Chapter 192 – Bait
“Haahm, so boring.”
Yawns kept spilling out of the mouth of the Busan tough guy, Go Nam-cheol.
After Ryu Min, together with Ma Kyung-rok, cleaned up the existing Pleseba members, player crime had dropped drastically.
Since only clean players with no personality issues remained, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say there were practically no criminal players left.
That was why Go Nam-cheol was sprawled out like this.
“They say no news is good news, but still—this is way too dull.”
An incident might happen once every two weeks, if that.
It was one lazy day after another.
There was so little work, it felt like he was showing up every day just to collect unearned income.
“Man, I wish I could see the squad leader’s face again.”
All of a sudden, Go Nam-cheol remembered the first time he met Black Scythe.
After losing to him in a duel by an overwhelming gap, he’d even fixed his dialect, and as a squad member, he’d learned a lot.
‘Me, charging in like some clueless puppy… I’m honestly embarrassed.’
Thinking about it now made him want to kick his blanket, but it was still a good experience.
If not then, when would he ever get to duel Black Scythe?
“He’s seriously incredible. How the hell did he rake in twenty million points again in the 11th Round?”
Maybe because he was a fellow squad member, he felt proudly satisfied for no reason.
He hadn’t had a chance to meet him since he’d been busy lately, but even just seeing his face once would make him happy.
“What am I even doing for three hours.”
Go Nam-cheol, yawning lazily as he checked the remaining time, was just about to let his eyes drift shut.
Wiiiiiing—
A clear alarm sound.
Go Nam-cheol snapped his eyes open and grabbed the radio.
—Incident reported, incident reported, Code Zero-One, Code Zero-One. Player emergency bell report received at a GS24 convenience store in Gwangjin-gu. Respond immediately. Over.
“Holy shit.”
After receiving the report, Go Nam-cheol rushed out of the Seoul Gwangjin Police Station they’d been using temporarily.
The location was close enough that running was faster than taking a car.
Since it was the first incident in nearly two weeks, he felt a bit tense, too.
‘Did some lunatic try to rob the place? If that’s what it is, he’s a truly stupid bastard.’
It had been two months since the CPF unit was established.
Korea’s public safety could basically be considered stabilized.
Turn on the TV and all you saw were CPF public service ads featuring Seo Arin, so any citizen of the Republic of Korea knew.
That if you committed a crime in Korea, you wouldn’t escape death.
‘And yet they commit a crime anyway.’
He figured it had to be a foreign player, or some guy who didn’t know about the CPF.
‘Is it here?’
Reaching the reported location, Go Nam-cheol immediately opened the convenience store door.
Ding-dong—
The sight in front of him was horrific.
A man in his 40s—apparently the owner—was dead with his throat cut.
The scene brought back a déjà vu of his first real combat, and the skin under Go Nam-cheol’s eyes trembled.
‘You crazy convenience-store robber bastard—when you get caught, chant that you’re dead!’
Following the manual, he used a surrounding-search Skill to check for movement.
He saw several red dots, but when he checked directly, they were just ordinary civilians.
‘Could it be that guy?’
There was one dot that was moving—almost running.
Assuming it was the suspect, he immediately gave chase.
Tap tap tap—
The distance closed quickly.
To prepare for moments like this, Go Nam-cheol had purchased shoes from the Special Shop that boosted movement speed.
“Hey! Stop right there!”
Even after he shouted for the suspect to stop once he got a visual, the person kept running.
Suspicion turned into certainty.
“I said stop! You punk!”
When Go Nam-cheol saw the suspect heading into a dead-end alley, he smiled with absolute confidence.
‘Got you—huh?’
The moment he entered the alley, Go Nam-cheol stopped short.
He had been chasing one person, but there were two standing there.
They looked like they’d been waiting for him, and Go Nam-cheol felt a chill run down his spine.
Then, at a sound behind him, he turned—and two more appeared.
Before he knew it, he was surrounded by four.
‘What the hell are these guys? Foreign players?’
Judging by their faces and clothing, they were definitely foreign players.
Surrounded front and back, Go Nam-cheol swallowed dryly.
“You guys—who are you?”
Maybe because he asked in Korean, there was no answer.
They only wore mocking smiles, as if they found this situation entertaining.
“Heh heh, this bastard—look at him, he’s scared shitless.”
“He chased one guy and suddenly it’s four, so he got startled, huh?”
“We can’t even communicate, so stop yapping and just get to work.”
“Yeah. Let’s subdue him first. We need to use him as bait.”
When all four drew their weapons at once, Go Nam-cheol finally realized how serious this was.
