Chapter 244
Chapter 244
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 244
Chapter Title: It's Really You
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I thought it was a mistake.
When I turned around and stood there, it looked like my friend's silhouette was overlapping with his.
Because it was a completely different person. The height and build were all different from the Soo-hyuk I knew.
So I figured it had to be a mistake.
I chalked it up to the subtly similar vibe and my longing for my friend.
I thought the illusion would vanish once I saw his face again.
But why...
'Soo-hyuk.'
I nearly blurted out his name.
No.
I actually mouthed it.
Without realizing it, his name just slipped out.
I wanted to believe it. That the friend standing before me was real.
My head told me otherwise. No way. Hadn't I been watching the streams? How could it be possible?
But with our eyes locked beyond the mask, there was no way I couldn't believe it.
"Really... is that you?"
I asked, desperately hoping he'd say yes.
What came back was a grumble that sounded almost hurt.
"Gyu-seong recognized me, though."
"For real?"
"The mask is kinda off, right? It's a replica, not the genuine article."
"Really... really?"
Si-woo staggered forward.
His hands shook. Is this a dream? He clenched his trembling fists tight.
"It's real. That same guy you treated like crap."
The way he talked was identical. To my friend, Lee Soo-hyuk.
Back in the day, when we first met Soo-hyuk, it took Si-woo the longest to warm up to him because of how wary he was around strangers.
"Getting close to you was seriously tough. It wasn't some gimmick—your ice affinity made you cold as hell too."
I'd heard that one before.
I'd even asked if that jerk attitude was just a concept.
Probably our biggest fight, come to think of it.
"Ah... aah..."
"Still not buying it?"
The eyes peering out from the mask curved into playful crescents. They sparkled with cocky confidence, like, You gonna hear this and still doubt me?
"No one else knows about the night before our first Guardian clear. You blubbering like a baby 'cause you were scared."
That sealed it.
Only that guy knew.
"It's... really you."
"Yeah. Really."
Soo-hyuk let out a soft chuckle at Si-woo's face, caught somewhere between laughter and tears.
"You kept insisting you weren't crying, though."
"Haha, uh-ha, hahaha."
The tension drained from his clenched fists.
Si-woo reached out toward Soo-hyuk, but his legs gave out, and he crumpled to the ground.
"You're... alive..."
Uwaaaah—!
Si-woo, who'd collapsed, suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs. Something bottled up inside burst free, turning pent-up rage into pure joy.
"You're alive! Ye-ryeong! Soo-hyuk's alive!"
Tears he'd forcibly held back even when Gyu-seong died now poured out.
Tears of joy.
After Gyu-seong's death, all Si-woo could think was that only he and Ye-ryeong were left in the world. It felt like fate's black vortex was dragging them into an abyss.
The end of that long, grueling wait being his friend's death? Way too cruel.
"Gyu-seong..."
Si-woo murmured Gyu-seong's name from the floor.
"Soo-hyuk... is alive..."
One gone, one returned. That alone had Si-woo thanking the heavens.
After sobbing on the ground for what felt like forever, Si-woo—embarrassed now—stared at the dirt and spoke up.
"I really... thought you were dead..."
"To be precise, I'm not exactly alive."
"Huh?"
Si-woo looked up, confused by the words.
"I died and came back."
"Potato, po-tah-to."
Soo-hyuk shook his head at the half-hearted reaction.
This guy was misunderstanding. He didn't grasp that "died and came back" was literal.
"I really died."
"...What're you talking about?"
"This isn't a fake face."
Soo-hyuk pulled off the mask and tugged at his cheek hard.
"Real deal."
"You get plastic surgery or something?"
"Surgery my ass. Then how do you explain the height?"
"Chopped your legs off?"
"...What the hell."
Soo-hyuk lifted his foot and wiggled it like, See? It was perfectly intact, of course.
Si-woo wasn't doubting his identity anymore, which only made the situation more baffling.
The face, voice, height—everything was different.
"Oh yeah, you had to retake the test from Floor 2?"
"You caught the stream, huh?"
"Yeah, the stream. Why the hell start streaming again?"
"Ah, where do I even begin..."
Explaining everything point by point would drag on forever. He wasn't even sure where to start for it to make sense.
Soo-hyuk sighed in frustration, but a smile tugged at his lips anyway. Screw the complications—reuniting like this was a relief in itself.
After a moment's thought, he held out his hand, postponing the details.
"Hand over the kit first. Let's register before it's too late."
"Oh, right."
Soo-hyuk took the kit from Si-woo and infused it with his mana.
At the same time, he channeled Si-woo's mana into his own kit. The two devices linked up.
Finally, I can breathe a little.
Without this comms link, he'd been frustrated as hell. Not anymore—distance wouldn't matter now.
"Ye-ryeong's at the house, right?"
Si-woo nodded as he took the kit back.
"How'd you know we were alive?"
