Reincarnator’s Stream

Chapter 2

Su-hyeok, who’d woken up in a garbage can, checked his status.

He was in a new environment and had just returned from the dead, so immediately checking his status was natural. He needed to know his power and Fatigue level, after all. Using the system to check his condition was more effective than anything else.

[Status Window]

[Name: Lee Su-hyeok]

[Affiliation: Earth]

[Level: 1]

[Strength: 11]

[Agility: 12]

[Stamina: 11]

[Concentration: 14]

[Magic Power: 1]

[Fatigue: 61]

“…” He was speechless. Rather than the Fatigue of 61, his pitifully low level and stats caught his attention. All the skills he’d acquired after a lifetime of effort were gone.

‘Am I alive?’ Su-hyeok looked around and saw he was in a heap of trash in a dumpster located in some random alley. Why had he woken up there?

“Where am I…?” As soon as that question arose, he frowned as he felt an intense pain in his head, like someone had struck him with great force. A moment later, the memories of whoever had owned the body before him rushed into his mind.

“What a waste of a name.”

“People from Earth are all like this. They’re weak.”

“That’s right. The real Lee Su-hyeok was an irregular.”

“Why did such an idiot crawl all the way here?”

“We should be grateful about them laying the floor.”

Numerous memories surfaced in his mind. Being an orphan, a beggar, joining the Lee Su-hyeok Player Training Institution, being bullied, taking a tutorial trial… Starting from a few key moments, he saw all sorts of things. What surprised him more than anything else, trumping even the situation he found himself in, was…

‘It’s been 20 years since I died?’ The hydra raid and the betrayal of Blue Eyes had taken place 20 years prior to him waking up in the dumpster in the body of a random person who shared his name.

He looked at the lid of a garbage can on the ground and observed his reflection. In it, he saw the characteristic black hair of an Asian and a face with gentle features. He was young.

‘Am I dreaming?’ He remembered dying, but then he woke up in the body of someone who merely shared his name. What was going on?

After leaning against the wall for a moment, he noticed a player kit on the ground. Had it fallen from his pocket before he was thrown into the trash?

“The world seems to have changed a lot. The kit I used was shaped like a ball.” He reached out his hand and picked the player kit up. It was shaped like a normal smartphone, could make and receive calls and texts, and could even use the player server to search the internet.

Truly, it might as well have been a smartphone.

Ziinng—

As soon as he touched it, the kit recognized his fingerprint, and letters appeared on the white screen.

[What do you want to search?]

He fell into thought. He was curious about many things, but there was no way he’d find information about his circumstances online. His fingers paused for a moment before he searched for the most obvious thing.

[Do you want to search ‘Blue Eyes’?]

It was the guild he’d belonged to, and the guild that Kim Ilso and Blue Zone had betrayed. The moment he confirmed the search, the search loaded, and the newest articles appeared.

[Blue Zone! Are they not enough to carry the legacy of Blue Eyes?]

[Blue Zone advances. Once again, they carry the memory of Blue Eyes and Lee Su-hyeok.]

[Guild Leader Kim Ilso vows to win the next competition.]

[He recalls that day 20 years ago and talks about the heroic sacrifices of the Blue Eyes Guild.]

[…]

Countless articles popped up. Of course, Su-hyeok didn’t go through all of them. He was searching for one thing in particular—had any of the comrades he’d sent away survived?

‘Are they all dead…?’ Unfortunately, he couldn’t find information on them anywhere. No matter how many pages he scrolled through, nothing mentioned Blue Eyes survivors.

“Haa.” He sighed as he felt a sense of emptiness. His power and his comrades… He’d lost everything. In the end, all he had was a life in a weak body that’d been beaten by his peers and thrown into the trash.

Anger welled up from that sense of emptiness, and Su-hyeok raised his head. “Why did you do that?” he asked the air, speaking to a person who couldn’t possibly hear him.

Crack—

He gritted his teeth. Still, he wanted to know why Kim Ilsu had gone against their alliance and betrayed him.

“Are you practicing again?”

He never had a bad relationship with the man. In fact, they’d been on good terms. It was hard to have a bad relationship with a comrade you were climbing the tower and risking your life with.

Su-hyeok had even thought of the man as a friend.

“I think I’ll have to leave Blue Eyes,” Ilsu had said.

“What are you talking about?”

“I have a reason, but please, don’t ask why. Also, Su-hyeok, please do your best to explain it to the others.

Su-hyeok had tried to hold him back and get a reason from the man, but Ilsu had already made up his mind.

“Don’t worry, my friend. Even after leaving, I plan to be your shadow.”

A few years passed, and Ilsu created ‘Blue Zone’ and reappeared before Su-hyeok. His guild was the ‘shadow’ he’d talked about.

“What happened?” he mumbled.

Squeeze—

Thud. Thu-thud—

He clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his flesh and drew blood. Without even noticing the dripping blood, Su-hyeok continued to look over the articles on the player kit.

Whenever he searched for ‘Blue Eyes’, the screen was filled with Kim Ilsu’s photos and related articles. It seemed that Blue Zone had actually taken his guild’s name.

“Well…” Su-hyeok lowered his hand and lifted his head. “I guess his reason doesn’t matter.” The man had killed his friends. What could matter more than them? If he were truly curious, he could go up and ask Ilsu directly.

