Chapter 232 – Seo Jin-cheol

‘What, what is this!’

Seo Jin-cheol was thrown into confusion by Shin Hye-ri’s transformation.

And understandably so, since the disguise was so perfect that he couldn’t have suspected it was someone else.

‘Shin Hye-ri was Min Do-jun? Then is the Min Do-jun I know actually Shin Hye-ri? Damn it, what the hell is going on?’

Already in pain from his torn-off arm, his mind was now flooded with chaos.

Anyone would be shocked to discover that the woman they kidnapped was actually a man.

“Ugh, who the hell are you? Are you really Min Do-jun? Since when have you been pretending to be Shin Hye-ri? Since the kidnapping?”

“No way. I transformed after arriving here.”

“Could it be… while I was out scouting?”

“Yep.”

Min Do-jun admitted it readily.

There was no need to hide it at this point.

“In fact, I’ve been here for quite a while. Even before you called Shin Kyung-min.”

“What?”

That meant he had arrived early and had been watching in hiding…

‘Wait, more importantly, how did he know to come here?’

How had this guy found an abandoned factory that no one should have known about?

“Were you tailing me?”

“Not tailing, but I was keeping an eye on you. I knew you’d pull something eventually.”

“Then the noise from earlier…”

“Yep. I had my summoned beast make the sound on purpose to lure you outside. That’s when I transformed into Hye-ri.”

The ability to perfectly disguise oneself as another person was absurd in itself, but Seo Jin-cheol had no choice but to believe it.

He had witnessed the transformation from Shin Hye-ri back to Min Do-jun with his own eyes.

“So, all this time, you and that girl Shin Hye-ri were in cahoots…”

“Hye-ri has nothing to do with this. I was just observing the situation and stepped in to rescue her. Hye-ri doesn’t even know I transformed into her.”

Min Do-jun had given Shin Hye-ri two instructions when he freed her.

One was to take the phone he gave her and go outside to call Shin Kyung-min.

The other was to stay outside until Shin Kyung-min arrived, as it was dangerous.

‘Since I told her not to come back in until Shin Kyung-min arrives, she probably didn’t see me transform.’

Judging by the fact that she hadn’t triggered his Presence Detection, she seemed to be following instructions well.

“Ugh…”

More than being angry about being played by Min Do-jun, Seo Jin-cheol was curious about why he went to such lengths.

“What’s the reason for this? Why did you go through the trouble of transforming into Shin Hye-ri?”

“I thought I’d get some information out of you. But as you said, it turned out to be a pointless effort.”

He had done it to extract information, but he gained nothing.

Instead, it only raised more questions.

‘How on earth did he end up working with Shin Kyung-min?’

Seo Jin-cheol’s anger and insistence that he would never join hands with Shin Kyung-min under any circumstances were genuine.

And Shin Kyung-min likely felt the same.

‘If I hadn’t intervened, Hye-ri would probably have suffered something horrific according to his plan.’

In such a situation, could Shin Kyung-min join forces with Seo Jin-cheol to stage a coup?

Unless he was out of his mind?

‘Could there have been someone else’s intervention?’

In any case, since it was a future that hadn’t yet happened, there were limits to gathering clues.

After all, there were still a full eight years until the coup would take place.

“Ughhh…”

Seo Jin-cheol glared at Min Do-jun with a pained expression.

Blood continued to flow from the stump of his torn-off arm.

‘The longer this drags on, the worse it gets for me.’

If this continued, it was clear he’d die from blood loss without even getting a chance to fight back.

He needed to make a decision quickly.

‘Either fight back or beg for my life.’

Seo Jin-cheol let out a bitter, self-deprecating laugh.

‘Come to think of it, the answer was already decided, wasn’t it?’

There was no way the person who tore off his arm and revealed such an absurd ability as transformation would spare him just because he begged for mercy.

Showing off an unbelievable skill like transformation must have meant exactly that.

