Chapter 23: Chapter 22

“Guk, what are you doing…!”

“Why, why…!”

The bespectacled man and tattooed man gasped painfully with their necks firmly grasped. Their faces were bright red, looking like they might burst at any moment.

“Caught you, doppelgangers.”

Choi Gang-hu let out a languid laugh. Not caring at all about their desperate struggling. An awkward silence settled over everyone’s heads.

“They haven’t even answered yet!”

The high school girl protested against his arbitrary action. Meaning, on what grounds was he cornering people who hadn’t even gone through questioning using the [Consistency of Words and Actions] skill. It was a reasonable objection.

“Mr. Choi Gang-hu.”

Ryu Seo-ha also spoke up worriedly. Though Choi Gang-hu might seem reckless at first glance, he’s not someone who acts without certainty. He must have done this after discovering the doppelgangers’ identities through intuition or a skill.

However, only Ryu Seo-ha could trust his abilities and accept it immediately. Thanks to his chaebol status, no one had dared to confront him so far, but Choi Gang-hu had his grade blinded.

“Let’s talk after loosening their airways first.”

Regardless of the truth, if he couldn’t persuade his companions, it would be difficult to resolve later. Choi Gang-hu readily accepted his suggestion and tossed the two men to the ground. They immediately gasped for oxygen.

They looked like innocent victims to anyone watching. Ryu Seo-ha’s gaze dropped slightly. He too had suspected these two the most, after all. Due to their exaggerated words and actions in opposite directions.

“Now, what shall we do?”

Choi Gang-hu stared directly at Ryu Seo-ha as if suggesting he propose something.

“Was it psychokinesis…? The news said it was a special type.”

“Just how many skills do you have? Are you really level 1?”

As always, he seemed completely unconcerned by the murmuring of his companions.

“Are you crazy! Stop this bullshit! You’re framing innocent people! Just because you’re a chaebol, you think you can do this?”

“Look. I don’t know why you’re doing this, but I didn’t even go near Kim Hwan today.”

The tattooed man reacted violently while the bespectacled man appealed his innocence with a tearful expression. Choi Gang-hu didn’t even glance at them. It was a composure he could show because he could grab them again with just a flick of his finger.

“How should we get a confession from suspects thought to be doppelgangers?”

He asked leisurely while looking only at Ryu Seo-ha. It wasn’t a question asked out of ignorance about doppelgangers. He must have asked knowing their physiology of being extremely sensitive to pain in the bodies they’ve taken as hosts.

In the original work too, he applied electric shocks close to torture until the doppelgangers revealed their true colors. Though it wasn’t clearly described how he pinpointed the suspects.

“…Why don’t you two go through the questioning as planned?”

It’s dangerous to take sudden violent action like in the original work when there’s already opposition. It was better for shaping public opinion to first propose reaching a conclusion through the peaceful method of using the [Consistency of Words and Actions] skill.

“What the hell, do you take us for fools? This is pissing me off!”

“Well, honestly there’s no way to verify if that skill is real… It’s hard to believe this isn’t just baseless accusations like before…”

As expected, the two suspects gave evasive answers. Choi Gang-hu twisted the corner of his mouth as if he had expected this.

And before anyone could stop him, an electric-type skill was fired. Lightning struck their crowns at the speed of light. The crackling sound of sparks rang out belatedly.

“Argh!”

Terrible screams followed the shock of electricity flowing through their nerves. From the eyes, noses, mouths, and ears of the two men rolling back their eyes, black jelly-like forms could be seen wriggling out. It was the true bodies of the doppelgangers escaping their hosts to avoid the pain.

While people were greatly flustered by this disgusting sight they had never seen before, Ryu Seo-ha entered combat mode faster than anyone.

Casts buff ‘Basic Barrier’ on designated targets (the caster and 8 other awakened).

“Don’t let the creatures’ membranes touch you! Be careful!”

As he raised his voice and drew out shuriken, the black jelly that had escaped from the bespectacled man’s body pounced on the soldier standing right next to him. Spreading the area of its body wide like membrane wings.

Woong─!

The black jelly bounced off the barrier Ryu Seo-ha had cast. The barrier shattered completely with that one collision. Another black form spread out behind the soldier who had stumbled backwards.

Sshak, sshak! The consecutively thrown shuriken sliced through the creature’s body. But the holes pierced by the shuriken were filled again in the blink of an eye. As if it had never been damaged at all.

The doppelganger’s true body can quickly repair damage from physical attacks. It didn’t feel pain in this state after abandoning its host. But thanks to that attack buying time, the soldier who had dodged was able to preserve his life.

The creatures immediately changed targets and began pouring towards Ryu Seo-ha in an undulating mass. It looked like sewage flowing through drainage pipes.

“Aah! Dodge!”

Even before anyone could warn him, he was already launching his body. Towards the direction the creatures were approaching from. There was only one way to eliminate doppelgangers that had revealed their true bodies.

“Everyone get down and close your eyes!”

It was to shatter them with strong firepower. Until not even a core remained to regenerate. Ryu Seo-ha quickly removed the safety pin from a grenade made with dungeon materials. The creatures rushed over him like a tidal wave.

Boom! The grenade exploded just in time. Thanks to the impact being delivered at the same speed both sides had closed the distance. An incredible roar beyond imagination shook the surroundings. Aah! Screams of people startled out of their wits rang out here and there.

Ryu Seo-ha’s body, enveloped by [Sanctification], was thrown into the air. The shockwave must have been considerable as his mana was consumed extremely quickly. The sight of black jelly fragments scattering in all directions flashed before his eyes.

Your level has increased.

A system message announced the doppelgangers’ demise. He thought he would crash straight into the ground, but something gently enveloped his body. When he turned his head back, he saw Choi Gang-hu’s frowning face.

