Episode 42
042. The Demon Strategist
The Corrupted Earthworm, a monster of calamity that the players of Kratum couldn’t capture even with a full mobilization, had been dismantled into a heap of scrap metal by a single blacksmith in less than ten minutes.
It was a one-sided destruction, so thorough it was almost embarrassing to call it a battle.
‘That guy… is a monster. He’s on a level we can’t possibly contend with.’
A cold sweat trickled down Nacha’s spine. He realized it instinctively: Golden Hand was an entity on a completely different dimension from any player they had ever faced.
The command from his Guild Master, Choi Jin-woong, flashed through his mind.
– Make covert contact with Geumson. Pretend to be from Yeokcheon and threaten him into a deal. The more unpleasant the process, the better, right?
Make it unpleasant? If he tried something like that in front of this monster right now, his head would be the first to fly off. Just as Nachal was unconsciously taking a step back, golden hand cold words shackled his feet.
“Do you still have unfinished business with me?”
Nachal’s body froze. The overwhelming pressure suggested his next answer would determine whether his throat would be slit.
“A-ah, no! I-I was just… momentarily stunned after witnessing such an incredible battle! Haha, hahaha…”
Nachal forced an awkward laugh and bowed deeply at a 90-degree angle. His mind was occupied by a single thought.
‘I have to run. I have to get out of here right now!’
“W-well then, I’ll take my leave! I wish you, I wish you the best of luck!”
“Wait, you mentioned something about an auction earlier…”
“Th-the auction! I’ll definitely participate! Haha! Well then!”
Nachal nearly sobbed as he turned around. Then, without looking back, he sprinted madly out of the cave as if escaping hell itself.
Geumsin clicked his tongue as he watched Nachal’s retreating figure. The performance was over. As the curtain fell on this act, a certain man came to Geumsin’s mind: the current master of the Asura Guild, Choi Jin-woong.
However, it wasn’t the present Choi Jin-woong that flashed through Geumsin’s mind.
The Demon Strategist.
Also known as the “Demon Brain,” Choi Jin-woong.
It was his image from the previous life, during that era when everything was collapsing.
The image of him alone in a cold command bunker, hating the world—no, hating monsters.
In the Age of Ruin, the Choi Jin-woong from his memories never stood on the front lines.
His hands, devoid of calluses from wielding weapons, were pale and slender from processing thousands of data points.
His battlefield wasn’t a blood-soaked charnel house, but the cold darkness flickering with dozens of holographic screens. He was always there.
Day or night.
With eyes that never slept, he read the flow of battle and, in the most efficient and cruel manner, herded monsters into traps of death.
‘I wonder if he’s managing to smile a bit these days?’
The Choi Jin-woong of that time did not smile. No, he seemed like a man who had forgotten how. Around him always lingered a chill and the bitter scent of half-drunk coffee.
Back then, no one would have jokingly called him a ‘hero’. He was more cunning and ruthless than anyone. And he slaughtered monsters so savagely that even fellow players could only click their tongues in awe.
He would face battles with a single map unfurled. He predicted monster movement paths and laid traps at their most vulnerable points. Burying tens of thousands of monsters alive in a canyon after setting explosives was basic. He used biochemical weapons in monster nests to spread plague, and even sowed discord between different species of behemoths, making them fight and annihilate each other.
Choi Jin-woong’s goal was singular: the eradication of monsters crossing over into reality. That was all it was, yet the survivors who fought alongside him cursed him as a ‘demon’.
His strategies disregarded friendly casualties.
Rather, he hesitated not at all to use allies as bait, moving them like pieces on a chessboard.
People shuddered at his ruthlessness, yet they willingly staked their lives on his strategies. Because the operations he designed had never once failed. Choi Jin-woong was not a hero.
He was the necessary ‘evil’ for humanity, hunting monsters in ways more monstrous than the monsters themselves.
A strategist who willingly became a demon to prevent annihilation.
‘If only Kang Moo-jin hadn’t died… Choi Jin-woong wouldn’t have ended up like that.’
Choi Jin-woong, who made the hardest decisions yet was ostracized. He wasn’t like that from the start. The root of all that hatred and madness originated from a single person: the death of Kang Moo-jin.
Love-Hate.
No word was more fitting to describe the relationship between Choi Jin-woong and Kang Moo-jin. They were eternal rivals, always cutting each other down and criticizing, yet more aware of each other’s backs than anyone. But when “Lepione” began threatening reality, they became the sturdiest of comrades, protecting each other’s backs.
