I Became the Rich Second-Generation Villain

Kim Jae-ju scanned his surroundings before approaching the cluster of fourteen.

'Stone floor.'

He'd only ever seen it in the videos, so he'd been quietly curious—the gray surface turned out to be polished marble.

His feet glided smoothly across it.

'This must be one square.'

Lines divided the floor into a grid of perfect squares.

Each square was wide enough for Kim Jae-ju to lie down with his arms fully spread.

'Total number of……'

He turned toward the opposite end, but a wall of hazy fog blocked everything from view.

The other team waited beyond the fog that split the arena in half.

From their side, this half would be just as invisible.

'Sixty-four squares total. Checks out.'

The entire space was one massive chessboard.

"The front row of eight has to be Knights serving as Pawns. No exceptions."

"Agreed. If the front line can't hold, nothing else matters."

Kim Jae-ju slipped into the edge of the debate and nodded along.

'Pretty textbook for people who were just at each other's throats.'

-Does Kim Jae-ju not need to read the rules?

-Hey! You play chess?

-I mean, it's Kim Jae-ju lol

In Battle Chess, each person literally became a piece.

The twist was that you could only see as many squares as your piece could move—everything beyond that was swallowed by fog.

"I'll assign Bishop, Rook, Queen, and Knight positions at my discretion. No objections?"

"Do whatever you want. The King gives the orders anyway."

Only the King could see through the fog and survey the entire battlefield.

"One person dropping out makes positioning so much easier."

The man who'd been butting heads with Jeong Si-ah glanced sideways with a smirk.

"Hmph. Like nobody can tell you all came as a clan."

Jeong Si-ah fired right back without missing a beat, and the man's expression hardened.

-Ah~ so THAT'S why they were fighting?

-Si-ah was going to war so she wouldn't get stuck in a bad position.

"Keep that up and she's gonna get herself killed…… Don't you think so? You—the last one in."

The man turned to Kim Jae-ju with an amused look.

"What's my piece?"

Kim Jae-ju deflected the question with zero interest.

"What skills do you have?"

Each chess piece came with its own special abilities.

Since assignments were usually based on learned skills, the man asked.

"Mado Engineering and a mix of melee skills."

"Hmm…… normally that'd make you a Knight, but those slots are all taken by Assassins. All that's left is Rook."

Kim Jae-ju gave a light shrug.

"Works for me."

"Oh—Rook only gets a movement speed buff, nothing else. You sure you're okay with that?"

"Yeah."

"This isn't your first time, is it?"

The man asked with a hint of unease.

"I've done plenty."

-Wait, didn't he JUST say it was his first time? lol

-These guys are gonna pull some crap, so might as well get ahead of it lol

"Alright. Rook it is, then."

Assignments were complete.

Kim Jae-ju took his place on the far-left square along the back wall.

Everyone stood at their designated positions—some chanting spells, others checking their weapons—stoking themselves for battle.

"Just a warning in case anyone's thinking about leaving their square!"

The man standing at the safest spot—dead center of the back row—raised his voice.

He'd wrested the King position from Jeong Si-ah after their argument.

"The system window's very clear: move during the other team's turn or touch the fog, and you're eliminated on the spot! So do not—under any circumstances—move on your own!"

His name was Lee Myeong-seon.

Apparently this was his second time, and his insistence that everyone trust his lead radiated confidence.

-Myeong-seon……

-Myeong as in clueless, seon as in sucker.

-Hey! You love playing it safe that much?!

-Leave him be lol at least he seems confident in the strategy department.

Kim Jae-ju said nothing, simply surveying his surroundings—and the middle-aged man assigned as the Knight beside him must have mistaken the silence for nerves, because he smirked.

"Sure you've done this before? You look completely lost."

"You seem awfully relaxed. Most people are still tense even on their second run."

At Kim Jae-ju's probing remark, the young man positioned one square ahead turned around.

"That's a bluff, by the way."

His easy smile made him look like he was on a field trip, and his armor gleamed with careful maintenance.

Normally, anyone assigned as a Pawn would be either annoyed or on edge—so the casual attitude stood out.

"Again with the—didn't I tell you to keep your mouth shut?"

The middle-aged man beside him scowled at the young man.

"They'll figure it out eventually. What's the big deal? Besides, you're the one who started talking to him."

"Even so, you brat—surprises are half the fun."

The young man laughed.

"Fair point. The look on their faces would be……"

The easy banter between them made it obvious they hadn't just met.

'Same clan as Lee Myeong-seon?'

-Oh, don't tell me lol

-Sniff Haah. I can smell these bastards from here.

-Reasonable suspicion: ON

-I smell it…… I smell it too!

The viewers had picked up on the strangeness, reactions shifting to suspicion one by one.

"……"

Kim Jae-ju fell silent in thought, and the young man flashed another grin.

"……Don't be too nervous. After all—"

"Hey, zip it. You're gonna tip him off."

At the middle-aged man's interruption, the young man pressed his lips shut and stared at Kim Jae-ju.

-Dude, quit staring. That's uncomfortable.

-Got something to say?

"Good luck."

The man curled his lips upward and turned back around.

[Time until start: 3 minutes]

The restless chatter continued, and Kim Jae-ju silently pulled Enian from his backpack.

'Smart, in their own way……'

Whirrr.

Enian slid over his right arm and hummed to life.

"Oh, what's that? Cool. You make it yourself?"

The middle-aged man's eyes lit up at the sight of the mechanical arm blazing with mana circuits.

"Yeah."

"Looks expensive."

"It is."

"……Hm."

The young man ahead started to turn back at their exchange—

[Commencing trial.]

[White King: Lee Myeong-seon]

[Black King: Lord Berry]

White fog crashed over everything.

