Player who Returned 10,000 years Later
chapter-42

"What…?"

KangWoo accepted so easily that Kang SeongSoo didn't know what to do.

'This isn't it…'

He seemed troubled by KangWoo's unexpected response.

The reason why he’d decided to pick a fight with KangWoo wasn't just because he didn't like him…

It wasn't like he had troubles with his anger management. There was no way he'd pick a fight with someone he had never met.

'I need to embarrass him in front of the reporters.'

He remembered Kim YeongHoon’s orders, the one who was supporting him.

After Kim YeongHoon heard that someone receiving the support of Chae YeonJoo had appeared, he’d called Kang SeongSoo and ordered him to embarrass him publicly.

The Mir Guild and the Red Rose Guild were rivals, so he wanted Kang SeongSoo to provoke KangWoo, and then make the media people think that Kang SeongSoo was better than Oh KangWoo.

They still didn't have much information about the rookie called KangWoo, but since Chae YeonJoo had personally moved to get him, it wouldn't be a bad idea to pick up a fight with him before it was too late.

'You cannot change your image easily.'

If they embarrassed him before he could properly grow, the negative image from being publicly humiliated would follow KangWoo.

Even if KangWoo became strong and famous in the future, most people would think he was weaker than Kang SeongSoo.

That's how public image worked.

'But if he acts like this, everyone will think I'm a coward.'

Kang SeongSoo looked at KangWoo with a troubled expression on his face.

Flinch-

'Huh?'

Seeing KangWoo’s smile made him flinch, and he felt a sense of chill.

'What's this?'

Kang SeongSoo tried to ignore the sudden sense of uneasiness he was feeling and thought about how to deal with the current situation.

"Hng…"

A short sigh came out of Kang SeongSoo's mouth.

He couldn't think of a good way.

Because the opponent had answered so politely, if he kept trying to pick a fight with him, the image of the Mir Guild would crumble.

You could only clap when the palms of your hands faced each other.

If one of the two avoided conflict, there was no way to create a dispute.

'Scoundrel.'

Kang SeongSoo frowned uncomfortably while looking at KangWoo.

There was no way he didn't know he was trying to pick up a fight with him. Judging by his reaction, he was probably scared.

'Well, I wasn't expecting him to back off just from this. I guess he isn't that big of a deal.'

He wasn't sure why the Red Rose Guild had decided to support him, but since he was a coward, he probably wouldn't be a danger to them in the future.

"Oof… Let's go."

He turned around and spoke to his party members.

They were all looking at KangWoo, dumbfounded, and followed Kang SeongSoo to the gate.

"Oh! The Red Rose and Mir guilds have joined forces!"

"Good. Two big guilds have joined forces to defeat the variant monster!"

It didn't matter about the details, but the fact that KangWoo and Kang SeongSoo had formed a party and had entered the gate together was a fun issue.

They expectantly looked at the party entering the gate.

* * *

The gate where the minotaur appeared looked like a labyrinth, and the walls were made of rocks.

Because the rock wall reached the ceiling, rather than a gate, it felt like they were inside a dungeon.

After entering the gate, KangWoo turned to Kang SeongSoo's party and spoke in a bright voice.

"Then, should we join our forces and hunt the variant monster?"

"…"

Kang SeongSoo frowned after seeing KangWoo's carefree attitude.

He spat on the ground.

"You don't have any pride?"

"What?"

"Hmph, I'm not sure if you're acting dumb or are just stupid…"

"SeongSoo oppa, just ignore him. After hearing that he was scouted by Chae YeonJoo herself, I was initially scared, but he's just an idiot."

The girl wearing a blue robe sighed.

"It seems like Chae YeonJoo has lost her mind. To think that she would scout someone like him… As expected, vice-leader Kim YeongHoon is the best."

"Yes. Not only is he the heir of a huge fortune, but he's also someone very capable."

"Yes. After all, our guild master is a ranker. No wonder his son is also great."

"Haha. After all, the only guild built by a father and son after Awakening together is the Mir Guild."

They praised the Mir Guild and acted as if they couldn't see KangWoo.

Mir Guild's master, Kim JaeHyun…

* * *

Before Awakening, he was the CEO of one of Korea's top electronic companies.

Five years before, he’d Awakened as a player with his son Kim YeongHoon. They’d used the massive amount of money that Mir Electronics had and had become strong very fast.

That was how the Mir Guild was born.

'A guild made by a huge corporation.'

KangWoo looked with great interest.

'They must have a disgusting amount of money.'

A big guild already earned a lot of money. If you added the earnings obtained by a big electronics company to that, the amount of money they had probably couldn't be estimated.

