Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 131

131. To My Old Self (5)

The scarecrow was a featureless white, but Hyun-woo immediately recognized that it was modeled after himself. The way it held Tam, the six-handed grip of Oshet [a skill or ability]—everything was identical.

‘But it seems like they only copied the appearance.’

Seeing that it was one with the scarecrow, he knew it wasn’t a real item.

Hyun-woo carefully raised Tam, aiming at the scarecrow.

At that moment, the scarecrow mimicked Hyun-woo’s movements with perfect precision. Hyun-woo was startled by the mirror-like image.

When he took a step back, the scarecrow mirrored the action.

“What is this… some kind of ‘fight against yourself’ concept?”

What are they trying to do? This concept has been milked so much that it’s embarrassing to trot it out again, isn’t it?

Overcoming oneself, who has stagnated both internally and externally, and finally achieving explosive growth….

However, Hyun-woo didn’t feel particularly stagnant, nor did he lack self-confidence.

Hyun-woo felt it was a bit absurd, but instead of blindly swinging Tam, he examined the other scarecrows.

The scarecrows were creating enough space to fight, going beyond simply clearing the path.

Of course, this space would narrow during a heated battle, but sometimes you have to fight even if you have to put up with the narrowness of the ring.

“Hey, you there. Are you watching?”

Hyun-woo sauntered over and spoke to whoever was probably controlling the scarecrow from behind.

“What’s the reason for this? If you don’t like me, just kill me with these things. Why go to the trouble of making that handsome doll and tormenting my heart? What’s the purpose? Psychological damage?”

Static. The sound of a speaker turning on. After a moment of silence, a mechanical voice spoke.

“Toll.”

“What?”

“It’s a toll. If you’re not valuable enough, you can’t pass. Prove your ability to pay.”

“What is this, some bandit leader nonsense?”

Hyun-woo’s words were cut short. With the sound of the speaker cutting off, the scarecrows turned towards Hyun-woo in unison with a clank.

They didn’t seem like they would charge, but their intent was clear. Hyun-woo muttered, grinding his teeth.

“Have it your way.”

Hyun-woo moved, watching the scarecrow that was modeled after him. As expected, the scarecrow moved symmetrically, just like him.

It reminded him of an opponent who only played symmetrically in Go [a strategic board game].

It might be similar to fighting a mirror, but a real fight is different from Go or a mirror.

Hyun-woo immediately swung Tam. The scarecrow also swung Tam to meet him.

Clang! But the speed of the blade swung by the scarecrow was a beat slower than Hyun-woo’s.

The spiderweb that Hyun-woo had laid while sauntering was precisely within the trajectory of the scarecrow’s swing.

The spiderweb transformed into the Shackles of Covenant [a skill or ability], pulling the blade.

Hyun-woo’s Tam aimed for the scarecrow’s neck.

But.

Clang, thwack! Hyun-woo’s Tam also slowed down, accompanied by a sound like scraping metal.

The other scarecrows had suddenly intervened, grabbing Tam. Hyun-woo was taken aback by the sudden intervention of the scarecrows.

“What is this…!”

Thwack. The scarecrow with Hyun-woo’s face slapped Hyun-woo’s cheek.

Starting with that, the swarming scarecrows began to kick and beat Hyun-woo.

It was an inescapable encirclement.

Hyun-woo managed to break free only after uttering a lot of very bad words.

His whole body was bruised and aching. But he had no serious injuries, and he wasn’t dead. Even though he could have been at any moment.

Hyun-woo shouted as he lay down.

“What are you doing!”

“Did I ever say that the other Scarecrows wouldn’t interfere?”

Hyun-woo was speechless at the scarecrow’s brazen words. He had only created that atmosphere; he had never said anything about a fair one-on-one fight.

“So, what. Does the toll mean I have to smash everything? It’s the most reliable toll, I guess.”

If that was the case, he thought it was a relief that it was so simple. But the scarecrow shook its head.

“The toll is a fair one-on-one fight.”

“…What kind of bullshit is that now?”

“You know better than anyone that this is an unfair fight. I can’t use skills or items. Have the fairest fight you can think of.”

“What is that?”

“Play fair.”

“How do I do that?”

The scarecrow didn’t answer. Hyun-woo was dejected.

Fairness. It felt like he had killed that off around the age of three.

Early education is more important than anything when it comes to justice and fairness. But the world has never been fair, so when would he have learned to fight fairly?

‘Should I summon Yerdan?’

Hyun-woo thought of Yerdan, who would probably be squatting on the stairs waiting for him.

With Yerdan’s power, he could easily break through. But at the same time, it meant he would have to fight all these scarecrows.

Could Yerdan break through all these scarecrows?

‘It doesn’t seem likely.’

The bigger problem was that he didn’t know what else might be next. The opponent’s strength might not be just the scarecrows.

“Okay.”

Hyun-woo put Tam into his inventory. He also deactivated Oshet’s Six-Handed Grip.

Domination and Venom Blood would be useless, and he couldn’t draw out spiderwebs, so using the Shackles of Covenant was also limited.

‘All that’s left is Battle Helper.’

He probably wouldn’t get caught with this, right? Hyun-woo took a stance with his bare hands. Hyun-woo’s scarecrow also dropped its weapon and took a stance with its bare hands. Hyun-woo recalled the first time he fought a scarecrow. He had fought with his bare hands back then too.

The scarecrow’s eyes began to glow red.

Hyun-woo raised the corner of his lips.

“I told you I’ve fought you guys a thousand times, didn’t I?”

***

“Hah, hah….”

