Chapter 26
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Their Own Stories (2)
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Kim Yoo-han parried the fog with his sword and retreated.
The scattered mist spread in all directions.
He realized a portion of the fog was undulating, targeting Ahn Joo-hye.
Kim Yoo-han rushed forward and swung his sword at the fog advancing on her.
The opposite sleeve was sliced off and fell away.
It targeted Ahn Joo-hye several more times, but Kim Yoo-han was quick to swing his sword.
The man, looking at Kim Yoo-han, asked.
“Question: Who are you?”
“Do you know the god Soter?”
The two spoke past each other, each saying only what they wanted.
The tip of Kim Yoo-han’s sword pointed at the black fog.
The fog rippled, then surrounded the collapsed Ahn Joo-hye and Kim Yoo-han.
“Never heard of him.”
Hearing the voice from beyond the fog, Kim Yoo-han sheathed his sword.
A faint sigh escaped from behind his mask.
He had started investigating a god who had recently been breaking the rules, but it seemed he’d been on the wrong track.
Kim Yoo-han, who had been radiating killing intent just moments ago, muttered in disappointment.
As Kim Yoo-han turned his back, the fog morphed into a scythe and lunged toward him and Ahn Joo-hye.
Spinning around, Kim Yoo-han blocked the fog with his sword.
“I have no business with you.”
“That is for me to decide. I ask again, who are you?”
Kim Yoo-han clicked his tongue in annoyance and batted away the scythe-shaped fog.
Driving back the retreating fog, Kim Yoo-han flicked his wrist.
“How many have you consumed so far?”
“What are you talking about?”
Kim Yoo-han vanished.
The fog swirled backward all at once, engulfing him.
“Wait…!”
In an instant, the black fog swallowed Kim Yoo-han, coalescing into a single mass.
Seeing the spherical clump of fog, Ahn Joo-hye staggered to her feet.
He was undoubtedly Kim Yoo-han.
But that wasn’t what mattered right now.
If he hadn’t helped her, she wouldn’t be here.
“Why on earth…”
That’s what the black fog had said.
That Ahn Joo-hye was weak because the god she served was weak.
Was that really true?
Was this the price for not being chosen by a famous, well-known god?
It wasn’t as if she’d never had such thoughts.
The fog surrounding Kim Yoo-han grew thicker.
Now, it looked less like fog and more like a simple black sphere.
It resembled the mass she had seen in the dungeon.
Ahn Joo-hye thrust her dagger with all her might.
The dagger seemed to penetrate for a moment before being repelled.
“Damn it! What is this thing?!”
Ahn Joo-hye swung her dagger relentlessly.
A part of the fog sharpened and shot toward her chest.
*I’m going to die!*
The moment she squeezed her eyes shut, something flashed before her.
Kim Yoo-han burst out from between the two halves of the neatly bisected sphere.
Moving swiftly, Kim Yoo-han protected Ahn Joo-hye and batted away the fog.
He pulled something from his pocket and threw it. The sphere-like object exploded, creating a massive blast.
Its power was not much different from a grenade.
Smoke from the explosion filled the area.
The sound of sirens echoed from beyond the broken window.
Kim Yoo-han grabbed Ahn Joo-hye’s hand and leaped out the window.
The fog, about to give chase, retreated upon seeing the fire truck and ambulance rushing down the end of the road.
After landing, Kim Yoo-han extended a hand to Ahn Joo-hye, who had collapsed on the ground.
“Are you okay?”
Ahn Joo-hye only had minor scratches.
Even as a D-class, she was still a Hunter, so a jump from this height wouldn’t result in serious injury.
Kim Yoo-han slipped into an alley, avoiding the approaching paramedics and firefighters.
Ahn Joo-hye followed him.
Keeping up with Kim Yoo-han’s pace was quite a struggle.
When they reached a deserted area, Ahn Joo-hye mustered the courage to speak to him.
To be precise, he had stopped for her, but that didn't matter.
“What the hell are you?”
“…”
“You… and Kang Han-gyeol, what are you people?”
Kim Yoo-han reacted to the name Kang Han-gyeol.
Kang Han-gyeol.
He’d never seen the guy before, but he seemed familiar somehow.
He also looked accustomed to dealing with the thought-form-infested Queen Ant.
‘And that attack and mana.’
It was faint, but he felt a similar energy to the god Soter.
It was too early to be certain.
In any case, like Ahn Joo-hye, he had to agree that the guy was unique in many ways.
Kim Yoo-han crossed his arms and approached Ahn Joo-hye.
Ahn Joo-hye felt an unidentifiable sense of pressure.
In the heavy air, Kim Yoo-han’s voice was low.
“That day. I saw you put something into the monster.”
He no longer seemed intent on hiding his identity.
Ahn Joo-hye bit her lip.
“Are you going to report me to the Guild?”
“Why would I do something so troublesome?”
“Then what are you going to do?”
“Nothing. I have no intention of doing anything.”
Ahn Joo-hye wore a look of incomprehension.
“Don’t ever touch them again.”
Kim Yoo-han warned her.
For personal reasons, he had infiltrated the Aria Guild a month ago.
He had heard the rumors relatively recently.
The Hunters who dabbled with the thought fragments had various reasons.
Someone was intentionally approaching them.
The offers varied, from billions of won just for implanting the thing into a monster to promises of transfers to famous guilds.
