Chapter 22: Someone Better than You

[An act of poor etiquette has been committed.]

[Player Ver is in a temporary chaotic state.]

[If the other party initiates an attack, they will not receive any penalty.]

[The item can be collected by the owner after 3 seconds.]

[Item is not available for use.]

Chaotic State. It was a state of penalty that a player would fall into once they had committed an act of poor etiquette. This state would allow the other party to take action against the aggressor, without being penalized. If the aggressor did not escalate their aggression or kill their opponent, they would just be placed under a half-chaotic state.

This would still give the opponents a few minutes to attack the aggressor before their half-chaotic state was released. However, if the aggressor had already killed another player, then the player-killer would be placed under a temporary complete chaotic state. There would be no penalty incurred on other players attacking the player-killer until they have returned to a normal state.

"What's with this cake that makes you keep on eating it…" Ver said, raising his hand to throw the cake away. However, before he could do so, Minhyuk had stood up and punched him square in the face. It all happened so fast that no one was able to react.

Punch!

The punch blew Ver away and made him so dizzy that he was not able to come back to his senses quickly. Ver was very surprised at this.

'W…why did my HP drop this much… It was just one punch!'

Ver gaped at Minhyuk as he heard him say, "I'm an X? Me?"

'W…what's with that look…'

Ver was flustered at Minhyuk’s sudden actions. The same was true for Roy and Rakku, who were shocked. Everything had happened in just an instant. The happy-go-lucky Minhyuk was now emitting a scary aura while wearing an angry expression.

"W…what are you doing?! Did you just hit me?!"

Minhyuk just took a single leap and he was already in front of Ver. Ver flinched in fear, unable to reconcile the seemingly harmless Minhyuk from earlier, and the ferocious expression that Minhyuk was showing right now.

Even if he did not know how his HP dropped this much, he knew that he would be forced to log out if he received another blow. The revelation made Ver extremely flustered and frightened that he was left stuttering.

In fact, the situation would be solved if he logged out of the game willingly. However, Minhyuk’s fierce expression and aura overwhelmed him to the point that he could not think straight.

Rakku stared at Ver with pity as she watched Minhyuk approach him. But Minhyuk knew that it was not worth it for him to deal with Ver. Then, he raised his hand.

"Hiiiiiiiiiik!" Ver shrieked, cowering in preparation for another attack. However, all that Minhyuk did was take the cake back from his hands and put it in his mouth.

Ver was left speechless. His ugly face was wearing an even uglier expression after being embarrassed.

"Come on, both of you, calm down. Ver, come here," Roy said, stepping up to mediate between them while Rakku secretly pulled at Minhyuk's clothes to separate them.

In fact, it was not that difficult for Minhyuk to PK Ver and force the latter to log-out. However, there was a reason why he did not kill Ver.

'If my guess is right, then Roy will definitely separate us from Ver.'

Ver scowled at Minhyuk, still raring for a fight to try and protect his remaining self-esteem, as Roy tried to mediate between them.

"Let go! Let go of me! That bastard…"

Minhyuk folded his arms and stared at Ver expressionlessly, who shut his mouth the moment their gazes met.

Then, Rakku whispered in Minhyuk's ears, “Minhyuk, good job. Wow, that was so refreshing. I was so upset because that person kept on flirting with me and separating us."

Minhyuk pulled out another castella cake slice from his inventory as he replied, "Rakku."

"Yes?"

"That person tried to do something that he shouldn't have done."

"W…what is it?" Rakku asked shyly, perking her ears up to listen carefully.

"He tried to throw away food."

"...?"

Minhyuk ate his castella cake with a very solemn expression. This was a man whose unawareness was a whole other level.

***

Roy smiled awkwardly after pulling Ver away from Minhyuk.

"Oh… Wait. The party's mood is not that good. Haha. Well, I'm not blaming Minhyuk for it."

Roy saw it happen but before he could react, Minhyuk had already taken the necessary actions. Even so, if it had happened to him, he would have also done the same.

"Another mob, the sweet python, will appear soon. It's much stronger than the mini ant, so we're going to have to pull them over one by one before we can strike them down. Ver and I are the perfect fit for the job."

What Minhyuk had guessed was really unfolding the way he thought. He knew that Roy was not doing this in order for Minhyuk and Ver to reconcile, but it was because he wanted to leave them behind. Of course, it was still just a possibility.

