I Alone Resurrect Chapter 138
The Resistor of the Dueling Arena (1)
Currently, the black market is not operated solely by ability users from South Korea.
As foreign capital entered, ability users from other countries also participated in management, with the dueling arena being a prime example.
The dueling arena was run by an American criminal organization and was quite malicious.
Besides regular scheduled duels, they often resorted to underhanded methods to attract attention.
One of their typical tactics was to deliberately provoke black market customers.
If a customer couldn’t hold back their anger, they would be led to fight in the dueling arena.
The rest of the story was predictable.
They would take the items from customers who died in duels, while simultaneously making huge profits from gambling bets.
It was a high-risk business, but so far it had been running without major issues.
This was because the ability users who stepped into the arena were exceptionally skilled.
“Anything interesting today?”
Reagan was the leader of the warriors who fought in the dueling arena.
As usual, he prowled around the black market like a hyena.
It wasn’t too difficult to find someone who looked decently equipped but not too strong.
-Bump
“Ah! What the-?”
While lightly bumping shoulders, he instantly measures their magical power.
If the opponent seems strong,
“I’m sorry.”
He slightly bows his head.
“Huh?”
But if the opponent’s magical power turns out to be low,
“Hey! What the fuck!”
He immediately picks a fight.
Today, he was lucky enough to find prey quickly.
“What’s this now?”
An arrogant-looking Asian walking alone.
He’s the target.
***
Ippotranslation
***
Choi Si-hyeon immediately recognized the identity of the men surrounding Kang Hyeon.
They were subordinates of the man running the dueling arena.
She knew very well how they made money through their dirty tricks.
‘Don’t mess with that man! You stupid bastards!’
She fully understood that they didn’t know Kang Hyeon because they were foreigners.
‘But still, you shouldn’t mess with Kang Hyeon! Why on earth!?’
Someone like Kang Hyeon shouldn’t have been designated as their target.
The reason this happened was that Kang Hyeon usually concealed his magical power to practice magic control.
Not knowing this fact, Choi Si-hyeon stomped her feet, wondering how the situation had come to this.
‘I need to calm the situation first.’
The now-composed Choi Si-hyeon quickly racked her brain.
The water had already been spilled.
What she needed to do now was to somehow send those idiots away on good terms.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
Choi Si-hyeon urgently approached Reagan, the leader of the men surrounding Kang Hyeon.
“And who are you?”
Reagan frowned at the Asian woman addressing him in English.
“I’m Choi Si-hyeon, Executive Director of the Seoul, Gyeonggi Province Entry Office in South Korea. Step away from this man immediately.”
“What?”
Reagan smiled maliciously at Choi Si-hyeon’s words.
“Why should I do that? This man picked a fight with me, so I need to settle this.”
Choi Si-hyeon might really be an important executive in the black market.
But it didn’t matter.
‘If she’s an executive’s customer, she must be loaded with cash. This is a jackpot.’
He was American anyway.
It wasn’t his concern if a South Korean executive got into trouble.
From the beginning, there had been a subtle power struggle, a battle of nerves between those running the dueling arena and the black market, so he thought this was even better.
‘A Korean executive’s customer. Lots of money and weak. Perfect conditions.’
Seeing that Reagan wasn’t listening, Choi Si-hyeon’s expression became urgent.
“If you don’t listen now, I’ll call Diane.”
Diane was one of the high-ranking executives running the dueling arena.
“Do as you please.”
At Reagan’s words, Choi Si-hyeon really took out her phone.
“Just a moment.”
At that moment, Kang Hyeon stepped forward and stopped Choi Si-hyeon.
“Let’s do as these guys want.”
“What…?”
“You bastards. You’re pulling some thug tricks, right?”
Kang Hyeon, who had roughly grasped the situation, grinned.
‘The methods of guys like these are obvious.’
He had seen plenty of people in Korea trying to extort money by picking fights with innocent people.
“Hey. You’re saying I picked a fight?”
“Yeah. You came and hit my shoulder, didn’t you? I should get compensation for that.”
When Kang Hyeon spoke using his translation ability, Reagan replied.
“How do you want to be compensated?”
