Chapter 9
He pulled up the map to look for a settlement, but nothing else looked as promising as their current spot. After three days without any outside interference, his worries about finding a safe place to stay had vanished.
The food situation turned out to be easier than he’d expected. While the safe, edible fruits grew in areas crawling with monsters, poisonous ones were scattered everywhere. Luckily, Ji-woo’s profession gave him passive immunity to all toxins.
‘At this level, I should be able to endure somehow.’
Just thinking about that black-haired bastard Kim Yu-jin made him clench his jaw, but survival had to come first. Whether it was getting revenge on that asshole or settling the score, escaping this place was his top priority.
As Ji-woo chewed and swallowed the disgusting and bizarre-tasting fruit to survive, a strange sound caught his ears.
The sound turned out to be people talking. As the voices grew closer, it became clear they were heading toward the back of the cave where Ji-woo was hiding. The people who’d been arriving in small groups of three to five immediately started talking louder when they discovered him there.
Led by a leader, the number of people following behind was considerable. At that level, it was definitely a survivor group that had formed a community.
However, even though they were the same people and fellow Earth people by origin, it was too early to feel relieved. Hadn’t that ungrateful human also run away with all the belongings of the benefactor who had saved his life?
Especially recalling such situations in common web novels, not all leaders of such large groups were necessarily good people.
Ji-woo explored the status window of the handsome man standing at the very front—probably the leader of the group.
Lee Jin-sung [Profession: None] (Disposition: Evil)
HP 1820/1900, MP 250/250
Stats — Strength 30, Agility 27, Stamina 38, Intelligence 19, Mana 25, Luck 9 [Total Stats: 148]
Skills — (None)
Preferences — Power, flatterers, authority, positions
Dislikes — Betrayal, comparison, being ignored
Ji-woo wanted to rub his eyes and double-check if he’d misread the information on the status window. The only thing stopping him was the fear that everyone watching would think he had lost his mind.
A familiar name, Lee Jin-sung.
He was the owner of the legendary item Ji-woo had stolen, and a villain who cruelly massacred people. He was the worst villain after the Demon King, who was the strongest in the worldview.
This confirmed that the time Ji-woo had dimension-traveled was identical to the round when the protagonists were summoned.
To dismiss it as someone with the same name would be difficult given the extraordinary status window, clear evil disposition, and preferences for badges of authority.
Everything lined up perfectly. Even his striking appearance was too distinctive for someone who was supposed to be a background character.
Light double eyelids with cool-looking eyes, a high nose bridge, and an organized jawline were the basic qualities of a handsome man, but looking at the eye corners that stretched upward gave a fierce impression, and the sanpaku eyes (showing white above/below iris), there was a thuggish feeling contained within.
Ji-woo slightly hid his trembling fingers behind his body, feeling like he was seeing a blade that had sprung up right before his eyes.
The final boss was the Demon King, but if Ji-woo had to choose between facing the Demon King or Jin-sung, he would choose the Demon King without hesitation. The Demon King wasn’t good either, but at least there was a glimmer of hope with that side.
In contrast, Jin-sung’s cruelty easily surpassed demons despite having human blood.
Jin-sung enjoyed people’s deaths with an indifferent face. His hobby was slowly suffocating them until pleas to be spared changed to desperate cries to be killed instead.
Considering that his disposition became cruel after obtaining demonic power, it was still a story of the distant future timeline-wise, but the fact that his innate disposition was deep evil remained unchanged.
If his disposition was dangerous, it would be good if his power was at least at the level of other passing villains, but Jin-sung was the only human who could defeat the protagonist.
In the latter part of the original work, the duel between Jin-sung and the protagonist was neck and neck, and though it resulted in the protagonist’s victory, the author said that if circumstances and items were removed, Jin-sung would be the strongest in the human realm.
“What, there was a person here.”
At Jin-sung’s muttering, Ji-woo, who had been blankly lost in thought, quickly came to his senses and hid his trembling voice.
“Ah, hello.”
He tried his utmost not to upset his mood. He was someone who would slaughter people like a psycho if his mood was disturbed even slightly. In front of Jin-sung, human life was no different from a mere piece of toilet paper.
Though there was still a very long time left for Jin-sung to develop to that extent, Ji-woo, who couldn’t forget the cruel and bizarre descriptions, was trapped in the novel’s time and thought arbitrarily.
The small hope that allowed him to take action without being consumed by fear was that Ji-woo knew him well. Not just a few short words that influenced preferences, but he clearly understood Jin-sung’s past and his circumstances.
Jin-sung was someone who obsessively wanted to have positions and authority, be treated well, and like moments of being upheld and revered. The reason for forming a large group of nutritionless people was definitely because of that. Endlessly repeating that fact in his head, he carefully observed Jin-sung’s mood.
“How did you crawl into such a deep place?”