The primary targets were those like Ahn Joo-hye, who had been stuck at the same rank for a long time and fallen into a rut, or whose distrust in their patron god had reached a peak.
He wasn't entirely unsympathetic to her feelings, but her methods were wrong.
Doing something like that wouldn’t change a thing.
It was the same then as it was now.
“Then what am I supposed to do?”
The strength drained from Ahn Joo-hye’s body.
Don’t touch them? Did he think she did it without knowing the risks?
Choi Soo-hyun, who was known to have Awakened a year before her, was now an S-class Hunter.
He hadn't even started as a D-class Hunter, but a C-class. It only took him a year to go from C-class to B-class.
Even Kim Yoo-han, who had seemed the most pathetic, had now proven to be stronger than her.
What on earth was the problem?
“Do you think I wanted to do this?”
She thought that if she performed well in the Raon Guild, she might have a chance to serve the god Lux.
“I started first, but everyone is getting ahead of me. The guys I looked down on are now ahead of me. What the hell am I supposed to do?!”
Her cry was close to a roar of fury.
She didn't like her god.
Just as the mysterious fog had said, she had cursed her god before.
*Why did you have to choose me?*
There was never any answer.
“Pitiful.”
“What?”
“For what purpose does the god you serve even exist?”
Ahn Joo-hye couldn’t answer Kim Yoo-han’s question.
In all her time as a Hunter, she had never once seriously thought about her god.
She was hit with a shock, as if struck in the head with a hammer.
What kind of god was hers, anyway?
She had resented him, but she had never tried to understand him.
Was that really all there was to it?
She didn't know that either.
As Ahn Joo-hye stood silent, Kim Yoo-han’s voice reached her.
“Have you ever spoken with your god?”
“What are you talking about? A god is a god. There’s no way you can talk to a god. That’s impossible.”
“Have you ever tried?”
Ahn Joo-hye couldn’t refute his words.
“I don’t know. I don’t think anything would change even if I did.”
Kim Yoo-han didn’t reply.
Giving up without trying everything possible was foolish.
“Don’t give up.”
As Kim Yoo-han saw it, Ahn Joo-hye had potential.
She just hadn't realized it herself.
Potential wasn't something so grand.
It was the strength to not give up and move forward in the face of death, at the moment when everyone said it was impossible.
If she had no potential, then the moment he was trapped by the fog, she would have chosen to run rather than fight.
If nothing else, he wanted to acknowledge her courage for rushing in without hesitation in that situation.
Kim Yoo-han turned his back.
Seeing his back, Ahn Joo-hye’s heart grew anxious.
“What are you? The name Kim Yoo-han, that’s an alias, isn’t it? At least tell me your name.”
“…”
“I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”
Ahn Joo-hye wanted to know.
After becoming a D-class Hunter, she had reassured herself: *A year is fine. Two years isn’t so bad either.*
But as the years passed, no one remembered Ahn Joo-hye, the youngest Awakened One.
At some point, everyone just saw her as a D-class Hunter with a bit more experience and moved on.
Kim Yoo-han pulled his lowered mask back up.
A heavy voice came from behind it.
“Yoo Ji-han.”
Ji-han spoke his name clearly.
Kim Yoo-han was indeed an alias.
Now that he’d been found out, he couldn’t use it anymore, but he felt it would be impolite not to give his name in this situation.
Kim Yoo-han vaulted over the wall and left.
Instead of chasing after him, Ahn Joo-hye simply watched him go in silence.
She felt as if a glimmer of hope, however small, had appeared.
* * *
Hot sunlight streamed in through the window.
The classroom was filled with the cool breeze of the air conditioner.
It felt as though the inside and outside of the window were two different worlds.
I was sitting at the teacher’s desk.
Yoo Ji-han was sitting on a student’s desk.
In a large classroom that could fit over thirty students, there was just one student and one teacher.
Not that the student could even see the teacher’s face.
[Hmm, where were we?]
“You were talking about the 3rd floor. Something about a train.”
[Before that.]
After my conversation with Choi Soo-hyun, I returned home and immediately challenged the 3rd floor of the Tower of Trials.
Since I hadn't been inside for nearly a month, I couldn't guess what the state of the tower was.
The time difference with Yoo Ji-han was about a week.
To be precise, it was a week and three days, so about ten days.
After clearing the 3rd floor, I was once again transported to the ‘space between floors.’
Last time it was a gym; this time, it was a classroom.
At first, I thought it was influenced by my memories, but after hearing his story, it seemed more likely that the space was reconstructed based on Yoo Ji-han’s memories.
Apparently, this classroom also resembled the one where he had classes in his first year of middle school.
There was a slight time lag in our meetings.
For example, when Yoo Ji-han entered the 3rd floor to challenge it, I could meet him only after I had cleared it.
I didn’t know how the structure worked, but it had the advantage of allowing me to give him prior information about the floor he was about to challenge.
Contrary to my worries that he might be dead, Yoo Ji-han had cleared the 2nd floor and survived.
He was still carrying the weapon he’d shaken down from Choi Soo-hyun.
Honestly, I was more concerned about the sword at his waist than Yoo Ji-han himself.
I looked at Yoo Ji-han’s contribution points.
[Yoo Ji-han]
Contribution Points: 40,390
Perhaps because he cleared the party-exclusive 2nd floor by himself, his contribution points were quite high.
Meanwhile, some of us clear the tower diligently and get nothing but administrator privileges.
[You’ve got a lot of contribution points, huh?]