The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 19

The week Pantheon disappeared.

The global economy suffered a fatal blow, as if its heart had been instantly ripped out.

People fell into chaos in the sudden situation, and countless prominent corporations fell into a pitch-black pit.

Many people experienced their money, ranging from hundreds of millions to even trillions of won, suddenly evaporating into thin air.

That immense sense of loss drove people mad.

But even in such a gloomy situation, there were humans who gradually expanded their roots and grew.

No, it would be more accurate to say that they were people who could grow precisely because it was a desperate situation where many were going mad.

"Don't worry about money. If you just sign this contract, we'll help you as much as you want."

"Do you have any worries? Come this way. Our shop has a special remedy that will help you forget your trivial worries."

"Hmm, what is it? You look like you're full of worries... I happen to have some good alcohol, would you like to come in and talk for a bit? If you're okay with it, I'll listen to your worries."

The people of the underworld who did business with people's darkness.

They showed various businesses to the people who were flustered and in chaos, and extended a hand of temptation.

And the people whose minds were complicated with anxiety about the future fell for their black hands with an absurd simplicity.

A week is a short time, but it was long enough for a person to fall to the bottom.

As the world was getting dirtier, dungeons appeared.

Funnily enough, at that moment, people came to their senses.

The biggest reason they had been anxious in the first place was because of their anxiety about the future.

But now that an excellent 'source of money' in the form of dungeons and monsters had appeared, it didn't matter.

And it was the same for the people of the underworld.

They rather welcomed the appearance of dungeons.

They were people who had lived in a world of blood and violence in the first place, but in their eyes, the place called a dungeon was a perfect hunting ground in a double sense.

Grin-

'For hunting monsters, and for hunting humans.'

Kim Hyun-soo muttered inwardly, looking at Lee Shin, who was holding a shield, with a kind, smiling face that hid his dark intentions.

The moment he first saw the man, Kim Hyun-soo had doubted his eyes.

The sight of him confidently entering a dungeon with just a light helmet on, without a single thought, and even more so when he talked to him a little just in case, it was even more of a spectacle.

A groundless confidence and a focus only on defense without any means of attack.

On top of that, a weak personality that feared attacking.

He was a perfect pushover, as if drawn from a picture.

"Hoo, are you okay? You seem to have been hurt a lot."

"Haha, it can't be helped. It's my fault for not being able to block the attack even though I was holding a shield."

Twitch-

At Lee Shin's words, Kim Hyun-soo and Kim Hye-young almost burst out laughing again.

Seeing him let out a silly laugh, not even knowing that they had intentionally helped him late after observing the situation, made them want to laugh out loud.

But the two were also professionals who had been in this business for a long time.

The two managed their expressions with a straight face and looked at Lee Shin with eyes full of feigned worry.

"I'm sorry, Jin-woo. If I had learned healing magic, I could have healed your wounds..."

"Hey, it's okay, you don't have to say that. You're already doing your part well enough."

At Lee Shin's answer, the two were now at the point of admiration.

In their long careers, Lee Shin's appearance was a perfect pushover, to the point where it could be called a specimen.

At that, the two made eye contact.

'From the looks of it, it seems we've done enough work, should we just get rid of him next time?'

'For now, he seems useful, so let's watch him a little longer. The organization will like it if we bring back monster carcasses too.'

While the two were exchanging opinions with their eyes, Lee Shin let out a foolish, hehe laugh.

"Would you like to rest a bit and then move? Or would you like to go back for today?"

If he said he wanted to go further, they would deal with him the moment he fought a monster, and if he said he wanted to go back, they would watch for an opportunity and stab him in the back.

Having decided on a plan in his mind, Kim Hyun-soo waited for Lee Shin's answer.

"Hmm, I'm a little sorry, but since I've met such nice people, I want to be a little greedy. Can we go further?"

Grin-

"Not at all, we also came to the dungeon with a purpose."

"That's right. You don't have to feel sorry for us. It's better for us to go a little further too."

Grin-

"Wow~ I'm so glad I met such kind people."

