novelraw Chapter 41 : Chapter 41
Chapter 41 : Chapter 41
Chapter 41
All I had done was act within August's blind spot.
In a place where August wasn't looking, I had made off with the Slave chair; in a place where August wasn't looking, I had dropped my Money Watch; and in a place where August wasn't looking, I had used the Slave privilege to seal her ability.
“Why are you silent? If I finish you off like this, I can recover my principal. You wouldn't want it to end like this either, would you?”
August closed her eyes instead of answering.
When she inhaled, the bridge of her pale nose trembled slightly.
However, that was all.
Her anger seethed, but instead of being hot, it spread like a flesh-piercing chill.
A mechanically attached smile, yet it felt as if I could hear the sound of ice cracking beyond that smile.
August said.
“Did you go easy on me during the battle in Set 2 on purpose?”
Her voice was a level lower than before, and the end of her words was sharp like a thin metallic sound.
When she opened her eyes, they held no murderous intent, shame, or fear.
Instead, a strange emotion she couldn't even control herself dwelled within them.
It was none other than creepiness.
She was feeling immense pressure at the sight of me, Lee Ju-seong, who had planned this entire board and yet never lost my composure.
It wasn't as if August had lived a life without ups and downs until now.
However, this must have been the first time she had been so elaborately and completely toyed with, driven into a corner.
I licked my lips very slowly, as if sucking in blood.
“Just because the signs of defeat are strong, there is no law saying one shouldn't go easy.”
“I don't even know if those words are true or false anymore.”
“Ho-oh, is this a strategy to please me by flattering me? If that's the case, I recommend raising the level a bit more.”
“In an instant, you turn a person into a small fry who flatters just to survive. I don't know about anything else, but I can certainly tell you aren't a person with a good personality.”
Depth was added to the eye that had been revealed on only one side by her asymmetrical bangs.
She was trying to slice me sharply by putting strength into her gaze.
However, an imagination is just an imagination.
A real sword in one's imagination is worse than a fruit knife in reality.
I pressed the Hwando close to August's neck.
“Let's stop the jokes here and settle the accounts first. Send the money to my Money Watch.”
August glared at me with force, then let out a long breath through her nose.
Her rounded shoulders, which had been raised, slumped down.
At the same time, August spoke in a dejected voice.
“You could just kill me, yet you're trying to keep me alive. Is reusing villains your taste?”
“Villain? Who are you talking about? In my eyes, I only see an extra that no one cares about, though?”
“I can tell you're keeping me alive because you have a separate ulterior motive. I guess I'll have to send the money to find out what that motive is.”
“Hurry up and send it. Once you finish the deposit, the momentum of the pursuit party will die down, so you will become even safer.”
Currently, my Money Watch was in the hands of the pursuit party, and if August made the deposit, the pursuit party would receive the news that all the funds had returned to their proper places.
Since there would be nothing to gain from killing August anymore, August would no longer be chased.
As every process followed like flowing water, August was dumbfounded.
“So that was why you dropped your Money Watch. To think it was a move that doubled as an intention to manage the pursuit party at the appropriate timing. It's surprising.”
“More importantly, just send the money already.”
“Before I send it, I want to make one thing clear. If I send the money, will I be able to hear the reason why you didn't kill me?”
“Of course. As long as you send the money.”
August was someone who had cast away the fear of death long ago, but that didn't mean she lacked a desire for life.
She wasn't so foolish as to throw away a path to live because of her pride.
Soon, August raised her arm so that I could see the screen of the Money Watch.
“I sent it.”
A balance of 0 won was displayed on August's Money Watch.
5 minutes left until August's penalty was lifted.
There was plenty of time.
I removed the Hwando from August's neck. And as I rolled up the sleeve of my right arm, I spoke.
“To speak of my business, it would be first to tell you how I escaped from being tied up.”
A bandage made by tearing crude cloth was wrapped around my forearm.
When I unwrapped the bandage, a deeply gouged wound 0.5cm in length appeared.
“That wound is...”
At the same time August showed interest in the wound, I used my ability.
Ability to turn one's own bodily fluids into blades.
A blade poked out from inside the wound.
Just like a shark's dorsal fin suddenly appearing above the water's surface.
Until now, August had at least some composure left to choose her words, but as soon as she witnessed my way of using the ability, the resolution of her language unintentionally lowered.
“What are you doing right now? Are you crazy?”
I nonchalantly shrugged my shoulders without showing a single sign of pain.
“I was merely showing you the method I used to cut the cable ties, though?”
“Even so, to do it raw without even drawing out the blood from your body...”
“Do you have a sense of what I want from you now?”
“Mo, I don't know.”
It was no wonder she was terrified.
It wasn't like slicing raw flesh from the outside; it was as if I had forcibly sliced it from the inside.
No, it was a problem even before the slicing.
The human body was something so painful that a person would plead to be killed even if just a stone formed.
The moment I voluntarily created that much pain, I had essentially stepped outside the range of normal.
I vanished the blade on my forearm and wrapped the bandage back as I spoke.
“What do you think would happen if I aimed and used this ability on the area of my heart?”
“I'm telling you this sincerely. You're insane.”
“I wonder. If someone somewhere recognizes me as an ally, I might be able to survive without dying.”
“Ah!”
It was only now that August let out a short cry, realizing my ulterior motive.
August stepped back, and before long, her back hit the wall.
