Chapter 28  

Truthfully, Do-Jin could have helped Yu-Seong much earlier. He had entered the dungeon even before Yu-Seong had led the nine D-rank players to the portal’s vicinity.

Do-Jin had been watching the fierce battle unfold between Yu-Seong and the kidnappers from a distance without making any sound or revealing his presence.

Nevertheless, there were two reasons why Do-Jin had not helped Yu-Seong earlier. His first reason was the same reason as why he had come to this place in the first place. It was because he had been bothered by Yu-Seong.

‘I’m sure he checked my message, but he ignored it anyway.’

Kim Do-Jin had sent a message, but Yu-Seong had left him on read. It was different from the past, when he would still offer a half-hearted response in order to keep his promise.

There could be a reason. Choi Yu-Seong has definitely changed and become more active. Thus, Do-Jin waited for his response for over a week without complaining.

It might have been because he was actually busy, or because he could not be bothered with it, or because he felt burdened by the idea of meeting Do-Jin. Do-Jin could think of several possible scenarios, but in the end, it didn’t matter.

What was important was that Do-Jin had no other way to reach Choi Woo-Jae as easily and quickly than through Yu-Seong.

‘By using a different method, it’ll take at least two more years.’

The resentment he had against Choi Woo-Jae was too deep. He could not afford to be patient, since he felt suffocated every day. However, apart from that, it was certainly true that the current situation was extraordinary for Kim Do-Jin.

‘Choi Yu-Seong, he knows how to piss people off. It irks me.’

When Do-Jin was in a world other than Earth, after a certain point, he had never had an obsession to meet anyone. Regardless of their identity, whether they were male or female, old or young, others always struggled to make even the slightest contact with Kim Do-Jin. And most of the time, he also tried to endure the annoyance of unavoidable situations.

It had not been much different since he came back to Earth. From the perspective of players and hunters, he was still only at the starting point. However, he had gone through numerous experiences and polished his swordsmanship in another world, which astonished many people on Earth. In addition, his rapid improvement and progress caused others to be in awe.

That’s why there were already quite a few big movers and shakers in the political world, and the entertainment industry, as well as several famous hunters who wanted to build a relationship with Do-Jin.

At the time when even the gods were courting him, only Choi Yu-Seong disregarded Do-Jin and didn’t bother with him. However, Yu-Seong had been no different from the others during their first encounter. In truth, this was because Yu-Seong had known the truth and was scared, but Do-Jin had no way of knowing the truth. It had been a really long time since Do-Jin had been in a somewhat disadvantaged position in relation with others.

In the meantime, what interested him was how Choi Yu-Seong had changed.

At first, Do-Jin felt awkward and unpleasant about this, but honestly, after secretly watching today’s battle, Do-Jin grew more fond of Yu-Seong. The wisdom and wit to search for ways in overwhelmingly unfavorable situations, the persistence and grit to never give up, and even the desperate desire for life… It was unlike the Yu-Seong that others and Do-Jin knew of before.

As a result, Kim Do-Jin was left with only one conclusion.

‘He’s a tiger hiding his claws.’?

It was something he had predicted to some extent after watching Yu-Seong’s hunter exam. However, observing Yu-Seong fight in person reaffirmed that prediction.

‘Choi Yu-Seong had to hide within his family for some reason.’

There had been such people among the ancient princes in history. They were scary people who admitted to being powerless, lowered themselves with lies, then crouched and waited for the right time while sharpening their claws.

It was certainly possible by viewing the Comet Group as a nation and Choi Woo-Jae as the king. Everyone in the Choi family was afraid of Choi Woo-Jae and the main causes of their fear were his wealth, power, and influence.

‘There’s one important thing. Fear is a feeling that…turns into anger under the right circumstance.’

There was nothing more to say about Yu-Seong since he was originally in a position of being despised and ignored in the family. It was somewhat unpleasant since he even deceived Kim Do-Jin, but it allowed Do-Jin to display enough generosity and empathy to understand Yu-Seong’s current situation.

If Yu-Seong had been vaguely clever, Kim Do-Jin would have chosen another route to kill Choi Woo-Jae, even if he had to go the long way. There was a chance that his plan would be revealed and everything would be overturned if he moved poorly. However, if Yu-Seong’s stratagem of mind was enough to deceive Kim Do-Jin, then it could work for Choi Woo-Jae as well. On the contrary, it could have led to a more perfect situation if done well. Eventually, there was a little change, but it wasn't a significant deviation from Kim Do-Jin’s original plan.

