004. Tutorial Begins (4)
“You, you—what did you eat all this time? What, what did you eat? What did that damn fox feed you? You don’t remember who I am at all?”
Jaehee had intended to tease the crazy guy a bit more, but seeing his stupid expression, he couldn’t hold back.
Under Jeongwoo’s shouting, Shin Jaehee giggled for a long time.
“Hey! There’s a time and place for jokes. Let’s go outside and talk… No, never mind.”
Jeongwoo, who had been fuming, sighed. This was no time for arguing.
“Now, let’s return to your original form, guides.”
The women who had been surrounding Jeongwoo and Jaehee with an ominous presence had the corners of their eyes turn upward at Jeongwoo’s words. Only then did Jaehee grasp the situation and turned pale.
“I don’t know how you figured it out, but if that’s what you want, we have no choice.”
“W-what is this…! J-Jeongwoo!”
“It’s okay. Don’t worry.”
With the woman’s cold voice, the surroundings suddenly darkened. Jaehee fumbled, reaching out to grab Jeongwoo. The warmth from their clasped hands helped calm his violently pounding heart a little.
Jeongwoo’s voice was low and composed.
How can he be so calm in this situation?
As if he knew everything already.
“Huh? What’s that?”
When Jaehee was scanning the ominous darkness with wary eyes, he saw something glimmering. A reddish light flashed in the darkness and moved. Looking carefully, the red light was not just one or two. Even at a glance, there seemed to be dozens of red lights shining in the darkness.
“It’s okay. There’s nothing to worry about. Just stay still. Those are the women who were here until just now. When their true identity was revealed, they returned to their original fox form.”
Jeongwoo whispered softly as he slowly pushed Jaehee behind him.
— Human, how do you know even that?
Jaehee was startled by the sudden voice. He thought he heard it with his ears, but it wasn’t transmitted through vibrating air. It was a message heard directly in his mind.
That’s when the fox slowly revealed itself.
Is that a fox?
At the mention of a fox, Jaehee recalled the dirty fur and cowed expression of a fox he had once seen at the zoo. But what was in front of him was very different from the fox he had seen at the zoo. If such a creature was called a fox, then tigers should also be called foxes from now on. The fox’s fur shimmered with a soft golden light, and its size was more massive than most predators.
— You, are you a thief who came in to get points?
The fox fluffed up its fur. The already massive fox looked as big as a house when it puffed itself up. Jaehee found it difficult to breathe under the pressure emanating from the fox. Jeongwoo took a step toward the fox. Even Jeongwoo, who was a head taller than the average Korean man, looked like a toy standing in front of the fox.
“I find it offensive to be treated like a thief. I’m just a Zero who awakened before system intervention.”
The fox seemed surprised by Jeongwoo’s words and greatly fluffed up its tail.
— A Zero, you say?
The fox lowered its body to meet Jeongwoo’s eyes. At the mention of “Zero,” the hostility in its eyes softened a bit.
— I am Seohuryorang. If you are a Zero, we will show you appropriate respect. If you say you are a Zero, yes, you deserve to be treated by us. Certainly.
— Sister!
Another fox jumped out from the darkness with a sharp sound. It was a bit smaller than the fox that introduced itself as Seohuryorang, but still incomparable in size to a zoo fox.
— Even if he is a Zero…! This situation…!
— Jamirang. Don’t get excited. I understand too. …Zero.
Seohuryorang looked at Jeongwoo.
— Zero, the self-awakened one. You deserve respect at any time. But, Zero, we have entered this area legally after paying the proper price. This is our right and duty.
“Seohuryorang. You should speak truthfully. Proper price? What proper price are you talking about?”
Jaehee was surprised by Jeongwoo’s sharply mocking tone. His cold, twisted expression was unfamiliar.
“You’ve stolen someone else’s land as you please, and you talk about legitimacy? How shameless. Your face is thick. Or since you’re a fox, is it your fur that’s thick? Weak to the strong and strong to the weak, so it’s okay to take from the weak?”
Seohuryorang’s face contorted at Jeongwoo’s words.
— Zero. You, being human, might feel this is unreasonable and unfair. But this is like a natural disaster. Would you argue with earthquakes and tsunamis about fairness? It’s just following the established order. Zero means a pioneer who has awakened to a great truth. I too respect such a pioneer, but this is our legitimate right, so step back, Zero.
Seohuryorang looked at Jeongwoo with what seemed like pity, then puffed up its body again and raised its tail. Jaehee realized then that the fox didn’t have just one tail. The massive tail with raised fur had so many that it was difficult to count. As Seohuryorang raised its body like that, Jamirang beside it also raised its tail and puffed up. Then a low rumbling growl echoed from all around.
— The strong eating the weak is merely the law of nature! We too assert our rights to survive!
