Chapter 222
Chapter 222
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 222
Chapter Title: Soon, It Will Rain
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Tssst, tsststs-.
The lightning that had been clashing with explosive noise slowly faded away.
The sword, which had been emitting sharply honed energy, drooped its head powerlessly.
Soo-hyuk doubted his own ears.
"To me, what?"
"You have it too. The ability to create clouds."
Whether learning formations or snatching the Yeouiju, it was absurd talk to Soo-hyuk, who had been racking his brains to somehow make clouds.
If that was true, just how pointless had all his efforts been until now?
"How?"
"You're a complete idiot, aren't you?"
The Blue Dragon's gaze toward Soo-hyuk changed.
He looked unsure whether to see Soo-hyuk as a human or as something else entirely.
The Blue Dragon furrowed his brow and drew closer to Soo-hyuk.
"Why does a human have something like that?"
"Do you know about lightning?"
"I don't know what lightning is, but I get the gist."
With its hostility withdrawn, the Blue Dragon's eyes sparkled.
"Give it to me!"
Having laid eyes on the lightning, the Blue Dragon showed the excitement of someone who had discovered a precious gem.
"Huh? Please! Give it to me! No, let's trade! I'll give you my Yeouiju!"
The positions had reversed.
Just moments ago, Soo-hyuk had been nagging the Blue Dragon for its Yeouiju, but now it was the complete opposite.
And the Blue Dragon's sudden demand was utterly awkward.
"Even if you ask, there's no way to give it."
Lightning wasn't a tangible object like the Yeouiju. This power was imprinted inside Soo-hyuk's body in the form of a skill.
There was no way to hand it over, even if begged. Of course, he had no intention of doing so anyway.
"Is that so?... Well."
Fortunately, the Blue Dragon accepted it quickly. It seemed to have roughly guessed that lightning couldn't be given to others.
If it had kept nagging, he might have had to force it down with sheer power, but its quick surrender was a relief.
"But how do you make clouds with this?"
To Soo-hyuk's question, the dejected Blue Dragon replied weakly.
"That way of thinking is the problem to begin with."
"My thinking?"
"The doubt that you can't make clouds with the power you possess. You haven't even tried, have you?"
It was only natural.
Who in the world would ever think of bending the weather to their will? At best, people hung up dolls and prayed to the heavens not to let it rain tomorrow.
Soo-hyuk was no different. This wasn't doubt—it was simply a given.
Until now.
"Get rid of that prejudice first. Just like it's natural for us dragons from the moment we're born, your weather is something you create."
Saying it as if it were no big deal, the Blue Dragon shrugged.
"Well, it won't be easy."
It knew as well. No matter how incredible the tool, having a human wield the weather was no simple task.
"How do you do it?"
"How should I know?"
"What?"
"You have that power. So you have to figure out how to wield it. All I know is that it's far superior to my Yeouiju."
With that, the Blue Dragon snorted.
"If you can't make clouds even with something like that, then forget doing it with just a Yeouiju."
With that explanation, Soo-hyuk realized he had been off the mark from the very beginning.
He had thought that possessing a Yeouiju would let him make clouds. But figuring out how to wield it was a whole other issue.
He already had the power to summon clouds and rain down lightning.
He had simply not known how.
I really knew nothing.
Lightning was a skill he had wielded for a long time.
He had thought he fully understood it after honing his technique through countless battles.
Watching Soo-hyuk clench and unclench the hand where lightning writhed, the Blue Dragon spoke with a face full of interest.
"Then do your best. When you have time later, let me out."
Soo-hyuk exited the door without any incident.
When Jin-un and Unhyang asked what had happened inside, he replied, "Nothing."
Watching Soo-hyuk walk with a thoughtful expression, Jin-un asked Unhyang as if reproaching her.
"Didn't you say you'd get what you wanted?"
"Sometimes it turns out like this."
As if asking why he was being so nitpicky, Unhyang shrugged.
Whether to believe it or not.
Jin-un shook his head. With no traces of battle, it was clear nothing major had happened inside.
Soo-hyuk returned to the room Jin-un had lent him.
He clenched and unclenched his hand, then turned his head to gaze up at the sky.
He could see clouds drifting by. How on earth was he supposed to make those?
"Clouds-."
Soo-hyuk reached out toward the innocent sky.
"Come on, form up."
......
Of course, nothing happened.
It felt utterly daunting. What exactly did he need to do to create clouds and alter the weather?
That was when Soo-hyuk was staring endlessly up at the sky.
"Wak!"
A loud noise right from behind.
When Soo-hyuk turned his head and their eyes met, Unhyang scratched her head, looking embarrassed.
"Not startled?"
"You made noise on purpose so I wouldn't be."
"Oh, it showed?"
Unhyang laughed awkwardly and cautiously sat down next to Soo-hyuk. The two of them looked up at the clouds together.
"Did you get what you wanted?"
"Not easy."
"Making clouds?"
"Yeah."
"Who said controlling the weather is easy? If you could, you'd be a grand mage by now."
Soo-hyuk nodded. Fair enough—a grand mage on Hiles's level could probably conjure clouds and storms without much trouble.
But he couldn't involve Hiles in this. In the end, creating clouds was a task he had to solve with his own power.
"I got a clue, though."
