“Ugh, now I can finally breathe.”
He had eaten and eaten as if his life depended on it, but maybe he had eaten too earnestly, or maybe it was because the seat was so uncomfortable. His chest felt so clogged that he had to pound on it several times to catch his 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, he 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 scramble to clean up the spilled drink made him chuckle quietly.
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 grew, the expedition leader broadcasted through a megaphone, “Let’s refrain from trusting unverified provocations.” Not that it mattered—by then, he was already slipping 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 his 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)]
He turned off the popup notifications and finished the transaction. His bag was rapidly filling up with rat poison. There was no time to spare thinking about anything else.
“Thank you, have a good day.”
The next thing he did was start spreading rat poison. He spent the entire day wandering through every darkened corner of the castle, scattering the poison.
Psshh—siiiik.
The spray burst out smoothly. The particles sprayed onto the floor and walls clung there without bursting, wriggling faintly. They would only burst if forcibly stepped on, or when he ‘activated’ them through the order window.
‘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!’
The goal was to achieve first place in achievements. He had to be the first one inside to make the upcoming quests easier.
While he was furiously spraying the corridors, he bumped into Jung Da-hoon on the stairs.
“Ah, we meet again.”
“Yes, we seem to be running into each other a lot lately.”
The comment about meeting often made him flinch internally, but he quickly composed his expression.
In Jung Da-hoon’s hands were bundles of dragonfly-net-style mousetraps. It seemed he too was running around, setting them up to properly catch the sand bats.
“Mr. Jung Da-hoon, what’s that you’re holding? Mousetraps?”
Feigning ignorance, he asked casually. Luckily, thanks to the effect of the ‘Black Hand Gloves,’ the rat poison spray in his own hands remained invisible to Jung Da-hoon.
“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…’
Feeling an uncomfortable guilt—as if he had poisoned a pure fan’s heart—he clicked his tongue silently. Still, not spelling out Jung Da-hoon’s full name was his way of showing some small kindness toward his fan.
“Well then, Mr. Woo-rim, I’ll be on my way…”
“Ah, yes. Safe travels.”
He watched Jung Da-hoon’s retreating figure with a faintly regretful expression.
Then, walking in the opposite direction, he began casually tearing down the mousetraps Jung Da-hoon had set up here and there.
“Geez, he sure put up a lot of them.”
After ripping them down, he unleashed his spray all over the spot with reckless abandon, then moved on, stirring the place up again with renewed energy.
Just as he emptied his last rat poison spray canister—
[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.’
He casually tossed the empty spray can onto the corridor floor. Then, he activated all the ‘rat poison traps’ he had spread throughout the castle over the course of the day.
Crossing the hallways, he made his way toward the Achievement Board. Inside the castle, chaos had broken out—everyone had charged in, trying to catch bats, only to gag and flee, pinching their noses.
“Ugh, what the hell! Someone must’ve released poison gas or something! It reeks!”
‘Success.’
The more the bats stumbled, intoxicated by the poisonous fumes, the faster his achievement ranking climbed.
Jung Da-hoon’s mousetraps had also started working, but thanks to the fact that he’d secretly dismantled some of them earlier, they weren’t producing great results.
[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 over 100,000 won just to anonymize his name.
As the number of bat deaths from the poison crossed into triple digits, experience points poured in richly.
“Haaah… that was a total hard carry.”
The tide had turned fully in his favor. Everything had been going almost too smoothly.
[The most renowned being in the desert has intervened in the quest.]
“What?”
“What does that mean?”
Everyone glanced around at each other in confusion.
Through the haze of the rat poison fog, a figure emerged, walking steadily toward them.
“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 one after another, as if crushed by some overwhelming atmospheric pressure. Turning his back on the entire bloodstained scene, Kessler approached, walking forward.
Even as he tried to stay calm and observe the situation objectively, his throat was suddenly seized and lifted as if it would snap.
“You.”
“……”
“What did you do to my fox?”
Breath caught in his chest. Heat surged into his eyeballs. The hand gripping his throat felt like it could sever it at any moment.
That gaze, looking at him as if he were nothing more than a speck.
Before the absolute being, Kessler, he was nothing but a helpless existence.
