I Alone Level Up

by S.H.A aifu

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”. H

11. 246 - 270

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Chapter 246

Side Story 3

2. Reunion (2)

After entering the gap between dimensions, Jin-Woo developed a habit he never had before. And that would be jotting down things he saw and experienced on that day on a notebook.

He wasn't doing it with some lofty purpose of leaving behind the records of his bitter life-or-death struggle against the Sovereigns.

The gap between dimension was a perfectly 'empty' space, pretty similar to the land of eternal rest. Without battles against his enemies, this world of nothingness where only the eternal darkness existed would have been incredibly dreary and lonesome – he'd have difficult time trying to keep his sanity as a result.

However, his reason wasn't as simple as there being nothing to do in here.

Jin-Woo now possessed the experience of living the same timeline twice and because of that, realised something crucial – the perspective on an event would shift depending on when you were looking at it.

Meaning, after some time had passed, he might see some things he previously failed to notice.

And that was why he became rather curious as to how he'd feel after going through these records again when his memories started to fade away and grew indistinct in the distant future.

Would he become embarrassed that he left behind written records? Or would he feel regret, thinking that he could've done it better? Or, maybe even miss this war, although he felt almost completely fed up with it right now?

That was his reason for writing a diary whenever he had a chance.

Jot, jot…

Within this endlessly deep darkness, only the sounds of a pen softly scratching on the surface of a paper quietly rang out. As he continued to jot down the records of the day's events, a smirk suddenly formed on his lips.

'….Even still, I'm pretty sure I'll never miss the stuff that happened here in the future.'

Jin-Woo raised his head and caught the sight of the monster corpses too numerous to even count strewn about in the darkness.

Yet again, Jin-Woo tasted victory in the battle against the Sovereigns, and through this particular engagement, killed the 'Sovereign of Transfiguration' – the one that gave him the most headache so far.

It had already been 27 years since he entered the gap between dimensions. Finally, the closing curtains of this long, dangerous, and monotone warfare was in sight.

The only remaining enemies were the Dragon Emperor and its direct subordinates, the 'Army of Destruction'. His heart briefly beat faster from knowing that he'd go home soon.

'What a relief that the time flow in here and outside is different.'

Only around two years should have gone by on the outside.

Coming home after two years of absence, was it?

How much would Jin-Ah have changed? What about Dad? Mom? Were they holding up well? Should he have explained a bit better before coming here?

All sorts of worries briefly fleeted in and out of his head.

'No, hang on.'

Jin-Woo shook his head as if to get rid of all distracting thoughts. Now wasn't the time to focus his attention on how to decorate the last pages of his 'diary'.

With excellent timing, Bellion walked closer and bowed his head.

[My liege, the surroundings have been tidied up. There are no living enemies left.]

Jin-Woo took a look around him.

The Shadow Soldiers had finished sweeping up the battlefield and massacred all the still-breathing enemies, and now, they stood in near-infinite columns as far as his eyes could see, silently waiting for his next command.

Guooooh….

He had already given up counting the number of his current soldiers quite a while ago. With a chuckle, Jin-Woo closed the diary.

"Alright."

He stored both the notebook and the pen within the subspace and descended from the top of a hill made out of the monster corpses.

It was now the time – time to meet his greatest enemy. The one he so badly wanted to meet.

It was time to go and greet the 'one' who handed him his first defeat ever since becoming the Shadow Sovereign. The Rulers intervened and the end result was flipped on its head, but without a doubt, Jin-Woo did lose to the Dragon Emperor in that battle.

'….I won't lose again.'

A cold gleam dangerously flickered within Jin-Woo's eyes.

His heart beat only softly when he thought about going home soon, yet now his eardrums were hurting from its vigorous, thunderous pounding.

Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump!!

What if…

Jin-Woo focused on the sounds of his beating heart, only to begin wondering if there would come a day in the distant future when he'd really start missing this war.

He then wordlessly turned in the direction where the aura of the Dragon Emperor could be felt. And, along with the soldiers that would participate in the final battle….

"Rise up."

From next to the countless dead monsters strewn about everywhere, an equal number of shadows rose up after hearing the command of the Shadow Sovereign.

Right behind Jin-Woo, his three Marshals, Bellion, Beru, and Igrit, plus many commanders, stood in an orderly fashion.

And behind them, the enormous army, more than large enough to cover an entire continent, quietly waited on standby for his next command.

Although this world lacked the flow of air, it still felt like a wind signalling the end of the war was faintly blowing around.

Jin-Woo quietly closed his eyes and took a deep breath. And when he opened his eyes, he uttered out the words that ushered in the end of this lengthy war.

"We march forward to attack the Dragon Emperor."

The Dragon Emperor also felt it.

It felt that a truly gigantic horde with a scale that couldn't even be estimated heading in its direction.

Since when did it start?

When was it that the Shadow Sovereign, initially starting off with the repeated tactic of hit-and-run to shave away the massive Army of the Chaos World, began to openly hit his enemies with the full might of his army, instead?

The position of the army chasing him down had suddenly reversed and now, they were being chased down by him.

Out of all the armies that had been scattered around on their own, only the Army of Destruction remained. So, it wasn't all that difficult to guess where the attention of the Shadow Sovereign would land next.

The final, deciding battle.

Although the Dragon Emperor never imagined that the seemingly-everlasting war would end not with a grand battle against the Rulers but as a conflict between Sovereigns, it still believed that the upcoming battle would be a perfect finale nevertheless.

Indeed, didn't its blood boil from just remembering the battle against the Shadow Sovereign that took place decades ago?

The Dragon Emperor quietly stood still and glared in one particular spot. In the meantime, one of its subordinates cautiously approached it.

[Oh, my Emperor….]

The Dragon Emperor standing there with its arms crossed quickly replied.

[Yugumunt has died.]

After hearing the news of the Sovereign of Transfiguration dying, the subordinate formed a stunned expression before bowing its head again.

[That is why… perhaps it is advisable to move to somewhere more distant….]

[No.]

The Dragon Emperor bared its fangs as murderous aura rose up from its body in a red mist.

[I'm already sick and tired of running away. We shall fight the b*stard right here.]

That man had spent over twenty years to hunt and whittle down the armies of the Sovereigns. So, he'd not even give his enemies sufficient time to regroup and reform their army.

If it was impossible to escape from his siege, then the Dragon Emperor would fight back head-on and decide everything. Now that would be a choice befitting of the King of Berserk Dragons.

[Get ready for battle!]

One command from their Sovereign and the Army of Destruction got ready to fight in an instant.

Kuwaaaah-!!

The Ancient-grade Dragons, Dragonewts, and the Sky Dragons they were riding on, all raised their heads up high and roared out.

'He's coming!'

The Dragon Emperor's head snapped in the direction where it just detected the movement of a gigantic power.

There was a clear reason why the Army of the Chaos World was defeated by the lone Shadow Sovereign.

'….Outstanding mobility.'

No one could even come remotely close to the mobility of the Shadow Army that could be summoned freely by their Sovereign whenever he felt like it.

No matter how close one was, the distance would grow in an instant, and no matter how far away they were, they could close the distance in the blink of an eye, too.

And right this moment, the Dragon Emperor was looking at the reason why the Sovereigns' armies had been so thoroughly defeated. The Shadow Sovereign slowly rose up from the darkness. And at the same time, millions upon millions of black soldiers lined up behind him.

The Shadow Sovereign!!

The fighting spirit emitted from the entirety of the Shadow Army standing behind him was so great that it even made the Dragon Emperor shudder from this slight sense of disgust for a moment there.

Two decades of war later, he had finally got himself the greatest army imaginable.

[Kuhahahaha!!]

The Dragon Emperor roared out with boisterous laughter after coming face-to-face with this incredible army.

[Amazing. Truly amazing, oh, King of Shadows.]

Fight the smaller number with overwhelming numbers – the situation back then when he first faced off against his enemies had now completely turned on its head.

[I never imagined that you alone would be capable of completely shaking up the entire army. Who would have thought that we'd arrive here?]

The Shadow Sovereign, currently outfitted in jet-black armour, wordlessly stared at the king of all Dragons.

The previous immaturity of the Shadow Sovereign had been replaced by this still weightiness and he emitted a much stronger aura than ever before.

Flinch, flinch….

The Dragon Emperor's body shuddered from excitement, as a truly powerful enemy stood before it.

It so desperately wanted to rip him into pieces.

It so badly wanted to rip him into several pieces and devour him.

The nature of a berserk Dragon began wiggling madly from within the Dragon Emperor. However, it was still too early to confirm whether this encounter was a celebration or a punishment. It wanted to enjoy this moment as it trembled from the anticipation for a little bit longer.

[I want to ask you one thing.]

Also, there was this thing it was quite curious about as well, which was rather convenient.

[Why did the Rulers use the 'Chalice of Rebirth'? Why did they revive all the dead Sovereigns and their soldiers?]

There was no doubt that on that day, the Dragon Emperor's life came to an end at the hands of the Rulers. The pain from the spears that pierced into its body was still vividly etched in its memory.

The grand army of the Chaos World would have crumbled pretty quickly after their leadership was lost through the Dragon Emperor's death. And with that, the lengthy war between the Sovereigns and Rulers would have come to its natural end. With the Rulers as the final victors.

It'd have been a perfect defeat for the Sovereigns, with not even a bit of room for any excuses whatsoever.

However, they went ahead and revived every Sovereign for some unknown reason, by reversing the time through the 'Chalice of Rebirth'.

Ever since that day, it tried to decipher the intentions of the Rulers over and over again, but failed to even come close to guessing the reason. That was why it simply had to ask the Shadow Sovereign, who was with them at the time.

And then…

[Because I wanted it.]

….That completely unexpected answer caused the brows of the Dragon Emperor to shoot up.

[What did you say…?]

Jin-Woo slowly spoke again, enunciating every word clearly so his opponent could understand him.

[I wanted to kill you lot with my own hands again so I asked them for the favour of using the 'Chalice of Rebirth'.]

Crazy son of a b*tch!

The Dragon Emperor somehow managed to suppress a torrent of swearing that rushed up to the tip of its tongue. To attack an army of over ten million-strong soldiers with just one hundred thousand combatants, he resorted to using a Tool of God to reverse time?!

Although it was a truly nonsensical declaration, but at least, it did resolve one of the questions burning up inside the Dragon Emperor's head.

The reason for the Rulers using the Chalice of Rebirth, and the Shadow Sovereign suddenly going on a rampage – these two matters were actually related, as it turned out.

[Haha…. Ahahahaha!!]

As if it found the whole thing too absurd, the Dragon Emperor shook its head helplessly and roared out in a burst of loud laughter.

The Shadow Sovereign wanted to fight the massive army of the Chaos World again on his own volition, and just as he wished, managed to succeed in driving his enemies to a corner.

This feat demanded a level of respect that transcended all types of respect. The Dragon Emperor had no other way to express its opinion on the Shadow Sovereign who had managed to almost succeed in a challenge that seemed utterly impossible to accomplish in the face of it.

And he was now staring down on one final hurdle of that challenge.

Whether to devour, or be devoured.

For the first time ever, the Dragon Emperor became curious about the name of its opponent, the one that would either devour it, or end up getting devoured by it, instead.

[My name is Antares.]

The name bestowed unto it by the Absolute Being, but revealed to no one until now – the Dragon Emperor readily revealed its name to the Shadow Sovereign.

[That is my name. Remember it well.]

It did so, in order to learn the Shadow Sovereign's name.

With a sombre, serious expression on its face, the King of Dragons asked its question.

[What is your name?]

The Shadow Sovereign, Jin-Woo, decided to answer what could very well be the last-ever question of the Dragon Emperor.

[It's Seong Jin-Woo.]

And then, he spoke up in a tone of voice implying that there wouldn't be any further QA session after this.

[Is there anything else you want to say?]

The power of death in a pitch-black aura ominously quivered and rose up above Jin-Woo's shoulders.

The gap between dimensions was very similar to the world of eternal rest and it was rather easy to summon out the power of death in this place. The Shadow Soldiers that were resonating as one with their Sovereign's power also raised up their fighting spirit higher.

Uwaaaaahh-!!!

The entirety of the Shadow Army seethed and writhed. The corners of the Dragon Emperor's lips curled up as it witnessed this spectacle.

'Anything else I'd like to say, is it?'

Would there be a need for any further discussion when there was this grand feast laid out before its eyes?

[….I don't have any.]

The Dragon Emperor transformed into a burning Dragon and stood before Jin-Woo, who also transformed into a humongous black giant as well.

A mountain against another mountain.

The two gigantic existences glared at each other just before the final battle. But, that lull only lasted for a moment.

Kuwaaaaaah-!!!

The Dragon Emperor roared out loudly as if to shake the dimensions themselves, and the entirety of the Army of Destruction charged forward.

Jin-Woo was far quieter than his opponent as he simply pointed to his forward. Right away, near-ten million soldiers made their move.

At the same time, he too dashed forward towards the Dragon Emperor with everything he had.

The end of the lengthy war was here. He had been waiting with bated breaths this reunion with the Dragon Emperor just so he could witness the end.

A chilling ray of light began gathering within the Dragon Emperor's maw.

It was now Jin-Woo's chance to display the amount of growth he had gone through due to the experiences he earned before reversing time, as well as things he learned during this long war.

The flow of time slowed down to a crawl and only him and the Dragon Emperor remained within Jin-Woo's vision.

Just as the light of destruction exploded out slowly from the maw of a burning Dragon, Jin-Woo's fist enveloped in jet-black aura was thrust forward.

And so, light and darkness clashed once more inside the gap between dimensions.

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Side Story 4

3. Return

The entirety of the United States of America became rather noisy when a certain fortune-teller made an announcement.

"Not too long from now, the God of Death will descend on this land!"

Now normally, a prophecy like this, one better suited for a spot on a comic book cover, wouldn't have garnered any attention from the public. However, the big issue here was that this prophecy had been made by none other than Madam 'Norma Selner'.

Just who was this woman?

After abruptly opening her 'Heavenly Eye' around two years ago, she accurately predicted the death of North Korea's leader, terrorists kidnapping an aeroplane full of passengers, the stock market crash brought about by the sudden collapse of the housing markets, etc., and she had been the centre of many controversies for a while now.

And such a person made an announcement that implied the end of the world was coming, so it'd only be obvious that everyone would start freaking out.

Madam Norma Selner was also known as the 'prophet who is never wrong'. The mass media that saddled her with that label went into full-on panic mode and tripped over themselves to get an interview with her.

Too bad for them, though, she refused to speak to every reporter save for one person, who just so happened to be a personal friend of hers. It became known later that she had invited him privately and gave him a message.

– The God of Death will descend on our land accompanied by countless soldiers of death. Just as we can't escape from the grip of death, we cannot run away from the God of Death, either.

And the very next day.

A gigantic black hole suddenly opened up in the skies of Seoul, one large enough to almost completely cover up the capital city. And Madam's prophecy dominated the headlines of every newspaper in the world.

Meanwhile, inside said Gate….

Jin-Woo could only let out a gasp of surprise after spotting the humongous sea of people, as if the humans of the entire world had gathered in one spot, right below him.

"Huh-uh…."

How wonderfully moving would it have been if all those people were here to welcome him back? Unfortunately, Jin-Woo knew better than anyone that would not be the case and could only form a wry smile.

Soon, this Gate would open up. To all those watching on from the ground, this portal might be a source of sheer terror, but to him, it was an important doorway back home.

Home.

Jin-Woo's heart was rapidly filling up with warm emotions from the knowledge that the pathway to his home that he missed so much would soon open up.

'Now that I think about it, isn't this my first time looking at the outside from the inside of a Gate?'

The outside world was in full display from inside the Gate. That was how Jin-Woo got to spectate on the sea of people below his feet. He placed his hand on the 'wall' of the Gate that separated the two spaces.

In the past, he needed to give it his all in the battle against the Dragon Emperor in order to break this wall down, but now…

'Now, I….'

Jin-Woo lightly pressed down, causing minute cracks to form on the wall with sharp noises. If he pushed a bit harder, then this wall would surely break down without much resistance.

For a short moment there, Jin-Woo pondered whether he should do that and make his descent now or not, but eventually, he shook his head with a gentle smile on his face.

'….No, I shouldn't.'

People on the ground were scared already, so there was no need to alarm them even further. Besides, he'd been waiting for this moment for almost 30 years, so it was not a problem to wait for a few more days.

Jin-Woo carefully withdrew his hand, only to discover something else.

'Hold up. Just who would think that this is the hand of a third-year middle school student??'

Indeed, he just realised that his hand was simply too big now. Having spent 27 years in the gap between dimensions, Jin-Woo had naturally become a middle-aged man.

His physical age had already surpassed his own father's now. However, he'd been missing for only two years on the outside.

He needed to adjust his physical age to that of the outside one so that he could avoid the situation of people who knew him freaking out after seeing how much he had changed.

Although, he wasn't that keen on looking young to other people…. Hang on, maybe he was?

…In any case.

"I guess there's no helping it."

Jin-Woo grinned and looked down at his body before activating his powers. With him being able to perfectly control the powers of the Shadow Sovereign, the biological clock of his physical body posed no problem at all.

Soon enough, Jin-Woo's figure shrunk back down to that of a middle school student.

Shururuk….

The bearded face of a middle-aged man became that of a fresh-faced teenage boy with a bright complexion in no time at all.

The black smoke enveloped him for a brief moment and when it receded away, even the clothing had changed to the school uniform he wore on the day he went 'missing'.

'This should be enough, right?'

Jin-Woo formed a satisfied smile after confirming his new look, which was definitely that of a student no matter who took a gander at him.

Both his mind and body were now ready to go home and meet his family.

The only thing remaining was to wait.

'Two more days left….'

Even the wait until the Gate opened up proved to be something to enjoy to Jin-Woo, who was nearing the end of one hell of a long journey.

"Uh… Uh?? H-hey, it's opening up!!"

"The hole is opening up!!"

The crowd of people screamed and pointed at the Gate now beginning to open up.

Aaaah-!!

Kyahhack!

However, only the interior of the Gate connected to some other place was revealed to the waiting eyes outside. No feared events of scary things jumping out from there happened.

"What's this?"

"It's over, just like that?"

The folks from all corners of the globe, here to spectate on the giant Gate, began murmuring in uncertainty as they watched the mysterious portal slowly dissipate.

In the meantime, Jin-Woo blended in with the completely-unawares crowd and upon arriving at a quiet, deserted street, undid his Stealth.

Since pretty much everyone was focusing on the disappearing Gate, none of them paid much attention to a middle school student that popped up out of seemingly nowhere.

Jin-Woo briefly observed the crowd of onlookers for a bit, before turning around to head towards his home.

It was precisely at that moment he discovered a young man holding an expensive-looking bouquet of flowers standing before him.

This man smiled brightly and addressed Jin-Woo.

"Welcome back home safe and sound, Mister Seong Jin-Woo. Or, should I address you as the Shadow Sovereign, instead?"

He had never met this guy before. However, he didn't sense any malice from this unknown dude, either. So, he decided to lower his vigilance.

"It doesn't matter what you address me as."

Jin-Woo received the bouquet of flowers from the man and smirked softly.

"Having at least one person welcome me back isn't so bad, I guess."

He leaned in and took a sniff at the flowers before raising his head up again. The man spoke as if he was genuinely surprised.

"Honestly…. I've never imagined that you would successfully finish your mission and return home like this. By the way, I see that your steps carry the weight of ten million soldiers."

The 'Army' was defeated, and without a single exception, the denizens of the Chaos World that made up its fighting force came under the influence of the Shadow Sovereign.

Jin-Woo now wielded the biggest fighting force when both the Sovereigns and Rulers were taken into account. He lowered the bouquet and asked the stranger.

"I'm sure you didn't come here to hand me this bundle of flowers, so… What does the emissary of the Rulers want with me?"

Quite different from the tone of his voice that could've come across as overbearing, his expression was filled with a relaxed composure.

A lion would never fear a lamb, after all.

His overwhelming strength, honed even further through the lengthy war, was more than enough to make this unknown man shudder slightly in fear, even though the latter already knew who he was dealing with today.

Indeed, it was the role of the lamb to fear the opponent, not the other way around.

Now faced with the dignified air of the Sovereign that was not too dissimilar to a king of all predators, the unknown man chose to politely lower his head first.

"The Rulers have sent you a message, Shadow Sovereign. Our conversation might take a while, so may I inquire if it's fine with you for us to go elsewhere?"

"Fine."

Jin-Woo walked past the smiling man and took the lead.

"I just remembered a place I wanted to stop by, anyway."

The unknown man wordlessly stared at the bowl of ice cream presented before him for a bit and raised his head.

"The place you wanted to stop by was an ice cream parlour?"

Sure, just because he became younger-looking, that didn't mean his tastes had changed, as well.

It was just that…

"Well, staying in a distant 'place' for a long time does make you hanker for something sweet, you see."

Jin-Woo replied with a grin and began scooping the delicious ice cream into his mouth.

This wonderful, refreshing coldness transmitted from his tongue. And then, followed by this thrilling sweetness.

Only now did it strike home that he had returned for real.

The unknown man tried to get to the main topic several times but Jin-Woo stopped him again and again. Only after he cleaned out the ice cream bowl did he open his mouth to speak.

"So, what did the Rulers say?"

The unknown man had been dazedly watching the Shadow Sovereign's snack time until then. He hurriedly regained his wits and spoke up.

"Oh. First of all, they wish to express their genuine gratitude…."

"Why don't we skip the perfunctory greetings and move on?"

The Rulers should not have any further business with this world, yet they still sent an envoy to speak to him like this. Jin-Woo deduced that the matter at hand must be something extraordinary, so he wanted to skip the opening remarks.

"Did a new problem pop up from somewhere?"

"No, not at all. It's nothing like that. Rather, I'm here to speak to you because all the problems had been resolved, instead."

Came to speak to him because all problems had been solved, he said.

The light in Jin-Woo's eyes became even more serious. The unknown man greeted that sombre look and gulped down his dry saliva out of sheer nervousness. Still, one shouldn't forget to perform one's duty just because the other party happened to be quite a scary person.

The man opened his mouth with some difficulty.

"The Rulers, they…. They are worried about the potential side effects your powers might have on this world, Sovereign-nim. As you may well know, the powers you possess are not something this world can cope with."

"….Okay, so?"

"Without the presence of Mana, this world is just too fragile. If it's okay with you, we'd like to transfer you to a world that can take on your powers, Sovereign-nim."

"Or, they can just go ahead and seal me up instead of transferring me around, saving us from potential headaches."

"Of course, that is an option…."

Bang!

Jin-Woo lightly slapped the table, causing the unknown man to flinch and stop his attempt to reply, his bright complexion frozen solid mid-speech.

The heavy voice of the Shadow Sovereign slowly came out of Jin-Woo's mouth.

"So, they wish to get rid of me since I'm no longer useful, is that it? Because they fear the power that I possess?"

Jin-Woo maintained a smile, but the glare in his eyes was incomparable colder than before. The unknown man nearly jumped up in fright and quickly waved his hands around.

"N-no, that's not true! I swear, it's not like that!"

He then presented Jin-Woo with a certain newspaper he had prepared earlier. Jin-Woo took the paper and read the article dominating the front page.

That's when he spotted a rather familiar face there.

The article was about a prophecy made by one Madam Norma Selner, who used to work as the 'Upgrader' in the previous timeline.

– Not too long from now, the God of Death will descend on this land!

Jin-Woo's brows quivered a little at the words 'God of Death'.

"She wasn't originally an exceptional soothsayer even back in the erased timeline. However, coming into contact with our world has changed her life a great deal."

Jin-Woo's gaze stopped at a certain part of the article, the part about when she had abruptly opened up the so-called 'Heavenly Eye'. It was around two years ago.

Her 'awakening' matching up with the exact point in time he found himself after the timeline had been reset using the Tool of God couldn't be chalked down to simple coincidence.

"So, what you're saying is, my existence can potentially cause other changes like this one?"

"Yes, that's correct, Sovereign-nim."

Once Jin-Woo showed signs of calming down, the unknown man spat out a sigh of relief.

"The Rulers' thoughts are to present you with a suitable location where you can stay, if that's what you decide, with their intentions being to prevent the potential adverse change taking place in this world."

Jin-Woo leaned against the chair.

He still couldn't sense any malice from this unknown man. The Rulers connected to this man were making this offer out of good-will and other similar emotions.

However…

To think, he'd have to hear such news on the first day of his return.

Jin-Woo had been in a state of anticipation from the thoughts of going home, so he found it hard to hide how disappointed he was.

He definitely didn't want to discuss stuff like this right now. And he didn't bother to hide his thoughts on that matter.

"Can you come back some other time?"

"….I shall do so, oh, great Sovereign."

The unknown man performed a smart, courteous bow towards the greatest hero who brought to an end the war between Sovereigns and Rulers. The only thing remaining after the man had left was a black-on-both-sides business card.

Most likely, that signified the unknown man requesting him to call the number on the card when Jin-Woo had made up his mind.

He studied the face and the back of this card before stuffing it in the inner pocket of his school uniform, a bitter smile slowly spreading on his face.

The bubbles of anticipation and excitement from coming home had burst for good now. Many thoughts swirled in his head, almost making him dizzy.

'If all living creatures have a clear goal, a purpose in their lives….'

He was certain of one thing.

As the Shadow Sovereign, he had fulfilled his purpose after stopping the invasion of the Sovereigns, as well as making sure that no weird phenomena occurred on Earth.

Meaning, he had accomplished his goal.

So, the enormous power that served its purpose would only become a headache that was hard to dispose of, just like the nuclear waste at the end of its life cycle.

In that case – a question suddenly popped up in his head.

'In the end, have I become an existence surplus to this world?'

When the chain of his thoughts reached there, he spotted a certain familiar face jogging past the ice cream shop. As if he was entranced, Jin-Woo got up, pushed open the front door, and stepped outside.

Without a doubt that moving forward, there would come many occasions in the future where he'd have to ponder whether remaining in this world was a good idea or not.

However….

'As long as there is a reason for me to stay, even if it's just one, then….'

A teenage girl kitted out in an athletics uniform stopped jogging and turned around to look behind her.

At the place where the scent she really liked was coming from, she discovered an unfamiliar teenage boy standing in front of the wide-open exit of an ice cream parlour.

'What's going on? Did ice cream smell this good before?'

The teenage girl tilted her head this way and that while glancing behind her, but in the end, she failed to solve her confusion and continued with her jogging.

Seeing her departing back, a brief smile formed on Jin-Woo's face.

'There are still people that I love in this world.

And also, those who love me, and those who used to love me exist in this place, too.

That is more than enough reason for me to stay here.'

Jin-Woo smiled and inwardly told himself to find other reasons to stay in this world.

Chapter 247 Fin.

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Chapter 248

Side Story 5

4. Igrit's memories

The first time I met 'him' was inside the irregular space created out of my liege's power. My mission was to test the human about to enter this place.

Although my liege said that he wished to find out if this human was fit to become his vessel, I knew the truth, somehow.

I knew that this order might be the last one my liege would ever give me. My liege had lost all interest in warfare after forgiving the Rulers. From that point alone, I knew that he had harboured a deeper meaning in why he was so focused on this rather unremarkable human being.

I began guessing that I'd soon bid farewell to my liege. However, the command issued by my liege was still absolute. I had no thoughts of questioning his motives or changing his mind. All I could do was to comply with his command.

That was all I could do.

And so, after most of my powers were sealed away, I was made to stand all alone in the space where the testing of that human would take place.

'Humans of this world call spaces such as this one dungeons, don't they?'

At the far end of this imaginary dungeon shaped to resemble an audience chamber of a king's castle, I saw a large throne. I combed through my fading memories of the time when I was still human and studied this place.

'As expected…. You have certainly created quite a detailed stage with my liege's power, haven't you?'

I continued to touch and feel each large pillar lined up from the entrance to the plinth where the throne was and expressed my admiration towards the abilities of the architect, who had created all these.

As the fruit of this meticulous planning, that human's body would continuously be modified to accept my liege's power.

It was then.

I sensed the presence of someone approaching this place.

'He's here already….?'

I panicked at this unexpectedly fast arrival of the test subject and ended up sitting down on the throne.

However….

After I settled down on the throne, I began wondering if me sitting here would be seen as a bit 'insolent'.

The consciousness of my liege had already taken root within the human I was supposed to test, so I couldn't help but wonder if me sitting on a throne like this, in front of my master, would be seen as me being disrespectful.

In the end, I judged that I should refrain from displaying any uncouth sight and hurriedly climbed off the throne to hide behind the nearest pillar.

Geuh-gugugugu-!!

With a truly gobsmacking timing, the massive entrance opened up, but thanks to the surroundings being too dark, that human failed to discover me panicking grandly like that.

What a relief that was.

It'd be no good to make this serious test my liege had planned out into a farce with my mistakes, now would it?

I inwardly spat out a sigh of relief and when the human was about ten steps away from me, I slowly walked out from behind the pillar to block his path.

Through the still air, I sensed his nervousness.

He was a young man.

Obviously, my gaze lingering on him couldn't be described as favourable.

'So, he's the one my liege has chosen…'

Even if this mission wasn't the final order bestowed unto me, I never planned to go easy during this fight. If I believed that he wasn't qualified, I'd kill him with my own hands.

And so, as I stood there, igniting my fighting spirit…

….This young man suddenly clenched his fists tightly and put his dukes up.

Wait, could he be thinking of using his bare fists to defeat me?

I briefly thought about how praiseworthy his bravery was, for a human being. To fight him in equal conditions, I took off my cape and removed my weapons one by one.

Why was he getting so surprised by every single thing I did, anyway? Sure, his eyes filled with drive were rather likeable, but did he possess the same level of abilities to match those eyes, I wonder?

So, time to check it out…

….And the results came out pretty quickly.

"Keo-heok!"

Plop.

Even though I was forbidden from bringing out my full power, he was already kneeling before me. What a disappointment that was.

However, just as I felt disappointed, I also felt an equal amount of relief. Because, if the one supposed to inherit the power of my liege turned out to be not qualified, then that meant my liege would remain as he was for a little while longer.

For the first time ever, and also for the last time, too, I felt relieved by my liege's failure.

And then, I decided to bestow a fitting end matching the level of bravery this man had shown me even though he was a mere human being. I used the 'authority' briefly granted to me by my liege and dragged along the sword discarded to a distant location.

Cutting his head off in one go and sending him off on his way with minimal pain was what I planned to do. I figured that such a gesture would be the best form of mercy I could show this human.

Perhaps he had read my mind, he even presented his neck before me.

'You made the right decision. Wisdom matching your bravery…. Although your loss is lamentable, there is no way other than this to change my liege's mind.'

For the sake of the man choosing an honourable death, I performed the beheading. But then – he seemed to have accepted his fate without a struggle, but the light in his eyes changed abruptly at that moment.

Clang!!

My sword was blocked off by his hand, and instead, his dagger stabbed deeply into my face next.

Stab!!

Kuwaaaaah-!!

I was stunned.

Not by the fact that he managed to block my blade, no, but from the fact that he never gave up on his life right up until the end, even under the current circumstances.

Also, although it was for a brief moment, I saw the light coldly gleaming in his eyes and belatedly realised that it was uncannily similar to the light within my liege's eyes.

'Ah, ah… That was why my liege has…'

I completely lost all of my desire to fight, and was unable to respond to any of the continuous streams of attacks landing on me.

I was slammed into the wall, and…

Ku-waahng!!

….And, I was stabbed repeatedly.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Eventually, the metal protector surrounding my neck couldn't endure and broke off.

Crack!!

The strength he possessed, and then, the one I possessed – since this was a test to confirm whether he possessed enough of a qualification, I should possess higher stats than he did.

However, I still lost.

And quite obviously, too.

Was this the result of me underestimating him after seeing him as just another human being, or a miracle brought on about by his tenacious nature that didn't know the meaning of giving up?

As my consciousness blurred, I caught the sight of him raising both his hands up high to celebrate.

"Uwahh-!!"

Well, now. Since I began chuckling while watching him be like that, it could only mean that I wasn't right of mind, no?

My consciousness blurred even further as my gaze drifted up towards the ceiling.

It was too dark up there, and I couldn't tell what these endlessly-stretching pillars were connected to. However, I was just a bit saddened by the thought that the distant darkness above seemed to signify my own growing distance away from my liege.

'Am I supposed to feel happy that my liege's choice turned out to be correct, or feel sad that I couldn't manage to change his decision….?'

I couldn't decide, and that's how I lost my consciousness.

That was… until that man came closer and shouted out 'Rise up' in my direction.

He really cherished me.

Was it because I was his very first soldier – no, technically speaking, not his first but someone very close to being one?

There were many occasions where I thanked him for the kindness I felt from him. And there were many things that remained etched in my memories, such as…. Indeed, that one time.

On a certain day, he said this to me.

"I'm sure you'll be able to talk once your grade goes up, right?"

How was I supposed to describe the state of my mind that nearly overloaded with emotions when I saw his bright smile? I wasn't sure of what he thought of me, but at least to me, he was my master, my friend, and my ally.

He and I overcame many battles together.

At times, against denizens of the Chaos World, sometimes against monsters of the instant dungeons, and sometimes, even against other Hunters.

When he was happy, I too was happy, and when he was struggling, I too struggled. And when he was sad, I also felt sad, as well.

I knew that the deeper my loyalty to him became, the longing towards my former master would get fainter and fainter. Despite that, though, I gradually grew to accept my new liege.

Of course, it was not always smooth sailing, either. There were moments that I was actually sweating buckets.

"Use this."

Such as, when I fought against a much stronger female Hunter while still being under several restrictions, with only a sword that could shoot out some lightning bolts.

"Was the black knight you brought out really your strongest summon?"

I was even subjected to such insults, too.

And then, I even became a 'roommate' with a Shadow Soldier who possessed an abnormal fighting strength rather unexpectedly, as well.

Kiiiieeehhhk-!!

Now I found myself saddled with a 'roommate' who, although very loyal by nature, his nature also happened to be quite vicious. You have no idea how badly I missed my dignified comrades from the past.

That's how I felt when I met Bellion again. And if I were being honest…. when he taught Beru a lesson, I felt just a tiny bit refreshed.

