Chapter 404 Side Story Chapter 24 – Hochi (3)
Chapter 24
Hochi (3)
“Me too?”
Yong-yong nodded his head.
Hochi felt embarra.s.sed.
“Yong-yong, do you miss your dad?”
Yong-yong nodded his head again.
Yong-yong’s facade of courage quickly faded.
Yong-yong looked a little gloomy.
Hochi reached out and touched Yong-yong’s cheek with his hand.
He was as soft as a loaf of bread.
He thought Yong-yong was a good kid on his own, but since Lee Ho-jae has been gone for a long time, Yong-yong seems to be worried too.
When did you prepare a battle suit like this?
It looked more like a costume rather than a proper military uniform.
“Did Yong-yong make it?”
“Huh…….”
Although it was not comparable to Lee Ho-jae and Yong-yong, Hochi also had a knack for magic.
He also had the insight to recognize magical items.
He could see that the clothes Yong-yong had prepared were not just a costume that was focused on design, but a proper combat outfit.
It was evident at a glance how hard he had prepared.
“Yong-yong, wouldn’t it be a hindrance if uncle goes too?
It was Hochi’s honest opinion.
Not to even mention Lee Ho-jae, compared to Yong-yong, his ability is far behind.
It was clear that he would only hold the ankles of others if he had come.
If he didn’t just grab an ankle, he could put them in danger as well.
“No, uncle has to go too.”
Yong-yong was rarely stubborn.
It wasn’t the courageous att.i.tude he had before, but he stubbornly didn’t give up.
What was the reason?
Hochi had no intention of visiting Lee Ho-jae.
Of course, he was worried for Lee Ho-jae
However, it wouldn’t change anything if he went looking for Lee Ho-jae, and there was also the expectation that if it was Lee Ho-jae, he would somehow overcome any trial and come back.
“You must go.”
Yong-yong wiggled his fingers and said.
Hochi had no choice but to ask.
“Why does uncle have to go?”
In fact, Hochi was willing to join Yong-yong if he wanted Hochi to go with him because he was afraid or nervous to go alone.
Of course, it would be a hindrance, but no matter how lacking their abilities, it was not the behavior of a guardian to let a scared child go alone.
He had no intention of stopping Yong-yong from leaving to find Lee Ho-jae.
However, Yong-yong gave a different answer than expected.
“Just. I feel like it.”
“How did you feel?”
Hochi asked while holding Yong-yong.
Yong-yong thought Hochi would refuse, so he nodded his head slightly and buried his face in Hochi’s chest.
Hochi thought as he patted Yong-yong on the back.
If he had to give reasons why he shouldn’t visit Lee Ho-jae, he could name a few things right away.
Hochi’s own judgment and Yong-yong’s intuition were put on the scale.
The weight of balance was tilted to one side.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
Hochi got ready before morning came and wrote a letter down.
It wasn’t a huge letter.
It was a letter that said that he would be absent for a while and to take good care of the church in the meantime.
The letter placed on the desk in the office was picked up by Kim Min-hyuk the next morning.
Kim Min-hyuk screamed and made a riot that he would leave the church immediately, but he had to start his work in the end due to the disapproval of other members of the church.
* * *
“Uncle, why are we sneaking out?”
Yong-yong asked.
Hochi and Yong-yong were walking down the street on the 60th floor of the tutorial.
Secretly
Sneakily.
It seems that Yong-yong felt strange that he had to hide himself in the residential area on the 60th floor, which had been their home for a long time.
Actually, it was weird.
“…There is such a thing, Yong-yong-ah.”
b.u.mp!
The windows of the two-story house swung open.
It used to be the house that Lee Ho-jae used as his room.
Now, Lee Yeon-hee inherited it.
Lee Yeon-hee appeared through the window.
Lee Yeon-hee leaned her arms against the windows and looked down at the street.
As soon as the window was opened, Hochi hardened.
“…Yong-yong, we’re not seen right?”
“That’s right.”
Hochi let out a sigh of relief.
No matter how good Lee Yeon-hee’s skills are, it won’t be enough to see through Yong-yong’s magic.
“Uncle, why did you ask me to use invisibility magic?”
“It’s nothing.”
Hochi didn’t answer in the end.
It was a bad decision.
Yong-yong couldn’t understand Hochi’s intentions until the very end, so he really only used invisibility magic because Hochi instructed him to do so.
The invisibility magic had hidden their appearance, but it could not erase their presence or voice.
Lee Yeon-hee leaned against the window and watched their backs.
Smiling quietly.
‘It seems that he’s not ready for an answer yet.’
Or just shy.
Lee Yeon-hee watched them with interest but didn’t really care where they were going.
They might have had something to do somewhere in the 60th-floor area.
Having lived here for ten years, she thought it could be.
In fact, Hochi and Yong-yong often visited the 60th floor.
Hochi left the streets of the 60th floor residential area while holding Yong-yong’s little hand tightly.
He was so nervous that his hands were sweating.
* * *
“Now, what should I do here, Yong-yong?”
Yong-yong excitedly explained Hochi’s question.
“Uncle that way, I’m this way!”
Yong-yong said, pointing to the volcano and the ice mountain.
Hochi couldn’t hide his curiosity.
The theme of the 61st floor was well known.
At the end of the two-way road, the challengers who meet again have to face off.
And only the victorious challenger could advance to the 62nd floor.
The problem is that Hochi himself is not recognized as a challenger.
So Hochi believed that Yong-yong had a way to get past the 61st floor.
But they have to move from here separately.
He couldn’t understand.
“See you later!”
Yong-yong used magic and disappeared in a blink of an eye.
“This…….”
Hochi was perplexed, and he himself moved towards the volcano.
