The Duke's Son :Re
Chapter 88

Chapter 88

“Hey, you were just kidding, right?”

Roh Jun-Yeop clung to Jae-Hyeok in a hurry and made a fuss. How can we break the core?Even if I overestimate us, and we manage to hit it through sheer luck, our firepower won't be nearly enough to do anything!

Whenever a gate outbreak was imminent, the concentration of mana in the area increased to an abnormal level. This mana gathered at specific points until the initial core, known as the central core, was formed. This was the backbone of the gate—the gate would be complete once the central core split into several parts and linked together.

“A joke? We’re already being ignored. Won’t I get kicked out if I make a joke?” Jae-Hyeok looked at Jun-Yeop in bewilderment.

Meanwhile, Byeon Seok-Gu stared at Jae-Hyeok in a stunned manner. “Tall brat. Do you know how to destroy a gate before it’s completed?”

“It’s about breaking the cores. This gate is C-grade, so there are five cores to destroy.”

A B-class player with a particularly red face interjected, “You don’t know the most important thing. There’s a one-minute time limit for destroying the core.”

Had he been drinking alcohol?

That player continued, “The cores will completely regenerate and become twice as hard exactly one minute after being attacked. They even share their health, so even if four cores are destroyed, they will all regenerate if the fifth core is still intact.”

In other words, once they attacked one core, all the cores had to be destroyed within one minute.

“This is why we usually attack the central core first.”

The central core was more than three times harder than the other cores. So it was best to focus their strongest players on it first, ensuring its swift destruction before moving on to the other, weaker cores afterward. That was the best bet for succeeding within the one-minute time limit.

“I guess so?” Jae-Hyeok tilted his head.

His expression was concealed under the heavily tinted helmet, but his tone seemed to be wondering why this person was mentioning such an obvious thing.

While the other players were feeling agitated, Byeon Seok-Gu felt a strange sense of intrigue. This kid is a bit of a weirdo. Byeon Seok-Gu couldn’t see his face but could read his intentions.

Judging by his words and fluid movements, he seemed self-certain. Is he skilled?... Ah, I’m thinking too deeply. I won’t get answers from trivial details like this.

Byeon Seok-Gu smiled and glanced at the person in charge from the Gugang Group.

“Are you sure these kids are meant to join us on this mission?”

“T-that’s right.”

The person in charge nodded his sweaty head. The reason they had sent the commission to the Shooting Club of Lion’s Castle was purely due to Jang Yeon-Ju, intending to use her status to draw in the Bow Saint. After all, entrusting a commission such as this to Byeon Seok-Gu and the B-class players alone was too uncertain.

Preventing a gate from appearing is a different matter from attacking it after the fact.

The top B-class players were naturally very good; if they were attacking a C-grade gate, then maybe two- or three of them could raid it.

However, the Gugang Group’s aim was to prevent the gate from appearing in the first place. They knew how hard it was to break the cores made of condensed mana—they trusted Byeon Seok-Gu, but they didn’t trust the B-class players at all. Which is why we tried to draw in the Bow Saint...

That was all the Gugang Group employee knew. As for why they decided to pay a higher commission fee to the Shooting Club and whether they succeeded in recruiting the Bow Saint—his superiors didn’t say.

“Hmm, can I trust these kids with the core?”

“T-that... of course?” The employee laughed awkwardly and scratched his head. The fate of a hotel building worth tens of billions was at stake... He really couldn’t comprehend why such an important task was entrusted to a group of students.

Byeon Seok-Gu felt the same, but it wasn’t his hotel at stake. “Alright, you said it.” Shrugging, he turned to Jae-Hyeok and Jun-Yeop. “Leave the central core to me. You take care of the core in the south.”

To be honest, destroying the central core of a C-grade gate within a minute was burdensome even for Byeon Seok-Gu. He calculated that he would only have ten seconds to spare. But that’s enough. The southern core was closest to the central core, so he could finish off the southern core if the students failed to destroy it.

