Yoon Gyeom simply stared at him without lifting a finger. He’d thought he was a herbivore who would laugh “hehe” no matter what, but those were the eyes of a predator eyeing its prey. In that brief moment, cold sweat poured down, soaking his back.
“May the deceased rest in peace.”
“De, deceased? Me?”
“Didn’t you just say your mother passed away?”
“Ri, right! She passed away last year! Haha……!”
“Do you have two mothers?”
“What? I only have one…?”
“Who was that mother you said nagged you too much last week?”
“……I’m sorry.”
The owner’s son, whose lie was exposed, clasped his hands together and bowed his head deeply. Yoon Gyeom knew that his claim about having twin children was also a lie. Because last week, the nagging from his mother that he’d grumbled about was pressure to get married.
He couldn’t leave a habitual liar alone until training camp ended. A chilling aura flowing from Yoon Gyeom pressured the owner’s son. The surrounding air instantly grew heavy. After thinking for a moment, Yoon Gyeom brought up a story that would frighten the other person.
“I…… spent 2 years tearing apart and eating monster carcasses, so I can’t really tell the difference between good meat and bad meat anymore.”
“Wh, what? Monsters…?”
“Food supply was unstable. Even when we had it, it spoiled quickly. So some people even ate humans.”
“Wh, what are you……?”
“There were many scammers like you too. I got fooled a lot at first. After going through several near-death experiences, I learned the solution.”
“…….”
“Just kill them.”
Yoon Gyeom’s voice remained gentle even as he spoke of the brutal topic. The owner’s son gulped nervously. Come to think of it, Yoon Gyeom was a former Hunter. Even though the professional image had improved a lot due to the influence of Hunter Public Relations Ambassador Do Dohae, most Hunters were still, to put it nicely, bellicose, and to put it badly, highly violent.
“Once I killed the deceivers, there were no more who tried to deceive me.”
After retiring as a pro gamer, Yoon Gyeom’s whereabouts weren’t known to the public. There were only uncertain rumors that he was farming in the countryside, or that he’d married a beautiful young lady and had three children. The owner’s son could guess from this conversation where he’d been for the past 2 years.
‘Go, Goehae……!’
The owner’s son had seen a documentary about Goehae on N-flix. The documentary’s first protagonist was a veteran cleaner who had survived in Goehae for over a year.
The protagonist said in an interview that his dream after filming ended was to return to his family. But unfortunately, he met a tragic end, being murdered by another cleaner during filming.
The scene was too shocking and was edited out, but subtitles appeared saying it was a crime by a starving cleaner, and everyone could guess what happened to the protagonist’s body afterward.
Fortunately, the production crew who filmed from a safe place using special skills were unharmed. They hurriedly replaced the protagonist and finished filming.
The documentary was released to the world like that, but the phrase wishing peace to both protagonists appeared in the final scene, revealing that even the replaced protagonist had ultimately died.
Goehae was that kind of place. A place where those who had given up being human went to die. That’s why some countries deliberately sent death row inmates there.
“If this place were Goehae, it wouldn’t be this troublesome……”
Yoon Gyeom averted his gaze slightly and trailed off. He felt embarrassed because he wasn’t used to this kind of threatening. His earlobes turned red, but the owner’s son, who could barely stand properly due to the suffocating killing intent, didn’t notice.
The owner’s son trembled like an aspen tree, thinking that someone who survived and returned after enduring 2 years in Goehae couldn’t be in their right mind. Feeling like he’d disappear from this world without anyone knowing if he listened to any more of Yoon Gyeom’s words, he mustered all his strength and shouted.
“Fr, from now on! I’ll, I’ll do business honestly! Pl, please, spare me……!”
“You don’t need to be too scared. Korea has many CCTVs, so it’s safe.”
“Th, that’s right! Our country has good public safety… ha, haha…!”
CCTV! Right, there were CCTVs! The owner’s son’s eyes lit up as if he’d found a thread to escape from the predicament. Dozens of CCTVs were installed at various angles inside the mart. There were even two in the owner’s office where he and his father had knelt.
He felt relieved thinking that evidence of Yoon Gyeom’s group’s atrocities remained. The owner’s son firmly resolved to back up the footage captured on CCTV just in case.
