Chapter 10

At this moment, Yoo Sangah shouted, “Dokja-ssi! Behind you!”

I reflexively leaned forward as a bloody fist came flying through the air . It was a familiar fist covered with energy . I felt something falling towards me and instinctively kicked out . I didn’t need to look back to know what was behind me .

A 9th grade human type, demonic person . Human mutants infected with black ether . That’s why demonic people were classified as a high-risk species, despite being 9th grade . Demonic people made from a normal human base were no different from zombies, but it was particularly dangerous if their hosts were different .

I saw the badge of the school student with a damaged head .

“…Kim Namwoon . ”

The guy whose head burst a few minutes ago was now aiming for me as a demonic person . Kim Namwoon’s vocal cords that burst out were in a bizarre shape .

“Kuweeeoooh . ”

[Exclusive skill, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint Lv . 1 has been activated!]

[This person doesn’t have any consciousness . The skill Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint will be cancelled . ]

Damn, it was as expected . My thigh was scratched by Kim Namwoon’s overgrown black fingernails . A pain that felt like a burn spread through my leg . The skin which hadn’t been cut by a knife was now torn by fingernails . This was the main reason why demonic people were dangerous . The demonic people became several times stronger than when they were human .

“Yoo Sangah-ssi, immediately―” I felt something as I spoke . Without looking back, I could see what was going on .

“Let me go! Let go! Dokja-ssi! Dokja-ssi!”

Han Myungoh, who had just been limping, was carrying Yoo Sangah over one shoulder and moving across the bridge at an astonishing rate .

[The constellation ‘Secretive Plotter’ admires how easy you are to trick . ]

[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ is impressed with your sacrifice . ]

[100 coins have been sponsored . ]

…Indeed . Planning to leave me? By the way, the way he was running was a little strange . Despite being on one leg, he was running as fast as an Olympic athlete . This couldn’t be the exclusive skill of Han Myungoh, who had a big belly . Therefore, it must be the stigma of his sponsor .

I already knew the constellation who provided that stigma . It was the One-legged Swift Horse . I used Character List on the distant Han Myungoh .

[The information of this person can’t be read in ‘Character List . ‘]

Once again, Character List didn’t work properly . If I remembered correctly, the stigma of ‘One-legged Swift Horse’ came from the constellation Lame Trickster . Lame Trickster didn’t give any stigmas in the mental barrier system . In addition, Han Myungoh couldn’t possess such a skill from the beginning . In other words, my skill failed not because of Han Myungoh’s ability .

…I was stupid . I looked at the message window floating in front of me and laughed .

[This person isn’t registered in ‘Character List . ‘]

I was thinking too hard when it meant literally that . Character List literally read the information of characters . Yoo Sangah and Han Myungoh were characters who didn’t originally appear in Ways of Survival . They were people who would’ve died if I hadn’t saved them . It was natural that I couldn’t confirm their information with Character List .

“Gruk! Gruk! Gruk!”

On one side, the incoming Kim Namwoon and demonic people were jabbering nonsense at me . On the other side, Han Myungoh was already halfway across the bridge . Lee Hyunsung and Lee Gilyoung had already entered the safety zone across the bridge so I couldn’t ask for help from them .

This was truly a predicament . I couldn’t cross the bridge alone . My brain moved quickly . Should I capture one of the demonic people and cross the bridge? It was worth trying, but the success rate was too low . Unlike the name, the demonic people were categorized as non-human, meaning they didn’t count as a person .

“Kuaaaack!”

Several demonic people lost their balance and fell down the bridge . The fallen demonic people became the food of the ichthyosaur . Like a piranha, the ichthyosaur broke the demonic people into dozens of pieces in an instant . Distant fear came flooding back in .

If the number of people on the bridge became ‘odd’ for even a moment, I would be like them . It was impossible to cross alone . Then?

“…Let’s take it slow . ” I muttered as I attempted to control myself . Right now, I needed to remain calm . There were still a few usable methods, but the important thing was to handle matters in front of me . I controlled my breathing and walked to the demonic people .

“Kuweeok?”

Fortunately, it wasn’t difficult to make them fall down the bridge using inertia . I reduced their numbers by making them fall steadily . The dokkaebi’s stopwatch floating in the air was blinking . The time remaining before the scenario ended was 15 minutes .

“Sigh…”

Nails flew from a blind spot and pierced my shoulder bone . No matter how calm my mind, no matter how much information I knew, I couldn’t help my untrained body .

“Kuwoooook!” The wild Kim Namwoon’s attacks were becoming increasingly faster .

Left shoulder .

The right thigh .

The top of the head .

I had to break the flow . I barely avoided the flying fingernails and kicked his legs .

“Kyah?”

This person lost all senses and wasn’t hurt at all . I stepped back, hitting a broken steel frame . I could hear the raging sound of the ichthyosaur at the bottom of the pillars .

[A few constellations are rejoicing in your adversity . ]

[The constellations have sponsored you 200 coins . ]

It was a steady accumulation of coins . Now I held 5,000 coins . It was a significant number of coins for the beginning .

[Wow, you are quite good at surviving . Now now! Will any constellations help this poor friend?] It was the dokkaebi’s merchant-like voice .

I wanted to tear it apart .

[Geez, there is really nobody?]

