Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Gain Strength by Killing Villains

At that time, Kim Jinsung was receiving medical treatment in a makeshift medical room outside the arena.

The doctor, looking at the X-ray photo they had just taken, was astonished.

“You’re more solidly built than I thought. No fractures even after such a beating.”

“When you get back, make sure you wash and change the bandages once a day. With your age, those superficial wounds should heal quickly.”

‘Wash and use them again?’

Is he suggesting I save on bandages?

Kim Jinsung was somewhat incredulous, but

“Then get going.”

following the order to leave, he had no choice but to exit the medical room.

‘After all, it would be foolish to expect treatment equal to society here.’

Should I be thankful they even bother to treat someone whose status is closer to a slave than a citizen?

Walking back to the waiting room with the gun-toting staff, Kim Jinsung thought to himself,

‘Lucky the bones weren’t damaged. Was absorbing Yang Dongju’s trait helpful…?’

He distinctly remembered that Yang Dongju’s trait was called ‘Robust Bones.’

Since then, he’d felt his forearm bones had thickened…. It seems it wasn’t just Kim Jinsung’s imagination.

‘I should save this recovery feature.’

Kim Jinsung glanced to one side of his vision.

-You can recover HP using Beast Karma points. Would you like to recover?

The notification that had appeared right after the match.

After going to the medical room, he had planned to use it depending on his condition, but now it seemed he could wait until the next match.

Upon arriving at the waiting room, Kim Jinsung went inside, and

“…Huh?”

He was puzzled as everyone silently stared at him.

With everyone mute, the sound from the TV broadcast in the center filled the quiet room.

“Hey.”

That was when he heard someone call out.

Turning his head, he saw Go Junkyung and his gang approaching in unison.

They quickly surrounded Kim Jinsung.

Standing in front of Kim Jinsung, noticeably taller, Go Junkyung opened his mouth with a threatening expression.

“Saw how you brutally killed Hyungjun. Impressive, huh?”

Then, the other gang members started throwing out their own nasty comments.

“Because of you, Hyungjun didn’t get to say his last words, you bastard!”

“If you step up to fight me, I’ll make sure you’ll crawl for the rest of your life, with all your limbs broken.”

“You’ve got a big target on your back now, you dog.”

As they collectively threatened him, Kim Jinsung shrank back, uncertain of where to direct his gaze.

Seeing Kim Jinsung cower, Go Junkyung’s glare intensified, and he issued a warning.

“You’re about to learn the hard way what happens when you make us your enemies here…”

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to take care of Hyungjun’s body quickly?”

With that reminder, Kim Jinsung realized that the body of Lee Hyungjun must still be lying inside the crematorium.

Stealing glances nervously, Kim Jinsung stepped outside the circle of surrounding gang members and quickly made his way to the crematorium as if running away.

Once inside, he let out a sigh of relief.

‘Phew… that was scary.’

It wasn’t just the fear from memories of being bullied by Yang Dongju and his gang.

When surrounded by Go Junkyung and his gang, each of them the size of Yang Dongju, he truly felt he was in danger of getting killed.

Especially with Go Junkyung he did not want to cross paths with that guy.

Even if he was much stronger because of his awakening powers, he felt like he couldn’t beat Go Junkyung, not yet.

“For now, I’ll stay out of trouble. Just for now…”

Kim Jinsung repeated this to himself while preparing to move Lee Hyungjun’s body.

“Hey, hey!”

It was then when he heard a voice calling from behind.

It was Park Seongtae, a fellow newcomer assigned to Room 100.

“How was it when you were in the match? Was it noisy because of the audience? Are the bars sturdy? Is the floor not slippery?”

Kim Jinsung opened his mouth to answer the barrage of questions from Park Seongtae but then stopped himself, realizing that Park Seongtae was just nervously rambling.

“Phew, let’s not get nervous. I can win. I can survive. Damn, but what if I lose…?”

Kim Jinsung looked away, noticing not just Park Seongtae but also the other boys who had come in with him were equally lost and anxious. Some of them seemed to have given up already, sitting with their heads down.

‘How many of us will survive here?’

He felt relieved and worried at the same time. After all, Kim Jinsung had managed to survive the day.

That day, the performance of the newcomers was dire.

Most were either killed in the arena or were brought to the crematorium in a near-death state.

Kim Jinsung listened to all of their last words.

“Mom… I’m going first…”

Then, he mercifully strangled them to let them die peacefully.

(TLN: mercifully choked them to death .-.)

That’s when a notification would appear:

You have eliminated a villain.

You have earned 5 Beast Karma points.

You have acquired the trait ‘Creativity’ of the opponent.

▷ Creativity: Permanently increases intelligence by 2

Your intelligence has increased by 2 due to the ‘Creativity’ trait.

Your maximum MP has increased to 70.

However, sometimes this notification would also appear:

The opponent you have just killed is not a villain.

‘So, there are those who aren’t villains brought here too.’

Kim Jinsung looked at the innocent-looking boy he had just killed with mixed feelings.

After all, hadn’t he lived a relatively ordinary life, not easily labeled as a villain?

‘Not anymore.’

Who wouldn’t consider the current Kim Jinsung, who had killed many people and even this boy who wasn’t a villain, a villain himself?

“Ugh… Damn, it hurts so much.”

Then, a groaning voice came from behind.