“Why do you treat yourself so recklessly?”

He admonished after landing stably like a feline predator. Even though he hadn’t taken any damage thanks to [Sanctification]. Instead of refuting like that, Ryu Seo-ha quietly slipped out of his embrace.

“Everyone get up. Prepare for battle.”

It was to inform the people who were lying flat on the ground in protective positions that the situation wasn’t over yet.

“What, why…”

“Don’t tell me there are more doppelgangers?”

People asked back with pale faces. Anxiously looking around at the slimy fragments splattered on trees and the ground. They looked like they would believe anything he said now.

“We made a commotion.”

Ryu Seo-ha calmly said as he retrieved the shuriken he had thrown earlier. He picked up a bow next to the corpse of the tattooed man who had been the doppelganger’s host and calmly aimed the bowstring. Beyond the Shadow Thorn Tree forest.

People who turned their eyes following him could finally notice. The red and yellow glows in the darkness, gradually increasing one by one. Those flashing things were the fierce eyes of monsters gathered in groups of threes and fives.

“Shit.”

People who had each muttered curses got to their feet. All the monsters in the vicinity were rushing towards this location.

❖ ❖ ❖

The battle continued for over an hour. If Choi Gang-hu had properly stepped up, it would have ended in an instant, but this time too he only stayed by Ryu Seo-ha’s side. Only occasionally pretending to halfheartedly participate in attacks.

Fortunately, there were no dropouts. Perhaps thanks to going through such a grand initiation on the first day. The journey afterwards was uneventful to the point of being boring. Though they still couldn’t contact the outside, dungeon conquest progressed quickly.

“Seo-ha oppa, is it okay to touch this branch?”

The difference from the beginning was,

“Seo-ha, about how long until the next rest area?”

The companions’ dependence on Ryu Seo-ha had skyrocketed. They asked and confirmed even trivial things with him.

With the gazes of 8 people constantly following him, he became more careful in everything. Even when feeling dizzy or spitting up blood that surged from his stomach, he had to make greater efforts not to be noticed by his companions. There was nothing good about his poor health condition becoming widely known.

“Finally!”

On the second day of entering the dungeon. They were able to destroy the core hidden under the swamp area. It was quite a fast achievement.

Congratulations. You have completed the dungeon conquest.

A hologram message imitating a system message floated before their eyes. Even the creation of an exit near where the core was destroyed was similar to a real dungeon. They probably made the duration similar too.

With no materials to collect or monster corpses to take care of, they passed straight through the exit. As expected, they saw a monitoring room in shambles. Along with the ruined facility and decayed bodies of supervisors.

“You’ve arrived?”

An unfamiliar voice was heard from behind the companions who had stiffened their expressions. When they all quickly assumed battle positions and turned around, an unfamiliar figure was standing there nonchalantly.

It was a middle-aged man wearing a fedora. More doppelgangers than in the original work, no measures taken even though it had been two days since the monitoring room supervisors were killed, a strange person appearing as if they had been waiting.

“Hmm, I didn’t come here to fight.”

As Ryu Seo-ha stared at the middle-aged man lightly raising both hands, he bit his lower lip hard at the sudden sense of déjà vu he felt.

-Are you thirsty?

The youthful appearance of the blonde boy overlapped with the dignified impression of the middle-aged man. Though everything was different – the pigmentation of hair and eyes, the pitch and tone of voice, appearance and build,

-Hmm, I just wanted to give you something to drink.

His characteristically innocent way of speaking and habitual gestures were exactly like the Apostle of the Cult who had kidnapped him.

“Then did you come because you need a sacrifice?”

When he asked bluntly while wrapped in [Sanctification], the middle-aged man’s eyes widened. He looked quite surprised.

“Did you recognize me?”

Usually one would wonder how he figured out they were from the Cult. Whether he’s quick-witted or self-centered. Common sense dictates one wouldn’t guess two people with completely different appearances to be the same person.

Ryu Seo-ha wouldn’t have imagined it either. If a being with top-class transformation characteristics that changes appearance every time they appear hadn’t shown up as a major character in the original work. The 4th Apostle. An extremely dangerous villain.

“This is fascinating. I think I’m a bit happy right now. Before…”

Whoosh, a flame skill that spread out like a writhing dragon engulfed the middle-aged man. There was no need to look to know who had cast the skill. Choi Gang-hu strode towards the 4th Apostle enveloped in flames.

As the greatly blazing fire died down, the unharmed figure of the 4th Apostle was revealed. It was thanks to having several layers of S-grade barrier items wrapped around his entire body. Though most were broken by Choi Gang-hu’s single attack, and the remaining barriers were heavily cracked.

“Oh what was it, we analyzed the blood of our sacrifice and observed some amazing peculiarities. So I wanted to confirm a few things…”@@novelbin@@

Boom! Choi Gang-hu’s merciless attacks continued. The attacks were delivered at a speed invisible to the eye, so it was impossible to grasp exactly what was happening. More importantly, blood analysis? Peculiarities?

They were words that couldn’t be overlooked. If those words were true, wouldn’t they be related to the remaining lifespan issue? He suddenly wanted to grab the 4th Apostle and bombard him with all sorts of questions. Even while knowing he was an untrustworthy opponent.

“Ugh, I might really die at this rate. Anyway, I have things to say so contact me when you have time. You remember the number I gave you before, right?”

What number? Before he could even question it, the 4th Apostle tore a scroll-type spatial item and disappeared.

“……”

The monitoring room now had holes in the walls and the ceiling was wide open. Choi Gang-hu’s piercing gaze could be felt as he stood in the middle of the half-destroyed building. No, I don’t know anything about contact information or such.