The Skill Maker

Clank!

The sound of something shattering filled the place.

“Wh-what’s that?!”

The hunters felt something odd, so they quickly put their guard up.

However…….

“Wait…… What is…….”

“My head……!”

Thud!

Thud!

One by one, the hunters grabbed their heads and stumbled.

They did their best to endure it, but it was too much and they became unconscious.

The members tried to wake up by harming themselves, but in the end, they became unconscious.

Hyun-Soo was going to approach him, but he suddenly felt a really bad headache.

“Ack!”

Once Hyun-Soo realized that it was an illusion, the illusion shattered and it revealed reality.

After that, the members fell one by one as if they were attacked.

Hyun-Soo was sure that Karazhan, the owner of this portal, was doing this.

Hyun-Soo shook his head.

But it was useless.

His vision became blurry.

***

‘…… What happened?’

The bad headache he felt earlier disappeared.

Hyun-Soo had a blank expression while blinking his eyes.

“Hey, what are you doing? Spacing out?”

“He’s always like that.”

Someone patted their shoulder.

“Why…are you guys here?”

Their young faces were dirty.

Hyun-Soo recalled them despite his memories being hazy.

“Why? We’re here because we are, damn it. This is the best place to play hooky. Where else would we go?”

“Hooky?”

Hyun-Soo looked down at his body.

It was the uniform he wore when he was younger.

He saw a uniform that had been shortened to match the trend during that time.

“Why am I wearing a uniform?”

It’s already been several years since he graduated.

And the people in front of him were the bad students he would hang with at school.

But after he matured, he distanced himself from them.

At first, Hyun-Soo thought they came to where he was.

But that wasn’t it.

If his assumption was correct, then he was actually back in time.

‘What’s going on? Am I dreaming? I’m sure I became a hunter. And…’

“Hey, what are you doing?! Bring some money later so that we can go to the LAN center.”

“Damn it, you’re trying to make us level up your character, aren’t you?”

“Damn right. What’s wrong with that? I pay for you bastards, so what’s wrong with that?”

“It’s not even your money. You stole it.”

“You’re right.”

As Hyun-Soo watched them laugh amongst themselves, there was one thing he recalled.

‘I know…….’

When he was hanging out with them, he coincidentally met his mother.

During that time, he barely went home, so when his mother recognized him, she constantly called out his name.

And Hyun-Soo……

‘I ignored her.’

An immature past.

He was filled with annoyance during that time.

Thinking about it now, it was a really immature move.

He didn’t know why he felt that things were unfair and was annoyed about everything.

Anyways, Hyun-Soo ignored his mother and that moment was a painful memory to him.

But that memory was being replayed.

It was trying to show him that painful moment again.

‘It’s weird.’

Hyun-Soo felt something odd and it was something he couldn’t express with words.

When he opened his eyes again, he thought that this moment was reality.

Everything was exactly the same as how he remembered, so he questioned whether the events about him being a hunter were nothing more than an empty dream.

But the timing was extremely off for him to think like that.

It was as if someone was trying to pull out that pain and hurt him.

‘Wait. I was at the portal…….’

He had seen something.

Something that gave him a bad vibe.

‘And I’m sure…….’

His eyes met theirs.

And at the same time, the world split and he lost consciousness.

He started remembering the hazy moments.

Why he suddenly became unconscious.

What he saw before he became unconscious.

And what he had to do.

“Interface.”

Hyun-Soo’s spoke quietly.

The guys beside him had a confused look and asked what was going on.

But they were nothing more than an illusion

It wasn’t just them. Everything was an illusion.

——————————

[Illusion of the Past]

An illusion created by Karazhan.

They bring out the target’s pain and make them reveal their weak point.

It will keep playing if the target is unable to escape it.

——————————

After Hyun-Soo finished reading the information.

Shatter!

The world shattered again.

And then.

“Hyun-Soo……. Can’t you come home……? Mom is waiting. Please……?”

This time, it was Hyuna. Her eyes were filled with tears.

His little sister looked a lot younger.

He made his little sister cry.

‘I was really a piece of shit back then.’

After judging his past self without any hesitation, Hyun-Soo used Interface.

And the world shattered again.

A lot of illusions appeared in front of Hyun-Soo’s eyes.

“Damn it, do your job right! You expect to get paid by working like this?! I hired you despite you being young and this is how you repay me?”

From the owner that didn’t even treat the part-timers as human beings to…

“Hyun-Soo, I’m sorry…….”

His father apologizing to him after Hyun-Soo had to drop out of the Hunter Training School.

Once Hyun-Soo realized that they were all an illusion, they shattered one by one.

It seemed like Karazhan was trying to make Hyun-Soo hallucinate again, but…

“Stop wasting your energy and come out.”

Hyun-Soo smirked.

The illusions stopped appearing.

However, a one-eyed monster appeared behind a wet and dirty wall.

——————————

> Karazhan [Currently Developing]

> Psychological Monster

> Place of Major Appearance : ?

> Energy Field Status : 80%

> Peculiarity : Evolving/Hatching

> ??

——————————

‘Evolving?’

The first thing that caught his eyes was the monster’s rank.

He assumed that the portal had different colors because it was in the transformation stage.