Just a bit.

Too bad, my joy at reuniting with my old comrade didn't last long.

Because, not much time passed by before Bellion became influenced by Beru's antics, too!

[Look, Igrit. This black flag… if we plant it on top of this castle, don't you think our liege will become happy?]

[….Are you being serious?]

[I don't possess any skills to craft things like ants do, but if it is to make my liege happy, I'm prepared to do anything.]

[N-no, that's not what I meant….]

[Kiieehk-hehehet, is that the flag for our liege?]

[…..I give up.]

Of course, there was no need to even mention the reaction of our new master.

In any case, our boss's powers became even greater after absorbing the original Shadow Army that had been patiently waiting for his summons from the gap between dimensions.

Contrary to my worries, he didn't treat the 'soldiers from the previous liege' any differently from his own, and after uniting under one banner, we were now fully prepared to sacrifice our lives regardless of what battle it was, all for his sake.

Our training time came and went way too quickly, and…

….And, our determination was fully put to the test in the war against the Sovereigns.

We fought with everything we had for his sake and successfully ended the war against the Sovereigns in our decisive victory.

When he was fighting against the Dragon Emperor, we watched with bated breath, this incredible life-or-death battle, from inside the shadow. The brilliant face-off of the two Sovereigns was so beautiful that I was almost overcome with emotions.

[Kiiehhk? What's this? Igrit, are you crying?]

[….Shut up.]

The entirety of the Shadow Army was up in arms inside our liege's shadow, thinking that a seriously dangerous moment was upon their master, but then, the armies of the Rulers opened up the doorway in the sky and decided to crash the party.

Waaaahhh-!!

We all cried out in elation after seeing the reinforcements blotting out the sky.

[You lazy bums, couldn't you have come a bit earlier?!]

[Wait, could they have deliberately waited until now to make us anxious as heck before making their entrance??]

[If I was standing outside, I'd have kicked their a*ses already!!]

We were pouring out our complaints and dissatisfactions, but inwardly, we were celebrating our master's victory with great relish.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to sing our songs of celebration for long.

Because… our liege spoke.

"One more time…. Can you use the 'Chalice of Rebirth' one more time?"

He said that he wanted to reverse the time and completely erase any signs of Sovereigns and Rulers from this world he was living in.

Back when I was still a human being, I too had people that I wanted to protect, so I could easily sympathise with his emotions. Maybe, I'd have chosen the same path if I was allowed to make the same decision.

I completely respected his choice.

Myself and my comrades were fully prepared to clash against any opponents once more, whether they be the armies of the Sovereigns or not, as long as it was for our master's sake.

Regrettably, though, not everyone was invited to this battle.

When we learned that some of us would disappear when the time was reversed, those soldiers that fell under that condition all plopped down and began to sorrowfully cry out.

All I could do was to console Iron who had been with us for a long time, Greed who got on the liege's bad books from the get-go and ended up going through a lot of hardships, as well as other wailing soldiers.

And so, the moment of farewells came to an end like that. We returned to the past and were gifted with a brand-new battlefield.

Our master became more and more adept at warfare, and following after our master's growth, we too, became stronger in turn, as well.

We faced several dangerous crises, both big and small. However, he grew even stronger every time he overcame them, to a point that it was getting harder to keep up with him.

That's how almost 30 years flew by.

All of our enemies were defeated, bar the 'Army of Destruction'.

The desperate clash of our liege against the Dragon Emperor.

While our master was fighting against the leader of the enemy forces, we faced off against the Ancient-grade Dragons.

One of them named Granodeh decided to engage me in a chat as I was mercilessly and crazily cutting down the army of Dragons.

[IGRIT!!! You were supposed to be one of the twin wings of the Shadow Army, yet you follow the orders of a Sovereign who is a measly human?! Are you not ashamed of yourself??]

Not even possessing enough energy to maintain its Dragonic form anymore, the b*stard had reverted back to a humanoid appearance, panting laboriously as it clutched the sword sticking out its chest. I ended up staring at the dying creature with dazed eyes for a long time after hearing its final words.

Indeed, I had forgotten it.

The moments spent with my new master had been so glorious that I had completely forgotten about the previous liege.

Since when did this happen?

Since when did the previous liege completely disappear from my mind?

Granodeh's breathing came to a stop a long time ago, and fierce skirmishes continued to break out all around me, but I just couldn't bring myself to leave this spot for a while.

I thought that my master was everything to me – but, in reality, he meant so little to me?

Such feelings of doubt caused the inside of my mind to blank out.

But then, this happened.

I heard a loud yell coming from somewhere that woke me up real fast.

"Igrit!!"

It was the voice of my liege.

I urgently raised my head to look. In the direction my gaze landed in next, I was greeted by a ray of blinding light.

'Breath of Destruction!!'

The Dragon Emperor had spent most of its energy after battling my liege and reverted back to its humanoid figure as well. But, for some reason, it was firing a Breath in my direction.

No, wait.

That b*stard wasn't aiming at me. It just so happened that I was standing in the path of the Breath, that was all.

Indeed, I was rather unlucky. The truth was, most of the accidents happened because of some bad luck, and the victim at the end would lose his life. And it was my turn to become that victim.

Khuwaaaahh-!!

I realised that it was too late to do anything after seeing the ray of blinding light about to swallow me up. I couldn't even do anything and just stood there, frozen.

I resigned myself to my fate.

While facing the light enveloping my entire vision, I began thinking to myself. Maybe this was… a punishment for completely forgetting about my pledge of allegiance to the previous liege?

'If so, then I shall gladly accept it.'

After all, I was a sinner, wasn't I?

And so, as I quietly waited for my final moments approaching me at the speed of light…

…In that blink of a moment, someone stood before me and extended his hand out to block the 'Breath of Destruction'.

Kuwaaaaahhhhh-!!!

His left hand was burning away from the horrifying attack of the Dragon Emperor, but he showed no signs of pulling away.

I watched him defending against the flames capable of burning away everything in the universe for my sake and even before I had realised it, I was calling out in desperation.

[My liege!!]

Once the Breath of Destruction came to its end, my liege turned to look at me with rebuking eyes.

Just like back when he loudly yelled out my name, I woke up again with a start just now. My liege scanned my condition for a moment or two, before dashing towards the Dragon Emperor again.

I too, raised up my sword in order to cut down the Dragonewts trying to surround me.

Clang!!

Blades clashed with blades once more to create flying sparks, and the Dragonewts being cut down by my sword screamed out in anguish.

'That's right.'

I had never forgotten about my previous liege. My loyalty to that person simply had been extended to my current liege, that was all.

How could me staying loyal with all my being to the inheritor the previous liege had personally chosen, be seen as a bad thing, a sin?

'I am a knight.'

I was a sword of my liege.

I was one of the twin wings that led the Shadow Army.

If a one in ten thousand chance occurred… if I were to face the moment where I had to part ways with the current liege, then I'd add the words of farewell I didn't get to say to the previous liege as well.

Every day I fought under my liege had been honour and privilege to me.

[Uwaaaahhhh-!!!]

I roared out viciously and pounced on the Dragons dashing towards my direction.

The lengthy war ended safely, and we all returned to the liege's homeworld.

Jot, jot….

My liege was focused on studying until late at night. Hidden inside his shadow and sharing his vision, I decided to offer my advice.

[My liege, the answer to the 14th question was not the first one, but the second option.]

"Ah, really? Thanks."

Thanks to not being able to meet the minimum required number of school attendance days, my liege was unfairly expelled from this institution called 'middle school' and now found himself stepping into a brand-new battlefield, called 'GED'.

Although he maintained near-perfect score in every mock test he participated in, there were still a few problems that did slip through the cracks of inattention every now and then.

But, whenever something like that happened, just who was qualified to lend the liege his aid?

Grand-Marshal Bellion, who only had his huge physique and nothing else? Or Marshal Beru, who could legitimately claim to be pretty smart but ultimately, still a lousy insect at heart?

In the end, it fell upon myself to counsel our liege, as I had graduated the knight training school with top marks when I was still a human being.

"Hey, by the way, here, it says that the answer to the 14th question is… the first one? Igrit, can you really stake your life on the second one?"

My liege opened up the answer sheet and pointed out my flaw with razor-sharp accuracy. So, as befitting a knight, I owned up to it.

[It seems that my training is still quite lacking, my liege. I shall devote myself even further to my liege's cause.]

I am my liege's knight.

My liege's sword.

The battlefield of my liege is my battlefield; now that he had stepped into a new war, it seemed that my glorious days would continue on for a little while longer.

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Side Story 6

5. Your daily routine (1)

Every once in a while, Woo Jin-Cheol felt this inexplicable sense of loss in his heart. One heck of a weird thing this was, as if he had forgotten something really important to him.

However, no matter how hard he combed through his memories, he knew that he had definitely not forgotten anything. Only, the emptiness in his heart would grow larger and larger the more he thought about it, that was all.

"Hey, senior. What are you thinking about so deeply like that?"

The youngest detective in the unit asked him while handing over a cup of warm coffee taken from a vending machine. Woo Jin-Cheol shrugged his shoulders to say that it was nothing important and received the coffee.

"Thank you."

Once this aromatic smell of coffee entered his nostrils, it felt as if the emptiness in his heart was filling up just a little bit.

His name was Woo Jin-Cheol, a fourth-year detective in the National Police Agency's Violent Crimes Investigation Unit.

It wasn't as if he lived a soft life where his mind would sway gently from the warm breezes of the incoming spring, but still, this sense of loss started chasing after him out of the blue, about three years ago.

When he mentioned this to his acquaintances, they all promptly reminded him with the cruel fact that he had no family to call his own, even though he was already at a ripe old age, and that must've been the reason for his restlessness.

Just like the bitter aftertaste of the coffee, Woo Jin-Cheol formed a bitter smile, too, and emptied out the paper cup in no time at all.

'….That's right.'

Didn't someone say that a busy bee had no time to feel sad, or something like that? The best medicine to heal this trivial depression of his was, traditionally speaking, more work.

With excellent timing, Woo Jin-Cheol's sharp gaze landed on the backs of some men sitting in a line as soon as he stepped into the offices of the Violent Crimes Unit.

He crushed the empty paper cup with his hand and pointed at these three men with his chin.

"What's their story?"

"Ah… those b*stards? Well, uh…."

Woo Jin-Cheol heard the youngest detective's somewhat hesitant voice and walked over quickly to stand before them.

Sure enough….

These men's facial complexions were whiter than snow as if they had seen something they shouldn't have. They couldn't even meet his gaze and continued to shiver like a lone leaf in the wind.

Seeing their faces, Woo Jin-Cheol began muttering to himself.

"It's the Shadow Monster again…?"

It wasn't all that rare to see criminals turning themselves in and confessing to their wrongdoings out of the sheer weight of guilt, or out of fear of getting caught.

However, it was a completely different story to see a bunch of hardened career criminals, scared sh*tless, begging the cops to throw them into jail cells as quickly as possible.

And for the last several months, the so-called 'not rare at all' spectacle repeated itself over and over again.

"S-Shadows…. The… the, the shadow stood up from the ground… and spoke to me. If, if I don't turn myself in during the next 24 hours, I'll end up regretting that I'm even alive…. D-detective, I'm a bad guy, so please, please! Throw me inside the slammer! I beg you!!"

They all generally retold the same story.

When similar situations kept repeating itself, the higher-ups got fed up and had ordered their underlings to get to the bottom of this matter right away.

Woo Jin-Cheol's voice rose up higher.

"So, what you're saying is, you all saw the Shadow Monster?"

"T-that's right!! Right!"

Woo Jin-Cheol began writing up his report with the testimonies of these criminals, and when he got to the part called 'the reason for turning oneself in', he spat out a long, long sigh.

'How am I supposed to write a report about this, again?!'

His head began developing a migraine just from thinking about writing yet another report on the unbelievable story of the 'Shadow Monster' cursing people.

It was then.

Tap, tap.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder so he took a glance back, and that's when he spotted a senior detective standing behind him.

"Hey, Jin-Cheol-ah? Let the junior here take over writing up the report. Can you come to the conference room for a sec?"

'The conference room?'

What with the blindingly wonderful antics of the Shadow Monster reducing the number of violent crimes recently, there shouldn't be a need to use the conference room anymore, but he was being summoned there without a prior heads-up, regardless? What was going on?

The senior detective left behind the puzzled gaze of the younger officer and headed straight to the conference room; Woo Jin-Cheol tilted his head a bit before standing up from his seat as well.

"Senior, I'll take care of this."

"Good luck."

Woo Jin-Cheol encouraged the junior, now charged with finishing up the miscellaneous work, and headed towards the conference room along with other detectives.

"Pardon? You want to release the suspects back on the street?!"

"Uh-huh! Lower your voice, Detective Woo! Someone might hear us from the outside and get the wrong idea."

Woo Jin-Cheol asked again in a disbelieving voice.

"What do you mean by releasing the suspects back on the street, sir??"

"It's not 'releasing', but we just let one of them outside for 24 hours and observe what happens afterwards."

After listening to the opinion of the senior detective, one of Woo Jin-Cheol's colleagues formed a deep frown before voicing his own.

"Senior, I'm telling you, these b*stards are talking bullsh*t after getting themselves high on drugs. This crap about monsters and whatnot, it's definitely them having a new type of bad trip from the sh*t they've been taking."

"But, their drug test came back negative, didn't it? I personally went to Forensics to confirm it myself, didn't I?"

"Well, that…"

"Besides, just because of some nasty side effect of a drug, these b*stards without any connection between them saw the exact same thing and decided to turn themselves in?"

In the end, the colleague shut his mouth as if he had nothing else to say. The meeting of the detectives continued on.

"The brass told us to get to the bottom of this a while ago, but look at us, we haven't even gotten anywhere. What choice do we have? We gotta do something this drastic so that, at least, we can find us some clues."

The detectives, initially unmoved and hesitant, began sneaking glances at each other and nodded their heads.

Since every single one of them saw the exact same type of hallucination, then there had to be some kind of a clue from the rubbish they were all spewing at the same time.

"So, like…. What I'm saying here is, let's create an opportunity for them to continue spewing rubbish."

Woo Jin-Cheol, quietly listening on until then, opened his mouth.

"But, what if something really does happen?"

The gazes of every detective seriously contemplating their next actions all shifted in Woo Jin-Cheol's direction at once.

Smirk, smirk….

The corners of their lips began curling up next.

"Detective Woo, you believed in ghosts and stuff?"

"I didn't take you for someone like that, but I guess our Woo Jin-Cheol has an unexpectedly sensitive side, doesn't he?"

"Hahaha…"

Of course, Woo Jin-Cheol wasn't foolishly believing them, taking some nonsense story about monsters at face value. However – if everyone was seeing the same hallucination, then there should be a reasonable explanation for that, no?

For some reason, he felt this ominous foreboding that, through the testimonies of the suspects, he was now meeting some kind of a gaze that was staring straight at him from beyond the darkness.

He got this feeling that he shouldn't poke his nose in this matter.

The squad captain must've interpreted Woo Jin-Cheol's concerns in a different manner, since he said the following words while lightly tapping on the shoulder of his detective forming a worried expression.

"There shouldn't be any accidents, Detective Woo. We'll just take one suspect, place him inside a quiet storage facility somewhere and see if anything pops out. I mean, several burly and healthy officers will be watching him like hawks, so with what miracle will he escape from us?"

The squad captain looked at him with eyes that said 'You can't possibly be believing in this supernatural hocus pocus, can you?' and Woo Jin-Cheol could only nod his head in defeat.

That elicited a burst of manly laughter from the captain.

"Right. Let's say that 24-hour time limit elapses, and a monster does appear to do something to the b*stard. If that's the case, isn't that something we can also feel thankful for, in a way?"

These criminals were serious, vicious offenders who specifically targetted the homes of senior citizens to rob and even ended up beating a couple of pensioners to death just because the victims dared to resist.

The captain then spoke half-jokingly, but also half-seriously, that, rather than such b*stards staying in the slammer getting fed three times a day, it was only right that they got ripped to shreds by a monster.

"So, now we need volunteers…."

The captain shifted his gaze over to Woo Jin-Cheol and formed a rather sly grin.

"Detective Woo, you can sit this one out if you're still hesitant about it."

Anyone who had lived in society for a while should already know this – those words definitely meant "Don't sit this one out".

Woo Jin-Cheol still felt unconvinced so he had to deliberate on this for a little bit, before eventually making his reply.

"No, sir. I shall come along as well."

"D-Detective-nims!! N-no! You can't! You seriously can't! I'll die!"

"Just be still. I told you, we have stuff to confirm."

"I will die!!"

"Hey, man. Just who's going to die here? Can't you see us protecting you? Detective Kim? How long do we have until the 24-hour mark comes to an end?"

"Let me see…. I think roughly 30 minutes?"

"Is it? Uh-whew, it's pretty cold tonight."

The air of spring remained frigid and white steam rose up from the lips of the waiting detectives.

They were currently inside a quiet storage building, the time being in the middle of dawn. To observe the 'change' that might take place with their suspect, detectives were waiting around with nothing much to keep them company.

Only one among them – Woo Jin-Cheol – kept a close watch on his surroundings, his glare remaining sharp.

'Something's different….'

For some reason, the surrounding air felt different from the norm. It even vaguely felt like something he should never be near was approaching this location.

He prayed inwardly that this feeling would prove to be nothing but a simple fuss….

Woo Jin-Cheol sucked in the cold air repeatedly in order to calm his breathing that tried to get faster and faster.

And so – the hour warned by the existence called the 'Shadow Monster' slowly encroached upon them.

"Uhm…. It's time now, everyone."

"Really?"

One of the detectives took a look at his watch and stood up from his chair.

Tick, tock.

The 24-hour mark the suspect was strongly emphasizing earlier on had come and gone now.

Should one say that this turn of events was entirely not unexpected? Nothing had happened, and there was no sign of anything about to happen, either.

"What the heck?"

The detective with a short fuse began glaring at the suspect, prompting the criminal to stop shivering in fear and peek his head out before forming a dumbfounded expression himself.

"Uh….?"

Since there was no one watching anyway, the detectives surrounding the criminal began mercilessly shouting at him.

"Hey, you little sh*t! You as*holes probably got high as a d*mn group, didn't you?!"

"Stop wasting our time and just be clean with it, will ya? Why don't you make all of our lives easier, ah?"

The suspect shifted his head this way and that while blinking non-stop, but when nothing happened even after a long time passed by, he began sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

"No, hang on, the thing was…. We definitely saw it, you see? Actually, there were four of….."

When his words arrived there…

Woo Jin-Cheol, who always stayed a couple of steps away from the group and watched the surroundings, quickly turned around towards his fellow detectives and urgently cried out.

"Get away!! Get away from there!!"

What was he trying to say now?

The faces of the detectives seemed to be asking that question as they looked at Woo Jin-Cheol, but then, they were all blown away on their backsides without warning.

"Uwahk!!"

"Keok!!"

Detectives rolled along the ground and, as if they had lost their consciousness just like that, remained dead-still in their sleep after coming to a stop.

Woo Jin-Cheol tried to run towards his colleagues, but after discovering something, his steps came to an abrupt halt. His irises were engraved with the images of 'monsters' slowly rising up from the shadow on the ground.

"Ah….."

He couldn't say anything.

His breathing suddenly felt stifled, choked up.

These…. No, hang on, these things were definitely not human.

They were 'insects' that just so happened to possess the arms and legs of a human being; above their necks sat the head of an ant, rather than that of a human.

Woo Jin-Cheol's eyes quaked in fear.

'There are three such monsters?!'

These suspects definitely didn't see any hallucinations, nor were they suffering from adverse side effects of some strange narcotics, either. Their testimony had contained not one shred of falsehood, as it turned out.

"U-uwaaaaaahhhk!!"

Now completely surrounded by these ant monsters, the suspect began screaming at the top of his head.

It was the most desperate, frightened, and sorrowful scream a human could emit. It was unmistakably the death throes of a dying man.

The ant monsters ripped the suspect apart without hesitation and began devouring him.

"Uwaaahk!!"

His scream didn't last for long.

Only some splotches of blood and bits of flesh remained on the spot where the feast of ants took place.

Woo Jin-Cheol dazedly stared at that spectacle. And then, two of the ant monsters also discovered the dazed detective after ending their meal.

Kiiehk.

And their gazes were now fixed on him.

Woo Jin-Cheol thought of turning around in a hurry to escape, but his feet didn't want to move. His legs had frozen up solid and he couldn't lift them up at all.

"P-please…."

It was then.

The biggest ant monster with wings, situated behind the two other ants, stopped his comrades (?) from going any further.

The winged ant grabbed their shoulders and turned them away, and for some reason, he formed the kind of expression that said, "Hey, nice to see you again". Heck, he even formed a grin, too.

An ant… was smiling?

No, hang on a minute.

'Never mind the fact that an ant is smiling – how the heck can I even tell that it's making a delighted expression?'

It was so, so strange.

Even though he now found himself in this deeply horrifying, frightening situation, Woo Jin-Cheol was suddenly overcome with this sense of longing.

As if, there once had been a time that he was quite familiar with situations such as this one.

'But…. How?'

Woo Jin-Cheol fell into a state of confusion and panic, only to realise that the ants were disappearing into the shadow.

"H-hey!! Hold on!! Wait!"

Too bad, despite how desperately he called out, the ant monsters were gone without a trace, in the blink of an eye.

By the time he ran over and stood above the shadow itself, there was not a single trace of them left anywhere.

He felt this sense of loss assaulting him again and bent down to slowly rub the shadow that the ants had disappeared into.

Just how long passed by like that?

"M-mm…."

Woo Jin-Cheol belatedly regained his wits after listening to his colleagues toss and turn behind him.

"H-hey, are you alright?"

He checked out their current conditions and quickly called the emergency services. Even after he did that, though – even when ambulances arrived on the scene to take his colleagues away to the hospital, his gaze remained fixed to the shadow.

"Brilliant!! Absolutely f*cking brilliant!!!"

The squad captain was, understandably, up in arms.

But, that was to be expected.

The suspect had completely vanished without a trace, while the detectives supposed to watch over the man were struck unconscious by something and couldn't remember a thing.

The captain looked at the two detectives covered in bandages here and there with their heads hanging low in embarrassment, and spat out a long sigh. He then shifted his gaze over to Woo Jin-Cheol.

"Detective Woo? What about you?"

"You called the ambulance, didn't you? Can't you remember anything?"

"My apologies, captain. When I came to, I saw my colleagues unconscious, so I just…."

"God d*mn it!!"

Captain pounded on his chest as if the frustration was about to kill him and sighed out again.

"Thankfully, this matter hasn't been reported to the higher-ups yet, so all of you, keep your mouths shut, okay? And you two, you got hurt by mistake while trying to investigate the gangs in the Guro-gu district. Got it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Yes, captain."

Along with the energyless replies from the two detectives, this incident had come to its conclusion – for the time being.

The Violent Crimes Unit became rather quiet for a while afterwards.

"Senior? You know, you look a lot better nowadays. Did something good happen to you lately?"

The youngest detective in the squad asked while handing over a cup of steaming coffee taken from the vending machine to Woo Jin-Cheol.

"Well, I wonder."

Woo Jin-Cheol shrugged his shoulders as if to say there was nothing to see here and received the cup.

The thing was, though – the youngest detective's words of something good happening weren't entirely off the mark.

After that day, after meeting those ant monsters, it felt as if that emptiness in his heart had been filled by a little, for some unfathomable reason.

'There's definitely something here.'

Without a doubt!

The instincts of a veteran detective, no, the instincts of a human being named Woo Jin-Cheol, were telling him that there was definitely something there.

The youngest detective stole a glance over Woo In-Cheol's shoulder to see what was on the pages of a small memo pad the latter was concentrating so hard on.

"Uh? Uhh? Senior? You're still investigating that missing suspect incident? But, didn't the captain say….."

"I know, I know. It's something I'm looking into in my spare time."

Woo Jin-Cheol made sure that his junior wouldn't run his mouth off and finished off his share of coffee. However, unlike in the past, the junior didn't shut his mouth up immediately.

"Wowsers…. There are quite a lot of suspects turning themselves in because of the Shadow Monster beside our precinct, isn't it?"

He couldn't simply treat this young detective badly when the number of hopeful officers applying to join the Violent Crimes Unit was in decline lately.

Although he was slightly annoyed by this unnecessary attention, Woo Jin-Cheol still did his best not to show it and replied calmly.

"That's what I heard."

"Mm…."

The junior stared hard at the contents of the memo pad, before asking another question.

"Huh? Wait, why did the number of suspects turning themselves in suddenly decrease by a lot between the end of February and the beginning of March?"

After hearing that astute observation made by the junior, the veteran's eyes gleamed brightly.

"Hey, can you think of something?"

"Ah, well, it's actually nothing much, but…. My aunt used to run a small book rental shop, you see."

"….Okay, so?"

"I just remembered that she used to whine about business going downhill during the end of February and the beginning of March, because the new school semester started around then, senior. Haha, it really was nothing much, wasn't it?"

Perhaps he felt a bit sheepish, the junior scratched the back of his head with a smile. But then, he gasped out in sheer surprise when he saw Woo Jin-Cheol carefully jot down what was said on the memo pad.

"S-Senior??"

"Well, you never know."

School opening, students, semester.

Those four simple words with no adjectives or modifiers attached were quietly added into Woo Jin-Cheol's memo pad.

Meanwhile, in XX High School.

A day before the entrance ceremony for the new students, the headmaster of the school secretly summoned the teacher serving as the director of the students' affairs department to his office.

"We'll be welcoming a problem child in our school tomorrow."

"Pardon me, sir?"

The headmaster pushed forward a set of prepared documents. The director of the students' affairs scanned the profile of a certain student written on the document and tilted his head.

"His father is a firefighter, his mom is a regular housewife. His academic records aren't too shabby, and I failed to see anything major with this child, sir."

"Uh-huh. This fella. Look at the bottom. Look at the details on his expulsion."

The student had run away from home for two years when he was only a first-year middle school student. Rather obviously, he was expelled from his previous school.

But then, he 'completed' the middle school diploma through GED and applied to enter their high school.

'Not even as a high school freshman, but a child who just graduated from the elementary school ran away from home for two years?'

The director sensed the entrance of a powerful adversary and his eyes began quaking ever so imperceptibly. Meanwhile, the headmaster spoke in a hushed voice.

"What do you think? This student, do you think you can handle him?"

The director of the students' affairs took a deep, deep breath and closed the file of this problem child.

Tap.

"Sir, you know very well already why I'm called the 'Venomous Snake'. No matter what kind of a problem child he is, just leave him to me. I shall make sure to discipline him correctly so he won't go around causing trouble."

His eyes were now shining with a sense of duty and unbridled confidence. The headmaster nodded his head in approval.

"Very good, then. I shall trust your judgement in this case, Teacher Park."

The expression on the headmaster softened after hearing the assurance straight from the mouth of the director. A thin smile crept up on the latter's lips.

The fated encounter would take place the next day.

His heart was racing already from his determination to suppress the troublemaker in one fell swoop during the welcoming ceremony before the kid had a chance to start anything.

Extra Spin-off Beru's Memories

Kiiiieeehhhk-!!

Kiiahk!

Kiiieeehk, kiiiieeehk, kiiehk, kkiiieehhk.

Khaahk, kiiieeehh, kiiek.

Kkiiieehk!

Kiehhehehehehehet~!

Kkieeehhk! Kiiaaahk!

Kaahrurururururuk-!

Kihak.

Chapter 249 Fin.

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Chapter 250

Side Story 7

5. Your daily routine (2)

The high school freshmen were gathered in the school's athletics field for the entrance ceremony.

Noisy, noisy….

The new students used the gap created by the still-lax surveillance of the teachers to form small groups comprising of the graduates from the same middle schools and noisily chatted away.

It was then.

"Silence!!"

Like a lone shark scything its way into a school of sardines, the 'Venomous Snake', Teacher Park Gi-Sool, made his sudden entrance and shot a scary glare, prompting the new students to hurriedly shut their mouths up at once.

"Who dares to make a noise? Who??"

Rather unfitting for his name, Teacher Park Gi-Sool was in charge of the physical training. But, fitting for a man who competed in amateur wrestling in his youth, he was blessed with cauliflower ears, a thick neck, broad shoulders, as well as muscular thighs.

Everywhere Teacher Park Gi-Sool's glare landed, kids quickly dropped their heads lower. The war of aura – nerves – at the beginning of school life wasn't exclusively fought between the students, oh no.

If one took into consideration the potential atmosphere for the rest of the academic year, or even the classroom itself, then the war of nerves between the teacher and students would be far more important than the one taking place between the headstrong students.

And as far as his track record for this kind of war was concerned, 'Venomous Snake' Teacher Park Gi-Sool had never tasted defeat before.

Starting from ten years ago, when he took his first step into the teaching profession, last year, and the year before that too, never had he failed his mission. He was planning to extend the streak to this year, as well.

The school of sardines in front of the shark, no, the new students in front of Teacher Park Gi-Sool couldn't withstand his fierce glare and quickly lowered their gazes.

All the noisy kids shut their mouths for good wherever he walked past. Meanwhile, his colleagues watching on from the sidelines could only look on with eyes of pure respect.

"As expected of Park Teacher-nim…."

"Looks like we can rely on the director of students' affairs for another trouble-free year, as well."

Park Gi-Sool scanned the new students and their broken fighting spirit while forming a content smile on his face.

'Right, that's how it should be.'

However, he couldn't be satisfied with this much of 'victory' yet. Not today. Didn't he already have a real target in mind for today, the one the headmaster personally entrusted him with?

As long as he didn't break that problem child's fighting spirit, then it'd be rather difficult to claim that he had performed his duty of guiding these students properly today.

Park Gi-Sool continued to scan the faces of the new students and eventually located the problem kid in question.

'There he is.'

The moment he located his target, that content smile was wiped off from his face immediately.

Even at a casual glance from far away, one could tell that the boy was no ordinary challenge, what with his height far taller than his peers, the hints of firm muscles all over his figure, as well as powerful vitality that could be gleaned from his eyes.

'So, that kid is Seong Jin-Woo….'

The thing was, an expert would be able to recognise other experts.

No matter how wild they were as a student, they all would become a well-behaved sheep in front of him before long. And in case the boy decided to show off with inadvisable bravado, then Teacher Park simply had to reveal just a wee bit of what was in store for unruly children.

There hadn't been a single problem kid that 'Venomous Snake' Park Gi-Sool failed to discipline properly. His confidence oozed out from every pore of his body like an actual aura.

'Alright….'

….Time to get started.

Before that, though, Park Gi-Sool's snake-like eyes quickly scanned the problem kid from top to bottom. And then, his eyes gleamed brightly.

'That's it!'

There was a black glove on one of the problem kid's hands.

A teacher in the student affairs department couldn't possibly ignore the problem kid violating the dress code, such as wearing hats or gloves, while standing in the middle of the athletics field, now could he?

Of course, it wasn't as if he had forgotten about the small fact that the boy's left hand had a serious scar and needed to wear a glove all the time.

Such a thing was already written within the student's records, after all.

However, Park Gi-Sool needed a pretext, however small, to butt in and start his operation of breaking that problem kid's fighting spirit.

Indeed, what could be a better pretext to scold a student than the violation of the school's dress code?

Having discovered a suitable gap to dig in, Park Gi-Sool's eyes gleamed sharply like a real venomous snake, and he quickly made his way over to the problem kid in question.

It seemed that the boy hadn't sensed his approach yet, which was good. A surprise attack was very effective in breaking the enemy's fighting spirit, after all.

Once he got close enough distance where a whispered name could be heard by the other party, Teacher Park Gi-Sool's brows shot up as he got ready.

"Hey, you fool! Where do you think you are to wear a glo…."

The loud, energetic roar coming from Teacher Park Gi-Sool prompted Jin-Woo to turn his head around. And then, his eyes met Park Gi-Sool's.

In that moment….

"Uh, uhhh….??"

….Teacher Park Gi-Sool saw 'it'.

He saw the countless black monsters, standing seemingly endlessly behind this 'problem kid'.

The entirety of the athletics field, filled with students, disappeared in darkness from Park Gi-Sool's view, only to be replaced by the sight of a massive army of ten million soldiers standing in columns that stretched endlessly towards the distant horizon.

"Heok!!"

Teacher Park Gi-Sool was instantly shoved away by the absolutely overwhelming pressure and tumbled on his backside while loudly screaming out.

"Teacher-nim?!"

"Park Teacher-nim! Are you alright??"

Other teachers in the vicinity hurriedly rushed over there and supported Park Gi-Sool. His complexion was as white as a sheet of paper. He took another look at Jin-Woo, but by then, his view had reverted back to normal.

"B-but, how….??"

He roughly shook his head and blinked his eyes several times while the attention of the surrounding students began falling on him.

Noisy, noisy….

"Everyone, keep quiet!"

"Park Teacher-nim, maybe you're feeling unwell somewhere?"

Now being on the receiving end of the worried gazes of his colleagues, as well as unsettled looks from the students, Park Gi-Sool's face reddened up considerably from embarrassment.

"I, I'm fine."

He shook off the support from his colleagues and quickly made his escape from the area.

Bellion hiding in his master's shadow quietly whispered to Jin-Woo while watching the departing man's back grow further away.

[My liege, that man must've…]

'Yeah. It seems that he has seen you guys.'

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

There were some people who possessed far keener senses than other regular folks, although there weren't that many. Such people would sometimes – not very often, mind you – discover that Jin-Woo was a bit different from everybody else.

Just like now.

'….Could this be one of the adverse influences I have on this world, too?'

He couldn't tell for sure. Jin-Woo recalled the pale, frightened face of the urgently-escaping teacher and tutted softly to himself.

It was then.

The speakers located in the athletics field issued ear-piercing static before commencing with the campus broadcast in earnest.

– The Headmaster-nim will now address the new students and welcome them to the school.

Jin-Woo stopped looking in the direction where Park Gi-Sool had disappeared to and shifted his gaze forward, just as the broadcast ordered everyone to do so.

It was a brilliantly sunny spring day.

Under the warm rays of the sun gently beating down on Earth, the headmaster's smooth forehead blindingly reflected the excitement these new students were feeling right now.

