Episode 4
Taehyun said hello to Choi Nayoung and left the school.
You can’t do anything in society without a high school diploma.
In the past, I believed this and held on tenaciously, but not now.
Skill ‘Predation’.
The first thing to do was to find out a little more about this ability.
‘Predation… What does this skill have to do with the king?’
A red-haired man who did not lose his composure even in the face of the SSS-level monster Asmodeus.
He called himself a king and left meaningful words that made him think he would meet Taehyun again.
The name, skill and existence are all a mystery.
Taehyun shook his head.
The priority was to focus on what was immediately in front of me.
‘3 days until gate break. ‘I need to get in shape by then.’
The incident that will occur on April 4th is a grade A gate break.
Bae Hyuk-su was a kid and not a player, so I was able to subdue him without difficulty.
‘The monsters of the Abyss are of a different class.’
It is true that it is difficult to deal with even the lowest level monsters unless you have decent combat skills.
Upgrading the status window was essential for future planning.
Unlike the normal status window where you can only see your grade and the skills you have.
This is because by upgrading, it is possible to quantify physical abilities and magical power.
Literally the same abilities as a player in a game.
‘Is the license test in 2 months?’
Once you acquire the association’s player license, the upgrade is free, but you couldn’t wait until then.
‘I need to figure out what power I have quickly. ‘You have to keep in mind that you might get tangled up with the demons.’
A demon.
Those who use the power of the awakened for malicious purposes.
Before Taehyeon returned, numerous demons were active, and countless players and ordinary people died at their hands.
Not only in the new Korea.
To humans, monsters and demons are common enemies.
That would be the same at this time as well.
“The only time you get noticed is after you become stronger.”
Taehyun stopped walking, remembering how many rookies had lost their lives in vain.
In front of me, I saw a house filled with memories of the past.
“It’s the same here too.”
Where I lived from my third year of middle school to my third year of high school.
It was my youngest aunt’s house.
After entering the password, I entered with a meaningless greeting.
“I went to school.”
There was an acrid smell as if the ventilation was not done properly.
“It looks like you left in a hurry today too.”
My aunt works at a restaurant late at night and my uncle works at a construction site.
Even though their circumstances were not good, they were a good couple who took care of raising Taehyeon.
But sadly.
They were the people who cared for Taehyeon, who was unable to awaken until the end, as if he were their own child, but this poverty was not resolved until just before his death.
‘aunt. uncle. This time, I will repay you for all the favors I have received.’
Taehyun promised that this life would be different not only for himself but also for the people around him who devoted themselves to him.
“My aunt and uncle will be coming home late at night… Is Jaeyoung not coming in today too?”
I passed through a familiar place and opened my door.
The scattered items and posters of star players stuck to the wall caught my eye.
“There was a time when I was like that too.”
I studied numerous skills and tactics, believing that I would awaken one day.
People around me scoffed at me, saying it was a useless act, but I didn’t give up for 10 years.
In recognition of his persistence, he was able to work as a porter despite being a non-awakened person, so it was not a completely useless action.
“Just wait a moment. “I’ll catch up with you soon.”
Taehyun clenched his fists as he looked at the S-rank players on the poster.
His current level is E.
Since he easily defeated Bae Hyuk-soo, a C-level awakened, his actual combat power should be considered that of a B-level awakened.
“It’s an E grade with similar combat power to the B grade. “This might be the strongest E-class awakener.”
I chuckled and turned on my old laptop.
Even if you’ve regressed, you can’t recall all the information.
First of all, I planned to look back on my past memories based on the article.
at that time.
Tiririk.
There was the sound of the front door opening.
‘Is your aunt already here?’
With the sound of creaking boards, footsteps headed toward the bedroom.
Taehyun got up and followed him out of the room.
“aunt. “You came in early…”
“Oh, what a surprise! “You were surprised, damn!!”
Taehyun frowned at the unexpected swear word.
There was only one person in this house who spoke to him this way.
Jaeyoung Hwang.
The only childish son of his aunt and his wife and his own cousin.
And for some reason.
“What are you doing?”
Taehyun sighed as he looked at Jaeyoung hiding something behind him.
I remembered.
I remember the house being turned upside down once when he ran away from home with his aunt’s small money.
‘That was probably April 1st, right?’
It was an unforgettable memory, as the money had been saved for Taehyun’s college tuition.
“hey. “Should I just stop worrying and go on my way?”
“Phew….”
Taehyun sighed again.
Anyway, I have no intention of going to college now.
If you think about it that way, it’s money Taehyun doesn’t need.
but.
Even though I knew what was going to happen in the future, I wasn’t carefree enough to tolerate it.
‘He was a cute guy when he was young. This is why you need to make friends well.’
Taehyun clicked his tongue and went into the room, ignoring his words.
Jaeyoung didn’t have this type of personality from the beginning.
Although he was timid, there were times when he called Taehyun his older brother and followed him around.
It’s just that my aunt and her husband are neglecting the store.
It just started to go astray while Taehyun was caught up in various incidents.
‘In the end, I got into quite a few fist fights.’
Taehyun sighed once again, recalling bad memories from the past. I shook my head.
Jaeyoung shouted at the sight.
“ah. “Can’t you hear me telling you to fuck off?”
“Haa… Jaeyoung, you are doing this…”
It was the moment when Taehyun was about to say something.
I heard someone’s voice outside.
“hey! Jaeyoung Hwang!! “Is it still far away?!!”
“How long should I wait?”
“Brothers, I’m tired of waiting~”
The deep voice did not appear to be someone of Jaeyoung’s age.
“Ac!”
Jaeyoung, startled by the sound calling him, ran out in a hurry.
Taehyun followed behind him.
There were three men around Taehyun’s age wearing leather jackets.
