The Player Who Can't Level Up

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Using his new ability gained after connecting to the gate, Hwang Chae-Il isolated the area where Gi-Gyu and Lou were fighting. This isolated space acted as a constant source of loud bangs and explosions.

Old Man Hwang mumbled, “Is it still going on…?”

“Yes… Father,” Hwang Chae-Il whispered. Even as he spoke, his face continued to burn. Whenever he used his powers, Hwang Chae-Il was cursed to forever suffer like this. It was karma.

Rattle.

The isolated area had been isolated by barricading the area using powerful metal. Occasionally, the metallic bits would fall around the artificially isolated space. Just what was happening inside that could break this powerful metal? The area was visibly shaking as well. Hwang Chae-Il had to use his power constantly to keep the space intact.

Kaboom!

Another deafening blast occurred, prompting Old Man Hwang to ask hesitantly, “Are you okay?”

Hwang Chae-Il wordlessly looked at his father without answering. Old Man Hwang kept an uninterested look as he stared at the encased space. After a short silence, Hwang Chae-Il asked, “What do you mean…?”

“Your face. I made your new body. I’ve made sure you won’t be able to die without permission, and I forced you to serve a master you didn’t want to serve. And… I also created a body that will suffer the burning pain forever.” Old Man Hwang turned to look at his son.

Hwang Chae-Il could see his father’s lips trembling slightly.

Old Man Hwang continued, “Don’t you blame me for your pain? You have committed an unforgivable sin, but I’m still your father. So for me to do this to you—”

“Father.” Old Man Hwang interrupted his father and replied, “It’s okay. If you didn’t do this, I would have done it myself. I’m only grateful I was given a chance to be reborn and serve you and a new master.”

Hwang Chae-Il turned to look at the shaking space and continued, “And I don’t mind serving this master. After all, this man freed me from Andras’ brainwashing and gave me a chance to make amends. And he…”

Hwang Chae-Il closed his eyes for a moment before adding, “Allowed me to reunite with you and Min-Su… I can finally give Min-Su the love he deserves.”

It was a touching moment. Hwang Chae-Il and Old Man Hwang’s eyes had turned watery when suddenly…

Kaboom!

An explosion so shocking occurred inside the isolated area that it broke a piece of the metal wall. The hole thereby created spewed thick dust and a collapsed figure. The heat and the smoke from the space spread everywhere.

An awkward silence fell. Before anyone could find out who had fallen on the ground, the figure muttered, “Lou! You fucking bastard!”

It was Gi-Gyu, who lost consciousness quickly afterward. The smoke slowly dissipated, and another figure, Lou, walked out. His brand-new wings were tattered, and his sharp, beautiful horns were busted.

Lou showed off a toothy grin and whispered, “I won… you moron…”

Plop.

Lou had also fainted.

Unmoving, the father-son duo stared at them.

El appeared and announced, “I’ll begin treating them now. Could you help me carry them inside?”

El sounded annoyed, so the father and the son quickly nodded.

***

“Dammit, you idiot!” Gi-Gyu muttered.

“Shut up. I can’t believe this. Don’t even talk to me!” Lou grumbled.

The two of them were lying on separate beds. They were heavily bandaged and looked like mummies.

Gi-Gyu retorted, “I’m the one in disbelief! I’m your master, so how could I let you defeat me like this? I had the advantage because I can use your attributes and all of my other Egos.”

Gi-Gyu was truly enraged. Their fistfight had begun innocently, as Gi-Gyu had also been frustrated with Lou.

‘But I was sure I would win.’ Gi-Gyu had been certain of his victory. After all, he was Lou’s master and could use Lou and all his other Egos’ powers. Undoubtedly, he had the upper hand in terms of attributes.

So why did he lose? Gi-Gyu’s pride was hurt.

‘I wanted to beat him up and teach him some manners like before.’ Gi-Gyu couldn’t hide his disappointment.

“What a moron. You say the stupidest thing.” Lou smirked and replied, “If I had your power, I would’ve won in a heartbeat. You can’t even use what you have effectively, so it’s no big mystery you lost. I’m so embarrassed.”

Lou managed to turn his head toward Gi-Gyu and sniggered, “Moron.”

“Ugh!” Gi-Gyu became furious, but his body refused to move. El’s emergency treatment prevented them both from moving.

Controlling his frustration, Gi-Gyu asked, “So you’re telling me I lost because I’m not efficiently using my power?”

“That’s right, idiot. What’s the point of having so much power if you can’t even use it, right? You’ve gotten better thanks to the few tricks Lucifer has taught you, but it’s not enough,” Lou replied with a leer. “You still can’t use all of your incredible skills. Do you know why? The truth is, even an idiot could fight better than you after experiencing what you have experienced. You’re too slow at using what you have learned.”

Gi-Gyu could tell Lou was trying to give him genuine advice, so he nodded in accord.

Lou added, “There is a reason for it. Your power isn’t growing at a normal rate.”

“...”

“You’re becoming strong too fast for you to process it. Every time I think you’ve reached your limit, you go a step further. Soon, you won’t even know how powerful you have become.” Lou laughed as if in disbelief and declared, “That’s why you have become fearful of yourself.”

“What?”

“At some point, you began fearing the limits you set for yourself. Didn’t you see my punches earlier? I could use more force than you.”

“It’s true…” Gi-Gyu didn’t want to admit it, but he had no choice. They were fighting with their bare hands, but Lou still had the more powerful punches.

Lou explained, “This means you can’t even use your full strength. It’s because you keep doubting your ability. You are preventing yourself from using your full power.”

Gi-Gyu was now paying close attention to Lou’s explanation, as Lou sounded right.

