Main Character Hides His Strength
chapter-19

The opportunity arrived quickly. Ahram, who had already revealed his nature in front of everyone, had a much easier time hunting women now. He didn’t even try to flatter them as he had done before; a single phrase filled with mockery was enough.

“Do you want to know the secret to become a Werewolf?”

Sungchul held himself back three times to be entirely sure. As the sun slowly began to set, a message from Krill Regall arrived on his shoulder.

[The time is now.]

It was a short message. At this moment, Krill Regall was watching Dolorence Winterer leave her post while spouting profanities.

“The fucker is at it again. Disgusting fuck. I can’t look at this filthy sheet anymore. I thought the son of the Captain of the Order of Iron Blood Knights would be more decent, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.”

When she stepped away, several rookie Summoners followed and tried to lift her mood.

“It is such a struggle. How did you get stuck with a guy like that…”

“There are only two more Rank Matches left! There will be rewards at the end, no matter how degrading it might be.”

Honeyed words. No one would dare say that Dolorence was despised as a person who stepped on the weak and groveled to the strong. The reason why people still flattered her, however, was due to her large repertoire of spells. Without proper backers, it wasn’t even possible to learn any spells. Buttering up to your superiors was a vital skill for a Mage, which was why it had become their second nature.

“If I were in that Plaza, I would have killed that bastard.”

She sipped some alcohol while being surrounded by her lackeys. Not a lot of it, but enough to wet her lips. It was something she often did when stress overtook her. However, she then noticed Krill Regall who was lingering nearby.

A cold smile formed on her lips as she asked, ”Hey, you. What are you still doing here?”

“Oh…? Me?”

Krill froze in shock. Her sudden interest in him was surprising, but it was the uncertainty of what she might do which drove him to fear.

“Yes. You. Did you end up finding your lost Preselected?”

Despair. The only people who knew the truth were Krill and Sanggil; the news hadn’t spread to the others yet.

“Yes. He’s been found. He was fine.”

Dolorence put on a mysterious smile and lightly shook her drink upon hearing the news. The blood red liquid in the wine glass swished around.

“Is that so?” she asked, her eyes sparkling.

“Hm?”

Her snake-like eyes snared Krill in place.

“T-that is…”

She stared at him for a while before taking another glass to her lips, then spat in contempt.

“You know, I am rather friendly towards fresh faces, but I detest the rookies that just categorically suck up to people.”

“…”

“If you do not wish to repay a favor, by all means, you are free to do so. I won’t stop you. But remember this: although it is possible that when you leave this place, you will never cross paths with high ranking members of the Iron Blood Knights again, but if you plan on living as a Mage you’re bound to bump into me more than a few times.”

She had taken the scenic route around the bush, but her demands were simple: I have something on you, now bribe me to keep it to myself. Krill could feel a cold sweat trailing down his spine. It was like a frog facing off against a snake.

As he slinked away, he couldn’t help but sincerely wish for her demise. The mysterious Preselected’s face popped up in his mind. Krill only knew that the man had a lot of jewels and a strange amount of strength for a Summoned. He could think of many possibilities regarding the reason for it, but he decided not to pry into it any further. There was nothing good to be gained from this line of thinking. However, that man’s actions still bothered him.

‘Why did that man ask for information about Dolorence…Could it be he’s trying to screw with her? No way.’

Krill found himself enraptured by unfathomable expectations as he stared at the scarlet moon hanging high up in the sky.

“…”

Another person was looking up at the same sky; a man with glistening eyes beneath his disheveled hair. Sungchul solemnly observed the atrocity happening below him. Ahram the Werewolf had finished eating the woman he had just fucked. Sungchul passively watched the woman’s quivering eyes lose their focus and then let out a deep sigh. He jumped down towards this feral degenerate that had cut away his final link to his humanity.

“Ahram Park.”

The small, but clear voice stirred the forest’s melancholy. The Werewolf, with a piece of chewed flesh still in his mouth, turned around. A look of surprise flashed across his blood-smeared face.

“Who is it?”

Ahram threw away the corpse and stood up. The ravaged corpse fell between Sungchul and him. A muscular two-and-a-half meter tall creature stood before Sungchul.

“I was looking for you. Is this what they mean when they say, ’kill two birds with one stone’?”

Sungchul was unfazed by the aggressive questioning. Rather, it only caused him to raise his gaze slowly and look directly into the eyes of the Werewolf. Ahram, who had felt all-powerful until now, felt his breath catching and his legs buckling. His body couldn’t move; it was as though he had been paralyzed.

‘W-what’s wrong with my body?’

At first, he thought that it might have been a side effect from his transformation into a Werewolf, but as time passed, he began to realize the actual cause; it was out of pure terror. The threat of danger coming from looking into Sungchul’s eyes made his instincts scream out by impulse.

“Y-you b*tch!”

Ahram tried to deny the terror reverberating within him and jumped towards Sungchul, but then he found himself suddenly spinning out of control. He stopped only after being embedded into the ground. The man that had turned his world upside down crushed something within his hand.

