I Stepped on Their Shadows and Skills Started Copying Like Crazy - Chapter 49

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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49
Shin Yu-seong did not let the composure in his smile fade.
The swordplay Si-hyeon had just displayed was undoubtedly exceptional.
But it was merely the sword of a model student faithfully following the “optimal path.”
‘And yet from the moment he shifted his stance, something changed.’
Shin Yu-seong’s eyes narrowed.
In Si-hyeon’s gaze, raised casually upward, there was none of the rigid quality from moments before.
What had taken its place was a leisure that seemed to look down upon his opponent.
At that unfamiliar sensation, the smile on Shin Yu-seong’s lips deepened.
‘What in the world is he trying to show me?’
The instant Shin Yu-seong entertained this question, Si-hyeon pushed hard against the ground.
Crack!
Three consecutive strikes followed.
A thrust aimed at the solar plexus, a horizontal slash flowing seamlessly even as he recovered his deflected blade, and another thrust.
Shin Yu-seong smiled faintly—the combination was too perfect to believe it came from an Awakener still in the double digits.
‘Fascinating, this swordplay. It has a rhythm to it.’
From a single exchange of attack and defense, Shin Yu-seong grasped the essence of the Cardia Swordsmanship.
Truly worthy of one blessed with the Blessing of Ten Thousand Swords.
Si-hyeon continued his relentless assault.
“Hah!”
Had Cryx, whom Si-hyeon had struggled against just days ago, been placed here again, Si-hyeon would likely have won several times over by now.
But such sharp aggression meant nothing before Shin Yu-seong.
An unbreakable fortress.
The unshattered wall did not deign to strike back.
It merely blocked, deflected, and blocked again.
As though testing the limits of Si-hyeon’s reach.
And the further he pushed, the more relentlessly Si-hyeon’s blade pursued Shin Yu-seong.
Faster, more erratic.
Yet no matter how much one strived, a man could never fell a great mountain.
‘He truly doesn’t budge. Good. Then let me test one last thing.’
Just as Si-hyeon’s assault began to dull from exhaustion, he honed his blade one final time and lunged at Shin Yu-seong.
Whoosh!
A flawless, clean thrust.
‘But it will be no different from all the others….’
In that very instant, Si-hyeon’s attack shattered the rhythm Shin Yu-seong had perceived.
At the beat where the heaviest “power” should have poured forth, Si-hyeon deliberately drained his own strength.
In other words, a reckless and inefficient false move that directly contradicted the finesse woven into his own swordplay—and therefore all the more threatening.
“…!”
Swish!
The blade of Si-hyeon’s syncopated nocturne slipped through the gap in the bamboo sword and traced a cool line across Shin Yu-seong’s nape.
The smile that had lingered on his face vanished.
‘He mastered it so perfectly in just that moment…!’
For a breath, Shin Yu-seong marveled at Si-hyeon’s terrifying absorption, but then he realized something.
He had never taught Si-hyeon this at all.
‘No—this is an application. I taught him to twist his wrist, and instead he warped the very core principle embedded in his own swordplay.’
He was taught how to break form—nothing more than basic technique—and yet on the spot he twisted the principle, the underlying logic that was the bedrock of his own swordplay.
‘How on earth….’
It was said that people fear what they cannot understand.
This talent was frightening.
Even to Shin Yu-seong.
Shin Yu-seong, who had grasped the sword before ever becoming an Awaker and had devoted his entire life to the path of the blade alone.
What he felt toward Si-hyeon now was awe.
As one who had long been called a genius, he now faced a talent that heaven itself had granted—true, genuine awe.
‘Already at this level—what will he become by the time he reaches the summit?’
A genius who followed in pursuit with terrifying speed, one layer per day.
The sensation of being chased did not feel entirely unpleasant.
‘At this pace, I’d estimate three months at most.’
The time Shin Yu-seong could still be called South Korea’s strongest might be just three months more.
It was possible that Si-hyeon, like any ordinary super rookie, might falter or plateau at some point along the way, but in this moment Shin Yu-seong was certain.
The youth standing before him would soon overtake him and ascend to a height beyond reach, to a place no one had ever ventured.
‘Is it just a temporary arrangement until then? My goodness, it’s as if I’m raising a tiger with my own hands.’
Yet the deep smile spreading across his lips spoke only truth.
That he was enjoying this very moment.
A lonely throne that cannot remain empty.
Before Shin Yu-seong, who had stood alone bearing the weight of the crown in silence, an unexpected rebel appeared.
Wielding a legendary blade that even the throne’s own master had never before witnessed.
‘I don’t want to lose. Not to this genius.’
Shin Yu-seong’s heart pounded fiercely.
