Vol 4 Chapter 23

Kapros slowly turned his gaze towards Caesar. As if he had been waiting, Caesar was looking at him. Judging by his devouring gaze, it seemed that not only Kapros, but Caesar also had business with him.

'If that's the case, maybe avoiding him earlier would have been worse. He would have chased after me.'

Kapros saw Caesar subtly waving his hand towards him with a chilling smile.

'Is he telling me to come?'

Alright. He'll go.

After pulling his hood tighter and lowering it to his nose, Kapros quietly muttered a spell.

"Fly."

Whoosh, his body rose up.

"Ah... Kap?"

"I'm going down first."

After briefly informing them, Kapros moved his floating body and flew towards the arena. The cheers unexpectedly began to change into murmurs again at this unexpected event.

'Wh-what's that? Is that the competitor from earlier?'

'Did he use magic?'

Ignoring such reactions, Kapros landed a few meters in front of Caesar, who was waiting for him, and spoke.

"It's been a while."

"...Yes. Mage. Or should I say magic swordsman now, since you're using a sword too?"

As he heard Caesar's reply, Kapros slowly examined his face from beneath his hood.

'As expected...'

Caesar's face hadn't changed much from what Kapros had seen in the video. The noticeably gaunt face, dark shadows, and dried-up expression... The only slight difference was that the emotion that had been pouring out like madness then was not visible now, but his eyes, burning unnaturally bright, were the same.

Really... As Kapros momentarily lost his words at the sight that seemed like Jeong Seung-jo from that day was standing before him again, Caesar began to slowly approach him with a smile on his cold eyes.

"Did you receive my signal well?"

If he meant a signal... Was it that 'clattering' from a few days ago...

"Yes."

"You're quite quiet. Well. I just saw you compete. It was surprising."

"..."

As Kapros's eyebrows twitched at the words coming out of nowhere, shouts were heard from behind.

"Kap!"

"Hyung!"

Kran and Un-o, who had to come through the stairs because Kapros had suddenly flown away, rushed behind him urgently.

"Why did you go ahead?"

Kran, who had kept his mouth tightly shut as if recalling past memories upon seeing Caesar, asked quietly.

"Fly is for one person only."

"...What?"

When Kapros answered calmly, Kran showed an expression as if he might stagger for a moment, but it couldn't be helped. It was the truth. If Fly had been a magic that could accommodate multiple people, of course Kran or Un-o would have come along, but since it was for one person only, there was no choice. Anyway, wasn't it fine that they came this quickly? Thinking this, Kapros looked back at Caesar, who smirked.

"Haha. It was three people then, and it's three people now. Well, anyway, I only have business with you alone. It doesn't matter."

The 'you alone' Caesar pointed to was clearly Kapros. When Kapros didn't respond to the words spoken while glaring directly at him, Caesar made an unpleasant expression and continued speaking.

"I had already expected that a Superior quest user would learn sword skills. But after watching that match just now, I've become really curious about one thing."

"..."

For a moment, Kapros felt his heart beating a bit more strongly. As he held his breath at that subtle sensation, the voice continued as if it had been waiting.

"...By any chance, have you learned swordsmanship in reality?"

"..."

A strange wave crashed in Kapros's chest.

For a moment, a silence as if an abyss had formed between Caesar and Kapros lingered. At the utterly unexpected question he couldn't have imagined, Kapros felt even his expression disappearing.

'Why would he ask such a question...?'

Caesar's expression, which Kapros hurriedly scanned, was slightly hardened but didn't show any signs of suspicion or doubt. With that, Kapros barely managed to relax his body, which had unknowingly tensed up, and thought he should answer. By then, his surprised feelings had somewhat subsided.

"Why are you asking that?"

"Because if you've learned it, it seems strange that you chose to be a mage."

The answer came back immediately. At that response, Kapros felt something that he couldn't be sure whether to call relief or slight regret sweep through his heart and disappear.

Was that question... like the strange sense of incongruity Kapros had felt even when he didn't know Caesar was Jeong Seung-jo, meaning that maybe Caesar was feeling something similar?

"It's my choice."

In the end, Kapros substituted an answer with a short, ambiguous statement that was neither affirmative nor negative. It might just be his own desire, but Kapros didn't want to be entangled as Kang Mu-heon and Jeong Seung-jo in MIST until Caesar completely figured him out. If that happened, the other life he was currently living in the game would no longer be another life.

The fact that he could see Caesar so casually here, who had refused to meet him in reality, was because Caesar and Kapros had met here as strangers. Kapros wanted to ask Caesar a question that only he, wearing the mask of that stranger, could ask.

"Then I'd like to ask one thing too."

"..."

Taking Caesar's silence as permission to ask, Kapros continued with his next words.

"Why are you suddenly going around inciting users? You clearly said you had no intention of fighting us along the way."

At that, a suddenly inorganic smile appeared on Caesar's lips.

"...Did I say that?"

Caesar's eyes, which questioned back as if it were nothing, were seen to shine with a strange light for a moment.

"I might have said that, but I guess I had a bit more patience then. But now I'm just tired of it and want to quit."

"...What did you say?"

Beside him, Kapros heard Kran unconsciously uttering words mixed with anger through his teeth.

"Is this a game to you?"

"No. You're less fun than a game."

Caesar, raising the corners of his mouth even more at Kran's words, answered mockingly and then looked at Kapros.

"It's just a game anyway. Whatever I do is my choice, and if I want to kill, I kill. If you have a problem with it, then win. Though you'll die before that."

As Kapros faced that intensity, which felt even stronger than when he had first witnessed Caesar's outpouring of hatred while standing in front of the crosswalk long ago, he had a thought close to certainty that Caesar's words weren't a complete answer. Quitting because he was tired of it? Those words were literally an excuse to pick a fight. Kapros could be sure of that from Caesar's current attitude.