Chiiik--!!!

The moment they were having such a friendly conversation, a very angry Tusk Boar snorted, as if protesting that they were talking too much.

Everyone, who had been thinking different things, welcomed its appearance and prepared for battle.

***

"Cough!"

Lee Shin coughed as he was hit by the Tusk Boar's attack.

A strong cough, as if his lungs had been pierced, and after that, several small coughs burst out of his mouth without stopping.

'Is it about time?'

Seeing that, Kim Hyun-soo thought the time had come.

'He's certainly a guy who handles a shield well enough to say he's confident he can come out of the entrance alive. To think he endured two more after that.'

But that's as far as it goes.

Small coughs continued to come out of Lee Shin's mouth, and his body staggered greatly, as if it couldn't withstand any more impact.

On top of that, the Tusk Boar had also taken many attacks, and its initial momentum had weakened.

It was the right time to deal with both of them.

Having made that judgment, Kim Hyun-soo took out a syringe filled with a drug from his pocket and gripped it in his hand.

'Sigh, this job is also quite tricky. I can't inflict a big wound because the price will drop.'

Kim Hyun-soo muttered a small complaint inwardly and quickly ran, aiming for Lee Shin's back.

The target was his back. If he stuck the syringe there, he could be more than satisfied with his daily wage.

Shuuk-

Just before the syringe Kim Hyun-soo swung was about to stick into Lee Shin's back.

"Ah, you finally moved."

A voice of a completely different kind from before pierced Kim Hyun-soo's ears.

"Huh?"

No, in fact, it was a voice that was already familiar to his ears.

It was just that he was late to recognize it because the tone was so different from the friendly tone until now, an annoyed tone.

As Kim Hyun-soo was flustered and a brief opening was created, Lee Shin threw away the shield he was holding and spun his body around.

"Ugh?!"

Just before the needle pierced his back.

After throwing away the shield, Lee Shin, with a much lighter body movement, snatched Kim Hyun-soo's wrist and threw him in the direction of the Tusk Boar.

"Keoheok! What is this sudden..."

"Hey, that's my line, not yours."

Lee Shin said, shaking the syringe at Kim Hyun-soo.

Seeing the syringe gripped in Lee Shin's hand, Kim Hyun-soo hurriedly checked his own hand.

Nothing was gripped there.

In the exchange just now, the syringe had been snatched away so quickly that even Kim Hyun-soo himself hadn't noticed.

"Hmm, from the looks of it, is it some kind of anesthetic? Ah, don't say it's not. If you were planning to kill me, it would have been much more convenient to just swing a knife instead of using something like this. Besides..."

Whoosh-

Kwaaang-!

As Lee Shin slightly moved his head, the mana ball that had been shot at his head grazed past it and hit the cave wall.

"Seeing you move in a group like this, you're very organized. What are you? Are you some lackeys of a human trafficking organization?"

"Keuk! Damn it! Who are you! Are you a spy from another organization!"

"Oh? You're not denying it, so it seems it's true?"

The two panicked and freaked out at the unexpected situation, but Lee Shin just spoke leisurely.

Woooong-

The moment Kim Hyun-soo freaked out and got up, Lee Shin drew up his internal energy, instantly moved behind Kim Hye-young, and kicked her in the direction where Kim Hyun-soo had fallen.

"Kyaak!"

"Hmm? What? I don't think I kicked you that hard, why are you screaming like that? How did you even manage to enter a dungeon?"

Kim Hye-young, whose anger flared up at Lee Shin's nonchalant attitude, threw off her mask and shouted loudly.

"You, you! What kind of man hits a woman so hard! Are you crazy?!"

At Kim Hye-young's words, Lee Shin muttered in disbelief.

"What are you talking about? Then would you be satisfied if I gently and affectionately gouged out your eyeballs with my fingers?"

Lee Shin slowly drew out [Madness] from within his body.

"Or are you deliberately provoking me, asking me to kill you right now?"

As Lee Shin drew out [Madness], an eerie atmosphere flowed out from him, encroaching on the area.

