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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Jo Joong-sik
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Jo Joong-sik was a fairly notorious gangster boss in Seoul.
There wasn't a gangster around who hadn't heard of the Joong-sik Faction.
He had risen to the top at the young age of thirty-one.
And in Seoul, of all places, a city known for its cutthroat competition.
'It's talent, pure talent. Heaven destined me to be a gangster from birth.'
Even Jo Joong-sik had to admit he was a natural.
The environment, the physique, the unhinged personality, the fighting skills, the nerve—
he lacked nothing.
If he had, he never would have been able to establish his own crew in Seoul.
'But why? Why the hell was I dragged to this fucking place?'
He'd snuck out to watch the New Year's bell-ringing ceremony without his crew knowing, only to be suddenly transported to another world.
'I ended up with the nickname Life is a Documentary on a whim, but…'
That didn't change the fact that his luck had run out.
No amount of cursing changed anything.
All he could do was kill green monsters to survive.
'Fucking god bastard. I'll survive this shithole, no matter what.'
Cursing the gods, he sliced through a goblin.
It was a desperate struggle for survival, but surprisingly, Jo Joong-sik adapted well.
He even managed to finish the first round ranked second in his area, clearing it without a hitch.
'See? My fighting skills are still top-notch.'
Killing goblins was easy.
The [Rune of Insight] he'd gotten from a random rune fragment was a huge help.
'Predicting my opponent's movements? This is too easy.'
Still, Jo Joong-sik was dissatisfied with being only second.
'Who's number one? Black Scythe?'
He'd heard the name Black Scythe before.
It was the guy who, while everyone else was still bewildered, had charged in first and started slaughtering goblins.
'What the hell is this guy? How did he kill a hundred of them in just ten minutes?'
It had taken him, a man who'd spent his whole life fighting, over twenty-three minutes.
'Is he some kind of special forces operative? Shit.'
The boss of the respected Joong-sik Faction in Seoul had only managed to take second place.
It was impossible for his pride not to be wounded.
From that moment on, Jo Joong-sik kept a close eye on Black Scythe.
'I'll be number one in the next round.'
So when the second round started a month later and the quest was revealed,
Jo Joong-sik couldn't hide his disappointment.
'What? Select an area representative? Then what about the rankings?'
For Jo Joong-sik, who had been looking forward to a showdown with Black Scythe, it was a letdown.
'And I'm supposed to just shoot the shit with these morons for three hours?'
The fact that he had to debate with a bunch of losers who were far beneath him, the second-ranked player, was deeply unsatisfying.
'Ah, should I follow that guy? There might be prey in there.'
Seeing Black Scythe head into the forest, he considered it for a moment, but then changed his mind.
'No. Hunting isn't what's important right now. What's important is seizing the powerful position of area representative.'
The benefit of having command over all the other humans, treating them like slaves, was what held Jo Joong-sik back.
'This is actually better. If Black Scythe were here, he'd just get in the way. Here, I'm the king.'
Determined to become the area representative, Jo Joong-sik stayed put and assessed the situation.
He was waiting for the right moment to step in when something unexpected happened.
Some guy called Mint-Choco Youth stepped forward as a representative and started riling up the crowd.
'What's with this agitator?'
Jo Joong-sik scowled at the sight of this person who had appeared out of nowhere to persuade the others.
The system messages that appeared whenever Mint-Choco Youth spoke were particularly grating.
[Mint-Choco Youth is attempting to beguile the players with the Rune of Persuasion.]
[Your level is higher than the opponent's, so you are unaffected by the persuasion.]
His own rune had seen through Mint-Choco Youth's power.
'Rune of Persuasion? Is he using that to stir people up?'
The message helped him grasp the situation.
'Looks like you're immune to persuasion if your level is high enough.'
While others were level 5, Jo Joong-sik was currently level 6.
Receiving a [Level Up] as a reward for being ranked second in the area had been a godsend.
'Fucking agitator. I need to kill that bastard first.'
Without another word, Jo Joong-sik stabbed Mint-Choco Youth to death.
The people seemed shocked by his actions, but for a gangster like him, it was nothing.
"He… he killed someone!"
