The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 94

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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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The Maxed-Out Player’s 100th Return – Episode 94
94. Ju Sung-tak
Ryu Min gazed at the item listed on the sales post.
[Fragment of Immortal Skin]
[Classification: Possession]
[Description: A fragment of skin carved from a creature known as the Immortal.]
[Seller: dontgo95]
[Asking Price: 1,000,000 won]
[Negotiable: Yes]
[Chat: Available]
[Transaction Method: Direct trade only]
[Transaction Location: Suwon]
I’m certain. This is an item needed for a Legendary combination.
Above Unique rank comes Legendary grade.
Legendary items can also be crafted through combinations, but I’ve ruled that out from the start.
The reason is simple.
At this point in time, obtaining Legendary materials is nearly impossible.
It’s not truly impossible.
Just extremely difficult to acquire.
At this point in time, there’s only one place where a Fragment of Immortal Skin could appear.
The Round 5 boss—the High Orc.
When defeating that creature, this Fragment of Immortal Skin drops at an extremely low probability.
As everyone knows, the High Orc isn’t an easy boss to defeat.
It’s even stronger than the Minotaur, the Round 6 boss.
So not only did someone defeat that powerful creature, but they also got lucky enough to obtain this material?
Without both fortune and skill working in tandem, such a feat would be impossible.
Setting luck aside, who is it? What skilled player could defeat the High Orc?
Several notable names came to mind.
The possibility that it might be one of them flickered through my thoughts.
Could it be… that person?
The skilled player capable of defeating the Orc, the one who possesses the Rune of Drops.
If my suspicion was correct, this listing had a high chance of being bait.
Dangerous bait at that.
Seeing that direct trade is the only option makes me think I’m right… I should at least try sending a message.
I sent a chat message before making a purchase.
[Buyer: Hello. You’re the one selling the Fragment of Immortal Skin, correct?]
[Seller: Yes.]
[Buyer: You’ve listed it for 1 million won, but it says negotiable. Is that right?]
[Seller: Hmm, I normally don’t, but I’ll make a special exception. What price did you have in mind?]
[Buyer: 900,000 won. Is that possible?]
[Seller: Hmm, it’s a bit burdensome, but fine. That much is nothing….]
[Buyer: Oh! No, I misspoke. Just knock off another 100,000 won. 800,000 won.]
Seller: Are you kidding me?
[Buyer: Why? There’s no set market price anyway. Honestly, I don’t even know what it’s used for.]
[Seller: Then why are you trying to buy something you don’t even know the use for?]
[Buyer: I want to try combining various things. Everyone buys material items to experiment like that, right?]
[Buyer: It’s just that my finances aren’t great. Could you knock off a bit?]
[Buyer: Yes?]
[Buyer: Yes?]
[Buyer: Why aren’t you responding?]
[Seller: Sigh, fine. I’ll sell it to you for 800,000 won out of pity. But we’re doing a cash transaction. You can come to Suwon, right?]
[Buyer: Of course.]
[Seller: Here’s where you need to come.]
As the address appeared in the chat, Ryu Min let out a soft chuckle.
“So this bastard really is who I think he is.”
The fact that he was willing to sell even after cutting 200,000 won made it almost certain.
The item was merely bait to lure people in.
‘If this psychopath is involved, it makes sense.’
Still, I thought it would be good to verify, so I grabbed my coat.
If I didn’t step in, the victims would only multiply.
Besides, I needed to secure the Legendary material.
‘Should I go take a look at his face?’
Meeting him was a bit early, but it was inevitable eventually.
‘I should prepare for any situation just in case.’
I was grateful that I had the Rainbow Effect buff available.
‘Well, even without it, I wasn’t planning to go easy on him.’
With one corner of his mouth twisted upward, Ryu Min leisurely left his home.
* * *
“Ha, this bastard is absolutely ridiculous? Haha.”
Ju Sung-tak, who had been chatting with the buyer, let out an incredulous laugh.
“Cutting 20% off what I listed for 1 million won? What kind of character is this?”
