Chapter 60: Those close to him

They had touched those they shouldn’t have.

“Firebolt.”

Soo Hyuk immediately fired a Firebolt at a man holding a bow. He had thought about using poison magic, but it’s area of effect was too big. Innocent people could get involved if he did.

Shuaa!

The Firebolt flew towards the archer. The archer tried to dodge but…

Bang!

The Firebolt was so fast that the archer couldn’t dodge in time. As the archer collapsed, system messages appeared in front of Soo Hyuk.

[You have attacked user Mandara.]

[You have entered an ‘enemy’ state with user Mandara.]

[You have entered an ‘enemy’ state with Mandara’s party members.]

[User Mandara has a high infamy score.]

[Your infamy score will not rise.]

But Soo Hyuk didn’t pay any attention to the messages.

‘He’s not dead?’

Mandara had been blasted off his feet, but Soo Hyuk couldn’t see the distinctive black aura that appeared when one was dead.

‘Well, they were able to cause this much chaos in this city.’

They had been PKing with reckless abandon in the city of Hedlin. It would be weird they didn’t have the ability to survive a ‘mere’ Firebolt from Soo Hyuk.

‘But why isn’t he moving?’

The archer called ‘Mandara’ wasn’t moving despite being alive.

“Poison blast.” [TL: I don’t know what happened with Acid Spray. It looks like the author changed it.]

As Soo Hyuk was feeling suspicious of Mandara’s inaction, he fired Poison Blast. Then the other two men reacted as the Poison Blast flew towards them again.

“Huh?”

“Soo Hyuk?”

“It isn’t time yet.”

“He isn’t with the Solitude guild. It looks like he’s attacking us for another reason.”

“He doesn’t recognise us.”

“Why isn’t he getting up already?”

They had been chatting relaxedly as they stared at Mandara who had been hit by the Firebolt. They hadn’t been cautious as the spells fired at them were low-level, but when the Poison Blast hit Mandara, they were flustered as Mandara’s body was faintly covered in the black light of death.

“Ah?”

“Eh?”

Loken and Haiden froze up as they confirmed that Mandara had been killed.

“…He died in two hits?”

“he doesn’t seem to be a simple player.”

Their bloodthirsty atmosphere had been completely replaced by anxiety as they felt apprehension towards the unknown user who fired low-level spells with power comparable to advanced spells.

Then the unknown user cast another spell.

“Inferno.”

There were spells that users could avoid if they were skilled enough and those that couldn’t be avoided no matter what. The ones that could be dodged were spells like magic missile and fireball. While a famous spell that belonged in the latter category was the spell that Soo Hyuk had just cast, Inferno. How could they evade a spell that had no form?

[You have attacked user ‘Haiden’.]

[User Haiden has a high infamy score.]

[Your infamy score will not rise.]

“Ah?”

Then the target of Inferno, Haiden, let out a panicked scream.

“Fuck! My health…”

But, before Haiden could finish, he was cut off by a incomprehensible sight. A rising black light.

After instantly killing Mandara and Haiden, he turned towards the last remaining man.

“Huh? W-what? W…”

The man was panicking at the sudden loss of his comrades. Soo Hyuk fired a magic missile at the pathetic sight.

Bang!

Was it because magic missile was slower than his previous spells? Or did he feel fear at the loss of his comrades? Whatever the reason, the man managed to dodge the incoming magic missile by throwing himself to the ground.

“Excuse me. Our guil…”

“Fireball.”

Loken couldn’t finish his sentence. Soo Hyuk had fired ignored him and fired a fireball at him.

“Ah! Shit!”

He wasn’t even trying to negotiate with him?! While swearing, he swung his spear at the fireball, trying to snuff it out.

Bang!

[You have attacked user ‘Loken’.]

[User Loken has a high infamy score.]

[Your infamy will not rise.]

His fireball crashed into Loken’s spear at that moment. Loken then stopped moving. He wasn’t dead yet.

‘What?’

Soo Hyuk suddenly felt uneasy. It was because Loken had almost looked embarrassed at that moment. Suppressing his confusion, Soo Hyuk cast another spell.

“Poison Sphere.”

The poison sphere flew towards the unmoving Loken and exploded into green mist. He still wasn’t dead, but when hit by poison sphere, the target would get poisoned. Although he didn’t know what type of effect it caused, the black light appeared around Loken not long after.