For the first time in a very long while.
* * *
With Shin Yu-seong gone, Bigo returned to its ordinary state.
Park Sang-sik stared blankly down at the New Life’s Path in his hands.
Above the wrinkled cover lay a signature, unmistakably left by South Korea’s strongest man with his own hand.
[To Park Sang-sik, always be happy. Shin Yu-seong]
A signature he’d received from Shin Yu-seong as the man departed, promising a future meeting.
Sang-sik hadn’t dared say a word himself, and Si-hyeon had asked separately and brought it to him.
He was just frozen right now, but was actually a huge fan, or so he’d said.
The original Sang-sik would have been thrilled to tears by this signature alone.
But not now.
“I can’t figure out what on earth is going on here.”
The image of Si-hyeon and Shin Yu-seong standing side by side after their sparring match, discussing swords back and forth, was still fresh in Sang-sik’s mind.
That had been only a few minutes ago.
Sang-sik’s eyes darted between the signature in his hands and Si-hyeon as his mouth worked silently.
He felt like he should say something, but he didn’t know what.
Noticing Sang-sik’s stare, Si-hyeon stopped his sword practice and glanced back.
“Why are you staring at me like that? Do I have something on my face?”
Once Si-hyeon spoke first, Sang-sik’s mouth finally opened.
“You’re not seriously claiming you don’t know what that was, are you? What exactly just happened?”
“What do you mean? That was Shin Yu-seong.”
“I’m not asking who he is. I’m asking how you know him, or like, what’s your connection to him or something.”
“That’s a secret.”
The teasing answer only amplified Sang-sik’s curiosity.
“Boss, what exactly is your identity?”
“Well, I’m a pretty scary kidnapper. Though I do make sure you eat.”
He returned a joking answer.
Frustrated, Sang-sik scratched his head vigorously.
“Come on, boss. I’m serious. A regular kidnapper wouldn’t just casually know Shin Yu-seong. Tell me already, will you? Why’d you kidnap me in the first place, and what do you do?”
“Now, if you keep at it like that, I’ll have to downgrade from ‘scary kidnapper who feeds you’ to ‘scary kidnapper who doesn’t feed you.’ Knowing too much isn’t good for your health.”
At those words, Sang-sik shut his mouth with a groan.
Still, he needed to eat to survive somehow, so he had no other choice.
Staying alive here mattered more than solving his questions.
“You don’t think I actually enjoy cooking for some unremarkable middle-aged man three times a day and taking care of him, do you? Just wait a little longer. The way I see it, it won’t be much longer.”
“Is that… true?”
“Yes, really.”
Si-hyeon had already seen surveillance units fully positioned in the 13th Floor Lobby today.
‘No matter how hard I try to hide my identity, the longer I keep climbing the tower, the more certain it becomes that eventually I’ll be exposed.’
When that happened, whenever it might be, Sang-sik’s captivity would also end.
That was welcome news to Sang-sik’s ears.
“Then I’ll trust your word and wait quietly. But before that, could I ask one favor? If you just handle this one thing, I won’t ask questions and will wait until you let me go.”
“What is it?”
“I really… need to wash. Could you please let me bathe?”
Only then did his disheveled appearance become visible.
Even Si-hyeon couldn’t deny this.
It could take several more days before the man’s release, and he couldn’t just leave him in this state indefinitely.
“Hmm, all right then. I’ll arrange for you to wash outside of Bigo. But you know there’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world, right?”
At the word “all right,” Sang-sik’s expression brightened and he quickly nodded.
“Yes! What do I need to do? Just say the word!”
“Meal prep. Everything from menu selection to washing the dishes.”
Sang-sik’s face darkened immediately.
Kidnapped or not, he was being asked to cook for goblins.
“That’s a little….”
Of course, Si-hyeon had anticipated even this reaction.
“But in exchange, I’ll make sure you can use the restroom as well.”
“……!”
A chance to reclaim the essence of the ‘modern civilization’ he’d been robbed of.
Park Sang-sik seized the opportunity without hesitation.
Never mind that it might all be Si-hyeon’s trap.
“I’ll do it! I’ll treat you just like a five-star hotel!”
“Excellent choice. So we’re starting from lunch today?”
“Yes, sir! Leave it to me!”
That lunch, the fried rice Park Sang-sik presented with such ambition earned Snig’s harsh judgment: ‘sacrilege committed against the lord’s sacred digestive system.’
It left Si-hyeon with serious doubts about whether he should reconsider his choice.
* * *
Late to work thanks to seeing off an unexpected distinguished guest.
Just as he’d finished lunch and was about to head out, Snig suddenly let out a shriek.
“Eeeeek―!”
