Chapter 217
“Ta-da! The beautiful manager has appeared!”
“Thank you all for the warm welcome. I was worried people might criticize me for drawing attention in the chatroom.”
“Yes, I am a genius indeed. It seems many of you have heard the rumors.”
On the screen, Un Hyang was smiling.
As she watched the final edited video, Un Hyang felt her heart pounding.
‘… Not as bad as I thought.’
At that moment, her mind had gone blank, and she didn’t even know what she was saying or how she was saying it.
She felt like she had been rambling, but watching the video, it seemed she managed to say something reasonable.
At least it didn’t appear awkward.
“My relationship with the sect isn’t good.”
A story she couldn’t easily share with anyone.
Yet, at this moment, she was speaking about it in front of tens of thousands of people.
*Thump, thump,* her heart pounded harder.
Once the video was uploaded, even more people would know about her.
—Do you think you can handle it?
It felt like another version of herself was asking.
—They like you now, but once they learn everything about you…
But before those words could finish, *Click.*
Un Hyang abruptly pressed the button on the screen.
『Video Uploaded』
“Ugh, whatever.”
*Whoosh-thud.*
She haphazardly tossed the kit, which landed on the floor, flipped over.
“Now, I don’t care.”
Having done the deed, Un Hyang laid down. It was already done, and it was spilt water.
Tens of thousands of viewers had tuned into the live stream. Unless she could silence all those eyes and mouths, it was only a matter of time before the entire world knew who Un Hyang was.
Therefore, it was better to upload the video and let more people see it. If the water was spilt, she might as well row with it.
She lay on the floor with her eyes closed tightly for a while. But even so, her heart did not calm down.
*Buzz, buzz.*
The kit kept vibrating non-stop. Comments kept flooding in on the uploaded video.
How could she possibly stay calm?
“Damn it.”
Un Hyang, who had been listening to the vibrating sound of the kit, suddenly got up.
Naturally, she headed to where Suhyuk was.
* * *
Within an expanse of thick fog that made its vastness hard to measure.
Suhyuk was trapped within Jinwoon’s formation.
Jinwoon’s formations always felt real when you entered them. His formations tricked not only the senses but also instincts, making them feel genuine.
‘It’s like a cloud.’
After all, mist and clouds were no different. Mist on the ground and clouds in the sky were essentially the same, just in different places.
*Crackle.*
Suhyuk observed the electric currents spread around him.
Though he was in a limited environment, he wasn’t overly exhausted despite dispersing electricity over such a wide area.
‘I knew it, lightning is highly influenced by its environment.’
Small droplets and crystals in the mist and clouds amplified the power of lightning.
Suhyuk didn’t have much time.
He had been given a rare opportunity to reincarnate, but at the cost of a 20 years setback.
In the latest Counter-Fight, he fought the Heavenly Demon and met Hailz.
Catching up with them through ordinary methods was not easy.
Additionally, rescuing Hyomin from the Blue Zone group would take a significant amount of time.
So, he thought of ways to shorten the time.
To conserve energy while maximizing strength.
‘If only I could create this environment myself.’
*Rumble.*
With far less magic than usual, he could produce thunderous sounds like these.
He was greedy.
If he could create mist and clouds, he wouldn’t need to bear the physical burden of lightning to enhance his specs.
“You’re here.”
*Crackle.*
The mist shattered, rippling.
As space broke like glass, Un Hyang appeared.
Seeing her dramatic entrance, Suhyuk overlapped her image with a particular moment in his mind.
‘Come to think of it, she also broke through Hailz’s magic.’
After breaking through the Great Mage’s magic, now she had penetrated even Jinwoon’s barriers.
Could she really pull it off?
A moment’s thought led to the conclusion that she could.
As expected, Un Hyang still had hidden tricks up her sleeve. The appearance he had seen of her so far was likely just the tip of the iceberg.
“What are you thinking about so deeply?”
Lee Suhyuk answered Un Hyang’s question when she came to find him.
“The usual stuff.”
“What is the usual stuff?”
“How to tackle the next trial, how to use lightning more efficiently, things like that.”
Un Hyang blinked at Suhyuk’s response.
Seeing the question mark on her face, Suhyuk asked.
“Why do you ask?”
“I just thought you wouldn’t have such ordinary worries.”
Suhyuk’s concerns were common among most players.
Worries about the next trial, concerns about becoming stronger.
But the Suhyuk that Un Hyang had seen up until now seemed far removed from such worries.
“No matter how you perceive me, I am just a player too.”
Indeed, she was sharp.
Even though he couldn’t reveal everything, Un Hyang had seen through him correctly.
In fact, Suhyuk had never worried or been concerned about the next trial until now.
After all, he had reached these levels before in the past.
But the 8th floor was different.
At that time, Suhyuk hadn’t managed to take the 8th floor’s trial. Before the trial, there was a ‘Guardian’ to pass.
The 8th floor’s Guardian, Hydra.
Immediately after the fight with that creature, Lee Suhyuk had vanished from this world.
‘It’s not just about the trial.’
“Do you remember? ‘What was destined to start someday.'”
“If you get a chance… meet the Three Demon Kings. Then… you might understand.”
Before his death, Hwang Gyuseong had left several final words.
According to him, Suhyuk was to meet the Three Demon Kings and save Hyomin in the future.
He also had to find Yerang and Shiwoo. And finally, he couldn’t forget to make Kim Ilsoo pay for his sins.