Tsssss-

Seo Jin-cheol equipped his hunter gear.

With only one arm, he couldn’t wield dual swords, so he had to settle for a one-handed sword, but it would still be enough to kill a person.

“Hoh. So your head isn’t just for decoration? You realize there’s nowhere left to retreat?”

“…”

Despite Min Do-jun’s taunt, Seo Jin-cheol silently raised his sword.

He knew his opponent wasn’t an easy one, but there was no other option.

‘There’s no choice but to fight.’

Suddenly, smoke began to rise from Seo Jin-cheol’s body.

Ssssss-

The smoke was absorbed into the sword he held, and the blade turned red-hot, as if it were a piece of molten iron.

“Hm?”

At the same time, a glint appeared in Min Do-jun’s eyes.

He noticed that Seo Jin-cheol’s face, which had been contorted in pain, now looked much more at ease.

Tat-!

Seo Jin-cheol closed the distance in an instant and swung his sword wildly.

Swish swish swish-!

It looked like random slashes, but every strike was aimed at vital points like the face, neck, and heart.

Of course, with only one arm, he couldn’t land a hit on Min Do-jun, who had exceptional agility.

‘Then how about this?’

Seo Jin-cheol activated a skill.

‘Fatal Frenzy!’

His movements doubled, and his attacks became far more varied.

Shushushushushuk-!

Though the destructive power was less than with dual swords, the speed was actually faster because he was using just one hand.

‘What the hell?’

Even so, the skill only sliced through empty air.

Min Do-jun dodged every single attack.

‘How is he dodging this?’

Seo Jin-cheol didn’t know.

He didn’t know that even if all his stats were combined, they couldn’t surpass Min Do-jun’s agility.

Nor did he know that with the Dynamic Vision trait, dodging skills like this was no challenge for Min Do-jun.

‘Damn it, if I just had one more arm!’

If he had dual swords, even if it was a bit slower, there might have been no path for Min Do-jun to dodge.

‘Is this what it means to be rank 1?’

He had instinctively sensed that this wasn’t an easy opponent from the moment Min Do-jun tore off his arm with overwhelming strength.

‘I knew he had high combat power since he saw through my invisibility. I knew that, but…’

He never imagined Min Do-jun could perfectly dodge even his skills.

‘Is he a build focused entirely on agility? No, then what about the monstrous strength that tore off my arm? And since he’s a Magic Swordsman, he must have invested in magic power too, right?’

He couldn’t understand how Min Do-jun displayed such strength and movement, but one thing was certain.

Min Do-jun’s main stat was agility.

In reality, it was magic power that was the highest, though.

‘If I can just land one hit…!’

Realizing that continuing like this would only drain his stamina, Seo Jin-cheol stopped his attacks.

“Huff, huff…”

Due to moving with an injured body, the ground was stained with blood spots everywhere.

It must have been painful to move, yet Seo Jin-cheol didn’t even furrow his brow.

‘How is this possible? He was in so much pain before attacking.’

Min Do-jun observed him with a curious look.

‘Come to think of it, there’s been a haze rising from his body since earlier.’

The haze naturally flowed into the blade, and the sword was now even redder than before.

‘It’s almost like he’s gathering energy…’

At that moment, Seo Jin-cheol dropped to his knees.

“Huff, huff. I’ve lost.”

Unable to see any chance of winning, Seo Jin-cheol lowered his head.

Of course, Min Do-jun knew his true intentions.

‘Planning to attack when I let my guard down?’

It was an obvious tactic-pretending to surrender and striking when the opponent got close.

‘What kind of power does that red aura have that he’s so desperate to land a hit?’

Curious about its strength, Min Do-jun decided to test it.

‘Let’s play along just this once.’

Min Do-jun approached Seo Jin-cheol, pretending to lower his guard.

The distance between them closed to the point where they could reach out and touch each other.

“You’re admitting defeat?”