“I’ll be watching.”
Bang!
At the sound of the trunk closing, the owner’s son’s legs gave out and he fell on his bottom. Yoon Gyeom looked down at him and gestured with his eyes as if to say go on now.
The owner’s son hurriedly got up. He had to run away quickly before being grabbed. He left the cart as it was and ran staggering toward the mart.
“Haah……”
Yoon Gyeom let out a deep sigh while watching the owner’s son’s retreating figure. It had been a long time since he’d experienced subduing someone with force. It wasn’t a very pleasant feeling.
The owner’s son who returned to the mart would check the CCTVs that captured nothing and despair. And to avoid that fact being discovered, he wouldn’t do anything rash at least during the time he stayed in this area.
Suddenly the Luckies players at the training camp came to mind. Most of them were kids around Pyeonghwa and Sinhyo’s age. Perhaps because of that, at first he wasn’t very angry even when they made mistakes. He should have properly scolded them then, but they pretended to repent when coaxed and soothed, so he was fooled.
When he tried to establish discipline belatedly, the players complained unfairly, saying “You didn’t do that to that guy before, so why only to me, don’t discriminate between players.” After learning that Yoon Gyeom struggled with their parents, they even started reporting every little thing.
Bae Sinhyo found Yoon Gyeom frustrating and said, “They’re not even worth a single punch, just stomp them.” It wasn’t that he didn’t have that inclination at all. He’d welled up with anger several times. But the players he’d selected were the type who couldn’t demonstrate their capabilities in a vertical and rigid atmosphere.
Unlike his rigid personality, Yoon Gyeom was a coach who valued players’ autonomy. He planned the team in a direction where they could build a solid foundation and routine through training, and freely demonstrate their skills within a broad framework in actual matches.
This method required mutual trust as a foundation, but as a novice coach, Yoon Gyeom hadn’t thought deeply about that aspect.
Yoon Gyeom scoured the industry to find players who couldn’t perform properly because they didn’t know how to burst their potential. He felt proud when their skills improved rapidly with just a little direction.
However, because he selected them without considering their personalities at all, teamwork got worse by the day. The one fortunate thing was that even though they fought violently in virtual reality, no violent incidents occurred in reality.
The A-rank Hunter-origin player, Seol Bora, was overwhelmingly dominant in real-world force. Even those thundering bastards knew to protect their lives and held back. Was this what they call “anger management well done” these days? Yoon Gyeom let out a helpless breath.
‘Sinhyo said Pyeonghwa could solve this problem, but actually rather than Pyeonghwa……’
Yoon Gyeom glanced at the unidentified man who would be in the car. His failure to control the players and being scammed at the mart were in the same context. Not everyone is good just because they’re young or weak. He knew that sometimes being forceful works better.
At this rate, elimination in the preliminaries was certain. Upon elimination, he’d have to return immediately to the sea of death where he didn’t know when he’d die, and his parents would suffer hard labor until their dying breath.
Luckies needed change. A new player, Noh Pyeonghwa. And someone who would play the villain role instead of him…….
‘No, no. That man is too dangerous.’
That night, the man had truly tried to kill Pyeonghwa’s peer. Even he himself couldn’t handle that man’s power, so if he brought him into the team, who knows what would happen. Yoon Gyeom thought he should firmly refuse once more and turned around.
And he made eye contact with the woman… no, man leaning his shoulder against the van. Seeing him winking coquettishly and acting cute, his head throbbed.
“Taehui, what’s with that appearance at your age……”
The person the man called by phone was Byun Taehui. He’d contacted him last night and suddenly asked about his schedule, so it seems he was the one who brought the man here too.
“Hyung, is this your first time seeing me in a skirt? Huhu, how is it? Pretty, right?”
When Byun Taehui spoke in a sweet voice, Yoon Gyeom’s expression became subtle. The last time he saw Byun Taehui was ten years ago. As if aging had passed him by, he still had that same appearance, but the problem was what he was wearing.
Sparkling makeup like an idol, long brown hair braided in two pigtails with an ivory-colored beret, even a sailor uniform dress…… He’d heard rumors that he’d changed a lot, but he didn’t know it would be this full-on.
Yoon Gyeom is lowkey goated?