Episode 182 Qualifications of a Friend (2)
* * *
“also.”
Kang-hoo laughed when he saw the notification on his smartphone that suddenly rang.
Because Takashi sent a message through Huntergram. The content was also strange, as expected from Takashi.
– Oh, please do as I ask.
– Oh, I sent it to the wrong person. I meant to send it to the vendor. Sorry. Please take care of it.
I wondered why he didn’t contact me right away, so I pretended to send a message by mistake.
“No fool would be fooled by this poor acting, but in this picture, it is right to be fooled.”
Just as the laughter was about to fade away, I looked at the message again and burst out laughing again. He really is a simple guy.
For the past week, I’ve been in a situation where I’ve wanted to contact Takashi but couldn’t.
So, while I was curious and had regrets about the unresolved issues Takashi left behind, I deliberately kept my distance.
It’s not a situation where you can meet someone just because you want to. Dark Age farming was Kang-hoo’s number one priority.
At that time, whether intentional or not, not contacting each other seemed to have naturally led to a secret meeting.
I don’t know if the expression ‘secret love affair’ would be appropriate between a man and a woman, or between two men, but…
Anyway, if we talk about relationships between people, it is clear that secret dating has become advantageous.
If you subtract thirteen stars from Takashi’s personal network now, he’s left alone.
It’s no wonder that loneliness is a passive skill. It’s almost a natural outcome.
so.
Kang-hoo pretended to be fooled by the content of the message and replied naturally.
– Oh, I was so busy that I forgot to contact you. This is good news. How have you been?
I didn’t forget to boost Takashi’s self-esteem. It’s about this much.
* * *
Two hours later.
Kang-hoo was able to meet Takashi in a place not far from Osaka City.
To be exact, I met Takashi’s clone, but seeing the clone is like seeing the real thing.
The place I met him was in front of a 5th floor apartment that was a bit old, but still blended in well with the surrounding scenery.
But it didn’t look like anyone lived there.
Usually, these apartments have a distinct human smell, but the surrounding area was completely quiet.
As he tilted his head wondering why, Takashi’s clone next to Kang-hoo spoke.
“The entrances to some of the houses inside the apartment have become entrances to dungeons.”
“Did you buy the whole apartment?”
“So in conclusion, yes?”
“This is the most reliable way to manage a dungeon.”
Only then did Kang-hoo nod his head, his doubts resolved.
Such cases were not rare.
This is because the dungeon entrance does not always appear in a fixed location.
For example, sometimes it occurs in front of a subway exit, and sometimes it occurs on the roof of an apartment building.
In some cases, it occurs in the middle of a river or the sea, and in those cases, it is always difficult to enter and exit.
“It was the hardest to convince the last house. Anyway, since I ate an entire dungeon like this, well.”
Takashi’s appearance, nodding his head contentedly with his arms crossed, looks somehow funny.
Do you want to brag but can’t do it openly, but want the other person to react?
Now is the time to intentionally delve into the guy’s loneliness and create a bond of fate.
So, Kang-hoo skillfully met Takashi’s expectations while reading all of his ‘trivial’ thoughts.
“That’s great. If you leave the albakki like this, it will definitely be difficult for other hunters to touch it.”
“If you touch it, you die.”
Phew! Phew!
Takashi swung his sword menacingly. The movement was definitely good. It was nimble yet destructive.
Takashi continued.
“The dungeon connected to this apartment has a unique entrance method. I’m having a bit of a hard time because of it.”
“for example?”
“Depending on how you enter, the place that leads to the dungeon will be different. Depending on the method, the scenery you see will be different.”
“Are there any unconfirmed cases?”
“Yes.”
Although Takashi naturally agreed with what was said, Kang-hoo did not take his words at face value.
Takashi, the cautious type, never shows his unexplored dungeons to outsiders.
It’s because I have perfectionist tendencies. I don’t show others the future that I can’t even predict.
Especially since this is the second time we’re meeting. I’m not the type to cause harm to others.
‘You must be doing it on purpose.’
Kang-hoo knew that Takashi was conducting some kind of test.
If we were to give it a fancy name, it would be to check the qualifications of a friend.
This is what was done to Emilia and Yu Qinghua in the original work. It is to see if they can become closer.
Kang-hoo asked.
“Can I experience this dungeon? It looks like it’s the dungeon that Takashi-sama is researching.”
“What else can we do to make connections among hunters? The only thing we can do is raid dungeons. Since you wanted to see me, I guess we can take this opportunity to explore dungeons.”
It seems like he’s trying to sound as cool as possible, but it’s so obvious that it’s not cool at all.
I wonder if Takashi himself knows. If someone had filmed it with a camera and shown it to him, he would have realized right away how awkward it was.
Kang-hoo felt Takashi’s immaturity in that regard. To put it nicely, it was innocence, but to put it badly, it was like that.
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In fact, Chae Gwan-hyung really hated Takashi’s personality in the original work.
He said that he was not good at hiding his feelings, and that because of Takashi, one day the thirteen stars would be in danger.
From the perspective of Chae Gwan-hyung, who believes in fatalism, once he becomes convinced, he cannot turn back.
“I’d like to ask you to search for me. After all, assassins are specialized in this area. Right?”
“All right.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Takashi started moving diligently.
