Chapter 252. A New Beginning (3)Yoo Yeonha lost consciousness the moment she saw Kim Hajin. Kim Hajin, of course, had no idea why, and he infused Stigma"s magic power into Yoo Yeonha once more. Yoo Yeonha woke up, saw Kim Hajin, then fell unconscious again. Kim Hajin then infused Stigma"s magic power into her again….
After repeating this about five times.
“….”
Yoo Yeonha finally woke up. She still had a dazed expression, but she no longer fainted the moment she saw Kim Hajin.
"I should be able to talk to her now," Kim Hajin thought.
“What"s up with you?”
“….”
However, Yoo Yeonha didn"t talk. She remained silent and stared at him with watery eyes.
“…h.e.l.lo?”
After staying motionless for a while, Yoo Yeonha finally took action. She charged into Kim Hajin"s embrace.
“Ah, hey, what are you doing?”
Her arms squeezed Kim Hajin and her face buried itself in his chest. It was a hug powerful enough to save the world.
“I"m sorry, I"m sorry….”
While Kim Hajin stood fl.u.s.tered, Yoo Yeonha apologized.
She still thought she was dreaming; that Kim Hajin was only a hallucination and that she was being haunted by guilt.
“Calm down, what are you even apologizing for?”
“I… I….”
Yoo Yeonha wanted to confess everything, even if it was only in her dream. Although it was too late, although she couldn"t be forgiven anymore, she wanted to tell Kim Hajin everything.
So that"s what she did.
What she had hidden from him, how much it pained her, and how much she regretted it – everything.
“Sorry, it"s all my fault….”
Yoo Yeonha spoke as she sniffled.
“So you can leave now. I"ll remember you for the rest of my life.”
“….”
Kim Hajin stared at her blankly. He still couldn"t understand this comedic situation. So, he watched Yoo Yeonha make a fool out of herself for 2~3 minutes, then…
Chap—
He slapped her cheek lightly.
“Ow, what the heck.”
Yoo Yeonha spat out a few words after being slapped. Considering that she was asking why she was. .h.i.t, it seemed she hadn"t gone completely insane.
“What are you doing?”
“…Eh?”
“I said, what are you doing?”
“….”
It was then that Yoo Yeonha finally realized something was wrong.
She remained motionless, like trying to compute all the possible solutions to a problem, then CHAP— she slapped her face strongly.
She put enough strength in her hands to shake the room, and her eyebrows twitched at the pain.
“Auuu, it hurts….”
Seeing this, Kim Hajin spoke clearly.
“I don"t know what"s going on, but I"m not dead.”
“….”
“But thanks for letting me know.”
That was the final blow.
Yoo Yeonha"s face turned bright red.
**
2 hours later.
I sat face-to-face with Yoo Yeonha. Her face was still hot with embarra.s.sment. I could probably fry an egg on her face…
Gulp, gulp—
Yoo Yeonha gulped down a gla.s.s of water then opened her mouth.
“T-To think you had such a skill….”
“Technically, I did die. It hurt a lot.”
“…Haa, b-but… thank you for being alive.”
After saying that, Yoo Yeonha slammed her head down on the table. White steam rose up from her head. I wasn"t exaggerating. It really was steam, proof that Yoo Yeonha was using a skill.
“What do I tell Nayun….”
“…Oh right, what happened with Chae Nayun?”
Before I noticed, Chae Nayun had discovered the truth. I was worried for her fragile mind.
Yoo Yeonha shot up and sent me a flashing gaze.
“Nayun… went back to the Himalayas.”
“Why?”
“To… get revenge.”
“Revenge?”
“Yes, she said she"d take revenge on the humanoid monster and make her grandfather pay for his sins. She left before I could say no.”
“…I see.”
I fell into thought. The situation looked quite serious.
"Do I have to go see her to show that I"m alive?" Seeing that I was contemplating what to do, Yoo Yeonha asked. It seemed she made another strange misunderstanding.
“…You still like Nayun that much?”
“Huh?”
I stared at Yoo Yeonha, bewildered by the sudden question. She had a somewhat bitter smile on her face.
“I didn"t take you to be such a romantic. But don"t worry, Nayun is a lot stronger than you think.”
“…Can you stop saying weird things? You"re wrong.”
Yoo Yeonha smiled bashfully and nodded.
