I Alone Level-Up Solo Levelling Ch.251-270
I Alone Level-Up Solo Levelling Ch.251-270
I Alone Level-Up Solo Levelling Ch.251-270
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I Alone Level-Up
Only I Level Up • Solo Leveling • 나 혼자만 레벨업
10 years ago, after “the Gate” that connected the real world with
the monster world opened, some of the ordinary, everyday people
received the power to hunt monsters within the Gate. They are
known as “Hunters”. However, not all Hunters are powerful. My name
is Sung Jin-Woo, an E-rank Hunter. I’m someone who has to risk his
life in the lowliest of dungeons, the “World’s Weakest”. Having no
skills whatsoever to display, I barely earned the required money by
fighting in low-leveled dungeons… at least until I found a hidden
dungeon with the hardest difficulty within the D-rank dungeons! In
the end, as I was accepting death, I suddenly received a strange
power, a quest log that only I could see, a secret to leveling up that
only I know about! If I trained in accordance with my quests and
hunted monsters, my level would rise. Changing from the weakest
Hunter to the strongest S-rank Hunter!
Author(s): Chugong, 추공
Artist(s):
Year: 0
Country: Korea
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Shounen
Tags: Accelerated Growth, Adapted to Manhwa, Adventurers,
Appearance Changes, Betrayal, Character Growth, Determined
Protagonist, Dungeons, Game Elements, Gate to Another World,
Grinding, Hard-Working Protagonist, Hiding True Abilities, Kuudere,
Level System, Male Protagonist, Modern Day, Near-Death Experience,
Necromancer, Personality Changes, Weak to Strong
Source: WEBNOVEL
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UUID: 7a2bb500-9732-11e9-b3cf-91f949f02f24
USER: Young.Aruu
DATE CREATED: 2019-06-25
LANGUAGE: English
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Chapter 8 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
Jin-Woo was surprised by the weighty voice coming from the corner
of the hospital room, and hurriedly turned his head to look.
One of them with the close-cropped hair like a soldier and wearing
a pair of sunglasses presented him with a business card.
Jin-Woo received the business card and read what was written on
it.
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Woo Jin-Cheol dragged a chair closer to the bed and sat down. The
other man, who must've been his subordinate, stood behind him.
The unspoken pressure emanating from the two buff guys staring
down in close vicinity was quite heavy. The story they conveyed was
rather surprising, though.
"Yes, I do."
Actually, Jin-Woo was the one who wanted to find out what
happened the most in this room.
"Well, actually...."
"By the time the agents of the Monitoring Division and the
White Tiger Guild arrived at the scene after being briefed by
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the survivors...."
The White Tiger Guild was a super-massive Guild and also one of
the top five in the country. The Association had recognised the
danger, hence they requested the aid of such a huge Guild as the
White Tiger Guild in the first place.
"Come again?!"
It'd been six years since he got ranked as an 'A' and started
working for the Monitoring Division. He could confidently say that he
had witnessed and experienced pretty much everything during his
tenure. However, this kind of situation was a first even for him.
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Woo Jin-Cheol carefully opened his mouth.
They had to consider all the possibilities. Even if the odds were
low, they had to confirm them all. The head honchos of the
Association deliberated, and then deliberated for some more, and
finally came up with a theory.
Another Awakening!
However, it was a different story for those going through the Re-
Awakening process.
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or even from B to S, such things had happened before.
The god statue was said to have melted rank C Hunters with
nothing but its eyes, according to the survivors.
If one were able to kill such a creature even while unconscious, just
how powerful one could possibly be?
This was also the reason why Seong Jin-Woo found himself in a
hospital room all alone, as well as being looked after by some of the
finest medical practitioners in the nation.
There were less than ten people in the entire world that could truly
be described as a global powerhouse. But, what if Korea were to
possess a powerhouse that were said to rival a nuclear warhead in
terms of pure firepower?
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"Bring it here."
Then, the lackey went to the corner of the room and began
rummaging through a briefcase placed there.
"That is...?"
It was one of the highest quality magic crystals that cost as much
as a billion won, not to mention that could only be found in monsters
ranked A or higher. (TL: Almost $900,000)
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Jin-Woo placed his hand on top of the black crystal and soon
enough, warm rays of light oozed out from it.
Cold sweat drops formed on the foreheads of Woo Jin-Cheol and his
lackey.
Not too long after then, the light surrounding the crystal
dissipated.
'How can....'
When considering the fact that the lowest average value for rank E
– the bottom rank – was around 70 to 100, Seong Jin-Woo was no
different from a regular person.
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Woo with the new measurement.
Woo Jin-Cheol rapidly realised that being here was a waste of time,
so he got up from his seat.
"Let's go."
"Yes, sir."
Just as Jin-Woo was about to ask, Woo Jin-Cheol bowed his head
slightly.
As if their rear ends were on fire, two men-in-black rapidly left the
room as soon as they put away the device.
The hospital room that felt rather small suddenly became quiet and
lonely.
"..."
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'I guess that was a no, then.'
'Huh?!'
***
".....?"
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Jin-Woo massaged his aching forehead and lowered his head.
It was only a few days ago since he witnessed the deaths of many
of his comrades, not to mention he himself nearly died as well, so it
would not be so strange to hear or see weird things as a possible side
effect.
'However....'
Jin-Woo's sight lowered to his leg – the leg that got cut in half by
the shield of the stone statue was now all fine and dandy.
The voice he heard out of the blue inside the underground temple
hidden within the depths of the dual dungeon; his completely-cured
(?) leg; and now, those words floating in front of his eyes.
'What if....?'
There was a chance that all these things were not isolated events
but linked to one another. When his thoughts arrived here, his aching
head felt just a bit clearer.
'Okay, fine.'
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Jin-Woo slowly raised his head.
Once the confusion in his heart died down and he felt calmer, he
became quite curious about the contents of those so-called unread
messages. There might be answers to his questions found within
those messages, after all.
Back then, he could only get his intentions across to that unknown
voice by 'talking' to it.
Thinking that this must be the case, Jin-Woo then began to mutter
the potential combination of words one by one.
"Confirm."
"Messages."
"Confirm messages."
"Check messages."
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"Reading."
It was then.
He felt a cold, probing stare coming from the side, so he turned his
head to look. And, spotted his little sister in her school uniform
looking at him from the gap of the half-open door.
"Uhm....."
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Side Story 8
From the elementary school kids who'd find the embrace of their
mothers more comfortable than their respective classrooms, right up
to those teachers with greying hair and only a little bit left on their
clock until retirement...
Yeees-!
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'….?'
'A minor favour shown when young can also become the
start of a relationship later on like this, huh?'
"Oh...."
"Let's go."
Not too long afterwards, both of them exited from the school
building.
"Yup."
The reason why Jin-Woo chose this school, far from his home,
instead of those nearby was because it was only this particular one
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that happened to have a track and field athletics department.
Young-Gil could only tilt his head when Jin-Woo replied that he'd
join the track and field team from today.
The boy suddenly felt worried about Jin-Woo and found himself
unconsciously chasing after his friend. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo crossed
the athletics field and approached the group of athletes loosening
themselves up in the corner of the field.
"Mm...?"
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The senior with big physique, the captain of the track and field
team Choi Tae-Woong, alternated his gaze between Jin-Woo and a
shorter kid with a rather unhealthy complexion.
"Yes."
"Both of you?"
Choi Tae-Woong scratched the top of his head and scanned Jin-
Woo from top to bottom before asking another question.
"You a student-athlete?"
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"No, I don't."
Wasn't this kid taking high school track & field way too lightly?
One of the seniors blessed with a short fuse suddenly jumped into
the conversation from the side.
She was still in the middle school division, but without a doubt, she
possessed enough talent to participate in the regional competition.
Jin-Woo judged that, rather than forcibly get close to her and insert
himself into her life that way, this might be a far better approach for
both of them.
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"Athletic meet....??"
The expression of the senior with the short fuse, Jeong Gu-Shik,
hardened like stone. Even if one was to look down on running track,
there was a line one shouldn't cross.
Jeong Gu-Shik's anger shot up to the top of his head and he was
about to roar out some choice words to chase away the freshmen,
but then, captain Choi Tae-Woong formed a grin and gave his
permission.
"Fine."
"What?!"
Jin-Woo followed after the pointing finger and nodded his head.
"Yes."
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'At first glance, that student's thighs and calves look lean
and thin, but they are actually hard and well trained. And
confidence simply oozes from the rest of his body....'
Meaning, the third year seniors were trying to make fun of him.
How could Jin-Woo not laugh when their intentions were so easy to
read like this?
Jin-Woo didn't like the way this guy was grinning slyly like that, but
still, asked back in a calm manner nonetheless.
'He's a reserve, alright. Well, the truth is, he did finish third
place in last year's regional meet, but he sprained his ankle
during winter training so he's been demoted to a reserve
spot, for the time being.'
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he was in the reserve spot because of the injury.
Not just Jeong Gu-Shik, but everyone in the athletics club shouted
out "Hooray!" in their heads.
"Sounds good."
"J-Jin-Woo...."
Young-Gil tried to stop him, but Jin-Woo simply formed a smile that
said: "It's fine."
'Let's see how long you can keep that relaxed face of
yours.'
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"Hey, Sahng-In-ah! Looks like you'll have to take to the
track for this one."
The ace of the team, Woo Sahng-In finished his stretching exercise
and raised his body up.
While the members of the track and field club were thinking that
here was a chance to let a freshman taste the bitterness of life, Jin-
Woo was deeply pondering inwardly just how seriously he should run
so that the sheer mental shock his seniors no doubt feel wouldn't be
as high.
"Yes, I am."
"I'm ready."
Jin-Woo and Woo Sahng-Min stood side by side on the starting line.
This time, the team members didn't bother to hide their ridiculing
laughter at Jin-Woo's weird posture.
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d*mn beginner who doesn't even know anything about
running track?"
"Ready?"
"Start!"
"Fuu-woo...."
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Since almost every teacher was a smoker, smoking in the lounge
was permitted, which meant that this place was like a safe haven for
the current Park Gi-Sool.
'W-what the hell?! Why is that kid running around the track
with the rest of the athletics club members??'
It was then, the director of the track and field team entered the
lounge and discovered crouching Park Gi-Sool.
Wondering if the dizzy spell from the morning had come back
again, the director hurriedly ran over to Park Gi-Sool and helped him
up.
"I, I'm fine, thank you. Just feeling a bit dizzy, that's all...."
The director took a look outside the window over Park Gi-Sool's
shoulder and formed a wry chuckle as if he still couldn't believe it.
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"It seems that a freshman just showed up and said that he
wanted to join the team. Kids tested him out, and as it
turned out, he has a talent, so they just couldn't chase him
away. Apparently, what they are doing now is to test his
stamina."
"Yes. That's his 20th lap already. Just watching him going
around is exhausting, so I quit first and came up here."
Now that he thought about it closely, there was simply no way that
a boy walking around with monsters would exist in reality.
But here was a teacher busy going on about seeing monsters and
phantoms and whatnot from a regular student like that…. The
reputation of the 'Venomous Snake' had been thoroughly stained
with this matter, indeed.
Park Gi-Sool chuckled meekly, stopped hiding, and stood back up.
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'That's right…. I should look at him without judging him
first. I'm sure that will help resolve all the misunderstanding.'
"Park Teacher-nim....?"
He nearly toppled over from fright, but he forced his legs to steady
himself and gritted his teeth.
It was then.
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kitted out in black armour, gazed straight at him and opened its maw
wide.
[Khak!!]
"U-uwaahk?!"
In the end, Teacher Park Go-Sool did fall on his butt and lost
consciousness.
[….]
Beru lightly scratched the side of his head and before his liege
could order him to, planted his head firmly on the ground first.
Late at night.
"Mm?"
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Woo Jin-Cheol tipped his glass filled with booze, his head beginning
to develop an ache already.
"What day?"
"Eii, senior, you... You already know, don't you? I'm talking
about that day when the suspect went missing. Didn't you
really see something that day?"
This kid, he had this habit of catching people off-guard when they
least expected it.
Woo Jin-Cheol recalled his own newbie days and formed a slight
chuckle as he replied.
"What if I did?"
"Really?"
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Maybe the power of the booze circulating in him was to blame, or
maybe, he just wanted to use this opportunity to get some stuff off
his chest – Woo Jin-Cheol began speaking of things that he'd never
even think about uttering in normal times.
Gulp.
"Even I can't tell for sure what I saw back then. In any case,
those things looked like ants."
"Ant monsters, is it? Are you saying that giant insects like
ants came out?"
The heads of the two detectives, Woo Jin-Cheol and his junior,
raised up towards the owner of the voice.
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Side Story 9
Didn't someone say that the ground would harden after the rain
had fallen?
Now normally, people would grow much closer when they made up
after a big fight. But then, the bond between young boys created
through sweat and drive to succeed was far hotter and stickier then
any old saying could intimate.
As the early dawn's fog thickly covered the school's athletics field,
every member of the track team was energetically roaring out their
rallying cries.
Before anyone had noticed it, Jin-Woo was now permitted to run
alongside the captain of the team, Choi Tae-Woong. The former
replied in a refreshing manner.
"Yes, it is doable!"
Choi Tae-Woong raised his speed just a bit higher and shouted out.
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words, but they quickly caught onto the fact that their warcry had
changed and began questioning their leader.
"Hey, captain! I thought our goal was the overall win in the
regionals?"
"Uh-huh!! You're aiming far too low in front of our new ace!
Again! Our goal is to conquer the whole country!"
Glance.
"N-no, captain!"
While the members of the team lapped around the athletics field,
positively buzzing with a heightened fighting spirit, only Oh Young-
Gil's complexion was turning blue amongst all the runners present.
The poor kid ended up following after Jin-Woo and inadvertently
entered the team as well.
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"Pant, paaant, paaant...."
….It was only a matter of time before someone keeled over at the
rate things were going.
But then again, it'd not be an easy task to let Young-Gil escape in
this atmosphere when the fighting spirit of the seniors had reached a
brand new height that they had never seen before.
Left with no choice, Jin-Woo loaded just a little bit of Mana and sent
it behind him. Like dandelion seeds being carried in the wind, the
lump of Mana gently floated in the air and entered Young-Gil's nose
and mouth.
".....??"
Basically, it was a comprehensive buff gift set, filled with his desire
to help out a friend.
Since it was a gift set straight from the Shadow Sovereign who
reigned over in another world as basically a god, the effects of the
buffs were rather incredible.
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comprehensive buff set.
Thick veins rose up on the boy's legs as they powerfully kicked the
ground away.
"Ohh, ohh!!"
"No, we can't!!"
"Definitely not!"
"Let's do it!"
"Let's go!!"
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The bright flames of the athletics team swept across the track
today, as well.
The only thing Park Gi-Sool had done so far was to watch Student
Seong Jin-Woo until he fell or lost consciousness. He became so
embarrassed that he'd rather become a potted plant that the
headmaster was watering at that moment.
Park Gi-Sool tasted this bitterness deep within his core whenever
he thought about the headmaster's high expectation of him versus
his own pathetic situation where he couldn't even look Student Seong
Jin-Woo straight in the eye.
Just from recalling that night's events, Park Gi-Sool felt like tearing
out all of his hair.
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"T-those ant monsters, are they monsters with the heads of
ants, but bodies that look like humans??"
Park Gi-Sool politely bowed his head and turned around to head
back to his own spot, but then, Woo Jin-Cheol actually called out and
stopped him in his tracks.
"Excuse me."
"That tale of the ant monster…. Can you tell me more about
it?"
Park Gi-Sool had been silently suffering all by himself, unable to tell
a soul what he saw, but now that he was given a chance, he came
completely clean as teardrops formed at the corners of his eyes.
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Still, he felt a bit more refreshed, a load off his shoulders, now that
he got to say the things he wanted to say. With that, he was given
enough leeway to take a gander at his surroundings.
Even though what he said sounded like a lame joke, the two
detectives next to him were listening to his tale with serious
expressions on their faces. It was at this point that Park Gi-Sool grew
quite curious as to what these people's story might be.
Woo Jin-Cheol pulled out his business card and handed it over to
Park Gi-Sool as he continued on.
Some time had passed since then, and after thinking about it for a
little while, Park Gi-Sool couldn't help but wonder if he had
unnecessarily made the situation even worse than what it was.
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'How can a student have anything to do with the case of
missing suspects...?'
Fearful that he might see another weird thing again, Park Gi-Sool
couldn't stare for too long in Jin-Woo's direction, so he could only
afford to sneak quick glances at the boy, instead. Eventually, he
shook his head in resignation.
Before he went away, Park Gi-Sool took another quick glance at Jin-
Woo and slunk off into the school building.
Only then did Jin-Woo shift his gaze towards the departing teacher,
even though he hadn't shown any signs of noticing the glances right
up until then.
'…..'
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memories and take away his abilities?]
'For now…. Let's just observe him for a little while longer.'
[I understand, my liege.]
The members of the athletics club who were heading off to the club
room before him were waving their hands towards him.
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Woo Jin-Cheol found a vague link between these two disparate
incidents. This was from the instincts of a detective, something that
couldn't be explained by logic.
And so, as Woo Jin-Cheol took steps to get out of there, he lowered
his gaze to the ground without thinking much about his actions.
Shuk.
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He definitely saw it.
Goosebumps broke out all over his body and he hurriedly spun his
head back towards the school.
