Chapter 167
Inside the immense screen.
Within it, Cha Minwoo, with a dagger embedded in his heart, fell helplessly downward.
The audience roared with cheers.
Seeing Cha Minwoo, who initially showed great promise, being utterly defeated, they were even more excited.
Of course.
Even among them, there were those unable to focus on the match.
“Why don’t we just escape now?”
At this moment, Cheon Ryang’s mind was entirely consumed with thoughts of Un Cheon-guk.
“No, what good would running away do? If that guy puts his mind to it, there’s no way he’d fail to catch us….”
The sudden appearance of Un Cheon-guk.
Due to this, Cheon Ryang had been unable to focus continuously.
“If it’s come to this, perhaps it’s better to face him head-on….”
As he trailed off, Cheon Ryang realized that he had been talking to himself the entire time.
Could it be that she was too shocked to even respond?
Sneakily glancing at Un Hyang, he saw, contrary to his expectations, that her eyes were sparkling brightly.
“Wow….”
“Huh?”
What she was watching, of course, was the screen of the Counter-Fight.
Among the numerous participants in the preliminary matches, the observer was showing the most exciting scenes on the screen.
And there had been a fight displayed earlier.
It was the battle between Lee Suhyuk and Cha Minwoo.
“It ended sooner than I thought.”
“Is Cha Minwoo weak?”
“Didn’t you see him slicing through everyone alone from the start? There’s no way he’s weak.”
“Then maybe he ran out of stamina….”
“Do you think so? It’s just that Lee Suhyuk fought well.”
Even among the surrounding audience, conversations about Lee Suhyuk and Cha Minwoo’s fight were in full swing.
It seemed that among all these spectators, he was the only one to have missed that scene.
“Did you see? Did you?”
To Un Hyang’s question, Cheon Ryang answered internally.
‘No, I didn’t.’
“How can anyone fight like that? Utilizing the wall’s varying heights to deceive about the distance and direction, and finally pushing in with a feint of sheer firepower to land the finishing blow….”
“Hey, you….”
Cheon Ryang, about to ask if she’d forgotten all about Un Cheon-guk, held his tongue.
It wasn’t the time to agitate someone trembling with anxiety; it was rather an act of folly to stir things up.
‘I suppose it’s fortunate.’
Worried she might be trembling in fear, he found it a relief that she seemed vigorous. Whether she was pretending to be spirited or genuinely overcoming it, he couldn’t tell.
Yes. For now, let’s put it aside.
For now, just focus on cheering for Lee Suhyuk, like Un Hyang.
Cheon Ryang turned his gaze back to the screen.
At that moment.
Rumbling—.
Slight but distinct.
The spectator seats, where Cheon Ryang and Un Hyang were seated, trembled as if an earthquake had occurred.
Moreover,
Slicing—.
A sky-blue sword strike flew in from somewhere, splitting the giant screen of the arena in half.
Boom-!
A thunderous explosion reverberated through the air. Thick black smoke billowed into the sky, and the audience erupted into a frenzy.
“What, what’s going on?”
“Is there a fight?”
“Some crazy guy dared to do something here-.”
Rumble-.
Once again, the arena trembled. Cheon Ryang took a sharp breath due to the suffocating pressure.
Un Hyang’s gaze was fixed on the thick black smoke rising above the arena.
“What are you looking at right now…?”
Bang-!
Something flew through the VIP room in the spectator stands. It was moving so fast that its shape was unrecognizable until it crashed into the center of the arena.
Out of the dense smoke emerged a human-like figure.
If it was a person, could they still be alive? No, what kind of skill could have hit someone with such force that they could fly at that speed?
These questions vanished like mirages the moment the identity of the figure became clear.
“Un… Cheon-guk?”
It was Un Cheon-guk, the Lord of the Divine Dragon Group.
Her father fell into the middle of the arena, one arm dangling limply.
‘What on Earth happened?’
Un Cheon-guk was at the heart of this sudden commotion. He was not someone who would get involved in meaningless brawls anywhere.
Which meant.
“Don’t worry. It won’t happen now. I just came to see your face for a moment today.”
It was true.
From the start, he hadn’t come to see Un Hyang.
He just happened to find Un Hyang at a place where he had other business, so he merely came to see her face briefly.
Should this be considered fortunate?
Cheon Ryang placed a hand on Un Hyang’s shoulder and whispered softly.
“It seems it’s not really because of you…?”
Cheon Ryang looked puzzled.
Come to think of it, the direction Un Hyang’s gaze had been focused on since earlier was strange.
From before Un Cheon-guk flew in until now, she had continually been looking in an entirely different direction.
Into the thick, billowing black smoke.
Toward the spectator stands where the VIP room was located.
“Deploy the Heavenly Net!”
Woooong-.
A lion’s roar filled the vast arena and the spectator stands that were packed with tens of thousands of spectators.
That voice startled Cheon Ryang.
“Jin Doha?”
It was a voice he had heard only once before. Deep and gravelly, like the fierce waves stirred by a typhoon.
It was unforgettable. Not just the voice, but also the brief moment many years ago when he had visited the Divine Dragon Group and encountered him.
And it wasn’t just the voice that made him think of Jin Doha.
The powerful magical force, referred to as ‘inner energy’ in the Murim World, embedded in that voice was clearly beyond Un Cheon-guk’s level.
Step-.
As if to prove his presence here, Jin Doha calmly approached and stood next to Un Cheon-guk.
Though he hadn’t run dramatically, his speed was tremendous. Through the blue sword in his hand, Cheon Ryang could tell that the strike splitting the arena screen earlier was his doing.
“Why is the former leader of the Martial Alliance here…?”
And to command the Heavenly Net.
