54. Shim Hyeong-taek
Two weeks had passed since the party with Ma Gyeong-rok.
Ryumin had stayed at home the whole time.
He had nowhere to go and no friends to meet.
Too lazy to go out, he ate delivery food for meals.
His brother was in a similar situation, so they both stayed cooped up at home.
Even when taking out the trash or recycling in front of the house, his brother went out to do it.
'This is no different from being unemployed...'
Though Ryumin smiled self-deprecatingly, this level of rest was necessary when thinking of the future.
'Well, the rest will end today.'
Ryumin opened his phone calendar.
Sunday, April 17th.
Today was the day he had marked in case he forgot.
'It's time to move now.'
One of the five runes obtainable in reality.
[Rune of Doppelganger].
Ryumin aims to obtain this rune, which is on the list of essential runes to get, today.
'Sunday is when those guys regularly operate.'
Ryumin checked the time with a meaningful smile.
It was only 9 AM.
'I should apply early if I want to handle everything today.'
Ryumin's fingers moved busily on his phone.
Just then, knock knock- Ryuwon came in with a knock.
"Brother, what are you doing?"
"Internet. Why did you come?"
"I was wondering if we should go out for lunch. I'm tired of just eating delivery food..."
"I don't think that'll work. I'm supposed to have a lunch appointment."
"Supposed to? Do you have one or not?"
Ryumin let out a laugh.
"We'll have to wait and see about that."
*
[1.8 billion people dragged to another world. Reduced to 90 million in three months...]
[Celebrities, soldiers, police, etc. die of cardiac arrest after being dragged to another world regardless of occupation.]
[Economy paralyzed due to deaths of young adults. Schools across the country temporarily suspend operations.]
[Parents and siblings worldwide suffer amid unending waves of mourning.]
Just reading a few headlines gives a gloomy feeling.
But Shim Hyeong-taek laughed.
Because it was someone else's problem.
Because he was none other than a surviving player.
"1.8 billion reduced to 90 million? They died like crazy in just 4 rounds, those inferior bastards. Kukuk."
For a while, only laughter echoed in the quiet classroom.
It was the laughter of a winner who hadn't been weeded out.
He knew he was drowning in arrogance, but that was okay.
Because he was a ranker who reached 3rd place in his area.
[Number of confirmed players in Korea estimated at 450,000 so far.]
[Players causing accidents. Is it okay to leave them unchecked?]
[Deaths caused by players surge after Round 4.]
[Players running wild with murder, theft, arson, rape, etc.]
[Thousands of broken CCTVs. No different from lawless zones at night...]
[Expert says: What use are laws when humanity is facing extinction? Anxiety of not knowing when you'll die makes people lose self-control...]
[Police essentially powerless against players' strength that can bend prison bars and escape...]
[Players unite against government regulations. Even player union cafes emerging...]
[Growing anxiety among citizens. Immediate measures needed...]
Shim Hyeong-taek sneered while reading the articles.
"This is funny. They would have done the same if they became players."
His smiling face soon filled with dissatisfaction.
"What's wrong with doing what you want before dying? Fucking old farts. This is why they shouldn't have oppressed us normally. Don't do this, don't do that, with all kinds of regulations, of course pent-up frustrations explode. Tsk!"
He irritably stabbed his axe into the floor.
Thud-!
Three students looked at him with tearful expressions, startled by the sound.
They were middle school classmates Shim Hyeong-taek had kidnapped.
"What are you looking at? You bastards."
"..."
"What? Surprised that I'm cursing when I used to be quiet? Think I'm an idiot who can't curse?"
"..."
The students just stared silently.
Indeed, their hands, feet, and even mouths were sealed with duct tape.
"Mmph mmph."
"What? Want me to untie you?"
"Mmph mmph."
"Mmph mmph!"
"What are you saying? Damn it."
As the three made sounds like a chorus, Shim Hyeong-taek approached with an annoyed face.
Rip- Rip- Rip!
He tore off the tape on all the students' mouths.
"What is it? Have something to say to me?"
"Huff huff, w-we were wrong, Hyeong-seop."
"Y-yeah. We were wrong."
"Please spare us just once."
"Oh really?"
Shim Hyeong-taek raised his axe.
Crack-!
He split the head like a watermelon, brain matter spilling out.
"Uu, uwaaa!"
"Urp, urk..."
Shim Hyeong-taek, who killed one person instantly, said irritably.
"You bastard, changing my perfectly fine name."
Looking down at the two remaining students trembling like aspen leaves, Shim Hyeong-taek smiled.
"Why are you shaking so much? Cold?"
"..."
"Don't you know my name either?"
"N-no. We know. It's Shim Hyeong-taek."
"You next to him didn't seem to know?"
"Th-there's no way! Of course I knew too!"
"Then you must know why you're captured too?"
The two students slowly nodded with guilty expressions.
"S-sorry, Hyeong-taek..."
"We're really sorry for bullying you all this time..."
"Tell me specifically how you bullied me."
"Th-that's..."
The students hesitated to speak, stammering.
They might be killed if they said something that displeased him.
But when he raised his axe as if to kill them for not speaking, they had no choice but to open their mouths.
"S-sorry for teasing you as 'An-yeo-dwae'..."
