Chapter 250
Chapter 250
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 250
Chapter Title: You're Really Soo-hyuk?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Lee Soo-hyuk mocked Lee Won-jae once before withdrawing his attention and quickening his steps as he continued on his way.
Lee Won-jae's eyes caught sight of Soo-hyuk's back.
An unguarded rear view. The impulse surged to kick off from his spot, fly at him, and plunge a blade into his back right then and there.
Grind-.
Crackle, crackle-.
His teeth ground together, and his face flushed red. Muscles tensed to the point where veins bulged in his eyes—Lee Won-jae was seething with rage.
'Lee Soo-hyuk?'
It was absurd.
Lee Soo-hyuk was dead. How many people had seen his corpse? Too many to count.
That's why those words rang like mockery. The dead couldn't come back to life.
But if that was the case, questions arose.
'Then how?'
Who the hell was that guy to show up alongside Kim Si-woo?
An unidentified Player. And the identity of that masked woman was equally unknown.
All sorts of speculations swirled in his mind. But he had no leisure to leisurely verify them.
"Vice Guild Master!"
Pierre's urgent voice rang out.
Thum, thum thum-.
The drumbeats grew closer. The demonic energy, which had just begun to be felt, had already swelled to a chilling magnitude.
In the end, Lee Won-jae turned his body.
For now, he had to block the oncoming disaster.
"Why hesitate again?"
Her vision gradually turned red. Reason numbed, and her brain heated up like she was intoxicated.
A voice echoed in Unhyang's mind.
"What's there to hesitate about? Why stop?"
It was a familiar voice. No one in the world had heard it more than Unhyang.
Because it was exactly her own voice.
"No need to fear."
"I'm on your side."
"No one in the world is on your side."
"Only I..."
Thud-.
At that moment, the sensation of her body leaning against something snapped her back to awareness.
Unhyang startled and lifted her head. Soo-hyuk was looking down at her from close range.
"Good work."
"Soo... hyuk-nim..."
She remembered.
In the midst of endless fighting, Soo-hyuk had appeared on the battlefield. Seeing that, joy surged, and in that instant, her tension released.
That's when the voice had started becoming clearer. It seemed the Heavenly Demon's spirit had briefly seized her mind.
Her body went limp, strength draining away smoothly.
Watching Unhyang fall into a deep, sound sleep, Soo-hyuk let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank you."
He'd been worried the whole way here.
He'd met Si-woo, but what if things went wrong on this end?
What if Ye-ryeong failed to find Hyo-min? What if they were discovered before then? What if something happened to Unhyang, to whom he'd made the request?
'It was an unreasonable request.'
For unforeseen circumstances, it was an excessive favor born of worry for Ye-ryeong.
Even if she hadn't agreed, he would've understood. Asking her to fight Blue Zone for someone whose identity he wouldn't reveal—even Soo-hyuk knew it was insane.
But Unhyang hadn't hesitated for a second and accepted Soo-hyuk's request, knowing full well how dangerous it was.
'Still...'
Soo-hyuk checked Unhyang's body, covered in minor wounds.
'Everyone's safe.'
Unlike other times, he had no certainty about this incident.
He could only do his best and pray.
That no one would die, no one would get hurt, and it would all end that way. And that at the end, everyone would be together.
He hoisted the unconscious Unhyang onto his back. Soo-hyuk's gaze, having secured her, turned toward Ye-ryeong, who had joined Si-woo.
At this moment when Blue Zone was distracted by the demons.
Si-woo reached out toward Hyo-min on Ye-ryeong's back, his face overflowing with emotion once more.
"Hyo-min-ah..."
Ye-ryeong, scanning the surroundings and deeming no immediate threats, gently set Hyo-min down on the ground.
Swoosh-.
Si-woo leaned in to examine Hyo-min's face.
Her face was pale, but fortunately, she was breathing steadily. Checking her pulse, Si-woo sighed in relief.
"Doesn't look injured."
"Not injured. Someone was carrying her, after all."
"Then?"
"Seems poisoned."
"Poisoned?"
Si-woo's eyes flashed coldly.
"That guy Adolf said it. Called him the 'Poison King.'"
"What does that mean?"
"That's the only clue right now. He said just that and died. But doesn't it ring a bell?"
Si-woo nodded.
Poison King. The head of the Sacheon Tang Clan in the Murim World.
No need to overthink if his name came up.
"At least her life doesn't seem in danger."
"That's a relief."
Si-woo dropped his head with a sigh, gazing at Hyo-min, who slept unknowingly beside him.
How much time had passed since he'd last seen this face?
The moment he'd dreamed of endlessly had arrived, yet it still didn't feel real. Probably because Hyo-min hadn't woken yet.
"You did well, Hyo-min-ah."
She was asleep now, but...
"...Let's meet properly again soon."
They'd have a real reunion before long.
Soo-hyuk watched the scene from a short distance away.
Si-woo, Ye-ryeong, and even Hyo-min.
His living comrades were gathered before his eyes.
It was the situation he'd longed for endlessly. After starting his new life, he'd envisioned this moment hundreds, thousands of times in his head.
But now that they were actually together, his breath caught in his throat.
"There are no trials you can't overcome."
He recalled the moment he'd persuaded his comrades to tackle the Hydra.
