Chapter 63

Chapter 63

“I think he’s a little shy.”

“......Is he embarrassed?”

The two giggle and shake their heads.

“Most of the guys who’ve asked him to take them under his wing, to be their mentor, have either lost against us or died because they couldn’t pass his test. But here’s a guy who can beat both of us in one fell swoop, and that’s a passing grade! How nice. Don’t you think so?”

Certainly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look embarrassed, even in the game.

He always had a wistful look on his face or a moderate haha, I guess?

“That’s right.......By the way, thank you so much for the fight. I learned a lot.”

“No, no, no. We were having fun.”

“I’ve been watching you for a while, and I can tell. You’re going to be big. See you around.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you around.”

I shook both of their hands, bowed my head in thanks, and followed Kwak as he walked away and entered a building.

The building he entered was a mansion that was much different in size compared to the others.

“Are you surprised that the house is so big?”

Seeing me standing still in front of the house, Kwak smiles with a smug expression.

“I just thought it was different from other places. Why would I be surprised that my house is bigger than yours?”

When I said that with sincerity, he furrowed his brow and quickly turned his head.

“Get the fuck in here......!”

He grumbled, but he motioned for me to come in, and I did.

The interior of his mansion was quite luxurious.

I thought it was true that if a person was capable, he would go to a grand house even if he had to go back to his hometown.

“This is it.”

“Ah, yes.”

I followed him to a room that looked like his usual study.

Medals, plaques, and photographs lined one wall. There were countless of them, all of which seemed to show who he had once been.

“I just need to sign the mentor agreement, right? Let’s see......There you go.”

He scowls at me in disapproval, then slaps a piece of paper down in front of me.

“Seriously, I never thought I’d be mentoring an Academy kid at this age.......”

“Well, I’m not exactly a pushover, I’ve got aura skills, I’m from a good family, and I’ve got swagger.”

“Ha! Even swagger!”

“That’s good self-objectification, isn’t it?”

Afterwards, Kwak Chun-sik listened to me and laughed heartily.

“Yes, you’re right, you’re right, you bastard. Thanks to you, I won’t be bored in my later years.”

I guess that means he’s satisfied.

At that moment, Kwak’s cell phone on the table in his study began to vibrate.

He glanced at the screen, smiled, and nodded.

“Well, it’s almost time.”

After turning off his phone, he stood up and looked at me.

“Let’s go.”

“...... Yes, where are we going?”

“We’re going to a dungeon.”

“......?”

Hey, didn’t you come here as a punishment for slitting a villain’s throat?

Now you want to go dungeon raiding?

“We’ve been waiting for you, sir.”

“The dungeon?”

“Yes, in the caves here, danger level C. A few kobolds have crawled out, so we expect it to be a kobold dungeon.”

“I see. I see. I’ll be right back.”

“Thank you, but is that young man behind you.......”

“A damn disciple.”

“Oh......yes.”

The man who was smiling and calling me a disciple just a moment ago was now calling me a ‘damn disciple’ with his tongue in his cheek.

Anyway, not all heroes have big hearts.

“Let’s go, Master.”

“That’s right, watch and learn behind me. Hmmm.”

Even so, he was happy to be called Master once, so he took the initiative.

......After all, it’s just words, but he likes it so much, it’s so easy.

The dungeon I followed Kwak Chun-sik into had all the characteristics a kobold would love.

It’s dark and damp, with connections deep into the ground, and the narrow pathways make it easy to defend. But this careful selection of habitat was also a sign of their weakness.

“Do you know what a kobold is?”

We had been walking side by side without saying a word, but Kwak Chun-sik spoke first.

“You mean like, they’re good diggers, have a very developed sense of smell, and are extremely averse to intruders in their habitat?”

“Yeah, yeah, all that stuff. But do you have any idea why such kobolds have not attacked us?”

Kwak Chun-sik tries to test me again as soon as we enter the dungeon so I decided to surprise him a little.

“Isn’t that because you’ve been killing all the kobolds lying in ambush on the ground every time you took a step?”

“......You noticed that?”

“Didn’t I tell you I’m not an ordinary talent either?”

Truth be told, I hadn’t noticed when I first entered the dungeon. I just thought, “Why don’t I see any kobolds?”

But as we moved forward, little by little, I saw fear on the floor where there shouldn’t be any emotion, and realized that there were kobolds ready to ambush us.

With each step Kwak Chun-sik took, I realized that the fearful entities were disappearing one by one.

“So you’re saying that you’ve reached the point where you can unfold your auras and explore your surroundings?”

“Something like that. Though I don’t know how you’re going around killing kobolds right now.”

“Is that so? Hmm, well, I guess we’d better start learning the basics first.”

“By the way, how do you kill the ones on the ground? When I saw you from behind, all I saw was you walking with your back to me.”

“Hmm, this? No big deal.”

Saying that, Kwak Chun-sik held up his foot to show the sole of his shoe which had a blue aura on it.

“Just like this,” he says, “I’ll walk around and when I detect them, I’ll extend the aura, like shooting thorns.”

With a snap, a spike shot out from the sole of his foot, rising to just above the ceiling, then it returned back where it came from.

Even if I didn’t know everything about aura, I could immediately recognize the absurdity of the trick that was being performed in front of me.

“This is going to be a little more difficult for you to do, so let’s start by trying to get the shape of the aura. Let’s see......Oh, can you feel it around the corner?”

“Yes, at a guess I’d say it’s about fifty, but I think there’s a big hollow or something.”

Kwak Chun-sik nods as if my answer is correct and smiles.

“First lesson: deal with them without using weapons, however, they must never touch your bare skin.”

“......?”

With a pop, a hand made of aura wraps around me and...

“Ah.”

“Then, go.”

“......Damn it.”

I was sent flying.