*Squelch!
The sound was wet and sharp.
The jagged black dagger didn't hit Kang Min's chest. Instead, it sank into his left forearm.
He had stepped into the boy's reach, intentionally using his arm to block the blade.
Blood began to soak into his sleeve, but Min didn't even flinch.
He looked down at the boy, who was panting, his eyes wide and bloodshot.
"And so?..."
Kang Min began.
"Does that give you the right to take the lives of people who haven't wronged you?"
The boy's hands shook as he gripped the hilt.
"Do we not have loved ones and difficulties that face our lives?"
"Do you think you are the only one in this world who is suffering?"
"Does that give you the justification to hurt people who haven't wronged you in any way, form or manner?"
The boy looked up at Min.
He only saw a reflection of his own cowardice in Min's eyes.
The boy's resolve shattered.
His fingers slipped from the dagger, and he fell to his knees on the rocky ground, sobbing uncontrollably.
"I-I'm sorry..." the boy wailed.
"I'm so sorry..."
"Tsk!"
The mullet guy clicked his tongue in disgust.
He walked over to the body of the woman Min had beaten and ripped his axe out of her skull with a wet thud.
He moved behind the kneeling boy, raising the axe high over his head.
"You're really just nothing but a rat..."
"Don't worry, kid...
I'll be sure to take care of your sexy mother for you once you're gone."
"KEKE!"
The mullet guy swung the axe down with all his might and aimed for the boy's neck.
*BAM!
Mullet's head suddenly snapped upward.
His body was lifted off the ground as he stumbled back several feet, his boots scraping against the dirt.
Kang Min's hand lowered.
He had delivered a lightning-fast jab straight to the center of mullet's face.
Mullet wiped blood from his nose, his eyes flashing with a mix of shock and rage.
"Wow... you really can throw a punch."\
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoed from the path leading to the Kobold nest.
Park Woonhee appeared.
She was walking slowly, her face pale and her eyes darting between the bodies and Kang Min.
"Finally!"
The mullet guy barked, looking at Woonhee.
"This potter of yours is more trouble than he's worth, Woonhee.
You told us he was just some stray you found in the subway!
You said he'd be easy pickings!"
Kang Min's eyes shifted to Woonhee.
"Hey, don't look at us like that pretty boy!"
Long hair interjected, pointing his sheathed blade at Woonhee.
"She's the one who sold all of you off, buddy!
She helped us set up the 'discreet' contract so we could kill everyone without any records."
Woonhee looked disturbed.
She was biting her lip so hard it was bleeding.
She looked like a horrible person, and she knew it.
She couldn't even meet Min's gaze.
It didn't break Kang Min.
He didn't feel hurt or betrayed. They didn't know each other well enough for that.
'I just dislike two-faced people.'
Min said to himself.
When he first woke up, Woonhee had looked like a bubbly, kind girl who could be easily trusted.
'No matter.'
'If she gets in the way of me saving this old man and the boy... I won't hesitate to kill her as well.'
There was no need to drag this fight out any further.
The intentions of these two men were absolute.'
Kang Min reached into his pocket and popped three mana shards into his mouth.
*Crunch! Crunch!
"Does this asshole have a few screws loose?"
The mullet guy said, looking at the long-haired man.
"Hey, buddy... those are not for eating..."
The long-haired man said, taking a step forward and drawing his sword.
"In case you needed a signboard to tell you that."
The two of them started laughing
"AGH! I really hate how you stare!"
The mullet guy screamed, his laughter turning into a snarl.
"And for that, I'm going to gauge your eyes out!"
He gripped his axe in one hand and pulled another, smaller axe from a sheath on his back.
The long-haired man raised his sword, his eyes cold and ready for the kill.
*Whistle—
A sharp projectile cut through the air.
*THWACK!
A mana shard, thrown with the velocity of a sniper bullet, pierced the long-haired man's forehead.
He didn't even have time to react and slumped forward, his sword clattering to the ground as a pool of blood began to form around his head.
*Whistle—
Another shard whistled through the air and hit the mullet guy square in the forehead.
His head snapped back with a loud crack, but then it popped back forward.
He was still standing.
'Such a thick skull.'
Kang Min thought.
He was tossing more mana shards into the air with one hand, catching them, and tossing them again, like a bored child playing with marbles.
He fired two more shards using nothing but his raw strength.
*Clang! Clang!
The mullet guy deflected them with his axes, the impact creating bright sparks that lit up the dark cave.
The shards shattered into a thousand pieces.
"Potter my ass!"
"But that will make the gratification even sweeter when I chop off your head... and your limbs!"
Mullet licked his lips, a sick glint in his eyes.
"A body like yours... it can go for great prices on the Black Market.
KEKE!"
"I'll tell you what I told that woman."
Min said.
"I tend to get carried away in a fight."
Min smiled.
'Plus, even though it was instant in me dying and waking up... I'm just itching.'
In a split second, he was in the mullet guy's space.
The mullet guy swung both axes in a wide, horizontal arc, but Min was already lower.
He slid under the blades and delivered a straight punch to the mullet guy's ribs.
*CRACK!
The sound of the ribcage collapsing was loud and clear.
The mullet guy gasped, but before he could recover, Min's other fist connected with his jaw.
*SHATTER!
