Chapter 67
In the past, during the ‘Chaser and Fugitive’ trial of the ‘Second Night.’
People competed, each with their own qualifications.
They desperately chased and fled.
A friend of yesterday became an enemy today.
Just by giving out ‘qualifications,’ they no longer hesitated to kill each other.
Park Chan-woo maximized his strength to prepare for the ‘Second Night.’
He had no intention of taking a mediocre position amid people’s scrambling.
He planned to display overwhelming force so that no one would even dare touch him.
‘Everyone is an enemy.’
At least during the ‘Second Night,’ that was the case.
It was common for chasers to kill other chasers, and the reverse was true as well.
Chasers would steal marks from other chasers to increase their prisoners, while fugitives joined hands with chasers to inform on and betray other fugitives.
Utter chaos.
The ‘Second Night’ Park Chan-woo remembered was nothing short of a living hell.
But, now, the trial had changed.
Though it had the same name, the content was completely different.
‘Most became chasers.’
The number of chasers had drastically increased.
In the past, chasers made up less than 10%.
Because it was too easy for chasers to take the advantageous position.
But now, the vast majority of participants had become ‘Chasers.’
Fugitives, including himself, were extremely few.
In other words—
‘……The past has changed.’
The past that Park Chan-woo remembered had been twisted.
It was proof that the future had been transformed by his actions.
Why?
Why did the Master of the Moon, Ahheta, make such a drastic change just for the Second Night?
‘First, the First Night failed.’
Because the ‘First Night,’ which was supposed to announce his arrival, had failed.
All Twelve Progenitors were hunted down.
Because of that, the name of ‘Night,’ which should have been burned into everyone’s mind with fear, was treated far too lightly.
Of course, at the center of it all was none other than Park Chan-woo.
‘I stole Han Shin’s arrangements and rendered the rewards Han Shin should have received in the Tower of Arrogance useless.’
Arrangements that the Master of the Moon, Ahheta, had prepared for Han Shin.
He had snatched the Myriad Blood Elixir.
Not only that.
In the past, Han Shin had gathered the most boxes in the Tower of Arrogance.
Han Shin collected 50 boxes and obtained the ‘Gloves of Nirvana.’
But Park Chan-woo bankrupted the Tower of Arrogance and rendered all the boxes worthless.
The Gloves of Nirvana disappeared as well.
‘Ahheta, who had never experienced failure, keeps failing.’
No doubt, Ahheta must have helped Han Shin during his climb up the tower.
He must have provided support behind the scenes so Han Shin could climb the tower easily.
But it failed.
He kept failing.
From Ahheta’s perspective, it must have been unthinkable.
The Master of the Moon, a supreme being that average Creators wouldn’t even dare to challenge!
Such a monster was tasting bitter defeat at the hands of a mere human.
He couldn’t even properly help his own Incarnation.
‘Is Ahheta targeting me?’
It’s possible.
The Master of the Moon, Ahheta, might have identified Park Chan-woo.
Perhaps he resolved to kill him in the Second Night no matter what.
Although Park Chan-woo’s presence in the Abyss was hidden by [Nonexistent], it wasn’t as if he’d never been exposed at all.
‘If I was exposed, when was it?’
He tried to recall.
For example… on the first day after regression.
During the trial where he fled from the Fallen Ghost, when he killed the Fallen Ghost.
‘There were Creators who were watching me with interest back then.’
Those Creators had definitely taken an interest in Park Chan-woo.
No one would have imagined that an Awakened who had just entered the Abyss could kill a level 10 Fallen Ghost.
Thanks to that, quite a few Creators sent ‘Apostle Proposals.’
‘Did [Nonexistent] not work for a moment, causing exposure?’
At the very least, it meant [Nonexistent] did not activate at the moment he killed the Fallen Ghost.
Whether it was because it was right after regression, or because the ‘Apostle Proposals’ were being activated, or for some other reason, he wasn’t sure.
Of course, after that, Park Chan-woo decided to reject all Apostle Proposals, and at least since then, no other Creators tried to watch him or propose apostleship.
‘No Creator sent me another message after I killed the Fallen Ghost. If they had been watching, they would have responded.’
It meant that [Nonexistent] had worked properly after the first trial ended.
