Chapter 81

Episode 17 – SSS Grade Talent (1)

I frowned at Yoo Jonghyuk’s words .

Move to the east right now? I saved his life and now he was giving me an order?

I was a bit annoyed but Yoo Jonghyuk spoke before I could say anything .

–The Disaster of Questions is waking up .

…What?

I was frustrated because I couldn’t understand what he was saying and Yoo Jonghyuk frowned .

–Someone is waking the disaster up .

***

After a while, Han Sooyoung and I left Lycaon who was still receiving enlightenment and headed for Gangdong-gu .

It was at a tremendous pace .

“Can we just leave that wolf?”

“The Imyuntar can feel the master of the medallion . He will come find us when he wakes up . Rather…” I looked at Han Sooyoung running beside me and said, “Can’t you carry him? You can use your avatar . ”

“I don’t want to . ” The disgusted Han Sooyoung quickly moved away from me .

“Didn’t you say earlier that Yoo Jonghyuk might not be a bad guy?”

“That is that and this is this . Isn’t he the one who cut my head off?”

I couldn’t say anything to refute her words . Yoo Jonghyuk spoke through Midday Tryst .

–You can leave me . I don’t need help .

–Don’t be so prideful . I really will abandon you .

I couldn’t see Yoo Jonghyuk’s face because he was being carried on my back .

–When will you be able to move by yourself?

–In two days .

–Will you kill me when you recover?

I asked half-jokingly but this bastard didn’t give an answer . I deliberately reduced the pace at which I was moving .

–Then I can’t help you . How can I believe a guy who is trying to kill me? I will help you if you swear an Oath of Existence . Swear not to kill me until the end of this regression .

–I can’t do that .

Lousy bastard .

–Then swear you won’t hurt me until the fifth scenario is over . If you can’t do that, I really won’t help you .

Yoo Jonghyuk thought for a moment before replying .

–I swear .

Surprisingly, Yoo Jonghyuk agreed to the oath . The Oath of Existence . It was a constraint on the person who swore it .

A cold flame emerged from Yoo Jonghyuk’s body and dug into his heart . If he broke the oath, this blue flames will burn his heart . I felt a bit relieved but then Yoo Jonghyuk continued .

–I won’t kill you . But…

–But?

–I will hit you once .

–What?

I was dazed for a moment . He was going to hit me?

–Is this because of two days ago?

Yoo Jonghyuk didn’t answer again . I thought it was strange that Yoo Jonghyuk agreed to the oath so easily .

-…It is one hit . I’ll do it gently . Understood?

Yes, it might not be bad if one hit could restore my relationship with Yoo Jonghyuk . In my current state, I wouldn’t die from one of Yoo Jonghyuk’s blows .

Shortly after that, we crossed Cheongdam Bridge and entered Gwangjin-gu .

I felt the surrounding ecology change little by little . Grass was growing on the streets and instead of rotting bodies, the smell of monster feces filled the area .

The trunk of a huge plant emerged from the ground and wrapped around the surrounding high-rise buildings .

[The 7th grade plant species ‘Yanaspleta’ is on the lookout . ]

I spoke to Han Sooyoung who was pulling out a weapon . “Don’t act so rashly . It is fine as long as we don’t attack first . ”

“…Don’t these type of monsters suddenly attack with tentacles?”

“That is just in the manhwas . They are gentle . Just be careful not to step on the roots . ”

At the top of the building, the head of the plant that resembled a sunflower followed after us with its eyes . It seemed scary but it was actually a good monster . This didn’t mean that the situation was optimistic .

The plant species originally came after the Great Hall was fully opened .

“The terraforming has started . ”

Terraforming .

The fifth scenario was world versus world . Humanity fought against the worlds that were coming .

Just like Seoul was suffering from the erosion of Chronos, China would be facing the ‘3rd Murim World’ while Japan would be facing the ‘White Demon World . ’

Han Sooyoung scouted around with avatars and said .

“It is a monster colony . Damn . ”

“The terraforming will be even faster if the disasters awaken . ”

“What type of person is waking up the disaster?”

“A person like you . You woke up the fire dragon . ”

Han Sooyoung bit her lips .

“…Didn’t you tidy it up?”

