Villain Hides His True Colors

Turbak Brotherhood’s senior executive, ‘Lucky.’

Even in a cartel full of thugs, he was particularly known for his fearlessness.

A brave vanguard in the struggle against other cartels.

Known to mercilessly murder families of his enemies at times, he was a man with the heart of a beast. A man among men.

It could also be said that he was a model gangster, one that the younger members admired.

However, he had a secret that even he couldn’t reveal…

It’s time for the news.

Lucky lit a cigarette and pulled out his smartphone. Then, with familiar hand gestures, he accessed a site he had saved.

In the next instant, a cute girlish screen appeared on his smartphone.

[Lady Fortune’s Fortune Telling Hall]

That’s right. 

He was actually a terrible occult maniac who believed in superstition enough to cancel all schedules on a bad day.

Currently, the site he was accessing was one of those fortune blogs that was famous for its fortune telling.

He quickly entered his zodiac sign and blood type before pressing the confirm button.

Then…

[Today is the day you reap the karma you’ve accumulated so far. If you have accumulated bad karma, you’ll face an unbearable misfortune. May you rest in peace…No, good luck.]

Wh-what’s this?

Lucky stared at his smartphone with raised eyebrows.

It was an ominous fortune. It was a scarier fortune than any that he had ever seen.

Reap my karma?

He recalled the evil deeds he had committed. Just a quick thought and he already knew it was a life sentence to imprisonment.

For him to reap the karma he had accumulated so far…

I-isn’t this dangerous?

The phrase ‘unbearable misfortune’ continued to flash across his eyes.

His spine became numb and cold sweat flowed down his forehead.

He didn’t have a good feeling.

Putting out his cigarette, he grabbed the talisman hidden in his wallet tightly.

Damn it, I need to safely head home and hide first…

At that moment, a sharp scream penetrated his ears.

“Keuaak! S-stop! Stop it!”

In the middle of a spacious warehouse. A beast tied to a chair was screaming.

He was currently being electrocuted with a cover over his eyes.

Around him, ten members of the organization were enjoying the show.

“What do you think, hyung? It’s very electrifying, isn’t it?”

(TN: Hyung means older brother, older male friend, etc…in gangs it can just be a male of higher rank.)

“Punk. Did you think we would sit still while you sell out us brothers? Do we look easy because we called you hyung?”

“Huh? You dirty traitor.”

Recently, it was discovered that Hairy was a police officer, and along with it was the informant who had been communicating with him.

The so-called second lieutenant.

He had betrayed the organization for the sake of a reduced jail sentence.

And for the Turbak Brotherhood, betrayal was the same as death.

“Haha, shall we increase the output a bit more?”

“Ah, no! P-please don’t–aahh!!!”

The man’s whole body twisted in pain while the gang members giggled and took pictures.

You punks!

Lucky’s anger soared to the top of his head.

He was currently anxious about his karma, yet his subordinates were building up bad karma in real time.

S-something really ominous might happen at this rate.

His feelings became more and more impatient. He had to wrap this up and go home quickly. 

It was dangerous to remain here.

Lucky hit the back of the head of the guy controlling the output and lowered the power switch.

“Hey, you punks! Why are you dragging your feet? Hurry up and finish it!”

“What? Already? Since you said you’d show us a magic show today, I had prolonged it…”

The members looked at Lucky with an expression of being deprived of the toy they were playing with.

On one side of the warehouse was a shiny new chainsaw that hadn’t yet been unpacked.

Th-these punks are really going to get me killed!

If he was his usual self, he would have been the first to volunteer, but it was dangerous today.

Now, it was right to be careful of even falling leaves. Wasn’t the fortune a warning? All the karma will be reaped.

Lucky yelled fiercely at the gang members.

“You idiots! I’m ashamed to call the likes of you my dongsaeng.”

(TN: Dongsaeng means younger sibling, younger friend, etc…in gangs it can just be someone of lower rank.)

“Huh? What? Boss, what…”

“Isn’t he the one you used to serve as your hyung? But look at his current state!”

