<h4>Chapter 455 - Another Protagonist</h4>


    “I’vee to fulfill the promise that I made to you... and to repay the favor.”


    The young man who introduced himself as Kim Tae-Hyun reached out his hand with a bright smile. Oh Kang-Woo also smiled and grabbed Tae-Hyun’s hand.


    <i>‘Seriously, who the hell is this guy?’</i>


    Kang-Woo couldn’t recall the young man no matter how thoroughly he flipped through his memories.


    <i>‘He doesn’t seem to be lying.’</i>


    Tae-Hyun did not seem to be fabricating a story to take advantage of Kang-Woo’s fame. In the first ce, if he wanted to be famous, he would be aiming for Kim Si-Hun instead since Si-Hun was far more famous than Kang-Woo at least on Earth.


    <i>‘Then that means he has actually met me in the past.’</i>


    Kang-Woo went through his memories again slowly as he stared at Tae-Hyun’s face. His affable expression wasmon in Japanese fantasy anime; he was average, neither handsome nor ugly.


    <i>‘Where have I seen him before?’</i>


    He felt like he would remember with just a little reminder. He traversed through a forest of memories covered in thick fog. Just then, he recalled someone’s desperate screams from the depths of his memory.


    <i>"I''m a rogue! Someone, anyone, please let me join your party! I''ll provide first aid if nothing else!!"</i>[1]


    <i>‘Oh.’ </i>Kang-Woo’s eyes widened.<i> ‘Fucking hell. No wonder I didn’t recall him right away.’</i>


    It was such a long time ago. No, that was not the only issue since Kang-Woo would have remembered it if the event had been important. The main reason that Kang-Woo was unable to recall Kim Tae-Hyun immediately was not because it had been so long but because his importance had been so insignificant.


    <i>‘Yeah... I once saved him from the Andras Guild.’</i>


    Several more memories popped up in Kang-Woo’s head once he remembered the event.


    <i>"I''ll definitely grow out of being a first-aid administrator and repay you for today''s favor!"</i>[2]


    Kang-Woo recalled Tae-Hyun saying those words before leaving.


    <i>‘Dayum. What a long-ass foreshadowing.’</i>


    Kang-Woo stared at Tae-Hyun dumbfoundedly. No matter how he thought about it, it felt more like something that the author made use of afterpletely forgetting about it than perfectly calling back a foreshadowing that had urred over four hundred chapters ago.


    “I’m no longer the weak first-aid administrator I used to be! I’ve grown to a point that I can be of help to you!” Tae-Hyun shouted brightly.


    Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes for a moment.


    <i>‘Grown, huh?’</i>


    How could a rogue-ss yer who was rejected by even low-level parties have grown faster than even Si-Hun?


    <i>‘It doesn’t make any sense.’</i>


    It was worse than a new character being introduced in a game that destroyed the bncepletely. To make aparison, it was like seeing a regr high schooler in your neighborhood who yed basketball casually suddenly making his debut in the NBA and destroying Michael Jordan. Tae-Hyun’s growth was unreal even if he hade across some sort of strange fate.


    “Haha. I’ve never thought of you as weak even once, Tae-Hyun,” Kang-Woo expressed.


    “K-Kang-Woo...”


    “But how were you able to grow this quickly?”


    Kang-Woo scanned Tae-Hyun with narrow eyes, observing his eyes, voice, and every little movement that he made.


    “Mm. Well...” Tae-Hyun scratched his head and continued, “I think it was about a month ago. It was when I was exploring a Gate by myself. It was a B-rank Gate in the Haeundae district of Busan.”


    B was not that high of a rank for a Gate.


    “But an S-rank monster suddenly appeared in the Gate due to the abnormal phenomena urring in Gatestely... I identally fell from a cliff as I was frantically running away.”


    “...”


    “I closed my eyes, thinking I was going to die, but I luckily managed to survive thanks to being caught by tree roots that happened to have grown out of the cliff walls. And then—”


    “And then you came across a strange fate, or something like that?”


    “Ah! Th-that’s right! To be more exact, I found a hidden dungeon!”


    “...”


    Kang-Woo put a hand over his forehead as if he was having a headache.


    <i>‘What the fuck? Coming across a strange fate from falling down a cliff? Is this some martial arts story?’</i>


    Kang-Woo couldn’t evenugh. He organized his thoughts and then asked, “... Could you give me more details about this hidden dungeon?”


