NOVEL WEB Chapter 30: Star, The Test (1)
It happened long ago…
“Whoa! You’re young, but you already have the face of a killer,” an old man exclaimed.
“What’s up with you, geezer? Get lost if you don’t want to get killed,” Chang-Sun snapped, scowling at the old man.
When he was involuntarily taken to Arcadia through a gate, Chang-Sun had not known anything, not even their language. The only thing he could do was to pick up a spear from a pool of blood and swing it. Two years of fighting through that hell had made him hostile and belligerent by default.
Respecting one’s elders was a luxury on a battlefield, a place where anyone could die the next day. A battlefield was a place where people had to scream at the top of their lungs to be heard, and had to kill others by any means necessary in order to survive. Thus, Chang-Sun was displeased about being stopped abruptly in the midst of such a hell by an old man making such an ‘evaluation’ about him.
“Hahaha.” The old man laughed gently.
In truth, despite his gentle appearance, the old man had met all kinds of trash after spending fifty years on various battlefields. He excelled in no less than forcing such trash to become brand-new people.
“I see you also have no manners, child,” he remarked, shaking his head.
“You’re still talking? If you’re just going to keep saying useless crap, get out of my way!” Chang-Sun snapped, shoving the man.
Smack!
* * *
Chirp! Chirp, chirp!
“…Why did I have that dream?” Chang-Sun thought, massaging his temples after waking up.
Warm morning sunlight shone through the gap between his curtains, but he did not even notice it because he was preoccupied with his dream. That nostalgic memory was from Chang-Sun’s early days in Arcadia, which he could barely remember.
The old man, whom Chang-Sun had called ‘Gramps’ or ‘Grandpa’ until the end, had always been Chang-Sun’s pillar of strength in Arcadia, where Chang-Sun was a mere stranger. Gramps had been Chang-Sun’s first proper martial arts teacher, a father figure who had prevented him from going down the wrong path in life, a colleague who had his back, and a friend whom he could laugh with.
‘He had a really nasty personality,’ Chang-Sun thought, chuckling quietly.
And… Gramps was one of the reasons Chang-Sun had become ‘Divine Twilight’.
As Gramps had lay dying unjustly, he had passed his Guardian onto Chang-Sun. In that time, the complicated <Myth War> had broken out, a conflict that involved numerous apostles, deities, and stars.
The events that had happened at the time were why Chang-Sun was even here today, and why he was about to do the things he planned to do. Perhaps everything that happened so far had stimulated Chang-Sun’s subconsciousness and made him dream about Gramps.
Even after his regression, he was still having a hard time adjusting to the fact that there were parts about himself that he could not control, such as his subconsciousness and his dreams. The fact that he could not do so vaguely unsettled him.
However, the dream was a little different. It only made him miss Gramps a great deal, giving him all the more reason to pull himself together.
<You have a scheduled appointment today!>
<3 p.m.: A job interview at the White Tiger Clan.>
Ziinnng!
Chang-Sun’s smartphone vibrated as it showed him his schedule for the day. It was finally time to start his hunt.
* * *
“Where are you going?” So Yu-Ha asked with a smile.
It had been a month since Chang-Sun’s regression. In all that time, he had woken up at regular times and never drank. Although he was still on awkward terms with his other family members, Yu-Ha looked at her youngest son very warmly. Perhaps it was partly because Chang-Sun had even started exercising regularly.
“I’m going to the interview I told you about before,” Chang-Sun said as he put on his sneakers.
“Ah, right. Today was the day. But… Are you going to the interview dressed like that?” Yu-Ha asked, looking at Chang-Sun in confusion after heading over to see him out.
Chang-Sun had said that he was going to an interview, but he was wearing a black hoodie and jeans as he carried a heavy gym bag on one shoulder.
“Maybe he’s planning to become an ordinary security guard,” Lee Yu-Seon, Chang-Sun’s sister who was eating breakfast, remarked with a smirk after glancing at Chang-Sun.
“Yu-Seon! How can you talk to your brother like that?!” Yu-Ha exclaimed, gaping.
“No one who’s doing a job interview for an office job dresses like that,” Yu-Seon replied with a shrug.
