Chapter 12. Level Up
"It just worked out like this."
It was that moment.
A strange and mysterious white light burst forth from Dong Bong-su's body.
Holy light.
It was an extremely sacred light that did not suit Dong Bong-su at all. It was the kind of scene he should never have experienced in his entire life, yet he had already experienced something like this before.
In Murim Online, that virtual world, he had once felt this light.
"So this is a level up."
At last, he succeeded in his first evolution in this New Murim Online.
"....."
At the moment of leveling up, silence fell over the alley. However, that moment did not last long.
"Hi, hiiiiik!"
The hoodlums screamed in terror and retreated backward. The death of Jang Ho, which they could never possibly handle, and the cruelly white light that had just spread through the alley, drove them to panic.
Tap.
Dong Bong-su took a single step toward them. As if matching his movement, the hoodlums took a step back. No—at least they tried to, but behind them, not even a single step was allowed.
Because this was a dead-end alley.
Was he smiling?
Dong Bong-su's lips parted slightly, revealing white teeth. His advance began again.
The first one to be caught by Dong Bong-su was Do Pal-du, who was still clutching his broken arm and groaning in pain. Dong Bong-su raised his foot high and stomped straight down on Do Pal-du's neck.
Crunch, crack.
With the grotesque sound of a neck bone shattering, Do Pal-du departed this world on the spot.
"K-k-kill him!"
After witnessing Do Pal-du die so meaninglessly, the hoodlums, though gripped by terror, rushed at Dong Bong-su all at once in order to survive.
Dong Bong-su's response to them was simple and concise.
He lightly raised his hand to chest height.
Srrrk.
A scene unfolded in his palm as if a flower bud were blooming, played at hundreds of thousands of times speed.
Except that it was not a flower, but a blade.
A single blade sprouted from the inventory and bloomed into Dong Bong-su's hand.
Just like the dagger earlier, all the weapons inside the inventory had been secretly purchased or siphoned off while helping with Machil's military hireling work.
Slash.
His blade mercilessly cleaved through the air.
Thud.
The blade sank halfway into the neck of the hoodlum charging at the front. It had been so long since Dong Bong-su last wielded a weapon that he failed to sever the neck cleanly in one strike.
Dong Bong-su immediately discarded the blade and drew a dagger.
Holding the dagger with its edge facing downward, he leaped straight into the crowd of hoodlums.
Stab, slash!
"G-gnyaaaah!"
Each time the dagger moved, the hoodlums' arteries were severed and blood erupted like fountains.
Dong Bong-su did not know martial arts, but when it came to fighting, he was a master.
He was strong enough to have mastered nearly every form of hand-to-hand combat on modern Earth.
Bare-handed combat, joint locks, and even the eighteen martial disciplines—he was proficient in all of them.
Naturally, the number of weapons he could wield was limitless.
If necessary, like the Chinese action film actor Jackie Chan, he even had the adaptability to use any surrounding object as a weapon.
That kind of person was Dong Bong-su.
Above all else, there was one crucial thing he lacked—the one thing that most obstructs combat.
Mercy.
He did not possess it.
Dong Bong-su would resort to any means necessary under any circumstances.
Dirty tricks? Despicable tactics? Cowardice?
Those concepts never existed for him in the first place.
If he could suppress and kill his opponent, none of that mattered.
"Aaaagh!"
Dong Bong-su's brutal dance showed no sign of stopping until every last hoodlum was dead.
Thud, thud, crunch!
The savage dance of slaughter finally came to a halt only when a single person remained.
After his killing dance ended, nothing remained in the area but corpses, blood, and the stench of gore.
"0000......"
Dong Bong-su pressed the dagger against the neck of the last remaining hoodlum and pointed at a corpse lying sprawled behind him with his other hand.
"What was that guy?"
"Y-you mean Jang Ho?"
The hoodlum trembled violently, yet answered immediately. He thought there might be a chance his life would be spared.
Even though he knew it was futile, he still clung to that tiny thread of hope.
"Yes. What was Jang Ho?"
"H-he was a member of the Black Snake Association...…"
"The Black Snake Association? What's that?"
"I-it's one of the black factions that rules the back alleys of Bongyang."
From the name black faction, Dong Bong-su could roughly guess what it was.
The hoodlums were just punks.
The black faction was probably a far more specialized gang compared to them.
Interpreted in modern terms, it would be an organized crime group.
Dong Bong-su asked the hoodlum a few more questions about the Black Snake Association and the black faction, then killed him.
The hoodlum died without even getting a chance to beg for his life.
Since Dong Bong-su had never intended to spare him anyway, it probably wasn't that unfair.
After finishing everything, Dong Bong-su put all the corpses into his inventory.
Then he took off his clothes and roughly wiped the blood off the ground.
