Chapter 16

After dinner, Kang Hye-in left with a recording of Yoon-seok’s story to show her father. What happened next went as Yoon-seok expected. Their father confronted Kang Hyung-woo, who broke down like a cornered mouse. Kang Hye-in informed Yoon-seok of what was happening in real-time.

-Kang Hye-in: Father told him he would forgive him if he admitted everything, so Hyung-woo got down on his knees and confessed.

-Kang Hye-in: He tried to explain the reason for the fire in a different way, but Father couldn’t control himself and threw down the TV in a rage. It’s quite expensive..

-Kang Hye-in: That bastard is being completely slaughtered. It’s the first time I’ve seen my dad get so angry. It’s quite scary.

-Kang Hye-in: He’s begging not to have his name erased from the family register with tears and snot running down his pathetic face.

-Kang Hye-in: Wow, Father kicked him out. Without financial support, how will that pathetic bastard survive?

-Kang Hye-in: Father wanted me to tell you that he’s sorry, and don’t ever worry about retaliation. You don’t have to pay off the debt, and you’ll be compensated several times.

-Kang Hye-in: This won’t be enough to comfort you, but..I’m sorry. Not even in my dreams did I think that you were being subjected to such a thing.

-Kang Hye-in: You must be tired. Please sleep well.

After reading the last message, Yoon-seok turned off his smartphone. It must be the worst-case scenario for Kang Hyung-woo. He didn’t feel happy about it, but he wasn’t sad either. Rather, he felt normal about it. Kang Hyung-woo was paying the price for what he sowed, nothing more, nothing less.

“It’s over..finally.”

With that, the ugly relationship he thought would last forever came to an end. Kang Hyung-woo’s father, despite being the head of a chaebol, Kang Hyung-woo’s father was a fair and kind man.

‘I’ve always wondered how such a child could come from such a wonderful person.’

Without his support, everything that Kang Hyung-woo enjoyed would disappear. Fearing his father’s wrath, Kang Hyung-woo wouldn’t dare touch Yoon-seok in retaliation.

‘Why couldn’t I have done this before?’

It was something he had been thinking about. He ignored the objective possibilities and kept on rationalizing, telling himself that a father would never give up a son. The solution to his problem was on him all this time. It was a hell that he could have stopped just by reaching out to the right person.

‘Why was that so terrifying back then? It must be because I didn’t believe in myself.’

Yoon-seok let out a sigh before looking up at the ceiling of his hotel room.

「Time remaining until return 00:00:31.」

It was almost time to go back to that place. But for Yoon-seok, he felt like he was returning to where he belonged, rather than being dragged away to a different dimension.

“Thank you for giving me a chance to change. Otherwise, I might have lived like that for the rest of my life.”

Soon, a phrase appeared in front of him.

「Ticket (Rank F) has expired.」

「Teleporting to the waiting room on the 3rd floor.」

* * *

「Time until the next duel 22:33:50.」

As soon as he returned to the familiar waiting room, Yoon-seok checked the timer. It was the exact time he had before he tore up his ticket. Thus, he began to do what he was supposed to do before a duel.

He had a total of 8,700 AP left after purchasing the F-rank return ticket. Yoon-seok carefully looked at the technical items first. He wanted to find something that would help fight against bizarre abilities. It was to make up for his weaknesses, which were exposed in his last duel. Soon, he noticed something that felt just right for him.

*Anti-Magic (Rank F-) – Magical power takes on the properties of anti-magic.

Selling price: 1,500 AP.

For reference, he began searching the chat rooms for mentions of anti-magic, hoping to find an explanation.

‘Based on these..it’s just what I need..no, it’s an essential skill for every fighter.’

Yoon-seok wondered whether malicious information aimed to induce the waste of AP, but seeing how wizards commented on it, he judged it reliable.

-Blood Mage: It’s making life hard for magicians; I’ll give you that.

-Gum Gum Gum Gum: Oh, I thought my Unique Skill was great, but from now on, it’s hell.

Compared to fighters, the number of wizards was small. However, if someone purchased anti-magic to prepare against them, they would be left behind by other martial artists who spent their AP improving their physical attributes. Therefore, anti-magic power was thinly spread out among the challengers. Of course, if everyone had it, it would be unfair for wizards. Only the talented ones would survive.

‘Huh, if I had bought it earlier, I wouldn’t have gone through such trouble...’

It was a pity, but there was no changing what had already happened. Now that he had reflected and prepared for this, he wouldn’t make the same mistake in the future. Along with the anti-magic, Yoon-seok purchased four stat potions worth 6,000 AP.