‘Nothing has changed. Choi Yu-Seong is just a tool to kill Choi Woo-Jae.’

However, in the past, Do-Jin had planned to abandon Yu-Seong after achieving his revenge, but now he intended to completely make Yu-Seong one of his own.

To do that, several prerequisites were necessary. The first was to make Choi Yu-Seong trust Kim Do-Jin. Anyway, it was strange but Yu-Seong was trying to stay away from him. And so, even if it wasn't to the kind of awe that others displayed, Do-Jin had to at least create the impression he was trustworthy to Yu-Seong.

This was the second reason why Do-Jin did not help Yu-Seong much earlier. He had to wait until Yu-Seong was in an extreme crisis. Naturally, humans had no choice but to feel various favorable emotions when a savior appeared in their worst situation. Moreover, if it was a lifesaving benefactor, wasn’t it needless to say more? If possible, it was not a bad idea to stir him up with plausible words. At times like this, every word he spat out would inevitably stir Yu-Seong’s heart.

“Choi Yu-Seong is mine.”

The more sincere it was, the more effective it was. Therefore, Kim Do-Jin was sure that his words would have stirred up Yu-Seong quite a lot.

Yu-Seong did feel his heart tremble as he heard Kim Do-Jin, who suddenly appeared like a savior.

‘Persistent bastard! Does it mean that he is the one who will kill me? That’s why he doesn’t want anyone else to touch me? Is that what it means?’?Yu-Seong thought.

It was an inevitable chain of thought since Yu-Seong assumed Kim Do-Jin had a grudge against the entire Choi family.

“Kim Do-Jin…!”

“He still hasn’t gone up to C-rank yet?”

The highest limit for entering the level two dungeon was D-Rank. In other words, Kim Do-Jin would have been prohibited from entering if he was a C-rank player. The kidnappers’ response was natural since there were rumors spreading that Kim Do-Jin would soon rise to C-rank.

“Ugh… Are you planning on messing with us?” Kim Jae-Hyuk glared as he spoke like a third-rate villain while laying on the ground with the back of his hand skewed to the ground by Kim Do Jin’s sword.

“You’re asking a stupid question. I wouldn’t have shown up if I didn’t want to intervene.” Kim Do-Jin sneered and spun the sword stuck in the back of Kim Jae-Hyuk’s hand.

“Kkwackk-!” Kim Jae-Hyuk boasted the pain tolerance of D-Rank, but he still screamed and rolled on the ground. He tried to counterattack by swinging his opposite arm in the meantime. Unfortunately, Kim Jae-Hyuk’s fingers were crushed by Kim Do-Jin’s defense as Do-Jin slightly raised his knee.

“Kkwaack-!” It was silent inside the dungeon except for Kim Jae-Hyuk’s scream. Jae-Hyuk was almost crying. Kim Do-Jin could feel the atmosphere quickly subside as he pulled out his sword from the back of Kim Jae-Hyuk’s hand. Then, he cut Kim Jae-Hyuk’s neck without hesitation. It was clean swordsmanship. Not even a single drop of blood was shed.

“How loud.” The atmosphere quickly froze over at Do-Jin’s cold comment. Some would call it fear, but Do-Jin was already used to it.

“You cra, crazy…”

“Murderer!”

“That’s not something I want to hear from criminals. Is that a will?” said Do-Jin. After that, he ran forward without hesitation.

‘I assume that Kim Do Jin is…currently D-rank Max Level.’?Yu-Seong thought.

Do-Jin’s rank would temporarily be on hold before the C-rank promotion evaluation.

Even if it was Kim Do-Jin, it would still be burdensome to deal with more than fifteen equivalent D-rank players alone. Even in terms of the original novel setting, there were only about ten D-rank players that Kim Do-Jin could face alone in a full-scale war.

However, the battle turned out to be a one-sided slaughter. There was no such thing as a comparable confrontation or crisis. There was one reason for this.

‘This is absolutely Kim Do-Jin’s pace.’

The situation might have turned out a little different if the kidnappers had fought with as much composure as they did against Choi Yu-Seong. No matter how strong Kim Do-Jin was, he was alone and had to protect Yu-Seong.

However, Kim Do-Jin had pushed Kim Jae-Hyuk in an instant and showed his apathetic attitude by cutting off Jae-Hyuk’s head at once, completely taking control of the atmosphere.

