Chapter 80.

Rachel stopped in the middle of walking . Seeing that she had somewhat of a serious face, I also stopped with her . She stared at me fixedly, then spoke .

“I already submitted the team list . ”

Team Rachel was composed of the following members: Rachel, Jin Hoseung, Yi Bokgyu, Kim Hajin, Tomer .

Rachel had the highest rank, and Jin Hoseung and Yi Bokgyu were rank 108 and 173 respectively . The team list deadline was Wednesday, but Rachel had already submitted it .

“…So you can’t go somewhere else . ”

That’s what Rachel said . Perhaps because of what Chae Nayun said, her eyes and voice seemed a bit worried .

“Of course . ”

“Ah, they’re over there!”

At that moment, the other team members arrived . Jin Hoseung, Yi Bokhyu, and Tomer, all of them .

“We’re in the same team now . Let’s go get some food together . ”

Jin Hoseung spoke excitedly . Was it because he was in Rachel’s team?

I glanced at Rachel who nodded .

“So where are we going?”

“Mm… well, what do you want to eat, Rachel-ssi?”

“I’m fine with anything . ”

Rachel wasn’t a particularly picky eater, but there was something she liked .

“Let’s go to Hangyujung, the Korean restaurant . ”

“Uh, sure . ”

Yi Bokgyu and Jin Hoseung didn’t seem to mind, and Rachel let out a satisfied cough . Only Tomer had no reaction .

“Are you okay with that?”

“…Yeah . ”

It was a short answer .

“Great . ”

It was decided .

“Oh right . ”

While we were walking looking at a GPS, Jin Hoseung suddenly came up to me .

“Hajin, about the ticket I talked about before, it’s in two days . Do you want to come with me?”

“…To France?”

Immediately, Rachel’s eyes flickered fiercely . France and England had a relationship similar to Korea and Japan . Because I added a setting that England and France had an artifact scramble about 20 years ago, the feeling between the two countries was at its worst .

“No, I’m fine . ”

To be honest, I was curious about Napoleon’s rifle, but I didn’t want to go all the way to France just to see it .

“Why? Who knows, maybe Napoleon’s rifle will become yours . ”

“…Napoleon?”

Rachel muttered in a small voice .

“How? I’m rank 334 . ”

“Well, it’ll be better to put it to use than to just keep it in the museum… . By the way, Hajin, don’t you think your voice changed a bit?”

“Kuhum . Did it?”

That was thanks to the flute I bought in Clancy Islet’s antique shop .

===

[Hornflute] [Antique]

A flute used by a wandering minstrel of Joseon .

If you blow this horn, your throat will become clean and your voice will become clearer for three hours .

===

I used it for the first time about five minutes before I went to see Kim Suho . Because a deep voice carried more reliability .

Ever since then, I’ve been using the flute often . I liked how my voice sounded clearer, and it felt great to open up my throat in the morning .

“Yeah, is it puberty?”

“… . ”

Thankfully, I didn’t have to answer his question that lacked common sense, as we arrived at the Korean restaurant .

Rachel went in first, smacking her lips .

**

An abandoned factory in Suwon .

After nine months, all members of the Chameleon Troupe gathered in their hideout . Droon had finally figured out how to use the White Crystal, and the purpose of their gathering was to spectate .

“…Kid, do I really break it?”

Cheok Jungyeong asked again, carrying an artifact sword in one hand . Droon frowned and urged him on .

“Yeah, do it . ”

“Tsk, don’t blame me if anything goes wrong . ”

Cheok Jungyeong grumbled as he wrapped his fist with magic power . The density of the magic power made it seem as though he was wearing a gauntlet .

KWANG .

Cheok Jungyeong’s fist clashed with the artifact sword . The result was that the sword shattered like glass .

“Happy?”

“Yep . ”

Droon picked up a fragment of the shattered sword and placed it on a stone table .

“I’ll initiate it now . ”

Woong— The White Crystal began to resonate, unleashing magic power . The magic power condensed inside the cube encasing the crystal then began to radiate towards the sword fragment . The crystal’s white magic power clung to the fragment, forming a crystalline sword .

“Oooh . ”

Cheok Jungyeong applauded in amazement, while the rest of Chameleon Troupe members made shocked faces .