Of course . It would be strange for a constellation to support me after what happened during the Sponsor Selection .

[What did I say? You should’ve chosen well when you had the chance . How pitiful . ]

Kim Namwoon attacked me again and again, resulting in damage to my waist . Of course, I also injured Kim Namwoon’s left side with the knife . Thanks to that, his stomach was hanging out like a skipping rope . In order to kill a demonic person, I had to completely destroy the heart . However, the skin of a demonic person was hardest near the heart . The Swiss Army knife wasn’t able to pierce it with sharpness alone .

Dammit, it wouldn’t be so hard if I had just one combat skill .

[The exclusive skill ‘Bookmark’ is activated . ]

…Bookmark?

[‘Character Bookmarks’ is activated . ]

[Available Bookmark Slots: 3]

[Bringing up the list of available bookmarks . ]

[People Listed in the Bookmark Slots]

1 . The Delusion Demon Kim Namwoon (Understanding 25) .

2 . Steel Sword Lee Hyunsung (Understanding 35) .

3 . Empty slot .

Bookmark . I’ve read over 3,000 chapters of Ways of Survival and I never saw this skill name before . Still, I intuitively knew how to use it .

“Activate bookmark number one . ”

There was the feelings of pages turning in my head . It was the scenes of Kim Namwoon in Ways of Survival .

「Hahahahat! I’m full of strength! 」

「Die! Die! Die! Die!」

「A new world requires new laws . 」

Kim Namwoon’s memories crowded in and all of my muscle nerves started to tense up . The power of another person was spiking within me .

[The number one bookmark has been activated . ]

[The level of the Bookmark skill is low, shortening the activation time . ]

[Activation Time: One minute . ]

One minute . That was enough .

[Your understanding of the character is low, so only a part of the character’s skill is activated . ]

[Blackening Lv . 1 has been activated . ]

Kim Namwoon was breathing roughly as he rushed towards me . His body was covered with a black energy that was threatening me . I firmly placed strength on the heels of my feet and rushed towards Kim Namwoon . If we had the same skill, I absolutely wouldn’t lose .

At this moment, I really was Kim Namwoon . I was the crazy killer who ruled the world of ‘Ways of Survival’ with the protagonist . In a situation where Blackening was properly played, the Delusion Demon of the battlefield couldn’t be easily beaten .

“Kyaaack!”

The Swiss Army knife cut through uncomfortable sensations . It tore through muscles and flesh . From the upper left arm to the heart . There was the sound of a whole human being cut up as Kim Namwoon staggered . If he still had eyes, he would be glaring at me right now .

“Kuoh, kill . Ohhh . D . i . e” The young man who felt pessimistic towards the world and dreamt of breaking away from it . If Ways of Survival hadn’t started, he might’ve gone to university after sitting his CSAT and enjoyed campus life . “…Don’t, want…to…die”

I watched Kim Namwoon falling down the bridge without saying farewell . Despite him being a hated figure, I couldn’t help feeling strange emotions .

[Your understanding of the character ‘Kim Namwoon’ has increased . ]

[The number one bookmark has been disabled . ]

A surge of fatigue overcame me as the power went away . It was hard, really hard .

“Kuwoooook!”

There was 10 minutes remaining . There were still many demonic people moving about . It was unreasonable to take on so many even with Lv . 10 physique . However, from the beginning, I had no intention of taking care of them alone . It was a little late but he should appear around now .

Kwajik! Kwajijijik!

There was a crackling sound like he had been waiting . I knew it . I thought he would do reckless things in order to gain achievements and donations .

Kwajijik! Crunch .

It was obviously the sound of a person’s flesh colliding with another body, but it sounded more like a mace crushing flesh . In fact, I had collected this many coins and thought it would be worth challenging the protagonist . Now I realized how mistaken I was . From the stationary train, the demonic people were thrown away in a straight line, as if a tank had rushed through . Was this really a scene caused by a ‘human’?

“Kyaack?”

The headless demonic people realized that something was strange and started turning around . However, it was too late . The man destroyed all the demonic people threatening me and appeared in front of me . An overwhelming force without any weapons . He beat the demonic people with only two fists .

I had prepared my mind in advance but sweat still flowed down my back . Dealing with this guy? It was absolutely impossible . I couldn’t win even if my overall stats rose by more than double what they were now .

“You, who are you?”

The man’s cool gaze turned to me . I reflexively turned on Character List in order to overcome the fear .

[The exclusive skill, Character List is activated . ]

[There is too much information about this person . Character List is converted to Summary List . ]

[Character Summary]

Name: Yoo Jonghyuk .

Attribute: Regressor (3rd turn) (Myth), Pro Gamer (Rare)

Exclusive Skills: Sage’s Eyes Lv . 8, Hand to Hand Combat Lv . 8, Weapons Training Lv . 8, Mental Barrier Lv . 5, Crowd Control Lv . 5, Reasoning Lv . 5, Lie Detection Lv . 4…

The list of exclusive skills continued endlessly . Before I could get to the end of the list, a rugged hand appeared and grabbed my neck .

“You, how the hell are you alive?”

The ‘first way’ to survive in a ruined world . The one who proved that method was right in front of me . Regressor Yoo Jonghyuk . The grand tragedy of this world began with this person .