Chapter 51 : Chapter 51
Chapter 51
The sixth Yut space.
There, two believers were staying.
They were believers who had protected themselves by concealing themselves in a smokescreen called faith, but this moment was different.
The Hwando left a long line on the playground floor, and the rough frictional sound scratched the eardrums of all the game participants.
Grit.
"……He’s coming."
One of the two said under his breath.
The other adjusted his glasses instead of answering.
Both believers were those evaluated by Kim Ju-han as having relatively high combat power.
One was a young man who used to be an athlete, and the other was from the special forces during his military service.
However, even they were perceiving me, Lee Ju-seong, as a monster right now.
"Do you have a sense of what his ability is?"
"None at all. He used two abilities. That’s impossible. The rule of this game is one ability per person."
"Damn it, there’s no other option anyway. We have to fight."
Click.
I stepped onto the boundary line of the space.
"Is the strategy meeting over?"
I completely entered the Yut space while showing off my composure.
At the same time, the battle began.
"Since our business is the same, let's not drag it out and finish quickly."
I seized the initiative by attacking first.
The Hwando, swung as if drawing a sword from the waist, drew a clean curve.
Like a crescent moon reflected in a lake.
One of the believers, the one from the special forces, twisted his body to avoid it.
However, the one who was an athlete was half a beat late in reacting.
The blade cut his shoulder, and a red line split open.
"Ugh……!"
Flesh tore and splattered, and he, who momentarily lost his balance, knelt down.
Without missing that gap, I used my strong physical strength to somewhat forcefully change the trajectory of the Hwando.
Then, a dash.
I dug into the believer's front with stubbornness.
I lowered my body and clenched my fist.
Inside my fist, the blood that had flowed down my forearm and was soaked in my palm remained intact.
The ability to turn bodily fluids into blades.
As I unfolded my left hand, a small dagger generated by the ability appeared.
The dagger flew up, tearing through the wind.
Crack!
The chest of the athlete believer, who couldn't avoid it, split open, and he fell backward with a single scream.
All of this happened in just 5 seconds.
Now only one remained.
"……."
The believer from the special forces gulped.
And he immediately went on the counterattack.
His fists and kicks sliced through the air.
The series of attacks belonging to the realm of martial arts contained considerable power.
It didn't take long to grasp the believer's ability.
"Is it a physical enhancement ability? That's a good ability."
I spat out words casually, like evaluating each other's items in a hobby club based on objects.
It was the best mockery covered in the sack of friendliness.
The fact that he wasn't even being treated as an opponent became a huge wound to the believer from the special forces.
"You're looking down on me!"
The distance between the two, 0.3 seconds.
Avoid it!
Advice poured in from believers staying in other Yut spaces.
But before their voices could reach, the Hwando fell from top to bottom.
Whoosh, slash.
A red line appeared from the believer's jaw to below his ear.
Blood flowed slowly.
Slowly, vividly.
His body tilted forward like a piece of luggage that had lost its weight,
Thump.
He collapsed onto the Yut board.
Two out.
I shook the blood off my hand.
And I slowly lifted my gaze to scan Kim Ju-han and the believers standing far away.
"Next."
A short word.
But the lingering resonance was long.
I spent 500 million won to purchase the Yut result Gul, and I obtained 200 million won by defeating two believers.
I gained a profit of 150 million won in this Yut space alone.
November, instead of handing me the Yut, asked whether I would purchase a Yut result.
"Will you purchase a Yut result this time as well?"
Three spaces ahead from where I was standing.
Two other female believers were holding each other and trembling.
It was because they knew the previous case was a preview hinting at their own future.
Since I had to advance three spaces, I purchased the corresponding Yut result.
"I will pay 50 million won to buy Gul."
With every step I took, the female believers in their mid-to-late 40s increased the intensity of their trembling.
It was as if the intensity of a massage chair was raised from level 1 to level 2, and then from level 2 to level 3.
Even a person with a bare chest in Antarctica would not tremble that severely.
My advance ended as I entered the ninth Yut space.
The female believers knelt and began to pray earnestly with trembling voices.
"O son of the Lord who descended to save this world…… have mercy on me…… lead us not into temptation…… and deliver us from this wicked devil……."