The man’s appearance was nothing short of gruesome. Saliva was running down the corner of his mouth and his pants were damp.

“If you are born as a man, even if you die, you have to protect your pride. At least in his last moment, I think we should be polite as brothers!”

The members who heard Lucky became solemn. After a while, they nodded with a fairly calm look.

“…We were short-sighted. Hyung. Let’s wrap this up right now.”

“Yes. Finish it as soon as possible.”

“Yes. We understand.”

Lucky breathed a sigh of relief inside and watched one of the members pull out his gun.

The gun slowly pointed at the man.

“Punk, aren’t you lucky? You should really be thankful to our hyung.”

As soon as he was about to pull the trigger–

“Are you uncles filming something right now?”

From somewhere, a young voice that hasn’t hit puberty was heard. Everyone in the warehouse turned their heads at the same time.

At the entrance of the warehouse stood a boy in a long overcoat.

The boy was maybe around 12 to 13 years old?

The child who still looks like an elementary school student stepped inside the warehouse without fear.

“…How did you get in here?”

“I just came through the door? Hey, is that gun real?”

A bright smile that didn’t match the brutal scene. The child seemed to be not right in the head.

Who the hell is this?!

Watching the scene, Lucky’s mind was truly going crazy. As soon as he was about to finish the job, he couldn’t believe another unexpected variable had popped up.

Hold it…hold it in one more time…I might catch something unclean if I spill the blood of a child.

Lucky calmed himself with superhuman patience.

“Hyung, what should we do about this? We were going to dig a hole anyway, so we can just take care of it and bury them together.”

“What are you talking about!? Just let it go and finish the job.”

However, the situation didn’t go the way he had wanted.

“Hey, did you hear that? If you don’t want to die, leave now.”

“But can I touch that gun once? Then I’ll get out of here immediately.”

“What? Oh, my. This punk isn’t scared at all…”

The child truly wasn’t right in the head. Lucky, whose patience had finally reached its limit, roared.

“For fuck sake! Stop dawdling and just let him touch it! Why are you dragging things again?”

“Ah, I understand.”

Hesitating, the gang member looked back. Then, he held out the handgun in front of the child.

The child stroked the gun like a puppy and asked.

“Does this have bullets in it?”

“Yes.”

“That’s great. Can I try shooting it?”

“What…”

The child quickly grabbed the handgun and pulled the trigger.

Bang–!

The gang member who had held the handgun fell powerlessly to the ground.

“Huh?”

What the hell happened? No one inside the warehouse was conscious of the situation.

The moment everyone was dumbfounded, a second shot was heard.

Bang–!

Another member of the organization collapsed to the ground. Only then did the members start to get a good grasp of the situation.

The fact that the little child over there was trying to kill them.

“Wh-what the fuck!”

However, the speed at which the child pulled the trigger was faster than them being able to pull out their guns.

Bang–!

Bang–!

.

.

One after another. A total of six members were killed.

It was just like how a storm had come and gone.

Click–

Click–

Before Lucky knew it, all he heard was the sound of a handgun’s bullet chamber opening.

“I’m out of bullets.”

The boy smacked his lips and threw the gun away as if he was disappointed.

Then, as if he was teasing them, he took off his clothes and sat on the floor naked.

“I don’t have a gun anymore. You can stop being scared and come out.”

Lucky and the other members, after surveying the scene, slowly stood up.

They weren’t sure whether the boy was intending to resist or not, but he was just sitting there calmly. On the floor full of blood, the naked child sat with a smile.

It was an ominous and surreal sight.

Is this crazy guy the misfortune the fortune had warned me about?

He thought it was probably a child of someone he had killed in the past.

But that didn’t matter now. What’s done is done.

And he had dodge the misfortune. There was nothing to fear now that the bad luck had passed.

No longer having to endure it, he picked up an automatic rifle.

“Hey, turn this bastard into a beehive.”

As soon as Lucky’s words fell, the other members who were on high alert poured their bullets into the boy.

Sparks flew everywhere, and a sound reminiscent of a battlefield resonated in the warehouse.

Their opponent was a defenseless child. However, the bullets were lodged into the fragile child’s body without mercy.