“What? Why?”
“L-Lord! Look over there! Bami is excreting from his mouth!”
What? Excreting what from where?
Startled, Si-hyeon looked toward where Snig was pointing and saw Bami hunched like a drawn bow, retching.
“Ah…!? He must be coughing up a hairball!”
I’d never actually seen it before, but I knew what it was.
I’d done some research on raising Bami myself.
The inevitable fate of a cat that grooms itself by licking its own fur.
Naturally swallowing fur during grooming, and since the fur doesn’t digest, the cat regurgitates it periodically.
“I thought it would happen eventually, but not today.”
I’d thought I was brushing Bami regularly and thoroughly, but apparently I’d underestimated what it meant to care for a creature with fur.
Soon Bami’s whole body convulsed in dry heaves before he spat something out with a sound.
“Mew.”
“Hmm…?”
But something felt off compared to what I’d seen online.
“What’s this? It didn’t look like this…”
Excessively round, somehow.
Like a sphere wrapped in damp cotton wool.
Only fitting for a winged cat—he coughed up the strangest hairball.
“That aside, Bami—are you alright?”
I approached with concern to check on Bami’s condition, but it turned out to be needless worry.
Bami, looking relieved as if his stomach had been cleared, batted the thing he’d just coughed up with his paw.
“Hey, don’t…!”
It rolled smoothly away.
The hairball rolled all the way to the far corner of the room. Snig shrieked in alarm and scrambled backward.
“Kyaaa!”
As a result, the floor was now covered with what could have been Bami’s saliva or stomach acid mixed with fur.
“You little troublemaker. Come here.”
“Meow?”
After letting out a long sigh, I dragged Bami along with one hand while wrapping tissue paper around the other.
Whatever it looked like, I just wanted to clean it up quickly….
“Huh?”
The moment I grabbed it with my tissue-wrapped hand, the fur covering the ball came right off.
“This is definitely different.”
What lay revealed underneath.
Its smooth surface reflected light, gleaming.
This is a hairball? This is?
This is a black bead….
Which meant only one thing to do now.
“Item information.”
[Strange Vomitus]
Description: An unidentified regurgitated substance.
As expected, just as I’d suspected.
The system message appeared at once.
Of course, the item information was a little different from what I’d expected.
“What did you think you’d find.”
What riches or glory could possibly justify checking the item information like this.
Feeling foolish, I let out a snort of laughter and set about organizing it.
“Man, but this is weird. The texture’s completely smooth, like a glass marble. Snig. Come here and take a look at this.”
“Eek! My lord! There is filth upon your noble form! You must not touch it!”
“So what if it gets a little dirty. It won’t kill me.”
“Oh no, you’ll catch a disease!”
Disease, my foot. Anyone watching would think I’d just picked up a rotting rat corpse.
And here he wouldn’t help, but instead fussed from the sidelines like some nervous old woman.
This little pest needed some discipline.
“Oh ho, so you’re always going on about ‘Dust Annihilation! Hair Eradication!’ but now you’re trying to bail.”
Fortunately, I had just the thing in hand.
“Hah!”
I grabbed a hairball and thrust it right in front of Snig.
“Kyeeeek―! Feces wrapped in hair is coming!”
Off he bolted like his tail was on fire.
There wasn’t far to run in a cramped studio apartment.
The creature was cornered in no time.
“Run all you like—a flea’s still a flea. Give up and accept your fate.”
“P-please stop! Mercy, my lord!”
“Huh? You dropped the formal speech.”
The net was closing in steadily.
“Kyeeeek!”
I was about to let up and call it quits—I’d pushed the prank far enough—when it happened.
“I beg your pardon! My lord! Forgive this servant’s disloyalty!”
Whoosh.
With those words, Snig vanished into Bigo.
He’d fled into my own room, but I didn’t bother chasing after him.
I’d been about to let him go anyway.
“What was that all about. Making such a fuss over nothing. Ridiculous creature.”
I was muttering to myself, watching the spot where Snig had disappeared, when it happened.
Slip.
A strange sensation—and then my own shadow began to writhe on its own.
“Huh…?!”
Before I could wonder what was happening, the shadow was already rising over my hand, wrapping around the hairball.
“Wait. That pattern…”
The shadow moving on its own outside the tower? That was exactly how it happened with the “Endless Hunger.”
Could it be…?
[Your unique ability ‘Shadow Mimic’ resonates with the target item.]
[Specific conditions have been met.]
[You gain access to the item’s hidden information.]
“Oh…!”
Yes—it came. The big one.
Just by stepping on the shadow, the skill copied itself.
Author |
Killing Part
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Samyang C&C Inc.
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Editorial Department
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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