"Waaaah! Gueeeeh! Bwaaaaaah!"
One recited the prayer at a speed that would slap the cheek of a rapper specializing in rapid-fire, and the other poured out a type of sobbing prayer often seen in churches.
It would be better if they were praying with intent, but it wasn't even that.
It was the same psychology as those who jaywalk with the miraculous logic that if they don't look at the car running on the road, the obligation to avoid the car doesn't arise.
However, there was a big difference between a car driver and me in that I did not avoid the collision.
I mercilessly swung the Hwando at the two believers who were praying.
Slash! Slash!
Another 200 million obtained.
The next turn was the two believers in the thirteenth space.
To reach them, I had to buy ‘Yut’, which cost as much as 100 million won among the Yut results.
For any other person, it was an amount they would have pondered over.
However, to me, it was nothing more than a mere number.
"I will pay 100 million won and buy Yut."
Advance, advance, advance, advance. Arrival.
The battle in the thirteenth space required more effort than the previous two sword strokes.
The ability to turn sand into gunpowder.
The ability to turn fake nails into steel claws.
Both were second-rank abilities with fairly high combat power.
However, the biggest disadvantage was that it was hard to expect synergy from the two believers' abilities during a pincer attack.
For me, it felt like having two one-on-one fights, so although it took more effort, I didn't struggle at all.
Slash! Slash!
By the time the cold melody of flesh splitting resounded consecutively, the battle in the thirteenth space was over.
I finally asked November for the Yut sticks.
"I think I’ll throw and move now. Give me the Yut."
November followed the tracks I had walked with his eyes.
From the sixth space to the thirteenth space, blood drops were dotted.
It was like footprints left by a predator on white snow.
November, having finished his appreciation, handed me the Yut sticks in a somewhat subdued tone.
"Throw as much as you like. I look forward to an interesting result coming out."
He seemed to be looking forward to the rematch between me and Kim Ju-han very much.
It seemed that wishing for me to catch up to Kim Ju-han was not limited to November.
As if a god of Yutnori existed separately, a result that allowed a massive advance came out.
The result that came out was Mo + Do.
I advanced six spaces and reached the nineteenth space.
Just one space ahead.
The twentieth space.
There, Kim Ju-han and his loyal subject, a believer, were standing facing each other and looking at me.
The two were stiffly frozen with a precarious atmosphere.
They were like a castle built of sand,
Anxiety, stretched long like a shadow, was cast beneath the corners of their mouths.
I warned them in a pleasant tone.
"I recommend you look back more often from now on."
And I added while tilting my head sideways.
"Because you never know when a knife will be stuck in your back."
Kim Ju-han reflexively stepped back.
However, the Yut space, which was nothing more than a limited area, did not allow him space to run away.
There was only one way to escape, and that was to throw the Yut and obtain a result that allowed a massive advance.
Passing the goal line as soon as possible and ending this game was the only survival method Kim Ju-han could take.
After a while, November picked up the Yut that had fallen on the floor and walked back a long distance.
"Since the number of people has decreased and the turnover rate has gone up, we will proceed quickly. No Tae-jin, please throw."
As eight people disappeared, the order of throwing Yut was significantly shortened.
Me - No Tae-jin - Kim Ju-han - Minor believer - August.
No Tae-jin advanced slightly because he got ‘Gae’.
Since it was a move that had almost no impact on the outcome, everyone passed it over as if it were no big deal.
After No Tae-jin, it was finally Kim Ju-han's turn.
Kim Ju-han gathered the Yut sticks, put them to his forehead, and whispered earnestly.
"Please."
Please let a good result come out.
Even without hearing them, the omitted words seemed to ring in my ears.
He had to move at least five spaces away from me to escape without being caught during my next turn.
It was, in effect, the move that would determine the direction of this game.
The Yut sticks soared to a position higher than his head and then fell down.
The moment all four Yut sticks rolling on the floor stopped, November shouted clearly as if stamping an official referee's certification on the result.
"Yut!"
A struggle to escape the fate of being a vending machine that produces money when blood is shed.
That struggle was on the verge of showing its effect.
A smile spread across Kim Ju-han's lips after a long time.
It was the first sincere smile he had shown during this game.