Chapter 386. Famous Restaurants in Dalian
Tang.
And after waiting for a mont, sothing heavy fell from the sky this ti.
‘There’s the expression ‘a sky beyond the sky,’ but I didn’t expect them to actually appear from the sky...’
It seems like we encountered them much earlier than I had expected. In any case, for now, I’ll just be grateful that we t safely.
For reference, Jung Haseong currently had his eyes tightly shut. Having failed to control his psychic powers, when his integration partially unraveled, his eyes beca sensitive to light.
‘It’s hot.’
So for now, he couldn’t see a thing in front of him. Yet, just from hearing this noise, the image of the other person instantly ford in his mind.
Crack. Crack.
Soon ca the sound of high-quality leather soles striking the floor. For reference, despite the exceptionally calm pace of those steps, the first thought that popped into the mind of the newly appeared man was roughly along these lines.
‘No, f*ck!’
The expression is a bit rough, but anyway, this was the essence of the hope Koreans had held.
‘What the heck is this! My carefully trained S-rank awakener!’
But no matter the tone of his thoughts, he’s definitely a savior. As soon as he confird Jung Haseong had fallen, a certain blonde magician stepped in to handle the aftermath in exactly the way one could imagine.
‘Huh.’
No, let correct that. In fact, Jung Ha-seong had subconsciously been expecting a touching scene, but the fire suppression that soon followed was sowhat far from the word ‘gentle.’
‘Slap!’
‘My face.’
He had never been slapped in his life.
He could only enter the extinguishing phase after dousing himself with water so forcefully that his cheeks felt numb.
A torrential downpour, like a squall, appeared. A massive cloud of steam briefly rose, as if tap water had hit burning oil, but soon the temperature dropped. And, in a strangely anticlimactic way, all the flas were extinguished at once.
‘No wonder... it feels even harder to breathe than before...?’
At this mont, the alien had secretly used a spell to block oxygen, but no one on the scene could detect it accurately.
‘Hmm. Well, it’s probably because I used too much mana.’
It was around the ti Jung Haseong was lost in his tedious thoughts.
‘Still, now that the skill has stopped, my mind has cleared up quickly.’
The sensation of the flas, once fused with his skin, peeling away. Following that feeling, he cautiously opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was soone’s skin badly burned. The casting had succeeded, which was good, but there were still many improvents needed for the skill, and the pyromancer himself had been injured. So, what ca into view next?
‘Ssshk.’
Jung Haseong lifted his head while lying face down. Then, this scene unfolded before his eyes.
‘Still in a suit today, huh.’
A man was kneeling on one knee. He appeared to be about the sa age as him. Additionally, he seed to flaunt his mastery of magic control, maintaining a consistently dyed blonde hair—a notable feature.
“Hunter-nim.”
Kim Giryeo. That S-rank hunter had appeared on the scene.
“...”
Kim Giryeo rested his arm on the knee he had raised, like a vassal receiving an imperial decree. Most likely, it was to make the fallen Korean feel even a little more at ease.
“Jung Haseong.”
But then, that stern-looking man spoke his first words—completely unexpected ones.
“You’re a genius!”
He was startled. Until now, Jung Haseong had never heard that blond man utter such a word.
All he had ever received were unimaginable scorn—being called talentless, a loser, and worse... Kim Giryeo was the type who seed to ration out the word “genius,” almost stingy with praise. And yet, here he was, saying this to the rank-one Hunter.
“Yes?”
“I’ve underestimated you so much.”
Patter, patter.
Rain brought by Kim Giryeo washed away the filthy scorch marks stuck in the ditch. Unable to move as he lay there, Jung Haseong simply kept his ears open, quietly observing that cleansing process. The blond awakener went on speaking in the sa manner.
“I thought Jung Haseong was soone who could never use that skill, even if you devoted your entire life to it.”
“...”
“The reason I still taught it, even knowing that, was simply because I hoped he might improve a little through practice.”
For reference, the current outco was a pleasantly unexpected mistake for the alien mage. At this mont, Kim Giryeo was offering genuine and high praise.