For a reason only known to him, Jin-Woo deliberately applied to a high school that was some distance away from his house. And naturally, he recognised no one in the new class.

'Well…. Isn't that obvious?'

He scanned the faces of other kids without feeling bummed out about it, a smirk slowly creeping up on his face.

He was already well past the age where his heart would start beating nervously from the burden of sharing a classroom with kids he didn't know.

If it was him in the past, he'd start greeting others even while under the vicious assault of awkwardness, but now? It just felt too annoying, so he didn't even bother.

While other kids were busy scanning their classmates to see what was what, Jin-Woo simply took out a book he brought from home and opened it up.

Maybe spending such a long time in the gap between dimensions, where there was not a sound to be heard, had changed him somehow, because he gained a renewed appreciation for reading a book in quiet stillness.

Besides, even though they were ostensibly his classmates, there was the age difference of several decades to consider here, so what could he possibly say to these kids, anyway?

Indeed, it'd be more preferable to share a wordless conversation with a good book, instead.

But then, just as he got ready to spend some quiet time with himself, someone actually approached him to engage in conversation.

"Uh-uhm…. Could you be…?"

The voice sounded a bit powerless. Jin-Woo raised his head towards where that voice came from.

The owner of the voice flinched a bit when their gazes met, but when he confirmed Jin-Woo's face, he seemed to have gained a boost to his courage.

"Y-you are Jin-Woo from XX Middle School… Seong Jin-Woo, right?"

Who could this kid be? Jin-Woo's eyes narrowed slightly.

'Huh. He does look kinda familiar….'

However, they must not have been all that close, because he couldn't immediately recall this boy's name or things they did together. He tried to dig deeper into his memories, but then….

"Uhm, I…."

As if this sort of situation was a common occurrence for him, the boy with a rather faint sense of existence re-introduced himself without minding it at all.

"I'm Oh Young-Gil…. We belonged to the same class during freshmen year in middle school."

"…Ah-!"

Hearing the name helped Jin-Woo to remember.

He was none other than the boy that kept glancing at the group of kids getting ready to go to the internet cafe with envious eyes. The boy with the buzz cut hairstyle had grown up to become a high schooler now.

His facial expression now half made up of amazement and delight, Jin-Woo extended his hand for a shake.

"Hey, good to see you, Young-Gil-ah."

"Uhm….."

It seemed that shaking hands was a gesture still too foreign for a boy just entering high school life, because Oh Young-Gil was hesitating somewhat on what to do next, but eventually, he cautiously grasped the offered hand with a sheepish expression.

"Y-yeah, me too…."

As they shook hands, Jin-Woo felt this great sense of relief coming from the boy. Indeed, one would certainly feel relieved after finding a familiar face, a friend even, when entering a new school and a new class.

Jin-Woo formed a warm smile so the friend he met after a long time could feel relaxed now. It must've been pretty effective, because Young-Gil grew just a bit chattier than before.

"You live around here? My family moved house to the area nearby."

But, just as the boy's words reached there, Jin-Woo had no choice but to stop him for a bit, slightly peeved by the fact that he was unable to enjoy this unlikely reunion with a friend to its fullest.

"Hang on."

Jin-Woo turned his head to the side, and that was when four kids who didn't look to be a nice sort, even at a casual glance, surrounded him and Young-Gil.

"Hee~ya, hey man. You must be somebody important, right? You even have a glove?"

The hooligans pointed at Jin-Woo's left hand and cackled among themselves. Meanwhile, Young-Gil's complexion grew gloomier at the rather obvious approach of these fools.

'He's supposed to be a man, but he's just too timid…'

Jin-Woo found it rather unfortunate that his friend's expression was hardening like that and he shifted his gaze over to these four hooligans surrounding him.

The kind of faces and glare in eyes best described as worthless were the only things he saw.

These four might not have graduated from the same middle school, but they had been acting as local hoodlums for a bit and had become acquaintances as a result. After finding themselves in the same class, they took a look at the faces of their classmates and arrived at a consensus that there was only one hindrance to their plan of taking over this class.

And so, they were here to prod this potential hindrance a little and see what would happen. Other kids in the class were scared and couldn't even meet these four's glare, but in Jin-Woo's view, who had been fighting non-stop for almost thirty years, these four were….

….Quite adorable, actually.

The quartet, oblivious of how they were being judged, continued their mission to provoke Jin-Woo who had grown silent now.

"Hey, hey. Why don't you take off that glove? I wanna try it on, too."

"By the way, why did you put a glove on only one hand? Maybe, you have a Dark Flame Dragon on your arm, too?"

"Euh, euh, euh-! My hand! My right hand's Dark Flame is roaring out!"

Ahahaha!

They must've found something really funny, because all four of them burst out into boisterous laughter. Seeing them react like that, Jin-Woo formed a derisive smirk at them.

When he did, the glare in the four hooligans' eyes changed.

"Oh, you think this is funny?"

"Seriously, did this b*stard plug his ears with crap or something? We told him to take the d*mn glove off, yet he ignores us?"

"What? What gives? You have a tattoo there or something?"

It was then.

From his shadow, Jin-Woo heard the extremely agitated voice of Beru crying out.

[Oh, my king!!! Grant me the permission so that I can tear the heads and limbs off of these fools and make sure they can never ever disparage you in this manner!!]

'I ain't giving you permission.'

[H-however!]

'Stop it.'

Jin-Woo reprimanded Beru, and before the ant soldier's rage could be fuelled even further, he took his glove off and showed the hooligans his hand. When he did that, a hideous burn scar starting from his palm to his wrist was revealed for all to see.

The quartet of troublemakers became speechless from the scar that implied a pretty serious tale even at a casual glance, before they began mouthing some vague excuses.

"T-this guy, we were just fooling around, so why are you getting serious?"

"H-hey, dude. Put your glove back on. I might have nightmares about it now."

"Whoa…"

Perhaps realising that this should be enough, the quartet withdrew from there. Jin-Woo didn't say anything and put his glove back on, before powerfully stomping on a certain blotch of shadow on the floor sneaking towards the departing quartet.

'What were you planning to do after catching up to them?!'

[K-kkiieehk-!]

Beru was really incensed by those kids that dared to insult his liege, but Jin-Woo was ultimately successful in holding back the irate ant soldier. He raised his head again afterwards.

Wasn't this good?

He had already killed all the enemies that bared their fangs at him back in the gap between dimensions. Enemies that threatened him inside dungeons also lost their lives, too.

However, this place was Seoul, the Republic of Korea, where there were no Gates and no monsters to worry about. This was a place filled with peaceful, everyday normal stuff.

Jin-Woo was enjoying to the fullest this peace he achieved with his own two hands, so such a little provocation was nothing more than minor stuff to simply chuckle over and forget about it.

And that was why…

'I'm sure this much is fine.'

Jin-Woo's gaze shifted over to the back of the quartet.

When he did – the hooligans making their way to the rear of the classroom got tripped by the 'invisible something' and fell on their faces as a group.

Tumble, crash!!

Beru, currently being pushed down by Jin-Woo's foot, watched the boys tumble ungainly like that and shifted his dumbfounded gaze back to his liege.

[Uhm… Oh, my king….?]

'I did that for a laugh. You know, so I can laugh.'

Since that was humorous, everything was fine now.

Jin-Woo smirked softly and settled down on his seat again after seeing the flustered expression of the female teacher, who just so happened to enter the classroom at that exact moment to discover that four of her students had fallen face-first on the floor.

With that, his high school life began for the second time.

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Side Story 8

5. Your daily routine (3)

Ding, dong. Ding, dong….

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…

….The sound of the end-of-school bell, capable of re-energising pretty much everyone who heard it, rang around noisily throughout the school.

Most of the kids in the classroom formed expressions of ecstasy as if they were about to fly away. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo, sitting among them, carried a carefree face as he greeted the end to his school day in this place.

"Everyone, don't go home late because you want to hang out with new friends you made today, okay! Understand?"

Yeees-!

After the token replies, half consisting of mischievous voices of the male students and the other half high-pitched tones of the girls were made, the classroom became empty in no time at all now that the day's schedule had come to its end.

Jin-Woo deliberately took his time packing up his bag, before he spotted Young-Gil hesitantly and slowly approaching him like a full-bellied tortoise.

Jin-Woo stopped packing his bag when Young-Gil cautiously asked him a question.

"Uhm… I'm heading off in the direction of the 'Gigamart', but what about you?"

'Ah, I guess he wants to get close to me.'

An easy-to-read relaxed smile formed on Jin-Woo's face.

'A minor favour shown when young can also become the start of a relationship later on like this, huh?'

Jin-Woo smiled for a little while, before shaking his head.

"Well, yeah, it's in the same direction, but there's something I gotta do first."

"Oh…."

As Young-Gil stood there in disappointment, Jin-Woo lightly tapped the boy on the shoulder and grinned brightly.

"Let's go."

Not too long afterwards, both of them exited from the school building.

"What? Track and field club??"

Young-Gil asked with a surprised voice, while Jin-Woo nodded calmly as his reply.

"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 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.

'Was Jin-Woo good at track in the past?'

He remembered hanging around Jin-Woo for only about a month or so. The memories of him playing that game really well were the only thing that came to the boy's head, but he just couldn't recall Jin-Woo doing anything particularly outstanding during physical training or club activities.

No, Young-Gil simply remembered Jin-Woo doing pretty much everything at his pace – which was leisurely.

'A high school track and field club should be operated by only the talented students, though….?'

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…?"

Their attention soon shifted towards the incoming duo of freshmen. They initially expected the two to walk past them or change their heading, but their expectation turned out to be off the mark. The senior with the biggest physique took a step forward and 'greeted' the duo.

"What do you two want now?"

Jin-Woo briefly scanned the atmosphere of the team members and replied with a smile.

"I'd like to join the athletics club."

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.

"You wanna join the club?"

"Yes."

"Both of you?"

Jin-Woo looked behind, and Young-Gil hurriedly shook his head.

"…No, just me."

After seeing Jin-Woo's continuously-smiling mug, the seniors grew interested and gathered around the freshmen.

"Ohh, what's this? We have an applicant wanting to join us?"

"This is my first time seeing a freshman barging in here and wanting to join the team, though."

"He's not playing around, is he?"

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?"

"No, I'm not."

"Okay, you have experience running track in middle school?"

Although Jin-Woo was rather experienced in running all over the gap between dimensions to kill Sovereigns, that wasn't something he could refer to as his middle school days, or running track competitively, so he could only shake his head with a wry smile.

"No, I don't."

The seniors in the athletics club were ready to welcome this enthusiastic newcomer right up until that answer. But now, their complexions were hardening drastically.

A freshman who hadn't even run track competitively wanted to enter the athletics club comprised only of student-athletes?

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.

"You haven't run track before, so why do you want to enter the team?"

Jin-Woo's reply was rather simple.

"There's someone I'd like to meet during the athletic meet, you see."

She was still in the middle school division, but without a doubt, she possessed enough talent to participate in the regional competition.

Well, she used to be an excellent athlete before she had to give up on that dream after becoming a high-ranked Hunter, didn't she?

If it was an athletic meet featuring participants from both middle and high schools, then wouldn't he be able to naturally run into her there?

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.

However, judging from the expressions of the seniors, it seemed that they didn't share his thought process.

"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."

Jeong Gu-Shik looked back at his captain with an expression of a man failing to comprehend the situation.

"What?!"

"However, there is a condition."

Choi Tae-Woong used an expression that said 'Be quiet' to defeat Jeong Gu-Shik, and pointed at a glasses-wearing student busy stretching his muscles over yonder.

"You see that friend over there?"

Jin-Woo followed after the pointing finger and nodded his head.

"Yes."

"That friend is the worst runner in our team, a reserve from the second year. Meaning, you gotta at least beat that friend to earn the right to enter our team."

That was a bold-faced lie.

Even before he heard the explanation, Jin-Woo had already analysed that particular second-year student's abilities, and as a result, he began chuckling inwardly.

'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….'

Spying from the student's steady, relaxed breathing or his upright posture, Jin-Woo knew immediately that he was looking at no ordinary athlete here.

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?

Jeong Gu-Shik also belatedly realised what Choi Tae-Woong was trying to do and quickly changed his expression.

"Ahh, right! You said that you're aiming to enter the athletic meet, right? Well, in that case, a simple little admittance test like this is no problem for you, right?"

Jin-Woo didn't like the way this guy was grinning slyly like that, but still, asked back in a calm manner nonetheless.

"That senior…. Is he really a reserve?"

"I guarantee it."

Choi Tae-Woong replied in a confident voice, and the rest of the athletic team members had to try their best to hold back their laughter.

'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.'

If he were to get technical here, then Choi Tae-Woong wasn't really, really lying by saying that the glasses-wearing guy was the worst 'runner' here due to the lengthy unscheduled lay-off, and that he was in the reserve spot because of the injury.

Jin-Woo then replied in an easy-going manner to captain Choi Tae-Woong and his insidious smile.

"Very well, I understand. Let me try."

This b*stard, he fell for it!!

Not just Jeong Gu-Shik, but everyone in the athletics club shouted out "Hooray!" in their heads.

'A guy who can't even recognise the third-place finisher from the regionals last year wants to join the track and field team? Gimme a break.'

Choi Tae-Woong, standing in front of the group to deal with Jin-Woo, did his utmost best to hide his laughter threatening to break through his lips.

"Very good. However, just running the track like that wouldn't be any fun, so…. How about this? If you win, you get to join the team, but if you lose, you do the team's laundry and cleaning for one month, free of charge."

"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.'

Choi Tae-Woong looked towards the 'reserve' student and shouted out loudly.

"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.

"It's not a problem."

He took off his glasses and entrusted it to another member of the club, suspiciously ominous aura shooting out from his eyes. Jin-Woo held the senior's fierce gaze while handing over his school bag and his jacket to Young-Gil next to him.

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.

"Hey, freshman, are you ready?"

"Yes, I am."

"Sahng-In, what about you?"

"I'm ready."

Jin-Woo and Woo Sahng-Min stood side by side on the starting line.

The former assumed a posture that best optimised one's ability to rapidly change directions and enter a battle at any time, while the latter assumed a posture solely designed for track competition.

This time, the team members didn't bother to hide their ridiculing laughter at Jin-Woo's weird posture.

"What the hell is up with this idiot?"

"And he still wants to join the athletics club? But, isn't he a d*mn beginner who doesn't even know anything about running track?"

Jin-Woo didn't pay any attention to their mocking words and controlled his breathing.

"Ready?"

Soon, Choi Tae-Woong's baritone voice signalling the start could be heard.

"Start!"

"Teacher-nim? How are you feeling now?"

"Ah…. yes, well…."

'Venomous Snake' Teacher Park Gi-Sool replied half-heartedly at his colleague's question after they ran into each other on the corridor, and with hurried steps, he quickly walked past the confused-looking fellow teacher.

Park Gi-Sool's crumpled expression easily spoke of his current mood.

'I ended up making a fool of myself in front of all the gathered students today….'

He definitely must have made a mistake. Without a doubt, his strange hallucination was the fault of not eating a proper breakfast earlier today.

It felt as if every student was laughing at his expense. He quickly evaded their gazes and slipped into the teacher's lounge, before spitting out a sigh rushing out from the deepest part of his chest.

"Fuu-woo…."

'Should I smoke to take the edge off?'

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.

He stuffed a cigarette between his lips and stood next to the windows while lighting it up. Just as he mindlessly shifted his gaze down to the athletics field…..

….His eyes grew extra large and he hurriedly lowered himself below the windows while spinning around.

'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.

"Ah, Park Teacher-nim!"

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.

"Are you alright? You sure you don't need to stop by at a hospital?"

"I, I'm fine, thank you. Just feeling a bit dizzy, that's all…."

Park Gi-Sool made an evasive answer before asking back.

"B-by the way…. Why is the student named Seong Jin-Woo running together with the kids from the athletics team?"

"Ahhh…. That? So, that student's name is Seong Jin-Woo?"

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.

"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."

"H-his stamina, you say??"

"Yes. That's his 20th lap already. Just watching him going around is exhausting, so I quit first and came up here."

Sports, and sports clubs.

There was no better alternative to get rid of one's overflowing hot-bloodedness of youth than sports.

Several thoughts crisscrossed within Teacher Park Gi-Sool's mind, then. Student Seong Jin-Woo, the one he pre-judged to be a troublemaker, seemed to be trying his best to discipline himself by joining a sports club.

'It's possible that…. That I have been holding the wrong idea about him….'

Now that he thought about it closely, there was simply no way that a boy walking around with monsters would exist in reality.

Student Seong Jin-Woo was just another exceedingly normal learner still searching for a place to call home within the fields of academia and sports, after a lengthy spell of aimlessly wandering around in his life.

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.

'That's right…. I should look at him without judging him first. I'm sure that will help resolve all the misunderstanding.'

Seeing Park Gi-Sool form a serious expression before breaking into a chuckle, the director looked at him with a concerned face.

"Park Teacher-nim….?"

"Ah, no. It's fine now. I don't feel dizzy anymore."

"Oh… In that case, that's a relief."

Park Gi-Sool successfully made the director withdraw and slowly turned around to look behind him. He could now see a boy, covered in sweat and running diligently around the track while being showered by the bright, warm spring sunlight.

How could anyone point fingers at such a boy?

He focused his gaze on Jin-Woo, currently running steadily and unflustered even after lapping the panting and breathless members of the track and field team several times already.

'Indeed, this morning was….'

Too bad, even before he could celebrate himself…

….Without any warning whatsoever, Park Gi-Sool's entire field of vision was dyed in black and the spectacular sight of the Shadow Army stretching on endlessly entered his eyes.

He nearly toppled over from fright, but he forced his legs to steady himself and gritted his teeth.

'This, this is a hallucination. This isn't real!!'

It was then.

A certain ant monster standing in the front-most row of the soldiers 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.

Within the subspace in Jin-Woo's shadow, Igrit watched Beru's action and used his elbow to rib the former ant king in the side.

[I told you to stop that, didn't I?]

[Kiieehh…. That human can really see us, can't he?]

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.

Detective Woo Jin-Cheol and the youngest detective in the squad stopped by a diner that served 'gopchang'.

Once enough alcohol entered their bloodstreams, stories they found hard to talk about during the day came out – mostly from the youngest's mouth, actually.

"Excuse me, Senior Woo….?"

"Mm?"

"You've been investigating that missing prisoner case until now, yes?"

What was this guy trying to say here?

Woo Jin-Cheol tipped his glass filled with booze, his head beginning to develop an ache already.

Unfortunately, completely oblivious of his senior's wishes, the youngest detective continued with his questioning time.

"That day… you really did see something, didn't you?"

"What day?"

Woo Jin-Cheol played dumb deliberately, but the youngest simply grinned and replied.

"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.

'Well, that's a good talent to have as a detective.'

Woo Jin-Cheol recalled his own newbie days and formed a slight chuckle as he replied.

"What if I did?"

"Really?"

The youngest looked to be adequately drunk until then, but his eyes suddenly began sparkling and his ears even physically perked up. That wasn't so surprising, considering that the youngest was closer in age to being a student than a full-fledged member of society, anyway.

That was probably why he applied to the Violent Crimes Investigation Unit of the National Police Agency, reputed to be the worst paid but with the highest amount of workload.

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.

"An ant…. Ant monsters."

Gulp.

The noise of saliva sliding down the throat of the youngest detective could be heard from where he was sitting.

"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?"

"No, not that. Well, they were ants, but…."

It was right then.

Just as Woo Jin-Cheol spoke up to there, a certain man unsteadily tottering about, as if he had one too many to drink, stopped walking past the duo and addressed them.

"T-those ant monsters, are they monsters with the heads of ants, but bodies that look like humans??"

The heads of the two detectives, Woo Jin-Cheol and his junior, raised up towards the owner of the voice.

Chapter 251 Fin.

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Side Story 9

5. Your daily routine (4)

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.

"One, two! One, two!"

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.

"Hey, Jin-Woo! How about it? Isn't this doable?"

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!"

"Very goooood! One, two! One, two!"

Choi Tae-Woong raised his speed just a bit higher and shouted out.

"Our goal is to conquer the whole country!"

"Our goal is to…..??"

The members almost subconsciously chanted after their captain's 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!"

"Conquer the whole country!!"

"The whole country!!!"

Glance.

The captain glanced at Woo Sahng-In, currently running behind him.

"Hey, Sahng-In-ah, are you crying right now?"

"N-no, captain!"

"Don't give up yet, ace of the second year! Although the ace of the team has changed, how can we conquer the nation without your aid?!"

"I… I shall do my best, captain!!"

"Very goooood-!! Conquer the whole country!!"

"The whole country!! The country!"

"Conquer the country! The whole country!!"

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.

"Pant, paaant, paaant…."

Jin-Woo, running out in front, heard Young-Gil's heavy, rough breathing and tutted inwardly.

He wanted to improve the boy's rather feeble constitution, so he said yes to the idea of one-plus-one admittance to the athletics club, but this….

….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.

The effects of Jin-Woo's Mana were an immediate stamina recovery, as well as a temporary boost to one's muscular endurance, reaction times, flexibility, and to one's rate of stamina recovery, etc….

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.

"Eh? Uh? Uhhh????"

Young-Gil's eyes opened wider and wider as soon as he inhaled the comprehensive buff set.

'Wha-what's going on?! My body, it… It's getting hotter?!'

Thick veins rose up on the boy's legs as they powerfully kicked the ground away.

Paht, paht, paht!!

One by one, seniors running ahead of Young-Gil were left behind, and then….

"Ohh, ohh!!"

Then, Young-Gil's solo sprint began in earnest.

'N-no, hang on a minute…?'

Choi Tae-Woong was instantly impressed by Young-Gil who managed to shoot past ahead of everyone. The captain loudly shouted out in excitement.

"Look at our newbie's fighting spirit burning up like that! How can us folks calling ourselves his seniors remain lukewarm when things are like this??"

"No, we can't!!"

"Definitely not!"

"We chase after the newbie with everything we've got! Let's go!"

"Let's do it!"

"Let's go!!"

Jin-Woo was inwardly worried whether he had given Young-Gil too much energy or not, but that only lasted for a brief moment.

The bright flames of the athletics team swept across the track today, as well.

While performing his duties of guiding incoming students from next to the school's gate, 'Venomous Snake' Teacher Park Gi-Sool was keeping tabs on the track and field team diligently going through their morning training regime at a distance.

Contrary to his initial worries, it seemed that Student Seong Jin-Woo was getting used to the life in the track team without any problems whatsoever.

Heck, the headmaster even thanked Park Gi-Sool out of nowhere, too.

– I heard from the director of the track team that you, Park Teacher-nim, is always watching over Student Seong Jin-Woo.

– Ah, that…. Yes, more or less….

– Isn't the problem child behaving himself so well a fruit of your hard labour? With you around, Park Teacher-nim, I can truly rest easy.

– Oh, uh…..

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.

That happened earlier in the morning.

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.

And that was why… Because of his circumstances, he ended up getting p*ss drunk and unloaded all the useless stuff off his chest to a couple of people he'd never even seen before in his entire life.

'Now why did I have to go and do something like that….?'

Just from recalling that night's events, Park Gi-Sool felt like tearing out all of his hair.

A few days ago, in a certain diner he stopped by out of sheer frustration….

"T-those ant monsters, are they monsters with the heads of ants, but bodies that look like humans??"

With their conversation being interrupted rather rudely like this, the two men shifted their curious gazes at the same time towards Park Gi-Sool, and that helped the school teacher to sober up real fast.

"Ah…. What on Earth am I saying… I'm very sorry. Looks like I must be really drunk. Both of you, please don't mind me and carry on."

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."

The school teacher turned his alcohol-reddened face behind him and saw that Woo Jin-Cheol had gotten up from his seat to pull a chair closer to his own table.

"That tale of the ant monster…. Can you tell me more about it?"

Just where would anyone be able to safely tell the story of a teacher seeing strange things when looking at a student?

After being admitted to a mental hospital? Now, which parents would entrust their kids to a teacher who frequented the mental health institution's hallways?

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.

"You see, I am someone who teaches his students with his charisma. Charisma, you know? So, where can I possibly go and speak of these things?"

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.

"By the way…. Why were two police detectives like yourselves discussing stuff like monsters in a place like this diner?"

Woo Jin-Cheol exchanged glances with the junior detective before explaining their circumstances – minus the bit about him actually witnessing the real monsters, of course.

"….And so, the brass ordered us to look into this matter, but well, it's really difficult to even find a single clue, you see. Right now, I wouldn't mind grasping at straws if that will help us."

Woo Jin-Cheol pulled out his business card and handed it over to Park Gi-Sool as he continued on.

"That's why, I'd like to stop by at the school sometime later on, but will that be fine with you?"

"Ahh, of course. Of course, we must help with the police's investigation. You can come and visit us at any time."

And so, the booze-shared diner experience came to a rather friendly end in that manner, but now…

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.

'How can a student have anything to do with the case of missing suspects…?'

Especially a boy who was wholeheartedly focusing on the club activities since early dawn?

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.

Then, he spoke to another teacher manning the school gate alongside him.

"Teacher Yun, my apologies, but I had a bit too much to drink last night and my innards are…."

"Ahaha, come on now, Park Teacher-nim. No need to apologise for that. Please, go back inside and take a break. I'll cover for you and keep an eye out here."

"Mm, thank you."

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.

Recently, a teacher was staring at him in a rather open manner. He couldn't just gloss over what was happening here. From inside the darkness of his shadow, Grand-Marshal Bellion's quiet voice entered his ears.

[My liege…. Wouldn't it be better to erase that human's memories and take away his abilities?]

Back when he returned home from the gap between dimensions, after ending the war – as Jin-Woo stepped onto the ground of his home, feeling rightly emotional about his return, a proxy of the Rulers showed up and left behind some advice of sorts.

He said that, even if it was only a tiny bit of the Sovereign's powers, it'd end up causing a humongous change to this world. And that was why Jin-Woo had been avoiding interfering directly unless it was something utterly necessary.

'For now…. Let's just observe him for a little while longer.'

[I understand, my liege.]

Jin-Woo wordlessly stared at the entrance Teacher Park Gi-Sool had disappeared to, before turning around to leave himself.

The members of the athletics club who were heading off to the club room before him were waving their hands towards him.

Woo Jin-Cheol found himself hesitating several times in front of the school gate.

It had been a week already since he was gifted an unthinkable piece of a lead in a gopchang diner. Starting from then, right up until now, all sorts of thoughts crisscrossed in his head.

He could have treated that testimony as a crazed teacher rambling on about some incoherent nonsense. However, every now and then, a link would suddenly be established between two seemingly unrelated cases and that would lead to an untangling of a dark web that seemed impossible to unravel initially.

'The suspects that encountered monsters, and the monsters of a student that only one teacher can see….'

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.

However, there was a problem – there was a massive hurdle to overcome here. If there was indeed a link, then what should he say exactly to the student in question?

He couldn't just bet everything on that drunken teacher's words and start questioning this student named Seong Jin-Woo about monsters and stuff, now could he?

As for asking a question in a roundabout way, the nature of the question itself was too broad for that, too.

– By any chance, do you know anything about these Shadow Monsters? What about ants that stand up and walk around like people?

No matter how hard he practised it in his head, he just couldn't picture the interview going down well at all. Woo Jin-Cheol pored at the memo pad containing detailed records of the investigation so far and spat out a long, long sigh.

'It'd be a miracle not to be labelled as a madman while asking around these sorts of questions….'

At the end of a long, long dilemma, Woo Jin-Cheol turned around to leave. He might come back later after thinking up another pretext, but for now, it didn't seem like the time was right.

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.

If it wasn't him, famed even among the fellow detectives for possessing a pretty keen pair of eyes, but someone else not as sharp, they would have missed a faint movement on the ground.

Without a shred of doubt, he noticed a blob of shadow move from the shade of a tree towards the school's wall.

He definitely saw it.

Goosebumps broke out all over his body and he hurriedly spun his head back towards the school.

'There is… there is definitely something here!!'

Woo Jin-Cheol's determination firmed up, then. He no longer cared if people pointed at him, calling him insane.

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.

With a hardened expression, Woo Jin-Cheol began walking towards the grounds of this high school.

At the same time.

Jin-Woo was spinning a pen with his fingers as he listened to the droning sounds of the geography lesson while the heads of many kids were dozing off all around him.

'Did he see the sentry I posted there?'

As expected of Woo Jin-Cheol, the former President of the Hunter's Association. He should no longer have any memory of his previous life, yet his sharp eyes must've remained intact.

Jin-Woo closed his eyes and recalled the very last image he had of Woo Jin-Cheol.

The image of him tearing up when Jin-Woo revealed his plans of waging war against the Sovereigns all by himself remained vividly etched in his brain.

Back when the late President Goh Gun-Hui died, the voice requesting for revenge also remained, unforgotten, in Jin-Woo's mind, as well.

Was that why?

Even though this 'visit' would prove to be rather troublesome in his efforts to maintain his current lifestyle of pretending to be a normal person, the smile etched on Jin-Woo's lips didn't want to leave him all that easily.

Soon enough, the knocking on the classroom's door resounded out, followed by the surprised voice of the geography teacher.

"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.

The thing that was coming had come.

Jin-Woo's eyes remained closed throughout, but then, with that grin getting deeper, they opened calmly again.

At that moment, Woo Jin-Cheol was entering the classroom's door and his gaze met with a certain student's. Even though the geography teacher didn't specifically point the boy out, the seasoned detective knew that student was Seong Jin-Woo with just one look.

Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump….

Woo Jin-Cheol's heart began pounding away, as if it wanted to explode.

Chapter 252 Fin.

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Side Story 10

5. Your daily routine (5)

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.

Jin-Woo, quietly following behind the detective, also came to a stop as a result. He sneaked a glance towards the classroom.

For some reason, this sense of distance he felt by being a student that was looking into the classroom from the outside seemed rather large.

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.

"Sorry about dragging you out in the middle of class like this."

"No, it's fine."

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.

Rather than say anything, Jin-Woo looked up at Woo Jin-Cheol, instead.

The detective was young.

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.'

A smile abruptly bloomed on his face after seeing a friend's face in what felt like aeons.

It had been years – no, decades actually, if he added the time spent wandering around the gap between dimensions – since he last saw the Association President Woo Jin-Cheol.

Even though Jin-Woo didn't want to show anything outwardly, there was not much he could do about his expression betraying him with a hint of happiness.

However, Woo Jin-Cheol was immediately beset with confusion after discovering the smile on the student's face.

There would be only a handful of people alive who'd remain unflustered after suddenly being visited by a cop, and not only that, a detective with such a threatening face like his.

More than that, was there a reason to say anything else when the person in question was just a high school student?

However, this kid in front of his eyes was actually smiling.

'This boy…. Something's different about him.'

Woo Jin-Cheol felt it the moment he stepped into that classroom – this kid was different.

Thanks to his job being what it was, he had run into his fair share 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.

'How can a student possess eyes like that?'

Gulp.

Unbeknownst to him, Woo Jin-Cheol swallowed back dry saliva from all this tension in the air. Starting from the moment he saw the boy, his heart was still violently pounding away for reasons unknown to him.

To dissolve the many questions swirling and circling inside his head, Woo Jin-Cheol pulled out his memo pad and began looking into it.

"By any chance, Shadow… no, wait. Ants…."

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….

While Jin-Woo watched on with an interested gaze, Woo Jin-Cheol quickly drew something on the page of the pad and presented the resulting artwork.

Jin-Woo inwardly praised the detective's effort.

'This dude, he's actually a lot more talented in art than I thought.'

What Woo Jin-Cheol sketched just now was the general appearance of Beru.

Although it couldn't be called exact description, still, he got right the head of an ant, human-like hands and feet, the sharp claws, as well as the ant's wings on the back, etc, etc.

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.

But regardless of all that, he seemed to be desperate to recover the memories of things that happened to him, but were later taken away, even if that meant he'd have to resort to doing something like this.

Containing all of his desperation….

"….Do you know what this is?"

….Woo Jin-Cheol asked one more time.

Before the hints of embarrassment, as evident in the detective's voice, could grow larger, Jin-Woo quickly answered him.

"Yes."

Ba-dump.

Woo Jin-Cheol's heart powerfully rocked and pounded on his chest.

"Y-you know what this is??"

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."

Woo Jin-Cheol's eyes trembled violently.

Finally.

He finally found it.

His breathing quickened considerably, and his voice picked up just as the greatly urgent questions flew out of his mouth.

"What is this ant monster? And what is your real identity?"

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.

"Alright. So, you know something about the creature in this image?"

"Yes."

Jin-Woo replied briefly with a nod of his head, before an 'innocent' expression formed on his face.

"Isn't that a monster that pops out from one of those special effects dramas that kids like to watch? Like, Kamen Rider?"

"Ah…"

Woo Jin-Cheol was immediately overcome with this sense of despondency, akin to watching a sand castle he built all day long get washed away by a single incoming wave. A small but heartbroken sigh leaked out of his mouth.

Since his expectation had been great, the ensuing disappointment was just as great, too. His hand holding the memo pad naturally dropped lower.

He looked so fatigued right now, so tired that he couldn't even hold that little pad up anymore.

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 forced a smile on his face.

"Thank you for your cooperation."

"Is that all?"

"Yes. I spoke to your teacher, so there shouldn't be any issues when you go back."

Woo Jin-Cheol spoke up to here and was about to pocket the memo pad, but then, Jin-Woo quickly addressed him.

"That image of a monster, can I have it as a souvenir?"

The detective looked at the student's bright expression, and a 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."

As if he didn't want to get arrested by any lingering emotions, Woo Jin-Cheol spun on his heels and jogged down the steps as soon as the student bade him goodbye.

Jin-Woo remained in his spot and listened to the detective's footsteps echoing down the staircase. In the meantime, his shadow sneakily expanded to the side like spilt water and Igrit quietly emerged from there.

[My liege.]

"Mm?"

[Why… didn't you tell that person the truth?]

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.

And that was why he thought of the Detective Woo Jin-Cheol's entrance as perhaps the most ideal opportunity that came knocking so far. Even if it was just one individual, wouldn't it be a good thing for the Sovereign to let someone know how he had saved this world?

