novelraw Chapter 10 : Chapter 10
Chapter 10 : Chapter 10
Chapter 10. A Body of a Different Kind (1)
A short while later.
“…Gasp!”
Choi Young-go opened his eyes.
The first thing that surprised him was the fact that he was not dead.
Because the moment he was crushed by the outdoor unit, he had thought he was dead without a shred of doubt.
But he hadn't died.
The excruciating pain he felt throughout his body was proof of his survival.
“Kuaaaargh…!”
An excruciating pain he had never experienced before.
On top of that, his body was not in a normal state.
His right arm barely moved, and one of his eyes had lost its sight.
Moreover, it seemed that part of his spine had been damaged, as his lower body was completely paralyzed.
In that state, Choi Young-go was tied to a utility pole with chains.
Just an hour ago, he could have broken such chains with ease.
But not now.
Anyway.
'…What the hell is that bastard? Why the hell is a mage after me?!'
Choi Young-go recalled the fight with Riman a little while ago.
The more he retraced the flow of the fight, the more one thing became certain.
He had been completely played.
Throughout the fight, Choi Young-go had been played on the board Riman had set.
He had been trampled upon, stepping on every path and trap Riman had laid out.
The feeling of being completely overwhelmed by someone, that sense of powerlessness.
Choi Young-go muttered inwardly.
'King of Red… damn it, fuck, what am I supposed to do now?'
At that moment.
“Awake?”
Riman was suddenly standing in front of him.
Busily fiddling with his phone.
Choi Young-go said.
“You bastard… why are you doing this to me?”
“Did you not expect this kind of ordeal when you broke out of prison?”
“Who are you, who sent you?”
“Who sent me? I came of my own accord.”
Even as he said that, Riman's gaze was fixed on the phone screen, not on Choi Young-go.
“What the hell do you want? Are you going to kill me?”
“If I were going to kill you, why would I have gone to the trouble of tying you up like this?”
“Then what is it…?”
“Well. For now, I have no intention of killing you.”
“……!”
Choi Young-go suddenly felt a glimmer of hope.
Because he thought he might be able to survive if he played his cards right.
Choi Young-go said.
“Hey, listen up for a second. I have a lot I can give you.”
“You do have something to give.”
“Right, I'm from Mugan. I broke out of Mugan. You know what that means in this business, right?”
“Of course I do.”
“I'll help you. Whatever you're planning…”
“That's right, you will help me. Oh, the wanted poster is uploaded.”
“What?”
“Look.”
Riman held out the phone screen to Choi Young-go.
Choi Young-go's wanted poster was displayed there.
“It just came up 5 seconds ago. I was waiting for this.”
“What…?”
“Killing you before a bounty is placed is illegal in principle. Then I can't receive the bounty either.”
“……!”
Only then did Choi Young-go realize why Riman had bothered to keep him alive.
Riman had been waiting until a price was put on his life.
This wasn't a lucky survival.
He had been reduced to the same state as livestock living on borrowed time.
Riman brought the tip of his index finger to Choi Young-go's neck and said.
“I told you just now, right? You have something to give me.”
“W-w-w-wait…!”
“I'll make good use of the price of your life.”
A spell was cast from the tip of his index finger.
[Incision]
Slice-
A red line ran across his neck, and blood trickled down.
At the same time, Choi Young-go's breathing completely stopped.
“…He's dead.”
It was the first time.
The first time seeing someone die right in front of him, and the first time killing someone himself.
Of course, the opponent before him was a heinous criminal.
There was no need to feel guilty.
But he didn't even feel the discomfort one should feel when killing a living creature.
He was just endlessly indifferent.
He could strongly feel his personality gradually changing as he possessed Riman's body.
“…Let's just finish the job.”
Click.
Riman took a picture of Choi Young-go's corpse with his phone.
It wasn't a commemorative photo.
It was to certify that he had 'killed the wanted person'.