However, the fact that Roy only interfered in their fight after it happened, as if he was waiting for this fight to break out, was enough to convince Minhyuk to be on guard against him.

"The atmosphere between you two is too hostile; it's better for the two of you to stay behind," Roy said quietly.

Minhyuk and Rakku nodded their heads in agreement as they watched Roy and Ver walk further into the dungeon until they disappeared from their sights. Even after they had left, Minhyuk still continued to eat. Rakku felt that the air was awkward.

"You really won't give me anything? Just a bit?"

"Yes, I won’t even give you a tiny morsel!!"

"Even a tiny morsel…"

Minhyuk was the type of person who did not share food with just anyone!

After another bout of silence, Minhyuk asked, "How much of your MP is left right now?"

‘Why did he ask this all of a sudden?’

Rakku was confused by Minhyuk’s sudden question. However, she still said, "My MP is half-filled right now."

"Is that so? I hope it will be filled up quickly then," Minhyuk replied while nodding his head.

"Why?"

"Just in case."

‘Just in case?’

She looked at him curiously but Minhyuk did not explain further.

Twenty minutes later…

"Why, why aren't they coming back?" Rakku asked in a fluster. She knew that twenty minutes was more than enough time for the two to lure a single monster.

[Party Chat | Rakku: Roy? Ver? Where are you?]

[Party Chat | Rakku: Guys? Can you please answer me?]

[Party Chat | Rakku: Guys…?]

However, the party chat window remained silent. Minhyuk continued to eat his castella cake in silence. Just then…

Thud, thud, thud, thud—

The sound of urgent footsteps rang loudly from deep within the darkness of the dungeon. Rakku held her breath while Minhyuk just chewed on his bread.

Gasp, gasp, gasp—

“Damn it! A Great Sweet Python came out!"

"G…Great Sweet Python…?!"

The one running over was none other than their party leader, Roy.

The Great Sweet Python was a monster that was considered to be a quasi-boss spawn on the Twilight Dungeon and was the next most powerful mob after the boss monster. It was very rare, but there were times when the quasi-boss had proven to be more challenging and difficult to fight, compared to the boss mob. The Great Sweet Python was exactly in that category. Whenever this guy showed up, a dozen or more sweet pythons would accompany it as well.

"What about Ver?!"

"He was forced to log out! Damn it!!" Roy swore as he tried to calm his ragged breaths.

"Hmmm." Minhyuk hummed and nodded, still eating his bread

"Huff…Huff…Huff…?We tried to shake those guys off…?Huff...?I just kept on running…" Roy was still breathing heavily as he spoke.

"T…then are the three of us going to take it on?"

"Yes, we have to be as careful as possible and start off with the mob surrounding the Great Sweet Python…"

Right then, Roy suddenly stabbed his spear out towards Minhyuk.

"Kyaaaaack?!" Rakku let out a little scream of alarm. However…

Clang!

Minhyuk calmly parried the attack with his sword in one hand, still holding his cake in the other.

[Chaotic player.]

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

[No penalty will be incurred if PK is successful.]

[There is a high probability of an item dropping.]

Minhyuk calmly finished the cake in his hand while Roy jumped back to widen the distance between them. He was completely shocked at Minhyuk’s reaction. Minhyuk stepped forward while pushing Rakku behind him.

"What the hell, you knew?" Roy asked, the kind smile on his face slowly fading away.

"W…what's happening?! Why did you suddenly attack Minhyuk…!"

"He's a PK guy," Minhyuk spoke calmly.

"Oh my, so you really knew? I never thought that you could parry my spear."

Minhyuk stared at Roy as he mumbled something under his breath. The words that he muttered were a chapter of the Bardy Swordsmanship.

"When did you realize it?"

"Who knows…"

***

Two hours ago, while Minhyuk was on his way to meet Charlie, the hunting NPC.

"Ah, damn, I dropped the spear I got last time!"

"What?! How did you drop it!"

Minhyuk saw two very familiar faces. They were the people that he saw on the day that he first arrived at the central plaza and met with General. It was the player who had bragged about getting a great item and his friend that complained about his stomachache.

"I went to a dungeon on a party hunting quest and got PKed… That guy is a huge bastard…! Argh, that spear is a unique item!! I'm so pissed off!"

"PK?! Wow, there are still bastards like that even in a beginner's village?"

"Why are you laughing? Are you gloating over my misfortune?"

