Chapter 2248 – 2248. Rezo
Lee Yeon-sook, who had killed Rezo, walked over with heavy steps.
“You held out well against that madman. You don’t seem to be hurt anywhere. It would be best to go to the hospital later. You faced one of the world’s top curse sorcerers, so there might be curses you don’t know about left on your body or mind. Your lover is no ordinary person, so I guess you’ll be safe.”
“I trust you will keep your promise.”
“I repay my debts. Tell me if you need my help.”
“Besides that, there’s something else.”
“Ah. A-rank? You’ve proven your strength. You’re more than qualified to be an A-rank. Your certificate will be officially issued tomorrow. By the way, what is your lover’s identity?”
“Are you talking about Miryeong? Isn’t she pretty?”
“She’s pretty and capable. Her physical abilities are similar to yours… but her magic is beyond S-rank. I was quite confident in my barriers… but comparing myself to your lover, my confidence vanished in an instant. When she deployed that large-scale barrier spell on the rooftop of the association building, I even felt fear.”
“The Hell Tiger felt fear?”
“I told you not to call me by that nickname. Anyway, what if your lover had a change of heart then? If she had used the barrier that covered the entire city of Seoul in a different way? All the citizens of Seoul might have been massacred.”
“That’s too much of a far-fetched imagination. What she did this time was detect curses. Even if I don’t know much about magic, I know that magic can’t do such enormous things in an instant. Besides, Miryeong loves Seoul.”
“Your position and mine are different. I can’t help but worry about Miryeong.”
“Yes, yes. Do as you please.”
She doesn’t know anything about Miryeong, so it’s understandable.
Miryeong’s summoning time is running out, so she will be reverse-summoned and disappear in a few days, but I have no intention of explaining every single detail to Lee Yeon-sook. What if I reveal my abilities and get into trouble?
“Do you smoke?”
“I don’t.”
“That’s a shame. A physical ability user like you would naturally detoxify nicotine over time. You could just enjoy the benefits of smoking, so why don’t you?”
“Girls hate the smell of cigarette butts.”
“I like it, though.”
“……”
I almost said, ‘I’m not interested in old hags,’ but I barely held it back. The other party is an S-rank.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“As long as it’s not too rude.”
“How strong are you among the S-ranks?”
“…I don’t know exactly myself. Even among S-ranks, the abilities they possess vary greatly. However, if we’re just talking about combat, I think I’m in the upper ranks. Don’t be too obsessed with force. There aren’t many situations where S-ranks fight each other.”
•••
Rezo was attacked and killed by Lee Yeon-sook, who suddenly appeared.
The moment Lee Yeon-sook appeared, he knew he was going to die. He was already exhausted, while Lee Yeon-sook was fresh after shaking off the curse he had prepared.
So, Rezo planned for the afterlife.
Possession would be impossible. He wasn’t a fool to expect the luck of his first death to happen a second time.
Rezo held onto his own soul. That’s why he had learned necromancy and Korean shamanism. Possessing a corpse to come back to life was also impossible. There were no intact corpses around.
‘I have to do it before this soul disappears.’
He was a curse sorcerer. There was only one thing he could do.
‘I curse.’
The price was his own existence.
Magic and curses were unrealistic powers. And the soul was at the center of it. There were things that could only be done because it was a soul.
‘Cursing Lee Yeon-sook herself is a bad idea. As long as that bitch is protected by her barrier… this last curse might disappear without meaning.’
Even if he cast a curse now, he needed to increase its size and power.
What caught his eye was the Korean Peninsula.
‘I will curse this land.’
At first, it would be a weak curse.
No one would know.
The curse would grow, fueled by the grudges that occurred on the Korean Peninsula. After growing for decades, it would become a catastrophe and engulf the Korean Peninsula. And Lee Yeon-sook would not be able to escape the destruction.
‘Fortunately, the size of the Korean Peninsula is… manageable.’
Just as Rezo was about to unleash his curse, putting everything he had into it, on the Korean Peninsula.
“Such a large-scale nuisance… absolutely not. If the country collapses, life will be miserable. Especially since this is my husband’s country. I can’t let it fall.”
A woman suddenly appeared.
Rezo, who was only a soul, felt his existence tremble just by facing her. In Rezo’s vision, he saw tails swaying behind the woman.
‘…A nine-tailed fox?’
“Why does everyone keep calling me a nine-tailed fox? I only have five tails yet.”
‘……I see why Lee Yeon-sook found me so quickly. You were the one who helped Lee Yeon-sook. I haven’t heard of such a skilled person in Korea.’
“Unfortunately, I’m not Korean.”
Flames of blue foxfire appeared in the air. Rezo tensed at the flames that exuded an aura more mysterious than the soul. He knew instinctively. Those flames would burn his soul.
