Chapter 15
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: I'm Pretty Awesome (3)
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"Hey, about that god you serve."
"It's not some edgy phase I'm going through, so shut up."
Even though I'd come up with the name myself, I couldn't deny it sounded like something out of an edgy phase.
Thinking about it now was embarrassing, but once a divine name was chosen, it couldn't be changed.
'Besides, there isn't a divine name that suits me better than this one.'
Shongshong, who had been on Choi Soo-hyun's lap, hopped down.
Watching it casually wander into the inner room, I couldn't help but think a dog's life was better than a human's.
"I don't really care what the name is... but if he's the 'Dark God of Destruction,' what exactly is he trying to destroy?"
Most divine names directly reflected the god's disposition. There was no way Choi Soo-hyun didn't know that.
"Everything."
"What?"
"Literally everything. He's going to destroy it all."
"You... you crazy bastard. Don't say things like that so seriously."
Choi Soo-hyun shook his head, looking fed up.
Even I had to admit it sounded a bit much, but the truth was the truth.
"Don't worry. I'm not planning on world destruction or anything like that."
"Just hearing you talk, you sound like a straight-up villain. Now I see why that guy never told me his god's disposition. So, what's the plan?"
"To be honest, I'm not sure what the other gods' objectives are. But the god I serve said his purpose is revenge."
"Revenge? Against whom?"
"Against the damn gods, of course."
I shrugged as if stating the obvious.
I had laid all my cards on the table for Choi Soo-hyun.
I would be more than grateful if he joined my side, but it wasn't a situation where I could force him.
After a long moment of contemplation, Choi Soo-hyun finally spoke.
"How long is your offer on the table?"
"Until you decide to serve another god. No matter what I offer, for you, joining now means taking a loss. But there's one thing I can say for sure."
"What's that?"
"The god I serve isn't some idiot who'd order you to commit suicide as proof of faith."
At my response, Choi Soo-hyun gave a bitter smile and drained the rest of his soju.
* * *
My fingertips were numb. I couldn't feel a thing.
The world was a blur. A splash of red stained the black-and-white scene.
My breathing grew ragged, labored. My chest felt like it was on fire, driving me mad.
My sense of reality faded, and time seemed to slow to a crawl.
*Haa, haa.*
As I lowered my head, a familiar man's face came into my narrow field of vision.
The man's condition was so grave it was more accurate to say he was dead with his eyes open rather than alive.
The sound of something massive collapsing jolted me awake.
"Again..."
It was a dream similar to the last one.
I rubbed my heavy eyelids and opened my eyes. My chest ached as if something was pressing down on it.
*Woof woof.*
Shongshong, who was on top of me, barked at me.
As I sat up, Shongshong gracefully hopped down.
Morning sunlight streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling window.
I'd been having a lot of dreams lately. My head throbbed.
My stomach was unsettled from the hangover. I stumbled off the sofa.
After our conversation had mostly wrapped up, I'd finished all the remaining soju.
It seemed I had blacked out after that, as I couldn't remember anything.
Shongshong, who had been scurrying around the floor, ran toward the stairs. I heard footsteps and the sound of someone approaching.
Choi Soo-hyun came down the stairs, waving, with Shongshong in his arms, who had run up to him demanding to be held.
"You're up?"
"Yeah, well. Aren't you going to work today?"
"Took the day off. I'm getting something to cure our hangovers. What do you want?"
"Are you cooking?"
"Ask your girlfriend to do that for you. I'm ordering delivery."
Choi Soo-hyun sat in front of the sofa and fiddled with his phone.
"Hangover soup, then."
"Okay. I've got something to do upstairs, so let me know when the food arrives."
"Got it."
Choi Soo-hyun went upstairs. I sluggishly cleared away the empty liquor bottles from last night.
I went to the bathroom, and just as I finished my shower, the delivery food arrived with perfect timing.
As I placed the food on the wooden table in the living room, Choi Soo-hyun came down from the second floor.
While I was opening the plastic containers one by one, Choi Soo-hyun went to the fridge, pulled out a bottle of soju, and set it on the table.
"Whoa, are you seriously drinking again? Didn't you just say this was to cure our hangovers?"
"The best way to cure a hangover is with more alcohol."
"If you're going to do that, you might as well drink hard liquor. Why are you chugging soju like it's water?"
"Koreans drink soju, kid."
"Do you even get drunk?"
Choi Soo-hyun didn't answer and continued his meal with the soju. As we were finishing up, his voice came from the kitchen area.
"Want some coffee?"
"If you're making it."
Shortly after I answered, Choi Soo-hyun brought over the coffee.
"Right. I have a favor to ask you, too."
"Park Si-woo of the Aria Guild."
Choi Soo-hyun replied with uncanny accuracy as he set down the coffee.
Is this guy a Hunter or a psychic?
