Chapter 17: Awakening Test (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 17: Awakening Test (2)
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Name: Park Ha-jin
Gender: Male
Age: 26
Level: 8
Strength: 16, Agility: 15, Stamina: 16, Mana: 12
Available Stat Points: 0
Coins: 1,580
Class: None
Unique Ability: Fatal Ambush
Skills: Lv3 'Acceleration', Lv2 'Stealth', Lv2 'Shallow Breathing'
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He had already checked Park Ha-jin's status window using the 'Eye of Truth'.
An assassin-type class, highly rated in one-on-one combat.
In particular, 'Shallow Breathing' was a rather tempting skill.
'Since it's a passive skill that can make up for a lack of endurance in long battles.'
It was definitely useful.
That was why he had provoked him.
[Copy Condition: If you maximize your favorability with the target, you can copy their 'Unique Ability'. If you maximize their hostility toward you, you can copy 'one skill of your choice'.]
It was all to satisfy this condition.
'Raising hostility isn't exactly hard.'
The corners of Jinhyuk's mouth curled upward.
In contrast, Park Ha-jin's face contorted in fury as he watched him.
"You bastard... You can laugh in a situation like this?"
Shring!
But the moment his sword was about to be drawn, Jinhyuk moved half a beat faster.
He thrust the water bottle in his hand forward.
Splash!
The sprayed water splashed all over Park Ha-jin's face.
"Ugh?!"
Park Ha-jin closed his eyes reflexively.
It was less than a single second.
But in battle, that brief moment was fatal.
The sword, drawn a moment too late, slashed empty air.
Naturally, the target who should have been bleeding and screaming was already long gone.
He didn't feel any impact.
Something was wrong.
The moment that thought crossed his mind—
Throb!
A sharp, stinging pain shot through Park Ha-jin's thigh.
He stumbled.
"Aaargh!"
His body collapsed.
Park Ha-jin clutched his thigh and rolled on the bare ground.
The strike had been incredibly fast and precisely aimed.
For the time being, let alone fighting, he would struggle to even stand up.
"W-what just happened?"
"He attacked and then just fell over on his own?"
"Did he trip over his own feet?"
An absurd mistake.
An unexpected stroke of luck.
To the untrained eye, that was how it appeared.
Out of the crowd of hundreds, only three people had properly grasped the movement just now.
Lee Tae-min and Yu Yeon-hwa, who had followed Jinhyuk.
And Kim Gi-tae of the Ssaulabi Guild.
'I knew Hyung was a veteran, but this is insane.'
Lee Tae-min swallowed hard.
The timing of catching the opponent off guard with a surprise attack, and the timing of slipping into his blind spot using that opening—both were perfect.
He looked fine on the outside, but there was no doubt about it.
Park Ha-jin's leg was definitely not normal right now.
Of course, the victim himself probably didn't even realize how severe his injury was yet.
"Ugh..."
A pitying sigh escaped Yu Yeon-hwa's lips.
The sight of him being completely toyed with overlapped with her past self sparring with her grandfather.
'No, this is actually worse.'
At least back then, there was a purpose to it—training.
But now...
There was absolutely nothing for the victim to learn.
It was just a one-sided, crushing defeat.
* * *
'W-what is this?'
Park Ha-jin couldn't understand this situation at all.
The one rolling on the ground was supposed to be that guy.
So why on earth...
...did he feel the cold sensation of marble against his cheek?
"Damn it!"
A curse spat from his mouth.
To make such a pathetic display of himself while Kim Gi-tae was watching.
No matter how off-guard he had been caught, it was an irreversible mistake.
"This bastard is really asking to die."
Park Ha-jin awkwardly tried to push himself up.
But right then, a heavy pressure crushed down on his neck.
Crack!
"Ack?!"
"Your neck's going to snap. Stay down."
Jinhyuk looked down at Park Ha-jin from above.
"Ack! Cough! Your... your foot! Get it off me!"
Park Ha-jin thrashed his body.
He tried to shake it off immediately, but for some reason, his opponent's leg didn't budge an inch.
"O-Oppa!"
