Chapter 32: 32

Kim Dae-ho responded with a blank face at Su-hyeun’s words . It seemed that Kim Dae-ho did not fully understand the meaning behind what Su-hyeun said .

Kim Dae-ho frowned slightly and asked, “Are you sure about that?”

“Yes, I’m certain . ”

“Look kiddo, tell me the truth . Where did you pick the ether stone up? Are you not aware of how precious this item was?”

How could Su-hyeun be oblivious to it? The only person in this world who could have known how valuable this item was was Su-hyeun . Even so, there was only one reason that made Su-hyeun shook his head .

“I trust you, Uncle . ”

“…What?”

“Wasn’t the only thing which you hoped for was a sword made with that stone? The process of using that item . ”

There was a slight twist in Kim Dae-ho’s expression . After showing a preposterous expression, he opened his mouth .

“Ke, kah, kahahaha!” It was blinding . His roaring laughter came back, echoing from the forest beyond the door .

It had been a while since Su-hyeun saw Kim Dae-ho laughing so heartily . He, of course, had expected it .

Su-hyeun himself, too, was also aware of how ridiculous his words were .

“You’re quite an interesting lad . No, are you a weirdo? Anyway…” Kim Dae-ho took the ether stone in Su-hyeun’s hand and spoke . “You’re right . What I wanted was the process of creating the sword, not this item itself . Let me ask you one last thing . ”

Kim Dae-ho held up the ether stone he took from Su-hyeun in front of his eyes and asked, “Do you truly trust me?”

“Yes, I have my trust in you . ”

“Kek . Kah! You’re a weirdo, young lad . ” Once again, Kim Dae-ho started laughing heartily .

Soon, his laughter disappeared without a trace, and all that was left was a stern look .

“So, alright . As much as you have put your trust in me, I will return that favor as well . I’ll create a sword out of this world . ”

“Yes, please do your best . ”

Su-hyeun reached out his hand to Kim Dae-ho cheekily . Kim Dae-ho blankly stared at Su-hyeun’s hand for a while before grasping it . Strangely, there was a familiar feeling even though they had just met .

Su-hyeun then returned home immediately . It was already late evening . Su-hyeun arrived back home around a similar time as Shin Su-yeong .

Shin Su-yeong had prepared a simple stew and had been waiting for Su-hyeun’s return . As she looked at Su-hyeun, who arrived back home late, she spoke out immediately .

“Son, shall we talk?”

“…Yes . ”

What had to come eventually came . Su-hyeun took his seat at the dining table . They did not turn on the television for this conversation .

Shin Su-yeong started to speak first .

“Tell me, truthfully, son . You are hiding something from me, right?”

“Yes, I am . ” Was it because he had been expecting this moment for a long time? He didn’t find much difficulty replying . “You know what kind of person an awakener is, right?

Shin Su-yeong’s eyes wavered at Su-hyeun’s question .

Seeing that she wasn’t too surprised, Shin Su-yeong must have had her suspicions and guesses .

“Yes, of course, I know . ”

“Then, you should know how dangerous that job is, too . ”

“Of course . Your mom has eyes and ears, too . ”

“Mom, actually…”

Su-hyeun closed his eyes tightly . Su-hyeun held his breath for a moment and started telling his story .

Everything that had happened before . How Su-hyeun started as an awakener, the things that every other awakener had gone through by clearing trials to get even stronger . He even spoke of yesterday and the day before, when he had gone for a dungeon attack .

After Su-hyeun had told all of his stories, he observed Shin Su-yeong closely .

“Mom, why… do you have this expression?”

The one flustered should have been Shin Su-yeong, as it was Su-hyeun who had been keeping all of this a secret until now . But after all of this had been said, it was Su-hyeun who felt flustered .

“What kind of expression should I have?”

Su-hyeun stumbled at Shin Su-yeong’s rhetorical question and finally spoke .

“Aren’t you angry?”

Su-hyeun had expected Shin Su-yeong to flare up at him and be worried about him . Shin Su-yeong had always worried over him even when nothing happened, asking if he had been taking his meals; Su-hyeun could never imagine how worried she would be when he revealed that he had been fighting monsters all this while .

But…

“It’s not something that I should be angry about . ”

Not only did Shin Su-yeong not flare up at him, but she only put on a sad expression . Su-hyeun had never expected such a reaction from her .

“Why?”

“Son . ”

Hearing Shin Su-yeong’s voice, it broke Su-hyeun’s heart .

“Wasn’t it tough?”

Su-hyeun’s eyes widened at Shin Su-yeong’s question . That short phrase created a considerable stir deep in his heart .

It was tough . It was quite tough at that .

Never had anyone asked him this question before . Not even his mother from his previous life .

“Won’t it be even tougher… in the future? Won’t you feel exhausted or even regret your decision?”

It would be tough . Even more so as compared to now .

Instead of hearing words of encouragement, it was his first time hearing words of concern like these .

Something rushed up from within Su-hyeun as he was forced to suppress his feelings . Su-hyeun, afraid to show his tears, clenched his fist tightly, bit his lips, and lowered his head .

“Yes . I’m… alright . ”

His heart and mouth could only respond differently . Su-hyeun could never bring up the word “difficult” in front of Shin Su-yeong .

Either way, it was something that he was prepared for all along . She probably would have known about it, too .

But even so, Shin Su-yeong did not stop Su-hyeun . She could never be happy nor sad for Su-hyeun .

“If you say it like this, there’s nothing I can do . ”

Shin Su-yeong had already known .

