novelraw Chapter 23 : Chapter 23
Chapter 23 : Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Dust-filled, stale air swept across the yard covered in dirt and gravel.
Multiple footprints were marked on the yard.
Six players were now standing in front of the government office.
“Are you sure? That he went in here?”
“I'm sure! He's a 500 million target!”
Their eyes were colored with madness.
Like a beast suffering from thirst smelling water.
Their uncomfortably heated breathing informed that they were in a state of excitement.
“Go in first. Everyone ready?”
“I'll lead, so cover me from behind.”
The man standing at the very front stepped inside the main gate of the government office.
The lobby that appeared as soon as he passed the main gate was silent.
The empty space seemed to welcome them with a giant open mouth.
“Is he hiding? He might be on the 2nd floor.”
“Hey, I told you he can't run away from here.”
One person stepped in first.
Bang.
“Huh?”
In an instant, something caught his ankle.
A wire jumped up and wrapped around his ankle.
“Damn it, what is this!”
Zing!
The next moment, the wire tightened strongly.
Along with a scream, one man was hung upside down in a snare and jumped upward.
As his scream filled the space, the players who followed in all stopped at once.
“W-What? Is it a snare?”
“It's a trap! Traps are set inside here!”
The snare did not stop at hanging the man upside down.
The sound of an ankle breaking came from the area where the snare's pressure was applied.
Crack!
When the vivid rupturing sound echoed, the fear that ‘I might be next’ spread among the other players.
The air became heavy in an instant.
But soon, another voice resonated.
“Everyone focus! Only a few minutes have passed since he ran away in the 12 o’clock direction!”
“T-That's right! Even if he made traps, he wouldn't have been able to make many!”
“Advance while checking carefully!”
One person tapped the floor with the tip of a knife to check, another glared at the ceiling…… each advanced while being careful not to get caught in a trap.
The players spread slowly into the lobby with their backs against each other.
A mixture of fear and greed was on their faces.
“I told you to be careful, did I tell you to move like a slug? The person with a defensive ability should lead!”
“Stop shouting! How is this any different from advertising our situation exactly as it is to the 500 million guy!”
“You're shouting too!”
“Cut it out! Is this the time for us to fight? Lead with the defensive ability user as suggested earlier!”
Every time they stepped deeper into the lobby one by one, a sharp gaze was observing them from the darkness beyond the corner.
The vow to advance carefully lasted only for a moment.
The vow collapsed the moment they confirmed the human figure staying beyond the corner.
Among the remaining five, three discovered my silhouette and their eyes flipped.
“I didn't see anything wrong after all. You bastard, we got you. Where do you think you're playing petty tricks like traps?”
The players had been significantly stimulated by the scream let out by the player caught in the snare.
Their patience reservoir was hitting rock bottom due to the stress accumulated unknowingly.
Like an angry bull being deluded by a red cloth, the three players dashed out at the same time.
The remaining two players who read the impatience from the three players tried to stop them belatedly.
“Darn it! I told you not to hurry!”
The three players swept away by the muddy stream of impatience had to pay a great price.
One person was caught in a wire installed at ankle height.
Thwip!
A wedge that popped out from under a bench in the corner of the lobby dug into his flank.
“Urgh!”
The 5cm wedge was driven deep into his flank, enough to be completely buried to the tip.
Survival seemed impossible.
Another person took wide strides and stepped firmly, only to suddenly feel a foreign sensation under his foot.
“What is this?”
When he moved the foot he had stepped with, a thin piece of iron stuck in the gap of the tiles caught his eye.
He had to check with his own body what phenomenon stepping on the piece of iron led to.
One tile on the ceiling broke, and an iron ball the size of a bowling ball fell.
The iron ball gained acceleration as it fell and mercilessly struck the man's crown.
Thump!
The man who was struck directly on the head was not even allowed time to let out a death rattle.
The last runner among the zero-patience trio safely reached the corner.
However, the moment he stepped beyond the corner.
Click!
“……!”
A grotesque scream that was not of any human language burst out.
His leg was caught in a large Chalco that could even sever a bear's leg, and he fell into a gruesome state.
All three did use their abilities.
Ability to nullify all attacks flying from the front while running.
Ability where acceleration increases up to five times when heading toward a place looked at.
Ability where the damage received decreases as more people are behind one's back.
They could have broken through the traps without a single wound if they had just combined the three people's abilities.
In theory.
But since they regarded each other as only in a temporary cooperation, not sharing even minimal information became the source of trouble.
The price for that was the retirement of 4 out of 6 people.
While moving together, their behavior was individual play itself…… Although they had many heads, from the perspective of the one dealing with them, it was nothing more than having multiple one-on-one matches.
As the combat power decreased to less than half, a man with a superb sly smile appeared from beyond the corner.
It was me.