“…Yes. I’ve lost. Spare me.”

“Then why are you still holding a weapon?”

“Because…”

Seo Jin-cheol smiled and thrust his sword forward at the same time.

“It’s not over yet!”

At point-blank range, Fatal Frenzy was unleashed once more.

At this distance, there was no way Min Do-jun could dodge.

Not that Min Do-jun had any intention of dodging in the first place.

‘It worked! I’ve won!’

Seeing Min Do-jun standing still, seemingly unable to dodge, a triumphant smile spread across Seo Jin-cheol’s face.

‘The attack landed!’

Tingtingtingtingting-!

All the strikes hit Min Do-jun’s body cleanly.

But the sound was off.

There was no sensation of the sword piercing flesh.

It felt like striking a solid piece of metal.

‘What’s this?’

Unlike before, Min Do-jun’s body had turned golden.

Unaware that this was the Reflection trait, Seo Jin-cheol also didn’t know what was about to happen to his own body.

Pshuuuuuk-!

His skin split open all over, blood gushing out.

“Guhurgh…!”

Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Seo Jin-cheol collapsed to the ground.

He didn’t understand what had happened.

He didn’t know that the attack he had dealt to Min Do-jun had been reflected back onto himself.

“What? Looking at the wounds, it’s nothing special. I thought it was some incredible finishing move.”

Seo Jin-cheol’s body was in tatters, with organs exposed in places, but to Min Do-jun, it didn’t seem particularly impressive.

The red glow that had colored Seo Jin-cheol’s blade had now disappeared as well.

“You thought you could kill me with that level of damage? Not a chance.”

“Guh… You damn bastard…”

“Are you showing your true colors now that you’re about to die? I’ll give you credit for your quick thinking. But didn’t you know about this?”

Excalibur was summoned into Min Do-jun’s hand.

“What you just saw was only a fraction of my true power.”

With Excalibur equipped, his stats, which had been in the 7,000 range, surged to over 13,000.

The difference between Min Do-jun with a weapon and without one was beyond imagination.

“If you had known I was this strong even without a weapon, you should’ve realized resistance was futile.”

Seo Jin-cheol’s eyes trembled at the changed aura.

‘W-Wait, come to think of it, he hadn’t even drawn a weapon until now?’

He hadn’t noticed.

Even the quick-witted Seo Jin-cheol hadn’t considered that fact.

“What was it you said to Hye-ri earlier?”

A chilling sensation crept over Seo Jin-cheol.

“Ughhh!”

Seo Jin-cheol’s remaining arm was sliced off.

He didn’t even see when Min Do-jun’s sword passed by.

“Like an insect…”

“Arghhh!”

One leg was cut off.

“Cutting off limbs…”

“Aaaah!”

The other leg was severed as well.

“And slitting the throat, was it?”

The tip of Min Do-jun’s sword touched Seo Jin-cheol’s neck.

“Guhhh…”

With all four limbs gone, Seo Jin-cheol was beyond recovery.

“I can’t let you die easily.”

Min Do-jun withdrew his sword.

Rather than simply slitting his throat, he wanted Seo Jin-cheol to die in agony.

It wasn’t just for Shin Hye-ri’s sake.

Seo Jin-cheol was, after all, a target of revenge.

Personal feelings were mixed in as well.

Fwoosh-

“This is the first time I’ve used this on a person.”

Hellfire blazed from Min Do-jun’s hand.

It was Hellfire, said to inflict unimaginable pain.

“Shall we test how well it burns?”

The flames enveloped Seo Jin-cheol’s body.

“Ugh, aaaaah! Guuuuuhhh!”

His skin melted away like sludge.

It wasn’t just the pain of burning to death.

[You have killed Hunter Seo Jin-cheol.]

[You have stolen the trait ‘Berserker.’]

[You have stolen 9 pieces of equipment.]

[You have stolen 3 Magic Stones.]