Chapter 4 - First Meal

Chapter 4: First Meal
Cho Changhun, a man dubbed as the Guillotine on his first life before his memory went back in time, cringed.
…What?

Surely, the first achievement should have been his. The street was in chaos, but he was the one who snapped a Goblet’s neck with his bare hand for the first time.
However, he wasn’t.
The words signaling that he cleared the first achievement did not appear.

…
As his eyes wandered, Changhun continued his steps deep into the alleys to avoid the Goblets. A second Goblet found him but Changhun avoided its attack and got a hold of its neck. The Goblet tried to fight its way out of the choke hold but it was no use. The monstrous grip was a characteristic of Cho Changhun’s Nature.
Snap.

Who the hell is it?
Changhun mumbled as he snapped the neck of the second Goblet.
Everywhere he looked, there was no one who could fight off the Goblets. Everyone lost the confidence they once had and spread out to find a weapon or hide. It was a somewhat expected situation.

Fcking losers.
One could understand the situation if one used their brain.
Everyone who was here had two Natures. There was no one stronger than those who had two Natures. One Nature they were born with, another Nature they got from their first victim. One could only have two Natures in their lifetime.
Before the regression, it was rare to see anyone who killed someone because they calculated which Nature they wanted. It took a long time for people to understand the meaning of Nature, and most had blood on their hands before they could fully understand.
However, this was a rare second chance.
They needed to consider carefully before their first kill and created the perfect combination of Natures they wanted to use.
Cho Changhun was lucky. When he regressed, his long-time friend was next to him. His friend was someone who held such an envious Nature, and Changhun always regretted to lose a chance to have him as his first kill. Therefore, he acted fast and snapped his friend’s neck once he got a second chance.
However, not everyone was this lucky. Some were already strong before the regression. Therefore, most of these scums probably killed the closest person in front of them to get the second Nature without thinking twice about it.
‘No matter what their Natures are, losers are losers. The fundamental definition of garbage does not change.’
Look at them getting destroyed just because of one unforeseen incident. They could consider the difficulty they were facing a difference of the circumstances they once had in the past. Even if they lived the same future, there must be a huge gap between those who achieved experience with their own strength, and those who followed the tails of another fighter.

…Whatever, it doesn’t matter.
Changhun mumbled as he hid in the alley. It was too bad he missed the first achievement.
It wasn’t the time to care much about one achievement they gave at the ‘beginning’.

Yama’s armor is mine.
An item that transformed a woman who owned a useless Nature into one of the strongest powers within the Korean Peninsula. That item was in this section. There must be people with higher skills here. It was hard to decipher who, but one of them might have taken the first achievement. If Changhun could have the armor in his hands, he would be the strongest competitor in this section. Then, he could move further to a position of power to rule the second world.
The most powerful position was held by Lord Yoo Dohyuk before the regression.

Kekeke.
Changhun’s eye sparkled with greed and ambition.
…

Whew…!
Dohyuk put down the fire hydrant and calmed his harsh breath.
12 kills total. It resulted from him hiding in different places in the building and killed every Goblet that came his way. He could still hear the cries of the Goblets from outside, but his strength was bottoming out fast. So Dohyuk ran upstairs to hide in a janitor’s closet at the end of the hall. He could barely breathe. Every bone and joint in his arms was in pain from swerving the weapon, but… he could feel it.

This is not my original body.

He was stronger. This was a realization he got after crushing the Goblets with the fire extinguisher. He could feel his strength and stamina explode compared to who he was before. If it was his original body, it would have burned out after 3-4 kills.

Status…
Dohyuk whispered the command word.
<<Ability>>
-Muscle Strength: 17 (2+) (E)
-Stamina: 21(2+) (E)
-Agility: 15(2+) (E)
-Magic: 2(F)
-Endurance: 17(E)
-Charisma: 14(E)
<<Achievement>>
[The First Hunter] +2 Muscle Strength/ Stamina/ Agility to Holder
There was no big difference in the numbers, but until a few hours ago, Dohyuk considered them as ‘just numbers’, but as Jimin had told him, these were Dohyuk’s means of survival. He tilted his head for a while, then he moved his finger above a word that piqued his curiosity. That was the answer.
<<Muscle Strength>> -Force. Determines the amount of weight you can lift and the speed of the body movements.-
Dohyuk placed his finger above each word from stamina to charisma to check each of the descriptions. Then,

Wallet.
He checked his earnings.
<<Wallet>>
-Current Amount: 740
-Able to use the coins to increase the abilities.
-50 coins needed to increase F-rank (0~10) ability.
-200 coins needed to increase # rank (11~50) ability.
He originally had 500 coins in his wallet. The words explained earlier how killing Goblets appearing in front of him would give him 20 coins.

Whew,
Dohyuk recollected his composure as he increased the abilities he selected.
<<Used 200 coins for +1 Stamina>>
<<Used 200 coins for +1 Stamina>>
<<Used 200 coins for +1 Stamina>>
Dohyuk knew nothing. He didn’t know which ability he needed to attain in order to gain better results. He could make assumptions though.
<<Stamina>> -Body stamina along with tolerance to physical shock. Determines the resistance and natural recovery ability of various traumatic injuries.-

The more I rest, the more behind I get.

Dohyuk thought. If he combined what Jimin and the single-winged angels said, the only way to increase his abilities was through the usage of coins. Dohyuk knew only one way to earn coins.

To kill monsters.
Humans didn’t kill each other on the streets. It seemed like there was no use in killing another human after earning a second Nature.
However…

There’s no guarantee that killing will stop.

