The S-Rank Character Is My Alt

Chapter 20: Absolute Proposition (1)

“Damn, this is such a hassle!”

Inside Pangyo subway station, a class 4 field-type gate had opened. Perched on the back of a house-sized queen hornet that had burst up through the station, Lude was clutching its antennae.

He was screaming his lungs out, but his voice was drowned out by the swarming buzz of human-sized hornets circling aggressively to guard their queen.

“Stop moving already! Your underlings keep chasing because of it!”

Buzz! Lude ducked flat as a hornet swooped down toward the queen. Not wanting to lose his grip, he clenched the golden half-scissors so tightly in one hand his knuckles turned white. Black spirit energy swirled around it.

As that dark energy latched onto the queen hornet’s tail, the pheromones it emitted began to turn black.

Confirming that his spirit energy was now linked to all the hornets, Lude plunged the scissor into the queen’s back and twisted it.

The queen convulsed, and black bodily fluid spattered onto the blade. Lude grimaced sharply and shouted.

“Phew, seriously. Kang Ihyun!”

“Yes!”

Ihyun, who had been burning down the hornet nest, responded to Lude’s call. Nimbly stepping on the trembling hornets as footholds, he climbed upward and cut his palm.

[Trait :: Unquenchable Flame activates!]

Crash! Ihyun’s holy sword pierced the queen’s head. In an instant, sacred fire ignited and began burning the queen. Lude sighed and then used a skill.

[Illusionist Exclusive Basic Skill :: Skill Amplification]

Whoosh! The sacred fire raced along Lude’s spirit energy attached to the queen’s tail like a fuse.

With crackling sounds, all the hornets began to catch fire. Lude clamped his nose shut with the hand that held the scissor.

“The smell of these things burning is awful! Hurry up and finish it!”

“Got it!”

Ihyun poured more power into the holy fire. Hornets with burning wings started falling one by one to the ground.

Soon flames spread to the queen’s wings as well, and Lude yanked out his scissor. Flicking off the sticky fluid clinging to the blade, he looked at Ihyun clinging to the queen’s front.

“This gate is seriously horrible, horrible… Hey, I’m coming. Catch me.”

“Yes!”

As the queen lost strength and plummeted toward the ground, Lude leaped through the air to Ihyun and hooked an arm around his neck. Ihyun carefully caught him.

The two hung in the sky in what was commonly called a princess carry. Looking down, Ihyun let out a shaky breath.

“A-Are we really… gonna do that now…? For real?”

“Why? You said slow descents make you sick, so you don’t want this either? Should we just go down slowly then?”

“No, I’ll endure it!”

“Yeah, do your best.”

The sky was filled with the smell of burning protein. Ihyun, face trembling, looked down below. Even a self-healing genius couldn’t cure motion sickness.

How high had they gone? The tall buildings looked like tiny dots beneath them.

“W-We can’t use dimensional rift, can we?”

“If the portal’s position overlaps with the people below, they’d swap places with us. You want folks dropping to their deaths after we clear the gate?”

“Right… no, that wouldn’t do…”

Ihyun slumped in disappointment. Lude found his sulky look amusing and smirked, lightly tapping Ihyun’s cheek with the flat of his scissor.

“Hey, relax. I’ll go a little slower.”

“Really? You don’t look like you mean that at all, Lude. You promise, right?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Lude spun the half-scissor in his hand with a grin as Ihyun stared at him with utter distrust.

“Wait! Actually, maybe we shouldn’t—!”

“Alright then, shout your lover’s name as we descend!”

Before Ihyun could protest, Lude released the energy that had been holding them aloft.

Swoosh! In the next instant, the two plunged toward the ground like on a giant drop ride. Ihyun’s eyes flew wide open.

“Aaaaaaah! Lude!! Slowly!! You said slowly! You tricked me again, again!!”

Lude!! Ihyun’s desperate scream rang out high in the sky.

[Class 4 Field-Type Gate – ‘Beekeeping in the City’ has been cleared!]

Clap clap clap! As the two finally landed on the cleared gate floor, the people all around applauded. Puffed up by the sound, Lude wore a self-satisfied expression.

“Smooth, right?”

“Haa, huff, huff… Lude, seriously. Don’t you think you’re too cruel to me?”

Ihyun’s legs were trembling violently as he tried to walk. Lude, still in his arms, pulled away from his neck and said,

“Alright, alright, I’ll be gentler next time. You can put me down now.”

“…”

“What are you doing?”

But instead of putting him down, Lude was still cradled in his arms. About to snap, Lude stopped short as Ihyun spoke.

“You admit you were too harsh on me, right? So just three more minutes like this… please? Let me hold you like this three minutes longer…”

He clutched Lude with a pitiful face. He really looked worn out. Nari’s conscience began to prickle.

‘W-Was I too harsh?’

[Mhm, honestly, Nari, you did go too far this time, the Lord of Chaos says while shaking his head.]

“My legs… they’re shaking so badly right now… Just let me rest like this for a moment, okay? Please?”

His pitiful tone made Nari waver. Fine, just three minutes, that should be okay. Just three minutes like this and no more. As Nari was about to agree,

[Trait :: Is this YouTube material? activates!]

[Someone is recording you. There’s a high chance your appearance will be uploaded as a trending video!]

“They are trying to make YouTube content out of this! Put that phone down!”

