I Became a Disaster-Class Newbie by Stealing Abilities - Chapter 31

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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 31. Celebration Banquet (4)
Crash!
The double-layered glass shattered completely.
Hyang Pyeong-jak, drenched in blood from head to toe, stepped into the VIP Room.
“This… this can’t be real. Reinforced glass made from Intermediate Mana Stones, shattered.”
“A monster… that one.”
The scouts swallowed hard, one after another.
It was already astonishing that he’d carved through the soldiers alone.
But to breach all those security measures besides—it was beyond comprehension.
“What of Commander Paiton?”
“He appeared to be locked in combat with what seems to be a Ghoul executive. Given how formidable the opponent is, a swift resolution would be—”
Rather difficult.
The speaker couldn’t bring himself to say the rest aloud.
Voicing it might extinguish the last sliver of hope that remained.
“If you come any closer, I’ll have no choice but to kill you. So stop.”
The bodyguard assigned to the VIP Room drew his sword.
He was a skilled fighter who had recently broken through the 6-Star barrier.
…….
Step.
Hyang Pyeong-jak walked forward without so much as a glance, his strides long and unhurried.
“Didn’t you hear me telling you not to come closer!”
At last, the bodyguard moved first.
But a blade wielded by trembling hands would find no purchase.
“I don’t take orders like that.”
In a flash, he slipped past the sword and seized the bodyguard by the neck, subduing him in one motion.
Thunk!
An axe embedded itself directly in his skull.
Boom!
The body collapsed like rotting timber.
There was no longer any means left to oppose this abomination.
“Members of the Five Major Guilds—move to the left.”
“A-and those who belong to other guilds?”
“The rest need not concern themselves.”
A lethal gleam flashed across Hyang Pyeong-jak’s eyes.
He had no reason to spare those without real value—the small fish weren’t worth the trouble.
Scrape.
A Kukri Knife carved a long line across the floor.
Left and right.
This line, he seemed to say, would become the boundary between life and death.
“No, please—”
“Our guild can pay money too. Or I can take out a loan, anything—please just—”
Anyone would do. They just needed help.
Facing death, the people on the wrong side of the line begged for their lives.
“Stay quiet. Resistance will only make it hurt more.”
The keen edge of the Kukri Knife rose high into the air.
But at that very moment.
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang!
A gust of wind laced with flame tore through the room.
“Kyaow!”
“Shiee!”
Salamander and Sylph.
* * *
Hyang Pyeong-jak barely dodged the direct hit.
The clothes he wore were scorched black by the flames.
“Those spirits—aren’t they the ones that Yeon-su had been keeping?”
“That’s right. I just acquired them a moment ago.”
Ju-sang answered with a slight smile.
“Even if we once shared the same roof, now that I’ve heard such talk from you… I can’t let them go.”
Clink.
Hyang Pyeong-jak pulled the axe free from the bodyguard’s skull.
And then he looked slowly at the young man.
“What’s your name? I’d like to know that much before I kill you.”
“Jeong Ju-sang. And you?”
“I am Hyang Pyeong-jak.”
Hyang Pyeong-jak….
Even the name brimmed with romance.
And because of the killing intent that overflowed as much as that name, his Status Window responded.
[Plunder Condition: Evil Upon Evil. Show Hyang Pyeong-jak that there exists within you a darkness far more wicked and debased than that of the Ghoul leader.]
[Reward: Depending on the degree of condition fulfillment, you may randomly plunder one of the following from the target: a Unique Ability, trait, stat, or memory item.]
Another chance to plunder an ability, following Ha Yeon-su.
This was why it pleased him to tangle with the strong.
Delicacies kept surfacing, as if he’d walked into a buffet.
‘The only drawback is that achieving the condition each time isn’t easy.’
Fortunately, this place held something that could help.
[Replaying Ha Yeon-su’s memory.]
He had already glimpsed a memory he’d plundered from Ha Yeon-su just before arriving here.
There had been quite an interesting scene within it.
* * *
A shop beside the train station marked with Heilongjiang Province.
Cramped and weathered, yet filled with warm, hearty food.
Around it, skeletal children were ravenously devouring dumplings and noodles.
-This will be the last time I eat home-cooked food. They say when hunger strikes, people always find their way back here. Now I understand why.
-It’s thanks to you. I’ll never forget this kindness for as long as I live.
-Once you’re in Korea, just handle what you’ve been assigned. Understood? Catching that water serpent took a lot of hands. If you can’t pull your weight, I might get angry.
-I understand. Whatever you command, I’ll see it through without fail. Don’t worry.
Hyang Pyeong-jak gazed at the townspeople with eyes that still held a faint warmth.
To live without hunger, to meet tomorrow—
There was no greater luxury in this desolate land crawling with monsters.
-By the way. How’s the wound on your back? That Green Fire Cannon of his looked quite hot.
-…….
