Chapter 242
Chapter 242
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 242
Chapter Title: I've Found You
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Si-woo looked around the surroundings and let out a gasp of admiration.
‘Not bad at all.’
Demon corpses littered the area. All of them had either their throats slit or been burned to a crisp.
Clean work. For a battle on this scale, the surroundings should have been a total mess, but there were hardly any traces of combat.
It meant the fight had flowed as smoothly as water, like a scripted play.
This went beyond just having a high level or good skills. It was a matter of fundamental prowess that surpassed all that.
And moreover.
‘No matter how I look at it, it’s this guy…….’
A single player stood in the midst of the demon corpses.
The lightning he’d heard from afar.
The traces of that battle remained perfectly intact around where the man stood.
This was clearly his handiwork.
Yet.
“…….”
‘Why isn’t he saying anything?’
The man offered no response to Si-woo’s question, just standing there silently.
For several seconds now, he’d been repeatedly opening and closing his mouth.
‘His expression… why is it like that?’
It was a face Si-woo had never seen before in his life. He looked flustered, but also joyful.
His eyes brimmed with every emotion imaginable. His mouth seemed to be carefully selecting words, unsure what to say.
‘Does he recognize me?’
Si-woo hadn’t deliberately changed his appearance, that much was true.
Once he rescued Hyo-min from here on out, there’d be no need to hide anymore.
But even so, recognizing Si-woo at a glance wasn’t easy.
Over twenty years was more than enough time to erase someone’s face from memory. Especially in a place like this, completely out of the blue.
So then, what the hell was that expression supposed to mean?
A strange feeling washed over him. His chest started to tingle.
This was clearly a guy he was seeing for the first time today, yet he inexplicably felt glad to see him.
‘Could it be, this guy…….’
At that moment, a face flashed in his mind.
Si-woo examined the traces around him once more and opened his mouth again.
“By any chance, you, Stre…….”
Shwaaa-!
At that instant, a black net unfurled over their heads.
Reinforcements from the demons who had noticed the battle here.
“Tch.”
Si-woo drew his spear.
No matter who the guy was, this wasn’t the time for casual chit-chat.
Shuwaaak-.
Craaaack-!
The net descending on them froze solid from the mana spewing from the spear tip. With another swing, it shattered into ice shards.
Crackle-.
Crunch crunch crunch-.
The number of demons swarming in had multiplied exponentially.
Si-woo gripped his spear shaft tight as he watched them start appearing one by one.
“They sure brought a lot.”
Sticking around any longer might really make things too late.
“Hey!”
Si-woo shouted toward Su-hyuk.
“I don’t know what you want from a dump like this, but you’d better run while you can! Whatever it is, it can’t be more important than your life, right?”
That was it. The most Si-woo could say.
Thud-.
Si-woo kicked off the ground and bolted. Escaping the demons’ encirclement came first.
‘Disappointing.’
Streamer Lee Soo-hyuk.
Watching his streams had become Si-woo’s greatest pleasure lately.
They made him feel like his old friend had come back to life.
That’s why Si-woo had been thrilled to hear Lee Soo-hyuk wouldn’t join Blue Zone.
Lee Soo-hyuk had made it clear he had no plans to.
He’d turned down multiple scout offers and even publicly stated on stream that he had no intention of joining a guild.
But to think it was all so he could snag an executive spot in one go.
Well.
‘In the end, he’s just chasing profits.’
Si-woo couldn’t blame him. He had no right to, and Lee Soo-hyuk had no obligation anyway.
Still, the strange sense of disappointment and hurt was unavoidable.
Just as he was leaving Lee Soo-hyuk behind and pulling away.
“Hey, you crazy bastard!”
An urgent voice rang out from behind.
“I came to find you, you!”
Kaboom-!
Lee Soo-hyuk started chasing after him from behind.
The reason Su-hyuk was speechless had nothing to do with anything else.
‘What the hell do I even say?’
Glad to see you? So this is where you’ve been? It was a bitch finding you?
Actually, it’s me, Lee Soo-hyuk. Gyu-seong recognized me right away—how about you?
……Every damn line imaginable popped into his head.
‘Should’ve thought of something ahead of time.’
What should his opening line be? He’d been so focused on finding him that he hadn’t prepared what to say once they met.
But one thing was certain.
‘This time… I’m not late.’
Unlike Gyu-seong, who’d basically been dead, Si-woo was fine.
Alive. Not a scratch on him.
He hadn’t been too late. They’d met again.
The joy and relief were so overwhelming that delaying the greeting didn’t matter one bit.
But then.
“I don’t know what you want from a dump like this, but you’d better run while you can! Whatever it is, it can’t be more important than your life, right?”
“……The hell.”
It was the first thing to slip from his mouth, after opening and closing it so many times in uncertainty.
‘What the fuck is this guy on about?’
The misunderstanding wasn’t entirely off-base.
Si-woo apparently thought Su-hyuk was here to pass Blue Zone’s test and join Kim Il-su’s crew.
He even seemed to mistake him for the streamer Lee Soo-hyuk.
Hm.
‘……Well, that part’s not wrong.’
Si-woo started pulling away fast.
