Chapter 2487 – 2487. The Devil’S Game
Blink!
I opened my eyes.
It wasn’t the school. It was a dark, empty house. The one I was squatting in.
‘I’m back…!’
I was moved, but then I checked my body. The wound that should have been on my left arm was gone. The slightly burned skin was also fine. My body was perfectly okay.
‘…Was it a dream? No, it was too vivid to be a dream. I can still remember it. Shin Do-hyun…. My girlfriend candidate.’
I wanted to see Shin Do-hyun. The problem was that there was no way to meet her. She hadn’t said anything about herself.
Brrr.
My smartphone vibrated.
‘At this hour… are they the loan sharks? I blocked those guys a long time ago. Did they send it with a different number?’
When I checked, it wasn’t the loan sharks.
「Hello, Mr. Sung Yu-jin. This is Team Leader Kim from Devil Capital.
We are informing you that you have won an event.
The prize money of 30 million won will be deposited into your account.
This is money that has already been processed for taxes, so you can use it as you please.」
‘Devil Capital? What kind of place is that? Is someone playing a prank again?’
On the one hand, I was hopeful. What if what I just experienced wasn’t a dream but reality? And if this 30 million won was the reward?
‘The time now is… 12:01 AM. I was there for three hours… but no time has passed here?’
Realizing that, I was so shocked that my hands were trembling.
「30 million won has been deposited from Devil Capital.」
The message popped up about five minutes later.
‘Ah, I guess it was deposited a little late because of the bank’s maintenance time.’
I thought casually, then was startled.
‘It was really deposited!!’
30 million won! How long has it been since I received such a large sum of money? I swallowed hard. Since becoming a debtor, my bank balance had never exceeded 1 million won. When my salary was deposited, the loan sharks would find out like ghosts and send thugs to rob me.
‘…I had no choice but to pay them back, even if I didn’t want to.’
What should I do with this money?
30 million won was a lot of money, but it was far from enough to pay off my debt. I would need more than four times that amount to pay it off.
Suddenly, I felt bad.
What good was 30 million won? My life was still in the gutter.
‘I’m a murderer. The police must be after me.’
Even if I paid off the loan sharks, my life was screwed.
‘Change my life? Bullshit. How can I change my life with 30 million won? Are they telling me to go to a casino with 30 million won or what?’
I jumped up from my seat.
I didn’t want to sleep in this shabby house with 30 million won.
‘Let’s go to a five-star hotel. It’s crazy to spend hundreds of thousands of won a night… but I can do crazy things now.’
I didn’t know when I would be arrested by the police. So, I had to spend all the money before I was arrested.
‘I was going to go to a brothel… but I can’t because Shin Do-hyun is on my mind. I’ll give my virginity to Shin Do-hyun. Oh, wait. If I get caught by the police, I can’t date Shin Do-hyun?’
This was unexpected.
I was still worried, but I headed to a nearby five-star hotel. I called a taxi and arrived in less than 30 minutes.
‘Is this a room that costs 500,000 won a night? It’s certainly luxurious.’
I enjoyed the night view of Seoul, something I could never have dreamed of, then collapsed onto the bed. My body was fine, but my mind was terribly tired. I fell asleep within seconds of feeling the soft bed.
• • •
The next morning.
I woke up feeling awkward and turned on the TV.
‘Will the murder be on the morning news? Isn’t it a bit of an overreaction for just one murder to be on the news?’
I flipped through the morning news channels and found a news report about a murder.
-A murder occurred in this semi-basement studio apartment.
The building shown on the news was the one I had been living in until yesterday.
I nervously swallowed hard.
-The victim, Mr. A, was stabbed in the neck with a kitchen knife at the entrance and killed. The body was discovered by Mr. A’s friend around 10 PM last night, who reported it to the police….
Shit. I was screwed. My face would be on the news soon. And the hotel would report me to the police. I had to get out of this hotel quickly. I grabbed my bag first. Even the few belongings I had were assets.
-The perpetrator was Mr. B, a passerby who was drunk. Mr. B sobered up in the early morning and turned himself in to the police.
“What?”
I stared blankly at the news. Was what I just heard correct? Was it perhaps another murder? But the building on the news was definitely the one where my house was. The body stabbed in the neck was definitely Mr. A.
‘They said they would change my life. …Did they really change it like this?’
Reality had been manipulated.
Come to think of it, moving to another space out of nowhere was already absurd. It was also absurd that there were clones of the murderer Jang Hwi-chun there.
I felt like I had risen from the gutter to the ground.
Of course, my whole life hadn’t changed. I secretly unblocked the loan sharks and checked the messages, and the debt was still there.
「Sung Yu-jin. Where are you? You didn’t come to work at the factory, where did you go, you bastard.」
「Because you didn’t come to work, the factory owner is going crazy. The factory’s losses because of you will be deducted from your salary.」
「You son of a bitch! A murder happened in front of your house, where are you?」
「Did you run away? You think I can’t find you?」
「Contact me before I find you and kill you. This is your last chance.」
‘I need to kill this bastard.’
Pay off the debt? Why should I? I can change things so that I don’t get killed even if I kill someone?
‘I just need to participate in the devil’s game again. And survive like yesterday. Then the murder will be buried. Just like now.’