"That man just killed someone!"
Jo Joong-sik let out a sneer at the panicking crowd.
"So what? Everyone dies eventually. I just sent him on his way a little early."
"Then you should die too!"
At someone's accusation, Jo Joong-sik gave a cold smile.
"Yeah, I'll die someday too. Just not today."
"Murderer!"
"If you've got a problem, come and get me."
Jo Joong-sik raised his dagger, but no one approached.
"What are you waiting for? I said if you have a problem, come at me."
"He's crazy. That guy is insane."
"If you won't come to me, I'll come to you."
Jo Joong-sik leaped into the crowd.
*Swish, swish—* He swung his dagger, and blood erupted from two people's necks.
"Aaaargh!"
"That crazy bastard!"
"How could you swing that at people!"
"Hahahaha!"
Jo Joong-sik rampaged like a madman, stabbing people indiscriminately.
In the real world, this would have made headlines as a random stabbing spree, but this was another world.
There were no reporters to take pictures, no police to save them.
And certainly no CCTV to serve as evidence.
"Die! Die, you fucking insects! Haha!"
Blood splattered every time Jo Joong-sik swung his dagger.
Players he'd never even met died on the spot.
"Everyone, stop him!"
"Let's kill that crazy bastard together!"
The players, united against a common enemy named Life is a Documentary, raised their weapons and swarmed him.
No matter how high his rank was, a mob should have been able to overpower him quickly.
But things didn't go as planned.
"Ah, shit, your blade touched me! Be careful!"
"What? Shit? You're just a kid, watch your mouth."
"Seriously? How do you know how old I am? You've got a real boomer mindset, you fuck."
"You little bastard!"
The players who were supposed to be fighting Jo Joong-sik suddenly started arguing among themselves.
Then, they finally crossed a line that shouldn't have been crossed.
*Stab—!*
"Keuk!"
"O-Oppa! Are you okay? Hey, you son of a bitch! Who do you think you are, stabbing my oppa? Everyone! There's another murderer here, help!"
With weapons in hand, even a light argument could easily escalate into a knife fight.
"Die!"
"Let's kill all the murderers! If we don't, they'll get us!"
"You bastards!"
The debate forum instantly devolved into a scene of chaos.
The spark Jo Joong-sik had ignited spread to innocent bystanders.
"Aaaargh!"
"It hurts!"
"Gaaaaah!"
Jo Joong-sik's stabbing spree only ended when no one else dared to approach him.
"Huh? Why the hell are these bastards fighting each other?"
Jo Joong-sik muttered in confusion and stabbed a person standing next to him.
"Everyone, stop!"
He shouted, but his voice couldn't reach the ears of the already frenzied crowd.
"I said stop, you sons of bitches!"
At Jo Joong-sik's roar, people began to turn their heads and react, one by one lowering their weapons.
They realized they had gotten swept up in the mood and become overly agitated.
"Why are you all fighting to the death? You got a grudge against each other?"
His sharp words made people feel awkward, and they distanced themselves from one another.
Though it wasn't really something Jo Joong-sik, the one who had attacked without warning, should be saying.
"Don't kill each other for no reason and lower the number of survivors. Just vote for me later."
"W-Who are you to tell us who to vote for?"
"You don't want to? Then die by my hand right now."
When Jo Joong-sik pulled out his dagger again, the person who had spoken flinched and backed away.
The bloodstains all over him were proof of just how psycho Jo Joong-sik was.
"I'm not gonna say it again. Vote for me if you don't want to die. Any bastard who doesn't vote for me, I'll remember your nickname and your face, and I'll make sure to kill you in the next round. Got it?"
"..."
No one answered, but Jo Joong-sik wasn't clueless.
'They're all scared of me.'
He knew a frightened face when he saw one.
Threatening and intimidating people was his specialty, after all.
'They'll vote for me, if only out of fear of retaliation.'
The result would undoubtedly be his overwhelming victory.
Black Scythe or whatever, the chances of him becoming the area representative were high.
'Heh heh, people only listen when you pull out a knife.'
It seemed his appointment as area representative was a foregone conclusion.
'Once I'm the representative, I'll be able to wield the immense power of command, right? Heh heh.'