    “Mm. I’m not sure exactly what it was either. A message saying that I entered <i>Nostrian’s Will</i> appeared as soon as I entered the hidden dungeon, and then I immediately passed out.”


    “...”


    Kang-Woo had never heard of anyone named Nostrian.


    <i>‘Are they an outer god?’</i>


    He had nothing to go off of at the moment.


    “I found this around my neck when I woke up,” Tae-Hyun said as he raised the ne on his neck.


    The ornament of the ne was about half the size of a palm and had strange symbols on it. In the center of those symbols, an eye that gave off an unpleasant feeling was engraved.


    <i>‘It looks like the Time Stone thingie.’</i>


    Kang-Woo recalled seeing a ne like that in a superhero film that he had once seen. Kang-Woo scanned the ne on Tae-Hyun’s neck with the Authority of Insight.


    <i>Riiing.</i>


    [yer Oh Kang-Woo’s Deific Essence is too low in rank to check the information of the corresponding item.]


    <i>‘... What?’</i>


    Kang-Woo’s expression crumpled aggressively after seeing the message in front of him. His Deific Essence was Top-rank and on the verge of reaching Transcendent-rank, but it was too low.


    <i>‘What the hell is happening?’</i>


    His head was in jumbles.


    “What about after that...?” Kang-Woo asked.


    “Well, as you can see, I acquired immense power.”


    Tae-Hyun slightly raised his hand. Translucent light particles gathered around his hand as if crystal fragments that had been scattered in midair wereing together.


    <i>Rumble—!</i>


    Colossal power shook the surroundings. Kang-Woo’s eyes widened.


    <i>‘The hell?’</i>


    He had never felt this sort of power before. He had seen demons, angels, and even gods, but this was the first time that a form of energy caused him to feel this way. Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes.


    <i>‘Deific Essence?’</i>


    Kang-Woo shook his head. It was different from the power that regr Deific Essence gave off.


    <i>‘It’s simr in terms of type.’</i>


    Deific Essence was the closest to how the energy felt but it was different. To make aparison, it was like the difference between a leopard and a tiger. They were both ssified as the <i>Felidae </i>family but were different species.


    <i>‘But the problem is that energy would be the tiger instead of the leopard.’</i>


    The amount of energy was not enormous in any way but it was stronger than Deific Essence in terms of quality.


    <i>‘It seems... I’ll have to test it out.’</i>


    “Mm...”


    “Haha. I know it’s a difficult story to take in,” Tae-Hyun said as he scratched his head and smiled awkwardly. He then walked toward Kang-Woo with bright eyes. “But I didn’t lie.”


    “Ah, yes. I didn’t think you were, Tae-Hyun.”


    The fact that Tae-Hyun had killed an enormous number of monsters after acquiring that power was proof.


    “Does that mean I can enter Guardians as well?” Tae-Hyun asked anxiously as he gulped.


    It seemed like he had killed the rapidly growing number of monsters right after gaining power because he wanted to be a part of Guardians. Kang-Woo smiled at Tae-Hyun who was zing with passion.


    “Would you be able to take a simple recruitment test before that?” Kang-Woo asked.


    “Ah, yes! Of course!”


    Tae-Hyun nodded. Kang-Woo nced at Si-Hun.


    “Si-Hun.”


    “Yes, hyung-nim.”


    Si-Hun, who had been staring nkly at Tae-Hyun, turned to Kang-Woo.


    “Could you test Tae-Hyun?”


    “... Of course.” Si-Hun clenched his sword and slightly nodded.


    It seemed like hispetitive spirit was set aze after hearing that Tae-Hyun had killed more monsters than him. Si-Hun’s eyes staring at Tae-Hyun were zing with passion. Kang-Woo tapped on the bridge of his nose as he looked back and forth at the two men.


    <i>‘Now, then. Let’s see what this Nostrian’s Will is made of.’</i>


    <i>ck.</i>


    They entered the training room in the Hall of Protection. It was durable enough to have handled the battle between Kang-Woo and Zeus. Si-Hun and Tae-Hyun stood across from each other in the white room.


    Cha Yeon-Joo narrowed her eyes as she stared at them and asked, “Isn’t his story super suspicious? He just ended uping across a strange fate after falling down a cliff?”


    Kang-Woo answered, “I don’t think he’s lying. I’ve even met him before.”


