Episode 17
There had been no suitable alley near the restaurant.
Jonghyeon had no choice but to face them in front of the restaurant.
"Did you all come out?"
To Jonghyeon's question, the person who appeared to be the eldest spoke.
"You're just a kid—where do you get off speaking informally!"
At his burly outburst, everyone thought Jonghyeon would be intimidated, but as to be expected, the opponent was Jonghyeon.
"Shouldn't you act your age before demanding respect for it?"
At Jonghyeon's words, the burly man raised his hand as though he could endure it no longer.
However, Jonghyeon was completely at ease even while defenseless.
"That hand. Reach it toward me, and you might have to start eating with the other one."
At Jonghyeon's curt tone, the burly man hesitated, unable to strike out rashly.
That man was already overwhelmed by Jonghyeon's spirit.
But as always, there were those who couldn't even sense their opponent's momentum—the so-called 'clueless'—wherever you went.
"Such an insolent bastard!"
A man standing to Jonghyeon's left threw a fist at him.
Thud.
The man who threw the punch experienced the rare phenomenon of his arm folding in the opposite direction before his hand even touched Jonghyeon.
"Aaaaargh!"
With the man's scream, onlookers began to gather.
'This is troublesome.'
He was in a position where official exposure would do him no good.
And the same was true for his opponents, but they continued to hesitate, seemingly unable to abandon their comrade with the broken arm right before their eyes.
"If you're going to stand there like idiots, you'd be better off taking that guy to the hospital quickly, wouldn't you?"
They burned with anger at Jonghyeon's mockery, but having already witnessed his martial prowess, they couldn't charge in rashly.
Just then.
A man who had pushed through the crowd came to Jonghyeon's side.
And Jonghyeon knew that man better than anyone.
"Hmm. Is this a situation that requires me to step in?"
He was Jonghyeon's handler.
"It's been a while?"
At Jonghyeon's question, the handler smiled briefly, then looked at the Rankers surrounding Jonghyeon and spoke.
At least when it came to cleaning up situations like this, he was far more of an expert.
"I don't know who your handler is, but private fights between Rankers are forbidden, aren't they?"
Of course, it wasn't as if Rankers never fought. The same was true between guilds.
But fighting where the public eye gathered was indeed forbidden by Korean standards.
There were occasionally permitted cases abroad; the weaker a government's power, the more countries tended to forbid it.
"Well, I have no desire to resort to legal measures either, so why not take your leave here?"
The handler's words felt very much like he was saving their lives.
Because even if nothing happened here right now, given Jonghyeon's personality, he might very well track them all down and assassinate them.
Seeing the group disperse as if they had no choice at the handler's words, Jonghyeon smiled bitterly.
Then he looked at his handler and asked.
"By the way, have you been tailing me all this time?"
"Oh my. How could that be? I simply ran into you by chance while passing by."
"Since I happened to run into you, there's something I need to tell you. I'm quitting this job."
At that, the handler asked with a rare expression of surprise.
But to Jonghyeon, it didn't look like a genuinely surprised expression.
"Is that true? Did you find a new job? Ahh. Working with you was always so exhilarating."
Jonghyeon hadn't been disappointed by the tone that showed no real regret, but the feigned surprise was somewhat conspicuous.
"How much do you know?"
"Hmm. Your eyes for seeing the world are still narrow, Jonghyeon. This will be a good opportunity to broaden them. You've worked hard all this time. Contact me again later. Let's have a drink."
With those words, as if there was nothing more to say, the handler began to leave Jonghyeon behind.
Jonghyeon considered holding him back to ask more, but the man wasn't one to answer anyway, and feeling the need to escape the attention, he moved on.
"Jonghyeon said he's quitting."
Director Kim Jeongtae of the National Secrets Bureau responded upon hearing the handler's report.
"I see. So he's ultimately going under Chairman Lee? That's a shame."
"Well, he's someone destined for greatness no matter what. And he has no greed."