Their faces hardened when their eyes met Taehyun’s, as if they had never thought there would be someone else in the house.
“hey. “They said there was no one home.”
“who is this?”
“Oh, you don’t have to worry, brothers. “He’s just a cousin who lives in my house.”
“Ah, the loser who couldn’t even awaken?”
When they found out Taehyun’s identity, they started giggling as if they were wondering when they had decided.
Non-awakened person.
For that reason alone, he relaxed his guard against Taehyun.
“Did you get the money?”
The man who seemed to be the leader among them asked Jaeyoung, extending his hand.
“Here you go. “It will be the membership fee and three months’ worth of membership fees.”
Jaeyoung handed over the envelope that was in his hand.
“Oh~ Jaeyoung Hwang. Congratulations on joining the circle.”
“With this, you too are a member of our ‘backcross’.”
The other two guys tapped Jaeyoung on the shoulder as if they were proud of him.
Taehyun, who was watching the scene, let out a laugh.
“This is absurd.”
“what?”
“hey. “Did we hear something wrong just now?”
Unlike the other two guys who had a straight expression on their faces, the leader guy who was counting the money let out a chuckle.
“hey. Jaeyoung’s cousin. “What did you just say?”
The guy who speaks both politely and informally is at most in his early twenties.
I didn’t like the mean-spirited look.
“Tsk.”
I don’t feel it’s worth answering.
Taehyun lightly clicked his tongue and glanced at the three guys he judged to be bullies.
Looking at his skinny body, it didn’t look like he had done any physical training.
“Hey Kim Taehyun! Are you crazy?”
Unlike the relaxed Taehyun, Jaeyoung was embarrassed and screamed.
But Taehyun walked in front of the gangsters without hesitation.
“hey. Isn’t it fun to play Iljin? “The world will be easy because you can easily make money by having children steal.”
“This bastard….”
“Has the non-awakened bastard turned around!”
Loser. Non-awakened person.
In the past, I didn’t want to hear these damn words, so I lived without paying attention to things around me.
Let’s do our best to hold on until we wake up. Let’s crouch down until we gain strength.
But no.
Once I started crouching, I soon became accustomed to that position, and that attitude did not change until my death.
I wanted this life to be different.
“Jaeyoung Hwang. “Are you going to use your aunt’s hard-earned money to play a game like this?”
“Shut up. “You loser!”
Jaeyoung shouted, but Taehyun just turned one ear off.
Because the answer was already decided.
And that seemed to be the same for self-proclaimed backcrossers.
“If you listen carefully, you will see that our old man speaks harshly, right?”
“Are you the founder of that school uniform? Sigh… They say there are only saenims who only study, but they don’t take care of their children properly.”
Those bullies who say that and flirt with each other.
The leader, who put the envelope in his inner pocket, asked Jaeyoung.
“Hey Hwang Jae-young. Choose. Are you going to join the circle or not?”
Jaeyoung’s body flinched under that cold gaze.
“Of course everyone should join.”
“okay?”
Smirk.
“So you’re saying it’s okay to beat up this guy?”
“No… that’s…”
The other guy’s actions were faster than Jaeyoung’s words.
[Skill use has been detected. I am trapped (D). It resists with mysterious power. [The resistance was successful.]
Taehyun whistled internally as he looked at the message window that popped up.
Skill capture.
Although there are differences depending on the grade, it is an ability that has infinite uses, to the extent that it ranks among the most abused skills every year.
‘It’s grade D. It’s okay to act like a brat.’
What was more important than that was Taehyun’s state of resisting the skill.
Two messages came to mind one after another.
[Skill use has been detected. You have poisoning (D). It resists with mysterious power. Resistance was successful.]
[Skill use detected. You are suffering from bleeding (C). It resists with mysterious power. Resistance was successful.]
I’ll have to find out if this is also related to the Predation skill.
First of all, the priority was the education of the guys in front of me.
Captured. Addicted. bleeding.
These are all curse-type skills with no clear form.
‘Good.’
It would be a good opportunity to check whether Predation could absorb curse-based skills.
But the plan encountered an obstacle in an unexpected place.
[It is impossible to use the Predation skill due to lack of stamina. Cooldown time: 50 hours, 58 minutes, 55 seconds.]
‘What? Why is the cooldown so long?’
I had some doubts for a moment.
The gangsters also had similar questions.
“hey. “Are you sure the skill was activated properly?”
“Just wait a moment. “It’s been a while since I used one.”
While listening to their words, Taehyun activated another skill stone skin.
[Skill Stone Skin has been activated. The skill lasts for 10 minutes.]
10 minutes.
Even though it is the same E-grade skill, the magic required is vastly different.
This was the part that showed how difficult predation was.
‘That’s fun.’
If it is handled easily, there is a high risk that it will collapse easily.
In that case, it wasn’t a bad idea to slowly learn it from scratch.
Just like Taehyun right now.
Although it was not as obvious as Bae Hyuk-soo, I felt that my body had become as hard as a stone.
“what? Isn’t that guy okay? “Are you sure you have skills?”
“hey. Until now, there hasn’t been anyone that our curse hasn’t worked on.”
Unlike the other two beggars, the leader noticed something strange and frowned.
“Ah… this guy is bluffing, bluffing. Even if you just touch me like this, I’ll pass out…”
Whoops!! Cooung.
It was an instant.
The guy who was coming towards me was hit by Taehyun’s fist and fell over.
He fainted from one punch.
“….”
It was an unexpected power for Taehyun as well.
Even though it was downgraded to E grade according to its magical power, it still has this much power.
‘It’s really amazing.’
The corner of Taehyun’s mouth went up as his fist became as hard as a stone.
Until I upgraded the status window.
It didn’t seem like it would take much time.
