Chapter 358: Japan (5)

“Who are you?” Hochi asked Lee Ho-jae again, who refused to answer.

“What nonsense are you spouting? What do you mean by who I am?” Lee Ho-jae replied in an irritated tone.

It was a perfect match: the pissed off tone and the expression. Its occurrences had decreased a lot recently, but in the past, Hochi had often seen it. No, it was always something he saw.

But Hochi was sure. “You, you’re fake.”

The way he talked, moved, and even his power and aura felt remarkably similar. At first, even Hochi hadn’t even noticed something strange.

“…When did you realise?” the fake Lee Ho-jae asked.

“Poor performance.”

Truthfully, his acting skills were excellent. Instead, there was a lack of investigation from the fake’s side into Ho-jae’s character. Lee Ho-jae doesn’t like to interfere. If you didn’t thoroughly research Lee Ho-jae, his character would be hard to pull off.

In the past, when he gave advice, Hochi couldn’t act appropriately with him and spoke irritably. Ho-jae did the same. In some cases, they would inadvertently insult each other. Yes, in the past, it was like that.

Ever since he had apologized to Hochi for his past wrongdoings, Lee Ho-jae had changed himself. Lee Ho-jae, Hochi knew now, praised moderately and moved on, and did not point out meaningless details to hurt other people’s feelings.

He, who had ascended to a god, did not change easily. It would take so much effort and sacrifice to change even the smallest habit. The inner change caused by becoming a god was significant.

That’s why Hochi was sure that Lee Ho-jae’s appearance was not just a random thing. This Ho-jae was someone else.

“Acting skills… you talk nonsense.”

The atmosphere had drastically changed when Hochi discovered the con artist. He became hostile and intimidating.

A high-pressure power came up gently.

Hochi tried to grasp as much information as possible by looking at the rapidly changing aura of the fake.

“Ah…”

“What?”

“I remember where I saw that necklace.”

Hochi clearly remembered now. When he had last met Lee Hyung-jin in the competition, he tried to give a ball-shaped item to Lee Ho-jae.

Though he hurriedly stopped his words in the middle. The item looked just like that necklace.

“You’re the fake from the 17th floor, aren’t you?”

He had the same items as Lee Hyung-jin, who died. Just like Lee Ho-jae, they were people with the same aura and past attitude.

It was not difficult to guess how the phantom from the 17th floor knew Hochi.

Hochi wondered why he thought of pretending to be Lee Ho-jae in front of himself.

He noted something.

Hochi noticed the scent of a god on the fake.

The God of Hope.

Lee Ho-jae had said that the God of Hope was trying to take a peep at Earth. If this were a trick of the God of Hope, he would have given that fake information in advance.

“…The fake is not me, but you,” the fake said animalistically. The fake’s eyes, which had been feigning indifference until just now, were now full of life.

“It’s true that you’re the one who was designed to clear the 60th floor. It’s a waste of time, fake. Look at you now. How is your position different from a pet dog?”

He habitually tried to get to the enemy’s nerves, but his attitude was the same as Ho-jae.

The fake didn’t merely mimic Ho-jae’s appearance. He was the Ho-jae from the time of the 17th floor of the tutorial.

Hochi laughed at the fake. Lee Ho-jae was an insurmountable wall for Hochi.

It could be called his original, but in almost all respects, he was superior to Hochi.

However, there was only one thing in which Hochi was ahead of Lee Ho-jae. His manner of speech.

“Hey, isn’t it kind of funny that mass-produced fakes popped up one by one every time one went on a floor?”

“…”

“The fakes didn’t even exactly act the same. Were you made in China? Not a replica, but a crude fake. An inferior edition, you are not an imitation.”

The fake gritted his teeth. The muscles in his face shifted from the force of his grinding. His bloodshot face was so red that the veins were almost visible in his eyes.

Hochi chuckled at the sight. The most effective thing he did was provoking and annoying others. It was entertaining to tease.

“…Uhh, Hyung, w-why don’t you stop?” Joon-suk, who had been quiet next to him, whispered in his ear.

The fake’s hatred had reached its peak. He stared at Hochi like a beast ready to rush at any moment. but Hochi didn’t give in. In the first place, Hochi had too much experience to be scared of threats.

“I have to say this. Gentlemen! Ladies! The fake here got mad at me for making fun of him because he’s a fake! Oh, my God, no conscience at all. Same as the real thing but without conscience. Lucky you, man. You got a step closer to the real world today, didn’t you? If you get to the day when you can perfectly imitate the real thing…”

“Go to hell, you bastard!”

The fake eventually leaped at Hochi, shouting a curse.

Hochi immediately responded as he had been waiting.

[Battleground]

[Specifying the opponent]

[ Mana oppression]

[Holy Block]

[Soul exploitation]

[Wings of Talaria]

[Time Warp]

[Bright Light]

“Go to hell, you crooked bastard!” Hochi, who used various powers at the same time, also rushed to face the fake.

Usually, Hochi was reluctant and passive, but this time he was different.

The appearance of the 17th floor Ho-jae was very unpleasant for Hochi, and the words that he uttered were also deeply offensive.

Hochi had no intention of waiting until Yong-yong or Lee Ho-jae came to help as usual.

At least this time, he was thinking of finishing the scumbag with his own hands.

* * *

It was too much. Apart from his mindset, the world was divided based on what was possible and what was impossible.

‘You’ll regret it one day. When you have to fight.’