I chuckled and stepped on the stairs leading to the 2nd floor.
“You all were quite lacking in caution. I'll expect the remaining two of you to be more competent. See you on the 2nd floor.”
While the mocking tone touched their pride, I headed toward the 2nd floor.
But the movement of stepping on the stairs was quite unique.
Every time I climbed, I stepped on the right edge of a stair, then suddenly jumped to the left edge, or overdid it by climbing three steps at once.
It was clearly an unnatural movement.
The remaining two players exchanged glances and nodded their heads once.
“It's clear. He must have set up traps on the stairs leading to the 2nd floor as well.”
“I remembered clearly the way that guy climbed to the 2nd floor. It's Right, Right, Left, three-step jump, Left, Right. Keep it in mind.”
“What's the order of climbing? Do I go first, or you go first?”
“From your position, you'd be suspicious of whether my memory is correct. So I'll go up first and verify directly if my memory is correct.”
“Good. There's no use in creating unnecessary conflict while only the two of us are left.”
Among the four players collapsed in the lobby, two died instantly, and the remaining two were in a critical state.
The two players in critical condition asked for help.
“Keugh, before you pursue…… us first……”
“I think I'm dying…… save me……”
The one hung upside down in the snare, the one caught in the bear trap.
Both were in a position where they could be saved if taken out of the traps immediately and given emergency treatment.
However, the two intact players ignored the people caught in the traps.
“Didn't you guys get hurt because you didn't listen and were greedy? It's your fault, so you should take responsibility.”
“I was feeling ambiguous about how to divide 500 million among 6 people, but I'm glad it decreased to 2. It matches perfectly at 250 million if it's 2 people, right?”
Amidst the rampant lack of comradeship, the two players arrived in front of the stairs.
The appearances of the two players were contrasting.
One was a slender intellectual image wearing glasses and a dress shirt, the other was a muscular macho man image wearing a tank top and shorts.
The one who stepped forward to go up first was the glasses man.
“I'm going up, so remember well and follow exactly. Don't make a stupid mistake and get caught in a trap.”
“Cut the nagging and just go up already. We're going to miss the 500 million won bundle of cash at this rate.”
“I'm planning to do just that.”
The glasses man climbed the stairs step by step while repeatedly taking bizarre actions.
Right, Right, Left, three-step jump, Left, Right.
After moving between the ends of the stairs alternately, he arrived on the 2nd floor.
Subsequently, the muscle man climbed the stairs.
Right, Right, Left, three-step jump.
He could reach the 2nd floor if he climbed only two more stairs.
But the glasses man who went up first took an unexpected action.
He suddenly pulled a folding knife out of his back pants pocket and thrust it toward the muscle man's neck.
Stab!
The end of those who were struck by the traps earlier.
The vague fear that the entire stairs would be full of traps.
The muscle man, whose actions were restricted due to various conditions, had no talent to avoid the knife.
When the knife stuck in his neck was pulled out, the muscle man fell backward while clutching his neck which was gushing blood.
“Betrayal…… you dirty……”
The glasses man gave a vile smile as if revealing his true colors.
“You know how it is. Since it's better to take 500 million rather than 250 million if possible, right?”
The muscle man rolled down the stairs.
He hit the floor with his back, and the sight of him trembling and waiting for a death sentence was just like a fly pressed by a flyswatter.
Leaving behind the scene punctuated by betrayal and selfishness, the glasses man climbed to the 2nd floor.
“500 million bounty. And three ballot papers. It's a profit even if I just play for the remaining time. Game over by myself. That has a good ring to it, doesn't it?”
Since he could end it while leaving a massive profit even if he didn't aim for class president, there was no reason not to attempt a challenging adventure.
Above all, whatever Lee Ju-seong's ability was, he was confident he wouldn't lose in a one-on-one match.
The space provided on the 2nd floor was only one wide multipurpose room.
He entered the multipurpose room while being mindful of traps.
But the number of people waiting for the glasses man inside the multipurpose room was two.
The target, Lee Ju-seong.
And the man ranked 2nd in total prize money, Bang Su-hyeok.
The expectation that Lee Ju-seong would be alone was missed, but the glasses man did not get flustered.
“Well now. Were you guys on the same side? No wonder there were many traps. The traps were installed with your ability, Bang Su-hyeok, weren't they?”
He was confident he would unconditionally win in a one-on-one match, and even if it was a 1 vs 2 match, he thought it was within a range he could sufficiently handle.
That was how firm the glasses man's conviction in his own ability was.
I gripped the Hwando that I had leaned diagonally against a desk.
“3 minutes to climb up. It's barely a passing grade.”
“A passing grade?”
“There were no traps on the stairs. If you were competent, you would have realized immediately and been able to come up within 1 minute.”
“I feel like you were testing us, which is unpleasant.”
