Chapter 24

 

I closed my eyes tightly to the fear of falling down, but it was a soft mattress that touched my back, not the floor. Even before recognizing it, the soles of hard shoes stepped on the pit of the stomach. Shin Yeon-hyung’s voice fell over his body, which was round in pain.

 

“Heuk.”

 

“He’s a low-level guy, so it probably won’t taste good, but I was surprised that Han Seo-jin was walking around, so I paid extra attention to him…….”

 

I was suffocated by the foot, which I weighed down with strength. I hit his calf with both hands while putting down the spray I was holding, but Shin Yeon-hyung stamped his foot harder as if he were making fun of it.

 

“There is no pettiness when thanking every day wouldn’t be enough. Don’t you think so?”

 

“Euk, crazy bastard…”

 

I was gasping for breath and his feet fell just before my eyes went over. As soon as I inhaled in a hurry, Shin Yeon-hyung knelt down on one knee and sat on my body, holding my chin and fixing it.

 

“Let’s get Han Seo-jin’s cheap Guide. If it turns out okay, hyung will be nice to you.”

 

As soon as I saw Shin Yeon-hyung’s disgusting face coming down close to my face, I threw out my fist with all my strength.

 

“Fuck! I said I don’t like you, you psycho!”

 

“Kuh, let’s see. Let’s see……”

 

Shin Yeon-hyung, who slowed down to see if he went in properly, wrapped one of my cheeks. Shin Yeon-hyung, who was completely blind, squeezed my neck with his big hands. And at a tremendous speed, he began to take away the Guide.

 

I struggled without shouting because I was out of breath, but my body pressed by Shin Yeon-hyung did not budge.

 

Shin Yeon-hyung’s face right above him became blurred as my eyes became distant. Unable to overcome the pain, I scratched and scratched his hands recklessly. In an instant, Mana had bottomed out and had no more energy to maintain my body.

 

When I was about to faint, something rolled from the crumpled blanket under my hand. I slowly recognized what this was because of the smooth texture felt on my fingertips. It was a last ray of light in the clouding spirit.

 

‘Even if I die, fuck…….’

 

I flicked my finger off the lid and aimed at the entrance of the spray toward Shin Yeon-hyung’s face, who was in a trance to pull out my Guiding. I pressed it and sprayed his face without any hesitation.

 

Spray—!!!

 

“Argh!”

 

Shin Yeon-hyung, who was directly hit by the sprayed liquid in the eye, made a horrified sound. Shin Yeon-hyung, who fell to his side, stumbled out of it while struggling to wipe his face.

 

“…Fuck! In the face!”

 

I got out of bed, grabbed Shin Yeon-hyung’s half-sane hand, and sprayed it again toward his exposed face.

 

Spray—!

 

“Argh!”

 

Spray—!

 

Spray—!

 

Spray, spray, spray…..

 

The spray can, which had become lighter as if everything in the container had been used up, ended its life with the last sound of push. It must have been sprayed to the point where the bottle got wet, and everything had been released from the spray can.

 

Shin Yeon-hyung, who had been struggling without being able to scream at some point, had now fainted with foam in his mouth.

 

I threw the empty spray can at Shin Yeon-hyung’s face and turned away. My legs trembled uncontrollably, and it wouldn’t be strange if I collapsed unconsciously. My head was full of thoughts of wanting to get out of here.

 

I blinked, closed my eyes once, and when I opened them, I reached the door, and when I blinked again, I was holding the stairs railings.

 

‘Ah, it’s outside…….’

 

As soon as I recognized that it was not Shin Yeon-hyung’s room, I lost my consciousness and dropped to the floor.

 

Joo Ho-hyun’s body rolled down the stairs with a thud. Woo Ha-yoon, who opened the door in a loud voice, frowned when she saw Joo Ho-hyun collapsing in front of her door with his legs stretched across the stairs.

 

“What the hell….”

 

***

 

My mind returned slowly. As if in a dream, there was no strength in the body, and the view was completely dark, with nothing to be seen.

 

‘What, is it a dream?’

 

At that time, a clear sound effect resonated loud enough to fill the entire space, and a shining system window appeared right in front of my eyes.

 

“This is…!”

 

{ Main Quest }

 

It was a quest window. In golden color!

 

The golden alert symbolized the highest rating among the system’s alerts. This was the case when you had to risk your life because it was extremely dangerous, when the reward was extremely large, or when it was a difficult linked quest rather than a situation or one-time event that you could not normally experience.

 

Most Awakeners die without seeing a single golden system window. Some hunters even said that they misunderstood it as an illusion or that S-class people made up the words for mysticism.

 

Of course, it is rare, so I understand them. Even I’ve only seen it three times: when I wake up with SS-level skills, when I’ve created legendary potions, and when I’ve been named the Potion Master.

