Vol 2 Chapter 59

That's why, when his master had asked if he was afraid now, he had said it was fine because he had picked up the sword again, that it wasn't even worth worrying about...

Because he had been certain that he would never encounter that guy in this reality again.

But now, in this moment, Kapros was...

Ugh. His right leg started to throb. Unable to even cry out, he twisted his body in that familiar yet eternally disgusting pain.

Strange. He was in MIST right now. It shouldn't hurt like this.

Damn it...!

"Kap!"

"What's wrong?"

Right. Focus. He needed to focus first. Barely catching the shouts of familiar voices coming from far away, Kapros struggled like a castaway grasping at the last distress signal.

"Huff..."

He tried not to recall anything in his blackened mind. Succeeding in exhaling the breath caught in his throat by the instinct that he needed to breathe first, his vision recovered a moment later. He could properly see Kran supporting him and Yu-wan's contorted face. Both seemed very surprised and asked various questions loudly, but Kapros had something to do before answering.

He felt various parts of his body to check his condition. The pain in his leg had disappeared like an illusion. At the same time, he reflexively felt around his face. He could feel the hood still properly in place, fulfilling its function.

'Thank goodness...'

As he felt relieved, his mind suddenly cleared as if he had been hit hard on the back of the head. Damn it. What a state to be in.

"I'm fine."

Gritting his teeth with rising anger, he stood up, shook off the supporting hands, and stood straight.

"You're not fine. Your condition was strange! Your body was flickering..."

Kran tried to stop him with a pale expression, but when their eyes met, he flinched and froze. Turning his gaze from Yu-wan and Kran who dared not touch him, Kapros clearly saw for the first time the face of the man watching the situation in front of him, his old friend Jeong Seung-jo whom he never thought he'd encounter in a place like this.

The finely sparkling silver hair and well-defined features caught his eye first. The face and shoulders that formed an irritatingly straight line were familiar enough to curse at. His height, which had been tall enough to receive modeling offers before, had grown even taller. The fantasy-style armor, straps, and cape he wore were unfamiliar, unlike the blue school uniform or black kendo uniform Kapros knew, but they looked like his original clothes without any sense of incongruity. Lastly, the sword at his waist was on the right side, not the left.

'Phew.'

He barely managed to sigh. Should he say it was fortunate? Looking closely, there were some differences from the slightly youthful face in his memory. Of course, that was when he was still a growing high school student, but now he definitely felt like an adult. Perhaps because of that, his reason finally returned.

'Right... for now...'

All the emotions about the nightmarish past that had come alive before his eyes couldn't take precedence over this crisis situation. Kapros firmly stomped down on those feelings that were about to burst out. The top priority was to escape from here and reach the place where Kran needed to receive his quest.

'I am strong.'

He clenched his fist, firmly engraving once again the words he had always muttered when he was struggling to swing his sword for a long time, or during the rehabilitation training he had thought impossible. As he did so, he felt the struggling emotions slowly being pushed inward.

Right. Even if it's just until he achieves his goal, he can't waver now.

'I won't lose to you.'

Only he could fully control himself. He filled his mind with that one fact alone. Until finally, all those useless emotions disappeared, and he could face the nightmare before him normally.

'...Done.'

Jeong Seung-jo, no, Caesar had been observing without moving even as Kapros had been looking at him for a while, but after a moment, he turned around and slightly raised one eyebrow as if puzzled. That was the expression he made when he felt slightly displeased with someone.

Kapros was satisfied with himself for being able to recall Seung-jo's habits relatively calmly in his now clearer mind. Unlike usual, his body was now perfectly under his control. How long had it been since he had concentrated his mind this extremely? His mind, cleared as if washed clean with cold water, quickly found the next thing to do.

"Kran. How much time is left?"

"Huh, what?"

As Kapros asked with a cool smile, Kran, who had been standing dumbfounded, questioned back with a surprised face.

"Your quest. How much time is left?"

Only then did Kran gasp and mutter as if opening his quest window.

"...Gasp."

From the shocked groan that immediately burst out, Kapros knew as expected that not much time was left. The time they had spent wandering and going around after coming here was no joke, and the time wasted panicking after meeting Caesar was even more, so it was natural.

"Only an hour and a half left..."

The trembling voice announced the remaining time. An hour and a half... 90 minutes.

"That's enough time."

After speaking briefly, Kapros looked at Yu-wan. As if he had been waiting for it, Yu-wan's gaze also met his. The moment he saw those straight eyes, Kapros felt a slight confidence surging in and smiled faintly.

Then Yu-wan, who probably couldn't have seen Kapros's smile properly because of the hood, smiled very slowly in response.

That confirmed it. Yu-wan would follow whatever Kapros did here. Kapros too would understand even if Yu-wan did something incomprehensible. No more words were necessary.

"You said your name was Caesar."

An unfamiliar name he was calling for the first time.

The person in front of him now was just Caesar. Nothing more, nothing less. And to him, Kapros should be just a mage user named Kapros, nothing else. For that, he would have to absolutely protect his face first. Hmm. That only disadvantaged him.

Kapros kept smiling and slowly stepped towards the man.

"I'll face you. Come."