CH 17

“Wow, such a great situation!”

Of course, it was a pure expression spit out to suppress the swearing.

If there was Loki or Mister Guy right in front of him, he might have punched without realizing it.

‘It became meaningless that I’ve been taking care of my condition for a week.’

Thinking that he was in a situation no different than a cold patient, Choi Yu Seong checked the next main message to be checked, that is, the contents of the promotion evaluation.

《THIEF CATCHING! DIFFICULTY ++ VERSION

A very bad and wicked thief has stolen half of your soul and ran away to hide.

Find the thief hiding somewhere and get your soul back!

You only have two chances to choose the door!

If you’re lucky, maybe you will find a hint somewhere?

SPECIAL★

Part of the penalty can be alleviated by defeating the thief’s minions scattered in each room.

The current condition of Awakener Choi Yu Seong is 30%.》

Mister Guy said that the thief stole Choi Yu Seong’s very precious thing, so it certainly didn’t seem wrong.

‘Half of my soul. I don’t know how, but I’ll die soon if I don’t have that, right?’

The question was answered by a system message that popped out suddenly in red light.

《SPECIAL★

Part of the penalty can be alleviated by defeating the thief’s minions scattered in each room.

Please hurry up! Because half of your soul has disappeared, your condition deteriorates rapidly over time.

The current condition of Awakener Choi Yu Seong is 29%.

When the condition reaches 0%, Awakener Choi Yu Seong dies.》

“Truly very nice!”

Once again exclaiming praise, Choi Yu Seong moved his body right away instead of sighing.

Thanks to that, the order of what to do has been decided.

‘First of all, let’s start with sorting out the wicked thief’s minions. It is unconditionally a priority to raise my condition.’

There was no need to think about where it would be.

‘If I open the door, it’ll be rushing, right.’

Sun, moon, and star.

Choi Yu Seong first opened the door of Sun Room, which is located in the center.

‘It’s said I had two chances.’

In other words, somewhere among the three rooms, there is a thief who stole Choi Yu Seong’s soul, and the probability is about 33.3%.

In this situation, why did he choose the Sun Room first?

“If you’re a man, go straight.”

Rattle.

The big door opened easily.

***

The place where Choi Yu Seong encountered after opening the large door was not a harsh natural environment such as a wide plain, a damp and humid cave, or a clifftop where a rainy wind blew.

“… It’s just a mansion hallway.”

Choi Yu Seong was trapped in a room in a large mansion until just now.

To pick out something somewhat special, there are only colorful windows with large paintings reminiscent of Catholicism, quietness without any presence, and cleaning tools that seem to be discarded here and there.

‘Is the cleaning tool becoming garbage.’

There was no curiosity about who the hell lived in the mansion and what purpose it was built for.

‘It’s just a test site anyway. There must be monsters somewhere, and I might get a hint if I’m lucky.’

Choi Yu Seong walked out of the hallway without hesitation.

He felt listless for no reason since his body felt a little heavy, but his eyes scanned sharply at the surroundings.

‘I’m sure there must be something, but…’

Behind Choi Yu Seong, who was walking amidst doubt, a broom that was laying like garbage trembled and slowly rose into the air.

Choi Yu Seong did not feel any suspicion at the silent movement with no presence, and the broom that already approached behind him swung heavily.

“Ugh-!”

Choi Yu Seong, who was hit on the head, screamed, turned around then quickly grabbed and broke the broom that attacked again.

He was hit in the head, but there was no particular pain because it was an ordinary broom.

It’s more like the feeling of being surprised rather than in pain.

‘What’s this?’

The question is for a moment.

《SPECIAL★

The current condition of Awakener Choi Yu Seong is deteriorating due to the damage.

27%.

When the condition reaches 0%, Awakener Choi Yu Seong dies.》

Seeing the message flashing in front of him and the appearance of the fallen cleaning tools in the hallway he passed by trembling and rising into the air, Choi Yu Seong quickly changed Pharaoh’s Caprice into a suit and spit out great praise once again.

“Hiya, is this the Korean difficulty I’ve only heard of? Really, so exciting!”

It was a curse too radical to translate directly.

***

The fierce battle, which was short but never easy, ended.

The floor was littered with the scattered cleaning tools that were split in half or broken vainly.

What was surprising was that only a part of the wallpaper was torn even in such a battle, but Choi Yu Seong focused more on knocking down the many cleaning tools without allowing any more blows with quite good movements even in a heavier body.

‘As expected, it’s good that I’ve been training steadily.’

The body remembers even if his movements were slower and his mind was fuzzy than usual.

If it was not for the body’s memory that reacts somewhat instinctively rather than consciously in the crowded attack of cleaning tools, Choi Yu Seong would have already died or in an extreme situation where he had to declare renounce.

《SPECIAL★

Displays the current condition of Awakener Choi Yu Seong.

32%》

‘This certainly improved my condition. 2% more than the original.’

Approximately 50 cleaning tools have been knocked down.

