30. Night Flight (5)

After making a contract with something-whether it was the Hunting God, an alien tentacle monster, or whatever-I holed up in a corner of the arcade, waiting for them to return.

“Hmm…”

Since it was the first weekend, I thought about just openly relaxing, but it looks like another productive day is passing by.

Perhaps because I spent the day productively, I was in a pretty good mood. Moreover, I’d earned a decent amount of points, and aside from skill books, I’d found another way to grow stronger, so I felt quite satisfied.

‘Should I check the quests I’ve received so far…?’

[Quest: Survive for One Week (5/7)]

[Reward: 700P, Credit Score Increase]

[Quest: Use the Shop Reset Function 3 Times (1/3)]

[Reward: 300P, Product Exchange Coupon]

[Quest: Learn 5 or More Elemental Spells (4/5)]

[Reward: 1000P, Light Book – Basic]

The 7-day survival quest will automatically complete when Tuesday arrives-just gotta hold out until Monday.

The shop reset will happen automatically once more the day after tomorrow, and after buying something, I just need to reset it twice more. As for the elemental magic quest, I only need to learn one more spell to complete it.

All of these quests can be cleared by next week.

‘Oh, Sunday.’

While checking the quests, the date changed. It’s been almost a week since I got possessed by this insane world. Even though barely a week has passed, I already feel ridiculously stronger.

‘To get even stronger, I need to quickly complete quests to learn the Light Book, acquire new skills from the general store, earn points, and offer corpses…’

As I thought about how I should start collecting corpses diligently instead of discarding them, I suddenly recalled information about others like me who had made contracts with divine beings.

‘Divine blessings, huh…’

Contracts with divine entities were one of the major settings in the original work.

In the original world, there were multiple ways to gain power, and one of them was making a contract with a higher-dimensional being.

Of course, it was an extremely rare case-almost unheard of-but it existed. And most of those who made contracts were complete lunatics.

Maybe those with inherent madness found it easier to form contracts.

‘From what I remember, the contract holders…’

Including Oh Haryeong, there were about five. There might have been more, but the major ones were five in total.

Every single one of them was batshit insane.

Oh Haryeong, who conducted sacrificial rituals regardless of the god’s will, was just the start.

There was an old man who screamed about protecting nature while committing terrorist acts in cities to exterminate humanity, and another psycho who created a trash island in the ocean and sank any ship that came near, claiming they were invading his territory.

‘Not to mention the nutjob who thought the world was too lukewarm and tried to trigger an eruption by messing with a dormant volcano…’

There was also a madman who declared himself the master of the stars and waged a one-man war against the U.S., the superpower of Hunters.

Every single one of them was a deranged criminal responsible for at least 10,000 deaths.

‘Wait… compared to them, Oh Haryeong’s practically a saint.’

Though her methods were extremely brutal, the actual death toll was far lower than the other four.

Yet, Oh Haryeong left a particularly strong impression because she was the only Korean among the contract holders and embodied the traits of a psychotic serial killer.

The fear you feel from religious fanatics committing bombings in distant lands is different from the fear of a deranged serial killer living right next door.

Maybe it’s scarier because she might horribly murder the heroines at any moment.

While the former evokes a vague sense of avoidance, the latter, if real, sends a bone-chilling tremor through you.

“Ugh… Ughh…”

“Wait, what the hell is that guy doing over there…?”

For a while now, strange groaning sounds had been coming from the break room corner, grating on my nerves.

“What is it?”

I walked toward the source of the sound. Did they keep a dog in here or something? I thought I’d already taken care of all living things inside. Maybe there was still something alive.

“Holy… This crazy bitch…”

Heading toward the break room where the sound was coming from, I found a man tied to a chair, drooling uncontrollably. His condition was… pretty severe.

“Is this guy alive… or dead…?”

The man in the chair had half his skull cracked open. Multiple iron skewers were embedded in his brain. His eyes were rolling around like a chameleon’s, unable to focus.

“This looks like Oh Haryeong’s handiwork…”

It had to be. In the original work, Oh Haryeong often left her victims on display like art installations at crime scenes.

This must be another one of her decorations. Probably marking her territory, like she’d claimed this place.

‘So, is this bastard the owner of the Korean-style Game Room?’

Must be. Well, she’s already dead, but I’m still impressed. I made the right call killing her quickly. Who knows what kind of insane shit she’d have pulled if I’d let her live.

‘Just imagining it is terrifying.’