“Still…!” Yu-Ha tried to protest.
“I’ll be heading out,” Chang-Sun said as he left quickly, sensing a long mother-and-daughter talk in the near future.
However, Yu-Ha quickly followed him out, rushing to catch him before he entered the elevator. She slipped some money into Chang-Sun’s hands.
“You don’t have to give me allowance…” Chang-Sun trailed off.
“I’m just giving this to you because I’m proud of my youngest son. Eat something delicious and hang out with your friends after you’re done with your job interview, okay?” Yu-Ha replied, tightly gripping Chang-Sun’s hands.
“I will,” Chang-Sun said with a nod.
“Alright, have a fun day today. I love you,” Yu-Ha said, waving lightly to Chang-Sun.
After bowing to his mother, Chang-Sun pressed the first floor button and replied, “Yes, I will.”
When the elevator door closed, he leaned against one of its walls. As he looked down at two 50,000 won bills[1], he thought, ‘Love, huh…’
Yu-Ha constantly cheered on her youngest son who had become a totally different person, saying she loved him and that she was forever on Chang-Sun’s side. That was why Chang-Sun thought his regression was the best choice he had made over the past centuries, even though his siblings and father seemed to think that a leopard could never change his spots.
He could not help but think there was a reason that he had seen Gramps in his dream.
‘So,’ Chang-Sun thought, his eyes shining coldly for a moment. ‘I should do well.’
Ding!
The elevator door opened.
“Whoa, whoa!” An apartment resident who happened to have been waiting for the elevator on the first floor turned pale when he met Chang-Sun’s gaze, but Chang-Sun nonchalantly passed by him.
“What’s up with you? Wake up, Chan’s dad![2]” a woman urgently called out to the other resident from behind Chang-Sun. After coming to his senses, the resident looked back.
However, Chang-Sun had already gotten into the taxi he had called, saying, “Please take me to Seongsu Station.”
* * *
Chang-Sun did not head directly to Gangnam[3], where the White Tiger Clan’s headquarters were. Instead, he planned to visit Choi Bu-Yong first, because he had finally received a message that Bu-Yong had finally finished making the items he had been eagerly waiting for.
The taxi headed toward the Yeongdong Bridge on the Olympic Boulevard Expressway. As he watched the Hangang River through the window, Chang-Sun used his smartphone to check for important news on web portals the way he did every morning.
He had never skipped a day of checking the news after he had regressed; it had gradually become a habit, because he could gain a lot of useful information by combining small pieces of information from the news.
Such as…
<Will the Highoff Clan’s secret scandal finally be revealed?>
<With the Council’s cooperation, the Prosecutor’s Office has raided and searched the Highoff Clan’s head office.>
<The incident from the 9th, confirmed by digital forensics, has been revealed!>
<Twenty-one human sacrifices in the last seven years.>
<What caused this terrible tragedy?>
<Cha Ye-Eun, the ‘Iron Witch’ of the Council, announces that she will harshly punish the Highoff Clan.>
After Chang-Sun finished ‘Bestla’s Tomb,’ the press had been left in an uproar, much more fiercely than Chang-Sun had expected.
The victims, whom Chang-Sun had brought out in advance, had managed to arrive at a nearby police station and ask for help without getting caught by the Highoff Clan’s Players. As the press had already been abuzz with activity due to the recent Jamsil Gate incident, the addition of the Bonghwasan incident only added fuel to the fire.
Before daybreak, the Council had already issued an emergency order and attacked the Highoff Clan’s head office. According to the news article, a large and intense battle had broken out, making the office collapse; the people who lived nearby had needed to temporarily evacuate.
However, there was another piece of news that caught Chang-Sun’s eye. He scrolled down, thinking, ‘The real problem is this part.’
<The White Tiger Clan has declared war against the Highoff Clan!>
<Ma Yong-Su, the White Tiger Clan Director, says “The Highoff Clan is a group of demons that must be rooted out of society.”>
<The White Tiger Clan has revealed information about the Highoff Clan’s crimes, which they were previously investigating!>
At first glance, the White Tiger Clan seemed to be actively cooperating with the Council along with the other Clans because they were angry with the Highoff Clan, who had caused a social scandal. However, the whole situation sounded suspicious to Chang-Sun.