“100,000 dollars. If you don’t like it, let’s settle this in the dueling arena. Otherwise, I won’t step aside.”
Kang Hyeon let out a hollow laugh at these guys demanding over 100 million won for just bumping shoulders.
“Interesting. Let’s go.”
“What?”
“I said, let’s go to the dueling arena you mentioned.”
Reagan rejoiced as Kang Hyeon unexpectedly agreed easily.
‘Stupid fool. He must be out of touch with reality after being pampered in Korea.’
His team operates with only strong ability users above level 60.
Moreover, they are specialists in fighting against people.
These guys, who fight using all sorts of underhanded methods, somehow manage to win even if their opponent is a stronger ability user.
Arrogant ability users who have only fought monsters usually accept the duel, absorbed in their own power, only to experience hell and die.
“Alright. Then I’ll officially request a match at the dueling arena. Follow me.”
Reagan led the way.
The people following him walked alongside Kang Hyeon, urging him on.
“Hehehe. This is going to be fun after a long time.”
Regardless, Kang Hyeon was just giggling excitedly.
“Sigh… I don’t know anymore.”
Choi Si-hyeon, who let out a deep sigh, quietly followed behind.
***
Ippotranslation
***
The dueling arena was truly massive.
Kang Hyeon marveled at the building, which was larger than an average soccer stadium.
“As expected, these criminal bastards know how to make money.”
As they walked to one of the many reception desks, a friendly receptionist greeted them.
“What brings you here?”
“Duel application.”
“Please fill out these forms.”
Reagan received two forms from the receptionist and handed one to Kang Hyeon.
“Fill out the information written here.”
“Sure, sure.”
The paper had simple questions asking for name, country of origin, affiliated guild, etc.
After that, there was a long explanation asking if he agreed to the duel, basically stating that he wouldn’t receive any compensation if he died.
Kang Hyeon completed the signature and handed over the paper.
“Thank you for your application.”
The receptionist’s face, who had received the paper with a kind expression, suddenly froze.
‘Kang Hyeon of… The Badass Guild?’
She didn’t know much, but she had heard of him.
The crazy ability user from Korea.
Not just crazy, but also said to have tremendous power.
The receptionist bit her lip and looked at Reagan.
‘What is this idiot thinking, bringing in such a big shot?’
But she couldn’t say anything to her superior.
Moreover, she couldn’t let Kang Hyeon, who was involved in the duel, know about her relationship with Reagan.
In the end, she sent a text message to her direct superior.
-Reagan. Sacrifice Badass Kang Hyeon. Please confirm.
Less than 10 seconds after sending the message, Reagan received a call.
“This is Reagan.”
-What are you doing!?
Reagan frowned at the sudden yelling voice on the phone.
“What do you mean?”
-The duel opponent should always be an easy prey. Safely! Don’t you know that!?
“Yes, I know.”
-And you brought in Kang Hyeon!?
“What do you mean…?”
Reagan’s head turned quickly.
‘Kang Hyeon… Kang Hyeon!?’
He thought he had heard the name before.
That there was a unique ability user in Korea.
‘But this guy clearly had weak magical power?’
Reagan’s dilemma didn’t last long.
The voice on the phone urged him.
-Apologize and back off now.
“But…”
-Or fight him yourself and take responsibility! Figure it out!
With that, the call ended.
As Reagan looked troubled, Kang Hyeon approached.
“What’s wrong? Something happened?”
“It’s nothing…”
Reagan fell into thought.
‘Apologize now? Me, Reagan?’
He had passed the 5th stage of the tutorial.
Since then, he had gone through numerous battlefields to reach where he is now.
Over 100 ability users had died by his strong hands.
Among them were many who boasted about being quite famous.
“It’s nothing.”
Reagan handed the papers to the receptionist with a calm expression.
“When is the duel time?”
“There’s an opening in 5 hours. If that’s okay with both of you, we’ll schedule it then.”
“Alright.”
“Do as you please.”
And so, the duel between Kang Hyeon and Reagan was set.
***
Ippotranslation
***
“I heard the story. Will you be okay?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Reagan pushed away his subordinate who was looking at him with a worried face.
