I Became a Disaster-Class Newbie by Stealing Abilities - Chapter 15

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 15. The Commission
The 1st Knight Order, protectors of the Emperor in Europe.
And.
The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Knight Orders were those who deployed across the entire globe, carrying out all manner of missions.
Among them existed the strongest military force, composed entirely of Slayers….
They were the 2nd Knight Order.
“So the Fang of the 2nd Knight Order moves personally. I didn’t expect this.”
“Who exactly is this Hero?”
“This is bad. Completely bad. I told you something felt wrong about this!”
A body trembling like aspen leaves.
His lips were parched, the skin cracking at the corners.
“Tsk, tsk. Barely a day apart, and already in such a state. Are you well?”
Clang!
With a single stroke, the shackles that had bound Ju-sang’s wrists were cleaved in two.
“Now I can breathe again.”
Ju-sang rose from his seat, rubbing his wrists.
Then he surveyed the three corrupt officials with unhurried ease.
See?
This was what connections meant.
“These men have been intimidating innocent people since dawn, extorting false confessions, demanding bribes—in short, they’re thoroughly wicked!”
Now came the time to repay them for their amusing little games.
“B-bribes? Please wait a moment, Benneroff. This is all a misunderstanding. We were merely interrogating a suspect in a robbery-murder case involving the Red Tiger Guild!”
A Grade-5 official cried out desperately.
But the moment Ju-sang produced his smartphone, the situation pivoted a full one-eighty.
[Playing recording.]
The voice of the Grade-5 official came through with crystalline clarity.
—The Heroes from Earth are all the same—they don’t know their place. Do you understand? Disrespect to us is a challenge to the entire Empire. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that here, our word is the Emperor’s word.
Interrogating innocent citizens?
Well, that’s permissible enough.
In a nobility-centered worldview, what problem is a few citizens getting beaten?
But impersonating the authority of the Imperial House was an entirely different matter.
“H-huh!?”
The Grade-5 official inhaled sharply in panic.
He’d never heard of magical artifacts having recording functions.
The soldiers who’d rushed to report their success without properly searching him deserved to be torn to shreds as well.
Of course, everything was far too late.
“Let us render judgment.”
Benneroff slowly raised his blade.
“For a traitor who dares equate himself with His Majesty, even a breath of air would be wasted.”
“Wait—!”
Whisk!
A head flew through the air like a rotting log.
The Grade-5 official, who had dreamed of promotion to Grade-4, thus brought his long bureaucratic career to its end.
“W-we never said such things! It was only that foolish, disrespectful fool speaking alone!”
The female merchant master spat upon the corpse of the Grade-5 official.
As if protesting that she bore no part in his crimes.
“I examined the ledgers on my way here.”
“Pardon?”
“Quite the extensive operations you’ve run. Tax evasion, accounting fraud, even retaining high-end law firms in Gangnam—honestly, the effort was rather admirable.”
Benneroff recited the evidence with no hint of mercy.
“P-please! Spare me! I won’t do it again, I swear—!”
The female merchant master stumbled backward and collapsed where she stood.
“Indeed—’can’t’ do it again.”
Thrust!
Benneroff’s blade pierced straight through her heart.
The female merchant master gasped and spewed blood, then expired on the spot.
Hmm.
Tomorrow, the market prices might drop just a bit.
The Red Tiger Guild’s Master, the last one remaining, slowly opened his mouth.
Unlike the others, this one led a faction, and he showed no signs of fleeing or offering hollow excuses.
“Is it a crime that my subordinates were killed?”
“It is.”
Benneroff shook the blood from his blade as he continued.
“The crime of weakness. And the crime of foisting the consequences of that weakness onto others. Both grave transgressions.”
“You’re saying the entire Red Tiger Guild cannot match a single man.”
“One exceptional talent can sometimes surpass an entire group. But if you find that unconvincing, shall we put it to the test directly?”
Benneroff gestured with his chin toward the Master.
What is this now?
Surely not.
‘Is he doing this because I stole his sword technique?’
The Master must have felt the dissonance of suddenly being unable to use the Star Annihilation Style.
‘The timing would have been right after we met, so he’s probably harboring suspicions.’
Perhaps confirming that was part of the reason he came here.
‘I wondered why this was going too smoothly. Every step is thin ice.’
I must not use the Star Annihilation Style.
Not right now, at least.
When the Master remained silent, the Red Tiger Guild’s Master restated the wager.
“And if I win?”
“I’ll suspend the execution of your sentence.”
“I’m grateful for the opportunity.”
The Red Tiger Guild’s Master gripped his blade with both hands.
