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Chapter 170 – Bang Taewan
“You… you—what the hell happened to you?”
Bang Taewan went pale when he saw his dongsaeng lying in a hospital bed.
His face was badly bruised as if someone had beaten him, and his arm and fingers were broken badly enough that surgery was unavoidable.
“Which bastard… who did this to you?”
“N-No one did it. I-I slipped and fell down the stairs…”
“What do you mean no one did it?! Anyone can see you were beaten!”
“……”
“Who was it?! I’ll kill him right now!”
At his hyung’s roar, Bang Taegyu remembered Ryu Min’s warning.
If he tried to get revenge or called the police, he’d be hunted down to the ends of the earth and even his other arm would get snapped.
“I-I can’t say. If that person finds out… I’ll really die.”
Seeing his dongsaeng trembling in terror, Bang Taewan couldn’t bring himself to keep shouting.
“…Hoo. Let’s talk when you’ve calmed down.”
He’d long known his dongsaeng was an iljin.
He also knew that for a middle school second-year, his build was big—and that there wasn’t even a high schooler nearby who could beat him.
‘And my dongsaeng ended up like that?’
What kind of mortal sin could someone have committed to be turned into that?
Staring at his dongsaeng shaking like he had PTSD, Bang Taewan swore to himself.
‘I’ll pay that dog bastard back exactly the same.’
Even though his dongsaeng was keeping his mouth shut, figuring out who it was wouldn’t be difficult.
“The hyung of a guy named Ryu Won?”
“Yes. I heard his name is Ryu Min.”
“Why did they fight?”
“Well…”
By asking the iljin friends who used to hang around with his dongsaeng, he learned the whole story.
They’d been using a classmate named Ryu Won as a shuttle, then the hyung found out, got pissed, and came looking for them—a common revenge story.
‘X-fuck, even so, this is too much, isn’t it? You made a kid like this just because he ran errands?’
It had been Ryu Min’s measure to prevent an even bigger incident, but Bang Taewan had no way of knowing that.
What mattered was that his dongsaeng had come back beaten like a dog.
‘I’m going to kill him.’
Revenge.
With only that in mind, he snooped around and found out where Ryu Min and Ryu Won were living.
But they’d already moved, and in the end he decided to spend a fortune and borrow the power of a private investigator.
But the answer that came back was bleak.
“He doesn’t even use SNS, so there’s no record, and we can’t find any trace at all. There’s no way—no mail, no photos left behind. We’ve done this work for ten years, and this is the first time we’ve seen someone who leaves no trace like this.”
“T-Then how am I supposed to find them?! If you can’t find them, refund the money I gave you!”
“Don’t worry, sir. It’s not that there’s zero progress. We found an ID that the kid named Ryu Won uses often. Search that ID on Goggle every day and see if any information comes up. If he makes an SNS account or creates a game ID, you’ll be able to find him.”
“So you searched that ID, found young master’s game ID, and tracked him all the way here?”
“That’s right.”
Hearing the backstory from Bang Taewan, Yamtti clicked her tongue.
“Ha, tenacious. So tenacious. Pretending to be a game friend for months just for revenge.”
Listening from the side, Ryu Won couldn’t hide his shock either.
‘No wonder he kept asking about our address and my hyung in detail when we played…’
But what was even more confusing than that was the existence of the woman who kept calling him “young master.”
“U-Um… your name is…?”
“Ah, I didn’t even introduce myself. Please call me Yamtti, young master.”
“Yam… tti?”
“It’s my nickname. As you can see, I’m a Player. You can tell just by looking, right?”
“Ah, yes…”
“How old do I look?”
“Huh?”
“Don’t I look like I’m in my early twenties?”
“Y-Yeah, you do.”
“As expected, young master, you’ve got an eye. I take care of myself. Not that I’ve had surgery or anything.”
“Um, but… have we met somewhere? And why do you keep calling me young master…”
“Hm? Didn’t I tell you? I’m an acquaintance of Ryu Min.”
“My hyung’s…?”
The moment his hyung’s name came up, Ryu Won’s eyes went wide.
‘Did Hyung have an acquaintance like this?’
Just like he’d made game friends, maybe his hyung had built a network of Players in the other world too.
Because nine months was longer than you’d think.
