RE: Player again

386

[Chapter 113]

[Ending This Ill-Fated Relationship (4)]

Choi Jun-ho.

In his previous life, he was the dirtiest blade among Hong Jin-woo's swords.

As a story known to everyone in the industry, the SSS-class player who officially belonged to the Dangun Clan took on all sorts of dirty work ordered by Hong Jin-woo.

There were quite a few people who went missing or died in dungeons with him in one way or another.

Or those who unfortunately lost their lives in spontaneous battles.

Above all─.

─That bastard almost made Yu-jeong cry.

When Eun-ha was a first-year student at the High Academy.

Hong Jin-woo tried to r**e Lee Yu-jeong, and Eun-ha confronted Hong Jin-woo's group while searching for her who had suddenly disappeared.

Choi Jun-ho was among them.

If he hadn't blocked the way then, Yu-jeong could have been saved earlier.

Their ill-fated relationship continued after that.

It reached its peak after Hong Jin-woo became the chairman of the Dangun Group and Ha Baek-ryeon took office as a fairy.

He wanted to torment him slowly to the point of wishing for death, but there's no time to waste.

And the target is not Choi Jun-ho, but that bastard Hong Jin-woo.

He killed Choi Jun-ho.

Originally, there was no plan to kill him, but Eun-ha didn't hesitate when the opportunity to kill him came.

When the group split into two while driving the students to the 4th underground floor, Choi Jun-ho happened to be separated from Hong Jin-woo's party.

So Eun-ha quickly stabbed his heart amid the commotion.

You have to kill when you can.

If not, I'll die.

In fact, Eun-ha was still inwardly unable to shake off Choi Jun-ho's death.

Because his grudge against him was so deep, he wanted to see him die in agony.

But having lived one life, he knew very well how foolish and stupid it was to postpone an opportunity that had come.

He shouldn't hesitate.

He had to kill when he could.

If not, he would surely bleed someday.

Not only would he bleed, but people related to him might bleed if he made a mistake.

It would be too late to regret then.

After all─.

─The dead don't come back.

That statement was allowed for people around him as well as for people who needed to be killed.

Because he knew well that the dead don't come back.

No Eun-ha decided to kill those who needed to be killed to completely block a future unfavorable to him.

In that sense, Han Chang-jin, who would become one of the Twelve Seats in the distant future by Eun-ha's standards, also had to be killed.

Han Chang-jin.

The man who would come to dominate the underground market and darkness would be the most dangerous person for the government Ha Baek-ryeon would create.

But Eun-ha was holding off.

Despite having suffered so much from Han Chang-jin before the regression.

...Should I kill him or not.

People don't change.

Eun-ha knows that best.

But looking at Han Chang-jin in this life, he thought that maybe people do change.

If people do change, then Han Chang-jin has either changed for the better or hasn't turned evil yet.

Either way, if people really change, it means even he himself could change.

...I can't imagine it.

People don't change.

Han Chang-jin..., let's watch him a little longer. Even if people don't change, I might be able to use that hyung in a different way than before the regression.

Eun-ha watched the monsters and students finally perish together and deactivated the Avenir's Cloak.

He had consumed quite a bit of internal mana from using camouflage magic for so long.

He approached the students left in the sea of blood, with the monsters having disappeared after dying.

He gave a painless death to those barely clinging to life and searched their belongings.

He only took necessary items like potions and water, and infused mana into the fallen magic stones.

I wonder how many are on the lower floors.

From the 4th underground floor, the difficulty increases, so deaths are inevitable...

Even if I'm not inclined to, I'll have to protect Hong Jin-woo so he safely reaches the last floor.

Eun-ha gulped down water.

Death accidents of High Academy students weren't that rare.

They were learning combat skills to officially become players and were put in dangerous situations.

As a result, public opinion was surprisingly indifferent to their deaths.

Moreover, High Academy students were legally treated as quasi-adults.

Their position was different from middle academy students who were classified as minors.

If it's 'simply' a death caused by monsters, the public will accept it as usual.

So Eun-ha didn't try to clean up the corpses lying on the floor.

