Chapter 38
Part 37
“Kim Deokbae.”
Shing.
Yugeon drew the Godslayer Sword.
“You have two choices.”
Kim Deokbae stared at him.
“One. You painfully tell us the truth.”
Yugeon's eyes were cold.
“Two. You tell us the truth while your body is still intact.”
“...”
“Choose.”
Kim Deokbae remained silent.
The next instant...
SLASH!
“AAAAAAAGH!”
Yugeon cut through his ankle without hesitation.
“Looks like you thought I was joking.”
“Ugh...!”
“Keep your mouth shut if you want. You'll get to watch your body come apart piece by piece.”
Yugeon glanced at Woojin.
“And don't worry about dying from shock. Woojin here will keep healing you.”
“Th-The Emperor Guild!!”
Kim Deokbae screamed.
“The Emperor Guild ordered it! They ordered me to attack Kang Yena three years ago too!! It was all them!”
Both of his ankles had been severed.
Three fingers were gone.
Unable to endure the pain any longer...
Kim Deokbae finally confessed.
He had intended to confess much earlier.
But Han Yugeon had not listened.
He had kept cutting.
Kim Deokbae eventually had to scream the truth at the top of his lungs.
“You don't know why the Emperor Guild did it, do you?”
Yugeon adjusted the dagger in his hand and brought it toward another finger.
He had used the Godslayer Sword on the ankles.
For fingers...
A dagger was easier.
“No! That's not true! I know! I know why! They wanted to recruit Kang Woojin!”
CRUNCH.
CRACK.
“AAAAAAAH! I TOLD YOU! WHY?!”
Another finger fell.
Kim Deokbae violently shook his head in agony.
He could no longer move anything below his neck.
Yugeon looked down at him.
“Because that isn't the real reason.”
“!!!”
Kim Deokbae's eyes widened.
How does he know...?
He had desperately avoided revealing that part.
He was afraid Woojin would kill him if he learned the full truth.
“You're still hiding things.”
Yugeon adjusted the dagger again.
“Looks like you haven't suffered enough.”
“No! They wanted to turn him into a puppet!”
“A puppet?”
Woojin frowned.
Turn him into a puppet?
What did that mean?
Did they mean that after his sister died, he would lose the will to live and become an obedient puppet who followed orders?
“At first, the Emperor Guild gave Kang Woojin various missions!”
Kim Deokbae hurriedly continued.
“But over time, they started liking his ability more and more!”
“So they decided to turn him into a puppet?”
“That's right! They infected his sister with that illness and spent years observing his personality. Then they sent him to kill the Floor 35 boss!”
“Why?”
“Because he used to say something sometimes!”
Kim Deokbae gasped for breath.
“He said that if he used an ability called Overclock, he could probably defeat a boss! But if he used it while exhausted, his brain could overload and melt...”
Yugeon's voice became colder.
“So after his brain melted, you planned to turn him into a puppet.”
“...Yes.”
Kim Deokbae swallowed.
“I heard the Emperor Guild recently bought an extremely expensive Golem...”
“You pieces of shit...”
Woojin ground his teeth.
What they planned to do to him?
He might have been able to let that go.
This was the brutal world of Awakeners.
People lied to each other.
Used each other.
Betrayed each other.
But they had dragged his sister into it.
That was what enraged him.
“And you still call yourselves human?!”
THUD!
Woojin kicked Kim Deokbae in the face.
“Ghk!”
“Does that hurt?!”
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
“You think this little bit hurts?!”
Woojin began stomping on him.
His head.
His wounds.
Anywhere that caused the most pain.
“P-Please... spare me...”
Unable to move...
Kim Deokbae cried bloody tears.
If they were going to kill him...
He wished they would simply do it without any more pain.
“Woojin.”
“Haa... Haa... Yes?”
“You recorded everything, right?”
“Yes. I recorded all of it.”
Woojin nodded.
He had secretly floated his phone with magic.
Then he had placed an invisibility spell on it and recorded Kim Deokbae's entire confession.
Yugeon looked at him.
“What do you want to do?”
“...”
“Want me to torture him more?”
Kim Deokbae trembled.
“Or should I just kill him?”
“Please...”
Kim Deokbae stared desperately at Woojin.
Woojin looked into his eyes.
Then he took a long breath.
“...Just kill him.”
In his heart...
Woojin wanted to make him suffer more.
But if he continued...
He felt as though rage itself would swallow him.
Yugeon nodded.
“Good choice.”
He smiled and rubbed Woojin's hair.
Then...
SLASH!
He drew his sword and cut through Kim Deokbae's neck.
Thud.
“Hahahaha! Now this is something worth celebrating!”
Inside the Emperor Guild Master's office...
Hwang Mingu stared at the object on his desk with a huge smile.
A Legendary item.
Exactly the Legendary item he had wanted.
“You could've kept it for yourself. I guess this is why you're a Ranker.”
“You and I signed a contract for me to obtain it.”
The man across from him spoke without emotion.
“I simply fulfilled the contract.”
Rank 12.
The German Awakener, Lucas Schwarz.
Tap.
Tap.
Ding!
“I transferred your payment. Check it.”
“I've confirmed it.”
Lucas checked the deposit and nodded.
