Reincarnator’s Stream

Thunk-.

The tip of the sword pierced through the back of the giant tribe’s leader’s neck. The sword penetrated his throat and protruded from the other side.

– ?????????

– Wha… What’s happening?????

– Are you regaining your senses, rice ball? Are you regaining your senses, rice ball? Are you regaining your senses, rice ball?

– No, seriously, how is this possible, LOL

The chat was in total chaos. It was completely understandable.

– Has this ever been captured?

– Never. Absolutely never.

– How can you capture this? This stage wasn’t designed for that.

– When did he see the kill opportunity?

– It was different from when facing the Wolf Warrior.

– Both weren’t meant to be captured, but the apparent difficulty was vastly different.

– Everyone had faced the Wolf Warrior at least once.

Every player aimed their swords and weapons at the Wolf Warrior, and some skilled players even managed to leave scars on it.

But the giant tribe’s leader was different. It was impossible even to approach it, let alone kill it. That was the giant tribe’s leader.

Roar-!

With a scream that seemed to shake the forest, the remaining strength was squeezed out from the giant tribe’s leader with the sword through its neck, quickly diminishing the effect of the ‘Thunderclap’.

Immediately after.

Growl-?

Roar-!

The giants, who had temporarily lost their hearing due to the Thunderclap, regained their senses.

『 Hu… man…! 』

Perhaps it was a boss-level entity like the Wolf Warrior. The language that flowed from the giant tribe’s leader’s mouth pierced into the ears.

Crack-!

Booom-.

The giant tribe’s leader, with the sword lodged in its neck, broke a nearby tree and swung it. The resistance was fierce.

Its strength, due to its colossal size, was on a different level from other giants. For a moment, the hand holding the sword almost loosened due to its force.

‘This is troublesome.’

As its life was fading, it was igniting its remaining embers.

Crack-.

To avoid losing his grip, Suhyuk tightened his hold on the sword.

– How is it still alive with a sword through its neck ㄷㄷ

– From its perspective, the sword isn’t that big, so it’s understandable.

– Exactly. It should have been slashed, not stabbed.

– He doesn’t know.

‘If I had tried to slash, the sword wouldn’t have penetrated.’

Just piercing through the neck took considerable strength.

With the same amount of force, focusing it on a single point produces more destructive power. While beheading would be more certain, Suhyuk instinctively judged it impossible.

Thanks to that decision, he managed to pierce its neck, and the giant tribe’s leader was struggling as it clung to life.

Roar-!

Growl-.

Below the giant tribe’s leader. Comparatively shorter giants surrounded the area. If he fell, their clubs would mangle his body.

『 Hu… man…!!! 』

If left alone, it seemed like it would survive for a long time. As one viewer correctly pointed out, the larger its body, the thinner the area penetrated by the sword.

In that case.

“Stop being stubborn-.”

Crack-.

He had no choice but to twist the sword and widen the wound.

“Just, die!”

Suhyuk twisted the sword lodged in its neck. He had no choice but to sever its life as quickly as possible.

‘The goal of the fifth stage is survival. This thing is the boss of the stage.’

Ziiik-.

The wound on the neck widened. Gradually, to a fatal degree for the giant.

‘This thing must die for the stage to end.’

『 Kaaak-, Kuck…! 』

The giant tribe’s leader screamed. The scream from its 5-meter-tall body shook Suhyuk’s ears. Was it its final struggle?

The giant tribe’s leader resisted even more fiercely at the last moment. As if trying to throw off Suhyuk, who was perched on its neck. And then, in the next moment.

Boom-.

Splat-!

“…!”

Suhyuk’s body, which was clinging to the giant’s neck, was thrown. The giant tribe’s leader swung its fist towards the back of its neck.

Although the punch wasn’t very powerful due to its unstable stance, the strength emanating from its sheer size couldn’t be ignored.

Crash-!

“Argh…”

The impact made Suhyuk dizzy. At the same time, he heard a thud. The giant tribe’s leader had fallen to the ground.

Booom-.

A club came flying through the air simultaneously.

Crack-!

The wooden club crashed into the ground, splintering into fragments. Suhyuk hurriedly moved his body to avoid the club, his eyes scanning the surroundings.

‘If it weren’t for the armor, it would have been dangerous.’

The rare-grade armor, thunderclap. Thanks to the armor layered beneath his clothes, he was able to withstand a hit. It seems impossible.

– There are just too many.

– Trying to capture that thing from the start was a mistake.

– But it was amazing, right?

– Yeah, totally agree.

– Looks like he might need a second try.

‘No.’

Booom-

Dodging another club, Suhyuk rolled his eyes.

‘It’s not over yet.’

He had taken a hit, but the outcome remained unchanged. He had reached the giant tribe’s leader as initially planned and succeeded in stabbing its neck with his sword.

In reality.

Groan, groan-.

The giant tribe’s leader, who was writhing on the ground, gasping for its last breaths, finally died.

『You have defeated ‘Seed of the Giant’.』

『You have cleared ‘Stage 5 – Survival’.』

『You have achieved an unbelievable feat.』

『You have leveled up.』 x 2

『Strength increased by 1.』

『Agility increased by 2.』

『Stamina increased by 2.』

『Magic increased by 1.』

Messages appeared consecutively.

+2 stamina points.

Just when his stamina was running low, vitality surged through his body.

‘It worked.’

The stage’s boss. He had captured a creature that initially couldn’t be captured. Leveling up and increasing stats at the same time. Suhyuk had factored this in from the start.