    “How did you get to know him?”


    Kang-Woo exined to her what happened between him and Tae-Hyun in the past.


    “Hah. What a fucking callback...” Yeon-Joo muttered.


    “I’ll say.” Kang-Woo shrugged. He stared at Si-Hun, who was unsheathing his sword, and asked, “Who do you think will win?”


    “Si-Hun, obviously,” replied Yeon-Joo as if she had no doubt.


    Even if Tae-Hyun had acquired some unknown power, she would naturally think that Si-Hun woulde out on top considering she had witnessed how powerful he was.


    “... I guess so.”


    Kang-Woo nodded and paid attention to the uing battle. The others thought so as well, mainly thinking about how long Tae-Hyun would be able tost against Si-Hun.


    “Then, let us begin,” Si-Hun said.


    Their duel finally began. Si-Hun stretched out his arm and created a formless sword. He gripped the sword and leaped forward, leaving afterimages along his path. Si-Hun lightly swung his sword at Tae-Hyun after arriving in front of him in an instant.


    <i>ng—!</i>


    “Hup!”


    Tae-Hyun took out a dagger from his waist and blocked Si-Hun’s attack. Si-Hun did not falter and spun to attack again.


    <i>‘Heavenly Dragon Rampage.’</i>


    He used a sword technique without hesitation to end the battle as quickly as possible. Hundreds of sword attacks aimed at Tae-Hyun, all real attacks made of formless swords.


    <i>ng, ng, ng—!!</i>


    “...!”


    Tae-Hyun parried every single attack aimed at him, leaving Si-Hun in shock.


    “What the...”


    Si-Hun did not stay shocked for long and went on the offensive again.


    <i>ng! ng! aang!</i>


    However, none of his attacks were able to even graze Tae-Hyun. Si-Hun added feints now and then but Tae-Hyun perfectly parried his attacks with just a dagger.


    <i>‘What’s going on?’</i>


    Si-Hun’s eyes were filled with shock. Tae-Hyun’s movements were not exceptional nor was he a better martial artist than Si-Hun. No, Tae-Hyun’s movements were just fast; they were poor in terms of quality.


    <i>‘So how...’</i>


    How was he able to deflect every single one of Si-Hun’s attacks?


    <i>‘It’s as if... he knows the future.’</i>


    “Haap!” Tae-Hyun shouted and charged at Si-Hun.


    Translucent light particles that looked like scattered crystal fragments poured out of Tae-Hyun’s ne. He held the dagger in a reverse grip and swung it down. Si-Hun calmly raised his sword to block the attack.


    <i>aaaang!</i>


    “Kurgh!”


    The formless sword shattered in an instant as if a wooden sword collided with a steel sword. Si-Hun quickly jumped back as his hands were numb from the impact.


    “Fuuu.”


    Si-Hun’s eyes sank deeply and he bit his lip anxiously.


    <i>‘... Divinity.’</i>


    That was the only thing that could shatter a sword made of condensed sword energy so easily.


    “...”


    Si-Hun clenched his fist tighter. He knew how overwhelmingly disadvantaged one without Deific Essence was against one with Deific Essence.


    “Fuuu, haaa.” Si-Hun took deep breaths and turned to look at Kang-Woo watching the battle.


    <i>“Thanks... for staying as my little brother.”</i>


    Kang-Woo’s words echoed in his head.


    <i>‘I can’t lose.’ </i>Si-Hun gritted his teeth. <i>‘Not when hyung is watching.’</i>


    Si-Hun’s eyes set aze with passion.


    <i>Riiing.</i>


    [Raising yer Kim Si-Hun’s assimtion with the Martial God!]


    A clear bell chime rang in his head.


    ***


    “...”


    Kang-Woo frowned aggressively as he watched the battle. He stared at Tae-Hyun who was overpowering Si-Hun.


    <i>‘He kinda gives off the protagonist energy as well.’</i>


    If Si-Hun gave off the aura of a Korean manhwa protagonist, then Tae-Hyun gave off the aura of a Japanese light novel protagonist.


    <i>‘You know, the trope of the worst ss actually being the strongest. Fucking hell. Why are there so many goddamn protagonists? What about me? Huh? What about me, goddammit?’</i>


    Kang-Woo wanted to be a protagonist too.


    1. Refer to Chapter 13. ?


    2. Refer to Chapter 20. ?