novelraw Chapter 25 : Chapter 25
Chapter 25 : Chapter 25
Chapter 25
Ding!
The screen of the Money Watch lit up and a map indicating the nearby area appeared.
It was the first ballot paper search time we faced after the first vote ended.
There was one dot marked on the map.
The dot was soon the location of the ballot paper.
Bang Su-hyeok and I, Lee Ju-seong, spoke up at the same time, without either of us going first.
“Let’s secure the share to be used for the next election first.”
“Let’s secure the share to be used for the next election first.”
Knowing that both of us thought of the same thing at the same time, we chuckled.
Since we have one spare ballot paper, if we get the one currently marked on the map, the spare share increases to two.
Looking at it differently, it means the remaining 45 minutes can be used entirely to watch the whereabouts of Yoon Ji-ho’s group.
I frequently took out the canteen and quenched my thirst while moving.
Because Yoon Ji-ho looked at my canteen as if it were interesting, I shook the canteen and acted brazenly.
“The organization didn't act stingy with water either. I received it from the Copper Mask person at the Hall after asking.”
“Phew, I regret not keeping water in mind to reduce weight. I would have brought some too if I knew it would be a three-hour game.”
“Would you like a sip?”
When I held out the canteen, Bang Su-hyeok scanned my appearance from top to bottom.
And then he waved his arm lightly and declined.
“I’m not thirsty enough to receive charity from a person covered in sweat. Why don’t you also take off that outer garment and move around coolly?”
The temperature of the game site felt like it was around 26~27 degrees.
My attire consisted of sweatpants one size too large, a thick long-sleeved T-shirt, and a blue vinyl jacket I picked up while moving during this game.
I took out a thin towel and wiped the sweat.
The towel was thoroughly wet because of the large amount of sweat wiped off until now.
“I’m thinking of sweating while I can. Because the more weapons the better.”
There were still a few more blood bags left, but there was nothing bad about having many weapons that could be used.
Bang Su-hyeok seemed to think I was making trouble for myself, but my thought was different.
The more I sweat, the more I felt like the unnecessary parts of both mind and body were falling away together.
It felt as if the flab attached to the soul was being torn off bit by bit along with the physical flab.
Because I felt like I was refining myself, my senses gradually became sharp.
After a while, we reached the destination.
With the place where the ballot paper was located before our eyes, Bang Su-hyeok lowered his voice and whispered to me.
“Lee Ju-seong, did you notice?”
“Yes, there's one person hiding behind the banner on the opposite side.”
“Maybe more companions are hiding in our blind spots. I’ll pretend to take the ballot paper and try a surprise attack. Take advantage of the gap when the enemy is confused and approach.”
“Is scrap metal sufficient?”
“Enough to overflow.”
The place we arrived at was a four-way intersection where temporary storage buildings were built sparsely.
The roads in all directions were two lanes, and iron poles where multiple banners could be hung were installed across the intersection.
On the iron poles, debt-related banners such as ‘○○ Money, one month interest-free’ or ‘We will get back the money you were cheated out of’ were hung ridiculously.
As if mocking us who were standing at the crossroads of life and death by participating in this game.
At the very bottom, a funeral service advertisement banner with the phrase ‘×× Funeral Services. We will accompany you until your final path is hung.
Behind the phrase ‘together’, a person’s silhouette was vaguely formed. But paradoxically, the silhouette was only one.
Hiding on purpose with one step left until the new ballot paper?
It was difficult to think they were hiding with good intentions.
At the intersection, there was a distribution box for newspapers dealing with job information, and the dot marked on the map of the Money Watch was pointing exactly at the distribution box.
Bang Su-hyeok pretended not to notice the ambush and approached the distribution box with a defenseless gait.
And while putting his hand in the distribution box, he acted as if talking to me.
“I found it! It’s the second sheet now! Until the next vote…….”
While talking to me normally, he suddenly turned his body 180 degrees and threw several bundles of wire he had rolled up toward the banner.
As the ten bundles of wire scattered in the air, they penetrated the banners hanging on the iron poles and the gaps between the banners.
A slender scream resonated from beyond the banner at the unexpected surprise attack.
“Kyaaa!”
What became certain was not only the opponent's gender.
