Chapter 174
After the abrupt end of the stream, Un Hyang continuously searched for Lee Suhyuk.
She knew it was probably an unnecessary worry. No matter how much she thought about it, this situation unfolding right now had nothing to do with Suhyuk.
But why, then?
Somehow, she couldn’t shake off the feeling that he might be at the epicenter of this typhoon.
And perhaps that was why, amidst all this chaos, she remained calm.
“This way.”
Rustle-.
She bent down, following the traces of the battle, moving quickly.
From the traces, it looked like Hwang Gyuseong had fought his way through numerous rankers and advanced quite a distance outside the city.
A shiver ran down her spine.
He had single-handedly confronted two second-in-commands of a massive guild and also faced Jin Doha at the same time. After that, he had managed to escape the arena and break through the Heavenly Net.
The legend of Blue Eyes once again shook the world.
But,
“This is the end of the line.”
Hwang Gyuseong’s blood, which had fallen to the ground, corroded the tree.
The level of poison he had encountered must have been severe. He was lucky to be alive with such blood flowing in his body.
Moreover,
Step-.
“Is it you, hyang?”
More importantly, the person who was tracking him was none other than this man. In the end, hwang Gyuseong’s fate was sealed.
“It’s been a while.”
“Yeah. It has been. You remember, huh?”
Jin Doha emerged from the forest. Though he bore some wounds, he did not look like a defeated man.
He was neither a victor nor a loser.
Somewhere in between, Un Hyang asked.
“What happened to him?”
“Are you talking about Hwang Gyuseong? Yes, that’s right. You’ve always been fascinated by the legend of Blue Eyes since you were young.”
Jin Doha, assuming the reason she came here, answered her question.
“I lost the battle. But fate was not on his side.”
“Could you speak more clearly?”
“You’re still as rude as ever.”
Jin Doha laughed quietly, clasping his hands behind his back, and walked past Un Hyang.
“The legend of Blue Eyes you adored so much has ended today by my hand.”
“Ended?”
“Yes. And as of today, my time has also stopped. The time of the loser does not deserve to flow, indeed.”
The retreating figure of Jin Doha no longer seemed to be someone who would answer any more questions.
After a brief hesitation, Un Hyang moved in the direction Jin Doha came from. With a rustling sound, her figure vanished, as the wind swept through the leaves.
She began to run at full speed.
The scenery rapidly changed as she sped past the path Jin Doha had walked.
How long did she run?
In the distance, she saw black smoke rising.
“There it is.”
There was something there. As she was running towards that thought,
“Oh, oh?”
An all-too-familiar face came into Un Hyang’s view as she dashed forward recklessly.
Unlike usual, it was Lee Suhyuk walking towards her, mask off and with slow, trudging steps.
“Suhyuk-nim!”
Tap-.
Jumping up to land right in front of him, Un Hyang greeted Suhyuk with a bright face.
“Of course, you were here!”
“What brings you here, manager?”
“I came to find you, suhyuk-nim.”
“Here, to find me?”
“Yes. Somehow, I had a feeling you’d be here.”
Un Hyang babbled on, explaining why she came here.
“And as you know, I’m a huge fan of Blue Eyes and Lee Suhyuk, right? I also wanted to see Hwang Gyuseong properly once… Wow, but to think you’d be here? My luck is great.”
“You said earlier you came to find me?”
“Did I?”
She continued speaking even more cheerfully on purpose.
It was because, in any small way, she wanted to share some of her brightness with Suhyuk standing before her.
‘What’s going on?’
Today, suhyuk looked unusually drained. His eyes were swollen as if he had been crying. His shoulders were drooping more than usual, as if all his strength had left him.
More than anything, the eyes he had now were not the same eyes that used to peek from behind his mask.
If he hadn’t taken his mask off, she might not have recognized him as the same person.
“Oh, by the way, congratulations on winning. It was truly magnificent. As expected of you, suhyuk-nim, you shook the stage-.”
She chattered away, speaking continuously.
“I monitored everything amidst that chaos. No matter how important Hwang Gyuseong is, suhyuk-nim’s stream is still the best….”
The latter part of her words barely reached Suhyuk’s ears. She seemed to be saying something, but Suhyuk focused more on her voice than her words.
It was strange.
Just moments ago, he felt so desolate, like he could break down at any second.
The feeling of being left alone in the world without anything, but now it felt like he was not alone.
“I came to find you, suhyuk-nim.”
A part of his heart warmed slightly. The emptiness and solitude he felt until just now had loosened.
For a fleeting moment, it felt like he was in the embrace of friends bonded through the guild.
Perhaps, someday, he might tell Un Hyang who he really was.
No.
He wanted to tell her, if he could.
“…Aren’t you going to ask me?”
“Sorry? Ask you what?”
“Why did I come here?”
Seeing the small spark of life return to his weary face, Un Hyang didn’t miss it and asked again with a smile.
“There’s no need to ask. But, do you want me to?”
“I think so.”
“Then I should ask, right? I’m dying of curiosity anyway.”
She exaggeratedly took a deep breath and asked,
“Why did you come here, suhyuk-nim?”
“I just….”
His voice carried a hint of wetness as he answered.
“Hwang Gyuseong… I miss him.”
Plop.
Finally, the tears fell.