He just caused a disturbance.

To erase any 'artificial' traces that might remain.

"Now I should head to the lower floors."

Kill those who can be killed.

Postpone those who can't be killed.

Instead, never forget Hong Jin-woo who must be killed.

"From now on, I have to take care of him while driving him until he reaches the deepest part..."

Eun-ha clicked his tongue.

If it were taking care of Ha Baek-ryeon, he wouldn't mind.

If it were taking care of Hong Jin-woo, he would rather die than accept.

It felt like bugs of disgust were crawling all over his body.

Just imagining it.

I miss Baek-ryeon today.

I wonder if she's growing up well.

Eun-ha left hell behind.

To create hell

again.

☆

The students led by Hong Jin-woo didn't want to speak.

""""...."""

They were in the process of getting somewhat used to someone's death since entering the High Academy.

However, it was impossible to accept with a sound mind seeing their comrades being eaten by monsters right before their eyes.

Above all, those known as promising talents held a groundless conviction that even if others could die, they and their comrades wouldn't die.

But now that conviction was miserably shattered.

"...Jin-woo. Drink some water."

"...I'm fine."

"You need to drink. You'll be dehydrated. You might collapse at this rate."

Academy Dungeon Underground Floor 4.

Those who fled from the monster horde couldn't move forward in front of the stairs leading up to the 3rd underground floor.

In this situation, a supporter who had barely regained his senses handed water to Hong Jin-woo.

He, who had been hanging his head low with guilt for abandoning Choi Jun-ho, stubbornly refused.

"You still need to drink. Don't we need to get out of here alive?"

But the supporter's attitude was firm.

Finally, he moistened his throat with the little water left.

He couldn't drink it all.

After passing the water bottle to other students, he looked around at the students left in an incomplete party with party members scattered.

To survive here, he had to rally the students and form them into one party.

Otherwise, they would die.

Because the difficulty increases from the 4th underground floor.

He called the students together.

The meeting began.

"Since we don't know the situation on the upper floors, I think it's better to go down to the lower floors."

"I agree with that opinion. We don't have much food left. Since they said food would be prepared on the 5th floor for our safe return, we have no choice but to head to the deepest part."

"The 4th underground floor is a very awkward place to camp. It would be better to go down to the 5th floor, even if it's a bit dangerous, and catch our breath at the temple there."

Although they were a ragtag group with the party patched together.

Nevertheless, they were promising talents.

The leaders and navigators of each party suggested the most ideal answer.

"─Alright, good. Let's do that."

And the one who chose the answer they suggested was Hong Jin-woo.

The newly united students shook off their fear at his charisma.

He who was called a libertine was reborn as a true ruler in the midst of crisis.

"...Clear the way! Don't look back! Everyone just look ahead and run!"

Even so, he couldn't save everyone who was desperately trying to clear the way.

He became more and more mentally haggard as he moved forward.

His confidence was broken again and again.

His self-esteem continued to plummet.

"...Don't... give up...!"

No matter how desperately he shouted.

It felt as if something invisible was holding him back from escaping despair.

He felt like it was pitch black in front of his eyes even though they were open.

At some point, he could no longer shake off the sense of defeat.

☆

Somewhere on Bukhan Mountain.

There were two forces.

The numbers of the two forces were evenly matched.

The students were glaring at each other in a field with trees standing unevenly around.

""""...."""

Tension filled the air.

No one tried to speak.

They were just regulating their mana while staring at each other.

Finally, the leaders of the two forces broke the silence.

"...Even if I apologize now, you have no intention of accepting it, right?"

"If you give me your neck, I'll pretend it never happened."

"So you have no intention of accepting it."

Yu Do-jun and Jung Ha-yang.

Having crossed a river of no return, they were trying to put an end to this ill-fated relationship.

"Ha-yang, you should still think carefully."

"Why?"

"Although our numbers are similar, our combat power is stronger. You know that well, don't you Ha-yang?"

Then Yu Do-jun shrugged and pointed behind him.

Ha-yang's gaze moved.

Some familiar faces were seen in Yu Do-jun's force.

