Chapter 22
‘There’s no way.’ Isaac shook his head. The guy who’d always crawled at his feet all that time was the same Lee Su-hyeok who’d gotten the Lightning skill and was considered to be more talented than the true Lee Su-hyeok by Hawk Eye?
“There’s something…” He tried to deny it, but the golden lightning hurt his eyes with how bright it was. “Wrong…”
BZZT, BZZT—
Creating lightning of that magnitude was impossible, even for him. Moreover, that mask… Although it was a cheap mask that could be bought anywhere, what were the chances of him having it at that exact moment?
‘What’s going on…?’ Isaac wasn’t a fool. He wasn’t oblivious, either. He’d already figured out that the Lee Su-hyeok standing in front of him was the Lee Su-hyeok he’d seen on the stream that morning.
“It doesn’t make sense…” He knew it, but he didn’t want to accept it.
Thud—
Su-hyeok took another step toward Isaac.
“No.” It’d seemed like a single step, but before he knew it, Su-hyeok was right in front of him.
BZZT—
“It makes perfect sense,” Su-hyeok said before his fist impacted Isaac’s chest, followed by an explosion of lighting.
BOOM—!
Crack—
“…!!!” Rather than a fist, to Isaac, it felt like a spear had impaled him. He flew upward, fell back, and rolled on the ground a few times.
Paf—!
When he tried to push himself back to a standing position, his ribs pierced his lungs, the strength left his arms, and vomit spurted from his mouth. “Ugh-!”
After vomiting blood for a while, he lifted his head. Su-hyeok was closing in on him again and removed his mask as he leisurely walked forward, as if to say, ‘Look at my face’.
“Why do you think it doesn’t make sense? Because I’ve been taking hits from you all this time?” Su-hyeok asked.
“You… Just how…?”
“It seems that you never imagined you might be overtaken someday.”
Clutching his broken ribs, Isaac barely managed to stand up. Holding one hand behind his back, he gathered flames at his fingertips and clenched his teeth as he prepared to counterattack.
Fwoosh—
“Y… You’re that Lee Su-hyeok?” he asked.
Instead of answering, Su-hyeok looked into Isaac’s eyes. He was certainly something. Despite his broken ribs and his organs having been ruptured, his eyes were still lively. Isaac’s father, Reinhardt had lost to Su-hyeok, but he was still a skilled ranker.
“Seeing how a loser like you got the Lightning skill… It seems that it’s nothing special, after all…” Isaac said, as if he were trying to hypnotize himself to gain courage.
He tried to tell himself that his opponent wasn’t the new master of lightning. Rather, he was still a loser who’d struggled throughout the educational institution and been at his feet.
“Just because you got that skill… Do you think… You can beat me?” Isaac struggled to say.
“Of course~” Su-hyeok replied.
“Take…” Isaac, who’d been waiting for a chance, extended his flame-wreathed hand from behind his back. “This!”
Fwoosh—!
The flames at the tips of his fingers surged forward over the swordspan distance between them. The surprise attack was difficult to even see, let alone react to properly.
‘I got him.’ Isaac triumphantly smiled. He was certain that Su-hyeok be able to avoid his magic from such a distance.
Flash—!
BOOM—!
A yellow line pierced through the five streams of fire he’d sent forward, setting off an explosion and causing thick smoke to rise. The sharp odor of fresh ash stung his nose, causing him to cough and sending more pain through his chest.
“How dare you interrupt an adult when he’s speaking? Where did you learn such manners?” Su-hyeok asked, standing unscathed as the smoke cleared.
Whoosh—
Ash from the intercepted flames fell to the ground. Isaac’s eyes shook as he coughed again. “H-how?”
‘How?’ Isaac wracked his brain for an answer to his question. ‘He dodged it? No, did he block it? Or maybe… He remembered the yellow line. When he saw the sword in Su-hyeok’s hand, his expression changed to one of shock. “He cut them…?”
It wasn’t one attack, but five. He’d used his flames at such a close distance that they should’ve almost instantly reached Su-hyeok. Despite that, the man had cut through all of the fire with a single swing of his sword.
That meant his timing, accuracy, and reflexes were all perfect.
Hawk Eye’s assessment flashed through his mind. ‘He’s really better than the original Su-hyeok in terms of control?’ A talent greater than the legend, Lee Su-hyeok…
Isaac fell into a state of despair as he watched the falling ashes. If that assessment were true, then was there any way for him to survive?
Paf—
Su-hyeok kicked Isaac’s rear leg, causing his bones to break and sending him falling back to the ground.
Crack—
“Aah!” He tried to stand with his other leg, but Su-hyeok stomped on it. “Aaahhh-!”
Crack—!
“Honestly, leaving everything else aside…” Su-hyeok looked down at Isaac and spoke in a calm voice that contrasted with the echoing screams spreading into the forest. “I just don’t feel good.”
Crack—
Usually, he would have cleanly cut the man’s throat. There was only one reason why he hadn’t done that.
“A brat like you has no right to insult those guys.” Su-hyeok was unleashing the anger he felt for the brat having insulted his friends who’d died to save him.