‘I-I lost? How did this happen…?! That red-head told me that being a Werewolf would make me the strongest in the Plaza…’

Dolorence’s promise would have been the truth, if not for a certain hidden master hiding his strength.

“…”

Sungchul briefly looked around before breaking off a thick branch that was within his reach. It would serve as a decent switch. Ahram realized what he was doing, but it was already too late.

Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham!

Continuous blows fell on the Werewolf’s skin as if Sungchul were beating out dust from a rug. Ahram’s hide began splitting as his blood and flesh splattered everywhere. He shrieked in pain, desperately wishing for someone to save him.

‘Red-head! Save me! Save me! Fuck it! Save me!’

However, his guardian was outside her room, surrounded by her yes-men, busy sipping alcohol.

As the senseless beating ended, Ahram finally returned to his human form. His body was covered with bloody bruises which triggered an emergency alarm, to which his guardian didn’t respond to. His eyes, covered with tears and snot, reflected the image of the man who was holding a large club. He finally came to understand the reality of the situation, and pitifully bowed his head to try and beg for his life.

“P-please…Mercy…”

[Drop]

Sungchul let the stick fall, and a small bit of hope blossomed inside of Ahram. However, his hopes were thoroughly crushed by Sungchul’s boots.

Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!

Sungchul had simply switched from beating to trampling. He deliberately focused on stomping on the prone man’s face, breaking all of Ahram’s teeth.

“Uwuuugh!”

Ahram could no longer stand the pain and hugged the ground, raising his hips into the air. Sungchul stared at him in silence.

After he was given a brief respite, Ahram began to beg for his life once again.

“P-please…I’ll do anything, please spare my life.”

To which Sungchul pointed towards the forest. There lay the corpse of the woman whom Ahram had just killed. By unnerving coincidence, her unfocused eyes were pointing towards Ahram.

“What did you do when that woman begged for her life?”

“T-that’s…!”

Sungchul slowly drew closer, and Ahram screamed as an unspeakable horror filled him.

“Get away from me! Y-you…if you touch me…you’ll be killed!”

“Me? Killed?”

Sungchul grinned.

“D-do you know who my father is? He’s the Captain of the Iron Blood Knights. The Iron Blood Knights’ Captain!”

“The Captain of the Iron Blood Knights?”

“T-that’s right! I don’t really know him, but in this world, I’ve heard that he’s very powerful…That’s right, a strong backer! A backer! You won’t be able to get away with killing me!”

“Is that so? How did you become his son if you had just been Summoned into this world?”

“I-I don’t know. Fuck…Some Returnee or something like that came to me one day and told me! Told me that I was that guy’s son! He said if I were to cross over into the Other World, I’d have money, fame, and power…That I’d get everything I couldn’t on Earth!”

“A Returnee…”

It wasn’t something that normally interested him, but his curiosity was satisfied. He finally knew how someone like Ahram had become a Preselected.

‘They used a Returnee. I suppose someone like Sungtek might know several individuals who have qualified to become a Returnee. But even if the world is facing the end, how could he think of bringing a fucker like this here?’

The Captain of the Iron Blood Knights, Sungtek Jo, had three children in Other World, however like all of the other children, they had died before reaching the age of ten. It was probably desperation which drove him to seek out Ahram, a man he wasn’t even sure was really his son, and bring him to the Other World. But his son turned out to be substandard to an extreme.

Sungchul lifted the stick once more.

“P-please…! Are you doing this because of Yungjong? That wasn’t my fault. He was the first…”

Ahram crawled away pitifully.

“…”

Sungchul suddenly grabbed some vines from nearby and strung Ahram upside down from his feet.

“I’ll tell you one thing. This is Other World. It isn’t always true, but it is a world where strength is the law. In a place like this, it’s problematic if you get cocky no matter how strong you get. Why? That’s because there might always be at least one or two people who are stronger than you.”

“I-I understand…I get what you’re saying. I’m repenting, I’m serious!”

“And one more thing. There is no such thing as a second chance or mercy in this world. One mistake and you’re done.”

The stick rose into the air and struck Ahram’s jaw before he could even utter a scream.

“Beasts will soon be attracted by the scent of your blood. Be thankful that the law of the jungle also accepts human garbage like you.”

Sungchul dropped the stick and whispered quietly.

“Welcome to Other World.”

As soon as the words left his lips, smaller monsters began to appear within the forest. They licked their lips at the sight of fresh blood pouring out of Ahram. He struggled desperately in his final throes, but his fate had already been sealed.

“…”

Sungchul quietly headed out of the forest, but before he could get far, a vague apparition appeared before him, leaving him slightly surprised.

‘It’s rare that I fail to detect something.’

A woman appeared amidst the darkness. It was a woman covering her face with a hood and holding a familiar staff in her hands. Once Sungchul stopped moving and silently acknowledged her presence, she removed her hood to reveal her face. A glint flashed across his eyes when he recognized the face.

‘This woman.’

They had already met several times. They had competed for the bonus monster, and she had stopped Ahram as he was busy rampaging. This unknown woman spun around her Spirit Wolf Staff and opened her mouth.