"Is that all?"
When he raised the axe over his head, they opened their mouths with anxious looks.
"S-sorry for teasing you as a livestock bastard who only eats..."
"...That's the first I'm hearing of this?"
"Huh?"
"You talked behind my back, didn't you?"
"What?"
Crack-!
The axe mercilessly stabbed into the crown of his head.
"Uu, uuu, uwaaaa!"
The student next to him screamed.
It was a sight too much for an ordinary person to handle.
"How could you bastard say such harsh things behind my back? Haa, annoying."
"Aaah..."
Shim Hyeong-taek snickered at the student who couldn't continue speaking from shock.
"Why are you so surprised by this? There were much more miserable sights all over in Round 4."
Not just that.
He had even experienced having his neck cut off.
Not once, but five times.
And by one person called Black Scythe.
'I would have missed the rankings if I really did something wrong.'
Who else in the world could experience dying and coming back to life?
When Shim Hyeong-taek glared with demon-like eyes, the remaining student flinched.
"Hey, Jin-gon."
"..."
"You bastard who teased me and made me your bread shuttle every break time."
"..."
"You think I'm killing you just because you bullied me? No."
Shim Hyeong-taek raised his axe again.
"My stacks increase. Something drops when I kill humans. Kukuk, isn't it funny? That human trash like you can be helpful to me."
"Uwaa, spare me. Spare me, Hyeo-Hyeong-seop, ah! No, Hyeong-taek!"
"Ha, this bastard."
Shim Hyeong-taek's eyes turned cold.
"So you really didn't know my name?"
Crack-!
Blood sprayed everywhere from the unhesitating axe blow.
"Ugh, ptooey! It got all over my face."
Shim Hyeong-taek wiped his face with the back of his hand and left the classroom, leaving the corpses behind.
Slide-
The hallway was quiet.
With school attendance suspended nationwide, there was no one left in the school.
Except for the trash with split heads sprawled in the classroom just now.
He immediately went to the school bathroom to wash his face.
Splash- Splash-!
After washing off the blood, he looked in the mirror.
He saw a fat, ugly middle school student wearing glasses.
"Damn, this life is ruined. I should wish to be born as Cha Eun-woo next life in the final round."
Muttering, Shim Hyeong-taek also washed off the flesh stuck to his axe blade.
Though he had lured and killed the three who usually bullied him to school, he didn't feel good.
It was because the reward was small.
[You have gained 1 stack from the Rune of Absorption.]
[You have gained 1 stack from the Rune of Absorption.]
[You have gained 1 stack from the Rune of Absorption.]
[Current stack: 22/100]
He only gained 1 stack per person despite committing murder.
'Is it because they're ordinary people? They give almost nothing.'
When stacks reach 100, a random stat increases by 1 and stacks reset.
This obviously overpowered rune is the Rune of Absorption.
'Even goblins gave 1 to 2. Damn, these bastards are worse than goblins.'
The most profitable times were Round 3 with many monsters and Round 4 when he massacred players.
'Especially Round 4 was sweet. I gained nearly 10 stacks for killing one player.'
He remembers being surprised that it was more efficient than killing monsters.
"Anyway, it's fortunate my birthday is early. Otherwise I might not have been able to kill so easily."
The three he just killed were all ordinary people.
Even in the same class, they were divided into players and ordinary people depending on whether they were 15 years old or not.
"I killed people in reality for the first time."
Was it because he had experienced hell in advance?
He felt nothing despite committing murder in reality.
A feeling of dulled emotions.
"Kukuk. Well, that's good. Now there's no one to stop me anywhere."
He's no longer the Shim Hyeong-taek who was teased for being fat.
He was reborn as a superior being called a player.
"Now which bastards should I kill next?"
What's the point of just playing around until the next round?
It's beneficial to kill even one more ordinary person to stack up.
"I want to kill players who give lots of stacks if possible... Ah!"
Shim Hyeong-taek recalled the article he read earlier.
"They said there's a player union cafe, right?"
He could find it quickly by searching the internet.
"What if I join there and contact players to kill them? Kuhehe!"
He can stack up incomparably more than with ordinary people.
Grinning, Shim Hyeong-taek immediately started the registration process while tapping on his phone.
◆Cafe Description◆
-A union cafe for players! Players change the world! Welcome to [Pla.Se.Ba]!
◆Join Guide◆
-Our PlaSeBa is accepting members through interviews to thoroughly filter out ordinary people. If you are not a player, please press the back button.
◆Questions Before Joining◆
-Please answer all questions truthfully. There may be disadvantages if you enter false information.
1. Please write your full name, address, and phone number without omission.
2. Please write your level, job in the other world, and nickname.
3. Please write your area name (if you don't remember, write the place where you first lost consciousness on January 1st).
4. Please write your rankings for each round so far without omission (rankings in your area).
5. If you agree to an interview for joining, please write 'I agree'.
"Not only do you have to reveal all your personal information, but there's even an interview? So strict."
Still, he needs to join here to meet players and backstab them.
Other players probably have no idea.
That there's a player who preys on players.
Shim Hyeong-taek smiled and wrote his level, job, and nickname.
Lv10, Warrior, Black Dragon on Right Hand.
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