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Chapter 245

Side Story 2

2. Reunion (1)

Ash continued to fall from the sky like snowflakes.

Jin-Woo bade farewell to his Shadow Soldiers as their time to part drew near, and without a shred of hesitation, turned around to face the leader of the Rulers.

"I'm ready."

The 'Brightest Fragment of Brilliant Light' summoned out a stunningly beautiful chalice, its expression slightly sorrowful. Jin-Woo's eyes shone with interest when he saw that artefact.

'So, that's the Tool of God that can turn back time, the Chalice of Rebirth….'

Gulp.

Dry saliva slid down his throat all by itself right after he realised that the moment when everything was over and would begin anew had arrived. Jin-Woo's face was filled with tension. Seeing him like this, the Fragment of Brilliant Light asked him one more time.

[Truly… will you not regret this decision?]

It had spent aeons fighting against Sovereigns and knew better than anyone how heavy the burden a war of this magnitude imposed on one's soul was. Meaning, it understood full well the weight of that burden this Shadow Sovereign was about to bear all by himself.

The second Shadow Sovereign, Jin-Woo, nodded his head.

He won the first battle. The second battle should be that much easier. He had to ensure that would be the case.

He formed an expression half-filled with grim determination and confidence. The Brilliant Light also nodded its head.

This man's drive to save all those lost in this war – how could this angel not know his determination when it too raised a flag of rebellion against its master, the Absolute Being, all for the sake of countless subordinates that died during the course of this everlasting war?

[I pray that your courage will save your world one more time.]

The Fragment of Brilliant Light made a heartfelt prayer and flipped the Chalice of Rebirth around. When it did, light filling up the Chalice poured down onto the ground, gently and gradually soaking it.

The most blinding veil of light slowly began enveloping the whole world.

Everyone – injured soldiers waiting in the battlefields, their families learning of their fate through TV, those praying for the safety of their loved ones, those with pale complexions after hearing ominous news broadcasts, those dropping their heads lower in despair….

In their houses, inside their cars, inside hospitals, inside schools, inside their workplaces….

Everyone saw the blinding light gently permeating through their windows.

Eventually, the whole planet became awash with pure light.

And then, the light silently blanketing the whole world, quietly dissipated and disappeared without a trace, just like when it first appeared.

***

Morning.

Past the closed eyelids, the rays of morning sun signalling the start of yet another day could be felt. Jin-Woo kept his eyes closed for the time being and while lying on his back, stroked the familiar material of the bed sheet.

Although he wasn't fully awake yet, his perception that had far surpassed the boundaries of a human being could pick up on the unfolding situation of his immediate vicinity with ease.

'Jin-Ah is coming out of the bathroom after washing up, the smell of the boiling stew, sounds coming from the cutting board, and then, the air in my room with this familiar smell….'

This was his home.

He had returned back home.

Jin-Woo's heartbeat began quickening bit by bit from the realisation. He then heard his mom's voice through the closed door.

"Jin-Ah? Can you go and wake your brother up?"

That's right.

His little sister Jin-Ah really liked sleeping, as befitting a growing girl of her age, but oddly enough, she always woke up early in the morning. And almost always, Mom would ask her to go and wake her oppa up every day like this.

"Okay!"

After realising that the memories of the childhood he dreamed of reliving were now playing out so vividly in front of his eyes, a wide grin quickly floated up on Jin-Woo's face.

Clunk.

"Oppaaaa…"

Before his sister could fully open the door, he slowly pushed himself up from the bed.

"Uhh? When did you wake up?"

She stared at his already-awake figure with wide-open eyes, and Jin-Woo formed a deep smile as his reply. In front of his eyes stood Jin-Ah, who hadn't lost her friends to the monsters yet.

Jin-Woo stood up from the bed and walked past his sister to enter the living room.

"Son? You're up?"

Mom stopped preparing breakfast and looked behind her after hearing his footsteps. From today onwards, he'd never get to see the sight of her trying her hardest to escape from the clutches of the Eternal Sleep that no one could wake up from.

But, the most welcoming scene that he really wanted to see again was…

Jin-Woo heard the sounds of a newspaper page turning and quickly shifted his gaze towards the dining table. His father, waiting for breakfast to arrive by quietly reading the newspaper, felt his gaze and raised his head.

The moment their gazes met, Jin-Woo felt this rush of breathless emotion.

"Father…."

He muttered the word 'father' out unbeknownst even to himself.

Seong Il-Hwan formed a puzzled expression after hearing his son use a rather grown-up word when the boy always used the term 'Dad' up until now.

Did his boy wake up after experiencing a scary dream?

The young Jin-Woo now looked to be struggling to suppress his tears, so the alarmed Seong Il-Hwan quickly got up from his chair and approached his son.

"Son? What's the matter?"

The voice of his dad, now coming from right in front of Jin-Woo's nose. He could still vividly remember that feeling of his father scattering away like dust from his grasp, so this moment came across like a dream come true.

However, this was not a dream. No, it's THE reality that he needed to protect, no matter what. Tears of happiness briefly welled up in his eyes, but soon enough, they were replaced by the gritty determination, instead.

Both his mom and dad were studying him with worried expressions on their faces. Jin-Woo forcibly changed his own expression and formed a grin.

"….I must've had a nightmare."

Indeed.

His nightmare was over.

The nightmare was over, and his young sister, his healthy mother, and his father, who hadn't vanished, were all here.

He was given one last chance to make everything right. And he swore never to let this chance slip through his fingers. He'd rewrite the future with his own two hands.

