The Hero Returns

Lee Ji-hu finished the next floor's trial and came outside, only to be bombarded by several news reporters.

First, there was the alliance between Su-hyeun and the Reaper Guild. Then, the encounter with Song Hyeong-gi.

Just these two alone were more than enough to cause an uproar in the world, especially with the latter. The hottest trending topic of recent times was that Su-hyeun met up with the sole S-rank awakener not affiliated with anyone, Song Hyeong-gi.

This event held the potential to throw a wrench in the precarious balance maintained by the Awakener Guilds.

"This guy, he's not answering his phone again."

Lee Ju-ho was using his phone while walking towards the Awakener Authority. He had called over ten times already, but Su-hyeun was not picking up. Even so, he was able to come here all thanks to calling Hak-joon beforehand and getting some answers from the young man.

"He should be taking a well-deserved break instead, so why…"

Su-hyeun had finally become an S rank. In other people's eyes, he had definitely made it in his life. He could take it easy, spend the money he earned, maybe go on a trip overseas and have fun, etc.

But then, Su-hyeun couldn't endure the short period of downtime until the d-day of the dungeon assault and wanted to train by borrowing the Authority's underground facility.

<<He's probably the only one using the S-Rank privileges this way.>>

Depending on who looked at it, it was a waste, an unnecessary luxury.

The S-Rank. Lee Ju-ho, doing his best to get to that realm, couldn't really understand Su-hyeun. But at the same time, he also felt rather awestruck by the latter.

Pik, pik, pipipipik—

Drop, thud, crumble—

A continuous stream of small noises could be heard.

Countless stone plates were strewn about within the underground facility. They were a type of illusion used during Su-hyeun's re-evaluation not too long ago.

Crumble—

A stone plate brushed past Lee Ju-ho's face, and almost at the same time, a very thin strand of magical energy flew past just above his head.

"Bro? When did you arrive?" Su-hyeun, standing in the middle of the cavern, asked.

Lee Ju-ho replied while patting his chest in relief. "That surprised me, man. Were you trying to kill me or something?"

These two grew close enough to call each other brothers ever since that day Su-hyeun started referring to Lee Ju-ho as "big bro."

It had been around one year since they got acquainted. They knew enough about each other, and their friendship ran pretty deep now. Most importantly, though, Su-hyeun felt grateful for Lee Ju-ho being the person who stepped up without being asked to take care of things in his stead.

"No way. Besides, you won't die from that. It might sting a little, though."

Lee Ju-ho heard Su-hyeun's good-natured reply and looked at all the fragments of stone plates strewn about on the floor. Would he have really not died from that?

Lee Ju-ho sighed in relief again and spoke up. "Be more mindful of your surroundings, dude. Or lock the doors or something."

"I'll be more careful next time."

"By the way, what's all this?"

"Taking a few days off dulls one's senses. Entering a low difficulty dungeon and slaughtering everything in there will only have an adverse effect."

"You're going crazy like this just to maintain your edge?"

"It helps a lot more than you think. Magical energy isn't just a simple medium that lets you use skills, you know."

This method was initially envisioned as a way to measure and assign numerical values to the Awakener's ability to control magical energy.

Meaning, if the current you managed to destroy a higher number of stone plates than in the past, then it served as proof that your control over the magical energy had improved.

<<I used to do this often in the past.>>

Actually, this training was reserved for the small number of awakeners the Authority was fostering back then. At first, it was seen as just a testing method, but gradually, the Authority further refined the concept and employed it as a systematic training tool.

Su-hyeun carried on. "Besides this one, using illusions to strengthening your mental strength, dumbbells infused with a gravity-type skill using Ether stones, strengthening your resistance…."

"Okay, okay, I got it. Just hearing about them makes my skin crawl." Lee Ju-ho hurriedly waved his hands about as if it all sounded too disgusting to him. Of course, he was inwardly stunned despite what his mouth said.

<<He's seriously hardcore,>> Lee Ju-ho thought.

He thought that Su-hyeun was just blessed with excellent talent, but as it turned out, the dude also happened to be a hard worker, too.

To think that he couldn't wait those brief couple of days of respite and voluntarily chose to walk this path of hardship. He was fundamentally a different species from those conceited fools who couldn't wait to splurge away their new wealth acquired after becoming Awakeners.

