Episode 15 – A Kingless World (4)

Han Sooyoung was thrown into a cage.

She was unconscious and probably lacking magic power after I took the flag from her.

Han Sooyoung must’ve been moved to the area near here. She was a writer so she might have a management or publishing company nearby.

“Aren’t you quite good looking? Hey, you haven’t touched her already have you?”

“No. I know that the constellations are all gathered here.”

[A constellation who likes obscenity is excited.]

[A few constellations have eyes that are shining in a lascivious manner.]

White underwear was revealed by Han Sooyoung’s torn jeans. There were men already playing rock paper scissors.

I stared at Han Sooyoung beyond the bars. No matter how I looked, there were no signs that anything happened.

·····.

This woman would be a hindrance if she was left alive. She was the one who knew the most about this world, apart from me.

The story had completely changed from the third or fourth regression from the first quarter of the story and the knowledge she had might be obsolete, but…

The moment I thought this, I shuddered with disgust at myself.

…Why was I worrying about this?

Killing someone because they would be dangerous in the future. Who should I save because they would be useful in the future?

I wasn’t Yoo Jonghyuk to be thinking about these things.

“Do you want to do it Dokja-ssi?”

Deputy Yoon laughed as he saw me staring intently. It was a expression that said ‘I can help you’.

“If you promise me one thing, I will let Dokja-ssi do her first. How about it?”

“…What do you want me to promise?”

“You have a group, right? Please introduce me to Dokja-ssi’s group. We will soon start expanding our forces. Looking at Dokja-ssi’s items… it is a pretty big group?”

I stared at Deputy Yoon and said, “I can introduce you if you like. But I want you to stop this.”

“Huh? Haha, Dokja-ssi. What does that mean?”

“Let that woman go.”

Deputy Yoon’s eyebrows twitched because he knew it wasn’t a joke.

“Hmm…Dokja-ssi. What is wrong with treating people like this? If you have survived to this point, don’t you already know?”

“…”

“I have been watching Dokja-ssi for a long time. I knew that if it was Dokja-ssi, you could survive anywhere.”

There was a strange ridicule in Deputy Yoon’s expression.

“Aren’t you always reading web novels alone? You always commute to work in a gloomy fashion. Sometimes you would talk to me and a few other colleagues. They were good people like Yoo Sangah-ssi.”

“What does that have to do with this?”

“Dokja-ssi is enjoying the situation right now. Isn’t that right?”

Enjoying it? It was like aiming a dagger at my heart from a completely different angle.

Deputy Yoon grabbed my shoulders.

“I am also like Dokja-ssi. We are on the same QA team. I heard the same nagging every time and lived with their contempt. Do you remember what the other departments called us? The training dummy team. We are cheap people who don’t have any specs. We just test games.”

“…”

“Dokja-ssi. Those people who are trapped right now, don’t you know who they really are? Look carefully. They are the scum who ignored us.”

My vision broadened and the screams of people could be heard. Looking closer, I did recognize them.

Many of the people trapped behind bars were those I knew from Mino Soft. There were people I didn’t know very well, people who didn’t know me or who didn’t care.

“It is over now. The finance team, the planning team, none of that matters. The best ones in the world right now are our QA team. Haha. Dokja-ssi, shouldn’t you know from testing bugs? This world is a game. A game with bugs. There are too many loopholes that I can take advantage of.”

Numerous messages from constellations were heard in my head.

The messages that wanted a more stimulating, more lascivious, more decadent story quietly overlapped with Deputy Yoon’s face.

Sometimes inferiority turned people into monsters.

“There is nothing to be afraid of. This world is a game that exists for us! Do you know how many coins my group earns a day with this?”

“I don’t know.”

“It is 5,000 coins a day. 5,000 coins… can you imagine? We don’t do the scenarios and we get 5,000 coins. It is 5,000 coins just from making people fight and mate. It is the same as the planning team taking cash items. Don’t you know what this means?”

I saw men approaching Han Sooyoung one by one. I slowly breathed out. So far, I showed courtesy to the colleague who once shared a rooftop with me by listening to his story.

I removed Deputy Yoon’s hand from my shoulder and opened my mouth. “If you want to make coins, there is a better way.”

“What?” Deputy Yoon turned red. “Did Dokja-ssi also find a bug? What is it?”

“The principle is the same as a coin farm. Stimulate the constellations.”

“Oho, there is something more stimulating than this? Is that possible?”

“Yes, it is. Would you like me to let you know?”

“It would be good if you share the know-how!”

“The constellations really like…’

[Blade of Faith is activated!]

“…This.”

There was the sound of the bars being cut apart. I swung my blade indiscriminately towards the wanderers surrounding the cage. I cut the Achilles tendon of those running away.

The knees of those who weren’t prepared for resistance became twisted.

“Aaaaack! What is with this bastard?”

“My leg! My leg!”

I kept swinging my sword amidst the rising blood.

“Something like this.”

I cut off the hands harassing a member of the human resources department then the arms of a man trying to take off Han Sooyoung’s shirt.

“This is also good.”

Blood splattered onto my cheek. I quietly wiped the blood and continued cutting at arms and legs. Then Deputy Yoon’s voice was heard.

“W-What are you doing? What is this?”

“Thank you for the story.”

I turned to look at Deputy Yoon.

“I created a situation that the constellations really like because of you.”

