## Chapter 192 – 192. The Ascension To Light Painting
‘I can see the hut below. I really did arrive in just ten minutes.’
I hid myself in a protruding part of the cliff. It was about 20 meters high, a height I could descend in 10 seconds.
‘Now all that’s left is to wait. This is the hardest part.’
In the old hut below lives an old man.
In the city, he’s called a beggar and is despised. But the old man isn’t as weak as he seems.
‘The old man is at the 7th stage of the Exalted Will.’
The beggar’s name is Ha-sok.
He’s a wanted criminal who committed crimes and, ten years ago, he accidentally discovered the hut below the cliff and has been living in seclusion ever since. I know about him roughly because he’s a character from the original story.
‘He occasionally comes to the city to beg or steal food. And he also picks up things that others have thrown away.’
The Ascension to Light Painting was originally a painting hanging in the hut.
The person who lived there before Ha-sok was a hunter who died of illness a long time ago.
‘Ha-sok is a shaman. Since his level is higher than mine, it’s best not to fight him.’
In the original story, the protagonist gets captured by Ha-sok. Ha-sok was careless due to the protagonist’s weakness, and the protagonist, taking advantage of that carelessness, kills Ha-sok. Then, while gathering things of value from the hut, he accidentally discovers the secret of the Ascension to Light Painting.
‘I’m the protagonist. There’s no chance of things happening like in the original story. There’s no need to fight Ha-sok.’
I went to the brothels and subtly gathered information about Ha-sok, and I used a drone camera to monitor Ha-sok for several days, figuring out his daily routine.
Ha-sok spends most of his time inside the hut. I don’t know what he does inside. His trips to the city are random. He might go out in a week, or he might not go out for three months.
‘It’s not impossible to take advantage of a gap when Ha-sok goes to the city.’
I can’t monitor Ha-sok forever.
‘However, Ha-sok goes outside the hut once every dawn to urinate.’
Perhaps because of the smell of his excrement, he moves a bit away from the hut.
My plan is to take advantage of the moment Ha-sok urinates, infiltrate the hut, steal the Ascension to Light Painting, and quietly escape into the mountains. That’s the plan I’ve devised.
‘A guy living in seclusion won’t be able to chase me deep into the mountains. Even if he’s angry, he’ll have no choice but to live with it.’
I watched the hut, waiting for him to come out soon.
About two hours passed.
Ha-sok came out of the hut.
He was wearing black rags. His hair was severely balding, with only a few strands of gray hair remaining.
Just by looking at him, his hygiene didn’t seem good at all. If you got close, you’d probably catch a disease.
Ha-sok moved further and further away from the old hut.
‘Now!’
Thud. Thud. Thud!
I quickly descended to the ground and entered the hut.
The inside of the hut was dark and filled with a musty smell. There were animal bones and pieces of wood of unknown use scattered everywhere.
I ignored everything else and approached the Ascension to Light Painting hanging on one side of the wall.
It was about the size of a 27-inch monitor.
It depicted the sky and mountains, with clouds in the sky. Light was shining down from between the clouds, illuminating the ground.
And at the center of the painting was a white dove flying in the sky.
“Okay. Found it!”
I took the Ascension to Light Painting off the wall. On the back of the painting, the name 光明昇天圖 was written in small letters.
I tried hard to suppress the excitement filling my chest and turned to escape out of the hut.
“So, that painting was your goal? Why? Isn’t it just an ordinary painting?”
Ha-sok was standing at the door.
“…You’re already here?!”
“Heh heh. I knew all along that you were hiding on the cliff and watching me. Did you think I’d let my guard down just because it was a cliff?”
I looked around. The hut had no windows, only one entrance.
“In this case… I have no choice but to fight!”
I took out the Fire Lotus Dagger from my inventory.
“Oh ho. What is that glowing thing? Seeing you take things out of that small object, it’s definitely at least a high-grade magical artifact! Give it to me! I should have it!”
Ha-sok stretched out both hands towards me. A reddish energy was forming in his hands.
“You old geezer, you’re as greedy as a toad! Die!”
I pretended to swing my sword at him and kicked the wall right next to me. If there were no windows or exits, I’d just make a new one.