“There . Just like that, the tiny sword fragment became a partial artifact . According to my test, it’s at least as strong as a low-rank artifact . A single artifact can produce about 30 partial artifacts and taking the crystal’s magic power capacity into account, we’ll be able to make about 600 more . ”

“And we sell each partial artifact for about 700~800 million won… . Amazing . ”

Even with a simple calculation, one could see that it was close to a 500 billion won profit . Even after deducting the black market and money laundering fees, it would be about 20 billion won per member . It was indeed worth the risk .

“Yeah, but it’ll take at least 5 years to sell it all . ”

“That’s fine . Oh, by the way . ”

Jain suddenly cut in .

“Packhorse Master started their Suwon Devil’s Nest conquest . ”

The eyes of the Chameleon Troupe’s members flickered with a conspicuous light .

Packhorse Master .

They were the prey Chameleon Troupe was eyeing .

They had finally started their activities .

*

“Look, if you do this… . ”

9:00 P . M .

It was time for children to sleep, but Evandel was busy playing with clay dough .

She seemed to be using too much magic power on creating spirit bodies, so I prepared a toy she could use to have fun .

“Tada~”

“Wow, what’s this?”

Evandel made a penguin with glasses, which she often saw on TV . I opened my eyes wide in surprise . Evandel puffed out her chest with a proud face .

“How did you make it? Are you a genius?”

“Hihi, want me to tell you?”

“No, I won’t be able to do it even if you did . This is a skill you were born with . ”

While I was making Evandel smile with continued praises, my smartwatch suddenly rang .

It was Kim Suho .

[Can you come out to the forest we met at last time?]

‘Oho, so you finally made your decision . ’

With a smile, I got up from my seat .

“Evandel, I’m going to be out for a bit . ”

“Un? Where are you going?”

“Uh… to buy some snacks for us to eat before bed . ”

“Snacks? I want cake!”

“Okay . ”

“Cake, cake!”

“I’ll buy some, don’t worry . ”

Using that as an excuse, I went outside .

Cake, cake .

Repeating the word ‘cake’ so as to not forget about it, I headed to the forest where Kim Suho was waiting .

Cube’s night was chilly even during summer . It was because Cube was an island in the middle of the East Sea .

Rubbing my shoulders every time the wind blew, I arrived at the meeting spot .

In the middle of the dark forest, Kim Suho was standing with a serious face . His usual gentleness was gone as the air carried a heavy atmosphere .

“Yo, Kim Suho, why’d you call me?”

Hearing my voice, Kim Suho turned around .

He stared at me for a long time with heavy eyes, then let out a deep sigh . It seemed he was about to say something serious .

“…Do you remember what you said to me last time?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, what about it?”

“Just like you said… I recently found a Dungeon . ”

I smiled silently . I already expected him to say this .

“It must have been formed recently since it’s small . So I was thinking about challenging it alone . ”

“…But it’s still a Dungeon . It’s a big risk to try to conquer it alone . ”

I crossed my arms leisurely and interrupted him .

Kim Suho calmly nodded in response .

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking the same thing… . ”

Kim Suho suddenly threw down his jacket .

“But if I’m going to trust my back to you, I’ll need to verify your skills . ”

He murmured in a low voice as he stared at me .

“…Huh?”

I was taken aback . The situation was turning out a bit differently than I had expected .

“I know the exact location of the Dungeon . So it’s okay if I determine whether you will be a help or a burden, right?”

“…Right . Kuhum . ”

My crossed arms began to tremble .

To be honest, even if Kim Suho was blind and left-handed, I wouldn’t be able to defeat him . That was the difference between our skill . Not to mention, Kim Suho was a swordsman, while I was a sharpshooter .

“You’re right, but there’s one thing you haven’t considered . ”

“…What’s that”

I racked my brain to try and avoid this fight .

Should I try showing him the power of my Desert Eagle? Even without having to fight, he should be able to see my attack power if I shoot a tree trunk .

“It’s not fair for a sharpshooter and a warrior to fight one-on-one in an open field . Plus, I’m a bit reliant on my weapon . Depending on the type of gun, the difference in my attack power will be like the difference between heaven and earth… . ”

“You don’t have to beat me . ”

However, Kim Suho cut me off .

“And the weapon doesn’t matter . I’m not trying to test your weapon’s power . ”

“…Really?”