"Calm down, my friend. When a friend is in trouble, shouldn't a true friend laugh at him so he will learn his lessons?"

"Hey, XX bastard!"

Minhyuk, who listened to their conversation, thought that it was truly possible. After all, that player was jumping in joy when he got that spear. He was so happy that Minhyuk wondered if the player was feeling the same way as him, when he received something that he could eat.

After listening to their conversation, he continued to walk towards the central plaza to find a Twilight party.

***

In all honesty, Minhyuk was not that confident that it was Roy. There was a chance that the spear just looked similar. However, from what he heard, the spear was a unique item.

In other words, it was truly the spear that he saw the other day. Artifacts above the rare grade were uncommon. Those artifacts starting from unique would definitely only have one in existence. However, even though he had found it strange, he chose to maintain his vigilance and observe the situation.

Then, he was accepted as a member of their party. If one were to ask Minhyuk when he realized that Roy was the PK guy, his reply would be that it was when Roy offered to bring him along. There was no other reason aside from him having an ulterior motive.

'He’s aiming for my items.'

PK would result in random item drops, and Minhyuk's items looked quite expensive. Plus, Roy had acted according to Minhyuk's expectations. Minhyuk had pondered about how Roy would act.

‘Will he make a move when the three of us are together? No, I don't know about his level, but it will definitely be hard on him to take on all three of us. So, he will definitely separate one person away from the other two first.’

True enough, Roy found a chance when Minhyuk and Ver had a dispute. He waited for the perfect timing to separate them by saying that he and Ver would chase and kite the mob.

When this happened, Minhyuk finally confirmed that Roy was really the PK guy. He was prepared to PK Ver earlier, but he hung back first. Ver was going to die anyway if Minhyuk’s assumptions turned out to be correct. Hence, he thought that it would be better to make use of him to confirm things than to kill Ver himself.

"Well, it doesn't matter. All we have left is a time-consuming mage and a Level 10 classless novice."

"H… how can such a kind looking person do this…!" Rakku shouted.

Even if they were low leveled, no one would feel good about getting PKed. Then, Rakku noticed Minhyuk, who was very calm.

'Just like what he said, I'm a mage and Minhyuk is only at Level 10…'

It seemed like their 2:1 odds would only lead to a complete defeat after all. Rakku had clearly seen that Roy was good at fighting. Roy quickly narrowed their distance.

[Power Strike]

[Additional 10% attack power on a single blow.]

Roy used the special skill attached to the spear, lunging at Minhyuk with all his strength. He believed that Minhyuk would need to throw his sword away in order to stop this strike, which would allow him to stab Minhyuk in the neck.

[Dauntless Strike]

[Each attack inflicts additional 20% damage.]

But then, Minhyuk’s sword flashed with a red light.

Clang!

The sound of weapons colliding rang out loudly as Minhyuk parried his strike.

"Shall I show you everything I got?"

Minhyuk had purposely hidden his stats and power due to his suspicions of Roy. Even with the deflected aggros, he had only chosen to finish off the ones which had blood all over, or were on the brink of death.

Tremble—

Roy’s face grew solemn at the trembling sensation that passed through his arms from the force of the collision. However, before he could collect himself, Minhyuk had already quickly narrowed their distance.

"Ha!"

"Huh?!"

Both Rakku and Roy exclaimed in shock. They finally realized that Minhyuk had fooled them completely. Minhyuk’s speed was much higher compared to when they were hunting mini ants.

Clang!

Clang!

Minhyuk swiftly pressured Roy with his attacks.

'What the fxck! What kind of stats does this Level 10 have…!'

Roy was shocked at the tremendous amount of strength he felt with each strike that he blocked desperately.

[Two Consecutive Quick Assault]

[Each sword swing will deal damage twice.]

Clang!

Minhyuk’s sword collided against Roy’s spear, when suddenly, another sword swing appeared out of the afterimage.

Clang!

Clang!

In the end, Roy could not withstand Minhyuk’s overwhelming power. His grip on his spear loosen which allowed Minhyuk to stab him in the neck.

Stab!

"Ugh!"

Roy trembled as Minhyuk’s sword slit through his throat.

Splatter!

Then, Minhyuk pulled his sword out without any hesitation. When Roy’s body collapsed to the ground, plenty of glittering artifacts fell and dropped in front of his corpse.

'A ring?'