He had already decided on his first order.
'Black Scythe. I'll have to kill that annoying bastard first.'
He decided the very first thing he would do was order everyone to kill Black Scythe.
To kill his rival and obstacle, and take the number one spot for himself.
That was the ending Jo Joong-sik desired.
* * *
*Slice—!*
Ryu Min's scythe cut across the gnoll's waist.
[You have defeated a Gnoll!]
[A 3x experience buff is active.]
[Experience +3.15%]
[Gold +20]
[Current Kills: 265/100]
[Due to the effect of the Rune of Slaughter, all stats are increased by 100%.]
[You have leveled up!]
The creature died in a single blow, unable to even land a proper attack.
It was thanks to the Reaper's Rune, which doubled weapon attack power, and the Rune of Slaughter, which doubled his stats.
'Plus, I put the Mark of Death on it, which doubles damage. It never stood a chance.'
Hunting was already easy, but after changing his class, it became even easier.
'Of course, my leveling speed has dropped significantly.'
Unlike before, the experience he gained was less than half of what it used to be.
That was because starting from level 10, when one could become stronger through class advancement, the required experience increased significantly.
Perhaps that was why, despite killing 200 monsters in two hours, he had only gained six levels.
'Even with a 3x experience buff, I'm only getting 2-4%. Of course leveling is slow.'
Still, at level 16, he was overwhelmingly faster than other players.
Countless players hadn't even reached level 10 yet, completely unaware of the existence of sub-quests.
'Time's almost up. Guess I should wrap things up.'
He stored the scythe in his inventory and opened his status window.
He invested his stat points into Luck, a departure from his usual allocation.
'With the random gold pouches, investing in Luck is a good idea.'
High luck was beneficial in many ways.
It sometimes granted extra gold from killing monsters and increased the item drop rate.
It also raised the critical hit chance, which had great synergy with a high-damage dealer like the Reaper.
'Critical damage is great because it ignores the opponent's defense. Plus, the damage is double that of a normal attack.'
Although each stat point only increased the chance by 0.1%, making the probability of a critical hit low.
'My current Luck is 30. That's only a 3% chance.'
But what if he gradually built it up to around 300 later on?
Every attack would have a 30% chance of landing a defense-ignoring, double-damage critical hit.
It would be an incredible advantage.
Just then, a message appeared before Ryu Min's eyes.
It was time to vote.
[Time remaining until vote: 00:00:00]
[The voting period has begun.]
[Summoning all players in this area to the starting point.]
A moment later, the environment changed in the blink of an eye.
He had been teleported from the forest to a wide, open clearing.
"Wh-Who are those people? They just appeared out of nowhere!"
"The message said something about summoning… Are they the players who went into the forest?"
The players at the starting point were surprised to see the group that had entered the forest.
But the surprise was mutual.
"Wh-What is all this? There are dead people here!"
"What in the world happened here?"
The bloodstains and corpses scattered everywhere were more than enough to stun the players who had been in the forest.
They had expected to find everyone debating in the clearing, so this scene was naturally shocking.
But Ryu Min alone was not flustered.
He had anticipated all of it.
'I knew a fight would break out. It happened in the previous timeline, too.'
Of course, he also knew the cause of the fight.
Ryu Min followed the others' gazes and turned his head.
There, a man with the nickname Life is a Documentary stood with his arms crossed.
'Just as I expected, Jo Joong-sik seized control.'
Jo Joong-sik.
A natural-born fighter and the boss of the Joong-sik Faction, a talented individual who had ranked second in this area.
But his rotten personality made him too risky to take to the final round.
'A ticking time bomb like him is better disposed of quickly, but…'
Now was not the time.
He needed to make Jo Joong-sik the representative and use him in the third round.
Just then, as if sensing Ryu Min's gaze, Jo Joong-sik looked his way.
"Hey, Black Scythe."
The man swaggered over, a sudden smile on his face.
"Where have you been? I've been waiting for a while."
"What do you want?"
"Nothing much. Just have a proposal for you."
Jo Joong-sik wiped his nose and spoke nonchalantly.
"I'll be direct. Work for me."