In the atmosphere that enveloped Lee Shin, not only the two whose emotions were at their peak, but also the Tusk Boar, which had been staggering and looking for an opportunity, flinched and were overwhelmed by his atmosphere.

'Hmm, it seems to be working much better than I thought.'

Seeing their reaction, Lee Shin was lightly satisfied.

Using it again, he could clearly tell.

[Madness] was a skill that was activated by heightening and unifying the mind.

An ordinary person probably wouldn't be able to use it as they wished even if they knew this condition.

But Lee Shin could.

One of the reasons was that he had a slightly crazy mind in the first place, but he was also skilled at controlling his mind from his experiences since childhood.

'Well, it's probably because I did it for the first time and created it artificially, but it feels shallower than in the boss room.'

Anyway...

Lee Shin finished his observation of his body and took off his helmet.

Flinch-!

Seeing Lee Shin's smiling face, the two held their breath and shrank even more.

Even seeing the two sweating coldly, Lee Shin said with a smiling face.

"Now, let me ask you a question, you who have probably harvested who knows how many people's organs."

Thump-

"What do you think I'm going to do to you now?"

"P-please spare me! I'll never do this again! I... I didn't want to do it, but the organization forced me!"

At that moment, Kim Hye-young, without any hesitation, slammed her head on the floor and begged.

Finding Kim Hye-young's quick action funny, Lee Shin chuckled and said.

"Hey, I think you two are misunderstanding something. I'm not doing this because you're villains who did things like organ trafficking. I'm just trying to bully you under the guise of self-defense."

Lee Shin said casually, as if joking.

"Ugh, uwaaak!!!"

The moment Lee Shin took another step closer, Kim Hyun-soo swung the sword in his hand at him.

A desperate strike, like a cornered rat biting a cat, putting everything on the line.

But a rat is just a rat.

And what was in front of them was not a cat.

Click-

Kim Hyun-soo's attack was lightly blocked by the weapon Lee Shin took out from his inventory, and at that, Kim Hyun-soo was surprised and muttered.

"H-how did a weapon suddenly..."

"Huh? Ah, this? Just ignore it, it's just possible because I'm a bit of a special case. You can't do it even if you hear about it."

Lee Shin lightly swung the steel fan and knocked away Kim Hyun-soo's sword.

Kim Hyun-soo, whose weapon was gone from his hand, collapsed to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

"By the way, did you perhaps think I would dodge the attack because I had no weapon? And then run away in that opening?"

As if to tell him that his thoughts were correct, the amount of cold sweat flowing down Kim Hyun-soo's face increased.

Seeing him, Lee Shin felt the annoyance that had been building up from having to pretend to be weak and get hit by attacks he could have dodged all at once being released, and smiled even more darkly.

"Now, there's something I'm curious about."

Lee Shin held up the two syringes in his hand so that both of them could see and shook them lightly.

The other one he had secretly taken while kicking Kim Hye-young.

He had confirmed that their gazes went to their pockets strangely often while moving together in the dungeon.

"Doing something like this to someone else means you don't mind if the same thing happens to you, right?"

At Lee Shin's words, the two's faces turned black, as if they would faint at any moment.

To the two who were so terrified, Lee Shin gave a gift with a smiling face.

Puk-

***

"Keueuk~"

Coming out of the dungeon, Lee Shin stretched lightly and smiled.

The night air felt particularly refreshing today.

The dungeon he had come out of was still maintaining its form and swirling.

It was a different result from what he had thought when he first left home, but he had no regrets.

It wasn't the only dungeon, he had enjoyed himself enough, and he had also secured a few magic stones.

"Hmm..."

Lee Shin looked around the dungeon for a moment and muttered.

"Well, I shattered the bones in their wrists and ankles to powder, but if they're lucky and get discovered by a person first instead of a monster, they might survive."

What happened after that was none of his business.

"It would be fun to see them again~"

Muttering so, Lee Shin took something out of his pocket and threw it into a trash can on the street.

Two empty syringes rolled in the trash can.

(End of Chapter)