Chapter 87
It had been half a month since Seong-Hwi declared his Hard Drug hunt on the Network with Jurie’s help. The reckless war, which was a hot topic among the humans of the Capital, was surprisingly ongoing. Not only that, but in terms of results, Seong-Hwi was the unanimous winner.
He had been discovering and attacking Hard Drug’s dealers and their distribution routes as if he could read minds, and vanished without a trace. On the other hand, Hard Drug was always one step behind, with no clue of Seong-Hwi’s whereabouts. This was all thanks to the destiny he recently borrowed.
In the dead of night, Seong-Hwi pulled out a small pouch from his pocket under the shade of the Duomo Di Milano on East Earth. He poured out its contents on the ground. There was an F-rank dagger, cheap cigarettes, a hairpin, and other sundries.
“This should be good,” he remarked as he grabbed the hairpin.
It belonged to a Hard Drug clansman he killed last night, likely a gift from their lover.
A card flew out from the Tarot Deck of Destiny. It showed Richard Ramirez with a .22 caliber handgun in his right hand, extending his left hand with an inverted pentagram drawn on his palm.
[Activating Unique Skill: Borrowing Destiny.]
[Devil of Los Angeles]
[Activating Unique Skill: Symbol Embodiment.]
[Night Stalker]
Once Seong-Hwi borrowed Richard’s destiny, a murderous desire to see the fearful face of a sacrificial victim slowly welled up from deep inside him. Seong-Hwi took a deep breath and stared at his right hand, which was now grabbing a .22 caliber handgun, the Night Stalker.
Seong-Hwi flicked the hairpin with his thumb, and it spun in midair. He fired a bullet from the Night Stalker at the hairpin. The immaterial bullet passed through the hairpin. The bullet stopped in midair, trembled, turned to the left, and flew rapidly in that direction.
The Night Stalker could track the owner of the items it shot. The only tracking symbols he had used so far were Foolish Dog and Hunting Feather. Foolish Dog guided him to what he wanted, but it was not omnipotent. Hunting Feather could also track targets, but using it in the Capital with its complex layout was nearly impossible because it could only point in a straight line between it and the target.
However, the Night Stalker showed the shortest route between Seong-Hwi and the item owner; it was practically a GPS.
Seong-Hwi quickly followed the bullet, which would track the lover who gave the hairpin to the Hard Drug clansman Seong-Hwi killed.
“I hope they had a workplace relationship,” he mumbled.
***
Manufahi of East Timor, located in the western outskirts of Middle Earth, was filled with buildings made of cement and others made with galvanized sheet metal. A bright light seeped out from the largest of the galvanized sheet metal buildings.
“Dammit, I’m too nervous to work. What’s taking so long to kill that Cheon Seong-Hwi guy? Are they all idiots?” a slender black man named Jorton complained.
“Shh! Shut the hell up. Don’t you know the higher-ups are in terrible moods because of this issue?” a short Southeast Asian man named Dan Truong replied.
Dan looked around. Fortunately, their supervisor was too busy cautioning the guards to hear their conversation.
“Do you think he’ll come here too, Jorton?” Dan asked.
Jorton nodded and answered, “Of course, he will. He appeared in the Hong Kong workshop on North Earth last night, didn’t he? That place is a Liam workshop, too. He’s... not normal.”
Dan nodded and thought, True... The locations of Liam workshops are top secret.
Liam, short for Love is a moment, was the drug that Hard Drug was focused on securing its supply. Unlike its poetic name, it was a terrifying hallucinogen.
Rolling the Liam into a joint and smoking it allowed one to see powerful hallucinations for three minutes. One would see their happiest memory on Earth. It got its name, Love is a moment, because it usually showed people memories of their loving family. It was guaranteed to be a big hit because it would stimulate the homesickness of the humans of the Mirror World.
However, as its name would suggest, its effect only lasted three minutes. Its short effect was its only downside, but it didn’t matter since one could never escape from Liam after trying it once.
The workers all accepted confidentiality quests, so how? Well... It’s no use for me to think about it, Dan said inwardly as he shook his head.
He evenly sprayed a milky liquid from a sprayer throughout a sheet of leaves the size of a thumb on his work station. The leaves that looked like dried herbs slowly turned white once the milky liquid touched them.
The milky liquid in the sprayer was the original Liam solution, and Dan sprayed it on the dried imbivo leaves easily found in the Mirror World. Imbivo trees had no special effects, but their leaves had extraordinary absorptive capabilities, allowing them to absorb the Liam solution for them to be smoked like marijuana.
A hundred people, including Dan, did the spraying, and a hundred fifty people rolled the leaves into joints. They made over two hundred thousand joints in one night. Considering one joint lasted three minutes, they would last six hundred thousand minutes, or ten thousand hours.
Just then, Dan heard groans from behind him. He stopped working to turn around and saw a black man shedding tears with a sprayer in his hand.
Dan asked Jorton, “Isn’t he your friend? What’s wrong with him?”
Jorton shook his head and replied, “His girlfriend was working at the Hong Kong workshop last night and was killed by Cheon Seong-Hwi.”
