Chapter 515. The Whole Story (2)

The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood

Chapter 515. The Whole Story (2)

However, this darkness didn't last long.

'As expected, he didn't go as far as touching my heart.'

Because I wasn't an ordinary human.

'It was just a light prick to the epithelial cells.'

Here is some surprise news at this point.

[Sleeping Time Reduction +]

I had actually gone through a slight additional reinforcement process while undergoing my abnormal body modifications. It meant that I had conditioned my mind to be able to perceive the situation around my body to some extent even in unconscious states such as fainting or sleeping.

'For an Alphaurin, this level of preparation is basic.'

So, wondering how far this crazy human named Kang Changho would go, I was just keeping my eyes closed, pretending to have fallen for his trick for a moment.

"Hmm."

It seemed there was no need for that anymore.

Blink.

After testing the waters, I finally opened my eyelids completely. An indoor area with a massive floor space you'd expect to see in a shopping mall. Ordinary furniture like a sofa and a TV. And a wood-colored door, among other things. Looking at these things, the space I was forced to arrive in seemed like an ordinary home at first glance.

'The barrier is formidable. Just how many [Infinite Power Cores] did he use?'

But separate from the peaceful-looking background, the truth was that this place was an extraordinary space. Furthermore, do you know what state this body is currently in? I, the Archmage, was currently sitting in a sinister-looking chair of the type I had only seen in the indoctrination rooms of pseudo-Rakshasa temples. To be more precise, I was forcibly restrained in a piece of furniture imbued with various weakening spells...

'With a chair like this, you could even conjure up a ghost out of nowhere just to seal it.'

The immediate situation could be neatly summarized.

This is. My fourth kidnapping.

I almost shed tears at the thought of becoming the protagonist of such an experience again.

'Damn it.'

But let's not pay attention to the alien's tears, which were no different from crocodile tears.

'Just what was his intention? To use such an extreme method to move me here.'

More than that, I wanted to first have a talk with the person who created this insane situation.

'I mean, what kind of crazy stunt is this?'

It was the moment I was constantly repeating such sentences in my head.

Whoosh!

For some reason, information about that primitive creature had been constantly reaching my Archmage's sixth sense, and finally... The S-rank Awakener who had been hiding behind a maroon door revealed himself. Moreover, the room that had just opened appeared to be a bathroom. As he appeared, his entire body was drenched as if he had just washed.

'That's a bathrobe in a color I feel like I've seen somewhere before.'

The soot that had stuck all over his body. Or the bloodstains, were completely gone. A certain physical enhancement user grabbed a hair dryer from a nearby shelf with water dripping from his hair.

"---."

However, he did not plug the hairdryer into the outlet.

Are you awake already?

Because his eyes met mine head-on. Kang Changho trudged over to me, holding the electronic device with its cord dropping down. Water trails were left behind following his movements. In addition, it seemed he completely lost the thought of drying his hair, as he roughly dropped the aforementioned hair dryer on the front of me and straightened his body.

"Hey."

Having been kidnapped around four times, informal speech just came out naturally. Since there was no need to maintain manners anymore anyway, I completed the sentence with a somewhat different expression than usual.

"Kang Changho. You... really had a lot hidden all this time, didn't you?"

The atmosphere I exuded at this point was a mix of slight anger, fear, and so on. However, it didn't mean I was actually feeling those emotions. In such a repressed situation, pretending to be weak in front of the kidnapper was advantageous for now.

"Mental attack skills don't work! And an enhancement-type Esper whose ability is at best making his body sturdy doesn't even bat an eye when his skin burns to a crisp...?"

I put all my effort into giving a passionate acting performance.

"Looking at this, it seems the one who should actually be called a monster is you."

"-_-"

"Anyway, I should've known from the moment you asked why I was hostile toward gates while subtly acting like you agreed with things like [Dungeon Shock]."

"-_-"

"Anyway, say something. Just how exactly is Hunter Kang Changho planning to harm me that you brought me all the way here?"

At this level, I figured I pulled off a good imitation of a kidnapping victim who was flustered by a sudden attack but was still remaining somewhat rational.

"Just how many houses does this b*stard have under his name?"

At that moment. While continuing my stream of words, I scanned the surrounding space more closely.

"This is another building I've never seen before."

The internal structure was similar to the previous house that vaguely resembled an art gallery, but... This house had absolutely no connection to the basement space where the blue-nail torture had been carried out. And of course, it wasn't the grass-covered mansion I had visited recently. Contrary to the residences of Kang Changho I had seen so far, this place was full of furniture.

'It also seems to have a lived-in feel to it.'

Therefore, it seemed this place was actually a building that Kang Changho practically lived in. But I hadn't expected his real nest to be a place like this. Because Kang Changho had never once visited these coordinates since returning to South Korea.

'He hid it very thoroughly all this time.'

If so, it meant I had been invited to a private property with a security level even higher than that of a gloomy basement... I wondered what the probability was of anything good happening from here on.

'He's coming closer.'

Keeping the homeowner's potential attack in mind, I maintained my concentration for now.