“At that time, the intermediate dokkaebi placed a penalty on the fire dragon . And what if I didn’t kill it? Don’t tell me that you would catch it?”

“There was a penalty? Then didn’t it benefit us to catch a weakened disaster?”

“The Disaster of Questions has no penalty . It is questionable if the dokkaebi would even place a penalty on it . ”

We moved quickly to avoid the monster’s colony . In the streets, the ground rats and grolls were eating corpses .

Looking at the traces of the destroyed monsters, Yoo Jonghyuk seemed to have come through this path . Yoo Jonghyuk was great to walk so far in this physical condition .

I spoke to Yoo Jonghyuk .

–I have a question .

–……

-Why come to me? I honestly thought you would commit suicide .

–Suicide? How ridiculous .

If he had seen his future in the 8th turn, he wouldn’t be able to say this . I was a bit confused by his next words .

–If I was going to give up so easily, I wouldn’t have started this journey .

It really felt like the first time I read Ways of Survival . I thought that maybe Han Sooyoung was right . The Yoo Jonghyuk I believed I knew was the Yoo Jonghyuk who easily gave up, easily killed people and repeatedly caused numerous tragedies .

However, the Yoo Jonghyuk of the third round wasn’t yet like that . Maybe I didn’t know the Yoo Jonghyuk of the third round .

[Your understanding of the character ‘Yoo Jonghyuk’ is increasing . ]

In the meantime, Yoo Jonghyuk said .

–I thought of you right away . I thought you would be a bit of help since you are the one who smashed the Absolute Throne .

–You aren’t going to say anything about me breaking the throne?

–I don’t want to talk about what already happened . In addition, I thought about it . You must’ve done it to rule out the ‘god of the other world . ’

-…You know?

I was honestly frightened because I had never really spoken to Yoo Jonghyuk before .

Putting aside his coolness, this bastard had such a great mind?

Yoo Jonghyuk kept speaking .

–Honestly, I think it isn’t a bad way . The problem is what happens next . After you crushed the throne, the guides were scattered and there was a setback in collecting the meteorite . This is why the terraforming of Gwangjin-gu and Gangdong-gu is so fast . The wanderers are using the power of the meteorites .

–What do you mean? Terraforming won’t accelerate simply by using the meteorites .

–One of the 10 Evils has taken possession of a ‘disaster meteorite . ’

The 10 Evils . My heart instantly sank . I had expected it but actually hearing it was a different matter .

–Is it the Poisoner?

-…You know .

–She is the only one who uses Thousand Spirits Poison .

But there was still a part that I didn’t understand .

–Then why are you poisoned? If you knew that the opponent was the Poisoner, shouldn’t you have avoided facing her from the front?

–I was trying to convince her .

–Convince? You?

Then a scene belatedly popped up . Yoo Jonghyuk said .

–I wanted to make her a companion .

Companion… I see . I remembered now . Poisoner Lee Seolhwa was Yoo Jonghyuk’s companion in the second round .

The 10 Evils weren’t always opponents .

Just like Armed Fortress Master Gong Pildu changed in this round, Lee Seolhwa was transformed into a companion in several rounds, including the first regression . In all other regressions so far, Poisoner Lee Seolhwa was one of the few companions that Yoo Jonghyuk could rely on .

–You did something that isn’t like you .

–I admit it . I was pathetic .

–……

–She isn’t the person I remember . I knew it . Still, I wanted to believe for a moment that the woman in my memories was still alive . I wanted to be with her again .

I couldn’t help opening my mouth at the loneliness that he had buried deeply .

In his second life, Lee Seolhwa didn’t last long but she was Yoo Jonghyuk’s lover .

–I understand .

Yoo Jonghyuk was silent for a moment .

–You are talking as if you have regressed before .

–I don’t need to regress to understand .

I knew that I shouldn’t speak about understanding . Still, I wanted to say it . Since he wouldn’t receive understanding from anyone in the future, I thought I could say this .

[The character ‘Yoo Jonghyuk’ is deeply shaken . ]

[The character ‘Yoo Jonghyuk’ has received a faint consolation . ]

–Strange . You obviously aren’t a regressor… But I feel like you really understand these emotions . Is this also the power of a prophet?

I didn’t answer, making Yoo Jonghyuk continue speaking .

–Of course, you aren’t a good person . You are the unscrupulous person who kidnapped my sister .

