well.
‘Just from the photos, they look pretty close.’
Besides the two women smiling brightly, there were plenty of other photos.
Most were selfies where Hong Seon-a posed like she was being cute.
The rest were photos with acquaintances.
Among them, Ryu Min stared intently at one photo.
It was a recent photo taken in front of a club with male actors, and underneath it, a caption was written like this:
[A shot with close fellow actor colleagues at the club I go to often. From the left: junior Ju Ji-seung, senior Gu Yeon-seung, senior Jang Bok-chul, junior Kang Su-hyeon…… We had fun again today, y’all!]
‘Fellow actor colleagues?’
Names he’d seen somewhere.
Just in case, he checked the murder register again.
Among the people whose job was “actor,” he matched the names.
“Hah.”
Not a single one was missing.
Every last one of them was a Player who’d joined Plseba.
‘Birds of a feather flock together—so all the actors are Plseba members?’
After committing crimes like murder, rape, enabling—these people were shamelessly living as if they were normal humans.
And they were doing it while receiving the spotlight under the name “celebrity.”
Unable to hide his disbelief, Ryu Min opened each actor’s Instagram.
They really did seem close—there were lots of photos of each other’s faces.
‘Close actor friends, and Plseba members? Something stinks.’
If murderers gathered together, what would they do?
Were they plotting another crime?
With that in mind, he investigated further and discovered one common point.
‘They all have photos taken at the same club.’
Looking at the photos taken with the same club in the background, Ryu Min grabbed his coat.
It definitely reeked.
If he went to the club, he might find something more.
“Hyung, where are you going?”
“I’ll be back. Going out for a bit.”
“At night?”
Ryu Min nodded, then opened the front door, leaving his younger brother behind.
“Go to sleep first. I might be late.”
Vroooom—
The club wasn’t far from here.
After driving a Lamborghini for twenty minutes, he arrived.
It was past midnight—a good time to go to a club.
‘Not that I’m going to party. I’m here to investigate.’
He parked in a public parking lot and walked a short distance.
‘Here it is.’
When Ryu Min found the club he’d seen on Instagram, he was immediately disappointed.
He’d expected a huge bouncer, like in movies, to check dress codes—yet instead…
There wasn’t even a bouncer. The club’s door itself was locked.
‘What? At a time like this—practically peak hours—and they’re not open?’
It was suspicious.
He looked around the building and found a back door—also locked.
‘But Presence Detection says there are people inside.’
Front and back doors were locked, but there were people within thirty meters?
‘Suspicious. Really suspicious.’
If there were windows, he’d break them and infiltrate, but the club was underground.
How was he supposed to get in?
‘Why think too hard?’
Crack—
He simply forced the door open.
Then he used Invisibility to hide himself and went inside.
Since he was wearing Ghost-Step Boots, there was no sound of footsteps.
“…….”
The club was quiet—like it wasn’t operating.
‘But there were definitely people inside.’
Ryu Min first walked toward the presence he sensed with Presence Detection.
“Huh?”
As if he had Presence Detection too, the guy looked this way.
Ryu Min immediately stepped out of the thirty-meter range.
“That’s weird. Did I sense it wrong?”
When nothing could be seen or felt, the man tilted his head and began walking again.
‘That guy is the actor Ju Ji-seung.’
After confirming his face, Ryu Min frowned in irritation.
‘For fuck’s sake. Everyone and their dog has Presence Detection, so I can’t approach properly.’
It made him realize again how bad Invisibility was as a skill.
‘Until I get the Rune of Stealth, there’s no helping it.’
Fortunately, when Round 9 arrived, he could obtain the Rune of Stealth.
Until then, there was nothing to do—so he cautiously tailed Ju Ji-seung.
He kept a distance of thirty-one meters so he wouldn’t enter the Presence Detection range.
As Ju Ji-seung walked down the corridor, he soon ran into three people who came out of a room.
Faces Ryu Min had already memorized.