At the handler's words, Director Kim Jeongtae smiled slightly and handed the next document to the handler.
The handler took the document as if it were only natural and left, while Director Kim Jeongtae appeared lost in thought.
"If he returns someday, he'll likely be a giant. At least Chairman Lee can make him one. I'm looking forward to it. Please continue to keep an eye on him."
With that final assessment, Director Kim Jeongtae completely set aside his thoughts about Jonghyeon.
He had too much to do.
The timing of the pointless quarrel and the handler's appearance.
Jonghyeon felt a slight burden at the fact that the state was watching him more closely than he had thought.
The thought that they might have observed even his training sent shivers down his spine.
Resolved to be even more careful in his future actions, Jonghyeon lowered all the window curtains before immersing himself in training.
'A little more, and I'll be able to draw out Sword Qi.'
Jonghyeon felt that drawing out Sword Qi was important, but there was a part of the Cheonwon Simje secret manual that he coveted the most.
That was precisely the Body-Protecting Gang Qi.
Once one's martial arts reached a certain realm, one could don armor with one's own ki, and Jonghyeon desperately needed that martial art.
Because in the modern era, martial artists, the Awakened, and magicians all conducted their prominent activities for similar reasons.
'Not only does it ignore firearms like guns and cannons, but it's also immune to a certain degree of magic and elemental attacks.'
It was one of the things he had felt bitterly while watching Black Dave.
If his own shadow tried to swallow him?
Jonghyeon would have been unable to find an answer to that.
If it hadn't been for Jonghyeon's rampaging power at that time, and if the current Jonghyeon had used his shadow to bind Black Dave?
Black Dave would surely have escaped the shadow using Gang Qi and Sword Qi.
'The deeper my training becomes, the more the limits of my abilities and the level of combat appear differently.'
That was the correct answer.
And as he became able to handle ki stably, the shadow that had never listened began to move little by little according to Jonghyeon's control.
He didn't know what connection the two had, but Jonghyeon was satisfied with the synergistic aspects.
★ ★ ★
Three days later.
Jonghyeon entered with the goal of clearing the 4th stage.
This time, he had no luxury to waste time, so he began hunting with all his might.
The method to awaken the Sphinx written on the note.
It was to hunt giant scorpions and giant snakes and bring back the core possessed by exactly one of them.
But Jonghyeon had been busy hunting to test himself previously, so he hadn't thought to obtain the core.
'Could it have been that rattlesnake?'
In fact, while hunting, Jonghyeon had encountered a snake different from the usual giant snakes.
It was a snake with a rattle on its neck; because it was a bit harder to hunt than the ordinary ones, he had simply assumed it was a common Named monster.
'Will the rattlesnake appear this time too?'
Or would it be a different method?
Jonghyeon wandered the desert, thinking constantly.
And finally, on the fourth day.
He encountered a scorpion with a giant rattle on its tail.
But Jonghyeon, already accustomed to catching giant scorpions and snakes after several trials and errors, could hunt it smoothly.
And as if his thoughts were proven exactly right, the Sphinx awoke.
"Kwooooo!"
The Sphinx let out a strange cry and charged at Jonghyeon.
Jonghyeon quickly dodged the charge and jumped on top of the Sphinx, preparing to cut its throat neatly.
However, the Sphinx was no pushover.
The moment Jonghyeon got on its back, it used its long tail as if it knew exactly where he was, knocking him off, and Jonghyeon soon rolled across the ground.
"Kuk."
It felt like a few joints had shattered.
Though his bones hadn't actually broken, the shock to Jonghyeon was beyond imagination.
At that moment,
-Ding!
-The Sphinx is preparing a powerful attack through the Sun of God.
'If it's an attack significant enough for the system to announce, it's definitely no ordinary matter.'
The moment he made his decision, the brightness of the sun above Jonghyeon's head grew stronger, as if proving him right.
Fwoosh.
