Chapter 103: Chapter 103: “Because that’s fair”

This was still a combat state—the battle hadn’t ended yet.

Lu Ce raised his gun, and that brief pause of one second was his mercy, giving the other side a chance to exit.

If you’re willing to give up everything and leave the game now, then this shot of mine won’t go through your skull.

But Ye Ah didn’t. She wanted everything—wanted it all—and even in that moment, she still hadn’t let go of her delusions, still trying to play the “pitiful girl” using her so-called “advantage.”

Keep in mind, even Beom In out there was in a state where he wanted to quit but couldn’t.

And Lu Ce’s mercy while under the Wrath Mask lasted only that one second. There wouldn’t be another.

Compared to the three Korean players before, Ye Ah was definitely the dumbest.

She held her head high, eyes wide open. Even in the end, she didn’t close them, staring at the sky in disbelief.

She probably didn’t understand even in death why the other party wouldn’t let her go. Clearly, from all the previous encounters, his main target was Park Bu Seong.

Why wouldn’t he let me go…

The moment Ye Ah collapsed to the ground, Xie Antong, standing behind, trembled slightly. And Park Bu Seong, who had used Ye Ah as bait, was so terrified he was shaking like a leaf.

“Wait! We can talk this out!”

“You win!”

Park Bu Seong jumped straight off the ground, no longer caring that Da Han Mingguo was watching, and started backing away step by step.

He didn’t want to quit. With all the stuff and abilities he had, losing everything wouldn’t just mean going back to square one—it would mean losing everything he had ever possessed.

That was something he couldn’t accept. A challenge between players—how could someone end up dead?

Why so bloodthirsty?

While he was thinking that, he completely forgot that when setting up all those game options earlier, he was constantly thinking about how to eliminate “Sin” and “Blank.”

Both hands behind his back, quickly retreating. In his left hand was an epic-tier self-detonation item, something that looked like C4. His right hand, a barely formed Psychic Clone, was clutching an Exit Token.

And he still had one last restriction he hadn’t used.

The next second, before his naked eye could even react, that pale green figure appeared right in front of him.

Bang! Crack!

The gunshot and the slicing wind rang out at the same time. His left hand was instantly blown apart. The epic-tier equipment dropped to the floor. His right hand was straight-up sliced off by a Sharpened Blade!

Lu Ce reacted quickly, kicking the fallen right hand into the air and catching the Exit Token that flew out of it.

“Your sense of life preservation… is too low...”

Amid the other’s screams, Lu Ce said calmly.

He looked down at Park Bu Seong with disgust. Already furious to begin with, the Wrath Mask amplified that anger several levels.

Park Bu Seong kept squirming backward, desperate to get away from this man in front of him, spouting the classic nonsense.

Saying stuff like “You can’t kill me,” “Killing me won’t do you any good,” “My family will avenge me,” “This could even escalate into a diplomatic issue between two countries.”

But what he didn’t know was, every word he said was basically fueling Lu Ce’s rage meter.

Park Bu Seong couldn’t even understand why this guy was so pissed off.

What made Lu Ce the angriest… was the guy’s weakness.

If he were a true expert, there’d be nothing to complain about. That’s what challenges are—spear vs. spear, a battle to the death. Lu Ce had always been prepared for that outcome.

But Park Bu Seong was just too “weak.”

Whether it was his abilities or his mindset, he wasn’t cut out for this game.

And yet… he was ranked seventy-ninth.

Seventy-ninth in the world!

Judging by his performance, it didn’t even seem like he considered death as a possibility. He never thought about the cost of trying to steal another person’s honor and status.

Lu Ce, on the other hand, entered every game with the mindset of “succeed or die.” He never once thought that the ever-increasing Exit Tokens meant anything.

It was all or nothing. That was his bet.

But Park Bu Seong? He’d never had that mindset. He rode on family background and influence, throwing his weight around in the real world—and it seemed to work just as well here.

A Legendary Weapon. An A-tier Sealed Artifact. A whole squad of teammates centered around him...

This guy... in a state where he hadn’t once thought about the consequences of failure, tried to take away what Lu Ce had risked his life to earn.

The weaker and dumber he was, the angrier Lu Ce got.

That rage didn’t just come from the fight, or from Confessions of the Disillusioned.

It came from himself.

That nameless fury had started long ago, when Xie Antong showed her value and said, “I have a Legendary Weapon.”

And that line—“The privileged always have the upper hand, no matter how much the world changes.”

It was all true. There was nothing to argue about. But ever since then, Lu Ce’s anger had never cooled. Through hours of this game, he’d been holding back his fire.

Park Bu Seong felt a chill run through his whole body. As he dragged himself backward, that pale green “Sin” mask stared at him, silent.

Everything blurred for a second. A foot suddenly stomped onto his chest, slowly applying pressure.

Crack.

His ribs shattered and caved in.

Park Bu Seong’s life began to ebb away.

His lips trembled violently, like he was trying to use the game’s rules to save himself.

“Bl... Black Side player...”

But in the end, he didn’t even have the strength to finish a sentence. Everything got stuck in his throat.

In the end, with his last breath, he rasped out one question.

“Why?”

Why did he have to die? It didn’t seem like there was any benefit to it.

In the real world, he’d killed people before. He’d caused disasters. But when he killed, he never saw his victims as people. And those disasters? Totally whatever.

Everything could be settled. Business was business. Everything had a price.

Did this guy not even want to negotiate?

Thoughts flashed through his mind like a carousel.

Eventually, Lu Ce’s foot touched the ground, and all of Park Bu Seong’s thoughts were swallowed by darkness.

Looking at the corpse, Lu Ce bent forward slightly.

Behind the Wrath Mask, his voice was just as suppressed and seething with fury as ever, as he softly said:

“Because that’s fair.”