His eyes gleamed brightly as his resolve firmed up even further.

***

It felt like only a couple of days ago when he told himself that, but…

….A week flew by already.

Jin-Woo failed to grasp the right timing to enter the gap between dimensions until now. He rested his chin on his hand and dazedly stared outside his classroom's window. Beru began talking to him from his shadow.

[Oh, my king….]

'Yeah, I know.'

Indeed, he knew.

He knew that the Sovereigns desiring after this land were getting ready to deploy a gigantic Gate just beyond the blue sky above his head.

However, these last few days had been like a holiday for him, someone who had ended a big fight not too long ago. For a little while longer…. Wouldn't it be fine for him to fully enjoy these peaceful times for a little bit longer? Especially as a reward for his hard work so far.

'…..'

As he spent his time worrying about this and that, the much-welcomed sound rang around the classroom.

Ding-dong…. Ding-dong….

The bells signalling the end of school noisily resounded out from the speakers.

Kids all looked to be slowly wasting away until then, but renewed vitality suddenly seeped into their expressions. Going with the flow, Jin-Woo formed a bright expression as well.

Even if the inside was a young man aged twenty-four, no, twenty-five, his outer appearance was that of a child only fourteen years old or so.

The after-class goodbyes with the homeroom teacher came to a quick end in a heightened, noisy, and boisterous atmosphere. Soon, though, schoolboys sporting buzz cut hairstyles quickly crowded around Jin-Woo.

"Hey, Jin-Woo!"

"You're stopping by at the internet cafe today, right?"

Jin-Woo checked out the excited faces of the kids and grinned softly before nodding his head.

"Oww yeah!"

"Hey, hey! Jin-Woo's playing for our team today!"

"What? What're you on about?! He played for your team yesterday already."

"But, we also took in Jong-Shik too, you know. And he's the worst player here."

"Ah, ah, fine. We'll take Jong-Shik and Min-Pyo too, so Jin-Woo is on our team."

"Let's decide with rock-paper-scissors!"

"Deal!"

Around this time period in the classrooms of the nation's middle schools saw the boom in the RTS video game genre. Jin-Woo's stunning reflexes and perception were more than enough to show these kids a whole new world out there.

For the middle school boys, top skills in a video game meant that you were the most popular kid in school. Just about every kid out there competed hard to be in the same team as Jin-Woo.

The matches of rock-paper-scissors were supposed to be decided on the best out of three but soon morphed into best out of five.

Meanwhile, middle school girls, clearly not interested in the matters of video games, stared at the boys intensely competing in the warfare to steal Jin-Woo away with eyes reserved for looking at helpless idiots and left the classroom.

Also, right by the rear door of the classroom, there was this kid who kept stealing glances in the direction of the crowd while he belatedly packed his school bag.

He liked playing the video game like everyone else, but was no good in making friends. Such kids could only look on with envy at the rest of their classmates going around in groups like that.

Smirk.

Jin-Woo quietly smirked to himself.

He began noticing things that he wasn't conscious of before as a kid one by one. Was it because he was an adult now? Or, because of his perception that had exceeded the norms of humanity?

Even in this cramped space of the classroom, so, so many emotions swirled around and collided against one another to form a small world of its own.

In the meantime…

"Wow-!"

Kids who finally found themselves in Jin-Woo's team exclaimed out loudly without a shred of embarrassment.

Jin-Woo inwardly clicked his tongue.

'This is why girls are looking at you like that….'

The victors of the rock-paper-scissors battlefield left behind the dejected kids and hurriedly crowded around Jin-Woo once more.

"Alright, let's go, Jin-Woo!"

Before he did that, though, he pointed to the back of the classroom.

"Hey, I want to form a team with him."

"Uh?"

In the direction the boys turned their heads to, there was only that lone kid packing up his bag in silence. He flinched from surprise after realising that everyone was looking at him, his eyes growing larger in panic.

"Uh….? Me?"

Jin-Woo replied back.

"Yup, you."

At that moment, he found countless traces of agonising dilemma flit in and out of the boy's expression. He just smirked again and asked.

"What's the matter? You don't wanna?"

"N-no….."

The boy was now forming a shy but happy smile. Seeing that he was successful in his mission, Jin-Woo picked up his bag and spoke up.

"Okay, let's go."

The boy quickly picked up his bag and nodded his head.

"Y-yeah!"

Jin-Woo grinned brightly again.

For a little bit longer.

This feeling – just for a little bit longer.

'If these moments that I'm living my life aren't harming anyone, let me enjoy them at least for another day.

Let me stay for a bit longer….'

Jin-Woo's steps taking him outside the classroom alongside his friends were cheery and light, but at the same time, also incomparably heavy as well.

The sun leaning against the mountain behind the school was already dyeing the sky amber. Jin-Woo came to a stop for a moment there and looked up at the heavens above, prompting his friends to call out to him.

"Hey, Jin-Woo? What are you doing?"

"Our spots in the internet cafe will get taken over at this rate!"

'These guys, trying to hurry me and all….'

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming."

Jin-Woo caught up to the rest of his friends walking a step ahead. They were noisily chatting about their famous victories soon to be written in history with voices full of anticipation.

Jin-Woo didn't really need to enter the conversations to sense their excitement and hear their throbbing heartbeats.

And so….

Under the skies dyeing in the colours of vivid copper, Jin-Woo walked on these streets with friends he met again after what felt like an eternity.

He walked with a wide smile still etched on his face.

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 Q&A 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.

Chapter 247: Chapter 247

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 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.

Chapter 249: Chapter 249

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.