As long as he could find out the reason for this sense of loss that
continued to plague him every now and then; as long as he could find
out the exact cause why he felt his mind relax for a little while after
encountering those ant monsters, then he'd not hesitate to pay any
price.
Jin-Woo closed his eyes and recalled the very last image he had of
Woo Jin-Cheol.
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Back when the late President Goh Gun-Hui died, the voice
requesting for revenge also remained, unforgotten, in Jin-Woo's mind,
as well.
"A d-detective?"
"It's not a big issue, actually. It's just that, I have some
questions to ask a student named Seong Jin-Woo."
Ohhh-!!
At the announcement that a detective had shown up, kids let out
gasps of amazement and shifted their gazes to Jin-Woo.
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Side Story 10
Woo Jin-Cheol led Jin-Woo to the end of the school corridor. He only
stopped walking once they got to a distance far away from the
classroom where their conversation wouldn't be overheard by
someone else.
Perhaps Woo Jin-Cheol was conscious of that too, because the first
thing he did was to apologise to Jin-Woo who was still looking back at
the class.
Jin-Woo held back the words of 'I wanted to escape from there
anyway because it was so boring', in consideration of the teacher
doing his best to teach the classroom full of kids.
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Since Jin-Woo had changed his physique to match that of a high
school freshman, Woo Jin-Cheol was now actually a good head taller
than he was, with much broader shoulders, as well.
'A guy who looked like he'd give a gangster a run for his
money was actually working as a detective.'
'…...?'
More than that, was there a reason to say anything else when the
person in question was just a high school student?
Thanks to his job being what it was, he had run into his fair share
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of murderers who killed many people, or gangsters that lorded over
the backstreets with iron fists.
However, not even once had he meet anyone with a pair of eyes as
calm as this boy.
Gulp.
Woo Jin-Cheol was looking at the contents of his memo pad, but no
matter what he did, he just couldn't form any coherent sentences.
So, he pulled out a pen from his inner pocket, instead.
Jot, jot….
"....."
What Woo Jin-Cheol sketched just now was the general appearance
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of Beru.
Anyone who knew what Beru looked like, they would recognise him
from this drawing in an instant. Woo Jin-Cheol asked his question
then.
"By any chance, can you think of something when you look
at this image?"
Jin-Woo looked at the drawing for a bit before raising his head and
spotted Woo Jin-Cheol and his slightly-blushing face. Even he should
be aware of how ridiculous this whole thing must've looked.
"Yes."
Ba-dump.
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The detective's voice grew louder. But, Jin-Woo's expression was
utterly calm in his demeanour, a complete contrast to Woo Jin-
Cheol's.
"Yes."
Finally.
Jin-Woo took a step back in order to avoid the agitated Woo Jin-
Cheol. The latter realised that he made a mistake and quickly calmed
himself down.
"Ah, I got too carried away there for a second. I've been
chasing after this case for a while, you see."
One by one – he would dig into what this student knew, step by
step. Didn't he have to go through so much hardship to find this clue
already? So, there was no need to be too hasty now.
Woo Jin-Cheol managed to tide over his pulsing heart with those
thoughts and spoke up with a much more calm voice.
"Yes."
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"Isn't that a monster that pops out from one of those
special effects dramas that kids like to watch? Like, Kamen
Rider?"
"Ah..."
For a brief moment there, he grew angry at this boy for needlessly
stringing him along with his vague answers. But, well, what crime did
this student commit exactly, when he spoke only of the things he
knew about?
Woo Jin-Cheol spoke up to here and was about to pocket the memo
pad, but then, Jin-Woo quickly addressed him.
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genuine smile floated up on his face. He opened his memo pad and
stared at the sketch for a little while, before tearing the page out
cleanly and handing it over to Jin-Woo.
"Here."
"Thank you."
'…...'
[My liege.]
"Mm?"
Igrit retained his memories from back when he was still a human,
and thanks to that, he knew better than anyone just how sad and
difficult it was for a person to be forgotten from the minds of those
he cared about.
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"Being able to forget is supposed to be a god's gift to
humans, you know."
"Yeah."
The burn scar on this left hand, earned from blocking the 'Breath of
Destruction' head-on, couldn't be healed no matter what he tried. An
unpleasant memory that couldn't be forgotten was rather similar to
this scar – a wound that couldn't be healed.
Even if the person in question wanted it, was there really a need to
deliberately bring those painful memories back?
Right now, not a trace of pain and misery that was suffered at the
hands of the monsters and Sovereigns remained in the memories of
people living on this planet.
And that was why Jin-Woo didn't want to let the memories of the
past remain in the mind of the former Association President Woo Jin-
Cheol.
[I understand, my liege.]
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Igrit silently submerged back into the shadow, as if he accepted
the explanation.
Once the break came, the boiling interests of the kids finally
focused on Jin-Woo.
Even the girls who were interested in Jin-Woo before but couldn't
say it outright hurriedly rushed towards him and soon, a rather
sizeable horde of people formed around his desk.
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Still, thanks to the detective-nim's unannounced visit, it felt as if
the invisible wall these kids felt around Jin-Woo had crumbled just a
little. Girls took this opportunity to ask about those things they were
dying to know.
"I heard from other boys that you got a killer body?"
Kyahk, kyahk....
The quartet of the hooligans found one person hogging all the
attention quite displeasing and decided to interrupt the fun.
Once this quartet entered the scene, the boys quickly retreated to
their seats, while the girls began to quietly back away.
A boy named Nam Joon-Shik, the one with the highest position
within the quartet, began slapping Jin-Woo's shoulder that played
host to the curious touches of high school girls not too long ago. The
corners of his eyes began curling up.
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'….It's your hand that's gonna hurt if you keep hitting me
like that, though.'
Jin-Woo stared at the dumb kid with apathetic eyes, and sure
enough, Nam Joon-Shik's complexion began reddening gradually
when he realised that his hand hurt like hell, but despite his efforts,
his target's reaction seemed way too lukewarm.
"Argh, just why the hell are this punk's eyes so sh*tty,
man?"
The teen hooligan didn't stop there and reached out to grab the
collars of Jin-Woo, whose complexion had hardened just then.
It was then.
"Keok!!"
"You have business with our beloved ace of the track and
field club, boy?"
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That face belonged to none other than the captain of the club, the
third year senior Choi Tae-Woong, and he was being accompanied by
another third year, the senior with a short fuse, Jeong Gu-Shik.
Jin-Woo wordlessly got up from his seat and picked up the pencil
case. Jin-Ah bought this case as a gift to commemorate his successful
admittance to the high school, so these four hooligans wouldn't have
gotten away scot-free if anything had happened to it.
He dusted the case and placed it back on the desk before asking
his question.
"Ahahahat-!"
"Yes, we do."
Still smiling, the seniors began leaving one by one, but then, Jin-
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Woo called out to them to stop their march out of the classroom.
"Seniors? Where are you taking those four still stuck under
your arms?"
"Sounds gooood!"
Jin-Woo stepped out of the school's gate along with the rest of the
track and field club members.
Jeong Gu-Shik walking up ahead and turned his head towards Jin-
Woo and asked.
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"Ah, right. Hey, Jin-Woo? What was up with those idiots
earlier in the day? Should we the seniors speak to them
'nicely' so they won't start anything stupid later on?"
"I'm not doing this because I'm worried about you. No, I
just don't want to see problems suddenly crop up and
prevent you from participating in the regional meet because
of those idiots."
It was then.
Detective Woo Jin-Cheol had been waiting for Jin-Woo until now.
"But, how...?"
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Side Story 11
Beru desperately pleaded with his liege that he was nowhere near
that ugly in the sketch, but Jin-Woo simply let that whining enter one
ear and go out the other.
In the meantime, Woo Jin-Cheol stared at his own drawing for a bit
as if to let go of all his lingering attachments.
Soon, though...
Riiip...
….He cleanly tore the page off the memo pad. Woo Jin-Cheol
extended his hand holding the drawing to Jin-Woo.
"Here."
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"Thank you."
And during that process, the detective's hand briefly touched the
tip of Jin-Woo's finger.
'Mm....?'
'…..??'
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one person coming down from the stairs or climbing up from below.
Classes were still ongoing, so the steps of the school were quite
literally, quiet and still.
Woo Jin-Cheol tilted his head this way and that, before he tried to
climb down the remaining few steps to the ground floor only to hear
another voice again.
Woo Jin-Cheol felt rather weirded out now. He stuffed the memo
pad inside his inner pocket and hurriedly descended the rest of the
steps. And with a speed far quicker than that, he escaped from the
school building.
But then….
"Euhk!!"
Woo Jin-Cheol gritted his teeth and covered both of his ears.
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The voice he had never heard before and his own words that he
never uttered before as well, began making a mess out of his mind.
An intense bout of confusion crashed into him like an unstoppable
tide.
And then, out of all those voices swirling in his head, there was this
one phrase that kept ringing so clearly in his head.
A name that didn't want to leave his head alone. The name of
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.
'If it's Seong Jin-Woo, then…. Isn't that the name of the
student I just met?'
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I definitely know that name, Seong Jin-Woo.
I must find all the memories of him, and the reason why those
memories are erased from my mind.'
"Euh-euhk!!"
"In that case, I hope you will believe everything I'm about
to show you."
"Excuse me?"
Those were the memories that connected the past, the present,
and the future. And they contained the stories of Gates, monsters,
Hunters, Rulers, and Sovereigns.
"This, this can't be…. Just how can such a thing be....?"
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flow of time, you see."
"Pant, pant...."
"Oh, my god...."
The sense of emptiness that felt as if there was a hole in the corner
of his heart slowly filled back up, and warm tears began trickling
down from Woo Jin-Cheol's eyes.
The answer to that question, it was right in front of his eyes now.
A young man whose name was unknown, walking past the park
bench while listening to music through a pair of earphones; a pair of
lovers brushing past him while whispering their undying love to each
other….
An old man out to walk his dog, and people loosening their muscles
near the exercise equipment in the park….
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Woo Jin-Cheol now bore witness to the miracle that man had
created through his hands, this incredible peace, and thicker, hotter
tears began flooding out from his eyes.
Even if the entire world had forgotten about the truth, Woo Jin-
Cheol had to go and tell Seong Jin-Woo that at least there was one
person who knew the latter had battled for the sake of the world
itself.
Such a sense of duty began welling up in his heart, but at the same
time, a sense of uncertainty also entered him, wondering if what he
was about to do was for the sake of that man.
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If that was the case, then wouldn't them going back to their regular
lives, while pretending to be none the wiser, be for the better for
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo in the end?
'….Right.
I'll call out to him, and if he pretends to not understand me, then I
shall respect his choice.
However.
And so, as he stood there for several dozen more minutes, while
anxiously sucking on one poor cigarette after another….
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….He finally got to discover Jin-Woo walking out of the school
gates. Feeling genuinely happy now, he took a large stride forward
and called out the youth's name.
Ba-dump.
Just how much courage did he require to mutter out those simple
words? Woo Jin-Cheol felt his heart madly pound away and waited for
Jin-Woo's reaction.
Sure enough, the youth turned around to look, his entire body now
completely frozen stiff. There was an expression of genuine surprise
etched on his face.
"But, how....?"
The two of them moved to the park in the vicinity of the school, the
very location where Woo Jin-Cheol recovered his memories.
Woo Jin-Cheol stopped walking around there and opened his mouth
first.
"I hope I didn't cause a problem between you and your club
seniors."
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"They are good seniors. Sure, their competitive streak can
be a bit much at times, but....."
Woo Jin-Cheol asked Jin-Woo if they could speak for a while, and
the latter had to ask his seniors for their understanding on this one.
Since there was a prior engagement, the older kids could've easily
gotten unhappy at this situation, but….
"S-senior?!"
The seniors from the track and field team didn't sweat it and left
for the party venue ahead. Jin-Woo recalled Young-Gil's tearful face
as he got dragged away by the seniors and smirked softly to himself.
Woo Jin-Cheol broke into a gentle chuckle after seeing the youth's
expression that showed how much he was enjoying his current life.
The smile was gone in an instant from the detective's face after he
finished those words.
"How long... how long have you been fighting against those
creatures in the gap between dimensions?"
However, Woo Jin-Cheol had seen the overall combat force of the
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Sovereigns through the memories of the Shadow Sovereign, and he
knew that the two years were simply not enough to defeat them all.
"27 years...."
To think, he had to fight against over ten million enemies for nearly
30 years in the gap between the walls of different dimensions, where
not a single thing could exist….
"No, I don't."
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If the price he had to pay for all of these things was to carry the
weighty burden by himself, then he'd not hesitate to carry it over and
over again.
He took a quick look at his wristwatch while thinking about the 'life'
of the hostage and raised his head.
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"In that case…. How about, you know, joining this side?"
Jin-Woo studied the identification card for a while and returned the
wallet with a grin on his face.
He hadn't changed.
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Jin-Woo waved his hand as he walked away, and Woo Jin-Cheol
smiled gently as his silent reply.
While thinking that he'd just call out the youngest and treat the kid
to a hearty meal, Woo Jin-Cheol politely bowed his head towards Jin-
Woo's departing back, now a faint silhouette in the distance.
As the only man who knew of that youth's sacrifice, he stood for
everyone in this world and expressed his gratitude, perhaps for the
first and the last time.
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Side Story 12
It was not uncommon to hear about tourists getting lost. Since that
was the case, the call centre operator figured that this call was from
yet another poor stranded soul searching for a way out from the
middle of the vast desert.
The call centre agent got ready to connect the call to the
emergency dispatch service while replying in a calm voice to make
sure that the caller wouldn't start panicking over the phone.
The caller's voice indicated that he was feeling really hesitant over
something here, so just in case, the agent decided to confirm the
caller's identity first.
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"Sir, you need to describe the situation so we can dispatch
the right kind of response personnel to the scene."
It was at that point that the agent heard the caller take deep
breaths over the phone's speaker.
The voice of the caller hesitated for a long time again as if he still
couldn't believe what he saw, but eventually it did come out of the
phone.
April.
This was the time when pretty much all students would find
themselves with barely any free time, but for Jin-Woo facing mid-
term exams and the track competition literally around the corner, it
proved to be a great deal more hectic than usual.
As he was studying deep into the night, his little sister, Jin-Ah,
entered his room while carrying a tray of sliced Korean melon.
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"Stop right there."
"Heok!"
"Why are all these slices missing the soft middle sections?"
"You should say that while getting rid of those pips stuck
near your lips."
"Ahh-iinng..."
He used his thumb to remove the pips from the ends of his sister's
lips and out of pure mischievousness, formed another stern
expression.
"If you eat only the softer part of the melon again, I'm
gonna make you eat nothing but the hard part for a whole
day as punishment, okay?"
"Hiii-eeeng..... Okay."
Crunch.
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He began chewing on the sliced melon piece and focused his
concentration back on the questionnaire on the desk. When he did,
though, Igrit began to offer his counsel once more, as he was still
worried about his liege's academic success.
'…....'
Crunch.
Tick, tock….
He shot up from his chair and shifted his head in the direction of
where he detected that strange phenomenon. He closed his eyes and
focused his perception.
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imagined the worst possible scenario and his expression hardened as
a result.
Jin-Woo quickly dialled the number and tapped on the 'Call' icon on
his smartphone. The call itself got through really quickly.
The envoy tried to greet him with a warm, welcoming voice, but
Jin-Woo simply spoke up certain coordinates without any hints of
emotion. And then, he added one more thing at the end.
The envoy was stunned by his serious attitude and replied quickly.
"..."
The brief silence was soon shattered by the panicky voice from the
other side of the line.
Whether they held good or bad intentions, there was no way to tell
for the time being. So, he should start preparing for either case right
away.
Jin-Woo fell into deep thought as he stood there, still holding the
phone, before he spoke to the envoy.
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"Can you come and see me?"
He added that there was also something else he'd like to talk about
and that prompted the envoy to reply as if it had been waiting for
that all this time.
The meeting place was the cafe where Jin-Woo met Yu Jin-Ho for
the first time outside the dungeon. He got there just in time and
found the envoy already waiting for him by the corner of the cafe,
having arrived a while ago.
With the situation being what it was, Jin-Woo went straight to the
meat of the discussion.
Jin-Woo leaned against the chair's back and nodded his head.
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"Yes, they are most certainly not."
Now that he knew what their purpose was, the nature of his
response had been decided, as well. However, there was something
he still felt curious about.
Jin-Woo could only remember the Gates and monsters, but nothing
about the attack of an alien race capable of 'eating' a planet. The
envoy hesitated slightly with his answer before willingly admitting to
it.
"Yes."
Just like how one would rely on the light from the lighthouse
illuminating the lone pathway to navigate the treacherous nighttime
waters when you couldn't see an inch in front of your nose, the race
of 'Titans' had been led towards this small planet by the enormous
power being emitted by the Shadow Sovereign.
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The potential influence Jin-Woo's powers would have on this world,
the one that shouldn't exist and shouldn't remain – the part the
Rulers were worried about had finally become reality.
Still, the Rulers felt that they owed Jin-Woo big time and thus, they
weren't planning to sit back and watch another crisis unfold on Earth.
The agent made sure to drive this point home.
In that case….
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"What you asked me back then…. I thought it's about time
that I tell you my answer."
"....Pardon?"
In any case, Woo Jin-Cheol was a good man. And that was precisely
why that young detective being dragged around by him could carry a
happy expression like that.