Park Seongtae, lying on a bed inside room 100, was covered in bruises from head to toe.

He had barely won a brutal fight that lasted until the final 5th round, but the aftermath was severe.

Nonetheless, he had survived, just like Kim Jinsung.

The boys trapped in the Fight Club had a match about every two weeks.

That meant Kim Jinsung and Park Seongtae didn’t have to worry about dying for the next two weeks.

Conversely, it also meant they had to stay locked in the waiting room 24 hours a day.

Aside from not being able to go outside, life in the waiting room was surprisingly free.

Except for meal times and the start of matches, the staff rarely entered the waiting room.

Even when they did come in unexpectedly.

“Hey, Go Junkyung, everything alright?”

“Yes~.”

They would always ask like this and then leave immediately, entrusting the order of the waiting room entirely to the leader, Go Junkyung.

In other words, as long as you didn’t get on the bad side of Go Junkyung and his gang…

“Hey, you mortician bastard! Aren’t you going to close the door properly and burn the corpses?!”

“What are you looking at? Park Seongtae, you damn dog. If you don’t want to die staring, then…”

The problem was, they were already on the bad side of Go Junkyung’s gang.

They would shout and pick fights with them at every opportunity. Fortunately,

“Ah, damn, the smell of corpses… Ugh!”

“Just stop looking and close the door, you bastard!”

Their room was near the crematorium, so the gang members didn’t come close.

“Ah, forget it. Just let them be haunted and suffer sleep paralysis for the rest of their lives.”

“Stay in that room forever and just burn corpses! Hahaha…”

“Keep taking care of those corpses for us! Hehehe…”

They would always retreat with mockery, sparing them from physical bullying.

Park Seongtae glared at the retreating gang members with eyes full of vengeance.

“Those damn bastards… I’ll beat them all down someday! Huff huff…”

He continued doing push-ups, clenching his teeth.

Perhaps because of the aftermath of barely surviving his first match, Park Seongtae had been sweating through workouts every day since then.

“Phew… Hey, Kim Jinsung! Don’t you work out?”

Taking a break, Park Seongtae shouted towards the crematorium.

Since their first match, perhaps feeling a sense of camaraderie, Park Seongtae often talked to Kim Jinsung.

“Don’t you see the other guys working out? You’ll die in the next match if you keep this up, man!”

In fact, there wasn’t a single boy in the waiting room who didn’t exercise. Even Go Jun Kyung, the strongest among them, would always practice fighting with his gang, except during meal times.

In such a situation, Kim Jinsung was the only one who stayed holed up in the crematorium, just burning bodies.

“Ah, forget it. Why am I even worrying about someone like him?”

When he got no response, Park Seongtae once again focused on his exercise.

Meanwhile, Kim Jinsung in the crematorium was…

“Any last words?”

He was asking for the last words of the final boy among the losers brought in after today’s match.

The dying boy stuttered with difficulty,

“…Now… I’m free… Finally… from… slavery…”

As his voice faded, Kim Jinsung grasped his neck.

When he weakly dropped his head, a notification appeared:

The opponent you have just killed is not a villain.

‘…I figured as much.’

Most of those dragged here as slaves weren’t villains.

‘It seems not only forced laborers are brought here.’

During his days here, Kim Jinsung had learned a few things.

The first was the diverse backgrounds of the boys brought here.

There were mostly forced laborers, slaves, those kidnapped and brought here against their will, and even debtors who came voluntarily.

‘At least it’s a relief that more than half are villains. Especially many of those who came as forced laborers.’

The second was that there were quite a number of villains here, so just by quietly dealing with the bodies, he could become stronger gradually.

That’s why Kim Jinsung didn’t really need to exercise. The strength that would take months to build through exercise could increase instantly if he luckily absorbed a related trait.

‘How strong have I become now?’

Kim Jinsung checked his stats for the first time in a while.

Name: Kim Jinsung

HP: 100%

MP: 190/190

Strength: 30

Intelligence: 19

Stamina: 27

Agility: 23

Skin Defense: 3

Skills: None

Beast Karma (Essence of Evil) Points: 70

‘I’ve grown a lot.’

When he first arrived here, his average stats were below 10, but now they’ve surpassed an average of 25.

‘With this, could I beat anyone from Go Junkyung’s gang?’

Although he had overwhelmingly defeated one of them, Lee Hyungjun, he shouldn’t be complacent.

Apparently, among the gang, Lee Hyungjun was considered one of the weakest.

‘It seems about time to go back to the arena…’

“Hey, hey! Kim Jinsung!”

Then, Park Seongtae’s shout came from the direction of the crematorium door.

“The matchups are out, and you’re in it! Come out quickly!”

At that, Kim Jinsung immediately came out of the crematorium.

On the large TV screen in the center, the last line of the matchups indeed had Kim Jinsung’s name.

His opponent was…

“Kang Kyungmo?”

Kim Jinsung’s gaze naturally turned towards Go Junkyung’s family.

Dark skin, a cold expression, and a lean physique filled with practical muscles.

Kang Kyungmo was staring straight at him with his long, slit eyes.

———————————-

Fight Club’s representative office.

“Kang Kyungmo?”

The surprised voice came from Lee Dongshik on the smartphone.

“Isn’t he the former champion of the Fight Club?”

“Yes.”

Representative Jo answered the call.