The Genius Assassin Who Takes it All

Chapter 176: Akiyama Takashi (1)

In the original story, Takashi always emphasized memorizing patterns and pursued ‘thinking play’ as his top priority.

In a way, he was sincere about everything, especially strategy. He enjoyed pondering and challenging himself fiercely.

On the other hand, The Thirteen Stars had a different approach.

They also enjoyed trials and hardships when they were beginners, preferring to face difficulties.

However, once their levels and skills reached a certain point, they preferred to conquer easily using simple methods.

There was no need to take risks unnecessarily.

They had a strong tendency to avoid injuries or failures that could diminish their value.

After all, they could just send a separate exploration team to experience trial and error.

They would gather essential information from them and then proceed with a near-perfect strategy.

While it was enjoyable to explore various dungeons thanks to The Thirteen Stars, that was all there was to it.

So, towards the end of the original story, Takashi sometimes acted separately from The Thirteen Stars.

At that time, the words he left behind were as clear as if they were written directly by Kang-hoo.

-Eating fruit without knowing the value of hardship is sweet. But knowing the value of it makes the fruit an unforgettable, exhilarating drug.

Naturally, his companions’ reactions were lukewarm.

Especially Chae Gwanhyeong, who was hostile towards him, said that if he kept spouting nonsense, he should just quit The Thirteen Stars.

‘He doesn’t open up easily. But once he does, he gives everything.’

That’s how Kang-hoo defined Takashi.

As much as he liked adventure and challenge, he needed to focus on that aspect. He was a passionate hunter.

Some of his publicly known eccentricities were a disguise. It was a mechanism to weed out shallow connections.

“……”

Kang-hoo stopped in place, focusing all his senses on the flow of mana around him.

To the naked eye, nothing was visible, but it was a spectacle of countless mana traps.

The expression ‘venomous’ seemed fitting, as traps were laid everywhere.

If Takashi, who designed them, wasn’t fully aware, he would likely trigger them.

The more he concentrated,

The more he saw and felt.

While he couldn’t see with his eyes, he could draw a map following the flow of his senses.

‘I should be praised for managing my weight. If I were obese, I wouldn’t have even made it here.’

A smirk appeared on his face.

The area densely packed with mana traps would be impossible to pass with a different body type.

Swish. Swish swish.

Having finished his calculations, Kang-hoo started moving without hesitation.

He didn’t rely on his sight at all. After all, there was nothing visible.

He trusted his body’s sensations. He moved following the routes his senses deemed safe.

There were parts where he had to jump high or completely leap over obstacles.

Half by his own will, half by necessity, he ended up adding a bit of performance. Takashi was probably watching him.

When he glanced back, he saw An Yeong-ho and Fumiya watching with worried expressions.

It must have seemed odd, jumping in midair and then crouching down in empty space.

It didn’t matter.

What mattered now was how Takashi was viewing him, more than the two behind him.

At the same time, as Kang-hoo predicted, Takashi was watching all the movements through CCTV.

Since it was his training ground, he had taken CCTV installation seriously. There were numerous CCTVs.

Thanks to this, he could see Kang-hoo’s movements from various angles, and Takashi’s eyes grew sharper.

“Not bad.”

When Kang-hoo avoided the first few traps, Takashi thought he was lucky.

Because there were close calls where his toes or body almost touched the traps.

But as time passed, Takashi realized his initial judgment of attributing it to luck was wrong.

Kang-hoo avoided the traps as if he had a map of the trap lines in his head.

At some point, he moved without any close calls, maintaining a safe distance.

“Look at this guy…”

Takashi sipped his coffee, heavily sweetened with sugar, and leaned closer to the monitor.

His neck, already suffering from tech neck, was protruding even more today.

He seemed to understand why someone would want to see him directly.

There seemed to be a part of his skill that was reliable. He could prove it with more than just bluffing.

While Takashi was continuously impressed, Kang-hoo had already ventured quite deep inside.

So far, countless hunters had tried to pass the traps out of curiosity or for tests like this meeting.

But Kang-hoo was the first to reach the section marked G by Takashi.

To penetrate deeply from the entrance section A to the inside of the abandoned factory, one had to clear up to section H.

Kang-hoo was now approaching the last section. It was a first-time entry record.

Just then.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

As if performing acrobatics, Kang-hoo moved his body back and forth, jumping and crouching.

Swoosh!

In a long leap, he darted between the trap lines in section H in one go.

Kang-hoo precisely caught the only safe gap that existed diagonally.

It was such a perfect entry that it could be said someone had implanted the blueprint in his head.

“Pffft!”

Takashi burst out laughing.

Testing a guest with such eccentricity was amusing in itself.

But it was also funny to see Kang-hoo taking it seriously in such an obviously quirky space.

For others, it might be an incomprehensible sense of humor, but for Takashi, it was pure enjoyment and fun.

“This is interesting, really interesting. Oh, I shouldn’t be doing this now.”