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Jin-Woo thought that he'd like to be by their sides and be able to
laugh along with them. The envoy spied on Jin-Woo's smile and
replied with a sheepish smile of his own.
One year since that day. If one said it was short, then it was, but if
one said it was too long, then it could be, as well.
"Well, then...."
Jin-Woo stopped digging through his closet and scratched his head.
He couldn't see a single piece of garment that could hide his face.
But then again, he bought a hoodie and a baseball cap to hide his
face riddled with scars he earned while working as a low ranked
Hunter, so it was only obvious that they wouldn't remain anymore in
the new timeline.
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The black smoke quickly enveloped him and became thick like
actual liquid, before transforming into a hoodie that he used to wear
so much in the past. He pulled the hood up and stood before the
mirror in his room.
"Nice."
With this, his preparation was over. And his figure slowly
submerged into the shadow beneath his feet.
From the get-go, how could any expert, regardless of the numbers
gathered, be able to explain the phenomenon of cracks developing in
the atmosphere?
Crack, split...
Even as they dithered about, the empty sky was slowly but surely
breaking apart bit by bit. Understandably, the American defence
forces surrounding this area just in case something bad happened
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were very tense right now. If one were to exaggerate the scale a bit,
more than enough combat forces had been gathered here to literally
blow away a foreign nation.
"Who the hell is that guy? How the f*ck did he even enter
here?"
The commander hurriedly ended the call and, along with his
adjutants, quickly ran towards this unknown man.
However, the man didn't show any signs of fear, even though he
was surrounded by heavily-armed soldiers. The uninvited guest
coming to speak to the commander was, of course, Jin-Woo. And he
certainly had something to say.
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"Please, withdraw your troops from here. This place is
dangerous."
'Is he a foreigner?'
The commander formed a deep frown and in order to put the fear
of God in this uninvited guest, he shouted out at the top of his lungs.
"Uh, uhhh?!"
"B-but, how?!"
Deciding that this much was enough, Jin-Woo brought them back
down to the ground.
However, the first thing the commander did upon landing was to
yank out his sidearm. His highly-agitated voice rang around loudly in
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the desert sky.
Jin-Woo could sense their hearts freezing up, too. He swept his
gaze around and took in their eyes of shock and panic, before calmly
continuing on with his explanation.
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Soon after that, his gaze landed on the commander, still rooted
firmly in his spot.
"..."
The commander shut his mouth and began weighing his options,
but then suddenly, he yanked out his spare sidearm tucked neatly in
the back of his pants and fired several shots at Jin-Woo.
Every single bullet fired from the commander all tumbled to the
ground powerlessly as soon as they reached Jin-Woo's vicinity.
This man was a 'monster'. No, at this point, wasn't he more like a
character from some mythical legend, rather than a simple monster?
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quickly and efficiently as possible!!"
"Pulling out!"
For the first time in a while, his Black Heart began pounding hard
again to notify him of the entrance of new enemies. A grin formed on
Jin-Woo's face as he summoned his shortswords from subspace.
Craaak
Split, crack!!
This feeling – Jin-Woo closed his eyes to enjoy this stillness before
the battle and slowly opened them back again.
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Side Story 13
Gooood morning!!
….Was what I'd like to say, but there was no distinction between
day and night in the world of shadows. So, I simply stretched my
limbs without saying anything after waking up from my nap.
Yawn-!!
The sleep one could get inside this place, the 'territory of eternal
rest', was absolutely the best, no two ways about it. Honestly
speaking, the majority of the Shadow Army's soldiers would spend
most of their downtime sleeping until our liege summons us.
"Sure, sure."
"Right, right."
I didn't want to show it, but heck, I couldn't help but feel good
when this happened.
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recognised, I now found myself in the position to command all the
magic-wielding soldiers in the army.
My Sovereign-nim, hooray!!
'Tsk, tsk....'
"Huh-huhuh...."
Because, well, not only were they the most vicious and cruel of all
the Shadow Soldiers, but they were also scarily diligent with their
given tasks, too.
Kkiieek!
Kkiiiahk!
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Whenever these ants screeched out those sounds containing
meanings that were lost on me, I couldn't help but flinch my
shoulders just a little.
"Kiieehehehehehet."
"Ehehehehe."
"Kii-hahahahahat!"
"Ehehehehehet!!"
"Hoh!!"
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The item that I requested Beru-nim who possessed excellent
crafting skills, with its creation even at the risk of inconveniencing
him! A robe with a hood attached that resembled what our liege wore
not too long ago had been completed and was waiting for me.
"Kii-hehehehet!"
"Ehehehehet!"
I threw off the robe on my body right away and put on the brand
new one Beru-nim handed over.
The best!!
Was there a need for any other description than these two words?
"Kii-hahahahahat!"
"Uwehehehehet!"
Beru-nim couldn't control his laughter for a long time, but then, he
fixed his gaze on me as if he had discovered something else.
"Heuh.... Does that mean I can entrust you for this one as
well....?"
I was sheepish, but still, I presented the Bead, but Beru-nim raised
his hand to stop me.
"I can't help you with magical artefacts. Unless you bring
me a living kin of the bearded Dwarves, then the story might
change."
"Ah…. I see."
"Since we're talking about it, how about entrusting the job
with the bearded Dwarves? They might be pretty terrible at
warfare, but they are still talented artisans, aren't they?"
"....."
"Kii-hehehehet!"
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There was only one reason why I chose this guy. Well, I was cursed
with short legs so if I mounted a friend with a bigger body, I might
have to suffer through the terrible pain of my groin being torn in half,
that's why.
Soon, my Dragon friend flapped its wings and flew up in the air. I
pointed in the direction where the bearded Dwarves were residing.
Flap, flap....
Slap, slap!!
The newbies must've been fairly renowned back in their own world
and that resulted in them still being influenced by their old habits,
which meant that Grand-Marshal-nim would have to strictly discipline
them for a little while longer.
"....Ah!"
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him as well.
Kii-ahhk!
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When our liege's heart begins to pound, even our hearts would go
on a riot alongside it.
My Sovereign-nim, hooray!!
'Eh?'
Perhaps fitting for our comrades that enjoyed crafting things, they
had managed to construct a proper village, what with houses and
smithies, as well as other buildings dotting the landscape.
Flap, flap.
"F-Fangs Commander-nim!"
"Commander-nim?"
"Hoh-oh!"
"Hoh-ohhhhh!!"
My mood lifted up so much that I almost flew away from there. And
as I took hold of the staff and assumed several different poses, the
corners of the Elder's lips curled up.
I went back the way I came and returned to the area of the Magic
Soldiers. The first thing I did was to summon all the Magic Soldiers
under my command and showed off my new robe and weapon
combo.
"Uwuhuhuhuhut!!"
"Uwuhuhuhuhut!!"
He was expressing his joy with his entire body and I lightly patted
his shoulders. But it was at this point that my eyes caught the sight
of a few big guys that I hadn't seen before.
The giants made out of rocks scratched the backs of their heads,
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and one of them spoke to me in an awkward voice.
It seemed that there were a few Magic Soldiers among the ranks of
the new additions to the army. But then again, wouldn't such a big
guy shooting magic spells around be a waste of his hulking…. No,
hang on a minute, that wasn't something I could say with a straight
face, now was it?
In any case.
There was this one process that all newbie Magic Soldiers had to
go through if they were to be put under my command.
The rocky giants were so well disciplined that they politely knelt
down on the spot and quietly waited for me.
"Yawn-!!"
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I liked wonderful clothes, cool weapons, or telling stirring heroic
tales, but what I liked the most at the end of the day was to fall
asleep. Especially for sleep that closed out a day like today, which
was hectic, to say the least.
I pulled the duvet right up until my neck and slowly drifted into my
slumber while being embraced in this wonderful warmth. But then,
just as the sleepiness sneaked its way closer and carried me off to
the land of dreams, someone suddenly began shaking my shoulders!
"...?"
"Heok!!"
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"Finally, is our liege about to meet Lady Hae-In?"
"That's correct."
"Uwohohohot!!"
Waaaahhhh-!!!
When our liege's heart pounded away, ours would pound away as
well. I too raised my arms up high and joined in the chorus of
soldiers' roars.
Waaaah-!!
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Side Story 14
I was the 'First Sovereign' born from the darkness, as well as the
'Strongest Sovereign'. I was the king that lorded over all Dragon-kind,
an existence that signified terror and destruction.
That's right.
….I opened my eyes to discover that I was now occupying the body
of a human being.
'…....'
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The name of this human was Seong Jin-Woo, a young man acting
as a rank E Hunter in a nation called the Republic of Korea. It seemed
that this human never gave up on being a Hunter, even though his
pathetic level of abilities drove him to the moments of near death
quite often.
Vrrr…. Vrrr….
'Hmph.'
I was thinking of ending this call which was answered purely out of
this body's habitual reaction, but then, what this female said towards
the end got on my nerves somewhat.
'…..!!!'
Being 'late'.
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eyes.
"Found you."
Click.
"H-Hunter-nim?!"
I reached out and grabbed her shoulders as to make sure she'd not
get away and asked her again.
"Very good."
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swept my gaze around the surroundings to find a group of Hunters
raising a bit of fuss.
"Pardon?"
Even before she had the chance to raise her bowed heard, I walked
over to the closest human and snatched his paper cup away.
Gulp, gulp.
"Hahah!!"
The one possessing great powers would take away what the weak
possessed, that was the way of the Sovereigns. It seemed that such
logic also applied to humans and that certainly made me feel rather
refreshed.
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"Yes, his eyes today are a bit...."
While the Hunters began stretching their muscles to get ready for
the raid, I shifted my gaze towards the 'Gate' that these people were
scheduled to enter.
'….'
The Gates that appeared on Earth were, without a doubt, the ploy
of the Rulers, yet…. Why was I picking up the aura of a Sovereign
from there?
There was a need to investigate this. I glared at the Gate with eyes
as sharp as a hawk and stood behind the Hunters getting ready to
enter.
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As I began pummelling the fake monsters placed here to hide the
real purpose of this dungeon into oblivion, other Hunters began
showing me their respect.
This man didn't get to finish his sentence. Because he lost his
consciousness from a single hit from me.
Plop.
I looked down at the collapsed old man before scanning the rest of
the Hunters.
"...."
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"No, this is a first...."
Noisy, noisy….
The Hunters didn't bother to hide their high level of anxiety. I too
had detected the truly scary aura leaking out from the interior and
agreed with their opinion that things could get dangerous.
That was why as soon as I opened the door, I grabbed the collar of
a Hunter standing at the front of the pack and lightly tossed him
inside.
"U-uwahk?!"
The thrown idiot flailed about unsightly on the floor, but contrary to
initial worries, nothing happened. Only after confirming that it was
safe to enter, I strode right in. The vast open interior waiting for me
was decorated like an ancient temple.
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It seemed that a Hunter capable of reading the Rune letters were
not present among us, so I read it out loud for them, instead.
"Unhand me."
I shook off the girl's hands and continued to read down the stone
tablet.
"One, worship the god. Two, exalt the god. Three, prove
your piety. Those who do not keep to these laws shall not
leave this place alive."
It was at that exact moment two beams of crimson light shot out
from the eyes of the gigantic god statue sitting in a corner over
there.
Zzzziiinnng-!!
Kwahaaaaaaahhh-!!
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mouth completely blew away the head of the god statue.
That served as the starting signal. The statues lining up the walls
of the temple like some decorations began rushing towards me while
ignoring other Hunters.
"Keuh-hahahahaha!!"
The angel statue with the stone tablet suddenly rose up from its
seat and loudly shouted out, perhaps incensed by the fact that all of
its careful preparation had been rendered useless by my power.
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"Silence!"
I yanked the spear loose from the grip of a broken statue and
threw it straight at the angel. In less than a blink, the spear
penetrated through the neck of the b*stard and it collapsed down to
the floor.
I got rid of all the hindrances and roared out loudly, and that
prompted the headless god statue to quietly raise itself up off its
throne.
An ecstatic jolt coursed from the tip of my toes right up to the ends
of my hair.
"Come!"
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"Heok?!"
'Hold up....'
'Now that I think about it... It's been four years already
since I got rid of the Dragon Emperor.'
Smirk.
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Ho.'
Yu Jin-Ho.
His parents couldn't catch a wink during the night, worried that
their son might end up missing out on this all-important exam
because he woke up a bit late today. Jin-Woo looked at their haggard
faces and gently smiled while nodding his head.
"I'm ready."
Jin-Woo soon stepped out of his home as Igrit, sounding tense for
some reason, spoke words of encouragement.
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Side Story 15
"...."
No, before that, did they even possess the capability to deal with
'the objects that came out' from there?
All he could do was anxiously wait for the arrival of the commander
in charge of the operation. And, when the entrance to the conference
room opened up and General Chester Harrison entered, the President
quickly got up from his seat to welcome the military man.
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"Harrison, just what the hell happened back there?"
The final report sent in from the location of the event was...
That was why so many bigshots, including the POTUS himself, were
nervously waiting for the arrival of the military man inside this
conference room.
What he was holding was a small USB stick. The President grew
curious about its contents in an instant and hurriedly nodded his
head.
Not just him, though, but everyone present within the room was
staring at the tense-faced general's hand. He slotted the USB stick in
the terminal and video footage began playing on the giant screen
installed on the wall of the conference room.
However, what was really important here was that it did happen.
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The evidence of that was contained within this USB drive, and as
the commander in charge of this operation, it was his duty to reveal
it to this gathering of higher-ups.
"Keu-heum...."
"Huh-uh!"
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No, this video was all about a lone, nameless man whose face they
couldn't even see.
The number of Titans that emerged from the rift in the sky was
around several hundred. So, it was ten million versus a few hundred.
In any other normal circumstances, the 'ten million' should've easily
overwhelmed the opposition with this number.
The problem today, however, was the fact that each Titan
possessed powers equal to that of higher existences.
Ba-thump, ba-thump!!
Facing a battle for the first time in a long while, Jin-Woo's heart
began pounding away quite loudly. He sent a mental communication
to Fangs, currently in charge of commanding all the Magic Soldiers.
Not just Fangs, but all of the Magic Soldiers were entrusted with
performing and maintaining magic spells to minimise the shock
waves that no doubt would be generated by this battle.
He had no choice but to do this, since this world had no Mana, and
it was simply far too fragile as it currently was.
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Also, the uninvited guests came here with the purpose of literally
devouring this planet, so they wouldn't go about flinging around
unnecessarily powerful magic spells, either. Inevitably, the battle
about to take place would be a confrontation involving physical
powers between allies and enemy forces.
BOOM-!!
Too bad, the target – Jin-Woo – had already risen up in the air. He
had lightly jumped up like a pole vaulter and settled down gently on
top of the Titan's fist like a falling feather.
'…...?'
Sure enough, the human began dashing forward on top of the arm
next.
Pah-bababaht!
His legs were moving so fast that even the Titans, possessing as
much power as higher beings, couldn't react in time. And when they
did, Jin-Woo was already well past this particular Titan's shoulder,
heading straight to the back of its neck.
Soon, the shortsword held in his hand penetrated straight into the
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Titan's rocky neck.
[Kuwaaahk!!!]
It was almost like scratching the paint of a car with a coin. While
gripping tight the shortsword still buried in the neck of the gigantic
creature, Jin-Woo ran towards the other shoulder, leaving behind a
long, long line on the poor thing's skin.
Kwa-gahgahgahgahgahk!!
The black aura loaded on the blade cleanly separated the head of
the Titan from the rest of its body.
Riiip!
Jin-Woo stood tall on the shoulder as the huge head rolled off its
body, and he provocatively glared at the other Titans. He could sense
rage, fluster, and fear creeping up on their expressions.
One at a time….
The will to fight from the enormous army beginning to make its
move could be felt from below.
Waaaaaaahh-!!!
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'It's no good that their leader stops moving here, right?'
At least, that was not his style, the style of the current Shadow
Sovereign. Jin-Woo's sharp glare began searching for his next prey.
Flinch.
One of the Titans that met Jin-Woo's glare flinched its shoulders.
The enemy that lost itself to fear would be the first one to be
devoured. He pounced in that direction while swinging his
shortsword, packed full of black aura.
This blade might not have been the 'Kamish's Wrath', but Jin-Woo
had been roaming the battlefield for 27 years already, and the
control he could exert on the black aura was no longer dependent on
the weapons he wielded.
The black aura spreading out from the end of the shortsword
stretched out towards his front and completely sliced up the face of
the frozen Titan.
Kwa-gah-gahk!!
The skill, 'Ruler's Authority', had now been fully ingrained within his
body and he could manipulate it without any restriction whatsoever.
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The thing was, though, the enemies and their abilities also surpassed
his expectations, as well.
BOOM-!!
Slice-!!
The Titan grabbed its now-severed wrist and roared loudly to the
sky.
[Kuwaaah-!!]
Jin-Woo rapidly approached its neck and stabbed his weapon deep
into where the creature's Adam's apple should be.
Kwa-jeeck!
To his side!
He dodged the edge of the Titan's hand, swung with all of the
creature's might, by flying up, which in turn helped him to find
enough leeway to take stock of the current situation.
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In that briefest of moments, Titans keeping close to his position
crashed into him with their shoulders from both sides.
BOOM-!!
"...!!"
[Keu-heum!]
While there were Titans freaking out over the fact that they lost
out in the contest of strength, there was also another Titan who was
smashing down with its arm as if it was waiting for this precise
moment.