“This guy must be insane.”
He hadn’t even studied the formula properly, hadn’t seen it used firsthand—he was practically a magical illiterate! And yet, he actually managed to pull it off. That was nothing short of a miracle. Of course, compared to the true secrets of the pyromancers of Alphaurt, the scale was lacking. The energy consumption was excessive, inefficient. One could go on endlessly listing the shortcomings. Even so, the fact remained, this was an achievent worth being astonished at.
“He’s gotten ridiculously strong since the last ti I saw him!”
In his past life, he dismissed the saying ‘hard work is also a talent’ as nonsense.
‘This makes him a true genius.’
If you consider the amount of practice Jung Haseong has built up until now, it’s no longer possible to maintain an arrogant attitude. At last, genuine acknowledgent rises to the surface.
In the alien’s mind flowed the lofty evaluation that Jung Haseong might just be the strongest pyromancer on Earth. And since all of this was thanks to his relentless effort, an additional reward soon fell upon the diligent Earth sorcerer.
“Seeing you like this... I feel like I can finally retire with peace of mind.”
“?!”
Retirent? The mont that word ca out, the fallen fire sorcerer’s eyes darted restlessly.
How much effort had he poured in just to hear those few words? Jung Haseong’s goal, past and present, had always been to follow the guiding light of his industry for as long as possible. That was why he had worried about Kim Giryeo’s overwork. But now that the goal had actually been achieved, he found himself overwheld more by a dazed, sureal feeling than by triumph.
“Excuse .”
Above all, he himself had said sothing like this to not long ago.
“Hunter-nim, wasn’t it because you had... antisocial... personality traits... that you had to keep working?”
Jung Haseong held back from overusing the blunt word psychopath. But when the hero lying down chose to phrase it this way, the alien mage—now crouched halfway in a squatting posture—gave it so thought.
‘Huh? Did he actually believe that?’
No way. From any angle, it was such a ridiculous story that I thought he’d obviously take it as a shaless excuse.
‘Wow. This primitive guy isn’t easy! He’s so pure that psychological tricks don’t even work on him.’
Who would’ve thought that an Alphaurt-style battle of montum would lead to this outco? Kim Giryeo never expected his offhand remark about being an SS-rank psychopath national agent to be taken so seriously.
‘I thought at most he’d waste so ti trying to confirm whether it was true or not.’
Well, there’s no need to spell it out in exhaustive detail right now. And, unfortunately, the situation is too uncertain to sit down and have a long, lingering conversation.
‘Co to think of it, why is our Solar System’s Tower Master lying around like that again?’
Jung Haseong. Esther.
At present, no less than two S-rank individuals were down for the count, both heavily injured.
‘Normally, making companions is a pretty bad habit. Still, compared to the damage I saw in India, this one’s lighter, so at least there seems to be a chance of recovery.’
Anyway, it’s a good thing Jung Haseong managed to pull off the raid quickly.
‘To think that an S-rank gate would appear during that short ti I was away on a business trip. And on top of that, why on earth did it have to break open?’
He had made a flashy entrance, even using magic to look impressive, but in another sense, this incident ant he had shown up completely late. To Kim Giryeo, mindful of his own mistake, quickly wrapped up the situation.
“Right now, there’s no ti, so I’ll just give you one hint.”
It was his response to soone’s question of whether he had to keep working because he was a dopamine addict.
“They say psychopathy levels and IQ are often inversely related.”
This was, in its own refined way, an admission that all the excuses up until now had been lies.
‘So, to put it more simply, the chances of having frontal lobe abnormalities are low... Oh dear. Did he already pass out from the burn pain?’
For reference, this alien had forced himself to use teleportation spells to arrive quickly in Korea. He had been struck by such a sudden sense of foreboding that he even stopped a perfectly fine flight midway. After folding space to dash forward, he continued moving toward the S-rank gate’s location as fast as possible, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. But since this kind of backstory is all too obvious anyway, it was left out for convenience. Moreover, along the sa lines, there were a few other actions he had taken that still hadn’t been ntioned...
