202 – The Returner Goes Away (5)

“Wahahahahah!!!”

“Hey, is that true? “I guess you’ll have to pay for the drinks today, right?”

A noisy bar. While everyone is busy eating, drinking, chatting, and enjoying life.

“This is Millennium Seolsam.”

I handed the thousand-year-old ginseng to Mr. Jang, a Taoist monk with a round face.

“… Yes?”

“I heard a rumor that you are looking for an elixir. Here, please eat.”

“Well, let alone how you knew I was looking for an elixir… “Isn’t this very expensive?”

“It’s expensive.”

“… “

Mr. Jang’s mask of slyness is broken, and a truly embarrassed expression is revealed. At first, they looked like they were wondering how they got this. Next, an expression asking why you are giving this to me. Lastly, an expression that says, “What are you doing, you bastard?”

“First of all, did you receive it?”

“… “

I forcefully placed a box of Millennial Snowsax on top of his hand.

-Cleared the 18th floor.

-If you wish strongly, you can return to reality.

The message window you’ve been waiting for appears before your eyes. With this, I cleared the 18th floor.

Will it be clear if I wish for it strongly? It doesn’t matter if I go back to reality now. But I had no intention of stopping there. If I was going to stop here, I would have cleared it through another supervisor, or stopped returning when I had accumulated a reasonable amount of wealth.

When I was a top player, I already heard stories from other players. I heard that the supervisors usually give you a clearance if you get a useful weapon, cut off an enemy’s head, or bring a good tonic. Not all of them are easy to obtain, but they are not impossible to obtain either. These are things that a competent player can obtain by investing about one to three months.

In other words, the Millennium Seolsam that I have just given you has far exceeded Mr. Jang’s standards.

That’s right. I was expecting a hidden reward, or something similar.

“How did you get it?”

Mr. Jang looks down at the thousand-year-old ginseng in his hand with a strange look in his eyes. Experts said that it was probably not really 1,000-year-old hemp. Roughly between 200 and 500 years. But even that was really, really rare in this world, and an eerie chill actually leaked out from the hemp.

In short, it means that it is a very expensive treasure. It also means that it is not an item that players like me can obtain.

“Does it matter? What’s important is what I want to give.”

“There is no favor without a price.”

“It’s here.”

Of course, I had no intention of explaining my detailed regression here, so I roughly summarized the details. Half in anticipation of compensation. Half of it was in anticipation of this man’s reaction.

This man is the ‘supervisor.’ There must be something.

“I can’t just accept this.”

As if meeting my expectations, Mr. Jang’s eyes shine brightly.

“If you really want to give it… “You can beat me in sparring.”

“Do you think that makes sense?”

“This is my condition. “If you can’t accept it, just take it.”

A fight between a man who insists that he wants to give a rare treasure, and a man who tells him to beat him if he wants to give it to him.

Why is this man rejecting my gift? Is it simply because of a twisted personality? Or is there something more to him than that?

“Good.”

Of course, I have no intention of leaving this point.

**

A quiet mountain. Mr. Jang comes out of the vacant lot where traces of wild animals remain and faces him.

“Where is the sword of the prosecutor?”

“I don’t have money… “I left it at the pawn shop.”

“… “

“Now that I have some free time, I can get it back, but… “Isn’t it too bloody to fight with a real sword?”

Mr. Jang roughly picked up a tree branch rolling around on the floor and threw it at me.

“This is enough.”

He also picked up a thick tree branch and held it with both hands as if holding a sword.

“… “

I was thinking to myself, ‘It would be a bit of a waste to return here,’ so I welcome fighting with tree branches like this. There was a chance that it wouldn’t regress if it was hit gently.

No, the gossip ends here.

Is this what cilantro is like? Even if you simply hold a tree branch, you can feel the pressure. This sensation of stinging skin. This feeling of being cut at any moment.

“hahahaha… “

Now that I know that the man is sincere, I also hold the branch and face him. Let’s overhaul the weapons I have now.

There is no cold magic or chill. That is a change in the nature of my original body’s magical power, and it is not a power that can be used in this body. If I eat the snow ginseng over there, something will change, but since this body is not my real body and I am fighting to give Mr. Jang a gift in the first place, it is meaningless.

But is the amount of mana sufficient? That’s not it either. It is definitely more than the average person, but it is not enough to do something with ‘mana.’ Moreover, the opponent is also unmanned. It is correct to say that there is no advantage in mana.

Combat experience? You may not know it, but looking at Mr. Jang’s rough hands, you can see that he too has been through a mess. There is no advantage in combat experience. Probably the same goes for swordsmanship.

In other words, the part where I can be sure that I am better than that guy is… Does not exist. Since I am taking the risk of regressing if I get hit once, I must see myself as being at a clear disadvantage.

“I’m going.”

But since when did I only insist on fighting in my favor? Even if it doesn’t work out, isn’t it the spirit of a returner to just stick your head in and try?

What if we regress? At that time, just clear it and that’s it. It’s not too late to do your best now and regret it.