The Master likewise took his stance.
He had to prove his worth without resorting to the Star Annihilation Style.
Fortunately, the day hadn’t been spent idle.
[‘Sword Spirit Unity’ draws out the latent potential of swordsmanship to its absolute limit!]
Very slowly.
Crack!
A fragment of the Frost Flower Divine Sword took tangible form.
Unlike when Baek Seol-gi had wielded it, the surrounding air did not plummet in temperature.
No snow blossoms bloomed, no hoarfrost crystallized.
Yet the technique’s essence and its subtlety were fully embodied.
His Star Rank lingered just past the midpoint of the fourth tier, and yet….
It created the illusion of having reached a far higher realm.
* * *
“Hoh.”
Benneroff’s eyes narrowed.
He was concentrating wholly on observing the swordsmanship.
Meanwhile.
“This… this is….”
The Red Tiger Guild’s Master exhaled a breath of despair.
The entry into the fourth tier, reached through painstaking effort.
In the borderland of Hanam, such strength was considerable.
‘I was nothing but a frog in a well.’
An unfathomable, distant realm beyond imagination.
Anyone who had ever held a blade could not fail to see it.
The technique unfolding before them was breathtakingly beautiful and perfect.
Yet even as defeat became certain, he could not withdraw.
“Let me learn from you.”
Not as the master of the Red Tiger, but as a single martial artist.
[Yang Myung-ho activates the skill ‘Essence of Fire’!]
[The power of fire seeps into the blade!]
He answered with the finest sword stroke he possessed.
A single blade reminiscent of a tiger’s claw.
Three streaks of flame-engulfed steel surged forward.
The Master moved to meet the trajectory of that strike.
Clang-clang-clang!
The snow-white blade collided with the blazing sword strike.
Soft, flowing.
The crimson flame was swallowed by the white wave.
Whoosh!
A long spray of blood erupted from Yang Myung-ho’s shoulder.
“Ugh! I… I’ve lost…”
A clean victory.
The gap was so overwhelming that he couldn’t even think of making excuses.
All that remained was to snuff out the loser’s last breath.
But then.
“I didn’t kill the members of the Red Tiger Guild.”
Jusang spoke the truth.
“Someone calling himself the Harlequin appeared in the dungeon. He planted bio-bombs and forced people to work for him.”
The Harlequin—an A-rank fugitive in the Empire, classified as an extremely high-risk individual.
If anyone else had said it, he would never have believed them.
There was no reason such a big player would surface in Korea, relegated to the periphery as it was.
But Jusang had listed details that could only come from direct encounter—information that no one else could possibly know.
“So that’s what happened. I had no idea…”
Yang Myung-ho lowered his head as though even ten mouths wouldn’t be enough to explain himself.
He had accused an innocent person. Death would be a fair price.
“Will you handle the finish yourself?”
Benneroff asked.
Jusang hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.
“No. I won’t kill him.”
[Compulsion Condition: If he strikes your right cheek, offer him your left. Forgive the enemy who sought to kill you.]
[Reward: Seizure of the enemy’s finest skill.]
It wasn’t about seizing his ability at all.
And it wasn’t that he needed the backing of a guild firmly entrenched in Hanam.
It was purely from a humanitarian perspective!
He was choosing to show mercy.
‘What a magnanimous person I am.’
Living at a loss like this, he worried when—if ever—he’d become wealthy and strong.
“You… you’re serious?”
Yang Myung-ho blinked rapidly.
Then he immediately pressed his forehead to the ground.
“I, Yang Myung-ho, shall never forget this grace as long as I live! All guild members will follow their benefactor.”
[You have seized the skill ‘Essence of Fire’!]
[Acquisition Difficulty: C]
[Description: You can summon the flames of a low-rank fire spirit, Salamander.]
The acquisition difficulty itself was low, but one shouldn’t underestimate this skill for that reason alone.
‘Depending on how you use it, it could rank S-class or even higher.’
Jusang wore a satisfied smile.
“Well. If that’s the opinion of the party involved, I’ll respect it. But I do have conditions—one question and one request.”
“What’s the question?”
“It concerns the 33rd Generation Hero selection tournament. I know you’re not directly involved, but I thought you might have some additional information.”
As expected.
He was still chasing that lead.
“I don’t have information about other generations, but if you tell me why you’re searching for it, I’ll make some inquiries.”
Probing gently.
Why exactly was he so fixated on the 33rd generation?
Honestly, he hadn’t expected much when he asked…
“There’s a possibility that among that generation exists someone who could pose a great threat to the Empire—let’s leave it at that.”