‘Their names were Gu Yeon-seung, Jang Bok-chul, and Kang Su-hyeon, right?’
Maybe because it was so quiet, Ryu Min could hear their conversation even from thirty meters away.
“Oh? Senior, where are you going?”
“I’m going to get more alcohol. And some more marijuana too.”
“You already smoked it all?”
“Yeah. I said I’d go get it, but they couldn’t hold back and said they’d come along.”
At Gu Yeon-seung’s words, the younger ones said,
“Come on, Hyung-nim, if you’re moving, how can the younger guys just sit still?”
“Hehe, we’re definitely not following because we want to smoke sooner, no, not at all.”
The way they grinned—already looked like they were addicted to weed.
“You can barely stand. What are you talking about. Just rest. I said I’ll bring all the alcohol and weed.”
“Umm… if you say so, can we ask you for that?”
“Of course. Go inside and sing or something. Hyung-nim will prepare everything and bring it.”
“Haha, thank you! Hyung-nim!”
When Jang Bok-chul bowed politely, Gu Yeon-seung snickered.
“When you greet like that, you really look like a gangster.”
“My face does look like a gangster, haha.”
“Senior Gu. Even if he looks like that, Senior Jang Bok-chul is super pure. He said he still hasn’t done it even once. Heh heh heh.”
“Ah, really? It’s surprising, since he looks like a bandit?”
“Hehe, don’t tease me, seniors.”
Jang Bok-chul scratched the back of his head as if he was embarrassed.
“No wonder you’ve been going ‘Seo Arin, Seo Arin’ for ages—so much you’d get calluses in your ear. So there was a reason you’re obsessed, huh?”
The moment Seo Arin’s name came from Gu Yeon-seung’s mouth, Ryu Min’s eyes changed.
“Hyung-nim… but really, I can see Seo Arin tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah. Seon-a contacted me. She set it up—said we’re meeting at a café at lunch.”
“T-then tomorrow I’m finally losing my virginity?”
“Of course. Our Bok-chul’s ideal type is rolling right into you—how could we not give her to you? I’ll let you play with her first.”
“Th-thank you, Hyung-nim! Seriously, thank you!”
Jang Bok-chul bowed again and again.
“But after you, it’s our turn, yeah?”
“Ah, of course! After I go first, Hyung-nim, you can play with her all you want.”
“This bastard—he never says, ‘you go first,’ does he?”
“Hahaha!”
Jang Bok-chul looked genuinely thrilled.
“Still, hearing you call me Hyung-nim all the time makes me feel like I’m some gang boss. Just call me ‘Senior.’”
“Hyung-nim just sounds better than ‘Senior,’ hehe.”
“Yeah, but people will think it’s weird if they hear you.”
“Hey, that’s harsh. Do you think I’m that clueless? In front of others, of course I’ll address you as Senior.”
Rubbing his palms together like a fly, Jang Bok-chul grinned.
When Ryu Min read his thoughts, he was indulging in fantasies too disgusting to say out loud.
-Heh. When Seo Arin comes tomorrow, I’m gonna do this and that to her, you f*cking bitch.
Ryu Min turned away as if there was nothing more to hear.
Since he’d read the inner thoughts, he’d gotten the core information.
‘These guys are planning to kill Seo Arin.’
He’d wondered—but he hadn’t expected Seo Arin to be involved.
‘Who would’ve thought investigating out of curiosity would connect like this. Nothing but trash around Seo Arin.’
Seo Arin probably had no idea.
That the actress Hong Seon-a—her closest friend—would stab her in the back.
‘She’ll find out tomorrow. How stupid it is to trust people.’
In this world, even fellow comrades would plunge a blade into you anytime, if it meant survival.
As a Player who’d gone through 99 regressions, Ryu Min had seen scenes like that countless times.
‘Either way, this is an opportunity. An opportunity to earn Seo Arin’s trust for sure.’
If he rescued Seo Arin from danger under the name Black Scythe…
He could make her completely his.
