Free Web NovelNa Seokgyung walked out of the factory, and the bastards watching me pulled me up, sat me on a chair, then tied me down completely. Naturally, moving my body became several times harder than before.
‘Think.’
Just because the situation was urgent didn’t mean raging would help. That would only shorten my lifespan. Na Seokgyung wasn’t planning to throw me into a Gate because he actually wanted me to bring something back. If he really thought I was a hunter capable of clearing an A-rank or even S-rank dungeon, he wouldn’t have dared to kidnap me in the first place.
So what it meant was that Na Seokgyung wasn’t killing me right now. It didn’t mean he wouldn’t kill me at all. I had enough money that they couldn’t just “take care of me” quietly, so they’d disguise it as a dungeon accident.
‘Ah... just thinking about it makes me fucking pissed.’
If I’m going to die whether I go in or not, why even give me a choice in the first place? ...Of course, I knew the reason. Because it’s more entertaining.
And because it makes things easier when covering up the death of someone with a bit of money.
Even if the fluctuations were unstable, if the Gate they planned to shove me into was B-rank, there was no way I could clear it. At best, if I pushed my skills to their limits, they could maybe serve as support or the finishing blow, but never enough to clear a dungeon.
Which meant what I needed to do was find a way to get out of here before they threw me inside...
I looked at the guild members keeping watch nearby. Obviously they couldn’t assign all their people to guard duty, so just a few were rotating shifts around the area.
‘Inside, only two. Outside, maybe three?’
From their conversation, it sounded like they left a few on guard while the others rotated out to sleep. Makes sense—guarding a tied-up F-rank didn’t exactly scream danger.
‘Fuck, if my hands weren’t tied, I could at least try something.’
Of course, it wasn’t like I had the power to take on five men at once and walk out of here. The more I tried to calm myself down, the more rage boiled inside.
“Goddamn it, I’m so pissed I can’t even think straight.”
It wasn’t only anger. I didn’t know exactly how much time had passed, but being bound in the same position for hours left my body in bad shape.
And after Na Seokgyung left, a few of the bastards watching me slapped me around for stress relief. My skull was still ringing. Yesterday I’d already had a nasty run-in with Infinite Guild, my condition wasn’t good, and without rest, fatigue kept dragging me toward losing consciousness.
Ah... what the hell is this? Normally, right about now, I’d be back at SH Guild finishing an appraisal, then resting at home. No, wait. That’s not right. Fuck. Normally, I’d be living easy without ever having to hear words like Gates or ranks.
‘Status Window.’
As soon as I called it, the Status Window naturally displayed information about the nearby people. I’d read it so many times I could recite it from memory. I dismissed it, then summoned it again.
‘Hey. Pull up one-on-one chat.’
This time the window dragged its feet, sluggishly moving like it was being forced to do something unpleasant.
<1:1 system chat mode engaged.>
‘Good. It listens well.’
So what first? Asking how to escape this situation wouldn’t work. It only spit back preloaded information.
Looking at my own window...
Name: Seo Jehyun
Age: 24
Rank: F
Titles: Transcender of Time and Space / Seed of the Great Apocalypse / The One Who ■■ the ■■
Main Skills: ■■ ■■(EX), Mental Strength (S), Mimic (S), Agitation (A)
Growth Limit: EX
Titles were useless. Mimic was no good right now. Mental Strength... also meaningless. That left the censored EX-rank skill and Agitation.
What the hell is that censored skill, anyway?
‘Can you tell me how to activate my EX-rank skill?’
I didn’t know what it was, but with things already fucked, why not try? The system slowly shifted its letters.
<system: The skill ‘■■ ■■’ activates automatically {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} once certain conditions are met.>
‘And what conditions are those?’
<system: When ca■sality is lacking, ■■ ■■ ■■■ occurs.>
‘Are you shitting me? You piece of trash. Can you give me a proper sentence for once?’
If you’re going to redact it, why bother giving me the info at all? What kind of coding spits out results like this? ...Calm down. Getting mad at a machine is pointless.
‘Wait, since when have I ever gotten mad because it meant something? I did it to feel better. You worthless hunk of scrap.’
<system: .......>
Fine. Another way? I turned my eyes to another skill.
Agitation (A).
It looked weaker compared to EX or S, but it was still A-rank. The name was intuitive—anyone could guess its meaning. I’d never used it, but I knew instinctively how it would work. It had even shown up in the original story.
But would Agitation really do anything here?
Think. Could I use it for something...?
After a short thought, I asked the system another question.
‘That penalty I get when I break causality—besides pain, is there anything else?’
