Chapter 189 – 189. Are Appearances Important in Survival?

As he inherited the power of the yoma, changes began to occur in his body.

“Ugh…”

Something was engraved on both arms. Something like irezumi floated on my skin.

I quickly took off my shirt and checked the tattoo being engraved.

It’s like…

“Youkai?”

It was Irezumi with dozens of monsters drawn on it. This is a tattoo that gives you goosebumps just by looking at it.

“You can’t erase this, right.?”

“Uh…”

Leona touched Irezumi and shook her head.

“It won’t be erased.”

“Her. They said I would become a yoma… I would get a tattoo and say hello.”

“Uh? Over there, on the forehead…”

“Why the forehead again? Uh? “What is it?”

After hearing Leona’s words, she touched her forehead and noticed that a small bone was sticking out.

Did horns come out? However, rather than being made entirely of bone like the horns of goats or other animals, they were covered with skin. It feels like it just popped out.

“Horns on a bald head.”

“Even Irezumi. “It’s a complete Oni.”

“Do you have a bad look?”

“Yes. It’s downright nasty. It’s cool.”

“No…”

It’s Leona. It’s impossible to objectively evaluate her because she’s a woman who has been said to have a good-natured appearance since we walked around together in the labyrinth.

[Is the change in appearance unfamiliar?]

“It’s a bit like that.”

[It would be nice to have a Polymorph-type ability.]

“Yes.”

I wish there was a skill that could change her appearance like Agaf said.

Of course, there is a human skin mask, but all it does is steal the appearance of a killed target.

“There is nothing we can do about it.”

Let’s focus on the fact that the survival rate is higher. Even if you start today, it won’t work, so is appearance important?

No, it’s important to be important, but… It’s better to have irezumi stuck in your body and gain a horn than to be weak and left behind.

“Then… This is what’s next.”

I decided to continue the succession of the body that had already been abandoned. Let’s inherit the weapons of those called Demon Butchers.

“Keueuuuuu!!!!”

With a gun in hand, a stake in hand, and a cape on, the succession began. This is the same as the Yoma set, and it basically feels like a three-piece set: one main weapon, one secondary weapon, and one armor.

“Whoa.”

Perhaps because it was the second succession, it was quite bearable. With this, I now have divine power.

The foundation has been established to replace the devil bastards. This is a huge deal. Since I even have a pistol called Auriel’s Flame, I’m going to tie him up with an iron stake and kill him with a gun until he’s gone.

There is nothing worse than dying from a long-range weapon.

Hehe.”

“What.! Above my head.”

“Huh? Ah.”

I felt like the surroundings had somehow become brighter. A sparkling halo appeared above the head.

“I can’t touch it.”

“How amazing. And. “This is the first time I’ve seen an angel ring appear on a person’s head.”

“Me too. “Me too.”

But this is a bit difficult. It stands out so much. Since it is self-luminous, it may be good to use in place of a flashlight or to attract aggro, but if it stands out like this, stealth play becomes impossible.

“Hmm.”

[I can’t help it.]

“Huh?”

[Let’s give up stealth play.]

“What?”

I was momentarily dazed by Agaf’s shocking remarks.

At that time, Leona, who could not hear Agap’s voice, asked with a puzzled expression.

“What’s going on?”

“Ah, I think I should give up on stealth play.”

“Aha. Actually, it’s a bit unconscionable to wear that and go into hiding, isn’t it?”

“Right. Hiding would be impossible.”

Even if I try to hinder recognition, the halo is too shiny, so it doesn’t work.

This can’t be helped. It might be better to just draw out all the aggro and have the enemies focus on me.

‘Yes, I’m going to end up killing everyone anyway, so it might be better to change my course to hunting.’

Until now, they had used the tactic of sneaking in and cutting down and killing everyone as if by surprise.

But now I wonder if there is a need for that.

The job is changing from sneak assassin to shout warrior. Yes, on a winter night, we walk around shining a light in a dark world.

The idea is to lure them in as if they were prey. Just like a lantern anglerfish.

“Okay, then the succession is over!”

“Wow!”

Leona clapped her hands and was happy. She looked a little tired. Leona also went through a labyrinth today, so she was sure to be tired.

