Chapter 172
Chapter 172
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 172
Chapter Title: Back in the Arena
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When he opened his eyes again, everything around him had changed completely.
A sky shrouded in thick, dark clouds. Empty spectator stands devoid of any audience. A sunken floor littered with traces of countless battles.
He was back in the arena.
Just moments ago, he could barely lift a finger, but now his body felt light.
The trial was completely over.
Throb-.
"Ugh-."
The moment he tried to get up, a sharp pain surged through his head.
No matter how much his body had recovered, the mental fatigue lingered.
A human body, no matter how trained, did not have infinite mental strength.
His body and mind were pleading. To rest now. To stop abusing them endlessly.
But Soo-hyuk ignored them cleanly.
'Which way?'
Soo-hyuk adjusted his mask firmly and scanned his surroundings.
He had succeeded in quickly ending the match. The problem was that even after coming out here, Hwang Gyu-seong was nowhere to be seen.
The battles here seemed to have already concluded. The participants had shown themselves, but the ones who should have been fighting—Hwang Gyu-seong and the other rankers—were missing.
He needed to find the direction.
Soo-hyuk focused all his senses on surveying the area.
"Lee Soo-hyuk-ssi-."
At that moment, Cha Min-woo approached Soo-hyuk.
"Lee Soo-hyuk-ssi."
His face was a mix of resignation, surprise, and admiration.
"I watched the match. Honestly... it's embarrassing for me."
He had been quickly eliminated from the match due to his fight with Soo-hyuk and had watched the rest as a spectator.
Naturally, his focus was on Soo-hyuk, and he had seen every moment of Soo-hyuk's performance from start to finish.
"I'll keep my promise. When you're ready, come with me now..."
"The broadcast ends here."
"...Pardon?"
Cha Min-woo's face filled with confusion at the sudden declaration.
And right after.
Suddenly, Soo-hyuk's broadcast ended, and a thunderclap erupted from beneath his feet.
Kaboom-!
Soo-hyuk's figure rapidly shot away.
In the middle of the empty spectator stands, without a single audience member.
Even amid the chaos of life-and-death battles, one person remained.
"...Damn, for real."
Shabby attire. Abnormally large glasses. Trembling hands.
The man, Big Mouth, muttered while staring at the spot where Lee Soo-hyuk had vanished.
"Worth coming in person."
Big Mouth was a streamer specializing in issues. His current focus was the streamer Lee Soo-hyuk.
Up to the middle, he thought his instincts were spot on. Lee Soo-hyuk's skills were overwhelming enough to crush the promising Cha Min-woo in an instant.
"What if he miraculously overcomes up to that point?"
"A miracle?"
"Yeah. They happen sometimes. That thing called a miracle."
And that miracle had truly occurred.
Moreover.
'Lee Won-jae, Uncheon-geuk, Jin Do-ha...'
Grip-.
For the first time in a while, strength entered his hands at the massive catch.
"Even Hwang Gyu-seong."
A name that had been fading from memory. The legend of Blue Eyes had reemerged into the world.
It was said only Kim Il-su survived, but there was one more.
The rumor of a traitor in Blue Eyes had been confirmed as fact.
So many monumental events in such a short time—it was dizzying.
People would be focused on Hwang Gyu-seong.
But what whetted Big Mouth's appetite as much as his appearance was the emergence of a new legend to succeed them.
Ding-.
Big Mouth turned on his kit and called someone.
Moments later, Hawk's Eye picked up.
-Did you watch the broadcast too, Big Mouth-nim?
A voice brimming with excitement.
He had apparently been watching Lee Soo-hyuk's broadcast until just now.
"Yes. I did. I confirmed with my own eyes that streamer Lee Soo-hyuk has returned."
-What do you think?
"Beyond expectations."
Expectations for Lee Soo-hyuk translated directly to expectations for Hawk's Eye's reviews. That's why Big Mouth made an unprecedented decision.
"Remember the one I turned down before?"
-The collab stream?
"Yes. Let's do it."
After the broadcast with Hawk's Eye, Big Mouth had refused a collab with him. Lee Soo-hyuk's review was appealing, but not enough to warrant an unplanned collab.
But that thinking had completely changed now.
Lee Soo-hyuk had created a miracle. No, he had surpassed it.
Though overshadowed by Hwang Gyu-seong's intrusion, the preliminary records were unprecedented.
Beyond mere interest or curiosity, it was bordering on obsession now.
However.
-I'll think about it.
"Pardon?"
-Something tells me it's better to eat the tasty stuff alone... and now I wonder why I'd even bother clinging to you.
As if he held the key, laughter tinged Hawk's Eye's voice.
-As you know, I'm the 'original'.
At those words, Big Mouth furrowed one eye.
It was true. Among existing review broadcasters, the one to gain the most from Lee Soo-hyuk was Hawk's Eye.