The next moment, Hochi reached the heart of a lava volcano.
“Come on.”
At the volcano, Hochi was able to meet a giant who had lost his confidence.
He encountered the old man lying on the lava.
“Uh… Old Man, are you okay?”
Hochi asked in a voice filled with concern without knowing it.
The complexion of Old Man didn’t look that good.
Hochi felt sorry, wondering if he had been too indifferent to the Old Man.
“It’s alright.”
He didn’t look okay at all.
The giant’s body was flowing.
He knew the story about losing divinity, as even Hochi has heard of it.
The loss of divinity was more fatal than Hochi had thought.
The body and mind of the giant were returning to their pre-G.o.d state.
It was degeneration
Everything he had gained was falling apart.
“No, I really don’t know. Whether I’m okay or not.”
The giant said so.
He said that perhaps he would suffer and die like this rather than getting stabilized without his divinity.
“……”
He couldn’t let his mouth fall easily when he saw the giant who said he was about to die too calmly.
“I can’t help it. It’s a natural result that a G.o.d who has given up his deity must face. I can’t deny the result I brought. Anyway… What’s going on here?”
Old Man asked.
Hochi didn’t come to the 61st floor often to play.
In fact, the 61st floor did not remain a very good memory for Hochi.
Rather, it was full of memories of the bad side.
Neither the Old Man nor the other giants knew it.
Hochi said that he would find Lee Ho-jae.
The Old Man spoke as soon as he heard the explanation.
“You’re going to die.”
It wasn’t a joke.
The Old Man really thought Hochi was going to die.
“Maybe.”
In fact, Hochi thought so too.
Yong-yong will protect him, but his opponent is the G.o.d of Order, who is close to becoming a transcendental G.o.d and may destroy the world.
“Are you still going?”
Hochi nodded his head.
“What’s the reason?”
“Because I’m worried.”
Worried.
In fact, Hochi believed that Lee Ho-jae would win, but he wasn’t sure.
It was different from the giants who made Lee Ho-jae’s victory their deity.
Hochi considered both the possibility that Lee Ho-jae could win and the possibility that he could not win in the end.
“Because there is a possibility that Hojae may never come back.”
Then he will live with regrets for not visiting now.
He may not be able to meet him even if he goes looking for him.
Still, he didn’t want to leave any regrets.
“You don’t believe in the king’s victory.”
It was natural.
A vague expectation that Lee Ho-jae could do it.
He was close to wishing he could do it.
“Good.”
The giant’s body became smaller.
2 meters. About the size of a tall person.
“I’ll go too.”
Old Man said.
“You are right. I do not want to die like this, leaving only regrets. It would be better for me to die while visiting the king.”
It seemed that the thought that he was still going to die had not changed.
Hochi nodded his head.
He had no reason or justification to oppose the companionship.
A portal appeared in front of Hochi and Old Man.
It was the portal to the final area on the 61st floor, the battlefield.
Hochi stepped up to the portal with Old Man.
“Aren’t you leaving?”
Old Man asked.
Hochi broke into a cold sweat.
‘What if the portal doesn’t work?’
Hochi, who was not accepted as a challenger in the past, could not advance from here.
Lee Ho-jae tried all sorts of methods, but Hochi couldn’t get to the last section of the 61st floor.
“Old Man, what if I don’t enter it?”
The Old Man seemed to have understood just then.
“We’re both going to be quite embarra.s.sed. You didn’t even prepare a way to get over it, and with what confidence did you come here. You were so confident that I thought there was a way.”
Hochi scratched the back of his head in embarra.s.sment.
“Try it for once.”
Old Man said.
It was as he said.
Hochi said, looking at the portal beneath his feet.
“Move.”
The portal’s light expanded.
Light enveloped Hochi and the Old Man’s body.
In the next moment, Hochi and Old Man had moved to the arena.
“Uh… it works.”
* * *
[Lee Hochi(?)]
Lv.499
Power: ?
Agility: ?
Physical Strength: ?
Magic: ?
“Up to the status window…”
Hochi didn’t understand why all of a sudden he was accepted as a challenger for the tutorial.
He shouldn’t have said it like that before.
After waiting for a while, Yong-yong arrived at the arena.
Hochi asked Yong-yong what happened to him, but Yong-yong replied that he did not know.
Did they just bring him in just to be vague?
He couldn’t figure it out
“How do you plan to move on?”
In the battle arena, challengers who arrive through the two paths fight each other.
Only the winner will advance.
Hochi thought.
‘Is it possible that Yong-yong wanted to bring me here to move on?”
If so, Yong-yong leaves the 61st floor and he returns to the 60th floor.
Hochi turned his head to look at the Old Man.
He thinks he’ll be embarra.s.sed again.
He continued to embarra.s.s himself because he had said big words while regretting nothing.
He said frankly that he followed Yong-yong without thinking about anything.
Fortunately, Yong-yong didn’t bring Hochi to use as a sacrifice on the 61st floor.
[You have cleared the 61st floor.]
It was easy to clear.
He was nervous for nothing.
All he needs to do is believe in Yong Yong.
Hochi asked a question to Yong-yong, who had already moved to his side.
“How did you do it?”
“We broke through the system and moved to this side. Then all the challengers over there will be eliminated, and that will be treated as a loss, and this will become the winner’s group.”
It seemed so simple.
Hochi thought.
If Lee Ho-jae had known the method years earlier, a lot would have changed.
Once again, Yong-yong looked great.
Hochi is with Yong-yong and Old Man.
Once again, he went through the portal.
Where they arrived was a green field.
“Huing?”
And in the field.
There was Kirikiri looking at them with round eyes in surprise.