‘They’re acting too quickly, as if they had been waiting for this moment,’ Chang-Sun thought as he leaned against the window.
The White Tiger Clan had struck the Highoff Clan very quickly and harshly. As soon as the Council struck the Highoff Clan, the White Tiger Clan had immediately sent its Raid Teams, practically starting a full-scale war against the Highoff Clan.
The White Tiger Clan’s Raid Teams were already among the best in the world, but the Clan had also sent ‘Smilodon’, Raid Team 2 Leader Seo Jeong-Gwon; an eyewitness had reported that the Highoff Clan leader’s head had been smashed in.
Unlike the other Clans who had half-heartedly helped the Council, trying to minimize the damage they would sustain, the White Tiger Clan did not appear to care about their potential losses; that meant the press and the public had begun speaking highly of them.
‘It’s nonsense,’ Chang-Sun thought, snorting as he read the news article.
Chang-Sun knew more about Heoju, the ‘Calamity Tiger’, than anyone else in the world. Despite his cruel and vicious personality, Heoju was a quick-witted opportunist who tried to avoid ever suffering a loss.
Considering how each Clan took after its Guardian’s personality, there was a high chance that the White Tiger Clan’s ‘righteous’ side was a facade. In that case, why would the Clan react so dramatically?
‘It only makes sense if the White Tiger Clan was secretly working with the Highoff Clan the entire time. They have to bury the skeletons in their closet somehow,’ Chang-Sun thought, tilting his head.
However, Chang-Sun felt more as if the White Tiger Clan had been ‘punishing’ the Highoff Clan, not merely burying the truth.
‘Is this also related to them?’ he thought, pulling out the necklace he was wearing. On the end of the chain was the golden key he had taken out of ‘Bestla’s Tomb.’
He had been trying to solve the mystery of the key for a month, but to no avail. Regardless, he was curious as to how the White Tiger Clan’s executives would react if he showed the key to them.
While he was lost in thought, the taxi had already reached the end of the Yeongdong Bridge. Chang-Sun scrolled down and checked other news articles.
<“The Jamsil Gate was cleared by one person.” Who on earth is the mysterious man ‘L’, who has been mentioned again recently?>
<No one knows the whereabouts of the mysterious person, ‘Hahoe Mask’.>
<People want to repay the hero ‘Hahoe Mask’.>
* * *
“…You’re really here,” Bu-Yong said with a sigh.
“You look tired,” Chang-Sun said as he looked at Bu-Yong’s face, which looked far more tanned—no, tired—than before.
When Chang-Sun spoke, Bu-Yong frowned deeply, as if he would scowl and shoot him a glare if only he had eyes.
Woof! Woof!
Seemingly reading his owner’s thoughts, Wilson, the seeing-eye dog, barked at Chang-Sun from beside Bu-Yong. Unlike Bu-Yong, Wilson had gained weight.
“Who do you think made me like this…?!” Bu-Yong hissed through gritted teeth.
In truth, every one of Chang-Sun’s requests and deadlines was ridiculous. Each and every request had unique characteristics, and it was difficult to get the necessary materials on the market. If not for the suppliers Bu-Yong’s parents had told him about, he could not have even begun to make the weapons.
“Ha! Why am I wasting my breath?” Bu-Yong muttered, shaking his head.
“Where are they?” Chang-Sun asked.
“Here,” Bu-Yong replied, putting down the container he had been carrying on his back ever since Chang-Sun arrived.
Thud!
The container looked like an ordinary drawing tube, but it somehow let out a heavy metallic sound when Bu-Yong put it down. His blindness should have made it difficult for him to set the object down, but he handled it well, which indicated he was also a Player who knew how to use magic.
Chang-Sun smiled faintly upon hearing the clear metallic tone that resembled a temple bell echoing throughout the forge. That sound meant the items within were sacred weapons. A very good weapon sounded different from an ordinary weapon.
