episode_0288

The episode unfolded in a way that was not much different from what we knew from the game.

One day, the author of “The Family of the Guy Who Beat Up” popped out.

He immediately asked me if I was the one who beat him and came out to get revenge on him instead.

‘The status window… isn’t it shown like in the game?’

▶An enemy entity has appeared.◀

▶Knock down your opponents.◀

▶Lv. 82◀

▶HP: ■■■■■■■■■■◀

The status window that appears is simply a message telling you to defeat your opponent.

It did not contain any warning text.

That’s the trap.

‘There was a hidden trick that prevented me from just knocking him down.’

Even though I am here to learn the work of a craftsman, it is not enough to simply waste my time.

In order to make this game run smoothly, it was right to include a system like this.

But for something like that, the opponent was too weak.

-Don’t you know what you did? You took away someone’s sight! You blinded them!

-He said his ligament was torn. Ha. You should have just done it in moderation. That guy can’t even eat properly.

-Because of you, I can’t walk because my bones were dislocated. That’s cruel!

After defeating that enemy, all the phrases that appeared were like that.

The problem arises after you have completely defeated the enemy.

What was the result? I heard all sorts of things from my family and even got ripped off.

Since the healing cost that had to be paid to the opponent increased in proportion to the damage given, I had to find another way while taking moderate hits.

But do you know the outcome of that memory and this episode?

It didn’t feel much different.

This situation now, and that situation back then.

He was older than me and bigger than me.

Kiya may look similar, but they are very different in physique.

It’s nonsense to compare someone who eats well and someone who can’t eat properly because of their family and always eats outside or secretly.

But does that mean I was destined to get beaten up and lose?

I can confidently say that is not the case.

No, rather, I could have won.

How can you win at such a young age?

Even though he’s big and of similar height, how can he win if he’s physically inferior to him?

You think you can win after getting beaten up like that?

If the people who were there had heard it, they might have ridiculed and laughed at it.

To be clear, this is not a sparring match or anything like that.

In a street fight, you had to do whatever it took to win against your opponent.

Or gouge out someone’s eyes and blind them.

Or cut a tendon with a shard of glass.

Or break one arm and dislocate it.

I could have won if I wanted to, but… I waited for an opportunity to get hit because that was the worst decision I could have made.

It must have been around the time I was in 1st grade of middle school. As always, I caught a guy who was picking a fight and made an example of him, and I made him bleed twice.

…then that happened.

I saw a scene I will never forget.

-Huh, hm! I confirmed the deposit. It’s enough money for treatment and hospitalization.

-I hope this satisfies your further demands.

I still can’t forget the image of the woman paying the settlement money on my behalf when I couldn’t pay.

Yes, victory is fleeting.

With one stupid decision of mine, I ended up lending a helping hand to this family.

The amount of money I had to repay had piled up, and I was in debt to them.

It’s not just when you were in elementary school, it’s also the same when you get older. No, the repercussions will be even greater.

That’s why I chose to lose to him.

Because I don’t want to create debt for these fucking families.

So, I was able to accept this situation that I couldn’t understand in the game.

‘Because you have power, the more aggressive you are, the further away you are from escaping.’

As expected, the memorial was pointing me to the right answer.

Because you don’t want to end up in a situation where you need help from this family all at once because of one stupid decision.

-Knock knock knock. Knock knock.

“Are you ready, you lowlife?”

The bastard approaches, flashy on the outside but making a bone-crunching sound.

‘I just need to adjust my strength appropriately.’

You have to weaken your opponent’s power and when the time comes to choose, you have to turn the situation to your advantage by taking a chance and move on. That way, you won’t lose a lot of money.

***

-Boohoo!

A fist that moves slowly as if running in slow motion.

The body instinctively avoids it.

“Oh my. This kid, is he a victim?”

-Boosh! Phew!

▶Stamina has decreased.◀

[ Current figure: 80% ]

▶Caution! Depending on the stamina level you have, your movements and actions may be restricted or their effectiveness may be reduced.◀

▶If it’s a combat-related movement, the efficiency decreases even more!◀

‘…Does evasion really consume too much stamina?’

It’s not like it’s nonsense to say that he was a knight in disguise, because of that his stamina is decreasing quickly.

If you neglect to manage your stamina, you will fall down like in the game without being able to hold out. It seems like you will have to turn to blocking.

He swung his fists several times after that, but I didn’t fight back even once.

No. To be exact, I think it would be more correct to say that I couldn’t do it.

‘Oh, shit.’

The movement was so sloppy that I almost unknowingly timed a counterattack.

The guy who caught my clumsy movements squirmed and struck my body.

“Huh!”

“This kid. You were gritting your teeth and blocking me here and there, and finally you got hit hard? How’s it? Does it hurt?”

“…”

▶If you get hit, your HP decreases!◀

[ Current figure: 76% ]

A stream of blood flowed from his mouth.

Rather, it was a clear mistake to allow an attack because of the gap that was shown while blocking my actions.

Once you start taking damage, the gaps get bigger.

It’s not hard to keep blocking, but you can’t avoid the damage that comes from being hit unilaterally.

but.

[ Time remaining ]

[ 0:16 ]

‘You don’t have much left, you little punk.’

The excited guy runs back in.

When I pretended to be okay and pretended to be tired and lost.

-Tiring!

▶The timer has run out.◀

The timer finally ran out.

Only then did I free my arm, which had been holding me back awkwardly.

‘The status abnormality is… all sorts of things are attached.’