As soon as the picture was taken, the sensor on the phone quickly scanned the wanted person's facial features and whether he was dead.
After the scan was complete, he collected a blood sample, smeared it on the phone's terminal, and transmitted the genome data.
About 2 minutes later.
Ding!
A bounty of 5 million Credits was deposited into Riman's account.
To be precise, it was the account of his cover identity, 'Leman', not Riman.
Riman looked at the amount and sighed.
“Hah, 5 million… I should have originally received 100 million.”
The bounty on Choi Young-go was 100 million Credits.
But Riman had only received 5% of it.
Because that's what he had agreed to in the contract with Lancelot in the first place.
“This won't do. I'll have to either catch a lot of wanted criminals or take on additional sub-quests.”
Muttering to himself, Riman scanned the list of wanted criminals.
They were all familiar faces.
But at that moment.
“Huh?”
Riman doubted his eyes.
He himself was on the list of wanted criminals.
“You son of a bitch, wait a minute.”
The absurdity was brief.
The emotion that followed was curiosity.
The information on the wanted poster was his name, bounty, and crime.
Riman was curious.
How much his bounty was, and especially, what his crime was.
Because Riman still didn't know the reason he had been imprisoned in Mugan.
Riman stared silently at his wanted poster.
Name: Riman Solaris.
Bounty: 70 billion Credits.
“…Whoa.”
It was the highest amount among those listed.
“What kind of crime do you have to commit to get a bounty this high… ah.”
Crime: Mass Murder
The moment he saw the crime, Riman understood.
However, another question followed.
Who exactly did I slaughter? What was the scale of the slaughter? And the reason for the slaughter?
As his mind was getting complicated like this.
Beep-
Riman's wanted poster was suddenly deleted.
At the same time, a call he really didn't want to receive came through.
Ring-ring-ring!
The caller was Lancelot Powell.
Riman answered the call.
“Hello.”
“Your wanted poster was uploaded due to an administrative error. I had it deleted immediately on my orders, so there should be no problem.”
“No…”
“I'm sorry.”
“……”
“But Riman, you killed a wanted person as soon as their poster was uploaded.”
“The timing was just right.”
“Hoh.”
“I told you. I'd drastically reduce the time it takes to apprehend them.”
“Keep it up like that in the future. Anything else to say?”
“Um…”
Honestly, he wanted to ask.
About what kind of criminal acts the man named Riman Solaris had committed and how.
It wasn't just out of simple curiosity.
To be charged with 'mass murder' single-handedly, he must have committed something incredibly heinous.
If he could grasp the details, he could find out the extent of Riman's power.
Through this, he could also draw up a roadmap on how to become stronger.
But…
'I can't ask.'
This was like a prisoner asking a guard, 'What crime did I commit?'
He could arouse unnecessary suspicion with such an absurd question.
On top of that, the person he was talking to was Lancelot, the king of being a stickler for rules.
There was nothing to gain from arousing his strange suspicions with careless words.
So Riman said.
“Nothing more to say.”
“Then I'll hang up.”
After hanging up the phone.
Riman briefly looked at the dead Choi Young-go.
In this world, just 10 years ago, to receive a bounty, you had to personally cut off the head of the wanted person and submit it to a nearby government office.
This was the reason bounty hunters came to be called 'Headhunters'.
With the development of technology, this procedure was simplified as it had been just now, but the term remained.
“Shall we go.”
Riman left the corpse behind and came out of the alley.
In this city, it was fine to leave a corpse lying around like this.
Because there were rats who would take care of it all.
“Huh? Doesn't that one look pretty fresh?”
“Check if it's dead. We can't cut up a live one.”
“Untie the chains. Aigoo, they've tied it up really tight.”
Three shabbily dressed men approached Choi Young-go's corpse.
They were the dedicated disposal team for unclaimed, abandoned corpses.
In short, Intestine Hunters.
