“Ugh, now I can finally breathe.”
I had eaten and eaten as if my life depended on it, but maybe I had eaten too earnestly, or maybe it was because the seat was so uncomfortable. My chest felt so clogged that I had to pound on it several times to catch my breath.
‘He doesn’t even try to hide it.’
Jung Da-hoon had no qualms about revealing his innermost thoughts even to complete strangers. I had assumed that, as the Murderer, he’d keep a low profile—but his overly forward attitude was a giant red flag to me. I wanted to smack that bastard on the back of his head for blabbering everywhere that the fox was a user.
He was completely wrecking my plan to blend in quietly.
“I can’t just sit back and do nothing, then.”
Even if he was supposedly my fan. If he was the Murderer, then I was the Thief. Depending on my skill level, there was nothing I couldn’t steal.
[System]: You cannot steal the same item more than once. Please increase your skill level!
The real problem was that, for this quest, I desperately needed a large amount of rat poison. And now that I’d confirmed the purchase of the ‘Withered Fish,’ my balance had dwindled down to just a few pitiful coins.
Recently, the price of rat poison had skyrocketed due to the sudden surge in bat populations. Still, once the contents of the quest were revealed, prices would only soar higher—right now was the cheapest it was going to get.
I wandered the empty hallway, racking my brain. I had nothing on hand I could immediately sell for a large amount of money. Grinding out perfumes had its limits… Truthfully, the moment I received the Golden Collar from Kessler before, I had planned to use it as funding for this quest.
But Jung Da-hoon had already snatched it away…
Wait a minute.
My gaze, which had been aimlessly scanning the scattered floor tiles, suddenly focused.
‘I could just steal it back, couldn’t I?’
I was the Thief, after all.
“The problem is…”
My thieving skill proficiency was ridiculously low. And even for a thief, rummaging through the bag of a living user wasn’t something you could just do freely.
Still, it wasn’t like there were no options.
There were two ways for me to retrieve my item from Jung Da-hoon.
One, kill him and claim the item as loot. Or two…
‘Raise my Understanding of him.’
The first option would be a hell of a lot more exhilarating. But against another user, a Murderer was practically an immortal being.
If I could complete the quest and have the system officially recognize him as a Murderer, my Understanding of him would naturally skyrocket.
[Puzzle Piece of the Murderer’s Portrait (2/3)]
If I could just collect this last piece, I might finally be able to steal his item.
I pulled out the puzzle pieces I had flattened and used as fabric, then tried fitting them together with the newly acquired one. The final piece.
Even after rummaging through the corpses of those he killed, this fragment hadn’t appeared. Yet, the moment I confronted him directly, it dropped. Was that the level of risk I had to endure to obtain it?
If so, then there was only one method I could use.
In a room with three walls closing me in, I sat with a deliberately grave expression, opening my eyes. Then, I picked up the brush. No matter how I thought about it, this was the only way.
***
The user known as ‘Kimchi Artisan,’ who had been running a barbecue restaurant for other players to make a living, straightened his back at the sound of murmuring around him.
「I know the identity of the murderer. Hint: It’s someone named Jung O-O. (I can’t say more or I’ll get killed.) ㅠ」
A long banner fluttered down from the ceiling on the third floor of the castle. It was a giant poster seemingly pointing out the murderer that everyone was desperately trying to find.
“What the hell is that long-winded banner? Who put that up? It says they know who the murderer is?”
“Who’s Jung O-O supposed to be?”
Even the skeletal NPCs who were working part-time tilted their heads, trying to guess.
“Why don’t they just say it directly?”
“They’re probably scared they’ll get killed. That crazy wildcat murderer will kill anyone without hesitation.”
As everyone buzzed with curiosity, a man whose face was hidden behind a black hood casually dropped a hint.
“Jung… hmm, who could it be? The only Jung I know is Jung Da-hoon, though.”
***
If I was going to take the risk, it had to be at least this level of intimidation, right? And it actually worked.
Jung Da-hoon, who had been drinking juice on a date with Bori, saw the banner and immediately sprayed the drink he had been sipping.
“Oh no, Da-hoon!”
[Only those brave enough could face the murderer.
You have collected all the Puzzle Pieces of the Murderer’s Portrait (3/3).
All puzzle pieces have been collected.
Revealing the murderer’s face.]
Swish, swish.
The two puzzle pieces, moving vigorously, completed the image of Jung Da-hoon’s forehead and the left side of his face. The last piece, which I had once used as fabric by pressing it flat with a roller, had stretched the skin unnaturally when fitted in—
The skin had stretched out unnaturally.
‘No unexpected events.’
Casually dismissing the notification, I checked the additional information related to the special occupation.
[Your first theft target has been registered.
You can now steal one item per day from the registered person’s bag using ‘Bag Peeking.’
However, each time you steal an item, the target will receive a hint about you.]
[Skill unlocked: ‘You’re My ATM!’
Target: Jung Da-hoon]
Watching Jung Da-hoon clumsily try to clean up the spilled drink made me chuckle. Meanwhile, the others had begun speculating about who “Jung O-O” might be.
“Jung Da-hoon, Jung Bori, Jung Kkukkku, Jung Carbonara, Jung Eopda, Jung RealReal… I know at least six Jungs!”
“Jung Carbonara is six syllables though, can’t we just eliminate that one?”
“Still, it starts with ‘Jung,’ so we should keep it as a candidate, right?”
“I’m seriously living in fear every single day!”
The various Jungs present, protesting their innocence, beat their chests in frustration one after another.
As the chaos escalated, the expedition leader broadcast a PSA through the megaphone, urging people not to trust unverified provocations. Not that I cared—I was already making my way into the Shadow Night Market.