‘Is it 1% for 10?’

Something doesn’t seem to be very efficient, but anyway, he can recover his condition by knocking down only cleaning tools that move strangely like that.

Above all, he realized one certain information due to the first battle.

‘You can’t just walk by without thinking.’

Since even the cleaning tools are moving, each item in the mansion is very likely a hidden risk.

In such tension, Choi Yu Seong carefully crossed the hallway. Thanks to that, he was able to defeat quite a lot of cleaning tools, picture frames, suddenly flying toilets(?), and others without repeating the same mistakes as the first.

‘It doesn’t feel like fighting a monster. It’s strange, but…’

What was important was the surprising fact that Choi Yu Seong’s condition rose to 48% by the time he reached the end of the hallway.

About half recovery.

It is not a bad result compared to the first worst situation.

‘For now, here is the end of the hallway. And is this the stairs going downstairs.’

There is no option to go upstairs.

Choi Yu Seong carefully went down the stairs that spread out just like the open hallway as if asking to come. Fortunately, the stairs were not very long, and there was no ambush.

However, when he almost reached the first floor.

Choi Yu Seong felt chills and fear when he saw a huge armor knight that looked over 3m tall in the center of the spacious living room.

“No way. Is that one also moving too?”

The shield it is holding is as big as Choi Yu Seong’s body and the great sword it is carrying on its shoulder seems to be a combination of two Choi Yu Seong.

It was obvious that he didn’t want to fight such a huge armor monster in his current condition, but as always, the effect of the interrogative type flag was clear.

Kkikikijik-!

A huge iron armor turned toward Choi Yu Seong with a rusty iron cry.

“Ah… Damn it.”

What else needs to be said?

Choi Yu Seong flew from the top of the stairs, quickly climbed up the armored knight, and stabbed the spear into the helmet with the only gap.

He did it just in case there would be any sensation in his hand he could feel, but it’s empty.

Instead, a red flame burst in the dark black space and rose to form pupils.

Looking at that, Choi Yu Seong smiled awkwardly and greeted it.

“Hi?”

Kugugugung-!

The answer was replaced by the trembling of the huge body.

Choi Yu Seong could feel it intuitively.

‘I never can win in my current state.’

He didn’t even think about what would happen if he fought for life.

Didn’t Jin Yu Ri say it, too?

‘It’s the stupidest thing to die in the promotion evaluation.’

Therefore, after confirming that the armored knight had let go of the shield and reached its hand out to him, Choi Yu Seong used Wind Stance and jumped up the stairs without hesitation.

Whoosh-!

The hand of the huge armor knight passed through the place where Choi Yu Seong was standing just before in vain.

‘Fortunately, the movements aren’t that fast.’

If so, there was only one way for Choi Yu Seong to choose.

“You, give up. See you later if I can.”

Choi Yu Seong climbed the stairs he had passed without hesitation, walked back through the hallway, and returned to the large room where he first opened his eyes.

The result was not bad.

‘As expected, it doesn’t follow me to the second floor.’

The situation went as he predicted to some extent.

In addition, it was also confirmed that the once opened door of Sun Room did not close.

‘That armor knight is probably a thief or a guy with a hint.’

It would not be lacking to call it the boss of this promotion evaluation.

“Then push back that guy for now, and my current condition is… 46%.”

Certainly, the rate of decrease in condition was accelerating over time.

‘There’s no room to hesitate.’

The remaining places are the Moon Room and the Star Room.

This time, Choi Yu Seong opened the door of the Star Room and was welcomed by the same spreading hallway.

The only difference is the fact that the only thing seen in the hallway is nutcracker wooden dolls instead of cleaning tools.

‘For now, they’re just the right opponent to recover my condition.’

With its large body, it was easier to deal with than cleaning tools.

It was in an instant that Choi Yu Seong’s spear cut the wooden dolls into pieces like a storm.

And the stairs going down to the first floor that he encountered again.

‘Is downstairs here also …’

There is.

After checking the appearance of an armored knight and quickly returning to the original room, Choi Yu Seong checked his condition.

“66%.”

Of course, it’s not the best.

Even the decreasing speed is getting faster.

‘I have already opened two doors.’

The room with three doors that he returned to.

Sitting quietly in the center, Choi Yu Seong held his chin and pondered.

‘Let’s think objectively. Can I win over the armored knight if I’m in 100% condition?’

Since he was holding the spear with one hand, the effect of Cold Headed (E) Skill continued naturally.

Thanks to that, his mental composure did not shake much even in an urgent situation.

Although somewhat slow, Choi Yu Seong calmly compared and analyzed his strength with the armored knight.

The conclusion is drawn from that.

‘… Impossible.’

This means that the monsters were not left to catch in the first place.

‘So, that’s why it’s called the Extreme Difficulty+.’

It has been a long time since he erased complaints such as whether it would have been less difficult than this without Loki’s intervention.

Rather than dwelling on the spilled water, he has to get results in this situation.