“Okay. …Also, I want to apologize again, About keeping that a secret.”
She was talking about the fact that Yoo Jinwoong was behind the Kw.a.n.g-Oh Incident. It pained me slightly because of my synchronization with Chundong, but I wasn"t furious or anything.
“I can"t say I"m not angry, but… Huu…”
I couldn"t react too differently from how Kim Chundong normally would for a topic as sensitive as this.
A part of it had to do with my conscience, but the main reason was "synchronization". This strange number increased ever so slightly every time I did something that wasn"t aligned with Kim Chundong"s wish.
But it was extremely small, so I didn"t worry about it too much.
“I lived because of your father. It"s not like he wanted to do what he did, and even if he did, that has nothing to do with you. There"s no guilt-by-a.s.sociation in Korea.”
With that, I got up. A new smart.w.a.tch was on my wrist.
"Essential Smart.w.a.tch Code Black", it was a 17 billion won luxury watch made with t.i.tanium and blood diamond.
“I got the watch I wanted, so I"m leaving now. I made some food for you, so you can eat it later.”
While Yoo Yeonha was calming herself down and collecting her thoughts, I made rice and kimchi jjigae for her. Since she only had high-quality ingredients in her fridge, I could guarantee their flavor.
“…Wait.”
But as I was about to leave, Yoo Yeonha stopped me.
“Hm? What now?”
“Why are you wearing a suit?”
“Oh, this?”
"It was because I was going to visit the Buckingham Palace…" I was choosing my words, when Yoo Yeonha walked up to me.
“Your necktie is loose.”
She stood in front of me and placed her hands on my tie. She unfastened it, then tied it once again.
“….”
Meanwhile, I stood still. The scent of her hair made me feel weird.
As the tie slowly formed a knot…
Tak—
Something heavy fell on my chest. I glanced down. Yoo Yeonha had placed her forehead on my chest in the middle of tying my tie.
Soon, a cold voice left her mouth.
“…Stay.”
“…Huh?”
“Stay.”
Stay. With this one word, she began to shake me back and forth.
“Stay, stay, stay, stay…!”
My head bobbled. This was the first time I was being grabbed by the collar. Of course, it didn"t last a long time.
Yoo Yeonha kept her hands on my collar and headb.u.t.ted my chest.
“…Stay in touch. You"re our majority shareholder.”
“….”
Her voice sounded noticeably affectionate. I blushed. Feeling embarra.s.sed, I scratched the back of my neck.
Though I was busy, it was true that I didn"t contact her for about three months. It wasn"t strange that she thought I was dead.
“…If I have time.”
“…Excuses.”
Yoo Yeonha let go of my collar and finished doing my tie.
“There.”
She tapped my shoulders a few times, then backed off. She looked at the tie she tied and smiled in satisfaction.
“…Oh right!”
Then suddenly, she shouted as though she"d just remembered something important.
“When you go back to the Tower, do NOT look at the messages I sent you! If you do, our relationship is ov—”
—Emergency news! African monsters are marching northward. Monsters on other continents are also invading human territory! Civilians are advised to stay indoors while…
At that moment, a disaster warning popped up on my new smart.w.a.tch.
My smart.w.a.tch wasn"t the only device that received it.
Yoo Yeonha"s smart.w.a.tch and the smart.w.a.tches of the people on the streets outside the window were all beeping with disaster warnings.
“….”
I stared at Yoo Yeonha silently.
She was also looking at me.
**
[21F – Card Kingdom]
“…Finally.”
Meanwhile, Shin Jonghak was looking at a card he obtained on the 21st floor.
===
[Tremoring Echo of Light] [Applied Effect] [7-star] ＊Effective Good＊
○Applies the "Echo of Light" effect to a target weapon.
○Echo of Light
—Echo Attack: attacks from the affected weapon will resonate like an echo.
—Attribute Infusion: adds light-attribute to basic attacks and echo attacks.
===
A 7-star card that applied the light-attribute to a weapon of choice. Furthermore, it made the weapon perform an additional attack through an echo. It was indeed worthy of how much TP it cost.
“Huhuhu….”
Shin Jonghak smiled as he held the card in his hand.
He thought back to all the work he put in to obtain a source of light-attribute. He used all of his TP to obtain the light-attribute, not luminous nor shine-attribute, and he even made up for the TP he lacked with funding from outside the Tower.