“Ah, I was running away avoiding monsters…”
Ji-woo, who hid the trembling that kept trying to emerge, calmly spat out an answer. Jin-sung didn’t dislike those who were afraid of his strength either, but they were still meeting for the first time. Showing groundless fear was a hasty attitude.
Ji-woo had no choice but to join Jin-sung’s group. Though he had thought about finding another safe zone rather than being next to Jin-sung, to cross over to the nearest safe zone, he would have to cross dangerous areas teeming with monsters.
There were limits to moving alone, and requesting companionship was a crazy act that would reveal his destination.
After deciding to team up just to make it through another day, Ji-woo had to give up his secret about reading maps within days. Not exactly what he’d planned, but he didn’t have much choice.
There was an unofficial pecking order in Jin-sung’s group. The hunting team that had fighting ability and helped with monster hunting was the ruling class, and those without strength and guts who only guarded their base were the ruled class.
The separation of classes was partly due to the basic force of personnel going out to hunt being stronger than others, and also because they had pride in doing important life-risking work and wanted special treatment over those who only did chores and consumed food.
It was a natural phenomenon that emerged because the leader, Jin-sung’s, preferred authority and hierarchical order. As a result, clear gaps and discrimination arose between them.
Ji-woo spent the first few days quietly blending in with the cave guards, but eventually revealed his mapping skills to get himself out of such a vulnerable spot.
Of course, he didn’t forget to repeatedly emphasize the limitation that it could only be used in the Forest of Trials and imprint that it was a completely useless ability outside the forest. It was a preventive measure born from worry that Jin-sung might drag him around even outside the Forest of Trials if he was proven useful beyond that.
Thanks to this, he follows along whenever the hunting team goes out to hunt, but the group quickly realized Ji-woo’s physical abilities were hopeless and only saw him as a human GPS.
At least it was fortunate that Ji-woo’s ability wouldn’t be diminished since the forest’s terrain changed periodically. Moreover, when he added help by deceiving information he could read with the Third Eye as information from the map, Ji-woo’s value and necessity within the group gradually rose.
“Han Ji-woo, go forward a bit.”
“The front row is the combat team. What if I get in the way for no reason?”
“Then at least stand in the middle. It’s annoying to always rely on what you say from the very back to the front.”
“I’m more comfortable in the back.”
Despite someone’s complaints, Ji-woo, who defended his back position to the end, hadn’t gotten involved with Jin-sung yet thanks to his efforts to live as far away from him as possible.
When the only usable water was rainwater that fell intermittently, washing wasn’t appropriate. Because of this, unpleasant smells faintly lingered around people staying in the group, but Ji-woo’s situation was different. Thanks to the passive effect that naturally maintained cleanliness, only Ji-woo carried a subtle fragrance.
It was definitely a good function that maintained cleanliness, but Ji-woo thought he wanted to turn off that function just for this moment.
“Other guys smell, but why are you the only one so fresh?”
Kim Jae-han buried his nose around Ji-woo’s neck and sniffed like a dog in heat.
Was this bastard’s preference sex?
As if proving his preferences, whenever there was someone pretty among the ruled class personnel, he would drag them away regardless of gender and take them as he pleased. Even amid the chaos of moving busily for survival, his ideology of actively deploying sexual functions was both disgusting and admirable.
Kim Jae-han was largely responsible for Ji-woo’s move from the ruled class to the ruling class. Since it seemed like Kim Jae-han would eat him alive if he stayed at the bottom, Ji-woo had even revealed abilities he wanted to hide just to secure his place in the upper tier.
However, not many days after Ji-woo rose to the ruling class rank, Kim Jae-han’s radar was gradually shifting toward Ji-woo.
When Ji-woo noticed that Kim Jae-han wanted to put his hands on him under the pretext of rank difference, he felt that familiar sense of danger creeping back.
Now, for Ji-woo to escape from Kim Jae-han’s net, he had no choice but to position himself higher than him, unfortunately, Kim Jae-han occupied the position of Jin-sung’s right hand.
In other words, to suppress Kim Jae-han, he would have to steal Jin-sung’s right-hand position.
Either lose his virginity to this perverted bastard, or stay close to the dangerous Jin-sung and shake off Kim Jae-han once and for all.
Ji-woo, who had been going back and forth on this decision, tried to ignore Kim Jae-han’s disgusting stares since he was acutely aware of how dangerous Jin-sung was. But when Kim Jae-han got physical like this—forcefully grabbing his shoulders and burying his face in Ji-woo’s neck—he couldn’t take it anymore.
Fuck it. Yes.
No matter how dangerous Jin-sung was, if bastards like Kim Jae-han could survive next to him without a single wound. There was nothing Ji-woo couldn’t do.
Just until escaping the Forest of Trials.
If he just pleased Jin-sung’s mood until then, it wouldn’t be dangerous.