Whether they were quite a coward, far from counterattacking or reorganizing their posture after being ambushed, they tried to run away recklessly.
The silhouette formed on the banner changed from a crouching posture to a running posture.
It was like a green exit pictogram.
When the opponent tried to run away, Bang Su-hyeok composed his breathing and used his ability.
Ability to turn scrap metal into traps.
The bundles of wire that reached beyond the banner each changed into snare traps.
It was not an easy thing for a panicked person to move while avoiding all the snare traps that appeared randomly and suddenly.
Sure enough, the sound of a snare trap activating was heard.
Whish!
I ran like an arrow and crossed over to beyond the banner.
I gripped the towel wrapped around my neck tightly with my right hand so that I could use the ability at any time.
Passing the iron pole, I could see the whole body of the person caught in the snare directly with my two eyes.
“A kid?”
That was the first impression I felt upon seeing the woman hanging upside down.
Her height was in the mid-140cm range, short denim shorts revealed above her knees, and a cotton yellow sleeveless top draped over a log-like upper body.
It was a typical kids look.
The face also looked very young as her hair was tied in pigtails and her cheeks were chubby.
The woman sobbed while hanging upside down in the snare.
“I wasn't hiding with malicious intent! It's true!”
As soon as I encountered the child-like characteristics, I realized who the opponent was.
If it were the flow of the original drama, she was the woman who first contacted Bang Su-hyeok at the public office building and joined as a companion just like that.
The name was Seo Ji-hye.
She looked like an elementary school student on the outside, but her actual age was twenty-nine.
Her main profession was a teacher.
But because of her young appearance, she was often ignored by students and parents, and she ended up drifting here after debts accumulated while relieving work stress through shopping.
The ability was ‘Ability to cast an illusion to appear as the person who loved the user the most’.
It was not the person she loves the most…… but rather, the fact that it was the person who loved her the most was special.
Depending on the case, she might appear as a person one doesn't know at all, so it was difficult to see it as a good ability.
The rank was a 5th-rank ability just like me.
Especially, it was an ability that didn't work on me.
A person who is not a threat at all, now and in the future.
That was the evaluation of Seo Ji-hye that I reached.
In short, she was an opponent for whom there was no need to waste a towel or blood bag.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my hand and pressed my two hands together.
Ability to turn one's own bodily fluids into blades.
When I pulled my pressed hands apart, a sharp dagger remained in my hand.
I said while holding the generated dagger toward the dangling Seo Ji-hye.
“One can say any words with their mouth. That you weren't ambushed with malicious intent…… there seems to be no reason anywhere to believe those words at face value though.”
“A-Are you going to kill me like this?”
“You probably know the way to survive here, don't you?”
To prove that it is more profitable to leave one alive than to kill them.
If one didn't know this simple logic, they die, and if they knew, they live; that was the rule underlying this Money Game.
Since she survived the 1st round, she wouldn't know even that much.
Seo Ji-hye revealed every negotiation card she could present while sobbing.
“I-I'll tell you how Yoon Ji-ho was able to gather votes! I was also victimized by that fellow! I'm a victim!”
Just then, Bang Su-hyeok, who secured the ballot paper, turned around the side of the iron pole and crossed over to where I was.
Bang Su-hyeok tilted his head to the side, seeing the upside-down Seo Ji-hye.
“A kid? The organization is also going reckless. To think they would have scraped together even a child like this.”
“Don't call me a kid! I'm twenty-nine even if I look like this!”
“The same age as me? Even if you have an ID card, you look like the type to get kicked out of a bar though?”
“My age and such doesn't matter anyway! Now let me down! Blood is rushing to my head so I feel like I'm going to throw up!”
Bang Su-hyeok and I decided to let Seo Ji-hye down from the snare after a brief discussion.
Right now, we need information about Yoon Ji-ho’s group.
If things went well, we could also take Seo Ji-hye’s share of the vote.
After being released from the snare, Seo Ji-hye dry-heaved a few times, and then soon recovered her complexion and released the information.
“Yoon Ji-ho didn't care about things like ballot papers from the beginning. He went around looking for the weak and fed them coins. Me too, and other people too, the coins he fed are inside our stomachs.”
Bang Su-hyeok massaged his forehead strongly with his hand.
The idea of being able to use an ability effectively yet cruelly.
