Chapter 160
Chapter 160
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 160
Chapter Title: The Morning of the Clash
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The morning of the Clash had dawned.
Cha Min-woo munched on toast while searching his kit for articles about himself.
Articles about him reaching the 8th floor. For this Clash, Cha Min-woo had fully cleared the 7th floor trial.
If it had been just a little while ago, the articles would have been full of praise.
The public reaction would have been the same.
But not anymore.
The public's temperature had cooled compared to before.
He had known it would happen.
He knew how big a shock the emergence of a new Lee Soo-hyuk had been to the masses.
'Same here.'
Cha Min-woo had watched Lee Soo-hyuk's stream too.
Honestly, he'd wondered just how good it could be. He'd thought it would be on par with the other players called geniuses.
But he'd been wrong.
'Not even the real Lee Soo-hyuk's reincarnation.'
The streamer Lee Soo-hyuk was beyond the word "genius."
His play had made countless geniuses look like fools, and among those fools was Cha Min-woo himself.
"Tch."
Thud-.
Hwang Gyu-seong watched Cha Min-woo roughly close his kit and toss it to one side of the desk.
"What's up? In a bad mood?"
"Not that bad."
"You were all hyped when you passed the trial."
Gauging Cha Min-woo's expression, Hwang Gyu-seong curled the corner of his mouth and asked,
"Don't tell me it's because of that streamer?"
"......"
Sometimes silence is another form of affirmation. This was exactly that.
Hwang Gyu-seong, who had watched Lee Soo-hyuk's streams while lounging around, reacted with an "I knew it."
"He's good, sure. But don't let it get to you. You think rankers haven't crumbled because of that?"
"Yeah."
He had no words to describe this feeling of looking small.
Whether it was a sense of deprivation or wounded pride, even he wasn't sure.
"You've got talent too."
Cha Min-woo looked surprised at the casual remark spat out while picking at his teeth.
"So straighten up. You're a man, aren't you?"
"Didn't know you could say stuff like that."
"What? What kind of guy did you think I was?"
"You usually deflate me."
"I can do that right now if you want."
Thanks to spending so much time together, the two could now have fairly friendly conversations.
Still, Cha Min-woo didn't fully trust Hwang Gyu-seong yet.
"......I still can't judge you."
"Is that so?"
"The vice guild master said to judge who you are while living together, but so far, you haven't shown me anything."
What Hwang Gyu-seong had done was simple.
Eat, sleep, play.
He was lazier than any layabout Cha Min-woo had ever seen.
Doubts kept creeping in.
Was this man really Hwang Gyu-seong?
One of Blue Eyes' members like Lee Soo-hyuk, the legend said to be dead?
"What if I am the real Hwang Gyu-seong?"
He asked that but never proved it.
"If it's true that Il-su betrayed us, could you really stick a knife in his back then?"
"......Yes."
"Why?"
This wasn't a conversation for the day of the big event. It should have happened when they first met.
It was late, but fortunate. Better late than never.
"Because they stabbed a comrade in the back too. And that comrade was my idol and hero."
Simple math.
Cha Min-woo had joined Blue Zone idolizing Lee Soo-hyuk. The sole reason was that Kim Il-su had been the old Lee Soo-hyuk's comrade.
But if Kim Il-su was the betrayer who stabbed Lee Soo-hyuk in the back?
There'd be no reason to stay in Blue Zone anymore.
"You're a real fanboy of that guy, huh."
"Aren't you?"
"Fanboy? Nah, I was his friend."
"That's the coolest thing you've said to me."
"You little punk, getting cocky."
Standing up, Hwang Gyu-seong ruffled Cha Min-woo's hair with his pot-lid-sized hand.
Walking to the window, he looked down at the crowd outside and said,
"You'll know who I am once things kick off."
Cha Min-woo already knew he wasn't an ordinary player.
The skill that overwhelmed Lee Won-jae in an instant was believable as Blue Eyes legend. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed it.
Yet the reason he couldn't trust him 100% was something else.
"If you really are Hwang Gyu-seong, and Il-su hyung is Blue Eyes' betrayer... why keep hiding?"
"That question again?"
"I'll keep asking until I get a straight answer. And I won't fully trust you."
He'd asked several times already.
And every time, Hwang Gyu-seong dodged with vague words.
"I don't trust anyone either."
Cha Min-woo looked shocked.
For the first time, a different answer.
"I trust no one."
His eyes gazing out the window reflected the masses below.
