Chapter 41: 41
41. Rune of Mind Reading
"Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn...!"
Jang Seok-hyun kept cursing and glared with wide eyes.
At the one who had struck his vital point.
"I'll kill you. I'll kill you, you son of a bitch."
The female owner had escaped, but he didn't care about that anymore.
His sexual desire had long since disappeared.
Only murderous intent to kill the opponent before him glinted.
"That's a good attitude. I would have been flustered if you gave up easily."
As if finding this situation amusing, the opponent's voice was extremely light.
He even thought he heard laughter, though it might have been his imagination.
"You bastard! What are you smirking about!"
Jang Seok-hyun charged despite the pain.
An ordinary person wouldn't have been able to stand, but as a player he could move somewhat.
'If I can just get close, this bastard...!'
It's nothing if he can just close the distance.
Fortunately, the guy didn't move like a wooden block.
'Stupid bastard!'
A dagger suddenly appeared in Jang Seok-hyun's right hand.
He swung the dagger wildly.
Swoosh swoosh swoosh-!
He was confident in his skill that had pierced goblin necks.
But.
The opponent was skilled enough to stab eyes with a scythe.
With inferior level 9 stats, it was nearly impossible to even graze the clothes of a level 30 opponent.
'H-he's dodging them all?'
He predicts and avoids the dagger thrusts at close range like a ghost.
Thrust left, thrust right, slash diagonally, no matter what he tries, he only cuts air.
"You're still using a goblin's dagger."
The opponent spoke reproachfully as he swung the scythe low.
Jang Seok-hyun tripped on the shaft and fell, grimacing.
Pain shot up from his center.
"Kuuk."
"Does it hurt?"
The opponent, Ryumin, smiled inside his mask.
"We haven't even started yet."
The scythe flashed and Jang Seok-hyun's wrist fell off.
"Ku-kuaaak!"
"Don't exaggerate."
Ryumin swung the scythe and cut off the other wrist too.
He effectively couldn't hold weapons anymore.
"Kuhuup..."
Did he judge there was no hope like this?
Jang Seok-hyun's body glowed white as he stood up enduring the pain.
No, he tried to glow.
"Huh?"
But Jang Seok-hyun was flustered when no light was emitted.
'Wh-what's going on? Why isn't this working!'
His hands were cut off but his two legs were fine.
If he could use his light ability to blind the opponent, he could escape.
'I definitely used it, but why!'
But as if the ability had disappeared, there was no reaction from his body.
Just darkness without a single point of light, same as before.
Ryumin inwardly laughed at Jang Seok-hyun's flustered appearance.
'No matter how much you try to glow, it's useless. No light is allowed before Night of Death.'
He had cast the Night of Death skill in advance knowing this would happen.
Jang Seok-hyun's rune was now useless.
'If I hadn't learned the Night of Death skill after passing level 20, I would have been the one in trouble instead.'
He surely would have been blinded by the flash.
Even if he closed his eyes in advance, he couldn't have stopped him from escaping.
'Well, I would have cut off his ankles first anyway.'
With that thought, Ryumin swung his scythe.
Slash-!
Jang Seok-hyun fell ungracefully with an eerie sound.
He only belatedly screamed after seeing his severed ankles.
"Ku-kuhuhuuk!!!"
"Now you can't escape, right?"
Having lost his wrists, ankles, and important parts, Jang Seok-hyun cried out with a voice full of resentment.
"Kuhub, hey, you devil bastard! Why are you doing this to me, whyyy!"
"Why am I doing this?"
Stab-!
"Kuhub!"
The scythe stabbed into his thigh and pulled out.
"What's the reason for exterminating vermin?"
Stab-!
The opposite thigh was also pierced by the scythe.
"Because they cause harm if left alone."
"Kuuk... Damn, you perverted psycho bastard."
Ryumin just laughed at Jang Seok-hyun's glaring eyes.
"Let's see how long that spirit lasts."
Ryumin's scythe was merciless.
Like slowly tormenting a bug by tearing off its legs one by one.
He cut off the limbs and made holes in the body.
Blood spread like a carpet around Jang Seok-hyun.
A desperate situation where he couldn't glow or escape.
"Uuuuu..."
Jang Seok-hyun couldn't come to his senses, feeling like his brain was being pickled in pain.
'Damn... Why are you doing this to me? What grudge do you have against me?'
He felt wronged.
And in pain.
'Should I bite my tongue and die rather than suffer like this?'
Just as he was about to bite his tongue thinking that would be better.
Thunk-
Ryumin's scythe lifted Jang Seok-hyun's head.
"What? Trying to bite your tongue and die?"
"..."
He couldn't open his mouth because the blade was supporting his chin.
"You think I'll let you go so easily?"
"..."
"You can't die as you please until you beg me to kill you."
The scythe moved like lightning and stabbed his back twice.
Stab- Stab-!
"Huaaak!"
Blood spurted up and pain came.
'I-I need to end the pain.'
Just as Jang Seok-hyun desperately tried to bite his tongue.
Ryumin's blade lifted his chin again, blocking his mouth.
Stab stab- Stab stab-!
"Uuuump!"
Stab stab- Stab stab-!
"Uuuuump!!!"
While holes were made in his body, Jang Seok-hyun attempted suicide countless times.
But each time, Ryumin detected it like a ghost and made it so he couldn't move his mouth at all.
Slash- Slash-!
"Huguuuuump!!"
His mind grew distant from the pain.
The only thought in Jang Seok-hyun's head was that he wanted to die.
"K-ki... me..."
