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Chapter 169 – Game Friend
Ryu Min searched for Joo Seong-tak using Hwang Yong-min’s face.
Because he had the Tracking skill, it wasn’t difficult to tail him down.
“Seeing you again?”
“You… you X-bast— guh!”
With Ryu Min’s kick, Joo Seong-tak rolled into the house and hurriedly steadied himself.
‘Curse of Fear!’
He widened his eyes and cast fear, but—
[The opponent resisted fear.]
[You failed to cast Curse of Fear.]
Just like before, it was useless.
“Don’t be so scared. I’m just here to talk.”
Thud—
Closing the front door, Ryu Min smirked.
But even that expression felt like mockery and ridicule to Joo Seong-tak, and he couldn’t help bristling.
“The hell are you talking about! Talk? The bastard who said he’d really kill me next time wants to talk about what!”
“Oh, wow. So my words really hurt you? Sorry. But at the order, you’re the one who attacked first out of nowhere. You admit that, right?”
“That’s because X-fuck, you made me like th— guh!”
Another kick sent Joo Seong-tak tumbling across the living room floor.
“Always blaming someone else, always blaming someone else. After getting wrecked like that at the order, you still haven’t learned.”
Joo Seong-tak was beyond redemption.
What more could you expect from a killer who’d murdered dozens even before becoming a Player?
‘I let him live because his trait was good, but this won’t do. I should eliminate any variables, just in case.’
Looking at Joo Seong-tak glaring at him like he wanted to kill him, Ryu Min thought again that it had been the right call to follow him.
“Alright. I’ll give you a chance to get revenge.”
“What?”
Without answering further, Ryu Min manipulated the floating system window.
Soon, a message Joo Seong-tak had never seen before appeared in his eyes.
[The person before you has challenged nickname ‘Dumb Shitheads’ to a duel.]
[Duel Type ▶ Non-lethal simple sparring]
[Opponent Victory Condition ▶ Touch 100 times]
[Dumb Shitheads Victory Condition ▶ Touch even a single strand of hair]
[On Victory ▶ The loser becomes a slave, serving the winner as master for life and obeying all commands]
[Opponent Penalty ▶ All equipment and skill use prohibited]
[Dumb Shitheads Penalty ▶ None]
[Do you accept this duel under the conditions above? Y/N]
“What is this?”
Having never received a duel request before, he looked confused, and Ryu Min kindly explained.
Because the bastard had to accept for the system to force his actions.
“It’s a duel function. Simple. If you touch me even once, you win. On the other hand, if I touch your body 100 times, I win. The loser obeys the winner like a slave. How about it? Simple, right?”
“If I touch you just once, I win?”
“Yeah. And I won’t equip any gear or use any skills.”
Checking the system window again, Joo Seong-tak hesitated.
‘If I just touch a hair or anything, I get to use that bastard like a slave?’
It was a total freebie.
The issue was whether the bet would actually happen.
“You really want to duel me with these conditions?”
Can’t you see it?”
“How do I trust you? You could break your promise.”
“How would I break it, you idiot. The system forces actions, like dominion.”
“……”
Joo Seong-tak fell silent.
With a system window popping up, it did seem believable.
And it looked like he had a chance.
‘Even if I’m a mage type, am I really going to fail to touch him once while he touches me 100 times?’
If he landed fear just once, the game was over.
He didn’t know how the bastard resisted it, since he’d never once succeeded in casting it on him, but—
‘If it comes down to it, I can use Corpse Explosion too. There are plenty of ways.’
Just because he was a magic-type didn’t mean he’d only raised Intelligence.
There were plenty of times he needed to fight in close quarters or run, so he’d invested in Strength and Agility to some extent too.
No matter how fast the bastard was, he was confident he could touch him once.
“So? You doing it or not?”
“Why are you offering me this all of a sudden?”
“What do you think?”
Ryu Min let out a short snort of laughter.
“Because I feel sorry for you.”
“What?”
“You look so pathetic, flailing even though you don’t have the skill, so I’m giving you a chance. I’m even giving myself a penalty. Didn’t you realize?”
“……”
“A guy who put points into Intelligence, and your brain still doesn’t turn like this. Your head isn’t just decoration. Tsk tsk.”