At those words, Hyang Pyeong-jak’s body trembled like aspen leaves.
The assassin who killed men like insects and remained unmoved by ordinary wounds—trembled with fear.
Here, he obtained information worth its weight in gold.
First, the reason Hyang Pyeong-jak had joined Ghoul and what he feared.
And the other piece….
The identity of the one who led Ghoul.
-But why does the leader request such a name? Wouldn’t a proper leader be better served by something far more threatening and authoritative?
-Yeah, I was curious about that too. Is it some kind of pacifist thing, or does the name have meaning?
Ha Yeon-su, seated beside them, offered her own comment.
Then.
-Well. It’s just an old habit. Once you’ve used something for so long, other nicknames feel strange.
The man called Yohan answered with a smile, as if amused by something.
So.
‘It was you. The Ghoul leader.’
Jeong Ju-sang’s eyes narrowed.
‘Yohan’.
The villain of that community who, despite the peaceful name, wrote nothing but savage posts.
He remembered the uproar—how the man swore he’d never let go until he tore away the Emperor’s authority.
Beyond that, there had been several clashes with other community members.
He’d even publicly shared his number, daring them to meet in person.
‘Given his nature, he’d never have anything like friendship or camaraderie.’
If he exploited that, there was a way to dispose of Hyang Pyeong-jak and plunder his ability.
Whoosh.
Jeong Ju-sang drew from his bosom a map and a wooden box containing divination sticks.
One of the items he’d obtained after disposing of Ha Yeon-su.
“What’s that?”
“Ah. You recognize it. That’s right. The Fortune and Misfortune Box.”
An effect that could invoke fortune or misfortune upon a specific location.
Great fortune, middle fortune, small fortune, small misfortune, middle misfortune, great misfortune.
Depending on the result drawn from one of six divination outcomes, a specific event would occur.
When he drew a fortunate lot, crops would spring up even if he just scattered seeds haphazardly, and Mana Stone mines would be discovered. That sort of thing.
But when he drew a disastrous lot, despite meticulous preparation, all manner of natural disasters struck or swarms of monsters invaded.
“Foolish, really. It seems you understand nothing at all….”
Hyang Pyeong-jak let out a scoff, then trailed off.
“No, wait. Go ahead and try however you like. Draw a fortunate lot. I’m telling you to take my very life if you can.”
“I’d like to, but it seems someone’s already taken all the good ones.”
If the box had contained many lots symbolizing fortune, Ha Yeon-su would have used it long ago.
But.
She had not.
She knew.
That this wooden box overflowed with far more disastrous lots than fortunate ones.
Which was precisely why she kept it stored away, using it only when absolutely necessary.
“Then you must understand that blackmail using divination lots holds no meaning? Or perhaps you’re foolish enough to believe you could draw one of the rare fortunate ones?”
“Ah, even for me, that’d be impossible.”
“Then what in blazes are you scheming! There’s nothing you can do with that in this Banquet Hall!”
How ridiculous.
His thinking truly was one-dimensional.
Who said she meant to use the divination lots on this Banquet Hall?
This had never been the target from the start.
“What about here?”
Pok.
Joo Sang tapped a location on the map with tweezers—Heilongjiang Province.
More precisely, a small shop beside the railway tracks.
“How… how did you…?”
Hyang Pyeong-jak’s pupils trembled.
Shock seized him so completely he forgot to maintain his composure.
She had touched a genuine nerve.
“Speak! How did you know to mark that spot!”
“Tsk tsk. You’ve asked the wrong question again.”
The question he should be asking now wasn’t “how”.
“Who told you about this place. That’s what you should have asked.”
Apart from Ha Yeon-su, only one person in the world knew about the shop in Heilongjiang Province.
“That’s impossible. Yohan would never suddenly betray me like this.”
Plant the seed of doubt.
And then.
“Not Yohan—but the Pacifist, surely.”
Drive the wedge home.
The moment that nickname—known only to an extremely select few based on his nature—was spoken aloud, Hyang Pyeong-jak’s last shred of patience shattered.
“That scoundrel, I’ll tear his mouth apart!”
The curse spilled out immediately,
Perfect.
‘Half the victory is already secured.’
From the beginning, she had never intended to use a disastrous lot on a village of innocent people.
She had merely wanted to create a variable in a battle against an opponent of superior standing.
Boom!
Hyang Pyeong-jak activated Acceleration and hurled himself forward.
Tremendous speed.
Had his fury not simplified his attack pattern, his neck would have been severed clean through.
Yet.
Boom!
Joo Sang defended with a hair’s breadth to spare.
Crunch-crunch-crack!
Axe and blade gnawed at each other’s edges, spraying brilliant sparks.
A stalemate lasting mere seconds at most.
But that was enough.
“Come on, you two!”
“Kya-oooow!”
“Shiiit!”
Salamander and Sylph unleashed the mana they had gathered.
