TRGBH 04

Chapter 4

Before long, the confrontation was reaching its climax.

“Want me to turn you into minced anchovy?”

Sa Je-il’s eyebrows twitched at the giant’s provocation. Knowing the kind of person he was, that giant would have been dead already. But perhaps because there were too many eyes watching, Sa Je-il did not reveal his true nature carelessly.

Sa Je-il said,

“Follow me. If you want a fight, I’ll give you one.”

“Idiot. You think I’m scared?”

The giant answered while putting on a brave front. It seemed that he had only now realized Sa Je-il’s identity. However, just like the spectators, the giant also seemed to believe there was no way he could lose to that skinny man.

As if there was no need for any more words, Sa Je-il turned around and started walking away from the giant.

He seemed familiar with the area, as he did not hesitate even for a moment when choosing his direction.

There was still some time before the evaluation began. The spectators who did not want to miss such a big event followed after them in a crowd.

Suddenly, Sa Je-il stopped walking and turned around.

“I’ll kill every single one of you who follows me.”

That was frightening.

It was not just a bluff. A chilling killing intent seemed to seep into my skin.

What incredible talent.

Even if the Death Sentence Guild was giving him their full support, he had only awakened two days ago…

I said to Lee Hasol,

“Hey, let’s follow them too.”

“He said he’ll kill anyone who follows him. And didn’t you tell me earlier to avoid getting into fights?”

Our Hasol was actually a good kid who listened well. I felt proud of him.

Still, I couldn’t miss a spectacle like this. And honestly, I was a little worried about the giant too.

‘He probably won’t really kill him…’

“Who said we’re going to fight? We’re going to stop them.”

Lee Hasol opened his eyes wide and looked up at me.

“You really are a good guy, aren’t you?”

“…”

If I had gotten married when I was young, I might have had a son your age… Anyway, thanks for the compliment.

Looking at Sa Je-il walking away, I could guess where he was heading. There were only a few secluded places nearby where he could avoid people’s eyes.

I took Hasol with me and secretly went to the place I expected Sa Je-il to be heading.

As expected, it wasn’t long before they appeared.

Sa Je-il stopped walking and quickly looked around. After making sure nobody was watching, he took a box cutter from his pocket and cut his palm.

“Hey, what are you doing…?”

The giant muttered in confusion, but Sa Je-il did not even look at him.

From the pool of blood gathering in his palm, he pulled out a red greatsword as tall as himself.

A thick smell of blood spread through the air, and a sharp killing intent stabbed at my entire body like needles.

“Th-This is impossible…”

The giant stumbled around in shock. His confidence already seemed to have disappeared. Whatever his trait was, it was definitely more harmless than Sa Je-il’s.

Without giving any warning, Sa Je-il swung the sword he had drawn at the giant.

The giant, who had already been panicking, fell on his butt and luckily avoided the attack.

Still sitting on the ground, the giant desperately crawled backward. Sa Je-il calmly walked toward him and brought his sword down without hesitation.

‘That crazy bastard… Is he really planning to kill him?’

Without even having time to think, I rushed out and kicked Sa Je-il in the shoulder.

“Ugh.”

Sa Je-il staggered and was pushed to the side.

“What are you? I clearly said I’d kill anyone who followed me.”

Sa Je-il pointed the tip of his sword at me as he spoke.

“Even if you two got into an argument, this is too much. If you swing that thing around like that, you could really kill someone.”

“Don’t interfere. I only intend to cut off one arm. The guild will pay enough compensation.”

He was strangely calm.

His eyes were not those of someone who had become angry during an argument and was about to hurt someone on impulse.

‘Could this guy…?’

His trait was Blood Sword, a Condition-type trait. It seemed to be a trait that created and used a sword through blood.

In general, the more plentiful the required medium for a Condition-type trait was, the stronger its power became.

And probably…

‘It wouldn’t matter if the blood belonged to someone else instead of him…’

The amount of blood one person possessed was limited. Thinking about the overwhelming strength Sa Je-il would display in the future, it was obvious that he had continuously absorbed other people’s blood.

‘So he isn’t causing all this trouble simply because he has a bad personality?’

The giant had started the confrontation first, so Sa Je-il had a valid excuse. As long as it wasn’t murder, the Death Sentence Guild he belonged to would be able to clean up the aftermath without much trouble.

• Before the selection evaluation began, he would sharpen his combat instincts and strengthen his trait.

That must have been his real purpose.

Perhaps he had even deliberately encouraged someone to pick a fight with him from the very beginning.

The giant had simply fallen into a carefully prepared trap.

None of this had anything to do with the hot-blooded youth of a nineteen-year-old.

He had been a minor until last year…

What kind of life had he lived to become this cold and merciless?

“Ah! That bastard is running away!”

Just then, Lee Hasol, who had been standing behind me, pointed and shouted.

I turned my head in the direction of his finger and saw the giant desperately running away.

Oh, what an idiot. He really wasn’t living up to his size.

“Oops.”

I instinctively ducked my head as a sudden wave of killing intent rushed toward me.

Sa Je-il’s Blood Sword passed over my head by a hair.

“Hey, you bastard! If I hadn’t dodged that, I could’ve really died!”

“But you dodged it.”

Th-This crazy bastard.

Sa Je-il adjusted his grip on the sword and continued.

“You made my source of blood run away. He was so big that there looked to be plenty of blood to draw out… Since it turned out this way, I’ll have to use the two of you instead.”

Sa Je-il immediately charged at me.

My guess had been correct.

He had been looking for prey that would help increase his own strength.

“Kim Darum, let’s fight together!”

Lee Hasol fearlessly came toward me.

I was grateful, but it was far too dangerous. In a hurry, I shouted at him.

“Stay right there!”

