Everyone is Young Except for Me - Chapter 176

Chapter 176
After a while, I was able to reunite with the Lechuza. I didn’t know what to call it when it didn’t have a name yet. The unnamed Lechuza poked my shoulder with its beak. It was sharper than I thought and I felt pain.

“It hurts.” 

“Guruk. Gruruk~”

It was still young so its method of expressing affection was a bit awkward. I thought it would be better for the Lechuza to make friends.

“Punghee~”

There was a gentle breeze and Punghee appeared in the air. These days, Punghee enjoyed going to the Ring World. She was becoming bigger and it was hard to keep staying on my head. In any case, she was currently holding acorns in her hands. Maybe it was her meal.

“Puuuung~♡”

I couldn’t help smiling at the cute act I hadn’t seen in ages. For me, Punghee was like my youngest daughter.

“Punghee, let me introduce you to a friend.”

“Puung~?”

Punghee giggled while holding the leftover acorns. It was so cute that my heart almost fell. I showed the Lechuza on my shoulder and Punghee’s face filled with curiosity.

Sniff sniff.

After sniffing a few times, Punghee licked the Lechuza’s cheek. The Lechuza came down while flapping its wings.

I watched closely. “Do you like it?”

I didn’t know much about animals so I was a bit dull in this respect. Fortunately, they explored each other’s fur and feather without any wariness. Their relationship looked good. I didn’t call Solar because I was unsure if it would like the Lechuza. If something went wrong, the Lechuza might get burned.

-Crystal: Father, did you meet the owl?

It seemed that it was Sujeong who brought the Lechuza. She said that she was coming to the Colosseum.

-Jackson: Yes, we’ve met. I heard you were coming for the finals. Why did you come so fast?

-Crystal: I heard that Park Muyeol’s group was going to the Colosseum. They asked me if I wanted to come with them, so I did. Ah, right. Your son came with me. We’re close to where you are staying.

“Hmm. That Jeonghyun...”

I was the one who called him here but I hadn’t expected him to come so quickly. I thought he would go through all sorts of hardships and we would only meet after two or three months.

“Well, that Muyeol must’ve done it.”

Park Muyeol had mentioned it when we were smoking just now. He met Jeonghyun by accidently and they desperately killed and killed. It was said Jeonghyun did it in hopes of succeeding. It made me think of the days I was at the Samcheong University of Education. In any case, Park Muyeol had spoken proudly so I thought I could trust him.

I opened the window, connected a cobweb to the ceiling, and descended at a rapid pace. Punghee followed by floating in the air while the unnamed Lechuza followed by flapping its wings. There was one on each side and there was a strong feeling.

My feet touched the ground and a voice could be heard, “Father~!”

I looked back at the familiar voice and saw many people, including Kim Sujeong, walking over. I scanned their faces and stepped at one place. Choi Jeonghyun was hesitant when he saw me.

“...He is a useless guy.”

I walked over there with my hands behind my back.

* * *

The current time was 10 p.m. It was the time for one of the most popular programs on Arkstar’s professional channel. The name of the program was A.S.L Relay. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that every player who enjoyed Arkstar watched this program. It was because it ranked all the news of the community from 1 to 10.

-Today’s 4th place. There is a lot of talk about the identity of a thief who recently stole a huge amount of money from the Parta Principality...

A.S.L Relay’s broadcast only dealt with the hottest issues.

The person who was watching it now was the first ranked player in the world, who hadn’t left the house in a few days—Michael, who was praised as the best swordsman.

-The money of the Parta Principality has soared into the sky and never fell again, causing a lot of NPCs to feel angry...

“...This is a strange thing.”

The next screen showed the scene of the money of the Parta Principality skyrocketing. He had been hunting there not long ago so he couldn’t believe this was happening. He couldn’t believe that someone stole all the money from that big city and ran away. The screen was dominated by the laser attacks that made up the essence of magic engineering. Nevertheless, they couldn’t find the money.

-Many people think this is a crime committed by the power of a new Star Fruit. Who is the culprit?

“A Star Fruit ability user...”

Nowadays, the strong were showing up bit by bit. There were the Eight Supernovas known to have eaten the Star Fruit and the one he just saw who stole the money from the Parta Principality. Additionally, there was one person Michael was most concerned about right now.

“Dark Wolf.”

Many people called him the one who saved Windia. It was unfamiliar to Michael, who always kept the first place topic. He missed first place on A.S.L Relay for the first time because of that day. Since then, Michael had only been staying at home. He often saw reporters with microphones when he went outside.

Fortunately, he had the housekeeper aunt Reina at home, so he didn’t have to worry about starving to death. Michael could rest well. She had the same name as Reina, the executive of the Zeus Guild, but their personalities were the opposite. Maybe this was why he hated Reina even more.

-The following is the third place. A few days ago, one of the executives of the Zeus Guild, Reinhardt, participated in the Colosseum battle in Fortren and showed off a tremendous strength. Let’s look at the screen.

“Reinhardt?” Michael’s eyes shook. Come to think of it, he remembered Damian asking him to go to Fortren not long ago. He probably took the other executives because Michael refused. "No, I thought they were only going to the black market...”

-There is no need for four people. I, Reinhardt, alone am enough! Nuclear Fist!

Reinhardt’s deadly blow, the skill Nuclear Fist. In fact, the real name of the skill wasn’t Nuclear Fist. Reinhardt simply called out Nuclear Fist when starting the skill. In any case, this wasn’t the important thing. The stadium’s stage was shattered with a loud sound. 