Seeing how Su-hyeun did not tell her the truth and his thoughts, it meant that her persuasion or words would not work on him . She knew that right at this moment, her persuasion and worries would only make it harder on Su-hyeun . Thus, all she could do now was encourage him . Furthermore, Shin Su-yeong did not want to change Su-hyeun’s life .

Shin Su-yeong respected and supported Su-hyeun’s decision . If it meant for Su-hyeun to have a happier life…

“I’ll support you, my son . ”

Shin Su-yeong hugged Su-hyeun .

For some reason, something surged up from within once again .

“Thank you . ”

He could not show his weak side in front of Shin Su-yeong . Not being able to cry, Su-hyeun suppressed his feelings and laughed .

“Thank you, mother . ”

After that, Shin Su-yeong began to ask Su-hyeun various questions . She questioned what kind of job awakeners did, whether it was dangerous, and how busy the job was . And of course, she had also insisted for him not to take up too dangerous jobs if possible .

Su-hyeun responded to them all, saying, “I got it . ” He didn’t want to see Shin Su-yeong getting anxious over him .

“Really?”

“Yes . Look at this . ”

Shin Su-yeong stared in shock as Su-hyeun showed her his bank deposit balance .

“Lies…”

“Do you want to confirm this with me at the bank tomorrow?”

“Oh my, oh my…”

She had heard that awakeners had a job that paid well, but never did she expect them to be able to earn this much just overnight .

The amount that Su-hyeun earned overnight was what Shin Su-yeong could only make after working for over 20 years .

“Aren’t you being too happy?”

“Of course . Why would anyone hate money?”

“But you weren’t pleased earlier?”

“Well, that’s that, and this is this . ”

“Oh my…”

Although he knew Shin Su-yeong liked money, he had never expected her to change her attitude this fast . Su-hyeun let out a sigh and shook his head . Even so, he felt relieved that Shin Su-yeong did not show an even more tormented look .

Either way, he felt good .

Shin Su-yeong, who was always struggling with monetary issues, thought that she could finally relax for a bit now .

“Let’s go take a look at houses tomorrow . ”

With this money, they could finally escape from this basement apartment . Shin Su-yeong could also achieve her dream of having her own little store . Moreover, Shin Su-yeong had always wanted to manage a store of her own .

As their conversation ended, they watched the television as they had their dinner .

Right on time, Lee Ju-ho’s face appeared on the news .

“Last night, a dungeon that appeared in Gwangju, Gyeonggi province’s Anyak mountain had a level change . Fortunately, the leader of the party, Lee Ju-ho, who led the dungeon attack, completed the dungeon attack; but through this accident…”

This type of dungeon had not yet appeared up until now; thus, it was enough to be reported as news .

But it wasn’t creating much stir as Su-hyeun had expected . The news had only served its purpose of warning the public that such dungeons were appearing as well .

Buzz—

Su-hyeun’s smartphone rang as soon as he stepped into his room after dinner .

It was a call from Lee Ju-ho .

“Hello?”

It’s the same topic over again .

Although Lee Ju-ho had sent the same text messages previously, Su-hyeun’s replies never changed .

But no matter what, Lee Ju-ho seemed not to have any thoughts on accepting the other half of the ether stones that were given to him .

“I have lots of money . I’m not that poor to accept them shamelessly, nor do I have any reason to . ”

“Isn’t there a reason for you to accept them? You kept my secret and even took care of the annoying issue for me . That’s enough reason . ”

“But it’s too much compared to what I’ve done . It’s not wrong to say that you’ve completed the dungeon attack yourself, isn’t it?”

Lee Ju-ho’s opinion was more tenacious than he had thought . He didn’t seem easy to persuade .

If so…

“How about this, can you lend me your name?”

“My name?”

“More accurately, your B-rank awakener title . Since there are higher possibilities for a B-rank awakener to register for a red level dungeon attack alone, you’ll just have to add me in . ”

There will be more dungeon attacks happening in the future . Instead of hiding Su-hyeun’s capabilities and strengths, it’s better if both he and Lee Ju-ho worked together as a team . Moreover, if there’s only the both of them, the distributed amount of ether stones will be higher, too .

“Of course, if you think that’s troublesome…”

“No, it’s not . Let’s do it according to your suggestion . ”

His reply was quick . Lee Ju-ho seemed to have thought that Su-hyeun’s suggestion was better for himself, too . To be able to enter a dungeon attack with a skilled awakener like Su-hyeun wasn’t a bad proposal for him either .

“I’ll take your acceptance as agreement, and will contact you in the future . If you want to apply first, that’s fine, too . ”

“Yes, I’ll wait for your call . ”

That ended their phone conversation . Su-hyeun’s expression relaxed as his worries were lifted off his shoulders .

He didn’t need to get the awakener’s registration card that one needed to obtain permission for a dungeon attack thanks to his new friend, Lee Ju-ho . The minimum conditions of being at least a B-rank awakener for joining a dungeon attack was fulfilled thanks to Lee Ju-ho .

The issue with Shin Su-yeong had also been resolved amicably . It felt as though an immense thunderstorm had quickly passed .

All he had to do was to look forward and achieve his goals .

The next day .

Su-hyeun left home as the day broke . Now, Shin Su-hyeun did not even ask Su-hyeun where he was headed . Su-hyeun opened the door to the Tower of Trials .

It was different compared to the times where he meaninglessly climbed the tower without goals .

Now, he had a clear goal for climbing the Tower of Trials . There was also an apparent reason for doing it . Strangely, his feet felt light . With this feeling, it felt as if he could do achieve anything .

Step—

Su-hyeun stepped into the Tower of Trials .

[Kim Su-hyeun, your 11th-floor trial starts now . ]