“Kek, Loken was bullied to death!”

“Crazy, who is that person?”

“He looks like a ranker.”

“Yeah, if Loken’s group was beaten that easily, then…”

The surrounding users started gossiping, but Soo Hyuk didn’t have any interest in them. He immediately logged out.

As he disconnected from Pangea, he thought in his head. His first family trip. Ruined by a couple of thugs. It turned out to be the worst experience ever.

‘Those dogs.’

[You have been attacked by user ‘Soo Hyuk’.]

[You have entered an ‘enemy’ state with user ‘Soo Hyuk’.]

[You have been poisoned by Crimson Snake Kapouri.]

[You are paralysed for 1 minute.]

‘What?’

Mandara was flustered. It was because he suddenly was paralysed.

‘Soo Hyuk? Is he from the Solitude guild?’

Although he couldn’t move his body, he could still check the messages. Had th Solitude guild arrived early?

‘But why did they paralyse me…’

Loken had decided to be the person who was to die. But was there a reason to paralyse him? And not 1 or 2 seconds, but for a whole minute?

‘Don’t tell me, it’s another person?’

Mandara wanted to check the situation. However, he couldn’t, since he was paralysed.

[You died.]

Then another message appeared in his sight.

‘Eh?’

Mandara was confused by the sudden message, but he was logged out of Pangea immediately after.

“What just happened?”

Mandara no, Kim Woo Hyuk, muttered as he climbed out of his capsule. He was genuinely confused.

“A slip-up? Or is it really another party?”

To check whether it was Solitude’s mistake or another party, Kim Woo Hyuk sat in front of his computer.

“Argh, did I step on dogshit today? Fuck.”

Whether it was an accident or not, it didn’t change the fact that he died. Banging on his desk, Kim Woo Hyuk swore wildly to cool his anger. On the computer, he messaged on his chat group, which showed Haiden and Loken connected to Pangea.

-Kim Woo Hyuk (Mandara): Tell me what happened next after you log out.

After leaving the message, Kim Woo Hyuk started browsing the Pangea homepage. Then not long after, he got a notification from his chat group. Kim Woo Hyuk checked the chat room immediately.

-Cha Ju Yun (Haiden): Fuck! I died! AAAAAAAAA!

-Kim Woo Hyuk (Mandara): What? You too? What happened?

-Cha Ju Yun (Haiden): I don’t know. Fuck!

Kim Woo Hyuk was left flustered at Cha Ju Yun’s unexpected message.

‘Then it’s not Solitude… They could accidently kill the wrong person. But killing two instead of one? If so, then I’m certain. It was the work of a third party, not Solitude.’

-Kim Woo Hyuk (Mandara): Then that bastard doesn’t belong to Solitude.

-Cha Ju Yun (Haiden): The Solitude guild? No, he’s not in a guild. I didn’t see a guild mark.

-Kim Woo Hyuk (Mandara): What? Then a solo player?

-Cha Ju Yun (Haiden): Yep. It looked like it.

-Kim Woo Hyuk (Mandara): But I’ve never seen his name before. What about you?

-Cha Ju Yun (Haiden): I don’t think he’s a famous ranker. It’s my first time as well.

-Kim Woo Hyuk (Mandara): Then is he an unofficial ranker?

-Cha Ju Yun (Haiden): Seems like it?

-Kim Woo Hyuk (Mandara): No, but then he should at least know of our guild, right? Is our guild less known then I thought?

Cha Ju Yun (Haiden): If he did it while knowing who we are, then isn’t he more scary?

At that moment.

-Yang Myong Soo (Loken): Fuck. I died as well.

Yang Myong Soo had entered the chat.

-Kim Woo Hyuk (Mandara): What, you died as well?

-Yang Myong Soo (Loken): Yeah. I couldn’t even talk to him.

-Yang Myong Soo (Loken): What do we say to Kefan? It’s got to be chaotic over there.

-Yang Myong Soo (Loken): Ah, fuck.

-Cha Ju Yun (Haiden): Will you report to the guild?

-Yang Myong Soo (Loken): Even if I don’t, Kefan will.

