Chapter 2
Chapter 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Awakening in the Trash Bin
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Lee Soo-hyuk opened his eyes in a trash bin and instinctively checked his status, as was his habit.
Checking one's condition in a new environment was only natural. Especially in a situation like this, where he had died and come back to life, it was even more essential.
What was his current condition?
How much fatigue did he have?
There was nothing better than the system's status information to gauge his condition.
However.
"......"
He was speechless.
The high fatigue level of 61 didn't even register. All he could see was the pitiful level and stats.
The skills he had painstakingly acquired through hardship.
All of them were gone.
'Am I really alive?'
Soo-hyuk looked around.
A trash heap in some alley.
Why on earth had he woken up here?
'Where is this now......'
The moment that question arose.
Throb-.
A sharp pain shot through his head as if someone had struck it hard, furrowing his brow.
And then, memories of his original body—not Blue Eyes' Lee Soo-hyuk—flooded back.
"What a waste of a name. Fucking loser."
"Earthlings are all like that anyway. Weak as hell."
"Yeah. It was Lee Soo-hyuk who was the odd one."
"How the hell did a loser like that crawl his way here?"
"If he's paving the way for us, we're grateful."
The memories surfacing in his mind.
Orphan. Beggar. Lee Soo-hyuk. Player training facility. Bullying. Tutorial exam......
Starting from those keywords, his past flashed by. But what surprised Soo-hyuk the most wasn't his current predicament.
The biggest shock was.
'I've been dead for 20 years?'
Blue Eyes had been raiding the Hydra when he died, and already 20 years had passed.
Swipe-.
His face reflected in the lid of the trash bin on the ground.
Black hair typical of an East Asian, a frail impression. A young man with a still-youthful face.
He thought he had died, but this was another person's body with the same name. What kind of nonsense was this?
'Am I dreaming or something?'
Leaning against the wall for a moment, Soo-hyuk spotted a player kit lying on the ground.
It must have fallen out of his pocket before being dumped in the trash.
Soo-hyuk reached out and picked up the player kit.
"The world's changed, huh. The one I used was a small orb."
It resembled a smartphone used on Earth.
Calls, texts, and internet searches via the player server. Just like its appearance, the player kit's core function wasn't much different from a smartphone.
Bzzz-.
As soon as Soo-hyuk touched it, the white screen lit up, recognizing his fingerprint, and text appeared.
Seeing the prompt, he pondered for a moment.
There were too many things he was curious about.
But this thing couldn't possibly explain why this had happened to him.
His finger hovered for a bit.
Then, his first search was, predictably.
Blue Eyes.
The guild he had belonged to.
And the guild that had vanished in the final moments due to Kim Il-su and Blue Zone.
He tapped confirm, and after a brief loading, the most recent articles appeared.
Innumerable articles popped up.
The contents didn't register.
There was only one piece of information Soo-hyuk sought.
Whether any of his comrades he had launched into the sky had survived.
But.
'......They're all dead.'
None.
Nowhere to be found.
No news of any Blue Eyes survivors, no matter how many pages he scrolled.
"Ha-."
A hollow sigh escaped amid the emptiness.
His insides felt gutted.
His power. His comrades.
All lost, leaving only this body beaten by peers and discarded in the trash.
And in that void.
Hot rage surged.
Swipe-.
Soo-hyuk raised his head.
And spoke as if questioning an opponent who couldn't hear.
"Why did you do it?"
Grind-.
Asking that, Soo-hyuk clenched his teeth.
He knew no answer would come.
But he wanted to know the reason.
Why on earth.
-"You practicing again?"
Kim Il-su.
Their relationship hadn't been bad.
On the contrary, it had been good.
Comrades risking their lives climbing the tower together couldn't have bad relations.
Friends.
That's how Soo-hyuk had seen him, at least.
-"I think I have to leave Blue Eyes."
-"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
-"It's decided. Don't ask why. Tell the others nicely for me, Soo-hyuk."
Soo-hyuk had tried to hold him back.
How could he leave without even giving a reason?
But Kim Il-su had already made up his mind.
-"Don't worry, friend. Even after I leave, I'll still be your shadow."
Years passed after those words.
Kim Il-su founded Blue Zone and reappeared before Soo-hyuk.
That was the name of the 'shadow' he had spoken of.
"What happened?"
Crunch-.
Drip, drip-.
His grip too tight, nails dug into flesh. Unaware of blood trickling down his hand, Soo-hyuk stared at the article on the kit.
Searching Blue Eyes filled the screen with Kim Il-su's photos and stories.
Blue Zone.
That's what they called Blue Eyes in this era, apparently.
"......Well, yeah."
Drop-.
Letting his hand holding the kit fall, Soo-hyuk looked up.
"What does it matter what happened."
His friends died by that guy's hand.
What did the reason matter?