“You bastard! How dare you break my house?!”
Ha-sok swung his palm at me. A palm strike imbued with red energy flew towards me.
‘Flash!’
[Using Flash. Remaining stacks: 4]
I dodged the palm strike and ran away.
“Heh heh heh. Your movements are quite nimble… but it’s all in vain….”
I heard Ha-sok laughing behind me, but I ignored it. Even if he’s annoying, with my current skills, it’s hard to defeat him head-on.
‘There’s no need to take unnecessary risks. I can just get stronger and kill him then.’
If I return to the Meteor Sword Sect, Ha-sok can’t do anything. There are plenty of experts in the Meteor Sword Sect who can defeat Ha-sok head-on.
“A foolish old man who doesn’t even recognize the treasure he has. Heh heh heh. I’ll make good use of the Ascension to Light Painting.”
Just as much as Ha-sok mocked me, I mocked him, even though he couldn’t hear me.
“Oh ho…. You call the Ascension to Light Painting a treasure?”
Ha-sok appeared right in front of me.
“What kind of ability does it have that makes you call it a treasure? I’m curious, so tell me.”
“Shit.”
[Using Flash. Remaining stacks: 3]
I immediately changed direction and started running.
‘……What is it?’
As I was running, I felt something was off.
Just now, Ha-sok appeared in front of me, not behind me. Unless Ha-sok could teleport, that was impossible.
‘There’s no way Ha-sok can use space-shifting magic.’
And more than anything, I’ve been running at full speed, but all I’ve seen are trees. If I’ve run this far, I should have seen an open space or a rock or something.
“……Could it be.”
I stopped in my tracks and looked around.
“A formation?”
“Heh heh heh. You’ve finally noticed?”
Ha-sok appeared in front of me, smiling.
“That’s right. I’ve deployed an Inflexible Formation, one of the formations. You won’t be able to escape from this formation for the next two hours.”
My face crumpled. I didn’t know how to deal with formations.
‘If I remember the original story…. Formations usually continue to activate even if the caster dies. If it’s true that it will last for two hours…. I have no choice but to fight.’
Two hours is a long time.
It’s physically impossible to run away for two hours.
“Show me the treasure. If you give me the treasure and tell me how to use it, I’ll spare your life.”
That’s bullshit.
Ha-sok is a criminal. If he had any integrity, he wouldn’t have become a criminal and secluded himself here in the first place.
“Really?”
“This treasure is called a smartphone….”
As I was explaining the smartphone, I took out a grenade from my inventory, pulled the pin, and threw it at him.
“Eat this!”
Boom!
The grenade exploded. It hit him head-on. No matter how high Ha-sok’s level is at the 7th stage of the Exalted Will, since he couldn’t react and got hit, he should be dead.
The smoke cleared. Instead of Ha-sok’s corpse, there were hundreds of leaves.
“How foolish. Did I look that stupid to you?”
I heard Ha-sok’s voice from behind me.
[Using Flash. Remaining stacks: 2]
I spun around and swung my sword.
The Flowing Line of the Shadow Heaven Style.
My sword drew a curved trajectory, aiming for Ha-sok’s neck.
Ha-sok lightly grabbed my blade with his hand, which was imbued with red energy.
“You’re fast, but… not fast enough to outpace me.”
[Using Flash. Remaining stacks: 1]
I threw a punch at Ha-sok. He blocked my punch with one hand and then kicked me in the stomach.
“Cough!”
I flew backward, crashed into a tree, and slumped down. Even as I was flying, I used the Fire Lotus Dagger, which I hadn’t let go of, as a cane to get back on my feet.
I racked my brain. Flash doesn’t work on him. It’s also hard to fight him head-on. He’s a shaman, but his martial arts have also reached a certain level. Mastering both magic and martial arts at the same time. It wasn’t that surprising in this world.
‘I have to kill him in one go when he’s careless…!’
The problem is that he’s not careless and is on guard against me.
It’s different from the original story.
It has to be different. The original protagonist started at the 1st stage of the Entry Level. At that level, he was no different from an ordinary person who had just trained his body. Even if Ha-sok didn’t want to be careless, he couldn’t help but be careless.