"UWAHHH-!!"
The Titan got flustered by the invisible hand suddenly shoving its
arm away, only to belatedly realise something.
'….??'
It realised that there was a massive black fist flying straight in its
face.
KWA-BOOM!!
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the arm of a giant before cleanly blowing away the head of the Titan.
Soon, he transformed into a giant himself by enveloping his body
with the black aura and proceeded to mercilessly destroy the Titans
around him.
Like a group of starving wild beasts, the giant shadow and the
Titans made out of rocks went on a crazed melee of pure chaos and
confusion.
Wu-duduk!!
'….?'
Jin-Woo scanned his enemies with puzzled eyes, but then, a Titan
even bigger and sturdier-looking than all the rest confidently strode
out from among them.
[Hoh-oh.]
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miniaturised version of the Titans. It threw a rather insidious grin in
Jin-Woo's direction.
[However, the mere fact that you need to increase the size
of your body in order to enhance your power is a sure sign of
how primitive your species is. On the contrary, we, the
Titans, decrease in size when we need to fight with
everything we have.]
The talkative creature had both its hands reach out before pointing
back at itself as a wide grin formed on its face.
It was then.
Flash!!
Jin-Woo shook his hand to show that it was all good and shifted his
gaze towards Bellion.
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special attention later on."
[Kuwaaaahhk-!!]
[Kuwahk!!]
Loud screams spat out by the giants made out of rocks completely
filled up this nameless stretch of the desert.
"..."
"....."
Utter silence.
Could there be any other words that could better describe the
current atmosphere pervading within the conference room?
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The true monster capable of toying with those scary-looking
monsters ended up saving the United States of America without
anyone even realising it.
They began offering up their opinions here and there, but they all
agreed that it was realistically impossible to do so. But then….
The bigshots around him tilted their heads, but Director Brennan
simply formed a grin.
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means."
The President recalled her name and his brows shot up.
"That's right, sir. It's Madam Norma Selner. Just like before,
she will help us with the right answer this time as well."
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Side Story 16
The ones climbing out of the vehicle was the Director of the CIA,
David Brennan, and his two bodyguards. The director studied the
red-roofed residence for a little while before issuing a new order to
his underlings.
"But, sir..."
Since these two agents were charged with protecting him, that
order was a rather difficult one to accept, but the director's attitude
remained unchanging.
Leaving behind his entourage by the car, the director walked alone
towards the front door and began fixing his attire. Once he felt
satisfied by his grooming attempt, he cautiously knocked on the
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door.
David Brennan looked at the child pointing at him and couldn't help
but chuckle gently.
But, of course. Just who was the woman he came here to speak to?
Didn't matter which title was used, none of them would sound ill-
fitting to Madam Selner, the world's pre-eminent soothsayer. That's
who he came here to see today.
But then, she began solving serious problems that even the CIA, an
organisation at the peak of the cut-throat intelligence world, had
given up on with preternatural abilities, and the director had no
choice but to stop suspecting her gift there and then.
So, predicting his unannounced arrival for someone like her would
be easier than, say, changing the channel on TV with a remote.
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Guided by the grandchild, the director was led into the sitting room
where the Madam was waiting for him with a cup of warm tea on top
of a coffee table. He politely greeted her.
The last time he stepped in here was about a year ago; he took a
look around at the interior decoration of the sitting room that hadn't
changed since his last visit before carefully parking his butt on one of
the couches.
One could say that the information on the past was of no value
compared to the information on the future.
"Ah...."
Was she talking about that story of the 'God of Death' again?
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The director could only smack his lips wryly at the exact same
answer she gave every time he asked her.
It was the story about how her powers became useless after an
existence powerful enough to twist destiny as he saw fit had
descended to this world.
"...."
"Ah…. I see."
She didn't enjoy meeting with people, yet she was with another
visitor?
The director tilted his head slightly, but soon enough, made up his
mind to stop beating around the bush. The smile on his face vanished
next.
"In that case, I shall get right to the point and get out of
your hair as soon as possible."
"H-hang on...."
"....Well, no."
"Oh. Ohh..."
The director nodded his head, a soft moan leaving his lips. She
carefully continued on.
Her answer to the first question was 'yes'. However, her answer to
the follow-up question was 'no'.
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"Unfortunately, I will not divulge any information on that
person to anyone."
"But, Madam!"
"If it's you, Madam, then you should already know what he
has done! We can't just let someone like that run around
without a respo....."
This must've been the very first time seeing her like this.
"Madam!"
"..."
He saw the sight of a single human being not even taking a step
back while standing up to those frightening giant monsters. The
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power that man possessed was scary and incredible, but it did rescue
humanity back then.
"...."
If that was the case, could he really come out and say with full
confidence that no similar things happened in other countries as
well?
The director rested his chin on his hand and began pondering
something else before raising his head.
He only knew her for around three years, but for some reason, he'd
sometimes get this feeling that he'd known her for a far longer time
than that. That was perhaps the reason why he felt this sense of trust
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in her. One based on absolutely nothing but his gut feeling, really.
"That man from the footage…. Can you assure me that he's
not a dangerous individual?"
"Yes, I can."
The director rose up from his spot while forming a rueful but
relieved face.
"Well, then."
He bade her a short goodbye and turned around to leave, but her
warm voice stopped his feet from taking another step.
"Oh...."
He spotted a bag of cookies in her hand, but could only decline the
offer with a smile of his own.
Now that his official visit was over, his expression reverted to that
of a regular, normal uncle. The Madam bade him goodbye with a
gentle smile and called for her grandson to guide him to the car.
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The child really liked this 'bearded uncle' for some reason, so he
quickly rushed to the bearded David Brennan and hung on to the
older man's hand.
The director, his hand still being held tightly by her grandchild,
finally left the residence, prompting the other guest hiding on the
other side of the sitting room to emerge into the open.
Crunch, crunch….
He emptied out the bag of cookies in the blink but that didn't seem
to fill him up at all, so he took the bag itself and tossed the cookie
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crumbs down his gullet next. When he was finally done, he opened
his mouth to speak.
She grinned refreshingly and nodded her head. Thomas rolled the
empty bag into a ball as he spoke.
After answering her call, he hurriedly checked out the tyres of his
beloved ride only to find a small nail stuck in one. Thankfully, he
avoided getting into an accident, but if he started the car and drove
away, then he'd have lost his life, just as how Madam had warned
him.
Which meant that Madam Norma Selner was the saviour of his life.
Well, she couldn't possibly have been a fan of the UFC and that
prompted her to quickly pick up the phone, so….
Thomas Andre always felt curious about why she went out of her
way to help him.
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"....."
".....I did?"
Thomas Andre, known as the 'Bad Boy' of the UFC, no, Devil of the
Octagon, did what now?
"Hohoh."
Madam chuckled softly and shifted her gaze outside the sitting
room window to stare at the black saloon driving away with the CIA's
director inside. Her grandson was waving his hand at the 'bearded
uncle' until the car couldn't be seen anymore.
The 'relationships'.
After confirming that the director was gone for sure, Thomas
plopped down on the very spot on the couch where the leader of the
CIA once sat.
"Alright, then. Just what did the man in the video do that
an uncle like him came to see you?"
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Madam replied in a tone of voice belonging to someone busy
putting up still-wet clothes on the washing line.
"....."
Sometimes, it was hard to tell whether this old lady was joking or
was being dead serious.
Thomas put on the pair of sunglasses he liked to wear all the time,
and shifted his now-darkened gaze towards Madam Selner.
"In that case…. What would Mister Hero who saved the
world be doing right about now?"
Madam kept her gaze on her grandchild walking back inside the
house, a quiet smile forming on her lips.
Waaahhh-!!
When the captains of the two rival high school track teams came
together on the field, perhaps unsurprisingly, proverbial flames
began erupting from the eyes of both men.
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Jin-Woo's school track team was now facing off against the pointed
ridicule belonging to the captain of their long-time rival from
Hwaseong Tech High, Joh Gi-Seok.
"I heard that your former ace, Woo Sahng-In, got injured
and took a break for a few months. Did that result in your
prowess falling so much that you don't have a choice but to
make a freshman your new ace??"
While Jin-Woo stood there showing just a tiny hint of how troubled
he was, Joh Gi-Seok scanned him from top to bottom and received a
great boost of confidence from his expression. The corners of the
Hwaseong Tech High Captain's lips curled upwards.
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It was at that point that Jin-Woo ended up blurting out a surprised
cry after seeing the face of this so-called freaky freshman.
"Uh?"
Joh Gi-Seok increased the volume of his voice while placing his
hand on the shoulder of the newbie team member who possessed a
physique that far surpassed the level of a regular high schooler.
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Side Story 17
The 'impulse'.
Why did he want to kneel down in front of a kid that he'd never
seen before, a student from the same year, but from another school?
Kim Cheol couldn't describe this situation in any other way. Still, he
managed to overcome it somehow and wiped the cold sweat pooling
on his forehead with the back of his hand.
If it was not that, then how else could he explain away this current
situation where his breathing quickened up suddenly and he wanted
to avert his gaze while all strength drained out of his legs, as soon he
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met his opponent's eyes?
Such a thing was not possible. No, more than that, such a thing
could not be allowed to happen.
The seniors began showing concern for his well-being, and as his
reply, veins bulged in Kim Cheol's throat as he roared out.
Kim Cheol convinced himself of this fact and powerfully nodded his
head.
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on Kim Cheol's lips.
Smirk.
Getting scared by a kid that might get knocked out in one punch
from him? What an absurd thing that was.
The seniors patted his shoulder to encourage him, and Kim Cheol
replied with a confident smile before fixing his gaze back on Jin-Woo.
'…....'
Only now did he notice that, even though he was glaring at the kid,
this fellow first-year was being insolent by standing upright and
shooting a glare right back.
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Not once did Kim Cheol let a moron like that walk away in one
piece until now.
"Hey, you."
He lowered his voice and pointed to the rear of the athletic field
with his chin.
Oh, ohh-!
The seniors tried to confirm the safety of his 'opponent' once more.
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on his own two feet, right?"
'…..'
If that was the case, how would human 'Kim Cheol', and not the
Shadow Soldier 'Iron', react to the memories of those days?
Unfortunately, it didn't look like Kim Cheol had called him over
here to discuss their past, judging from the light in the kid's eyes as
he turned around.
"Hey, you."
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The high school kid's murderous eyes were now looking down on
Jin-Woo.
Kim Cheol was getting riled up here, but well, the sight of him
being agitated like this reminded Jin-Woo of him losing his crap back
inside the Red Gate, which caused an unplanned smirk to break out
in response.
Sure, he did get annoyed back then, but now, weren't they all his
cherished memories? Too bad, though, Kim Cheol didn't remember a
single thing from those days, and Jin-Woo's smile didn't go down all
that well with him.
Kim Cheol's rough hands reached out and grabbed Jin-Woo's collars
in an instant. When that happened, there was a chorus of 'Waaaah-!!'
breaking out from his shadow, made by the Shadow Soldiers
cheering out loudly.
'…...'
It seemed that there was a real need to teach his Shadow Soldiers
about the ways of the modern world. Jin-Woo inwardly tutted and
stared deeply into Kim Cheol's eyes.
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maybe because the fond memories of the days when this kid was a
loyal Shadow Soldier, Jin-Woo just couldn't bring himself to despise
him.
No, rather than that, he grew real curious about whether Kim Cheol
would regain all the lost memories if they came in physical contact
here.
'…..'
The burly high school kid sensed something strange from Jin-Woo's
eyes and inadvertently swallowed dry saliva.
If this was in the past, he'd not give a d*mn about being
disqualified from the track competition and have thrown a punch by
now, since the other guy was seemingly making fun of him.
But, rather than emotions of anger or even the desire to settle the
score, a different kind of feeling, thicker and purer than anything
else, began to wiggle violently from the deepest part of his chest.
"Uh....??"
He didn't know why he was crying all of a sudden, yet the tears
didn't want to stop falling down. Soon, all strength abandoned his
legs and he plopped down to the ground.
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"B-but, why....?"
He thought about the distinct possibility that she might have also
regained the memories from the erased timeline, and while
wondering about that, he turned around to leave.
But then, the boy on his knees called out to Jin-Woo and stopped
him in his tracks.
Kim Cheol wiped his eyes with his hands and hurriedly stood back
up. His tears might have stopped, but his nose was still beet-red, but
not caring about that, he squarely met Jin-Woo's gaze shifting back at
him so he could speak, his voice choked up with thick emotion.
"..."
Jin-Woo stared at the boy for a long while in an utter daze, feeling
like he's been struck hard in the back of his head. Eventually, a
lengthy groan escaped from his mouth.
Indeed, he couldn't let some poor kid live the rest of his life
confused about his sexual orientation like this, now could he? When
Jin-Woo walked closer, Kim Cheol's cheeks blushed beet red like a
maiden in love.
Unfortunately...
Snap!
All signs of cognition and emotion were wiped from the boy's face
along with the sound of fingers snapping. Kim Cheol's eyes lost focus
and became blurry. Jin-Woo stood in front of him and began inserting
new memories to replace the old one.
"Okay, so…. You tried to provoke me, but then found out,
coincidentally, that I was the son of your father's friend's
friend's friend and that's how we got to resolve our
differences."
For a brief moment there, Jin-Woo recalled back to when the kid
was still 'Iron' and was crying his eyes out as they were about to say
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goodbye, right before the Chalice of Rebirth was to be used. A thin
smile floated up on his lips and he continued on.
".....Yes, sir."
After hearing a hushed, soft reply leaking out of Kim Cheol's lips,
Jin-Woo finally undid the hypnosis and let the boy be.
Snap.
"Uh…. Eh?"
"Uh…. O-okay."
Feeling bewildered by this situation, Kim Cheol waved his hand and
smiled along awkwardly as well.
'Nice.'
Jin-Woo turned away from the kid's direction, a happy grin forming
on his face now. The unexpected encounter with an old comrade had
come to a successful conclusion, but it was now time to search for
that girl in earnest.
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throughout the athletics field.
Somewhere at the far back of the athletics field, which was quiet
and sparsely populated.
She lightly bit her lower lips and glared at her ankle, before
squeezing her eyes shut and leaning against the tree's sturdy trunk.
Her shoulder was shoved away by another runner right next to her
and that caused her to stumble ungainly during the race. She
somehow managed to pass the first round of preliminaries even with
this fairly heavy injury, but now….
Now, it was clearly asking for too much to compete again with her
leg being like this.
'I'm furious....'
And it was the role of the adults to stop such a child from going
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down the wrong path since the dawn of time itself.
The girl flinched grandly after hearing the voice of a male student,
walking out from behind the tree, that she failed to detect earlier.
This mysterious male student didn't look at her, but instead, stared
into the distance.
The male student shifted his gaze back to the girl with her wide-
open eyes and formed a refreshing grin.
Here was a strange guy telling her a strange tale. But the girl, Cha
Hae-In, didn't immediately run away from here and instead, chose to
observe the boy for a bit longer.
She could detect a hint of this nice scent coming from the male
student for some reason.
As for the identity of that scent, the 'smell' of the purest Mana
leaking out of Jin-Woo, as well as her possessing a unique
constitution that allowed her to sniff out Mana, she'd get to learn
about them much, much later on.
"Ah...."
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She flinched again for a moment there but didn't resist him all that
much, either. And when his hand left her skin, her ankle was
completely healed.
"Run without any regrets. You only have one shot, right?"
Jin-Woo smiled and tried to stand back up, only for his wrist to be
grasped in a hurry by Hae-In.
"W-wait a minute."
".....?"
Could it be that a change occurred with the contact they made just
now? Now facing off against Jin-Woo's curiosity-laden gaze, Hae-In's
face flushed just a little.
She had to work up so much of her courage just to ask that simple-
enough question that even her neck had turned beet-red by the time
she was done asking it.
"Let's run."
"Eh?"
"If you run against me and ever win, then I'll tell you
everything."
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place in every preliminary race you entered."
But then...
Jin-Woo's head lowered and did his best to suppress his chuckles.
While briefly entertaining the idea of breaking the world record for
the under-18 track event today, he nodded his head, a warm smile
filling up his face.
"Alright, deal."
Jin-Woo turned around and left her side for the athletics field while
continuing to suppress his chuckles from breaking out.
On that day.
Under the bright spring sunlight, the world record for high school
male athletes was shattered in what was supposed to be yet another
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ordinary preliminary race meet.
And the track team Jin-Woo was a part of defeated their rival
Hwaseong Tech High on their way to achieving their goal of an
overall first place finish.
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Side Story 18
Since he didn't share his memories with them, Jin-Woo had not
thought of the possibility of it happening, but the truth was, there
were a few other people who were still connected to the higher
beings on Earth.
And, out of them all, one person was quite lucky enough to have
physical contact with Jin-Woo, who was a higher being himself.
His son emerging from the room having just woken up looked like
he was about to break down and cry, so Seong Il-Hwan reached out
and gently grasped the boy's shoulders, only to be greeted by the
spectacle of a different past playing right before his eyes.
Tumble.
His final moments that caused his heart to tumble to the pit of his
stomach flashed past his eyes. Then, the time wound back and the
memories of how the present came to be played out in a panorama
being played backwards.