The faces of his comrades as they finally resolved to do it overlapped with the faces of those dying and dead atop them.
"Did your comrades... resent you much?"
Soo-hyuk had asked Schneider, who shared a similar backstory.
"Resentment... yeah, I heard a lot."
His answer was just as Soo-hyuk had feared.
"This is all because of you. If you hadn't been so stubborn..."
It was true.
If he hadn't been stubborn back then, no one would have died or scattered.
'They had to resent me.'
Because of me.
It was welcoming, yet terrifying at the same time.
Terrifying that they'd hurl resentment at him now that they'd finally met. That they'd scream it was his fault Su-hun, Ji-young, Min-jae, and Gyu-seong died.
Those words would cut sharper than any dagger Ye-ryeong could wield.
'Still...'
Cold sweat beaded on Soo-hyuk's forehead as he looked at the three.
'Resentment or curses, I have to hear them.'
It might not end there, but...
"Ah, right."
At that moment, Si-woo, urgently checking Hyo-min's condition, turned his head.
Soo-hyuk startled as their eyes met. Ye-ryeong's gaze locked on simultaneously.
"Soo-hyuk-ah!"
Si-woo beckoned him over. The gesture was welcoming, yet Soo-hyuk still hesitated to step forward.
Noticing Soo-hyuk's hesitation, Ye-ryeong asked.
"Soo-hyuk...? Wait, who's that? Why are you with Jeong Chan-young?"
In Ye-ryeong's mind, Soo-hyuk was remembered as Jeong Chan-young.
She knew the situation was off. Both Lee Won-jae and Adolf had mistaken her for someone completely unrelated.
Thanks to that, things had gone smoothly. Though suspicious, saving Hyo-min took priority, so she'd pushed doubts aside.
But now that guy had returned with Si-woo.
"Jeong Chan-young?"
"What, you don't even know his name?"
"...You're the one who doesn't know."
Soo-hyuk suppressed a chuckle, his lips twitching.
"You had him pegged with some weird name."
"What are you talking about since earlier?"
"I don't even know how to explain it."
Si-woo scratched his head in thought before giving up on a detailed explanation.
"That's Soo-hyuk."
"Soo-hyuk?"
Ye-ryeong's eyes widened.
"That streamer, you mean?"
Wondering why she'd be surprised, it seemed she'd misunderstood after all.
It wasn't strange. In fact, it was far more natural to think that way.
"No wonder he was here..."
Glancing at Unhyang on Soo-hyuk's back, Ye-ryeong nodded.
Now it made sense why Unhyang had helped them.
But not all questions were resolved.
"Still, why'd he help us? And how'd he even know about this place?"
"You seem to be misunderstanding. Well, it's natural to..."
He'd jumped straight to the result without the process. Si-woo sighed deeply and raised a hand to calm Ye-ryeong.
"Just calm down first. He really is Soo-hyuk."
"Yeah, Soo-hyuk."
"Meaning, not the streamer."
"Huh?"
"The real Soo-hyuk."
Expression vanished from Ye-ryeong's face.
Thinking she'd finally understood, Si-woo nodded.
"Yeah. The Soo-hyuk you're thinking of."
"..."
A brief silence fell.
Ye-ryeong flapped her mouth in bewilderment, frozen with no idea what to say.
It took her a long while to finally speak.
"You're... not joking, right?"
She knew. Si-woo wasn't the type to joke about something like this.
Over more than twenty years, they'd never pulled a prank like that on each other.
"Of course not."
"For real?"
"Yeah."
Scratching his head embarrassedly, Si-woo happily confessed a shameful past.
"Actually, when I was soloing the first Guardian and bawling my eyes out, Soo-hyuk caught me."
This was something even Ye-ryeong didn't know.
No, not just her—no comrade knew. Soo-hyuk had never spilled that secret.
"He knew that too. It was something only that guy knew."
"...Really?"
"And you're not wrong either. He is the streamer Lee Soo-hyuk that we knew."
"What does that even mean?"
"I didn't get a full explanation, but apparently so. Wonder what wind blew him to do streams."
The image of streamer Lee Soo-hyuk surfaced in Ye-ryeong's mind.
His broadcasts. And the figure she'd glimpsed from afar while retrieving Min-jae's belongings.
"Beyond knowing secrets only we knew, I trust my own eyes. No way I wouldn't recognize that guy."
Si-woo's face looked happier than ever as he said it.
"You thought it was weird too, right? Probably way more than me."
Ye-ryeong nodded.
Soo-hyuk didn't know, but she'd seen him directly from hiding afar.
She'd gone to recover a close friend's belongings. For some whim, she hadn't.
She couldn't.
The reason was hard to articulate even for herself.
Just a feeling.
He resembled the Lee Soo-hyuk she knew too much. Even though it was Min-jae's item, she couldn't bring herself to take it.
"Judge for yourself when you meet him."
Si-woo didn't force her to believe.
Still, he trusted. Ye-ryeong would surely recognize Soo-hyuk. His eyes weren't wrong.
Step-.
Ye-ryeong's gaze shifted behind Si-woo.
What was he hesitating for? Soo-hyuk shuffled forward hesitantly.
Finally.
"You..."
Ye-ryeong and Soo-hyuk's eyes met.
"You're really Soo-hyuk?"