Kya-ong, kyaaa-ooong—.

Miru raised its head from around Su-hyeun's neck.

Lee Ju-ho thought it was a scarf until then, so he hurriedly stepped back from fright. "Argh, that surprised me. Is it that dragon?"

"Yes. Its name is Miru."

"Miru? You didn't give the naming of it too much of your consideration, did you?"

"What's wrong with it? Isn't it cute?"

Gya-ruuung—

Miru nodded as if to say, "I agree." Thoroughly mystified now, Lee Ju-ho got closer and studied the hatchling dragon's head from this way and that.

Su-hyeun took out a towel he prepared earlier from the gym bag and while wiping away his sweat, asked Lee Ju-ho a question. "By the way, how did you know I was here?"

"I called Hak-joon and asked him where you were. I heard about you forming an alliance with the Reaper Guild, but what's up with this Song Hyeong-gi business?"

Lee Ju-Ho cautiously reached out with his hand, trying to touch Miru at least once no matter what it took, but the growling Miru was vehemently refused his outstretched hand.

Su-hyeun stared at the two of them and opened his mouth. "What happened was…" He told Lee Ju-ho the simplified version of the events that happened so far. Of course, the latter already heard most of that story from Hak-joon.

"Okay, so when will the dungeon attack be?" Lee Ju-ho asked.

"We have to assemble in the morning two days from now."

"I want to tag along."

"You too?"

It seemed that the reason for his visit today was related to that.

"Don't misunderstand me. I don't expect you guys to share even a tiny bit of the loot with me, you know?" Lee Ju-ho clarified.

"Is that so?"

"Just the experience alone will be enough. Especially when it involves a higher plateau."

A higher plateau, he said.

He, of course, meant the green-colored dungeon.

<<Well, the green-colored dungeons are known to be the hardest difficulty currently, after all.>> Su-hyeun thought.

Ever since its first appearance, the frequency of the green-colored dungeon's appearance was locked at around one per year — up until now.

One appearing after another like this time was an anomaly. And as its frequency of occurrence was so low, the number of awakeners that attacked a green dungeon before was also equally on the low side.

It was only the awakeners from the top-tier large guilds or the famous awakeners from the Authority who challenged them. Unless you were one of them, it was practically impossible to take a part in attacking a green-colored dungeon.

"I guess you've improved by another step."

Su-hyeun's words prompted a guilty look to float upon Lee Ju-ho's face. And then, looking somewhat sheepish, he avoided meeting the former's gaze. "I was planning to show off later on, though. Dammit."

"It's fine to be proud, actually. Getting to where you're in only two years is considered pretty fast, you know."

The magical energy rated at 6th rank — although the concentration of the magical energy coming from Lee Ju-ho was quite faint, Su-hyeun still got to read it nonetheless.

Lee Ju-ho wanted to participate in the conquering of the green-colored dungeon because he was confident of not hindering them, at the very least.

"Even then, I'm far slower compared to you or Hak-joon. What a pair of monstrous b*stards you are," said Lee Ju-ho.

Lee Ju-ho was a veteran who awakened not too long after the dungeons and awakeners appeared in the world. Even though you could say his rate of growth was fast, it still wasn't enough to aim for the very top. Of course, being able to acquire the rank of "A" meant you couldn't be accused of lacking in talent.

<<He shouldn't be comparing himself to me or Hak-joon, though….>>

Su-hyeun was worried about Lee Ju-ho's confidence level dropping lower after comparing his progress to Hak-joon, or for that matter, Su-hyeun himself. Strictly speaking, both Hak-joon or him shouldn't even be included in the comparison.

Su-hyeun was already the greatest awakener even back in the previous life, while Hak-joon, too, made a name for himself as one of the most powerful.

Of course, these were tales that would happen in the distant future. Regardless, these two were still some of the most talented in the entire world. Using these two as a comparison would only end up exhausting Lee Ji-ho, instead.

<<Well, I'm sure he'll sort it out himself….>>

In any case, Lee Ju-ho's mindset of always looking up higher and trying to forge his way to that realm wasn't a bad thing at all. Although he got his hands on the 6th-ranking magical energy only recently, as an awakener ranked A, he shouldn't be holding anyone back during the assault.