‘Men can be controlled by using Yamtti, but Fascination doesn’t work on women.’
That was why he didn’t kill them now, and instead turned away.
‘If I’m going to wipe them out, it’s better to do it when they’re all gathered like this. If I kill them now, Seo Arin won’t even know I did anything.’
Of course, gaining Seo Arin’s trust might affect the future in unpredictable ways.
It might not be purely beneficial.
But he couldn’t leave it alone, either.
And he didn’t want to throw this opportunity to Ma Kyung-rok.
‘It’s better if I rescue her than if Ma Kyung-rok rescues her.’
Right now they were cooperating, but Ma Kyung-rok was someone who might become an obstacle.
If Ma Kyung-rok and Seo Arin grew close, it was highly likely things would become annoying later.
Creak—thunk.
Leaving the club, Ryu Min decided to wait for dawn.
‘If I tail that bitch Hong Seon-a tomorrow, I can catch the perfect timing.’
It was time to carry out trash cleanup personally.
Now—fourteen hours later.
In Ryu Min’s hand was the corpse of that piece of trash named Jang Bok-chul.
He tailed Hong Seon-a, entered the club, and first killed Jang Bok-chul while he was using the public restroom.
‘If I bring him in and show them, I can send a clear message.’
He propped up the bastard’s head as it dangled from a snapped neck, then grabbed the back of his neck and moved.
Of course, he wore a white mask—so he could openly claim he was Black Scythe.
And he switched out his Ghost-Step Boots for different shoes on purpose, so his footsteps would be heard.
Step. Step.
He walked in through the open door, deliberately letting his footsteps ring out.
Right then, he saw Seo Arin—who’d nearly been subjected to something vile.
The actors’ gazes gathered on Ryu Min.
No—more precisely, on the corpse he held out front, as if it were fine.
“Huh? Bok-chul! Here’s the Seo Arin you like so mu—”
The moment they noticed him behind the corpse, every single actor’s expression stiffened.
“Jang Bok-chul. That bastard—he’s your friend, right?”
“Y-you—who are you?!”
“Looks like it.”
He erased Jang Bok-chul’s corpse with Trace Erasure.
“I wondered where that trash stink was coming from. So you were all gathered here.”
“I asked who you a—!”
Without another word, Ryu Min drew Death’s Side.
Everyone in the room held their breath at once.
As long as they weren’t idiots, that alone was more than enough of an answer.
“Th-th-that is….”
“A scythe?”
“No way… Black Scythe?”
One of the actors shook his head, denying reality.
“No. It can’t be. Why would Black Scythe show up here?”
“Yeah. It’s not like that guy’s the only bastard who can hold a scythe.”
Two actors who’d been talking to each other stepped forward, leaving Seo Arin behind in their grasp.
Loyal dogs who’d been brown-nosing Gu Yeon-seung.
“Hey, you f*cking bastard. How the hell did you get in here?”
“You killed Bok-chul, huh? Huh?!”
Ryu Min sighed and murmured,
“Looks like you still haven’t understood the situation….”
“This bastard’s sighing right in front of us? I’ll f*cking ki—”
Swish—
Ryu Min’s scythe moved once in the darkness.
The two actors’ heads slid off as if slipping free.
There wasn’t even a sound—no “slice,” nothing—like cutting tofu.
Just like that, the two of them became corpses in an instant.
Thud—thud!
“Hhk!”
The remaining actors recoiled in terror.
Shock was written all over their faces.
Seo Arin was no exception.
‘Is… is that Black Scythe-nim? Really?’
The voice was different, so she’d doubted it—but Seo Arin couldn’t help believing.
That the one who’d appeared like a prince on a white horse really was the Black Scythe she knew.
Ryu Min pointed the scythe at the remaining bastards.
“This is annoying, so come at me all at once. And don’t even think about scheming.”
A low voice leaked from behind the mask.
“Either way, not a single one of you is leaving here alive.”