Monopolizing Skills to the 666th Floor - Chapter 23

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Skill Devouring to the 666th Floor Episode 023

23. Impersonator Jo Do-pal

Around the time the Labyrinth incident broke out.

People thought the world was ending and fell into despair.

But not everyone felt that way.

There were some who actually welcomed this situation.

Jo Do-pal, a fraud convict with 18 prior offenses, was one of them.

‘Let this damn world just go to hell.’

He had been posing as a businessman and extorting money from married women, but was currently locked up in a detention center.

Whatever happened to the world had nothing to do with him.

He was about to be sent to prison soon anyway.

Rather, he desperately hoped it would all collapse.

‘I’m sick of prison life by now.’

All or nothing.

Either get released or just collapse already, world.

That was his mindset.

Until he saw a message he never expected.

[Transcendent Spirit ‘Greatest Fraud of All Time’ has offered you to become an Apostle.]

[Will you become the Greatest Fraud of All Time’s Apostle? Y/N]

‘Apostle? I was chosen to be an Apostle?’

In his desperate situation, he had no time to hesitate.

When he accepted, he gained stats and was even given a skill.

The skill he received was:

▷Dice Roll (A)

―Effect: Roll a dice, and if a number between 3~6 comes up, all stats increase by that number. Duration is 1 minute with a 5-minute cooldown.

A fraudulent skill that temporarily increased all stats.

And it was an A-rank skill at that.

‘With this, I can escape!’

Jo Do-pal immediately used the skill.

Whether it was luck or not, the number that came up was 5.

“Uryaaah!”

Screech!

With all his stats increased to 11, he pried open the iron bars to create a gap.

Soon he succeeded in escaping.

To evade the police pursuit that followed, Jo Do-pal dove into the Labyrinth.

At first, he had no intention of clearing it.

But seeing the monsters easily burst apart changed his mind.

‘If I do this right, I might not even need to run around hiding?’

With power that transcended human limits, why would he need to run around?

He could just crush the police with force and be done with it.

‘If I clear the Labyrinth, can I become even stronger?’

With that thought, he focused on clearing floors.

[As a reward for clearing the 2nd Floor normally, you receive ‘Extremely Weak Essence of Strength’.]

…

[As a reward for clearing the 3rd Floor normally, you receive ‘Extremely Weak Essence of Agility’.]

…

He learned that stats were given each time he cleared a floor.

The fact that he could become even stronger than now excited Jo Do-pal.

‘If I become strong enough that no one can oppose me? I’ll be able to commit whatever crimes I want freely.’

He wouldn’t have to bother with annoying fraud schemes anymore.

With a sense of purpose, his clearing speed increased.

Fortunately, strategy guides were also being posted on Transcendence Net.

‘I can get information about the next floors. This is good?’

He gained confidence.

It felt like he could do anything.

However.

‘For a while I had such ideals and kept clearing floors…’

His thoughts didn’t last very long.

Because he discovered the weakness of his skill.

‘It’s a skill with too much reliance on luck.’

Dice Roll produced stats between 3 and 6.

It would be nice to get high stats, but rolling a 3 was quite frequent too.

‘All stats increase by 3? That’s not a small amount. But…’

The duration was only 1 minute at most.

Plus he had to wait for the cooldown.

There were limits to a skill that depended on luck.

That’s why Jo Do-pal hit a wall on the 9th Floor.

‘I barely cleared the 8th Floor, so how can I challenge the 9th Floor?’

The 9th Floor is where the Doppelganger appears.

What if the Doppelganger’s dice roll high and his own roll low?

The Labyrinth would become his grave.

Since he couldn’t give up halfway, he had no choice but to be cautious.

‘I don’t have the confidence to clear any more floors.’

This was as far as Amon’s strategy guides could help him.

He decided not to enter the Sinkhole anymore.

He was already strong enough.

Where in the world could you find someone who could bend iron bars with bare hands?

‘It’s better to be satisfied with the present than risk my life diving into the Labyrinth.’

Even if he didn’t clear floors himself, the extinction deadline would still extend.

Superior Apostles would handle the clearing for him.

Like Amon, for instance.

‘This guy already posted strategy guides up to the 29th Floor.’

He was insane.

