Utopia (1)
What sins had he committed in his life? He didn’t ask this time. As soon as he appeared, he made him kneel and pulled off his arms first.
“Ackkkkkkkkkkkk!”
Lee Do-sung screamed and rolled on the floor. Yoon-seok winked at the man next to him. Then the man approached Lee Do-sung with trembling hands and began healing. Of course, the severed body didn’t stick back on, and only the bleeding stopped.
He questioned Lee Do-sung after he came to his senses and the pain subsided.
“I heard you were in charge of kidnapping my parents. Is that true?”
“…”
Lee Do-sung couldn’t say anything. It felt like he would be in more pain if he gave a positive answer. But it was also impossible to lie. He tried, but the words wouldn’t come out of his mouth.
“…It’s true.”
In the end, Lee Do-sung had no choice but to admit it. Not knowing how furious he must be feeling, Yoon-seok asked again without raising a single eyebrow.
“I heard you were the one who hurt my father. Is that true?”
“Yes…”
If he had cooperated well, he wouldn’t have been hurt. That wasn’t an excuse he could make. He’d sensed that such excuses would only make things worse rather than moving forward.
“Why did you do that?”
To that simple question, Lee Do-sung hesitated to open his mouth for a long time and managed to answer.
“…Unregistered challengers are dangerous. We needed a means of control.”
As long as Lady’s Commandment worked, it wasn’t a lie. But he didn’t think that was all. Yoon-seok asked once again.
“Did you have to hurt him?”
“…”
“Tell me the truth.”
“…”
Again, Lee Do-sung failed to answer. He had no choice but to. How could he say it in front of Yoon-seok?
That he’d planned to take them away after knocking them out but wrecked his head out of anger because the old man tried to pour simmering stew on him? Such land mines were to be avoided.
“I wanted to let you know that we’re not just warning you. Usually, unregistered challengers think they’re the strongest…”
There was no lie in this statement. He’d seen it for now, but it was common to tame challenges like this, so he didn’t think there was much room for trouble until Yoon-seok came.
“After all, you did it because you thought I’d be weaker than you, you mean.”
In conclusion, he was right. It had been a month since Yoon-seok returned. He didn’t exercise and was an ordinary person with no special training. Plus, he was severely bullied when he was in school.
To be honest, he thought that the fourth floor would be his limit. So, according to his standards, he treated him like challengers from that floor, where their corpses wouldn’t be left behind when he returned. As a result of the investigation, he thought he could control him, who cared for his family, until the moment he died, as long as he held onto the leash.
However, his prediction went awry, and now he was in this situation.
“Do you still want to live?”
Yoon-seok smiled coldly. It was funny how he was thinking about escaping this moment.
“You’re not counting on the higher-ups, are you?”
Yoon-seok’s sword flashed twice toward the ceiling. Then, dozens of challengers fell along with the rubble of the ceiling.
They were the challengers from headquarters he’d requested for back-up. He was shocked as they collapsed on the ground. They quickly grabbed their weapons and tried to get up, but they couldn’t move due to the pressure pushing down from above.
“No, no…”
Was this the last hope they believed in? Lee Do-sung’s face turned white when he saw their lethargic appearance.
“Choi, Choi Yoon-seok! You’ll get much better…no; you’ll get the best treatment!”
No words of excuse, but an appeasement offer. Yoon-seok thought it was ridiculous. He’d even killed a few high-ranking officials as well as challengers, and now sudden appeasement…?
“…Best treatment?”
He asked again because he was utterly speechless. However, as if he’d felt the need to explain, Lee Do-sung hastily continued.
“Yes! Only lower-rank challengers were treated poorly by the Korean Challenger Management Department. But that would never be the case for top-rankers. Well, we won’t ask you to learn strange skills or anything. We’ll support you and give you information to help you get as far up as you can!”
He did think it was weird, but he wondered if this was how it worked. Yoon-seok finally understood now how this abnormal hierarchy was maintained. 90% of low-rank challengers died before ascending the fifth floor. Therefore, the Challenger Management Department chose to exploit them rather than support them to go up.
Those who opposed or dreamt of betrayal were blocked in advance by the top challengers who received good treatment. And now…
Lee Do-sung was telling Yoon-seok to trample on the effort of the weak and accept his grand treatment.
“Just die.”
Slash.
A small line formed across Lee Do-sung’s neck.
Thud.
Yoon-seok looked around casually. The reinforcements gulped after seeing Lee Do-sung struck dead with one stroke. Yoon-seok approached them, asked them the same question, and did what he had to do.
Crack! Crack! Craccck!
Those who survived the judgment weren’t happy. With eyes filled with fear, they repeatedly flinched at Yoon-seok’s every movement. Yoon-seok returned to the ward and carried his parents on his shoulders, climbing to the rooftop. The backup had arrived swiftly because they had taken a helicopter.
“Well, I’m just a pilot!”
“But you know where the Challenger Management Department is, don’t you?”
“Yes…”
“Let’s go that way.”
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