I sat on the bed and laughed. My body began to get excited. My life was really changing. A life where it was okay to kill, and even get paid for it.
‘Honestly, I’m still a little scared… but I just need to survive the devil’s game. Jang Hwi-chun. He wasn’t that special either.’
And this time, I also discovered my abilities and talents. My talent was for fighting, and my ability was….
I focused on the news. When I focused to the limit, time began to slow down.
‘It’s not my body that’s faster, it’s my mind. In this state, my body also reacts slowly, so I can’t control it as I want.’
But there was no better ability than this for things that required quick judgment.
A smile kept appearing on my face. I had become special. Very special. I felt like I had become the protagonist of this world.
‘The devil’s game…. Is a real devil changing my life? I’m not religious, but should I try believing in one? The devil’s cult. Does a devil’s cult even exist?’
• • •
I stayed at the hotel. There was also a gym, so I could train my body a little in preparation for the next game.
I wanted to kill the loan sharks… but I was still a little scared. Loan shark Paeng Cheon-soo. He doesn’t go around alone. He always has his thug underlings with him. I heard he was the boss of a small organized crime group.
「Sung Yu-jin. I know you’re in the hotel. If you have money to stay in a hotel, you should pay me back first, you bastard!」
My location was exposed in half a day.
I didn’t know how he found out my location, but he was a very capable guy.
‘Ha, what are you going to do if you know my location? Come in here? You gang of thugs?’
This was a five-star hotel. The highest-class hotel backed by a large corporation. Would a gangster come here? There was no way. The hotel’s image would be shattered, and the hotel would be pissed and retaliate against Paeng Cheon-soo.
‘That’s why he’s threatening me with messages. Usually, this guy sends thugs to scare you before threatening you.’
He couldn’t do that now.
I smirked and moved my fingers. I was going to send a message to taunt him.
‘I’m not planning to leave the hotel until the next game invitation comes.’
When the invitation came, I would go out and kill Paeng Cheon-soo, or at least one of his underlings, since that would be difficult right now.
〈Warning. Do not send a message.〉
A notification window appeared in front of my eyes.
Startled, I closed my eyes and opened them, looking at the air. A holographic notification window was floating there. I reached out, but I couldn’t grab it.
I understood what this was.
I made sure no one was around and quietly muttered.
“Status window.”
Nothing happened.
I frowned. The notification window was still in the air.
‘What is this? Am I hallucinating? You, what are you?’
〈The user can receive advice only once a day.〉
The previous notification window disappeared and a new one appeared.
I often read webtoons, so I had an idea of what kind of ability this was.
‘Is it like the Akashic Records?’
I think I knew why this guy suddenly warned me.
‘If I had sent a taunting message to that bastard…. He would have gotten pissed and come to find me and kill me. That’s very likely.’
I knew that loan shark Paeng Cheon-soo had a bad temper. He was a guy who had actually killed a few people. Compared to him, I was nothing.
‘Compared to an ordinary me, that bastard is a natural-born psycho. He probably killed his own mother for not giving him money.’
I decided to stay quietly at the hotel.
That night at midnight, I used the advice.
‘Paeng Cheon-soo. When would be a good time to kill this bastard?’
〈I do not know.〉
‘Should I kill Paeng Cheon-soo today?’
〈Warning. Do not do it.〉
‘Kill him tomorrow?’
〈The user can receive advice only once a day.〉
The advice was once a day. I could see that it reset at midnight. And it seemed that the answer “I do not know” didn’t count as advice.
• • •
The next day, at midnight.
‘When is the invitation to the devil’s game coming?’
〈The invitation will arrive in five days.〉
‘Is it the same game this time?’
〈The user can receive advice only once a day.〉
• • •
The next day, at midnight.
‘Tell me. Is it the same survival game with a murderer this time?’
〈I cannot advise on information related to games that have not yet been revealed.〉
‘Where is Shin Do-hyun right now and what is she doing?’
〈She is masturbating in bed.〉
‘Really? What’s her material?’
〈The user can receive advice only once a day.〉
‘Ugh!’
I was so curious that I couldn’t sleep.
• • •
The next day, at midnight.
‘This world is a piece of shit. The president is an idiot. Don’t you think so too?’
〈I do not know.〉
‘I knew you’d say that. Actually, I know how to make this shitty world a little less shitty. Tell me the lottery numbers.’
〈11, 13, 27, 31, 32, 39〉
‘Wow! You’re a god.’
I quickly wrote it down on my smartphone.
In the morning, I put on a hat and quietly went to a nearby convenience store to buy 10 lottery tickets, just in case Paeng Cheon-soo’s goons were near the hotel. Of course, I picked the numbers the advice had given me.
‘I’m rich.’
• • •
The next day, at midnight.
‘Hmm. It was another fulfilling day. Do you have any advice for me? If you do, give it to me.’
〈It is best to save your advice as much as possible.〉
‘I see. Well, I’ll try.’
• • •
The next day, at midnight.
“You son of a bitch!! The lottery numbers were wrong! None of the six numbers matched!!”
〈The future has been changed.〉
“What the hell?! So what are you going to do about my lottery!!”
〈The user can receive advice only once a day.〉
“This is so fucked up!”
• • •
The next day.
I found a black envelope on the bedside table next to my bed.