-Kuhahaha! It is so easy to finish! Wuhahaha!

There was Reinhardt’s roaring laughter as the screen returned to A.S.L Relay.

-It is a great power. The Zeus Guild seems to have truly established itself as the number one guild. However, there is one more person to keep an eye on in this Colosseum.

-Who is it?

The male MC answered the question of the female MC.

-It is one of the Eight Supernovas, China’s Zhen Sulong.

-Wow~! Isn’t he really amazing?

-It isn’t an exaggeration to say that the winner of the Colosseum battle will be one of these two people. It is a hot topic among the A.S.L community. There is even news that tickets for the Colosseum’s round of 16 sold out instantly. Many users said they are looking forward to the showdown.

-Wow, I’m really curious. Who will win? It is a confrontation between the Zeus Guild’s main tanker Reinhardt and Zhen Sulong, one of the Eight Supernovas. I can’t sleep because my heart is pounding!

-Haha. Thus, our A.S.L Relay has decided to exclusively broadcast the Colosseum match on that day. Reporters from all over the world are expected to participate. Since it was a confrontation between Reinhardt of Germany and Zhen Sulong of China, the leaders of each country are also interested...

The following screen was full of trivial subtitles. The Colosseum battle would be broadcasted live at midnight. For Michael, it wasn’t fun. Still, he was a bit curious about the Colosseum battle. It seemed to be a good stimulus for himself, who had recently fallen into a slump. If he went there, he would be able to meet the guild members after a long time.

“I will go to sleep first.”

Michael leaned back on his bed. He closed his eyes that were throbbing after connecting to the game for a long time.

* * *

There was the distant sound of whips. The sound of flesh being hit seemed to ring through my head. Naked people were crawling between barbed wire covering stone fields and I was also being whipped there.

“Kuaack!”

“Aaack!”

“Die! You pigs!”

There was a terrible scream and the smell of muddy water mixed with blood stung my nose. I shouted to the person with the whip to stop but it didn’t reach him. There was a light and once I opened my eyes again, I was hanging from a cliff with waves below me. They were rolling waves.

There, I tried my best to live while covered with sandbags full of sand. My hands bled as I held onto the rock tightly to survive this hellish place.

“Hey, piglets. Can you beat the commies with this? Haah?!”

The instructor was glaring with fierce eyes. I felt numb and turned my head. Next to me, I could see my younger sister’s face trembling in the cold. She and I relied on each other, even although we weren’t blood related siblings. She looked precarious like she would fall onto the waves and be crushed.

"Oppa, I’m sorry. I’m going first.”

I tried to tell the instructor to save her but she let go first. Eventually, she was swallowed up by the waves. I cried out with a deep sense of despair. “No—!!!”

I woke up with a thunderous cry. I was currently at a place for the Colosseum participants. It was my room on the second floor. Perhaps I had this dream because I only slept for less than four hours.

“Pant. Pant.

Shit. It was the worst dream. Why was my dream so chaotic? I suddenly turned my head to the side and saw a familiar face. It was a Colosseum participant like me. It was my friend of 40 years, Park Muyeol. Come to think of it, I had an appointment with him yesterday. I had called him to have a drink with the group. Then why was he sitting at my bedside and watching me? “What are you doing?”

Park Muyeol coughed. “Cough. No, you were sleep talking too much in your sleep. I was watching because it was amazing.”

“Sleep talking?”

“Yes. You repeatedly cried out ‘I’m sorry’.”

“......”

My ears turned red with shame. They were words from when I was training as a North Korean spy. It was still hard for me to share such terrible things with others. I had to be a demon to survive that demonic period. I was the devil at that time.

“Has something happened recently?”

“What? There is nothing.”

I stood up and waved my hand at Park Muyeol’s worry. Then I asked him, “What about the other kids?”

“They went to the accommodations my grandson booked.”

“Ah, I see.”

Yesterday, Park Seongchan boasted that he had made a lot of money from the loan. He borrowed $1 million and still had $1.5 million after paying off the loan. He was really happy and led the party to a luxurious hotel. Maybe my second son was there. All of them had decided to come and watch the match. It was due to Park Seongchan buying them tickets in advance.

“Quickly wake up. The Colosseum match will soon start. I need to take a puff before that.”

Park Muyeol smiled and made a smoking gesture with his fingers. He looked like a spoiled child and I couldn’t help smiling. Next to him was the unnamed Lechuza, who had spent the night in a cage.

I muttered, “Oh, I have to name this thing.”

“Name?”

“Yes, it doesn’t have a name yet. It is a girl.”

Sujeong had told me that this owl was female. Then it was appropriate to give her a fitting name, just like Punghee. I struggled over it for a long time but I couldn’t think of anything.

Next to me, Park Muyeol said, “Why are you thinking so much? Take it easy. Easy.”

“Then you name it.”

“What is that thing? A Lechoza?”

“Lechuza.”

“Cough. Yes. Then how about Chunza?”

“Chunza?”

Chunza...

It didn’t seem bad. I manipulated the status window and wrote her name. I tapped it one by one while sweating. I was careful not to make any mistakes.

[Your owl has been named ‘Chunza.’]

[’Chunza’ likes the name you gave.]

“Gruruk~”

She seemed to like it. I threw the raw chicken into the cage and turned around.

“Let’s go for a smoke.”

We headed to the rooftop.