Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Puf—

His sword pierced the back of the giant leader’s neck and stuck out the other side.

– ???

– W... What’s going on???

– How is the guy who bet everything he had doing?

– Forget about that guy, hahaha. How does this even make sense?

Understandably, the chat was in chaos.

– Has anyone ever defeated him?

– No, definitely not.

– How do you even defeat it? The stage wasn’t designed to be cleared like this.

– When did he realize he could kill it?

It was completely different from having defeated Wolf Warrior Gred. Neither boss was meant to be defeated, but there was still a marked difference in difficulty.

Everyone had faced the wolf warrior at least once and fought him. Some skilled players had even managed to leave scars on him, but the giants’ leader wasn’t like that. Approaching it should’ve been impossible, let alone killing it.

“ROOAR—!” The giants’ leader mustered his remaining strength and screamed, the sword still sticking from his neck. When he did so, ‘Thunderous Sound’s’ effect quickly faded from the nearby giants.

“Grrr-?”

“GUOO-!”

The giants regained their senses.

“Human...!” the giants’ leader managed to say. Was he a boss-level intelligence like the wolf warrior as well?

Crack—!

WHOOM—

The giant pulled a nearby tree from the ground and swung it in an intense act of resistance. The giant’s sheer size made it much stronger compared to other giants.

For a moment, Su-hyeok’s grip on his sword weakened, and he was almost sent flying away. ‘This is a bit troublesome.’ Though the giant’s breath was being cut off, it was burning whatever it had left of its energy.

– How can someone survive with a sword stuck in their neck?

– From his perspective, the sword isn’t that big, so it’s understandable.

– Yes, that’s right. Instead of stabbing, he should have slashed the giant’s neck.

They didn’t know what they were talking about. ‘If I had tried to slash, the sword wouldn’t have gone very deep.’ It took a lot of strength to pierce through the neck. Of course, slashing would’ve been better if he could do it, but he’d instinctively judged it to be impossible and focused his power on a single point for maximum efficiency.

That was the only reason he’d been able to pierce the monster’s neck, and it was why the boss was struggling to breathe.

“GUOO-!”

“GRR-”.

Relatively smaller giants were scattered everywhere around their leader. The moment Su-hyeok fell, his body would be shattered by their clubs.

“Human...!!!” the leader shouted.

If Su-hyeok left things as they were, it seemed like the giant would survive for quite a while. The viewers were right about one thing—the sword was relatively small compared to the giant’s massive frame.

“Just die already!” He would have to increase the size of the wound.

Crack—

He had no choice but to hasten the boss’s death and twisted the sword embedded in its neck. ‘The goal here is to survive, and this guy is the stage’s boss.

Slash—

The wound widened, gradually creeping toward a fatal state, even for a giant. ‘This guy has to die for the stage to end.’

“AGH...!” The giants’ leader screamed, shaking Su-hyeok’s eardrums. Was it his final death struggle? The boss resisted even more fiercely in its final moments, trying to shake Su-hyeok from its neck.

WHOOM—

Crack—!

“...!” Su-hyeok went flying from the giant’s neck after the monster swung his fist. The punch itself didn’t carry much power due to the odd angle, but the power that came with the giant’s size couldn’t be ignored.

Crack—!

“Ugh...” He felt dizzy from the impact and heard a thud at the same time as the giants’ leader fell to the ground.

WHOOM—

“You should say that after putting away the kit in your hand.”

Swoosh—

Siwoo sat on the pile of firewood next to the rocking chair.

The weather was definitely nice, but Yeryeong hadn’t gone out all the way there for that. Yeryeong looked at her kit and blankly asked, “It’s soon, right?” It was a question with no apparent subject, but it was easy to tell what she was talking about.

“Yes. Probably within a year, at most...” Siwoo replied.

“So my life ends soon. Well, I guess I’ve lived long enough.”

“Stop joking. It isn’t funny.”

“Of course, it isn’t funny. It wasn’t meant to be funny.” Even as she said that, Yeryeong was still looking at the kit’s screen. Although she was usually immersed in her kit, it was a bit extreme that time.

Siwoo had purposely gone to sit with her, but she hadn’t even glanced at him. “Can you stop using the kit so much? Aren’t you tired?”

“What else is there to do in this boring place?”

“Have some tea, meditate...”

“You do that, old man.” Even as she said that, Yeryeong continued staring at the kit.

Siwoo looked into her eyes. Somehow, they felt different. “Is there something interesting?”

“Ah, this...” Yeryeong turned the kit’s screen and showed it to Siwoo. “There’s someone called Lee Su-hyeok. He’s quite an interesting junior.”

“Su-hyeok? Don’t tell me...”

“No, not that Su-hyeok. It’s just a kid with the same name. He’s just taking the 2nd floor’s trial.”

“Ah, the 2nd floor... a streamer...” Siwoo, who’d started to stand in excitement, sat back down. If it were the real Su-hyeok, it would have been impossible for him to be taking the test on the 2nd floor. Moreover, the Su-hyeok they knew wouldn’t stream, even as a joke.

He felt bitter regret filling him.

Yeryeong sighed when she saw his reaction. Every year, Kim Siwoo visited Su-hyeok’s memorial and placed the flowers he made there. Fearing he might have false hope, she tried to convince him again. “Let’s let him go.”

“That again?”

“You know it too, right? If Su-hyeok were alive, there’s no way he wouldn’t have killed Kim Ilsu, that bastard.”

Siwoo nodded. It was true. Their friend, Lee Su-hyeok, had unparalleled skills and had blown them all away in his last moments with the Banana Palm Fan. If he’d survived, then even the names of those in Blue Zone, including Kim Ilsu, would have been wiped from the tower.

“Su-hyeok’s dead,” Yeryeong stated.

“I know...”

“No, you don’t. How long are you going to stay in his shadow? Let him go, please.”

“What about you?”

Tap—

Siwoo went silent for a moment before reaching out and snatching Yeryeong’s kit. “Why are you watching this?”

“It’s just for fun.”

“You used to watch Cha Min-woo’s streams too, although you haven’t since he joined Blue Zone.”

“...” Yeryeong bit her lips. At first, she thought she was just doing it for fun.

Siwoo had noticed it before she had, though. “You watch all the streams of those who wear that mask and imitate Su-hyeok, don’t you? We’re both the same. We can’t break free from Lee Su-hyeok’s shadow.” He returned her kit as it continued to play Su-hyeok’s stream.

Clench—

Gripping the kit tightly, Yeryeong lowered her head. She missed the comrades she’d been with until twenty years ago. She missed Su-hyeok, who’d foolishly used the Banana Palm Fan to save her and stayed behind alone.

She missed them too much.

“Ahh...” She felt like she was about to cry.

– Enduring each day was very hard.

Drip—

Lowering her head, Yeryeong eventually burst into tears.

“Haa...” Siwoo sighed and approached her, patting her shoulder. He’d said something unnecessary in a moment of frustration. ‘That’s why I didn’t want to talk about it.’

He’d known for a long time how Yeryeong felt while watching the streams of Cha Min-woo or other streamers who imitated Lee Su-hyeok. Even though she seemed unaware of it, he hadn’t bothered to say anything.

‘Yes, we’re both the same. Both of us are living in his shadow.’ Neither of them was in a position to blame each other. Siwoo reached out to pick up the kit Yeryeong had dropped on the floor.

‘What’s this?’ The reward Lee Su-hyeok had received from the trial was displayed on the screen.

[Skill Obtained – ‘Lightning’.]

‘Lightning?’

____