Chapter 102
Chapter 102
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: The Second Valkyrie
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"Yes, Team Leader. Oh, really? It went well?"
While Soo-hyuk's stream was ongoing.
Manager Unhyang was spending her time busily at the dorm in her own way.
"Got it. Hanging up."
Click.
With the call finished, she ended it. Once again, Team Leader John Tail skipped the greeting.
"What? What's up?"
"Oh, this? Pak Soo-hyuk. Collab approved."
"Pak Soo-hyuk?"
Cheongryang, who had been munching happily on tanghulu, froze in surprise.
"Hey, you don't know? The one that ruins anyone who does it?"
"The jinx? Yeah, I know."
"And you're still doing it for real?"
"Soo-hyuk agreed too. Of course I told him about the jinx."
"What a weirdo, that guy."
Cheongryang stared intently at Unhyang as she said it.
She'd looked busy since morning.
"What else you up to?"
"Got a message from Reinhardt's side. They want to meet Soo-hyuk just once. Replying to that."
"Hah."
As if finding the situation amusing, Cheongryang leaned forward and asked,
"Were you always this type?"
"What do you mean?"
"You definitely weren't the type to work this hard..."
Cheongryang tilted her head.
"You sure you're really okay?"
Unhyang flinched.
Her hand stopped at those words.
"Not like you're running away or anything?"
"Running from what?"
"You'll probably... soon..."
Cheongryang trailed off.
Did she really need to remind her of the reality she was trying to forget with work? The thought suddenly popped into her head.
But unfortunately, Unhyang had already caught on to what Cheongryang was about to say.
No.
She'd known for a long time, without needing to pick up on it.
"Hey, I know. I get it."
Unhyang responded to what Cheongryang hadn't even said.
"I'm just doing this because I like it."
"You like Lee Soo-hyuk the streamer that much?"
"Yeah, I do."
Unhyang nodded without hesitation.
"Feels exactly like the same person."
"With Lee Soo-hyuk?"
"Yeah. Like they're twins or something."
There was a feeling. And when that feeling sharpened to an extreme, it became intuition.
The Unhyang that Cheongryang knew had intuition sharper than anyone.
And now that Unhyang was saying it.
The two Lee Soo-hyuks were identical.
"He showed you? Behind the mask-."
"No, not his face. I haven't seen his face either. And I don't even know what real Soo-hyuk looks like, so what's the point?"
"Oh, right."
Cheongryang smacked her forehead and nodded, and Unhyang continued her explanation.
"Just his actions, speech, even fighting style. Everything. Too identical."
"Well..."
Cheongryang crossed her arms, letting out a hollow laugh in disbelief.
"No wonder the reincarnation rumors about Lee Soo-hyuk are going around."
"I hope it's true."
Unhyang giggled, looking happy just thinking about it.
And then she went back to replying to Reinhardt.
Cheongryang watched her while munching on the half-eaten tanghulu.
'Lee Soo-hyuk, huh...'
She glanced at Soo-hyuk's stream on her phone.
Long ago.
Recalling the day Unhyang fell for Lee Soo-hyuk, Cheongryang got sucked into the stream.
'Could this guy really replace Lee Soo-hyuk?'
She knew it was a ridiculous hope.
But still, entertaining the 'what if'.
Packing light, he left the cave with Viola.
The forest they entered after exiting the cave for the first time felt somehow eerie.
The air was cold. The trees grew thick, as if refusing to let in any light.
"Sorry about yesterday."
While passing through the forest.
Vigo cautiously drew close to Soo-hyuk's side and spoke.
"On second thought, I think I was the one who messed up."
"No need to apologize."
Soo-hyuk meant it.
Far from accepting an apology, he actually felt grateful.
If not for him, he wouldn't have secured the promise of a sword from Viola.
"Truth be told, I suspected you. That you, not even from Asgard, possessed such power."
"After I knocked you out in one hit?"
"Strength is one thing, but that power originally belongs to Asgard."
Soo-hyuk frowned behind his mask.
This conversation felt like it had looped several times yesterday.
"So, whose power is this?"
"That's..."
"Vigo."
Viola's call.
She cut him off, shaking her head at Vigo to end the talk.
"Yes. I know."
Vigo shut his mouth there. Soo-hyuk sighed at the repeated pattern.
Again.
Why were they so hung up on his lightning power? They wouldn't explain to the end.
Soo-hyuk and the viewers were equally frustrated.
But perhaps feeling bad for repeating the conversation, Viola apologized and tossed a hint.
"Sorry. But this much I can say for sure. If you follow Asgard's path, you'll meet them in the end."