Byeon Seok-Gu visualized the scene in his mind to boost his confidence.

“Yes,” Jae-Hyeok easily agreed.

“?”

“......?”

Byeon Seok-Gu, Roh Jun-Yeop, and everyone else in the tent were puzzled.

“What are you up to? If you were going to step down so obediently, why did you insist on taking the central core in the first place?”

Jae-Hyeok explained to the red-faced man, “Well, everyone looked nervous when you first saw us. Since you didn’t seem confident, I thought I had to step up.”

In Jae-Hyeok’s mind, it was an aristocrat's duty to take the lead in doing the things that everyone else avoided. Of course, his words sounded like nonsense to the others.

“It isn’t that we don’t have confidence, we just don’t have confidence in you? What type of sophistry is this? You’re really a strange one; did you take the wrong elixir when you were young?” The red-faced man grew redder. Before he could say more, Byeon Seok-Gu took over.

“It is about time. Let’s stop and get ready.”

After delivering a few warnings, he clapped his hands to signal the end of the meeting. The Shooting Club members and the players quickly dispersed in five directions.

***

In a building near the area of operations.

“Can we really trust them?”

Gu Gang-Seon, the owner of Gugang Hotel, observed the situation through CCTV and asked in a very nervous voice.

The president of Ocean Shipping waved from where he was lying on the sofa.

“Don’t worry about it. Hyung, don’t you know? I am Yeon Ho-Ryeong, the future master of the Ocean Guild.”

The heirs of the political and business elites had their own exclusive community. And Yeon Ho-Ryeong and Gu Gang-Seon were long-time acquaintances.

“If the members of the Shooting Club fail, I’ll come forward and fix it myself. Don’t worry. Your hotel won’t collapse.”

“Just... please come out in time. My father will kill me if the hotel collapses.”

“Hundreds of billions of won shouldn’t be a big deal to the Gugang Group? Meanwhile, I’m XXX if I fail. I might have to sell fish heads for a few more years.”

So there can’t be any mistakes.

Today, I will demonstrate a different level of skill and training. With a renewed determination, Yeon Ho-Ryeong rose from the sofa. A violent aura rose from his body, blue and fierce like waves.

It was the immense pressure of an A-class player.

***

At the same time, in another building.

“As expected, the Gugang Group attracted the Shooting Club of Lion’s Castle.

“Has the Bow Saint come out of seclusion?”

“No. There’s no news so far.”

“The Gugang Group’s plan must have failed. Indeed, there’s no way the Bow Saint would fall prey to such petty schemes.”

Jang Baek-San, the head of the Gangnam branch of the Korean Players Association, smiled with satisfaction.

He had several papers in his hands.

They were documents listing the information of the players employed by the Gugang Group, including Byeon Seok-Gu.

Byeon Seok-Gu—a damage dealer specializing in basic attacks.

Just as many players faced limitations, Byeon Seok-Gu had also faced limitations immediately after achieving A-class.

He lacked an active Skill that could be used as an ultimate weapon, so he couldn’t quickly kill high-level monsters with high defense and health. Because of this, he’d gradually stopped receiving calls from parties to challenge high-grade gates, leaving him with only third-rate missions.

He was unlikely to play a crucial role in this mission.

The central core will be much harder than Byeon Seok-Gu expects. The central core halved the power of any attacks that lacked an attribute. It was a direct counter to Byeon Seok-Gu, who had powerful basic attacks.

“There’s no way a wanderer like him would know such high-level intel. Tell everyone to gear up. Prepare to step forward and suppress the gate as soon as the SOS comes from the Gugang Group.”

He would impress upon them how difficult it was to survive in South Korea without the help of the Association.

Jang Baek-San’s eyes shone brightly with determination.

***

On a rooftop overlooking the predicted location of the southern core.

“Huh? What?”

Roh Jun-Yeop doubted his ears. “Aim in the direction of the central core, not the south?”