“Hey, how was the labyrinth today?”

“Yes? Ah. It was just ordinary.”

“Okay? It was a cruise ship. Was there a boat floating on the sea?”

“That’s right. If you were thrown out of the ship, you would come back somewhere on the ship. Zombies on a ship? Dead? Well, there were sailors walking around with swords. It was a structure that was automatically generated for 7 hours.”

“Ohh. It must have been an amazing labyrinth.”

“Yes. But it wasn’t very difficult. “It feels like everyone is standing on the deck and playing defense?”

“Okay? “What about other survivors?”

“I remember I survived quite well.”

“I see. “You must have cooperated?”

“Yes. “It’s because we don’t really want to fight among ourselves.”

“Ohh.”

It seemed like he had resolved the crisis well by collaborating with other survivors.

If I had been there, I would have killed everyone and monopolized the skills, but since I wasn’t there, it seemed like the survivors were working together.

Since it was a labyrinth that only had to last 7 hours anyway, there was no need for the survivors to fight among themselves. And it doesn’t seem like there was any controversy.

That’s because my companions don’t look weak enough to be defeated.

Everyone has 15 basic skills, a ton of equipment, and even a gun, so just looking at them makes them look incredibly strong.

‘Anyway, it’s cooperation.’

I always told my colleagues. In a situation where I’m not around, you might end up losing to other guys, so you have to be careful.

You can’t force other party members to commit murder. If you’re in a situation where you have to kill, you should kill without hesitation, but there’s no need to create a crisis by blindly killing when you can’t get skills or rewards like I did.

“Anyway, I’m glad everyone came back safely.”

“Hehe.”

I smiled while petting Leona. Leona seemed to feel good just by being touched.

“Okay, then this time it’s these two buildings.”

Two buildings that Leona pulled out. She’s a building that was picked up with a red reward box. What on earth are these?

One looked like an antique store with the lights off, and the other felt like… A hair salon.

“Hmm.”

“What is it?”

“I know. What is it?”

I went into an old and worn-looking antique store with Leona.

Sigh.

Jinglang.

When I opened the door, a familiar-looking bell rang and the lights turned on in the store.

“What are all these?”

“Eyeballs floating in formalin… Stuffed?”

This is a store that feels like something out of a dimension store. Could it be that they selected a store that can be entered through the store gate as a reward?

But… There was no one in the store.

“This seems like the type of building that needs to be opened.”

“Open?”

“Huh. “I can see the building over there with the lights on.”

“Yes. A large, European-style building.”

“Uh oh. That’s called the Survivors’ Union. If you put money and magic stones there… Should I call it that system? Oh, yeah. The function is open.”

I told Leona about the Survivors’ Guild.

I have to tell her friends later. This is because you must quickly open the remaining functions of the Survivor Guild to become stronger by recruiting mercenaries and hiring teachers.

“It seems like that’s the case here too.”

I walked around the inside of the store some more. Then, as I approached behind the counter, a window similar to the one I saw at the Survivor’s Guild appeared.

[Staff Placement 10 Gold]

“Oh!”

10 gold is cheap. It is much cheaper than Survivor Union.

I immediately took out my pocket and put 10 gold on the counter.

Then, an artificial spirit-like entity from the Survivors’ Guild was created. It is an artificial spirit for handling tasks that makes normal conversation almost impossible.

“Nice to meet you. Welcome to the hunter guild.”

“Hunter Guild?”

“Yes. Here, a suitable hunting ground is provided, and a small fee is received accordingly. We also arrange solo hunting requests.”

“Oh.”

In many cases, requests from the Survivor’s Guild were just throwing out a target and asking them to catch it or bring it back, but this one was just to create a gate, catch the boss mob, and come out.

Additionally, a hunting ground is provided. This meant that if you did not own an infinite labyrinth or did not have the infinite labyrinth you wanted, a place to farm would be provided for a small amount of money.

‘I can use it when I have nothing to do.’

Since infinite labyrinths do not appear often, not all survivors can have them. Therefore, if you obtain a hunter guild with a red reward box, you will be able to stand in the same position as those who own the infinite labyrinth.