Next, he took out white cloths he had prepared in the inventory and wiped away the remaining blood.
Ever since discovering the existence of the inventory, he had steadily developed its abilities, but he still couldn't freely control liquids yet.
A short while later.
Though it couldn't be called perfect, he had cleaned the blood to the point that no trace could be found at a glance.
Unless investigative chemicals like luminol or hydrogen peroxide used in modern forensics were sprayed, there would be no way to detect the blood.
And there was no way such things already existed in this world, so this was a perfect crime.
In a place where techniques that violated physics, such as martial arts, existed, it would take at least several hundred more years for investigative power and forensic science of that level to be established.
Perhaps it would be impossible forever.
Soon, the area became clean.
No one would ever know that a blood-soaked battle had taken place here.
Now it was time to return to the mute Ma-a-sam.
After perfectly wrapping up the cleanup, Dong Bong-su took out fresh clothes from the inventory, changed, and then left the alley while leading Yeoro.
The walk began again.
Dong Bong-su arrived at Bongyang Mountain at the end of the walking path and disposed of all the corpses.
If something called bone-dissolving powder existed in this world, he could have handled it much more cleanly, but even without it, it was fine.
Dong Bong-su was an expert at this sort of thing.
Disposing of bodies didn't require many tools.
Even if he had bone-dissolving powder, he wouldn't have used it.
If an item had such excellent effectiveness, it would be far more useful as a weapon—why waste it on corpses?
Soon, the bodies were buried somewhere deep and hidden in the mountains.
Yeoro watched everything from right beside him, but remained indifferent.
To Yeoro, Dong Bong-su was a terrifying beast, but also a reasonably familiar owner who fed him.
Dong Bong-su gently stroked Yeoro's nose once, then retraced his steps.
Today, he learned several important things.
First, the existence of the black factions.
He had been looking for level-up hunting targets between martial artists and ordinary people, and unexpectedly found one.
A target had been set.
It was unfortunate for the black factions, but rather fortunate for ordinary people.
From today onward, the Suicide Plague would disappear.
The next thing he learned was the characteristics of leveling up.
First, the moment he leveled up, all the injuries he had previously sustained were fully healed.
Right now, there was not a single trace left of the injuries Dong Bong-su had suffered at the hands of the hoodlums before Jang Ho appeared.
This was information with tremendous practical value.
If leveling up was imminent, it meant he could afford to take a certain degree of risk.
Though he hadn't tested it yet, it might even be possible to recover from damage to the heart or brain.
The next characteristic was the light.
The light that filled the alley the moment he leveled up—the holy light.
However, this characteristic was also a drawback of leveling up.
That light was flashy to look at, but highly likely to attract danger.
A hunter hiding among prey must be ordinary.
Only when one looks the most similar to others and cannot be distinguished does one become the greatest hunter.
The moment they notice that Dong Bong-su is different, they will reject him.
That, in turn, will place him in greater danger.
This was no exception even for killing methods using the inventory.
He must never be caught by anyone.
Because of this, he realized that leveling up must be done either after the hunt is over, or in a place where only prey exist.
And it had to be somewhere no one's eyes could possibly reach.
One careless mistake, and his identity could be exposed.
I'll need to be even more careful from now on.
He still knew almost nothing about this New Murim Online.
Everything that happened today had occurred suddenly, at a timing even he hadn't expected.
If Jang Ho had been a little more cautious, or just a little stronger, today could have become extremely dangerous.
Now, relying solely on the camouflage of being mute would no longer be enough.
He needed to grow stronger, faster.
Today was the day he confirmed that.
He turned his body and began descending the mountain.
There were many things he needed to check immediately after returning.
He needed to review what happened today, and also examine the abilities gained from leveling up.
Leveling up literally meant that his level had risen.
In simpler terms, it meant he had become stronger.
Dong Bong-su could already feel it.
By becoming level 2, he had grown stronger.
His body felt lighter than before, and his strength had increased.
He couldn't quantify it precisely, but he was undeniably stronger.
Just what kind of abilities had he gained?
"Hihihiiing!"
Yeoro, apparently curious as well, made a sound as if urging him to hurry back.
Dong Bong-su stroked Yeoro's nose once more and quickly descended the mountain.
Before his eyes, a hologram message floated into view.
The shimmering hologram was cracked and torn in places, making its contents difficult to discern.
[Critical ERROR has occurred in the Murim Online system... There is no issue with continuing the game, but....]
"A critical error, huh."
This is getting more and more interesting.
Dong Bong-su's lips parted slightly, revealing snow-white teeth.
In the real world, there had never been anything to laugh about, but here, though only occasionally, there were moments that made him smile.
Very occasionally, that is.
His steps toward the Danri Family grew faster and faster.