Those people who tried to kill Dohyuk from the market had no remorse. It was if they lived in a world where murder was a common circumstance. This meant that there could be a situation where humans must kill another human to defend themselves. Also, Dohyuk had no information. If he included the ones he got from Jimin, the amount of information Dohyuk had compared to those who acted like they know ‘everything’ was laughable.
He had only one option: he needed to earn coins by all means and increase his body performance as much as possible.

I don’t even know how to use these Natures yet.
Dohyuk stood up.
I…
Thanks to the increase in his stamina, Dohyuk felt like he could breathe better.
I don’t want to die.

He couldn’t think of anything other than that. The world turned upside-down in an instant. His life was in danger several times. Everything he heard was loads of nonsense about him killing a god and that he held a Nature everyone wanted. He wanted to survive. It was an intense desire that felt uncomfortable even for Dohyuk himself. Maybe this was a side he didn’t realize he had because he never felt the need to be so cautious.
Dohyuk stepped out of the janitor’s closet. He threw away the bent-up fire extinguisher he used until now and grabbed a new one.
One step after another.
He drew the interior of the building he remembered in his head and moved his feet.

There is a small alley behind this building.
There, he could attack the Goblets entering the alley as he did in the building. Dohyuk opened the doors to the emergency stairs quietly. Then, in the stairway…

…


…

…They met.
A skinny man in his forties who was climbing the stairs stopped to look up at Dohyuk, but he soon smirked.

I found you, asshle.
A nasty grin smeared his mouth.
Who knew where he found it, but he had a metal skewer in his hand dripping with blood.
I saw you. You were running all over the building to hide your ass when the Goblets were running towards us! I saw it, you asshle.


…


You must have started from this neighborhood the last time, eh? This building is probably hiding a hidden item or a temple. Whatever that is…it seems like a weapon you can use right away.

The man’s eyes locked on the fire extinguisher in Dohyuk’s hands. It was stain-free, recently picked up, and without a drop of blood.

Hand it over while I’m still feeling nice, or I’ll rip you apart into pieces.


…

The man climbed up the stairs as he spat out daunting threats.
You can’t win over me. I killed so many Goblets outsi…
Before the man could finish his words, Dohyuk lunged his body down the stairs.
He had enough time to think. In this changed world, threats to kill you don’t end with the said threat. Dohyuk didn’t have whatever the hell the man thought he had, but even if Dohyuk told the truth, it would be stupid of him to think this situation would end in peace.
He attacked first then. There were about 15 flights of stairs between the man and Dohyuk. Luckily, the stairway was narrow, and the man was heading up the stairs. The combined weight of Dohyuk and the fire extinguisher contacted the man.

Aaugh!
The two mangled bodies crashed down the stairs and fell to the landing.
The metal skewer fell off the man’s hand. Dohyuk released fire extinguisher he was holding, but he did not deliberately do so. Dohyuk’s body was aching from crashing down the stairs and his eyes were rolling, but his hands were holding onto the man’s hands. The man was choking his neck with an incredibly strong grip. Dohyuk remembered the disaster that happened in the park. A short and older man with a large gut was so skilled in fighting it felt as if he was a professional fighter.
‘I can’t win. There’s no way I can win if I fight him.’
With nothing else in mind, he choked him back with all the power in him. It was a pure competition of strength. The man tried to fight his way out, but he had no chance since Dohyuk had the upper hand even from his position. In a shorter amount of time than Dohyuk expected, the man’s body dropped.

…
When Dohyuk calmed his mind.
Stab!
A sharp and deep pain penetrated Dohyuk’s thigh.

Aaah!!
Dohyuk screamed in pain, and the man regained his strength. The man shook himself off of Dohyuk’s choke hold and stood up.

What the fck…You scared me, asshle!
The man started to kick Dohyuk in a fit of rage.
Dohyuk rolled his body to dodge the man’s kick, pulled his body up, stood on his own feet, but his body couldn’t function properly anymore. He had a knife stuck in his thigh.

I almost got fcked over…Ha, I found a purpose for my useless Nature. ‘Long Breath’, isn’t it fcking stupid?

Instead of attacking Dohyuk right away, the man calmed his breath while touching his neck. The end result had been decided. A blade the size of a fruit knife was struck deep inside his inner thigh and it had ripped Dohyuk’s artery.
Blood was spewing out between the blade and the scar. Dohyuk grabbed the blade with his quivering hand.
<< Bone Blade of Cuspid Tribe – E>>
-Physical attack correction value: 3~7
-Durability: 19/20
-Holds bleed out promotion (Lv. 2) ‘Option’
[Looks jagged but it is hard to pull out once it’s stabbed deep. Considered valuable to Goblets.]

Oh, you’ll die faster if you pull it out.
The man grinned with a victorious look on his face.
I think my item luck in this life is good. I’m feeling the secret you have would be a jackpot.

Dohyuk couldn’t concentrate on what the man was saying. It wasn’t from the pain. Losing blood wasn’t significant enough to lose his conscious, and, it wasn’t because he felt distraught from the miserable situation.

Well, just think that you won’t be able to die quickly by bleeding out.

It was because he saw the words in front of him.
<< Satisfied Condition to Activate Nature>> (Flavor of Iron)
<<Word: Use ‘Digest’ to ‘Consume’ the item in hand>>

You’re fcked…


Digest.

As soon as he murmured the word, the blade on his thigh glowed. Dohyuk cringed as he tasted the flavor of the item on his tongue.
It was disgusting.
The man’s face cringed almost as badly as Dohyuk, but his expression was worse. It was no wonder because he realized the situation he was in. As he witnessed the blade disappearing without a trace, and the scar healing right before his eyes,

Yoo, Yoo, Yoo…

He could not believe who he had just messed with.
Who he had just dared to mess with.