With just two knives, none of the men who entered Han Sooyoung’s cage could do anything against me.

[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ is pleased with your judgment.]

[The constellation ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ is snorting from the relentless punishment.]

[Many of the constellations who dislike the atrocities of some constellations are greatly satisfied with your judgment.]

[8,000 coins have been sponsored.]

Deputy Yoon turned white and flopped to the ground.

I laughed at him.

“Why bother creating something like the coin farm? It is easy to earn money.”

“…Y-You son of a bitch!”

There was a large number of wanderers. In an instant, approximately 20 wanderers surrounded me.

It was an ambiguous number that might make me violate the principle of ‘no killing’ but I wasn’t overly concerned. I just had to get out of here.

I retreated a bit while hugging Han Sooyoung’s light body. Suddenly, her eyes flashed open and she asked, “…Why did you save me?”

“Were you awake? Then get up.”

Han Sooyoung’s voice was weak.

“If you save me, won’t the constellations in your channel run away? Don’t you know what the constellation’s hate most?”

“There are some who like it.”

[The constellation who has been waiting for a harem carefully puts both hands together.]

[The constellation who likes ‘enemies turning into allies’ is delighted.]

Han Sooyoung frowned.

“Now this is a cliche. Right? The moment that the woman is about to be raped, the hero will rescue her. Why are you acting like this despite saying that you dislike cliches?”

“You are mistaken about two things.”

I started while lightly cutting a wanderer’s legs.

“One, I’m not a hero. And two…”

[You have saved a life.]

[Your karma points have increased by one.]

[Current karma points: 14/100]

Karma points were gained when the system determined that a person had been ‘saved.’ In other words, if I left it alone, it was likely Han Sooyoung would’ve died.

“You’re not a woman.”

“…Put me down!”

I threw her to the ground without hesitation.

Han Sooyoung shouted, “You really put me down?”

“You fight as well.”

“What?”

“We will fight together. Don’t you like cliches?”

“No matter how much I like cliches, isn’t it really cliche to fight on the same side as an enemy?”

She grumbled but we were quite well matched. I cut the legs of the approaching wanderers while Han Sooyoung followed me and stopped their breathing. We took their lives slowly and carefully until only a few survivors were left.

The terrified wanderers started to flee the coin farm.

“This is a complete profit.”

I looked at the coins that I got from the wanderers while Han Sooyoung staggered with a smile.

[You have acquired 18,400 coins.]

Her contribution wasn’t as high as mine but she would’ve got a decent amount of coins. I didn’t get as much coins as I would’ve without Han Sooyoung present but I decided to think of it as a tip.

I looked in front to where Deputy  Yoon was still sitting on the ground.

“Haha… psychopath. I thought you would be like this. I should’ve known when I heard the rumour…’

“Sick jerk. You are too talkative.”

Han Sooyoung stabbed Deputy Yoon in the neck. Blood spurted from Deputy Yoon’s neck and the light in his eyes died.

Another person who remembered Kim Dokja in reality disappeared.

Han Sooyoung saw me watching and grumbled. “…What is with your expression? Are you sorry that this jerk is dead?”

“No.”

“Then why did you keep listening to him?”

I was a bit surprised because I didn’t expect these words to emerge from Han Sooyoung’s mouth.

“You were just listening to this guy’s bullshit. Why? The constellations don’t like frustrating things.”

I listened blankly to her words before smiling.

What was this?

“You don’t seem to know but it is better to listen to this bullshit moderately in order to get more coins when they are killed. There is no refreshing feeling without being frustrated first.”

“No? Dokja… no, don’t the constellations prefer to kill right away? What do you know when you aren’t a writer?”

“I know very well. I am a reader.”

“This…!”

I ignored Han Sooyoung and rummaged through the items that had dropped. Most of it was garbage but there was a suit that I could wear.

[Old Gentleman’s Close Combat Suit]

It was a B-grade item and only slightly improved defense but it was better than not wearing it. I couldn’t wear Samyeongdang’s Mat forever…  come to think of it, I should start item farming.

The fleeing wanderers seemed to be heading to their lair. It would be better to pursue and hit the wanderers.

If I remembered currently, Seocho had a few ‘meteorite stones’ to use in the fifth scenario. If it fell here then I had to obtain it.

Once I got a secondary battery…

[You have saved a life.]

[Your karma points have increased by one.]

[Current karma points: 25/100]

One or two people approached. They were all those who had been stuck behind bars.

Colour returned to the faces of some people who remembered my face.

I raised my hand before they could speak.

“I can’t help you now. Take care of your own lives.”

Faint despair filled their eyes but it wasn’t a situation where I could help. It seemed cold but in the end, I had saved their lives.

“Pick up the items in moderation and then go to Chungmuro if you can afford it. There might be some people who can help you there.”

Before I finished speaking, people started picking up the items that had fallen. Their eyes were blazing again as they hoped for survival.

Watching them, I understood why the dokkaebi brought me here.

“That is mine! Put it down!”

“I-I saw it first!”

The people who was victims were now looking at each other while holding weapons. They pointed the weapons at each other without hesitation.

This was a kingless world.

There was no one to control this world.

The dokkaebi was trying to show me this sight.

A world without a king was wild, without the laws and ethics that we had been guarding, showing how poor our belief in other humans was.

An unexpected voice stopped those who were about to wield their weapons.

“Do all of you want to die?”