It was then that Park Ha-na's voice rang out.
She had rushed to the front after hearing the commotion.
"Who the hell did—!"
Park Ha-na glared with murderous intent at the person who had attacked her brother.
But the moment her eyes met his,
Tremble, tremble.
Her entire body began to shake like a leaf.
"Wh-what...?"
The one person she never wanted to meet again.
The devil she barely dared to look at was standing right before her eyes.
"Well, well. I didn't expect to see you again so soon, Intern."
Jinhyuk smiled brightly.
"W-what brings you... here?"
"What do you mean? I came to take the test. Though my mood's ruined thanks to some guy who cut the line and started shouting."
Jinhyuk put a bit more weight into his foot.
"Argh...!"
The squirming Park Ha-jin finally quieted down.
Now he's finally quiet.
'By the way, is the copy condition still not met?'
He thought this would have been more than enough to max out his hostility.
Apparently, the system's requirements were stricter than he had anticipated.
'Nothing for it. I'll just have to push him harder.'
Just as he was thinking that,
"That's enough."
A heavy pressure weighed down on Jinhyuk's shoulder.
It was Kim Gi-tae.
['Eye of Truth' has been activated!]
[The skill activation has been canceled because the level difference exceeds the limit!]
He couldn't see the status window.
Which meant...
'He's at least over level 20.'
The advantage of being able to monopolize hunting grounds and funnel experience points to a single player.
This was exactly why everyone was so desperate to join large guilds.
Jinhyuk stared at the hand gripping his shoulder for a moment.
Then, he muttered as if talking to himself.
"...I didn't know."
"Didn't know what?"
"I didn't know this guy came with a babysitter."
It was a highly provocative remark, but Kim Gi-tae's expression didn't waver.
"He's a handful, but it can't be helped. He has his uses."
"His uses, huh..."
Jinhyuk chuckled.
"Is that because he has a route to supply 'Goryeo Ginseng' to China?"
"What?"
Unlike before, Kim Gi-tae's demeanor changed visibly.
His eyes shook with shock.
Even the hand gripping Jinhyuk's shoulder trembled slightly.
"How do you know about that?"
"Your question is a bit off. You shouldn't be asking how I know."
If someone knows that kind of information...
If it's someone who knows that much...
Then perhaps...
"You should be asking if I can resolve the side effects of Goryeo Ginseng."
The moment Jinhyuk finished speaking—
Hummmm!
[Kim Gi-tae activates Lv3 'Darkness Barrier'!]
A translucent barrier unfolded.
Park Ha-jin, Park Ha-na, and everyone else in the vicinity vanished.
In a world cut off from the outside, Kim Gi-tae stared directly at Jinhyuk.
"You... what the hell are you? How do you know all of this?"
At first, he had been amused.
A newbie who had just come to take the test was playing with Park Ha-jin like a toy.
He had even been slightly impressed by his highly efficient movements.
However, as Jinhyuk continued to speak, his amusement quickly turned into uncomfortable curiosity.
And ultimately, it warped into intense hostility.
It was only natural.
This guy...
...knew far too much.
To an excessive degree.
"I think your question is wrong again."
Jinhyuk shrugged.
"It doesn't matter how I know. You should have asked what you can trade for the information I have."
This wasn't a hearing.
Only results mattered.
Motives and processes were irrelevant.
"You want to make a trade?"
"Yeah. It's not like your side isn't desperately trying to reduce those side effects anyway, right?"
As if hit where it hurt, Kim Gi-tae pursed his lips tightly.
But only for a moment.
"You sound as if you prepared for this trade in advance."
To call it spontaneous... there were too many suspicious details.
A stage prepared beforehand with the target in mind.
That was the only way it made sense.
Instead of confirming, Jinhyuk shrugged.
"That's right. Actually, I knew you would come here."
The moment he heard about the test from Lee Tae-min yesterday, he had formed a hypothesis.
The best place to show oneself off.
There was no way Park Ha-na, who had raised her stock by entering the Hall of Fame, would miss this.
Naturally, she would come as soon as day broke.
