Takashi Family (1)

Lemon.

For an alias, it was a refreshing name.

True to the name, her hair was blond close to white, as though it had been bleached many times.

Listening to the introduction that followed, her class was mage, and she specialized in the lightning series, with the earth series as support.

In Shiraishi Mokomichi’s case, he was a spiritualist. In other words, a necromancer.

His type valued quantity over the quality of his servants, and because of that, he was skilled in human-wave tactics using undead. That was what each of them emphasized in their own appeal.

“I’ve watched every piece of footage about Kang-hoo-nim that can be found in video form. I did look through all the rumors floating around in society too, though? Hoho.”

Lemon’s subtle gaze swept over his whole body. Rather than a gaze viewing him as the opposite sex, it felt like she was looking at the bearing of an assassin.

“I have great expectations. This Takashi guy has been chattering about Kang-hoo-nim every day as though he were bragging about his lover. He talked about you so much that I thought I really had to see your face at least once.”

“Hey, Moko. Aren’t you going to shut up?”

At Mokomichi’s words, which poured out one after another like complaints, Takashi lightly struck his shoulder.

“Heh.”

Kang-hoo laughed.

It was because he could guess what method Takashi had used to inform and introduce his colleagues to him.

Like a child excitedly chattering only about what he wanted to say because he had a toy he did not want to yield to others.

He must have selectively listened only to good things and deliberately not heard the words of colleagues who spoke badly of him or seemed to keep their distance.

Since he could predict Takashi’s response and behavior, Mokomichi’s words did not feel strange.

“Anyway, the dungeon we’re going to, the underground labyrinth, is beneath Fujiya Mansion. Let’s go for now. We’ll do a briefing in the basement, then move.”

“Guide me. This is my first time here.”

“I was planning to do that anyway.”

Takashi’s clone shrugged his shoulders from side to side and took the lead first.

It was unlikely that the clone read its master’s emotions and acted on its own.

Thinking of Takashi’s main body somewhere, using a pad to perform even special emotional expressions, Kang-hoo burst out laughing again.

The more he thought about it, the more absurd the guy was.

That was why he felt even more affection for him.

Going forward, Kang-hoo intended to increase the time he spent with Takashi as much as possible.

There was much to learn from him, and above all, his enthusiasm for unknown dungeons or regions resembled Kang-hoo’s own.

Takashi seemed like someone he could connect with in many ways. Kang-hoo already had high expectations.

While the briefing on the underground labyrinth proceeded under Mokomichi’s lead.

Kang-hoo listened attentively, except when he requested to speak separately.

First, the parts the team expected from him were as follows.

First, forward scouting.

When entering a new section rather than an already identified section, they wanted him to become the eyes at the very front.

Second, inducing trap activation.

Since he had many means to induce the activation of traps, such as clones, Illusion Arts, Mumyeong, or bait.

They wanted Kang-hoo to use those abilities to perform a kind of minesweeping.

Even if a clone was sacrificed to a trap, it would not be a loss. It was a problem that time would resolve.

These two were the core matters requested, and Kang-hoo had no complaints.

They were also the roles an assassin took on in an ordinary team.

Of course, forward scouting was the position exposed to danger first.

However, in such a situation, the class that could slip out more nimbly than anyone else was also the assassin.

In other words, it had to be the assassin.

Though lately, the assassins called “luggage-sassins,” who protected their bodies excessively, were being heavily criticized for not being faithful to this duty.

When the briefing was about to enter its final stage, Mokomichi bowed his head and spoke to Kang-hoo.

“Since the servants I control are incapable of precise actions, I hope you will understand that it is difficult to induce trap activation by using their numbers.”

“No. It is my job. There is no need for you to feel sorry. Each of us is simply being faithful to our own duty.”

“I’m grateful that you think that way.”

Unlike Lemon and Takashi, who were free-spirited and lively.

Mokomichi remained calm from beginning to end. In a way, it was like seeing Kang-hoo’s usual self.

Was that why?

“This bastard is like that because he’s nervous. Normally, he talks a lot and swears often too. Once he relaxes, he becomes a different person, so don’t be too surprised then.”

Takashi added.

It seemed his true self was separate.

Kang-hoo smiled and nodded.

Meanwhile, the baton of the briefing was passed on. Takashi immediately pointed to the map and continued speaking.

“The reason the underground labyrinth is tricky is that there are sections where the five senses are controlled. Other things are fine, but blindness is the problem.”

Kang-hoo asked.

“What was the existing method of solving it?”

“Before entering the blindness section, we poured firepower from the outside and cleared the monsters in the section before entering. Then at least there were no risk factors, right?”

“The efficiency is bad.”

“Right.”

“I have an idea for that.”

“May I ask what option it is?”

“Blindness evasion.”

To Takashi’s question, Kang-hoo answered briefly. There was no need to tell them the skill name and composition.

He only needed to point out the key point to his colleagues: in what way he could neutralize blindness.

It was a skill he had plundered after killing the main boss, Gloria, during the process of clearing the dungeon requested by Groo Guild before.

At the time, he had wondered how often he would have a chance to use it after being blinded, but the time had come to use it well.

As expected, the more skills one had, the better.

As long as one had them somehow, the time would come when they proved their value, just as he had made full use of the Cross-Dress Skill last time.