“Yeah, I’ll stop when I’m satisfied . ”

Now I had nothing to say .

Kim Suho took out his sword . It wasn’t a cadet sword, which was made out of steel, but a wooden sword for sparring . However, the quality of a sword didn’t matter for Kim Suho .

The moment his magic power surrounds that sword, my bullets would stop working . Using anti-magic wouldn’t change a thing . Kim Suho’s magic power existed on a higher dimension, and it could even cut ‘anti-magic’ .

…A good idea suddenly popped into my head .

“Oh, but I forgot to bring a gun . ”

“What’s that on your waist?”

I looked down at my waist . The cadet handgun I usually carried around was in my belt’s holster .

“Oh… I brought it… . I forgot… . ”

Without any other choice, I took the gun out .

“But will it be okay? Unlike a wooden sword, I won’t be able to control my gun’s strength . ”

“It’s fine . ”

“…Also, this isn’t my real weapon . I’m using this since we’re prohibited from carrying personal weapons in Cube, but…”

I racked my brain as I tried to buy time . I began to look around for something that could trigger my luck .

First, I checked the surrounding terrain .

We were in a forest, the sky was dark and the wind was cool .

Kim Suho’s hair fluttered from the westerly wind, and the jacket he threw down flapped on the ground .

…Wait .

Jacket .

The jacket on the ground .

To be recognized by Kim Suho, the help of my SP and luck was necessary .

“Are you ready?”

Seeing me staring at the ground, Kim Suho spoke up .

“Hold on . Someone sent me a message . ”

I wasn’t ready yet . I began to operate the laptop on my smartwatch .

…For two minutes, I busily tapped on the holographic keyboard . The result was as follows .

===

[Cadet Jacket]

A jacket created by Cube .

—Trap Transformation

*When someone steps on this jacket, an unknown force will strongly push the person off .

*This effect lasts for 10 minutes and will disappear after one activation .

===

[25 SP will be consumed . Would you like to save?]

Perhaps because it was a one-time change that wouldn’t deal any damage, I needed less SP than expected . This was undoubtedly worth the investment .

“I’m ready . ”

I turned the smartwatch off, then took a deep breath .

Saved .

“Then let’s start . ”

“…Yeah . ”

The man who would become the worlds strongest was standing in front of me . He was only standing, but I felt an immense pressure pressing down on me .

I held my breath in the surging tension . Then, Kim Suho charged towards me . His speed was beyond what I could follow with my naked eyes .

Normally, I would have been incapable of reacting to his movements, but I was able to with Bullet Time .

My sense of time slowed down .

Although Kim Suho was still much quicker than me, I could see his wooden sword clearly .

After ducking and barely avoiding a slash, I glanced away to locate the jacket .

Four steps .

I didn’t wish for anything more .

I just wanted to walk four more steps .

Whish—

Kim Suho’s wooden sword swung past my eyes . I fired at Kim Suho’s foot, which Kim Suho dodged by jumping up lightly . Then, he swung his sword, swirling backward .

The wooden sword grazed my shoulder . A burning pain overwhelmed me, but I managed to take two steps .

However, Kim Suho’s sword, which just grazed my shoulder, soared up .

My instincts roared .

This attack was going to hit .

I was physically incapable of dodging it . How could someone like me avoid a sword that hurled toward me five times a second?

With no other choice, I used Aether .

Aether shot up from my feet, pushing me to the side . With that, I was only a single step away from the jacket .

Kim Suho seemed surprised that I avoided his consecutive strikes . However, he chased after me without giving me a chance to collect my breath . Charging at me like a drill, he swung his sword at my shoulder .

However, before his sword could hit my body…

He stepped on the jacket .

That was it .

“…!”

Kim Suho’s body disappeared from my sight . Without even a scream, he was sent flying .

His center of gravity was pushed forward because of that final strike, and because he was completely caught off guard, Kim Suho couldn’t make a proper landing . He fell and rolled on the ground about 50 meters away .

He tried to get up quickly .

However, my bullet struck first on a rock next to Kim Suho’s head .

“…In a real fight, that wouldn’t have missed . ”

Though, it would have been blocked by his qi reinforcement anyways .

I trudged up to Kim Suho . He had a soulless, blank face .

When I reached out to lend him a hand, a deep smile emerged on his face .

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