The fact that he received no further proposals or messages from the Creators at that time meant they also didn’t know Park Chan-woo’s true identity.
If they did, they would have tried to recruit him without fail.
Because Park Chan-woo’s exploits were incomparable to anyone else’s.
So is that all?
‘……No.’
There is one more.
‘The Demon God, Gremory of Lamentation. She’s there too.’
In the Abyss where Kim Byung-han was targeted.
Park Chan-woo made a deal with Gremory of Lamentation.
The only Lord among the 72 Demon Gods to be called a ‘queen,’ her influence in the Abyss was absolute.
She was the only one who accurately grasped Park Chan-woo’s identity.
Could it be that Gremory revealed it?
[Human who knows honor. The day is not far when my help will reach you….]
Park Chan-woo shook his head inwardly.
The Demon God Gremory owed him.
When he gave her Andariel’s Ring as she wished, Gremory disappeared, saying she would help him someday.
There’s no way someone of her stature would bother revealing his identity to mere Creators, or even to the Master of the Moon, Ahheta.
Much less after promising to help him…
‘…It’s not the Demon God Gremory.’
If it wasn’t the early Creators, or Gremory, he couldn’t figure it out.
He couldn’t tell if Ahheta had truly identified him, or if it was just coincidence.
At that moment—
[Message received from Helper, ‘Death’s Creator Adora.’]
[You may freely send and receive messages with a Creator in a ‘Helper’ relationship without any penalty.]
[Would you like to check the message?]
Death’s Creator Adora!
Adora, who gained the qualification of Creator through the Black Witch’s little finger, had sent a message.
Park Chan-woo smiled inwardly.
‘She must have succeeded in entering the Central Abyss.’
The heart of the Abyss.
A place filled with countless demons and lords—she must have entered there safely.
She originally lived with the witches in the depths, so adapting to the Central Abyss itself wouldn’t have been difficult for her.
Park Chan-woo slowly nodded.
[Checking the message.]
[‘Be careful. A large number of Creators have joined the Second Night. They are using vast amounts of coins to summon strange things into the Second Night.’]
[‘Those things are not normal. Harbingers of disaster, filled with only hatred and resentment—ominous in every way.’]
[‘Doppelgangers.’]
[‘The Master of the Moon set them as the fugitives.’]
“…….”
His mind momentarily went blank.
Because the contents of Adora’s message were so different from what he expected.
‘Doppelgangers?’
What are doppelgangers?
They are monsters that replicate others.
Even in the Abyss, they are an extremely rare species.
If all a doppelganger did was copy its target, that would be one thing, but the real problem is far more deadly.
‘A replicated doppelganger must be killed within an hour.’
The time limit is one hour.
If it is not killed within that time, the person who was copied dies instead.
The doppelganger completely steals the dead person’s abilities and goes on to impersonate them, continuing to replicate other targets.
Now he understood why the doppelgangers were set as the fugitives.
But……
‘If all the fugitives are doppelgangers, then why am I a fugitive?’
Park Chan-woo frowned.
He was a human, not a doppelganger.
Why was a human like him a fugitive?
Park Chan-woo reviewed the ‘Fugitive Rules’ again.
[If you solve hidden quests and more throughout the ‘Night Abyss,’ you can receive additional rewards or significant help related to fugitive abilities.]
[‘Fugitives’ grow stronger the longer they survive.]
[‘Fugitives’ who remain unenslaved for a long time receive additional contribution points.]
[Furthermore, ‘Fugitives’ can recover undestroyed marks from chasers. When this happens, all ‘prisoners’ that were held are freed.]
[At the end of the time limit, your contribution is calculated by the number of prisoners you saved, your survival time, quests, etc.]
[The higher your contribution, the better your final reward.]
[Tip: After one hour from the start of night, all ‘chasers’ can use the ‘map’ to see the locations of nearby ‘fugitives.’]
—
As soon as people arrived at the locations marked with ‘red dots’ on the map, they could all confirm the identity of the ‘fugitives.’
Dark, slime-like beings.
The doppelgangers transformed instantly into their forms as people approached.
“What the—?”
“They turned into people?”
“That—that’s me?”
They matched perfectly in face, height, and build.
You couldn’t tell the difference if you put them side by side.
