I Knew It (3)
It sounded like he’d just heard something incredibly weird.
But Kang Hae-il’s mind was too scrambled to dwell on it.
“So what are we going to do?”
Dealing with the situation came first.
“From what I know, trolls don’t actually get along with each other. They usually travel alone.”
“…Really? How do you even know that?”
“I collect data and study in my own way.”
“As expected from an S-university student…”
“Hyung, you take on that Nugad guy for now. Provoke him, distract his attention.”
“Got it.”
Kang Hae-il stood up again and turned toward the troll.
“You’re up, Nugad.”
BOOM!
Flames erupted once more, wrapping around his body.
“Nugad!”
“Come at me, Nugad.”
“NUGAAAAAAAAAD!”
Despite Kang Hae-il’s constant taunting, Nugad had no intention of fighting him head-on.
‘That bastard… he’s terrifying!’
Even with a troll’s brain, charging straight at Kang Hae-il looked like suicide.
Nugad swung his staff from a distance instead.
He had no idea the earth spirit was even there.
Pathetic. Worse than a troll.
“Scared, Nugad!?”
Whether it was pure stubbornness or a deliberate attempt to pin the troll down, Hae-il kept provoking him.
Rumble… rumble…
The ground beneath them was slowly melting away.
‘Huh?’
By the time he noticed, it was already too late.
The area had turned into a swamp.
Rumble!
The sound of sticky bubbles popping echoed nonstop as something suddenly yanked his lower body downward.
“Whoa…!?”
He couldn’t kick off the ground. On top of that, the spirit had locked his feet in place with a mass of stone.
“Ugh!”
Squelch—
Pulling free with raw strength was impossible.
Even with S-rank stats.
Of course, this earth spirit was a mid-tier one—the strongest among elementals in terms of pure power—so it wasn’t surprising it could match him.
As long as it held him like this, there was nothing he could do.
Nugad laughed triumphantly.
“Hahaha! Die, you troll-looking bastard!”
The troll’s staff came swinging down at Kang Hae-il.
Whoosh—
Magi had gathered at the tip of the already massive staff. Getting hit would hurt.
But Hae-il didn’t retreat. Instead, he threw a punch.
KWAAAAAANG!
Fist and massive staff collided directly.
The impact canceled itself out, reducing the damage.
“W-what the hell is this!?”
Nugad was thrown off balance, leaving himself wide open for another strike.
“GRAAAAAHH!”
A giant club slammed into the back of the troll’s head.
KWAAAAAANG!
“!?”
The damage was enormous.
The force was so great Nugad’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
His body lurched forward and his knees slammed into the ground.
THUD!
“…Wh-what!?”
Nugad whipped his head around to see who had hit him.
He shouted in disbelief.
“What… what kind of troll is this!? You bastard!”
The one who had clubbed him was a fellow troll warrior.
A subordinate he had just revived suddenly smashing him in the back of the head.
This was exactly the kind of situation that would make anyone scream, “What kind of troll is this?”
The answer lay with Junil.
“What kind of troll? It’s a troll warrior!”
“…What?”
Only then did Nugad’s gaze shift to the human riding on top of the troll’s head.
“Who… who the hell are you!? Why are you up there!?”
It was utter chaos.
His already mediocre brain went completely blank.
Why was a human riding a troll warrior like some kind of familiar?
“You didn’t treat your troll warrior with respect.”
“…What!? I don’t know what you’re talking about! I never did anything to him!?”
“Ha. What a convenient memory. Typical for an abuser—they never remember. You bullied him so badly when he was a rookie, and now you’re playing dumb.”
“What do you think? Troll?!”
“GRAAAAAAAAAAH!”
‘Swing.’
The troll warrior answered by swinging its club.
Of course, it was completely under Junil’s command.
KWAAAANG!
Nugad blocked the club with his staff, but he was steadily pushed back.
“Ugh!? Why am I being pushed!?”
The troll warrior’s strength was strangely greater than that of a normal one.
Death’s Troll Warrior Lv.34
Becoming a servant of death had stripped it of emotion, but in exchange its level had risen.
“Kill him!”
Mana Roar
On top of that, Junil’s buff widened the gap in power even further.
“GRAAAAH!”
KWAAAANG!
When the club swung again, Nugad lost his grip on the staff.
“Gah…!”
Clang!
The staff rolled across the ground.
“S-spirit!”
He urgently tried to summon the earth spirit again.
‘Huh?’
The swamp that had been sucking in Kang Hae-il vanished.
‘It’s released.’
He sprinted forward on sticky, mud-covered feet.
Squelch. Squelch!
Flames roared around him as he charged.
Fwoooooosh!
Kang Hae-il shot forward like a blazing comet.
“I’ll finish this!”
Guilty for not handling it properly earlier, he was determined to end it cleanly this time.
But—
‘Finish it? Who said you could?’
Junil gave an immediate order.
“Tackle him!”
“GRAAAAAHHH…!”
The troll warrior threw itself forward at the command.
The moment its massive body tried to pin Nugad down—
‘Now.’
