Chapter 42
Chapter 42
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: Birth of the Primordial Shadow
-----------------------------------------------------------------
One day.
The giants came looking for the Shadow.
The giants made a request.
They asked him to retrieve the treasure that humans had stolen from them.
They promised to repay him for life if he did.
The Shadow gladly accepted.
A lifetime of repayment.
That was as good as saying the giants would become his protectors.
And so, risking some danger, he sneaked into the human world.
To reclaim the treasure stolen by humans.
To return it to the giants.
Of course, the journey wasn't smooth.
Greater obstacles than expected loomed ahead, and the humans' power had grown far stronger than before.
How many crises did he overcome?
In the end, the Shadow succeeded in retrieving the giants' treasure from the humans.
Torn and ragged.
His body shredded.
Yet the Shadow smiled.
If the giants became his protectors, his kin would be safer.
Compared to that, these wounds were nothing.
The Shadow returned to the giants.
He handed over the treasure and said.
Please take good care of us from now on.
But the response was ice-cold.
ZZZZT.
What nonsense is this?
They claimed they'd never made such a promise and turned their backs.
ZZZT.
The Shadow felt empty.
And a deep sense of betrayal.
What had all that hardship been for?
The question came too late, but he decided to endure for his kin.
ZZZ.
His kin were so weak compared to the giants now.
So he pushed aside his personal feelings.
But not long after.
The Shadow came to regret it bitterly, pounding the ground.
Flames spreading brightly.
His kin burning.
And the laughter of greed echoing through it all.
Somehow, humans had raided his kin.
ZZZZT.
That day.
His kin were massacred by the humans.
The Shadow, arriving too late, wandered the ruins desolately.
Then, by chance, he found a kin member barely clinging to life.
He told the Shadow.
The giants.
They sold us out.
To save themselves, they told the humans our location.
ZZZZT—
With those words, his kin member's breath cut off completely.
Whoosh!
By the hand of the traitor, no less.
The Shadow turned his head in despair.
There stood the giants, come to finish off the remaining kin.
They said.
If only you all die, we can live.
Only then did the Shadow realize.
The giants had only ever cared about themselves.
That he'd been foolishly used and discarded.
And that because of his actions, his kin had met this fate.
ZZZZZZT!
So the Shadow laughed.
Laughing and laughing as he gazed up at the world turned sea of fire.
Bright.
So bright it hurt his eyes.
But it was fine.
Where there is light, there must be darkness in opposition.
Thus, he would not vanish.
He would simply be eternal.
The moment he understood that, the Shadow realized he was no longer powerless.
ZZZZZZZT—!
Surge of darkness.
Flesh tearing away.
Mad laughter.
Amid the black tidal wave engulfing the light, the Shadow became part of the world.
Thus, the primordial Shadow was born.
The white noise cut off.
Consciousness returned.
His eyes slowly began to move.
Having directly experienced the Shadow's memories, Luke immediately frowned.
'Thought my ears were gonna burst.'
The white noise that had crackled intermittently.
Every time the Shadow despaired, the entire world had buzzed with static.
It was probably a manifestation of the Shadow's emotions in the memory.
But to Luke, it was just noise pollution.
And maybe that's why.
With his face still scrunched up, he soon checked the gloves in his hand.
[Shadow's Grudge]
Grade: Rare
Description: Gloves imbued with the Shadow's grudge. During attacks, there's a certain probability for the attack to strike twice in a row.
'Huh?'
What was this?
Attacks striking twice in a row.
Did that mean double the attack count?
'Wait, hold on.'
His breath caught.
If his guess was right...
'Holy moly.'
Jackpot.
It had to be.
Rare-grade gear with an option this broken.
This item was even more insane than he'd expected.
'No, no. Jumping to jackpot conclusions is too hasty. It just says "certain probability," but we don't know the exact odds. If it's like 0.1%, I'd just be drinking kimchi soup for nothing.'
Exactly.
A probability without a precise number.
He couldn't know the real rate until he tested it himself.
Plus, he hadn't checked his skills yet.
With the level-ups this time, there was a lot to review.
[Luke]
Level: 50
Job: Great Thief
Representative Achievement: Worst Criminal in History
Fame: 0
Infamy: 0 (1,001,254)
Health: 9 Mana: 1
Strength: 9 Agility: 29(+1)
Luck: 7 Faith: -1024
First, the status window.
He'd leveled up during the war and absorbed the Night King's aura, cleanly hitting level 50.
'Level 50 in a month and a half. Not bad at all.'
If anything, it was fast.
'Alright, next up, skills...'
Luke moved to check his new skills.
But.
'Wait, what? No skills?'
They weren't there.
Or more precisely, he hadn't acquired any to begin with.
'No new skills?'
Parkour and Unlock were all from the Night King's items, so no new skill from rare-grade gloves?