"Very well. Let's work together," said Su-hyeun.

"Oh, hell yeah!" He must've been quite nervous, because as soon as Su-hyeun agreed, Lee Ju-ho loudly cheered and leaped up in joy.

Su-hyeun smiled slightly while looking at his reaction. Originally, this man was supposed to die a year ago inside a dungeon, but now he was a rank A. Not only that, he wasn't satisfied by his current self and was working even harder to reach the same realm of Awakeners as Su-hyeun.

That was making him feel somewhat strange.

<<You can probably call this a change, in a way.>>

Su-hyeun returned to the past, and to change many things, he had to work his butt off.

In the smaller scheme of things, he tried his best to change his own life and looking at the bigger picture, he pushed himself hard so that he could change epoch-shifting events.

However, what really changed was only himself. He already knew that a lone man changing the world was never going to be an easy endeavor. But now, he could feel the gradual change taking place against his skin after looking at the people surrounding him, such as Lee Ju-ho here.

<<The world is changing because of me.>>

Su-hyeun inwardly prayed that the apocalypse would never arrive to this changed world.

From a certain point on, he stopped seeing a destroyed world.

* * *

The Gambler, the Papillon, and the Red Devil.

Although these three were considered locally as large guilds boasting huge sizes, they were also unfortunate enough not to be blessed with presences of S-Rank Awakeners. Also, they happened to be the guilds scheduled to participate in the assault of the green-colored dungeon this time.

"Kim Su-hyeun? That guy is the leader?"

The guild master of Papillon, the A-Rank Lee Kang-hui, heard the news and raised his voice at the awakener from the Authority. "Are you messing with me? That bastard got his rank S badge only recently, didn't he?"

"According to the regulation, there are no problems," replied the messenger from the Authority.

"You and your stupid regulation! Our lives are on the line here!"

Slam—!

He slammed down hard on the office desk, and the wooden furniture crafted out of luxurious material collapsed from the impact.

That was the proof of how incensed Lee Kang-hui was.

Unfortunately for him, his anger had no effect. Such a display should've been enough to cower his opponent at least just a little, but the awakener from the Authority didn't even flinch once.

The man dispatched by the Awakeners Accreditation Authority, Kang Seung-cheol, scowled heavily and replied. "The other S-Rank Awakener, Miss Park Ji-yeon, has already participated in the Ansan dungeon assault recently. And as you may well know, Song Hyeong-gi was never interested in matters like this one to begin with. Even if we call him, he's not going to show up, anyway."

"In that case, someone else…!"

"It'll be the same story even with the others. It's not their turn yet. Besides, they are currently going through their next trials, so they can't be reached at the moment."

"Goddammit…."

"If you're so averse to the idea, then I'll give him a call, saying that he doesn't have to come tomorrow."

Kang Seung-cheol's words caused Lee Kang-hui's expression to crumple even further.

If that happened, the current green dungeon assault would end up as a complete failure. Without the presence of an S-rank, it'd be as good as impossible to conquer such a dungeon.

<<Is this motherf*cker making a fun of me?>>

He felt like punching the living daylight out of this Kang Seung-cheol person.

However, not only could he not do that to an awakener dispatched by the Authority, but also, he got this weird feeling that he shouldn't treat this man so carelessly.

"In any case, I've conveyed the message in full, so I shall be on my way," Kang Seung-cheol said that and hurriedly left the meeting.

With this, he had delivered the message to all three guilds — the Gambler, the Red Devil, and finally, the Papillon.

<<Every one of them had same reactions.>>

Not like he couldn't understand it, though.

To think, they had to attack a green-colored dungeon along with a newbie S-Rank while forgetting about the other, more prominent S-Rank Awakeners out there. It was almost like deliberately giving yourself a hard time while walking on a simple road.

<<Even I…might have thought the same as well.>>

Kang Seung-cheol was one of only a handful of people who personally confirmed Su-hyeun's real abilities. And that's why he knew the truth.

Sure, it wasn't as if he had seen other S-Ranks in action, but still, he didn't believe Su-hyeun would be found wanting when compared to his current peers.

"Now I'm curious." Kang Seung-cheol looked back at the Papillon's guild house he just stepped out from and muttered to no one in particular. "I wonder how that idiot's expression will look like later."