The jawbone broke and he was sent flying backward, but Min was faster.
He grabbed the man's arm mid-air and jerked him back.
*RIP!
With a sickening sound of tearing muscle and popping tendons, the mullet guy's shoulder was dislocated.
Kang min then unleashed a flurry of straight punches, each one landing with the weight of a sledgehammer.
Left. Right. Left. Right.
The mullet guy couldn't even raise his axes.
His arms were hanging limp, his bones broken in multiple places.
Min's fists were moving so fast they were a blur.
He punched the mullet guy's chest, caving in the sternum.
He punched the mullet guy's stomach, rupturing internal organs.
The mullet guy tried to scream, but only blood and broken teeth came out of his ruined mouth.
Finally, Min delivered a massive uppercut that sent the mullet guy crashing onto his back.
Kang Min jumped, landing on top of the man's chest, pinning him to the ground.
Min sat there, his weight crushing the last bit of air out of the mullet guy's lungs.
And then, he started punching.
*Thud! Thud! Thud!
Concurrent, heavy punches rained down on the mullet guy's face.
Blood sprayed everywhere from Min's hands, on his face, on the walls.
Teeth flew into the darkness like white confetti.
Min didn't stop until there was no face left.
The mullet guy's eyes had popped under the pressure.
His skull had been beaten into a shallow crater in the middle of his head.
There was nothing left to recognize.
Kang Min stood up.
His chest was heaving slightly, and blood dripped from his knuckles onto the stone.
He reached down, pulled off the simple black shirt he was wearing, and used it to wipe the blood off his face and hands.
He tossed the ruined, red-soaked rag onto the pile of meat that used to be a human being.
"Here's what we'll do... to prevent causing trouble for any of us."
Kang Min began.
He looked over at the boy, who was staring at the mangled body with absolute horror.
'It would obviously be suspicious if only potters come out and there are no players with them.'
"The boy... what's your name?"
"U-uuhh... my name is Sung."
"Sung. You will testify that when the players of this group were fighting and charged straight into the Kobold nest, they were outnumbered. They were all killed by the monsters."
'And to add on...'
He picked up the body of the woman and the long-haired man, flipping both over his shoulders.
He then grabbed the mullet guy's body by one dismembered leg and dragged it toward the path leading to the Kobold nest.
He left the bodies there and then went back and gathered the three players who had been killed by the woman earlier and dragged them to the same spot.
As he was moving the long-haired man, he heard a wet, rattling breath.
His forehead was a ruin of blood, but he was hanging onto consciousness by a thread.
"W-wait..."
The long-haired man wheezed, his fingers clawing at the dirt.
"If you let me live... I'll give you more money... p-please... I have a kid at home..."
Min stopped and looked down at the man.
"Is the child's mother present?"
"...Y-yes."
"Good..."
"I'm sure the kid would rather grow up with a mother than a scum and piece of shit of a father who plays with human lives like you."
"P-please... what if... what if it was your child...?"
"What if it was that child of yours, all grown up, in a situation like this and was going to get killed off by someone exactly like you?"
Min countered.
"I'll... I'll atone..."
The man said, his hand weakly grabbing Min's leg.
Min's mind flashed back.
He remembered a man years ago kneeling in the mud of Floor 15, crying the same tears, saying the same words.
"I have a daughter! I'll atone! Please forgive me!"
Min had let the man go only three months later, finding a pile of bodies.
A whole party of young, bright-eyed rookies.
"..."
Min looked down at the man grabbing his leg.
He shook the man's hand off.
He walked to the entrance of the nest path and began to punch the support pillars of the cave ceiling.
*CRACK! BOOM!
The rock began to groan.
Min delivered three more massive strikes, and the entrance collapsed.
Tons of rock and earth fell, sealing the path and crushing the bodies underneath.
"Due to the all-out fight, the dungeon ended up collapsing."
Min said, turning back to Sung.
"The potters couldn't do anything as we were locked down on the other path
That is what happened."
Sung nodded frantically, unable to speak.
"Pick up the remaining bag..."
"I'll take the other two and help the old man."
Min walked over to the old man and helped him up, slinging the man's arm over his shoulder.
Park Woonhee was standing nearby, her hands fidgeting.
'He's going to kill me... He's going to kill me... He's going to... KILL ME!'
Her mind screamed.
She looked at Min's blood-stained hands.
'Even if I speak my mind... there's no way someone like him would believe me.
Is my head about to slide off my shoulders?'
"W-WAIT!"
Woonhee shouted, her voice echoing
Min stopped and looked at her.
"Please!"
She cried, her words coming out in a desperate rush.
"I can explain! I didn't want to do it!
Those men... they were loan sharks!
I've been in debt to them for a long time.
I've been running, but they found me and threatened if I didn't set up this raid!
They forced me to provide the 'disposable' labor!
You have to believe me!"
Min looked at her for a long time.
"It doesn't matter."
"Because in the end, it was all selfish.
You chose your life over theirs.
Justifying your actions doesn't make the outcome any better."
He turned to continue moving with the others.
"Please!"
Woonhee called out, running after him.
"I can help you!
You need to get past the lobby!
You'll need a Player with an ID to check out the party, or the guards will get suspicious.
I'll give the alibi! They won't believe an 18-year-old potter...
Please... just let me help with just that!"
"..."