The action of immediately putting what was thought into practice.
There was no one who would not fall into contemplation before Yoon Ji-ho's aptitude specialized for the Money Game.
“He made it so they can never betray him.”
“There’s a way to escape from that fellow's control. Yoon Ji-ho’s ability only activates when one is near him. If you run away throughout the game, you can avoid death by explosion. After leaving the game…… well, it'll be solved quickly if you eat your fill of flour-based food at least.”
“Even though you'll be fined if you don't vote?”
“Ah…… I forgot that. What should I do?”
From Seo Ji-hye’s perspective, even if she ran away to avoid Yoon Ji-ho, there was no way to do anything if Yoon Ji-ho was guarding the vicinity of the ballot box.
A fine of 50 million won while not having earned a single cent was too heavy a penalty.
While Seo Ji-hye was steeped in despair upon realizing her situation, I spoke heartlessly with a voice added with chilliness.
“I understood well in what way Yoon Ji-ho monopolized the votes. We should also set a strategy according to Yoon Ji-ho’s method.”
“Our votes will not increase anymore. So we should decrease Yoon Ji-ho’s votes.”
“Or kill Yoon Ji-ho himself.”
“Hmm, the difficulty of the former is easier.”
“Then it’s decided.”
I looked down at Seo Ji-hye while holding the dagger in a reverse grip.
In what way did I appear in Seo Ji-hye’s eyes right now?
It seemed I was appearing in a considerably scary form.
As evidence of that, Seo Ji-hye was overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness and then trembled her body like an aspen tree.
Chatter-chatter!
While the sound of teeth clashing like playing castanets occurred, Bang Su-hyeok placed his hand on top of mine.
Bang Su-hyeok’s calloused palm pressed down my hand holding the dagger.
So that the sharp blade would no longer point toward Seo Ji-hye.
“There’s a better way. Let’s send this woman back to Yoon Ji-ho.”
Seo Ji-hye expressed doubt while trembling.
“Go back? I barely escaped from that fellow's side and you're telling me to go back again?”
“Listen to my words until the end. First, go back to Yoon Ji-ho’s side. And then secretly vote for Lee Ju-seong during the next vote.”
“If I get caught doing that, only I will die!”
“You won't get caught. Since it's an anonymous vote, he can't know who voted for whom. Since Yoon Ji-ho's own votes will decrease if he slaughters recklessly, he won't be able to explode people randomly until the last election is over. Let’s talk openly. Do you think Yoon Ji-ho will leave you alive once the third vote is over?”
Seo Ji-hye shook her head left and right quickly.
Given Yoon Ji-ho’s personality, he was not a man who would be satisfied with 1.5 billion won in prize money.
He had a personality where he would even take the bonus by using the class president authority to massacre the players he subdued once the last election was over.
Bang Su-hyeok’s words continued.
“Before the last election, we will recruit several people like you. You only need to get me elected during the last election. If we succeed in disposing of Yoon Ji-ho with the class president authority, we will divide that fellow's possessed money fairly among the collaborators. My proposal is up to here. Let me hear your answer.”
If the second election is yielded to Yoon Ji-ho, his possessed money increases to 1.5 billion won.
The number of people currently possessing the right to vote is fourteen.
Since one can become class president even if it's a tie, a total of seven people are needed to be elected, and if seven people divide 1.5 billion won, each can take 200 million won.
It is overwhelmingly profitable compared to just dying after being used by Yoon Ji-ho like this.
Seo Ji-hye gave strength to her eyes and then answered clearly.
“I understand what you mean. I’ll cooperate with you.”
“Then we are companions now?”
“Yes! I look forward to working with you!”
She was someone who became a companion in this 2nd round even in the drama, and eventually Seo Ji-hye was joining as a companion even though the flow had gone awry.
Do those who are destined to become companions end up joining as companions after all?
I asked for a handshake from Seo Ji-hye for verification.
“I want to make it certain whether I am also included in the cooperative relationship.”
Seo Ji-hye beamed with a smile as bright as a child’s and grabbed my hand with both of hers.
“Of course!”
…….
…….
It didn't reach my ears at all.
The message that she recognizes me as a companion…… not at all.
I gained certainty from the part where the ability did not activate.
This woman was lying.