There was this distinct hint of rueful longing in Igrit's voice.

Still, Jin-Woo shook his head.

"Being able to forget is supposed to be a god's gift to humans, you know."

Even if that was an artificially created result after using a Tool of God; Jin-Woo thought that he didn't possess the qualifications to choose which memories to erase and which ones to keep.

Only a god should do something like that. That was why he decided to let the former Association President Woo Jin-Cheol go in this manner.

[Are you sure about this, my liege?]

"Yeah."

It was then, Jin-Woo abruptly looked down on his left hand.

There it was, the evidence of the Dragon Emperor's powerful attack.

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.]

Igrit silently submerged back into the shadow, as if he accepted the explanation.

Jin-Woo remained standing on the spot looking down at the bottom of the stairs before turning around to enter the classroom.

Once the break came, the boiling interests of the kids finally focused on Jin-Woo.

Seriously now, just when would these kids get to experience a TV drama-like situation of a police detective suddenly barging into their classroom? It was only obvious that their unbridled attention would be focused on the protagonist of that tale.

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.

"What happened just now?"

"Hey, Jin-Woo? Why did a detective-nim come to school??"

Jin-Woo grinned softly at the burning curiosity of his classmates and spoke of the fresh excuse he just cooked up on the spot.

"Well, he's someone that I know, and he just stopped by to ask me about something, that's all."

"Wowsers, that's awesome."

"You're an acquaintance with an actual detective?"

"Jin-Woo, I'm so envious, you know?"

Jin-Woo found it hard to keep his laughter in check as the kids' interest began heading down a slightly unexpected direction.

'Young-Gil-ah, why are your eyes sparkling like that now?'

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?"

"Really? Are you an athlete or something?"

"Ahh! I saw Jin-Woo running on the track with the seniors from the school's track team the day before yesterday."

"Wahh, look how broad his shoulders are."

Kyahk, kyahk….

As the girls surrounded him from all sides, Jin-Woo began pondering how he should go about making them quietly return to their seats, but then…

The quartet of the hooligans found one person hogging all the attention quite displeasing and decided to interrupt the fun.

"Hey, you. Aren't you getting really popular now? Even a cop came to see you and all."

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.

"Does me being mischievous like this count as school bullying? Are you going to report me to the detective-nim now?"

'….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?"

Nam Joon-Shik then swiped everything away on Jin-Woo's desk. Textbooks, notebooks, and his pencil case, plus a couple of other things tumbled to the floor.

Ten million-strong Shadow Army hiding in Jin-Woo's shadow all roared out in anger after they witness this show of force from the teenaged fool.

The teen hooligan didn't stop there and reached out to grab the collars of Jin-Woo, whose complexion had hardened just then.

"What? You wanna have a go? You better loosen up while I'm still being civil, got it?"

It was then.

A massive arm suddenly pounced from above and wrapped tightly around Nam Joon-Shik's throat.

"Keok!!"

The hooligan grabbed at the thick arm as he began choking pathetically, and in the meantime, a familiar face revealed itself above the pale-faced kid.

"You have business with our beloved ace of the track and field club, boy?"

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.

All four members of the quartet found themselves trapped in armlocks and headlocks of their seniors, their complexions paling gradually from the lack of oxygen.

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.

"Seniors, what brings you all here?"

"We showed up to dissuade our ace from beating the living crap out of four idiots."

"No, please. Be serious."

"Ahahahat-!"

Choi Tae-Woong's large framed quaked as he roared out in a peal of loud laughter before he continued on.

"I forgot to tell you guys that we were planning to hold a welcoming party for our new members later today, you see. You and Young-Gil both have free time today, right?"

Jin-Woo glanced at Young-Gil and the latter nodded his head.

"Yes, we do."

"In that case, see you both after school."

Still smiling, the seniors began leaving one by one, but then, Jin-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?"

"Ahaha, these idiots?"

Choi Tae-Woong exchanged some knowing glances with Jeong Gu-Shik.

"Well, what should we do with them?"

"How about we do an easy lap around the track, captain?"

"Sounds gooood!"

Soon afterwards, the loud shouts of "Conquer the whole country!" slowly got further away from the classroom's interior.

Ding, dong. Ding, dong.

Several end-of-school bells rang around, and then, quite a few more bells later.

Jin-Woo stepped out of the school's gate along with the rest of the track and field club members.

Young-Gil had now grown to appreciate the joys of sweating after getting used to the training regime of the club, although he did receive a few timely boosts from Jin-Woo every now and then.

While Young-Gil was listening to the advice of the seniors as he walked among them, Jin-Woo remained a step behind and eavesdropped on the unfolding conversations.

It was, without a doubt, a peaceful sight of a normal day.

Jeong Gu-Shik walking up ahead and turned his head towards Jin-Woo and asked.

"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?"

Jin-Woo replied with an unconcerned expression.

"Nah, it's fine."

"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."

Jin-Woo grinned refreshingly.

"Don't worry. I won't let that happen."

It was then.

Someone suddenly popped out from behind the shadow of the gate's wall and called out to Jin-Woo.

"Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim."

It was as if time itself had come to a standstill, just then. Jin-Woo froze up on the spot, and slowly shifted his head in the direction of that voice.

Detective Woo Jin-Cheol had been waiting for Jin-Woo until now.

The latter's voice trembled slightly.

"But, how…?"

Having finally gotten his confirmation from Jin-Woo's reply, Detective Woo Jin-Cheol's eyes began tearing up.

"As I thought… you are him."

Chapter 253 Fin.

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Side Story 11

5. Your daily routine (6)

"That image of a monster, can I have it as a souvenir?"

A few hours ago.

As a souvenir for his reunion with Woo Jin-Cheol, Jin-Woo wanted the sketch of Beru the detective had drawn up on the spot.

'Well, it does kind of resemble Beru, so I want it because of that….'

Of course, a certain someone hiding in his shadow didn't think the same as his liege, though.

[Oh, my kinggggg!! I beg thee not to fall for that shoddy and crude doodling of a plebeian!!]

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."

"Thank you."

Jin-Woo gladly accepted the sketch.

And during that process, the detective's hand briefly touched the tip of Jin-Woo's finger.

It was surely nothing important in the grand scheme of things. However, massive events that left their mark in history books sometimes began with seemingly insignificant little things.

Woo Jin-Cheol turned around and hurriedly descended the staircase.

'I knew it, this whole thing was a dumb mistake.'

Regret was rapidly filling him up.

Because he got too hyped up from the prospect of finding a clue, he ended up doing something that he'd be unable to explain even to the youngest detective in the squad with a straight face.

The sense of embarrassment and regret rushed in like the incoming tides, now that this was all he had to show for his efforts.

'Stairs always feel so d*mn long only on days like today, don't they?'

Detective Woo Jin-Cheol bitterly muttered to himself as he climbed down the staircase, but then, his steps had to come to an abrupt halt.

'Mm….?'

He suddenly heard a voice from somewhere, that was why.

– Association President. Do you trust me?

Woo Jin-Cheol froze up when a chill-inducing feeling crept up on his spine and he quickly scanned up and down where he was. He saw not 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.

– Yes, of course, I trust you.

This time, it was his own voice.

'W-what the heck is this?!'

A person with an easily-scared personality would squat down or start screaming from fear by now. However, Woo Jin-Cheol wasn't one. He simply remained calm while he scanned his surroundings once more, before pulling out a memo pad and a pen as a sombre expression formed on his face.

'I'm suddenly hearing auditory hallucinations. Could it be that the sense of loss I feel or the ant monster I witnessed were evidence of something wrong with my brain?'

The end of a brief observation was signed off with a question mark scribbled on with his pen.

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….

….Yet another auditory hallucination rocked the inside of his head.

– In that case, I hope you will believe everything I'm about to show you.

"Euhk!!"

Woo Jin-Cheol gritted his teeth and covered both of his ears.

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.

"W-what the hell is this?!"

And then, out of all those voices swirling in his head, there was this one phrase that kept ringing so clearly in his head.

– Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.

– Hunter-nim.

– In that case, what should we…. No, what should I do to help you, Hunter-nim?

– Hunter-nim!

– Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim!!

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?'

He heard that patients suffering from mental disorders often came up with crazy stories that featured people from their lives. Could such a thing be happening inside his head now?

Woo Jin-Cheol walked forward as his body swayed unsteadily. He kept frowning in pain as a migraine viciously pounded away at his temples.

Even then, even if the inside of his head had become so complicated and messy to the point that he didn't know how to unravel all the tangled thoughts in there – every time he recalled the name 'Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim', it felt like the big hole in his heart was slowly filling back up for some weird reason.

Woo Jin-Cheol crashed down on a park bench and began murmuring repeatedly the name that continued to swim inside his mind.

'Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo…

That name holds the clue.

I definitely know that name, Seong Jin-Woo.

I must remember it.

I must drag it out into the open.

I must find all the memories of him, and the reason why those memories are erased from my mind.'

"Euh-euhk!!"

While still under an extreme case of a migraine, Woo Jin-Cheol fought hard to recall his memories and eventually, a certain scene popped up in his head.

"Association President. Do you trust me?"

"Yes, of course, I trust you."

"In that case, I hope you will believe everything I'm about to show you."

"Excuse me?"

The tip of a finger belonging to someone approached his forehead. The moment it touched his skin, darkness dyed his view for a short while but during that time, a countless number of images flashed past his eyes.

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….?"

Woo Jin-Cheol couldn't finish what he wanted to say, and Jin-Woo, now the Shadow Sovereign, replied with a lonesome expression.

"Well, a higher being's memories aren't affected by the flow of time, you see."

Indeed, a Sovereign's memories easily transcended the boundaries of time itself.

"Pant, pant…."

Woo Jin-Cheol panted heavily and with great difficulty after emerging from the flashback of the 'past'. For a short moment in time that no longer existed, his consciousness was connected to Jin-Woo, who was a higher existence.

And it happened then; memories sealed tightly away somewhere within his soul had been unlocked through yet another contact with Jin-Woo, and were brought back up to the territory of his consciousness.

"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.

He then remembered the question he asked Jin-Woo after learning of what the latter was planning to do.

– Seong Hunter-nim…. Are you planning to fight these things? All by yourself?

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….

In this world, in this place, there were no Gates. No monsters. No battles.

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.

"Seong Hunter-nim, you… did it."

Woo Jin-Cheol recalled the screams of so many people meeting their ends at the monsters and continued to weep for a long, long time.

'….No, hang on. I, I shouldn't be doing this.'

The veteran detective's rough, calloused hands busily moved about to wipe away the tears.

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.

'He's spending his time as a regular student now, having willfully forgotten about his past as a Hunter.'

If he wanted to remind Woo Jin-Cheol of the past, then there were ample chances to do so. Jin-Woo could've answered his questions, or just like before, transmit a whole section of memories through nothing but a fingertip.

However, the youth didn't show any reactions when a detective showed up in this place through a series of coincidences, before quietly letting him be on his way.

Could it be that… he didn't want his peaceful everyday life to be interrupted?

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?

Woo Jin-Cheol fell into a dilemma.

His dilemma grew heavier and harder to resolve and he remained stuck with it right up until students began leaving the school for the day. However, watching them cross the park one by one did help Woo Jin-Cheol with coming to a rather tough conclusion.

'….Right.

Rather than me deciding this, let's leave it to Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.

I'll call out to him, and if he pretends to not understand me, then I shall respect his choice.

However.

Even if there is a small reaction, then I….'

Woo Jin-Cheol hurriedly returned to Jin-Woo's high school. And then, he didn't leave the side of the school gate even when no more students walked past him.

He was currently acting on this groundless assumption that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo hadn't left the school yet.

And so, as he stood there for several dozen more minutes, while anxiously sucking on one poor cigarette after another….

"….I just don't want to see problems suddenly crop up and prevent you from participating in the regional meet because of those idiots."

"Don't worry. I won't let that happen."

….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.

"Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim."

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 light in Jin-Woo's eyes told everything there was to know.

Having finally gotten his confirmation from Jin-Woo's eyes, Detective Woo Jin-Cheol began tearing up once more.

"As I thought…. you are him."

The two of them moved to the park in the vicinity of the school, the very location where Woo Jin-Cheol recovered his memories.

Sunlight reflected on the gently undulating surface of a small pond located in the middle of the park, creating ripples of ripe gold.

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."

Jin-Woo formed a thin smile and shook his head.

"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….

"Don't be too late!"

"Until you show up to the welcoming party, we're holding Young-Gil as our hostage, okay?"

"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.

"Still, the life of my friend is hanging in the balance here, so I can't stay for too long."

Woo Jin-Cheol broke into a gentle chuckle after seeing the youth's expression that showed how much he was enjoying his current life.

"In that case, I understand. Let me get to the main topic, then."

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?"

According to the records, Jin-Woo was missing for around two years.

However, Woo Jin-Cheol had seen the overall combat force of the Sovereigns through the memories of the Shadow Sovereign, and he knew that the two years were simply not enough to defeat them all.

Jin-Woo cautiously replied.

"27 years…."

The moment he heard that reply, Woo Jin-Cheol sucked in his breath.

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….

Woo Jin-Cheol couldn't even begin to imagine how difficult and arduous the battles must've been. For a long while there, he failed to come up with something to say, but eventually, forced his lips to part just a little.

"…..You don't regret anything?"

Jin-Woo's reply this time was instantaneous.

"No, I don't."

He could say this with absolute confidence.

"If I were to be given the same opportunity over and over again, I will make the same decision every single time."

Everything that happened – from when he and his father went to a baseball game while holding hands during the latter's off day; the doenjang stew mom cooked with so much care and love; his little sister's smile, bright and unclouded by the fear of the monsters….

….All of these were precious things that couldn't be measured with any financial value.

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.

"I don't regret anything."

Woo Jin-Cheol heard Jin-Woo's composed voice and in that instant, felt his nose sting once more.

'Thank you, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.'

He barely managed to swallow back those words that almost came out of his mouth. He knew that these simple words of gratitude could never convey his true feelings to Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, that's why.

He took a quick look at his wristwatch while thinking about the 'life' of the hostage and raised his head.

"It looks like you're living a wonderful life now."

Jin-Woo smirked softly.

"It is satisfactory, yes. Well, other than my body not ageing anymore so I need to constantly modify my body shape, that is."

'Eternal youth and immortality.'

Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had now possessed god-like powers after becoming the Shadow Sovereign. However, even though he possessed such powers, he chose to live the life of a simple, normal person. If that was his decision, then….

"May I ask whether you thought about what you'd like to do in the future?"

"I haven't thought that far ahead yet, unfortunately."

"In that case…. How about, you know, joining this side?"

Woo Jin-Cheol displayed the police identification card inside his wallet.

"You mean… the National Police?"

"Recently, many hardened criminals visiting our offices are all whining about the exact same thing. They say that it's hard to make a living with Shadow Monsters around."

Jin-Woo studied the identification card for a while and returned the wallet with a grin on his face.

"But, if I become a police officer, other cops won't have anything to do anymore, you know?"

"That's precisely why we're working very hard, you see – to create a world like that."

He hadn't changed.

From when he was the Chief of the Association's Monitoring Division, and when he was the President of the Hunter's Association itself, the expressions Woo Jin-Cheol had shown back then remained as he continued his life as a police detective now.

"I'll think about it."

Jin-Woo replied so and turned around to leave as he began to worry slightly about his friend's safety. Woo Jin-Cheol quickly bade him goodbye.

"I shall wait for your favourable reply."

"Please don't. I heard that there's a crap ton of work but the pay is pretty bad."

Jin-Woo waved his hand as he walked away, and Woo Jin-Cheol smiled gently as his silent reply.

'Lots of work, but rubbish pay, is it?'

A wry chuckle leaked out automatically from his mouth after hearing that wonderfully succinct assessment that left no room for a rebuttal. At the same time, he recalled the face of the youngest detective who actually volunteered to join such a squad out of his own free will.

'Isn't he off today, that kid?'

Well, so what if it was the junior's off day?

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.

Chapter 254 Fin.

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Side Story 12

6. Decision

'That' suddenly appeared without any warning.

On a certain day in April, only a stone's throw away from May's doorstep, an American emergency call centre was blessed with a strange phone call.

– "Hello. I'm a tourist currently travelling through the desert."

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.

"Did you run into an accident, sir?"

– "No, it's not actually that."

"In that case, did something else happen to you, sir?"

– "No, no. I'm not calling you because I ran into a problem, but I'm calling to report something that I'm seeing right now."

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.

"Is it something urgent? Should I dispatch the emergency personnel to your location?"

– "Urgent… is it? Honestly, I also don't know how to explain the current situation to you."

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.

As it turned out, the caller was actually a college professor, and judging from his family circumstances, or the past records of lodging emergency calls, he didn't seem to be the sort to make prank calls for fun.

"Sir, you need to describe the situation so we can dispatch the right kind of response personnel to the scene."

"Can you explain to me in detail what you see?"

It was at that point that the agent heard the caller take deep breaths over the phone's speaker.

– "Something is about to shatter. There are lots of cracks."

There was a building in a desert about to topple over? The agent tilted his head this way and that before asking again.

"Where are these cracks exactly, sir?"

– "Well, that's the darnedest thing…."

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.

– "The sky… the sky is breaking up!"

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.

"Oppa, Mom says you should eat these while studying."

Jin-Woo was concentrating on the textbooks below the desk lamp's light, and raised his head to greet her.

"What about Dad?"

"Dad is on night shift duty from this week again."

Jin-Woo received the plate with melon slices neatly arranged on top and nodded his head. But then, he reached out to snatch his sister's ponytail just as she was about to sneak out of his room.

"Stop right there."

"Heok!"

Jin-Ah turned around to face him with wide-open eyes and he sternly asked her.

"Why are all these slices missing the soft middle sections?"

"I, uh, I don't know…."

"You should say that while getting rid of those pips stuck near your lips."

"Ahh-iinng…"

Jin-Ah formed an unhappy expression at the fact that she got busted, but he found her way too adorable when she acted like this and couldn't hold back his own laughter.

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."

Jin-Ah turned around to leave with a tearful expression and he lightly patted her on the head.

Currently, she was in her sixth year in elementary school. Jin-Woo had seen her grow up once before already, and pretty much anything she did came across as adorable to him.

Crunch.

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.

[My liege, the 24th question should not be tackled in this manner, but…]

'I'm going to check the answer sheet, then?'

[….Allow me to ponder this query for a little while longer, my liege.]

It was rather commendable that he was so concerned about his master, but this….

'Oh, well. At least, I'm not bored during studying, so there's that….'

Crunch.

As the number of questions remaining on the questionnaire decreased, so did the number of sliced melon pieces on the plate.

Tick, tock….

And so, just how long had it been?

Abruptly, Jin-Woo sensed this chill and raised his head.

'What was that? Where?'

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.

….He definitely hadn't made a mistake just then. Right away, he imagined the worst possible scenario and his expression hardened as a result.

'Where is that business card….?'

He quickly dug through the pockets of his school uniform and pulled out a certain business card. It was none other than the one left behind by the envoy of the Rulers.

Jin-Woo quickly dialled the number and tapped on the 'Call' icon on his smartphone. The call itself got through really quickly.

– "It has been a while, Shadow Sovereign-nim."

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.

"Is this your people's doing?"

The envoy was stunned by his serious attitude and replied quickly.

– "I don't understand what…. Hold on. Allow me to confirm."

The brief silence was soon shattered by the panicky voice from the other side of the line.

– "This, this is definitely not us. We are also finding out about this matter through your call, Sovereign-nim. I'm sure you already know, but this method of crossing dimensions is different from ours."

As expected – it wasn't the absolute worst possibility, much to his relief. Still, it didn't mean that the situation itself had become any better, though.

'To Earth…. Someone, or something, is coming.'

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.

"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.

– "I shall come and speak to you tomorrow."

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.

After entering, Jin-Woo wordlessly settled down on the opposite side of the Ruler's proxy. The latter only discovered the former's presence after he appeared right in front of its eyes. The envoy performed a polite bow of the head.

With the situation being what it was, Jin-Woo went straight to the meat of the discussion.

"The things trying to get here…. Do you have any clues on who they are?"

"They are the 'Outsiders' that tried to step into my world not too long ago. They were beaten back by the Army of the Heavens and it seems that they have now set their sights on this world, instead."

"Why are they trying to come here?"

"They are a race of giants that consumes the rocks found on a planet that can support lifeforms. They are referred to as a race of 'Titans' and are known for their evil nature even back in their own world. Their reason for coming to Earth should be rather obvious at this point."

Jin-Woo leaned against the chair's back and nodded his head.

"….So, they are not friends."

"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.

"This didn't happen before the Chalice of Rebirth was used, so what gives?"

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, you're indeed correct. Actually, when I told you about them invading our world not too long ago, I was referring to the timeline that has been overwritten."

"Meaning, the creatures that should have been aiming for your world changed their heading towards Earth, instead?"

"Yes."

The envoy replied as thus, carefully observing any changes in Jin-Woo's mood. Of course, he immediately figured out the reason for this change.

"I'm the cause."

"Those creatures chased after the traces of Sovereign-nim, who possesses incredible power…. At least, that's what the exalted Rulers believe happened in this event."

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.

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.

"The exalted Rulers have already deployed the Army of the Heavens."

Jin-Woo slowly shook his head.

"No, it'll be too late."

Even if they started creating a tunnel connecting from that side to here right now, at a bare minimum they would still need a good few years to get here. By then, everything would be over.

In that case….

"I shall take care of it."

'….My soldiers and I will stop those b*stards.'

Jin-Woo was fully confident of defeating these new enemies if they were on the level of being driven back by the Army of the Heavens.

The voice of the Shadow Sovereign seemed to heavily press down on the envoy's shoulders and he nervously swallowed his dry saliva. Regardless which forces they were, none of them would prefer to have this man as their enemy. The Ruler's agent suddenly felt pity for this race of 'Titans' now.

By the way, if this meeting wasn't to ask for reinforcements, then why were they even here?

Jin-Woo replied as if he had seen through the agent's thoughts.

"What you asked me back then…. I thought it's about time that I tell you my answer."

"Ah, ah. I see. You were talking about that matter."

The Rulers made an offer to make available a location that the enormous power of the Shadow Sovereign wouldn't cause an issue. It seemed that he was able to come to a decision due to this crisis. The envoy nodded his head after seeing Jin-Woo's determination-filled expression.

"I understand what you're trying to say. As soon as this crisis is resolved, we…."

"I'm remaining on Earth."

"….Pardon?"

The envoy's brows rose up after hearing that unexpected reply. However, Jin-Woo's voice remained composed, with just a hint of a grin etched on his lips.

"You know, I still want to live here."

He wanted to spend his time in this world populated by his family, friends, as well as others that he'd like to meet and talk to. After he ran into Association President Woo Jin-Cheol, no, Detective Woo now, he had finally realised what he wanted to do.

'Well, it's a bit cumbersome that he keeps calling me up so he can buy me food, but still.'

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.

'I'd like to be with those people.'

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.

"Actually, I…. I was getting really bored with staying in this world, you see. What a relief this is. Now I can finally return to my world as well."

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.

The envoy's mission of remaining in this world to wait for the Shadow Sovereign's decision had finally come to an end. And seeing his expression, it was rather clear that the odds of him changing his mind were absolutely none.

"Well, then…."

While looking as if a load had been taken off his shoulders, the envoy stood up from his seat. He then bowed his waist towards Jin-Woo, no, the greatest hero who brought the war of two worlds to an end.

"I entrust this world to your capable hands."

Jin-Woo stopped digging through his closet and scratched his head.

'This isn't good….'

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.

Left with no choice, Jin-Woo decided to create the clothing he wanted.

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.

'How long has it been, me in this look…..?'

He experienced renewed reminiscence of the time erased, as the reflection was like looking at his past self. His lips exposed below the hoodie curled up into a grin.

"Nice."

With this, his preparation was over. And his figure slowly submerged into the shadow beneath his feet.

Somewhere in the desert, west of the United States of America.

The American government sealed tight the surrounding area and invited every expert they could get their hands on to this place, but in the end, every single one of them failed to come up with a meaningful hypothesis.

"I wonder. Well, this could be…."

"I've researched many strange weather phenomena across the globe for over 30 years, but this is my first time seeing something like that."

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 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.

The commander confidently spoke to the President of the U.S.A.

"Even if something pops out of there, Mister President, we shall take care of them. Yes, yes, sir. The scale of the crack has grown much larger since its initial discovery…."

While chatting on the comm device, the commander shifted his gaze over to the ranks of the soldiers without thinking too much and discovered a certain man walking closer to his position.

A man whose face was obscured by the pulled-up hoodie was walking straight towards the commander's location.

"Who the hell is that guy? How the f*ck did he even enter here?"

– "Is there a problem, commander?"

"No, sir. Let me call you back a bit later, sir."

The commander hurriedly ended the call and, along with his adjutants, quickly ran towards this unknown man.

"Excuse me! Who are you?"

This was a restricted zone secured by a water-tight cordon of soldiers, yet how could a normal-looking civilian waltz right in completely unhindered? Signs of irritation floated up on the commander's face as an annoying situation suddenly came to visit him.

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.

"Please, withdraw your troops from here. This place is dangerous."

His English didn't sound natural.

'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.

"Do you have a death wish?! Do you seriously not know who is in real danger here?"

'What do you mean by that, mister? It's you, obviously.'

Jin-Woo knew that convincing these people with words would be impossible, so he released just a tiny bit of his power. When he did, the commander, his adjutants, as well as all the soldiers watching Jin-Woo floated up in the air at once.

"Uh, uhhh?!"

The commander became flustered and he quickly took a look around him. There was only one person with both of his feet firmly planted on the ground. Not only that, the vehicles, various machinery and equipment, and even heavy tanks were floating over a metre in the air.

Having witnessed something that couldn't scientifically happen, the eyes of the commander began trembling hard.

"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 the desert sky.

"What the hell are you?!"

Jin-Woo raised both of his hands up to his shoulders to clearly indicate that he didn't want to fight and calmly continued on with his explanation.

"Soon, enemies possessing similar powers as what you saw will emerge from that spot in the sky. And…."

He used Mana to take away the commander's sidearm and had it float over to near his head.

When the pistol suddenly began moving towards Jin-Woo seemingly on its own, the nervous soldiers quickly cocked their rifles and got ready to fire, but the commander was equally as quick to raise his hand to stop them from doing anything.

"Hold your fire!"

While he was busy calming his subordinates down, Jin-Woo used the 'invisible hand' to pull the trigger of the pistol now aimed at his face.

Blam! Blam! Blam!!

Bullets that failed to even touch Jin-Woo's body fell powerlessly to the ground. The gazes of the soldiers relying on their firearms until then were rapidly filling up with sheer astonishments and panic.

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.

"Your weapons will not work against the incoming enemies."

Soon after that, his gaze landed on the commander, still rooted firmly in his spot.

"Are you willing to watch the meaningless deaths of your subordinates?"

"What should…. What am I supposed to do, then?"

"Withdraw your troops from here as far as possible. I shall be the only one to remain here."

"You alone…? Are you planning to fight against the enemies by yourself?"

Him alone, was it….

Jin-Woo didn't particularly feel the need to explain himself any further, so he just nodded his head.

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.

Blam! Blam!! Blam!!! Blam!!!!

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?

The commander bore witness to the miracle that kept repeating itself and eventually lowered his weapon. He then spun towards his soldiers and shouted out loudly so that they could hear him.

"All personnel, pull-out!! We withdraw from here, as quickly and efficiently as possible!!"

The adjutants quickly relayed the commander's new order to the rest of the defence force.

"Pull out, now!!"

"Pulling out!"

This well-trained army quickly distanced themselves away from the potential combat zone. Jin-Woo observed their withdrawal process before shifting his gaze over to the large fissure rapidly developing in the sky.

He could sense it now.

He could sense the intense greed of the enemies wanting to devour this land.

He could even sense their heavy breathing as if they were close by.

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.

Soon, they would….

Craaak

Split, crack!!

The atmosphere rocked from an intense impact force and the dimension finally split open. With that, giants seemingly made out of rocks stepped onto this land.

They belatedly discovered a small lifeform below their feet while emitting a thick amount of hostility towards them and began snorting in derision.

[What's this? Just you alone wish to stop us?]

This feeling – Jin-Woo closed his eyes to enjoy this stillness before the battle and slowly opened them back again.

Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump!

His heart was beating loudly.

He finally unleashed all of his powers and spoke up.

"Does it look like I'm alone to you?"

With that, his shadow extended in the blink of an eye to encompass the vast land behind him, and the Shadow Army of ten million rose up at once.

Chapter 255 Fin.

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Side Story 13

7. A day in Fangs' life

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.

I should be seen on the side of those who enjoyed napping, but today was a very important day and I just had to rouse myself up. Soldiers stretching their muscles to get ready for the day discovered me and began bowing their heads to greet me.

"Oh, hello, Fangs-nim."

"Sure, sure."

"Good day to you, Commander Fangs."

"Right, right."

I didn't want to show it, but heck, I couldn't help but feel good when this happened.

I came under my liege's wings relatively early compared to some other soldiers and after my various accomplishments were recognised, I now found myself in the position to command all the magic-wielding soldiers in the army.

The hierarchy within the Shadow Army was determined by how trusted one was by our liege, and that was why Ancient-grade Dragons were paying their respects to a mere High Orc Shaman like myself!

My Sovereign-nim, hooray!!

My exalted and great Shadow Sovereign-nim, hooray!!

'Tsk, tsk….'

I ended up shouting out three cheers towards my liege again today due to the overwhelming gratitude I felt. While feeling happy and content, I headed towards the portion of the army comprising of ant soldiers.

Quite unlike other Shadow Soldiers, these ants didn't seem to enjoy napping and were always doing something or rather to keep themselves busy. After finding me visiting their territory, they began bowing their heads in greetings.

"Huh-huhuh…."

I half-heartedly accepted their greetings and quickened my walking pace. If I were to be honest, I felt a wee bit scared by these ant soldiers, even though we were on the same side.

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!

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.

'If it isn't Beru Marshal-nim, just who would be capable of commanding this lot….?'

Thankfully, Beru Marshal-nim in question must've read my mind, because I didn't have to walk far to meet him, who had graciously come out to greet me as well.

When our gazes met, though, his shoulders began quivering ominously.

"Kiieehehehehehet."

"Ehehehehe."

"Kii-hahahahahat!"

"Ehehehehehet!!"

We stood face to face while laughing to our hearts' content.

Judging from the expression on Beru-nim's face, a very satisfactory item must've been created. So, it was only obvious that a big smile would form on my own face too, as it was me who entrusted the creation of that item to him in the first place.

Beru-nim quickly approached me and then, showed me the 'item' hidden behind his back.

"So, what do you think?"

I was so moved by my emotions that I ended up exclaiming out loudly.

"Hoh!!"

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?

I couldn't control my overflowing, heightened emotions and addressed Beru-nim with an abashed voice.

"I can't even imagine how should I go about repaying you for this, Marshal-nim…"

"Keh-hehehet. How can I turn a blind eye to your wish to become more like our liege? As long as you're happy, it's all good."

"Yes, I am truly happy. So much so that I'm almost tempted to make it a duty of every Magic Soldier to wear this robe, Marshal-nim."

"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.

"That thing…. Wouldn't it be better to turn that item into a staff rather than walking around with it in your hand?"

What Beru-nim was pointing at was the 'Bead of Avarice' I carried in my right hand most of the time.

"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?"

I rubbed my chin and pondered this dilemma, and eventually, nodded my head.

"That is a good idea, Marshal-nim."

"Kii-hehehehet!"

I bowed my waist 90 degrees to express my gratitude towards Beru-nim and his excellent work, before quickly making my way out of the ant's area. This time, my steps took me to the area populated by my friends, the Dragons.

We grew quite close after comparing our firepower, you see. I explained to them my circumstances, and they willingly stepped forward to lend me aid. I chose the smallest of my friends and climbed up on his back.

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.

We were currently inside the world of eternal rest. It was wide enough to be called infinite, and on top of that, there were ten million soldiers residing here, so some places could only be accessed after borrowing the abilities of my friends like this.

Flap, flap….

As the Dragon friend flew rapidly to our destination, I sneaked a glance below us and oh boy, there sure were lots of soldiers below us.

'There is… Grand-Marshal-nim.'

Slap, slap!!

"Stand up straight, Titans!!"

Currently, Bellion Grand-Marshal-nim was using his long sword that could be manipulated by one's mind like a whip to properly re-educate the newest additions to the army.

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!"

Bellion-nim discovered me and my Dragon friend in the air and waved his hand at us, necessitating me to hurriedly bow my head to him as well.

After we flew past the location of the newbie training area, I spotted Igrit-nim. He was so immersed in studying that he failed to notice a Dragon flying above his head. We couldn't disturb Igrit Marshal-nim when he was being like this, so we did our best to get out of there as quietly as possible.

Kii-ahhk!

Once we put the areas with Marshal-nims behind us, my Dragon friend unfurled its wings even wider and increased his speed.

A truly wonderful scenery greeted us!

Countless Shadow Soldiers, now no bigger than ants in our eyes, went past in a blur below us.

Soldiers that were asleep; soldiers that were in the middle of training; soldiers noisily chatting away; soldiers playing cards to while away time; and even those soldiers busy grabbing at each other's collars, their voices getting louder still….

What a colourful bunch they were.

Indeed, soldiers of all varieties could be seen below my feet. It wasn't originally like this, however.

We were psychically connected to our liege's mind, and as his powers grew stronger and stronger, we began to grow closer in personality to him, as well. Meaning, we who only knew and desired wanton destruction were gradually learning more about our liege's human side.

The process of many new and different emotions of a human filling up our once-empty chests was quite a refreshing experience, that's for sure.

When our liege's heart begins to pound, even our hearts would go on a riot alongside it.

I liked my liege very much.

I could only express my gratitude to my liege who had shown me a new world that I never ever imagined experiencing before.

My Sovereign-nim, hooray!!

My exalted and great Shadow Sovereign-nim….

'Eh?'

While I was unconsciously exalting my liege after being moved by my emotions once more, we had already arrived at the area populated by the kins of the bearded Dwarves.

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.