Tap—
Junil leaped down from the troll’s head.
At the same time, his hand flew to the sword at his waist.
In a state of extreme focus, everything seemed to move in slow motion.
Rumble…
The troll warrior and Nugad rolled across the ground in a tangled heap.
Sliiide…
The blade slowly left its sheath.
Narrative Trick Hwando
A blue glint flashed across Junil’s eyes as they reflected off the blade.
On the opposite side burned a fierce red flame.
“DIIIIIIE!”
Kang Hae-il’s body came hurtling forward like a meteor.
An overwhelming wave of heat crashed over them in an instant.
Blue mana coiled around it.
Mana Blade
KWAGWAGWAGWAGWAGWAAAAAANG!!
Hae-il’s flames and Junil’s sword strike fused together in a massive explosion.
* * *
Meanwhile, inside the apartment complex.
Yu Jihun was directing the residents.
“Hey! You over there! Stop throwing cans!”
Maybe it was the presence of an A+-rank awakener.
The residents, who had been lost in madness, were slowly starting to calm down.
“Is there some kind of virus going around? Everyone’s so angry.”
“You’re not exactly one to talk. You’ve been angry the whole way here.”
Lee Suyeon shot back at Yu Jihun.
They didn’t seem to be complete strangers, but they clearly weren’t close either.
“That’s because every easy gate is packed full of awakeners. How can you not get angry seeing that?”
Yu Jihun and Lee Suyeon had been searching for gates they could clear together.
But every gate easy enough for just the two of them had already been taken.
That was how they had ended up at this newly formed gate.
Two people had entered right before they arrived.
When they got there, they saw it was Kang Hae-il and Moon Junil.
“Isn’t it natural to start with the easy ones? Not everyone has nine lives like you.”
Lee Suyeon called Yu Jihun’s approach reckless.
Ever since the Gangnam Station gate incident, he had been clearing gates like he had a death wish.
“Hmph. Even twenty lives wouldn’t be enough to catch up to that guy.”
“How do you plan to catch an S-rank?”
“Can’t an A+ do it? I can’t give up. Even an F-rank managed it.”
At the mention of F-rank, Lee Suyeon exploded.
“That oppa is F-rank but he’s smart, okay!?”
Yu Jihun’s eyebrow twitched.
“What? Are you personally close with him?”
“W-well… I guess you could say that…”
Yu Jihun hadn’t known Lee Suyeon had a direct connection to Moon Junil.
From the way she spoke, they seemed fairly close.
“Put your personal feelings aside. If you want to work with me from now on.”
“W-what…”
Lee Suyeon tried to explain herself, but at that moment—
Crackle… crackle…
The gate began to react.
“Wha— the gate!”
“The gate’s exploding!”
The residents panicked and tried to run backward.
“Waaaaait!”
Flash!
Yu Jihun stepped in front of them.
“Why are you blocking us!?”
“It’s not exploding! Something’s coming out!”
“We know that, but why stop us!? We’re scared! We want to get far away!”
But Yu Jihun grabbed their heads and forcibly turned them back toward the gate.
“Grrrrk!?”
Then he roared at the top of his lungs.
“Watch properly! The return of the people you all looked down on! Even an F-rank can do this!”
Yu Jihun didn’t particularly like Moon Junil personally.
But ‘A promise is a promise.’
For someone who lived and died by his pride, breaking a promise was unthinkable.
So he gave them the full service.
“What can an F-rank even do!? He probably just rode the bus the whole way!”
Even as the residents protested, he fought back for them.
“How would you know, you idiot non-awakener!”
Now even Professor Kim tried to stop him.
“Um… Yu, Yu Jihun… you don’t have to go that far… insulting non-awakeners is a sensitive…”
“Shut up, old man! What would you know!? Huh!?”
“I-I’m only forty-seven…”
At that moment—
Cracklecracklecrackle!
Two men walked out of the gate.
It was Junil and Hae-il.
“Whoa. What? They both really came back!”
“He wasn’t just a meat shield!?”
“No way.”
“Still, their contribution must be zero. Seriously.”
Rumble… rumble…
As the gate collapsed, it transformed into an information window.
Achievement: ★★★
📍 Rating: Three Stars
“Ooooooh!”
“As expected.”
“They basically did the work of two people!?”
“That’s our Kang Hae-il! Gate cleared!”
“Waaaaaah!”
The residents began chanting Kang Hae-il’s name.
“Kang Hae-il! Kang Hae-il!”
“Let’s make Kang Hae-il an honorary resident of Maison Grande Champ First! Yes!?”
“Oh my! If it’s Mr. Kang Hae-il, of course he’s welcome! He can even be a union member! The government will approve everything, right!?”
Then the contribution rankings appeared.
Ting!
1. Moon Junil
2. Kang Hae-il
A sudden silence fell.
Everyone looked dazed.
The silence was broken by a thunderous voice.
“You sons of bitches! I knew it all along!”
It was Professor Kim Yu-sik.
The professor suddenly started grabbing every can around him.