He laid out the best possible board for Kang Moo-jin to run rampant upon, and Kang Moo-jin danced upon it more brilliantly than anyone, ravaging the enemy lines. The perfect sword to save the world, and the sharpest mind that paved the way for that sword. They were perfect rivals who grew by being aware of each other.
Still, Geumson could never forget that day. The day when a horde of tens of thousands of monsters surged like a wave toward the final defense line.
Choi Jin-woong’s strategy was perfect.
Except for that single variable: Kang Moo-jin.
As always, Kang Moo-jin ignored the strategy and charged out first. It was one of Choi Jin-woong’s bold operations that required allied sacrifice, after all.
It seemed to be going well, as usual.
Right up until the moment his greatsword pierced the heart of the monster horde’s leader.
The problem was that Kang Moo-jin’s own heart was also pierced by another monster’s claw at the same time.
On the main screen of the command bunker, Kang Moo-jin’s face was shown in close-up. Until his final moments, as he grew cold, a faint smile hung on his lips. With great effort, he gathered his fading breath and silently, painstakingly formed words with his mouth.
‘Hey, Choi Jin-woong… see? I told you my sword was faster than your calculations… right?’
Those were his last words. The moment the screen went dark and Kang Moo-jin’s vital signs flatlined, not even a sigh escaped the command bunker. There was only complete, soundless silence.
Choi Jin-woong said nothing. He just stared at the empty screen. His shoulders trembled slightly, but whether he was crying or suppressing rage was impossible to tell.
From that day on, the variable called ‘humans’ completely vanished from Choi Jin-woong’s strategies. Only ‘efficiency’ and ‘annihilation’ remained in his calculations. He no longer fought for victory. He simply erased them, hating all the monsters of this world that had taken his one and only variable, Kang Moo-jin. Thus, Asura Guild’s Choi Jin-woong became the Demon Strategist, the Demon Brain.
“I wonder what he’s like now? Will we be able to communicate?”
Geumson chuckled dryly and pulled himself from his thoughts. The present Choi Jin-woong was nothing but a shallow schemer fighting for profit within a game.
But golden hand knew.
That the madness sleeping within that shallowness would one day raise its head.
And that his cunning strategy was, ironically, a power humanity needed.
Geumson gazed for a moment in the direction where Nachal’s figure had completely vanished into the darkness. He murmured softly.
“Choi Jin-woong, don’t worry. Kang Moo-jin won’t die this time. So…”
golden hand swallowed his last words. He too had begun to realize that the Asura Guild’s Choi Jin-woong was starting to pay attention to him. But it wasn’t time to meet yet.
Geumson organized his thoughts and turned his gaze to the massive hole from which the Corrupted Earthworm had emerged. From within the hole, a sweltering heat, as if magma were boiling, rose along with a faint smell of sulfur.
‘The Dragonblood Herb must be down there.’
Without hesitation, golden hand threw himself down into the hole. The Iron Walker also launched its heavy body, following its master.
The space below the hole was, as expected, a vast magma cavern. Magma bubbling up from all sides illuminated the interior as brightly as day. Thanks to the 30% Fire Resistance effect on his ‘Golden Hand Dragon Scale Breastplate,’ Geumsin could endure the intense heat. The Iron Walker, being made of steel, wasn’t bothered by the heat as long as it didn’t move too aggressively.
“Over there.”
golden hand’s gaze fixed on a small rocky island rising from the center of the cavern, right in the middle of a river of flowing magma. On that island grew a strangely shaped medicinal herb emitting a vivid red light, as if steeped in dragon’s blood. A system message appeared.
[You have discovered the Dragonblood Herb.]
Using the Iron Walker as a stepping stone, golden hand lightly leaped onto the rocky island. Seen up close, the Dragonblood Herb was even more mystical. Each leaf pulsed faintly like a living heart.
“Gather.”
Golden hands used his newly acquired Gathering skill. His hand movements, following Parakel’s teachings and augmented by his own skills, were exquisitely precise and smooth.
[Using the ‘Gathering’ skill.]
[‘Intuition of Resolve’ highlights the most tender stem of the Dragonblood Herb.]
[‘Divine Dexterity’ maximizes gathering speed and precision.]
[The Precision stat aids in refinement.]
.
.
.
[You have gathered a Supreme-grade Dragonblood Herb.]
[The proficiency of the Gathering skill has increased significantly.]
[Gathering skill has reached Lv. 2.]
“As expected, the skill synergy is incredible.”