After my Dragon friend landed on the ground, I cautiously stepped down, my toes wiggling and searching for solid footing.

"F-Fangs Commander-nim!"

"Commander-nim?"

The bearded Dwarves discovered my sudden, unannounced visit and quickly gathered around before politely bowing their heads. I was pretty sure that they were flustered by my presence, since it would be very rare for a Commander to come visit this far-flung 'frontier' area.

I politely explained what my situation was to these very courteous folks. When I was finished, their Elder replied with a bright expression.

"Ah, I see…. Please, leave it to us. As a matter of fact, we were troubled by the fact that we couldn't find a good place to use the divine timber our liege had bestowed upon us."

"Hoh-oh!"

It seemed that the right material had been prepared already.

While I was being treated to a cup of warm tea at the residence of the Elder, other artisans gathered together to craft my new weapon.

"What do you think, Commander-nim?"

The Elder confidently presented a cool-looking staff and I cried out as another bout of emotions overwhelmed me.

"Hoh-ohhhhh!!"

I had no choice but to carry around the Bead of Avarice in my hand, but that beautiful thing glowing in bright crimson hue was now decorating the end of this great staff.

"Very good! It's wonderful!"

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.

"The word wonderful would better suit the robe you're wearing right now instead of the staff, Commander-nim!"

"Uwehehehehehet! I see that you too have a great sense of fashion!"

I was able to leave the residential area of the kins of bearded Dwarves in utter satisfaction. I watched them wave their hands to bade me goodbye and raised my thumb up real high as my reply.

If, in the distant future, my liege asked me about the coolness of this staff, then I swore in my heart to mention their hard work in crafting this item.

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.

"It's really cool, Fangs-nim!"

"It's the best!"

"I can't stop my tears from gushing out, Fangs Commander-nim!"

Rather obviously, praises kept pouring in from everywhere. It was the romance of all Magic Soldiers to wear cool-looking robes and hold cool-looking staffs, after all!

"Uwuhuhuhuhut!!"

I magnanimously shared my joy with the rest of the Magic Soldiers, and then, gifted the highest-quality robe I used to wear until recently to this one particular soldier busy clapping his hands who said a moment or two ago that he couldn't stop crying.

"Thank you, thank you, Commander-nim!!"

"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.

"And who you guys might be?"

The giants made out of rocks scratched the backs of their heads, and one of them spoke to me in an awkward voice.

"Bellion-nim ordered us to come to this place."

'Ah, ah. I see.'

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.

"There, there. Other Magic Soldiers, you're dismissed for the time being. The newbies, settle down there for a second."

The rocky giants were so well disciplined that they politely knelt down on the spot and quietly waited for me.

"From now on, I shall describe in detail what I've accomplished during the first battle our liege fought against the horrifying enemy called the Dragon Emperor, and then, every achievement I earned during the ensuing battle within the gap between dimensions. Listen well, and then….."

After I finished telling them the lengthy tale of my unforgettable history, I had the newbies still stewing in admiration towards me return to their respective posts. It was then that I realised my day had come to an end.

I sensed the encroaching embrace of Lady Sleep, so I unfurled the bedding, lied down on it, and let out an almighty yawn.

"Yawn-!!"

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!

How dare he?!

How dare anyone try to disrupt the sweet slumber of Commander Fangs?! My eyes shot wide open as I got ready to rip the idiot apart.

Igrit Marshal-nim was quietly looking at me from near my head.

"I love you, Marshal-nim."

"….I am also grateful for your sincere loyalty."

"By the way…. What brings you here, Marshal-nim?"

I pushed my upper torso up and Igrit Marshal-nim pointed to the distant sky above.

"It's about to begin. Didn't we, the Commander-grade soldiers that serve our liege from close by, agree to cheer him on when the time came?"

"Heok!!"

I kicked the duvet off and hurriedly jumped up before raising my head towards the sky. Like a gigantic movie theatre, the sky morphed into a screen to share what our liege was viewing to the rest of us.

"Finally, is our liege about to meet Lady Hae-In?"

"That's correct."

"Uwohohohot!!"

So moved by the fact that I was allowed to share this historical moment together with my liege, I ended up crying out loudly. The rest of the Shadow Soldiers cheering on our liege then also raised their arms high up and roared out as well.

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-!!

My heart was beating really loud now.

Chapter 256 Fin.

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Side Story 14

8. Only I'm Max Level

Antares was my name.

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.

All those who knew me referred to me as the 'Dragon Emperor' as a sign of respect and awe.

However, something strange happened.

On a certain day, as I was getting ready to invade the planet called 'Earth' alongside the ten million-strong soldiers within our hideout inside the gap between dimensions….

….I opened my eyes to discover that I was now occupying the body of a human being.

And rather inexplicably, I seemed to have retained all the memories of this human, as well. I quickly found a mirror in the corner of the room and took a look at myself, only to emit a shocked gasp.

'What's this? Why does this human's face look so feeble?'

Hah-ah, how pitifully pathetic this man was.

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.

'His reason is…. his mother's illness?'

Just as I began thinking to myself that such a measly little illness would be healed in an instant with my magic, the human's mobile phone suddenly began vibrating loudly.

Vrrr…. Vrrr….

I discovered the miniature electronic device angrily vibrating on top of a desk and picked it up. When I did, I was greeted by an urgent female voice coming from the other side of the phone line.

– "Seong Hunter-nim, where are you? It's almost the raid time, yet you still haven't arrived yet…."

I tried to match this voice to the memories of my human body and soon, came across a result of 'Hunter's Association Employee'.

'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.

– "Are you going to be late again?"

Being 'late'.

The action of failing to meet the promised deadline because one lacked the ability to arrive on time. Meaning, this female just dared to ask me, the mighty 'Dragon Emperor' and the personification of omnipotent powers, that I'd do something which was the very symbol of incompetence.

Since this was completely unacceptable, rage quickly filled up my eyes.

"You…. Where are you right now?"

– "What do you mean, where? We are right in front of the Gate, you know. And why did you suddenly stop using the polite speech all of a sudden, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?"

I concentrated for a bit to find the exact location where this insolent female was speaking from. My sensory perception spread out to envelop the entire city and soon enough, I found her coordinates.

"Found you."

– "Pardon? What do you mean by you foun…."

Click.

The location was about 11 kilometres away in the human distance measuring system, and since it wasn't too far, I ran with all my might and arrived there in only a couple of seconds.

And then, I stopped right in front of that female Association employee as she began lowering the phone away from her ear, now that the call had been disconnected.

"Now, am I still late, woman?"

"H-Hunter-nim?!"

Perhaps she had sensed just a tiny fraction of my limitless power, because she began backpedalling with a deeply frightened expression etched on her face.

I reached out and grabbed her shoulders as to make sure she'd not get away and asked her again.

"Tell me. Am I being tardy now?"

"N-no, not at all."

"Very good."

I released her as a look of satisfaction floated up on my face. I then swept my gaze around the surroundings to find a group of Hunters raising a bit of fuss.

Rather than focusing on these unremarkable individuals and their forgettable faces, I focused on the distinct aroma rising up from the paper cups they were holding at the moment.

"Coffee…. I also want to drink coffee."

I turned around to look at the female employee with her rapidly-paling complexion, and she bowed her waist with all of her heart.

"I-I'm truly sorry, Hunter-nim. We ran out of coffee just now….."

"It's not an issue."

"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.

"W-what are you doing?!"

Gulp, gulp.

I swallowed the sweet liquid in one go and formed a crumpled expression, causing the flustered man who lost his coffee to me to jump up in fright and quickly flee from there.

"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.

"Mister Seong…. Isn't he acting a little bit weird today?"

"Yes, his eyes today are a bit…."

"Well, I've been getting this really creepy, eerie feeling from him since he showed up here."

Other Hunters were murmuring amongst themselves behind my back, but there was no reason to pay heed to the opinions of these lowly humans anyway, so I outright ignored them.

"There, there. Since everyone is here, let's get started."

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.

That place, it… was quite suspicious.

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.

"I'm coming along."

"O-of course, you do need to come with us, Hunter Seong."

Perhaps they too had detected the eerie, chilling atmosphere oozing out from the interior of the Gate, because the Hunters were forming flustered expressions as well. I accompanied them and stepped past the portal.

Pow, bang, boom, thud!!

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.

"Isn't Mister Seong acting seriously weird today??"

"No, well…. Maybe the monsters of this dungeon are just too weak…?"

"But, I can't see his movements. My eyes can't follow Mister Seong at all…."

I took care of all the monsters in an instant and finally discovered a suspicious entrance.

"We go through here."

"Hold on, we need to take a vote to decide on such issues…"

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.

"Anyone else want to take a vote?"

The decision to enter the passage was unanimous. We walked the seemingly-infinite corridor and finally arrived at the giant door at the end.

"But, how can there be a door at the end of the cave?"

"Has there ever been a boss room with a doorway before?"

"No, this is a first…."

"This… wouldn't this be too dangerous?"

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.

"W-what is this place??"

Other Hunters belatedly entered behind me and began searching around, but they were wasting their time doing that.

I closed my eyes for a brief moment and focused my senses; soon, I discovered the b*stard that was basically the true puppeteer of this place.

"It's that one over there."

Hunters quickly gathered in front of an angel statue holding a stone tablet that I pointed at.

"Looks like something is written on the tablet?"

"Uh, uh? It's the Rune letters!"

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.

"The Laws of the Karutenon Temple."

When I did, though, someone suddenly pulled at my arm. I looked behind me only to find a young girl with a completely pale complexion standing there.

"T-the god statue over there, it…."

"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-!!

I didn't even bother to dodge or block those beams and simply stood up proudly to clash face-to-face with the attack.

"You dare to belittle this Emperor with so little power?!"

I ridiculed the destructive power of the beams that didn't even come anywhere remotely close to that of the Breath fired by an Ancient-grade Dragon, before stepping forward to display what true destruction looked like.

Kwahaaaaaaahhh-!!

The 'Breath of Destruction' fired out in a straight line from my mouth completely blew away the head of the god statue.

"Now that is true power."

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!!"

What a bunch of arrogant dolls!

With nothing but my bare hands, I began smashing apart the heads of the statues pouncing at me one by one.

Boom! Bang! Boom! Kwa-jeeck! Ka-boom!!

"Too slow!! So slow!"

Hunters quickly lowered themselves to the floor in order to dodge the debris flying all over the place. Some of them even began crying out, too.

"Why! Why does it feel like there was another way?!"

"What was up with those laws or whatever just now?!"

Even before their desperate cries could come to an end, most of the statues were turned into nothing more than shattered rubble by my hands. It was only obvious, but well, they didn't even serve their role as a proper warm-up for me.

"Is that all you have??"

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.

[Y-you b*stard, just what is your iden…..]

"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 didn't come here to converse with a fake. What I wanted to bring out was the true figure hidden behind the scenes!

"Reveal yourself, you coward!"

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.

Indeed, that's better.

The corners of my lips curled up as the sensation of boiling blood coursed throughout this body. The god statue strode closer and stopped right before me to look down.

[The Sovereign of Destruction, our paths were fated to cross like this. Here, in this place, I shall put an end to our ill-fated relationship!]

"Ha-ha!! Now that is an excellent idea!"

The god statue was rapidly enveloped in a jet-black aura and transformed into a gigantic shadow, and I unleashed all of my strength in order to contend with that massive hunk of power.

An ecstatic jolt coursed from the tip of my toes right up to the ends of my hair.

"Come!"

Our battle would not end that easily!

"Heok?!"

Jin-Woo hurriedly raised his upper torso from the bed.

He spotted the familiar bed, familiar wallpapers, familiar ceiling, and his old computer. He quickly took a look around and finally realised that the place he woke up was in his own room.

'It was a dream?'

It was a truly rubbish dream where he had become the Dragon Emperor. No, should he say that the Dragon Emperor became him, instead?

'Hold up….'

He hurriedly confirmed the current time with his smartphone and sighed in relief afterwards. There was still some time left before the beginning of the exams.

'Now that I think about it… It's been four years already since I got rid of the Dragon Emperor.'

Time flew by in the blink of an eye, and here he was, scheduled to take the College Scholastic Ability Test later today. Him having a crap dream like this was good evidence of how tense he felt right now.

Smirk.

Jin-Woo chuckled helplessly for a moment there before getting up from the bed. Today, he'd get to confirm the fruit of his hard work and determination of the past four years.

He had already decided on which university he wanted to go to. Because this one person he just had to meet would attend that institution later on.

'What a relief that you aren't so good with studying, Jin-Ho.'

Yu Jin-Ho.

Jin-Woo reminded himself of the name of the guy he dearly missed and pulled open the curtains covering up the windows to the side. The dusky aura of the dawn was gradually fading away outside.

'I shall go there first and wait for you.'

Jin-Woo breathed in the winds of the early morning entering through the open gap of his window while thinking about the reunion that'd take place in the near future. It was at that moment when the door to his room was pushed open, accompanied by the loud, hurried footsteps.

"S-son, you know that today is the CSAT day, right?"

"Son, as your father, I can take you there, you know?"

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."

[Let's go, my liege.]

Jin-Woo soon stepped out of his home as Igrit, sounding tense for some reason, spoke words of encouragement.

What a refreshing morning this was.

Chapter 257 Fin.

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Side Story 15

9. I'm going there to meet you right now (1)

The United States of America, inside the official residence of the nation's president – the White House.

Several bigshots gathered in this iconic white building created for the President of the U.S. of A to live and work.

Every single one of these important government officials occupying a spot inside the briefing room all carried tense expressions. Among them, one person carried the gloomiest expression.

The American President continued to rub his face, wondering over and over again if he had made the right call.

'Rifts formed on an empty sky, and unidentified objects began appearing from there.'

It was an unprecedented historical event. But, was it the right thing to handle this incredible event without saying a word to the public at large?

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.

"Harrison, just what the hell happened back there?"

The final report sent in from the location of the event was…

– The situation has been normalised. I repeat, the situation this side has been normalised.

….That report, sadly enough, lacked the most important 'how' of that normalisation process.

That was why so many bigshots, including the POTUS himself, were nervously waiting for the arrival of the military man inside this conference room.

Chester mouthed a brief greeting to his boss and scanned the room for a short while, and stood in front of the room.

"Rather than me trying to describe the situation to you, it'll be far quicker to play the video contained in here."

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.

"This is the footage captured by the surveillance drones and robots."

Chester Harrison spoke those short introductory words and stood beside the screen while swallowing down his own nervous saliva.

He couldn't even begin to imagine how these folks would react to the footage about to be played. Well, he'd seen it several times before coming here, and he was still unsure how to take it, even now.

However, what was really important here was that it did happen.

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.

The beginning of the footage started off with the 'cracks' in the sky.

"Keu-heum…."

"Huh-uh!"

Several gasps of shocks came from here and there as giants seemingly made out of rocks emerged from the rift reminiscent of dimension itself shattering away.

If it weren't for the heads-up they received in regards to the existence of those bizarre creatures, the inside of the conference room would've descended into pure chaos by now.

But the truly shocking scene happened after that. In front of terrifying giants, ones so scary that you'd forget to even breathe while looking at them, stood the lone figure of a person.

'Judging from his body size…. a boy?'

'An East Asian, maybe?'

The Secretary of Defense couldn't hold it back anymore and pointed at the screen while asking his questions.

"That man!! Who is that man?? Where were our troops, Harrison? And why was there a civilian standing in the middle of those creatures?!"

It was as he said; this footage wasn't a record that everyone in this room was expecting to see in which the mightiest army on Earth – the American military – smashed apart and drove back the creatures of another world.

No, this video was all about a lone, nameless man whose face they couldn't even see.

With excellent timing, the screen now showed pitch-black 'soldiers' suddenly rising up from the ground behind that lone man. General Chester Harrison, his gaze fixed to the screen until then, spoke as if he was letting out a pained moan.

"….I'd like to know that myself as well."

"Does it look like I'm alone to you?"

When those words came to an end, nearly ten million Shadow Soldiers simultaneously lined up right behind Jin-Woo.

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.

– How are your preparations going so far?

[There is no problem on this side, my liege.]

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.

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.

A contest of pure raw strength, in other words.

– Good.

Thankfully, he didn't dislike such a type of fighting, to begin with. A smirk formed on Jin-Woo's lips.

One of the Titans completely misinterpreted the meaning behind that smirk and in the blink of an eye, smashed its fist down in pure rage.

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.

This Titan's expression hardened and a sense of ominous foreboding crept up along its backside after seeing that smile etched on the human's face as he stood upright on top of its fist.

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 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….

Memories, as well as the feelings he had while hunting down the Army of the Chaos World in the gap between dimensions, floated back up in his head one by one.

He knew he had succeeded in breaking the fighting spirit of these creatures.

His original goal was the complete annihilation of the race of Titans. And so, he finally had his Shadow Army break out of its standby mode and enter the fray.

'All personnel, advance!!'

The will to fight from the enormous army beginning to make its move could be felt from below.

Waaaaaaahh-!!!

'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 giant that got terrified by the overwhelming power of this small lifeform lost its life so easily like that. However, as it turned out, not all Titans were cowards like this guy.

Jin-Woo's brows shot up in surprise. Right behind the falling body of the dead Titan with its torn-off head, he could now see other Titans throwing everything they had in order to kill him.

He used his ability to fly to dodge beneath the huge fist approaching him from the front, while another one sharply digging in from his back was avoided by him flying up.

The skill, 'Ruler's Authority', had now been fully ingrained within his body and he could manipulate it without any restriction whatsoever. The thing was, though, the enemies and their abilities also surpassed his expectations, as well.

The fist of a Titan slammed down like a hammer, and Jin-Woo kicked it away, only to be greeted by the back of a hand flying in from the side. He quickly gathered his arms and got ready for the impact while crouching, to minimise the surface area of his body.

BOOM-!!

In order to ensure that he wasn't flung away, Jin-Woo yanked at the back of the Titan's hand that smacked him with Mana. In an instant, that huge hand was pulled towards him and his shortsword, swung without mercy, sliced off the creature's wrist in one go.

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!

One razor-sharp killing move later, and another massive physique came crashing on its backside. Jin-Woo kicked the chest of the toppling Titan and jumped up high, before slicing and dicing the hands of the Titans relentlessly reaching out towards him.

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.

In that briefest of moments, Titans keeping close to his position crashed into him with their shoulders from both sides.

BOOM-!!

Trapped between the two humongous shoulders, Jin-Woo extended his hands to stop himself from being squashed and then, shoved both of the Titans away with his raw physical strength. Like an unbelievable lie, those two huge figures were pushed away from him.

[Keu-heum!]

[How could he, with such a small body of his?!]

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.

While the palm swung downwards viciously as if to crush a bug to death….

"UWAHHH-!!"

….Jin-Woo spat out Mana with a terrifying roar to deflect it away.

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!!

The black aura concentrated on Jin-Woo's right hand morphed into 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.

The end result came out pretty quickly.

Right in the midst of the Titans kneeling and collapsing to the ground, the black shadow giant standing tall was busy crushing an arm made out of rock with his pure physical strength after ripping it off from one of its victims.

Wu-duduk!!

Maybe they finally had enough of Jin-Woo's fighting spirit, the Titans surrounding him began backing away one step at a time.

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.

Strangely enough, though….

[Hoh-oh.]

The one to actually speak was a rather small lifeform standing on the shoulder of this particular Titan, instead.

[I now see that even a small planet on the outskirts of the universe can contain a pretty useful talent.]

It was a humanoid made out of rocks that looked like a 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.

[Fu-hut. Of course, such a thing is only possible for the greatest warriors of the Titan race…..]

It was then.

Jin-Woo was forming an expression of ridicule as he listened to the fool talk, but then, his head quickly snapped to the side.

Flash!!

With excellent timing, a streak of crimson light flew in from behind Jin-Woo and utterly erased the so-called greatest warrior of the Titans from existence.

It was fired by an Ancient-grade Dragon, which was currently being ridden on by Bellion. The Grand-Marshal asked his boss in a bit of fluster.

[My liege, were you perchance conversing with that creature?]

Jin-Woo shook his hand to show that it was all good and shifted his gaze towards Bellion.

"You know, these guys seem to be way too arrogant for their own good, so it looks like you'll have to pay them extra special attention later on."

[Please leave it to me, my liege.]

The trusty Grand-Marshal bowed his waist politely before flying away to somewhere else, and Jin-Woo took a sweeping look at the remaining Titans.

Most of the invading rock giants' higher-levelled combatants had been destroyed by Jin-Woo, and as for the remaining ones, they were being overwhelmed by the black tidal waves created by his Shadow Soldiers.

[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?

As if someone doused the entire room in icy cold water, it was eerily quiet in there.

The POTUS had become completely speechless after watching the footage. However, he did eventually regain his voice, albeit with great difficulty.

"That man…. Have you uncovered his identity yet?"

The general shook his head in silence.

The true monster capable of toying with those scary-looking monsters ended up saving the United States of America without anyone even realising it.

'No, maybe the entire world….'

Unfortunately… if you flip the notion of a power capable of saving the world on its head, it also implied that the same power could destroy this world, as well.

The President realised that uncovering the identity of that mystery man, at the very least, should be their top priority and asked the bigshots present within the conference room.

"Is there any way to uncover and confirm the identity of that man from the footage? Anyone?"

They began offering up their opinions here and there, but they all agreed that it was realistically impossible to do so. But then….

"Indeed, it may realistically be impossible. When we are talking about 'realistic' means, that is, sir."

The director of America's Central Intelligence Agency, David Brennan, raised his voice. The President quickly looked at him.

"…..Is there something you'd like to tell us, Director?"

Director Brennan cautiously spoke up.

"If a realistic approach is impossible, how about we employ 'unrealistic' means, instead?"

The bigshots around him tilted their heads, but Director Brennan simply formed a grin.

"We do have a way. A certain person who can inform us of the truths that no one would have known, through fantastical means."

Could he be talking about…?!

Pretty much everyone living in the United States of America would've heard of her name by now. It was an open secret within the world of politics that she had been maintaining a special relationship with the CIA.

The President recalled her name and his brows shot up.

"What you're saying is….?"

The Director replied confidently.

"That's right, sir. It's Madam Norma Selner. Just like before, she will help us with the right answer this time as well."

Chapter 258 Fin.

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Side Story 16

9. I'm going there to meet you right now (2)

Once more in the United States of America, somewhere in the quiet suburbs on the outskirts of a city. A black saloon car gliding smoothly on a certain road finally arrived at its destination – a small, but cosy and inviting house, with a red roof.

Tap, tap, tap.

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.

"You two, wait for me here."

"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.

"It's fine, it's fine."

He waved his hand dismissively towards his underlings trying to dissuade him.

"Madam doesn't enjoy noisy visits like this, anyway."

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 door.

"Madam? It's me, Dav…."

Even before he could finish introducing himself, the door opened up and a young African-American child peeked his head out. The director recognised Madam Selner's grandson and crouched lower to match the boy's eye level before patting the kid on the head.

"Is your grandma home?"

"She's been waiting for you, bearded uncle, for a while now."

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?

The psychic, the prophet, the real 'Esper'.

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.

Of course, it wasn't as if he trusted her words in the beginning.

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.

She was the real deal.

'A true superhuman…'

So, predicting his unannounced arrival for someone like her would be easier than, say, changing the channel on TV with a remote.

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.

"It's been a while, Madam."

"Good to see you, Dave."

The director raised his head.

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.

"Madam, you probably can't imagine how difficult our work has become ever since you announced your retirement."

One could say that the information on the past was of no value compared to the information on the future.

The CIA reaped a great deal of harvest by cooperating with Madam Selner, so the sense of loss the agency felt after she retired was indeed well above one's imagination.

The director might have spoken with a smile as if he was cracking a joke, but his genuine belief, hidden beneath the surface, could be heard if one paid closer attention.

Too bad, the Madam spoke composedly as if she was tiding a young child throwing a tantrum for more cookies.

"Dave, I've already told you this, haven't I? I can no longer see the future after that person arrived."

"Ah…."

Was she talking about that story of the 'God of Death' again?

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.

The director forgot what he wanted to say next after remembering her reason for retiring, one that defied one's attempt to understand through logic.

And so, silence weighed down between these two people.

David Brennan wondered how he should go about breaking this awkward atmosphere before his nose picked up on the enticing aroma of food.

"Madam, were you in the middle of a meal?"

She slowly shook her head.

"Actually, I have been entertaining another guest."

"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."

When he said that, though, the Madam replied as if she was waiting for him.

"The answer to the first question is a 'yes', and for the second one, a 'no'."

"H-hang on…."

The director could only form a flustered expression when his questions were answered even before he had a chance to say them out loud. She grinned refreshingly.

"You wish to ask me how I knew about your questions if I can't see the future anymore, am I wrong?"

"….Well, no."

"Dave. The answers you seek from me are actually the matters of the past. I simply took a glimpse at a portion of the past and provided you with a suitable answer."

"Oh. Ohh…"

The director nodded his head, a soft moan leaving his lips. She carefully continued on.

"Well, then. Shall I provide you with proper answers to your questions?"

David Brennan pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed the sweat on his forehead.

"Of course. Please go ahead, Madam."

She then began with her explanations.

"That's right, Dave. I know just who it is that you wish to find out about."

Her answer to the first question was 'yes'. However, her answer to the follow-up question was 'no'.

"Unfortunately, I will not divulge any information on that person to anyone."

"But, Madam!"

The director's voice suddenly grew louder. He wasn't trying to threaten her or anything like that. It was just that his agitation got the better of him and he ended up shouting out.

"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….."

It was at that moment that the Madam herself shouted out as if she couldn't hold it in anymore.

"I'm choosing not to say anything precisely because I know!"

This must've been the very first time seeing her like this.

The director didn't know what kind of expression he should form now after being confronted by the Madam's angry expression for the first time ever. Too bad for him, though, her angry voice didn't stop there.

"Director, are your eyes just for decorations??"

"Madam!"

"Didn't you see the footage contained in that USB drive, then??"

Indeed, he did see it.

He saw the sight of a single human being not even taking a step back while standing up to those frightening giant monsters. The power that man possessed was scary and incredible, but it did rescue humanity back then.

"Would you believe me if I told you…that event wasn't the first time?"

The Madam formed a serious, nay, a grave expression, and the director's own expression froze up instantly.

There was another incident like that in the past??

The moment the director thought of humanity facing extinction-level threats multiple times in the past without him knowing about them, his entire body began shuddering uncontrollably.

But when he pondered it some more, he realised that such a case wasn't so surprising anymore; even this event had been classified as a top-top secret by the U.S. government and, besides an extremely small number of people related to the matter, no one else knew just what happened or who did what on that particular day.

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?

'Perhaps, just like what Madam has said, that man really…..'

The director rested his chin on his hand and began pondering something else before raising his head.

"No, I trust you, Madam."

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 in her. One based on absolutely nothing but his gut feeling, really.

The Madam nodded her head in reply. The director cautiously asked her another question.

"That man from the footage…. Can you assure me that he's not a dangerous individual?"

She answered him without a moment of hesitation.

"Yes, I can."

He nodded his head again, alone this time, and as if he finally came to a conclusion, raised his head.

"In that case, I understand. I shall pretend that I never heard you talking about that man."

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.

"Dave, I've baked some cookies. Would you like some?"

"Oh…."

He spotted a bag of cookies in her hand, but could only decline the offer with a smile of his own.

"No, I'm fine. Thank you for your offer."

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.

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.

"I shall come again sometime later, Madam."

"Be careful on your way, Dave."

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.

"Huh. I don't like that old man. Hey, grandma, should I go teach him a lesson for you?"

He was a giant of a man with slicked-back blonde hair. He took a handful of cookies out from the bag in Madam's hand and shoved them inside his mouth.

"Thomas, I thought your competition licence will be revoked if you caused another incident outside the ring?"

Thomas grinned sheepishly and chewed on the cookies that filled up his mouth.

Crunch, crunch….

"Well, that is…"

This man was none other than Thomas Andre.

Not many people knew that the current Heavyweight champion of the UFC was one of her very few friends that she chose to keep. If the reporters learned of this fact, they would jump up and down in sheer madness while clicking the shutters of their cameras non-stop.

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 crumbs down his gullet next. When he was finally done, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Hey, grandma. Can I ask you a question?"

She grinned refreshingly and nodded her head. Thomas rolled the empty bag into a ball as he spoke.

"I'm sure lots of people die through accidents, not just someone like me."

Especially with car crashes, where innumerable people would die almost every single day. However, almost none of them would receive a phone call from the Madam before that happened.

On that much-awaited off day, Thomas was climbing inside his treasured sports car so he could go for a crazy-fast drive through the back roads. And then, he became one of the very lucky few that did get that fateful phone call.

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.

Afterwards, Thomas grew close enough to her to share meals like this, yet what happened on that day still remained a mystery to him.

"Why did you save me on that day?"

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.

Madam Selner looked at him without saying anything after hearing his rather sudden question, before providing a belated answer to her friend, one of the top sports stars in the country.

"Because… you did many good things in your past life."

"…..I did?"

Thomas Andre, known as the 'Bad Boy' of the UFC, no, Devil of the Octagon, did what now?

He briefly wondered if this grandma ate something she shouldn't have, but then, he decided not to say what popped up in his head after remembering that he owed her big time.

"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'.

Seeing that relationships of the past were being formed anew either consciously or subconsciously by the parties involved, perhaps this 'fate' was a real thing after all.

That's how she felt right now.

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?"

Madam replied in a tone of voice belonging to someone busy putting up still-wet clothes on the washing line.

"He saved the world."

Sometimes, it was hard to tell whether this old lady was joking or was being dead serious.

'Well, that's why it's so fun being around her, anyway.'

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.

"Hmm, I wonder…. Maybe he's enjoying his youth to the fullest somewhere?"

Waaahhh-!!

In the location of the qualifying rounds of the track and field competition filled with the heated cheerings of the spectators, featuring schools from all over South Korea.

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.

"Oiii, Choi Tae-Woong! Looks like you've lost your way, doesn't it!! You even let a freshman enter every type of competition, didn't you!"

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??"

Joh Gi-Seok continued on with his provocation, but Choi Tae-Woong simply smirked brightly and grasped Jin-Woo's shoulder.

"Soon enough, you lot won't be able to close your mouths at the talents of this first year."

"Heee~yah, rather than you guys breaking more records, you got better at cracking jokes, instead!"

Figurative sparks flew in all directions after these two's war of nerves grew to an intense level. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo was scratching the side of his head with his index finger.

'With things like this, it's going to be difficult to stick to my plan of holding back so that I won't get noticed….'

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.

"Here's the thing, though. What a funny coincidence this is, you know?"

Joh Gi-Seok turned around and gestured towards his team members; when he did, a big dude standing behind them strode forward with an expression filled pure, unbridled confidence.

"You see, we also got ourselves a freaky freshman, too."

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?"

"Looks like your own freshman can sense it already, no?"

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.

"This kid here, he's Hwaseong Tech High's secret weapon, Kim Cheol from the first year."

Chapter 259 Fin.

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Side Story 17

9. I'm going there to meet you right now (3)

The 'impulse'.

An overwhelming impulse, that's what Kim Cheol felt; this powerful impulse, strong enough to nearly blow his reasoning away, almost completely swallowed him up.

'But….. But how come I…..'

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?

In that brief moment, if he didn't force his ankles and calves to be still with all his might, then he would've shown a pretty disgraceful sight to everyone.

Way too close for comfort, indeed.

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.

It was at that moment that a really plausible theory popped up in his head.

'Could it be that…. I'm scared by a dude from the same year as me?'

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 met his opponent's eyes?

Too bad, Kim Cheol simply couldn't accept reality as it was.

'Don't make me laugh!!'

By relying on his superior physique surpassing that of high schoolers, as well as physical strength that matched his size, Kim Cheol enjoyed incredible prominence during his middle school days. Yet here he was, getting scared by another kid in the same age bracket?

Such a thing was not possible. No, more than that, such a thing could not be allowed to happen.

"H-hey, Cheol-ah? What's wrong?"

"You feeling okay, my man?"

The seniors began showing concern for his well-being, and as his reply, veins bulged in Kim Cheol's throat as he roared out.

"Nothing's wrong, seniors!!"

'That's right, there's nothing wrong with me!'

Kim Cheol convinced himself of this fact and powerfully nodded his head.

'Right, I was suffering from a simple dizzy spell because I didn't have a fulfilling breakfast. That must be it.'

In order to prove right the theory that he just cooked up on the spot, Kim Cheol slowly raised his head and stared straight at the freshman of the opposing school.

Although possessing a pretty well-trained physique, the first-year high school kid standing there was like a stalk of straw compared to himself. Finally regaining some sort of leeway now, a grin floated up on Kim Cheol's lips.

Smirk.

'….I knew it.'

Getting scared by a kid that might get knocked out in one punch from him? What an absurd thing that was.

Kim Cheol straightened his slightly hunched figure as the unbridled confidence from earlier on returned to his face.

The members of the Hwaseong Tech High's track team were feeling worried from the sudden changes Kim Cheol was going through, but they regained their smiles after confirming that their ace had returned to how he was.

"Dayum, you surprised me there."

"I'm telling you, our ace freshman really knows how to command attention."

The seniors patted his shoulder to encourage him, and Kim Cheol replied with a confident smile before fixing his gaze back on Jin-Woo.

'What a disgrace, why did a dizzy spell have to happen at the same time as looking into that guy's eyes…?'

Kim Cheol began thinking that he needed to return this ill-timed disgrace he suffered back to his opponent tenfold somehow. The best method to overturn an embarrassing situation was to suppress the other's spirit.

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.

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.

"I've got something to say to you, so follow me to over there for a sec."

Oh, ohh-!

While the members of the Hwaseong Tech High's track team whistled in excitement at their junior's spirited display, Jin-Woo's seniors were hurriedly blocking him from disinterestedly following after Kim Cheol.

"Jin-Woo! Listen to me, you mustn't commit murder!"

"You ain't thinking of spilling someone's blood on the day of the competition, right?? You gotta hold it in."

"That's right, let's just think of it as saving a poor soul today and let that kid be."

Jin-Woo chuckled and gently shook off the hands of his seniors.

"Don't worry, seniors. I'm sure nothing will happen over there."