The process was quite unusual.
When I opened the front door of some houses, a portal leading to a dungeon appeared.
Here, I step in and out, and on the other hand, I breathe in mana.
It was as if there was a set pattern to moving. It wasn’t something I was doing randomly.
How much time has passed like that?
At one moment, a red passage opened up as if a new door had opened.
It was an open path leading into the dungeon that had been blocked off until just now and could not be seen.
Kang-hoo said after he finished preparing.
“I will go in.”
“I’ll follow right in.”
Before stepping forward, Kang-hoo used the clone technique to summon a clone.
At that moment, Takashi’s eyes trembled slightly. It was because he had read Kang-hoo’s thoughts as he moved carefully.
But in order not to show it, he hid his gaze again. With a calm face, as if nothing had happened.
The moment Kang-hoo’s clone enters the dungeon.
Shuaaaah!
Through the clone’s vision, Kang-hoo could see the sword of fire slashing down from the air.
The sword was over 5 meters long, and its thickness felt like several adult men were glued together.
It clearly seemed like a sword that had to be avoided at all costs, rather than a sword that existed to block.
Ta-tat!
The clone narrowly avoided the attack, barely avoiding being engulfed in flames.
At the same time, a string of fire seemed to be connected to the clone, as if someone had designated it.
‘It’s a long-distance pattern.’
I can guess.
I guess that’s why I told you to go in first because there were variables like this from the beginning.
It’s a very good start, since you probably wanted to watch the response. First of all, you didn’t push the main body in.
Swish.
Soon, Kang-hoo’s main body also entered the dungeon. Only then did Takashi follow Kang-hoo.
Kang-hoo, who had come inside, stood in a position to guide the fire sword himself, taking the place of the clone that was entering the disappearance phase after its duration ended.
Kang-hoo was convinced.
The being that creates the fire sword is somewhere in the dungeon, and this fire sword falls at the furthest distance from him.
Yes, it was a judgment based on the theory of patterns in everything that Takashi always insists on.
As expected.
Phrase.
The clone disappears within a second.
As Kang-hoo took a seat far away, a ring of fire connected from somewhere and surrounded Kang-hoo.
Ppaang!
At the same time, he used Shadow Walk to make one shadow chase after Takashi.
Then, the moment the sword of fire came down fiercely from the air towards Kang-hoo’s body.
Pfft!
Kang-hoo swapped positions with Shadow. It was a perfect exchange.
He quickly escaped the sphere of influence of the fire sword and successfully executed long-range patterns.
since.
At regular intervals, Kang-hoo’s ‘Nogada’ was repeated.
Whenever the timing for the fire sword to fall comes, it is ‘designated’ as the main body, and when the fire sword falls, it changes positions with the shadow.
Although it was a task that had to be repeated continuously within 20 seconds, Kang-hoo continued to repeat the pattern without complaint.
‘Takashi, you’re making the tests really hard from the start? But still, this world is my world.’
Kang-hoo laughed inwardly.
Numerous dungeons that appeared in the original work.
Although not all of them, it was he who designed the patterns and contents of the major dungeons.
That’s why it was possible to quickly recognize and respond to patterns that I had never experienced directly.
It’s the same now.
From the moment it was expected to be a long-distance pattern, the skill was immediately used to respond.
If you entered this dungeon without thinking, you would have died with your body torn in half as soon as you started.
When I think about it that way, there were some pretty dizzying aspects to it. Wasn’t it a situation where my life could have been lost?
There’s no way Takashi didn’t know.
Perhaps the guy thought that he had to pass at least this level of test to be worthy of being approached by someone.
If you have the skills to die here, I don’t think you need to look any further.
Even if he died, I wouldn’t have regretted it. I would have thought that death was just a matter of time anyway.
‘I’ll show you.’
Kang-hoo started to pick up speed a bit more. The long-range sword pattern was now over.
What other patterns await? It didn’t matter. I was ready to think hard.
* * *
‘That’s funny, kid.’
As time passed, Takashi’s curiosity about Kang-hoo grew deeper. His curiosity grew even bigger.
In fact, if Kang-hoo couldn’t respond to the pattern properly, he was thinking of stepping in himself at any time.
As Kang-hoo had expected, Takashi had finished experiencing the patterns at the entrances to the various connected dungeon types.
Kang-hoo had been giving plus points since the first time he used the clone technique before entering.
I liked Kang-hoo’s cautiousness in not taking things for granted, even if they seemed safe.
Next, it was impressive that as soon as you entered, you recognized the long-distance pattern and utilized shadow walking.
It was also really good to keep dropping long-range patterns whenever the cooldown was up. I didn’t shirk responsibility.
From then on, Kang-hoo figured out the pattern and responded by strategically moving closer and further away.
At some point, he even led Takashi, saying that this direction was safe.
‘You’re as meticulous as me, no, even more so than me. Hey, I like you more than I thought.’
Takashi was deeply attracted to Kang-hoo as a hunter because he was much sharper and more skillful at identifying patterns than he had expected.
Pattern theory of everything!
When it came to the dungeon conquest logic he believed in, Kang-hoo was no different from the textbook itself.
It was as if he had designed this dungeon, taking care of even the most detailed responses.
It was really comfortable.