“Oh! It"s [Tremoring Echo of Light]! I saw that in the card encyclopedia. It"s super rare, right?” Yi Yeonghan, who was standing next to him, chattered.
Shin Jonghak glared at him before putting the card away.
Yi Yeonghan spoke again, “If you attack, it makes light-attribute echoes, right?”
“Shut up.”
“…Do you even have a weapon to use it on? You"ll need at least a level 8 weapon if you want to use it to its full potential.”
“I do, so shut up.”
Shin Jonghak observed his surroundings carefully. Thankfully, he didn"t see anyone who could be a thief. Because the [Card Kingdom] was full of skilled pickpockets, not even experts let their guard down at any moment.
“Are you going back to the 26th floor?”
Yi Yeonghan had many questions. The annoyed Shin Jonghak glared at him, but Yi Yeonghan lightly pushed his glares away. Shin Jonghak had no choice but to sigh and accept his situation.
“…Yeah, I"m going back right away.”
“Ooh~ As expected of Desolate Moon"s Boss!”
The position of guilds in the Tower was like that of Earth. Essence of the Strait was number 1, while Frost Sanctuary and Desolate Moon followed close behind.
The only difference was in the English Royal Court and Creator"s Sacred Grace.
The former had influence in the Tower, while the latter was single-handedly carried by Kim Suho"s achievements.
“But even if you go up, you can"t do anything, right? The Demon King"s fighting Kim Suho.”
“…He might not beat him.”
“Mm… so you"re going to challenge the Demon King next?”
“That"s right, because I"m much stronger than Kim Suho.”
Shin Jonghak nodded with confidence.
“As expected of the Emperor"s bloodline.”
At that moment, a silvery voice touched the two Heroes. Happy to hear someone praising him, Shin Jonghak turned his head.
“Nice to meet you, Jonghak-ssi. It"s been a while.”
There, Shin Jonghak saw Jin Seyeon, smiling as brightly as ever. Shin Jonghak was happy to see her, but he nodded without revealing his feelings outwards.
“Yes, nice to meet you too.”
Paat—!
At that moment, a flash of light flared up in the distant sky. The three Heroes looked up simultaneously.
“…Suho-ssi must be fighting.” Jin Seyeon muttered.
“Do you think he can win?” Yi Yeonghan asked.
“It"ll be hard.” Shin Jonghak answered.
Jin Seyeon laughed at his cute jealousy, but Shin Jonghak pouted seeing Jin Seyeon snicker.
Paat—!
Another flash of light spread out in the sky like a spider web.
—Must be intense.
—d.a.m.n, what a show.
—How can their magic power undulations reach all the way down here?
—By the way, what happens if Kim Suho wins?
—That won"t happen, so don"t worry.
It wasn"t just Shin Jonghak, Yi Yeonghan, and Jin Seyeon who were looking up at the sky. Everyone in the Card Kingdom was the same.
30F, the final floor of the Tower of Wish.
How Kim Suho was fighting the Demon King. Whether he could defeat him.
Everyone both inside and outside the Tower was wondering the same thing.
**
Kim Suho slowly opened his eyes. A crushing pressure and hot pain pressed down on his body. Overcome with pain, his body didn"t move. The only thing he could do at the moment was to endure the pain.
“You lost again.”
A soft voice rang out from nearby. Kim Suho turned his head in that direction. The Witch was standing there. Next to her were the equipment he had on before along with Misteltein.
“The King used 50% of his power and won with 73% of his energy remaining. You used all of your power and lost.”
The Witch reported the results like notifying a player of a game result.
“Your equipment has been repaired. You now have two choices. You can give up, or try again—”
“Again.”
Kim Suho spat out a single word. But the moment he did so, a wave of pain swept through his body. Kim Suho coughed out a mouthful of blood and continued.
“I"m trying… again.”
His fight against the Demon King ended in his complete defeat. He challenged him three times and lost all three. The Demon King was that strong. His strength was one that Kim Suho never imagined or experienced in his entire life.
But this made Kim Suho"s conviction burn brighter. If he couldn"t defeat the Demon King, then he knew he couldn"t stop the calamities that would come in the future and protect his new home.
His determination as a knight was still burning inside him.
“….”
The Witch stared at the knight silently. After staring at him for a long, long time, she dropped her head and muttered softly.
“…I will give you four days to recover.”
