He didn't know if his own body had tilted and bumped into someone, or if someone had bumped into him.
Sensation was already fading from his body.
"Has this bastard lost his mind?"
A coarse curse was heard.
It was the same voice from a moment ago.
Machil? At first, that's what he thought.
Thud, thwack.
In an instant, three or four blows landed on So-sam's abdomen.
"Ugh!"
It hurt.
It hurt so much he felt like he was dying.
Only after tasting the fist did So-sam realize it wasn't Machil.
Machil's fists could never be this vicious, as if they would tear his stomach apart.
Saliva drooled from his mouth, and tears gushed from his eyes.
It wasn't because he was sad.
It was because it hurt.
He thought he had grown used to being beaten by now, but this was just too painful.
If there was any small mercy, it was that his vision, which had blurred from the pain, was recovering slightly.
"Haa......eok. Gguh...............eok................"
Unable to breathe properly, he gasped and fell to his knees.
Even in that state, he mustered all his strength to lift his head.
He saw a familiar face.
He didn't know the name well, but it was one of the warriors of the Danri Family.
Thwack.
Another impact landed on So-sam's face.
"S-save me......"
After taking a kick imbued with Internal Energy, So-sam couldn't even finish his plea to be saved.
Why? Why? Why............? Just why are they doing this............? What did I do wrong? Am I not even allowed to live quietly like an insect?
But the answer in his thoughts was all too clear.
This situation was the answer, and the Murim was originally such a place.
It wasn't a world lenient enough for a bottom-feeding Herbivorous Insect like him to survive.
"What the hell is this bastard mumbling about? Speak clearly, you piece of horse-dung trash."
Along with the curses, a relentless series of kicks began.
Despite it all, So-sam no longer felt any pain.
He was dying.
He realized he had one foot in the Netherworld.
It was unfair.
He just wanted to live, in any way possible, but he couldn't comprehend why the world was doing this to him.
He wanted to kill Machil, who had provided the initial cause for this incident.
He wanted to kill the warrior bastard who was stomping on him right now.
He wanted to kill every single person in the Danri Family who had ignored, looked down upon, and toyed with him.
Just.
He wanted to kill them all.
He wanted to shatter the world.
However,
The words that came out of his mouth were different.
"...Sa...ve..."
"...me."
The words that flowed from his mouth could only be those.
Thud.
Those were the last words he uttered in this life.
Although it was a hellish world, he wanted to survive until the very end.
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And so, So-sam, the owner of soul number 3789028376 of the 112th Dimensional Realm, who had so desperately wanted to live, ended his wretched life.
And.............
Stab.
"Kuaargh!"
With a soulless scream, the 'Elite Neighborhood Thug' died.
Dong Bongsu's spear did not stop there.
Every time he swung his spear, a Neighborhood Thug, whether elite or normal, fell to the ground.
Naturally, no matter how many he killed, the number of Neighborhood Thugs did not decrease.
As many as were killed, that many reappeared.
Not only he, but others here were also indiscriminately killing the Neighborhood Thugs, yet they were regenerating endlessly.
Was that all?
He had been using his body for so long, yet he wasn't tired.
Not long after connecting, Dong Bongsu had already lost interest in 'Murim Online.'
Is this really the game that caused such a stir, even leading to claims that it increased murder cases?
This is completely below expectations.
And here I thought I'd found a new Hunting Ground.
This wasn't a Hunting Ground; it was a playground.
The blood that spilled when a Neighborhood Thug died only had a color similar to real blood.
It lacked the warmth, the moisture, and the unique, stimulating stickiness of real blood.
He couldn't feel any texture at all.
The substantial 'feel' that should have been in his hands was not there at all.
It was to the point where even the Players who died from the Neighborhood Thugs' counterattacks had smiles on their faces.
Dying was not dying.
Killing was not killing.
The killing and dying here was not slaughter, but merely a game.
What diminished Dong Bongsu's interest more than anything was the fact that there were no 'Predators' here.
The animals in this place were either toys or Herbivorous Insects.
He hadn't had high hopes for this Virtual Reality Game called 'Murim' in the first place.
No matter how realistically it was made, how could the feel be the same as reality?
Even so, this was far below his expectations.
He had thought it might at least be a fishing spot where he could occasionally feel the 'bite,' even if it wasn't a hobby.
This wasn't it.
Dong Bongsu smashed the head of another Neighborhood Thug rushing at him, and came to a conclusion.
This won't work as a hobby at all.
Of course, his Level was still low, and he knew nothing about the game's rules, but it wasn't as if the texture of blood would change or non-existent Predators would suddenly appear here just by continuing to Level Up.