After hearing the answer to her question and seeing his reaction, she became even more curious. However, she chose silence instead of asking more.
Swish.
Un Hyang embraced Lee Suhyuk, comforting him. Numerous questions crossed her mind, but she kept them tucked away.
In the distance, she saw smoke rising and approaching. She had an inkling of what it was and whose it might be.
Suddenly, she recalled something Jin Doha had said on their way here.
“The legend of Blue Eyes you adored so much has ended today by my hand.”
He must have been referring to the significance of killing Hwang Gyuseong when he said that.
‘No, Grandfather.’
Feeling Suhyuk’s sobs in her embrace, Un Hyang mentally negated Jin Doha’s words.
‘The legend I adored still remains. Right here.’
* * *
“Confirmed deceased.”
Under the blue sky, a man stood in a grand garden that resembled a palace, receiving the report.
With bleached white hair and pale, unblemished skin that hadn’t seen sunlight, the man’s elegant appearance was contrasted by a grotesque half-mask that covered part of his face. He stopped what he was doing to ask,
“The cremation?”
“Pardon?”
“The body was properly cremated, wasn’t it?”
It was a perplexing question. He had meticulously planned the death of his old comrade, only to now inquire about the cremation.
Though it was confusing, the woman who reported to Kim Ilsoo did not question him.
“Yes. By the time we arrived, it was already burning.”
“Already burning?”
“Yes.”
“Wasn’t Jin Doha supposed to handle it?”
Kim Ilsoo knitted his brows, bewildered.
“What could have caused Hwang Gyuseong’s body to catch fire in a fight against Jin Doha?” he wondered.
“Did anything go wrong?”
“No. Nothing at all.”
In fact, it was all going well. This was the expression that Kim Ilsoo’s underlings observed.
After a brief silence, Kim Ilsoo resumed watering the flowerbed.
“We must pay the agreed price to the Murim World.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“Although we’re not as desperate as they are, it was something we wanted as well. This deal benefits both parties.”
As if he had just remembered something, Kim Ilsoo asked,
“By the way, how did the preliminary rounds go?”
“I was just about to inform you of that.”
Curious, he asked, although he had intended to report it anyway.
It seemed something significant had happened during the preliminary rounds.
“There was one player who dominated.”
“One player… could it be Minwoo?”
Lately, the player who had caught Kim Ilsoo’s eye the most was Cha Minwoo. He was so talented that Kim Ilsoo had personally recruited him.
But contrary to his expectations, the player who had dominated was someone else.
“No, it was Lee Suhyuk.”
“Lee Suhyuk?”
The moment he heard that name, his face hidden behind the mask throbbed with a dull pain.
Even though he knew it wasn’t the same person.
“Yes. The streamer Lee Suhyuk achieved remarkable results in the preliminary round.”
As Sooha said this, she showed a video.
The video, commonly referred to as a Mad Movie, was a brief compilation of Lee Suhyuk’s highlights, from defeating Cha Minwoo to climbing the tower and unleashing lightning.
“We need to recruit him.”
Kim Ilsoo’s response after watching the video was straightforward.
Such talent had to be brought into the fold. No exceptions.
“He has already been approached by the vice guildmaster but failed.”
“Already?”
“Yes. Actually….”
Sooha briefly recounted what had happened between Lee Wonjae and Lee Suhyuk.
Upon hearing the story, Kim Ilsoo shook his head.
“Then that’s it. We need to drop it.”
“Are you giving up?”
“He’s obviously not interested in joining the guild. He probably thinks streaming is more lucrative. And he’s right.”
“What if we offered a larger salary?”
“We’ve already tried that, but he won’t join just for a slightly higher salary.”
It was true. To properly entice him with a high salary, they should never have created any unpleasant incidents in the first place.
“Let’s focus on just two things: the Counter-Fight and the Guardian. Just those two.”
“The Guardian… you haven’t given up on that yet?”
“I can’t give up.”
Kim Ilsoo muttered as he looked at the green dagger in his hand.
“After going to such lengths, I can never give up.”
It was Lee Suhyuk who had defeated the Hydra, the Guardian of the 8th floor. But even after more than twenty years since his death, the Guardian of the 9th floor had not been defeated.
It reigned like an unbeatable god, blocking the path to the 10th floor.
“Can I ask you one thing?”
“That question again? Why did I do it?”
Kim Ilsoo sighed deeply.
“Why are you so curious about that?”
“Because I know my brother would never do such a thing.”
Her designation changed from Guild Master to brother.
She had reverted to the sibling who had been there when the Blue Zone was first established.
“I know how much you missed that place.”
“That’s in the past.”
“Yes. And the legend of Blue Eyes also remains in the past.”
Was it because Hwang Gyuseong had died? They seemed to talk more today.
Kim Ilsoo remained silent. Faced with his unyielding silence, she eventually lowered her head.
“I believe you will tell me someday. Even if not to me, then to someone.”
With that, sooha left.
There was no more news to deliver, and continuing the conversation would be futile.
Alone, Kim Ilsoo looked down at the now-wilted flowers.
Just moments ago, they had been watered and blooming brightly.
These flowers seemed to reflect his mood.
“It’s hard. Being alone.”
TL’s Corner:
Just when I thought I could not get anymore feels.