–When did I kidnap her? I just protected her . You must’ve understood with Lie Detection…

“Kim Dokja . ”

We stopped talking at Han Sooyoung’s tense voice . The road from Cheonho Bridge to Gangdong was visible . The Great Hall emitted a bright light and something fell towards Gangdong-gu .

Dammit, it was already happening .

We fully entered Gangdong-gu and the density of the strange grasses covering the ground increased . Dirty trees grew between buildings and there were small beasts running on the trees .

Gangdong-gu was already half of another world .

Han Sooyoung bit her lips and asked, “Are we too late? What if the disaster has already awakened?”

“It hasn’t happened yet . Then we would’ve received the scenario . ”

We took a few more steps and saw several markings on the ground . It looked like graffiti but it was actually a territorial display .

It was a warning that no one should enter .

From here on, it was the area of the Poisoner . Like the other wanderers, she settled in Gangdong-gu and started to expand her base .

The progress was faster than I expected .

Han Sooyoung said, “If this group is well guarded, it won’t be easy to attack… Have you thought of something?”

No . I didn’t intend to wage an all-out war in the first place .

“We only need the meteorite . We can just steal it . I will buy time while you take the meteorite . ”

However, it wouldn’t be so easy . The story might be different if I had an assistant like the Wanderer King .

Yoo Jonghyuk interrupted .

–There is no need to rush . Even if the disaster begins, the Disaster of Questions is a disaster that can be suppressed at an early stage .

An early suppression . Indeed, it was possible for Yoo Jonghyuk .

–Early suppression? Who will do that? Are you a half god?

–Of course it should be you . Weren’t you thinking about it anyway?

–Why do you think that?

–You have already woken up the guide and received the Way of the Wind .

Based on his tone, he was slightly anger that I had taken the Way of the Wind that he was supposed to learn . I said with a smile .

-I didn’t learn it .

-…Why? There wasn’t enough time?

I’m actually glad .

–No, I don’t have talent .

I could feel Yoo Jonghyuk’s deep contempt in his silence .

–You, from the beginning…

“There are people . ”

The moment I heard Han Sooyoung’s words, I raised Unbroken Faith . It was the territory of one of the 10 Evils so the peple would naturally belong to their group .

I entrusted Yoo Jonghyuk to Han Sooyoung’s avatar .

“…I will be gone for a while so take him . Do you understand?”

The people were getting closer . But something felt strange . Usually it wasn’t so loud when a single group moved . Then the clear voice of a woman was heard in front of us .

“Everybody run towards Cheonho Bridge!”

It wasn’t the Poisoner’s group .

They weren’t as powerful was the Wanderer King’s group but some people who survived the Poisoner’s Group were escaping from Gangdong-gu . The unarmed survivors gasped for air when they found us .

“O-Out of the way! Hurry!”

Terrible arrows came flying towards them . The man who spoke to me fell down after being hit by an arrow . The man’s back quickly became discoloured and blackened . It was poison .

“Get those scum!”

The Poisoner’s group . Dozens of men and women simultaneously fired arrows .

The moment we tried to avoid it by moving behind a building, threads of silk spread out in the air .

Dozens of webs were arranged at once, causing the arrows to become tangled in the thread and not go any further . Han Sooyoung’s eyes widened .

“…What the hell is that technique?”

In fact, it was fired from behind the Poisoner’s group . The thread was like steel wire . The sharpness of the thread caused the legs of people to fly through the air .

“Kuaaak!”

All the threads were connected to one woman . The woman wearing a tight black battle suit flew through the air . Two knives stretched out from the fingers of the woman brilliantly riding the thread of magic .

The woman freely manipulated the length of the thread and she swept away the Poisoner’s group in an instant .

There wasn’t any hesitation in her hand . The movements were beyond beautiful . The combination of stats and skills showed that she didn’t have an ordinary sponsor .

[The information of this person can’t be read in ‘Character List . ’]

[This person isn’t registered in ‘Character List . ’]

She wasn’t even on the Character List .

Han Sooyoung muttered . “Hey, that woman…”

I knew without her saying anything . It was because this woman was someone I knew .

“…Yoo Sangah-ssi?”

I hadn’t met her in two days yet she was completely different from the girl I knew .