Channeled through the Spirit’s Forest, the power was far more devastating than when Ha Yeon-su herself wielded it.
Whoosh!
A gust of flame surges forward.
Ju-sang had mixed the shimmering green powder he’d snatched from the Banquet Hall with the Paralyzing Toxin obtained from Ha Yeon-su, then scattered it into the fire.
The flames’ color shifted to a vivid green.
Just like the Green Fire Cannon of the Water Dragon.
“Aaaaah!”
Hyang Pyeong-jak recoiled violently, his body hurled backward in panic.
Quite the reaction.
He was paying dearly for touching that trauma.
There was no missing this opening.
[The Frost Blade Sword Art, Snowfall Blossom, activates!]
Shwip-shwip!
Ju-sang’s blade stormed through the rushing icy gale like a tempest.
* * *
“Cough! Ugh….”
Hyang Pyeong-jak, poisoned by the Paralyzing Toxin, spat flecks of blood as he focused entirely on defense.
The intense cold made his hands refuse to obey him.
Clang-clang-clang!
His skills too failed to activate with their usual precision.
The spreading toxin scattered his mana each time he tried to gather it.
‘Under normal circumstances, I’d never fall for such clumsy tactics.’
But the moment the Water Dragon came to mind, he’d lost the presence of mind to respond properly.
Yet even setting that aside….
the opponent was decidedly difficult to contend with.
‘This man. He’s no ordinary fighter.’
His grasp of swordcraft.
His combat experience.
Everything far transcended the bounds of mediocrity.
That improvisational instinct visible only in those who’d crossed death’s threshold countless times surfaced at every critical moment.
Most troubling of all.
Thwack!
That short blade he gripped in his right hand.
That was the greatest problem.
Though it hadn’t been used in some time—evident in patches of unmistakable rustiness—
the synergy it created with the long sword in his left hand occasionally erupted with devastating force.
‘His initial techniques have no limit.’
Where Hyang Pyeong-jak’s own Savagery was built on brutality and feints, this man’s blade was boundlessly free.
Sword paths that stretched on endlessly.
It was a realm of infinity.
Just as his anxiety intensified against such overwhelming talent, a third party arrived.
“You do seem to be enjoying your game quite thoroughly. I never imagined you’d still be fighting.”
A girl with white hair.
In her grip, Cheon Su-ho, an executive of Ghoul, was being dragged along.
‘What is this monster?’
Merely facing her froze his heart.
—The unease that perhaps the one he’d trusted had betrayed him.
Boom!
Boom-boom-boom-crash!
His axe strokes grew increasingly savage.
Mistakes he would never have made under ordinary circumstances erupted one after another.
—The crushing pressure that his most precious village might be annihilated.
His mind kept drifting elsewhere.
If he truly activated divination, it felt as though his head would split from the weight of not knowing what to do.
—And layered atop it all, the nightmare made flesh: the terrible anguish carved into his very back.
Each time the two elemental mages drew upon their power.
Each time the green flames flickered higher.
His body recoiled of its own accord.
Yes.
All of it had become a trigger, firing his trauma.
“Aaaaah!”
In the end, Hyang Pyeong-jak made the worst possible move.
He attempted to activate his Unique Ability while poisoned by the Paralyzing Toxin.
Mana surged backward through his channels, and agonizing pain consumed his entire body.
His stance crumbled.
Ju Sang was not one to miss such an opening.
First Form—Moonlight.
Moonbeams gathered along the Malkarim held in his left hand.
Second Form—Lightning Slash.
Lightning crashed down the short blade of the Kabalado gripped in his right hand.
Two opening techniques of the Melseong Style activated simultaneously.
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!
A direct strike that pierced through the chest.
“Gack… gack…”
Black smoke wisped from Hyang Pyeong-jak’s lips.
A close-range dealer who’d dumped everything into attack power had no business surviving a blow like this.
Still.
“Impressive. You managed a counterattack even in that state.”
Ju Sang let out a genuine exclamation of admiration.
At the last moment, he’d actually succeeded in completing his Unique Ability.
If Ju Sang had been careless, that axe would have finished him.
“Please don’t lay a hand on the village… I lost, so end it with me.”
“We’ll see about that. Depends on what you do from here on.”
“What… what do you mean?”
“I need a spy to infiltrate Ghoul. If you become a faithful hound, I promise I won’t touch you or the village.”
“Cough! There’s a devil if I’ve ever seen one. Truly, the worst day of my life.”
Thud!
Hyang Pyeong-jak, consciousness slipping away, collapsed.
At the same moment.
Ding!
The Status Window flickered to life.
[Hidden Condition fulfilled.]
[Plundered Ability upgraded to supreme version!]
The condition that taught one there was evil upon evil.
And now that threshold had been crossed—this Status Window appeared.
‘At last…!’
Ju Sang calmed his racing heart and waited for what would come next.

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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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