Lee Ho-jae had said so on various occasions.

Hochi had ignored the words every time and was now paying the price for his negligence.

“Blink!”

Hochi used a series of Blink to escape the fake’s attack. The fake tried to chase Hochi using the opposite, but there was one decisive difference.

“Ha! You inferior bastard, there’s a limit on the number of Blinks you can do, right? I don’t have one!” Despite being unilaterally pursued, Hochi did not stop his provocations. The fake flew at Hochi, screaming once again.

Hochi said, “Hey! Listen to me!” to Lee Joon-suk, who was idly watching the scene.

“What?”

“I’ll put you in a subspace, and until I get you out there, don’t even think about escaping. Just stay there, or it’ll explode!”

Then, he moved Lee Jun-seok into a subspace. In the meantime, the fake had attacked Hochi.

“Shadow!”

The sword wielded by the fake extinguished the illusion. Immediately the black shadow flew at Hochi, who had been standing there.

“Space contraction!”

Once again, he used the skill. The space distorted.

The previous distance of several meters between Hochi and the fake momentarily stretched to more than tens of thousands of kilometers.

At a moment’s leisure, Hochi thought, ‘Why is he so strong?’

It’s the fake from the 17th floor.

‘I don’t think I could win even if I had trained without being lazy.’

There was a difference in basic combat capability. A gap that was hard to reverse even with a superior number of skills.

As soon as he first attempted a close-up match, Hochi was immediately shown up by the fake.

If Lee Joon-suk hadn’t rushed in between and caught the attention of the fake, he might have died on the spot.

Soon after, Hochi changed his plan again.

Back to his first master plan: turn to the defensive until Yong-yong arrived.

“Sied’s Shield!”

He used the power of a god whose name he couldn’t remember to block the fake’s sword. That sword was the biggest problem.

He kept his vast amount of power in the form of a blade without a shred of disarray. If he hit the correct spot, it’d deal a fatal wound.

So all his attacks had to be avoided or prevented using power. Moreover, the fake’s moves, which seemed to find a way to break up each attack, made Hochi tired.

Sied’s shield was able to defend sufficiently enough for a region itself but was relatively weak against a one-point attack.

That fake saw Sied’s Shield only twice and figured it out. Although he was a fake, it seemed like he was still Lee Ho-Jae.

Bang!

When stabbed with the sword, the sound of a blast came, and the transparent shield made of power burst.

When he had first used the Sied’s Shield, he lasted five minutes.

In the second use, it was destroyed by only six stabs.

In the third use, it was destroyed by three stabs.

It was unclear how many attacks would be needed this time to get it destroyed.

The fake shouted, preparing for another round of stabbing.

“How long are you going to keep running!”

“Until Yong-yong comes!” Hochi shouted proudly.

The fake said, “Dumb bastard! You think this is Earth? This space is the sanctuary of the God of Hope. Not anyone can do whatever they want to…” and laughed at Hochi as if it was not worth it.

As he was explaining this, Hochi heard the sound of glass cracking in the air.

Then, the space opened, and Yong-yong appeared.

“Uncle!”

“Yong-yong!” Hochi called out to Yong-yong emotionally

And…

“Ha! You’re dead now! You, you don’t know how strong our Yong-yong is, you fake!” Hochi immediately retorted at the fake.

It was a bit weird to be Yong-yong’s uncle and present him to the enemy.

Anyway, Yong-yong was reliable!

The fake, who was constantly chasing Hochi, stopped moving and stared at Yong-yong.

Yong-yong stared at the fake instead of attacking immediately.

“Uncle, who is that?” Yong-yong asked in a low voice. It was a serious voice, unlike his usually lively one.

“…Uh? This…”

Hochi stuttered for some reason and explained to Yong-yong quietly.

He was believed to be the fake Ho-jae made on the 17th floor of the tutorial.

“I’m not sure.”

“Then I’ll have to try to kill him and find out,” Yong-yong said firmly.

Hochi, stunned by Yong-yong’s harsh words, was unable to say anything. At that moment, the fake took off his necklace and grabbed it in his hand.

And he called out to god.

“… My Liege.”

[My apostle, things are all messed up now.]

It was the sign of the God of Hope. It was shaped like a small bug, but its presence was huge enough to fill the world that had turned into ashes.

Hochi could feel nausea creep up on him despite his power.

“That’s the cause of that fake’s power,” Yong-yong said, looking at the god of hope who had appeared in front of the fake.

Then he called Hochi again. “Uncle.”

“…Yes, Yong-yong.”

“Stay a little longer. I’ll hold off that god first.”

The words stung the God of Hope.

The God of Hope looked at Yong-yong and said roughly, [This little dragon is too confident. You’re going to hold me off? Do you think a god is a joke, who has time to deal with insects? Let me show you what a true God is.]

* * *

[Lee Ho-jae]

Finally, the mouse was caught in the trap. By the way, how dare that bastard crawl into other people’s land and shamelessly flaunt his power?

“I’ll show you what a true god is.”

What an idiot.

“Seregia, signal when you’re ready.”

Of course, we finished the preparations, but I asked just in case.

Seregia immediately signaled.

‘Mayday, mayday.’

“Seregia, that’s the rescue signal,” I told Seregia, but she stubbornly repeated the same signal.

‘Mayday, mayday.’

I’ll tell Hochi later not to teach Seregia anything weird.

“If you’re ready, then let’s start.”