Editor: Tide, Rektsatan,
[Lee Hochi]
When something big suddenly occurs, you may not be able to deal with it because you’re in a hurry. However, it can be dealt with immediately if you had somehow foreseen that it would take place.
This time, the latter happened. I didn’t know if it was because I always had Yong-yong’s safety in mind, or because of Ho-jae’s essence left behind in me, but I immediately opened a portal as soon as I felt a powerful force near Yong-yong. Seok-hyeon, who had been talking for a long time, gave me a surprised look, but now was not the time to explain the situation to him.
The power that appeared out of nowhere seemed extremely dangerous, but on the other hand, it felt familiar. It was the same as the power released by a technique Ho-jae had often used. I knew that Ho-jae wasn’t here, and even if he did use it here, his attack wouldn’t stop on this scale. And if it wasn’t Ho-jae, there was only one person who could use that technique in this tournament.
As a result, I was able to see who was pulling Yong Yong-yong even before I crossed the portal. Upon teleporting into Yong-yong’s fortune-telling tent, I called out her name, “Lee Yeon-hee.”
“Mister?”
* * * * * *
“Put it down.”
“No.”
Lee Yeon-hee’s short answer made my heartbeat erratic. In terms of conversation, this was no different than reprimanding a child who was playing with a knife, but if anyone knew what was on Lee Yeon-hee’s hand, they would have no choice but to be nervous.
“You know, it’ll explode if I die. It will explode if I lose control, get offended, lose focus, or if my mana cycle gets disrupted.”
d.a.m.n it. Why did you have to teach her that technique?
I had no choice but to blame Ho-jae. No matter what, he shouldn’t have taught such dangerous techniques.
That technique, which had a funny name, Zit Pop, was a technique that Ho-jae had often used when he was clearing h.e.l.l difficulty floors. On a stage of h.e.l.l’s Difficulty, the power had once exploded, and it was clear that if it blew up here, the Korean challengers would be eradicated.
There may be many features of Zit Pop, but the most terrible fact about it was that once it took the form of a sphere, the user couldn’t make any changes. It was all about controlling the sphere so that it wouldn’t burst and explode when they wanted it to. In other words, as long as that small sphere existed on Lee Yeon-hee’s hand, regardless of whether she fainted or got killed, that sphere would explode.
To the naked eye, it appeared to be only a tiny red light, with a bit of heat emitted. In my judgement, the sphere was similar in level to the ones Ho-jae used in the past.
“I added some effects to my taste. It’ll be great if it explodes.”
You crazy b*tch.
Why are all the h.e.l.l’s Difficulty challengers half-insane?
“If it explodes, you won’t be safe either!”
“Well, I’m confident that I’ll survive.” Lee Yeon-hee commented slyly, lips spreading to form a smile.
What kind of sh*is this?
“Hey, is she telling the truth?” I asked Ho-jae.
[I think so.]
Ho-jae seemed to think that she could survive. Somehow, his voice sounded strange, as if he were talking with something in his mouth.
“Hey, what are you eating right now?”
[Popcorn.]
You crazy b*stard.
I couldn’t help but curse.
I was going to ask for help, but I didn’t think that a person leisurely eating popcorn would be willing to offer any.
Yong-yong stared at Lee Yeon-hee sullenly, while Baek Sung-woong hung in the air, his body convulsing once in a while, magical restraints restricting his movement. The funny thing was that both Lee Yeon-hee’s restraints and Yong-yong’s restraints encircled him. Yong-yong’s magic seemed to be a means to protect Baek Sung-woong. My level of magic was lower than that of Yong-yong, so it was hard to tell.
“This is amazing. You look different,” Lee Yeon-hee muttered, eyes scanning my body.
“When I saw you on TV, you looked like a thin man. On the 17th floor, you looked like a crazy dog. Right now, you look very gentle.”
“I’m different from Ho-jae.”
Lee Yeon-hee had a look on her face as if she couldn’t quite understand, but soon she had a knowing look on her face. She questioned, “Are you his clone?”
That’s right. d.a.m.n it.
I was upset by her comment. If I wanted to attack Lee Yeon-hee, now would be a good time, since she would have lost concentration due to our conversation.
“Man, can I stop her?” I asked Ho-jae for insurance before I acted.
[Of course.]
Alright, let’s do it.
Now that the situation had come to this, I regretted having to use my power on a person I met recently. This meeting was my first real fight, but what could I do?
I made a firm commitment in my mind and used my power.
╔═══════════════╗
[Time lapse]
[Indomitable force]
[Mana suppression]
[Sensitive Seal]
[External Power Block]
╚═══════════════╝
With more than a thousand powers, I had a hard time handling them all. In addition, there were so many techniques that I didn’t even know the effects of, so I used the ones I was most familiar with.
╔═══════════════╗
[Battleground]
╚═══════════════╝
It was a technique I had learned from Ho-jae, and not from the G.o.ds of the temple. It was more like I was taught, rather than him teaching me. This technology, which was ambiguous enough to be called Ho-jae’s original technique as well as a copy of other methods, directly involved the principle of s.p.a.ce. Usually, Ho-jae folded up s.p.a.ce and used it as a way to cross over at once.