Takashi, who had been focusing on the video, started fiddling with the pad busily.

He hadn’t thought he would need to use the microphone attached to his clone, but it seemed he needed to converse with Kang-hoo.

“Ahem. Ahem. Hm-hm. Hm-hm.”

He cleared his throat, which had become quite hoarse after remaining silent for so long.

If he spoke wrongly, the first conversation could turn into a disastrous off-key exchange.

Takashi’s eyes grew serious.

He wouldn’t know what kind of person he was until he talked to him, but he was very intrigued.

He wanted to talk to him quickly.

‘When will this warrior’s obsession end? It’s funny every time I see it. Does he intentionally try to make people laugh?’

Meanwhile, Kang-hoo, who had entered the final section, laughed at the sight of Takashi’s clone stationed at the site.

He had wondered if the clone was still in Korea by this time, but it seemed to have returned.

After all, traveling from Korea to Japan took only a few hours, so it wasn’t strange to be in Korea in the morning and Japan in the afternoon.

Takashi’s clone was adorned in red armor covering the entire body, a demon mask, and was plastered with talismans inscribed with mysterious Chinese characters.

It had a Chinese flair to it for a Japanese style, but the base was distinctly Japanese.

In summary, it was a grotesque hybrid.

It seemed like something Takashi would do, but there was an inevitable question of whether it had to be this way.

At that moment.

Swish! Slash!

Takashi’s clone, with flashy movements, thrust a sharply honed katana right in front of Kang-hoo’s nose.

It was so close that if it had moved a finger’s breadth further, it would have cut somewhere on his nose.

But Kang-hoo didn’t blink and stared straight into the clone’s eyes.

Although it was Takashi’s clone, it was also connected to the real Takashi.

The link between the clone and the real body wasn’t just mechanical.

If it were, it would be blocked in the dungeon. The use of electronic devices created by human civilization was impossible in the dungeon.

But the clone could share sensations with Takashi anytime, anywhere. It was a spiritual connection.

-I heard you wanted to see me. Why, Shin Kang-hoo?

Although the words came from right in front of him, they felt distant due to the microphone.

For a moment, Kang-hoo wondered if this distance was the distance of fate between him and Takashi.

A kind of idle thought. A random thought to endure the tension paradoxically.

Within that, Kang-hoo found his composure and was ready to speak confidently.

Kang-hoo’s concept was simple.

He planned to benchmark the way Emilia got close to Takashi in the original story.

The method was ‘bold approach.’

Ridiculously, it was about showing confidence that he liked Takashi and that Takashi would like him too.

A formal approach would only strongly stimulate Takashi’s twisted distrust and be meaningless.

For instance, admiring his skills, calling him cool, or saying he had longed to meet him.

These lip service-like remarks would be poison to Takashi.

Considering his original personality, it was hard to start a conversation like this.

But Kang-hoo decided to act like the person Takashi wanted and perform accordingly.

“Let’s be friends.”

What did you say?

At Kang-hoo’s blunt response, Takashi’s clone tilted its head to one side.

It was exactly the reaction of someone thinking, ‘What kind of nonsense is this?’

“Not the kind of shallow, window-dressing friends who flatter each other without soul. I mean friends who sweat, clash, compete, and grow together.”

-Why should I?

A short rebuttal, but the slight tremor in his voice revealed his surprise.

It was a positive signal.

It was Takashi’s natural defense mechanism not to show his true feelings easily.

The tremor was a human flaw Takashi couldn’t control perfectly.

“We’re always lonely, aren’t we? Isn’t that right?”

He raised his tone a bit.

It was a high tone, not fitting his usual low-middle tone voice, but it added more power to his words.

-You don’t know me. What do you know to lump us together like that?

“Not knowing is a problem we can solve by getting to know each other. Even if we were strangers, once we’ve met, we’re not strangers anymore.”

-You’re seriously talking nonsense?

“Even nonsense sounds plausible when spoken seriously.”

Takashi tried to refute Kang-hoo’s sly response but then closed his mouth.

It was fascinating to see Kang-hoo speak calmly as if such words wouldn’t faze him.

He also wondered what gave him such confidence.

Curiosity was the keyword that ran through such thoughts.

Unknowingly, Takashi was getting caught up in Kang-hoo’s proactive attitude.

It was a fresh shock for Takashi, who had rarely experienced such straightforward approaches.

Except for The Thirteen Stars, he was always an object of fear and respect.

So, he had never seen a hunter approach him so ‘boldly.’ Everyone was afraid.

Rising interest.

For this reason, Kang-hoo, who had started to look different since passing through the mana traps, began to appear special.

If someone suddenly saw a person differently, some might scoff and say it’s like writing fiction.

But his heart felt that way.

Like a filter overlay, curiosity about Shin Kang-hoo began to grow infinitely.

It was instantaneous and enough to stimulate Takashi’s inquisitive spirit.