And of course, she would be accompanied by Park Ha-jin, who was anxious for the guild's growth.
But that wasn't all.
Would Park Ha-jin, who desperately wanted connections, really come alone?
No way.
He would have wanted to drag some higher-ups along by any means necessary.
And of course, the other side wouldn't want to blow a chance for massive media publicity either.
A convergence of mutual interests.
That was why he was certain.
Either Dangun or Ssaulabi.
An executive-level member from at least one of those two guilds would show up.
'I figured the probability was higher for Ssaulabi, since they're aiming for the number one spot from second place.'
And that prediction had hit the bullseye.
"...Even assuming what you say is true, do you have proof? Anyone can talk a big game."
Proof?
Of course he did.
"If you consume Goryeo Ginseng raw, it causes mana poisoning. Sure, you can mitigate the symptoms by adjusting the dosage or using the 'Purified Water' on the 2nd floor, but that's not a fundamental solution."
"And?"
"You need a total of three items."
Jinhyuk held up three fingers.
"Karasian sap, Moonlight Stone, and Mandragora root. The first two can be obtained on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the tower, so they're fine. But the problem is, you don't know where the last one, the Mandragora root, is located, right?"
...It matched.
What this man was saying perfectly matched the recipe obtained by the research team and explorers currently affiliated with the Ssaulabi Guild.
They had easily obtained two of the three ingredients.
But just one.
They had absolutely no way of finding the Mandragora root.
They couldn't even figure out which floor of the tower it was on.
'Seeing how he even knows the recipe and the types of ingredients... he's telling the truth.'
It meant he met the minimum requirements to make a deal.
His hesitation didn't last long.
"Fine. I'll play along. However..."
At that moment, the sword at Kim Gi-tae's waist flew out.
Shring!
It was incomparably faster than Park Ha-jin's.
The tip of the blade, stopping right in front of Jinhyuk's nose, radiated a sharp aura.
"If you're playing some cheap trick, be prepared."
"Be prepared if I'm playing a trick?"
"Yes. If that's the case, you won't be able to talk your way out of it."
Well, now...
It seemed there was a slight misunderstanding.
Jinhyuk scratched his head.
At the same time, his slowly moving hand gripped the blade.
"I have no intention of cutting you, so you don't need to grab it with your bare hand."
Kim Gi-tae smirked.
Right then—
Whoosh!
[Lv2 'Fire Element' has been activated!]
[Due to the level difference with the target, the stat 'Gap' has been activated!]
As flames flickered, the blade heated up to a glowing red.
The heat was so intense it was hard for skin to bear.
Even the moisture in the air began to rapidly evaporate.
"...What?"
Kim Gi-tae hurriedly tried to pull his sword back, but it was already too late.
Clang!
Before he knew it, a dagger imbued with a red glow was held in Jinhyuk's other hand.
A horizontal slash.
Kim Gi-tae's blade cracked.
It was too faint to even be called a fracture.
Yet, it was a perfectly straight, undisturbed line.
At that moment—
Clink!
The blade, snapped in half, fell to the floor.
'He... he cut through an enhanced weapon?'
In a single strike?
'That's impossible...!'
Kim Gi-tae stared blankly, looking back and forth between the broken blade and the hilt of his sword.
Clearly, his opponent was a player whose level was only in the single digits.
So what was this?
This ominous, suffocating pressure tightening around his entire body.
As if levels meant absolutely nothing.
His instincts screamed at him with the highest level of alarm.
Jinhyuk spoke.
"Don't get it twisted. I'm the one making the proposal, and I'm the one giving the opportunity."
His voice was colder than ever.
"The only reason I'm going through this tedious trouble is because wasting time playing tug-of-war with you guys is a luxury I can't afford."
He had to go to the ruins on the 1st floor immediately.
He had spent a whole month in the labyrinth just for that.
However, if someone who didn't know their place kept barking, he was willing to spare a brief moment.
"You're the one who needs to keep this in mind."
Right here, right now.
"If you try any cheap tricks..."
He drew a line.
"...the entire Ssaulabi Guild might get obliterated."
This is your only warning.