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Chapter 455: Another Protagonist

‘Seriously, who the hell is this guy?’

Kang-Woo couldn’t recall the young man no matter how thoroughly he flipped through his memories.

‘He doesn’t seem to be lying.’

Tae-Hyun did not seem to be fabricating a story to take advantage of Kang-Woo’s fame. In the first place, if he wanted to become famous, he would be aiming for Kim Si-Hun instead since Si-Hun was far more famous than Kang-Woo at least on Earth.

‘Then that means he has actually met me in the past.’

Kang-Woo went through his memories again slowly as he stared at Tae-Hyun’s face. His affable expression was common in Japanese fantasy anime; he was average, neither handsome nor ugly.

‘Where have I seen him before?’

He felt like he would remember with just a little reminder. He traversed through a forest of memories covered in thick fog. Just then, he recalled someone’s desperate screams from the depths of his memory.

"I’m a rogue! Someone, anyone, please let me join your party! I’ll provide first aid if nothing else!!"[1]

‘Oh.’ Kang-Woo’s eyes widened. ‘Fucking hell. No wonder I didn’t recall him right away.’

It was such a long time ago. No, that was not the only issue since Kang-Woo would have remembered it if the event had been important. The main reason that Kang-Woo was unable to recall Kim Tae-Hyun immediately was not because it had been so long but because his importance had been so insignificant.

‘Yeah… I once saved him from the Andras Guild.’

Several more memories popped up in Kang-Woo’s head once he remembered the event.

"I’ll definitely grow out of being a first-aid administrator and repay you for today’s favor!"[2]

Kang-Woo recalled Tae-Hyun saying those words before leaving.

‘Dayum. What a long-ass foreshadowing.’

Kang-Woo stared at Tae-Hyun dumbfoundedly. No matter how he thought about it, it felt more like something that the author made use of after completely forgetting about it than perfectly calling back a foreshadowing that had occurred over four hundred chapters ago.

“I’m no longer the weak first-aid administrator I used to be! I’ve grown to a point that I can be of help to you!” Tae-Hyun shouted brightly.

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes for a moment.

‘Grown, huh?’

How could a rogue-class Player who was rejected by even low-level parties have grown faster than even Si-Hun?

‘It doesn’t make any sense.’

It was worse than a new character being introduced in a game that destroyed the balance completely. To make a comparison, it was like seeing a regular high schooler in your neighborhood who played basketball casually suddenly making his debut in the NBA and destroying Michael Jordan. Tae-Hyun’s growth was unreal even if he had come across some sort of strange fate.

“Haha. I’ve never thought of you as weak even once, Tae-Hyun,” Kang-Woo expressed.

“K-Kang-Woo…”

“But how were you able to grow this quickly?”

Kang-Woo scanned Tae-Hyun with narrow eyes, observing his eyes, voice, and every little movement that he made.

“Mm. Well…” Tae-Hyun scratched his head and continued, “I think it was about a month ago. It was when I was exploring a Gate by myself. It was a B-rank Gate in the Haeundae district of Busan.”

B was not that high of a rank for a Gate.

“But an S-rank monster suddenly appeared in the Gate due to the abnormal phenomena occurring in Gates lately… I accidentally fell from a cliff as I was frantically running away.”

“...”

“I closed my eyes, thinking I was going to die, but I luckily managed to survive thanks to being caught by tree roots that happened to have grown out of the cliff walls. And then—”

“And then you came across a strange fate, or something like that?”

“Ah! Th-that’s right! To be more exact, I found a hidden dungeon!”

“...”

Kang-Woo put a hand over his forehead as if he was having a headache.

‘What the fuck? Coming across a strange fate from falling down a cliff? Is this some martial arts story?’

Kang-Woo couldn’t even laugh. He organized his thoughts and then asked, “... Could you give me more details about this hidden dungeon?”

“Mm. I’m not sure exactly what it was either. A message saying that I entered Nostrian’s Will appeared as soon as I entered the hidden dungeon, and then I immediately passed out.”