But if I applied this to the s.p.a.ce I was currently standing on, I would increase the distance between this tent and outside.
After confirming that the s.p.a.ce was strangely distorted, I came up with some techniques in my head. Then, Lee Yeon-hee’s voice rang in my head.
[You’re wasting too much time. I guess it’s not a bad idea to kill them all halfway.]
Lee Yeon-hee’s body began to warm all of a sudden. When the hidden energy was revealed, we could all see what she meant. Lee Yeon-hee didn’t just create one Zit Pop. There were at least dozens of Zit Pop inside her body. No, you could even say it was her body.
Rather than the fact that she had been completely hiding her power, I was astonished at her idea of making the Zit Pop as her own body.
Even in the time-lapse, where the time had almost stopped, the Zit Pop’s explosion did not seem to slow down at all. In an instant, Lee Yeon-hee’s body disappeared without any trace, and only a blazing, intense light, along with scorching heat, was left on the spot. It was as if a star had exploded.
I hurriedly used my power to protect Yong-yong from it. The shield made by all kinds of G.o.ds and the ma.s.sive ball of energy created by Lee Yeon-hee collided.
At that moment, Yong-yong knocked sharply on the wooden table.
Knock, knock.
A clear tap sounded in the tent.
In the blink of an eye, I stepped out from a portal again. Lee Yeon-hee turned back, my unexpected entry startling her.
I opened my mouth with a hard look on my face. “Lee Yeon-hee.”
“Mister?” Lee Yeon-hee looked at me with a slightly surprised look and called out.
Baek Sung-woong was still confined in the air, while Yong-yong sat at the table with a sullen look on his face. There was silence in the tent. There was no deafening explosion, light, or immense heat that should have shaken the world.
Before even questioning the strange phenomenon, Lee Yeon-hee lost consciousness and collapsed like a puppet with broken strings.
* * * * * *
I took Baek Sung-woong back to his quarters. I could have stayed in the tent, but when I thought of the guests coming in after seeing the sign of a fortune-telling shop, I thought it was better to move to a quiet place. I laid Baek Sung-woong, who had fainted, on his bed, and pulled up a pink blanket to cover him well. He had not gotten knocked out by the shock but was put to sleep by Yong-yong’s magic.
Lee Yeon-hee, on the other hand, did not seem to be asleep. No one would sleep with their eyes wide open, and both arms and legs bent. I had been trying to move her body roughly with my powers. In the process, Lee Yeon-hee did not wake up and try to rebel. With a few bans in place, her body would never move again.
“She was a clone.” Yong-yong murmured.
“Yes.”
Had she been trying to blow herself up? It seemed like she had tried to make another attempt to kidnap Yong-yong, even after she looked half-dead. She shouldn’t have intended to take non-challengers as hostages in the first place.
Next to Baek Sung-woong’s bed, I sat on the floor. Yong-yong sat on my lap and buried his face in my shoulder. I held Yong-yong tightly and patted him on the back. Yong-yong had no experience of being exposed to other people’s malice.
And in the meantime, I cursed Ho-jae, who was just watching from the sidelines. Despite what had happened, he just remained silent and watched us.
What a rotten fellow.
As I held Yong-yong tightly, his heartbeat gradually stabilized. I didn’t know who was comforting who. After calming down to some extent, I asked, “Yong-yong, did you turn back time?”
As far as I knew, it was not easy to turn back time. I was sure it’s obvious, but even the G.o.ds, who were considered almighty, were in a realm where time could not be touched. The G.o.ds a.s.sociated with time, such as the G.o.ds of slowness and repentance, were not considered unique for no reason.
Sometimes, Lee Ho-jae would say that time was a law of the universe that proved existence just by its flow, and that the reversal of time was a grandiose trick that was bound to be meaningless. Even Ho-jae, who said so, could not reverse the time. If he could, he wouldn’t have been locked up on the 60th floor.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find out what Yong-yong had done. There was a level difference between Yong-yong and me. It was a difference that could not even be measured, so I asked honestly.
“No, I did nothing.”
“You did nothing?”
“Yes, nothing ever happened.”
What do you mean? I don’t understand.
“If you ask the bald man, he’ll tell you that he doesn’t remember as soon as he wakes up.”
As far as I knew, Baek Sung-woong was conscious until just before Lee Yeon-hee blew himself up. I didn’t care about it after that.
“Didn’t he lose consciousness after the explosion?”
“Yes. But for him, the explosion didn’t happen.”
“…But I still remember it.”
“She fell because she saw something. The only thing that unfolded before her was the possibility of a future that didn’t exist. The auntie of the past had to face a memory from a future that didn’t exist, and she couldn’t bear seeing such a future.”
Yong-yong, I still don’t understand.
I had no idea what he was saying.
“Yong-yong, but I remember it, and I didn’t even faint?”
“Uncle is fine. Uncle hasn’t faced such a problem, and you won’t remember in the future.”
“…Why?”
I didn’t even understand what I had heard so far, but I still asked. When Yong-yong heard me, he said in a quiet voice, as always. “Because Uncle is not bound by Cause.”
< Tournament Chapter (10) > End