He couldn't believe it.
But at that moment.
Ding!
Unexpected messages popped up before his eyes.
1st promotion.
Or more precisely, 1st awakening.
The next day.
Early in the morning, Seokwoo showed up at the capsule room.
"Hyung, you're here?"
The first to greet him was Jonghyuk at the counter, as always.
But Seokwoo walked right past the counter, as if he hadn't heard.
"Hyung?"
"......"
"Seokwoo hyung?"
"Ah, yeah. W-what?"
"No, just saying hi... Anyway, got some worries again?"
"Eh, worries are always there."
Of course.
As a dark gamer, game troubles were constant companions.
But this time was different from usual.
It was a massive dilemma.
'Hah, 1st awakening, of all things!'
The 1st promotion that usually happened around levels 40 to 50.
But as a hidden job, Luke couldn't do a normal promotion.
Instead, this awakening had popped up.
And of all things, it was a choice of one body part.
So naturally.
He was agonizing over the options more carefully than ever.
"Hey, Jonghyuk."
"Yeah."
"If you had to pick one body part, which would you choose?"
"Out of nowhere?"
"Yeah, out of nowhere."
"Hmm, even if you ask suddenly..."
At Seokwoo's abrupt question, Jonghyuk's gaze drifted downward.
More precisely, between the legs...
"You little shit, only learning the bad stuff!"
"Hyung, I'm only two years younger than you?"
"Anyway, exclude that one."
"Tch, then legs?"
"Legs?"
"Yeah, sure."
"You sure?"
"Hyung, did I do something wrong?"
"Hmm."
Leaving the troubled Jonghyuk behind, Seokwoo sank back into thought.
'Legs mean feet?'
Feet.
Usually related to speed.
What kind of awakening would feet bring?
He was inwardly curious.
'No, maybe hands would be better than feet... Nah, head after all?'
Round and round, back to square one.
Logging in like this wouldn't solve the dilemma; it'd just continue.
In the end, Seokwoo lit a cigarette and headed to the break room.
"Ah, me too, hyung."
A relatively leisurely morning.
With hardly any customers, Jonghyuk followed him in.
Sizzle!
How long did they smoke like that?
Not long after, Jonghyuk asked something he'd always wondered.
"By the way, hyung, you've been playing Agas for over a year now, right? Don't most people buy a capsule for home at that point?"
"Ah, capsule?"
"Yeah, wouldn't it be way more convenient and cost-effective to just buy one?"
"Well, yeah."
It was more comfortable, too.
But Seokwoo didn't.
Instead, he commuted to the capsule room daily, making it his regular haunt.
"Then why come to the capsule room..."
"I come with the mindset of going to work, y'know? In any job, if you get lazy, you slack off. So I treat it like work and come here."
"Ahh, I get the vibe."
"Especially with games. Some say you can enjoy them and make money at the same time, but that's bullshit. Reality isn't like that. It's either money or fun. Enjoying while earning? No way. The moment you chase both, you're screwed."
Seokwoo mimed slitting his throat while laying out the harsh truth of pro gaming.
Money or fun.
In an era too busy securing even one.
Unless you were insanely lucky, earning while enjoying was nearly impossible.
That's why Seokwoo had started Agas purely for the money.
'And that's why I was trading stolen items...'
Trading, hoarding, cornering markets, illegal auctions.
He'd done it all.
Basic strategy: stockpile items in storage, wait for prices to rise, sell at max profit.
Sometimes dump them all at once via the lawless city's black market.
'And those hoarded items got seized by the damn empire!'
Confiscated.
The memory made veins bulge on Seokwoo's forehead.
A life sentence that still pissed him off.
And the cause? All Gu Hwi's fault.
'You bastard, trip on the street and chip a tooth.'
Seokwoo silently cursed as he turned his head.
"Anyway, that's the deal."
"Hearing you, hyung, I don't think I could go pro either."
"If you're thinking lightly, better not at all."
"Yeah, yeah. Oh, heard about that?"
"What?"
"They're revealing the 2nd anniversary event this week."
Oh yeah, he'd forgotten.
Agas's 2nd anniversary event, delayed by about a month and a half.
It had taken so long to prepare that expectations were high, and now the details were dropping.
'Then it starts next week.'
Perfect timing.
The war between Damian and Kaum territories had ended, reopening the path to the hidden scenario.
'Not far either.'
He might even have time to join the event.
Depending on the rewards, of course.
Sizzle!
Seokwoo stubbed out his cigarette with that judgment.
Turning to Jonghyuk, who was still smoking his, he said gravely.
"Jonghyuk."
Dead seriously.
"Y-yeah?"
So maybe that's why.
Jonghyuk tensed at the intense gaze, waiting for what came next.
And.
"Legs after all, huh?"
"......"
Silence fell over the break room belatedly.