Thud—

Of course, he’d be sure to stab the man in the stomach first, just as he’d been stabbed on that day.

‘Ilsu, wait for me.’ Su-hyeok made up his mind. ‘I’m going to see you again.”

His anger couldn’t be a dream.

* * *

Reaper Scans

Translator – SCM

Proofreader – ilafy

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* * *

After organizing his thoughts, Su-hyeok started walking. He’d wondered if it was all a dream at first, but his doubts were gone. He was headed to the dormitory of the player training institution, where the original owner of the body had been staying.

The tutorial, which would determine a player’s qualifications, was set to take place in two days. At least he still had some time left until then.

“They’re still on the 9th floor…?” Su-hyeok slowly recalled the memories of who’d previously owned the body as he walked.

‘They’re much too slow. Did the difficulty increase after the 8th floor?’ 20 years had passed, so he’d originally thought they would’ve at least made it to the 10th floor. He never imagined they’d be stuck on the 9th floor for 20 years. It was true that higher floors were harder, but it was still far slower than he expected.

“Those pathetic bastards. If things were going to be like this, then why did they even bother to betray me?” he mumbled to himself. As he was walking, he caught sight of a shabby street stall as he passed by.

“…?” One of the displayed items caught his attention. ‘My mask?’ He’d worn a mask in his active player days. There wasn’t a special reason for it other than that he’d started in his early days and hiding his face was convenient.

It was a black mask with golden stripes, Su-hyeok’s trademark. Seeing it being sold in a store on the lowest floor was surprising.

“50 points…”

“Are you going to buy it?” the middle-aged man running the store asked through a yawn.

“…” Su-hyeok paused for a moment and checked his points. ‘1010 points…?’ It wasn’t a generous amount, but it was practically all he had. Usually, an unemployed player with no immediate income should have saved the points.

[You’ve paid 50 points.]

It wasn’t his money anyway, and it could be earned again.

‘Is this what’s trending these days?’ After purchasing the mask, he took a look around.

The middle-aged man who’d sold him the mask asked, “Are you a fan of Lee Su-hyeok?”

“Yes?” Not knowing how to respond, Su-hyeok pondered for a moment. If he claimed to be the man himself, he would probably be considered out of his mind. Saying he was a fan of himself was embarrassing, though.

“Something like that,” he eventually said after some thought.

“Something like that? Then why did you buy the mask when you aren’t even a fan? Are you one of those people trying to imitate Lee Su-hyeok?” The middle-aged man clicked his tongue and gave him a suspicious look.

“Imitating Lee Su-hyeok? What’s that?”

“Don’t you know? I guess you aren’t one of those guys. Then you must be a fan.” The middle-aged man, who answered his own question, nodded his head and pointed. “Go over there. Although it’s small, there’s a memorial hall.”

“A memorial hall…?”

“Based on your reaction, it seems that you haven’t been there yet. Today is his memorial day, so there will probably be quite a few people paying their respects.”

Su-hyeok was headed to his lodging because he had nowhere else to go when the man pointed a different location out to him instead. He stood still for a moment before heading toward the memorial hall with the mask in his hand.

‘I have nothing else to do anyway.’ Going to a memorial dedicated to himself felt a bit awkward—it was like going to eat at a funeral service after the funeral.

Still, he was curious. What kind of images of himself were held there? On his walk, Su-hyeok bought some flowers. It was a death memorial, so at least that much was appropriate, after all.

A few alleys later, he saw the place the middle-aged man had mentioned. His first thought when he saw the place was rather simple…

‘It’s bigger than I thought it’d be.’ Wasn’t it supposed to be small? Even at a glance, it looked to be the size of a small temple. A giant copy of his mask swung over the front entrance.

“Welcome,” the guide at the entrance said in disinterest after glancing at the mask in Su-hyeok’s hand.

Su-hyeok nodded and entered. It seemed that the place truly had been a temple. The ceiling was high, and instead of gods, the windows depicted Su-hyeok’s masked face.

On the other side of the room, some unknown technology was being used to display videos of Su-hyeok’s fights. Naturally, that’s where most people were gathered.

“Woah…” one of the people muttered.

“He was truly amazing…”

“This is from back when he fought the Anux players during the competition 25 years ago, right?”

“I think so. He was truly amazing.”

The video showed Su-hyeok riding a bolt of lightning into the sky, dominating both the ground and air and leaving the people watching the video mesmerized.

‘I was certainly good.’ Of course, Su-hyeok watched as well. Although he wasn’t as impressed as the others, he kept nodding as he watched himself fight. He hadn’t realized it at the time, but it felt a bit different when he saw himself from the outside.

“Ah, I shouldn’t have done that there,” he unconsciously said when he noticed a small mistake. He was so immersed that he’d forgotten where he was.

“What?” someone mumbled.

“Even here, someone is nitpicking.”

“People like him are armchair coaches.”

‘I was just reflecting…’ Even though he’d said it quietly, everyone nearby had heard him. Su-hyeok lowered his head in frustration, but what could he do? The only thing he shared with his past self was his name. He continued to watch the video, engrossed in the fight.

Swoosh—

Just before the video ended, a face that riled up the anger in Su-hyeok’s heart appeared. “We will remember him,” the man in a half-mask said.

‘Kim Ilsu…’ It was none other than a recording of Kim Ilsu placing a hand on his chest to pay his respects.

____

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