He couldn’t lose him now after finally finding him.
“Hey, you crazy bastard!”
Su-hyuk yelled urgently as he gave chase.
“I came to find you, you!”
Si-woo glanced back briefly.
His face screamed, What the hell is this guy saying?
Looking around like he was searching for someone else besides himself.
‘You fucking idiot…….’
Seeing him cluelessly glancing around pissed Su-hyuk off.
This wouldn’t do.
Su-hyuk sped up.
He’d grab him by the scruff and talk some sense into him first.
But then.
Thud-.
Some weird bastard leaped out in front of him.
Clang-!
He’d swung to cleave it in one go, but it blocked. The demon that parried his lightning-charged blade flew back and landed on a tree trunk.
A high-ranking demon, with three pairs of markings on its face.
“Damn it.”
A curse slipped out in his haste. He wanted to charge right in, but held back.
Demons were swarming everywhere now. The area was a field of them—who knew how many had come.
‘No choice, huh.’
If he lost Si-woo here, who knew when he’d see him again.
Crackle-.
‘Even if I have to crank the output too high, I’ve gotta break through.’
Just as Su-hyuk was about to dive back into the demons.
Shaaaa-.
The tree the demon was perched on froze white. The moment it whipped its head around at the chill, a sharp metal point thrust out from behind the trunk.
Krunch-.
“Gahk!”
The demon’s body was impaled along with the thick trunk. As it writhed gripping the spear, it froze solid starting from the heart.
Su-hyuk’s surging mana settled back down.
Si-woo emerged from behind the tree, retrieving the spear from the demon’s chest.
“Seriously, my soft heart is my problem.”
His face was full of irritation.
He clearly wasn’t thrilled about coming back to save Su-hyuk right now.
“If you don’t wanna die, follow me quick. Seriously, you! You’re so damn lucky…….”
Kaboom-!
In that instant, Su-hyuk’s body rocketed toward Si-woo.
Grab-.
Su-hyuk seized Si-woo’s arm.
“Found you! Finally!”
“Huh?”
“Not letting you go! Not this time! Hahaha, you bastard Kim Si-woo!”
“Why the sudden cursing…….”
The familiarity caught him off guard at first. He hadn’t registered that the guy had called his real name.
‘Did he just say my name?’
How long had it been since someone other than Ye-ryeong called his name? The unfamiliarity gave Si-woo a weird feeling.
But only for a moment.
Crunch crunch crunch-.
The moment they met, demons waiting all around revealed themselves en masse.
Krunch-!
Snap-!
Magic blasts from afar and claw strikes like blades tore toward Su-hyuk and Si-woo. But the two had already leaped high to evade.
“This is pissing me off.”
Si-woo, gripping his spear shaft mid-leap upward, sensed it was already too late.
He should’ve escaped by now. But hesitating because of Su-hyuk had let the demons form their encirclement.
This was undoubtedly urgent.
The air was thick with demonic energy, suffocating.
Shuwaaak-.
Demons leaping up targeted Si-woo and Su-hyuk in unison.
Si-woo parried and froze the beasts charging like wild animals, exhaling demonic energy, all while eyeing Su-hyuk’s movements.
Unlike him, who’d been through this countless times, no matter how skilled, Lee Soo-hyuk was just an inexperienced streamer.
‘First time in a spot like this, and he’s not even scared…….’
“Kim Si-woo-!”
“Huhhh?”
“I’m so fucking glad you’re alive! You bastard!”
Yet here he was, grinning ear to ear amid the blood and demons.
Like he owned the world. The kind of smile that made anyone watching feel good too.
Kraka boom-!
Zzzzt, zzzzt-.
Even as he gleefully swung his sword and unleashed lightning, Su-hyuk kept his eyes on Si-woo.
“You really can’t recognize me?”
Can’t recognize him?
No matter how hard he racked his brain, it wasn’t a face he remembered. Yet the guy acted like they were lifelong friends reuniting.
Maybe he wasn’t the streamer Lee Soo-hyuk after all?
His head was a mess.
“Weird. Gyu-seong recognized me right away. Is it my face?”
“Gyu-seong?”
A name he couldn’t let slide past.
Had he met Gyu-seong before he died or something?
Recognized him? What the hell?
All sorts of thoughts swirled as.
Rooooar-.
A massive clump of thick demonic energy from far off.
Even at this distance, its presence made his body tingle. The thing screamed it was the lord of this forest.
They couldn’t get close to something like that. Unless they were ready for a fight to the death, evasion was the smart play now.
Si-woo and Su-hyuk’s eyes met. They nodded in unison, sharing the same thought.
“Looks like you’ve got a lot to tell me…….”
He had no idea what it was, but there was only one thing to do right now.
“Let’s break through this first. We’ll talk after.”
Smirk-.
Su-hyuk’s lip curled up.
He’d been chattering excitedly, but he knew full well this wasn’t a situation for casual talk.
“Sounds good. Let’s do it.”
“Positions?”
“Same as always.”
“What?”
Same as always?
Su-hyuk answered Si-woo’s confused look as he passed by his side, walking toward the oncoming demons.
“Like always—”
“I’ll take the front.”