"It just happens. Like this."
It was at that moment.
A strange and mysterious white light burst forth from Dong Bongsu's body.
Sacred Light.
It was an extremely sacred light, one that did not suit Dong Bongsu.
It was a scene he felt he'd never experienced in his entire life, but he had already gone through this before.
In Murim Online, that virtual world, he had experienced such a light.
"So, this is a Level Up."
He had finally succeeded in his first Evolution in this New Murim Online.
The moment he leveled up, a silence fell over the alley.
But that moment did not last long.
"H-hiiik!"
The Ruffians shrieked and stepped back.
The death of Jangho, someone they felt they could never handle, and the cruel white light that had just spread through the alley made them react that way.
Thump.
Dong Bongsu took a step toward them.
As if in unison, the Ruffians took a step back.
No, they tried to, but the wall behind them didn't allow even that single step.
This was a dead-end alley.
Was he smiling?
Dong Bongsu's lips parted slightly, revealing his white teeth.
He began to advance again.
The first one Dong Bongsu reached was Do Pal-du, who was still clutching his broken arm in agony.
He raised his foot high and stomped down on Do Pal-du's neck.
Crack.
Crunch.
With the grotesque sound of his neck bones shattering, Do Pal-du departed from this world.
"G-get him!"
Having seen Do Pal-du die so futilely, the Ruffians, despite their terror, charged at Dong Bongsu all at once to survive.
Dong Bongsu's response to them was simple and clear.
He lightly raised his hand to his chest.
Shhhk.
A scene unfolded in his hand, like a flower bud blooming at hundreds of thousands of times its normal speed.
Except it was a sword instead of a flower.
A saber, sprouting from the Inventory and blooming in Dong Bongsu's hand.
Like the dagger from before, all the weapons inside the Inventory were things he had secretly bought or pilfered while helping Machil with his duties as an armory hand.
Swish.
His saber mercilessly cut through the air.
Thwack.
The saber embedded itself halfway into the neck of the foremost Ruffian.
It had been too long since he had wielded a weapon, so he failed to slice through the neck cleanly in one go.
Dong Bongsu immediately dropped the saber and drew a dagger.
He held the dagger with the blade pointing down and leaped right into the midst of the Ruffians.
Stab, slash!
"K-kuaaaak!"
Each time the dagger moved, a Ruffian's artery was severed, and blood gushed out like a fountain.
Dong Bongsu didn't know Martial Arts, but when it came to fighting, he was a master.
He was strong enough to have mastered nearly every form of combat on Modern Earth.
He was skilled not only in bare-fisted fighting and joint locks, but also in the Eighteen Martial Arts.
Naturally, the number of weapons he could handle was endless.
If need be, like the Chinese actor Jackie Chan, he even possessed the resourcefulness to use any nearby object as a weapon.
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That was Dong Bongsu.
Most importantly, he lacked the one thing that was the biggest hindrance in a fight: mercy.
He was utterly devoid of it.
Dong Bongsu would stop at nothing, no matter the situation.
Foul play? Cheap shots? Cowardice?
Such concepts did not exist for him in the first place.
If it meant he could subdue and kill his opponent, such things were not even a consideration.
"Uwaaak!"
Dong Bongsu's cruel dance seemed like it wouldn't stop until every last Ruffian was dead.
Thud, thud, squelch!
The brutal dance of slaughter finally came to a halt when only one man was left.
After his dance of death ended, nothing remained in the area but corpses, blood, and the stench of blood.
"..."
Dong Bongsu pressed the dagger to the last remaining Ruffian's neck and pointed with his other hand to a corpse lying behind them.
"Who is that man?"
"A-are you talking about Jangho?" the Ruffian replied immediately, trembling all over.
It was with the thought that he might be spared.
Even knowing it was futile, he clung to a small thread of hope.
"Yes. Who is Jangho?"
"H-he's a member of the Black Snake Society..."
"Black Snake Society? What is that?"
"I-it's one of the U-Unorthodox Factions that rules the back alleys of Soaring Sun."
From the name Unorthodox Factions, Dong Bongsu could guess what it was.
The Ruffians were just common thugs.
The Unorthodox Factions were likely a much more specialized group of gangsters.
In modern terms, they would be something like an organized crime syndicate.
Dong Bongsu then asked the Ruffian a few more things about the Black Snake Society and the Unorthodox Factions before killing him.
The Ruffian died on the spot without ever getting to beg for his life.
He wouldn't have been spared anyway, so it probably wasn't too unfair.
Having finished his work, Dong Bongsu put all the corpses into his Inventory.
Then, he took off his clothes and roughly wiped the blood off the ground.
Next, he took out the white cloths he had prepared in his Inventory and wiped away the rest of the blood.