She didn't specify who.
Probably couldn't mention it.
Still, Soo-hyuk vaguely guessed who she meant.
'That man.'
The man with the hammer from the cutscene.
The one who sent Viola and the three Valkyries here, hiding the Heart of Thunder on the surface. He held the key.
How to meet him?
As he pondered that,
"It's coming into view now."
After passing the forest and traveling far.
Down at the base of the mountain, far off, he spotted where another Valkyrie was.
A massive fortress-like city surrounded by high walls.
The capital of Conrad Kingdom appeared before them.
A city of enormous scale at a glance.
A tall castle in the center, and from this distance, the outlines of huge mansions were visible.
Plus vast territory that could house hundreds of thousands.
It looked like just a giant city on the surface, but everything for this trial was right here.
"The Throne of Thunder is in Conrad Kingdom's capital."
"The capital? In a city that big?"
"Yes. To hide a tree, hide it in a forest. To hide a person, hide them in a city."
It wasn't wrong.
The throne. The perfect place to hide a king's seat was where the king was.
The Valkyries had used Conrad Kingdom's capital—the king's seat—as the Throne of Thunder.
But.
"It was perfect. No one's ever sat on Conrad Kingdom's throne."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't you know? Conrad Kingdom hasn't had a king in the last five hundred years."
A kingdom without a king.
That was Conrad Kingdom.
The ideal spot to hide a throne.
But somehow, the demons had discovered the empty throne's secret.
'Everything's here.'
Meeting Viola was just the first step to get here.
'Valkyries, Muspelheim demons, Heart of Thunder.'
It looked like a city, but it wasn't.
Soo-hyuk defined the massive city before him thus.
'This is a dungeon.'
"Freshly baked bread! On sale for just the next 10 minutes!"
"Silk from Osman!"
"Buying anything! Bring it here! Clothes, metal scraps, leather—I'll take it all!"
The noisy marketplace.
A bit past morning, the city square buzzed with people.
Viola had her face wrapped in cloth among them.
"Do we have to do this?"
"Weren't you hiding?"
"Well..."
"Then obviously cover your face."
"What about Vigo?"
"He's fine."
Viola still looked puzzled at Soo-hyuk's answer.
But no choice. Vigo could cover or not—it didn't matter—but Viola was different.
The reason for the disparity was simple.
Her face.
In a place this crowded, Viola's face stood out too much. If Muspelheim demons hunting Valkyries were nearby, they'd spot her for sure.
"You know where they are?"
"We can sense them even if separated."
"So where?"
"Uh... this way for sure, but..."
At Viola's answer, Soo-hyuk asked what he half-suspected.
"They're definitely alive, right?"
"That's..."
Viola trailed off again, unable to answer.
Her darting eyes showed she didn't really know.
She might be freaking out to save someone already dead. Her expression betrayed it.
'They're alive, but...'
Soo-hyuk sighed at Viola's face.
'Can't guarantee both.'
This scenario was titled 'Rescue'.
By the description, the Valkyrie would be alive. But rescue could mean one, not both.
First, they needed to figure out how many they were saving here.
Plus.
"Rescuing Lady Belveil is important, but we must be most wary of the demons."
Vigo said something right for once.
Right. It wasn't just the Valkyries' survival they needed to worry about.
The demons somewhere in this huge city.
Moving without getting caught by them was top priority.
"How many exactly?"
A question tossed out, prepared to fight if needed.
Now that they were here, she'd spill it freely—or so he thought, but Viola spoke up.
"Hundreds confirmed."
"Hundreds?"
"Yes. All Valkyrie-level demons."
The absurd answer sparked question marks and laughter in chat.
Soo-hyuk's reaction wasn't much different.
'Does that even make sense?'
Hundreds. And not weaklings—each a Valkyrie-level demon from Asgard.
No matter how he thought about it, this was overkill. Even after Jinwoon's ritual boosting his confidence, a head-on fight was impossible.
Hundreds of demons was a force that could wage war on a Valkyrie legion without issue.
'Something's off.'
The answer only deepened the mystery.
Viola had said this world had system constraints.
System.
If it was the same kind Soo-hyuk knew, it was absolute power.
Even their king, the great god Odin himself, couldn't defy it.
So what was it?
Just a similar name, or another reason.
If the latter, good. If former, full-scale war with demons was off the table.
"By any chance..."
As they wandered the vast city aimlessly.
"Viola?"
In the middle of the street.
A stunningly beautiful woman spotted Viola and looked shocked.
And Viola, spotting her,
"Belveim?"
called her name with unbridled joy and brightness.
The moment they met the second Valkyrie.