Chapter 58
Hyuk-min felt the black orb—the 70th floor Hidden Room’s reward—slide down his esophagus.
A sharp pain stabbed through his chest, but he kept walking, telling himself it was just part of acquiring a new Skill.
“Huh? Uh…?”
Hyuk-min walked forward without hesitation.
Sonic, locked in battle with Hwangho, was the first to notice him.
Mid-motion as he tried to slip past Hwangho’s defenses, Sonic stopped and stared at Hyuk-min.
“Who’s that?”
Seeing a face he didn’t recognize, Sonic snapped his head toward where the black box had been.
Then recognition flickered across his face, and his expression twisted into a deep scowl.
“No way…”
No Death and Hyun-jung, who had been there from the start, hadn’t moved.
But one thing was missing.
The corpse that had been holding the black box—the one everyone assumed was dead.
“Wasn’t that the corpse that was dying earlier?”
Corpse?
What corpse?
Perhaps sensing the shift in Sonic’s behavior, Hwangho stopped fighting and looked at Hyuk-min as well.
Then he glanced toward where the reward had been, and his face darkened.
His gaze lingered.
There was only the black box, wide open—and unmistakably empty.
“Baeksan!! Baeksan!!!”
Hwangho’s roar was answered in unison by the Baeksan 1st Expedition Team.
As they responded, Hwangho pointed at Hyuk-min and shouted, voice dripping with killing intent.
“Capture that guy alive. Now!”
= = =
As Hyuk-min walked toward the center of the battle—where the Allencia Party and Baeksan’s 1st Expedition Team were tangled together—a System message appeared before his eyes.
[You have acquired a Skill.]
[You can use the SS-Rank Skill ‘Poison Shadow Art’.]
==========
[SS-Rank] Poison Shadow Art.
– One of the many keys someone has locked away.
– An unauthorized skill that allows you to see through people’s hearts.
– Required condition for the ???? Job Advancement.
– All Stats increased by 10.
– Basic Passive Effect: Immunity to all status ailments.
Active Skill available.
(SS-Rank) Soul Reading Art.
– Consumes 30 Mana upon use.
– Allows you to obtain information about the soul of the target you touch.
(SS-Rank) Soul Dominating Art.
– Consumes 100 Mana upon use.
– Allows you to control the soul of the target you touch for 19 seconds (Mana Stat x 0.1).
– The commands that can be applied are limited depending on the target’s Mental Strength Stat.
==========
‘What is this?’
Something that looked like a System error caught his eye.
But realizing that didn’t matter right now, he immediately closed the interface that was blocking his view.
He was proud of his ability to remember things after seeing them once.
And right now, when there was no time to read properly, that was the ability he needed most.
“Catch him!”
A Baeksan member charged in and swung his spear.
He meant to strike Hyuk-min, put him in a daze, and drag him to Hwangho.
But the Allencia Party wasn’t about to sit back and watch.
“Not on my watch!”
Brawler, moving at terrifying speed, swung his flail and blasted the charging Baeksan member backward.
‘Korea’s top-class players really are different. An ordinary person would’ve died instantly from that.’
The impact was so violent the spear shattered, fragments spraying everywhere.
“Kuuk!”
And even so, the Baeksan member endured it.
There was a reason they were the pride of Baeksan.
That was an attack from the 3rd-ranked adventurer, no less.
Yet only the spear broke, and the man who’d been sent flying was already forcing himself back up.
‘Each one of these guys could probably crush a small guild.’
He tried to move again, then clutched his stomach.
Even as a member of Baeksan’s 1st Expedition Team, his opponent was simply too strong.
“Interesting. Tough guys.”
A smile spread across the brawler’s face.
‘Is this the battle maniac, Brawler?’
In his past life, Hyuk-min had only heard stories about the Allencia Party. This was the first time he’d seen them up close.
They’d never crossed paths, and their fields were too different, but the Allencia Party had been so famous that he knew them well just from rumors.
Even if you couldn’t be sure until you saw them yourself.
“This is a real mess.”
Brawler frowned as he looked toward No Death in the distance.
Ruffling his hair, he stared at the wide-open black box.
“You.”
Clearly irritated, Brawler turned his gaze to Hyuk-min.
Hyuk-min pulled the Death Knight’s Helmet out of thin air and put it on.
In the same instant, Brawler grabbed him by the collar.
“Did you take the reward?”
“What if I did?”
“If it’s an item, hand it over. And if it’s not…”
With a murderous look, Brawler tightened his grip, and blue mana wrapped around his flail.
“Then you’ll die here.”
This was still early—back when rumors about him were rampant.
Even so, the strength in that grip and the pressure rolling off Brawler made it obvious why he was top-ranked.
It felt like standing in front of a bear.
What happens when you run into a bear in the mountains?
You freeze, trembling, unable to think.
It was the same here.
If it had been an ordinary person, making a proper judgment in this situation would’ve been impossible.
But.
Hyuk-min smirked.
He met Brawler’s eyes head-on and smiled.
“Search me yourself.”
“Do you think I’m stupid?”
Brawler lifted Hyuk-min off the ground by the collar.
Then he brought his face close, twisting into a threatening expression.
“You’re clearly showing you have an Inventory, and you want me to search you?”
“You have an Inventory too? I guess everyone has one.”
“What? You think this is funny?”
Hyuk-min’s voice reached Brawler just as he was about to act.
“I’ll give it to you now. The reward from the 70th floor Hidden Room.”
That was the moment it happened.
Hyuk-min’s eyes turned black for an instant, then returned to normal.
And Brawler—mid-swing, mana surging through his flail—froze completely.
[‘Poison Shadow Art – Soul Reading Art’ has been used.]
[‘Poison Shadow Art – Soul Dominating Art’ has been used.]