Only then did Lude notice the gazes around them and shout.

In the shelter, people held up their phones, filming Ihyun and Lude with sparkling eyes, like they’d found something fascinating.

Realizing, Ihyun quickly blurted out,

“Three minutes! If it’s shorter, they can’t put ads on, so they won’t upload it!”

“You want to see this uploaded on Shorts or TokTik?! Put me down!”

“Sob....”

At Lude’s outburst, Ihyun slowly set him down. Lude grumbled as he walked ahead, while Ihyun trudged behind, looking drained.

A week since joining Sanctuary. Was it the guild’s name or because of this guy at his side? Lude thought back over the past few days.

Recently he had developed a new trait, ‘Avoiding YouTube material at all costs.’ Every time he fought in a gate, he ended up trending on video sites.

In just that week, the way people looked at him had changed. Before, they gazed at him with awe for being the strongest. Now…

[The Lord of Chaos shares an internet community post with you.]

Honestly, I thought Ihyun was the mature one and Lude was childish (19)

But these days it looks like if Ihyun ever got scammed, Lude would be the one storming in to set things straight lololol

[Comments]

— Fr lol

-– I can picture him frowning, sighing, saying “Damn… you are the worst…” as he goes with him to demand a refund lol

— It’s like those pairs in every class, the airheaded nice one and the sharp, short-tempered best friend

   — Exactly this lmaoo

      — Actually, Ihyun’s fandom has always said he’s kinda airheaded lol

‘The dignity of number one… how far has it fallen?’

[It’s fine. Becoming approachable is a good thing, the Lord of Chaos consoles you.]

“Ugh, it makes me uncomfortable. People will turn on you in an instant if they feel like it.”

Lude trudged toward the exit, then abruptly turned. Ihyun was following behind, dragging his feet, clearly drained.

The words from that community post overlapped with his face, “airheaded and kind.” Lude’s heart wavered a little.

‘Maybe I was too harsh. I should’ve just given him what he wanted. It’s not like being on YouTube is new for me.’

He remembered how Ihyun had looked after him before the interview. With a sigh, he walked back toward him.

“Hey.”

“Yes?”

Sniffling, Ihyun looked pitiful. Lude extended his index finger. Ihyun stared blankly at the hand, and Lude coughed awkwardly.

“…One.”

“…!”

Ihyun’s head shot up and with his eyes sparkling, he carefully tried to negotiate.

“…Three.”

“Two.”

“Deal!”

[Trait :: Is this YouTube material? activates!]

[Someone is recording you. The chances of your actions being uploaded to YouTube have increased!]

‘Sigh… Whatever. It ends up on YouTube all the time anyway.’

He hated being fodder for gossip, but he couldn’t just leave Ihyun dejected like that. How could they do anything together if he was so down?

Half resigned, Lude extended two fingers. Ihyun hooked his own fingers around them and smiled brightly.

“Thank you!”

“You really make no sense.”

With his energy restored, Ihyun grinned wide, happily swinging their linked fingers back and forth as he matched Lude’s pace toward the gate exit. Lude glanced at him who was re-energized, and asked,

“So now we just wait at Sanctuary?”

“Yes! It’s for the work log.”

“Seriously, that’s such a pain.”

[Everyone has expectations for their first job, until their first day actually comes… the Lord of Chaos shakes his head.]

Writing logs was worse than fighting on the field. Only a week in, Lude was already sighing with regret about joining the workforce.

One week since entering Sanctuary. Lude… no, Nari’s daily life had completely changed.

People now pursued Lude, admired him, and ordinary citizens began to see him as more approachable.

And Nari too was gradually, steadily adjusting to those changed reactions. Sometimes it felt burdensome, but life had gotten so busy there was no time to dwell on it.

After clearing the class 4 gate, the two walked out hand in hand, swinging their arms like friends. As Lude had expected, their video shot straight into the trending chart, ranking number four in trending.

* * *

“Oh, go ahead without me. I’ve got somewhere to stop by.”

In an alley after the gate raid, Lude checked there was no one around, then started opening a dimensional rift. Suddenly realizing something, he grimaced. Ihyun stared wide-eyed at him.

“Where are you going?”

“What does it matter to you?”

With a look that clearly said, just go already, Lude tilted his chin. Ihyun frowned as if he was unsatisfied.

“Still… you’ve been doing this the past few days. After joining, you always send me back alone and say you’ll come later… Did something happen?”

“Yeah.”

“Where do you keep going? Are you secretly meeting someone?”

“What’s it to you? Didn’t you hear me say leave already?”

“W-Why are you talking to me like that? Did I do something wrong…?”

Lude’s annoyed expression made Ihyun look hurt. Lude almost snapped again but flinched, scratching his head instead.

“Sorry. I wasn’t angry at you. I just have something I really need to take care of. It’s not that I don’t like you or anything.”

“No, it’s fine. Um, I’ll go now.”

At Lude’s words, Ihyun shook his head and stepped into the rift.

“Finish your business and take your time coming back.”

Looking back, Ihyun gave an awkward smile. He tried to hide it, but he was clearly hurt.

“Hey uh… never mind. Yeah. I’ll be there soon.”

Ihyun, giving him one last glance with a strange look in his eyes, slowly entered the dimensional rift. It was a bond that was both close and somehow strange.