“Good. This part is solved! Next, the somewhat tricky part is the rats that target only hunters and self-destruct.”

“What was the existing method of solving it?”

“What do you think? We handled them with Moko’s servants. But the self-destruct rats didn’t react to the undead.”

“They probably react only to mana. Mokomichi-nim will assist with this, but I’ll take the main role.”

“The illusions won’t make the self-destruct rats react, will they?”

Takashi spoke while mentioning a skill he knew Kang-hoo had. It was to point it out once.

The mana emitted by each illusion was extremely small. It was only the minimum mana needed to maintain the illusion.

The self-destruct rats would not react to that level of mana.

If they did, they would have reacted to Lemon’s magic spheres or Mokomichi’s servants too.

He was thinking of using the Bait skill.

The dungeon that had been beneath Emilia’s mansion. It was a skill he had plundered from Sebum, the middle boss there.

It was the best skill to use when exposed to skills that tracked a target. It was also expressed as Decoy.

Kang-hoo was certain that the target the self-destruct rats tracked was not “hunters,” but “targets emitting a certain amount of mana.”

If so, they could be lured sufficiently with the Bait skill alone.

If they seemed to visually determine the existence of people, in other words, hunters, then he only needed to disturb their vision.

Since he had a related skill, it was easy to establish a second plan in advance. A third plan was possible too.

“And lastly.”

At Takashi’s words, which suggested that there was one more tricky environment, Kang-hoo tilted his head slightly to the side.

“It really is the last. Please understand. Like I said, it’s an uncleared underground labyrinth for us too.”

Takashi scratched the back of his head as he spoke. He truly looked apologetic.

“Hah, continue.”

Kang-hoo laughed.

It felt like he had expected a reaction of 1 after poking him in the side, but got a reaction of 5 instead. He was a guy with satisfying feedback.

“The place where our exploration was blocked is in the middle of the second basement floor. There’s a narrow plank path, but there was no way to move swiftly across it. But if we dragged things out, the plank path couldn’t hold out and collapsed. It takes several days before it regenerates.”

“Was it impossible for all three of you to go up?”

“That too. And it seemed like the plank path collapsed if we didn’t cross within a set time.”

“Takashi.”

“Yeah?”

“I have a certain method for that. Don’t worry about that part.”

“Really?”

“……?”

“Okay! Then we’ll consider this solved and go?”

“Yeah. Leave that to me.”

At Kang-hoo’s words, which were not merely spoken as though he had something to rely on, but were filled with certainty, Takashi did not raise any objections.

Instead, Lemon and Mokomichi, who were participating in the briefing beside him, were filled with question marks.

A plank path that became dangerous even if three people went up, and became dangerous even if they did not move within a set time.

What on earth was the “solution” that would allow four of them to pass through that section?

For now, they could not guess even a little, so their curiosity only grew.

Kang-hoo’s confident expression had already disappeared behind his interest, as though it was not even something to worry about.

“This is a labyrinth-type dungeon with up to five basement floors. The moment we enter, we’ll be on the first basement floor, and there are many middle bosses and main bosses, so everyone stay alert!”

After finishing the briefing, Takashi turned off the monitor screen and began turning off the basement lights one by one.

Since the preliminary preparations had all been completed and they had finished eating, they intended to depart once only the internal environment of the labyrinth had been set.

Because the inside of the labyrinth was dark.

They decided to depart at the point when the sun rose in the world inside the labyrinth and that sunlight seeped into the labyrinth.

The expected sunrise time was 30 minutes later.

A brief rest period was given.

During the 30 minutes.

Lemon and Mokomichi enjoyed a console game together in a special room set up on one side of the basement.

Kang-hoo sat on the sofa with Takashi and drank coffee. Of course, Takashi only held the coffee.

After a slight silence flowed.

Once Kang-hoo took a sip of coffee, Takashi opened his mouth.

“You must be hectic these days. It’s not like you’re only active in Korea, right? You even went to Australia.”

“I’m trying not to make any spare time. If I can grow even for one minute, one second, then it’s right to grow somehow. By the way, Takashi, how have you been lately?”

Kang-hoo naturally turned the direction of the question back around. It was because he was curious about Takashi’s recent situation.

What he was especially curious about was whether there had been any change in the relationship between Takashi and Jang Si-hwan.

Vincent Meyer was dead.

Yu Cheonghwa was participating in China’s succession war, so her points of contact with Jang Si-hwan were rapidly decreasing.

Emilia had not been coming to Korea recently and was carrying out personal activities in France.

As for Lars Abel, there had been no news that he had met Jang Si-hwan afterward or had formed a point of contact with him either.

From the “The Thirteen Stars” that would someday be completed, one had been forcibly eliminated, and three were in a situation where they were highly likely to leave.

If Takashi also escaped from here, there would be no occasion to see the name The Thirteen Stars again.

It would either become the Eight Stars, or even if they matched the same number of members, the gathered personnel would not be as versatile as in the original work.

Kang-hoo was certain that if he could definitely pull Takashi out, Yu Cheonghwa or Emilia would follow along with him.

That was because the bond among the three was firmer than expected. In the broader framework, the texture of their thinking was similar too.

At that moment.

Takashi gave a strange answer.

“I’m thinking of having a beautiful farewell.”