Chapter 59
In an alley near the colosseum where the tournament had ended, Cha Minwoo leaned against the wall and sighed in admiration.
“He really won, that kid.”
The screen on the kit he held displayed Suhyuk’s stream. Suhyuk was receiving the tournament’s winning prize, the Nimble Thief’s Footwear.
Snap-.
Chap Minwoo took a long drag from his lit cigarette, deep in thought.
“This was unexpected…”
“I thought for sure Schneider would win.”
Responding to Cha Minwoo’s words was his partner, Park Hwiyung. With her bow slung over her shoulder, she was watching the same stream.
“Isn’t it impressive? To think he’s already strong enough to beat Schneider.”
“Talent of the highest caliber, no doubt. I admit.”
“Do you think he’ll become like Lee Suhyuk someday?”
Here, she wasn’t referring to the streamer Suhyuk. She was talking about the legend of Blue Eyes, Minwoo’s idol, Lee Suhyuk.
“Well…”
“He has enough talent, doesn’t he? He even scored the same in the same trial.”
She watched the stream with an intrigued expression.
“There’s a saying going around: whatever the real Suhyuk can do, the fake Suhyuk can.”
“The real Suhyuk? The fake Suhyuk?”
“It’s what people say these days. Lee Suhyuk is the real one, and the streamer Suhyuk is the fake one. Real Suhyuk, fake Suhyuk.”
“What ridiculous nicknames…”
Minwoo’s face scrunched up in displeasure.
“And they got it backward. It’s not that the fake Suhyuk can do what the real Suhyuk can. It’s that the real Suhyuk can do whatever the fake Suhyuk can.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“No, it’s not.”
Something about the topic seemed to irritate Cha Minwoo profoundly. Whenever discussions about Lee Suhyuk came up, he almost regressed into a fan-struck child.
“Ah, that everlasting fangirl heart…”
“What did you say?”
“You heard me? Yeah, I said it for you to hear.”
Hwiyung shrugged and changed the subject.
“So what happens now?”
“What else? Change of plans.”
“And the prize?”
“What, you think we should just rob him?”
Hwiyung had no response, understanding full well there wasn’t much they could do now that the winner was decided. It was just frustrating.
Handing over the relics of Blue Eyes to an outsider was a bitter pill to swallow for Blue Zone.
“It’s embarrassing to take it forcibly, and look at that number of viewers. How many are there?”
『Viewers: 14,017』
Fourteen thousand.
Certainly not a small number. Even after the tournament had ended, new viewers were streaming in, likely to catch a glimpse of the prize. It meant it was a hot topic in some community somewhere.
“We can’t touch him. There’s nothing good that’ll come from it.”
“We should’ve pulled him in before he got this big.”
“What can we do? Rejecting us means he’s confident in his own skills.”
Despite the guild’s disadvantageous position, Minwoo still held a slight smile.
“He’s confident. He believes his value will only increase over time.”
“Is that really the reason?”
“What else could it be? Is there a reason not to join our guild?”
Minwoo was convinced.
The streamer, Lee Suhyuk.
Someday, he would come under their wing.
Because…
“I can tell. This guy is obsessed with the legend of Blue Eyes.”
He was undeniably of the same kind as him.
“Really?”
Cha Minwoo always changed whenever topics related to Blue Eyes came up. Hwiyung sighed as she looked at him.
“The problem is, that legend might be ending soon.”
“Must be a misunderstanding.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Hwiyung let Minwoo’s words pass through one ear and out the other. Whatever else they were discussing, his words wouldn’t carry objectivity in this mission.
While the two were engrossed in their conversation,
『’Suhyuk’ has ended the stream.』
Suhyuk had finished his stream after checking the item’s options.
“Well, let’s go see if that rumor is true or not.”
Step-.
Hwiyung began walking away. And with her steps as a signal,
Step, step-.
Players started moving from various corners of the alley they had been standing in.
*
After finishing his stream, Suhyuk entered the restaurant where Un Hyang was waiting. She had prepared enticingly grilled meat and waved at Suhyuk as he walked in.
“Over here, over here.”
“Why a BBQ place?”
“You worked hard during the match. Aren’t you hungry?”
It was indeed mealtime. Suhyuk picked up the chopsticks and began eating the grilled meat.
“What was that text about?”
“Oh, that?”
Un Hyang paused, organizing her thoughts before speaking.
“I met a mysterious person in the crowd.”
“Mysterious?”
“Well, that’s…”
Un Hyang narrated the encounter with the enigmatic woman in the audience. A suspicious player with a concealed face.
“At first, I was suspicious, but then her words made sense, so I dropped my guard.”
“What do you mean by made sense?”
“She said she was a fan of yours. Just like me.”
“A fan?”
“Yeah, it didn’t seem like a lie. I have a good eye for these things.”
Fans can recognize one another. Un Hyang was convinced the woman’s reactions weren’t fabricated.
“But when you won, her expression…”
Un Hyang recalled the woman’s expression after Suhyuk’s victory. It was a face with mixed emotions.
