Vol 1 Chapter 15

Four years by the calendar, actually about three years ago, Kapros was hit by a truck and flew, sustaining severe injuries all over his body. The most serious part was his right leg, which was crushed after being hit and thrown. He underwent several major surgeries. He heard that he had been in a coma, hovering between life and death, and his heart had stopped a few times, but he didn't remember.

Anyway, on what should have been his most glorious day, he was struck by an unbelievable bolt from the blue, and barely opened his eyes again amidst the tears of those around him. With a hazy consciousness, the first thing he asked was only one thing.

"S... Seung-jo... what about him...?"

When he barely managed to speak with his cracked voice, he became anxious as the joyful voices at his awakening suddenly stopped as if it were a lie. In the end, his master firmly held his hand and spoke, replacing his mother who had started crying and his father who was patting her back.

"Mu-heon, Seung-jo has left."

"...What?"

"He's gone. He left completely. After calling the hospital to send you to the operating room, he left Korea without a word."

Not being able to ask why, the news that he would never see the person in question again was unbelievable.

"Ah... ah..."

Since when had it been like that?

Since when had he hated him so much?

He couldn't even ask if he really hated him or if it was just impulsive.

He couldn't hit him, couldn't confront him...

He couldn't even tell him how shocking it was to learn that while he had always thought of him as his true friend, Seung-jo didn't think of him that way...

"Ugh... ugh..."

He's gone? Completely gone?

Tears came. Tears flowed from his closed eyes as he tried to hold them back. Seeing this, his mother cried more, but his master held his hand even tighter.

That guy had betrayed him to the very end.

Without leaving even a single word, he had left, hiding even a single hair. He had disappeared as if he had never existed in the first place. The name Jeong Seung-jo still remained on the list of runners-up for the National Kendo Championship, and Kapros despaired at the betrayal that was even worse than words.

"Huff... Huff..."

As he limped along on the treadmill, adjusting his pace, Kapros sometimes recalled that time. Although that guy had left nothing for him, Kapros would remember him whenever he looked at his leg.

Three years after that.

For a year, while focusing on recovery and rehabilitation training, Kapros picked up a pen with the empty hand that had lost the sword. He studied fiercely. Not wanting to think about anything, he filled his head with only studies and his body with only rehabilitation training. The results were good, and now he had entered university and could walk, albeit inadequately, but he couldn't fill the hole in his heart.

Sometimes he thought.

If he met that guy again, what should he say... How could he act...

It was a memory that darkened him like an endless swamp.

'Just thinking about this won't lead to any conclusion.'

Kapros stopped his 40-minute exercise and got off the treadmill. His back was soaked with sweat.

"I should take a shower... and log in again. Computer, activate bathroom option."

[ Activating bathroom option. ]

Whirr-

As he heard the sound of the option activating to prevent slipping accidents even for someone like him who couldn't use his legs properly, Kapros felt his churning stomach rapidly calming down at the thought of Mist.

Yes. At least now there was a place where he could run again.

This time when he logged in, he should stay in the tower and continue magic training until he met Kion-hyung.

When he came out to the square, realizing it was almost time for their appointment while practicing Fire Wall, one of the 2nd circle spells he was nearly mastering in the tower he had logged back into, Kapros stopped, seeing a strange scene.

"I'm asking if you're the one who beat up my friends!"

"And what if I am?"

"Hah!"

Kion-hyung was surrounded by some guys. The group of five or six emitting such a threatening aura that people around were starting to avoid them were by no means friendly. However, hyung's eyes were not intimidated at all, but rather met them head-on, exuding fighting spirit. Kapros approached hyung's side for now.

"...Who are these people?"

As Kapros approached, the guys' eyes turned to him, but he didn't mind and asked, gesturing slightly with his eyes.

"Kar. Why the hell did you come here, you bastard."

"What do you mean, why?"

Hyung's expression twisted strangely.

"In a situation like this, shouldn't you stay away?"

At that worried look, Kapros smiled slightly. The first person he had opened up to even a little since starting Mist was turning out to be a better person the more he got to know him.

"Is that dark-clothed bastard one of your gang too?"

At that moment, one of the opponents stepped forward and asked in a tone clearly full of displeasure. As hyung was about to flare up again at that tone, Kapros held him back by the shoulder and stepped forward.

"I'm that dark bastard you just mentioned. We're together, so what's the problem?"

If the other side comes at him unpleasantly, he'd respond in kind. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. And his principle was to pay back what he received five or ten times over.

The opponent laughed as if in disbelief and opened his mouth.

"That beggar-like thug priest beat my friends to a pulp when they went to buy something from a street vendor recently. We came to return the favor, but since he has company, it can't be helped. You should know it's your fault for having the wrong friend."

"Harassing a girl and then saying you were buying something?"

Hyung shouted.

"We can chat with a pretty NPC and build a relationship, are you saying you got angry thinking of it as a real person?"

"You perverted bastards! Fuck, the way you talk!"

Hyung raised his fist as if about to lunge at them, but Kapros gripped his shoulder even tighter. He could guess most of it, but he needed to hear it more clearly.

"Hyung, tell me properly. I don't know what's going on."

"Let go, you should know everything after hearing that! Those dog-like bastards harassed an NPC girl selling flowers first, so I delivered divine punishment to them. You saw it too! They couldn't even throw a punch and got properly beaten, yet they still haven't reflected and come in a group, what the hell?"

Light buzzed from hyung's fist as he raged, looking as if sparks would fly from his eyes.