‘Fck, I’m fcked. No wonder I was yawning like crazy today….’
He wasn’t confident he could take on four, but still—wasn’t he a Busan tough guy?
“F*ck, come at me. Even if I’m going down, I’m taking at least two of you with me.”
He applied Dogi and Kwaedo, Blade Master buff Skills, to his weapon.
A blue light frosted along the long blade as its attack power and attack speed rose.
When he lifted the long saber with killing intent in his eyes, the advancing bastards flinched, looking surprised.
“This guy—just from his eyes, he looks like he’s got some skill.”
“Don’t get scared. There are four of us.”
“Who the hell said I’m scared? I’m Brazil’s Zone Rank 1—why would I be scared of some trash like him?”
“Then go first and jump him.”
“Hah. Watch closely. I’ll put him down in one minute.”
The Brazilian ranker, [Brix], closed the distance in an instant.
Go Nam-cheol, startled by the speed, swung his sword—
Kkaang—!
But it was blocked by Brix’s steel-like fist. Instead, it was his blade that got stopped.
And from there—
Kkaang—! Kkang—! Kkaang—!
Several exchanges followed, but every slash was blocked by Brix’s fists.
“You think you can beat me with a piece of metal like that? Heh heh.”
The Monk-class Skill Steel Fist, which turned his fists into lumps of iron when clenched, was practically a counter to all melee classes.
‘F*ck, why is there a metal sound coming out of his fists?’
Panicking, Go Nam-cheol decided he needed to use the reach of his long saber, so he tried to create distance first.
But because the foreigner stuck to him like gum, the distance wouldn’t open up easily.
“Huh?”
In the next moment, Brix pressed his palm against Go Nam-cheol’s abdomen and shouted.
“Explode (爆)!”
Kwaaang—!
“Kuheok!”
With a massive explosion, Go Nam-cheol was blasted backward.
He flew ten meters, slammed into a wall, then fell to the ground.
“Ughh….”
Even with armor on, the shock didn’t fade—as if his insides had been churned into mush.
“What? He’s nothing. Didn’t even take one minute.”
Brix sneered arrogantly.
“Don’t waste your strength. Just watch. I’ll handle this guy.”
“You can’t have all the fun alone. I want to enjoy this too.”
“Knock it off. What if you mess around and get killed?”
“Yeah. Just leave it to Brix.”
The three of them snickered with their arms folded.
It meant they were completely stepping back, and Go Nam-cheol saw it.
‘These bastards….’
His blood boiled at being looked down on, but the reality was, he couldn’t even beat that Steel Fist.
‘I… why am I losing to pieces of shit like these….’
They weren’t just “pieces of shit”—they were all Twelve Apostles, Zone Rank 1 powerhouses in their own countries—but there was no way Go Nam-cheol would know that.
“I’ll… kill you.”
“What the hell are you saying, you idiot.”
In an instant, Go Nam-cheol’s figure vanished.
Brix flinched, but he hadn’t truly disappeared.
He had simply closed in at high speed.
Brix was surprised by the unexpected speed, but then he smirked.
Because blocking it with Steel Fist was no problem.
He read the trajectory and put his fist in exactly the right place.
It should’ve made a kkang sound—but unexpectedly, a different sound rang out.
Slice—!
‘Huh?’
The blade instantly changed course and severed Brix’s wrist.
Steel Fist could block any blade when he clenched his fist—but a wrist was still just a wrist.
A wrist was soft.
“Uh—uuaaaah!”
When he realized he’d gotten his wrist cut off because he’d let his guard down, chuckles came from behind.
“Brix, I knew that’d happen.”
“Seriously, why’d he insist on going in alone?”
“Brazil’s Rank 2 is gonna cry about how unfair it is.”
Once was allowed, but not twice.
Kkang—! Kkang—!
After blocking the next slashes with just his one remaining fist, Brix spread his palm again.
“Wind (風)!”
Phaaang—!
“Kuheok!”
Hit by wind fired like a cannon, Go Nam-cheol was slammed into the wall again.
“Brix, want us to help?”
“Shut up! I’m killing that son of a bitch myself.”
“Hey—don’t kill him. Did you forget? We need to use him to lure Black Scythe.”
“It’s not like this bastard is the only bait! Another team will get bait for us!”
“That’s exactly why we need to at least talk to him and see if we can use him as bait, isn’t it?”
At the reasonable point, Brix calmed down a little.
“Fine. We’ll at least talk.”
After using First Aid to stop the bleeding at his wrist, Brix approached Go Nam-cheol.
“Hey. You close with your squad leader?”
“What?”
“Your leader. Boss, Dark scythe.”