Benneroff surprisingly revealed his reason readily.
‘An Oracle must be involved.’
Now it made sense—why Benneroff had been so desperate to find a 33rd Generation Hero.
If a prophecy mentioned a threat to the Empire, it was usually something serious.
The movement of the 2nd Knight Order made sense now too.
‘I need to keep my identity as the 33rd generation hidden.’
If it slipped out, the blade would turn toward him.
Remember this.
Silence is golden.
“May I hear what the request is before I decide?”
“Recently, troublesome people have appeared on the outskirts of Hanam. A group calling itself the Immortal Cult—they’re deceiving virtuous citizens and causing various problems.”
He already knew.
The Immortal Cult—a sect that worships evil gods.
One of countless factions he would become entangled with in the years to come within this world.
“For your information, the Harlequin is also a member of that cult.”
Right.
More precisely, he’s one of their executives.
And an exceptionally troublesome one at that.
“Surely you’re not asking me to handle those people all by myself?”
“Of course not. We’d simply like you to locate their whereabouts somewhere in Hanam. After that, we’ll take care of the rest ourselves.”
Hanam—an ant’s nest of a city.
Finding a specific faction within that sprawling metropolis of tangled slums was no trivial task.
“Hmm. That sounds considerably difficult. Though I won’t say it’s impossible if the right incentive is offered.”
“Upon success, I’ll award you 2,000 Merit Points. Additionally, as an advance, I’ll let you choose a weapon from the military armory.”
“……!?”
Shock rippled through his pupils.
The benefits of Merit Points were hardly worth discussing aloud.
Citizen Rank advancement. Access to upper residential districts. Item purchases. Discounts and more.
The list went on endlessly.
But the greatest benefit was rising in Citizen Rank itself.
The empire’s caste system, comprising months from January through December.
Once you reached June Grade or higher, even security forces wouldn’t dare treat you carelessly—and you’d receive a ten percent discount when erasing traits or purchasing items.
‘Two thousand points would bump me straight to February, and secure me at least one crucial item for the early game.’
And they’d give him a weapon from the military armory upfront, no less.
“When should I start?”
The offer was far too substantial to refuse.
* * *
There was an epilogue.
When he arrived at the hotel, Baek Seol-gi—that wretched creature—was fast asleep on a plush bed, blissfully unaware of the chaos he’d been through.
She was sleeping so deeply that he could have carried her away and she wouldn’t have noticed.
Baek Sa, curled up in a ball beside the pillow, also caught his eye.
There’s an old saying: suppress your anger and it becomes disease.
That wouldn’t do.
In a world without health insurance, falling ill with cancer would be a catastrophe.
So he’d express his feelings without restraint.
Whoosh!
He planted a clean kick.
“Kyuu?!”
With a short squeak, Baek Seol-gi vanished out the window.
For tomorrow’s breakfast, he planned to cut her bacon by about three grams and add roughly seven and a half grams of Grain-Free Pill instead.
Replacing the sweet honey with zero-sugar was merely the cherry on top.
Heh heh.
By his own reckoning, it was a remarkably mature and manly form of revenge.
* * *
At that same moment.
An unprecedented emergency was declared within a grand estate in Yongsan.
“The first White Ghost we stored in the Labyrinth has vanished.”
“What? What in blazes are you talking about?”
The masked figure who came rushing with the report watched as the old man seated at the head of the table shot to his feet.
Freshly brewed tea spilled across the surface, but he gave it no thought.
“Are you certain of this?”
“But I was told it was a place even novice knights couldn’t breach. You’re saying a raid force from Hanam cleared it?”
Questions erupted from every direction.
“It’s beyond doubt. When we checked the Brain Prison where we stored the Godoku at dawn, the jar had completely dissolved.”
A phenomenon that only occurred when the Godoku implanted in a body was forcibly removed.
The loss of the White Ghost was now an incontrovertible fact.
“What does Felix say about this?”
“He claims he ran multiple tests and found no problems. After that, he simply said it was no longer his concern.”
“Damn that old fox… Is he trying to play games with us?”
White Ghosts raised with such meticulous care.
Among them, Number One possessed talent and potential of an entirely different caliber.
If they’d let him grow just a bit more and fed him sufficiently appetizing prey….
An assassination technique that would be complete enough to match even the empire’s vaunted knight orders and magical combat units.
“Find it at once! Before they notice, we must mobilize every resource at our disposal and recover the White Ghost—no matter what!”
A simple apology for losing it would never earn forgiveness.
Annihilation awaited them.
Every last one.
“We obey your command!”
The voices rose in unison.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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