“What about the properties I asked for?” Chang-Sun asked as he grabbed the container.
“You have eyes, don’t you?” Bu-Yong retorted in annoyance, even though he knew Chang-Sun had only asked because he wanted an assessment from the items’ creator. However, his tone was full of confidence.
Chang-Sun opened the drawing tube up. It had three things inside: Two batons the size of human arms, and one twisted brown bracelet.
‘This is…!’ Chang-Sun quickly pulled out the two batons and lightly felt them. From the balance to the material’s elasticity, everything was perfect.
[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ widens her eyes.]
[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ lightly exclaims in awe of the weapons’ quality.]
Chang-Sun felt as if he were holding the old weapon he had used long ago. The batons were definitely new, but they felt incredibly comfortable in his hands, as if he had used them for a long time. After toying with the two batons for a while, Chang-Sun combined them using the joints on their ends and turned the weapon sideways.
Click!
When the two joints connected to each other, blades emerged from either end of the newly-formed pole.
~
[Nameless Double Baton Spear]
A long spear forged by Ou Yezi’s heir for a commission.
The spear is usually used in the form of two batons or short spears, but they can be combined in times of need and used as a long spear. Apart from that function, other devices are installed in the spear, which means it will likely take the owner a long time to master it.
· Type: Long spear. Infantry weapon.
· Damage: 150~200
· Effect: Piercing Blades. Stacking Damage. Blessing Amplification.
*This artifact will belong to you indefinitely. If you give the spear to somebody else, the weapon’s Effects may disappear.
**The creator has not named the spear, so please give it a suitable name.
Walking around casually, Chang-Sun thrust forward with the spear several times. Whenever he did so, the blades spun fiercely with explosive noises.
Boom! Boom! Booooom!
[You have demonstrated outstanding spearmanship and achieved the exquisite principles of ‘Thrusting’, ‘Cutting’, ‘Striking’, and ‘Binding’.][4]
[The Skill ‘Lesser Spearmanship’ has been created.]
……
[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ widens her eyes after seeing your brilliant spearmanship.]
“It’s really nice,” Chang-Sun said with a laugh after finishing his spearmanship demonstration.
He felt that it was the loudest laugh he had ever let out since his regression. That was how much he liked the spear—no, he did not merely ‘like’ it. If he had not had [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth] or the [Yuchang Sword], he would have used the spear as his primary weapon without a second thought.
From top to bottom, the spear looked exactly like the blueprint Chang-Sun had handed to Bu-Yong. That fact alone was already incredible; it was never easy to satisfy Chang-Sun, who had previously earned a divine class.
[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ is surprised that a blind man can make such a high-quality weapon.]
[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ is surprised that you have discovered such a talented craftsman.]
~
“Are you a spearm…?!” Bu-Yong quickly asked.
“CEO,” Chang-Sun interrupted.
“…Is CEO a spearman?” Bu-Yong quickly changed his question because he wanted an answer badly, although he was baffled by Chang-Sun’s stubbornness about strange things.
Having spent a long time handling metals, Bu-Yong had realized how talented Chang-Sun was just by the sound. Chang-Sun was not just an exceptional Player, but also a talented martial artist. Bu-Yong felt that Chang-Sun was just as skilled as the Nine Swordsmen or the Six Pugilists, but he had known Chang-Sun to be a swordsman, not a spearman.
‘The air around him changed the moment he grabbed the spear, though...’ Bu-Yong thought. His confusion was understandable, because Chang-Sun had begun to look like a totally different person.
“I was,” Chang-Sun answered curtly, shrugging as if he had no intention to give Bu-Yong a full explanation. The fact that Gramps had been his first proper spearmanship teacher was his secret and his alone.
1. About $100 in US terms. ☜
2. The raw used ‘찬이 아빠’. Koreans often call people by their children’s name. In English, it would be something like ‘Hello, Oliver’s mom!’ ☜
3. An area in Seoul ☜
4. Like ‘Ascension’, these refer to specific Korean martial arts terms. The first three are fairly self-explanatory, while ‘binding’ or ‘detainment’ refers to making an opponent unable to disengage from combat by locking down their weapon. ☜