[The target’s Mental Strength is too high, making control impossible.]
[The target’s Mental Strength is too high, only physical immobilization is possible.]
[The target’s Mental Strength is too high, reducing the duration to 9 seconds.]
Unable to speak, Brawler—time stopped—could only barely move his eyes as he looked down at Hyuk-min.
“Now it’s easier to talk.”
Hyuk-min stepped closer and whispered into Brawler’s ear.
After saying everything, Hyuk-min smiled and lightly punched Brawler in the chest.
“Who knows? Maybe this is fate too.”
With that, Hyuk-min vanished from the spot and reappeared beside No Death and Hyun-jung.
“What happened? Why’s Brawler like that?”
Hyuk-min ignored the question, took Hyun-jung’s hand, and gave her a curious smile.
“You’ll see.”
= = =
“I told you to capture him alive! What are you doing!”
Hwangho’s roar was answered by urgent voices from the Baeksan 1st Expedition Team.
“Those guys are blocking us…”
The Allencia Party had formed up near Brawler and Hyuk-min, pushing back anyone who tried to approach.
Frustrated, Hwangho started to move—only for Sonic to appear out of nowhere and swing his club at him.
“Where are you going? You have to play with me.”
Tang!
Hwangho raised his gauntlet to block and swung his fist.
But Sonic’s elusive movements only made him grind his teeth.
“Fast rat… Damn it! Break through, now!”
“But, but the numbers…”
Only then did Hwangho realize how few of his people were still standing.
The 1st Expedition Team, which had started with thirty, was down to around thirteen.
“Damn it. We should’ve finished this at the start.”
He didn’t want to admit it, but he had to.
With only the 1st Expedition Team, he couldn’t take on the Allencia Party.
Tang!
Every time he tried to break away, Sonic’s club lashed in from a blind spot and pinned him down again.
Leave Sonic alone and he’d get hit.
Try to catch him, and the difference in speed became painfully clear.
Hwangho’s face hardened—unable to advance, unable to retreat.
“When is support coming!!”
Then one of the Baeksan members shouted.
“Right now, some guys in blue shirts are blocking the Tower entrance, so…”
“Blue shirts?”
There was only one group in Korea that moved together in blue shirts.
“Blue Revolution Guild?”
“They’re almost done dealing with them, so they should be able to come up soon.”
“Hurry! Tell them to hurry!”
As Hwangho shouted, something suddenly felt wrong.
“Huh? Where did he go?”
Hyuk-min, who should’ve been with Brawler, was nowhere to be seen.
“That guy! Where did he go! Where did he go!”
“He’s over there!”
Hwangho turned—and saw Hyuk-min walking toward him, holding Hyun-jung’s hand.
Hyuk-min was smiling calmly, as if everything was already over.
The sight made Hwangho’s blood surge.
“You’re thinking of screwing us over and walking wherever you want? That is not going to happen… Capture him alive.”
The Baeksan members, catching on, edged closer and whispered.
“His gait is strange. Did he give the reward to Brawler?”
“I don’t care. Capture him alive. And…”
This time, Hwangho looked toward the Allencia Party.
“Seal the entrance. Today… no matter what it takes, we get the Hidden reward.”
= = =
Hyuk-min and Hyun-jung strolled forward as if taking a leisurely walk in the middle of chaos.
No Death couldn’t understand Hyuk-min’s relaxed demeanor in a place that could become their grave.
In the distance, the Allencia Party wasn’t making any moves.
And he remembered Hyuk-min saying he could do something about them.
‘Hard to believe, but he’s such a weird bastard it might actually be possible.’
Still, No Death’s tense expression didn’t ease.
‘If he did something to Brawler, what about the others?’
There was still unfinished business.
And, as expected—
“Catch him!”
“We have to capture him alive! It doesn’t matter if they get hurt! Capture him!”
Baeksan’s 1st Expedition Team rushed in from all directions at full speed.
“Aish, what are you going to do? They’ve got fire in their eyes.”
“Don’t worry. We’re getting out of here right now.”
They didn’t look tired at all, even after fighting for so long.
As if trying to make up for their mistake, they moved even faster than before.
“Is there a secret to getting out of the Tower? Can that helmet take all of us out?”
“There’s no way it has that kind of function. Wouldn’t that be too overpowered?”
The Baeksan members accelerated again.
Yet Hyuk-min didn’t seem to have any countermeasures.
“Damn it.”
There were too many things No Death wanted to ask.
But the moment he saw Hyuk-min’s confidence, he frowned and put the longsword back into his Inventory.
“Sigh. I don’t know anymore.”
He crossed his arms and gave up on fighting entirely.
The new leader told him to do it, so as a Party member, he had no choice but to follow.
‘Whenever he makes that face, something happens.’
Baeksan’s 1st Expedition Team rushed in from all directions.
Escape looked impossible.
Still, No Death only sighed and followed Hyuk-min.
Just as the incoming attacks were about to reach them—
Thud!!
As always, something strange happened.
“Kuaaaak!”
“Kueuk!”
“Uaaaak!”
Something fell from above with a heavy impact, and the charging Baeksan members were sent flying backward.
A massive back came into view.
And a single flail.
‘Brawler…?’
As No Death stared in shock, the Allencia Party members moved in and surrounded Hyuk-min’s group from all directions.
No—to be exact, they positioned themselves to protect Hyuk-min’s group as they tried to leave.
“Allencia! Escort these guys until they get out.”
“What is this…”
Escorting?
Being escorted by the Allencia Party of all people?
No Death was too stunned to speak.
The owner of that huge back—hair as red as ever—glared at Hyuk-min and spoke through clenched anger.
“You better… answer properly.”
“Let’s talk outside.”
Hyuk-min smirked.