Chapter 74: A Game Prepared Just for You (1)
“...”
Shin Jongoh slowly opened his eyes. Pain shot through his entire body. Upon a quick inspection, there wasn’t a single spot left unscathed. No wonder, really. He had been beaten senseless with a golf club. He couldn’t understand why anyone would use a tool meant for hitting golf balls to beat someone.
“...Fuck.” A curse escaped his lips.
His hands trembled uncontrollably. He had never been beaten this badly in his life. It was the first time he had taken such a beating and from none other than his grandfather.
“Pfft.” Sudden laughter bubbled up. “Pfft, hahaha!” A raspy chuckle escaped through his clenched lips. Shin Jongoh dropped his head to the ground and shook with laughter.
That damned old man.
Chairman Shin Jooyong had disowned him and stripped away every asset Shin Jongoh had under his name.
He now found himself waking up in some random alleyway littered with cigarette butts and reeking of foul-smelling sewage.
The meaning was clear. He had fallen from a third-generation company heir to a street bum in an instant—an unbelievable outcome.
“This is all because of him.”
—Grit.
Shin Jongoh ground his teeth. “That bastard, Joo Donghoon.”
At first, he had only meant to remind that upstart of his place.
Just because Gi Soyul, a ranker, shows interest in you doesn’t mean you’re something special. In the end, you and your kind are nothing but dogs under people like me, the elite. Trying to defy that destiny will only exhaust you.
The world was like that; he had only tried to make Joo Donghoon understand it.
But Joo Donghoon fought back instead. He ignored Shin Jongoh’s invitation and set up his workshop.
A workshop? What a joke.
At first, Shin Jongoh laughed at the idea. Even big corporations often failed in that business.
But Joo Donghoon was different. He had talent and business sense, climbing up despite repeated obstacles. And then...
He can make an S-rank weapon?!
That was when the real fear set in. The anxiety that Demir’s Workshop might grow into something significant.
So he resorted to ordering an assassination.
Well, putting that aside...
“Actually.” Shin Jongoh bit his lip. “That bastard is only good at making weapons. That’s it, right?”
In his mind, Joo Donghoon was just a lucky fool. Everything had been resolved thanks to the rankers around him. Even his grandfather’s problem had been because of the Berserker. The failure of the assassination was due to Gi Soyul. Through it all, Joo Donghoon himself had done nothing.
“Why the fuck is everyone so desperate to be on that bastard’s side?!” His rage exploded as he stood up.
There was no way he was giving up like this. One of them had to die for this to end. And Joo Donghoon was just a B-rank production type. If he could separate him from Gi Soyul, he could handle him.
I’ll show him how terrifying a man who’s lost everything can be.
At the moment that Shin Jongoh’s eyes were filled with murderous intent, a voice called out behind him.
“There you are, Shin Jongoh!”
“Hm?”
When he turned around, Shin Jongoh saw a young man, probably in his late teens.
He squinted. “...Who’s this?”
The face looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. Whoever it was, they weren’t important.
“You piece of trash! You ruined my life, and you don’t even remember?!”
“What now...?”
“Look at you! You’ve fallen just like me! Now do you finally understand how I felt?!”
“What did you just say...?”
Shin Jongoh’s irritation spiked. He was already fuming over Joo Donghoon, and now some nobody was bothering him.
“...What the hell is that?” Shin Jongoh couldn’t believe his eyes. “A skeleton with a bow?”
And the skeleton’s archery skills were so precise that even he, a C-rank hunter, couldn’t track its movements.
And standing in front of that skeleton was the man he hated most—the one responsible for everything.
“Ha... This is our first time seeing each other in person, isn’t it?”
It was Joo Donghoon.
“...Joo Donghoon.” Grinding his teeth, Shin Jongoh spat out my name.
He looked furious, but honestly, it was unfair. He was the one who had constantly been tormenting me, so I couldn’t understand why he was mad at me.
“So... you gathered all these pesky things together?” He pointed at the victims.
“These things, huh? What, are they just objects to you?”
“Whatever, fuck it! I asked you! Are you the one who brought them all together?!”
“Well, you already know the answer, don’t you?” I grinned, sliding my hands into my pockets.
I wasn’t planning to move an inch from this spot. There was no need.
“I did some digging, and you’ve done some truly awful things. It’s a wonder you haven’t been arrested yet. When I posted about you online, people swarmed in like bees.”
“...You bastard. So you crawled out here just to die to me, huh?”
He threw aside the pipe and charged at me, swinging a punch at my face.
But...
Too slow.
After all the training with the old man, Shin Jongoh’s attack felt like it was in slow motion.
—Smack!
I didn’t even need to try. I sidestepped easily and slapped him across the face with my right hand.
“Urgh!”
—Thud! Thud!
He rolled across the ground a few times from that single slap.
Oh.
Turns out I didn’t even need to use the skeletons. I’d become pretty strong on my own. Compared to when I was an E-rank hunter, I had come a long way.
“Wow, your face is even puffier now.”
“You... You son of a bitch!”
“How dare you address my lord with such disrespect.”
—Thud!
This time, it was Sunny’s spear. He didn’t stab him with the blade—he just whacked him with the shaft. And it wasn’t any weaker than my slap, either.
“Urgh! F-Fuck...!”
After rolling on the ground again, Shin Jongoh writhed in pain for a moment before suddenly jumping up and turning to run. He knew he was outmatched and was trying to flee.
I chuckled. “You were cursing at me just a few seconds ago, and now you’re running away? That’s embarrassing, man.”
Seeing him sprint down the alley fleeing like a rat was almost pitiful.
All this time... this guy had been wasting my precious time. And even now, he was wasting it.
I had planned just to let him be, but that was no longer an option. Aside from the possibility that he’d hinder me in the future, I realized he clearly couldn’t be left unpunished the more I researched about him.
“Run as far as you can.”
But I didn’t move an inch from my spot. After all, I had 55 skeletons scattered around the area.
“I’ve got a game prepared just for you.”
The real fun was just beginning.