The one and only tool of God that could cause a phenomenon like
this, the 'Chalice of Rebirth'. Seong Il-Hwan knew of the artefact's
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existence through the memories of the Rulers, and after looking at
the boy's current facial expression, he instantly realised that his son
must've had reached some kind of a deal with the higher beings.
Indeed, Jin-Woo had decided to carry the weight, the cost, of the
deal all by himself, regardless of how heavy it was. Seong Il-Hwan
had to bite down on his lower lip in order to suppress his emotions
and prevent them from bursting forth right then.
His efforts must've not been in vain, because Jin-Woo wiped away
the tears threatening to break out and formed a smile.
But even then, no, even when Jin-Woo left behind a single note and
disappeared from this world, he couldn't even guess just what kind of
'promise' his son had made with the Rulers.
Seol Il-Hwan recalled that very day and let out a helpless chuckle.
What if he got to find out about his son's deal before the boy
jumped into the gap between dimensions and disappeared? Would he
have stopped Jin-Woo, or for the sake of the world, let the kid leave?
The envoy of the Rulers sitting on the opposite side of him smiled
refreshingly.
Seong Il-Hwan had his lips firmly shut now, but he nodded his head
regardless. Thanks to Jin-Woo's sacrifice, this world was spared from
the horrifying war that was supposed to tear through this planet.
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But, when he thought about the terrible suffering his son must've
gone through during those years, Seong Il-Hwan just couldn't bring
himself to smile anymore.
It had been almost one year since Jin-Woo returned from the gap
between dimensions.
"My son...."
The envoy discovered the traces of nervousness flit past Seong Il-
Hwan's face and formed a thin smile.
The envoy emptied out his cup and silently placed it back on the
table. He had to remain in this world until Jin-Woo made up his mind,
but that role came to an end yesterday.
Which meant that it was time to leave. Seong Il-Hwan would be the
very last guest he'd entertain before leaving this world for good.
Maybe that was the reason? Although he wasn't really the talkative
type, he wanted to converse for just a bit longer today.
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"That's what he wants, no one remembering the past. So,
yes."
If what Jin-Woo wanted was the normal, regular family life, then as
his father, Seong Il-Hwan was fully committed to continuing the
charade until the end of time itself.
The envoy smirked and nodded his head before raising his gaze a
little higher.
"I know."
The envoy scanned the interior of the cafe and spoke with an
emotional voice.
The envoy held back slightly and didn't mention that even the
Rulers didn't expect to see Jin-Woo succeed in his quest. Well, there
was no reason to pour a bucket of cold water on this emotional
farewell, was there?
Just before he bade his farewell and stood up to leave, the envoy
addressed his guest once more.
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It was unknown whether a result like this would've been achieved
without his help. He fought for the sake of the Rulers, and he even
suggested that the higher beings cooperate with the Shadow
Sovereign, too. Indeed, his role had been great.
The Rulers had decided as thus, and they prepared a small gift for
him in return.
But, that made sense. The envoy could understand where he was
coming from. There was an existence on the level of a god living as
family right next to him, so what was the point of voicing his wishes
here?
"Well, then."
The envoy bowed his head slightly and got ready to stand up, but
then, Seong Il-Hwan belatedly said something else.
"Hang on."
The envoy stopped and settled back down on the chair again.
Seong Il-Hwan smirked once he was done. Again, like father, like
son – his grinning face was almost a dead-ringer for Jin-Woo's.
"And, also...."
Seong Il-Hwan lowered his gaze and fell into thought for a bit
again, before continuing on with his words slowly.
"I also wish to become a regular dad who worries about his
son's welfare."
"I understand."
"Once you exit from this cafe, all memories of the previous
timeline will completely be erased from your mind."
"You won't remember this, but still... I pray that you get to
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live a fulfilling life."
The alarm set for six in the morning went off without a hitch and
Seong Il-Hwan shot up from his 'sleep'. His wife woke up at the same
time, too, and stared straight at him.
The couple quickly checked the time and breathed a collective sigh
of relief after realising that it was still only six in the morning.
"No, there's still some time left until the beginning of the
CSAT, so I think it should be fine to let him rest for a little
while longer."
The couple anxiously waited for the needles of the clock to hit
seven and when the fated time came, they rushed out of their
bedroom to slam the door to Jin-Woo's room wide open.
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Their son seemed to have woken up not too long ago. He replied
with a chuckle.
After confirming that Jin-Woo left his room, Seong Il-Hwan hurriedly
threw on his clothes and reached out to grab the car keys, only for
his gaze to be stolen by the key ring – a gift from his son.
Just how many people lost their hair to stress while trying to take
that one photo of her making a natural-looking expression?
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Indeed, Cha Hae-In's smile on the poster was good enough to be
called on the level of an idol.
This future wouldn't have come about if he hadn't healed her ankle
back then; a satisfied grin formed on Jin-Woo's face. She might be
having a bit of a hard time trying to get used to the cameras, but it'd
only get better with time.
Still smiling, Jin-Woo resumed his walk towards the meeting area.
Sha-ah-ahk....
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mannequin's. He examined his new look through the reflection on the
shop's window before asking his Shadow Soldiers.
"Alright."
Unlike them, though, Jin-Woo was staring into the heavens above
since he had more than enough leeway compared to them.
'…..3, 2, 1.'
Just as that 'kid' arrived near his back, he turned around to greet
her.
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Hae-In was planning to take Jin-Woo by surprise, but could only
sneakily lower her arms, looking a bit disappointed.
"Oppa, it's like you've got eyes behind your back, you
know?"
As the two of them walked, they chose the less populated path
whenever they came across a crossroad. Meanwhile, Hae-In's eyes
were growing really large after listening to Jin-Woo's CSAT result.
Her eyes narrowed to a slit, but Jin-Woo found her expression really
adorable so he decided to string her along for a bit.
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To Jin-Woo, seeing her express her emotions so freely like this –
something she didn't do back when both of them were adults –
proved to be a different but still wonderfully joyous occasion to
behold.
Around then….
Tap.
Something fell gently from the sky and landed on the tip of his
nose, followed soon after by wet coldness melting on his skin.
It was a snowflake.
He raised his head up to look and white specks began falling gently
from the blackened sky. A White Christmas was coming, it seemed.
"Nothing much."
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"What promise?"
"Yeah, I do."
"Well, why don't we make a bet, then? Let's see who will
arrive there first."
"Everything."
"Everything??"
"Also?"
"....Alright."
Jin-Woo readily agreed to it and took his hands out from his
pockets. The end result wouldn't be affected just because he kept his
hands there, but still, he wanted to show her that he was taking this
challenge quite seriously.
But then….
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Hae-In had been staying a step away from his position until then,
but suddenly walked in very close to wrap her scarf around his neck
before asking him for a small favour in a whisper.
"Wha?"
"Hah...."
In the end, Hae-In succeeded in touching the tree first, and she
lightly jumped in the air to announce her victory.
[Wow, there are times when our liege will lose a challenge
with so much at stake, too!]
Jin-Woo was left stupefied and chuckled again while scratching the
side of his head. He took a glance around the street and approached
the tree as well.
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little foot traffic.
Hae-In was waiting for his reply with an excited expression clearly
etched on her face. Jin-Woo stopped before her smile and issued a
dignified order to his Shadow Soldiers.
[…...]
[…...]
….Jin-Woo slowly brought his lips closer and gently locked them
with Hae-In's.
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Side Story 19
The newbie detective joining the squad this year after passing the
promotion exam, Lee Seh-Hwan, often heard this rumour while he
was walking the beat as a patrolman.
In any case – even if only half of the rumours making the rounds
turned out to be true, then the mystery cop was sure to be one hell
of an investigator.
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His fellow patrol officers were deeply envious of Lee Seh-Hwan
joining the Violent Crimes Unit. Little did they know, he was currently
swallowing back his nervous saliva while scanning the squad's office,
wondering who this legendary detective from the rumours could be.
It'd not be all that awkward to call any one of these fine officers
'Phantom', indeed.
"Loyalty!"
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Lee Seh-Hwan bowed deeply and received the coffee.
Maybe that small first mouthful of the hot coffee helped him to
relax?
"FUU-HEUP!!!"
"Y-yes, I have...."
"The thing is, that coffee I gave you? It's meant for him."
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then he stopped and pointed to the far end with his chin, a grin now
firmly etched on his face.
Lee Seh-Hwan was about average in height for a Korean male, but
he had to physically look up at his new partner, the senior detective
nicknamed 'Phantom', who was at least a head taller than himself.
Almost instantly, the poor newbie felt stifled and it became hard to
breathe from this inexplicable pressure emitted by the man in front
of him.
The reason why this detective was saddled with such a nickname
wasn't simply because of his preternatural swiftness, oh no. Lee Seh-
Hwan was sure of this fact after finally encountering the person in
question.
"Senior."
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"Nah, it's nothing much, really. By the way, is he our new
recruit?"
Almost as soon as the greeting with the senior was over, Jin-Woo
dragged the rookie cop he was now entrusted with to outside of the
building.
"That's right."
Lee Seh-Hwan raised his head, and Jin-Woo formed his now-
trademark smile.
Grin.
It was a smile that eased the minds of all those who saw it. Jin-Woo
looked at the shorter rookie with such a smile on his face before
continuing on.
Just those words alone, and Lee Seh-Hwan's heart began pounding
quite violently.
Ba-dump.
How could one's heart not throb in moments like this as long as
one was a police officer worth his or her salt?
"You coming?"
Lee Seh-Hwan heard the question with only one possible answer
and replied with an excited face.
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Completely pooped out from chasing after criminals the whole day,
Lee Seh-Hwan collapsed on top of his new desk and fell asleep. Jin-
Woo was planning to dump the write-up of the testimonies of all the
suspects they apprehended today to the rookie, but now….
Tap, tap...
"Hehehe."
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Indeed, it'd be convenient to utilise his soldiers.
That was why Jin-Woo did his best to control his powers, so as to
minimise the impact against the society at large. And so, as the
administrative work on these petty criminals was coming to an
end….
Jin-Woo heard the voices coming from the corner of the office and
ended up paying attention to the contents of the conversation.
"Hah-ah....."
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Maybe it was because of the fact that the deceased's name
sounded similar to his own sister's?
'Ah....'
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He handed over the related case files and pulled out a cigarette
after they got there.
"..."
Jin-Woo didn't pay any attention to the plea of his Senior and
scanned through the files, only for his expression to harden to a
scary degree.
The detective was about to light his cigarette up, but after sensing
the aura oozing out from Jin-Woo, ended up taking a step back in
surprise.
The senior detective deeply sucked in the smoke puffed out from
the lit cigarette as if to calm his trembling nerves.
The female victim was found inside her bathtub, having died of
massive blood loss from a large cut wound on her wrist. The knife
used to cut her wrist was recovered inside the bathroom, and
perhaps unsurprisingly, only her fingerprints were found on the
weapon, no one else's.
The file also said that, even though the deceased displayed a
bright personality outwardly, she actually suffered from depression.
Jin-Woo returned the case file back to the detective assigned to the
case.
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"R-right. You think so, too?"
"However."
"H-however....??"
With a hardened face, the senior asked back while thinking, 'Could
he be...?'
"Ah....."
The friend of the deceased, her gaze currently fixed to the ground,
quickly raised her head after hearing Jin-Woo's voice.
"Yes!"
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could be felt from several corners of this apartment unit.
He entered the bathroom, the place where she met her final
moments. The thick smell of blood yet to be cleaned stung his nose.
Jin-Woo stood before the bathtub and silently studied the very spot
where the deceased prepared herself to die.
Seeing all the spilt blood, it was as if he could sense the pain of the
woman.
However, he could only imagine what that pain was like, not
actually feel the pain itself. What the deceased was feeling when she
chose death, how painful it was as she lay here dying….
Just like what the friend had said, that message didn't seem to be
sent by someone getting ready to take her own life.
Most likely, the friend wanted to believe that she'd not choose to
die without saying a single goodbye to her closest friend.
For sure, the ones left behind would never know what the dead
wanted to say to them. Ordinarily, that would be true. Ordinarily.
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'I needed the actual remains in the past, but now....'
The Shadow Sovereign, the King of the Dead, then issued the
absolute order that couldn't be refused at the remains of the
deceased.
"Rise up."
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Side Story 20
Chwa-ahck!!
Droplets of blood dripped from the ends of her hair as she took a
look around her, her expression one of sheer confusion regarding her
current situation. Eventually, though, she spat out pained moans.
[Ah.... Ah....!]
Indeed, it'd be quite painful for her since she retained the
memories of her dying moments. Jin-Woo used the authority of the
Shadow Sovereign and calmed the shadow for the time being.
"Don't be frightened.
[Ah....]
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Her name used to be Seo Jin-Yi. He named the newly-revived
shadow woman the same as back when she was still alive, and began
asking his questions.
"Your reason?"
And when he did, her lips, frozen shut like a block of ice, cautiously
parted ways.
[I....]
Ding-dong.
He tilted his head this way and that while standing up from his
seat, and walked over to the intercom.
The monitor on the device showing the scene outside the front
door now displayed a man kitted out in a smart business suit
standing there. The middle-aged man didn't think too much about it
and pressed the 'Speak' button.
Beep.
The man outside the door pulled out his ID badge and showed it to
the camera.
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The photo in the ID badge matched the face on the monitor.
The middle-aged man forgot that it was far too late in the day for a
guest to show up like this when he heard the word 'Detective' and
hurriedly flung the door open.
Jin-Woo quietly studied the face of Seo Jin-Yi's father, Seo Gyu-
Nam, before shaking his head.
He came outside and locked the door before turning around to face
Jin-Woo.
"This way."
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Seo Guy-Nam initially thought that they would go to the police
station, but instead, they ended up in a cafe near his place. He asked
the detective why they had to come here and only got a vague
answer in the form of "We need a place to chat quietly" instead.
And so, Jin-Woo and Seo Gyu-Nam sat on the opposite side of the
table. The former then began his questioning as the latter formed a
heavy expression.
"Excuse me?"
"By any chance, was there anyone who might have been
resentful towards...."
"I, I'm sorry, Detective. I still can't believe that my little girl
left me in that manner....."
"Of course. I'm sure you know this already, but Jin-Yi wasn't
my biological child. That was why I cherished and loved her
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as much as I would've with my real child, no, maybe even
more than that."
"If only she told me when she was hurting, when it was
getting too much for her...."
"....Pardon?"
Jin-Woo tapped on the play icon and let the voice of the shadow
play out.
It was the testimony straight from her mouth about the tale of the
horrifying abuse she suffered at the hands of her adoptive father,
ever since she was a young child.
Seo Gyu-Nam finally stopped acting like a sorrowful father who lost
his daughter, his eyes constantly shaking from shock.
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She might have taken her own life, but the culprit that drove her to
that decision was someone else.
Tap.
Once the sound file ended its playback, Seo Gyu-Nam raised his
head, his expression frozen-stiff now.
If the real goal of this meeting was to arrest him, then this
detective would've shown up with a couple of other officers, slap the
cuffs on him and be done with the whole thing just like that.
However, this cop didn't take him to the police station, but to a
local cafe, saying that they needed to have a quiet chat.
That was why Seo Gyu-Nam had a hunch that the detective in front
of his eyes had a somewhat different purpose in coming to see him.
As if to reply positively to that hunch, the expressionless detective
finally revealed a toothy grin.
Seo Gyu-Nam clenched his fists tightly after hearing those words
that sounded like the heavens extending a lifeline, just as a
precariously dangerous situation was about to befall on him.
'Yes!!'
And the wise old 'they' said that, even if the heavens collapsed,
there would always be a way out, didn't they? Who would've thought
that the detective who uncovered his ugly sins just so happened to
be such an individual?
Seo Gyu-Nam had lived a pretty great life as a medical doctor. So,
regardless of how much this pathetic policeman wanted, he knew he
had the financial wherewithal to satisfy that demand.
Seo Gyu-Nam did his utmost best to stop the ends of his lips from
curling up and asked back.
He knew better than anyone just how many people regretted with
their whole being the choice they've made just now. This middle-
aged man trying his best to hide his laughter came across as utterly
disgusting and ridiculous.
With the smile gone from his face, an aura so ominous and bleak
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oozed out from him, instead.
"In reality, this place you're in isn't the world you were
living in. No, it's a different world I simply mocked up to
resemble the outside scenery."
The land of the dead that no living soul could enter without the
express permission of its master – the territory of the eternal rest.
Jin-Woo calmly added that that was the name of the prison about to
seal Seo Gyu-Nam away.
As the chill ran down on his spine, Seo Gyu-Nam finally realised the
oddness of his situation.
'B-but, how....?'
Within this brightly-lit cafe, how was it possible that there was not
a single soul around other than himself and this mysterious
detective?
Even if you forget about other patrons, no, maybe even the actual
owner of the place, shouldn't there at least be one waiter or a clerk
somewhere??
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However, whether it was inside the building or outside of the glass
wall, there was not a single trace of other people at all.
"Ah...."
The only items left within this inky-black darkness were the table,
plus the two chairs. And of course, himself and the detective sitting
on those chairs.
"U-uwaaaaahhk?!"
Seo Gyu-Nam shot up from the chair and hurriedly stepped back as
his complexion paled instantly.
Thud.
No, it wasn't an actual wall, just a giant 'ant' standing stiffly like
one, and it was moving now.
This ant creature shoved its head closer to Seo Gyu-Nam's face
and quietly placed its unfurled index finger against its 'lips'.
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[Shh....]
In that moment...
