Chapter 22

Chapter 22.

 

The buzz around the ranking tournament only flared up for a moment.

It died down again soon enough.

It was not going to happen right away, after all.

They had only just started tossing the idea around.

For it to be held properly, it would probably take at least until next year.

Leaving the ranking tournament aside, Ha-kyung went back to his usual routine.

‘No matter what other people are saying, this matters more.’

He went in and out of the Void every single day.

It was not as though he was wandering around in search of dungeons.

He was simply trying to adapt to that hellish environment.

If he kept at it long enough, it would eventually start to feel like home.

Had the Abyss’s depths not been the same?

But today, something unusual happened right from the entrance of the Void.

“Hm? Who is that over there?”

Someone suddenly called out to Ha-kyung.

At first, he could not even make out the man’s face.

The fog was too thick.

Only when he got closer did Ha-kyung finally recognize the other person.

“Mr. Ma Do-hyuk?”

“Oh! Good to see you. It has been a while.”

The person he had run into out of nowhere was Ma Do-hyuk.

In truth, Ha-kyung had more or less expected something like this.

Very few people knew that the Void existed.

He had figured they would run into each other eventually.

Of course, he had not expected it to be today.

Ma Do-hyuk held out his hand with a pleased expression.

The two exchanged a light handshake.

Then Ha-kyung asked, “I do not think you came here for a dungeon raid, so are you here to explore?”

“Yes, more or less. I had originally planned to come with a friend, but because of a certain someone, that fell through.”

“Surely you do not mean me?”

“Of course I do. You are the one who sent the difficulty of the Tower of Judgment through the roof.”

Ha-kyung tilted his head.

He could not understand what Ma Do-hyuk was talking about.

But then a certain monster came to mind.

Mirror Shade, the final boss of the Tower of Judgment.

That thing had a gimmick where it transformed into the person who had defeated it.

That was why Ha-kyung had ended up fighting a Mirror Shade that had taken Ma Do-hyuk’s form.

‘Then does that mean...?’

By now, it was probably taking Ha-kyung’s place instead.

When he stared at him in disbelief, Ma Do-hyuk only grinned brightly.

“Ah, of course, I am not trying to blame you. This is the path to earning the qualifications to enter the Void. Naturally, it ought to have some difficulty.”

“You just said it fell through because your friend could not get past it.”

“That part is a little depressing, but what can I do? He is weak.”

“Now I feel like I caused trouble.”

“No, it is really fine. Besides, it is not as though he will never clear it. Mirror Shade cannot imitate you one hundred percent, Mr. Ha-kyung. There is bound to be a weakness.”

That was a relief.

Ha-kyung also wanted more awakened ones in the Void.

He could not clear a dungeon built for dozens of people by himself.

In that sense, Ma Do-hyuk was a very welcome talent.

“Since fate has brought us together like this, would you like to explore the Void?”

“Gladly.”

Ha-kyung nodded without hesitation.

The Void was an unknown place untouched by the footsteps of awakened ones.

It would be far better to move through it together than alone.

The two of them advanced cautiously.

The Void was full of all kinds of anomalies and vicious monsters.

As they went a little deeper, danger came at them from every direction.

The first was an assault by countless monsters.

“Grrrrrr!”

“SKREEEE!”

They were creatures known as Reapers in the upper floors.

But these felt badly twisted somehow.

Their canine-like heads split into four flaps, like a paper fortune teller.

The tightly packed teeth filling their skulls only made them all the more grotesque.

Ha-kyung decided to call them Split Reapers.

‘Whatever their name is, taking them down comes first... and that will not be easy.’

There were roughly a hundred Split Reapers in the pack.

On top of that, each individual creature was formidable enough that they could not be put down easily.

Anyone who charged in thinking they were the same as the Reapers from the upper floors would get torn apart.

That was why even Ha-kyung and Ma Do-hyuk had no choice but to fight a battle of attrition.

With a massive stone wall at their backs.

But the Split Reapers were relentless.

When it became clear this would not end at this rate, Ha-kyung spoke first.

“This is not going to work. I am going to unleash one big strike, so could you cover me?”

“Yes! Of course!”

With Ma Do-hyuk’s reassuring answer at his back, Ha-kyung immediately settled into position.

‘This is not the right situation for Kin-Eater.’

There was nothing here strong enough to single out as a target.

That said, he had no intention of using Soul-Sever by itself, either.

[Abyss Challenger’s authority, ‘Compression,’ increases the density of Abyss energy.]

Tzking—!

The Abyss Refinement imbued in the karambit changed.

What had stretched out to three meters suddenly shrank to half that length.

Perhaps because of that, Ha-kyung found the weapon far easier to handle.

If it grew too long, it became awkward to swing.

Then, all at once, a new idea occurred to him.

‘Does it not only need to lengthen at the moment of impact?’

What if he could control Abyss' energy more delicately with the authority of Compression?

It felt as though he might be able to use a far wider variety of sword techniques than before.

Ha-kyung immediately put that realization to use in actual combat.

“Hup!”

Holding his breath, he drew Soul-Sever in one long horizontal arc.

The instant the slash began to accelerate,

Ha-kyung extended Abyss Refinement to its utmost limit.

All while maintaining the authority of Compression.

At once, the elongated blade swept through the pack of Split Reapers.

The blade had grown narrower, but its power had not diminished in the slightest.

SKRRAAAAAK—!

Thanks to that, Ha-kyung was able to sweep through a broad area all at once.

Judging by the radius, it seemed to cover roughly ten meters.

Every Split Reaper caught by that ‘compressed Soul-Sever’ was cut clean in half.