Bruises. Bruises. Mouth lacerations. Slight bleeding.

These are minor status abnormalities that do not threaten life when fighting roughly.

You’ll recover after some rest.

“I guess he’s not a commoner after all. He’s got a strong body. Well, it seems that’s the limit.”

However, I still have one last thing to do.

Even now, it’s ridiculous to think about losing funds by carelessly reducing HP when an enemy entity appears.

But that’s only if there’s a timer.

This timer didn’t appear for nothing.

In the first place, there is no dead trigger in this episode.

It may seem strange, but the intention is quite transparent.

Since it is structured so that the amount of money you have decreases the moment you hit your opponent, its primary purpose is to disrupt another plan.

If this doesn’t work, the secondary goal would be to impose restrictions by reducing HP, stamina, and action points.

So the last one gives me a chance in return.

“You’re nothing. This is the price you pay for carelessly ruining someone else’s precious little brother’s face, you lowlife!”

It’s the exact opposite of how I was treated the first time.

As the slow-moving fist approaches, a choice comes into view.

-Tiring!

▶Please select an option.

[ 1. Attack in return, making it a two-way battle, and rejecting the request for compensation. ]

[ 2. After being hit and knocked down, money is extorted in return for a one-sided assault. ]

There is only one correct answer, without any hesitation.

Since it has randomness, it’s better not to expect anything from the beginning since the merits will be nullified.

Besides, I didn’t like being hit all the time.

“What…!”

Two fists crossed toward each other.

The bastard’s fist struck my face just like it did before.

but.

“Keep, ugh…! Kehek! Kk!”

If you get stuck in the pit of your stomach and can’t even breathe properly, the person who gets pushed out will suffer greater damage, both physically and mentally.

“Why. Did you really think I was weak because I was just taking the beating?”

“What, you say?”

“You know best, since you’ve experienced it yourself. That I can’t beat you.”

“This, you son!!”

As I laughed at him, he clenched his teeth and charged at me again.

The episode’s power is not affected at this time when the timer is off.

As much as you received? No. You will receive it back several times over.

“Ugh, ugh!”

I tried to block it with slow movements, but it was very slow.

The guy who kept making groans and whining sounds while getting hit several times glared at me as if he was going to kill me.

“Get out of here, you lowlife bastard!!”

The bastard somehow managed to wrap his hand in mana.

The sight of him running towards me with bloodshot eyes was just like that guy who got hit while lighting a cigarette at Memorial.

‘Then it would be better. It would be better if there were traces of mana being used on both sides.’

It was difficult to create more evidence because it was a skip scene, but if they could create it for me, it would be the icing on the cake.

I was ready to face the one who was charging at me again without dodging.

however.

Things have changed a little.

“Stop it right now!”

-Tiring!

▶A specific event occurs when a condition is met.◀

[ Someone from your family will randomly appear and witness your appearance! ]

“P, Princess Flora?”

▶Flora has appeared.◀

***

“…”

It was certain that a chance for a comeback would come to me, who had been taking one-sided hits.

When the timer runs out, someone from the Duke’s family will come looking for you, and you can choose to either lead them to a one-sided assault or a two-sided assault, as indicated in the options.

Either way, it is a process in which witnesses are created and witnesses are created, so the situation is very advantageous to me.

however…

‘Is Flora an exception?’

In the game, I often saw Isabella, Arina, and Claire, but Flora never came to visit.

Doesn’t that make sense?

Those three people can hear both sides’ opinions and make a decision, but what does this kid know?

Besides, Flora’s arrival time didn’t feel too early, unlike in the game.

“Who are you! Who are you to hit my brother!”

“There seems to be some misunderstanding…! Absolutely, absolutely not! ”

Meanwhile, the knight begins to feel overwhelmed by Flora’s fierce momentum.

“Pay, pay! You misunderstood. They were the ones who were at fault first.”

The guy swallows and points at me with his index finger.

“That guy beat up my brother. He’d hit me before because I hurt his feelings. This time, my brother came back like that. Hey, do you see that?”

“…”

The explanation of the situation continues.

The story was that in the past, Karsain had beaten his younger brother for an absurd reason, and because of that, his face became like that, so he couldn’t let it go as an older brother.

“As a family member, as a brother, how can you just let that happen? That’s why I’m so angry and came here!”

Wow. You’re so good at lying without changing your facial expression.

‘Well, I guess that’s fine.’

Normally, it would have been better to provoke him a bit more and leave more definite traces, but since Flora showed up unexpectedly, we’ll have to proceed like this.

Since they were fighting each other anyway, it didn’t really matter as long as the answer was that it was both sides.

The situation is turning out that way.

“Let’s leave it at that. There’s nothing more to hear.”

“Princess Ariana!”

-Tiring!

▶Arina witnessed this conversation.◀

Yes, that’s the way it should go.

Even though Flora intervened unexpectedly, this development was inevitable.

“Carcein. Apologize to that knight and his brother right now.”

There were no words at the end, but I think I heard a voice.

“This is an order.” said.

Cold blood runs cold.

A pleasant chill enveloped my whole body.

Meanwhile, the guy is giggling and mouthing words to me.

-You stupid idiot. I can’t even use the hundred thousand you have called family, so I guess you’re a fool.

“Pfft.”

“Are you laughing?”

A hundred called family?

No, that’s wrong.

Family is the worst obstacle.

I tried to confidently present evidence to support both sides.

Right then.

“No way-!!”

Flora screamed in a deafening voice.

“Flora…?”

“Carcein, Carcein did nothing wrong!”