‘Can’t I just pretend I didn’t see it? If you’re not Korean, it doesn’t matter if Korea collapses.’
“My husband is Korean. And I like Korea too. So… please disappear now.”
‘…How come nothing is going right?’
“That’s life, I guess.”
‘…You don’t understand my life.’
“Actually, I have no intention of understanding. If you’re a failure, then disappear like one.”
Flames!
The blue flames burned Rezo’s soul. Rezo felt a burning pain even though he had no body and disappeared.
Miryeong scanned the place where Rezo had been with cold eyes and then approached Sung Yu-jin.
• • •
-This is an urgent news flash! The human bomb Rezo, who caused the subway terror earlier today, has been killed! Korea is now safe. The unofficial operation was carried out by Lee Yeon-sook, one of the five S-ranks in Korea. She had already declared her retirement from the hunter industry, but due to the severity of the situation, she personally stepped in to resolve this matter. The association has not announced why the human bomb Rezo, who was reported dead in Europe, suddenly appeared in Korea, but according to expert speculation….
I dragged my tired body home and turned on the TV, and the news was playing.
‘It’s only been an hour since Rezo died, and it’s already on the news. They must have been really desperate.’
It wasn’t hard to understand.
Even just by going online, there were many office workers saying they wouldn’t go to work because they were afraid to take the subway. Whether they were really scared or not.
‘The Korean stock market also crashed.’
Even though Korea was a hunter powerhouse, they couldn’t prevent the stock market from crashing. That’s how formidable the human bomb Rezo was. In Europe, they were afraid to even say Rezo’s name.
‘The plummeting stock prices will recover… and the association and the government will avoid criticism for being incompetent. It’s a bit surprising that Lee Yeon-sook is being mentioned in the media.’
But if it wasn’t Lee Yeon-sook? It would be difficult to justify the news. They must have used Lee Yeon-sook’s name to ensure Korea’s quick stabilization.
‘Looking at Lee Yeon-sook’s personality, she wouldn’t have just been used, she would have taken what she could. I like that there’s no mention of me at all.’
Fame? It would be nice to have, but it was annoying. If I wanted fame, I could get it in another creative world.
‘Anyway, today is a good day. If Lee Yeon-sook hadn’t intervened and stolen the final blow, I, who had revived with full recovery, would have killed Rezo, the S-rank criminal. It’s proof that my power works against S-ranks.’
Honestly, I wasn’t confident that I could beat Lee Yeon-sook yet. Not all S-ranks are monsters like Lee Yeon-sook.
“Madoka. We need to celebrate our victory. Order some chicken.”
“I want pizza!”
Miryeong’s voice came from the room. It was just like her to turn on the computer as soon as she got home.
-Celebrate victory? What victory did you achieve?
Madoka’s voice rang from my smartphone.
“Don’t you know? You’re incompetent. If it were Schicksal, she would have ordered chicken and pizza without me having to ask….”
-…Who is this Schicksal again?
“She’s the super artificial intelligence Schicksal. She was about 119 times more capable than you. So capable that she almost caused the extinction of humanity. If you’re late, you know what will happen?”
-……I won’t be late.
I was enjoying myself when Miryeong’s room became noisy.
“Wow! Amazing! Honey, look at this!”
I went into Miryeong’s room. Miryeong was constantly marveling while looking at the monitor.
“Our game, you know! It’s still a hot topic! We had a major update yesterday, and the reviews are so good.”
“Black River? Honestly, isn’t it a bit much to say that you and I made it? Madoka made it all.”
“Come on. AI is AI. We ordered the AI, so we made it.”
“I guess so.”
Miryeong showed me the game footage. The basic framework of the game was as planned. However, the convenience of the game had been greatly increased, and new jobs, monsters, and weapons had been added. The content seemed to have more than doubled.
“Madoka. I left you in charge, but I didn’t know you’d do this well. How did you do it?”
-I listened to the users’ requests and analyzed other games to introduce similar content.
Of course, there were criticisms of the game. The biggest criticisms were that it was a pay-to-win game and that avatars and mounts were gacha.
-Current sales are over 60 billion. Expected sales for next month are over 400 billion.
“So, all that money is mine? There are no labor costs, so I can take it all.”
-…Server maintenance costs are necessary.
“Oh, okay. Use it as you see fit. More importantly, is this a game where you can make money?”
-I can’t say for sure yet, but there are signs that it is.
“Create a market. Then you can make a lot of money by copying items. How would the users know if the operator is copying items? Make as much money as possible. The more money, the better.”
“You’ll give me money too, right? I have a good stock pick this time….”
“Haha. You drew the illustrations for the game. Of course, I have to take care of you.”
“Hehe. I’ll become the queen of stocks.”
