Hongdukei

*Hongdukei* is one of the playable Hypers in *Hyper Universe*.

## Introduction

This hyper excels at turning the tide of battle against his enemies. He can force uneven exchanges or strike and evade at will, dictating the flow of battle. However, mastery of his skills is essential to make the most of him.

### Story

This was a long, long, very long time ago, when the tigers were still smoking tobacco. This happened to your granny's granny's granny's granny's brother... that would be an ancestor for you, little one. This gentleman had business in Hanyang, and he was on his way back home. Hanyang to here is a long way on foot, and it took a full week if you walked day and night. Back then, there was no train or bus. It would have been better if he had a horse, but he was from a family of scholars, people with integrity. He didn't have the money to buy a horse. So, imagine how tired he must have been walking all the way from Hanyang. He didn't have enough travel money, so he couldn't even sleep at an inn. So on the last day he stayed up all night, walking about without sleeping even a bit.

You know the bridge on the way to the city? That bridge used to be a tree trunk this big. It was barely big enough for one man to cross. Still, there was no other way to get to the other side without crossing. The gentleman was making his way across, and that's when a thing as big as a bull suddenly showed up, blocking his way. He almost fainted, thinking that it was a tiger. Then he took a closer look and realized that it was a dokkaebi, not a tiger. Dokkaebi. Do you know the dokkaebi? If you don't know what they look like, well, they're as big as a tiger, with shoulders this wide, and their eyes look like this, so big and bright. And their teeth, those teeth stick out like this. They're pretty scary, to say the least, because they look exactly like your uncle. Really, he looks just like a dokkaebi, only without the magical club.

So, what could our gentleman do? He was face to face with a dokkaebi. The gentleman thought that he was dead. He was trembling like a leaf. He might have wet his pants too. And then this dokkaebi pounced on him, wanting to wrestle. "Oh no, mister dokkaebi. I don't think I can do it. Please don't kill me," he begged. But that dokkaebi didn't listen. He threatened the gentleman, saying that he would eat him unless he won the wrestling match. So there was nothing he could do. He had to wrestle with the dokkaebi. He was a skinny man, but he must have been strong. He managed to hold on to that bull-like dokkaebi for a while, but he could not take him down, no matter how hard he tried. So he had to think of a trick. Now, you know our family. We are a family of scholars. We even had a minister in our family once. We are nothing if not smart. And the gentleman was very clever. He lied to the dokkaebi and said "Oh no! It's already a sunrise!" Dokkaebis only come out at night, you see. They have no power in the morning. When he said that, the dumb dokkaebi ran away in an instant.

But that's not the only trick the dokkaebi played, either. That mountain you see there? That used to be in the front over there. Hey now, why would ol' granny lie to you? The dokkaebi did that the night he realized he was duped. "Oh no, the dokkaebi's going to pick on me now!" the scholar thought. So he tossed some buckwheat jelly dokkaebies like so much outside. From that day on, the dokkaebi started calling him a friend, visiting asking to wrestle him all the time. "Friend, friend," you could hear him calling from miles away.

Hmm? Wondering where does dokkaebi come from? Everything people use for a long time ends up having a spirit. Spirits, like ghosts and other sorts. So when the wooden poker over there or the laundry stick gets old, they become dokkaebi. Ahh, did the laundry stick just move? Ha ha, that's nonsense. I must have scared you too much, child. This was all a long time ago, when the tigers were still smoking tobacco. You have nothing to worry about. Just go to sleep.