Hyun-woo was panting, glaring at the scarecrow. The scarecrow was disgustingly mimicking even the way Hyun-woo was breathing.

It had already been four hours. Hyun-woo still hadn’t managed to beat the scarecrow.

It was unbelievable.

For the first 30 minutes, Hyun-woo thought he was overwhelming the scarecrow. But he was mistaken.

The scarecrow was definitely getting hit more than Hyun-woo, but it wasn’t the kind of thing that could be broken by fists in the first place.

Then, at some point, the fight started to become equal.

And by the third hour, Hyun-woo couldn’t even land a single hit on the scarecrow.

Its covering was torn in places, revealing its frame.

Hyun-woo glared at the scarecrow before taking out a potion and drinking it.

The scarecrow mimicked even that action, and then instantly restored the covering and wounds that he had painstakingly torn off.

“You bastard, you said let’s have a fair fight!”

“Is there a problem?”

It was an impossible fight to begin with.

Hyun-woo was human. If he got hit in the eye, he couldn’t see; if he got a nosebleed, it was hard to breathe; and most of all, it hurt when he got hit. Pain made people shrink back.

But the scarecrow had none of those reactions.

“How is this a fair fight?”

“I said, have the fairest fight you can think of. Why should I adjust to the fact that you gave up and became weaker than me?”

Was he kidding?

At this point, he wondered if the guy was using tricks to stall for time.

It was unbelievable.

Hyun-woo decided to take 10 seconds to reflect on himself.

There was no such thing as a fair fight to begin with. He was a fool for believing in such a thing.

And then he started analyzing.

‘This guy… his fighting style is gradually becoming similar to mine.’

At first, he followed the basic fighting style of a scarecrow.

Dozens of practical martial arts and dirty tricks. It was a style so old-fashioned that Hyun-woo even felt nostalgic.

But as they exchanged blows and time passed, it began to change strangely.

It began to imitate Hyun-woo’s fighting style. And as time passed, it was going beyond simple imitation to the stage of application and evolution.

Hyun-woo could only think of one way to cause this change.

‘Could it be Battle Helper?’

He doubted that a scarecrow would have a legendary skill, but then again, why not?

This was Difficulty: Hell, after all.

Battle Helper was the only way to learn someone’s actions so quickly.

Hyun-woo was dumbfounded. He thought he could overwhelm the opponent by secretly using Battle Helper, but the opponent was using Battle Helper as well.

And it was learning Hyun-woo’s fighting style at an incomparably faster rate.

The fighting style was the same, but the stats were superior, and the physical condition was far better than Hyun-woo’s, who was human.

Moreover, the unfair thing was that Hyun-woo had nothing to learn from the opponent. Even if he improved a little, the scarecrow would continue to stay ahead by a slight margin.

“Ha… okay. Battle Helper is allowed, huh.”

But Hyun-woo thought this was an opportunity.

“Then were you prepared for this too?”

Hyun-woo pulled up a trait that he had been holding back on because he was afraid it would be too obvious. A purple aura began to blaze on the back of Hyun-woo’s hand.

[Battle Helper: Gang-gi Trait Manifestation.]

Hyun-woo immediately charged at the scarecrow. The scarecrow had no expression, so he couldn’t tell if it was flustered or not.

What was clear was that the guy who reached out to Hyun-woo didn’t seem to have any gang-gi [a type of energy or power].

It tried to deflect Hyun-woo’s hand to the side and reach out with the other hand.

Until its arm, which collided with the gang-gi, broke instead.

The scarecrow’s covering shattered and peeled off, completely exposing its frame. One of the two axes that made up the joint broke, and its hand drooped.

But it succeeded in deflecting Hyun-woo’s hand’s trajectory. Hyun-woo continued his attack without stopping.

Bang! The scarecrow kicked Hyun-woo’s fist away while lifting its body to escape without hesitation. This time, it didn’t even get hit.

It was quickly adapting to the new method of attack. By the fourth and fifth times, he couldn’t even graze its fist.

The scarecrow was only evading because its arm was broken, but the covering surrounding its arm was recovering.

Hyun-woo gnashed his teeth and pushed the scarecrow again. The scarecrow opened its mouth as if it felt sorry for Hyun-woo’s pathetic, missed attacks.

“You’re even more pathetic than before. What’s the use of just getting stronger if your methods become simpler?”

“Who’s simple?”

Hyun-woo finally stood where he wanted to be.

The spot where he had laid the spiderweb when he first started fighting. There, Hyun-woo activated the Shackles of Covenant.

The scarecrow had been wandering around, unknowingly covering itself with invisible spiderwebs.

The chains bound the scarecrow with a sharp sound.

“You damned bastard.”

The moment he infused gang-gi into the chains, the chains dug into the scarecrow’s body, twisting it as they crunched.

Hyun-woo didn’t hesitate to slap the scarecrow’s face.

The other scarecrows charged as soon as Hyun-woo used an item.

But Hyun-woo shouted without hesitation.

“Yerdan!”

Tearing through the pitch-black darkness, Yerdan burst out.

With a ferocious roar, he rammed into the nearest scarecrow, and the scarecrow caught between Yerdan and the wall was completely shattered. The impact was so great that the structure shook.

“I should have done this sooner, being played by a bastard’s trick….”

Hyun-woo muttered, taking out Tam and lifting up the scarecrow that had been tattered by the gang-gi.

The scarecrow, which had already been modeled after Hyun-woo, was in tatters. The one remaining red light flickered on and off.

“G…ood. Pass…ed. The toll has been… paid enough.”

“Like hell it has.”

Hyun-woo swung the chains as they were and slammed them into another scarecrow.