Kim Do-Jin’s reputation, outstanding skills, and heavy vibe erased the idea of ‘rebellion’ from the kidnappers’ minds. In an instant, more than three kidnappers’ heads flew off and others rushed in ignorantly after losing their reason, all dying helplessly.

The remaining kidnappers ran away with tears and runny noses to survive. However, Kim Do-Jin didn’t intend to spare any of them. He threw his sword as well as the weapons that were dropped by the deceased kidnappers. Nevertheless, there were still those who survived. Do-Jin pursued the ones he missed and shot them with a bow.

In an instant, the dungeon’s entrance was filled with only blood and corpses. Yu-Seong, left alone inside the dungeon, trembled. ‘The mad killer, that’s who Kim Do-Jin is…’?

Yu-Seong had fought for his life in order not to be captured by the kidnappers. In the meantime, he killed a man and because of that, there were certain emotional ups and downs in his heart. However, there was no such trembling or hesitation found in Kim Do-Jin’s hands.

It didn’t matter to Do-Jin that the kidnappers didn’t show hostility but feared him and had lost their will to fight. He killed them without showing any emotion. Kim Jae-Hyuk’s death had only been a part of Do-Jin’s process to turn the tides. Kim Do-Jin was such a person.

‘He is a monster in the novel, a psychopath.’

Ethical consciousness, moral conscience? Kim Do-Jin had to abandon all such feelings after he fell into another world alone and had to survive a very long time ago.

Kim Do-Jin may one day try to kill Yu-Seong. Wasn’t it creepy and scary just thinking of it? Therefore, Yu-Seong couldn’t close his eyes even though his consciousness was hazy. His heart couldn’t relax because the person who had come to help him was Kim Do-Jin

Tip-tap, tip-tap.?

Kim Do-Jin soon walked in slow steps beyond the cave in the dungeon while wiping blood off his cheek. He was approaching Yu-Seong. He soon stood right in front of Yu-Seong and sat with his knees bent.

Then he looked at Yu-Seong and said calmly. “Don’t worry. They are all dead.”

“...” Yu-Seong remained speechless.

***

Kim Do-Jin carried Yu-Seong on his shoulder and exited the dungeon. After that, he called the emergency services. Do-Jin confessed that they had confronted criminals who targeted them inside and had been forced to murder them as they had been outnumbered.

Yu-Seong smiled bitterly at those words. Without realizing it, Yu-Seong’s sharp eyes stabbed Do-Jin in the cheek. Kim Do-Jin lightly patted Yu-Seong’s shoulder even though Yu-Seong was certain he had felt that gaze.

‘What a madman.’?Yu-Seong thought.

Yu-Seong could see Jin Yu-Ri running through the group. Finally, after seeing her, he was able to close his eyes comfortably. He did not open his eyes for three days after that. And by the time he opened his eyes again, his complex thoughts were organized quite clearly.

“It is true that Kim Do-Jin saved me.”

Yu-Seong had been averse to some of Do-Jin’s actions. However, after contemplating for a bit longer, he found that Kim Do-Jin’s judgment was quite reasonable.

If any of the kidnappers had survived, they would have reported on Yu-Seong’s combat capabilities they had gathered from the battle, and the opponent might have targeted him by preparing a more threatening weapon. Perhaps, with the current situation in mind, they might even prepare against Kim Do-Jin. In other words, Kim Do-Jin’s decision to kill all enemies in order not to create a bigger crisis for Yu-Seong…

‘It is actually a reasonable judgment.’

It could be said that Do-Jin had acted just as a main character in the novel would do. Perhaps the indolent thoughts of Yu-Seong could be rather poisonous in a world like this. If he disagreed with Kim Do-Jin’s behavior, it was only right for him to prepare so that such a situation didn’t happen again.

‘Also, I’ve killed before too.’

Calling it an inevitable situation was just an excuse for himself. It did not change the results.

‘Get it together, Yu-Seong. You already knew what this world is like.’

Yu-Seong looked at the mirror with his face, after he washed his face with cold water in the bathroom of the hospital room and clenched his fist tightly.

He would survive. Yu-Seong did not have enough time to think about anything else.

‘Sympathy and mercy is a privilege of the strong.’

Yu-Seong had this realization once again from this incident. He believed that he had grown up well through hard work with a good leveling system and considered himself talented. He thought easily that if he walked on the solid road in this state, only a road filled with daisies and roses would be awaiting him,

‘There is no way that whatever the world’s prepared for me is easy and straightforward.’

In a sense, this incident definitely awakened Yu-Seong.