The seniors tried to confirm the safety of his 'opponent' once more.

"Really? There really won't be anything bad happening to that kid, right?"

"We're choosing to believe you."

"That friend over there, he's definitely walking back here on his own two feet, right?"

Jin-Woo smiled brightly in order to put the worries of his seniors to rest and quickly walked over in the direction Kim Cheol had disappeared to.

The captain of Hwaseong's track team, Joh Gi-Seok, watched all of this unfold from the side and formed a disbelieving expression before walking up closer to his rivals.

"You guys…. You all being serious right now?"

Choi Tae-Woong sneaked a glimpse at Joh Gi-Seok's face before shifting his gaze back in the direction where Jin-Woo had gone off to and spoke up in a worried tone of voice.

"Don't talk to me, man. I'm feeling really conflicted right now."

Choi Tae-Woong had been watching Jin-Woo's monster-like motor reflexes from a close vantage point, so all he could do now was to fervently pray for that fella named Kim Cheol to not try anything funny for his sake.

While walking after Kim Cheol, Jin-Woo's anticipation grew just a tiny bit. Could it be that this kid also regained the memories of the past, too?

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."

The high school kid's murderous eyes were now looking down on Jin-Woo.

"What, just because I'm wearing a school uniform while standing on the same field as you, you think I'm a pushover?"

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.

"You son of a b*tch!"

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.

[Yes, Iron is returning to us!]

[Welcome back, Iron!]

[My liege, entrust this lost sheep to me. I, Bellion, swear to re-educate him properly and ensure an event like this will never happen again….]

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.

Without a doubt, someone was challenging him right now, but 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.

'What's going on….?'

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.

And as Kim Cheol stood there conflicted on what to do next, Jin-Woo slowly and cautiously grasped the boy's wrist right then.

The ends of his fingers touched Kim Cheol's skin.

When that happened….

"Uh….??"

Tears began flooding out from the boy's eyes.

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.

"B-but, why….?"

Kim Cheol looked up at Jin-Woo.

He was searching for an answer, but all he got in return was a rueful smile from the mysterious boy, instead.

'If the Sovereign's memories weren't shared in the past, then the memories won't come back even if we make physical contact, huh?'

Unless… he restored the memories forcibly, that was.

Jin-Woo recalled the faces of people he shared his memories with, in the now-erased past.

'Association President Woo Jin-Cheol, and….'

….And, Madam Norma Selner.

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.

He no longer had any business with 'Iron', no, 'Kim Cheol'. Because… the kid was living as a 'human', and not as a Shadow Soldier, now.

But then, the boy on his knees called out to Jin-Woo and stopped him in his tracks.

"H-hang on….. Wait."

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.

"This, is this…. what they call love?"

He was being swept up by the sudden torrent of powerful emotions that he had never experienced before. Although he was deeply mistaken about what his feelings were, he was dead serious right now as he had ever been in his life.

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.

"….This won't do."

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."

Kim Cheol dazedly nodded his head.

"Oh, and also…."

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 goodbye, right before the Chalice of Rebirth was to be used. A thin smile floated up on his lips and he continued on.

"From here onwards, you gotta stop behaving like a bad person, alright? You were one of the guys who fought to protect this world, so be proud of yourself, man."

"…..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?"

Kim Cheol regained his consciousness and stayed rooted in his spot for a little while, utterly confused, only to belatedly discover Jin-Woo's distancing back over yonder.

As if he was separating again from a friend he met after a long time, Jin-Woo waved his hand in a genial manner.

"Hey, see you again next time!"

"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.

With excellent timing, he heard the announcement reverberating throughout the athletics field.

– The preliminaries for the middle school participants will begin shortly. All athletes, please report to the competitor's area.

Somewhere at the far back of the athletics field, which was quiet and sparsely populated.

A young girl managed to get to the shade of a tree with some difficulty and plopped down on her butt there. Her shaking hands reached down to take off one of her shoes and her sock. Her swollen ankle testified as to what her current situation was.

She lightly bit her lower lips and glared at her ankle, before squeezing her eyes shut and leaning against the tree's sturdy trunk.

What a blunder it was.

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….'

Indeed, she was.

This might be the last time she competed as a middle schooler, and so, she didn't want to end the day with an injury.

That was why….

'That's why… I should just carry on.'

This was a line of thought that could only be cooked up by the head of an immature middle schooler, who still hadn't shed the mindset of a child yet.

And it was the role of the adults to stop such a child from going down the wrong path since the dawn of time itself.

"You want to hide your injury?"

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.

"Even though a certain someone competed in that condition, hurt her ankle even more and had to spend over a year to recuperate, but still ended up as a third-rate athlete and could only regret the decision she made today?"

The male student shifted his gaze back to the girl with her wide-open eyes and formed a refreshing grin.

"I was talking about a person that I know, actually."

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.

'Isn't he an athlete….? A high schooler, right?'

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.

As Hae-In grew more flustered by the second, Jin-Woo crouched near her and carefully placed his hand on her swollen ankle.

"Ah…."

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.

She raised up her shocked eyes and stared at Jin-Woo.

"Run without any regrets. You only have one shot, right?"

She shone so brightly as a rank S Hunter fighting against monster threats, but today, her sweating figure under the bright sunlight would shine just as wonderfully.

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.

"Excuse me, we…. Have we met somewhere before?"

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?"

Hae-In visibly grew confused, but Jin-Woo maintained his grin.

"If you run against me and ever win, then I'll tell you everything."

"…..I saw you compete, oppa. I saw you coming in at first place in every preliminary race you entered."

Jin-Woo smirked and stood back up.

"I'll take that answer as you giving up."

But then…

"I-if that's the case!"

Cha Hae-In worked up her courage once more and made a suggestion.

"The record for the preliminaries about to take place in a bit…. How about you telling me the truth when I break that? Even if it's not right now?"

Jin-Woo's head lowered and did his best to suppress his chuckles.

'Whether she's younger or older, she's still so pure.'

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."

Having successfully changed the condition of the bet, Hae-In formed a sunny smile as well.

'Well, you ain't going to be smiling later, though.'

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 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.

Chapter 260 Fin.

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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.

A certain early morning.

"Son? What's the matter?"

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.

It happened in the briefest of the brief moments that didn't even last a blink, but that was more than enough to tell the tale spanning several years that felt as long as eternity itself.

– I wanted to see you. Always.

– I wouldn't have minded talking to you for a little bit longer, but….

– I'm sorry for not being a good father to you.

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 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.

"….I must've had a nightmare."

At that moment, Seong Il-Hwan saw the powerful determination flicker for a blink of an eye on his son's face.

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.

"….I'd never imagined that promise was to defeat the entirety of the Army of the Chaos World all by himself."

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?

"Still, hasn't he beautifully taken care of it?"

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.

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…."

His hesitating voice was drowned out by the gently-flowing background music of the cafe they were in. The Ruler's envoy sipped the half-remaining coffee with his straw as he unhurriedly waited for Seong Il-Hwan to continue on.

"What was my son's decision?"

"The Shadow Sovereign has…."

The envoy discovered the traces of nervousness flit past Seong Il-Hwan's face and formed a thin smile.

"….Chosen to stay in this world. He said that every minute and every second spent in this world is precious to him."

Seong Il-Hwan inwardly spat out a lengthy sigh of relief.

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.

"Are you planning to continue deceiving Shadow Sovereign-nim…. no, your son?"

"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.

"I see. Like father, like son."

The envoy smirked and nodded his head before raising his gaze a little higher.

"Once I leave, the Rulers will no longer interfere with this world."

"I know."

"Which means, this really is the end. With this world…."

The envoy scanned the interior of the cafe and spoke with an emotional voice.

"It has been fun. Truly. To be honest, right up until the Shadow Sovereign-nim made his triumphant return, I had been waiting with bated breath on what destiny had in store for us."

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.

"The Rulers express their unreserved gratitude towards not just Shadow Sovereign, but to you as well, Seong Il-Hwan-nim."

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.

"By any chance, is there something we can help you with?"

When considering that the Rulers possessed incredible powers as well as various 'tools of God', this was akin to them saying, "We will grant any wish you have."

However, Seong Il-Hwan shook his head almost immediately.

"I have none….."

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.

"Is there something else….?"

Seong Il-Hwan pondered for a bit and spoke up with some difficulty.

"My memories…. Is it possible for you to erase my memories of the previous timeline?"

"Yes, it's possible, but why would you choose to do so….?"

"Well, it's unimaginably hard to keep pretending in front of a son with an amazing perception, you see."

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."

He wanted to return to being just a simple father who felt anxious about his son possibly coming back home injured in some way, and a father who sighed in disappointment at his son's exam results – a man who worried about his 'regular' son, in other words.

"To me, Jin-Woo isn't the Shadow Sovereign, but a precious son, you see."

That was Seong Il-Hwan's small wish.

"I understand."

If that was his reasoning, then it'd be no problem. The envoy smiled gently and granted Seong Il-Hwan's wish.

"Once you exit from this cafe, all memories of the previous timeline will completely be erased from your mind."

As the envoy began performing the magic spell on Seong Il-Hwan, he whispered a goodbye so small that no one could hear it properly.

"You won't remember this, but still… I pray that you get to live a fulfilling life."

Time continued to tick by.

On a certain cold winter morning.

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.

"What about Jin-Woo?"

"Yes, what happened to 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.

"Dear, what should we do? Should we go and wake Jin-Woo up?"

"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."

"You're right. I can always drive him to the exam location with my car, anyway."

"At seven…. Let's wake him up around seven, Dear."

Seong Il-Hwan nodded his head at his wife's suggestion.

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.

"S-son, you know that today is the CSAT day, right?"

"Son, as your father, I can take you there, you know?"

Their son seemed to have woken up not too long ago. He replied with a chuckle.

"I'll get ready to leave now."

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.

When he looked at this seemingly-handmade keyring shaped like a white-coloured castle with a black flag on top, a wide grin formed on his lips.

The weather was beautifully clear and crisp; it was a refreshing morning as the early rays of the sun gently seeped into the world.

The evening of the 24th of December.

Jin-Woo was walking on a street filled with the festive atmosphere of Christmas. He could easily spot the smiling faces of movie stars or top athletes proudly on display on the electronic advertising boards hung here and there.

'The streets have changed a lot.'

Whenever Jin-Woo recalled the time when the streets used to be dominated by the faces of top-ranked Hunters, he still felt a bit awkward and disjointed.

But then, he spotted an advertising poster for a certain sports drink and broke out into a gentle chuckle. A rather familiar face was on it, that was why.

Just how many people lost their hair to stress while trying to take that one photo of her making a natural-looking expression?

'The idol of the athletic world, is it….?'

Indeed, Cha Hae-In's smile on the poster was good enough to be called on the level of an idol.

She drew attention with her stunning achievements on the track, and eventually, the mass media caught onto her shining star as well. In a bid to boost the popularity of the track sports, the athletics organisation pleaded with her and this was the end result.

'She never stepped in front of a camera even when she was a rank S Hunter, but now, she must perform the role of one of the most popular sportswomen in the country….'

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.

He took a look around himself without thinking too much about it and discovered many young couples and their colourful clothing filling up the streets.

'Yup, I definitely am an examinee who recently finished his CSAT. Look how plainly dressed I am.'

Jin-Woo lightly tutted at his rather plain-looking clothes and sought out the nearest clothing store. With the time being what it was, the shops were all closed, but from the get-go, he wasn't planning to buy something, anyway.

Jin-Woo stopped walking in front of a mannequin kitted out in the coolest outfit inside the shop window.

Sha-ah-ahk….

The pitch-black smoke enveloped Jin-Woo's figure for a brief moment and his outfit had changed to the exact same thing as that mannequin's. He examined his new look through the reflection on the shop's window before asking his Shadow Soldiers.

"What do you think?"

Fangs, having developed an intense interest in all things fashion-related from some time ago, hurriedly replied first, maybe fearing that someone else might steal his limelight.

[You look amazing, my liege.]

"Alright."

Jin-Woo's steps became a touch cheerier than before and they helped him arrive at the place of his appointment in the proverbial blink of an eye.

Surrounding a massive Christmas tree installed in the middle of a plaza were many people searching and waiting for their companions to arrive.

Even though many of them were nervously glancing at their watches, the looks of happiness still could be gleaned from their expressions regardless, perhaps because today was Christmas Eve.

Unlike them, though, Jin-Woo was staring into the heavens above since he had more than enough leeway compared to them.

There were all sorts of ambient noises made by people walking on the streets, but Jin-Woo still could accurately distinguish the footsteps that mattered to him.

'…..3, 2, 1.'

Just as that 'kid' arrived near his back, he turned around to greet her.

"Hey. You came."

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?"

She seemed just a bit despondent, which was rather adorable as well, so he broke out into a soft grin. Hae-In pulled up the hood on her top to avoid the attention of the passersby, like how Jin-Woo used to do.

"Should we take a walk for a while?"

Jin-Woo's suggestion was met by Hae-In's brightly smiling face. She even nodded her head to emphasize her agreement, too.

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.

"You got such a great score, yet you wanna go to that university? But, why?"

"Well, the fees are completely paid for by the scholarship, plus they are adding on the opportunity for me to study abroad, as well. Besides, there is this person I just have to meet in that place, you see."

It was at that point that her ears perked up.

"Wait, that person isn't a woman, is it?"

Her eyes narrowed to a slit, but Jin-Woo found her expression really adorable so he decided to string her along for a bit.

"Mmm, who knows."

Her cheeks immediately puffed up.

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.

He silently stared at the falling snow only to recall the sight of settling grey ash after he defeated the Dragon Emperor. Ash as white as snow – no, snowflakes as light as ash silently descended on the land.

"Oppa? What are you thinking about?"

Jin-Woo smiled softly and tried to gloss over it.

"Nothing much."

Well, it wasn't as if he could tell her that, while he was looking at the snow falling from the evening sky a day before Christmas, he was busy recalling probably the most dangerous enemy he had to fight in his entire life, now could he?

Hae-In formed a broad grin after listening to Jin-Woo's reply, then she brought up something out of the blue.

"Oppa, do you remember our promise?"

"What promise?"

"The one about you promising to answer everything when I win in a race."

"Yeah, I do."

Hae-In promptly pointed towards one of the trees lining up along the street.

"Well, why don't we make a bet, then? Let's see who will arrive there first."

Jin-Woo couldn't help but chuckle after hearing her sudden challenge and asked her a question.

"What is it that you'd like to ask me?"

"Everything."

"Everything??"

"What you're thinking about sometimes, whether it's a girl or a guy you want to meet in that university, and also…."

"Also?"

"….Also, about the time we met before that athletic preliminaries took place."

"….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….

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.

"Oppa, if you like me, don't move from this spot."

"Wha?"

While he was getting flustered by this development, Hae-In began walking slowly towards the tree in question while looking straight at him. As for Jin-Woo himself, he couldn't hold back his laughter after realising that his defeat had been set in stone from the get-go.

"Hah…."

In the end, Hae-In succeeded in touching the tree first, and she lightly jumped in the air to announce her victory.

Meanwhile, his Shadow Soldiers watching the two lovers' competition with a great deal of anticipation and excitement began jumping up and down themselves in happiness as well.

[Heee-ya~, our liege has lost!]

[Wow, there are times when our liege will lose a challenge with so much at stake, too!]

[My liege, you did it wrong!]

[Kkiiieehhk-!! Oh, my kinggg! It's not too late, so please get going now!!]

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.

Thankfully, he couldn't spot a single soul on this particular stretch of road, all due to the fact that they sought out only those paths with little foot traffic.

"Well, I won, right?"

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.

'Shadows? Every one of you, close your eyes.'

While the soldiers were rightly feeling frustrated….

….Jin-Woo slowly brought his lips closer and gently locked them with Hae-In's.

The white snowflakes continued to fall silently from the sky.

Chapter 261 Fin.

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Side Story 19

The last side story: Twelve years later (1)

Within the ranks of the Central Region Precinct's Violent Crimes Unit, there was this one detective nicknamed the 'Phantom'.

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.

The arrest rate of 200 percent!

The rumour went that, in front of this 'Phantom' capable of solving not just the cases in his own docket, but even the cold cases of the past, every single violent criminal or bloodthirsty thug would become a very well-behaved sheep in an instant.

To the officers patrolling these streets, this detective remained an object of pure respect, a real bonafide legendary figure.

Seriously now, the rumour even went on to say that, although he was eligible for a promotion, he wished to devote himself fully to fieldwork and refused to move up the career ladder. How hardcore was that?

'Anyone with some sense in them would definitely never refuse a promotion, obviously.'

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.

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.

As befitting a group of detectives that clashed against seasoned criminals every day, they all carried manly, no-nonsense countenances. They began shooting sharp, probing glares in the direction of an unknown visitor to their ranks.

It'd not be all that awkward to call any one of these fine officers 'Phantom', indeed.

'The light in their eyes are so….'

Lee Seh-Hwan gradually shrunk back from the powerful glares of the veterans and began inwardly worrying about whether he'd survive for long in this place or not.

"Ehh…. Are you that newbie joining us from today onwards?"

A voice came from behind without any prior warning whatsoever and Lee Seh-Hwan jumped up in fright. He hurriedly turned around and performed an excellent salute.

"Loyalty!"

"Ah, ah… no need to be that tense. We're all one family now, right?"

The voice belonged to a middle-aged man carrying two paper cups filled with coffee standing right behind Lee Seh-Hwan. He kindly offered one of the cups to the still-nervous rookie.

"Here, it's on me."

"T-thank you very much!!"

Lee Seh-Hwan bowed deeply and received the coffee.

Instantly, he was greeted by the reassuring warmth that was kind of like a phone call from his family he dearly wished to see again after living alone for a long time.

Maybe that small first mouthful of the hot coffee helped him to relax?

Lee Seh-Hwan continued to sip on the hot beverage while cautiously studying the overall atmosphere of the surroundings, before asking the Senior who gifted him the drink.

"Excuse me… I went to speak to the Squad Captain, and he informed me that I'd be working together with Seong Detective-nim from here on, I was wondering…"

"Ahh, that 'Phantom' is your partner?"

"FUU-HEUP!!!"

It took almost everything Lee Seh-Hwan had to stop the coffee from spraying out of his mouth and nostrils.

"Well, we came up with that nickname for the guy because he's supernaturally quick, you see? Dunno when it happened, but that name got stuck somehow and even the folks in other units began calling him that. I'm sure you've heard of him too, right?"

"Y-yes, I have…."

Lee Seh-Hwan hurriedly nodded his head several times. A meaningful smirk suddenly crept up on the senior's face.

"The thing is, that coffee I gave you? It's meant for him."

The senior detective turned around to escape to the corridor, but then he stopped and pointed to the far end with his chin, a grin now firmly etched on his face.

"Speak of the devil. There he comes."

Unable to suppress his curiosity, Lee Seh-Hwan also quickly came out to the corridor himself and shifted his gaze in the direction where the senior was staring at.

That was when he discovered a certain man unhurriedly strolling towards his direction from the end of the corridor.

'That man is the legendary….'

Without a doubt, that man didn't seem to be in a hurry, yet he was already standing before Lee Seh-Hwan even before the rookie could fully regain his wits.

What an overwhelmingly intense pressure he emitted.

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 Phantom of the Central Region….'

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."

"Ohh, hey man. Going out on a call?"

"Nah, it's nothing much, really. By the way, is he our new recruit?"

"That's right, he is. His name is Lee Seh-Hwan."

Jin-Woo bowed his head slightly to greet the senior detective standing next to Lee Seh-Hwan. He then spun the newbie around to face the other direction and placed his hand on the completely-frozen junior's shoulder.

"Then, I shall go ahead and train the rookie."

The senior detective with the face of a good-natured uncle continued to grin as if he found something quite amusing. He nodded his head to say yes.

"Sure, sure. Go ahead. Have a good day."

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.

'H-he can't be p*ssed off about me having drunk his coffee, right?'

When that line of thought popped up in his head, Lee Seh-Hwan ended up hurriedly asking a question.

"S-senior-nim?! W-where are we going?"

Rather than an answer, though, he got a question as a reply, instead.

"Why did you become a police officer?"

"Oh, that…. I…."

Lee Seh-Hwan hesitated for a bit before remembering his original dream, the goal, that he had forgotten about while working as a beat cop wrestling with drunkards and other idiots for the past few years.

"I wanted to catch the bad guys…."

"That's right."

Even though they were exchanging questions and answers, Jin-Woo didn't slow down his steps that continued to lead the rookie to their unknown destination. And he finally let go of the flustered newbie once they reached the end goal.

"We are going to a place where we can do exactly that."

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.

"That's why I became a cop too, you see."

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.

"Of course, Senior-nim!!"

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…

He stopped jotting down on the report paper and quietly studied Lee Seh-Hwan, utterly lost to the distant lands of sweet slumber.

'He said he had the experience of catching an armed robber bare-handed, didn't he? Yup, it is fun training a rookie like this guy.'

A smile naturally crept up on his face now that a rather excellent seedling had joined his Unit.

"Hehehe."

After seeing a smile blooming on Jin-Woo's face, the suspect sitting on the opposite side of the desk mistakenly believed that the atmosphere had become rather friendly and formed a sly smile of his own.

That only elicited a hardened scowl from Jin-Woo, though.

"….And why the hell are you smiling?"

"I, I'm sorry."

"Okay, then. Next up is…."

Just as Jin-Woo's fingers touched the keyboard once more….

[My liege, may I suggest that such miscellaneous tasks be left to us, your loyal soldiers….]

….He heard the voice of Igrit coming from his shadow.

Indeed, it'd be convenient to utilise his soldiers.

Forget about training the rookies to arrest the suspects, he could just unleash his near-ten million soldiers and have them catch the bad guys. That would clean up the entirety of the Republic of Korea in no time at all.

However, what was he supposed to do about the extreme unrest and the fear from the public at large that would no doubt follow soon afterwards?

A suitable balance needed to be kept, regardless of what the job was.

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….

….Although, the rookie still hadn't been able to extricate himself from the land of dreams yet.

Jin-Woo heard the voices coming from the corner of the office and ended up paying attention to the contents of the conversation.

"Detective-nim, please listen to me. Jin-Yi isn't a girl who'd willingly take her own life."

"Look, miss. I understand how you feel. But, I already explained to you in detail, didn't I? All the evidence points to…."

"Please, please take a look at these texts messages! Do they look like something sent by a person planning to commit suicide three hours later??"

"Hah-ah….."

Maybe it was because of the fact that the deceased's name sounded similar to his own sister's?

For a while now, Jin-Woo's mind kept wandering towards the conversation between those two people that didn't seem to be going anywhere fast.

The detective, now fed up by this 'heckling' ended up responding in an ill-tempered manner.

"Look here, miss! From the get-go, most suicides aren't planned out in advance but are done in the spur of the momen…."

"Do you mind if I take a look at the case?"

The detective flinched nastily when Jin-Woo approached him without any presence whatsoever.

Detectives were supposed to be able to suss out whether a person was guilty of a crime or not just by locking gazes with a suspect in the blink of an eye.

Such detectives couldn't detect his approach, so it was a small wonder that Jin-Woo was saddled with the nickname of 'Phantom'.

"Uhm, Detective Seong….?"

The detective formed a troubled expression while looking at Jin-Woo, before shifting his gaze forward, only to spot the expression on the deceased's friend now gaining a ray of hope.

'Ah….'

The detective instantly realised that things might get a bit complicated for himself, so he quietly asked Jin-Woo to step outside the office for a moment.

He handed over the related case files and pulled out a cigarette after they got there.

"Detective Seong…. I hope you aren't going to put me under the spot here."

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.

'He's like a different person when he's concentrating like this.'

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.

Not many other investigators would come up with a different hypothesis after looking at all the facts available in this case.

Jin-Woo returned the case file back to the detective assigned to the case.

"I don't see anything amiss."

"R-right. You think so, too?"

The detective received the files back with a somewhat happy-looking expression.

"However."

"H-however….??"

With a hardened face, the senior asked back while thinking, 'Could he be…?'

"I shall confirm it myself, just in case."

"Ah….."

The Phantom had sniffed a trail, it seemed.

While looking at Jin-Woo's back as he walked over to the friend of the deceased waiting anxiously over there, the Senior detective roughly scratched the back of his head and complained in his head.

'Doesn't that guy ever get tired or something?'

The friend of the deceased, her gaze currently fixed to the ground, quickly raised her head after hearing Jin-Woo's voice.

"I'm Detective Seong Jin-Woo. Can we talk for a moment?"

The friend nodded her head, her current grim expression seemingly a blend of new-found hope and sorrow.

"Yes!"

Inside a quiet, empty and owner-less home, a black shadow suddenly rose up. It was Jin-Woo.

He found himself in an apartment which was slightly too large for a woman to live alone. Her warmth from the time she was still alive could be felt from several corners of this apartment unit.

The current time was late at night.

The surroundings were pitch-black, but there was no need to turn on the lights because this was the same as broad daylight to Jin-Woo's eyes.

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….

Those left behind would never know them.

Generally speaking, that was.

Jin-Woo crouched slightly and studied the blood splatters before recalling the last text message she sent to her friend. It was filled with her anticipation about the upcoming meeting with her friend.

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.

However, Jin-Woo possessed a way to hear the voice of the dead.

'I needed the actual remains in the past, but now….'

Jin-Woo issued his command, and the blackened, coagulated blood reverted back to a crimson liquid and began trickling again. The blood splatter that remained as nothing more than grisly reminders gathered together to form a deep pit of boiling blood.

As if it was alive, the mass of blood continued to seethe and tumble as it grew larger and larger.

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."

Chapter 262 Fin.

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Side Story 20

The last side story: Twelve years later (2)

A shadow of a woman, yet to shed the hints of her teen years, vigorously rose up from the thickly-coagulated clump of blood on the floor.

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.

The you of now has become an existence untethered from the boundaries of life and pain."

The king's calming, warm voice helped the woman to compose herself gradually. Jin-Woo then created a new set to clothing for her sake and wrapped them around her figure since she appeared how she died – nude.

[Ah….]

She cautiously pulled the clothing on her shoulders tighter.

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.

"Did you… willingly take your own life?"

The shadow woman, no, Seo Jin-Yi, nodded her head.

Jin-Woo placed one of his knees lower to the ground so he could match her eye level. He studied her expression and quietly asked her.

"Your reason?"

And when he did, her lips, frozen shut like a block of ice, cautiously parted ways.

[I….]

Ding-dong.

The doorbell resounded out rather late at night; a middle-aged man put a photo frame containing a picture of his daughter down on its original spot and looked away.

'Who could it be at this late hour?'

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.

– "I'm Detective Seong Jin-Woo from Central Region's Violent Crimes Unit. I have questions to ask you regarding your daughter's death, so can we speak for a little while, please?"

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.

"Did the investigation's result come out? How did my little girl die?!"

Jin-Woo quietly studied the face of Seo Jin-Yi's father, Seo Gyu-Nam, before shaking his head.

"Nothing is certain yet, sir. However, I do have several follow-up questions I'd like to ask you regarding your daughter."

The father of the deceased formed a somewhat disappointed expression when he heard there was nothing to report yet. Jin-Woo made a quiet demand towards the man.

"Can you come with me?"

Seo Gyu-Nam seemed to be in a dilemma, but soon enough, formed a grimly determined expression.

"Of course. If I can help in any shape or form in uncovering the truth of my daughter's death, then I shall cooperate fully."

He came outside and locked the door before turning around to face Jin-Woo.

"Let's get going, Detective."

Jin-Woo nodded his head once and turned towards a certain direction.

"This way."

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.

"What kind of a student was Miss Seo Jin-Yi usually?"

"Excuse me?"

"By any chance, was there anyone who might have been resentful towards…."

Seo Gyu-Nam belatedly realised the implication behind the question and hurriedly shook his hand around.

"No, no. Never. She was definitely not a child who'd go around doing things to make others hate her. She was really kind and pure and…"

Seo Gyu-Nam replied up to there before his head faltered and sounds of sobbing escaped from him.

How long did it go by like this?

The sobbing man's shoulder's stopped trembling eventually and he raised his head slowly.

"I, I'm sorry, Detective. I still can't believe that my little girl left me in that manner….."

"You must've cherished your daughter a lot."

"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 as much as I would've with my real child, no, maybe even more than that."

His gaze lowered as he struggled to swallow back his sadness. He continued on.

"If only she told me when she was hurting, when it was getting too much for her…."

Although Seo Gyu-Nam was displaying an intense emotional state, Jin-Woo was quite different in his attitude and kept an icy-cold gleam in his eyes from the beginning right until the end. He then pulled out his own smartphone from his inner pocket.

"While we were sifting through your daughter's personal effects, we uncovered a certain sound file."

"….Pardon?"

"Well, let's listen to it first."

Jin-Woo tapped on the play icon and let the voice of the shadow play out.

– [I….]

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.

And as the testimony continued on…

Seo Gyu-Nam finally stopped acting like a sorrowful father who lost his daughter, his eyes constantly shaking from shock.

The girl deliberately chose to go to a university far away from home, believing that she was finally freed from the torment of her adoptive father, but then, when the b*stard got in contact with her again some time ago, starting with the text message saying 'I want to see you again', she chose to end her life, instead.

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.

"Why… why did you play that in front of me?"

This middle-aged man could legitimately claim that he possessed quicker wits than most other people.

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.

"You now have two options available to you."

Options were available!

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!!'

Meanwhile, the detective carried on.

"First…. You admit to your wrongdoing, go to the station with me, and confess everything."

"And… the other option is?"

"Rather than admit to your crime, you pay an appropriate price, instead."

Seo Gyu-Nam had to grit his teeth in order to suppress this powerful wave of jovial laughter gushing out from somewhere deep inside his chest.

'Oh my goodness me.'

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.

"How much are you asking for?"

"That is already enough."

Jin-Woo formed a hollow chuckle and securely pocketed the phone.

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.

In an instance, Jin-Woo's expression changed.

"Now, listen well."

With the smile gone from his face, an aura so ominous and bleak 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.

Of course, the middle-aged man became flustered at the suddenly-changed Jin-Woo's attitude as well as at this strange, hard-to-understand explanation.

"E-excuse me, Detective-nim. I, I don't underst…."

"Think about it carefully."

Seo Gyu-Nam felt his breathing choke up from Jin-Woo's murderous glare.

"Can you remember how you got here?"

Now that he thought about it….

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??

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…."

Just as he finally recognised that something unexplainable had happened to him, everything vanished, just like that, leaving only the darkness.

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.

"W-who the hell are you?! Is this a dream? It's a nightmare, isn't it??"

The middle-aged man pointed at Jin-Woo in a confused mixture of anger and desperation. Unfortunately for him, his retreating steps couldn't go too far.

Thud.

Because he ran into something as hard as a wall, that was why. An inexplicable chill swept him up and his head slowly shifted towards his back.

That's when the 'wall' began moving.

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'.

[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.

He would now be subjected to horrifying torture from here onwards where he'd eventually beg for death, but too bad, he'd not be able to die that easily.

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!]

Beru bowed his waist to perform a smart greeting towards his liege, before melting back into the darkness.

Jin-Woo wordlessly stared in the direction where Seo Gyu-Nam had disappeared to, and slowly stood up from his chair. This time, not from his front but from behind, another figure watching the proceedings unfold while hiding stepped out of the darkness.

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….

He walked over to her and placed his fingertip on her forehead to erase all memories of her adoptive father.

[Thank you. Thank you so much, Sovereign-nim.]

The Shadow bowed her head many times to Jin-Woo afterwards.

Now that she was reborn as a Shadow, she instinctively understood what kind of a special existence he was, but well, Jin-Woo never planned to convert her into his Shadow Soldier, to begin with.

So, it was now time to return her to the void.

Just before their goodbyes, Jin-Woo asked her in a gentle voice.

"Is there anything else you'd like to say?"

The Shadow lightly shook her head, before going, "Ah!"

[By any chance…. If it's not too much trouble, can I ask you for a small favour?]

Next 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.

"By all appearances, the chances of the case being treated as murder is extremely low at this point. The investigation itself will close soon, as well."

The friend looked at Jin-Woo with a disbelieving expression, before speaking up with the voice of a person clutching at a straw.

"T-truly…. There isn't even one percent of any other possibilities??"

Rather than a verbal reply, Jin-Woo quietly nodded his head up and down. The friend's head dropped towards the ground next.

She seemed to have a million things to say in her mind, but couldn't say any one of them out aloud – her expression sorrowful but unwilling, she hesitantly spoke.

"That means, Jin-Yi, she…."

Jin-Woo studied her for a moment or two, before presenting her with a small gift box covered in a cute wrapper.

"This is?"

"The name written on the gift card is yours, isn't it?"

"…..It is."

It was none other than a gift the deceased carefully handpicked and prepared for the friend's birthday. The gift that would've never entered its intended owner's hands finally found its way to its rightful home.

"Jin-Yi prepared this….?"

"That's correct. I thought that Miss Jin-Yi would've wanted this gift to find its intended owner."

"Ah…. Thank you…."

The friend thanked Jin-Woo wholeheartedly, her eyes tearing up uncontrollably.

If only the adoptive father's insidious text message didn't arrive at the victim's phone one hour before she cut her own wrist, wouldn't these two friends get to enjoy the birthday party as planned?

Jin-Woo felt complicated in his heart as several thoughts intersected within his mind and his gaze drifted away to the distance, only for him to feel the familiar vibration coming from within his pocket.

"Excuse me for a moment."

He asked for an understanding from the sobbing friend of the victim, turned around, and answered his phone.

– "Hyung-niiim!!"

A voice he felt relieved to hear came out of the phone's speaker.

– "It's me, Yu Jin-Ho!"

Chapter 263 Fin.

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Side Story 21

The last side story: Twelve years later (Fin)

Later that evening.

Jin-Woo headed to the local diner that he frequented with Yu Jin-Ho when they were much younger. Still did, as a matter of fact.

– "Hyung-nim! I have something important I must discuss with you."

He felt the hints of determination, different from the kid's usual self, emanating from Yu Jin-Ho's voice on the phone. When Jin-Woo stepped into the diner, Yu Jin-Ho sitting anxiously by the table, easily visible from the entrance, quickly raised his hand up high.

