— The winner! The new rising super rookie, JaJangMan!

The ring announcer shouted and raised Chae Nayun’s hand. The crowd went crazy after she won her third consecutive victory.

“Yes, thank you! Thank you!” Chae Nayun nonchalantly brushed it off.

The matches didn’t excite her much. After all, a bunch of rookies stood no chance against her when she regressed with all of her combat experience. Most of her opponents couldn’t even exchange a proper blow before being beaten to the ground.

“Great work, JaJangMan! See you next week at the colosseum!”

“Yeah, sure. See you.”

Chae Nayun and her manager greeted each other before she left the colosseum.

She stretched after finally getting a breath of fresh air. Then she looked around her surroundings. The desert’s blue hue looked beautiful at dawn.

“Hey! Hey, Chae Nayun!”

Someone suddenly called her.

Chae Nayun turned around and saw Yi Yeonghan rushing towards her while huffing and puffing. He held a piece of paper in his hand.

“Why? What’s up?” Chae Nayun asked.

“Hey, hey, hey! Something big happened!” Yi Yeonghan exclaimed in response.

“What is it?”

“A problem! A huge problem!”

Chae Nayun tilted her head in confusion.

Kim Suho appeared behind Yi Yeonghan with a serious expression too.

“Take a look at this…” Yi Yeonghan showed her the paper in his hand.

[Red Notice: Wanted]

Name: Derio Rekru

Age: 33

Bounty: Three billion won (Dead or Alive)

It had a picture of a man in his thirties who looked like a drug addict. Aside from that, the poster looked like any other wanted poster.

“What about this? This is that guy, right?” Chae Nayun asked.

“You know who this is?” Yi Yeonghan asked in response.

“Of course, I do. Do you think I’m stupid or something?”

The Insane Witch Doctor, Derio Rekru. He was one of the most wanted criminals in the world and every Cube cadet had to memorize his name.

Yi Yeonghan shouted, “He’s holding the entire colosseum hostage!”

“… What bullshit are you spouting? We just left the colosseum,” Chae Nayun replied with a frown.

Kim Suho shook his head, “We weren’t affected because we chose

‘Battle’

.”

“Huh?”

“All the participants who chose

‘Hurdle’

along with the spectators have gone missing.”

“…”

Chae Nayun became speechless with her mouth wide open. A fly even went into her mouth and left.

A powerful gust suddenly blew and Seo Youngji appeared. She seemed to be talking to someone on the phone.

“Yes, the neutral city-state. Derio Rekru… yeah… yeah…

hmm…

really? Alright, I guess we have no choice. Yeah, that sounds good.”

Seo Youngji ended the call.

Chae Nayun glared at her and asked, “Was that the association? Are they coming?”

“

Hmm?

Ah

, no, no. The association doesn’t get involved with neutral city-states. In return, I received approval for us to get involved. Anyways, I never imagined they would be ballsy enough to mess with the colosseum. He’s truly insane. As expected…”

Seo Youngji looked relaxed while Chae Nayun nervously bit her fingernails.

Kim Hajin and Yoo Yeonha were definitely involved if everyone who selected

‘Hurdle’

had been taken hostage.

“What should we do now?” Kim Suho asked.

Seo Youngji shrugged, “We have to think. We have to find out how that witch doctor managed to abduct the entire colosseum. Let’s wait for a bit longer since Jonghak is on his way here.”

“…”

Chae Nayun gritted her teeth and looked at the colosseum. She tried to recall if something like this happened in the past, but realized that was futile.

“Are you worried?” Kim Suho asked.

Chae Nayun glanced at him with a smirk, “No, Kim Hajin is strong.”

That guy was definitely strong. He wouldn’t get done in by a mere witch doctor, but why did she feel so anxious and frustrated despite knowing that?

“

Haaa…”

Chae Nayun sighed full of complicated emotions.

***

[Blood… s… a… Stage…]

[… K… i… ll… All… a… f…]

A bunch of difficult to understand text appeared on my card. No, this felt more like a curse than words.

“…”

I observed my surroundings a bit before releasing the restrictions I placed on my senses. Thankfully, they withdrew their killing intent and I no longer felt anything suppressing me. Also, this place was so humid that my cold sweat wouldn’t be obvious.

“P-Please help yourself.”

I ended up getting tongue-tied as I welcomed them to eat the lizard meatballs.

Both of them instantly looked at me and I blocked my senses again. This time, I cranked it up to the max. It would be impossible to deal with them if I didn’t do this.

? Arts (1/3)

1. Parkour

I checked my arts that only had parkour and decided to add another one.

[Acting] [Intermediate Rank]

— Will allow the user to express their feelings better.

— Will acquire mental fortitude that will not be affected by external factors.

— The user will attain inner peace.

This was the best I could come up with to save myself from this predicament. It cost me five hundred SP, but I would receive a portion back if I ever deleted the art. It wouldn’t be too burdensome.

[You have used 500 SP]

[Do you wish to save the new art?]

[Your luck has activated!]

I clicked

[Yes]

and my new art slightly improved because my luck triggered.

