Chapter 58:

Chapter 58:

Chapter 58

Kang Hye-rim sat alone in the waiting room, focusing on the colosseum scene that was playing on the monitor in front of her.

On the huge stage above, the scenery changed in an instant as Yu-hyun and his opponent stepped up.

She felt anxious as she watched the spectacle and shook her legs.

‘I should have, I should have gone out there.’

What made her uneasy was the fact that she couldn’t stand up there herself.

And that Yu-hyun, who was like a benefactor to her, had gone out instead of her.

‘What if something goes wrong with Yu-hyun, then I will...’

She shuddered at the thought.

Even so, Kang Hye-rim couldn’t stop Yu-hyun from going out.

She volunteered to fight instead, but Yu-hyun refused adamantly.

Kang Hye-rim recalled what had happened in the waiting room a while ago.

“Why can’t you do it! You don’t have to go out there, Yu-hyun!”

She had raised her voice like that. It was something she would never do normally.

But she couldn’t calm down because of her anxiety and the shock of Yu-hyun not choosing her.

Yu-hyun gently calmed down the excited Kang Hye-rim.

“Hyerim. This fight is my fight. I don’t want to drag you into this unnecessarily.”

“I, I’m your collector! A collector who fights on behalf of a teller! Shouldn’t I, shouldn’t I go out instead?!”

“That would be true for a normal teller. Because they don’t fight.”

But Yu-hyun was different.

He had vowed to fight with his own strength.

“More than anything, I have to prove myself in this place. That I’m not just following someone else, that I can fight too. I have to show my worth and qualification.”

“That, that’s... You don’t have to do that.”

Kang Hye-rim said that, feeling Yu-hyun’s firm will.

If it were the usual her, she would have trusted Yu-hyun’s words and left it to him.

But it wasn’t as easy as she thought because of the anxiety she had been feeling since earlier.

Surely, if she was asked why she felt this way, she wouldn’t be able to answer.

This was not a matter of reason, but of pure sensation.

Nor did the question ‘Is it right to blindly trust your senses?’ apply to Kang Hye-rim at this moment.

It was almost instinctive anxiety.

Her attitude was similar to a child who had a nightmare and refused to let go of their parents’ hand.

No rational rebuttal or persuasion would work here.

So Kang Hye-rim tried to dissuade Yu-hyun by any means possible.

“But, it’s because of that attitude.”

“...!”

She was speechless at his words.

Yu-hyun sighed softly as he looked at Kang Hye-rim, who couldn’t say anything back with a pale face.

“How long do you think I’ve known you, Hyerim? I know when you look anxious.”

“I, I...”

“Yes. You’re worried about me, that’s why you said that. I appreciate that part. But in the end, you don’t trust me. You think I won’t win in this fight against them, don’t you? That’s why you’re like this, right?”

“...”

Kang Hye-rim had nothing to say even if she had ten mouths.

‘Yes, that’s right. I... didn’t trust Yu-hyun.’

Why did she feel anxious?

It was because deep down in her heart, she had a bit of distrust towards Yu-hyun.

When she realized that fact, Kang Hye-rim felt an unbearable sense of guilt.

He trusted me, but I didn’t trust him.

How could there be such a selfish act in the world?

She considered him a precious person, a benefactor who would risk his life for her, but in the end her actions were one-sidedly forcing Yu-hyun into her own mold.

Kang Hye-rim bowed her head in self-loathing.

A warm warmth descended over her head.

“Don’t worry. I’m not as weak as you think.”

Yu-hyun’s gentle touch stroked her hair. It tickled her head like a warm spring breeze.

“So, I’m going to show you properly. That your anxiety right now is really just a delusion. To those who are looking at me from afar and laughing at me as if I’m nothing, that they’re wrong. That’s what I’m trying to prove.”N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

It was the same thing Yu-hyun had said to Han Yongwoon in the Theodolant Swamp before.

If they don’t know, then show them.

Show them what kind of person I am, imprint that image on them.

She had no choice but to nod at his words.

That’s how it came to this moment, but the anxiety that was shaking her heart roughly still couldn’t be calmed down easily.

‘Of course. He had concealment in a field that was favorable to him.’

Kim Hanjung hid himself in the fog again as his attack failed.

But he didn’t rashly approach him like before.

[How did you figure it out?]

‘I just have an ability to check this out.’

Kim Hanjung’s concealment was definitely amazing.

Maybe if Hyerim was here, she would have been caught off guard in an instant.

But I can’t be surprised.

He was too incompatible with me in the first place.

‘I didn’t expect reading books to help me in this way.’

The silver book that Kim Hanjung had floated above the head of the hidden guy.

Once he recognized the book and pinpointed his location, he could see his figure faintly in the fog.

‘Well, I kind of expected this to happen.’

It was an ability that pierced through even Satan’s perception interference.

No matter how much he had Jack the Ripper’s trait, he couldn’t hide from a mere human’s concealment.

[What are you going to do now? It seems like he’s sure that you’re seeing through his concealment.]

“If he doesn’t come from there, I’ll go from here.”

They must have set the field to their advantage to somehow beat me, but unfortunately, all their efforts were in vain because of my ability to read books.

If concealment became useless, Kim Hanjung’s combat power dropped by more than half in an instant.

“Then, let’s get moving.”

As soon as he said that, he ran towards the black shadow hiding among the crowd and swung Baekryeon.

***

Clang!

Kim Hanjung’s dagger and Yu-hyun’s Baekryeon collided and sparks flew.

Kim Hanjung twisted his face without a trace of his usual smile as he barely blocked Yu-hyun’s attack.

“How, how did you...!”

“It’s funny that you thought you could do anything with just concealment.”

“You bastard!”

Kim Hanjung reacted excessively to Yu-hyun’s casual provocation.

He was always a winner and a predator who preyed on his prey.

But the fact that his concealment was denied by a mere teller hurt his pride greatly.

“Fine, fine. It’s not like I have no other way if I can’t do it with concealment.”

Kim Hanjung backed away and gripped a dagger in each hand.

He wasn’t just good at close-range combat, but also had a lot of experience.

If it was a fight to kill, he had the advantage.

“Don’t get any ideas that you can beat me just because you have some hidden trick!”

Red energy started to flow around Kim Hanjung.

If you looked closely, it was the letters containing the story of Jack the Ripper stained with blood.

It enhanced Kim Hanjung’s physical abilities and made his eyes red.

The moment Kim Hanjung put strength into his thighs, his body disappeared from where he was and stood behind Yu-hyun.

The spirits who watched the scene lit up their eyes.

They were about to feel disappointed by Kim Hanjung who had his concealment broken, but they realized that he was not bad at frontal combat either.

No, rather, he was much faster and stronger than they thought.

But.

Clang!

Yu-hyun had already blocked Kim Hanjung’s dagger and turned around.

‘How?!’

It was a speed that most collectors couldn’t even react to.

His speed, which momentarily exploded his physical abilities, was so hard to control that even Kim Hanjung himself could make a mistake.

But Yu-hyun read his movement and blocked his attack as if it was nothing.

“You, you are...”

Kim Hanjung felt it instinctively.

This guy is not an ordinary teller.

“Is that all you’ve got?”

Yu-hyun didn’t care about Kim Hanjung’s astonishment.

His goal was to show his ability on this stage.

Kim Hanjung was a great target for that.

“Then I’ll go from here.”

As soon as he said that, Yu-hyun’s Baekryeon changed.