“Was this why you didn't kill me?”
“Your ability is quite flavorful. Don't keep it all to yourself; share it.”
Let's share it fairly.
“To take your own life as a hostage. I can only see it as you being out of your mind.”
“You will have no choice but to listen to my demand.”
The organization's stance toward me was strictly business-like.
They were of the position that it didn't matter if I died in a battle between players, as that would also become data.
However, suicide, or being killed by a Dealer, had no value as data.
For example, it was like a goose that lays golden eggs taking its own life, or the organization side cutting open the goose's belly.
I set a time limit for August.
“I can't just keep playing around, so I'll set a deadline for you. In 10 seconds, I will execute the act I just mentioned.”
“Wait! You've gotten your hands on billions, and you're going to take your own life?”
“10, 9...”
“You have to say something that makes sense! Sincerely recognizing you as an ally isn't something that just happens instantly on the spot!”
“8, 7...”
“It's impossible for a person to perfectly control their own heart! Stop that count right now!”
“6, 5...”
August struggled to persuade me while feeling extremely anxious.
However, the count did not stop.
The side that was scheduled to take damage was composedly threatening the opponent, and the side that was perfectly fine without taking any damage was in a hurry, dying to save him.
If it were a normal situation, it could happen anytime, but it was a rare sight that could hardly be seen within this Money Game.
Moreover, the opponent was a Dealer, a person from the organization side.
She was an object of fear to other players, but to me, she was merely an individual human placed on the same level as the players.
“3, 2, 1.”
When the count reached its end.
The news I had wanted so much arrived.
[Jo A-rin recognizes you as an ally.]
[You have copied Jo A-rin's ability.]
[‘Damage Doping’ has been acquired.]
[This ability can only be used while Jo A-rin recognizes you as an ally.]
As a test, I gripped the gauntlet part of a suit of armor that was decorated nearby with my hand.
When I applied strength, the gauntlet crumpled like an empty can.
Crack!
“See. You can do it if you try.”
The strength left August's legs, and she slid down while leaning her back against the wall.
Then, in a sitting position, she muttered hollowly.
Because the fact that my physical abilities were strengthened at the same time the count ended meant that I really had generated a blade inside my body.
“Th, this man... re, really followed through with it...”
I let go of the crumpled gauntlet and approached August.
I placed one knee on the floor to match my eye level with August's.
When our eye levels were on the same line, I gripped August's chin with my thumb and index finger like pincers and lifted her face up.
“From now on, I will continue to use the blade generation ability to threaten myself. If your ability disappears even for a moment, my life will fly away at that instant.”
The face of August, placed at a distance close enough for our noses to touch, changed from moment to moment.
The face of a cool beauty had become an ugly face, distorted by fear.
This side suits you better than an expressionless face, doesn't it?
I acted the part of a bad boy.
“From now on, think only of me, whether awake or asleep.”
I got the money back as it was, and I succeeded in copying August's ability, which was the original goal.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that I had achieved remarkable results with this.
As if coinciding with the timing of finishing the amicable(?) negotiation with August, players swarmed up through the indoor stairs.
Upon discovering me, the players were startled and shouted loudly.
“Mr. Lee Ju-seong! Were you safe?”
I greeted them composedly as if nothing had happened.
“Of course. I am safe indeed. I was imprisoned halfway through, but everything worked out well.”
“Imprisonment? The culprit is surely that woman, right?”
“Since that part has been settled between the parties involved, please look at my face and generously let it slide. Let's leave it at that and finish the settlement we couldn't complete during Set 2 and Set 3.”
The man occupying the lead of the player group had my Money Watch.
I reached out my hand in the sense of asking him to return it.
However, the man did not return it readily and hesitated.
As if it were a waste to return the billions he had once grasped.
August, sitting while leaning against the wall like an exhausted person, looked upon the players' behavior with pity.
“If it were me, I would have killed them immediately... Why does that human keep them alive only to make them go crazy.”
Amidst the strange atmosphere, the door opened and No Tae-jin appeared.
“Oh! Ju-seong! I'm glad you're safe! But what is this situation... how are things turning out?”
Starting from No Tae-jin's appearance, the atmosphere of the players changed abruptly.
They were high-spirited as if they had received the support of a powerful army when they weren't expecting it.
The man tilted his body to one side and said in a high-handed tone.
“Let me ask you something, Mr. Lee Ju-seong. That woman didn't use her ability at all throughout Set 3 and just ran away. Was that also your doing?”
He was only speaking circuitously; he was trying to confirm whether I was currently in a Slave status or not.
I neither affirmed nor denied.
In order to resume the steps to keep the promise made during Set 1, I doggedly demanded the return of the Money Watch.
“It probably isn't a very important matter? Only the order has changed, but the result of everyone surviving and dividing the prize money fairly is the same.”
“I get the strange feeling that I'm being used by you, Mr. Ju-seong. I'd like you to explain the reason specifically.”
“It must be your imagination.”
“Aha, so you're going to play innocent until the end? You shouldn't be in a position to do that, though?”
The man lifted his chin and looked down at me.
It was the gaze of one who looked at a Slave, a lower status, as someone of an upper status.
Contained in that gaze was the arrogance unique to those who look down from above.
Without even knowing that someone who has escaped the shackles of rank has no right to discuss the ups and downs of rank.
“Tae-jin! Let's not miss this opportunity! Use the privilege on Lee Ju-seong!”