Thud.

The conversation continuing was what happened next. The owner of the blue-purple hair sat down on a piece of furniture placed directly in front of me—presumed to be a dining chair—and immediately opened his mouth.

"Kim Giryeo."

"What."

"First of all, I had no intention of causing you any harm."

However, it was quite difficult not to refute that.

"No, for someone saying that, you're currently causing me more harm than anyone else in the world...?"

What kind of sophistry was this when he had someone's limbs restrained to the point where the skin was turning bluish from poor blood circulation? I pointed with my chin toward the hands of this tied-up body. However, even after seeing all of that, Kang Changho's expression didn't change much.

"Try to calm down."

If anything, he conveyed his opinion even more calmly.

"You might not understand right now, but truthfully, I agonized over it a lot before deciding to face Hunter Kim Giryeo in this kind of picture..."

Well, if there hadn't been any agony in the process of kidnapping a person, that would be a much bigger problem. Even though my whole body was restrained, I didn't cause a massive violent incident right away and just quietly kept my mouth shut. Since I was listening, Kang Changho casually continued speaking.

"Like I've always said, there is some information in this world that you are better off not knowing."

"Mmm."

"So originally, I thought that keeping my distance from Hunter Kim Giryeo and somehow not revealing the information I have would create a much better future, but..."

"-_-"

"As time passed, I became certain that that idea was wrong."

The blue-purple-haired man looked into my eyes with a blunt expression.

"Like the report that South Korea's fourth S-rank hunter collapsed while using his abilities in the middle of Seoul."

This was a reference to the [Sadist] incident.

"And how you used an extremely dangerous skill by shocking your own body in another world."

Additionally, this seemed to be a recollection of the subsequent dungeon where the [Misaligned Corpse] appeared.

"And above all, Kim Giryeo, you revealed your hostility toward gates far too clearly."

At this moment. A rebuttal popped out of my mouth.

"--No, wait. Why has that part been pointed out as a problem since a long time ago?"

I blurted it out, unable to hold back because I genuinely couldn't understand. Humanity loathing gates was, in a way, a given. Yet Kang Changho was justifying his actions by going out of his way to nitpick that specific point.

"Could this... could this really be related to the Gismche?"

Since it felt like the other person was defending the Dungeon Shock phenomenon, displeasure naturally bloomed inside me.

"Because Hunter Kim Giryeo generally accomplishes the goals he sets for himself."

But really seemed to be a bit different from this.

"So if you started to be hostile towards gates, you definitely would have come up with the idea of completely destroying the dungeons..."

"What..."

"I was worried about that. I took these measures because I was concerned you would prematurely approach the source of the gates. Inevitably."

When Kang Changho called me soft at the restaurant, I actually thought this way. Since the time I was an F-rank, I often acted like a pushover, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. I assumed that Kang Changho had misunderstood my personality by watching those events over the past few years. However, I increasingly got the feeling that wasn't the case. Moreover, before I could analyze this oddly, a new abnormal situation occurred.

Screech.

The drenched man stood up from his seat. Then, Kang Chang-ho spread his right hand wide and placed it over my head. His palm came to rest atop the crown of my head.

"How dare he?"

Naturally, I reacted sensitively to this action. However, the skill activated from the palm covering the top of my head had absolutely zero aggressiveness. What echoed immediately after was, shockingly, a magic with performance identical to that of an [Ego Sword].

"This isn't something to defend against--"

A miracle that created a sound that only the contacted party could barely hear through minute vibrations. To think a mammal on Earth had perfected it.

"Anyway, though I regret even at this moment that the promise to keep our distance has been broken..."

I briefly showed signs of being surprised by the skill the opponent executed.

"Still, to have a proper conversation with you, I should reintroduce myself at this point."

But Kang Changho didn't stop there and showed a series of surprising actions.

Hello.

What was subsequently transmitted into my head was Alphaurin.

He. Offered a greeting in the language of an alien planet.

Lemming.

Moreover, just how on earth did he find out my True Name to whisper it in my ear? An unimaginable scenario was unfolding. However, I felt a sense of ambiguity about suppressing that mammalian stalker with magic, because the surprises had not yet ended.

“-------, do you perhaps remember this name?

'Gasp!'

The long alien voice that just echoed in my head was, of course, a name I also knew.

"What did you say?"

I truly couldn't not know it.

“-------”

This name, which human vocal cords couldn't even pronounce a single letter of.

It was because it was the name of the 'Chief Engineer' as far as I knew...

***

The final puzzle piece, which had been missing by a single human word, clicked into place.

Hello.

Come to think of it, now it was to the point where I wondered why I hadn't noticed something so easy until now.

Lemming.

That man, whether then or now, always started a conversation with a short greeting when meeting an unfamiliar person. But why hadn't I paid attention to that habit until now? Because the opponent's appearance had changed so much? And because his voice had completely changed, making him difficult to recognize?

[Hello]

At this point, I'll enter a brief flashback. To be precise, I briefly recalled those days when I was active as the First Archmage in my hometown, Alphauri.