He had been steadily developing the Inventory's abilities ever since he learned of its existence, but he still couldn't control liquids freely.
A moment later.
Though it couldn't be called perfect, he had wiped away the blood to the point where no trace could be seen on the surface.
There would probably be no way to confirm the presence of blood without spraying luminol reagent or hydrogen peroxide, chemicals used in modern forensics.
It was highly unlikely that such things already existed in this world, so this was a perfect crime.
In a place where techniques like Martial Arts that defied physics existed, it would take at least several hundred more years for such investigative power and forensic science to be sufficiently established.
Perhaps it would even be impossible forever.
Soon, the area was clean.
No one would ever know that a bloody fight had taken place here.
Now, it was time to go back to being the mute Ma-ah-sam.
Having perfectly cleaned up the aftermath, Dong Bongsu took out a new set of clothes from his Inventory, changed, and then led Yeoro out of the alley.
The walk resumed.
Dong Bongsu arrived at Soaring Sun Mountain at the end of the walking path and disposed of all the bodies.
If he had what they called Bone Melting Powder here, he could have dealt with them much more cleanly, but it was fine even without it.
When it came to this sort of work, Dong Bongsu was more of an expert than anyone.
Disposing of a body didn't require many things.
Even if he had something like Bone Melting Powder, he wouldn't have used it.
If an item was that effective, it would be highly useful as a weapon, so why would he waste it on disposing of a mere corpse?
Soon, the bodies were buried in a secret place in the mountains.
Yeoro watched all of this from right beside him, but was indifferent.
To Yeoro, Dong Bongsu was a fearsome beast, but also a reasonably friendly master who fed him.
Dong Bongsu stroked Yeoro's nose once and then headed back the way he came.
He had found out several important facts today.
First, the existence of the Unorthodox Factions.
He had been looking for prey for leveling up, somewhere between a Martial Artist and an ordinary person, and he had found it unexpectedly.
The target was set.
It was unfortunate for the Unorthodox Factions, but it was actually a good thing for the common people.
Because starting today, the Suicide Plague would disappear.
The next thing he learned was the characteristics of a Level Up.
First, upon leveling up, all the injuries he had sustained were healed.
The wounds on Dong Bongsu's body from the Ruffians' beating before Jangho appeared had vanished without a trace.
This was quite useful information.
Didn't it mean that he could take on a certain amount of risk if a Level Up was imminent? He hadn't tested it yet, but it might even be possible to recover from damage to the heart or brain.
The next characteristic was the light.
The light that filled the alley upon leveling up, the Sacred Light.
However, this characteristic was a drawback of leveling up.
The light was dazzling to look at, but it was highly likely to attract danger.
A hunter hiding among his prey must be ordinary.
Only when one is most similar to others and indistinguishable can one become the best hunter.
The moment they noticed that Dong Bongsu was different from them, they would ostracize him.
That would put him in just as much danger.
This was no exception for his killing method using the Inventory.
No one must find out.
Because of this, he realized that he must level up only at the very end of a hunt, or in a place with only his prey.
And it had to be in a place where no one could see.
A single mistake could reveal his identity.
I'll have to be even more careful from now on.
He still knew almost nothing about this New Murim Online.
Everything that happened today had occurred suddenly, at a time he hadn't expected.
If Jangho had been a little more cautious or just a bit stronger, he could have been in great danger today.
It was no longer easy to survive with just the protective coloring of being a mute.
He had to become stronger, faster.
Today was the day he confirmed that.
He turned and began to descend the mountain.
There were many things he needed to check as soon as he got back.
He had to review what happened today, and he also had to confirm the new abilities he gained from the Level Up.
A Level Up literally meant that his level had risen.
Simply put, it meant he had become stronger.
In fact, Dong Bongsu could feel it even now.
He had become stronger by reaching Level 2. His body felt lighter than before, and his strength had increased.
He couldn't quantify it exactly, but he had definitely become stronger.
What kind of new abilities had he gained?
"Hee-hee-hing!"
Yeoro neighed, as if it were also curious.
Let's go back quickly.
Dong Bongsu stroked Yeoro's nose once more and quickly descended the mountain.
A hologram message floated before his eyes.
The sparkling hologram was broken and torn in places, so he couldn't make out its exact contents.
> [SYSTEM MESSAGE]
> A Critical ERROR has......... occurred in the Murim Online System.
> There will be no issue in proceeding with the game, but...............................
"A critical error, huh."
This is getting more and more interesting.
Dong Bongsu's lips parted slightly, revealing his snow-white teeth.
In the real world, he never had a reason to smile, but here, although very rarely, things happened that made him smile.
Very rarely, indeed.
His steps toward the Danri Family quickened more and more.