The Hunting God seemed like the type who didn’t care what its contractor did as long as the offerings were made properly. Unless someone killed Oh Haryeong, her rampage would’ve continued unchecked.

“Ugh… Ughh… Aghhh… Ughhh…”

Before killing this guy, there was information I needed to extract.

“Hey, hey.”

“Ughh… Ughhh… K-kill… Kill me… Kill meee…”

“The safe. What’s the combination?”

“Ughhh…”

Entering the break room, I noticed a strange cloth hanging on one wall. Tearing it down revealed a safe. I was curious about what was inside.

“The combination.”

“GGRRAAAGGHHH!!!”

I stabbed the owner’s eye with a needle. That seemed to bring him back to his senses momentarily, as he screamed like a madman and spilled the combination.

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It was a whopping nine digits.

“One-two-seven-five-four-four-nine-two?”

“YEEEEEEESSS!!! UGHHHHH!!!”

“Okay.”

Now that I had the combination, I granted the dying man his peace.

Even if I’d left him alone, he would’ve died eventually since Oh Haryeong was dead. But killing him myself meant extra points, so why not?

-CRACK!!!

[30 Points Acquired]

After snapping his neck and taking his life, I offered his corpse as a sacrifice.

The body crumpled and vanished as if crushed. Probably devoured by the Hunting God.

Aside from everything else, corpse offerings were an incredibly convenient way to dispose of bodies.

Now, time to check the safe.

-Creeeak…

I entered the combination and stepped inside.

“Whoa…”

Beyond the safe door, the interior resembled a pawn shop. Behind barred counters were various decorations and bill counters.

In one corner sat a large, wheeled metal barrel, about a meter tall.

‘Bloodstains…?’

The barrel was covered in so much blood that I wondered what was inside. When I opened the lid…

Squirm.

“Holy… shit.”

Inside was a slime. They must’ve been dumping corpses in here to dissolve them. A classic thug villain’s corpse disposal method in a Hunter-themed world.

Yeah, this appeared multiple times in the original work.

Usually, it was used when the protagonist killed a villain who’d caused trouble and needed to discreetly dispose of the body.

‘Would be perfect for food waste disposal…’

I’d take it home later. I could place it on the rooftop and use it as a food waste processor. It looked like it had already been tamed as a pet, so it probably wouldn’t grow any further.

After deciding to take the slime barrel, I wondered if there was anything else useful. I broke down the barred counter door and stepped inside.

“Whoa… Damn.”

Kicking open the barred door, I found a pistol in one of the drawers under the counter.

“A gun…!”

I remembered reading that in the Hunter universe, civilians could relatively easily obtain such weapons, but I never expected to actually find one here.

“A Glock?”

It looked exactly like the Glocks I’d seen in movies. It even had a suppressor attached. Would it actually reduce the sound dramatically?

“The bullets… How do I eject the magazine…?”

Naturally, this was my first time handling a Glock, so I had no idea how it worked. After fumbling around, I managed to eject the magazine.

It was fully loaded, holding about 17 rounds.

‘Oh…!’

Another weapon acquired. I rummaged behind the counter and found about ten boxes of 9mm rounds, each containing roughly 50 bullets.

“Hell yeah…”

I immediately stuffed them into my inventory. Now I had a trump card.

“Wow…”

I also found several machetes, Western-style swords, and even a few katanas.

No way, a high-quality katana? Am I finally free from my steel pipe life?

My current steel pipe was slightly bent, making the weight distribution awkward when swinging. This is perfect. Weapons don’t last forever, so I should stock up while I can.

‘Hell yeah. This is it. A proper thug should have gear like this.’

-Creeeak.

As I happily stuffed weapons into my inventory, I heard the arcade entrance open. The sound of pouring rain grew louder-the gang members who’d left earlier must’ve returned.

-There’s blood everywhere…

-Damn it, what the hell happened here…?

The returning guys were talking. It seemed their memories of being mind-controlled had faded.

‘One, two… three…’

Seventeen in total.

About half of those who’d left earlier had returned. The other half were either dead or had wandered too far away.

‘First, I kill them.’

As always, if I find them, I kill them.

There’s no other option. Until I gain some kind of mind control or domination ability, the answer is simple: kill on sight.

I moved stealthily through the darkness, avoiding their flashlight beams, and positioned myself behind them.

A few were armed with guns, so I needed to stay out of their line of sight.

‘Five handguns… Jackpot.’

Thrilled that there was still more loot to gather, I tensed up and threw a needle into the back of a thug’s skull.

They would be my final prey tonight.