Hold the branch strongly.

“Hmph!”

Throw your body towards the enemy in front of you.

Pagak! Two tree branches collide tightly and the bark flutters in the air. It was a fairly strong blow, but Mr. Jang easily blocked it by raising his sword horizontally.

Yes, it would be a shame if I won easily here. I took a breath again, gathered my strength, and swung the branch.

Head. Gogan. Body. Head again. My attack was sharp and sharp. The tree that was being swung at a vital point was twisted at some point to target relatively less important parts such as the wrist or leg, and each breath was a stepping stone and a stepping stone for the next strike.

A continuous series of attacks. A series of extreme apneas that push this body to its limits. Thanks to the addition of rotation to rotation, a series of bloody sound waves are produced at the tips of tree branches.

On the other hand, Mr. Jang, who blocks the attack… I couldn’t figure it out.

It seems intense yet soft. It seems thick but flutters. If you feel pushed back by my attack, you use it as a reaction to launch a sharp counterattack, and easily block my bloody attack with very little movement.

“… “

“… !”

Bah! Bye!

Clearly, I was the one pushing. But I was also the one who got impatient. If I allow one counterattack like this, I will lose. No, I was already on the verge of defeat. If you don’t create a variable when your stamina is intact, you will be 100% defeated.

It’s time to throw a gamble.

“Whoa.”

“?!”

Suddenly raises dormant magical power. Mr. Jang quickly launched an internal attack as if responding, but priority is given to this side.

As I spread magical power throughout my body, I can feel each and every muscle pulsing. The magic power wrapped around the tree branch did not have a cold energy, but instead was filled with fierce power.

No, this is not enough. Although it is impossible to activate the ‘Flashlight’ trait, it is possible to put the trick into action. You need to make time to concentrate.

Understand! Step firmly on the soil with your stepping foot. Grains of dirt thrown into the air block vision and become bullets that attack the eyes. You might call it cowardly, but I really wanted to win.

“Ugh!”

Mr. Jang is staggering. The moment he lost his balance was only for a split second, but in that moment I was able to regain my bearings. Bend both legs and hold the handle of the tree branch with your right hand. With your left hand, hold the end of the branch with your palm to support the attack.

It was just one stab that struck my realization. I give everything I have, thinking that if I get stuck, I will lose.

No, this cannot be stopped. Mr. Jang’s strength is not yet at its peak. Mr. Jang’s posture was disturbed. Mr. Jang’s right eye was distorted into a grain of dirt. I won.

Just before the fierce tree branch touched Mr. Jang’s solar plexus.

“… “

Mr. Jang’s eyes changed.

“Huh?”

The tip of the tree branch he was holding gently touched the tip of my tree branch. It’s an art you can’t do even if you aim for it.

At the same time, my tree branch stopped. It’s like pressing the pause button in a game. It seemed as if someone had grabbed it out of the air. It really stopped, without any reaction to me.

Yunung Steel. Subdue strength with softness. No matter how hard I tried, no matter how much I twisted my body, the tree branch did not move, as if it were fixed in the air.

“I’m anxious. I’m afraid of getting hurt. “It’s truly strange when you think about the level we’ve reached.”

Even though you are simply speaking a sentence, the mystery that comes from right under your nose. The dazzle felt from the lightly lifted mouth. Fog gently spread on the floor.

This man is not the man I was fighting just before. Further… No, he is a man on another level, to the point where it would be embarrassing to express him as anything more than that.

“But… That’s great. I can see that you put in an effort. But it’s good to know that you don’t have to get too hung up on one side. “There is no black and white in the world.”

Yes, fresh. The appearance he is showing now is close to that of a hermit. Not the fake hermit that I imitated, but the real hermit.

A natural pressure that only those who have accumulated years of experience can feel. Mystery that comes from a noble state.

The shabby clothes, youthful appearance, and round face were the same, but… This man was fresher than anyone else.

“If it were you… “You can do it.”

As I was watching the scene in fascination, the man smiled and handed me a Millennium Seolsam.

I lost my mind.

-Cleared the 18th floor.

**

“Congratulations.”

“… “

Mate. Match. Match.

The sound of dry applause. The angel I saw when I first entered the 18th floor is clapping.

Was it cleared? The chill rushing through my body is quite unfamiliar. I feel uncomfortable in this powerful body.

No, more than that.

“… “Is it fresh?”

I recalled the scene I saw a little while ago. Did you say ‘I can do it’? It seems like it was an act of not knowing that this was a tower. Or maybe the noble personality hidden inside the body came out for a moment.

I recall what the man said and the movements he showed at the end. Did he say that there is no black and white in the world? These words really resonated with me as I was torn between Choi Ji-won’s path and the old man’s path.

First of all… Let’s go back to reality. Choi Ji-won must have cleared it by now.

“You should take this with you.”

I was about to leave the 18th floor, but an angel stopped me.

I moved my gaze along his fingertips.

“… hahahaha.”

Where I was lying, there was a thousand-year-old ginseng.