Jae-Hyeok’s requirement as he had handed Roh Jun-Yeop a bow, not a gun, was bizarre in many ways.

“And what did you say? Don’t load an arrow. Just pull the bowstring? Shouldn’t we be working together, now more than ever? What’s the point of making me play the role of a fool?”

“I’ll throw you the arrow.”

“What type of nonsense?”

“I already said, I’ll throw the arrow at the bowstring you’re pulling. You just have to let go at the right time.”

“Okay, okay. Explain this nonsense one more time.”

“Tsk, you really don’t understand at all. You kinda resemble Baek Do-Jin, huh?”

“Take it back!”

Jae-Hyeok comforted him. “Shh—Calm down, and don’t worry, you’ll understand what to do in the moment. Believe in yourself, as I believe in you.”

It was hard to explain in words, and time was running out.

Before he knew it, all the Shooting Club members had finished playing their roles. They determined the exact coordinates where the core would soon form and calculated the wind direction and obstacles along the path.

As people with shooting-related Skills, they could do what Jae-Hyeok couldn’t.

“3.2 km.”

The distance to the coordinates felt close to Roh Jun-Yeop.

He had his Initial Skill, which enhanced accuracy and power, and his Eagle-Eye Skill, which allowed him to see the target locations clearly, even in the darkness of the night.

He adjusted the position of his bow, his body, and his gaze for perfect accuracy. Then, he slowly pulled the bowstring.

It was an empty bowstring without an arrow, so it felt especially light, and he was able to pull it back further than ever.

Do I really have to stay like this? Roh Jun-Yeop’s heart suddenly became anxious. There was less than a minute left until the core formed.

Damn.

He closed his eyes and tried to control his mind.

He dreamed of becoming the Bow Saint without fail, and he had been shooting the bow and gun all his life, working tirelessly to make his dream come true.

Such thoughts flashed through his mind. The trajectory of his life gathered together in a single point and manifested as concentration.

His senses integrated with the bow, and the world around him faded away.

[You have fallen into a trance.]

It was a realm of harmony with the bow.

How had he suddenly reached a realm that he had never reached before? Kang Jae-Hyeok’s voice echoed in his mind. Believe in yourself, as I believe in you. Kang Jae-Hyeok was a boy with a bad personality, but Roh Jun-Yeop had to admire his abilities. Yes, he believes in me. And for the sake of my pride, I don’t want to let him down.

“Five!”

“Four!... ”

Roh Jun-Yeop’s concentration reached the limit. And when the countdown reached ‘one,’ he opened his eyes.

He saw it then.

“Go.”

The sight of Kang Jae-Hyeok facing him and leaning his upper body to the fullest.

If Kang Jae-Hyeok’s usual sword-drawing speed was at a level that Roh Jun-Yeop could see, then...

Huh? What he saw next left him so surprised that he lost most of the concentration that he had gathered.

With blurring fingers, Jae-Hyeok’s sword-drawing speed far exceeded Roh Jun-Yeop’s perception, and before he knew it, the bow had become extremely heavy. The stunned Roh Jun-Yeop reflexively let go of the bowstring, and there was an explosive roar that seemed to tear apart the sky.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!

The hilt of the hwando—thrown using the Kang sword-drawing technique and wreathed in lightning from the Thunderbolt Sword Skill—had connected with the bowstring and gained the effects of Roh Jun-Yeop’s shooting Skills before being released.

The hwando transformed into a thunderbolt, tearing the sky and shattering the night.

The aftermath was equally great. The freshly formed central core couldn’t withstand the force of the sudden thunderbolt and was instantly shattered.

“What?”

“?!”

Byeon Seok-Gu and the people of Gugang facing the central core, as well as Yeon Ho-Ryeong and the Association players who were warming up and prepared to leave—everyone was so shocked that they forgot to breathe.

“...Bow Saint.”

It was only after the explosion subsided and the surroundings grew dark once more that the people present regained their senses.

Registering what happened, they trembled in awe. “The Bow Saint has arrived.”