"......No one."
Two hours until the Clash preliminaries.
Cha Min-woo arrived at the arena first.
The preliminary arena was a crude coliseum.
Unlike the main event, it hosted simple game formats and stretched several kilometers long.
The stands were gradually filling. Plenty of time before the match, but already half full.
Cha Min-woo and Hee-young stood at the top of an empty section, looking down.
"This big, you could fight a war here."
His first Clash outing. But now wasn't the time for excitement or nerves.
"What about that guy you've been hanging with?"
Her question as his Clash partner got a reply.
"With the vice guild master."
"You know this is basically a coup, right?"
"Yeah."
"If he's not Hwang Gyu-seong, we're all dead. You know where he was found."
Cha Min-woo nodded.
"Maybe."
"You really trust him?"
Instead of answering, he recalled Hwang Gyu-seong's words.
"I trust no one."
He didn't trust either.
Yet Hwang Gyu-seong had emerged from the forest.
Leaving the demonic fence that protected him, to get revenge on Kim Il-su after 20 years.
"......Who knows."
"No matter how I think about it, it's weird."
"Let's stop thinking. I've thought about him plenty."
"Not him. The vice guild master."
"Vice guild master?"
"Yeah. What's he thinking? If we don't trust him and tell the guild master, what then?"
He'd thought about it.
Should he tell Kim Il-su? This silence meant siding with Vice Guild Master Lee Won-jae's intentions.
Lee Won-jae hadn't killed them despite knowing about Hwang Gyu-seong.
Not just trust.
There was another calculation.
"Dunno. I don't kno......"
That was when it happened.
Cha Min-woo's gaze shifted below the stands mid-sentence. He trailed off, distracted, eyes widening.
Hee-young followed his gaze at his reaction.
"What'd you see?"
Where he looked, two stood in a corner of the stands.
Both eye-catching.
One a stunning beauty rarely seen, the other wearing a familiar mask.
"People still wear those masks."
Common around Clash starts.
Until 20 years ago, many wore that mask as memorabilia.
Though new heroes rose over Lee Soo-hyuk's name, some still did.
"......Not just spectators."
"Then?"
"Gotta check."
Cha Min-woo strode toward them.
Cha Min-woo was approaching.
Soo-hyuk, standing in a corner of the stands with Unhyang, noticed him.
"Coming this way."
He'd pondered how to approach, but no need. Spotting Soo-hyuk, he came straight over.
Unhyang, sensing him too, lowered her voice.
"Not a coincidence, right?"
Quick as ever.
No time for full explanation. Even if there was, he couldn't tell everything.
"Wanted to meet him once."
That was all he could say now. Fortunately, Unhyang didn't press.
He appreciated that.
Suddenly, he thought maybe one day he'd tell her everything.
'She'd faint.'
A chuckle leaked from under the mask.
Whether she'd believe he was the real Lee Soo-hyuk's reincarnation was another matter, but he was curious about her reaction if she did.
"Huh? You just laughed."
"Didn't."
"Pretty sure you did-."
By the time they exchanged a few words, Cha Min-woo was close.
"Mind if we talk?"
"Of course."
Soo-hyuk didn't refuse. If anything, he seemed to have been waiting.
Cha Min-woo caught that, eyes gleaming.
"Right? Lee Soo-hyuk the streamer."
"Yes."
"Meeting here like this. Nice to meet you. I'm Cha Min-woo."
"You introduced me already. Nice to meet you. This is my manager-."
"Unhyang."
Soo-hyuk and Cha Min-woo shook hands. As time passed, Cha Min-woo's gaze on Soo-hyuk grew hotter.
"Saw you're in the Clash."
"Watch my stream?"
"Yes. Regular viewer."
Figured.
He'd thought so when Cha Min-woo sought him out first. He'd worn the mask hoping for it. Now they had a natural connection.
"Haven't streamed lately."
"Prepping for the Clash."
"Knew it."
Nodding knowingly, Cha Min-woo stated his purpose.
"I'm in the Clash too."
"Heard."
"I'll definitely snag a main event spot."
Main event spots weren't singular. Good preliminary scores granted direct mains next time.
But Cha Min-woo's reason for bringing it up was one.
A declaration: If we meet in this match, I won't lose.
"Let's both do our best."
Not the reaction he'd hoped for?
Cha Min-woo's face twisted slightly at Soo-hyuk's words.
Regardless, Soo-hyuk cut to the chase he needed.
"No companions?"