“Stop talking nonsense! Does nature deliberately commit robbery? Where did you learn such useless talk? Don’t wrap it up so shamelessly. You’re just con artists and looters who came to stab the weak in the back.”
As Jeongwoo and Seohuryorang’s opinions showed no signs of converging, the foxes began to surround them in earnest. The rumbling growl echoed through the cave. Jaehee couldn’t understand why Jeongwoo was provoking the foxes like this. The thought of all of them attacking at once made him dizzy. Wouldn’t it be easier to placate them with kind words and escape when they let their guard down?
— No matter what you say, it can’t be helped. Besides, that human…
The fox stopped speaking and looked at Jaehee.
— That human smells too good. We can’t let him go without taking at least a bite.
Jeongwoo stood still in place until the fox rushed at him.
“Jeongwoo!”
When the fox’s massive claw approached right before his eyes, Jaehee instinctively squeezed his eyes shut.
“These mere illusions are making such a fuss.”
“J-Jeongwoo?”
Opening his eyes, Jaehee saw a fox swinging its claws in front of Jeongwoo. But as if there was a transparent barrier, it didn’t directly touch Jeongwoo.
“What is this?”
“It’s nothing. In principle, guides cannot harm participants during the tutorial period. Even though they’re visible, they don’t exist in the same dimension as us right now.”
“What does that even mean…”
When Jeongwoo extended his hand toward the fox, it passed right through the fox’s body.
Yes, just like a hologram from the movies.
Jeongwoo, who had extended his arm through the middle of the fox’s body, opened his palm. And at that moment, with a “pung” sound, the fox was pushed back and slammed against the cave wall.
“W-what? How is this possible?”
Jaehee felt like Alice who had fallen into a strange land. Or perhaps he was possessed by a ghost.
Jeongwoo had merely opened his palm without making any pushing motion, yet how could the fox be pushed back and slammed against the wall? Didn’t he say it was an illusion?
“Woo Jeongwoo!”
Jaehee called out to Jeongwoo at the top of his lungs. By this point, he was more annoyed than scared.
Jeongwoo looked at Jaehee and shrugged with a smile.
“You said it was an illusion, right? But what is this exactly?”
— You!
Almost simultaneously with Jaehee’s words, the fallen fox sprang up and shouted.
— What exactly are you? Even if you’re a Zero, this—this is impossible!
“To bring these illusions into reality, one condition is necessary. Once you know it, you can do it too. Like this, for example.”
Jeongwoo grabbed Jaehee’s wrist and embraced him. Jaehee froze for a moment at the warmth felt from behind. It was too close. Jeongwoo’s scent penetrated deep into his lungs. Had he ever been this close to another person? When he was about to push Jeongwoo away, feeling disconcerted by being attached like one body, a knife was placed in Jaehee’s hand.
“W-what? What is this?”
“It’s okay. Relax and let your body follow mine.”
“W-wait, J-Jeongwoo.”
Jeongwoo held Jaehee’s wrist and extended his arm forward. When Jaehee’s body swayed as if he might fall, Jeongwoo grabbed his waist and turned around widely. The movement, neither too fast nor too slow, flowed like water. Jaehee was bewildered. He was surprised by the sudden appearance of the knife and amazed at how Jeongwoo was controlling his wrist and making him move like this.
“Take a deep breath and then exhale slowly. It will be less tiring that way.”
“W-what, what is this…”
Jeongwoo rotated the right arm holding the knife as if drawing a circle and made Jaehee bend his upper body forward. Jaehee could tell something had passed through where his head had been by the “swoosh” sound. He gulped. Strangely, he didn’t feel tense. Rather, what bothered him was Jeongwoo behind him. Because Jeongwoo was so close, his breath tickled Jaehee’s nape. Although he couldn’t understand how they could move as if glued together, the two moved as one body. At a glance, it looked like they were elegantly dancing a ballroom dance.
“What makes illusion real is belief. The moment you believe it’s real, it becomes real. From that moment on, you too can inflict damage on them. Even if we die here, it’s not really dying, so let’s score some points.”
“What points?”
“Tutorial points! Didn’t I tell you?”
Seeing Jeongwoo smile brightly, Jaehee had a bad feeling. Jeongwoo began wielding the knife again, moving Jaehee’s body. With each movement like a waltz, the foxes disappeared with screams.
Jeongwoo only stopped moving when Jaehee was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion.
Jaehee lifted his limp arm to wipe the sweat flowing from his eyes. Looking around, all the foxes had disappeared, and all that could be seen was Jeongwoo, who looked rather pleased, and himself, who was too exhausted to move.
[…Tutorial points are being reflected.
You have seen through the Deceiver of Illusions.
You have discerned reality within illusion.
You have realized power within illusion.
Defeating the Deceiver.
Defeating the Deceiver.
Defeating the Deceiver.
……..]
[Unique number 3831 Shin Jaehee
Calculating unique awakening ability….]