“

Hoo…”

My new art immediately got to work and spread all over my body. I finally composed myself.

I offered the lizard meatballs to the two visitors, “It’s cooked now. Please help yourselves.”

“Haha…”

the man responded first and simply laughed as he placed a meatball in his mouth. Then he flinched for a moment and exclaimed, “Wow… what’s this? It’s really good.”

One… two… three… four…

He began throwing one meatball after another into his mouth, but the woman simply watched him without eating.

I picked up a meatball and offered it to her, “I suggest you try one too.”

I had no idea why I spoke so strangely, but she didn’t mind and ate the meatball. She seemed to like it and began eating on her own afterwards.

“Wow… this is really good,” the man muttered in amazement at my cooking.

He took off his robe and finally showed his face. He looked handsome and surprisingly friendly.

The man stared at me for a while before asking, “Anyways, since when did you know?”

Of course, I had no idea what he meant. However, I knew very well that the Chameleon Troupe wasn’t running a charity. They were a bunch of strange evildoers who couldn’t be predicted like how a rugby ball could bounce in any direction.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have appeared so indifferent since that caught his attention. He exuded a strange mana that pressured me to tell the truth.

I crossed my arms over my chest and used Acting to the maximum to pretend that I was thinking.

“Hmmm…”

There didn’t seem to be any barriers. After all, those two would’ve easily destroyed it if that was the case. Also, it would be too unnatural to say that we were teleported to another place. Something on this scale would require a huge magic circle and an archmage to cast.

[Blood… s… a… Stage…]

[… K… i… ll… All… a… f…]

I faintly recalled writing a similar setting as this one. I hurriedly opened the story settings and went over it. I didn’t write anything in detail, but…

“… A curse?” I carefully mentioned whatever conclusion I reached.

The man smiled and exclaimed, “Wow! You really knew about it!”

Yoo Yeonha looked at me with wide eyes like an owl.

It felt like I guessed the correct answer to question number thirty on the CSAT. Having high luck surely did benefit me at times.

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

“How did you know? That’s amazing! You must be at least an expert!” the man exclaimed and gave me a round of applause.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Meanwhile, the woman quietly ate the meatballs and grumbled, “… Noisy.”

The man ignored her and continued, “

Ah

, we’re actually here because of a request. We were going to assassinate that witch doctor, but I think that guy pulled some stunt.

Haha!

Unfortunately, we got caught in whatever he did.”

The woman finished eating and the man got up from his seat.

I could see a reddish snake-like spear when his robes fluttered open, the Zhang Long Serpent Spear.

I looked at him and he returned a smile.

“Thanks for the food,” he said.

I simply nodded.

“Oh right, there seems to be a lot of djinns here. They probably got roped in like us, I guess? They seem to number in the thousands,” he added.

I had no idea if he was advising or warning us, so I simply asked, “Do you plan to kill that witch doctor or whatever he is?”

“We should.”

“… Do you have a way to kill him?”

“Beats me… We have to find a way, I guess?” the man flashed an innocent smile before putting on his hood.

The woman, the so-called boss, stared at me without saying anything. I had no idea why, but I suddenly tensed up from her gaze.

“Thanks for the food.”

Fortunately, she warmly thanked me before getting up and leaving.

***

“Amazing, right?”

The Chameleon Troupe reached the highest point in the jungle.

Lee Byul scanned the jungle to get a better grasp of the situation.

“Do you think he’s strong?”

Lee Byul didn’t respond, but the shadows around her spread out to analyze the curse. They recorded, absorbed, and analyzed the curse before returning to her.

“Is there a way for us to get out of here?”

“…”

It didn’t look easy to get out of this place. The best method would be to resist the curse. No, it would only be possible if they outright dispelled the curse. Unfortunately, no one in the Chameleon Troupe possessed the ability to do that. After all, a curse was something complex and intricate.

“There’s someone who we might be able to cooperate with. Wicked, that woman is here.”

“…”

“Or we could cooperate with those two we just met. At least we won’t be starving to death if we stick with them.”

“But you tried to kill them.”

Jin Yohan smiled, “Honestly, I planned to at first. What options did we have though? Those meatballs were so good. I mean, you enjoyed it too, right? Boss?”

“What nonsense are you spouting?” Lee Byul feigned ignorance.

Jin Yohan recalled the girl and boy they met. The girl lacked a bit in terms of strength, but she looked smart. Meanwhile, the boy was a strong one.

However, the really impressive part about the boy was that he had perfect control over his mana. Truth be told, Jin Yohan couldn’t sense any mana from him. The reason he tried to kill them was because of how skilled the boy was in controlling mana.

“He looked quite adept. It’s as if he’s also an assassin,” Lee Byul said.

She met Kim Hajin once before at Cube, but didn’t recognize him since he wore a mask this time.

“But…” Lee Byul looked at the red sky that was gradually turning dark. “He’s not strong enough,” she muttered.

Derio Rekru was capable of unleashing such a curse by channeling all his hatred and loathing for this world. He was not someone to underestimate.

