Chapter 2488 – 2488. Devil’S Game
“To Seong Yu-jin.
Did you enjoy the last game? I certainly did.
You won and changed your life. But it will be insufficient. Rest assured. The game will continue, and you can change your life again.
I invite you to the devil’s game.
The game starts at midnight today.
You can refuse to participate in the game. Just tear this invitation directly.
If you refuse to participate in the game, the abilities and items you gained through the game will become unusable forever.
You can also participate in the refused game again. If you wish to re-participate, please contact 6666-6666.
However, you must start from the beginning.
I will be waiting for your participation in the game.”
‘I can quit the game?’
It was possible with a very easy method. Tearing the invitation. I could refuse to participate in the game right away.
‘Devil’s game… It’s a terrible game. It’s a game where you risk your life, how could it not be terrible?’
But if you win the game, your life changes.
I, who was a murderer, am no longer a murderer. It didn’t end there, I even got 30 million won. Most surprising of all, I gained a superpower that answers anything.
‘If I refuse to participate in the game, this ability will disappear. I can’t let that happen.’
My life has changed.
I rose from the abyss to the ground. No, it’s not enough to call it the ground yet. I’m still in debt, and loan shark Paeng Cheon-su is looking for an opportunity to drag me back into the abyss.
‘If I win, it’ll change again. My life will change again.’
I can change my dirty, smelly gutter life into a rich and shining luxury life.
‘I’d be a moron not to participate.’
Fifteen hours until midnight.
I decided to kill Paeng Cheon-su’s subordinate today.
• • •
Loan shark Paeng Cheon-su’s subordinate was definitely monitoring this hotel.
‘Paeng Cheon-su. That persistent bastard wouldn’t let me go without getting his money. He’s probably furious because I ignored him.’
Face. Paeng Cheon-su’s face was damaged because of me. He probably thinks so. The only way to restore that damaged face is to punish me, the cause.
‘He’s a real bastard.’
So, if an opportunity arises, I have to kill him without hesitation. I absolutely didn’t want to pay him back. Even if I did pay him back, he might still try to mess with me.
‘Hah, let’s take care of dinner first. Even if I go out of the hotel a little, that subordinate who’s been watching me will show up.’
I’ll kill his subordinates one by one. Because the more subordinates die, the more his position will be shaken.
I headed to the front door to have dinner. The hotel restaurant was expensive but delicious. The cup ramen I ate every day strangely didn’t suit my taste. It’s not that I couldn’t eat it, but even one bite made me feel bad.
It was the moment I was about to open the front door without thinking.
I stopped just before grabbing the doorknob.
I narrowed my eyes at the sudden advice and pondered for a moment.
‘If this is true, it means someone is waiting for me in front of the hotel door. There’s no reason for a hotel employee to be doing that, so…’
It’s Paeng Cheon-su’s thug.
I realized belatedly. This is a hotel that Paeng Cheon-su is reluctant to mess with, but there are ways even if he doesn’t send gangsters openly. Like sending gangsters quietly, like now.
‘Shit. The watcher was closer than I thought.’
It’s actually good.
I’ll kill him here. Knowing that he’s waiting behind this door, I won’t be caught off guard.
‘I have a superpower that makes my brain faster.’
It was even easy to activate. All I had to do was concentrate.
I opened the front door. Time slowed down, and I saw a hand reaching towards my face. The hand was holding a stun gun.
‘He was trying to knock me out and kidnap me.’
I grabbed his arm with both hands and twisted the joint in the opposite direction. As his elbow bent, the stun gun he was holding fell.
“Kkeuaaaak!”
I snatched the stun gun and zapped it on his neck. He shuddered and collapsed. I took him inside the hotel.
I noticed the camera installed in the hallway.
‘They’re not watching every moment, right? It doesn’t matter if the police don’t come right away.’
I stripped the unconscious guy and tied his hands and feet to a chair with a towel. I didn’t take off his underwear. I didn’t want to see a man’s thing.
In the process, I found a card key. It was a card key for the next room. I never thought he would be monitoring me from the room right next door.
“Wake up, you bastard.”
I punched the unconscious guy.
It worked. He opened his eyes, bleeding from his nose.
“Ugh… shit…”
“Paeng Cheon-su sent you, right?”
He suddenly came to his senses and struggled. Thanks to the towel tied tightly, he couldn’t break free.
“Seong Yu-jin…! You bastard…! Do you think you’ll be safe after this?”
“Do you think you’ll be safe?”
Beep!
The signal sounded from the electric kettle. The water was hot. I picked up the steaming electric kettle. The guy’s face, which had been defiant, turned pale.
“S-stop!”
“Am I your subordinate? Do you think I’ll stop if you order me to?”
I poured the hot water on his crotch.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
“You’re too loud.”
I gagged him with the remaining towel. I refilled the electric kettle and boiled it again, asking him.
“Did you come alone?”
“Ugh, ugh!”
“Not going to answer?”
“Ugh ugh!!”
Ah, right. I untied the towel that was gagging him.
“If you scream this time, I’ll pour hot water into your mouth.”
I untied the towel.
“Hospital… send me to the hospital. It hurts so much down there…”
“You bastard. I asked if you came alone. Do you really want to die?”
I had already committed murder once. Or maybe five times. I took out a kitchen knife and poked his chest. A drop of blood oozed from the slightly poked chest. Just that made his attitude polite. He seemed too terrified to feel the pain.
“My friend, Yong-sik, is with me. He’s in the next room!”
“So, you weren’t alone. But… ah, shit. I’m screwed. If he was in the next room, he would have run away after hearing the scream, right?”
I gagged him again with the towel and moved to the next room. Since I had the card key, the front door opened right away.