While others were struggling around the 10th Floor, he alone had reached the 29th Floor.

He was in a league of his own.

Thanks to him, the extinction deadline had extended by nearly a year, which put his mind at ease.

‘Now I can commit crimes without worry. Hehe.’

Jo Do-pal’s main crime was fraud.

He posed as a businessman, creating stock reading rooms to extort money.

Then he would seduce female members who lost money to satisfy his sexual desires.

‘At least I haven’t committed murder, right? I’m probably one of the better ones among my school classmates.’

While enjoying another day of stealing other people’s money, he happened to see it.

A post by Amon on Transcendence Net.

[Author: Amon]

<Title: Anyone want to meet at Hongik University Station tonight at 8 PM?>

‘What? Did Amon really write this?’

Why would someone who only posted strategy guides write something like this?

Looking at the comments, they were all praise.

No one asked why he wanted to meet or what his purpose was.

Blind trust.

That was the value the name Amon carried.

‘If I play this right… I could make a big score.’

No one knew what Amon looked like anyway.

What if he went to the meeting place early and pretended to be Amon?

He could gain blindly loyal followers.

‘Then I’ll extort money from them. By staying in regular contact.’

Having made his long-term plan, Jo Do-pal arrived at the meeting place 30 minutes early.

More people than usual had gathered at Hongik University Station.

They were all Apostles who came to see Amon.

‘Should I start making my move? Before the real Amon shows up.’

Jo Do-pal spoke loudly.

“Has everyone gathered? Nice to meet you. I’m Amon.”

“A…mon?”

“Are you really Amon?”

People briefly doubted the appearance of Jo Do-pal, a man in his 40s with distinctive caterpillar eyebrows.

But it was only brief.

“It’s Amon!”

“Amon really appeared!”

“I’m a fan, Amon!”

“Your eyebrows are cool!”

“Please shake my hand!”

Jo Do-pal was slightly flustered by the attention he’d never received in his life.

‘This feels like being a celebrity.’

It felt good, but this wasn’t the time to be dazed.

“Now, now, we’re blocking foot traffic here, so shall we move to another location?”

Jo Do-pal lured the people to a different location.

It would be troublesome if the real Amon appeared and saw this scene.

But he didn’t know.

That the real Amon was mixed in among the crowd following him.

‘What a ridiculous bastard.’

Seeing someone impersonate me was absurd.

And it was a man in his 40s, no less.

Though it would be younger than my actual age.

‘What nerve. To think of impersonating me.’

Moving locations now must be out of concern that the real Amon might appear.

He’s someone who knows how to use his head to some extent.

‘Let’s hear what his purpose is.’

The imposter only stopped walking after getting about 500 meters away from the station.

“I think this would be a good place to talk.”

“Are you really Amon?”

“As I said, I am Amon.”

“Wow… to actually meet Amon. Can we take a picture together?”

“Of course. I should take one for you.”

He wore a friendly smile and took photos with everyone, regardless of gender.

Truly shameless, so shameless.

‘I can roughly guess his scheme… but would he really want to go that far?’

Only after having a lengthy photo session did the imposter slowly begin to reveal his true colors.

“Everyone. How was the strategy guide I wrote? Was it helpful?”

“Yes! We’re still reading it!”

“Reading strategy guides before entering the Labyrinth is essential!”

“You’re really amazing. How did you make it to the 29th Floor. Wow…”

“Well, it’s nothing special. Haha.”

He even acts modest for show.

Am I the only one among these people who thinks he’s a fraud?

“When will the next strategy guide come out?”

“You’re the 1st Floor record holder, right Amon? 47 minutes 47 seconds!”

“Could I possibly get an autograph?”

Seeing people pour out questions, it’s certain.

“Wait a moment. Everyone quiet.”

At the imposter’s gesture, people closed their mouths as if they had made a promise.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t answer all your questions. This isn’t a fan meeting venue, is it?”

“Ah… that’s right.”

“Still, there’s one thing I can tell you.”

The imposter, who had been pausing for a moment, made an apologetic expression.

“Unfortunately, there are no plans for a Floor 30 strategy guide.”

“What? Why?”

“Since I’m conquering alone, the people behind me can’t keep up, right? In that situation, what meaning would there be in posting a strategy guide?”