This time, his position was superior.
"What do you want?"
-Something I want. Sure.
"What is it? Revenue split? New issue? Or maybe a specific article you want?"
-Not that.
As if he had it planned, Hawk's Eye's response was firm.
And at Hawk's Eye's following words, Big Mouth's face turned bewildered.
"You're serious?"
-Yes. That'll do.
Hawk's Eye's condition was simple. Especially for an issue specialist like Big Mouth.
Yet the reason Hawk's Eye proposed this was one.
The moment he accepted the collab, this condition would wield powerful force. Even a simple request carried a huge difference between mandatory and optional.
Moreover.
"What do you gain from that?"
No matter how he thought, there was no benefit for Hawk's Eye in this request.
But Big Mouth's calculations were wrong from the start.
-I've gained too much already.
Hawk's Eye hadn't proposed the condition to gain something in the first place.
-Now it's time to return one.
As if a map had been sliced in half by a sword, the forest split apart.
Jin Do-ha clutched the wound on his abdomen with one hand. Blood surged out relentlessly from the not-insignificant gash.
"You have won."
Before Jin Do-ha lay Hwang Gyu-seong sprawled out.
To anyone watching, the outcome was the opposite of what Jin Do-ha declared. Yet Jin Do-ha proclaimed Hwang Gyu-seong's victory.
No amount of petty personal pride could change the result.
"To achieve this much with that body is impressive. I respect you."
Every stance unleashed here was his all.
As a lone martial artist and swordsman, and as a Player. He had poured out every insight and strength from his life without a hint of carelessness.
If someone could block all those stances, he wouldn't mind offering his life.
Swish-.
True to his word, Jin Do-ha turned away.
Not only had he withstood every stance, but he had also left such a grievous wound on Jin Do-ha's body.
This wound would never fade, etching deep scars into body and soul.
"It was an honor. Truly."
Whoosh-.
With those words, Jin Do-ha vanished as promised.
Left alone, Hwang Gyu-seong's condition was a wreck. No, 'wreck' didn't cover it—he was in tatters beyond description.
His chest and waist were slashed, his body ragged. Poison spread through the wounds, turning skin pale and rotting in spots.
Any passerby would mistake it for a corpse nine times out of ten.
Yet.
'He's alive.'
Hwang Gyu-seong was alive.
Quite lucidly, at that.
He was certainly dying, but not so far gone he couldn't hear Jin Do-ha's words.
However.
There were too many regrets to savor the victory.
"If it was gonna be like this, why didn't you just die back then..."
In the end, only self-reproach surfaced.
He had lived decades for revenge, yet he left only a stain on Blue Eyes.
The traitor's scarlet letter that clung to Kim Il-su would now transfer to Hwang Gyu-seong's name.
"Moving separately?"
Regret flooded in.
"Yeah."
That decision back then.
"Why?"
"There are things I can only do alone."
"Dangerous? Whatever it is, let's do it together. You'll end up thinking the same as us anyway, right?"
"I agree with Si-woo. No matter what you're thinking... let's not split up more. Please."
He should have taken their hands then.
He should have softened at Ye-ryeong's eyes on the verge of tears, yielded to Si-woo's desperate gaze for the first time.
If he had.
They would have stopped him from making this foolish choice now.
"No. I have to go alone."
The stigma of allying with demons was burden enough for one.
The hot, filthy water was enough to bear alone. If anyone shared it, Kim Il-su had to be first.
But in the end, this was the result.
"Is this what you wanted?"
Si-woo and Ye-ryeong's accusing voices seemed to echo, full of resentment.
Why leave them if it came to this? Hadn't he said to stay together?
The two alternated their questions.
"Fuc..."
k.
Despair drained all strength from his body.
No matter his iron will, there was no hope of surviving this situation.
All that remained was awaiting death.
And then.
Kaboom-!
A massive sound from somewhere snapped his mind alert.
Having lost so much blood, his vision blurred. The gunpowder scent at his nose stirred deep joy like a wave from his chest.
Squeezing his remaining life force, he focused his sight. In his slowly clearing vision appeared a welcome, familiar face.
'Lee Soo-hyuk?'
Streamer Lee Soo-hyuk.
A streamer wearing the same mask as his long-lost friend.
"Huff, huff, huff-."
He had run so fast his breaths came ragged. Sweat dripped from his chin.
His face was hidden by the mask.
He had wanted to see what lay beneath if they ever met, but to encounter him like this.
'Those eyes.'
Lee Soo-hyuk's eyes looking down held many emotions.
Worry. Anger. Regret. Concern. Longing...
A gaze mixed with all sorts. How could someone he was meeting for the first time today have such eyes?
"You..."
He had so many questions.
But upon meeting and seeing those unveiled eyes, all questions vanished.
Now he understood why he had been so drawn to a mere streamer.
"You alive?"