"Hyung, is that Sung Hyunjae over there?" Yoohyun, who was hugging me, suddenly asked.
"Yeah?"
"Just by the way he's unnecessarily interested in Hyung, it seems like it's him."
...Is he looking at me because of my face?
"Well, no."
Even though I said no, I couldn't hide the uneasiness. It's different but somewhat similar. Can this be simply dismissed as a coincidence? Honestly, it's not likely. Even though the appearance is one thing, the skills and weapons are exactly the same. The personality seems a bit different, but there are similarities.
"Is that Sung Hyunjae again?"
Sigma muttered upon hearing Yoohyun's words.
"He resembles you, or rather, you resemble him. He's my partner."
Might as well solve the quest and tell him.
"It's not my personal opinion, but objectively speaking, he's handsome in various ways and is quite outstanding. Right now, he's holed up at home, looking at the monitor with a hot pink furball. He seems to have taken up knitting as a hobby lately and made a good scarf. He's also good at making cocktails, cooking, surprisingly eats the crust of bread but not the shrimp tails, and according to Soyoung, he's good at origami. There's a large aquarium at home. He burst it once but filled it with water again. He caught the fish himself and said there's a good spot for fishing, he even invited me to go fishing together."
"Fishing?"
"Yeah, want to go together? Haven't you tried fishing?"
I hadn't until this point. Before the regression, I occasionally did it in dungeons. A variety of fish caught alive in dungeons, depending on the type, were sold for a decent price as ornaments. In F-grade dungeons, fishing was sometimes more profitable than monster hunting.
After pouring out more unnecessary personal information, the quest was finally completed. Anyway, Sung Hyunjae is something else.
"...Anyway, there's such a person. It seems to be the opposite situation from earlier, so just run away quietly okay?
Yoohyun is still full of mana, but Sigma would have consumed more than half. It's pointless to fight. Honestly, it was unexpected for that guy to chase Yoohyun all the way here. I thought he wasn't the type to pursue when he knew there'll be no chance.
"I admit that I'm in a disadvantageous situation."
With a light sound of footsteps, Sigma stepped back. Jumping onto the debris of the collapsed wall, he looked down at us.
"Alpha, no, was it Han Yoohyun? First...I should apologize."
For some reason, Sigma meekly lowered his head. It's not like him.
"I considered him a C-rank wandering awakened without affiliation and imprinted him."
I blurted out really unnecessary words. Yoohyun frowned, probably because he knew something about the imprint.
"Hyung?"
"No, in the middle of doing it—"
Without listening to my excuses, Yoohyun checked the back of my neck after lowering my scarf. Then he lightly ground his teeth.
"Imprint?... Is there a trace left?"
"...A little."
I didn't feel anything, so I didn't know. That damn guy! This is my real body! I was curious, but I couldn't see the back of my neck with my own eyes. Ah, Teacher's skill. Yoohyun quickly imprinted something on my neck, and I saw a faint pattern. It seemed like he had lightly stamped it like an ink stamp without any real significance.
The extinguished flames flared up again. Sigma, with his tail up, took out the contract this time.
"It looks like the contract is still in effect thanks to your resurrection. Now it's my turn to receive compensation, C-rank."
With his fingertip, he traced a part of the contract on the contract paper.
"When Alpha regains freedom, the contract opponent will pay satisfactory information as compensation within 24 hours. That's what it says."
"Tell me now!"
"What if I don't hear the information within 24 hours without fulfilling the conditions?"
"...What?"
"I can wait too, C-rank."
That damn bastard! I didn't expect Sigma to refuse the compensation. I should have set the conditions more accurately!
"Even if you wait, the contract will be canceled for breach of contract, and you won't hear anything! You won't be able to hear it forever!"
"Then I'll have C-rank and Alpha. That not bad."
...Damn it, my brother should have been excluded from the compensation. No, before that, if I buy an SS-grade item from the store, it's over. It's probably not that expensive if it's a one-time use.
Creak!"
At that moment, Sigma rose as the lower part of the debris he was standing on melted away. Piles of stones fell, and Sigma gracefully leaped backward. Hyun stood there with a cold gaze, eyeing him.