For an instant, silence fell over the battlefield.

“......”

The Split Reapers no longer barked.

Ma Do-hyuk could only stare, jaw hanging open in shock.

Then, from beside Ha-kyung, came a dazed voice.

“Was it not only a month ago that we last saw each other?”

“Something like that.”

“Did you inject yourself with steroids or something? No, even then you would not have become this strong. Drugs do not work on awakened ones.”

He seemed genuinely stunned by Ha-kyung’s growth.

Even as he kept laughing in disbelief, Ma Do-hyuk did not forget his role.

He charged forward and drew their attention properly.

Thanks to that, Ha-kyung was able to catch his breath.

‘It has less backlash than Kin-Eater, but Compression is not easy to control either.’

Of course, that did not mean he intended to use it sparingly.

Why let a skill this good gather dust?

Even if it was difficult, he needed to keep using it until he adapted.

Ha-kyung followed behind Ma Do-hyuk and supported him.

At that, the Split Reapers scattered in every direction.

Once their numbers thinned, they lost the center that held them together.

The two climbed up onto a large heap of stones and rested for a while.

But it seemed Ma Do-hyuk had a great deal he wanted to say.

“You entered the Void several months after I did, so how are you already this experienced? And what in the world was that incredible technique just now?”

The last time Ma Do-hyuk had seen Ha-kyung was when he was facing the Fusion Tyrant.

Since then, Ha-kyung had acquired Tyrant’s Bracelet and Restoration Veil.

And the authority of Compression as well.

He had also obtained one fragment of the Ultimate Abyss Key.

A strange feeling came over Ha-kyung.

‘I really have changed more than I thought.’

Compression, in particular, had become one of his two main weapons.

Its power was lower than Kin-Eater’s, but it was useful in nearly any situation.

A faint smile touched Ha-kyung’s lips as he answered.

“I ran a few dungeons in the Void with the Great Sage. We also killed a field boss.”

“Wow! That is impressive. But to be honest, I expected it.”

“What? You could actually predict that?”

“Haha! I am not just saying that to make myself feel better. You showed promise, that is all. The moment I first saw you, I thought, He is the real thing.”

Ma Do-hyuk was a remarkably blunt person.

He had the ugly nickname Abyss Beast, but that was a separate matter.

He had earned it while putting down scum.

Ha-kyung could only smile awkwardly.

“You flatter me.”

“Oh, come on. Why are you acting like this when you have already made the news in such a big way?”

“It was only a small internet article.”

“The Association already quoted it.”

“What do you mean by that?”

After hearing the explanation, Ha-kyung could only let out a hollow laugh.

The matter itself was simple.

Ha-kyung’s name had come up during the ranking tournament press conference.

And the Association had quoted the National Journal article word for word.

In the end, this was the aftereffect of the small ball reporter Moon Jeong-hoon had set rolling.

Ha-kyung sank into thought.

‘I am going to participate anyway, so I am not especially upset... but that does not mean I can just let this pass.’

If he had belonged to one of the four major guilds, would an article like that ever have been published?

Absolutely not.

Awakened guilds were, in a sense, private military corporations.

If handled carelessly, they were like a double-edged sword that could explode in your face.

Was that not the truth?

Hundreds of people with superhuman abilities gathered under one banner.

Who would dare run their mouth carelessly?

On the other hand, even if someone like Ha-kyung had no backing, it was still foolish to try anything strange.

‘Now that I think about it, he really is bold. An awakened one could rip a person apart with his bare hands.’

Either way, it seemed some proper discipline was in order.

Something that would make sure he never even dreamed of writing a false article again.

As Ha-kyung stood there lost in thought, Ma Do-hyuk suddenly spoke.

“So in the end, that reporter Moon Jeong-hoon is the problem.”

“He did write a false article.”

“A trash reporter like that really needs to be taught a proper lesson...”

Watching Ma Do-hyuk growl under his breath, someone suddenly came to mind.

A thought occurred to Ha-kyung.

‘If this goes well, I might be able to settle this without lifting a finger.’

A meaningful smile spread across his face.

***

Reporter Moon Jeong-hoon had been in an excellent mood lately.

He had coaxed a naive awakened one into giving him material for an article, and it had brought him tremendous attention.

He felt no guilt whatsoever.

Because this was how Moon Jeong-hoon saw it.

“He acts all dignified on the outside, but deep down he is just the same as everybody else. He is only trying to drive up his price anyway, so what is with the act? If anything, he should be thanking me.”

In fact, Moon Jeong-hoon’s article had been brought up again in all sorts of places.

It had even been mentioned during the Association’s ranking tournament press conference.

And across the communities, it had spawned all kinds of gossip.

By now, rumors were even spreading that Lee Ha-kyung’s signing bonus had climbed into the hundred-billion-won range.

With things unfolding that way, Moon Jeong-hoon had grown unbelievably shameless.

But then he received an unexpected visit.

Crack-crack-crack!

“Huh? W-what is this? What are you doing?!”

Men appeared out of nowhere and bound him on the spot.

A moment later, Moon Jeong-hoon was shoved into a black van.

A kidnapping in which a man vanished in an instant.

Moon Jeong-hoon screamed at the top of his lungs.

“You need to stop this right now! I am a reporter for the National Journal!”

“......”

“No, who are you people?!”

But Moon Jeong-hoon’s frantic struggle did not last long.

The burly men had remained silent.

Then one of them finally spoke in a low voice.

With a bright smile on his face, no less.

“We are the Raiders. Do you have anything else to say?”

“......”

This time, Moon Jeong-hoon shut his mouth.

Because a pack of mad dogs who did not listen to reason had come for him.