When I heard it, it made sense.

Even I nodded in agreement with the fraud’s words.

‘Well, it’s not like I post strategy guides for people to follow anyway.’

I post strategy guides because I want many people to survive.

Entering the Labyrinth recklessly versus entering after knowing the strategy guide.

The difference in survival rates between the two is too obvious to mention.

‘Of course, besides that, there’s also the purpose of accumulating experience points on Transcendence Net… but you don’t necessarily have to follow. I don’t post strategies for that reason.’

But the imposter ignored that meaning and deceived people with clever lies.

“Since you can’t catch up, I plan to help you from now on.”

“How?”

“I plan to provide one-on-one counseling.”

“One-on-one… tutoring?”

“Ah, Amon himself will directly…?”

“Wo, woaaaah!”

Exclamations burst out from here and there.

Passersby looked over, wondering what was happening.

“Shh. Don’t tell other people. I’m trying to give special guidance only to you.”

“Ooh! Special guidance…!”

Looking at their reactions, many people had fallen for his scheme.

‘As expected of a fraud. He’s trying to scam them one-on-one.’

It was as I expected.

Probably in a little while, he’ll suggest exchanging contact information.

Using personal guidance as an excuse, he’ll continuously extort money.

Sure enough.

“My contact number is 010-XXXX-XXXX, okay? Could everyone send me a text?”

By having people send texts, he collected numerous phone numbers.

‘I can’t just watch this.’

Even out of indignation, I have to stop this fraudulent act.

But first, let me try Skill Copy.

[Since the target has only one skill, attempting to copy immediately.]

[Skill ‘Dice Roll’ has been copied.]

‘Look at this guy? The Transcendent Spirit is also the Greatest Fraud of All Time?’

Both the Transcendent Spirit and the Apostle are fraudsters.

What a perfect match made in heaven.

‘Dice Roll… This is also quite a good skill.’

It’s especially useful in the early stages when stats are low.

All stats can increase by up to 6, so the tangible effect is quite significant.

‘I should use it for a while too.’

When I used Parasite, the Magical Parasite soon entered the fraud’s ear.

Now I can use Dice Roll permanently as long as the fraud doesn’t die.

‘Are there any other useful skills among the people here?’

While searching using Skill Copy.

A woman approaching the fraud caught my eye.

‘Should I try copying hers?’

[Since the target has only one skill, attempting direct copy.]

[Successfully copied skill ‘Mind Control’.]

‘This is…?’

Mind Control is a skill from the Transcendent Spirit called Seductive Succubus.

▷Mind Control (S)

―Effect: Controls the target for a certain period. Duration varies based on the difference between the caster’s mana and the target’s resistance stat. Has a 5-minute cooldown.

‘She gave me something this good?’

It’s a quite useful skill that allows you to control opponents at will.

‘To sponsor an S-Rank Skill this early on. She must be an Apostle who’s quite favored by her Transcendent Spirit.’

Suddenly, I had an idea.

A way to instantly cover up the fraudulent scheme.

Jo Do-pal was inwardly surprised.

A woman had approached and was stroking his arm.

“Lord Amon. Did you receive my number?”

“Hmm… If you sent a text, I probably received it.”

“Please check once. The last digits are 5958?”

At the woman’s request, Jo Do-pal looked through numerous texts.

Among them was a text with matching last digits.

[Lord Amon. Would you like to have a drink with me tonight? Just the two of us. I’d like to get to know you personally.]

A quite bold text.

The woman who sent that text was right in front of him.

‘Oh… Now that I look, she’s pretty too?’

Unlike himself, she was young and had a good figure.

“…Your name?”

“It’s Seo Mina. How about it? Having a drink alone with me.”

“Haha, I’d love to. I was just lacking drinking companions anyway.”

“Hoho. Then, we’ll meet tonight…”

That’s when it happened.

Suddenly, Jo Do-pal’s pupils turned purple.

And then.

“Stupid suckers, falling for this? They really think I’m Amon. Keke.”

“Excuse me?”

“Now if I contact them under the pretext of counseling and extort some money…”

“Lord Amon, what did you just say?”

“No, why are my inner thoughts coming out, damn… Hup!”

Panicked, Jo Do-pal covered his mouth with his hands.

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