‘Well, it’s not like I know all of Hyung’s connections.’
With a kind smile, Yamtti explained how she’d ended up here.
“You said you were going to meet a friend, so Ryu Min said he was worried and told me to follow you and check. That means I’m the person Ryu Min trusts the most. Hohoho.”
“I-I see.”
Hearing she was his hyung’s acquaintance, Ryu Won finally relaxed.
‘Did Hyung see this kind of situation coming?’
Either way, he’d lived thanks to his hyung’s foresight—his hyung who was a Prophet.
“Thank you, Yam… tti-nim. Thanks to you, I lived.”
“Oh, come on. I didn’t do anything. The only reason we could stop it was because Ryu Min told me to go ahead and watch.”
“Then I should thank Hyung too.”
Grinning, Ryu Won looked over at Bang Taewan, who was standing there blankly.
“But… how did you do that? He doesn’t look like the type to talk so obediently…”
“It’s my ability. I can charm someone in an instant and make them like a subordinate.”
“Ah, so that’s why…”
Now that he fully understood the situation, Ryu Won nodded—and then asked,
“But are you really my hyung’s acquaintance? You’re not… dating, are you?”
“Ah? Does it look like that?”
“No, it’s just… you keep calling me young master even though you’re not married to my hyung…”
“Hm, whether I’ll marry him or not, we don’t know. Future young master.”
“Huh?”
“I’m kidding, kidding. Anyway, young master?”
Yamtti brought forward Bang Taewan, who was under mental domination.
“What do you want to do with this trash? Should I put a knife in his hand? You should vent your anger.”
“Huh? Th-That’s a bit…”
“Don’t worry about consequences. We can clean it up easily with Trace Erasure, and no one’s going to care if trash like this dies. He tried to kill you first, and you’re just going to let him go? At the very least, you should hit him like he’s a punching bag.”
“Umm… I-I’m scared to hit someone…”
Ryu Won had never hit a person in his life.
He’d never held rage toward someone, never really gotten angry.
If anything happened, he shrank back and kept his head down.
Of course he was scared.
‘Even though they’re brothers, his personality is completely different from master’s.’
She didn’t understand the refusal to punish him, but she decided to respect it.
Because he was the future young master.
“I’ll respect young master’s opinion. But I can’t just let this guy go. I need to tell Ryu Min what happened and ask for his opinion too.”
“Ah, yes, yes. Do that.”
“Trash. Stay still while I’m on the phone.”
“Yes, master.”
Watching Bang Taewan—now a well-behaved doll—Ryu Won stared in fascination, then glanced sideways at Yamtti as she checked her phone.
‘Charming someone and using them like a subordinate… So this is why people say Players are dangerous.’
As he thought what a terrifying ability it was, Yamtti suddenly lifted her head.
“Young master?”
“Yes?”
“But seriously—how old do I look?”
“Huff… huff.”
He’d been moving nonstop, and rough breaths spilled out.
He didn’t even know how many minutes had passed.
In Joo Seong-tak’s head there was only one thought: touch that bastard.
But—
Whoosh— whoosh—
‘That dog bastard won’t get caught even once…!’
No matter how much he swung his arms, kicked, feinted, or did every crazy thing imaginable, the guy dodged like a ghost.
He’d thrown away the heavy dagger a long time ago.
If he could just touch him once with his bare hand, Joo Seong-tak would win.
Then, by the system, he could make that guy his slave.
‘If I make him a slave, I’ll make him beg for forgiveness… and then I’ll kill him in agony.’
But things didn’t go the way he imagined.
“Why are you so slow? Move faster.”
“You dog bastard…!”
“Oh wow, your mouth’s still alive? If you’ve got the stamina to swear, you should save that and focus on touching me. Tsk tsk.”
“You X-bastard!”
Ryu Min deliberately provoked him, draining Joo Seong-tak’s stamina even faster.
No matter how overwhelming the stat gap was, the moment Curse of Fear got involved, even Ryu Min was in danger.
‘If it hits even once, I can’t move for 3.4 seconds.’
Because of the penalty that prevented him from equipping gear, his resistance was extremely low right now.
Only 15% base resistance and 20% resistance from the tower—so if applied multiplicatively, he could block only 32%.
‘Meaning the probability of being hit by Curse of Fear is 68%, and if it hits, the duration is 3.4 seconds.’