There were heaps of things to do.
For all that, he was still far from enough.
“So, why did you come here? It doesn’t seem like you just came for no reason, looking at the effort you put in to get here.”
“I just came to see you.”
“Isn’t there something you wanted to say?”
“Something to say….”
Un Hyang couldn’t outright deny it and trailed off.
She came to find Suhyuk to ease her anxiety a little, but it wasn’t as if she didn’t have anything to say.
“The truth is, I am the daughter of the Heavenly Demon.”
Why was this one sentence so difficult to say?
Jinwoon said it would be okay. That Suhyuk was not afraid of the Heavenly Demon. And indeed, that’s how it seemed to Un Hyang.
But now, having decided to tell Suhyuk, she understood.
She could tell Jinwoon this because he was someone she met for the first time.
Secrets were ironically harder to share with loved ones.
“Well… that is…”
As she hesitated for a while.
“So, this is where you two are playing.”
*Pazoozoo-.*
Just like Un Hyang, tearing through the barriers, Jinwoon entered the space where the two were.
“What are you two doing?”
“Thinking about how to become stronger.”
“Is that all you ever think about?”
“Where did you go?”
Ignoring Jinwoon’s irritated tone, Suhyuk asked a question.
Jinwoon had been gone, silent, for a few days.
“Just cleaning up a mess made by some guys.”
“Un Cheon-guk?”
At Suhyuk’s question, Jinwoon’s eyes gleamed.
“You knew?”
“I guessed. Your sudden disappearance tipped me off.”
Even if it was just a guess, he had struck right on target. It meant Suhyuk had always kept Un Cheon-guk in mind anyway.
“It was a wasted effort to go help.”
“Why? Didn’t things go well?”
Jinwoon shook his head at Un Hyang’s anxious question.
“No. It wasn’t necessary. You guys had already taken care of it.”
“Then…”
“For now, it seems everything will be fine.”
In response, Un Hyang’s expression brightened considerably.
“That’s great! That’s great, Suhyuk!”
Un Hyang jumped for joy, her happiness almost making her seem like she could fly. Watching her joyously, Suhyuk felt relieved.
‘It worked.’
If this stream hadn’t worked, it would really have been an all-out war with Un Cheon-guk. And that was a situation Suhyuk did not wish for.
The difference between the Deputy Head Baek Lidan and the Head Un Cheon-guk was enormous. The second-in-command of the Great Force, Murim, hadn’t earned that spot for nothing.
Feeling as though they had narrowly evaded disaster, Suhyuk turned to Jinwoon.
“Could I ask you for one more favor?”
“Again?”
Jinwoon’s expression twisted with displeasure.
It was true; he had already shouldered too much of the burden.
Knowing that they couldn’t keep taking advantage of him, Suhyuk decided that it was difficult to make another one-sided request.
“If I can pay in points, I will. If not, I’ll fulfill a favor for you later.”
At Suhyuk’s offer, Jinwoon’s eyes briefly gleamed intensely.
“Do you even know what kind of favor I might ask?”
His eyes seemed to say that Suhyuk couldn’t even begin to imagine.
But Suhyuk already knew what kind of favor Jinwoon had in mind.
“If it’s something difficult, then let’s call it even with this current matter.”
“You make it sound like you’d even do something hard.”
Stuck between them, Un Hyang anxiously shifted her weight.
Because of the previous day’s events, she also knew what sort of favor Jinwoon was considering.
He still harbored a grudge against the Heavenly Demon. Moreover, Jinwoon wished for someone to take revenge on his behalf, something he couldn’t accomplish himself.
If it were Suhyuk…
If it were Suhyuk someday, it might actually be possible.
“If you say so?”
“I’ll accept.”
Jinwoon smiled meaningfully.
“Alright, what’s your favor?”
“Here, this.”
Suhyuk gestured to the mist surrounding him.
“How do you create this?”
* * *
Suhyuk immediately began learning Formation Techniques from Jinwoon.
For them, there was no distinction between day and night. As if pressed for time, Suhyuk devoted himself to studying Formation Techniques, sparing even his sleeping hours.
Un Hyang also wasted no time.
In the dead of night, when everyone was asleep, Un Hyang stood in a corner of the manor, her sword drawn.
*Tss tss tss.*
Dark red energy flowed from her body like a mirage.
By now, the technique felt as familiar as using her own limbs. It felt as if someone was holding the sword with her, as though an invisible hand was guiding her.
Just as the energy started to take shape, Un Hyang’s closed eyes snapped open.
“Haa, haa—”
The concentrated energy dissipated, and she collapsed to the ground, drained of strength.
Sweat poured from her like rain, and she felt nauseous, almost to the point of vomiting.
‘Just one step forward.’
She bit her lip hard.
She was almost there. It was within reach if she just extended her hand.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t reach it; it was that she wasn’t trying to.
Even knowing that, there were things she just couldn’t accomplish. She knew that crossing this line meant there would be no coming back.
People do not change overnight. Fear and terror aren’t overcome in an instant.
What she needed now was effort and training.
Just as Un Hyang was about to use her sword as a cane to stand up, a voice rang out above her.
“Still afraid, are you?”
Her body froze.
It was a voice that should never be heard in this place.
Slowly, she raised her bowed head. At that moment, the face that haunted her dreams appeared before her.
“Heavenly… Demon.”