“To be precise, I was conducting an interview. Since one can seize the initiative depending on how many people form a group in this game. Of course, since an incompetent person is worse than having none, there was a need to filter them out.”
The glasses man put strength into his brow at the fact that he had been tested.
A few vertical wrinkles started from his brow and pierced through his forehead.
Saying he tested meant nothing else than that he was looking down from above.
The feeling of being ignored could never come across as pleasant.
“To think incompetent things were measuring the competence of others, nothing but laughter comes out? What are you babbling about, accepting me as a comrade as if you're being generous, when you're the guy about to die soon?”
I'll slit the throats of both of them using my ability right now.
Ability to reverse the senses of enemies inside a closed room!
Under the premise of a closed room, he could change everyone's senses except his own to the exact opposite.
If one moves their right arm, the left arm moves, and if one moves their left leg, the right leg moves.
As if trapped inside a mirror.
One might think it's just about making the reversed directions confusing, but if struck by surprise, one couldn't handle their body as they wished for a quite long time.
The glasses man held up the knife in his hand while smirking as if he had already grasped victory.
“It won't take long. Unlike you duo, I don't have a hobby of killing enemies painfully.”
To end it in a quick battle, he advanced boldly and narrowed the distance in a single breath.
It was a moment where he deliberated on whom to stab first.
Bang Su-hyeok was unable to pull himself together while staggering from the reversed senses.
On the other hand, I stood frozen in place without even a movement.
“Even though I provided the option to be on the same side, you're kicking away your own luck.”
One remark of mine solved his deliberation.
An impulse arose to make that arrogant mouth unable to flap anymore even 1 second faster.
He decided to slit the throat of the original target, Lee Ju-seong, first.
“Hey, Mr. 500 Million. You're the type who can't keep his mouth shut, aren't you? It's all your karma. Accept it sweetly.”
Just as he was about to stretch out the bloody knife long.
I reflexively brought the Hwando to my side and then swung it briskly.
The Hwando left a fan-shaped silver trajectory.
The glasses man's neck was contained within the trajectory.
Slash!
A chilly foreign sensation was felt near Adam's apple, and at the same time, the strength of his entire body drained away.
As if he had become a mollusk, his body collapsed limply without strength.
The glasses man knelt on both knees and muttered hollowly with a look of despair.
“My ability…… you just encountered it for the first time, so how……”
I was the one who moved as if not receiving any influence even though the senses were reversed left and right.
As if I had been conscious of the glasses man's ability from the beginning.
I raised my right index and middle fingers and stealthily pulled out the paper protruding from the front chest pocket of the glasses man's shirt.
Even though the ability was still maintained, the fact that I performed delicate movements very naturally made the glasses man even more horrified.
A moment later, I pushed up the corners of my mouth while fluttering the ballot papers left and right.
“That's why you should have been careful about leaking personal information.”
When did I ever leak personal information……
The glasses man was only feeling wronged because he couldn't understand the reason.
In that way, the 6-man group that was after the bounty ended their appearance by quietly exiting, having left only the record that they had submissively handed three ballot papers to Lee Ju-seong.
***
Killed with a single strike.
It was a clean hit.
The threshold of the first kill was just high, but once I got the hang of it, I got a feel for how to swing.
This too would be a talent if it's a talent.
However, my real talent was elsewhere.
The person who recognized my real talent was not myself, but Bang Su-hyeok.
“You have no hesitation in cutting a person.”
“Wearing a mask of innocence while holding the title of a 1st round survivor is not being kind, it's disgusting.”
There are only two types of people who discuss ethics at this point.
Hypocrites. Or swindlers.
I shot a fierce gaze containing the meaning of whether Bang Su-hyeok also belonged to them.
The Bang Su-hyeok I knew always maintained a cold and heavy appearance even in front of dealers.
I thought he would know that even if I shot a somewhat fierce gaze, it was just me expressing seriousness, not that I shot it with an aggressive intention.
However, contrary to my intention, Bang Su-hyeok flinched for a moment.
“I didn't mean to point it out. You're right. Everyone knows that if you don't kill, you die.”
“They know it, but?”
“Hmm, I'd say you, Lee Ju-seong, are fierce beyond that. The feeling that your optimization is carved much better than others…… it's hard to explain it clearly.”
“Let's leave vague impressions for when we have leisure later. More than that, should there be something we have to do as a priority?”
Bang Su-hyeok nodded his head.
What we have to do.
That was none other than finishing the upcoming first election safely.
I added words while handing the first ballot papers I obtained to Bang Su-hyeok.
“There will be two more spares on the floor below. So take one first.”
The ballot paper was soggy, soaked with blood.
There was still warmth remaining as if to prove that the blood of the glasses man, his life, was flowing until just now.
Bang Su-hyeok's eyelids trembled.