[Squares where movement and attack are not possible will not be visible.]

Kim Jae-ju's Rook could only move in straight lines, and couldn't pass through allies—so every direction was nothing but fog.

-Jae-ju, you DO know the rules, right?

-He knows, that's why he didn't check the notification window lol

-Touching the fog means instant elimination, so be careful!

-Attacks get absorbed by the fog, so the HRJ cannon can't fire either;

-The HRJ cannon? lol

Kim Jae-ju gave a faint nod of acknowledgment.

'Cramped.'

At least it's a Rook lol

-For real; if he were a Pawn, he'd only see one square ahead and nothing else.

-Pawns CAN attack diagonally though.

-All chess masters in here? I forgot everything.

-Basically: each piece gets a special ability for attacking, and when you're BEING attacked, you can only move to your designated squares at 50% speed. That's it.

-How do you remember all that ㄷㄷ

[Black moves first]

[You may move one piece.]

Time passed, and a new message appeared on the system window.

[White]

[You may move one piece.]

-Huh?

-Why's the other team so quiet? lol

-Normally you'd be trash-talking or faking moves for mind games, right?

-That's the standard play;

-Guess this is for real, then.

Just as the viewers said—voices carried freely in here.

Yet the opposing team moved in silence, as though even psychological warfare was beneath them, ending their turn without a word.

[Team Message]

[Lee Myeong-seon: Park Jae-hun, move one square forward.]

Lee Myeong-seon—who'd claimed this was only his second time—didn't seem bothered in the slightest, calmly typing out orders through the team message system.

Orders weren't binding.

You could follow them or move however you pleased—but acting independently with zero visibility was suicide.

"Is this seriously how it's supposed to go?"

Someone couldn't contain their anxiety any longer, and the question cut through the fog.

-That one's probably not with Lee Myeong-seon's group.

-Yeah, probably a solo like Si-ah?

-Poor bastard.

As if in answer, someone burst out laughing.

"Who was that! You think this is funny?"

The man's voice was thick with anxiety and frustration—which only made the laughter grow louder.

"I know I shouldn't be laughing, but I seriously can't help it."

The laughter wasn't coming from the other team.

It spilled from beside Kim Jae-ju. From ahead of him. From every direction.

"If you were that scared, you shouldn't have entered without a clan."

The voice belonged to Lee Myeong-seon.

"What are they so happy about over there?"

The man serving as Black's Pawn scowled, and an answer came immediately from behind.

"Ignore them. We just hand over some coins and get a free pass—that's a win."

Not everyone had been blindsided by the sudden changes.

Some had chosen to adapt to Floor 30's new landscape and survive.

"These are the kind of scumbags who started rigging matches the second channels merged. They know what they're doing."

With the channels merged, it was now possible to time entries and enter the same trial simultaneously—without forming a party.

Which meant you could end up on the opposing team. And some people had found a way to exploit that loophole for profit.

People like Lee Myeong-seon.

[Black]

[You may move one piece.]

"I figured we'd be here till dawn at least."

[Team Message]

[Lord Berry: Son Jeong-jae, two squares forward.]

The Pawn—Son Jeong-jae—followed the order and shuffled forward two squares, grumbling as he went.

"Today was weirdly empty, so we lucked out."

Another voice drifted from behind, laced with amusement.

"True enough. The match-fixers made first contact, the timing's perfect."

There wasn't an ounce of tension in Son Jeong-jae's expression as he walked.

There was no danger of dying or failing the trial—that much was guaranteed.

All he felt was irritation at the nonstop laughter bleeding over from the other side.

[White]

[You may move one piece.]

Before long, a young man's voice reached him from across the way.

"I think you should be right ahead of me……"

"Yeah. Right here."

Son Jeong-jae answered curtly at the cautious voice.

Predetermined positions. A predetermined deal.

"Hehe. Then I'll be taking my leave first!"

[White Pawn 'Kim Hyeon-min' has been eliminated.]

Son Jeong-jae swallowed a twinge of disappointment at the predictable, anticlimactic outcome.

From here, Kim Hyeon-min and every other person they'd bought off would walk themselves into the fog and drop like flies. All his team had to do was waltz up to the King and deliver checkmate.

'Wish it'd been a real fi—'

[White]

[You may move one piece.]

His thought never finished.

[Team Message]

[Lord Berry: Son Jeong-jae, get your shield out and brace! NOW!]

The clan leader's frantic message was the first reason.

"H-hey! You can't just cross squares like that—it blocks everyone else from moving!"

Lee Myeong-seon's panicked voice was the second.

'What?'

Son Jeong-jae scrambled to unsling the rectangular shield from his back and angled it in front of him.

The speed debuff that came with being attacked made every movement agonizingly sluggish.

[Team Message]

[Lord Berry: Wildcard. Someone on the other team is going rogue. The Rook is about to attack. Just hold until the combat timer runs out. I'm sending the Queen and our Rook to back you up right now.]

Son Jeong-jae scoffed at the flood of reassurances.

'Holding is the easy part.'

Some unbought fool on the other side must have snapped under the pressure and charged out on their own.

'This is why I said don't laugh too hard.'

Part of him even felt sorry for the poor bastard.

'Rook only gets a speed buff, so it's obviously going to be a straight-line charge.'

That was as far as his thinking got.

Whirrr.

Instead of approaching footsteps, the faint whine of machinery hummed through the fog.

Son Jeong-jae caught a single instant.

The instant a blazing mechanical arm crumpled his shield like tinfoil.

The hand gripping the shield was crushed along with it, and a scream ripped from his throat.

KA-BOOM!

His body was launched backward, airborne, and plunged into the fog.

[Black Pawn 'Son Jeong-jae' has been eliminated.]

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