"How could I not? You left a huge trail."
"Trail?"
"This."
Soo-hyuk pulled out the ice flower he'd been carrying.
"You left it behind."
"That thing..."
"Whatever. You did good. Without it, I'd have assumed you were all dead."
To Soo-hyuk, who'd believed everyone gone, that flower was hope.
Hope that someone might still be out there. That Si-woo, at least, had to be alive.
That hope kept him searching for Si-woo and Ye-ryeong.
But Si-woo eyed the ice flower—his own creation—with a strange look.
"...No wonder Ye-ryeong chewed me out."
"Chewed you out?"
"If even you figured it out, it's a miracle we weren't caught sooner."
"Caught?"
"Oh, right—you wouldn't know. Kim Il-su didn't even realize we were alive until recently."
Soo-hyuk blinked in confusion. Then it hit him: the gap between him and his friends.
...There's a 20-year difference between me and them.
He'd thought there'd be tons to catch up on.
About his death. How he'd woken up again for reasons he didn't fully understand. The streaming gig. How hard it'd been to track them down.
But they've got way more to unpack.
For him, it was a blink. But Si-woo and Ye-ryeong had lived those 20 blank years.
He wanted to talk for hours.
They probably even more so.
Crack open some booze he rarely touched, build a campfire, breathe the cool night air, and gab till dawn.
But the situation wasn't that relaxed right now.
Especially since he hadn't reunited with Ye-ryeong or Hyo-min yet.
"No contact with Ye-ryeong?"
Si-woo shook his head at Soo-hyuk's question.
"Nah. Can't reach her."
"She doesn't have a kit?"
"It's not that. The kit's been dead since earlier. Looks like they've blocked mana flow in and out of the forest."
"Demons?"
"Gotta be."
Headache incoming.
Cut off from comms. If they couldn't warn the others, preparation over there would be tough.
If the demons had targeted the Blue House from the start, they needed to extract Hyo-min ASAP and bail.
"Ye-ryeong's probably already snuck in to find Hyo-min."
"...You even know about Hyo-min? How much do you know?"
"You guys are an open book to me. You slipped in here early to mess with the demons, right?"
"Ha-."
"But the demons beat you to the punch unexpectedly."
"I can't keep up, man."
Si-woo shook his head like it was hopeless, but a grin crept onto his face anyway.
It felt like the stuffy weight in his chest had burst open. He'd been down to just him and Ye-ryeong—now they had a powerhouse ally.
"No clue on their side. Hope she's holding up."
"She is."
"I trust her. Ye-ryeong's got stealth, transformation—she's hunkered down somehow. But..."
Si-woo sighed, clearly anxious about the separation.
"They'll know we're coming at this timing."
An assassin's worst enemy was vigilance. The best cover for stealth was complacency.
This was the moment the Blue House would be most on guard against Ye-ryeong. With Kim Il-su and the guild's core absent, it made sense.
In that scenario, no guarantee she could locate Hyo-min without getting spotted.
"No need to worry. They think I'm Ye-ryeong."
"...Why?"
"Acted the part on purpose. Had the skills and intel."
"Intel? Wait—how'd you know we were here?"
"Jin Ha-ryeong told me."
"The Heavenly Demon?"
Si-woo recalled approaching the Heavenly Demon for help. He'd known about Hyo-min being here, and that they'd move to rescue her at this time.
"He knows you're alive too?"
"Not 'alive' alive... uh, yeah. He knows."
"We found out later than him."
"I met him face-to-face. Not like you guys who just saw the streams."
"Ye-ryeong went to check in person too. You wouldn't know."
"I do. My manager told me."
"Your manager? How?"
"...We're going off-track again."
Too much to unpack. Soo-hyuk waved it off and steered back to the point.
"Anyway, you were the one stirring up the demons here first, right?"
"Yeah. Been in about three days."
"So you've got a rough read on their movements."
Si-woo nodded. The brief spark of brightness on his face darkened.
That expression confirmed Soo-hyuk's hunch.
"Legion Commander?"
"Yeah."
"This just got annoying."
He'd already sensed something off with the demons' numbers exploding exponentially. And sure enough—a Legion-grade demon was in play.
But the problem wasn't just numbers.
If a Legion Commander's moving, the current Blue House can't hold.
Legion Commanders wielded power on another level. Only Kim Il-su stepping up personally could block one in Blue Zone.
In other words, Blue Zone lacked the firepower to stop Legion-grade demons right now.
Their plan—let them duke it out while snatching Hyo-min and slipping away—was derailed.
"We need them to hold out over there..."
If the demon legion smashed the Blue House before Ye-ryeong could extract, it was game over.
They'd be trapped, forced into a straight fight.
But.
"Annoying's an understatement."
"Why?"
"Not just one."
"..."
The situation was far graver and tougher than Soo-hyuk had imagined.
"There are two Legion Commanders."