“Your plan wasn’t bad. Go for the Healer first. But you chose the wrong guy,” Sung Joon said, smiling coldly.
His cold, killing intent-filled gaze made Ji Seok tremble.
“It’s a PKer! Who started it?”
“Mr. Han Ji Seok attacked first!”
Both the party leader, who was looking after their injured comrade, and another party member belatedly grasped the situation and ran to help Sung Joon.
“I’ll take care of it,” Sung Joon said, stopping them by raising his hand.
“B-But Mr. Kang Sung Joon, you’re a Heal-”
He didn’t need to hear anymore. Sung Joon pretended to converse with them while moving stealthily. Ji Seok immediately took a defensive posture but he was one step too late.
Before he assumed his defensive stance, Sung Joon had already deeply pierced his thigh and gotten behind him.
“Ugh!” Ji Seok yelped painfully.
Ji Seok might’ve gotten used to cutting and stabbing other people, but he wasn’t able to bear pain himself.
“H-He’s fast!”
“Is it possible for a Healer to move like that?”
The party members watched with unbelieving eyes. It was fast for even Combat Hunters.
Due to his training and his solo play, Sung Joon hadn’t yet passed his limit and was faster than other B-rank Hunters.
He thought that his body’s evolution might be progressing slower than before, but still, due to his memories, his muscles didn’t make any unnecessary movements, so he could move much faster than normal.
“Ugh… ” Ji Seok groaned, losing strength in his legs. It seemed like Sung Joon had landed a fatal blow. Blood flowed continuously from the wound.
“You were so full of confidence, where did it all go?” Sung Joon asked.
“T-That’s…” Ji Seok began.
He didn’t need to hear it. Sung Joon swung his sword at Ji Seok’s uninjured right leg. Ji Seok quickly raised his sword.
The two swords clashed and bounced off each other.
“Too slow,” said Sung Joon.
Sung Joon withdrew his sword faster. It was a technique he had done countless times on the battlefield in his past life.
Also, in close combat, withdrawing a sword quickly allowed for a quick counterattack before the opponent could prepare for it.
“You’re wide open,” Sung Joon taunted.
Sung Joon stabbed at Ji Seok’s upper body, since Ji Seok couldn’t withdraw his sword in time. His sharp blade pierced through Ji Seok’s abdomen.
Sung Joon didn’t stop there. He twisted Ji Seok’s wrist instantly, before pulling out his sword.
“A-Argh!” Ji Seok shrieked. His internal organs were a mess.
‘The way he handles his sword isn’t normal,’ the Party Leader thought, watching Sung Joon fight.
While he was a Hunter with a lot of experience, he wasn’t anywhere near Sung Joon’s PvP skills.
“K-Kill me…” Ji Seok pleaded. He had fatal injuries on his stomach and his leg. He was already at Sung Joon’s mercy.
He had even lost his will to live. He just wanted to escape from all the pain.
“Why should I?” Sung Joon demanded.
Usually, Sung Joon was gentler than most. However, when someone pushed him, his past life took over and his eyes filled with killing intent.
Sung Joon swung his sword and cut Ji Seok’s abdomen.
“A-AH!” Ji Seok screamed and dropped his sword, unable to withstand the pain. His inner organs spilled from the abdominal wound.
“Kill me, you asshole!” Ji Seok cried, as he could see no end to the continuous pain.
“Are you crying?”
Sung Joon was speechless.
“You should’ve known that once you decided to PK me, you would end up like this,” Sung Joon said calmly.
“Ugh!”
In no time, Sung Joon had sliced off Ji Seok’s left arm.
Ji Seok couldn’t withstand the pain and blacked out. Sung Joon smirked.
“You can’t die yet. Heal!”
He wanted to kill him but he thought it’d be good to send him to the association to get more information.
He tied up the body and as soon as he cast Heal, Ji Seok’s body began to heal. Due to the severity of his wounds, it wasn’t a full recovery, but he was no longer in critical condition.
-Verifying the existence of a new item.
The measuring tool responded. He pulled out the measuring tool and appraised Roel.
D-rank
Verifying Lightweight effect
Verifying Bleeding Curse effect.
Verifying Dormant Abilities effect.
Verifying Past Life Awakening effect.
Additional Effects unknown.
It went from Sealed Roel to Awakened Roel and it got an additional effect called Bleeding Curse.
“Mr. Kang Sung Joon! Are you all right?”
Besides the severely injured party member, the other two hurriedly ran to him. Sung Joon had told them not to intervene but he also hadn’t needed help so the two members decided to watch the situation.
“I’m fine,” Sung Joon replied, though the two other party members felt extremely anxious. They examined both Sung Joon’s and Ji Seok’s conditions.
Ji Seok, who they depended on and had a huge role in the Boss fight, was in terrible condition while Sung Joon was unscathed.
‘During the Boss fight, Han Ji Seok looked like he had a lot of experience… but he wasn’t able to lay a finger on the Healer, Mr. Kang Sung Joon…’
The party leader found it harder to believe that a Healer had close combat abilities that could overwhelm a Combat Hunter, rather than the fact that Ji Seok was a PKer.
“Let’s clean up and get out of here,” Sung Joon said.
The party leader and the other party member carried the injured member and they left the dungeon.
While the party leader reported the incident of PKing to the Dungeon Bureau worker, Sung Joon called Hyun Sung.
“I dealt with it. Like we thought, Han Ji Seok was a PKer.”
“How many survived?”
“There’s one seriously wounded, but they all survived. Han Ji Seok ambushed me first.”
“…For everyone to have survived! You’re truly amazing!” Hyun Sung replied in admiration.
“Please just make sure you deposit the money. Also, please send Han Ji Seok to the Collection Team,” Sung Joon replied.
“You don’t need to worry about that. When the Investigation Team returns, we’ll immediately deposit the money.”
“Ah right, I captured Han Ji Seok alive.”
“Great work. We’ll investigate him.”
Eventually, the Dungeon Bureau sent cars to pick them up. They rode together with the Collection Team, gave Ji Seok to Hyun Sung, and also received a simple investigation.
After the investigation, the party leader, as the representative of the party, sold the magic stones and items.
The total was $400,000. If Ji Seok hadn’t been a PKer, they would’ve split it by $80,000. However, since he had attempted to PK, they each received $20,000 more, increasing their share to $100,000 each.
They left the Investigation Room and met the heavily injured party member. He was headed towards the Dungeon Bureau clinic.
“Thank you, Mr. Kang Sung Joon. If we meet again later, I’ll buy you a drink,” said the injured party member.
“It was something I had to do,” Sung Joon said.
“Be that as it may, Mr. Kang Sung Joon, if you didn’t Heal me immediately, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
He left after wholeheartedly thanking Sung Joon for saving his life. The other party member departed and Sung Joon was left with the party leader.
He went to leave but the party leader spoke.
“If it wasn’t for you, Mr. Kang Sung Joon, the party would’ve been annihilated. I am extremely thankful to you.”
“Even if I hadn’t been there, I think that you would’ve been able to properly deal with the situation,” Sung Joon said modestly and smiled. However, the party leader shook his head.
“That asshole Han Ji Seok… Just by looking at him, before the Boss, I knew he was someone I couldn’t beat. I definitely would’ve lost to him.”
He gazed at Sung Joon.
“You saved us, Mr. Kang Sung Joon,” the Party Leader said, and left.
Sung Joon returned home and made sure the $100,000 was deposited into his account. After confirming that he had been paid, he threw himself onto his bed and slept deeply.
That day, Sung Joon dreamt.
The dream was related to the death of his past self…