The scavengers of the city, who made a living by harvesting and selling the organs and tissues of corpses found on the streets.
A short while later, nothing was left where they had been.
* * *
The sun was beginning to show signs of setting.
Riman decided to wrap up today's human hunt here for now.
He had used up a lot of his strength.
Although the magical abilities he possessed were powerful, his body's condition was not great due to his long imprisonment.
The output level of his mana was also still a bit frustrating.
He had to devise a way to recover his body and increase his mana output.
In that case, the easiest method he could take right now was…
“Huh? Mr. Leman!”
Riman visited Ji Byeong-seo's apartment.
“My lab is a bit messy, isn't it? I just moved in after coming down from the mountains, haha. Come on in!”
Even though he had barged in in the early evening, Ji Byeong-seo welcomed Riman without any signs of discomfort.
When he first met him in the game, he thought this personality was a facade.
But it wasn't.
Ji Byeong-seo was one of the few truly 'good' people in this city.
The reason Riman wanted to befriend him was because he was the future King of Medicine, but also because of his goodness.
Riman looked around the interior of Ji Byeong-seo's house.
It was filled with glass bottles containing all sorts of medicinal herb samples and various chemical experiment tools.
It was unmistakably the house of a pharmacist.
“Did you have any trouble getting here?”
“Getting here was easy, but finding this was a bit difficult.”
What Riman took out was a bottle of absinthe.
A distilled liquor made by combining medicinal herbs.
Seeing it, Ji Byeong-seo's eyes widened.
“Oh my, why would you bring something like this, haha, no, something like this, hahaha.”
“A gift is a must when visiting someone's house, isn't it?”
The corners of Ji Byeong-seo's mouth wouldn't come down.
It was just as Riman had expected.
Because he already knew that he was crazy about absinthe.
And so, a small drinking session took place with alcohol and snacks between them.
In the conversation that flowed, Riman could feel Ji Byeong-seo's personality once again.
Pure and good, but not worldly-wise, and a person with a firm conviction in what he liked to do.
He was a much more likable person than when he had seen him in the game.
'To think that a person like that would become the King of Poison if he experienced one wrong thing.'
Of course, Riman had no intention of letting Ji Byeong-seo become the King of Poison.
'You just focus on your work. Then I'll make you the King of Medicine.'
And I…
'will become your best regular customer.'
* * *
After the drinking session ended.
Riman got a room at a nearby hotel.
“150,000 Credits for one night.”
A moderately old and moderately clean hotel room.
Riman placed two 300ml potion bottles on the table.
One was red, the other was blue.
The red one was a health recovery potion, and the blue one was a mana recovery potion.
It was the medicine Ji Byeong-seo had given him.
'To receive something this expensive for free.'
Later on, one bottle of this would go for over 1 million Credits.
It was an excessive reward for helping with a used car transaction once.
Moreover, a single dose of this medicine was 20ml.
It was enough for fifteen drinks per bottle.
“Shall I test this one first.”
Riman picked up the blue potion bottle.
This was a mana recovery potion.
It was usually consumed during battle when one's mana was running low.
But a high-purity mana recovery potion like this could draw out a hidden effect depending on how it was used.
It was the effect of increasing the body's mana capacity itself.
'The way to produce a greater output is to hold more mana.'
Riman poured out exactly 20ml and downed it.
And he immediately sat on the floor in a cross-legged position and closed his eyes.
Shushushushu-
He could feel a large amount of the surrounding mana being sucked into his body.
'Catch it!'
Hold onto the sucked-in mana in your dantian, and endure for as long as possible.
Repeating this would gradually expand the body's mana capacity.
It should have, but…
Shuuuuu-
'Huh?!'
The mana escaped from his body before he had a chance to hold onto it.
It was like scooping water with a sieve.
'Uh…?!'
At that moment, Riman felt instinctively.
This body's structure was completely different from that of ordinary mages.