I Stole the Number One Ranker’s Soul - Chapter 172
Episode 173
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A walking path in a park in South Korea, which is still peaceful.
A group of high school male students were leisurely leaving school, talking loudly.
Around me, students in similar attire were hurrying their way to the academy.
Citizens who had left work early and came out to exercise in the afternoon frequently walked around the park.
“Hey, did you see the news yesterday?”
A male student who looked stylish by perming his hair got lucky.
My friends who were walking with me pretended not to be interested and glanced at their phones.
“What news?”
After seeing that all eyes were on him, he smiled in satisfaction and hinted as if he had a scoop.
“I heard on the news that a monster has appeared.”
“where?”
“What? Really?”
It was enough news to be surprising.
The male student, who was watching his friends’ reactions with satisfaction, thought of something and opened his mouth again.
“I don’t know where it is. I heard it appeared somewhere in the province? It’s the first time I’ve heard the name of it.”
“Aren’t you in Seoul?”
“It wasn’t Seoul.”
“That’s it then. Namil.”
One of the friends answered naturally and took out his cell phone again.
The three of them started laughing, wondering what part of that reaction was funny.
“Hey, but what if it really pops up in Seoul?”
As the laughter died down, the male student with the shortest hair cut cautiously asked if he had suddenly become worried.
But what came back was a mockery.
“Oh, you little fearful bastard. Did you fall asleep? The hunters will catch you. And I don’t care if you leave.”
“It would be dangerous to live in a low place like you, but my house is on a high floor, so even if monsters come out, it’s safe.”
There was another short burst of laughter.
The only one who didn’t laugh was the male student living on the lower floor.
It was obvious he was offended, but he desperately tried to keep his expression as if nothing had happened for fear of being made fun of again.
“I heard there are flying monsters, too? And “If a monster appears, you can’t even go outside. How are you going to buy daily necessities or groceries?”
The short-haired male student opened his mouth again.
At that, the brown-haired male student who had not said anything until now, as if he was worried about nothing, joined in.
“You can just have it delivered.”
“Will the delivery person come? It’s dangerous with monsters roaming around, so he won’t come.”
“He will come. They are poor so they have to make money. “Wouldn’t starving to death or being killed by monsters be the same to them?”
“Oh, you’re so smart.”
When another friend chimed in, the male student who complained about poverty made a stern expression. The
short-haired male student thought for a moment, ‘Isn’t this something?’ but remained silent.
“Hey, but I guess he was really scared? I saw that he was worried. Hey. “Are you scared? Huh? Are you scared?”
When the male student with the perm scoffed, Short Hair was a little upset for a moment, but quickly calmed down his expression.
“Isn’t that right? I’m just saying that’s what I thought.”
“Really? My brother trusts me for once. Cute bastard.”
He glanced at the permed hair for a moment as if it was funny, but then turned his gaze back to the front again. After
walking quietly for a few steps, someone opened his mouth again.
This time, it was a friend who had kept his mouth shut the whole time and was talking about me.
“But even if they come out anyway, the hunters will come out.” “I’ll catch you. I have Seo Ji-han too. Aren’t you so strong?”
“Isn’t this surprisingly lame? There’s no news about what he’s actually doing right now.”
“is it?”
Except for the short-haired one, who completely closed his mouth, the two people continued to talk with interest.
“Hey, but isn’t it a bit suspicious?”
The permed head opened its mouth in a coy voice,
“What?”
“The guild leader of the Sky Guild warned you to close the dungeon.”
“Banseohu?”
“Uh. Did you know that she and Seo Ji-han were originally friends? Then, Seo Ji-han must have known this, right? Then how did she know this information?”
“What do you want to say?”
“Are you sure that bastard Seo Ji-han is in cahoots with a monster? “I suspect he released it so the monsters could come out.”
“Can you really do something like that?”
As the brunette tilted her head in confusion, the permed hair shrugged her shoulders.
“I don’t know. Because I’m not an awakened person. But it’s number 1 in the rankings. Didn’t you find a way to do everything?”
“Then why did you tell people that monsters were coming? “Wouldn’t it have been better to attack without warning?”
“You wanted me to be confused or something? I don’t know.”
“hmm. After listening to it, it seems plausible. Ah, I think I saw a comment similar to that.”
“yes? “I saw that comment too, and it was refreshing.”
The two male students were passionate about conspiracy theories for a long time, citing articles and comments they had seen on the Internet.
Meanwhile, Perm’s head frowned for a moment and began to stare intently at one side of the park.
“why? “What are you looking at?”
So, what the two male students found as they shifted their gaze was a small free meal truck.
There was a long line of people in front of it.
A short-haired male student was looking at the scenery without thinking when a cold voice reached his ears.
“I was wondering where the beggar smell was coming from.”
“Wow, what are you doing on the main street like that? It smells like food. Don’t you know it’s a nuisance?”
“If you knew, would you live like that? If it were me, I would rather die than live like that.”
“Me too. How messed up have you been to live like that at that age?”
It was an incomprehensible sight for those who grew up in a wealthy family, attended a prestigious high school, and lived with the goal of entering a prestigious university abroad.