***
Ho!
‘Korea is the best~’
As expected, I like the winter here the most. Observing the Earth-like weather phenonon of ‘snow’ falling over the seaside has beco quite an enjoyable hobby.
‘Wow~ what a killer view.’
I don’t know why people use such a scary expression like ‘kill’ for sothing good, but anyway, it was soti in the afternoon, spent trying to think as much like an Earthling as possible.
‘Anyway, I’m not going out anymore. Since it’s going to snow, I hope it snows even more heavily.’
Actually, I had quite a lot going on in India. Originally, I had planned to bring only a 37-year-old Earthling nad Sonakshi as a witness, but their governnt stubbornly insisted on sending other S-ranks along, so I ended up witnessing both in my mory. By the way, being awakened in a water elent that many humans enter together caused all sorts of logistical constraints, and so on. Anyway, it was quite a hassle.
But anyway, if I were to summarize only the really important parts.
“Hmm.”
I gained an advantage from the S-rank gate operation in India.
Unique-grade! I actually obtained a unique-grade item!
‘Amazing! Saying I got a unique-grade item from an S-rank gate might sound understated, but the fact that I snagged it in a single encounter—that’s just insane.’
Anyway, this is exactly why high-rank feed boxes are so good. Even A-rank gates have abysmal drop rates for high-grade items, so you could almost call them empty promises.
“Hahahaha!”
Thanks to the huge gain of a unique-grade item, I no longer get angry over trivial matters. For reference, I had arranged the travel expenses with the S-rank hunters in India, only to experience a mysterious magic where the agreed amount suddenly changed after clearing the gate. But now, what use is all that anyway?
‘Whatever. I’m never helping them again. Those despicable mammal brats.’
The unique-grade equipnt I obtained will sell for a very high price on the market. It probably won’t reach a hundred billion, but... hundreds of billions? That much is already guaranteed.
‘Ha~ I’m finally free from this damn money problem.’
The only thing that still bothers is the look I saw in the eyes of a certain water-elent S-rank hunter.
‘By the way, that person nad Sonakshi seed kind. When the surrounding team mbers tried to cheat and cut the reward, they were at least the only one opposing it...’
Different in race, age, and even in spirit, yet the sad expression shown by an awakened individual in India lingered briefly in my mory. By the way, being awakened in a water elent that perfectly resembled human tears—and not in a striking way—was originally a sign of a certain disposition.
‘Having the supre talent of an S-rank, why would one be so gloomy every single day?’
But as soone who understands human hearts even less than a psychic, what more could I add here?
“Hmm.”
I quickly changed the subject.
Anyway, thanks to this raid, I ended up with an enormous treasure in my hands. I had to sell it at the upcoming [World Artifact Auction] this spring.
‘The tax period starts in February, so I’ll have no choice but to pay a bit of a late fee.’
And after getting the best price for this item through such a process, I’ll really retire.
‘No more backing out! I swear it on Kim Giryeo’s mother’s na!’
This decision was heavily influenced by the pyromancer I had seen just a few hours earlier. Back when I was about to depart for India, I had thought, “How am I supposed to ignore these incompetent mammals who can’t even handle a single S-rank gate on their own?” Yet, when a certain genius delivered results beyond expectations, my mind finally felt at ease.
‘Because the potential of the human species was far greater than I had expected.’
What I said to Jung Haseong yesterday wasn’t just empty flattery
‘Wow~ Anyway, whoever taught that guy, really...’
Then, having earned plenty of money, it’s ti to leisurely enjoy so free ti. Like an office worker who’s taken a day off, I casually lifted my phone.
‘Oh, right. Co to think of it, I didn’t bother to charge it after the India dungeon run. I’ll have to turn it on again.’
‘No wonder the power is turning on a bit slowly today~’
But then, as usual, I turned on my electronic device.
[2 Missed Calls]
[128]
I paused all my actions for a mont as I saw the numbers reflected over my eyes.
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