[You have stolen the Golden Collar.
When the victim opens their bag, they will receive a hint puzzle piece about you.]
‘Heh. I stole this, you know.’
The collar was immediately sold through a vendor NPC, exchanged straight into cash.
The amount deposited into my account: a whopping 10 million won.
“Please give me 5 million won’s worth of rat poison.”
[The victim has opened their bag.
A hint about you has been collected. (1/10)]
I silenced the pop-up and completed the purchase.
My bag was quickly filled to the brim with rat poison—there wasn’t time to worry about anything else.
“Thank you, have a good day.”
The next task was spreading the poison.
I spent the entire day weaving through the darkened corners of the castle, spraying rat poison everywhere.
Psshh—siiiik.
The spray hissed satisfyingly. The granules stuck to the floors and walls, squirming instead of bursting on impact. They would only explode if deliberately stepped on or if I activated them through the command interface.
‘It’s not enough to kill the sand bats outright, but it should at least deal damage.’
The next quest would grade players based on the number of sand bats they captured. The top three players would get to enter the Treasure Room and each select one item.
‘I spent five million won on this. I’m definitely not missing the leaderboard!’
My goal was first place in achievements. I had to be the first one through that door—only then would the quests ahead go smoothly.
Just as I was aggressively spraying away, I bumped into Jung Da-hoon on the stairs.
“Ah, we meet again.”
“Yes, we seem to be running into each other a lot lately.”
His comment caught me off guard, but I kept my expression composed.
He was carrying a bunch of dragonfly net-style rat traps in his hands. Looked like he was setting them up all over the place, trying to properly hunt sand bats as well.
“Mr. Jung Da-hoon, what’s that you’re holding? Mousetraps?”
I asked with feigned innocence. Thankfully, the rat poison spray in my hand was invisible to him thanks to the effect of my Black Hand Gloves.
“It’s nothing special. I was planning to buy rat poison originally, but I heard someone already bought it all up.”
“Ah, rat poison? Yeah, there do seem to be a lot more bats these days. But Da-hoon, you’ve lost a lot of weight compared to when you were eating barbecue. Maybe it’s because of the misunderstanding with the ‘Jung O-O’ on the banner…?”
“Haha, thank you. I’m getting through it thanks to my love for Poksup.”
‘…Yeah. Hang in there with your love for Poksup. Seriously, why are you saying something like that…’
His pure fan devotion left me with a bitter, poisonous taste.
Still, I hadn’t written out his full name as “Jung Da-hoon” on the banner out of respect for him—as a fan. That was my own little gesture.
“Well then, Mr. Woo-rim, I’ll be on my way…”
“Ah, yes. Safe travels.”
I watched his retreating back with a touch of pity.
Then I walked in the opposite direction—and started ripping down the rat traps he’d set up.
“Geez, he sure put up a lot of them.”
After tearing down a good number of his traps, I unloaded the spray can all over the area and kept moving like I was on a mission.
Just as I emptied the last spray can—
[The Manager of Shadow Castle is calling players together with a troubled expression.]
– – –
Special Quest <The Manager’s Plea> has arrived!
The Manager is troubled these days.
Recently, the sand bat population has surged uncontrollably after the loss of their natural predator.
The Manager has grown old and weary, fighting the bats day and night.
He is requesting the players’ help.
Achieve great feats and claim your rewards!
Reward: Entrance to the Room of Ancient Treasures according to achievement ranking.
– – –
‘It’s starting.’
I casually tossed the empty spray can onto the hallway floor.Then, I activated all the ‘rat poison traps’ I had spread throughout the castle over the course of the day.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
With the poison erupting everywhere, I crossed the hallway and made my way to the Achievement Board. Inside the castle, the mood had devolved into total chaos. Players who’d rushed in to hunt rats were now gagging and retreating, pinching their noses shut.
“Ugh, what the hell! Someone must’ve released poison gas or something! It reeks!”
‘Success.’
The more the sand bats stumbled around, high on the chemical fumes, the faster my achievement ranking climbed.
Jung Da-hoon’s traps had started going off as well, but because I had sabotaged and removed a few of them earlier, his overall output was lagging.
[1st Place: (Anonymous) 56 bats hit!
2nd Place: Jung Da-hoon 28 bats hit!
3rd Place: McMorning 11 bats hit!]
“Whoa, who the hell is that anonymous person?”
“This is insane. Must be the guy who spread the poison.”
The anonymous first-place holder was now grinding his teeth while checking the rankings.
‘These damn cheats…’
It had cost me over 100,000 won just to mask my name as anonymous.
As the number of poison-related kills climbed into the triple digits, the experience points rolled in—sweet and steady.
“Haaah… that was a total hard carry.”
The tide had turned in my favor. Maybe everything was going too smoothly?
[The most renowned being in the desert has intervened in the quest.]
“What?”
“What does that mean?”
Everyone looked around in confusion, scanning one another’s faces—
Then, through the toxic mist of rat poison, a figure began to approach.
“I can’t see because of the gas!”
“Someone get rid of this fog already!”
A clear destination, steady footsteps. More precisely, all the sand bats in my direction had been annihilated.
[All sand bats have been exterminated. The quest has ended.]
Huh? Just like that?
The sand bats exploded under some unknown pressure— And through the blood-splattered aftermath, Kessler emerged, walking slowly toward us.
As I struggled to stay composed, determined to stay clear-headed, something like a noose wrapped tight around my neck.
“You.”
“……”
“What did you do to my fox?”
I couldn’t breathe. My eyes burned. It felt like his hand was going to snap my neck right then and there.
That gaze—like he was staring at something worthless.
Standing before the absolute being known as Kessler, I was nothing but helpless.