<system: The more causality is damaged, the stronger the penalty becomes. In addition to minor pain, there may be internal injuries, coughing blood, degradation of rank, physical abnormalities, or regression after death.>
‘Minor?’
What a fucking joke. I recalled the pain from those penalties. Organs twisting inside me, the throbbing migraine. There was nothing “minor” about it.
Internal injuries, degradation, physical abnormalities, regression after death... whatever.
I dropped my head, fumbling until my fingers brushed the wristwatch still strapped to my left wrist. It looked so ordinary that when they stripped me of everything else, they hadn’t bothered with it. If it were me, I would’ve stripped a captive naked and shoved him in a corner. Of course, I was still a model citizen, so I hadn’t done that—yet.
I organized my thoughts, then pulled up the Status Windows of the guards again. Their number kept dropping one by one. Looked like it was about time for them to rotate out.
I tilted my head slightly toward the small window at the far end. As expected, I couldn’t see outside.
‘Sun’s up.’
Maybe around 7 a.m. I’d first run into these bastards around 9 p.m., so at least ten hours had passed. My body had gone stiff, aching as I waited a little longer.
For the perfect conditions to activate Agitation. frёewebnoѵēl.com
‘One... no, two at most. Wait until there are as few of them as possible.’
***
6:58 a.m. Outskirts of Gyeonggi Province, abandoned factory run by Infinite Guild.
Choi Jeonggil, who had been working as an Infinite Guild member for exactly a year, was the youngest among the ones gathered here today. He was also one of the five who’d kidnapped that crazy psychopath... no, Seo Jehyun.
Na Seokgyung had ordered Jeonggil and the others not to leave their posts, but as the night dragged on into dawn, the men started sneaking off one by one for breaks.
Jeonggil had protested inside.
‘T-that bastard is a complete psychopath, I swear! On the ride over, he suddenly screamed his head off about the seat being too tight and cursed like crazy...’
‘He cursed? Are you kidding me?’
‘No, really. He’s fucking weird...’
‘What nonsense. Hey, Jeonggil, this is how it works. We take turns slacking off. Got it?’
Jeonggil was on the verge of losing his mind from frustration. Sure, Seo Jehyun was tied up tight, unable to move, and the place was remote enough that escape seemed impossible—on paper. But still...
‘N-no, something’s wrong! That guy’s not normal!’
During the car ride, the guy who’d been quiet suddenly kicked the seat and unleashed a stream of curses. Jeonggil had been convinced they’d brought the wrong person. Possessed by a demon, maybe? Seo Jehyun screamed and cursed for a while before finally calming down again. Jeonggil kept remembering the look in his eyes.
‘Totally... insane.’
Not just eccentric—his eyes were completely unhinged. The other men hadn’t seen it, and now they’d gone off, leaving Jeonggil alone. It was unbearable.
Left alone with Seo Jehyun, Jeonggil kept his distance, nerves on edge.
That was when Seo Jehyun, who had been slumping with his head down, suddenly lifted it and stared at him.
‘Sh-shit, why’s he looking at me?’
His face was a mess from the beatings, but beneath it he was just a handsome guy. Except for those eyes. Those eyes were pure madness. After a long silence, Seo Jehyun finally spoke.
“Hey.”
“...M-me?”
Jeonggil instinctively answered in polite speech, then quickly shut his mouth. But Seo Jehyun didn’t stop.
“Come here.”
“W-why me?”
“Now.”
‘...Fuck! Why me, what the hell...’
On the verge of tears, Jeonggil edged closer. He’d checked over and over that Seo Jehyun had no weapon, yet it still felt like the psycho might suddenly leap up and beat him to death.
After what felt like forever, he reached him. Seo Jehyun lifted his head and locked eyes with him.
‘Shit, those eyes...’
Jeonggil trembled as he stared. Seo Jehyun’s gaze seemed to drift between him and empty space before finally settling back on him.
Then, out of nowhere... he smiled.
The corner of his lips curling upward made chills run straight down Jeonggil’s spine. Should he call the others?
But Seo Jehyun spoke first.
“I’ll...”
“......”
“...tell you something fun.”
‘What?’
Grinning, Seo Jehyun fixed him with that gaze.
“Jeonggil. Don’t you want to hear the truth?”
‘W-what the hell is he saying?’
The truth? It came out of nowhere. Confused, Jeonggil suddenly realized something.
He had never once told this psychopath his name.
Seo Jehyun opened his mouth again.
“Listen carefully, Jeonggil.”
In that moment, Jeonggil understood what it meant when they said you could be so shocked you couldn’t even scream.