They did not hesitate to express the arrogance they had developed through a life without adversity, but were instantly pricked by the gaze of the ‘beggars’ staring at them, and all at once. I kept my mouth shut.
The power of the stares of so many people is sometimes more powerful than a sword. The
staring stares from the volunteers who were serving food, the people who had already eaten, and the people in line were a bit too much for a pale blue high school student to endure.
In the end, the male students didn’t say a word until they had completely passed the soup kitchen.
Once the distance had widened, they sometimes made bravado-like remarks like, ‘Try to point at me. I’ll beat you up,’ but their voices were much quieter than before. “
…Did you hear what they said?”
Even though the group of high school students had gone a long way away, Assistant Manager Kim, who was glaring at them fiercely, said as if it were absurd,
“That’s immature.”
Deputy Director Shin responded indifferently and scooped up a lot of soup from the soup pot and put it on the plate. He
then gestured at Assistant Manager Kim and urged him,
“There’s a long line. Hurry up and serve it to me.”
“Oh right. sorry. “I heard such harsh words.”
“I wanted to say something, but I held back. “It’s noisy if there’s a fight while everyone’s eating.”
The person who was receiving the food smiled and quietly joined in.
“You endured it well. “You’re uncomfortable, so what should I do if I’m harmed?”
“What can I do? Even though I have no arms, my legs are strong!”
He was trying to vigorously swing his other arm as if it were replacing one of his loosely empty sleeves, but he barely stopped. This was
because he realized too late that he was holding a food tray in that hand.
“Hey, it’s a bit uncomfortable to have one arm. Hehe.”
“Then eat a lot.”
“Yes, thank you.”
After exchanging greetings, Deputy Director Shin began to diligently make soup again.
Assistant Manager Kim, who was refilling the tray to the beat, seemed to be bored and slowly opened his mouth again.
“Anyway, hearing the name of Seojihan Hunter reminds me of Moa.”
“So, I really… owe a big debt to Mr. Moa.”
“Are you really not going to see your mother?”
“What kind of face am I going to meet you with? “If you go there, you’ll only end up digging up wounds.”
“…It’s not Deputy Director Shin’s fault.”
“It’s my fault. “If I had just stopped Moa from joining, that wouldn’t have happened.”
Deputy Director Shin’s voice mumbled vaguely, revealing anguish that could not be concealed.
Assistant Manager Kim was about to say something more, but he just sighed and went back to playing with his hands.
Deputy Director Shin tried to swallow back tears and smiled with a nonchalant expression.
But on the inside, I was indescribably miserable.
I still have nightmares often.
Dungeon It is a dream to go back to the dungeon where it all started and do what I couldn’t do that day.
In the dream, Deputy Director Shin was left alone after sending everyone into the portal to fulfill his responsibilities as a team leader.
And in that dark and dreary dungeon, I tremble alone and am filled with fear.
realize it at the same time.
I really, really want to live.
In fact, he wants to leave.
A monster appears from afar and the dreamer screams when he sees it.
When I woke up to the sound of the scream, the sound continued and I found myself screaming in reality as well.
When Deputy Director Shin realized that the reality that had been so frightening until just now was nothing more than a dream, he remembered that it was not he who was left but Son Mo-ah.
How scared was it?
Her nightmare was a reality for Moa.
Even if Moa was left alone in the dungeon, he would actually have wanted to live.
Nevertheless, I chose to sacrifice.
He made the choice for me that I should have made.
When he remembered that the moa was now dead, Deputy Director Shin suffered from an unbearable feeling.
On nights like that, I couldn’t fall asleep again and stayed up with my eyes open until dawn.
There were many days like that.
“What kind of face did I have to kill Moa’s mother…”
Moa died because she joined the Baekgwang guild. She died
because she joined the guild and because she invited him to join. Although he tried to
stop her when she said she would join, deep down, Moa died. Because I was glad that they came, I didn’t try to dissuade them too strongly.
In the end, because of that, Moa could never come back again.
The volunteer work that Deputy Director Shin is doing now was ultimately atonement for that.
Among them were those who lost their families or suffered greatly in the dungeon incident. There were many different stories, including those who were injured and those who were harmed by hunters.
However, they all had one thing in common: they were people whose lives had become difficult due to the dungeon.
“The end. I fell cleanly again today.”
Assistant Manager Kim smiled proudly as he piled a bowl of rice on the last person in line. He
couldn’t let Deputy Director Shin do it alone, so he volunteered, which didn’t suit his temperament, but he was secretly a good fit for it, so he was having fun doing it.
“It was hard.”
“It’s hard work. It’s just fun. I think I’ll open a restaurant. It’s fun to feed people.”
“That’s okay too.”
Now that the food distribution is over, all that’s left is to return the dishes and clean them up.
The moment the two people sigh and sit down on the simple chairs, they hear a siren wailing from somewhere.
“What is it? Is there civil defense training today?”
As Assistant Manager Kim muttered to himself, one of the people eating responded indifferently,
“It’s just training anyway, so don’t worry about it.”