In a duel where one mistake meant defeat, being unable to move for 3.4 seconds?
If it landed, it would be fatal.
That was why, whenever the bastard timed his curse, Ryu Min countered by widening the distance.
‘Time to end this soon.’
Tap tap tap tap tap—
Dodging Joo Seong-tak’s flailing, Ryu Min filled up the touch count.
Head, back, shoulder, arm.
He touched Joo Seong-tak’s body as he dodged, as if he were toying with him.
“X-fuck, why won’t you get hit?! Why?!”
The bastard struggled, but the count kept rising—until it reached 99.
“One more touch and I win.”
“This X-fuck!”
Just then, as Joo Seong-tak panicked—
BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM—!
Along with pounding on the front door, a voice shouted from outside.
It was the gangster from downstairs.
“Hey, you disabled bastard! Come out! Because of you I can’t take my nap, X-fucker!”
Looks like he’d finally come up because he couldn’t take the constant floor noise anymore.
“Come out! Not coming out?! What the hell are you doing, running around thumping like that, you legless cripple bastard! Come ouuuut! Player or whatever, I’ll kill you!”
The gangster screamed his head off, but Joo Seong-tak’s face spread into a wide smile instead.
Because that man’s presence was hope—hope that could flip this disadvantage around.
Dart—!
Joo Seong-tak dashed to the front door and tried to open it.
Ryu Min had already read the plan and sprinted after him, but the moment the bastard looked at him—
[You have fallen into the status ailment ‘Fear’.]
Of all times, he got caught by the Curse of Fear Joo Seong-tak cast.
Of course, he’d anticipated even that and kept enough distance that he wouldn’t get touched—
Click—
But it was plenty of time for Joo Seong-tak to open the front door.
“So you finally open it, you X-fu— guhk!”
A dagger swung like a shot arrow, stabbed into gangster Kim Jong-seon’s neck, and ripped back out.
Thud—
Securing a corpse in an instant, Joo Seong-tak stepped over the body and out into the hallway.
Now Joo Seong-tak and Ryu Min faced each other with the corpse between them.
“Heh heh… come on, bastard. The moment you come close, I’ll blow it up with Corpse Explosion.”
“This is getting annoying. But you know something?”
Crackle crackle—
Electric current ran over Ryu Min’s body.
“Even if you blow the corpse up, all I have to do is dodge.”
“X-fuck? What? You said you can’t use skills because of the penalty!”
“This is a Rune.”
With the Rune of Lightning boosting his movement speed, Ryu Min closed the distance in an instant.
Joo Seong-tak panicked and tried to speak the activation word too late.
“Corpse Explo—”
WHAM—!
He didn’t have time to use it.
His face was crushed by a tremendous force, and Joo Seong-tak slammed into the wall and died instantly.
[The duel has ended. ‘Black Scythe’ is victorious.]
[Because the opponent has been defeated, the execution will proceed: become a slave and serve ‘Black Scythe’ as master for life, obeying all commands.]
Ignoring the message like it was nothing, Ryu Min looked at Joo Seong-tak.
The bastard’s face—who should’ve been dead—had already been restored.
Because it wasn’t a life-staked duel, he had revived.
Though he still hadn’t regained consciousness.
“I won, at least. Even if a victim happened.”
He’d stopped Corpse Explosion, but he couldn’t stop the gangster’s death.
Leaving the regret behind, Ryu Min erased the corpse with Trace Erasure.
Just then, a call came in from Yamtti.
“What’s going on? What? My dongsaeng?”
Hearing that something had happened to his dongsaeng—and that they’d thankfully stopped it—Ryu Min asked for the full story.
“Yeah? You kept him alive for now?”
-Yes. What should we do, master?
Asked whether to dispose of Bang Taewan, Ryu Min answered simply.
“I’ll send you the address. Send him here.”
After hanging up, he immediately woke Joo Seong-tak.
“Hey, Joo Seong-tak.”
“Umm?”
The bastard who looked like he’d charge the moment he saw Ryu Min quickly became as meek as a lamb and bowed his head.
“I-I greet master. Please give your command.”
“Good. First command.”
With a cruel smile, Ryu Min said,
“In a bit, a guy named Bang Taewan will come here. Kill him.”