Character aside, what kind of item is this anyway?
It’s an item that dropped from defeating the Round 5 boss, the High Orc.
That High Orc I barely managed to kill using twenty orc corpses.
‘Back then I really thought I was going to die. I had no idea the High Orc was that strong.’
And now this bastard wants to swallow an item I struggled so hard to obtain for a mere 800,000 won?
‘This asshole really wants to die.’
When was I ever planning not to kill him?
I was always planning to kill him anyway, but this bastard? No way.
“When I meet you, you won’t die pretty. You bastard.”
Ju Sung-tak set down his phone with a grinding of teeth, then suddenly flinched.
He heard the dying gasps of someone beneath his feet.
“P-please… save me… please…”
“Huh, you startled me. This old bastard—what? You’re still alive?”
The middle-aged man lying face-down managed to lift his head.
It was the best he could manage with his limbs severed.
“P-please… save me…”
“Save me” is casual speech.
Please… I’m begging you… like this…”
Thunk—!
Ju Sung-tak’s dagger pierced through the man’s neck.
“Spouting such nonsense. Tsk. Startling people for no reason.”
I hadn’t expected him to still be alive with his limbs cut off.
“Anyway, if that bastard shows up, he’s dead.”
It wasn’t mere words—I genuinely intended to kill the buyer if he arrived.
The item was bait for that purpose, after all.
That’s why I graciously accepted the 20% discount.
It wasn’t something I actually intended to sell anyway.
‘Why would I sell it? How did I even obtain this? If I’d really meant to sell it, I would’ve told him to get lost without hesitation.’
Regardless of what the item was used for, it could be used to lure people in.
Why lure them in, you ask?
Because it’s entertaining.
Or more precisely, because I was bored.
That’s what life is.
There comes a moment when boredom finds you.
A time when you’re so bored you want to abandon everything.
I’ve been like that since second grade.
‘I thought I’d go mad from the boredom.’
Nothing was fun, nothing was interesting, everything was tedious beyond measure.
Despite being in my prime years, I’d lost all will to live.
Looking back now, I was like a broken component missing a screw.
It was the same when I became a middle schooler.
Wondering if throwing myself into something might help, I tried studying like everyone else.
‘I never let my rank slip from first in the class.’
But even with such good grades, nothing changed.
Only my parents’ hollow praise and expectations grew.
So bored was I that I wished the Delinquent Gang members would bully me, but none of them did.
‘Even those delinquent bastards wouldn’t touch the top student.’
That’s what I thought, but there was a truth I didn’t know.
The Delinquent Gang didn’t leave me alone because I studied well.
Madness.
They had witnessed an incomprehensible madness in Ju Sung-tak’s eyes.
It was the reason even the Delinquent Gang members avoided him.
Drip, drip—
Ju Sung-tak wiped the dagger, slick with blood, against the corpse’s clothing, and his mind drifted back into the past.
‘Hehehehe, now that I think about it, those days were truly wonderful. When I committed my first murder.’
The first person Ju Sung-tak had ever killed was his parents.
Bored with studying, I abandoned my books, and as expected, my grades plummeted and the nagging intensified.
The conflict with my parents began around that time.
When my grades dropped from first place to near the bottom, my parents raged and screamed.
In a fit of anger, I killed them with a kitchen knife.
‘It wasn’t intentional. It was purely a moment of rage.’
Yet that instant would become the turning point of my life.
‘Ah… I still cannot forget the sensation of that moment.’
A heart pounding with tension.
The living room floor drenched in blood.
The feeling of driving a blade into human flesh.
My first murder taught me so much.
It gave meaning to a life I thought would bore me to death.
‘I want to savor this sensation more… just a little more.’
With that desire, I turned myself in to the police.
I understood that fleeing in a nation saturated with CCTV was futile.
‘If I’m going to be caught anyway, it’s better to surrender early.’
I instinctively knew this would work in my favor for a reduced sentence.
I wanted to get out of prison quickly and plan a proper murder.
I wanted to feel the thrill of killing once more.