"What?"
"Ki... Kill me... Please..."
"Are you sincere?"
Jang Seok-hyun nodded.
He didn't want to suffer anymore.
Was that answer satisfactory?
Though hidden by the mask, a pleased smile hung on Ryumin's lips.
"You probably don't know why I'm going this far. We've never even met."
"..."
"Actually, we can't say we've never met. Jang Seok-hyun. We have met before."
A surprised light flashed in Jang Seok-hyun's eyes.
'He knows... my name?'
Jang Seok-hyun opened his mouth haltingly.
"D-don't tell me... you're related to... the female owner..."
"That's not it. I have no connection to that woman."
"Then..."
"You kidnapped my brother. And you threatened me demanding information about the hidden piece."
"I-I did? I didn't..."
"Of course you didn't. It's a future event that hasn't happened yet. Though it's the past for me."
Regardless of Jang Seok-hyun's confused expression, Ryumin continued speaking.
"If I hadn't intervened, you probably would have obtained the Rune of Mind Reading."
"Rune of... Mind Reading?"
"A hidden rune is concealed in this location."
'Really?'
Jang Seok-hyun's eyes widened at this unknown fact.
"Do you know the activation condition for the Rune of Mind Reading? It's hearing the other person's sincere voice."
"Sincere... voice...?"
"A voice that comes from the heart, sincerity upon sincerity."
"..."
"If I hadn't intervened, you would have heard the sincere voice of a woman begging to be spared after you raped and tormented her."
"..."
"And after obtaining the Rune of Mind Reading, you would have used it for more crimes and strutted around like you owned the world."
Jang Seok-hyun couldn't refute.
He was accurately seeing through his behavior patterns.
"This is a fact verified through several regressions. Even without that, just the fact that you're trash with 12 prior convictions is enough reason for you to deserve death."
"If-if I deserve to die... kill me quickly..."
Ryumin shook his head.
"I won't touch you."
"What...?"
"Why do you think I've been rambling on? I've been waiting for you to die on your own."
Thunk-
Jang Seok-hyun's open mouth was closed by Ryumin's scythe.
"You'll die from excessive bleeding anyway. Die slowly feeling the pain like this."
"Mmph! Mmph!"
Jang Seok-hyun tried to bite his tongue and commit suicide, but it didn't work as he wanted.
He couldn't even open his mouth because the scythe was pressing his chin.
"Ubuuuu..."
Even staying still, he constantly felt pain from the holes all over his body.
He wanted to immediately end the chain of pain, but he was in no position to do so.
'Hu-hurry and kill me... It's too painful...'
He couldn't even say the words "kill me" that the other wanted.
'You said you need to get the Rune of Mind Reading. You said you need to hear a sincere voice from the heart!'
Since he couldn't speak, he had to look with pleading eyes.
'I'm trying to say what you want now! I'm trying to sincerely say kill me! So why won't you let me speak!'
Did he read Jang Seok-hyun's eyes?
"You're asking why I won't let you speak?"
Ryumin answered this.
"Because I wanted to test the Rune of Mind Reading."
'What?'
He didn't read his eyes.
"Unfortunately, I've already obtained the rune."
He was reading his thoughts.
"Don't you remember? You already said 'kill me'. Sincerely."
'Come to think of it, I think I did say that at first...'
"The rune reacted to the sincere voice then. I was able to obtain it immediately. The Rune of Mind Reading."
'Even though you already obtained it, you pretended not to...'
"I tried testing its performance and as you can see, it works well."
'You got what you wanted, so why don't you just kill me now...'
"No. You can't die easily."
Ryumin spoke in a cold voice from inside his mask.
"That would be unfair to the people you've victimized."
'Damn it, you devil bastard...'
Jang Seok-hyun hurled a final curse as if giving up and his body trembled.
His eyes grew hazy as if losing consciousness, then his breath stopped shortly after.
Seeing this, Ryumin spoke indifferently.
"He's dead."
A brief comment.
There was no emotion in that voice.
It was understandable since he had killed him dozens of times before.
"Still, inflicting maximum pain like this every time before killing him is probably good for the victims too."
Even if it takes some time.
'I have plenty of time anyway.'
He obtained the rune he wanted.
He had time to spare like this.
He worried the woman he saved might not have run away and be watching, but.
'There were no witnesses around.'
No one was detected by Presence Detection.
He could rest assured.
'I'm wearing a mask anyway, so it doesn't matter even if I'm caught.'
Ryumin's gaze turned to the message that had just appeared.
[You have drawn out a sincere voice from the target.]
[Activation conditions have been met.]
[You have discovered the hidden rune 'Rune of Mind Reading' concealed in this location!]
[The obtained rune is automatically engraved on the player's body!]
This message appeared as soon as he heard Jang Seok-hyun say "kill me".
Ryumin opened the information for the newly obtained rune.
[Rune of Mind Reading]
-Effect: Read the thoughts of visible targets. By staring intently, you can vaguely read inner thoughts too. Can only read within 30m range.
It's literally a rune that reads thoughts.
You can even discern inner thoughts by staring continuously.
'Even if the target is in a state of no thought.'
Information gathering, situation handling, friend or foe identification, etc.
Its uses are endless.
It's not for nothing that it's on the list of 18 essential runes to obtain.
Ryumin's gaze turned to Jang Seok-hyun who had passed on.
"Now that I've gotten what I wanted, shall I clean up?"
He used the additional common skill he had learned.
Then.
Jang Seok-hyun's corpse disappeared as if it was a lie.
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