The Genius Assassin Who Does It All Himself - Chapter 176



Only Krnovel

Episode 176 Akiyama Takashi (1)

* * *

Takashi always emphasized pattern memorization in the original work and pursued ‘thinking play’ as the top priority.

In a way, I was sincere in everything I did and in my strategies. I enjoyed thinking hard and taking on challenges.

Thirteen stars, on the other hand, took a different approach.

When they were beginners, they enjoyed trials and tribulations and preferred to encounter difficulties.

After my level and skill level reached the right level, I wanted to conquer the game easily with easy methods.

There was no need to take risks and go to extreme lengths.

They have become increasingly more avoidant of injuries or failures that could diminish their value.

Anyway, trial and error could be experienced by sending a separate exploration team.

I just had to get some useful information from them and then move forward with a strategy that was close to the correct answer.

Takashi in the original was always displeased with that.

It was fun being able to go to different dungeons because of the thirteen stars, but that was it.

So, towards the end of the original work, he was seen acting individually, separated from the thirteen stars.

At that time, the words he left behind were lines that Kang-hoo wrote himself, so he still remembered them clearly.

– The fruit you eat without knowing the value of the hardship is sweet. But, you know. The fruit you eat with the knowledge of its value is like a thrilling drug that you will never forget for the rest of your life.

Naturally, my colleagues’ reaction was lukewarm.

In particular, the Chae Gwan-hyung who was hostile to him said that if you talk nonsense for too long, it’s just nonsense, and if you keep nagging him, he’ll tell him to leave the thirteen stars.

‘He doesn’t open his heart easily, but once he does, he’s the type to give everything.’

That’s how Kang-hoo defined Takashi.

As much as he loves adventure and challenge, he should approach it with that in mind. He is a passionate hunter.

Part of the eccentric appearance known to the public is a disguise. It is a device to weed out unlucky relationships.

“… … .”

Kang-hoo stood still, focusing all his mind on the flow of mana around him.

It’s a feast of countless mana traps, none of which can be seen with the naked eye.

They have set traps everywhere, to the point where the expression “toxic” seems appropriate.

If Takashi himself, who designed it, is not properly aware of it, it is a trap that is bound to be touched nine times out of ten.

The more you concentrate.

It was seen and felt.

Even though I couldn’t see it with my own eyes, I could draw a map by following the flow of my senses.

‘I should praise you for managing your weight so well. If you were obese, you wouldn’t have been able to go.’

I burst out laughing.

The area with dense mana traps would have been impossible to pass through without my current body type.

Swish. Swish.

After finishing the calculation, Kang-hoo started moving without hesitation.

I didn’t rely on it visually at all, because there was nothing to see anyway.

I trusted my body’s feelings, my senses. I moved along the route that my senses believed was safe.

There are also sections where you have to jump high or even jump over obstacles depending on the need.

I ended up adding a bit of a performance, half voluntarily and half involuntarily. Takashi is probably watching it all.

I glanced back and saw Youngho Ahn and Fumiya watching with worried expressions.

It might seem strange to jump up and down in the empty air where you can’t see anything, and then lower your body.

It was good anyway.

Right now, what’s more important is how Takashi sees himself than the two people behind him.

* * *

At the same time, as Kang-hoo had expected, Takashi was watching every move through the CCTV.

As it was a training ground, they were serious about installing CCTVs. There were so many that it seemed excessive.

Thanks to this, I was able to see Kang-hoo’s movements from various angles, and Takashi’s gaze became deeper as time went on.

“It’s pretty good, isn’t it?”

I thought I was lucky when I avoided the first few trap lines.

Because there were some sections that were so precarious that it felt like my toes or body would touch the ground.

But as time passed, Takashi began to feel that there was a problem with his judgment, which he had attributed to luck.

Kang-hoo was avoiding it as if he had a map of the trap lines memorized in his head.

At some point, they started moving without any concerns and with a generous amount of distance between them.

“Look at this guy… … .”

Takashi sipped his sugar-sweetened coffee and leaned closer into Kang-hoo’s video.

My neck, which was already suffering from forward head posture, was sticking out even further today.

I thought I knew why he had the guts to immediately say he wanted to see me.

It seems that there was something reliable about his own abilities. Enough to prove that it was not just empty boasting, but the truth.

While Takashi was admiring and admiring again, Kang-hoo had already entered quite deep inside.

There have been countless hunters who have tried to pass through the trap out of curiosity or, like this encounter, as a test.

However, Kang-hoo was the first person to enter the section that Takashi had marked as G.

Starting from section A, which is the entrance, you had to break through to section H to get as far inside the abandoned factory as possible.

Kang-hoo was about to enter the last section. It was his first entry record.

Right then.

Pa-pa-pa-pa! Pa-pa-pa! Pa-pa-pa!

As if Kang-hoo was doing acrobatics, he would jump and lower his body, moving his body here and there, repeating the process.

Phaaaat!

Within a short leap, he dived through the trap lines of the H section in one breath.

When entering diagonally, Kang-hoo accurately caught the ‘only’ safe gap and entered.

It was such a perfect entry that you could almost say someone had the blueprint planted in their head.

“Phuhat!”

Takashi burst into laughter.

It’s funny how he’s trying to test his guests with such eccentricities.

On the one hand, it was funny to see Kang-hoo being so serious in a space that was clearly made up of such weirdos.