“Okay.”

Lee Hasol stopped.

Good. Our Hasol really was a good kid who listened well.

At the beginning of the fight, Sa Je-il persistently aimed for areas where heavy bleeding would not be fatal. However, I had no difficulty avoiding his sword.

As time passed, the tip of his sword gradually began to aim for vital points.

An awakened person’s physical abilities roughly double at the moment of awakening.

Both Sa Je-il, who was now swinging his sword like a madman, and me, who was casually avoiding his attacks, had physical abilities roughly twice as high as they had been two days ago.

But there was a simple reason why there was such a difference between us.

I had adapted much more completely to my enhanced physical abilities than Sa Je-il had.

An awakened person’s physical abilities increase according to their level.

I had already surpassed Level 50 in my previous life. For me, simply doubling my abilities at Level 1 was hardly something that required any adaptation.

I deflected Sa Je-il’s sword as it stabbed toward my thigh, then tripped him and knocked him down.

“That’s enough. This is your final warning.”

There was no way he would listen to me, but I still had to say it.

“Wooooah! That was awesome, Kim Darum!”

Lee Hasol suddenly shouted in admiration from behind me.

“Rip that bastard apart and kill him!”

That had the exact opposite effect from what I intended.

At this point, even someone as calm and calculating as Sa Je-il could not keep his anger from exploding.

His face became even paler, and the sword in his hand began growing larger and larger.

It was almost as large as the greatsword of a berserker from a famous manga I used to enjoy.

Perhaps he had pushed his ability too far. Sa Je-il’s eyes rolled back, revealing the whites.

Hmm… That was dangerous.

He was being consumed by his trait.

It was known that an awakened person’s trait had a great direct or indirect influence on the formation of their personality.

An awakened person had to study and make use of their trait more deeply than anyone else, but at the same time, they had to constantly be careful not to be consumed by it.

The moment someone was controlled by their trait, their Corruption Rate would rise exponentially.

And once the Corruption Rate went above 50%…

‘Returning to normal would be practically impossible.’

I didn’t know for sure, but his Corruption Rate must have been rising rapidly right now.

I couldn’t watch any longer.

I had to subdue him quickly.

I summoned a Puppet Needle.

——————————

【Trait】

[Manipulation] Puppet (LV 1)

• Skill: Puppet Needle

└ Number Available: 2

└ Effect and Recharge: 1 hour

└ Controls the target the needle is embedded in.

——————————

Puppet Needle.

It was the skill I had relied on the most in my previous life, one I both loved and hated.

The words “controls the target the needle is embedded in” sounded incredibly powerful, but in reality, it wasn’t quite like that.

First, unless there was an overwhelming difference in strength, it was impossible to control someone like a puppet.

If I embedded the needle in an opponent who wasn’t much weaker than me, the most it could do was make them become more friendly toward me.

On top of that, it had absolutely no effect on opponents who were even slightly stronger than me.

This had caused me quite a lot of trouble in my previous life.

There were countless times when I had barely managed to get close enough to stab someone with the needle, only for it to have no effect at all.

As I gained more experience as a hunter, I developed a better eye for judging the difference between my strength and my opponent’s, which reduced the margin of error.

Then, ten years into my career, I obtained the [System Observer] trait, completely solving the problem of judging the target.

The Performance Score provided a perfect standard for determining whether the Puppet Needle would work.

‘I’m 27k, and you’re 19k. Sa Je-il, you’re about to fall in love with me.’

I lightly jumped over Sa Je-il’s horizontally swinging sword and drove the needle into the back of his neck.

Come to think of it, having Sa Je-il as the first target of my Puppet Needle…

It was something I could never have dreamed of in my previous life.

The feeling was quite strange.

Sa Je-il trembled, then quietly lowered the sword he had raised.

His pupils, which had rolled backward, had returned to normal.

Sa Je-il met my eyes and quickly lowered his head.

“Kim Darum, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I was going to kill that damn giant, but before I knew it, I swung my sword at you even though you came to stop me. Uh, you’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”

I lightly patted Sa Je-il on the shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m fine. And you shouldn’t fight with other hunters like that.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re right. I was planning to drain all the blood from that oversized muscle idiot, but fighting is still bad, so I’ll think of another way.”

Don’t think of another way either, you psychopath.

Lee Hasol came over to me.

He stared at Sa Je-il, who had suddenly become so well-behaved, with a shocked expression.

“Kim Darum, is that guy crazy? Why did he suddenly become like that?”

I whispered into Lee Hasol’s ear.

“One of my abilities can make bad people become good.”

Lee Hasol looked at me with eyes as round as a rabbit’s.

“That’s amazing. That’s freaking cool!”

“But it only lasts for one hour.”

“Then after one hour, will he turn back into a psycho killer?”

“Yeah. Exactly.”

“Then what are we going to do? What if he suddenly attacks you at the evaluation center?”

“He’s not stupid enough to do that. There will also be instructors at the evaluation center.”

Still, just in case, I said to Sa Je-il,

“Hey.”

“Yes. Kim Darum, tell me. I’m listening.”

“From now on, run to the evaluation center at full speed. Then wait in the very front row, right in front of the instructors. A dangerous person like you should stay somewhere clearly visible.”

“Yes. I agree. Someone as ruthless and cold-blooded as me should stay somewhere where everyone can see me. That way, we can reduce the chance of any unfortunate accidents.”

After saying that, Sa Je-il began running toward the evaluation center at full speed.

Watching him, Lee Hasol tilted his head.

“He didn’t become good. He just seems a little crazy now.”

“Maybe it’s because he’s trying to do things he normally wouldn’t. Just try to understand him.”

“Okay.”

“Then let’s go too.”

We started walking toward the evaluation center.