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‘Slaughterer Queen Rachel, the Irregular.’
Rachel was one of the few powerful Villains in the original content, playing an active role only in the second half of the original novel.
It went without saying. In the original, Rachel killed one of the Demon Kings with her own power. That was made possible after Do-Jin's party had killed all Demon King’s servants and she had made a surprise attack. However, it was an achievement that even Do-Jin – the main character – could not do at the time. Of course, it came at a price – she died.
Rachel was a Villain who appeared in the second half of the story and was quite popular. It was not just a disaster, but the Great Disaster when she died after crossing the wall in a fierce battle with the Demon King. And because of that, there were quite a few readers who were sad about Rachel’s death.
There were small numbers of the readers who wanted to see Do-Jin, the main character, meet his proper opponent and be overpowered and struggle. Very ironically Yu-Seong also was one of those readers.Obviously now in this situation, he wanted to slap his cheek in a row at the time. ‘A fan of Rachel as a reader’ – was something that could never be said after experiencing her in person.
‘Rachel is really dangerous.’
Perhaps even the author could not handle Rachel and had ended her life in such a way. Her personality and characteristics themselves were too intense and intimidating. Her only weakness was that she was a bit lazy in things that did not interest her, the somewhat excessive curiosity and that she was a little unlucky although she liked gambling a lot.
If Rachel had continued to be alive, it couldn’t even be imagined how much tougher the completed journey of the first part that Do-Jin would have been. After recalling Rachel’s strengths, weaknesses, abilities, and personalities, Yu-Seong recalled the weapons she could use.
“Oh my, your gaze is coming back now,” said Rachel.
Yu-Seong wouldn’t be able to find a way out if he got caught up in her pace, so he quickly opened his mouth and said, “Rachel.”
“Tell me, sweetie…Remember that you’ve pushed your head into the lion’s mouth, yet you’re saying that you don’t want to die.”
“I want to suggest a game.”
“Game?” Interest glistened in Rachel’s eyes.
‘What is this cutie pie saying?’
Yu-Seong spoke quite well for someone whose shoulders shook in fear. He then said, “If I win the game… Do me a favor.”
“What if I win?” Rachel’s curious expression suddenly showed a hint of excitement.
Yu-Seong took time to think. As he had told Choi Woo-Jae, it was meaningless to risk his life. Yu-Seong’s life was already up to Rachel.
Then, Yu-Seong asked, “Don’t you…like money?”
To be exact, Rachel needed money for gambling. She often lost because of her bad luck, so, surprisingly, Rachel often suffered from poverty.
“Pfft… sweetie. I don’t know where you heard my rumors, but the amount is out of your league. Do you know how much money I spend on gambling? If you think E or D-rank Hunters can handle such an amount…”
“I’m Choi Yu-Seong.”
“I know. Cute sweetie, you’re Choi Yu-Seong.”
“You know the Comet Group, right?”
“How couldn’t I? The boss there is quite a scary old man…” After talking to herself for a while, Rachel’s lips twisted. “So, you’re that Choi Yu-Seong? Now that I see it, you’re not just a sweetie, but a cute gold nugget.”
Recognizing Yu-Seong’s true identity, she started laughing while slowly getting up from her seat. With her cold gaze, she studied Yu-Seong from head to toe as if she were evaluating an animal. “I don’t think that geezer will give money for threatening him with you, so there’s a way, right?”
Yu-Seong nodded silently.
“If you break your promise, I won’t just kill you. I will take out all your intestines while you’re alive and stuff them.”
Rachel’s threat wasn’t an empty one. She actually was capable of doing such a terrible thing since there were Necromancers who were afraid of Rachel all over the world.
Instead of answering, Yu-Seong increased the tension in his trembling thighs as he raised himself up.
***
The rules of the game were suggested by Yu-Seong. Rachel was confident she would win no matter what method he used.
“Let’s go over again. Rule number one, my cute gold nugget wins if I get out of this circle.”
Rachel looked around at a small circle that she drew after Yu-Seong’s suggestion. It was small, and a person could barely stand within it. Surprisingly, she made a circle by piercing the thick concrete floor with a single index finger.
Seeing that, Yu-Seong started to tremble again. How the hell could Rachel manipulate a concrete floor with a finger using a small amount of mana he could not even feel? The concrete floor was like whipped cream to her.
He already knew that S-rank Hunters were like monsters, but it felt like Rachel was one step above that. He felt like she was an unrivaled S+ rank among the S-ranks. He was even able to realize how strong a survived Irregular was by simply looking at her.
“Secondly, I’ll have to use only one finger.” Rachel lifted her left index finger and waved it lightly.
“You…are not confident?” Asking a quite impactful question, Yu-Seong’s voice quivered.
“How cute. I won’t kill you. Don’t tremble too much, my gold nugget. You wanted to live so much, but in the end, you got the right to survive, right? Whether you win or lose. Because you’ll survive at least at this point. How did you roll your brain so well in that short time? Huhu.”
Rachel was right. In the game suggested by Yu-Seong, he could get out of this place whether he lost or won. Although it would not be able to stop Rachel from killing him after she took the money.
‘Anyway, I have to live.’