"Euph! Eu-euph...!!!"
Dozens upon dozens of ant arms reached out from the darkness
and grabbed onto him, before dragging him deeper into the
unknown.
See, the thing was, the Shadow now tasked with his punishment
was one of the greatest soldiers in the ranks, and at the same time,
the greatest 'Healer' there ever was, too.
[Kkiiehk!]
'…...'
It was Jin-Yi.
Jin-Woo was well aware that, no matter how badly the guilty
suffered, the victim's pain would never fully disappear. However, if
such a thing could console the heart of the deceased just a tiny bit….
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[Thank you. Thank you so much, Sovereign-nim.]
[By any chance…. If it's not too much trouble, can I ask you
for a small favour?]
day.
Jin-Yi's friend came to the station in the early morning to find out
about any new development in the case. Jin-Woo found her first and
took her to the corridor outside the office.
Rather than a verbal reply, Jin-Woo quietly nodded his head up and
down. The friend's head dropped towards the ground next.
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couldn't say any one of them out aloud – her expression sorrowful
but unwilling, she hesitantly spoke.
"This is?"
".....It is."
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"Excuse me for a moment."
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Side Story 21
"Hyung-nim!!"
"Hey, man."
It was unknown just what he was psyching himself up for like this,
but without a doubt, Yu Jin-Ho needed a massive boost to his courage
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to do it, it seemed.
Yu Jin-Ho greatly hesitated with his reply, before pulling out a small
box from his inner pocket and opened it up. A rather expensive-
looking ring was stored in there.
"Hyung-niiim!!"
"What now?"
Aaah.
Jin-Woo was guessing that the kid got scolded by his little sister or
some such and wanted to complain to someone trustworthy, but now
that he knew the score, a smile automatically floated up on his face.
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swelling of emotions could be even tastier for the couple.
"I wonder... I'm not very good with this sort of things,
so...."
"Keuh-heuk."
And then, he began pulling out a large paper envelope out of the
blue. What that contained was a blueprint of a building.
"Hold up."
Well, it was obvious how – because it was the exact same thing.
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Jin-Woo worked hard to keep his laughter in check. Yu Jin-Ho saw
that expression and his complexion reddened considerably as he
tried to come up with a suitable excuse.
"Yes, hyung-nim."
"....."
"Hyung-nim...."
It was at this point that Jin-Woo belatedly remembered how this kid
behaved when drunk and felt this ominous foreboding creep up on
him.
"Nope."
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"Hyung-niiim!!"
Yu Jin-Ho failed to rein his emotions in the end, and pounced on Jin-
Woo to embrace him, but the latter extended his hand and rather
deftly stopped the former from getting too close.
Back when they entered the rank C dungeon along with a bunch of
con-men and were forced into making a decision, or when he was
being tortured for information by a rank S Hunter blinded by thoughts
of revenge, Yu Jin-Ho always chose loyalty over his safety.
"Eh?"
Yu Jin-Ho raised his head to find Jin-Woo pushing forward his shot
glass.
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"A real family with hyung-nim....."
He knew very well what was hidden behind that black glove, of
course.
"Yeah?"
"Sure, go ahead."
Jin-Woo glanced at his left hand for a little while, before a smirk
floated up on his lips.
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"I got it while saving the world."
Yu Jin-Ho belatedly realised that the shot glass had been stuck
waiting for a while inside his hyung-nim's hand and quickly raised his
own higher.
Jin-Woo brought his cup closer and prayed for the kid's fortune as
well.
Clink.
They clinked their shot glasses and emptied them in one go.
Yu Jin-Ho's face went into a scowl at the bitter taste of soju, but
unlike him, Jin-Woo could only form a wry grin as he put the empty
glass down.
'I'd love to get just a little bit drunk on a day like today,
though...'
It was then.
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"Is sister-in-law doing well?"
"No, not yet. He's only six months old, so crawling is all he
can do for now."
"Ahaha."
With good timing, Jin-Woo was also beginning to miss Hae-In and
his son Soo-Hoh waiting for him back home after the word 'family'
had been mentioned earlier.
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Arriving back home safe and sound, Jin-Woo parked his car in the
vicinity.
Screech.
However, only he and Hae-In knew the secret of this house not
being built by the hands of humans.
When Jin-Woo stepped into the house, the first thing that greeted
him was the sight of his two Marshals in the middle of a war of
nerves.
Bellion and Igrit were glaring at each other without backing down
an inch, apparently not ready to give up on their ground. Soon, Hae-
In came out to the living room while carrying their son, Soo-Hoh.
"Dear...."
With a smile, Jin-Woo took over Soo-Hoh from Hae-In, and gently
held him up. When he did...
"Ppa-!!"
Soo-Hoh broke out into boisterous laughter and extended his small
hands towards him. The boy wanted to be hugged by his father, so
Jin-Woo helped with that by embracing the baby against his chest,
and then, pointed to his two Marshals with his chin.
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Hae-In was fighting back to keep her own laughter from breaking
out while hesitating with her answer, but Jin-Woo didn't need long to
figure out what was up with this situation.
However, Igrit's own fighting spirit didn't lose out an inch, other.
No one knew when or who ordered them online, but well, Igrit was
holding home-schooling material for toddlers as he argued his case.
"You guys...."
The Marshals finally realised that their liege was right in front of
their noses, hurriedly turned around to face him, and knelt down on
the floor.
[My liege!]
[My liege!]
Jin-Woo tutted audibly at the two Marshals far too obsessed in the
matters of the post-natal care and spoke to them.
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walk first, shall we?"
Bellion and Igrit stared at each other for a little while before
bowing their heads down to Jin-Woo.
"Alright."
Jin-Woo grinned brightly while holding his son in his arms, and just
like that, Soo-Hoh also grinned brightly in return, as well.
"Kkyah."
Nobody would doubt that they were a father and son; Hae-In
watched the two's smiles that seemed like a carbon copy of one
another and chuckled softly herself.
The commander was looking out of his office window at the time;
he didn't turn around and addressed Jin-Woo in a quiet voice.
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As expected – the senior of earlier carried that look of 'I told you
so' as he was leaving, didn't he? Jin-Woo inwardly swallowed his fake
cough.
Of course, that feat was built upon the hidden fact that Jin-Woo
played a key role in solving many of Woo Jin-Cheol's cases.
"Did you know that the legal guardian of the suicide victim,
her father, suddenly went missing a few days ago?"
"Really?"
Afterwards….
"What's this?"
About ten years ago, he saved the older man's life by using the
'Divine Water of Life' that he also used to save his mother's life in the
erased timeline.
And now, he was facing the gaunt Goh Gun-Hui once more as the
latter found himself at the death's doorstep. Since this was his
second visit, the dying man didn't get surprised by Jin-Woo's
unexpected appearance.
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No, he simply nodded his head in the direction of the unfamiliar
young man with a hood pulled up. He then tapped on the oxygen
mask blocking his mouth.
Even before he could finish saying that he could cure the illness
one more time, Goh Gun-Hui shook his head first.
Back in the erased timeline, Goh Gun-Hui sold off his company and
became the first President of the Korean Hunter's Association. But in
this timeline, he had been acting as the role model to all the other
corporate leaders by taking the lead in various charity work. And he
no longer wished for his life to be extended anymore.
Jin-Woo nodded his head. And that's when he was met with Goh
Gun-Hui's pleading eyes.
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Jin-Woo nodded his head again without saying anything.
"Can you tell me more about that world? I'd like to know
more. What I looked like, what you looked like back then...."
When he did….
….The memories of the time now erased rushed into Goh Gun-
Hui's mind like a tidal wave.
"Ah, ah...."
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo slowly pulled the hood back and revealed his
face to the Association President Goh Gun-Hui. He tightly grasped the
younger man's hands and confirmed the face now looking back as
even thicker tears fell from his eyes.
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out from the deepest part of his heart, and as his tears continued to
flow, he quietly breathed his last.
Jin-Woo also stood there with tears in his eyes, before reaching
down to gently close the older man's eyes. Soon after, the life-
support machines informed everyone involved of the passing of their
patient.
Beeeep-!!
By the time shocked doctors rushed into the room, the suspicious,
uninvited guest had already left without a trace.
Chairman Goh Gun-Hui was loved by many, and even more paid
their respects after his death.
Jin-Woo stepped away from the populated streets and made his
way towards those avenues with little to no foot traffic.
Every time the wind blew, leaves that lost their colours from the
influence of the encroaching autumn fell in droves from the trees
lining up the streets.
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Jin-Woo fell into a deep train of thoughts while looking at the
scattering leaves, before belatedly realising that his phone was
ringing off the hook inside his pocket.
"Dear?"
When he did, Hae-In cried out as if she too couldn't believe that it
was happening, either.
"Eh?"
For some reason, laughter tried to break out of his mouth after
hearing his wife's panicky voice over the phone. For the time being,
he decided that calming his wife down would be his first priority.
'….Oops.'
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Didn't I tell her that before?
The autumn leaves shook around in the wind and fell to Earth once
more.
However...
Clank, smash!!
….It seemed that the winter of his household was still a long way
away.
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Before he was ready to hatch, Beru heard the voice of the Queen
through the thick shell of his egg.
That was the very first duty bestowed upon Beru, still sleeping in
an embryonic state. And then, the obsession of the Ant Queen
wishing to build a prosperous kingdom resulted in the birth of a
horrifying monster.
[Kkkieeeehhk!!]
The young soldier ant shattered the eggshell, emerged from the
confines, and screeched out loudly. The ominous and terrifying
murderous intent oozing out from its two eyes didn't permit any
comparison to other ant monsters in existence.
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The Queen shuddered. It felt a powerful surge of emotions by this
creature born from its efforts.
Grab.
The wrist of one of the worker ants aiding with the hatching
process got grabbed by Beru.
'…..?'
Even before the worker ant could understand what was going on,
Beru simply began swallowing and chewing on the hapless monster
from its head.
Crunch, crunch….
[….!!]
Beru managed to erase all traces of its kin from this world in the
blink of an eye and stood proudly before his queen. The bodily fluid
dripping from his mouth looked rather grotesque.
The thing was, the subject of powerful fear would also have the
same effect on his own allies, as well. The Queen belatedly realised
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this fact and took a look around itself. The brave soldiers of the ant
kingdom were shivering in fear.
The emotions they felt were transmitted in full to their Queen, the
only one capable of exercising absolute control over them.
The Queen issued the next order to Beru, with an eye towards a
full-scale invasion of the human's lands.
'Survival' was the most basic, as well as the ultimate, goal of all
living creatures. But, in front of an absolute being that could easily
rip apart that goal into millions of pieces, the looks carried in the
eyes of other lifeforms were all roughly the same.
'…...'
Beru got to confirm over and over again that he was indeed at the
top of the food chain, and soon, arrived at a certain conclusion.
'I am....'
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I am created to be the greatest predator from the very beginning.
In that case….
Beru, submerged deep within the seawater, pushed his head out of
the surface. He could see the land at the far end of the undulating
ocean waves. A world different from the sea was waiting for him
there.
'Just how powerful will those humans be, those that mother
is greatly wary of?'
'…...'
Beru heeded the Queen's orders and waited for the right time to
come with bated breath. And eventually, 'they' stepped onto his land.
For the first time ever, Beru was given a chance to test out his true
capabilities.
And it….
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"What, what the hell are you?!"
"Uwaaaahk!!"
Beru discovered 'fear' in the eyes of the dying Hunters and couldn't
hide his utter disappointment.
There was this smell of fear oozing out from the entire bodies of
the prey. Beru got to reconfirm through these human Hunters that he
still occupied the top rung in the food chain.
It was a letdown.
And so, as the lifeform standing at the apex of the ecosystem was
about to define what he thought of the human race as a whole in his
head...
For the first time ever, a human that didn't fear him even when
standing face-to-face appeared out of the blue. Beru's heart began
viciously pounding away after encountering a situation he had never
experienced before.
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When he did, the human replied back.
Maybe this would be the first time since then that a living creature
looked at Beru with eyes that were filled with something other than
fear.
Sparkle, sparkle….
'…..'
Beru began shedding cold sweat drops as the young Lord Soo-Hoh,
the son of his Sovereign, stared at him with rather hotly-burning
eyes. So, he tried to escape from this uncomfortable atmosphere, but
then….
"Anty, antyyy!"
"Anty, antyyy!!"
The young lord would already be right behind him when Beru took
a look behind to make sure.
'…....'
What if he tried too hard to escape and that ended up harming the
young lord somehow? How could Beru even take care of the
aftermath, then?
"Antyyy!"
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In the end, the responsibilities of looking after young Soo-Hoh
alongside the child's mother, Hae-In, fell on Beru's shoulders, not the
other Marshals.
"...."
After making sure that Soo-Hoh was asleep, Beru quietly returned
to the 'territory of eternal rest'.
He slid silently into the shadow, and the world of infinite darkness
spread out right before his eyes. Some people might call this place
scary, but for Beru, this world under his liege's authority was a rather
comfortable place to be.
While he made his way over to where the ant army resided, Beru
fell into a deep pool of thoughts.
He had always been the object of fear, and he felt that that fact
hadn't changed even now. This question suddenly invading his head
proved quite difficult to resolve, so Beru changed his destination.
What could be more helpful in understanding the mindset of a human
than a human's opinion on the matter?
But, rather fortunately, there was one soldier Beru knew that
started his life as a human. It was none other than Marshal Igrit.
[…..??]
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"Here is an ant walking around that's much bigger than a
person. It can fly and it can even talk, too. Just which child
wouldn't like that?"
[…....]
Well, that was a fresh take on the matter, which he didn't consider
before.
Beru headed back to the area occupied by the ant army while
carefully digesting what Igrit had told him.
'…..'
Beru flying silently changed his heading once more. His new
destination this time was the location of a certain construction
project.
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The Dwarven Elder in charge of directing the project hurriedly ran
over to welcome Beru.
Nod, nod.
"Ehhht?!"
Maybe he felt all the hard work his men had put in would go to
waste, the Elder hurriedly tried to dissuade Beru despite feeling
rather scared of the former ant king.
[No, no, no. I'm not saying I want to cancel the plan itself. I
just want to change this part like so....]
Just as the excited Elder tried to continue on, Beru raised his index
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finger and placed it against his lips.
"You fool…. What is it? You scared now that we came this
far?"
Very good.
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"Yes, hyung-nim."
A sinister grin formed on the lips of the man they all referred to as
'hyung-nim'.
Indeed, it was a miracle that the house hadn't been burgled yet.
The thug scanned his underlings and they nodded their heads.
"Let's go."
The four males exited the car and cautiously closed the doors.
They scanned their vicinity and approached the residence before
hurriedly clambering over the walls.
They had rehearsed what they had to several times before, so such
a wall didn't pose any problems for these folks.
But then...
...Step!
Four jumped over the wall, yet only two landed back on the
ground? What a bizarrely weird thing this was!
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The thug quickly studied all around his surroundings, but when he
looked to his side again, the remaining underling was gone without a
trace, too.
The enraged thug briefly forgot where he was right now, and was
about to roar out at the top of his lungs. But right before that, a hand
approached him without being noticed and covered his mouth, hard.
[Shh....]
Right now was the young lord's nap time. It must not be disrupted
by a bunch of uninvited guests, no matter what!
Beru certainly enjoyed the unreserved faith his liege had in him, or
the young lord's favourable feelings towards him, but this... This, as
expected, felt just as good to him. The expressions of the weak prey
caught before the glare of a predator would always be like this.
[Kiiik, kiiik.]
Beru didn't hold back and revelled in the intense fear displayed in
the thug's eyes, before dragging the hapless victim away and
disappearing from view. The screaming vanished very soon after
from this world.
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"What do you think?"
Just to complete this masterpiece before the deadline, not only had
every single bearded Dwarf pitched in, but all the ant soldiers also
lent their aid.
[Kiikiik.]
Beru studied the statue of his liege with a very satisfied expression
before confirming the last-minute change that had been added to it.
Just like the Elder's explanation, the left shoulder of the liege's
statue now played home to the figure of their young lord, sitting
there with a bright expression.
There was no doubt in Beru's heart that his liege would be greatly
pleased after seeing this grand and beautiful statue. And also, this
statue would prove to be a deeply-meaningful present to the young
lord if he ever gets to enter this world in the distant future.
[Kkiiihehehehehet~!!]
Following after the rejoicing Beru, the bearded Dwarves and ant
soldiers also burst out into loud peals of laughter.
Wah-hahahahaha!!
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"Kkyah-hah!"
[….?!]
Beru got stunned out of his shell and hurriedly looked back, only to
discover a certain baby sticking close to his back.
"Annty!!"
Ah, ah.....
Seeing the baby Soo-Hoh who could now freely enter the 'territory
of eternal rest' before anyone had the chance to notice it, the
Marshal in charge of childcare, Beru, could only hold his head in
agony.
[Khi-hahk!]
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Soo-Hoh hadn't had any contact with kids of his own age until he
turned five years old. And today was exactly a week after the worried
parents decided to send their son to the nearest kindergarten.
The headmistress guided her to the couch on the opposite side and
Hae-In settled down on the cushion as her complexion became even
gloomier than before.
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"Ah, yes. Please."
But, why was she being shown this? Hae-In couldn't immediately
understand where this conversation was going and asked back with a
puzzled expression.
"....Ah."