Though his body had regained some vitality. This was still not enough to break through the encirclement of giants and escape the area.

‘Please, show up.’

The message window hadn’t closed yet. Dodging clubs while being surrounded by giants, Suhyuk prayed internally.

‘A skill or item to escape this situation.’

As time seemed to slow. A reward for defeating the ‘Seed of the Giant’, formerly known as the giant tribe’s leader, appeared.

Boom-!

A single yellow bolt of lightning fell from the sky.

Groan-?

Roar-!

The giants who had been swinging their clubs at Suhyuk hesitated and stepped back.

Crackle, crackle-.

A startled voice came from Suhyuk’s mouth as he looked at the reward that appeared before him.

“… Huh?”

Was he seeing things wrong?

But looking again, the message in front of him wasn’t changing.

‘Why is this appearing already?’

*

Tweet, tweet-.

Birds chirped throughout the forest. In the middle of the forest, a woman fiddled with a kit in front of a small cabin with a rocking chair.

Creak-.

An austere-looking man came out of the cabin as the door opened.

Kim Shiwoo.

He approached Kim Yerung, who was passing the time rocking the chair.

“What are you doing out here?”

“The birds sound beautiful. The weather is nice too.”

“Those are words you should say without the kit in your hands.”

Swoosh-.

Shiwoo sat on the stack of firewood next to the rocking chair. Indeed, the weather was nice. It wasn’t for nothing that Yerung had come out here.

Yerung, who was looking at the kit in the rocking chair, asked absentmindedly.

“It’s almost time, right?”

A question without a subject. But it was obvious what she was asking about.

“Yeah. Probably in about a year at most…”

“My life ends here too, huh. I’ve lived long enough.”

“Don’t joke. It’s not funny.”

“Of course not. It wasn’t meant to be funny.”

Even as she said that, Yerung kept her eyes glued to the kit’s screen. She was always engrossed in the kit, but it was more intense this time.

Even though she had come out here on purpose, she didn’t give him a single glance.

“Put the kit down already. Aren’t you tired of it?”

“What else is there to do in this boring place besides this?”

“Drink tea, meditate…”

“You do that, old man.”

Despite her retort, Yerung didn’t take her eyes off the kit. Shiwoo stared intently at Yerung’s eyes. Something about her seemed different from usual.

“Is there something interesting?”

“Oh, this…”

Yerung turned the kit screen she was looking at towards Shiwoo.

“Lee Suhyuk. There’s an interesting kid down there.”

“Suhyuk? You mean…”

“No, not that Suhyuk. Just a kid with the same name, a streamer who just started taking trials on the 2nd floor.”

“Ah, the 2nd floor… a streamer…”

Shiwoo, who had been half out of his seat in excitement, sat back down. If it were the real Lee Suhyuk, it would be impossible for him to be taking trials on the 2nd floor. Moreover, the Suhyuk they knew wasn’t the type to stream, even jokingly.

The aftertaste of disappointment was bitter. Yerung sighed as she looked at Shiwoo.

Kim Shiwoo visited Suhyuk’s memorial every year to place flowers he had made. She spoke again, fearing he might harbor false hopes.

“Let’s let go now.”

“Are you talking about that again?”

“You know it too, right? If Suhyuk were alive, there’s no way that scumbag Kim Ilsoo would still be alive.”

Shiwoo nodded.

It was true.

Their friend, Lee Suhyuk, was in a league of his own. The same Lee Suhyuk who had sent them flying with Pacho.

Had he survived, neither Kim Ilsoo nor Blue Zone would have any presence left in this tower.

“Suhyuk is dead.”

“… I know.”

“No, you don’t. How much longer are you going to live in his shadow? It’s time to let go, please-.”

“What about you?”

Thump.

Shiwoo, silent for a moment, reached out and took the kit from Yerung.

“Then why are you watching this?”

“Oh, that’s just for fun-.”

“You even watched Cha Minwoo’s stream. Until you heard he was recruited to Blue Zone, that is.”

“…”

Yerung bit her lip.

At first, she thought she was watching just for entertainment. But in reality, Shiwoo had noticed before she did.

“You watch every stream where someone tries to imitate Suhyuk, wearing that mask, right?”

He knew why she watched streams related to Lee Suhyuk.

“We’re the same, you and I. We can’t get out of Suhyuk’s shadow.”

With that, Shiwoo returned the kit streaming Suhyuk’s stream to Yerung.

Crack-.

Yerung gripped the kit tightly, her head bowed. She missed them. The comrades she had been with until 20 years ago.

Lee Suhyuk, who had foolishly used Pacho to save her and stayed behind alone. She missed them so much-

“Sob…”

-That it was hard to endure each day.

Drip-.

Yerung, her head hung low, eventually burst into tears.

“Sigh-.”

Shiwoo sighed and moved closer, patting her shoulder. In his brief outburst, he had said something unnecessary.

‘This is why I didn’t want to talk about it.’

He had known all along. Why Yerung watched streams of Cha Minwoo and other streamers impersonating Lee Suhyuk.

He didn’t mention it because she seemed unaware of it herself.

‘Yeah. We’re the same. Whether it’s her or me, living in that guy’s shadow.’

No one was in a position to blame anyone. With that thought, Shiwoo reached down to pick up the kit Yerung had dropped.

But then.

‘What’s that?’

On the kit lying on the ground. A reward obtained by streamer Lee Suhyuk for passing the trial was displayed.

『You’ve obtained the skill ‘Lightning’.』

‘Lightning?’