Not only Hoshimiya Kaede and Jin Pa-rang, but Lee Cheon-seo and Bae Su-bin were also there.

Even Choi Eun-hyeok.

The friends who play the biggest role in battle had taken Yu Do-jun's side.

Nevertheless, Jung Ha-yang didn't lose heart.

[So in the end, you Eun-hyeok were the same kind as oppa Pa-rang?]

"S-Seo-na, that's not it, Do-jun persuaded..."

[You ended up going over in the end, you did.]

"That's not it, I'm telling you! I thought you would come to this side..."

[Then? Will you come over to our side even now?]

"...Sorry. There are times when a man has to fight a battle he can't avoid."

Because she had reliable friends of her own.

Seo-na, who was better at telepathy than Jin Pa-rang, burned with fighting spirit.

It wasn't just her.

"Are you saying your combat power is stronger just because you have Jin Pa-rang and Choi Eun-hyeok? It's ridiculous beyond words. It seems like common sense has run away."

"Just a ragtag group. Yu Do-jun, do you think you can control the i***t oppa who can't even control No Eun-ha? Even if summer is coming soon, isn't it too early for the sound of ice cream melting?"

Mok Min-ho and Kim Min-ji were there.

The two were also confident.

Cha Eun-woo, who was sandwiched between them, was also burning with fighting spirit while constructing protective magic.

So Jung Ha-yang was confident even looking at them.

It was worth a try.

Above all─.

"─But I never said these people here were all I had?"

"What? What do you mean by that?"

She had a secret weapon.

Ha-yang smiled at Yu Do-jun who asked as if it made no sense.

"Did you forget we're in the forest?"

"...Kaede!"

Yu Do-jun's smiling face froze.

Realizing something was wrong, he hurriedly called Kaede.

It seemed Kaede had already deployed a detection network after hearing her words.

She quickly answered.

"There's no ambush around as we initially confirmed."

"...See? Did you forget we have Kaede?"

Yu Do-jun sighed in relief.

He addressed Ha-yang again, regaining his playful tone.

Nevertheless, Ha-yang didn't lose her smiling face.

"Do you really think there's nothing? Do you think I can't evade Kaede's detection?"

"Stop bluffing. You've been caught."

"No. I haven't been caught."

"So I said you've been caught... Huh?"

When Do-jun burst out laughing.

Then he frowned.

At first, it seemed like he had misheard.

But the sound carried by the wind was growing louder and louder.

Oww! Oww!

Oww! Oww! Oww!

"...What is this sound?"

A shouting sound like one would make just before going into battle.

Yu Do-jun couldn't hide his bewilderment as he heard the sound that now covered the entire forest.

Cracks appeared on his face.

"...No way. There can't be an ambush..."

Even Hoshimiya Kaede, who usually didn't express emotions well, was greatly flustered.

Nevertheless, it couldn't be denied.

The sound of something stomping on the ground and the shouting clearly meant that someone was hiding somewhere in the forest.

Woo! Let's go! Woo! Let's go!

Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!

The sound was getting closer.

And at that very moment.

Snap

Jung Ha-yang snapped her fingers.

At that signal, countless spells rushed towards Yu Do-jun from deep in the forest.

Bae Su-bin quickly deployed a barrier, and Kaede tried to cover the areas she couldn't defend.

The battle began from that moment.

Jung Ha-yang's forces charged towards Yu Do-jun's forces as if on cue.

The barrier didn't matter.

Hansel and Gretel's Predation

The high-level control technique she unleashed instantly collapsed Bae Su-bin and Kaede's barriers.

At the same time─.

"─Chaaaaarge~!!! Follow meee~!"

""""Woo! Let's go! Woo! Let's go!""""

Kang Si-hyeong and some students she had been hiding with invisibility magic suddenly appeared at an unexpected timing.

Kang Si-hyeong, carrying a small shield, kept infusing his voice with mana to raise the morale of the students.

"Woo! Let's go! Forever─!! Forever young!"

""""Forever! Forever! Forever young!""""

At this moment.

The shortest guardian among the male students perfectly imprinted his presence.