So I feigned remorse and claimed it was an impulsive act.
Fortunately, I had a talent for acting.
The police were absolutely convinced it wasn’t my fault.
‘Stupid bastards. I clearly killed them, yet they say I’m innocent.’
A sneer threatened to escape, but I suppressed it.
For now, I would receive a reduced sentence and go to prison as planned.
But there was something even I hadn’t anticipated.
‘What? I’m a juvenile offender?’
At the time, being under fourteen years old classified me as a juvenile offender exempt from criminal prosecution.
I was sent to a juvenile detention center, ordered to complete community service, and released under supervision.
For someone who expected to spend time in prison for killing his parents, it was an unexpected stroke of fortune.
‘This is absolutely perfect, isn’t it?’
The fortune continued.
Until I graduated from High School, became an adult, and reached the age of twenty-seven.
Despite committing countless murders, Ju Sung-tak had never been caught.
Was it because he meticulously planned each killing a year in advance?
Or was it because he only targeted homeless people—those whose deaths would raise no red flags?
Regardless, he’d managed to kill and walk free, playing the role of an ordinary man, and he was still doing it now.
‘Stupid cops. They still haven’t caught me.’
But his luck seemed to be running out this year.
When they told him he had to participate in a survival game where his life was forfeit until Round 20.
Ju Sung-tak felt cheated.
‘If I’d known this was coming, I would’ve killed as many people as I wanted and just gone to prison.’
All that caution, all that sneaking around to avoid the police—it felt like a waste, infuriating even.
But.
It didn’t take long to realize that life in the Other World suited him perfectly.
‘Why is killing these goblins so difficult for everyone else?’
Watching countless people die in Round 1, Ju Sung-tak couldn’t comprehend it.
Stabbing goblins barely larger than middle schoolers was easier than killing people.
And it aligned with his hobbies too.
‘Not as entertaining as killing people, though.’
Then, while hunting in Round 2, he was fortunate enough to acquire the Shaman class.
‘It might’ve been thanks to the [Rune of Drops] I received at first.’
The Rune of Drops dramatically increased the drop rate of special items.
There was a high chance the Shaman class item appeared because of the rune’s influence.
‘After that, nothing was difficult.’
Whether by talent or not, he consistently ranked 2nd or 3rd across All Districts, clearing Round 3 without issue.
Round 4, where he had to kill people, was even easier.
For someone who’d been a serial killer all along, it wasn’t difficult at all.
‘If anything, it was thrilling—so incredibly thrilling. Hehehehe.’
The games that injected excitement into his mundane existence delighted Ju Sung-tak.
Beyond mere survival, he wanted to enjoy this as long as possible.
‘If I clear all 20 rounds, I’ll wish for the rounds to continue. It’s far too entertaining.’
Ordinary life had become tedious.
He couldn’t imagine returning to who he was before becoming a Player.
‘Watching the world crumble like this is quite amusing too. Kekeke.’
After killing so many, it was no longer about whom to kill, but how to kill entertainingly.
What he was planning now was part of that philosophy.
‘I’ll hide the corpse I just killed in the clothing donation bin next to the Alley, and when a buyer shows up?’
I’ll detonate it with the [Corpse Explosion] skill.
Then I’ll suppress the half-dead wretch with the [Curse of Terror] skill and slice his limbs into pieces like squashing bugs—that was Ju Sung-tak’s plan.
‘I bear no ill will. I kill purely for entertainment, so I hope you understand.’
Ju Sung-tak looked away from the corpse and checked his phone.
Three hours remained until the appointed time with the buyer.
‘Hurry over here, you bastard. I’ve prepared a gift for you. Kekeke.’
To savor the fresh thrill, I stuffed the corpse into a clothing donation bin and used Trace Erasure on the floor.
The scattered limbs and bloodstains vanished without a trace.
With nothing but anticipation that he’d fall into my trap, I waited three hours.
Finally.
Footsteps echoed closer—
A figure entered the Alley where my trap lay waiting.
Ju Sung-tak’s lips curved into a smile.
‘Bingo.’

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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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