And it was as if the monster’s rank was proof to show that his assumption was correct.

‘What the hell is going on?’

Hyun-Soo had a headache.

But the monster in front of him was more important.

While tightening his fist, Hyun-Soo looked at Karazhan.

Unlike the power that they had, they actually looked pretty cute.

Their form was similar to a human’s, but they had wings and their eye didn’t have a white layer and was all black.

The black smoke around them was probably poison because it had a foul smell.

Flap, flap.

The sound of Karazhan flapping their wings filled the room.

Hyun-Soo carefully glanced behind him.

The members fainted due to the pain.

They must’ve experienced the same type of illusion that Hyun-Soo experienced.

“How long are you just going to watch?”

He wasn’t sure if Karazhan understood, but Hyun-Soo provoked them.

He managed to break them by using Interface, but he wasn’t sure if that would work for the others.

Instead, he chose a method that would definitely end it.

It was……

‘Getting rid of the source is the surest way to end it.’

Killing Karazhan.

Hyun-Soo didn’t really have an advantage.

He didn’t really know Karazhan’s power and whether he could kill them by himself.

But that didn’t mean he shouldn’t do anything.

‘Reminds me of the old days.’

He recalled the time when Kim Yoo-Na trained him really hard.

He hunted by himself and increased his experience by constantly training his body.

But she wasn’t here right now.

Glance.

He saw Kim Yoo-Na lying on the ground.

Grip.

Hyun-Soo tightened his fist.

Neiiigh, neiiiiigh!

After Karazhan released a cry that was similar to a horse’s, they raised their hand.

The black smoke gathered within Karazhan’s hand.

Hyun-Soo wasn’t the type to stand by and watch.

“What are you saying? Just shut up and take this!”

Invisible Attack was shaped into a nail and Hyun-Soo threw it at Karazhan as he shouted.

As the nail violently spun in the air, it tore the black smoke into pieces.

“Tsk!”

It would’ve been nice if it tore Karazhan’s body as well, but as the nail destroyed the black smoke, it disappeared.

Neiiiiiiigh!

‘That smoke is really troublesome.’

It must’ve played the role of a shield, because it blocked every one of Hyun-Soo’s attacks.

Despite the fact that the white light was shining, he couldn’t hit it, so his attack failed every time.

While Hyun-Soo was struggling, Karazhan, who had been hiding all this time, counterattacked.

Karazhan must’ve noticed that Hyun-Soo couldn’t beat them, because a smirk appeared on their face.

Ne…iiiiiigh!

Bam!

Right when Karazhan’s eye was about to turn red.

Black smoke started spreading in every direction.

The lump of smoke spread in all direction as if it exploded.

And.

Hyun-Soo’s view started slowing down.

He saw the traces of the lump of smoke that spread in all directions.

Hyun-Soo dodged the lump of smoke that flew towards him really fast.

Sizzle!

When the lump of smoke dropped on the ground, it burned the ground as it released a smoky odor.

After seeing that, Hyun-Soo’s body became more alert.

However, it was impossible to dodge every lump of smoke that was raining down on him.

‘Damn it……!’

There’s a limit to how much a person can move.

He did dodge them, but right when another lump of smoke was close to attacking him!

A faint light was flowing around Hyun-Soo’s body.

“……!”

The faint light enveloped Hyun-Soo’s body and when Karazhan’s smoke hit it, the light didn’t disappear.

It was obvious that their attack wouldn’t work.

The faint light slowly disappeared moments later.

‘What was that?’

Hyun-Soo had a confused look since he didn’t know why that light appeared.

Hyun-Soo thought the smoke was going to hit him, but something blocked it for him.

He wanted to find out what that was, but now wasn’t the time.

Neiiiiigh?

Karazhan tilted their head in confusion.

Being able to read a monster’s expression was weird.

This was the first time he encountered a human-like monster, so it was really weird for him.

It felt like he was fighting against a person, not a monster.

“I don’t know what that was, but there’s one thing I’m sure of.”

That Karazhan’s attack wasn’t going to work now!

The smoke gathered together and rained down again.

Fwoosh!

The faint light appeared again and blocked the smoke.

“Haha!”

Hyun-Soo suddenly started laughing.

He didn’t know what it was, but it was amazing.

He should’ve been more serious, but there was a reason as to why he started laughing.

The situation was pretty obvious.

That Karazhan’s power was now useless and all Hyun-Soo had to do was take them down!

Stomp, stomp!

Karazhan must’ve given up on using the lump of poisonous black smoke, because they started moving.

They had human hands and the nails extended out like a hook. It was a really bizarre scene.

Karazhan started charging towards Hyun-Soo while raising their scythe-like hand.

Kyahhhhhh!

The way they charged towards Hyun-Soo while releasing a shriek was extremely grotesque.

Even though they weren’t a fairy, Karazhan’s outer appearance looked like one.

Karazhan used their wings to charge towards Hyun-Soo at a fast pace and Hyun-Soo barely managed to dodge their attack.

Swoosh!

Even though Hyun-Soo’s view moved in slow motion, Karazhan’s movement was a bit faster than Hyun-Soo’s view.

‘Huh?’