"Looks like he's annoyed. Anyway, let Sigma stay at the Akate's City for at least a day."
Saying so, Sigma's figure completely disappeared. Hyun descended from my arms.
"You stay here, or is it still risky even here?"
"Where would you chase him after! I'm pretty sure he's aiming for that. If you move away from the Mana Hall you're in danger. That guy brought several S-rank guards to his Mana Path. Moreover, your health is not in a good condition either
I continued to be confined. Despite having S-rank stats, my physical condition couldn't be considered good. If it were an ordinary person, they would have become so frail that standing properly would be a challenge.
"I'll buy some items from the Point Shop to use. So..."
"Can't I really go after him?"
-"Hyung, Lyn will be here too!"
Both of them looked at me earnestly at the same time. Uh, well, what can I say?
"Well, yeah. I guess it won't be too dangerous since they plan to capture you alive. By the way, did you see the message sent by the newbie?"
Yoohyun nodded. He didn't even have time to check the message. The content of the message Yoohyun received was also the same as Sung Hyunjae.
"Does that mean even if I die, I can come back to life like you did, hyung?"
Uh, well, not exactly....
After contemplating whether to say it, I decided to be honest. We agreed not to hide anything from each other as much as possible.
"I entered this world with my real body."
"What? Then, hyung─!"
"But I have five lives. I used one, so I have four left."
I also mentioned the discs. Sung Hyunjae somehow exists within the system. Yoohyun frowned but nodded, seemingly understanding.
"I'll just stay by your side. Even if you have four left, you never know what might happen. I can't just leave you alone. It's even riskier to go together without any favors."
"Don't worry about that. It's limited to 30 minutes anyway."
I bought a 'Tail-Wagging Dog (C)' from the point shop. As soon as I placed it on the contract with Sigma, a firefly-like creature popped out and wiggled, as if beckoning to follow. With a thud, along with the sound of footsteps on the ground, Hyun soared into the air.
Blue willow leaves spread briefly as they trampled over the leaves, jumping consecutively, and the darkness ascended on top of the buildings. The tip of the foot touched the rooftop of the building with a frightening return, and the body moved forward again. In an instant, several buildings passed by below.
"My shop seem to be different."
"Yeah?"
"In my shop, there are only skills and equipment."
While running, Yoohyun examined the status and quest windows. He said that there was no item like a universal key, mini-cookies, or tracking items. Even skills and equipment were much fewer compared to my shop.
"...Did Sigma consider my well-being?"
Or maybe it was altered by Sung Hyunjae Thanks to that, it was useful.
- Gururururu
The growling sound of monsters was heard from afar. Is that Sigma heading towards where the S-rank monsters are? If he pulls in Akate's guards, it'll be even more advantageous. Annoying guy, indeed.
"Yoohyun, don't worry about mana."
"But this world is─"
"It's full of mana potions, and you can buy them at the points shop. So, use your skills generously."
I poured out all the carefully collected mana potions. It would have been great if I could also use the double attack skill share, but I wasted it on that darned guy.
I leaped over the building again. As I reached the precarious top of a partially destroyed building, I could see the bizarre figure of a monster gazing down at me.
A monster covered in scales resembling SS-grade armor. Not far away, a giant snake and a bear-like monster surrounded by Akates guards. All three of them hardly had any injuries. It seemed that as guards with S-grade or lower, they could only buy time and couldn't do much more against these powerful monsters.
And on the other side, Sigma stood near the building with the snake. He smiled as if inviting us. Just my luck.
"Be careful, hyung."
"Just a moment, Yoohyun."
I took out an item. Here it is (SS).
"Let's start with a bang."
It would be convenient to clear out the surrounding Akates and Sollemnis guards first. I aimed the gun, which was about twice the size of my current body, towards where Sigma was. The barrel sparkled briefly, a short glint. It didn't shoot anything from the gun. It was a signal, a location designation, and shortly after.
Boom!
Something appeared in the sky above Sigma and the giant snake. The round sphere that fell rapidly from above.
Kwaaang!
It exploded. A dazzling light burst out like an early sunrise, and an enormous explosion mixed with tremendous noise and firepower shot up. Everything around was swept away in an instant. The wind and heat were transmitted even to this relatively distant place.