'Should I just leave things like this and try to make both guilds face each other?'

He thought that, by doing that, he would be able to get a few things.

"Hmm…"

KangWoo shook his head after thinking about it for a while.

'I’d feel bad doing that to Chae YeonJoo.'

He had already received so much support from her, so he felt bad when thinking about trying to make the Red Rose Guild enter a full-fledged war with the Mir Guild.

'The Red Rose Guild will probably keep being useful in the future.'

Rather than the moral one, that was the biggest reason.

Making the Red Rose Guild fall into a hostile situation with Mir Guild for immediate profit would be like killing a goose that laid golden eggs.

"But rather than that, where's the variant monster?"

Kang SeongSoo angrily spoke while looking around the passageways that resembled a labyrinth.

"First, let's just walk around," KangWoo said calmly from the back.

"Hmph, isn't that obvious? It seems like you're dumber than I thought."

"Hahaha, I'm sorry."

KangWoo looked at Kang SeongSoo's party from behind while smiling like a dumb person.

'Hey, SeongSoo.'

KangWoo's inner thoughts were completely different from his smiling face.

'Are you confident you can do it?'

He used the Authority of Observation to check out the buer's location.

A few moments later, he felt its presence.

'It seems like he isn't full.'

The buer was wandering around searching for prey.

'Authority of Temptation.'

KangWoo used an Authority to make them smell like delicious prey.

"Hmm? What's this smell?"

"Oh, yeah. I can smell something delicious…"

Kang SeongSoo and the rest of the party began looking around at the sudden appearance of a delicious smell.

'It's coming…'

The buer was approaching them while smashing the stone walls.

KangWoo took a few steps back and waited for the buer to appear.

Boom-!!!

"Huh? Wh-what?"

"Something is approaching us!"

"Prepare to fight!"

After sensing the variant monster approaching them, Kang SeongSoo gave an order to the other party members.

"You, just stay there. Don't even dare say that you helped hunt it."

"…"

KangWoo laughed after seeing that, even in that situation, Kang SeongSoo didn't forget to say something.

'You're an expert in gathering death flags, huh?'

He didn't think that Kang SeongSoo's party could win against the buer.

A hungry buer was so strong that the average demonic monster of the 3rd Hell wouldn't be able to win against it.

Even Moon YeongHo, who had completed the seventh Awakening, would probably struggle in a fight against it.

It had only been three months since Kang SeongSoo had become a player—there was no way he would be able to win against it.

Boom-!!

"ROOAARR!!"

"It's coming!"

Kang SeongSoo took his spear out and prepared to fight.

'A variant monster? Pf.'

On his first Awakening, he had gotten an A-rank attribute. Not only that, but he had managed to complete the fifth Awakening only three months after becoming a player.

That's how sure he was about his skills.

"Guys like you always die fast."

The words he had said to provoke KangWoo…

The problem was that the words didn't come out of his mouth that time.

"What?"

Annoyed, Kang SeongSoo turned his head around to KangWoo.

Those words had clearly emerged from KangWoo's mouth, who had remained silent like a coward until then.

KangWoo had his arms crossed and a deep smile on his face.

It wasn't the dumb smile he had until recently, but a very chilling one with very strong killing intent.

"You bastard. Did you go nuts…?"

"Hey, SeongSoo."

"What…?"

"Keep adding death flags. Are you a flag dealer? You keep adding new ones every second. The only remaining thing is for you to take out a picture of your girlfriend and say that you're going to propose to her after this is done."

"What nonsense are you—"

Smash-!

"AARRGG!!"

While Kang SeongSoo was distracted by KangWoo, the buer destroyed the wall and leaped toward his party members.

The tank's shield was destroyed in one hit, and he was sent flying.

"What the…?!"

Kang SeongSoo frowned after seeing the strength of the buer, which went beyond what he had imagined.

The buer moved its five legs toward the player that had been pushed back and devoured him.

Crunch-!

Dark red blood came out of the player's body.

"Ugh!"

Kang SeongSoo didn’t have time to care about KangWoo anymore and grabbed his spear and leaped toward the buer.

"Ha-ab!"

The mana gathered in his spear made it shine with a blue light.

Kang SeongSoo stepped forward and aggressively threw his spear toward the buer.

"Flash!"

The spear became light and was launched toward the buer's head.

—But it just waved its arm and brushed off his attack.

Crack-!

His spear was very easily smashed into two pieces.

Kang SeongSoo was pushed back by its enormous power and rolled to the ground.

"Huh…?"

He confusedly looked at the buer after seeing how he was cast aside with just one attack.

He couldn't help but feel that something had gone wrong.