“...”

Kang-Woo had never heard of anyone named Nostrian.

‘Are they an outer god?’

He had nothing to go off of at the moment.

“I found this around my neck when I woke up,” Tae-Hyun said as he raised the necklace on his neck.

The ornament of the necklace was about half the size of a palm and had strange symbols on it. In the center of those symbols, an eye that gave off an unpleasant feeling was engraved.

‘It looks like the Time Stone thingie.’

Kang-Woo recalled seeing a necklace like that in a superhero film that he had once seen. Kang-Woo scanned the necklace on Tae-Hyun’s neck with the Authority of Insight.

Riiing.

[Player Oh Kang-Woo’s Deific Essence is too low in rank to check the information of the corresponding item.]

‘... What?’

Kang-Woo’s expression crumpled aggressively after seeing the message in front of him. His Deific Essence was Top-rank and on the verge of reaching Transcendent-rank, but it was too low.

‘What the hell is happening?’

His head was in jumbles.

“What about after that…?” Kang-Woo asked.

“Well, as you can see, I acquired immense power.”

Tae-Hyun slightly raised his hand. Translucent light particles gathered around his hand as if crystal fragments that had been scattered in midair were coming together.

Rumble—!

Colossal power shook the surroundings. Kang-Woo’s eyes widened.

‘The hell?’

He had never felt this sort of power before. He had seen demons, angels, and even gods, but this was the first time that a form of energy caused him to feel this way. Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes.

‘Deific Essence?’

Kang-Woo shook his head. It was different from the power that regular Deific Essence gave off.

‘It’s similar in terms of type.’

Deific Essence was the closest to how the energy felt but it was different. To make a comparison, it was like the difference between a leopard and a tiger. They were both classified as the Felidae family but were different species.

‘But the problem is that energy would be the tiger instead of the leopard.’

The amount of energy was not enormous in any way but it was stronger than Deific Essence in terms of quality.

‘It seems… I’ll have to test it out.’

“Mm…”

“Haha. I know it’s a difficult story to take in,” Tae-Hyun said as he scratched his head and smiled awkwardly. He then walked toward Kang-Woo with bright eyes. “But I didn’t lie.”

“Ah, yes. I didn’t think you were, Tae-Hyun.”

The fact that Tae-Hyun had killed an enormous number of monsters after acquiring that power was proof.

“Does that mean I can enter Guardians as well?” Tae-Hyun asked anxiously as he gulped.

It seemed like he had killed the rapidly growing number of monsters right after gaining power because he wanted to be a part of Guardians. Kang-Woo smiled at Tae-Hyun who was blazing with passion.

“Would you be able to take a simple recruitment test before that?” Kang-Woo asked.

“Ah, yes! Of course!”

Tae-Hyun nodded. Kang-Woo glanced at Si-Hun.

“Si-Hun.”

“Yes, hyung-nim.”

Si-Hun, who had been staring blankly at Tae-Hyun, turned to Kang-Woo.

“Could you test Tae-Hyun?”

“... Of course.” Si-Hun clenched his sword and slightly nodded.

It seemed like his competitive spirit was set ablaze after hearing that Tae-Hyun had killed more monsters than him. Si-Hun’s eyes staring at Tae-Hyun were blazing with passion. Kang-Woo tapped on the bridge of his nose as he looked back and forth at the two men.

‘Now, then. Let’s see what this Nostrian’s Will is made of.’

Clack.

They entered the training room in the Hall of Protection. It was durable enough to have handled the battle between Kang-Woo and Zeus. Si-Hun and Tae-Hyun stood across from each other in the white room.

Cha Yeon-Joo narrowed her eyes as she stared at them and asked, “Isn’t his story super suspicious? He just ended up coming across a strange fate after falling down a cliff?”

Kang-Woo answered, “I don’t think he’s lying. I’ve even met him before.”

“How did you get to know him?”