With that, the Witch left.
Kim Suho didn"t despair, even while writhing in pain. He wasn"t scared of the difference between him and the Demon King. He still had many chances. He refused to give up.
“—!”
Every muscle in his body screamed in pain. However, Kim Suho swallowed his cries and raised his body.
Recovering his broken-down body. He was now more familiar with it than anyone else. His soul had even experienced death. His conviction was as strong as a sword and would not yield to mere pain…
“…haa, haa.”
Kim Suho eventually forced himself up and breathed heavily while covered in blood and sweat.
When he turned around while feeling a strange gaze on him…
“K-Kuhum.”
He saw the Witch staring at him.
**
[Seoul, Korea, rooftop of a nameless building]
—Emergency report! African monsters are marching northward.
—There are at least 30,000,000 of them, but that is the smallest estimate.
—This isn"t a naturally occurring phenomenon. Orden, the self-claimed "Monster King", has taken responsibility for the phenomenon, adding to the shock of the public…
“Oho.”
Jin Sahyuk shook her head and turned off her smart.w.a.tch. She had returned to Earth after spending a long time in the Tower, yet the world was in total chaos. Nothing interesting was happening, and people were only talking about monsters.
“Orden….”
She remembered Bell mentioning someone by that name. That a monster in Africa had a grand aspiration of conquering all of Earth.
“…Hm.”
But Jin Sahyuk didn"t care about a mere monster. She was only worried about what she heard from Rachel today.
—Hajin-ssi called Puharen an incarcerated royalty. He said it was from a movie… what is it called?
Chewing on a leaf like smoking a cigarette, Jin Sahyuk mulled over the words Rachel told her.
Kim Hajin knew Puharen, someone he shouldn"t know. That was why Jin Sahyuk left the Tower. She couldn"t stay in Crevon. It was driving her mad.
“Huu….”
Jin Sahyuk looked up at the distant sky and sighed. Then, she muttered as though she was talking to thin air.
“…Come out.”
Her words were exceedingly vague. But she was clearly speaking to someone, and that someone revealed himself soon after.
Tak—
Light footsteps rang out. No one knew whether he came from above or below. Jin Sahyuk stared in that direction.
A human-like rabbit was standing there.
“…Are you a rabbit or a human?”
Jin Sahyuk"s voice reached Gato.
Gato glared at Jin Sahyuk and returned her question with another question.
“Young Human, I can feel that you"re strong. Are you Black Lotus?”
“…Pft.”
Jin Sahyuk sneered. Could these idiotic monsters not even tell s.e.xes apart? So much for being "humanoid".
“Don"t you know that Black Lotus is male?”
“…I heard he"s completely black.”
“My hair is navy, r.e.t.a.r.d. It looks darker because it"s night.”
Hearing this, the rabbit unleashed magic power. His magic power compared the image of Black Lotus with Jin Sahyuk. When the result came out, Gato nodded his head.
“Then I have no business with you. My target is Black Lotus.”
With that, Gato turned his back. The monster rabbit didn"t plan to fight. As a monster created solely for battle, he had a strong desire to fight, but he had a command to follow: protection of his King"s allies and the death of Black Lotus.
“Oh?”
Jin Sahyuk sneered while looking at Gato.
…A fierce wind blew, and the smile on her face disappeared.
“Oi, Rabbit.”
She stopped Gato. She raised her body, dusting off her hands.
Gato turned around silently. She glared at Gato and made a twisted smile. Dark magic power was burning around her.
“With whose permission are you looking for that b.a.s.t.a.r.d?”
She spoke in a relaxed manner. However, her magic power was nothing but relaxed.
But Gato had no reason to fight. He wanted to get away from this place. Completing the mission given to him by his King was his first and foremost goal.
But to his surprise, he couldn"t escape the rooftop.
A wall was preventing him from doing so.
“…?”
Gato stepped backwards, wondering why.
He was currently entrapped in the "3rd Wall", something that was neither a barrier nor a spell.
This strange ability was part of a new Gift Jin Sahyuk awakened called [Reality Manipulation].
“Older Sis here is feeling like total s.h.i.t today.”
Jin Sahyuk laughed inaudibly and stared at Gato.
Gato instinctively realized that he had no choice but to fight. This would mean that his action would not disgrace his King"s orders.
“So why don"t we have a go until one of us dies?”