"Hyung-nim!!"

After graduating from the university, Yu Jin-Ho continued to train in the art of running a business empire under Chairman Yu Myung-Hwan, which transformed his body and spirit into a proper man now.

However, he still came across as a little kid brother to Jin-Woo, even now.

"Hey, man."

He greeted back with a chuckle and settled on the other side of Yu Jin-Ho. His gaze then scanned the soju shot glass in Yu Jin-Ho's hand, as well as the half-empty soju bottle for a brief moment.

'This guy, he knows he can't handle alcohol, so why….'

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 to do it, it seemed.

So, Jin-Woo asked.

"What's going on with you? You didn't even tell me anything yet."

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?"

"This time, I'm gonna propose to Miss Jin-Ah for sure!"

Aaah.

'That's what this was all about.'

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.

Yu Jin-Ho completely misinterpreted that smile, though, and a fierce glare of determination lit up within his eyes.

"Hyung-nim! I'm really serious this time! I'll confess to her tonight! B-but, the thing is…. You think she's going to like this ring?"

When Jin-Woo thought about how Jin-Ah always complained at home, wondering aloud just when the blockhead that was her boyfriend would come around to confess his feelings for her, he could picture her jumping up and down in happiness already, but well….

Jin-Woo deliberately left his words vague so the after-confession 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."

As if he felt tormented, Yu Jin-Ho dropped his head lower in agony before raising it back up again.

"I-it's still fine, hyung-nim. Actually, I don't know what she'd like to have anyway, so I prepared lots of presents in advance."

And then, he began pulling out a large paper envelope out of the blue. What that contained was a blueprint of a building.

"Actually, there's this new building about to be constructed in our company's premises, so as soon as Miss Jin-Ah is done with her medical degree, we could build a hospit…."

"Hold up."

Jin-Woo felt as if he had seen this blueprint lots of times from somewhere and quickly cut Yu Jin-Ho's word off.

"By any chance, this building…. The estimated pricing is around 30 billion Won, isn't it?" (TL: Around $25 million USD)

Yu Jin-Ho was taken by surprise and his eyes opened up wider.

"What the…. Hyung-nim, how can you know that….?"

Well, it was obvious how – because it was the exact same thing.

…The same as the blueprint of the building offered as the compensation for making Yu Jin-Ho the new Guild Master back in the erased timeline, that was.

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.

"Hyung-nim, this is the best I can do for Miss Jin-Ah at the moment because I'm still learning about this trade from my father, but I…."

"No, that's not it."

To stop Yu Jin-Ho's misunderstanding from getting any deeper, Jin-Woo wiped the grin off his face and spoke in a far more earnest tone of voice.

"Listen to me, Jin-Ho."

"Yes, hyung-nim."

"There's no need for you to give her lots of presents to prove yourself so hard like this. Because… you are a good man. All you have to do is be you. Just you."

Jin-Woo's opinion rendered Yu Jin-Ho completely speechless, but he began tearing up greatly.

"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.

And like clockwork, Yu Jin-Ho spoke in a tearful voice.

"Can I hug you just this one time, hyung-nim?"

"Nope."

"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.

Yu Jin-Ho struggled for a long time before finally regaining control over his emotions and settled back down on his spot.

"Sob, sob, sobbbb…"

He continued to sob away, though, and Jin-Woo could only smirk at this sight. Sure, this kid did have a bit of a moronic streak in him, but Jin-Woo knew the truth very well from what the kid had shown him during the moments of great life-or-death peril.

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.

He was a good kid, indeed. That was Jin-Woo's honest impression of Yu Jin-Ho after observing him from a close vantage point after all this time.

Jin-Woo poured soju into his own empty shot glass.

"Why don't we pray for your success with this toast?"

"Eh?"

Yu Jin-Ho raised his head to find Jin-Woo pushing forward his shot glass.

"If your proposal is successful, then we will really become family, you know. So, how about we share a toast while praying for your success?"

"A real family with hyung-nim….."

Yu Jin-Ho's expression was soon overcome with a great swell of emotions once more and he lifted his own cup up, only for his gaze to stop by at Jin-Woo's left hand.

He knew very well what was hidden behind that black glove, of course.

"Excuse me…. Hyung-nim?"

"Yeah?"

"If I'm not overstepping here, can I ask you about something?"

"Sure, go ahead."

Yu Jin-Ho sneaked a couple of glances at Jin-Woo's left hand before working up his courage once more.

"The scars on that hand…. What actually did happen to you, to get such serious scars?"

Those scars were so horrendous that just a casual glance would make people recall heart-wrenching pain in an instant. It must've been a rather serious accident for such a clear burn scar to be left behind like that.

Although Yu Jin-Ho found it pretty hard to ask this question up until now, he borrowed the powers of the booze to ask this rather difficult question.

"Oh, you mean this?"

Jin-Woo glanced at his left hand for a little while, before a smirk floated up on his lips.

"I got it while saving the world."

Jin-Woo's gaze had reverted back to Yu Jin-Ho by then. His reply was spoken as if it was nothing much to worry about, so the latter chuckled back lightly, too.

"Hyung-nim, you and your sense of humour…."

Jin-Woo also chuckled along as well.

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.

"For the successful proposal!"

Jin-Woo brought his cup closer and prayed for the kid's fortune as well.

"Yeah, for your successful proposal."

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.

"Ah, I almost forgot."

Yu Jin-Ho must've recalled Jin-Woo's family life after hearing the word 'family' since he suddenly began discussing precisely that.

"Is sister-in-law doing well?"

"Yeah, she's well."

"What about Soo-Hoh, though? I should really stop by soon to see how the boy's doing nowadays. Has he started walking yet?"

Jin-Woo chuckled and shook his head.

"No, not yet. He's only six months old, so crawling is all he can do for now."

"That's weird. I thought that a kid sharing your and your wife's genes would start running around the moment he was born, you know?"

"What the hell. Is that how you think of me and her?"

"Ahaha."

Yu Jin-Ho scratched the back of his head in a playful manner and Jin-Woo also chuckled as well.

But then, Yu Jin-Ho went "Oops!" and hurriedly spoke in a worried voice as he heard that the post-natal care was rather arduous for the newborn's parents.

"Well, in that case, shouldn't you go home as soon as possible?"

"Mm… Maybe I should?"

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.

A certain residence located in the outskirts of the city.

Arriving back home safe and sound, Jin-Woo parked his car in the vicinity.

Screech.

Although the house was unimaginably huge for a detective to afford with his government salary, no one suspected a thing since the person sharing the residence alongside him just so happened to be the idol of the sporting world that pretty much every South Korean had heard of before in the past.

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.

"What's up with those two?"

"Well, the thing is…."

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.

Bellion shot back at Igrit with a harsh glare.

[What do you mean by we mustn't teach our Lord Soo-Hoh the ways of the sword? Do you really think your suggestion makes any sense whatsoever, Igrit?!]

However, Igrit's own fighting spirit didn't lose out an inch, other.

[High academic success is the barometer of one's capability in this world, Bellion.]

No one knew when or who ordered them online, but well, Igrit was holding home-schooling material for toddlers as he argued his case.

Jin-Woo watched the tightly-contested war of nerves between these two proud Soldiers and became utterly speechless. He stared at them with a dumbfounded face for a while, before he took a step closer to address them.

"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.

"It's fine whether you want to teach my son swords or maths, but let's worry about that only after the boy learns to walk first, shall we?"

Bellion and Igrit stared at each other for a little while before bowing their heads down to Jin-Woo.

[That is a reasonable approach, my liege.]

[You are correct, my liege.]

"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.

Around the time Lee Seh-Hwan, joining the Unit as someone's potential successor, had gotten more or less used to the life as a detective, Jin-Woo was summoned by the Station Commander for a private chat.

The senior detective leaving the commander's office before him carried a rather suspicious glint in his eyes, so it was unlikely that this chat would be about a pleasant topic, thought Jin-Woo. He entered the commander's office after the senior detective left and walked over to his superior's desk.

"Did you call for me, sir?"

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.

"I heard that you're still interfering in other detectives' investigations…."

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.

The commander turned around towards Jin-Woo and formed a refreshing grin.

"Please, I beg you to not go overboard and make other detectives resent you, Seong Hunter-nim."

The commander's face was someone quite familiar to him. It belonged to none other than Woo Jin-Cheol, the youngest Station Commander in Korean history.

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.

Jin-Woo smiled and corrected his current boss's words.

"I'm not a Hunter anymore, Commander."

"Even still, it's a lot more convenient for me to refer to you as a Hunter-nim."

While saying those things, Woo Jin-Cheol scanned the documents on top of his desk.

"Did you know that the legal guardian of the suicide victim, her father, suddenly went missing a few days ago?"

"Really?"

"Rather coincidentally, every CCTV camera around the missing man's residence stopped working at the same time."

"Oh my goodness. How can such a thing even happen?"

Jin-Woo's feigned innocence brought about a helpless chuckle from Woo Jin-Cheol. He then threw the documents into the nearby trash can.

"Whatever you decide to do, I shall continue to believe in you, Seong Hunter-nim."

Jin-Woo heard Woo Jin-Cheol's declaration of unreserved faith in him and as a gesture of thanks, bowed his head just a little.

Afterwards….

"Actually, I didn't ask you to come and stop by because of that…."

Woo Jin-Cheol pushed forward a piece of memo paper that had been hidden in the corner of the desk until then. A name of a hospital, as well as a patient's room number, was written on it.

"….I thought that you'd like to know."

"What's this?"

Jin-Woo asked back and Woo Jin-Cheol replied as if he was waiting for that.

"The Association President, no, Chairman Goh Gun-Hui is apparently in critical condition."

This would be Jin-Woo's second time coming to visit Goh Gun-Hui's hospital room.

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.

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.

Jin-Woo reached out and cautiously removed the apparatus, allowing Goh Gun-Hui to speak even though he wheezed heavily and laboriously in between each word.

"Young… man, you came back again…. Actually, I…. I've been searching for you… all this time."

Jin-Woo looked on at this sight with sorrowful eyes before raising his voice.

"If Chairman wants this illness to be cured, then…."

Even before he could finish saying that he could cure the illness one more time, Goh Gun-Hui shook his head first.

"I've… lived for a long time now. I did what I had to do during the ten years you gave me. That is enough for me."

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.

What he really wanted, though, was not what everyone would've expected.

"Actually…. I have a favour to ask you."

Jin-Woo nodded his head. And that's when he was met with Goh Gun-Hui's pleading eyes.

"You told me that there was a world where we fought side by side, didn't you?"

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…."

"Those might not be the memories you'd like to recall, sir."

"It'll be alright. I only wish to regain the memories now lost, that is all."

Jin-Woo confirmed the earnest desperation on Chairman Goh Gun-Hui's expression and gently grasped the dying man's hand.

When he did….

….The memories of the time now erased rushed into Goh Gun-Hui's mind like a tidal wave.

"Ah, ah…."

Tears began flooding out from the older man's eyes.

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.

"Hunter-nim, you have…. Again…."

Jin-Woo gently held the Association President's hand as the latter's breathing became harsher and noticeably more laborious.

Goh Gun-Hui's gaze shifted back towards the ceiling.

"I… I really… Along with young heroes like you…."

His voice now contained traces of his satisfaction.

Goh Gun-Hui was overcome with the genuine happiness gushing 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.

As Jin-Woo wordlessly walked the streets, electronic advertising boards installed here and there continued to display the breaking news of Chairman Goh Gun-Hui's passing.

Emotions of sadness could be spied on the expressions of many watching the breaking news.

Back then, or even now….

Chairman Goh Gun-Hui was loved by many, and even more paid their respects after his death.

'Be well…. You were also a hero who sacrificed so much of yourself for the sake of the others.'

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.

Soon, winter would arrive.

'And then, spring will come again, too.'

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.

The call was from Hae-In.

"Dear?"

As soon as he answered the phone, he was greeted by her incredibly urgent voice.

– "D-dear!! Soo-Hoh, he… Our son is….!!"

Could something have happened in their home, even though two Marshals were guarding it?? Jin-Woo's own voice rose up higher at what seemed to be an unbelievable situation currently unfolding there.

"What's the matter with Soo-Hoh?!"

When he did, Hae-In cried out as if she too couldn't believe that it was happening, either.

– "He's flying!!!"

"Eh?"

– "Our son is flying around the house, right now!!"

It was right at that moment that Jin-Woo recalled what Yu Jin-Ho said a few days ago.

– That's weird. I thought that a kid sharing your and your wife's genes would start running around the moment he was born, you know?

He became completely speechless after recalling those words and stood dead still on the spot.

– "W-what should I do?"

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.

"It'll be fine. Don't worry too much about it."

– "What do you mean?!"

"I'll teach Soo-Hoh how to fly step by step, soon."

– "Babe, you…. know how to fly?!"

'….Oops.'

Didn't I tell her that before?

When he was dating Hae-In back in the now-erased timeline, he wasn't all that adept at flying around so they used his Sky Dragon 'Kaisel' to travel, instead.

Jin-Woo finally couldn't hold back and guffawed out.

The autumn leaves shook around in the wind and fell to Earth once more.

After autumn, winter would come, and afterwards, spring would greet the world. Everything had a beginning and an end, and a new beginning would follow after the end.

However…

– "Oh, no! Soo-Hoh, you mustn't!!"

Clank, smash!!

….It seemed that the winter of his household was still a long way away.

[Only I Level Up, Side Stories Fin.]

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Only I Level Up Recollections/After Stories

Part 1: Beru's memories

Inside a certain egg….

Before he was ready to hatch, Beru heard the voice of the Queen through the thick shell of his egg.

[For the sake of the kingdom.]

'For the sake… of the kingdom.'

[Make all the enemies blocking our path shiver in terror.]

'Make all the enemies blocking our path shiver in terror….'

He needed to become strong.

He simply had to be strong.

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.

The Queen shuddered. It felt a powerful surge of emotions by this creature born from its efforts.

'If it's this child, then certainly, those humans wielding strange powers will be….'

The Queen's eyes sparkled in anticipation, but even before it could issue a new order to the greatest ant soldier that triumphantly emerged from the egg, Beru felt hungry, so he did what he wanted to do.

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….

The Queen was greatly taken by surprise at Beru's unexpected behaviour, but it was suppressed by the powerful aura of the future king of the ants and couldn't even dare to stop him.

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 terror of our enemies….'

The thing was, the subject of powerful fear would also have the same effect on his own allies, as well. The Queen belatedly realised 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 newborn soldier definitely passed the test. As expected of the greatest soldier the Queen had produced – he was truly a masterpiece.

[Become even stronger.]

The Queen issued the next order to Beru, with an eye towards a full-scale invasion of the human's lands.

[Stronger, until none can stand in your way.]

Beru proceeded to devour everything on the island. When there was a shortage of food, he didn't even hesitate to devour his own kin. From tiny lifeforms on the ground like worms and larvae, all the way to large fish and aquatic mammals of the nearby ocean….

As Beru voraciously devoured every single life in front of his eyes, a new realisation dawned on him. Whether it be lifeforms possessing fatal poison or creatures with huge bodies, they all quaked in fear upon running into him.

'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….'

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?'

He grew quite curious – curious about if there really were powerful beings that necessitated even a top predator like him to keep a low profile, curious about if his powers would work against them.

He shifted his gaze towards the mainland several times, but…

[It is still too early.]

The Queen was capable of monitoring Beru's thoughts and its resolute voice would always stop him from acting out on his curiosity without fail.

Left with no choice, he vacantly stared at the distant land before slipping beneath the surface of the ocean again.

Indeed, he'd get to know when the time was right.

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….

"What, what the hell are you?!"

"Uwaaaahk!!"

….Wasn't even a fight.

No, it was nothing more than one-sided hunting.

What a familiar sight it was to him.

Beru discovered 'fear' in the eyes of the dying Hunters and couldn't hide his utter disappointment.

'To fight against these weaklings, I…'

I had to wait for such a long time?

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.

'This human…. He's not scared of me?'

He felt it'd be somewhat of a loss to kill this human right away, so Beru tried to start a conversation.

"Are you the king of humans?"

When he did, the human replied back.

"…..Huh, an insect that knows how to speak. Well, I'll be."

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!"

He couldn't endure it and flew up in the air, but then….

"Anty, antyyy!!"

The young lord would already be right behind him when Beru took a look behind to make sure.

Of course, as long as Beru wanted to, escaping from a toddler would not be an issue, but…. Well, the problem here was that the toddler in question was his king's child.

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!"

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.

'Why does our young lord continuously seek me out?'

….He just couldn't figure this one out.

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?

His liege didn't like using humans as Shadow Soldiers, so there were almost no soldiers who started off as humans, but…

But, rather fortunately, there was one soldier Beru knew that started his life as a human. It was none other than Marshal Igrit.

"There is no way that our young lord will hate you."

Igrit nodded his head and rapidly added further explanations.

"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.

'The young lord likes me because I'm bigger than a person, I can fly, and I can even speak.'

If a person could like something with such simplistic reasons, then wouldn't that person also easily fall out of love with something with equally simplistic reasons, too?

Well, he certainly hadn't heard of humans liking bugs after entering their adulthood. When his thoughts reached that far, his mood seemed to sink just a little bit.

He was familiar with others looking at him with gazes of revulsion, but when thinking about how the young lord would also one day carry such a gaze, Beru grew just a little bit sad.

Beru flying silently changed his heading once more. His new destination this time was the location of a certain construction project.

The bearded Dwarves and ant soldiers were ordered by Beru to construct a gigantic stone statue of their liege within this place, the 'territory of eternal rest'. When they saw the former ant king land near their vicinity, they all bowed their heads in unison.

The Dwarven Elder in charge of directing the project hurriedly ran over to welcome Beru.

"Marshal-nim, welcome back."

Nod, nod.

Beru observed the progress on the construction for a bit before asking the Elder.

[I wish to change the plan just a little bit.]

"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.

"B-but, Marshal-nim, you planned to commemorate Sovereign-nim's upcoming 32nd birthday with this 'Divine Liege' statue, so from a few months ago….."

[No, no, no. I'm not saying I want to cancel the plan itself. I just want to change this part like so….]

The Elder quietly listened to Beru's explanation before nodding his head right away.

"Of course that is feasible. I think we will get a far grander result with this new plan, Marshal-nim."

[Khe-khek, very good.]

The atmosphere that seemed to be frozen for a bit had warmed up considerably now.

"Well, in that case, I should…."

Just as the excited Elder tried to continue on, Beru raised his index finger and placed it against his lips.

[I shall return after taking care of business first.]

"Hyung-nim, are we really doing this?"

"You fool…. What is it? You scared now that we came this far?"

"N-no, that's not it, hyung-nim."

A thug glared angrily at his underling sitting on the front passenger seat of the car, and shifted his gaze back to a certain residence over yonder.

It was a two-story private home standing all by itself in a rather deserted suburb, as if the owners wanted to avoid crowded areas.

That place belonged to Detective Seong Jin-Woo.

The thug had it confirmed it multiple times before coming here, so he was sure of it.

"Because of that son of a b*tch Seong Jin-Woo, our organisation got obliterated into thin air. We got hurt real bad by the b*stard, so isn't it only fair that we leave an everlasting mark on him to balance the books??"

"You're right, hyung-nim."

The three underlings replied in a unanimous voice.

Very good.

"Listen well. We are a quartet of common house robbers now. As for the wife and the son of that detective, they got killed by the robbers breaking into their home in the middle of the day. Do you get my drift?"

"Yes, hyung-nim."

A sinister grin formed on the lips of the man they all referred to as 'hyung-nim'.

To think, such a massive house didn't have a single security system – wasn't that exactly like declaring to the world 'Come and swallow us up' while washing their necks?

Indeed, it was a miracle that the house hadn't been burgled yet.

"Stop shaking in your boots and don't make any mistakes."

The thug scanned his underlings and they nodded their heads.

"Let's go."

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

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!

Only four legs landed back on the ground.

'….Where are the other two?!'

The thug hurriedly looked at the only remaining underling next to him. The latter shook his head.

Four jumped over the wall, yet only two landed back on the ground? What a bizarrely weird thing this was!

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.

'These sons of b*tches, seriously now…!!'

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!

Thankfully, Beru's hearing could pick up on the calm, rhythmic breathing of the young lord in the nursery. With a pair of satisfied eyes, he looked diagonally down to his side. The thug caught in his arms was trembling like a lone leaf in the wind.

"Euph…. euph, euphhhh!!"

There it was, that familiar light in the eyes.

The familiar emotion.

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.

"What do you think?"

The Elder proudly presented the 'Divine Liege' statue.

This stone statue with their liege's countenance boasted such a humongous scale that, in order to look at its top, one's neck might develop a sprain if one carelessly tilted their head back.

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 as you commanded, Marshal-nim. There it is, on the left shoulder…."

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.

The father and his son.

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.

Such certainty prompted Beru to roar out in laughter.

[Kkiiihehehehehet~!!]

Following after the rejoicing Beru, the bearded Dwarves and ant soldiers also burst out into loud peals of laughter.

Wah-hahahahaha!!

"Kkyah-hah!"

He suddenly heard a cheerful cry of a toddler mixed among the raucous laughter.

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…..

Should he say, like father, like son?

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!]

Chapter 265 Fin.

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Only I Level Up Recollections/After Stories

Part 2: Until we meet again

"Thank you for coming in, Miss Cha."

"Ah, yes. Hello."

Hae-In stepped across the doorway of the kindergarten headmistress's office with a tense expression on her face.

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 preschool educational institution suddenly called her up, asking her to come for a meeting today. Hae-In was really worried that maybe something happened to Soo-Hoh, or her son did something wrong.

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.

The middle-aged headmistress could fully understand what Hae-In was going through right now. That was why she worked hard to find the gentlest voice she could come up with in order to not worsen the other party's anxiety.

"It's not something to be that anxious over, Miss Cha. It's just that…. We have a few questions we'd like to ask you."

"Ah, yes. Please."

Hae-In nodded her head repeatedly with a hardened expression. The headmistress cautiously pushed forward a sketchbook.

"Here…. Would you take a look at this, please?"

Hae-In picked the book up as the headmistress continued on.

"It contains drawings by your son, Soo-Hoh."

The white paper within said book featured a rather-cute looking 'ant' as drawn by a little child's hands.

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.

"What's the matter with this drawing….?"

The headmistress hesitated slightly before letting a soft sigh escape from her lips. She then began explaining herself.

"The class teacher-nim asked the children to draw their close 'friends', you see."

"….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."

Hae-In flipped one more page.

There was a drawing of a humanoid figure with a strip of red plumage attached to his head while holding what was clearly a sword, no matter who saw it.

'Igrit….'

Hae-In instantly recognised the protagonist of the drawing and slowly held her forehead with one hand. He might look like a trustworthy knight to those who knew him, but how would this situation look like in the eyes of strangers?

Her head began aching just from thinking about that.

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.

The headmistress interpreted Hae-In's speechless expression the wrong way and spoke in a worried voice.

"The next drawing is what Soo-Hoh drew as his family portrait."

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.

Soo-Hoh grew up from his toddler days surrounded by the Shadow Soldiers and he must've thought of them as his extended family now.

'This is how we look like in Soo-Hoh's eyes.'

Hae-In thought that this drawing contained her son's innocent but warm gaze, and her nose stung with emotions.

The class teachers couldn't understand the meaning behind these drawings and fell into a rather considerable amount of panic and came to the conclusion that there must've been some sort of a problem with Soo-Hoh.

And of course, that included the headmistress herself, the person responsible for asking Hae-In to stop by at the kindergarten today.

The middle-aged lady formed a pretty grave expression as she spoke.

"The final page contains Soo-Hoh's drawing of his 'home'. And the reason why I requested you for today's meeting, as well."

What kind of a drawing would it be this time? With a pair of nervous eyes, Cha Hae-In flipped to the last page.

There was a cosy little house.

A normal-looking house was standing erect in the middle of some land.

The problem with this depiction was that the ground below was completely painted black.

Over 70 percent of the sketchbook's real estate was dominated by the black colour.

"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."

The headmistress pointed to the black portion of the drawing and spoke in a calm voice.

"The homeroom teacher-nim asked Soo-Hoh why he drew the lower half of the house like this, and the boy replied that that's where his friends, his family, as well as his giant 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….

"By any chance, do you know why Soo-Hoh is drawing these sorts of images?"

….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."

The headmistress nodded her head as if she understood the situation.

Initially, the kindergarten was fearful that Soo-Hoh was being mistreated at home, but they couldn't find any evidence of abuse from the boy's jovial, good-natured behaviour he displayed every day.

Although rare, things like this did happen occasionally – young kids drawing the world as they see it through their eyes.

"Maybe… It's possible that Soo-Hoh possesses a great talent for art."

The headmistress convinced herself with this and smiled gently.

Hae-In stopped forming a gloomy expression, now that she knew the source of today's 'trouble', and smiled awkwardly, as well.

"Ah, yes. Yes."

What a relief that it was not a huge matter. She could finally relax a bit.

However, these drawings weren't the end of the headmistress's business today. She again deliberated on whether she should speak of this or not, before coming to a difficult decision and raised her head.

The look in her eyes was far graver than when she presented those drawings.

"Miss Cha, actually…. There is something else I'd like to speak to you about."

In the Central Region's Violent Crimes Unit.

After the results of the promotion examination had been announced, excited voices began resounding out and filled up the Unit's office.

"Senior-nim, congratulations on your promotion!"

"Congratulations!"

"You should buy us all a round, don't you agree, Senior-nim? No, hang on, Seong Superintendent-nim?"

Jin-Woo had to spend quite some time being surrounded by the rest of the Unit's detectives, and was only able to extricate himself after his partner, Lee Seh-Hwan, finally showed up.

"Hyung-nim, shall we get going?"

"Yeah."

Leaving behind the congratulatory words coming from here and there, Jin-Woo and his beaming smile escaped from the office.

Enough time had passed and Lee Seh-Hwan himself was a veteran detective now. He quickly congratulated his much-respected senior.

"Hyung-nim, congrats."

Jin-Woo used a wordless smile to sub for his reply.

He and Lee Seh-Hwan shared jovial banter as they walked side by side, but then, the younger detective cautiously scanned his surroundings before sticking real close to his senior.

"By the way, hyung-nim…. Why did you accept the promotion this time? I mean, whenever the brass pleaded with you to move up the career ladder, you always refused them, so why now?"

Jin-Woo looked at Seh-Hwan from the corners of his eyes with a look that said, "What's so important about that?" before breaking out into a smirk as he replied.

"I ran out of excuses for my refusal, you see."

Seh-Hwan laughed out loud at that rather remarkable answer.

"You're truly amazing, hyung-nim. I'm telling you."

Although what he said sounded like a joke, Jin-Woo wasn't joking here. Of course, Seh-Hwan knew that, too.

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 Jin-Woo was left with no choice but to accept the examination result.

"Hyung-nim, don't you have any goals or wants? I mean, like, better position or making lots of money, that sort of things."

Money, was it?

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.

'Well, they've really become distant memories now, haven't they…'

He could swim in the reminiscence of the past for only a short while, though. As he was about to climb into the car with Seh-Hwan, his phone began ringing loudly, so he pulled it out to take a look.

'Mm?'

The call was from Hae-in.

After talking on the phone, Jin-Woo returned home earlier than usual, and after checking out Soo-Hoh's drawings, could only chuckle softly.

"I had no idea that our son had such a wonderful talent in art."

Amongst them, the drawing of Beru especially caught his eyes. There should be no other five-year-old child that can draw an ant this wonderfully in the world.

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.

"It's not a laughing matter, you know? Take a look at the very last page."

"The last page?"

The last page in question contained Soo-Hoh's final piece, named 'My home'.

"Soo-Hoh said that the black ground is where his giant father is, so can you think of…. Why are you smiling?"

"N-no, well, it's just that I remembered something funny. That's all."

Jin-Woo recalled the 'Divine Liege' statue standing in the middle of the 'territory of eternal rest' and couldn't hold back his laughter anymore. Tears even began sneaking out of his eyes, so he quickly wiped them off and closed the sketchbook.

Wouldn't it be fine to let this slide with a simple chuckle? Expressions containing such thoughts flitted in and out of Jin-Woo's face. Hae-In let a soft sigh out and relayed what the headmistress had told her earlier in the day.

"Other kids are apparently scared of Soo-Hoh."

A little bit of the smile on Jin-Woo's face went away, then.

"Other kids?"

Hae-In nodded her head with a worried expression before continuing on with her explanation.

"Their complexions change badly whenever Soo-Hoh tries to get close to them. Even when he has never bullied or shouted at them, but still."

Now that was not something he could gloss over. Jin-Woo's expression hardened. The previous smile was long gone now. The thing he was worried about had really happened.

'Children are….'

Young children were incomparably purer than adults. And he wasn't simply talking about their immature way of looking at things.

No, it was about the 'purity' of their senses.

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.

'The power of the Shadow Sovereign….'

It became Jin-Woo's, and that fact prevented it from becoming a full-blown calamity, but that was about it.

In reality, this power was a horrifying weapon that the 'God of another realm' hid inside its most loyal soldier in order to destroy everything it had created.

If the powers of the Shadow Sovereign he didn't mean to give to his son continued to grow within Soo-Hoh, then….

'….It'll be impossible to carry on with a normal life.'

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.

And most of those photos were shot alongside Shadow Soldiers.

Soo-Hoh and his bright smile, as he rode on Beru's shoulders and energetically yanking on the ant king's two antennae.

Soo-Hoh busy escaping from Igrit who volunteered to become the boy's home-school tutor, and then, Soo-Hoh busy performing a mock duel with Bellion using his toy sword.

There were so many others.

Jin-Woo quietly began storing them away in the subspace, one by one.

"Dear….?"

"Until Soo-Hoh can live among other people without any issues, I… I'm planning to temporarily seal away Soo-Hoh's powers and his memories of the Shadow Soldiers."

Soo-Hoh had to learn it.

He needed to learn how to coexist among regular people like a normal person, rather than with Shadow Soldiers.

Until then….

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.

However, the Sovereign's decision was resolute. Realising that there was no way to change his liege's mind, Beru's head drooped to the ground.

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…?]

'It's you, drawn by Soo-Hoh.'

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.

[My liege…. May I be permitted to say goodbye to the young Lord?]

Nod.

After receiving Jin-Woo's permission, Beru cautiously entered Soo-Hoh's room.

Creak….

The soft, rhythmic breathing of the deeply-asleep Soo-Hoh was like the sweetest and most soothing music to the former ant king's ears. He knelt down cautiously next to the bed, so as to not rouse the sleeping child from his nap.

[My Lord…. On behalf of all the Shadow Soldiers, I shall bid you farewell.]

His voice gently reverberated as if it was spoken within the dreams. In his sleep, Soo-Hoh shifted his body towards the location of the voice and mumbled softly.

"Boss ant…. boss ant…."

With an expression showing how proud he was of Soo-Hoh now being able to pronounce 'ant' more concisely compared to when the child was still chasing after him a couple of years ago, Beru bade his goodbye.

[It has been my honour to serve you, my Lord. Until we meet again next time, I pray for your good health….]

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…]

[Please be healthy, my Lord.]

[Sobbbb, sniff, waaaail, waaah….]

With the goodbyes now over, Beru looked behind him. Jin-Woo was there, nodding his head.

He wordlessly walked over to his son and carefully pulled the blanket up to the boy's chest, tucking him in. Then, he placed his palm on the sleeping child's forehead. Powerful magical energy very briefly hovered near his fingertips before leaving him behind.

When Soo-Hoh opens his eyes again, all of his extraordinary power and memories would be gone.

'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.

Chapter 266 Fin.

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Only I Level Up Recollections/After Stories

Part 3: Approach

Spin, spin….

The radar of a boy named Lee Eun-Cheol, a recent addition to the ranks of high school students, began spinning around.

A brand new school, a new classroom, and new classmates.

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 sharing casual booze with his other friends, too.

"You were also here?"

"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.

Jo Seong-Ho had heard the infamy of Lee Eun-Cheol plenty of times before, so he lowered his head first and got under the latter's wings.

"Take care of me from now on, alright?"

Lee Eun-Cheol smirked deeply and grasped Jo Seong-Ho's extended hand. They might be in the process of establishing their hierarchical positioning at the moment, but a guy like this would be classified as a 'friend'.

And so, as he was about halfway done with establishing the hierarchical relationship with the rest of the class, there was this one guy who kept getting on Lee Eun-Cheol's nerves for some reason.

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.

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."

After confirming that it was Jo Seong-Ho that grabbed hold of his wrist, Lee Eun-Cheol opened his mouth.

"What now?"

There were distinct signs of displeasure thickly melted into the voice, and that caused Jo Seong-Ho to nervously swallow his dry saliva.

"We went to the same middle school. If you can help it, you shouldn't bother him."

"…..Same school?"

Just because they went to the same school, he was trying to protect the punk?

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.

Or, they were looking down on Lee Eun-Cheol.

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?"

Jo Seong-Ho's complexion paled really quickly and tried to jump in front to stop this. Lee Eun-Cheol's patience ran out then and he slapped the latter's hand away while shooting a fierce glare.

"You, come with me."

As Lee Eun-Cheol left the classroom, two of his underlings that graduated from the same middle school followed after him, too. He stopped right at the doorway and looked back. His eyes caught Jo Seong-Ho sweating buckets, while the 'punk' didn't seem to care one jot either way.

Grit.

A chilling murderous aura filled up Lee Eun-Cheol's eyes.

"Keo-heok!"

Jo Seong-Ho and his messed-up face were tottering unsteadily on his feet. Maybe that didn't satisfy him yet, Lee Eun-Cheol's glare remained frigid and murderous.

He shoved Jo Seong-Ho against the wall before asking his question.

"Who the hell is that punk? Just who is he that you're trying to protect him?!"

The wounded boy breathed heavily and painfully before spitting out saliva mixed with traces of blood to the ground. He then raised his head, his expression one of fatigue.

"He was the strongest in our middle school."

Lee Eun-Cheol's head tilted to the side.

This kid, did he lose his mind after getting smacked around for a bit?

It was a well-known story that Jo Seong-Ho and his gang had completely conquered his middle school. However, he shook his head and emphasized his point.