This net, meaning the ‘Net of Heaven and Earth’, required an absurdly inefficient and outrageous amount of manpower to deploy.
As the name suggests, it created a perfect encirclement with no escape routes, either in the sky or on the ground.
It was an event that rarely occurred even in the long known storied history of the Murim World.
“Even with Jin Doha, they need the Heavenly Net?”
“It’s because of that person.”
After a long silence, Un Hyang finally spoke.
Cheon Ryang, who had been engrossed in Jin Doha and Un Cheon-guk, then turned to look in the same direction as Un Hyang.
Black smoke billowed up, thick and ominous.
At first, it seemed like a fire, but upon closer inspection, it wasn’t that at all.
It felt like peering into the Abyss or a bottomless pit.
A fierce and menacing aura twisted and consumed its surroundings, rising like smoke.
It was no mere smoke.
“… Demon?”
It was magic.
Demonic energy.
The kind that had driven countless players to their deaths. These beings were more monstrous than monsters themselves.
That sinister power they wielded was emanating from that place.
If so, it made sense.
That even someone as lethargic as Un Cheon-guk had come all the way here. Or that the former leader of the martial alliance, who was now supposedly retired, had commanded to deploy the Heavenly Net with such difficulty.
It could all be explained by the existence of one individual.
“The Demon King, then.”
Cheon Ryang naturally assumed it must be the Demon King. It was the only thing that made this situation believable.
However,
“No.”
The one emanating that ominous and immense demonic energy was neither the Demon King nor a demon.
As if to prove it.
Jin Doha, who revealed himself towards the spectators, raised his sword high and shouted.
“From now on, we will hunt the traitor Hwang Gyuseong!”
* * *
Saaah—.
Boom—!
Rain poured down. Thunder and lightning roared in the sky as if they might crash down at any moment.
Cha Minwoo, with his heart pierced, fell to the ground.
He did not die instantly. His heart convulsed, spurting blood like a fountain, but the dagger that had pierced his heart wasn’t that large.
Splish—.
Lee Suhyuk approached, stepping on a puddle.
In his hand, he held another dagger, identical to the one embedded in Cha Minwoo’s chest.
A hollow laugh escaped his lips.
In case Cha Minwoo managed to block or evade, Lee Suhyuk had prepared another attack.
“This way… it’s not even… disappointing.”
This was a fight he was destined to lose.
Had there been even the slightest chance to win, it might have been a different story, but losing so perfectly made it neither regrettable nor disappointing.
“Are you satisfied?”
“Is that… what you came… to ask?”
“I made a promise, after all.”
Lee Suhyuk seemed worried he might not keep his word.
Why did he care so much about meeting him?
Cha Minwoo nodded weakly.
The result was different from what he’d expected, but the process had exceeded his expectations.
‘It truly felt like fighting the real thing.’
Would it feel like this to meet Lee Suhyuk again, alive and in the Counter-Fight?
Climbing walls, ghost-like movements, handling lightning, and the ingenuity of mixing it with daggers in battle.
As someone who’s been a longtime fan of Lee Suhyuk, the thought that he would indeed fight like this kept creeping in.
“It… was the best.”
A smile formed on Cha Minwoo’s lips.
He had lost, but he felt good. Once again, people would compare him to Lee Suhyuk, but that didn’t seem so bad. In fact, it felt like an honor.
Gradually, his vision blurred.
He would keep his promise. Not only was there a promise made to him, but he was also genuinely curious.
What would Hwang Gyuseong feel when he met Lee Suhyuk?
『”Cha Minwoo” has been taken down.』
『1 kill achieved.』
Cha Minwoo’s breathing stopped.
He was eliminated faster than expected. Judging by his skills, if he hadn’t taken such a reckless gamble, he might have advanced to the finals.
Nevertheless, Cha Minwoo did not look regretful.
Far more than he had expected, he had come to like himself.
‘The bet ends here.’
Suhyuk looked up at the towering spire in the center of the map.
‘My body still feels light.’
Odin’s preparations had worked better than he had anticipated. His basic physical abilities had improved immensely from before.
His magic and stamina were still plentiful.
It felt as if, once he started fighting, his magic continued to overflow and demanded to be expended.
He had completed the first mission of this Counter-Fight.
Now, he just needed to complete the viewers’ missions and safely advance to the finals.
But…
-It’s chaotic outside.
-Is that Jin Doha’s voice?
-Why is the former sect leader here?
-What a mess in the Counter-Fight. LOL
While exchanging final words with Cha Minwoo, the chat window went wild.
Amidst it all, familiar names appeared.
‘Jin Doha? Un Cheon-guk?’
Both were quite provocative names. It was surprising that Un Cheon-guk, Un Hyang’s father, was here, but even more so that the retired Jin Doha had appeared.
Most notably, Jin Doha was someone he had to meet one day, along with Kim Ilsoo.
He had wondered if Jin Doha was hiding somewhere after his retirement, but it seemed he had shown up at the Counter-Fight.
“A fight?”
-The outside is a mess. LOL
-The screen is split, and there’s also the Heavenly Net, this is going crazy.
-Is it the Demon Lord?
There weren’t many who could challenge these giants of the Murim World. Moreover, having a fight at such a grand event like the Counter-Fight was an unprecedented spectacle.
But if their opponent was the Demon Lord, it made sense.
The demons had been adversaries to the players for a long time.
But why?
A strange sense of unease began to swell.
Of all times, why were those two here at the Counter-Fight, and why had the Demon Lord appeared? It couldn’t be a coincidence.
Kim Ilsoo. Jin Doha. Un Cheon-guk. Hwang Gyuseong….
Those names lined up in his mind.
Just as his sense of foreboding intensified.
-Why is Hwang Gyuseong here?
The feeling of unease reached its peak.