After dozens and even hundreds of shots, eventually, the child’s entire body was shattered to the point where it was hard to recognize the shape.

The misty smell of gunpowder made their throats dry. Lucky spat on top of the gruesome corpse.

“Ptooey! It’s truly a shit day today.”

It was like being struck by lightning on a clear day. And on days like this, it could be said that you have to bleed a bit to gain back some luck.

“Hey! You know the chainsaw that you guys had prepared earlier? Fill it with oil and bring it here.”

“Huh? What do you mean…?”

“Weren’t you going to take care of that traitor? I’ll show you the magic show you wanted today, so bring it quickly.”

“Ah, yes. Hyung!”

The surviving members rushed to pick up the chainsaw. Lucky watched as he took out a cigarette and lit it.

After taking a long puff and exhaling, at that moment, a voice that shouldn’t have been heard penetrated his ears again.

“Do you know how to do magic?”

“?!”

Looking back slowly, the one who had disappeared without even a shape a while ago stood on both feet and intact.

“H-how? You…”

“I doubt it. But what do you think of my magic?”

The child smiled brightly.

And in his hands, there was an automatic rifle that had been thrown away by someone.

Lucky had no choice but to think of the words he had seen on the fortune blog at that moment.

[You’ll face an unbearable misfortune today. May you rest in peace…]

“The fucking fortune came true…”

Bang–!

That was how Lucky had faced his unfortunate end.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Haa, it’s quite chilly.” 

I quickly put on the clothes I had taken off after cleaning up the guys in the warehouse.

Phase Change was a useful skill, but unfortunately, the ability didn’t apply to the clothes or equipment I wore.

So every time I used the ability like this, I had no choice but to become jelly.

To be honest, it would be greedy to hope for more from a D-Grade skill.

And all those who had seen this ability so far had died, so there was nothing to be too ashamed about.

***

[ Translator – Yasi ]

[ Proofreader – Karane ]

However, since I couldn’t continue to live like this forever once in the city, I thought I should find equipment that could assimilate with this ability as soon as possible.

Well, that was something to think about later.

I looked around the warehouse, recalling my purpose for coming here in the first place.

Not long after, I found the weapon storage container.

Hmm…How do I open this?

There was a hard lock in front of the container, meaning it was designed to be accessible only if you had the password.

I didn’t think it would break if I shot it, and even if I were to turn into liquid and tried to dig in, there was no space to enter because the gaps were most likely watertight.

The moment I was agonizing over it, someone’s voice was heard from behind my back.

“H-hey! Hyung over there! Can you help me out by any chance?”

Turning around, the man who had betrayed the organization was still tied up with his eyes covered.

Come to think of it, didn’t they mention that this guy was a member of the organization?

With the feeling of grabbing at straws, I asked the man.

“Do you know the password to the weapon storage container?”

“Ah, I know it. If you release me, I’ll open it for you.”

“Come on, just tell me the password.”

“S-sorry hyung! I can’t do that.”

“Hmm…”

The man held out in a pretty stubborn manner, perhaps thinking it was his last chance to live.

Honestly, it didn’t matter to me, so I decided to do as he says for now.

“Well, I’ll do as you say, ahjussi.”

“Th-thank you! Thank you so much!”

Approaching the man, I cut off the string that was tied and took off the blindfold. After being released like that, he gave me a rather surprised look.

“Fuck, you’re much younger than I thought.”

“Can’t I be young?”

“Ah, no, no. I’m sorry. Hyung!”

I had a feeling that he wanted to do something about me, but seeing the corpses scattered everywhere, he opened the container with a calm attitude.

“Hey, everything is here.”

There were so many suspicious weapons stored in the container.

From assault rifles used in communist countries in the past to various types of bombs such as Claymores and C4’s.

Rather than being a warehouse for an ordinary drug cartel, I felt as if I had entered a secret base of a terrorist group preparing for war.

It was more amazing than I had thought.

Of course, it was too much to take all of it with me, as I didn’t have enough inventory space yet, but this will be enough to use for this Challenge.