Crack—
“You probably act like a spoiled brat with your dad, right?” He grabbed Isaac’s shoulder as the man was still screaming from the pain of his broken leg.
Isaac writhed in pain, and his eyes widened in surprise just as a bolt of lightning burst from Su-hyeok’s hand.
BZZT—!
“…!!!” He opened his mouth to scream louder, but no sound came out. After trembling as if convulsing for a few moments, he fell forward. His skin was burned black, and he couldn’t move. Still, he wasn’t dead yet and felt the end approaching.
“H-help me…” After barely lifting his head to make eye contact, Isaac said. “If… if my dad hears about this… He won’t let you go…” Since begging wasn’t working, he tried using threats. Su-hyeok’s eyes made it clear that begging was useless.
“You asked me earlier, right? If I’m the Lee Su-hyeok from the stream.” No matter how great a ranker was, they weren’t enough to threaten Su-hyeok. “I’m Lee Su-hyeok, but you’re wrong about something…”
Reinhardt… To think Isaac would try to threaten him with such a name. Once again, Su-hyeok realized how much things had changed. “Think about it. Can there really be two Lee Su-hyeok’s?”
Reinhardt was a ranker who had been nicknamed ‘One Hit Defeat’ after disgracefully losing to Lee Su-hyeok with a single move.
“What…? Nonsense…?” Isaac felt that Su-hyeok was speaking gibberish at first, but then his eyes widened in surprise. When he thought there couldn’t be any more surprises, an absurd thought came to his mind.
“How dare you interrupt an adult when he’s speaking?”
That wasn’t something a peer, someone from the same educational institute as him, would say. He hadn’t thought much about it since the pain from his shattered leg had overtaken all other reasoning.
“I just don’t feel good.”
“A brat like you has no right to insult those guys.”
If Issac’s absurd hypothesis were true, then what Su-hyeok just said would make sense.
Lee Su-hyeok, the loser of the academy… Lee Su-hyeok, the one who streamed while wearing a mask and who’d just obtained the Lightning skill… and one more person…
“This doesn’t make sense!” Isaac screamed. There was also the Lee Su-hyeok who had defeated his father with one attack in the past. All those Lee Su-hyeok’s being the same entity was unbelievable.
“This… doesn’t make sense…” Even more than when he first learned Lee Su-hyeok had obtained the Lightning skill, he tried to deny reality. It was an unbelievable thing, after all.
“You’re quite smart, huh?” Su-hyeok, who he hoped would deny it, nodded.
“A-are you really?” Isaac stuttered. Under normal circumstances, he would have never believed it, but Isaac clearly remembered how the Lee Su-hyeok he’d beaten, insulted, and stole points from looked and acted during their years at the institution.
The person in front of him didn’t care about those things. Rather, he only cared about him insulting the members of Blue Eyes.
It was as if he’d forgotten about the past bullying. It was as if he were a completely different person.
‘So he really changed—’ The moment that thought crossed his mind…
Slash—
Si-hyeok cut Isaac’s head off.
Thud, roll—
Isaac’s head rolled on the ground.
BZZT—
The remnants of the lightning around them slowly sparked out.
Su-hyeok took a long breath and shook the blood from his sword. “I got too excited…” He’d talked too much. He could have beheaded Isaac immediately, but he’d waited.
“You talk too much when you’re angry.” He recalled a comment Yeryeong had once made in passing. He was normally quiet, but he became quite talkative when he was angered.
Anger controls emotions, and when your emotions dominate you, your movements naturally become duller. Talking a lot was Su-hyeok’s way of controlling his anger.
Grip—
He gripped his sword tighter, looked up at the sky, and murmured, “You guys are alive, right…?”
* * *
Swoosh—
After returning to his dormitory, Su-hyeok washed up first. Soaking in a hot bath for a long time and having a simple meal made him feel much better. With his stomach full, he checked the time.
‘It’s almost time for the appointment.’ Before proceeding with the next trial, he’d made an appointment to meet with someone from Balhae Entertainment. He wasn’t satisfied with numerous aspects of his previous stream, and he wanted to solve those issues quickly.
“Who’s that person?”
“A mask? Is it a cosplay?”
“Is he, perhaps, streaming?”
Su-hyeok had gone to a nearby cafe after his meal and was wearing a mask. He wanted to hide his face from as many people as possible.
‘Taking into consideration the future, nothing good will come from my face becoming known,’ Su-hyeok thought while looking down at the steaming coffee. ‘The fact that the others don’t know what I look like is a great weapon.’
One day, he would have to face Blue Zone and Kim Ilsu. If you didn’t know who your opponent was, they could be anyone, so he had to take advantage of it as much as possible.
“…” Still, he thought that not being able to eat anything while wearing the mask was still quite inconvenient. He thought of making a mask that would allow him to open his mouth next time.
“Ah! Have you been waiting long?” The guest Su-hyeok was waiting for made a fuss and approached him. The black-haired and tall manager from Balhae, Un-hyang, greeted him. “Hi. I’m Un-hyang!”
____