About twenty fireballs fell centered on where Jonghyeon stood.
But if this was magic as well?
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Jonghyeon tried batting away one fireball with his short blade.
If he failed, he would suffer quite severe burns.
But Jonghyeon could no longer afford to be so preoccupied with such things.
'If I can't grow stronger, there's no meaning anymore. I already have a goal. And I'll do my best for it.'
Boom-!
Jonghyeon's short blade sent the fireball flying with an enormous roar.
And the direction it was deflected was, reflexively, toward the Sphinx!
He didn't know if the fireball would work on the Sphinx.
But by turning this against it, the Sphinx would definitely be thrown into confusion.
"Kwaaaang!"
Along with the Sphinx's cry, a huge fireball struck its back.
There clearly seemed to be damage.
The Sphinx staggered, and there were slight burn marks on its back.
Jonghyeon had deflected all the remaining fireballs, but the Sphinx, as if refusing to fall for it twice, dodged all the fireballs and rushed at Jonghyeon.
"The moment you got worked up. You lost, kitty."
Jonghyeon didn't miss that opportunity and jumped on top of the Sphinx once more.
He had already figured out the tail attack.
And Jonghyeon had what could be called a cheat—his shadow.
Where there is light, a shadow must form.
Controlling the Sphinx's massive shadow, Jonghyeon bound its tail with that shadow.
There were clearly a few more patterns, but Jonghyeon didn't care.
Not letting an opportunity slip was Jonghyeon's job!
While the Sphinx was flustered with its tail bound, Jonghyeon took out his key ring and activated the axe.
He had no confidence that he could sever that massive neck with his short blade.
"Hiyaaaaap!"
Along with Jonghyeon's thunderous shout, the giant axe dug into the Sphinx's neck.
Thuk-!
Though it struggled with all its might to shake off Jonghyeon with the axe embedded halfway in, the Sphinx soon met its end.
"Whew. As expected, people have to use their heads."
Pulling out the half-embedded axe, Jonghyeon completely severed the Sphinx's neck.
Actually, Jonghyeon was also surprised that the axe manifested larger than expected.
But this time, bigger was better.
Because if an ordinary axe had been summoned, things would have flowed in a completely different direction.
But when he infused his strengthened ki, even though he thought he exerted force similar to usual, a much larger weapon came out.
'I hadn't expected even this kind of feature.'
The sunlight inside the pyramid gradually weakened, and a familiar voice rang out.
-Ding!
-Congratulations. You have cleared the 4th stage.
-The skill 〈Shadow Concealment〉 has been newly created.
-All injuries are healed as a reward.
Concealment.
Hiding one's body stealthily.
'Concealment? Isn't this insane?'
Having cleared the stage, Jonghyeon couldn't easily bring himself to leave.
It was one of the skills he truly wanted.
Precisely concealment.
In fact, Jonghyeon had considered receiving guidance from Japanese ninjas, but it remained merely a thought.
Because the fundamental methods of ki manipulation were different.
He couldn't fathom how one could hide a human body using ki.
"Conceal!"
Jonghyeon shouted as if leaving it to fate.
But nothing happened.
"Shadow Conceal!"
The same.
Jonghyeon was staring intently at his own shadow.
Suddenly, though he had heard no explanation, Jonghyeon felt as though he knew how to conceal himself.
Jonghyeon began to think of melting into his shadow.
Sliiide-
Jonghyeon's body began to be sucked little by little into his own shadow.
Eventually, Jonghyeon's body completely disappeared, and only a round shadow remained on the ground.
When he thought of separating his body from the shadow again and focused his ki, Jonghyeon's body was restored.
The humiliation he had suffered all this time.
Having called himself an assassin, he had traversed all sorts of foul-smelling ventilation ducts and sewers.
At the fact that he could now do such things easily without that, he was on the verge of tears of emotion.
Jonghyeon came out with a joyful heart.
---------= Afterword =---------
Meow~