「Stamina (F-) rank rises.」

「Stamina (F) rank rises.」

「Magic (F-) rank rises.」

「Agility (F+) rank rises.」

With this, his agility reached a whopping E-rank. Yoon-seok felt the change in his body immediately.

‘I won’t be able to buy anything with the 200 AP left.’

With that, Yoon-seok immediately started training. He had to grow accustomed to these new physical changes. There was also the Unique Skill b Blood Pact} which he only had a short time practicing. His training began in earnest.

It was a training session filled with screams. What Yoon-seok was going through was something so bizarre and cruel that it couldn’t be called training.

“Argggh!”

Yoon-seok moaned in pain as he watched his blood spurt out of his body. He was harming himself to practice exploding his blood and also to train his healing abilities.

‘The loss rate of my stamina is too high.’

Yoon-seok recalled the demon, who was the original owner of the skill. The demon never showed a tired expression, even though its blood was spilled hundreds of times during the duel. Because its technique was good, the loss of stamina was small.

‘You have to get used to it.’

Even though he was born as a predator, Yoon-seok grew up as a weakling. Such experience was why he had a humble attitude rather than overconfidence.

‘This isn’t enough.’

Having tasted victory, he wanted something greater. And for this, he needed training.

「Time until the next duel 20:50:00.」

Yoon-seok lay down for ten minutes, allowing his broken body to recover through the waiting room’s power. Then, as soon as he was fully healed, he got up and continued training, repeating this several times for the next twenty hours.

He began to see signs of improvement. As time passed, the gap between the times he collapsed to the floor from pain and exhaustion grew, and the loss rate of his stamina had been reduced. Now, he didn’t collapse anymore despite being drained. He could take a break and recover while standing still.

He must have spilled hundreds of liters of his blood in the waiting room. However, Yoon-seok wasn’t satisfied and continued training.

Scratch-!

Yoon-seok cut his left arm off. Unlike before, it wasn’t just a slight cut on his skin. The arm fell completely off to the ground. His healing abilities didn’t mean that it wasn’t painful.

“Ugh.”

With a slight groan, Yoon-seok reattached the severed arm. It was a completely different attitude than the one he had when the demon cut his arm off.

‘I’m slowly getting used to this.’

Yoon-seok was gradually getting used to pain. It was another effect of training the {Blood Pact}. If he was afraid of pain, he was bound to panic in a fierce battle. Just like he had in the battles, he already went through.

‘A message like ‘Pain tolerance has grown’ should appear.’

He laughed at his thoughts and prepared himself mentally.

“Prepare. The duel will begin soon.”

* * *

As soon as the duel began, his opponent smirked at him.

“You’re just a child. You must think your opponent isn’t good.”

His opponent had the arrogant tone of someone who was already assured of victory. Yoon-seok was confused as he stared at his opponent’s appearance. He didn’t know how to react.

‘Isn’t there an age limit for challengers?’

This time, his opponent was an old woman with white hair. However, her image was completely different from the other elderly people that Yoon-seok knew. She had wrinkles, but there was an air of elegance around her. She must have been beautiful when she was young. Her posture was straight, and her height was about 170 cm.

More than anything..

‘Why can’t I see any gaps?’

The old woman stood like an insurmountable mountain as she raised her thin sword.

“Are you from Moorim?”historical

“Yes.”

With the old woman’s confirmation, he threw away all preconceived notions about her. Regardless of age, every challenger on the third floor was his equal in terms of AP. There wasn’t anyone he could afford to drop his vigilance around.

“Then, what do they call you?”

Yoon-seok thought he might be able to infer a little bit about her fighting style if he knew her title. However, the old woman didn’t appear interested in answering him.

“If you survive my sword at least once, I will let you know.”

‘How could she be so arrogant?’

Despite that, he wasn’t offended. They were at the same level anyway.

“Come, then.”

Yoon-seok quietly raised his sword. Suddenly..

Whik-!

The old woman’s sword flew towards him. It wasn’t a complicated technique but a simple forward stab. However, Yoon-seok couldn’t stop it.

Whoops-!

He was sure that his sword struck hers, but her sword twisted like a snake, digging into his chest. He only managed to twist sideways a little, despite his E-rank agility. Still, it wasn’t enough. When he came to his senses, her sword was already buried deep into the center of his chest.

It was then that Yoon-seok realized that she wasn’t careless or arrogant. It was him.

He had underestimated her.

“I was aiming for the heart, but you avoided it. Did you see my sword?”

The old woman, with her sword buried in Yoon-seok’s chest, smiled.

“The Heavenly Devil.”

“..?”

“Didn’t you ask what they call me? I am the master of the Heavenly Sect in Moorim.”