If he was that curious, he could climb up there and ask directly.
Just like that day, plunging a blade into the guy's gut.
'Wait just a bit, Il-su.'
'I'll come find you again.'
The moment he resolved that, Soo-hyuk was certain.
This rage couldn't be a dream.
After sorting his thoughts for a while, Soo-hyuk set off.
At first, he wondered if it was a dream, but now he had no doubts.
His footsteps led to the dormitory of the player training facility where the original owner of this body, Lee Soo-hyuk, had lived.
The tutorial to determine player qualification began in two days.
Until then, he had plenty of time.
'Still only the 9th floor......'
Walking along.
Soo-hyuk slowly recalled more of the body's memories.
'Too slow. Is the difficulty that much higher after the 8th floor?'
Soo-hyuk had assumed that in 20 years, at least the 10th floor would have been cleared.
Yet only the 9th in 20 years. Sure, higher floors took exponentially longer, but this was far slower than expected.
"Damn pathetic losers. Then why the betrayal?"
Muttering that, Soo-hyuk's eyes caught a shabby street vendor he passed.
"......?"
Among the openly displayed goods, one stood out.
'My mask?'
Soo-hyuk had worn a mask during his active days.
No special reason. He'd started with an early mask item, found covering his face convenient, and it stuck.
Black base with golden stripes—Lee Soo-hyuk's trademark.
And it was being sold at a bottom-tier shop like this.
"50 points."
The middle-aged vendor yawned sleepily and asked.
"You buying?"
"......"
Soo-hyuk paused and checked his points.
'1010 points......'
Not exactly flush.
This was practically his entire fortune.
Normally, as an unemployed bum with no income, he'd have to save, but.
Whatever.
It wasn't his money anyway.
And money could be earned again.
'Is this the trend these days?'
After buying the mask and examining it, the middle-aged man who sold it asked.
"You a Lee Soo-hyuk fan?"
"Pardon?"
Not knowing how to respond, Soo-hyuk hesitated.
Saying he was Lee Soo-hyuk himself would make him seem insane.
Claiming to be his own fan was awkward.
"Something like that."
His vague answer after deliberation.
The man clicked his tongue suspiciously.
"Something like that, my ass. Then why buy it if you're not a fan? You trying to do Lee Soo-hyuk cosplay or something?"
"Lee Soo-hyuk cosplay? What's that?"
"You don't know? Guess not then. Must be a fan."
Answering his own question, the man nodded and pointed in one direction.
"Then head that way. There's a memorial hall, small but it's there."
"Memorial hall......?"
"Your reaction says you haven't been. Perfect timing—today's the anniversary, so plenty of people paying respects."
With nowhere else to go but the dorm, Soo-hyuk now had a destination.
Standing blankly for a moment, he gripped the mask and started walking.
'Nothing else to do right now anyway.'
Visiting a memorial for himself felt odd.
Like someone set up a funeral table and he was going to eat there.
But he was curious.
How was he remembered there?
On the way, Soo-hyuk bought a flower. It being the anniversary, a flower seemed appropriate.
After a few alleys, he spotted the place the man mentioned.
His first thought upon seeing the memorial from afar was simple.
'Bigger than I thought.'
He'd called it small.
It looked about the size of a modest temple.
A memorial hall with masked Soo-hyuk's face plastered hugely on the entrance.
The guide at the door glanced at the mask in Soo-hyuk's hand and greeted indifferently.
"Welcome."
Soo-hyuk nodded and entered.
As if remodeled from a temple, the ceiling was high, and windows bore Soo-hyuk's masked face instead of gods.
One side played footage of Soo-hyuk fighting, somehow captured.
And naturally, the largest crowd gathered there.
"Wow-."
"So badass......"
"This that time, right? The showdown with Anuks players 25 years ago."
"Probably. This was insane."
Soo-hyuk treading lightning, rising into the sky.
Dominating ground and air, people watched enraptured.
And Soo-hyuk was among them.
His admiration differed in degree, but he nodded repeatedly watching himself fight on screen.
'Fighting well. Definitely.'
He hadn't realized during the fight.
But viewing as a third party felt different.
"Ah, shouldn't have done that there."
A slip-up appeared, and the words slipped out.
Too immersed, he'd forgotten the situation.
"What?"
"Even here, some nitpicker."
"Ignore him. People like that can't do it themselves."
Even whispers carried.
Soo-hyuk ducked his head in injustice.
'Just reflecting......'
But what could he do?
The only similarity between him now and the man on screen was the name.
As Soo-hyuk immersed in his on-screen self, engrossed for a while.
Ssshh-.
At the footage's end.
A face distorting Soo-hyuk's expression appeared.
"We will remember him."
A man half-masked.
'Kim Il-su.'
Kim Il-su placing a hand over his heart with those touching words.