“Even if he’s famous, he’s just someone who got cocky fighting weak monsters.”
“I looked up information about Kang Hyeon, and he’s definitely not an ordinary guy…”
The subordinate showed Reagan a video.
-It’s easy, right?
In it, Kang Hyeon was smiling brightly after bursting an ogre’s head with one punch.
“This video is from about 8 months ago. He must have grown even stronger now.”
“…”
Bursting an ogre’s head with a punch.
He wasn’t sure if he could do that even now.
‘A typical tank type who pushes through with strong endurance and overwhelming strength. Then there’s plenty of chances to win.’
There were similar guys among the enemies he had fought.
One of the characteristics of such guys is that they lack technical skills because they rely too much on their physical strength.
‘As long as they’re human, there are bound to be weaknesses.’
Groin. Eyes. There are plenty of other soft spots.
If you target those areas, it’s a fight worth trying.
-Announcement. In 3 hours, there will be an event match at the dueling arena. We kindly ask for your attendance.
Promotional messages started to flow from speakers located throughout the area.
‘So they’ve decided to fully exploit this.’
It was natural if the guy was a big shot.
The organizers would be thinking about how to make even a penny more from this opportunity rather than his life.
Massive promotion.
The more people gather and the bigger the stakes, the profits increase exponentially.
“Hmph. Do as you please.”
Reagan decided to bet all the money he had on himself.
He didn’t care where they bet their money or how much they lost.
He would be the one to survive this fight and claim the money.
***
Ippotranslation
***
“Hey, did you see the match-up for this duel?”
“Why? What about it?”
“They say an ability user named Kang Hyeon is fighting Reagan.”
“Kang Hyeon? Who’s that?”
“He’s a famous ability user from Korea, and it’s no joke. Just look at what’s uploaded on YouTube, this guy is the real deal.”
The news of Kang Hyeon’s duel stirred up the entire black market.
Reagan was already a verified strong fighter in the dueling arena, known to anyone who should know.
In contrast, while it was Kang Hyeon’s first time in the dueling arena, he was an ability user gaining worldwide recognition.
In foreign countries, even if ordinary people didn’t know him well, anyone with even a slight interest in ability users couldn’t not know Kang Hyeon.
He was one of the few tutorial 8th stage graduates worldwide.
Yet, there was a lot of information available about him, and he was very active.
His footsteps were completely different from ordinary ability users, so it was impossible not to draw attention.
“This duel is going to be worth watching.”
“The entrance fee is 500,000 won? Why is it so expensive today?”
“That’s nothing. Just think of it as paying for a good show.”
Of course, the betting also took place on an enormous scale.
“Where are you going to bet?”
“Hmm, I’m still thinking. How about you?”
“I’m betting on Reagan. No matter how strong Kang Hyeon is, Reagan is a specialist in this field. He won’t lose easily.”
The betting amounts on the two were rising to astronomical figures.
The entire black market was swept up in excitement for this festival-like duel that hadn’t happened in a long time.
***
Ippotranslation
***
Kang Hyeon smiled contentedly as he saw his name written on the electronic display board.
“Aren’t you worried?”
“What’s there to worry about?”
“You’re quite famous, isn’t it bad to be exposed like this?”
Kang Hyeon chuckled at Choi Si-hyeon’s question.
“Isn’t the security here supposed to be tight?”
“With this many people gathered, I can’t guarantee it. Not only that, but your abilities will also become known to many others.”
“So?”
“What do you mean ‘so’? If something like this happens, it could be disadvantageous in future conflicts!”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Kang Hyeon shook his head at Choi Si-hyeon’s words.
“I don’t think I’ll have much to show anyway.”
“What?”
Ignoring Choi Si-hyeon’s doubts, Kang Hyeon stood up.
“Let’s go. You’ll see when we get there.”
“There’s still time left, why are we going already?”
There was still an hour left until the match.
“We need to place bets. It’s a chance to make some easy money! Are duel participants not allowed to bet?”
“No, that’s not the case…”
“Then let’s go! Hurry!”
Kang Hyeon didn’t look nervous at all.
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