-Kim Woo Hyuk (Mandara): I’m going crazy. ㅋㅋ

-Yang Myong Soo (Loken): Ah, they’re calling me right now. Wait a bit.

After Yang Myong Soo left, the chat room was momentarily silent. Kim Woo Hyuk closed the chat room and started browsing the home page. Then after a few minutes, the chat icon flashed, and Kim Woo Hyuk immediately went back to the chat room again.

-Yang Myong Soo (Loken): Ah, I’m going crazy as well.

-Cha Ju Yun (Haiden): Why?

-Kim Woo Hyuk (Mandara): Did they demand the money back?

-Yang Myong Soo (Loken): No, they said to try again after our penalties are over. Then they said to track down and kill the bastard that killed us with the guild.

-Kim Woo Hyuk (Mandara): Wow, the guild’s on fire today as well.

-Cha Ju Yun (Haiden): But seeing as how he destroyed us, he’s a ranker grade.

-Kim Woo Hyuk (Mandara): Even if he’s a ranker, he’s alone. We can take him down with numbers.

-Cha Ju Yun (Haiden): That’s right. But how do we even find him? He’s not on a guild as well.

-Kim Woo Hyuk (Mandara): What, we can just release the kids.

-Yang Myong Soo (Loken): Isn’t that the Demon guild’s speciality? Doing something even if we know it’s crazy.

* * *

“I’m sorry. I should’ve arrived earlier.”

Soo Hyuk apologised.

“It’s nothing, why are you sorry in the first place?”

“Yeah, those guys were the bad guys!”

Ji Song and Ji Soo retorted to Soo Hyuk while shaking their heads. Then after talking about various subjects for a while, Soo Hyuk went back to his room.

‘Those bastards.’

No matter how much he thought about it, it wasn’t enough to kill them once.

‘Why do they perform those kinds of rotten acts?’

He couldn’t understand at all. Why do they do those kinds of things? And why target beginners?

‘For fun?’

Was it for fun? Killing those weaker than them was fun? Soo Hyuk picked up his phone and called his friend.

‘He’s not on Pangea at this time.’

Soo Hyuk called Yeon Jung. Then after a few seconds, Yeon Jung answered the call.

“Yeon Jung-ah, I’m curious about something.”

Soo Hyuk cut straight to the chase.

“Do you know about the Demon guild?”

-The Demon guild? I know one of them.

“Their mark has a monster with three horns on its head.

-Ah! I know about them. Why do you ask?

“What kind of guild is it?”

-Hmm? What do you mean?

“Well, actually…”

Soo Hyuk told Yeon Jung about what had just happened in Hedlin.

-What? Those crazy dog bastards.

Yeon Jung shouted in fury after hearing Soo Hyuk’s story.

-We left them alone because they were too dirty, but they went too far this time. Soo Hyuk-ah, you have to quickly join my guild.

“Hmm?”

Soo Hyuk was confused by Yeon Jung’s sudden suggestion. He was planning to in the first place, but he didn’t why the conversation had suddenly gone in this direction.

-You said you killed them, right?

“I did.”

Dead. They were instantly killed by his hands.

-The funny thing about the Demon guild, is that if someone touches even one of their members, he will be hunted down mercilessly. Even if they’re the ones in the wrong. You’ll likely meet the same fate.

“What? Revenge, not an apology? What kind of guild is that.”

Instead of apologising, they would hunt him down. Soo Hyuk couldn’t see how that was logical at all.

-Anyway, my guild has a bit of a reputation. If you join my guild, they won’t be able to touch you easily.

From this, Soo Hyuk was able to find out why Yeon Jung wanted him to join his guild.

‘But…’

However, Soo Hyuk opened his mouth as he thought about something.

‘I can’t just let them go like this.’

Even if it was a game, he had felt indescribable pain when he stared at his parents’ corpses. It was horrible. While recalling his feeling in that moment, Soo Hyuk said to Yeon Jung.

“Yeon Jung-ah. Sorry. I won’t be able to join right now.”

-What? Why?

“Your guild could be harmed because of me.”

-…What are you going to do?

“I don’t have an exact plan yet.”

Soo Hyuk smiled as he replied to Yeon Jung.

“By the way, do you know where the Demon guild’s base is located?”

It was a cold smile filled with pain and anger.