Although it was a humorous code that others could not understand, Takashi found it sufficiently enjoyable and fun.

“This is fun, this is fun. Oh no. This is not the time to be doing this.”

Takashi, who had been concentrating on the video, began to diligently fiddle with the pad.

I didn’t think I’d ever use the microphone attached to my clone, but it seemed like I’d have to talk to Kang-hoo.

“Ah. Ah. Hmm. Big.”

After keeping his mouth shut for a while, he calmed down his voice, which had become as quiet as it could be.

If you keep saying things the wrong way, the conversation could turn into a heated one right from the first time you meet.

Takashi’s eyes became serious.

I guess I’ll have to talk to him to find out what kind of guy he is, but he seems like a very interesting guy.

I wanted to talk quickly.

* * *

‘When will this guy’s obsession with the warrior end? It makes me laugh every time I see him. Is he intentionally making me laugh?’

Meanwhile, Kang-hoo, who had entered the final section, saw Takashi’s clone at the scene and laughed.

I had thought that there might be a clone in Korea around this time, but it seems that he has returned.

Anyway, coming from Korea to Japan is something that can be done quickly in just a few hours.

Even if I was in Korea in the morning, it wasn’t strange to be in Japan in the afternoon.

Takashi’s clone was wearing a red armor covering his entire body, a devil mask, and many amulets with unknown Chinese characters written on them.

It had Chinese colors to it, but it was basically Japanese to it, so it was not really Chinese.

Overall, it was a terrible hybrid.

I thought, “This is typical of Takashi,” but I couldn’t help but wonder if it really had to be this way.

at that time.

Whirlirik! Chook!

Takashi’s clone made flashy movements and thrust a sharp Japanese sword in front of Kang-hoo’s nose.

It was a distance that would have given me a sharp cut somewhere in my nose if I had come forward just half a finger joint further.

But Kang-hoo didn’t even blink an eye and just stared straight into the eyes of his clone.

It was a gaze directed at the guy who was Takashi’s clone, but was also his real self.

The link between the clone and the original self is not simply a mechanical one.

If that were the case, we would have been blocked in the dungeon. Because the use of electronic devices created by human civilization is impossible in the dungeon.

But the clone could share Takashi’s senses anytime, anywhere. It was a spiritual bond.

– You said you wanted to see me. What was the reason, Mr. Shin Kang-hoo?

Even though it was a conversation right in front of me, it felt like there was quite a bit of distance because of the microphone.

For a brief moment, Kang-hoo wondered if this was the distance between him and Takashi’s fate.

It’s a kind of random thought. It’s a paradoxical, unsystematic thought that comes to mind to endure tension.

Kang-hoo, who had found his composure within it, prepared to open his mouth confidently.

Kanghoo’s concept was simple.

I was thinking of benchmarking the way Emilia became close to Takashi in the original.

The method is ‘pushing in’.

Funnily enough, I’m showing off my confidence that I like you and that you like me too.

For Takashi, a orthodox approach was meaningless, as it only served to further stimulate his misguided distrust.

For example, they admire your skills, they think you’re cool, or they’ve been looking forward to meeting you for a long time.

Such lip service comments are actually poisonous to Takashi.

Considering its original nature, it is not an easy word to get rid of.

Kang-hoo thought that for now, he had become the person Takashi wanted him to be, and decided to act accordingly.

“Let’s be friends.”

– What did you say?

Takashi’s clone tilted its head to one side at Kang-hoo’s sudden shout.

It was just a nod of approval, as if to say, “What the hell are you talking about in front of me?”

“Not the kind of friends who just comfort and comfort each other without a soul. I’m talking about friends who sweat, clash, compete, and grow together.”

– Why me?

A short question, but the confusion is evident in his voice, which trembles ever so slightly.

It’s a positive sign.

Because it’s Takashi’s natural defense mechanism as he doesn’t want to show his true feelings from the beginning.

The trembling is Takashi’s human weakness that he was unable to control perfectly.

“People like us are always lonely, aren’t we?”

I raised the tone a bit.

It was a high tone that didn’t match his usual low-middle tone voice, but it gave his words more power.

– You don’t know me. I don’t know what you know, so I don’t know why you lump us all together and say we’re the same.

“You can learn what you don’t know. Even if we were strangers, once we’ve met each other, we’re now one of us.”

– Are you seriously talking nonsense?

“If you talk seriously about bullshit, it becomes plausible.”

Takashi was about to say something in rebuttal to Kang-hoo’s response, which was like a snake biting back, but he soon closed his mouth.

It was amazing how calmly Kang-hoo spoke as if he wasn’t even slightly offended by those words.

On the one hand, I wondered what this guy believed in to be so confident.

The keyword that runs through these thoughts is curiosity.

Takashi himself was being drawn into Kang-hoo’s proactive attitude without even realizing it.

It was a refreshing shock to Takashi, who had rarely experienced a straightforward approach.

Except for the thirteen stars, he has always been an object of fear and respect to someone.

So I had never seen a hunter act so ‘boldly’ before. It was because everyone was afraid.

Rising interest.

That’s why Kang-hoo, who started to look different after passing through the mana trap, started to look special.

If you suddenly look different as a person, some people might point fingers and ask if you are writing a novel.

But that was my heart.

As if a filter had been applied, curiosity about the person named Shin Kang-hoo began to multiply endlessly.

It was a split second, and the resonance was enough to stimulate Takashi’s sense of inquiry.