Clearing his throat with a few coughs, he lifted his hand to press on the earpiece he’d secured to his ear.

"Is Yoon Seoyul out?"

He mumbled out audibly, weaker than before. It took a second for the other person to speak.

"No. It would be too soon for them to be back, Mr. Cheon Areum, especially since they don’t have you with them."

Not replying to that, he remained silent. His fingernails scratched the hard ground.

Not yet. He needed more time.

"Stop that."

A boot came to crash his hand on the ground at the same time as the voice came. Cheon Areum, immediately upon seeing it, slid his hand back towards him. A drop of fresh blood fell on that hand that dropped from his jaw.

"You’re bleeding a lot. You won’t die this early, will you? No, you’re also an S+ Class. It shouldn’t be possible to kill you this easily."

Speaking his thoughts outright, Kihyun paced around the area. Behind him was another wall that Cheon Areum broke through to stop and fall into here. This Kihyun was also slightly different appearance-wise but still recognizable. The fact that Kihyun had the ability to duplicate himself and wasn’t using it to clear the gates once more irritated him to no end. Cheon Areum was wondering if he would be able to hold back as he planned when Kihyun dramatically stopped in front of him.

"You. What’s your special skill?"

".....?"

With the weakest confused expression, Cheon Areum glanced up at him.

"I have been waiting and watching to collect every possible information about you. I know all of your skills, abilities, and how you use them to fight, but even after this long, I haven’t been able to find out what your special skill is."

Fight?

Cheon Areum narrowed his eyes. He had never fought outside a gate ever, and the most he fought was before his pregnancy. For how long has Kihyun been planning this?

"But you only awakened recently."

He muttered unconsciously. Does this mean Kihyun always had this special skill of being able to get another awakener’s skill by killing them? Cheon Areum didn’t have a special skill, so he hadn’t known if the special skill was affected by his reawakening, but it was very plausible that an awakener’s special skill never changes despite their reawakening. Then Kihyun must’ve had the ability to hide himself even back then, but he wasn’t strong enough to try to steal anyone’s skill.

"Just what is your special skill?"

Cheon Areum began to laugh despite himself at his innocent attempt.

"As if I would ever tell you."

Kihyun’s facial features hardened. He crouched down to be on level with Cheon Areum as he asked.

"Does Yoon Seoyul know?"

"I’m not telling you shit."

"If you tell me your special skill, I will tell you why I don’t want to confront Yoon Seoyul."

Kihyun offered with a straight face. Not moved, Cheon Areum stared back.

"I already know that. It’s because you’re a weakass scared to confront the main character. Obviously you’d be... only the villain can go against the main character like that."

He still considered himself as the villain of this story. Just because it wasn’t the typical one where the villain died and married the main character didn’t mean he was robbed of his villain status. And even if the villain tried to put up an act, it didn’t change him internally. Cheon Areum still felt the hatred for alphas, especially ones as arrogant and annoying as Kihyun.

"But keep trying. I might slip and reveal it."

Cheon Areum added, seeing the seethe in that face. Since he was so bent over to find out his special skill, Kihyun tried to get a hint about it.

"Does it involve reincarnation?"

"Hm... dunno." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Cheon Areum gave a vague response. He wasn’t really going to tell him anything. He was more worried about something else. He knew everything about Han Kakta’s core now. He could build it right now since he already had a structure. He only had to flip that. There was barely any energy left in his original core, and he was saving it.

For the artificial core to work, he needed to connect it to his original core, but there was a bit of an issue. The core that Han Kakta had was the absorbent type, meaning it would absorb any energy in its reach. You could pour energy into it like what Han Kakta did, but if it had access to another source of energy close to it, there was no doubt it would be sucked in instantly. And if that core emptied his original core but still didn’t work...

"....You’re just playing with me, aren’t you?"

Catching on to it belatedly, Kihyun stood up and gazed down at him.

"No matter. If you do come back, I will just kill you again."

"Ah, yes. Please do so."

Cheon Areum replied, seemingly bored of their conversation. Even now, unable to get up, Cheon Areum was picked up by Kihyun from his elbow forcibly. Refusing to even groan in pain, Cheon Areum shut his eyes, knowing what was coming. Before he could even stand properly on his feet, Kihyun dragged him and threw him into the walls of the city over and over again. Grabbing him, picking him up, and throwing him until the wall broke down. That was the pattern. At every turn he was thrown, Kihyun appeared almost instantaneously. He was definitely throwing him in the direction he knew his duplicate would be waiting for him.

Bathed in blood of his own, Cheon Areum was really testing this body. Bearing consciousness even now, he suddenly found himself in the neighborhood he lived in. Not having the energy to stop himself, Cheon Areum was about to hit a house that was only a few houses away from his own. That’s when the temperature dropped out of nowhere, becoming freezing cold. Without knowing when, a tall wall of thick ice formed to stop him. Cheon Areum hit the ice wall instead of the house, feeling the coldness seep into his body.