Joy, despair, longing—all tangled together in an unreadable expression. Not knowing how to explain it, Un Hyang moved on.
“Anyway, she then suddenly vanished.”
Suhyuk’s hand paused as he brought the meat to his mouth.
“… Vanished?”
“Yes, suddenly.”
“Did she dodge your eyes?”
Impossible. This was Un Hyang they were talking about. Though she was a manager now, her skills were exceptional.
A player known as a genius. How many players could vanish from her sight?
She knew this too, which is why she urgently texted Suhyuk.
‘A player who can disappear from Un Hyang’s sight and conceal their face…’
Suhyuk’s mind raced. There was at least one player who fit the description. A vague yet familiar image took shape in Suhyuk’s mind.
‘No way?’
Just in case. With that thought, Suhyuk asked, “And then?”
“Pardon?”
“Is there anything more?”
As he listened, he felt like an old, familiar picture was being drawn on a blank canvas. Who could it be? He needed more information to color in the picture.
Un Hyang paused, contemplating, before she answered.
“And um… right, I asked if she was a fan of Lee Suhyuk.”
“Me?”
“No, no, not you, Suhyuk-nim. Of Blue Eyes.”
It wasn’t a strange question. Most of Suhyuk’s viewers had memories and illusions about Lee Suhyuk.
“But her reaction was a bit odd.”
“In what way?”
“It was like… she was neither affirming nor denying. But it definitely wasn’t a no.”
“Not affirming or denying, then?”
“Like she was…”
Searching for the right words, Un Hyang finally chose the closest term she could find.
“Like she missed him…”
At that moment.
Clatter-.
Suhyuk stood abruptly. He dropped his chopsticks and the meat he was holding, and ran outside.
“Suhyuk-nim? Suhyuk-nim!”
Un Hyang’s urgent voice reached him, but he couldn’t care less right now.
Thud, thud, thud-.
Just like when he had discovered the Ice Flower. Suhyuk began frantically searching the surroundings.
*
Yerang was seated on the rooftop of a building. From the rooftop, she had a clear view of the village below. The village was bustling with people who had just finished watching the tournament.
Among them.
Yerang noticed the distinct movements of certain players.
“I knew it, I just knew.”
Cha Minwoo and Park Hwiyung were at the center, surrounded by numerous players in hiding. Mingling with the crowd, all aiming to capture someone.
But.
“Your instincts have dulled, Ilsoo.”
Yerang clicked her tongue as she observed them.
“Does he really think he can catch me with such rookies? Maybe if he came personally.”
What else might he have up his sleeve?
To her, the players gathered here weren’t a threat. Running away wasn’t the issue. Even facing them head-on, she could kill them all and walk out easily.
Maybe not twenty years ago, but with her current skills she could.
Yet.
‘Should I?’
Her gaze shifted to one spot. Sprinting through the streets, wearing his usual mask, was streamer Suhyuk. She had no idea what he was frantically searching for.
Regardless, what she needed was the shoes he was wearing.
‘If necessary, I can just cut off his feet and take them.’
It would take less than a second. That amount of time wouldn’t even be enough for the others to notice, and even if they did, well.
At least the small net-like formation she could see before her could be torn through easily as she fled, so that was not a problem.
The problem was…
‘Should I?’
It was the inexplicable conflict within her. Even she couldn’t identify the source of her hesitation.
Was it because she had been enjoying his stream lately?
No. No matter how entertaining, it couldn’t hold as much importance as a keepsake from a friend who was like family.
Despite that, the reason she hesitated was clear.
‘What is so similar about him? It’s infuriating.’
The fact that, in his anonymous visage, she kept seeing Lee Suhyuk’s shadow.
“When the winner is announced, steal it. It’s much safer that way.”
She had promised Shiwoo.
“Don’t worry. Minjae cherished that item more than anything; I won’t just leave it behind.”
She couldn’t go back empty-handed.
No matter how much this guy resembled Lee Suhyuk.
At the end of the day, it’s just cosplay.
‘Lee Suhyuk is dead.’
Twenty years had passed, and he never reappeared.
Officially, Lee Suhyuk was declared dead. System-wise, retaking the lower-floor trials was impossible without a genuine reincarnation.
They were different people.
They could not be the same person.
But…
“I said I’m not selling.”
Every time she tried to move to cut his leg, reasons why she shouldn’t came up.
“Damn it! Ugh, this is so frustrating!”
In the end, she clutched her head and screamed in frustration.
Then she jumped up and made a decision.
“You just wait. Join Ilsoo’s guild, and I’ll come cut off that leg myself one day.”
Failing to retrieve Minjae’s most cherished item would be an unforgivable failure in her eyes. No, she wouldn’t even be able to face her other friends in the afterlife.
With a swift turn, she glanced at Suhyuk once more. He was still frantically searching every corner of the village. The feeling of regret was unfamiliar but undeniable after making her decision.
“Someday, it would be nice to have a conversation with him.”
Because she felt, surely, talking to him would feel like talking to Lee Suhyuk.