‘This X-dog bastard…’
A man who’d once reached Rank 2 or 3 in the zone rankings—being laughed at like this.
It was humiliating.
“So? You doing it or not?”
“Let’s do it, X-fucker.”
[The duel has been confirmed.]
[In 10 seconds, the duel between the two will begin.]
Enraged, Joo Seong-tak swallowed the bait whole.
Without realizing it was a fight where his chance of winning was close to zero.
‘That makes one more slave.’
Ryu Min’s lips curled up cruelly.
With 22% of the world’s population reduced, the economy wavered.
The world became a place where going outside was frightening because of Players.
The streets grew empty, and small business owners cried that their sales were dying.
But the industry hit hardest wasn’t what you’d expect.
It was the game industry.
Because the main users of game content fell within the 15–29 age bracket.
‘Still, I guess popular games don’t collapse. If they’re still running.’
Even though user counts dropped by more than half and other games died off in droves, a famous AOS game held onto first place without budging.
For Ryu Won, who had nothing to do at home, it was a blessing.
He got to play to his heart’s content the game he’d always wanted to try.
‘But even gaming gets old after months.’
After hiding at home for over nine months and playing games like a shut-in, he was now sick of it beyond boredom.
‘I know it’s a spoiled complaint compared to before. But it’s really hard…’
Eating delivery food three times a day was only nice at first—it wasn’t something you could keep doing.
What let him endure at all was his hyung’s presence, and his game friend.
‘If I can’t make friends in real life, I’ve gotta make them in games, at least.’
He clicked well with his game friend.
No matter what he did, the friend responded warmly, never once got angry, and was good at the game too.
Even on days when his chest felt tight and he got depressed for no reason, playing with that friend relieved his stress.
Not like the classmates who had isolated and bullied him.
Even if it was online, Ryu Won believed it was a true friend.
Up until the moment they met offline.
“You’re Ryu Won?”
“Yeah. You’re Taewan?”
“We finally meet. Nice to see you, you X-fucker.”
Before he could even be shocked by the sudden curse, Taewan slung an arm around his shoulders.
He reeked of a textbook delinquent.
“W-Why are you like this, Taewan…”
“X-bastard. Don’t talk down to me. I’m two years older than you, X-fuck.”
“What? In-game you said we were the same age…”
“That was a lie so I could get close to you. Now come on. Let’s go somewhere quiet.”
With a greasy grin, Taewan dragged Ryu Won along.
He tried to shake him off, but it was impossible.
The strength was absurd—like a boulder had been dropped on his shoulder.
‘W-Wait. If he’s two years older than me… a Player?’
A Player.
And a veteran who’d survived up to Round 10.
Gulp—
More than panic, tension surged through him.
Players were more dangerous than ordinary criminals.
From the way he acted, it seemed he had bad feelings toward him.
‘Ah… I should’ve just stayed home like Hyung said.’
It was too late for regret.
Ryu Won was dragged somewhere by the guy he’d believed was his friend.
Even as he looked around the street, there was no one to ask for help, even though it was broad daylight.
“Go in, bastard.”
Shoved forward, Ryu Won found himself in front of not a PC bang, but a dead-end alley.
What did they plan to do in a place where delinquents would smoke?
He didn’t even want to imagine it.
“W-Why are you doing this, Tae-Taewan…”
“This bastard—if I’m two years older, why are you still talking down to me? And X-fuck, don’t call my name like that. It pisses me off.”
“W-What the hell is this about…”
Slap—!
His vision flashed and his head snapped to the side.
His cheek swelled, and blood ran down from his nose.
“You X-bastard, trying to die? I bent over backward and played nice, and you still think we’re friends?”
“……”
“Why am I doing this? You really don’t know? I guess you wouldn’t. I acted my ass off. Holding back the urge to tear you and your hyung bastard apart.”
“My… hyung?”
He’d mentioned he had a brother when gaming, but he’d never said anything in detail.
Of course he’d never introduced him.
There shouldn’t be any connection—meaning there shouldn’t be any reason for a grudge.
“What did my hyung even do…?”
“Heh heh. This bastard still doesn’t get what’s going on.”
Taewan’s mouth was smiling, but his eyes were opened wide in a terrifying way.
Eyes that truly looked like he wanted to kill.
“Hey. You know Taegyu.”