The only way to distinguish them was the ‘X’ mark stuck on their chest.
“Uh?”
“They’re running away!”
The doppelgangers that succeeded in replication immediately began to flee.
The expressions of the people who were copied filled with shock.
[‘You have been replicated by a Fugitive Doppelganger.’]
[Destroy the doppelganger’s mark within 1 hour.]
[If the current state continues for 1 hour, you will die.]
If you don’t kill it, you die?
It was enough to drive someone mad.
“No, no way!”
“Catch it!”
The copied people’s minds were urgent.
But the biggest problem was with the humans themselves.
“Got you!”
At the first stage, the doppelganger was weaker than the copied target.
They could be subdued if one tried hard enough.
‘It’s not as bad as I thought?’
That way, after the doppelganger was stripped of its mark, it became the chaser Shin Jin-chul’s prisoner.
“P-please, destroy the mark! Otherwise, I’ll die!”
“Why should I?”
The problem was the man who was copied by the doppelganger.
He could only survive by destroying the doppelganger’s mark within an hour.
Someone soft-hearted might have destroyed the mark…
But all those gathered for the ‘Second Night’ were veterans of the Abyss in their own ways.
They thought of Earth and the Abyss as completely separate.
Of course, the rules and sensibilities that should have applied were also different.
Shin Jin-chul was the same.
“You bastard……!”
Driven to the edge, the man attacked Shin Jin-chul.
Shin Jin-chul sneered.
“Idiot. It’s already two against one.”
The doppelganger that copied the man was already Shin Jin-chul’s prisoner.
When the man attacked Shin Jin-chul, the prisoner reacted automatically and counterattacked.
Using the same skills and weapons as him.
Even a normal two-on-one fight would have been tough, but the doppelganger perfectly mirrored the man’s attacks.
The outcome was already decided.
“Aagh!”
Shin Jin-chul and the doppelganger struck the man’s neck.
In that moment—
Whoosh!
The corpse of the dead man turned to dust.
That dust was all absorbed by the doppelganger.
[‘The doppelganger has fully acquired the abilities of the copied target.’]
[From now on, it can strengthen its ‘prisoners’ by copying other targets.]
“Whoo!”
Shin Jin-chul whistled.
If this isn’t a jackpot, what is?
A doppelganger prisoner that grows endlessly stronger!
If raised well, this thing could become a one-man army.
It might even be possible to build a legion by taking marks from other doppelgangers.
Beep! Beep!
Suddenly.
With a warning sound, the ‘map’ floating in the corner of his vision showed—
‘…The red dot is getting closer?’
A red dot was approaching.
A fugitive.
A doppelganger.
“What? Where is it?”
But even though it had gotten so close, the ‘fugitive’ was nowhere to be seen.
Soon, the ‘red dot’ overlapped with Shin Jin-chul’s position.
“Th-there’s nothing here…?”
Shin Jin-chul was flustered.
His position was exactly the same as the ‘red dot.’
But there was nothing.
Not a single doppelganger, not even an ant.
Was it a map error?
Or was it really a ghost?
Stab!
Shin Jin-chul looked down at his chest.
Because something sharp had pierced straight through it.
“Wh-what…?”
Shin Jin-chul’s body began to collapse.
His consciousness faded.
[‘You have been attacked by Fugitive ???!’]
[‘You have been killed by Fugitive ???.’]
[‘Your mark has been taken.’]
[‘Prisoners have been freed.’]
When Shin Jin-chul died, the doppelganger was literally set free.
The doppelganger instinctively looked at the fugitive who killed Shin Jin-chul.
‘Strong.’
Although also a fugitive, it was incomparably stronger than itself.
It killed Shin Jin-chul so fast and precisely that the doppelganger couldn’t even react.
“Are you… a doppelganger?”
But the ‘kinship’ felt was faint.
It was questionable whether it was really the same kind of doppelganger.
‘Replicate.’
If it wasn’t a doppelganger, it would be possible to copy it.
If it succeeded, it could become even stronger.
It was possible to kill it and take that strength entirely for itself.
‘Replicate, and grow stronger.’
A doppelganger had only one purpose.
To copy all the humans here and become the strongest!
So, the doppelganger began to replicate ‘Park Chan-woo.’