Place the location and drop an SS-grade bomb with a 3-use item.
- Shaaa!
- Kuwaa!
Monsters screamed. The snake, hit directly by the explosion, writhed its burnt body with each convulsion. Poison flowed abundantly from all sides with each convulsion. Even before the flames from the explosion subsided, Yoohyun jumped up. It's a property that can't even touch a single hair on my younger brother anyway.
"My poison resistance dropped a bit, but it's still S-grade! Just buy an antidote!"
Conveniently, the position of the pocket was right near my heart. If poison spreads, my resistance would affect detoxification. With SS-grade stats, I could withstand poison even better, and with S-grade poison resistance alone, I could handle the snake's poison well enough.
But Sigma would be different.
Stepping on blue beetle leaves, Yoo Hyun swiftly reached near Sigma. A blue flame surged up. It burned fiercely, absorbing the heat from the explosion with minimal mana consumption.
Sigma wasn't idle either. The golden current surrounded him gloriously, and the chains were long and winding.
"Irin!"
At Yoohyun's command, a red figure covered Sigma from behind. Irin, in the form of a weapon, thrust fangs and claws toward Sigma.
Kagak, after the chains blocked Irin's attack, Yoo Hyun didn't miss the opportunity and rushed towards Sigma's back.
Yoohyun swung the sword held in his hand. Lightning and flames intertwined, devouring each other. Clothes tore apart, and Sigma, finding the only gap between Irin and Yoohyun, withdrew his body. But there was a snake there. An SS-grade monster filled with venom, whose body had partially melted.
- Siiik!
The snake, opening its mouth wide, hissed. Before the venom-coated Sigma reached the opposite side of the chain that blocked Irin's attack,
Kwaduk!
Yoo Hyun pierced through the snake's head. Sigma, with graceful movements, stepped on the chain and rose above the snake's head. Then, as if waiting for Yoohyun, who was chasing after him, he pulled the chain, guiding the snake to spew venom.
- Kieek!
In agony, the snake sprayed thick venom just before it reached Yoohyun. At that moment, Irin also opened its mouth and spewed flames.
Kwagwagwag, the breath of blue flames swiftly incinerated the venom, swallowing the snake's head without allowing it to scream. The snake's head, burnt beyond recognition, fell to the ground, and points floated up.
"Yoohyun, grab the points!"
"The points I see now are much fewer than when we faced the previous SS-grade monster. Thanks for acknowledging the effort in detonating the bomb."
Sigma, without a single piece of his clothes burning, had already dodged my attack. Agile. Surely, he must also have combat foresight. Still, he seemed slightly pale, probably from being affected by the poison.
Irin returned to its form of a red salamander, having consumed a lot of energy, and approached me.
Then, at the moment when Sigma was about to be attacked again.
Tadadada─!
The sound of helicopters echoed. Sollemnis's helicopters? It's suicidal to involve helicopters too!
"Yoo Hyun, be careful! If you consume a large amount of mana, there are large weapons that provide S-grade or higher attack power!"
Yoohyun nodded, holding a sniper rifle from the inventory with his free hand. It's absurd to use a rifle against a military helicopter, but it's different when it's an item in the hands of an SS-grade guard. The rifle aimed at the helicopter.
Clunk.
The side of the large helicopter opened. I expected weapons to come out, but what revealed itself was...
Bwaaaang─
A massive bike making a loud noise. Three bikes popped out of the helicopter. The leading bike had a spear protruding from the front. Red hair fluttered in the moonlight.
"Guys! Lambda of Lanchea has arrived!"
With a thunderous roar, the bikes descended to the ground in an instant. Among them, the one at the forefront collided with a monster in the form of a bear at an incredible speed, clearly having used a skill. As the tip of the spear touched, the tough leather of the monster's body crumpled like a piece of paper and tore apart.
And immediately after, with a sound like a bursting water bag, the body of the bear monster shattered into pieces.
Kiiik, the bike scratched the ground for a long distance and came to a stop. Lambda, who had effortlessly dealt with the SS-grade monster, raised the spear vertically. She smiled and waved towards us.
"Hello, young master!"
There was no need for long contemplation. It was Moon hyuna.
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