A man was watching TV and eating cup ramen.
“Huh?”
I ran towards the startled man. He tried to get up quickly, but I was faster.
“Didn’t Paeng Cheon-su give you money for meals?”
Thud.
The knife was accurately embedded in his neck. As he fell, the kitchen knife naturally came out of his neck. I stared at the corpse for a moment. My hands were shaking. Fear? No. Excitement.
I had become too accustomed to murder to feel fear.
‘He was calmly eating cup ramen… is it because the soundproofing is excellent? It’s not a 5-star hotel for nothing.’
I left the corpse and returned to my room.
When I entered the room, the tied-up guy was startled to see me. I was holding a knife, and my body was covered in blood. Even a fool could tell what I had just done.
“Let’s go easy. Answer my questions well.”
I said, pointing the kitchen knife at him. He nodded, tears streaming down his face.
I removed the towel gagging him and began the interrogation.
“Are there any other guys watching me?”
“N-no, there aren’t. It’s just us.”
“Paeng Cheon-su. How did that bastard know I was here?”
Did he have someone watching me? No, that would be too much effort. It’s a loss to put a watcher on just one debtor.
I figured that Paeng Cheon-su might have connections or subordinates in this hotel.
“A tracker… a tracker was put in your shoes…”
“Shit.”
That was unexpected. I immediately picked up my shoes and checked. There was an unnatural scratch on the sole. When I opened it with a knife, there was a small device inside.
‘The reason those bastards came to bother me periodically… it wasn’t just for intimidation.’
There were even trackers in both shoes.
I was being played in Paeng Cheon-su’s palm. I felt terrible and murderous at the same time. Paeng Cheon-su. I will definitely kill that bastard.
‘I need to throw away my shoes and clothes and get new ones. If I pay the employee, they’ll buy them for me, right?’
If I give them a generous tip, they’ll be happy.
“Is Paeng Cheon-su at The Island right now?”
“I-I don’t know. I heard the boss went to some island…”
“Island?”
“…It’s an island where debtors gather. Debtors pay off their debts there.”
It was definitely an island of labor exploitation. Pay off debts? Once you go there, you’ll probably never get out.
My spine tingled. If it weren’t for the devil’s game, my future would have been there too.
“When is Paeng Cheon-su coming back?”
“He’ll be back in about a week.”
“How many businesses does Paeng Cheon-su run? How many subordinates does he have? Tell me everything you know.”
He had 16 businesses.
Paeng Cheon-su was not only a loan shark but also involved in most illegal activities such as clubs, brothels, illegal gambling, and illegal sports betting.
I broke out in a cold sweat listening to him.
“Hey. That doesn’t make sense. Why would a guy who runs a club be a loan shark?”
“I don’t know either. Actually, I’ve never met the boss in person. I just do what I’m told when orders come down.”
From what I heard, Paeng Cheon-su had already formed a cartel. There were several organized crime groups under Paeng Cheon-su, and under them, there were other gangs. This guy was relatively high up in the gang, so he knew a bit about the organization.
‘He’s not lying… right? There’s no way a guy like him would dare to lie to me.’
He was just a thug, not a special forces soldier or a special agent. He was still carefully watching my every move. It didn’t seem like he would lie to me.
‘I heard illegal sports betting makes a lot of money… why is Paeng Cheon-su doing loan sharking? There’s no way loan sharking makes that much money.’
Anyway, I got all the information I needed.
I dragged the thug to the next room and stabbed him to death with a knife. At least the body wouldn’t be discovered until tomorrow.
Later, I asked a hotel employee to get me new clothes and shoes. I didn’t throw away the shoes with the trackers right away, I just tossed them in a corner of the room.
‘Let’s sneak out now. Paeng Cheon-su probably thinks I’m still in the hotel.’
There was still time until midnight.
Just in case, I also cashed out the remaining money in my account. I put about 20 million won in a bag. The problem was that I didn’t know where to go.
‘Should I go outside of Seoul? But I don’t want to go to the countryside outside of Seoul… Should I stay at another decent hotel for a while?’
I liked the hotel life more than I thought. It was a bit expensive, though.
And then it became midnight.
• • •
As soon as it became midnight, I was in another space.
I habitually looked around.
‘Is this a room?’
There were a total of six people in a fairly large room, including me. Three of them were Shin Do-hyun, Yu Jin-myeong, and Bae Hyun-soo. The people who survived the previous devil’s game together.
‘Shin Do-hyun is beautiful as always. It’s a bit of a shame that she’s wearing workout clothes instead of the suit she wore back then.’
The other two were a muscular gym guy and a slender beauty. The woman’s beauty was close to Shin Do-hyun’s. However, my preference is for Shin Do-hyun, who has a big height, chest, and butt.
I was about to talk to Shin Do-hyun when I was surprised to see a revolver in her hand.
‘A gun? How does she have a gun?’
Crackling.
A sound came from the speaker on the ceiling. Everyone looked up at the ceiling and listened.
-Hello, game participants. Welcome.
-This game is a room escape game. If you escape three rooms within three hours, the participants win.
-Hints needed to escape the rooms are hidden everywhere. Also, the decisive hint is on the body of the killer. If you get the decisive hint, escaping the room won’t be difficult.
-One killer is hiding among you. The killer must kill one of the participants within three hours before escaping the room. Even if the killer escapes the room, they will lose the game if they fail to kill. Defeat means death.
-The killer can only use the time of killing once. During the three minutes that the time of killing is maintained, the killer can use the most familiar cold weapon.
-Then, have a fun game.
The voice from the speaker cut off. But I couldn’t take my eyes off the air. Because a notification window was floating there.
「Seong Yu-jin, you are the killer.」