A fake is just a fake; it could never become real.
Dong Bongsu turned his body without any lingering attachment.
Towards reality, a world teeming with real prey.
"Log Out."
Dong Bongsu's voice was low and precise.
Simultaneously, his Game Character disappeared from the Virtual Reality Game Murim, and Dong Bongsu's consciousness also shut off.
In Korea.
No, on Earth.
No, in the Dimensional Realm to which Earth belonged.
That very moment.
It was the very moment Baelteruk's Soul Grafting succeeded.
And so, Dong Bongsu, the owner of soul number 3789028376 of the 111th Dimensional Plane, 'Logged In' to the 112th Dimensional Realm.
"Ugh......"
As soon as Dong Bongsu regained consciousness, he felt an extreme pain in his chest.
It was so painful he could barely breathe.
Not only that, but every bone in his body felt shattered and limp, and his muscles were screaming madly in agony.
Even his eyes were so swollen they wouldn't open properly.
'What is this? Did I finally get caught by the police?'
Dong Bongsu assumed his past deeds had finally been caught in the investigation net.
332 murders.
I thought it was perfect, but I guess it wasn't.
Pfft.
A light laugh escaped him.
Right, it was a rather dangerous hobby.
I thought it would end someday, and it ended up like this.
I'm not too disappointed.
After all, as long as I don't die, this is a hobby I can do anywhere.
The Republic of Korea is a country with virtually no death penalty, isn't it? Unless a special law is made because of me, even if a murderer is sentenced to death, the execution is not actually carried out.
The human rights nation of the Republic of Korea was the best Hunting Ground for a Predator like Dong Bongsu.
But putting all those issues aside.............
Something was a little strange.
As he had just thought, the Republic of Korea was a country where human rights were guaranteed.
No matter if someone had committed 332 murders, a criminal could not be arbitrarily tortured or beaten without a trial.
Even if they were secretly assaulted to obtain information, it wouldn't be this severe.
Judging from the sensations in his body, the injuries he had now would require him to lie still for at least a few months to barely recover.
If things had gone slightly wrong, he might have died.
To beat an unconscious suspect to this extent, and not for an interrogation?
This kind of action would put immense pressure on the police if all of Dong Bongsu's charges were not proven.
If the media and human rights activists rose up, it would be the police who would have a headache.
From Dong Bongsu's perspective, it was a welcome development, but there was no way the police would handle things this way unless they were fools.
This is......
This is too strange, isn't it?
Thinking this far, Dong Bongsu forced his eyes open.
He felt a sharp pain in his swollen eyes.
They were so swollen he could only see about a fifth of what he normally could.
All around him were blind spots.
All he could confirm with his eyes now was a very limited part of his surroundings.
Faint moonlight seeped in from somewhere, telling him it was evening.
The light dazzled his eyes, but that fact suggested several things to Dong Bongsu.
'Moonlight.'
Naturally, this was not his room.
Because there was a window.
All the light that existed in his room came from lamps.
Dong Bongsu slowly surveyed the environment he was lying in.
His neck creaked with a jarring shudder.
It further restricted his already limited movement.
Nevertheless, suppressing the pain in his neck, he moved his eyeballs as much as he could while using his neck as little as possible to look around.
His eyes were barely open, so they weren't functioning properly, but that was enough.
The first things to enter his vision were fairly large animals with long faces.
He had never seen them in person, but he had encountered them countless times on TV.
'A stable?'
They were horses.
The putrid smell of horse manure and the unique animal musk assaulted his nose.
Even if someone secretly brought a horse into his room, a smell like this wouldn't soak in within a day or two.
It was possible to surmise that this place was originally a stable, and he had been moved here.
His eyes scanned the surroundings more quickly, and his brain began to churn.
Placed in an unpredictable situation, his predator's sixth sense and intuition were being fully unleashed.
At that moment.
Something very strange... bizarre was captured by Dong Bongsu's eyes.
'What is this!?'
Some kind of translucent letters appeared superimposed over a horse's face.
He turned his head.
The horse's face remained where it was, but the letters followed his gaze.
After repeating this a few times, Dong Bongsu figured out that the letters were always located within his field of vision, right in the middle.
And he also discovered that the letters were not the usual two-dimensional form, but had a three-dimensional, solid shape.
'A Hologram Window?'
He had seen something like that just a short while ago.
The Virtual Reality Game, Murim Online.
When he first connected to it, a message welcoming him had floated before his eyes in that format for a long time.
> [Welcome to Murim Online, The World of True Powerhouses.]