However, Rachel did not know that Yu-Seong had a second goal. He had to save Do-Jin. Rachel was a strong player incomparable to Ghost, who was currently fighting Do-Jin. Even if Do-Jin led the fight against Ghost to victory, as expected of the main character, everything would be pointless if Rachel was involved. No matter how overpowered a main character Do-Jin was, there was no way he could handle Rachel at this point. Eventually, he would be taken to the Demon King Worshipers. Initially, Rachel’s early appearance on the stage was a big butterfly effect.
‘I have no idea what the future I changed has caused but…’
Yu-Seong didn’t want Do-Jin to get caught up in that typhoon. That was why he suggested this type of game. He thought that Rachel – who liked gambling – had no reason to refuse.
The problem was the odds. Rachel had a huge limitation on her movement and had to use only one finger. Nevertheless, the winning rate in Yu-Seong's mind converged to zero. Rachel’s thought probably would not be much different from his own. Yu-Seong had to take advantage of her confidence. Her only weak point was the gap in her mind, thinking that she would not lose no matter what he did.
“And…can I have some time to make slight preparations?”
“Whatever you want,” Rachel shrugged and answered lightly. She looked quite relaxed. To be more specific, she was enjoying the situation. What interesting thing would Yu-Seong do after already surprising her this much?
In the beginning, Yu-Seong summoned the Dimensional Merchant.
“This body has come-! Where’s the lollipop you promised the last time?” Regardless of the Barrier space, Ping Pong popped out of a small pink door while he asked and looked at Yu-Seong.
“…I’m sorry, but I don’t have it now.”
“You traitor!”
“Even the Dimensional Merchant you signed is adorable, my cute gold nugget,” Rachel said as she burst into laughter at the appearance of Ping Pong, which did not match the desolate vibe in the place. Then, her gaze briefly turned to a distant place. “But I don’t think you have time to relax. Is it Kim Do-Jin? That cheeky brat also seems to be on the line, you know.”
“I don’t think Kim Do-Jin will lose.”
This novel is available on bit.ly/3iBfjkV.
“Hm, wouldn’t it be a problem if Ghost dies as well?”
From the conversation with Rachel, Yu-Seong felt an unexplainable creepy feeling.
‘She knows what I’m thinking.’
Rachel already clearly knew why Yu-Seong had suggested the game. While Yu-Seong was thinking, it was clear that she also thought about it in many ways.
‘It doesn’t matter.’
Nevertheless, Rachel had accepted all of Yu-Seong’s suggestions.
“Mr. Ping Pong. I promise. Next time you come, I’ll have ten – no – fifty free lollipops ready. So please get me some stuff quickly.”
“You’re not lying this time, right?”
“I promise.”
Ping Pong smirked. Then, his gaze turned to Rachel, who seemed to be interested in them. “Human woman! My contractor made a sacred promise to me. If you kill him, this Mr. Ping Pong won’t forgive you!”
“Oh my, how scary. But I can’t promise that I won’t kill him.”
When Rachel smiled and waved her hand, Ping Pong looked at her and snorted.
“I need spears. Whether it’s wood or iron, cheap, I need a lot of them if possible.”
"I think it's a waste to buy those with Karma points..."
“I urgently need to use them now.” Yu-Seong bitterly smiled. Wooden spears or ordinary iron spears could also be easily found on Earth. Consuming Karma Points for those was a huge waste, but he needed them right away. He had no other choice.
“How many do you need?”
“As many as possible.”
“Unfortunately, the Dimensional Store doesn’t have that many items of the reference point you want. Since we try to put out mostly those expensive items… There would be only about thirty of them.”
“What’s the price?”
“Even if it’s the minimum price, it’ll cost at least one Karma Point per unit.”
There wasn’t anything special about the items just because they were purchased at the Dimensional Store. What a waste. It was such a waste that even Ping Pong felt bad about it, but there was no other way.
“Give me all of them.”
Yu-Seong bought thirty spears. Among those, even ten of them were wooden ones.
“Thanks.”
“Hum, don’t die. You’re the first contractor of this body.” Ping Pong opened the pink door with a rather strange expression and went back to its own unknown world.
"I've never seen a dimensional merchant threatening someone. You have a lot of interesting aspects to you…" Rachel commented to Yu-Seong after watching them.
Yu-Seong did not answer while he placed all thirty spears on the floor. In fact, Yu-Seong himself was surprised as well.
‘In principle, Dimensional Merchants pay no attention to their relationship with contractors other than the transactions between them.’
In other words, whether the contractor died or lived, suffered or not, it was of no interest to the Dimensional Merchant.
In any case, the role of Dimensional Merchants was to purchase and sell, nothing more. It was unsurprising, of course. It was said that within [Modern Master Returns], those who contracted with Dimensional Merchants were widespread throughout the universe.
It was a short and sloppy description, but that sentence alone showed that Dimensional Merchants did not have to be obsessed with one simple customer. Moreover, Yu-Seong had known Ping Pong for quite a short time.
‘Also I’m not a VIP customer.’
As always, currently, Yu-Seong was infinitely short of Karma Points. It was difficult for him to make a big deal that could satisfy the Dimensional Merchant. Perhaps the first contractor may be quite meaningful for Ping Pong, but even so, it was clear that it was something quite mysterious.
Anyway, thanks to Ping Pong, the pressure on Yu-Seong’s mind slightly lessened. Even though the spear he held onto was just made of wood, he felt more stable as the effect of the Cool-headed skill was activated the moment he held it.
‘Maybe it'll be easier than I expected.’
Of course, such thoughts disappeared the moment Yu-Seong made eye contact with Rachel.