Now that she looked at the drawing again, the 'ant' was standing
on two feet. Only then did Hae-In realise that this was not a drawing
of an ordinary ant, but Marshal Beru, instead.
"There are others after that page. When the class teacher-
nim asked Soo-Hoh if he had any other friends, he drew those
next."
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plumage attached to his head while holding what was clearly a
sword, no matter who saw it.
'Igrit....'
After that page came the drawings of Bellion and his extending
magic sword, as well as Fangs, busily putting on a magic show.
Inevitably, Hae-In's head began developing a stronger migraine.
'…..'
Flip.
The page of the sketchbook flipped again. What greeted her next
was a drawing of herself, a man that seemed to be her husband, Jin-
Woo, and innumerable black figures standing behind them.
Hae-In thought that this drawing contained her son's innocent but
warm gaze, and her nose stung with emotions.
The problem with this depiction was that the ground below was
completely painted black.
"We've been caring for many children over the years, but
never have we encountered such depictions of friends and
family by a child until now."
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father, are staying."
'…..Giant father?'
That explanation was puzzling enough to make Hae-In tilt her head
this way and that, but still, she could more or less guess how this
drawing came about.
However….
….It was really unfortunate that Hae-In couldn't reveal what she
knew to other people. She could only shake her head.
"....As I feared."
Although rare, things like this did happen occasionally – young kids
drawing the world as they see it through their eyes.
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What a relief that it was not a huge matter. She could finally relax
a bit.
The look in her eyes was far graver than when she presented those
drawings.
"Congratulations!"
"Yeah."
Enough time had passed and Lee Seh-Hwan himself was a veteran
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detective now. He quickly congratulated his much-respected senior.
"Hyung-nim, congrats."
As it was the case with pretty much every profession out there, a
detective would grow further and further away from field work the
higher his rank became.
Jin-Woo wished to remain close to where the action was, and the
higher-ups, especially Commander Woo Jin-Cheol, respected that.
Unfortunately, that couldn't go on forever.
Now that all excuses that could stop a detective with a stunning
arrest record from advancing in his career had been exhausted, even
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Jin-Woo was left with no choice but to accept the examination result.
If Jin-Woo said that once upon a time, he made more than enough
moolah to b*tch-slap a huge law firm and their deep pockets in the
face all by himself at a younger age than his junior partner, would the
kid even believe him?
Too bad, Jin-Woo could only recall the days when he operated the
Ah-Jin Guild alongside Yu Jin-Ho and swallow back the words dancing
on the tip of his tongue.
'Mm?'
"I had no idea that our son had such a wonderful talent in
art."
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Jin-Woo looked at the drawing in happiness, only to be pricked
harshly by Hae-In's sharp glare and quickly withdrew his smile.
"Hm, hmm."
After seeing her husband changing his attitude really quickly like
that, Hae-In just couldn't hold back her smirk from breaking out
anymore. She then spoke to Jin-Woo as if she was trying to convince
herself.
"....??"
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A little bit of the smile on Jin-Woo's face went away, then.
"Other kids?"
"...."
'Children are....'
Unlike with adults who, through logical reasoning and studying, got
to overcome the primal instincts they were born with, children could
feel the fear of death far more vividly.
The reason why other kids avoided Soo-Hoh was because they
must've felt the shadow of death hovering above him.
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If the powers of the Shadow Sovereign he didn't mean to give to
his son continued to grow within Soo-Hoh, then….
At the very least, there was a need to seal that power away until
Soo-Hoh reached an age where he could exert perfect control over it.
Jin-Woo's gaze shifted over to all the photos hanging on the living
room's wall. The biggest one was the marriage of Jin-Woo and Hae-In;
surrounding it were many images of their son.
"Dear....?"
Until then….
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Just as the final remaining photo entered the storage within the
subspace, Beru emerged from the ground after learning of Jin-Woo's
decision.
[Oh, my king....]
The heart of the Shadow Soldier, the one who looked after and
loved Soo-Hoh like his own child, was transmitted in full to Jin-Woo.
As the former ant king's gaze fell, a drawing suddenly entered his
view. It was Soo-Hoh's sketchbook pushed forward by Jin-Woo.
[This is...?]
Easily the best depiction of Beru he'd ever seen was drawn upon
this white page. Thick teardrops formed on Beru's large eyes almost
right away.
Nod.
Creak….
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[My Lord…. On behalf of all the Shadow Soldiers, I shall bid
you farewell.]
Beru lightly kissed the back of Soo-Hoh's hand perched at the end
of the bed and stood back up. All the soldiers hidden within the
former ant king's shadow also said their goodbyes.
[My Lord, even without me, I pray that you strictly adhere
to your study schedules...]
With the goodbyes now over, Beru looked behind him. Jin-Woo was
there, nodding his head.
When Soo-Hoh opens his eyes again, all of his extraordinary power
and memories would be gone.
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'Have a good dream, son...'
Jin-Woo lightly kissed his son slumbering away like a baby angel
and left the room, quietly closing the door behind him.
That night, Soo-Hoh dreamed of ants and knights and Orcs dancing
happily together with him.
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Part 3: Approach
Spin, spin….
The eyes of Lee Eun-Cheol, sitting right at the back of the class, as
he scanned the atmosphere of the place remained harsh, predatory.
With just one glance, he quickly judged who was beneath him, and
who was qualified to be his friend.
The laws of the jungle reigned supreme in this world called the
classroom.
Even back in his middle school days, Lee Eun-Cheol ruled the roost
with his fists. To his eyes, the majority of his classmates looked like a
bunch of easy prey. Almost without exception, those that met his
glare all quickly averted their gazes.
'….How lame.'
However, there was a dude that walked closer to him with a grin on
his face, instead.
'That's Jo Seong-Ho.'
He was one of those 'friends' who did his thing in the neighbouring
district. Also, they ran into each other every now and then while
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sharing casual booze with his other friends, too.
"Yeah."
They greeted each other and shared news on their particular circle
of acquaintances while measuring each other up, but that only lasted
for a short while.
He wasn't some model student who sat right in front of the class,
nor was he a punk trying to show off while sitting at the back, either.
It was a strange kid who sat in the middle and didn't even bother
to avert his gaze away when their gazes collided.
There would always be one like this guy in every class – a dimwit
who didn't know his place and needed an 'incident' to figure who was
on top and who was at the bottom.
That punk was looking behind him, right at Lee Eun-Cheol, before
sighing out, as if he found this whole thing ridiculous, and reverted
his gaze back to his front. Obviously, the high school thug couldn't
take that lying down anymore and stood up from his seat.
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Dururuk...
The noise of the chair dragging against the ground loudly rang
around the classroom. Of course, the gazes of the whole class were
instantly focused on Lee Eun-Cheol.
The boy enjoyed all the attention and, while feeling pretty good
about himself, strode right over to the dimwit who didn't know his
place.
"Oii."
Just as Lee Eun-Cheol reached out to grab the punk's shoulder and
turn him around, a tackle came in from a rather unexpected quarter.
"Hold up."
"What now?"
"We went to the same middle school. If you can help it, you
shouldn't bother him."
".....Same school?"
There could be two potential reasons for that. One, a reason that
couldn't be brought up but still forbade anyone from touching this
punk.
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The high school thug's expression hardened instantly and he
began lightly kicking the chair of the 'punk' that didn't even bother to
turn around in the middle of this commotion.
"Hey, hey? Who the hell are you? Why don't you say
something? Don't you have a mouth?"
Grit.
"Keo-heok!"
"Who the hell is that punk? Just who is he that you're trying
to protect him?!"
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"He was the strongest in our middle school."
"...??"
This kid, did he lose his mind after getting smacked around for a
bit?
Initially, Lee Eun-Cheol wondered what kind of horse crap this was,
but Jo Seong-Ho's eyes were far too serious for something like that.
If there was a scary b*stard like that, then there was just no way
that a rumour wouldn't have gotten around.
Lee Eun-Cheol lived in this neck of the woods since his elementary
school days, but he had never heard of that name before. Besides,
what could a nerd like that do to him, anyway?
Lee Eun-Cheol's rage shot up right to the top of his head after
realising that Jo Seong-Ho dared to make him look bad in front of
others just because of a punk like that.
Smaaaack!
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Lee Eun-Cheol's full-blooded swing caused Jo Seong-Ho's head to
spin to the side. The smacked cheek swelled up in red colour.
The high school thug had apparently learned boxing since from a
young age, and perhaps because of that, his arm strength couldn't
be treated as a joke.
It was around the time when he was silently enduring against the
barrage of violent attacks from Lee Eun-Cheol. He discovered 'that'.
'…..!!!'
From the distance, that nerd was leisurely strolling towards here.
His neck and wrists revealed outside of the school uniform looked a
bit firm, but it didn't seem like the boy had trained professionally or
something.
"Tsk, tsk."
"Hey, Seong-Ho."
".....Yeah."
"Let's pretend that you also did this. I mean, this much is
already enough for self-defence, right?"
"Oii."
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Cheol's eyes.
Thud!
Thud, thud!!
One hit in the face of Lee Eun-Cheol, and one hit each in the vitals
of the two underlings – those attacks were machine-like in their
accuracy, yet savage in their nature, like a wild predator.
But after that, his middle school life became quite stress-free,
contrary to his initial expectations.
'…...'
The high school thug's nose was broken, while the two underlings
had their bones broken.
The rumours should spread around quickly; the rumours of the one
and only XX middle school's Lee Eun-Cheol getting beaten up by YY
middle school's Jo Seong-Ho, that was.
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Even the thug himself would keep his mouth shut over this matter,
since that rumour would be far more preferable than to let the world
know that he got taken out by some no-name regular student.
'Well, then....'
Since this was a win someone handed over to him, Jo Seong-Ho felt
rather embarrassed about this whole thing. As he remained
swimming in several complicated thoughts, Soo-Hoh walked up
closer and extended his hand out.
"I thought his aura was really something else when I first
saw him, so it's no surprise."
"I heard that he learned judo since young and was pretty
famous in his neighbourhood."
More than that, Jo Seong-Ho was now being treated as a hero even,
after it emerged that he was trying to protect another kid who
graduated from the same middle school as him.
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Although it was the start of a new school year and the kids all felt a
bit awkward and unsure of each other, this topic worked wonders and
broke the ice nicely. Even then, Soo-Hoh was dazedly staring out at
the sky outside all by himself.
The end of the school day wasn't that far away, and the blue
heavens above were gradually dyeing in the hues of rich amber.
'….I'm bored.'
And there was this vague, distant feeling that he used to know
'things' that made his heart race and surprised him at every turn.
Whenever he was beset with such feelings, it became harder to
endure against this sense of boredom.
Dururuk...
The door to the classroom slid open. The gazes of the kids all
shifted over to the rear door. Jo Seong-Ho didn't display much of a
reaction and returned to his assigned seat.
Ohhh-!
Kids were looking at his wound-filled face with gazes of envy and
respect. Without a doubt, the top dog of this classroom had changed
from Lee Eun-Cheol to Jo Seong-Ho.
"Hey, hey."
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the window, only for his attention to be brought back to reality by
someone poking him on his back. He looked behind him to find a
female student with a neat appearance there trying to talk to him.
"Oh. Okay."
The girl heard his curt reply and as if she got embarrassed by this
exchange, hurriedly opened her textbook to hide her face.
Meanwhile, he reverted his gaze back to the skies outside.
'So bored....'
Other students were filing out of the school's front gate. He didn't
like the melee of confusion like that. His mom always laughed and
said that he was exactly like his father in that regard.
He read the book he borrowed from the library before raising his
head back up, thinking that maybe he should start heading back
home now. There was no one else besides him in the classroom.
Soo-Hoh leisurely packed his bag and slung it over his shoulder.
It was fine to be relaxed and laid back, but if he were to waste any
more time than this, he'd definitely arrive home late for dinner, and
that would mean he'd have to face the wrath of his mother.
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It'd be a relief if the story ended there. If the news of his mom
getting angry reached his father's ears.....
If it was locked, then there was no way this thing wouldn't budge
like this, since it was none other than himself tugging at it. The door
showed no signs of moving, as if it was a wall, to begin with.
Soo-Hoh's eyes grew rounder and this time, he ran to the front
door and grabbed its handle. But it was the same story here, too.
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Soo-Hoh clenched both of his fists real tight and slammed at the
window with all of his might.
Boom!
Too bad, the window not only didn't shatter from the impact, but
his fists also bounced away from it as if he was hitting a rubber wall.
'….!!!'
It happened then.
Regular kids might have been scared out of their wits by this
development, but... Rather than crying out or screaming, Soo-Hoh
placed his hand on his chest, instead.
Maybe.
Just maybe, it was possible that he was waiting for something like
this for a long, long time.
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'Mom said that I resemble my dad all the time, doesn't
she?'
Because his pounding heart was already making his legs move.
Bzzz.... Bzz...
'Good.'
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The only source of light illuminating this place was a lit torch on
one of the walls.
Soo-Hoh felt around the solid wall blocking his rear and shook his
head eventually. He couldn't sense any sort of empty spaces behind
this wall.
The flames of the torch wavered around. He took it off the wall and
illuminated his front.
When he did….
"Wow."
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A longsword, shortswords, a bow, a spear, a mace, etc….
His heart that didn't beat too fast while hanging out with his friends
or checking out a game they suggested he should play, was now
pounding away like crazy.
'Alright....'
He took a close look at all the weapons lined up right till the end,
and then, returned to the beginning to study them for a bit more. A
few interesting hopefuls caught his eye, but in the end, there was
nothing better than 'it', or so he decided.
Clank, clank.
'This is it.'
Rumble-!!
Torches lining up the walls in front of him and all around him lit up
all at once. A long, long passageway now greeted him.
Something was about to begin here. Soo-Hoh did his best to calm
his wildly-pounding heart, before his eyes spotted a pair of
shortswords resting next to where he found his gauntlets.
***
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Soo-Hoh carefully tread through the corridor.
He raised his voice and called out, but there was no reply
whatsoever. No, he couldn't even sense any presence of living people
at all.
He could see the lit torches and sparks of flames dancing on top of
them hanging on the walls. He could also see the old-fashioned
architecture of this place, as well as metallic suits of armour lining up
on the side of the wall with nary a gap between them.
But then….
'Hold up.'
Soo-Hoh felt this ominous chill creep down his spine and he quickly
went back the way he came to stand before a certain suit of armour.
For some reason, the positioning of this armour seemed a wee bit
different from when he walked past it a few seconds ago.
'This…. Wait, did it really have its sword raised up in the air
like this before?'
He was pretty sure that its weapon was pointing down to the
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ground the last time. Soo-Hoh tilted his head and took a step
forward, only for the sword of the armour to slice down in a straight
line.
Clang!
If he hadn't raised the gauntlet and urgently block the blade in the
nick of time, his head might have been split in half just now.
The suit of armour didn't even give Soo-Hoh any chance to feel
stunned by this development; it dropped its sword and pounced
forward to strangle him with its bare hands.
While pushing away the collapsed suit of armour with his foot, Soo-
Hoh breathed roughly and quickly. Thankfully, he didn't suffer any
damage from this encounter, but his heart was pounding away so
hard that it felt as if it'd explode at any time.
'Hold up!'
What if this wasn't the only suit of armour that could move? And
what if every single one of them wanted to harm him? All those
inanimate armours he walked past earlier without thinking too much
brushed past his mind.
That wasn't the end of his troubles, though. There were already so
many of them in front of him, and there were even lining up along
the length of this corridor, too.
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And sure enough...
Clank, clink!
"Ah..."
***
BOOM!
When he brought down the very last suit of armour, he got to hear
that announcement again.
[Level up!]
"Fuu...."
Shuuuck-!!
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His fist flew out like a bullet. Not only that, his entire body was
overflowing with this unexplainable power.
Soo-Hoh looked behind at the corridor he'd been waking until now.
Large piles of armours broken beyond repair or recognition were
strewn about here and there. He licked his lips a bit.
'This sucks....'
It'd been so much nicer if he could raise his level just a bit higher
here. He wanted to get stronger just a bit more.
Soo-Hoh looked at the giant doorway now blocking his path. His
senses had matured greatly as his level rose up and they helped him
to detect the presence of a powerful figure behind the door.
He closed eyes and took a deep breath just like how his father had
taught him and reached out towards the door to push it open with
both hands.
Creak….
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The sight of a huge room resembling a castle's audience chamber
greeted him next.
'That's it....'
Shurung....
But, just as he got ready to dash forward, the black knight was
already standing right before his nose. A brilliant flash of light shone
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from the sword swung by the creature just then.
"....Uh??"
***
"Heok!!"
He lost all strength on his legs and plopped down on the ground.
Feeling quite unhappy now, Soo-Hoh got up from his spot only to
realise that something had changed from his first attempt. And that
would be the lit torches on the starting point.
Rumble-!
Out of those, there were three with blue flames burning on them,
but now he realised that one of them had gone out.
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Could that be a coincidence?
No, it wasn't.
Weapons by the starting point, his level that rose up after killing
monsters, his body that grew stronger as his level rose up.
If all three flames went out, then…. For now, it was hard for him to
imagine what kind of a result waited for him.
One more time. But he'd not mess up his chance this time around.
Boom!
***
"Uwaaaah-!! Uwaah!!"
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Soo-Hoh rolled around on the ground while clutching his head. Of
course, he wasn't doing that because of an injury or crippling
physical pain.