“Taegyu? Who is th—”
“Bang Taegyu, you X-fuck. You don’t remember? My little brother—the one who was in your class—who got beaten by your hyung nine months ago and ended up in the hospital, X-fuck!”
“Ah.”
He remembered.
It wasn’t that long ago, yet he’d forgotten.
The delinquent who’d turned his school days into despair.
That guy’s name had been Bang Taegyu.
“Judging by your eyes, you remember now. I’m Bang Taegyu’s hyung—Bang Taewan.”
“…….”
“Do you know how much hell I went through trying to find you? I even looked into private investigators and did every kind of crazy shit, but I couldn’t find you. If I’d at least known your face, I could’ve used Tracking, but there wasn’t even a single photo, so X-fuck, you have no idea how hard it was. At least finding your game ID was lucky—if you can call it lucky. Because in the end, I still got to meet you like this.”
“S-So you acting friendly to me was all…”
“All acting, you bastard. So I could meet you offline. But you kept dodging like crazy, huh? What, were you a coward? Every time I said let’s meet, you whined that it’s dangerous and you can’t leave the house. X-fuck.”
Now he understood.
That guy wasn’t a game friend, wasn’t anything.
Just a thug who had approached him on purpose to get revenge on his hyung.
“Your hyung’s name was Ryu Min, right? Is that bastard doing well? The bastard broke my brother’s fingers and arm—so is he doing well?”
“…….”
“Don’t tell me he’s already dead. I’ve been waiting for the day I could get revenge for so long. Huh? Answer me, X-fuck.”
“…….”
Ryu Won clamped his mouth shut as if a zipper had been pulled over it.
‘I can’t tell him anything about Hyung…’
Slap—!
Not until his jaw jerked and blood sprayed.
“Hey.”
Bang Taewan glared at him with frightening eyes.
“Not talking? You think I’m a joke? You think I’m playing?”
Slap—!
His head snapped the other way.
Blood seeped out past his bitten lip.
“Answer. Is your hyung alive? If you don’t answer, I’ll hit you again.”
“H-He’s dead…”
“Dead?”
Ryu Won nodded while acting out a sullen expression.
To keep harm from reaching his hyung, the only option was to say he was dead.
“Yeah, no wonder. If he wasn’t a talent freak like me, there’s no way he’d survive to Round 10.”
Nodding like it made sense, Bang Taewan’s face turned thoughtful.
“Then what do I do now? I was going to use you to lure your hyung bastard out and kill him, but if he’s already dead… then revenge is out the window, huh?”
Seeing him look like he was giving up, Ryu Won felt relief rise inside him.
But only for a moment.
“Can’t be helped. If there’s no hyung, I’ll just have to kill you instead.”
“H-Huh?”
“Why are you surprised? If the hyung is guilty, the dongsaeng takes the punishment. You don’t know joint punishment?”
Ryu Won panicked as the target turned to him.
“If you’re lying, tell me honestly now. Your hyung’s alive, right? You lied and said he’s dead to protect him, right? Huh?”
“…….”
“Not talking? Then I guess you’ll die in your hyung’s place. What, you think I can’t? I’ll break your fingers and your arm just like what happened to my brother, and at the end I’ll snap your neck. You understand?”
“…….”
“So say it. Where is that bastard named Ryu Min.”
“O-Our hyung is…”
From Ryu Won’s trembling lips, a quiet sigh slipped out.
“H-He’s already dead…”
“This bastard is lying to the end.”
Bang Taewan’s face twisted violently.
“Still not feeling like talking? Fine. I’ll start by breaking a finger, then I’ll ask again.”
“N-No…!”
The instant he grabbed Ryu Won’s finger and was about to bend it—
“What are you doing here?”
At the clear, youthful voice, Bang Taewan turned his head.
A woman was looking this way with an irritating eye-smile.
“Fuck off. Mind your own business and go.”
“Did I ask you, you X-fucker?”
“What?”
As Bang Taewan started to flare up—
A pink sheen swirled in the woman’s eyes.
Then, like a soulless doll, Bang Taewan’s arms suddenly dropped limp.
‘What… happened?’
Still wearing a dazed expression, Ryu Won had no choice but to panic at the woman’s next question.
“Are you alright, young master?”
‘Y-Young master?’
Because she spoke as if she knew him.