"We couldn't even lay a hand on that guy. I stepped forward today, cuz I was scared that something might go wrong here, too."

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.

'This son of a b*tch… He's being serious?'

But, that couldn't be.

If there was a scary b*stard like that, then there was just no way that a rumour wouldn't have gotten around.

The name of the punk in question was Seong Soo-Hoh.

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!

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.

However, what Jo Seong-Ho truly feared was something else.

It was around the time when he was silently enduring against the barrage of violent attacks from Lee Eun-Cheol. He discovered 'that'.

The thug stopped throwing punches only after spotting that Jo Seong-Ho's eyes had grown super-large from surprise. He turned around to look behind him.

From the distance, that nerd was leisurely strolling towards here.

Jo Seong-Ho dropped his head lower as if he didn't want to meet the gaze of the one walking closer and spoke in a quiet murmur.

"Just… apologise to him. That's my serious advice to you."

"This stupid son of a b*tch…!"

Lee Eun-Cheol grabbed the back of Jo Seong-Ho's hair to shake the boy's head around, but the latter simply kept his mouth shut. Just as the former was about to spit out another round of abusive words…

The source of the problem itself, Soo-Hoh, finally stood before them.

Maybe it was because of Jo Seong-Ho's prior warning? Even Lee Eun-Cheol, who would attack first and ask questions later quickly took a couple of steps back and warily glared at Soo-Hoh.

Although not short, when compared to either himself or Jo Seong-Hoh, this nerd wasn't all that tall. His physique also seemed exceedingly ordinary.

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.

The more he looked, the less Lee Eun-Cheol believed Jo Seong-Ho's words.

Utterly ignoring the bullies, Soo-Hoh stepped closer to Jo Seong-Ho and studied the latter's messed-up face.

"Tsk, tsk."

The sounds of tutting automatically leaked out from his mouth as if he felt rather rueful about this matter. Soo-Hoh then addressed the boy.

"Hey, Seong-Ho."

"…..Yeah."

"Let's pretend that you also did this. I mean, this much is already enough for self-defence, right?"

Jo Seong-Ho unhesitatingly nodded his head.

"Okay, let's do that."

What were they trying to pretend here?

Lee Eun-Cheol listened to this exchange with a puzzled expression etched on his face, but that soon morphed into an angry scowl.

"Oii."

As he reached out to grab Soo-Hoh's shoulder to turn the nerd around, a sudden flash of light blinked right in front of Lee Eun-Cheol's eyes.

Thud!

The unconscious Lee Eun-Cheol fell hard to the ground. Almost at the same time, the two underlings guarding the leader's back also blacked out, as well.

Thud, thud!!

'What a scary b*stard….'

Jo Seong-Ho could only watch on in utter disbelief. If it weren't for his excellent dynamic vision honed through exercises and training, then he'd not have seen those stunning movements.

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.

Back when he 'mistakenly' tried to get Seong Soo-Hoh riled up, he ended up wondering whether such power could actually belong to a human being or not.

But after that, his middle school life became quite stress-free, contrary to his initial expectations.

While looking at the collapsed and unmoving Lee Eun-Cheol and his gang, Jo Seong-Ho scratched the back of his head.

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.

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….'

Once more, another notch had been added to his records of victories.

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.

"Now that things have come to this…. Well, I'll be in your care in this place too, alright?"

Jo Seong-Ho sheepishly scratched his cheek before wordlessly shaking the offered hand.

Well… It wasn't such a bad trade, this.

"Wow, Jo Seong-Ho took on those three?"

"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."

Thanks to the news of Lee Eun-Cheol and his goons getting shipped off to a hospital, the atmosphere of the entire classroom had become rather heated real fast.

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.

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.

For some reason, yawns kept threatening to break out so he was having a hard time suppressing them.

'….I'm bored.'

Indeed, he felt bored, restless.

Recently, he often yawned for no discernible reason and felt bored more frequently than ever before.

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."

Soo-Hoh remained disinterested as he continued to stare outside 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.

"The friend saving you came back looking like that, so aren't you going to go and say hello, at the least?"

"…..I already did."

"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….'

The sun was creeping closer to the horizon.

The school day was finally over.

While everyone was hurriedly trying to escape from this institution of learning, only Soo-Hoh remained standing by the window to look at the athletics field outside.

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.

It'd be a relief if the story ended there. If the news of his mom getting angry reached his father's ears…..

'Euk, d*mn it. I imagined what would happen to me.'

Soo-Hoh was overcome with a nasty case of goosebumps and hurriedly shook his head. Just how old would his father have to be before he wasn't so scary anymore?

Seriously now, he got this sneaking suspicion that, even if his father ended up becoming an old man, Soo-Ho would still never win against him.

He shuddered once more and quickly headed to the rear door of the classroom. But, when he tried to open it….

'The door…. doesn't want to open?'

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.

'What's going on?'

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.

Now thoroughly shocked, he quickly ran to the window and took a look outside. That was when a truly unbelievable spectacle manifested itself before his eyes.

Every single student leaving through the school gates; students exercising on the field, cars passing on the road, pedestrians walking on the pavement, and even the kicked ball flying in the air…..

….Everything had come to a dead stop.

'But, how can something like this be….?!'

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.

Soo-Hoh retreated from the windows and while taking hurried steps backwards, he tried very hard to figure out what was going on in his head.

And that's when 'it' appeared.

Soo-Hoh's head snapped towards the black circular 'hole' that appeared out of nowhere at the back of the classroom. It was no bigger than the size of a volleyball, but it rapidly grew larger and larger until it was big enough for a single person to walk through.

It was basically a doorway of darkness, so dark that it felt like he was being sucked in.

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.

Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump.

His agitated heart was pounding away in exhilaration.

Maybe.

Just maybe, it was possible that he was waiting for something like this for a long, long time.

'Mom said that I resemble my dad all the time, doesn't she?'

If it was his father, then… What would he have done?

The answer was pretty obvious, though.

Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump….

Because his pounding heart was already making his legs move.

Soo-Hoh stood before the 'Gate' and touched its surface.

Bzzz…. Bzz…

Although there were some sparks of electricity, he didn't feel any pain. No, he felt so much better instead, as if he was returning to his hometown that he had to leave behind a long time ago.

There was this strange, vague sense of deja vu as if he had already entered a place like this one before.

Soo-Hoh slowly but carefully regulated his breathing. His wildly-beating heart finally regained some calmness and the inside of his head seemed to clear up.

'Good.'

A brief flash of a grin formed on his face.

And then, he jumped inside the 'Gate' without a moment's hesitation.

Chapter 267 Fin.

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Only I Level Up Recollections/After Stories

Part 4: Forward! Forward!

Soo-Hoh walked through the tunnel-like darkness and after emerging from it, took a look around himself. He was now in a passageway of an ancient-looking structure.

The only source of light illuminating this place was a lit torch on one of the walls.

'What is this place….?'

Because of the low lighting conditions, his eyes narrowed to a slit so that he could get a better look at his vicinity.

The way back… was blocked off.

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.

'So, there is no other way besides forward, huh?'

The flames of the torch wavered around. He took it off the wall and illuminated his front.

When he did….

"Wow."

He was greeted by the sight of weapons arranged neatly on display on either side of the passageway.

A longsword, shortswords, a bow, a spear, a mace, etc….

A truly vast array of weapons were endlessly stacked against the walls in this still darkness, as if to wait for their rightful owner to come and pick them up.

Soo-Hoh dazedly looked at them before swallowing back his saliva.

What could possibly be the reason for these weapons to be here? Well, it was rather obvious, wasn't it?

'I need to choose….'

His gaze became far more circumspect than ever before.

He didn't know why he was transferred to this place, but if his guess was right and the exit was at the end of this passage, then the weapon he chose right now would serve as a trustworthy companion on his journey.

But, something felt weird.

Why did it feel like his senses were being enhanced?

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.

As he observed each weapon on display, Soo-Hoh's eyes shone from the light of excitement.

'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.

After putting the torch back up on the wall behind him, he cautiously put 'them' on both of his hands.

Clank, clank.

They were a pair of steel gauntlets that fit him snugly as if they had been crafted with him in mind. Unlike other weapons that required some amount of familiarity in order to effectively use them, his two fists were without a doubt, the most familiar and most powerful weapon he possessed.

'This is it.'

As if he found the gauntlets greatly to his liking, he began folding his outstretched fingers one by one again and again.

When he was done fooling around…

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.

A corridor resembling a secret pathway of an ancient castle seemed to stretch on forever and ever towards the other end.

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.

But, his gaze lingered on only for a brief moment.

'….Who'd use weapons that look so weak?'

For some reason, that pair of shortswords looked saddened somehow as Soo-Hoh's cautious steps left them behind in the darkness.

Soo-Hoh carefully tread through the corridor.

"Is anyone here?"

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.

And so, just how long did he walk like this?

It wouldn't be too surprising to get worn out by being continuously vigilant like this, but Soo-Hoh still kept his senses ultra-sharp and didn't let up his wary observation of the surroundings.

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.

'Am I in some kind of a basement of a medieval castle or something?'

His curiosity on where he was and why he was summoned here grew greater and greater the longer he advanced forward.

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 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.

"What the hell??"

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.

Boom!! Bang! Kwang!!

His gauntlets soon issued several urgent, thunderous booms, and not too long afterwards, the suit of armour with its helmet destroyed stopped moving altogether.

"Pant, pant, pant….."

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.

And sure enough…

Clank, clink!

Accompanied by the chorus of metallic joints creaking and groaning, the suits of armour began descending from the platforms one by one. The various weapons held in their hands seemed to glow in chilling grey under the light.

"Ah…"

….Maybe I should've selected that mace?

Soo-Hoh swallowed back the small waves of regret rushing in and clenched his fists tightly. It was around that time that the suits of armour rushed his position.

BOOM!

When he brought down the very last suit of armour, he got to hear that announcement again.

[Level up!]

[Current level: 19.]

"Fuu…."

Soo-Hoh bent down and exhaled a large gulping of air before raising his body up again. Every time he heard that message, all of his fatigue seemed to get washed away in full. That wasn't the only change, though.

After regaining control over his breathing, he threw a straight jab in the empty air.

Shuuuck-!!

His fist flew out like a bullet. Not only that, his entire body was overflowing with this unexplainable power.

"I get it now."

It was simpler than he thought.

If he defeated these living suits of armour, then his level would go up, and the higher his level got, the stronger he'd get, too. And quite obviously, he'd be able to bring these monsters down much more easily as a result.

Simple, yet a powerful perpetual cycle, indeed.

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.

Unfortunately, every road had an end.

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.

That was why he felt rueful about levelling up even more.

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….

The heavy-looking door opened up.

The sight of a huge room resembling a castle's audience chamber greeted him next.

As he followed along the rows of pillars set at a close interval on either side of him, he soon arrived at the deepest part of this chamber where a tall throne stood proudly above a raised plinth.

Soo-Hoh was frozen stiff with nervousness in an instant.

Because there was another monster suit of armour sitting on the throne. But he felt a strength on another dimension altogether from this b*stard compared to other monsters he encountered so far.

'That's it….'

The existence that emitted a goosebumps-inducing aura he felt outside the door, it was precisely this guy. The 'monster' slowly got up and took one step at a time to descend the stairs below the throne.

It was a black knight.

The knight boasting a strand of red plumage attached to its helm finally made its way down to the ground. Just the faint aura emitted from that creature made his skin tingle and shiver from nervousness.

However, Soo-Hoh began smiling for some reason. An electrifying sensation thrilling enough to make all the hair on his body stand up wrapped around his entire being.

Shurung….

The knight began unsheathing his sword.

'I'll attack first before that sword is fully drawn out.'

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 from the sword swung by the creature just then.

"….Uh??"

That bright, blinding light filled up his view.

"Heok!!"

Soo-Hoh hurriedly raised his body up.

Still incredibly tense, he scanned his surroundings but he failed to see the black knight anywhere. No, he wasn't even in the same chamber where that monster was.

Somehow, he was teleported back to the starting point.

'What the heck was that?!'

He lost all strength on his legs and plopped down on the ground.

'I thought I was really going to die.'

He felt deeply spooked when recalling the moments of the black knight unsheathing its sword. He really, really thought that was the end for him.

"Besides all that, do I need to cross this corridor again?"

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.

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.

Not one of them could be called a coincidence.

Soo-Hoh had a moment of epiphany just then.

'It's not that I was going to die, but…'

There was no such concept as either pain or death inside this strange place, but those blue flames substituted for his remaining opportunities.

If all three flames went out, then…. For now, it was hard for him to imagine what kind of a result waited for him.

'In that case….'

….I gotta be more meticulous.

The glare in Soo-Hoh's eyes grew even more vigilant compared to the first attempt.

One more time. But he'd not mess up his chance this time around.

Boom!

He made up his mind as he blew away the monster suit of armour busy pouncing on him.

"Uwaaaah-!! Uwaah!!"

Finding himself forcibly returned to the starting point once more, 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.

He was just p*ssed off by the fact that he ended up throwing away yet another chance. He pounded on the ground as tears formed on his eyes. That's how deeply he felt hurt right now.

After he somehow calmed the raging firestorm in his heart, he raised his head a bit to look, and to no one's surprise, the number of lit blue torches had decreased by one. Now, there was only one remaining.

'That black knight, he's just too powerful!!'

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!!"

Soo-Hoh rolled around on the ground once more.

He did that for a while. Eventually, he grew tired of doing that, so he stopped and leaned his back against the wall before shifting his gaze over to the corridor.

It was unknown just from where those suits were being summoned, but well, they had returned again and were manning their stations once more.

"Aren't you guys sick and tired of this already?"

Soo-Hoh even felt happy to see those monster armours after seeing them for the third time like this.

"Hah-ah…."

He spat out a lengthy groan one after other, but then…

"….Uh?"

….A lightbulb went on in his head.

He raised his head and looked at the armours once more.

'When did those things reappear again?'

Initially, he figured that the monsters reappeared simply because he was sent back to the starting point. However, what if that was wrong and they regenerated after a certain period of time?

Ba-thump.

Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump….

A new ray of hope seemed to be within his reach.

'Okay, let's try it out.'

Soo-Hoh beat up the monster armours near the entrance and destroyed them before returning to the starting point. He sat down with his back leaning against the wall and observed for any potential changes to the monsters.

After some time had passed by…

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.

The sand suddenly gathered above the platforms the monsters used to stand and transformed back into the suits of armour.

"Yeees!"

Soo-Hoh clenched his fists real tightly.

Finally, he found the right answer.

The only existences that could aid him with his levelling up thankfully respawned after a fixed period of time.

Didn't that mean he should crazily level up by smashing these monsters apart until he could actually follow the movements of that horrifying black knight?

A grin floated up on Soo-Hoh's face as he stood back up.

Funnily enough, the monster armours flinched ever so slightly after they saw the figurative sparks of flame burning within his eyes.

Level 70.

No matter how many times he hunted these monsters down, his level didn't want to rise beyond that. However, this should be more than enough.

Blackish aura was slowly rising up Soo-Hoh's shoulders. He didn't know what these strands of black smoke might be, but he could tell one thing for sure.

And that would be the fact that his body was currently overflowing with this incredible energy he found hard to fully control yet.

He unhesitatingly pushed open the door to the chamber where the black knight was waiting for. Unlike the first two fights, the monster kindly came to greet him by the door's vicinity.

Soo-Hoh grinned deeply.

"Were you waiting for long?"

Rather than a verbal answer, the black knight unsheathed his sword, instead. For some reason, it felt as if this knight was smiling.

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.

"Now, it's my turn."

Chapter 268 Fin.

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Only I Level Up Recollections/After Stories

Part 5: Conclusion

(TL: One more chapter to go!)

There were around 30 metres between him and the b*stard.

'….Let's do this.'

Soo-Hoh concentrated and in an instant, the flow of time around him seemed to slow down to a crawl, allowing him to see and discover all those little things he hadn't noticed before.

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'.

'So, that's what it was!!'

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.

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!

The distance between them disappeared in the next instance.

Kwa-du-duk!

Soo-Hoh clenched his gauntlet-covered fist tightly.

'Now you are in my range.'

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.

While inwardly thanking the level up system that pushed his abilities to such an incredible height, Soo-Hoh punched forward, hard.

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.

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…

He realised belatedly that there was a stone pillar behind him.

'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.

'Could he have…. that attack was meant to force me into this very area?'

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.

He then took a powerful step forward.

Soo-Hoh managed to reduce the distance between him and his opponent to zero before swinging his fist one more time. This attack landed squarely on the black knight's chest.

Kwa-boom!!!

Now normally, the knight should've been flung away by the force, but he crashed into the pillar behind him instead, and the structure's surface cracked up grandly.

What a shocking destructive power that was.

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-!!

The black knight, no, Igrit continued to sigh in admiration inwardly as he blocked and deflected Soo-Hoh's non-stop barrage of attacks, which kind of reminded him of his liege's skill.

'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!!

The sword barely withstanding against Soo-Hoh's blunt attacks finally broke while issuing a loud noise.

That was the end.

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.

Soo-Hoh cautiously poked the slumped black knight before finally releasing his tightly-held breath.

"Hah-ah!!"

He won.

He fought and won against a powerful enemy that he thought he could never win against in the beginning. Joy began welling up from the deepest part of his chest like a tidal wave.

However, rather different from his expectations, there wasn't all that much of a change.

'Maybe… this isn't the end?'

He slowly looked around his surroundings and belatedly discovered that, in the distance, a brand new Gate had been generated by the foot of the stairs leading up to the tall throne.

His eyes grew super-large.

It was the exit!

He didn't know why he ended up in this place, but still, he couldn't help but smile brightly after realising that this bizarre adventure was about to come to its conclusion.

Soo-Hoh hurriedly ran towards the black hole in happiness and threw himself inside. Just like back when he was entering this place, he passed through a long tunnel of darkness, and after opening his eyes…..

"Kkkiiieeehk!"

"Khhiigegegek!"

….He found human-sized ant humanoid monsters busy screeching out here and there.

"Pant, pant, what kind of ants are this crazy?!"

Soo-Hoh looked down in utter disbelief at the unmoving corpses of ant monsters he managed to defeat just now.

For some reason, he liked ants from a young age so he always cautiously avoided lines of worker ants if he happened to come across one so that he wouldn't step on them by mistake. But now, he felt rather remorseful of his past actions.

That was how powerful and obstinate these ant monsters were. Those armour monsters couldn't even be compared to these guys at all.

'Still, if I were to look for the silver lining in all of this, then….'

His level that seemed to have gotten stuck began climbing up quickly again after he hunted these ant monsters down.

Sha-shak, sha-shak…

He could hear the shuffling footsteps of the ant monsters coming from somewhere. Soo-Hoh was successful in regaining control over his heavy breathing by then. He tightly clenched his fists and got ready.

Kwa-du-duk!

"Khiieck!"

"Kahk!"

Remembering the lessons learned during his battle against the black knight, Soo-Hoh made sure to focus on raising his level higher by clearing out every single nook and cranny of this cavern.

And so, screams of ant monsters continued to resound out from all corners of this complicated cavern system with a maze-like layout.

How long did he roam around this cavern in this fashion?

'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.

As it turned out, it was a giant, open chamber. An empty space, in other words.

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.

'Just how big is the master of this place that it has to be this large?'

Just as he began to get worried ever so slightly….

He finally discovered a humanoid ant monster with its back turned towards him. Unlike the others he fought so far, though, this particular guy sported insect-like wings.

'Is that guy the only thing in this chamber?'

The overall atmosphere of this open space was rather similar to the one found in the chamber with the black knight. However, Soo-Hoh couldn't sense any sorts of power from that ant creature, which was quite different from the knight boss of before.

Was it powerful, or a weakling?

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!'

Soo-Hoh flinched and quickly took a step back.

It wasn't because he got scared, though. No, he just got surprised by the unfolding situation, that was all. But, it couldn't be helped, really. The thing was, the ant monster turning around was crying non-stop.

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, why did this happen?

It'd only be normal to feel rather weirded out when looking at an insectoid creature the size of a grown man standing on two feet while thick teardrops fell from its eyes.

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.

As if it was trying to get a hold of its emotions, the ant monster wiped the tears away with the backs of its hands.

'Oh my god….'

Meanwhile, Soo-Hoh was stunned by the incredible power oozing out from his new opponent and inadvertently sneaked a look down at the hair on his arms standing up.

This ant, it was on another scale altogether compared to other ants or that black knight he fought so far. His entire body began shuddering.

'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.

Its body had ballooned up to over double that of its previous size and then, it screeched out a horrifying cry next.

[Kiiiiiieeeeehhhk!]

What a relief it was.

Indeed, there was no other way to say it than what a relief.

While lying on the ground completely exhausted, Soo-Hoh continued to think that way.

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…."

While goading and twisting his aching body, Soo-Hoh pushed himself up. As his reward for bringing down a powerful enemy, a new Gate had been generated over yonder.

Before leaving, he confirmed his current level.

[Level: 99]

His level stopped climbing at 99. Now, normally, most games would treat '99' as the max level attainable.

'I'm sure I can go home for real now.'

Soo-Hoh's heart pounded away noisily as his expectations grew. He then gladly jumped into the awaiting Gate. And when he opened his eyes….

"Mm? Mmmm??"

"Growl….."

….He got to discover giants and dragons filling up his view, as far as his eyes could see.

"Hah…"

It was the case of 'one mountain after another'.

While making figurative mountains out of the corpses of giants and dragons, Soo-Hoh continued down the path laid out on this seemingly-endless plains.

His level remained stuck in 99.

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.

A short while later, he discovered yet another black knight guarding the end of the path.

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.

It was incredibly powerful. So much so that, it must've been far stronger than the winged ant monster he fought earlier. However….

'….That guy isn't my real opponent.'

Soo-Hoh was sure of this.

Why? Because, a certain existence that made him think that it was the real deal was flying silently in the air above his head, that was why.

Soo-Hoh picked up on that figure's enormous presence and raised his head high. When he did…

[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!!

Soo-Hoh swallowed nervously.

'That guy's the real deal….'

The unknown figure, his face hidden behind the hoodie pulled down low, emitted this intense pressure that even made breathing difficult.

When he made his descent, the black knight stopped unsheathing his sword and took several steps back as if to say that he'd not participate in the upcoming fight anymore.

'I knew it, the real enemy is this guy.'

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!"

He tried to engage the mysterious figure in conversation, but the lips visible below the hoodie only maintained a simple grin, choosing not to return any verbal replies.

"Argh, seriously man…."

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….'

This could very well be the final hurdle.

As long as he could defeat that man, he'd be able to go home.

When that conclusion popped up in his head, Soo-Hoh's body moved instinctively.

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!!

While feeling the explosive beatings of his heart…

Taht! Taht! Taht!!

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.

Within this distance that none could possibly dodge an attack, a fist that couldn't be withstood even if blocked flew straight into the mystery man's face.

Too bad, the man only had to lean his head back slightly and easily let the attack slide by him.

It happened then.

Inside this world of slowed-down time, Soo-Hoh got to see the uncovered face of the man, revealed for a brief moment under the hood.

"….Dad?!"

The mystery man smirked gently.

"Still too early."

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.

The boy squeezed his eyes shut.

And soon, the light completely blinded him.

"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.

He wiped the cold sweat pooled on his forehead.

'What a weird-a*s dream that was.'

Did I play way too many games or something?

After wandering around lost inside a strange dungeon, he ended up running into his own father as its final boss….

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.

He wanted to break this awkward atmosphere somehow, so he started talking to her first.

"Uhm, weren't you supposed to go home?"

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.

"I'm supposed to do the classroom duty this week, so… I gotta lock the doors first before leaving…."

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."

Around the same time.

Jin-Woo stood on the rooftop of the same school building alongside Beru and Igrit.

Igrit was the first to speak.

[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.

Jin-Woo replied with a grin on his lips.

"What would've happened if I tried to fight the Dragon Emperor from the get-go while believing in the powers that I possessed at that time?"

Igrit shook his head.

What Jin-Woo wanted to teach Soo-Hoh was precisely this. No matter how powerful one was, one should consider escaping when facing a situation where the victory wasn't a certainty.

It was not a sign of bravery to jump in head-long against a powerful enemy without a plan.

'Indeed, it's just a reckless, foolish bravado.'

Even when knowing that he couldn't win, Soo-Hoh still challenged Jin-Woo, regardless. His courage might be laudable, but from the perspective of his father, that was a rather worrisome result.

'Too early.

Right, it's still too early for him.

However, Soo-Hoh is a smart kid, so he'll soon figure it out.

He'll learn that he needs to adjust his powers according to the situation at hand.'

[Young Lord….]

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 lightly patted the shoulders of despondent Beru before walking closer to the guardrail to take a look at the school grounds below. He could see the back of his son leaving the school gate along with a female student from his class.

Jin-Woo rested his chin on his hands and watched Soo-Hoh walk further away, before a grin floated up on his face.

"It's been a while, so should I take my family out for dinner later today?"

Chapter 269 Fin.

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Only I Level Up Recollections/After Stories

Part 6: Goodbye

(TL: Here it is, the very last chapter.)

[The sibling conmen duo of Hwang Dong-Seok and his younger brother Hwang Dong-Su that caused an uproar in the country have been arrested earlier today….]

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.

"Uh? Hyung-nim, you're leaving already?"

"Yeah, I've got a prior arrangement to attend to, so I'll be going home early today."

"Yessir."

Jin-Woo replied with a smile towards his partner performing a playful salute and escaped from the office. Seh-Hwan watched his boss's back disappear from view and chuckled slightly while crossing his arms.

"It's so strange. Hyung-nim always goes home early on this day every single year…."

….Hang on a minute.

He shifted his gaze over to the calendar stuck on one of the walls and a certain thought popped up in his head.

"Ahh, so that's what it was. Today is…."

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.

Whenever that happened, Baek Yun-Ho also raised his thumb up as his reply.

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.

Baek Yun-Ho also felt deeply pleased about this outcome.

It was then.

"Ouch, that's cold."

He got startled by the sudden coldness touching his neck skin and took a look to his side to find Captain Seong Il-Hwan holding a bottle of ice-cold water.

"Thank you, sir."

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.

The veteran of a hundred battles.

Or, the greatest captain in history.

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.

Baek Yun-Ho was proud to be in the same crew as Seong Il-Hwan. Heck, all these bits of soot stuck on his face felt like medals of honour to him, even.

'One day, I….'

He sneaked a glance at his respected senior from the corners of his eyes, before pouring down the remaining cold water over his head.

"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.

The side profile of a face he saw back then!

"Captain!"

Seong Il-Hwan's eyes opened wider as he turned to look at his junior.

"Yeah?"

Baek Yun-Ho hurriedly carried on.

"You know, that the large-scale blaze in Daesung Building three years ago…. You still remember that, Captain? Our team got trapped in there and almost died, didn't we?"

"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.

This mystery man rescued the isolated firefighters before disappearing without a trace, leading some to question whether the folks that day saw a mass hallucination at the same time or not.

"Actually, I saw the side profile of that man for a brief moment before I passed out, you see."

"Oh, is that so?"

"Yes. But that guy looked so much like….."

Unfortunately, Baek Yun-Ho didn't get to finish what he wanted to say.

Because Seong Il-Hwan had ripped open a packet of bread he brought along with the water bottle and pushed the resulting chow in Baek Yun-Ho's mouth, that's why.

"Euph, euph??"

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.

And, as if to cool down the heads of the firefighters fatigued by all that heat, a gentle breeze blew in from somewhere and brushed past their hair, ever so softly.

Inside a conference chamber located on the top floor of a certain high-rise building.

"Chairman?"

"Sir, are you alright?"

Yu Jin-Ho barely managed to suppress the corners of his lips trying to rise up to the heavens above.

"Yes, I'm fine. Well, then. Let's continue…."

Yu Jin-Ho fished through the documents placed in front of him before raising his head up to see the faces of his employees filling up the conference chamber. He formed an embarrassed grin and asked them a question.

"Uhm, what were we talking about just now?"

The expressions of these employees hardened for a short while after they all realised that their boss hadn't heard a thing they were talking about for the past 30 minutes of the meeting.

However, they calmed themselves and got the meeting going again.

"Sir, we were informing you that we need to come up with a new title for the virtual reality video game our company is about to publish."

"Ah, that's right. Right."

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.

"Everyone, my wife is pregnant!! It's already the sixth week, apparently!!"

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!!"

"Finally, our Chairman has become a father!"

Yu Jin-Ho did a lap around the conference chamber and high-fived all of his employees jumping up and down in joy as if this news concerned themselves.

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!!'

During the middle of his lap of celebration, Yu Jin-Ho had a moment of sudden, powerful inspiration. He climbed up on the conference table and confidently made a declaration to his employees.

"The Beautiful World!!!"

Quite obviously, the gazes of all the employees gathered on him.

"Excuse me?"

As they began doubting their ears, Yu Jin-Ho oh-so courteously proved that their hearing wasn't faulty.

"That will be the title of our new game! Let's go with the "Beautiful World'!!"

The joy-filled conference chamber was enveloped in a sudden bout of silence.

"….Are you serious, sir?"

Yu Jin-Ho replied without a moment's hesitation.

"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??"

The employees began to tussle with Yu Jin-Ho desperately in order to pull him off the top of the conference table. In the midst of his struggle, his gaze inadvertently shifted outside the window.

'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.

"Sir, you should rethink this…."

"The fate of our company hangs in the balance with this game, siiiir!"

"I mean, it's not really a 'Beautiful World', is it, sir??"

"You're being too much, you know?!"

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.

Fine, what if I'm no good with naming stuff?

The world is still really beautiful and all, isn't it?'

Yu Jin-Ho stared outside the window as the sunlight poured in through the glass, and muttered to himself.

'In that case, should I ask Jin-Woo hyung-nim for the baby's name, instead?'

[The chairman of Ah-Jin Soft, Yu Jin-Ho – the miraculous tale of the young and successful entrepreneur who rejected the inheritance of a Chaebol!]

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.

"Were there any other articles?"

Secretary Kim, one of his hands full of newspapers, shook his head side to side.

"….I see."

Chairman Yu Myung-Han closed the scrapbook, his current expression filled with dissatisfaction.

"He rejected the position I created for him, and he instead starts a game company, of all things…. Tsk, tsk."

Secretary Kim wordlessly glanced at the corner of the chairman's desk.

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.

Secretary Kim walked over to the windows himself and looked outside while asking his boss.

"What's the matter, sir?"

"No…. It's nothing."

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.

Yu Myung-Han shook his head and handed the scrapbook over to Secretary Kim. The latter politely took the book and placed it back on the office's bookshelf.

There were four such books on the shelf already.

Chairman Yu Myung-Han's precious secret collection that no one knew about beside himself and his Secretary was steadily growing larger every day.

On a peaceful stretch of a road after school.

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…."

The girl's look of concentration only added to the weightiness of this confrontation. And the hour of judgement soon arrived.

"….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!"

The female student celebrated her victory and while forming a pleased expression, pushed forward her school bag. Soo-Hoh smirked softly and slung the bag over his other shoulder.

"You know, you really suck at rock, paper, scissors."

"Tell me about it."

"What will we do with a guy who sucks at it so bad??"

"I'll just learn it from you, that's all."

Soo-Hoh smiled and strode forward while carrying bags on both of his shoulders.

"H-hey, wait for me!"

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.

"What's wrong? Is there something up there?"

Soo-Hoh stared at the sky for a while before looking back at the girl with a light chuckle.

"Nah, it's nothing."

[Kiiiaahk-!]

A Sky Dragon flew freely and unrestricted in the air while screeching out joyously. Hae-In riding on the creature's back asked in a worried voice.

"Dear, will this really be alright?"

"Yup, it's fine."

Jin-Woo went on to explain that he used magic to erase all presence of their ride, Kaisel, so no one should be able to hear or see them flying.

"Hold on tight, okay?"

Hae-In heard her husband's smile-filled advice and her arms tightly 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.

'Just a little bit further!'

Kah-ahhak!

Kaisel flapped his wings even more vigorously.

Higher, even higher!

The two passengers were being protected by magic, which meant they could fly up to the part of the sky that was much closer to outer space rather than that of the planet's atmosphere.

They were soon greeted by the spectacular sight of a giant sun rising past the outline of Earth.

Hae-In leaned her head against her husband's shoulder and watched this mesmerising spectacle unfold in this quiet, still sky, a warm smile floating up on her lips.

Jin-Woo had been waiting for this chance, so he quickly seized it and pulled out the present he had readied earlier. Her eyes grew large after seeing it.

"Dear…"

It was a special necklace he asked the bearded Dwarves to craft, as those guys happened to be rather handy with things like this.

Jin-Woo gently placed the beautiful necklace shimmering under the 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-!!

Unfortunately, just before Jin-Woo's and Hae-In's lips, gradually closing in, could bridge the last couple of inches….

….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."

This was already their 16th wedding anniversary, so Hae-In knew oh-so-well what was going on when Jin-Woo said those things.

"Come home soon, okay?"

Jin-Woo nodded his head and issued a new order to Kaisel. The Sky Dragon changed his heading towards Earth and quickly distanced itself.

He wordlessly watched the back of his wife getting further away before turning around. Sure enough, a part of the space in the distance began distorting and tearing up before icy-blue 'fog' began oozing out from there.

It emerged after disintegrating the wall between dimensions and revealed itself, before coagulating in one point to form a large figure.

Jin-Woo recalled what the envoy of the Rulers had told him all those years ago.

'He said that an existence possessing great power can act like a magnet and attract horrifying beings from other worlds, didn't he?'

There was no need to question just who that blue-fog monster came to visit today.

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.

Would his son take over this role in the future?

Who knows.

But, when Jin-Woo pictured that scene in his head, he realised that it wouldn't be so bad at all.

'A father and son duo facing off against enemies together….'

As a grin formed on his lips, he opened his eyes.

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.'

His own preparation was now complete.

And eventually….

Kuwaaaahhhh-!!!

Those 'things' that acted under one will chose to eliminate the detected threat. As they moved towards Jin-Woo's location…

….He spoke with a smile on his face.

"Rise up."

– Only I Level Up Recollections/After Stories Complete.

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