No matter how ignorant Go Nam-cheol was about English, he understood the word “boss,” and he understood “dark scythe.”
“Don’t tell me you mean our squad leader?”
“What’s he saying? Looks like he understands.”
“Seems like it, yeah.”
“Hey, Phone number. You know your boss’s phone number, right? Call here. Bring him here.”
Go Nam-cheol’s expression twisted the moment he understood Brix.
“X off.”
“What the hell’s he saying?”
“I said fuck you, you idiot.”
“Fuck you? Wow, seriously—what the hell. Guys, what do we do with this bastard?”
Just as Brix turned his head toward his teammates—
“Watch out!”
Go Nam-cheol’s blade stabbed toward Brix’s Adam’s apple.
But Brix had deliberately shown an opening, and he’d already bent his upper body, moving to Go Nam-cheol’s side.
“I go easy on you and you think I’m a fool?”
Steel Fist smashed into his ribs.
Crack—
“Kkeoheok!”
As his ribs broke, Go Nam-cheol collapsed with a painful groan.
Kwa-jik—!
“Kkeuaaaak!”
When Brix stomped down on his wrist, the sword fell from Go Nam-cheol’s hand.
“See? Judging by how he’s thrashing around, doesn’t look like he plans to give us the number.”
“Yeah, seems like it.”
“Then we’re good, right? I can play with this bastard now?”
“Yeah, do what you want. Just don’t drag it out. We don’t have time.”
“Okay.”
A devilish smile hung on Brix’s lips as he looked down at Go Nam-cheol.
“You got unlucky. You bastard—how dare you do this to my hand? I’ll smash every bone in your body like kneading dough and make you die painfully, all the way to the end.”
“Khk….”
At the moment Brix’s rage-filled fist rose—
“Well, damn. There are four guys here I can use as corpses?”
A man in a robe walked into the alley.
It was Ju Seong-tak, who had appeared on Black Scythe’s orders.
“What? Who’s that bastard?”
Brix shot him a sharp look—but it was a mistake.
Because it gave Ju Seong-tak the chance to use Curse of Fear.
“Ah….”
As Brix began trembling like he’d seen a ghost, and his teammates stared at him in confusion—
Ju Seong-tak rushed in and plunged a dagger into Brix’s neck.
Puk—!
After killing Brix with absurd ease, he threw the corpse toward where the others were.
“Corpse Explosion.”
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwaang—!
The three apostles, caught off guard, flew back like springs.
Because it was an enhanced Corpse Explosion strengthened by the Soul Storage Skill, the power was no joke.
“Kuh—eok….”
“Kkeo—euk….”
“Kkeuheu….”
In an instant, the Twelve Apostles—missing their lower bodies—spilled painful groans, then died.
“Tsk. Even I can beat you—how dare you try to hunt anyone.”
After spitting on the corpses, Ju Seong-tak stored only the souls of the ones he’d killed and returned to Go Nam-cheol.
“Are you okay?”
Even though his insides felt churned, his ribs were broken, and his wrist was shattered, Go Nam-cheol was able to stand up quickly.
“Th-thank you for helping me. But how did you get here….”
“I was just passing by and heard the noise.”
Per his master’s orders, he didn’t mention Black Scythe at all.
In truth, he’d been able to appear at just the right time because he’d been ordered to keep an eye on the squad members—but that was that.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“W-wait, just a second!”
Leaving Go Nam-cheol behind, Ju Seong-tak exited the alley and immediately called someone.
“Master. Just as you predicted, there were guys approaching the squad members.”
—Yeah? How many?
“There were four, but the Necromancer you mentioned wasn’t among them.”
—Looks like they’re splitting into three teams. And the cleanup?
“I killed them all.”
—Good. Tail the other squad members too. If you spot the Necromancer, don’t kill him.
“I will obey.”
After finishing the call with Ju Seong-tak, Ryu Min grabbed his coat and put it on.
‘They’re moving faster than I expected.’
Good thing he’d had the squad members monitored in advance.
‘If that’s how it is, I need to move too.’
The Twelve Apostles would probably target the squad members simultaneously.
To use them as bait to summon him—the squad leader.
‘Ju Seong-tak’s intervention prevented one casualty, but we don’t know about the others.’
Someone might already be dead.
Someone might already have betrayed him.
And sure enough—
Bzzt— Bzzt—
A call came in from a squad member.
“Hello?”
—S-squad leader? I… I have something I want to consult you about. Could you come over here for a moment?
“Yeah? Where are you?”
After hearing the location and ending the call, Ryu Min let out a soft, humorless laugh.
‘So there’s a traitor in this run too.’
His prediction was right.