“Since you seemed too thick-headed to understand the situation, I had no choice but to show you physically… Khoff,” Lou muttered.

Gi-Gyu suddenly realized that Lou had started the fight to teach him something valuable.

Lou seemed embarrassed because he quickly changed the subject. “Well, that wasn’t the only reason. The bitter problem is that you aren’t an ordinary human.”

“Huh?”

“Battle strategy.”

“Battle strategy?” asked Gi-Gyu.

“A battle strategy for humans is to fight better, but it’s a little different for us demons,” explained Lou.

“What do you mean?”

“Demons are born with their powers and abilities. That is why Seat of Power holders and their descendants have their own unique battle strategies. Learning to use our power and ability efficiently is an art and technique we value,” Lou elaborated.

Gi-Gyu felt like he could understand what Lou was trying to tell him. It also helped that he had access to Lou’s data.

Gi-Gyu thought about demons’ battle strategy, their unique way of training, and their fighting techniques.

Lou continued, “I wasn’t born into some influential demonic family. I came from nowhere, so I didn’t have any proper battle strategy. I had no choice but to overwhelm my opponents with brute force and steal their power. And when I finally became their king…”

Gi-Gyu knew the rest before Lou could finish his sentence, thanks to Lou’s data. Gi-Gyu murmured, “So you stole their battle strategies and made them yours.”

Lou grinned and replied, “That’s right. And what I created was something unique.”

The more Gi-Gyu read Lou’s data, the more shocked he became.

Gi-Gyu mumbled, “This looks like…”

“It looks like it was tailor-made for you, doesn’t it?” asked Lou.

“Yes.”

Lou’s battle strategy, created by stealing other demons’ strategies, reminded Gi-Gyu of Chaos. The more was added to it, the more stable and powerful it became.

And it appeared Lou was trying to train him for it.

Lou looked up at the ceiling and explained, “It’s because my ability was similar to yours.”

“Is there a name for it? The other demons’ all named their strategies something really cool,” Gi-Gyu said.

Lou replied, “That’s embarrassing. There is no name for mine.”

Lou completely turned away from Gi-Gyu and offered, “Anyway, I’ll teach it to you. If you want to name it, you can…”

“What?”

Before Lou could answer, the door opened.

Creak.

It was El who asked, “Did you have a nice chat?”

Lou coughed awkwardly while Gi-Gyu greeted her.

El offered, “I’ll check on you guys now.”

They had been talking nonchalantly, but Gi-Gyu and Lou had suffered serious injuries. They didn’t use any of their skills, such as Death. Furthermore, they had just fought with their bare hands, yet it was enough to jar their shells. El didn’t even want to imagine what kind of fight it must have been.

Gi-Gyu’s bones were shattered in multiple areas; Lou wasn’t in a better condition. In fact, his new body might have broken into pieces had the battle gone on any longer.

El announced, “Your bodies are doing better, but you must both relax. This is especially important for…”

El turned to look at Lou.

Lou grumbled, “Me? What are you talking about?”

“Something strange happened while I was treating you—”

Interrupting El, Lou yelled in confusion, “W-what’s happening?!”

Something strange was happening to Lou’s body. Gi-Gyu saw Lou’s form stretching and shrinking like an elastic band. He stammered, “L-Lou…?! El! What’s going on?!”

Before El could explain, Lou’s transformation ended.

Everyone became quiet.

El finally said, “This body isn’t your original form, and it is still unstable. You shouldn’t have fought before it stabilized. It’s no wonder this is happening. It wouldn't have lasted at all if this weren’t Satan’s body.”

“Fuck,” Lou mumbled.

“What the hell…?” Gi-Gyu mumbled as well.

The long bandages unraveled and fell to the floor. Now, Lou looked like a child.

Little Lou, rubbing his baby horns, frowned.

***

“And who the heck is that?” Heo Sung-Hoon whispered in Gi-Gyu’s ear.

Gi-Gyu grinned and replied, “It’s Lou…”

“L-Lou? You mean your red sword? That Lou?” Sung-Hoon, who knew about Lou and El, was shocked.

Lou was sitting on a chair when he muttered in annoyance, “I can hear you, you know! Just be quiet!”

“What happened?” Sung-Hoon asked. Because not everyone had gathered yet, they still had some time. So Gi-Gyu explained what had happened.

Once Lou’s physical body had been completed, he was injected into it. Originally, Lou was supposed to look like a grown man, but the overuse of his power had shrunk him.

After hearing about what had happened, Sung-Hoon asked, “So is it like ‘Gear’...?”

“Gear?” Gi-Gyu asked, not understanding what Sung-Hoon meant.

“There is a comic book titled ‘One Piece.’ The main character is a pirate who is also an elastic human. This person turns into a child if he uses too much power.”

“Pfft! Are you serious?” Gi-Gyu couldn’t help but laugh. He had no idea a comic book like this existed but was still impressed by the author's imaginative power.

Just then, Hwang Chae-Il announced from outside, “May we enter?”

Gi-Gyu and Sung-Hoon stopped chatting. Gi-Gyu replied, “Yes, come in.”

It wasn’t just Hwang Chae-Il who had entered. All the major figures of the gate had gathered inside quickly.

It was finally time to come up with a plan. Gi-Gyu announced, “I think everyone is here, so… Let’s begin.”

“W-wait!” Suddenly, the door opened again, and someone else hurried inside.

Gi-Gyu muttered, “You’re late.”

“Dammit! Do you think it was easy to return to my normal condition in just one month? Do you have any idea how hard I worked to dig that canal?!” Go Hyung-Chul, now looking healthy as ever, was standing at the door.