“Okay for now.”

I have no intention of getting a hunting ground arrangement right now. There is still so much to do, it would be crazy to add more. Today, it would be better to just understand that a place like this exists.

I think it would be a good idea to have Yeongsik visit the hunting grounds periodically in the future.

‘Is this… Not enough people?’

Right now, the group is very busy just conquering the simple labyrinth. Not everyone is as physically fit as me, so I can’t enter the labyrinth every day because of muscle pain or body aches.

“Hmm.”

Maybe we need to increase the number of people. There are clear limits to automatic hunting with dark spirits, so I need to recruit workers.

Sooner or later, I will have to go around Busan or wherever and select people. How about selecting people who seem willing and good and placing them there?

Anyway, the temperature around here is relatively high thanks to the planetary air conditioner, so I thought it would be okay to welcome some people.

It’s about building a village. I will be the chief of that village.

[If the number of people increases, problems will arise, right?]

“Well, that’s true too.”

As Agaf said, as the number of people increases, more problems may arise. Yes, I need to think more about building a survivor camp.

More than anything, I might have to break my habit of blindly killing people I come across. I’ve been killing people so much lately that I feel like my humanity has been severely worn away.

Of course, just because my humanity has worn off doesn’t mean that there is a big problem with survival, but… I felt a little uneasy because it felt like my old self was disappearing.

Should I say that I feel like I have become a monster wearing the mask of Kang In-ho?

As I fill my stomach and warm my back, useless thoughts start to come to mind. For now, let’s just get on with work.

‘For now.’

I left the hunter guild and entered the building next door that looked like a hair salon.

“There are a lot of things.”

“I know. “It looks like this place is not open.”

It is an ‘unmanned’ beauty salon. It was such an odd combination, but it was true.

Rather good. Every time I went to a hair salon, I felt uncomfortable talking to the hairdresser.

But there are no talkative hairdressers here. And now I have no hair.

Is this building a meaningful reward to me?

“Huh? What is this?”

As I was walking around the inside of the building in a slightly bad mood, I found something unusual.

“A big coffin?”

“It’s like a capsule. Life support device?”

“Huh. Let’s see. The explanation.”

There was a cylinder that was just the right size to fit a person inside. I took a closer look at the cylinder.

“This is a complete beauty product.”

[Coffin of Whitening: If you pay 10 Intermediate Magic Stones and 30 Old Silver Coins, 30 days worth of whitening effect will be injected into your teeth and skin.]

It was an item completely unrelated to survival. It’s literally just a beauty item… I think women might like it. There was something absurd.

“There is also something like this here.”

“Huh?”

What Leona discovered was also novel.

[Hair Color Scaling: You can adjust the color of your hair with 10 intermediate magic stones and 5 old silver coins. It will last for 20 days.]

“It’s an item for dyeing.”

“This also changed the color of my eyes.”

All the items inside the store were beauty-related products. It has nothing to do with survival.

“Uh? There are also devices for hair loss treatment…”

“Huh.”

In addition to the chipane solution, there is even a hair loss treatment device. Since you have to use the deprivation of rights anyway, it is difficult to get an effect even if you use it, but it is very interesting anyway.

“First of all, Ayun will like it.”

Ayun, who has lost her hair color these days and is gradually turning black, will like it. Because Yuni likes blue, she dyed her hair blue too.

The rest of the group is also in a poor environment, but they are women who like to dress up, so I think they will all be thrilled. Yes, it doesn’t directly affect the survival of this building, but it’s perfect for relieving stress.

The stronger you become, the more beautiful you become, so there is a reason to earn money and magic stones.

“There’s even a tattoo editor!”

“Her. Will Irezumi be erased?”

Leona and I looked around the store for a while, checking out the devices.

Although there was something absurd about it, it was definitely fun to watch.

******

After finishing the compensation check with Leona, I was ready to enter the labyrinth again.

“Are you going in again?”

“Huh. “I have something to check.”

“Go quickly. Today.”

“Huh. Hehe. “I’ll be back soon.”

Today is the day we all decided to sleep together.

So, I need to quickly check the sewer area, which is labyrinth number 1.

You must kill the heretic before he summons the devil.