Saying so, Soo-hyuk reached out to grasp a cloud.
"But that's all I got."
The cloud didn't settle easily into his hand. The one he clutched slipped away from his sight like an illusion.
It felt like trying to hold something even more elusive than sand.
But it wasn't just daunting.
Along with the frustration came hope.
Once he grasped this, he would understand lightning even better.
"That should be plenty. With a clue, you can seize it. So what's the issue?"
"It's not really enough."
"Why?"
Because there's no time.
Unable to say that, he hesitated on his answer—when pang, Unhyang slapped his back.
"Cheer up! You'll pull it off, Soo-hyuk."
"...Thanks for the encouragement, but wasn't that pat a bit too hard?"
"That's how you snap out of it."
Had he looked that mopey? Unhyang was cheering him on more exaggeratedly than usual.
There was definitely impatience. It might have shown on his face. That must be why Unhyang was making such a fuss.
"I was just pondering."
"Pondering what?"
To Unhyang's question, Soo-hyuk recounted what had happened with the Blue Dragon.
"Then isn't that even better?"
"Sure, but... I still don't know the method."
"You'll figure it out soon enough. You're Soo-hyuk, after all."
"That's some heavy pressure."
"Huh? No way. You wouldn't feel burdened over something like this."
Soo-hyuk let out a chuckle at Unhyang's teasing. With his head stuffed full of worries, the lighthearted banter helped air things out a little.
Having lifted Soo-hyuk's spirits, Unhyang spread her arms wide in exaggeration and stood up from her seat.
"Alright, then—want some real good news to pump you up?"
"What kind?"
"What good news would it be for our moneybird Soo-hyuk? Money news, obviously."
"Moneybird...."
It was an image that had somehow stuck to him.
There was a bit of grievance, but he couldn't deny it. Soo-hyuk really did need points.
And more than ever before.
While streaming, the level of his Selfish Sacrifice skill had risen steadily. It doubled each time, but the stream's popularity kept growing, so he had plenty of leeway to earn that much.
But Selfish Sacrifice at level 10 now demanded a whopping ten times more points for the next level.
25 million points.
No matter how amazing the player, it was an enormous sum for any individual to handle.
"Did the settlement come in?"
"Nope."
As if it were more than that, Unhyang shook her head firmly and asked.
"Do you know who the richest player in the world is?"
"......?"
The richest player in the world.
He had never once given it a thought.
The old Soo-hyuk hadn't been very materialistic.
Soo-hyuk fell silent without answering right away, so Unhyang asked again in surprise.
"You really don't know?"
"No."
"For real, for real? You? Clementine?"
"Who's that?"
"Oh my god... Looks like you'll have to hand over that moneybird title."
He didn't know when "money-crazed bastard" had turned into a title. Soo-hyuk pondered seriously for a moment whether he should feel ashamed or flattered.
"He owns two divine-grade items."
Divine-grade items.
That was one thing he couldn't ignore.
Items he had never possessed even in his previous life. Even in the current era, more than twenty years later, there were only five in existence.
And two of them belonged to a single person?
"You can buy those with points?"
"That's Clementine's whole philosophy. If you can't buy it with points, maybe you just don't have enough points."
It wasn't wrong.
But even so, it was hard to imagine.
Soo-hyuk had once lived a transcendent life when it came to wealth. Points had overflowed back then.
But even at that time, he wondered if liquidating everything would let him buy a divine-grade item.
Just what kind of value did they hold?
Either way, it gave him a sense of just how wealthy a player Clementine was.
"I get that he's impressive. But why bring him up?"
"He put up an ad in your name this time."
"An ad?"
"Yeah. An energy drink ad. Something like 'drink one before heading into an exam'."
"You take those kinds of ads too?"
"They pay top dollar. And the real jackpot? We're pushing for a collab stream with Clementine."
"A collab?"
Was that such a big deal? Unhyang grinned even wider at Soo-hyuk's reaction, which showed he hadn't quite grasped it yet.
"You'll get it better once you meet him in person. Just how rich he is."
In truth, it still hadn't fully sunk in.
Clementine was a player who hadn't existed in Soo-hyuk's era.
Even hearing he had two divine-grade items, there was no direct way to gauge their worth.
But one thing was clear from Unhyang's reaction.
Clementine's existence would be a major turning point for his stream.
"So, you see, Soo-hyuk."
As always, after stringing together this and that, Unhyang tacked on the real point she wanted to make.
"Everything's working out. It will all go well. So don't be too impatient."
That was what she had ultimately wanted to say.
To Soo-hyuk, who had seemed impatient somewhere along the line.
That everything would turn out fine.
"I wasn't particularly down."
"Huh?"
"Just thinking. About how to go about it."
Unhyang gave an awkward smile, looking sheepish at Soo-hyuk's words.
"I got worked up for nothing on my own."
"Still, thanks for the cheer. You're right, moneybird. Time to get to work."
Yeah.
For now, he just had to do what he could right now.
He didn't have to make clouds. He could handle what was doable and move forward from there.
Si-woo, Ye-ryeong, and Hye-min would be waiting at the end of that path.
"Oh, look over there."
Just then, Unhyang, having finished her pep talk, looked up.
And upon seeing the pitch-black rain cloud blocking the sunlight, she smiled.
"Looks like rain soon."