Kang-Woo explained to her what happened between him and Tae-Hyun in the past.

“Hah. What a fucking callback…” Yeon-Joo muttered.

“I’ll say.” Kang-Woo shrugged. He stared at Si-Hun, who was unsheathing his sword, and asked, “Who do you think will win?”

“Si-Hun, obviously,” replied Yeon-Joo as if she had no doubt.

Even if Tae-Hyun had acquired some unknown power, she would naturally think that Si-Hun would come out on top considering she had witnessed how powerful he was.

“... I guess so.”

Kang-Woo nodded and paid attention to the upcoming battle. The others thought so as well, mainly thinking about how long Tae-Hyun would be able to last against Si-Hun.

“Then, let us begin,” Si-Hun said.

Their duel finally began. Si-Hun stretched out his arm and created a formless sword. He gripped the sword and leaped forward, leaving afterimages along his path. Si-Hun lightly swung his sword at Tae-Hyun after arriving in front of him in an instant.

Clang—!

“Hup!”

Tae-Hyun took out a dagger from his waist and blocked Si-Hun’s attack. Si-Hun did not falter and spun to attack again.

‘Heavenly Dragon Rampage.’

He used a sword technique without hesitation to end the battle as quickly as possible. Hundreds of sword attacks aimed at Tae-Hyun, all real attacks made of formless swords.

Clang, clang, clang—!!

“...!”

Tae-Hyun parried every single attack aimed at him, leaving Si-Hun in shock.

“What the…”

Si-Hun did not stay shocked for long and went on the offensive again.

Clang! Clang! Claaang!

However, none of his attacks were able to even graze Tae-Hyun. Si-Hun added feints now and then but Tae-Hyun perfectly parried his attacks with just a dagger.

‘What’s going on?’

Si-Hun’s eyes were filled with shock. Tae-Hyun’s movements were not exceptional nor was he a better martial artist than Si-Hun. No, Tae-Hyun’s movements were just fast; they were poor in terms of quality.

‘So how…’

How was he able to deflect every single one of Si-Hun’s attacks?

‘It’s as if… he knows the future.’

“Haap!” Tae-Hyun shouted and charged at Si-Hun.

Translucent light particles that looked like scattered crystal fragments poured out of Tae-Hyun’s necklace. He held the dagger in a reverse grip and swung it down. Si-Hun calmly raised his sword to block the attack.

Claaaaang!

“Kurgh!”

The formless sword shattered in an instant as if a wooden sword collided with a steel sword. Si-Hun quickly jumped back as his hands were numb from the impact.

“Fuuu.”

Si-Hun’s eyes sank deeply and he bit his lip anxiously.

‘... Divinity.’

That was the only thing that could shatter a sword made of condensed sword energy so easily.

“...”

Si-Hun clenched his fist tighter. He knew how overwhelmingly disadvantaged one without Deific Essence was against one with Deific Essence.

“Fuuu, haaa.” Si-Hun took deep breaths and turned to look at Kang-Woo watching the battle.

“Thanks… for staying as my little brother.”

Kang-Woo’s words echoed in his head.

‘I can’t lose.’ Si-Hun gritted his teeth. ‘Not when hyung is watching.’

Si-Hun’s eyes set ablaze with passion.

Riiing.

[Raising Player Kim Si-Hun’s assimilation with the Martial God!]

A clear bell chime rang in his head.

***

“...”

Kang-Woo frowned aggressively as he watched the battle. He stared at Tae-Hyun who was overpowering Si-Hun.

‘He kinda gives off the protagonist energy as well.’

If Si-Hun gave off the aura of a Korean manhwa protagonist, then Tae-Hyun gave off the aura of a Japanese light novel protagonist.

‘You know, the trope of the worst class actually being the strongest. Fucking hell. Why are there so many goddamn protagonists? What about me? Huh? What about me, goddammit?’

Kang-Woo wanted to be a protagonist too.

1. Refer to Chapter 13. ☜

2. Refer to Chapter 20. ☜