I packed all the useful items in my inventory and came out of the container.

Next, I approached the man wandering in front of the door and gave him a bullet as a gift.

Bang–!

“Keuk!”

Falling to the ground, he looked up at me with an unjust look.

“Wh-why all of a sudden…”

“You saw my face.”

“Keuk…just because of that…”

“By nature, there shouldn’t be any witnesses in an assassination. It would have been nice if you had just given me the password earlier.”

“Son of a bitch…”

Bang–!

The man died the same way as the members he had betrayed. They hated each other so much a while ago, so it was good to see them lying side by side now.

Come to think of it, I didn’t even look at my status window after the battle.

I opened my status window and checked the log.

[ Level has risen. ]

[ Level has risen. ]

[ Level has risen. ]

[ Gained a Fragment of Growth. ]

[ You’ve reached level 5. ]

[ Gained a Skill Selection (Low). ]

[ You’ve reached level 7. ] 

[ Inventory expanded. ]

Perhaps because I had taken care of a lot of guys this time, I had quickly reached level seven. As expected, my level seemed to be rising steadily because I was a beginner.

My current stats were the following.

Body: 1.21

Dexterity: 1.35

Mana: 0.18

Spirit: 1.12

*4 Fragments of Growth.

I had gained one fragment after killing Feoria, and now I had gained three more fragments.

A total of four fragments.

For now it would be best to resolve the stat imbalance.

Considering the efficiency of my skill, it was better to at least match the first number equally.

I invested all four fragments into Mana without much consideration.

Body: 1.21

Dexterity: 1.35

Mana: 0.18 -> 1.08 (+0.90)

Spirit: 1.12

*0 Fragment of Growth.

After my mana rose, I could feel with my skin that my senses have increased a little.

Still, it was only subtle.

After finishing the stat distribution, I opened the skill window next. There was a new addition of goods that I hadn’t seen before.

Skill Selection (Low).

In short, it allowed me to acquire new abilities.

I was given Skill Selection periodically in the previous round, and thus was able to become notorious for being a person with multiple abilities.

…Anyway, I didn’t think there would be anything very useful at first.

Surprisingly, Skill Selection often resulted in garbage skills equivalent to ‘blanks.’

So I didn’t really want anything grand. Just a useful skill for now was good enough.

I relaxed my mind and used Skill Selection.

[Used Skill Selection (Low).] 

[One of the following skills can be learned.]

(1)  

Classification: Mortal

Grade: F

Description: Swing your fist and give a strong impact.

(2)  

Classification: Mortal

Grade: F

Description: Gather strength in your legs and jump forward.

.

.

.

By the way…

While looking at the list of skills with an indifferent look, I had no choice but to widen my eyes.

(3)  

Classification: Mortal

Grade: E

Description: Foundation martial art technique used by the unorthodox sect.

(4)

Classification: Magic

Grade: E

Description: Absorbs the energy of the object in contact.

What? Why were these skills coming out already?

Considering my experience in the last round, it was normal for only basic mortal skills to pop out one after another in the beginning.

Ambiguous skills that were even hard to call them ‘skills.’

But in the list that I was looking at now, abilities that might only come out after the third skill selection were displayed.

While contemplating the difference between then and now, I was able to quickly find the answer.

Oh, come to think of it, I had already gained one achievement.

The achievement ‘Immoral’ I had gained after killing my father.

Thanks to this achievement, skills that leaned towards ‘evil’ seemed to have appeared.

I was originally just going to pick anything and use it as synthesis material later on.

It looks like the story will change again.

Both skills were too good to be classified as E-Grade.

In the case of Demon Fist, since it was an unorthodox skill, I would be able to grow stronger regardless of my age.

And in the case of Vampiric Touch, it had the rare property of being an absorption sequence.

Honestly, acquiring either wouldn’t be a loss. That was why it was even more difficult to choose.

But…under the current circumstances, I thought this one would be more advantageous.

After looking at the skill list for a moment, I selected the skill.

[ You’ve learned a skill. ]

“My luck today is really good.”

Thanks to this skill, it seemed the Challenge might end smoothly.