“Tsk, tsk. Everything’s going to shit because of one lunatic—”
Just then, Dan was beheaded. It had been so fast that he had no time to express surprise. His neck, which no longer had a head attached to it, sprayed blood like a fountain and dyed the imbivo leaves on the work station red.
“H-huh?” Jorton, who had been right across from Dan, widened his eyes and screamed, “A-A-AMBUSH!!!”
His screams echoed throughout the workshop.
***
“RUN!”
“MOVE! GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY!”
“CHARGE AT HIM TOGETHER! HE’S ONLY ONE MAN!”
Chaos ensued in the workshop. A man in a black hoodie and a devilish mask suddenly appeared out of nowhere and began to slaughter everyone. The Zanaka Karambit in Seong-Hwi’s hand spun like a propeller, severing everyone’s carotid arteries.
The carotid was a vital point that was relatively more superficial than others. Even a blade between five to seven centimeters long could completely sever a carotid artery, leading to loss of consciousness and brain damage after only ten seconds. It was such an easy and fatal vital point to aim for that the Zanaka Karambit loved carotid arteries.
[358 Karma obtained.]
[755 Karma obtained.]
[474 Karma obtained.]
...
They’re small fry, thought Seong-Hwi as he examined the Karma he earned from killing the Black Humans.
This workshop was also filled with laborers that Hard Drug hired. Some were evil humans, while others were humans simply willing to accept the risk to earn Coins. Some could undoubtedly be rehabilitated; they would bawl their eyes out, saying things like they had no choice because they needed the Coins to stay alive.
But things will get worse if I consider every little detail like that.
The enormous supply of Liam in this workshop alone would poison the human race. They were already busy enough fighting against the Chaos and other races, and Seong-Hwi had already experienced firsthand what would happen if such internal struggles were to take place.
I’ll kill them all! Seong-Hwi shouted inwardly.
[Activating Unique Skill: Symbol Embodiment.]
[Ace of Wands]
[Two of Wands]
...
[Five of Wands]
Fifteen red wands appeared in midair, each firing fireballs throughout the workshop.
“GAAAH!”
“H-HELP ME!”
The workers screamed as they ran for their lives. The flames burned down the pile of Liam joints that almost reached the ceiling.
“NOOO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU BASTARDS DOING?! STOP HIM!” the workshop supervisor screamed at the guards he had recently reinforced.
The decently equipped humans stood against Seong-Hwi, their expressions filled with fear.
[Activating Trait: Hundred-Man Killer.]
[Activating Trait: Scorn for the Weak.]
AHHH—!
Seong-Hwi unleashed the traits useful for fighting against many people. The guards’ faces turned blue.
“W-what the hell do you want us to do?!”
“We’re no match for him! Bring Sir Budiono!”
Killing prey stricken with fear was like taking candy from a baby.
[Activating Unique Skill: Symbol Embodiment.]
[Harvesting Scythe, one of the symbols of No.13 Death]
[Deathly Aura is available.]
A long scythe appeared in Seong-Hwi’s hands. The black Deathly Aura blazed around its edge, resembling the Devil’s fang.
“If you won’t come to me, I’ll go to you!” Seong-Hwi shouted.
His eyes behind the Myriad Cheoyong Mask exuded bloodlust, which had become thicker and more malicious after borrowing the destiny of the Devil of Los Angeles.
“I-I can’t do this!”
“We don’t stand a chance!”
“Stop right there! Do you want to die?!”
Seong-Hwi first aimed for the ones who ran in terror after meeting his eyes. The Harvesting Scythe abundantly reaped the harvests that were the Black Humans’ heads.
***
Seong-Hwi stood in silence in the middle of the burning workshop. The adrenaline in his system flushed out once the battle ended, and he returned to his calm self. He raised his hands and saw they were covered in blood. He always felt a contradiction at times like this.
I’m trying to grow stronger for my kind, but to do that, I have to kill my kind.
Although Hard Drug was a black clan, and Seong-Hwi’s actions were to stop their evildoings, he couldn’t help but feel conflicted.
Am I truly feeling conflicted? Am I reprimanding myself? Am I only pretending when my feelings have already been worn down to oblivion? Seong-Hwi asked himself.
The human brain could come up with answers to complicated questions when it wanted to. It could justify whatever actions it wanted, just like Richard Ramirez blaming his murders on society and Satan.
“I... feel like shit,” Seong-Hwi mumbled, feeling disgusted by his quick and cold thinking.
I need to stand out at least this much to get Kabuka’s attention.
It’s to weaken Hard Drug.
I have to obtain the Thousand-Man Killer trait.
Everything is for the sake of humanity.
Various such thoughts instantly popped up in his head. He didn’t quite loathe himself, but he wondered whether anyone would understand his contradictory self.
I miss my comrades... Seong-Hwi trailed off in his thoughts.
He had days in which he wanted others to understand how heavy the weights on his shoulders were. However, he shook his head. These weights were his alone—he had no intention of passing them to anyone.
He needed to become unbreakable steel. He had told Shin Jun that humanity needed one strong steel bar instead of several fragile branches. Even if he became a human as hard and cold as steel with no humanity, it would ironically also be for the sake of humanity.
Seong-Hwi maintained silence momentarily and mumbled, “I should grab some tea at Jurie’s store today.”
He disappeared, melting into the darkness.