“I was going to take care of him, but looks like someone beat me to it.”

“…”

Sungchul stared at the silently approaching woman.

“You can’t be just another ordinary newbie since you beat a Werewolf effortlessly.”

Sungchul looked as though he was simply listening to her speak, but he was actually using his heightened abilities to uncover her identity. There wasn’t anything that stood out for him. Even the Eye of Truth, one of his Soul Contracts, couldn’t reveal anything special about her. She was a newbie Summoned that appeared to be normal, yet she wasn’t so. His previous suspicions were only growing stronger.

‘She must be a Regressor.’

The woman in question sighed.

“Such a solemn person. Or perhaps you have a bad impression of me.”

“What is your business.”

Sungchul finally broke the silence and spoke. A brief look of surprise passed over the woman’s face after he did, but lasted only briefly before she continued to speak, her eyes firmly fixed onto him.

“I’ll be brief, so as to avoid any misunderstandings. I saw you kill that perverted bastard and thought that you weren’t such a bad person, I’m also guessing that you might not be an average Summoned either.”

Her voice was brief, but intelligent. Her gaze didn’t falter during the conversation, and it sounded fluid, as though she was reading from a script.

“You also don’t seem to be average”

“Correct. I won’t tell you anything. But, I also won’t expect any information from you.”

The mystery woman held out her hand towards him. It was a woman’s hand that was just beginning to harden with calluses.

“I am Ahmuge. You must have seen my name on the Record Stone.”

The figure that had dominated first place during the Rank Matches beyond the Preselected; The individual in question was unexpectedly a slim woman.

“I have reasons why I have to leave the Summoning Palace with a good score, but it will also be difficult for me to get the special rewards by myself. So, I also want another skilled person to work with me. Not some privileged trash, but someone with real ability.”

“Is that why you saved Jungshik?”

Ahmuge smiled at his pointed question.

“He’s a talented person. And he also has good leadership ability.”

“Why did you want to kill Ahram then? He’s a Werewolf; he would have been a strong addition to your combat strength.”

She firmly shook her head.

“That man is incapable of benefiting a group. There might be something to be gained from him, but far more to lose. If you didn’t act, I would have killed him.”

Hearing these words, Sungchul smiled. They came to the same conclusion. Sungchul killed Ahram not only due to his despicable acts but also because he was proving to be nothing but an obstacle to achieving his goals. Not once had Sungchul strayed or forgotten his objective since arriving at the Summoning Palace.

“Okay. I’ll cooperate, but I have a condition,” Sungchul replied.

“Please don’t pick anything too strange,” said Ahmuge with a smile.

“Don’t worry. Mine doesn’t even stand. Instead, I wish to get information about hidden quests. Especially ones that raise Magic power.”

“Magic power…Okay. I can teach you one.”

Ahmuge held out her hand once again and grabbed his.

“What is your name?”

“It’s Sungchul Kim.”

“Sungchul Kim…?!”

Her voice and face took a sudden change.

“Is there a problem?”

She stared into his face directly before shaking her head.

“No, nothing in particular.”

“Good, then let’s get out of here. There will be some guests arriving here soon.”

As the beasts that crawled out of the forest began their feast upon Ahram’s upside down corpse which hung from a tree, Sungchul and Ahmuge quietly left the scene of the crime. Dolorence arrived at the scene only after a considerable amount of time had passed. After massacring the beasts with her Magic, she stood before Ahram’s mangled corpse with a distorted expression.

“T-this…fucking…!”

She began to scream like a half crazed banshee while pulling at her hair. The various creatures of the forest couldn’t approach the frenzied aura of a berserk Mage. Some time passed before she once again stared at Ahram’s cold corpse. There was one place that had remained somewhat intact; his face.

Dolores who noticed this fact felt her brain ticking away like clockwork as an evil plan began to form in her head.

“I can’t let it end like this. Not after all I’ve done to get to this position. After all the groveling I’ve had to endure…”

An unsettling crazed grin took form upon her lips.

.

It was an unremarkable morning. The Summoned greeted another day as they ate their meals or trained as the sun seen rising above the horizon quickly dissipated the fog.

Sungchul worked on common quests to raise his Magic power and intuition, and then returned to the Preselected’s camp to have a meal. However, there was something unusual going on within the camp.

“Why is that guy like that?”

“Don’t get close…his condition doesn’t look so good.”

Several Preselected were either fearful or annoyed while staring at a certain someone from a distance.

Sungchul walked through the crowd to see who the person was.

“…”

A slight wrinkle formed upon his forehead.

“Uuuhhhh…”

It was Ahram’s corpse.

“Uuuuhhh…!!”

His corpse, with a hood covering everything except his face, sat while shaking from side-to-side like a crazed man.

‘They turned him into this brain-dead doll with necromancy. And an incredibly potent Preservation Magic was used to stop his decay.’

He felt a bad premonition, and a bad feeling had an uncanny way of being right.

Krill Regall urgently sent a letter with the following message.

[Dolorence Winterer has finally lost it! She’s planning to kill everyone in Blanche Plaza!]