Fortunately, it didn't seem like he'd read my mind. Was it that obvious on my face?
Seeing my surprise, Choi Soo-hyun added.
"Didn't you need a guild?"
I nodded at his words.
Most Hunters find a god to serve shortly after they awaken.
For its size and number of Hunters, Korea had a high concentration of quality, so most well-known gods had at least one or two guilds or branches in the country.
Hunters who served gods without a representative guild often had nowhere to go.
In that case, there were two options.
Join another guild, fully expecting to be treated as an outsider.
Or, join a third-party faction.
If being in the minority was frustrating, the minorities could just band together. Because of this, third-party factions didn't discriminate based on the god one served.
Naturally, since I had no intention of joining a guild that served another god, that was exactly the kind of guild I needed.
His experience really showed; he knew exactly what I was thinking.
"Park Si-woo. I've heard that name somewhere..."
"He's the guild master. An incredibly stubborn guy who lives a boring life, but he'll probably take in someone like you."
Choi Soo-hyun set down his empty coffee cup.
I couldn't tell if that was a compliment or not, but an introduction wouldn't hurt.
He said it would take about a week to get in touch with him since he was in a dungeon.
It wasn't urgent, so waiting that long wasn't a big deal.
"Right. Do you have any spare weapons? A sword would be great."
"Well, well. Look at you, trying to squeeze every last drop out of this. When did I ever say I'd be your sponsor?"
"Well, my role is the god's proxy. You know you can't join without my permission, right?"
"That's a weak threat."
Choi Soo-hyun scoffed, dumbfounded.
A man who could go anywhere he pleased had no reason to fear the proxy of a third-rate god.
"I'll give you a high-ranking position."
"Who's this bastard stating the obvious like it's some grand offer?"
I shut my mouth at Choi Soo-hyun's retort.
I was a pretty good judge of character.
I wished he would tone down the overconfidence, but I knew it wasn't just a bluff, so there was nothing more to say. My eyes met Choi Soo-hyun's.
"What else?"
"Am I that obvious?"
"If you need anything else, say it all now. I don't like doing things twice."
"Recommend someone to me. A Hunter who's not busy."
"The only Hunter who's 'not busy' is a nobody like you, you unknown."
I didn't bother to deny his words.
Choi Soo-hyun might scowl if he heard me say it, but I thought we got along quite well.
Despite his words, there was no way he didn't know what I wanted.
Choi Soo-hyun held a managerial position at the Association, overseeing trainees.
Even if he didn't train them himself, he had access to the Association's database.
"Someone unaffiliated, who hasn't given up on being a Hunter and is drifting from place to place. Someone who's underestimated for their skills but has no choice but to live with it. Oh, and it'd be even better if they had some pent-up dissatisfaction with society."
Choi Soo-hyun looked disgusted by my answer.
* * *
[Entering the Tower of Trials Lobby.]
The lobby was still nothing more than a garbage heap.
The wooden buildings looked like they had been abandoned for at least several decades.
I had once visited a village where everyone had died from a plague.
A village where time seemed to have stopped.
The lobby I was in felt exactly like that.
Giving up on cleaning, I stepped onto the portal.
[Challenge the 2nd Floor? You cannot return to the lobby until you clear it.]
[Challenging the 2nd Floor.]
[Protection]
Floor: 2
Objective: Protect the mana core for 3 hours.
Reward: 2nd Floor Administrator Authority
Once again, I found myself in a forest.
In the center of an empty clearing, a blue gem the size of a grown man floated, emitting a soft light.
A golden band encircled the gem.
It was clearly an object that needed protecting.
I placed my hand on the massive mana core.
[Mana Core]
A giant mana stone formed from condensed mana.
I have never seen an object of this size.
A core with this much mana could probably be used to cast large-scale area-of-effect spells.
It's an item that anyone, not just monsters, would covet.
Remaining: 100%
The moment I touched the mana core, a stopwatch appeared before my eyes.
[Time Remaining: 2:59:30]
Leaves rustled in the wind, and crows took flight into the sky.
The ground shook as if there were an earthquake.
A large tree toppled forward, revealing a troop of axe-wielding goblins.
It wasn't just one or two goblins that appeared to claim the mana core.
Unlike the goblins from the 1st floor, these seemed well-trained.
If I had to say, they resembled the goblin troop I saw when I first fell into the Tower of Trials.
After taking over the Tower of Trials, I had tried to summon the goblins I'd seen at the entrance, but unfortunately, it was impossible to summon monsters there.
Even if I had succeeded, there was no guarantee the summoned monsters would be the same as the ones I saw at the tower's entrance.
"Well, I'll have to make do with what I have."
I drew the sword I had taken from Choi Soo-hyun under the guise of "support."
One by one, the goblins emerged from the forest.
At a glance, there seemed to be more than ten of them.
A goblin wearing a bone necklace gave a signal, and they all charged at once.