 

‘No, it’s four times now.’

 

I read the golden system window in front of me with an overwhelming heart.

 

{ Main Quest }

 

#1. Reveal Joo Ho-hyun’s cause of death.

 

Difficulty level: A

 

Time limit: 30 days

 

Reward: Recovery of intermediate skills (excluding special/S-level/SS-level)

 

Permanent deletion of quests and skills on failure

 

‘It’s a chain quest!!’

 

Although not as rare as the golden system window, the chain quest was also very rare.

 

One of the words immediately caught my eye.

 

‘Joo Ho-hyun’s cause of death……?’

 

Are you saying that I didn’t just enter Joo Ho-hyun’s body, but that Joo Ho-hyun died?

 

In general, it was considered to be a quest that was difficult to solve alone at A class or above. In the case of the top quests that I cleared, without Nox’s full support, it would not have been easy to break due to the difficulty of supplying materials. However, this time, the contents of the quest did not seem so difficult for an A class.

 

“If Joo Ho-hyun is dead..…. Didn’t Ye Seong-woo kill him?’

 

Suspicious drugs and ampules from Joo Ho-hyun’s room, delivered to me once more by Ye Seong-woo. If he was not the murderer, I’d be disappointed.

 

As I read it carefully again out of doubt, I found a small letter written at the bottom of the golden system window.

 

Permanent deletion of quests and skills on failure

 

※Can not refuse

 

‘Ah, the heck? Even if it’s irresistible, you don’t have to worry.’

 

The phrase “Permanent deletion of quests” bothered me. But there was no other way. I’ll do it if you tell me to. I was forced to close my eyes and shout.

 

“Accept!”

 

The system window in front of me shone brightly and the letters disappeared, and this time, it floated different contents.

 

[ Kang Eui-jin ] ◀ ▶ [Joo Ho-hyun]

 

Do you want to sync?

 

►[tnote keyword=”Yes”]This Yes was in English while the other was in Korean. xD[/tnote]

 

►Synchronize.

 

►Yep.

 

‘Are you kidding me…’

 

Following the inevitable, he nodded as he looked at the system window, where all three options were yes. As the letters changed, the number of system windows, which became much smaller, began to rise rapidly.

 

「Progress rate 0%」

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「Progress rate 1%」

 

「Progress rate 2%」.

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「Progress rate 9%」

 

「Progress rate 10%」

 

「Progress rate 11%」

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「Progress rate 20%」

 

At the same time as the number stopped at 20, a shining system window appeared again in front of me, and the letters began to rise endlessly.

 

「Passive skill opened!」

 

[Lower-level alchemy has opened!]

 

[You can now use lower-level alchemy!]

 

[The lower-level collection has opened!]

 

[You can now use lower-level collection!]

 

[Lower-level production has opened!]

 

[You can now use the lower-level production!]

 

[Lower-level meltdown has opened!]

 

[You can use lower melting!]

 

Maybe it’s because it’s a lower level, but these were skills that were backward compatible with the skills I originally had.

.

It was an unnamed and nothing special skill window, but I was still glad to see it. When I reached out, the status window that had been overlapping in front of my eyes disappeared.

 

Synchronization begins.

 

(Progress rate 20%)

 

Soon after, the past memories of “Joo Ho-hyun” began to flow into my head.

 

If it was the memory of ‘Joo Ho-hyun’, it should be seen from Joo Ho-hyun’s point of view, but I was able to stand one step away and watch his memory, perhaps because of the interference of the system. The old movie-like scenes were played before my eyes and then disappeared.

 

From when he was a kid playing hand-in-hand with his parents, to a dungeon break unfolding in front of his eyes for the first time, when he was a student wearing a school uniform… … .

 

‘I’ve never been to school.’

 

It was quite interesting to see Joo Ho-hyun wearing a school uniform with the same face as me. I was curious about how ordinary people go to school. As soon as I thought about seeing it properly, my memory of wearing a school uniform was cut off and another scene came to mind.

 

“Oh, what’s this?”.’

 

Perhaps because the progress rate was only 20%, the memories were short without any context. The memories that had changed many times were now showing me about where I knew.

 

<Esper Guide Center>

 

From the center, a new man was seen next to Joo Ho-hyun. He appeared to be a kind and friendly man to everyone, and when he was around, even the stiff Joo Ho-hyun smiled brightly.

 

‘Everday was somber and dark..…. After all, it was better to smile with this face.’

 

The two spent their daily lives training with new recruits and were able to be together even after graduating as trainees. They were assigned the same Esper team.

 

Only then did I question myself as I watched with my arms crossed. This is because it was awkward to see a man for the first time on the same team.

 

‘What kind of an Esper is he? No. Since he trained with Joo Ho-hyun, he should be a Guide……. But I’ve never seen him on the charts.’