There simply was far too great a gap between him and that
creature, and it was more than enough to call it a cheat, that the
'balance' of this trial was definitely broken. With things like this, he'd
never be able to defeat that b*stard.
"Uwaaaah!!"
It was unknown just from where those suits were being summoned,
but well, they had returned again and were manning their stations
once more.
"Hah-ah...."
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He spat out a lengthy groan one after other, but then...
"....Uh?"
Ba-thump.
Plop, plop.
The 'dead' monster armours suddenly turned into sand one by one
and got absorbed into the ground. And then, Soo-Hoh's eyes grew
wide after he saw what happened next.
'…..!'
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"Yeees!"
The only existences that could aid him with his levelling up
thankfully respawned after a fixed period of time.
***
Level 70.
And that would be the fact that his body was currently overflowing
with this incredible energy he found hard to fully control yet.
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"Were you waiting for long?"
Feeling confident after managing to push his level all the way up to
70 somehow, Soo-Hoh unleashed all of the magical energy gathered
within his body without holding back.
The ground trembled and pieces of rubble began floating in the air.
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Part 5: Conclusion
'….Let's do this.'
For instance, the sword swung by the black knight. And then, that
blue-coloured arc of lightning from the tip of that sword flying
towards him in a straight line with a 'flash'.
Finally, he got to see what the powerful attack that ended the fight
was, even before he could do anything the last two times. His agility
and perception, raised up much higher than before through levelling
up, were pushed to their absolute limits.
He dodged the streak of light flying right into his face and took a
step forward.
Taht!
Just one leap, and in that one moment, the distance between him
and his target decreased in half by roughly around 15 metres.
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Flash!!
The second lightning brushed past the top of his head by a hair's
width.
The black knight had quickly changed his posture after sending out
the first attack to follow up with his second. Soo-Hoh felt amazed at
his opponent's quick reaction as he took another step forward.
Taht!
Kwa-du-duk!
Flinch.
It looked as if the black knight tensed up greatly just then, and his
emotions travelled through the chilly air to cling to Soo-Hoh's two
cheeks.
Shhhwiiiii-eeek!
His fist had broken past the level of a bullet and was more like a
cannon shell now, as it crashed into the face of the black knight.
Kwa-boom!!
The knight urgently raised his sword to block the incoming gauntlet
but in the end, he was powerfully shoved away with both of his feet
briefly leaving the ground.
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Kwa-jijijijik!!
The ends of the black knight's boots broke the stone tiles on the
floor and left behind two lengthy gouges as he got shoved back. By
the time he finally managed to stop his seemingly-endless travel
rearwards...
'….!!'
'D*mn it!'
The black knight became flustered and quickly shifted his gaze
back to his front. But then, Soo-Hoh was already there, blocking the
view.
The black knight was left greatly stunned by his opponent's smart
thinking, but still, reflexively moved his sword in the meantime. The
aura oozing off the blade as reflected in Soo-Hoh's eyes emitted a
chilling blue light.
The boy held his breath for a moment there and smacked the
knight's blade slicing down diagonally with the back of his hand,
currently safely protected by the metal gauntlet.
Kwa-boom!!!
Now normally, the knight should've been flung away by the force,
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but he crashed into the pillar behind him instead, and the structure's
surface cracked up grandly.
However, what was even more shocking was the fact that an
attack carrying such destructive power didn't end with just one hit.
Soon after, Soo-Hoh's barrage of fists rained down on his target.
Dududududududu-!!
'So, this is the power of the young lord, even if he's not
100% yet?'
His father, becoming one with a godly being, while his mother, a
rank S Hunter once upon a time in a now-forgotten timeline. Born
from these two people, the sleeping potential within Soo-Hoh easily
exceeded Igrit's imagination.
Kwa-jeeck!
The sturdy armour began breaking and falling off bit by bit under
the barrage of merciless attacks. Igrit pushed his speed to the limit,
but it was still not enough to defend against every single attack
raining down on him.
And eventually...
Clang!!
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Igrit watched the shattered remnants of steel fly away and
instinctively sensed that this battle was now over.
But then, this defeat also quickened his pulse to a great deal
compared to before, just like back when he fought against Jin-Woo all
those years ago in a place similar to this one.
Meanwhile, Soo-Hoh loaded his fist with his magical energy for that
final shot.
Wuuoong-!!
The surrounding Mana in the air rippled like waves on the lake's
surface and spread out visibly. And then….
KA-BOOM!!
The fist fired forward like a cannon shell left behind a large, empty
hole where the black knight's abdomen was. The knight collided with
the pillar again and slowly slid down. And then, he stopped moving
altogether.
'…..'
"Hah-ah!!"
He won.
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'Maybe... this isn't the end?'
"Kkkiiieeehk!"
"Khhiigegegek!"
"....."
That was how powerful and obstinate these ant monsters were.
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Those armour monsters couldn't even be compared to these guys at
all.
Sha-shak, sha-shak...
Kwa-du-duk!
"Khiieck!"
"Kahk!"
And so, screams of ant monsters continued to resound out from all
corners of this complicated cavern system with a maze-like layout.
'Alright....'
When he reached the point where his level didn't want to rise up
even after defeating the ant monsters, Soo-Hoh headed towards the
last chamber in this cavern and entered it.
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There was not one strand of light inside the boss chamber, but
Soo-Hoh's senses had already far exceeded that of a regular human
and he had no problem maintaining his vision.
Soo-Hoh tilted his head this way and that and while being as
sneaky as possible, he cautiously approached the creature.
When he got close enough to think that he was in range now, the
ant monster suddenly turned around to face Soo-Hoh without any
prior warning.
'Heok!'
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It was sobbing so sorrowfully that, even though he knew the
creature was a monster that he couldn't converse with, Soo-Hoh just
couldn't bring himself to attack first.
But, Soo-Hoh wanted to console this ant monster instead, for some
inexplicable reason. That's what he felt then.
Too bad, such a compassionate thought could only last for a brief
moment. Soo-Hoh sensed an incredible aura from the creature
bursting forth and hurriedly leapt a good distance away.
'….??'
'Oh my god....'
'Uh....?'
Suddenly, a huge shadow drew upon him and he raised his head
up to look, only to find that the ant monster had closed the distance
and was standing right in front of his nose.
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Its body had ballooned up to over double that of its previous size
and then, it screeched out a horrifying cry next.
[Kiiiiiieeeeehhhk!]
The winged ant monster was a truly frightening opponent, for sure.
But, for some reason, the ant couldn't attack him whenever they
were locked in critical moments, apparently feeling conflicted about
something.
But, thanks to that, he was able to bring down the ant somehow,
even though the task proved to be really arduous in the end.
"Euh, euh…."
[Level: 99]
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"Mm? Mmmm??"
"Growl....."
….He got to discover giants and dragons filling up his view, as far
as his eyes could see.
"Hah..."
Although his stats didn't rise higher, he was now able to control his
powers far more smoothly and expertly after going through countless
battles. His incredible strength, and technique to control them, gave
Soo-Hoh a rather healthy boost to his confidence.
'…..'
Unlike the previous black knight with a red plumage attached to its
helm, this new guy boasted a much bigger physique, and there were
traces of broken wings on its back, as well.
Why? Because, a certain existence that made him think that it was
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the real deal was flying silently in the air above his head, that was
why.
[Kkiiaahk-!!]
The Sky Dragon flying in the air roared out loudly. The scene of a
lone figure jumping off from its back happened right afterwards.
The figure of a person fell for what felt like an eternity before
lightly landing on the ground, causing the earth below to cave into a
big crater while kicking up an almighty dust storm in the process.
BOOM!!
The unknown figure, his face hidden behind the hoodie pulled
down low, emitted this intense pressure that even made breathing
difficult.
Soo-Hoh tried to stop his legs from shaking anymore from this
choking pressure. This was the first time an actual person and not a
monster had appeared in here so he simply had to say something.
"Excuse me!"
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not to return any verbal replies.
Soo-Hoh gave up on talking to the figure, but then, his eyes went
extra-round after discovering something else besides.
'Isn't that....?'
For the first time during this journey, the Gate had been generated
even before he defeated his enemy. Its location was behind the man
wearing the hoodie.
'Which means....'
It moved under the influence of his overall stats that had reached
their absolute limit, as well as the combat abilities that had evolved
to allow him full control over those stats.
Ba-thump, ba-thump!!
Soo-Hoh broke past the speed of sound and rushed to the front of
the man in the blink of an eye. His enemy was literally right in front
of his nose.
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Too bad, the man only had to lean his head back slightly and easily
let the attack slide by him.
It happened then.
"....Dad?!"
Soo-Hoh's eyes grew wider as they caught the sight of the man's
palm closing in on his face faster than the speed of light.
"Heok!!"
Soo-Hoh shot up from his chair and hurriedly took a look around
him.
He was back inside his classroom. The empty, still air of the after-
school hours had permeated into this now-familiar place.
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What an embarrassing crappy dream that he wouldn't dare to tell
anyone for, like, ever. He was greatly relieved that it was nothing but
just a dream.
He spat out a sigh of relief and turned around, only to find a female
student frozen stiff like a block of ice behind him. She got surprised
out of her skull after the sleeping Soo-Hoh suddenly shot up from his
spot, actually.
Now that he took another look, it was the same girl sitting behind
his spot that poked him in the back earlier in the day.
The female student stuttered and took pauses between her words,
but Soo-Hoh replied as if it was nothing to sweat over.
"Want me to help?"
"Eh?"
The girl got flustered for a moment there at the unexpected offer,
but eventually, shyly nodded her head.
"....Thanks."
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[My liege…. Isn't it fine to restore the young lord's powers
now?]
They had performed the same test a few times before, but today
was the first time the young lord reached as far as the Sovereign's
footsteps. Igrit wished to give Soo-Hoh full passing marks after the
boy displayed wonderful progress during the examination.
'Too early.
[Young Lord....]
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Beru looked at a sheet of an old paper with him drawn on it, the
edges of his eyes reddening up with tears once more.
Drop, drop….
Jin-Woo rested his chin on his hands and watched Soo-Hoh walk
further away, before a grin floated up on his face.
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Part 6: Goodbye
Beep.
The TV located inside the Violent Crimes Unit that spat out the
news was turned off. Jin-Woo put the remote down and picked up his
coat while standing up, prompting Seh-Hwan next to him to stop the
administrative work and ask a question.
"Yessir."
….Hang on a minute.
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He shifted his gaze over to the calendar stuck on one of the walls
and a certain thought popped up in his head.
Baek Yun-Ho spat out a low sigh, his face a mess of black soot and
dirt.
"Fuu...."
Not too long ago, he and his crew managed to put out a massive
wildfire raging near a residential area. This victory came about after
over 50 fire engines and firefighting helicopters, as well as 800 or so
brave firefighters had been mobilised.
Baek Yun-Ho took a look around him. He could see his fatigued
colleagues lying or squatting on the ground here and there. However,
not one of them carried gloomy expressions. Some of them grinned
brightly or raised their thumbs up real high when their gazes met.
No one died or got injured while they successfully reined in the fire.
That should be seen as a real miracle in the scene of such a large-
scale blaze.
Even though they were deeply fatigued and left with no energy
whatsoever after battling the flames for the whole night, they used
their expressions to cheer each other up and celebrate their success.
It was then.
He got startled by the sudden coldness touching his neck skin and
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took a look to his side to find Captain Seong Il-Hwan holding a bottle
of ice-cold water.
Baek Yun-Ho bowed his head slightly and took over the water
bottle. Seong Il-Hwan settled down next to him and wetted his throat
with a different bottle.
Didn't matter what you called him, it didn't sound ill-fitting with
Captain Seong. And as his nickname had alluded to, he had displayed
unparalleled brilliance in today's event, too.
"Pu-haah."
Now he felt like a living person again. The stuffy heat clinging onto
him felt as if it got washed away, starting from the top of his head.
But then….
"...Ah."
….A scene from the past suddenly entered Baek Yun-Ho's brain.
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"Captain!"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, I remember."
Back then, Seong Il-Hwan and his crew were steadily losing their
consciousness after being trapped within the blaze, but a mysterious
stranger appeared out of nowhere, like some kind of a fantasy, and
helped them to survive the ordeal.
"Euph, euph??"
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Baek Yun-Ho chewed through the bread and tilted his head.
"Captain?"
Seong Il-Hwan didn't try to answer with verbal replies and grinned
as he bit into his own bread.
"Chairman?"
"...."
"..."
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again.
Yu Jin-Ho nodded his head, but then, couldn't hold it back anymore
and shot up from his seat to loudly cry out towards his employees.
His face was filled with an uncontrollable amount of joy right now.
The inside of the conference chamber was filled with a sudden
silence. But that lasted only for a brief while.
Soon, documents were flying in the air and at the same time,
employees were crying out in cheer as well.
"Congratulations, sir!"
"Congrats, sir!!"
His absolutely lovely wife, his soon-to-be-born baby, and his game
development company that was making a killing year after year….
How could the world be this beautiful to his eyes right now?
'Heot!!'
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of sudden, powerful inspiration. He climbed up on the conference
table and confidently made a declaration to his employees.
"Excuse me?"
"That will be the title of our new game! Let's go with the
"Beautiful World'!!"
"Of course. The name 'Beautiful World' fits our game that
will virtually recreate reality as close as it can, so…. Ahh?
What are you all doing?? H-hang on a second, everyone!! I, I
might fall, you know??"
'H-hey. Feels like something flew past just now, didn't it?'
Too bad, the feelings of having seen something got erased from his
head in no time at all after he found himself under the crossfire of his
employees' holy crusade to stop him.
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"The fate of our company hangs in the balance with this
game, siiiir!"
Even though his naming sense was being mercilessly shot down
and trampled on by his employees, Yu Jin-Ho still felt really happy
regardless.
'Hahaha.
'In that case, should I ask Jin-Woo hyung-nim for the baby's
name, instead?'
Slice, slice….
The chairman's office of the Yujin Construction was filled with the
sounds of a pair of scissors cutting through a newspaper. Chairman
Yu Myung-Han only raised his head after he was finished with
decorating his scrapbook's pages.
Secretary Kim, one of his hands full of newspapers, shook his head
side to side.
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"....I see."
That was where he could see the thick pile of newspapers with all
the articles related to Yu Jin-Ho cut out. More than that, they were
worked on personally by none other than the Chairman himself, too.
'…..'
Secretary Kim had to dry cough in order to hold back the laughter
rushing out from the deepest part of his chest. It was then – the
Chairman's head shifted towards the window.
"....?"
They were currently on the top floor of a tall skyscraper. It was not
possible for 'something' to go past here, anyway. No, even if
something did, it must've been a small bird or another creature
similar to that.
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There were four such books on the shelf already.
Soo-Hoh had grown close to the girl from the same class before
long, and now, he found himself in the midst of an important
challenge to decide who'd get to carry the school bags home with
her.
"Rock, paper...."
"....Scissors!"
The girl went with 'rock', so Soo-Hoh had to change his original
choice of 'paper' to 'scissors' at the last second. This was the
combined effort of his extraordinary dynamic vision and motor
reflexes.
"Heck yeah!"
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Soo-Hoh smiled and strode forward while carrying bags on both of
his shoulders.
The two of them chatted about this and that as they walked side
by side on a quiet back street. But, out of the blue, Soo-Hoh stopped
walking and raised his head up towards the sky.
'….?'
The girl followed suit and also looked up, but she couldn't see
anything else, other than the floating clouds silently drifting away as
if they were spectating on the two teenagers.
Soo-Hoh stared at the sky for a while before looking back at the girl
with a light chuckle.
[Kiiiaahk-!]
Hae-In heard her husband's smile-filled advice and her arms tightly
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wrapped around his waist gained renewed strength. Taking that as
the go-ahead, Jin-Woo immediately raised their travelling speed.
[Kiiahk!]
Kaisel's wing speed increased noticeably and they rose higher and
higher until they broke past the layer of heavenly clouds above. The
sight of an endlessly-stretching blue world spread out below their
feet.
Kah-ahhak!
"Dear..."
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sun's rays around the neck of his wife.
The Shadow Soldiers watching and cheering on from his shadow all
roared out in exhilaration at this wonderful conclusion of their liege's
perfect wedding anniversary event.
Waaahhh-!!
….He had to break the mood first and speak to her instead.
"Dear, looks like you'll have to go back first and wait for
me. I'll be home as soon as possible."
Jin-Woo nodded his head and issued a new order to Kaisel. The Sky
Dragon changed his heading towards Earth and quickly distanced
itself.
Jin-Woo recalled what the envoy of the Rulers had told him all
those years ago.
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worlds, didn't he?'
The tear in space grew, so did the number of blue fog clusters at
an alarming rate. Hundreds? A few thousands? It could even be a few
tens of thousands.
"Fuu...."
Just as he would do, Jin-Woo closed his eyes and took a deep
breath.
Who knows.
But, when Jin-Woo pictured that scene in his head, he realised that
it wouldn't be so bad at all.
The countless blue fog clusters had completely emerged from the
gap in dimensions and, upon discovering Jin-Woo's presence, began
emitting intense, horrifying malice towards him.
The electrifying tension felt just before the battle travelled from
the tip of his toes to the rest of his body.
'Nice.'
And eventually….
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Kuwaaaahhhh-!!!
Those 'things' that acted under one will chose to eliminate the
detected threat. As they moved towards Jin-Woo's location...
"Rise up."
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Disclaimer
There is no guarantee the translation is 100% correct.
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