“It’s true that I said I’d spare your life. Heh heh.”
Ha-sok reached out his hand towards me. A hand imbued with red energy. It was a threat that he could kill me right now.
“…Do you think I’ll tell you about the treasure? Even if you kill me and get the treasure, you won’t know how to use it, so you won’t be able to use it.”
“Does that mean you won’t tell me even if you die?”
“Whether I die or you die, no one knows yet.”
“You’re young! I envy your spirit! But you’re foolish! Heh heh heh.”
Ha-sok mocked me.
I didn’t give up. I glared at him, waiting for an opportunity. An opportunity would surely come.
Ha-sok opened his mouth. He was muttering something. He wasn’t talking to me.
‘……Is it magic?!’
I could feel a sinister energy coming from Ha-sok’s body.
Magic based on evil. In other words, it’s shamanism.
‘What Ha-sok is muttering is a curse…!’
I could feel something trying to invade my body. A cold and sticky energy. I realized that this was Ha-sok’s magic.
‘This feeling is like…. the Soul-Confusing Art that appeared a few times in the original story?’
The original protagonist had been affected by the Soul-Confusing Art several times. The descriptions at that time were similar to this.
‘But my mind is clear?’
Except for one thing. The description that the more you listen to the curse, the more your mind becomes hazy.
Ha-sok was getting closer.
I remembered how the protagonist, who was affected by the Soul-Confusing Art in the original story, acted, and I deliberately blurred my focus.
Ha-sok grabbed my head. Something entered my head and then disappeared.
He looked at my eyes carefully and then smiled with satisfaction.
“Heh heh. You’re completely caught. First, tell me your name.”
“……My name is Seong Yu-jin.”
“Seong? Are you perhaps the son of the head of the Meteor Sword Sect, the Red Star Sword?”
“……That’s right.”
“I almost made a big mistake. Give me that smartphone…? That treasure.”
“……Here it is.”
Ha-sok took the smartphone and started examining it.
“It’s a strange object. I saw it glow earlier… Cough!”
The moment he took his eyes off me and focused on the smartphone, I stood up and stabbed the Fire Lotus Dagger into Ha-sok’s chest.
“Y-you bastard! Weren’t you affected by the Soul-Confusing Art?!”
“I was just pretending to be affected. Die. Lightning Strike!”
Zzzzzzzzt.
Blue lightning crackled from the Fire Lotus Dagger, electrocuting Ha-sok. Ha-sok tried to swing his hand at me, but he couldn’t do anything due to the sudden lightning.
“Ughhhhh!”
The lightning weakened for a moment. Ha-sok didn’t die even though his heart was pierced and he was electrocuted. He had monstrous vitality.
‘There’s something shamanistic about him.’
Zzzzzzzzzzt!
I unleashed the lightning again.
“H-how… How can a mere Entry Level middle stage guy control lightning…!”
“There’s no reason for me to tell you. Die!”
I squeezed out all the mana within me and unleashed the lightning. Lightning crackled on the blade, spreading in all directions and electrocuting Ha-sok.
Ha-sok seemed to resist for a few moments, but eventually, his whole body went limp. He was dead.
I pulled the sword out of his chest.
‘I can’t rule out the possibility that he’s pretending to be dead.’
To make sure he was dead, I cut off his head. Considering that the protagonist in the original story pierced Ha-sok’s neck with a dagger and killed him in one go, his neck must be a weak point.
After killing Ha-sok, I leaned against a tree.
‘Damn it. If things had gone according to plan, I wouldn’t have had to go through all this trouble!’
I was annoyed for no reason, so I kicked Ha-sok’s head. The head flew up and got impaled on a tree branch.
I took my eyes off Ha-sok’s head and picked up the smartphone that had fallen on the ground.
Then, I took out the Ascension to Light Painting from my inventory.
I reached out towards the dove that was drawn in the center of the Ascension to Light Painting. I rubbed the dove painting a few times, and my hand slipped inside. I grabbed something inside and pulled it out.
In my hand was the corpse of a dove with a broken neck, and the dove that had been drawn in the Ascension to Light Painting was nowhere to be seen.