Lee Byul smiled. She thought this would be an easy job, but things became slightly interesting.

“Yeah, there are quite a lot of interesting people in this world,” Jin Yohan said with a smile.

Lee Byul simply nodded in agreement.

However, Jin Yohan was referring to the boy and not who Lee Byul was thinking about.

***

“What’s the plan?” Yoo Yeonha asked while braving the overgrown jungle path.

“No idea,” I nonchalantly replied while scratching my chin.

I was actually at a loss too. It was only thanks to

[Acting]

that I managed to look calm.

“I think we should look for a way out first.”

“Rather than that… how did you know this happened because of a curse?”

“I got lucky.”

“What?” Yoo Yeonha squinted and glared at me like an angry cat.

“It’s true.”

I continued briskly walking while keeping a watch over my surroundings. A catalyst would be required to cast a curse of this scale no matter how powerful that witch doctor was. The value of such a catalyst would definitely be astronomical.

“Ah…”

Yoo Yeonha muttered as she stopped.

I stopped too.

We both stared in awe at the overwhelming scenery on the horizon.

“Amazing… this is a curse?” Yoo Yeonha muttered.

A vast swamp stretched into the horizon like the ocean. The darkness made the swamp look like the ground, but any fool who walked into that would definitely sink and suffocate to death.

“I know, right?”

— Hey!

Someone suddenly shouted at us. I looked towards the voice and saw a group at the swamp, but we couldn’t possibly reach them over this distance.

— Hey! You guys! Over here!

—

Huh?!

Someone’s there!

— Where are you guys from?

They seemed confused about the entire situation too.

— Do you know what’s going on?!

— Hey! Where the fuck is this?!

I was going to respond when I felt a powerful surge of killing intent from deep underneath the swamp. It soon materialized as the ground shook.

Then, Death emerged from the swamp.

“——————!”

The huge darkness let out an ear-splitting cry that sounded unintelligible. The group a distance away from us heard it too.

— W-What?!

— F-Fuck! What’s that thing?!

Aaaack!

They started to run, but I remained still and dumbfoundedly stared at the strange creature. It looked like a wild beast with its entire body covered in darkness. No, a creature that used both hands and walked on both feet couldn’t be called a beast.

The darkness threw the humans into its mouth.

Gulp!

It closed its eyes after swallowing them alive.

Yoo Yeonha tried to drag me away and I obediently followed her while whispering, “

Is that the boss of this place?”

“… I have no idea.”

Someone else called out to us.

— Hey!

—

Psst! Psst!

It sounded like they were calling for a dog or something, but we decided to head towards them nonetheless.

Surprisingly, another robed figure pulled us into the thicket.

“What are you guys doing? Do you have a death wish? That’s a swamp dokkaebi[1]!”

“Swamp dokkaebi?”

The swamp dokkaebi was one of the strongest monsters that required a team of high rank heroes to hunt. It was also known as the owner of the Amazon.

“That’s right! A top-tier monster! You guys will die if you get caught!”

The woman seemed quite upset as she scolded us. I didn’t say a word and just stared at her.

She found my gaze annoying and scoffed, “What? You got a problem? You do know that I saved you, right?”

Whoosh!

A breeze blew past the quiet swamp. It briefly distracted me, but I looked at the woman again.

“No, it’s not that. I was just thankful. What’s your name?” I asked.

“Yes, that’s how you should respond. My name is Zomer.”

“…”

Zomer extended her hand. I almost shook it, but flinched instead. Zomer sounded like a very familiar name…

I observed my surroundings again and noticed that it went eerily silent. I pretended to shake Zomer’s hand before yanking her towards me.

“

Kyah!”

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

I overpowered her with the help of aether and pointed my Desert Eagle at her spine.

“I’ll snap your spine in half,” I threatened.

“What are you doing?”

“How many comrades do you have? Tell me quietly.”

Yoo Yeonha quickly picked up on the situation and prepared to reach for her whip at any moment.

Zomer, no, Tomer continued to feign ignorance, “What are you talking about?”

I placed my finger on the trigger and she began making a fuss.

“WAIT! Wait! Wait! I’m going to scream! That swamp dokkaebi will come here if I do!”

“Just die, goodbye.”

Of course, I had no intention of killing her. However, my voice carried quite the killing intent. Actually, I was surprised by how scary I sounded myself. It was probably thanks to

[Acting]

that I added a while ago.

Tomer gasped in horror and immediately said, “O-Okay! Wait! Wait a minute! I’m sorry!”

“Just answer my question.”

“Alright, alright! Three. There are only three others. All of them are currently injured, so…” she stopped halfway.

I pressed the gun against her spine and forced her to continue, “So what?”

“… I was wondering if you guys had any potions with you.”

It didn’t seem like she was lying. I looked over at Yoo Yeonha and she seemed to agree.

“Alright, lead the way. I’m warning you though. I’ll pull the trigger if you try anything. Tell that guy up there to back off too,” I said.

‘Damn…’

Tomer bit her lips and obediently led the way.

1. Dokkaebi is a mythical creature in Korean culture. ?