Na Seokgyung walked out of the factory, and the bastards watching pulled up, sat on a chair, then tied down completely. Naturally, moving my body beca several tis harder than before.
‘Think.’
Just because the situation was urgent didn’t an raging would help. That would only shorten my lifespan. Na Seokgyung wasn’t planning to throw into a Gate because he actually wanted to bring sothing 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 in the first place.
So what it ant was that Na Seokgyung wasn’t killing right now. It didn’t an he wouldn’t kill at all. I had enough money that they couldn’t just “take care of ” quietly, so they’d disguise it as a dungeon accident.
‘Ah... just thinking about it makes fucking pissed.’
If I’m going to die whether I go in or not, why even give 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 soone with a bit of money.
Even if the fluctuations were unstable, if the Gate they planned to shove 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 ant what I needed to do was find a way to get out of here before they threw inside...
I looked at the guild mbers 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 sothing.’
Of course, it wasn’t like I had the power to take on five n 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 ti had passed, but being bound in the sa position for hours left my body in bad shape.
And after Na Seokgyung left, a few of the bastards watching slapped 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 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 ho. 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 tis I could recite it from mory. I dismissed it, then summoned it again.
‘Hey. Pull up one-on-one chat.’
This ti the window dragged its feet, sluggishly moving like it was being forced to do sothing unpleasant.
‘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...
Na: Seo Jehyun
Age: 24
Rank: F
Titles: Transcender of Ti and Space / Seed of the Great Apocalypse / The One Who ■■ the ■■
Main Skills: ■■ ■■(EX), ntal Strength (S), Mimic (S), Agitation (A)
Growth Limit: EX
Titles were useless. Mimic was no good right now. ntal Strength... also aningless. That left the censored EX-rank skill and Agitation.
What the hell is that censored skill, anyway?
‘Can you tell 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.
‘And what conditions are those?’
‘Are you shitting ? You piece of trash. Can you give a proper sentence for once?’
If you’re going to redact it, why bother giving 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 ant sothing? I did it to feel better. You worthless hunk of scrap.’
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 na was intuitive—anyone could guess its aning. 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 sothing...?
After a short thought, I asked the system another question.
‘That penalty I get when I break causality—besides pain, is there anything else?’
‘Minor?’
What a fucking joke. I recalled the pain from those penalties. Organs twisting inside , 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 of everything else, they hadn’t bothered with it. If it were , 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 ti 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.
‘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 mber 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 n 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 scread his head off about the seat being too tight and cursed like crazy...’
‘He cursed? Are you kidding ?’
‘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 seed impossible—on paper. But still...
‘N-no, sothing’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 scread and cursed for a while before finally calming down again. Jeonggil kept rembering the look in his eyes.
‘Totally... insane.’
Not just eccentric—his eyes were completely unhinged. The other n 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 ?’
His face was a ss from the beatings, but beneath it he was just a handso guy. Except for those eyes. Those eyes were pure madness. After a long silence, Seo Jehyun finally spoke.
“Hey.”
“...M-?”
Jeonggil instinctively answered in polite speech, then quickly shut his mouth. But Seo Jehyun didn’t stop.
“Co here.”
“W-why ?”
“Now.”
‘...Fuck! Why , 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 seed 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 sothing 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 ca out of nowhere. Confused, Jeonggil suddenly realized sothing.
He had never once told this psychopath his na.
Seo Jehyun opened his mouth again.
“Listen carefully, Jeonggil.”
In that mont, Jeonggil understood what it ant when they said you could be so shocked you couldn’t even scream.
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