Sinhyeok hurriedly headed toward Ichan.
He immediately took out a Light Potion and popped it open.
A bright light burst forth.
“Hong Ichan!”
When he grabbed Ichan by the shoulders and shook him, he calmed down slightly.
“C-close…”
He was barely able to get the words out. Sinhyeok looked to the side.
“Father.”
To the man who still had so much left to say, he had to bid farewell.
The priest trembled, then looked straight ahead.
“It is time to go, is it not?”
“Yes. You must leave now.”
With a reluctant expression, the priest gazed off somewhere and spoke.
“Let us meet again.”
Then he let go of Ichan’s hand.
The moment his hand fell away, Ichan exhaled a labored breath.
“Haack. Heup, haaa.”
He caught his breath, his body trembling as if struck by fever.
“Ichan.”
“I-I’m fine. I’ll calm down right away.”
Sinhyeok supported Ichan and spoke.
“Right, let’s get out of here.”
The priest watched Arin fighting a difficult battle and said.
“Let us leave!”
Delighted by those words, Arin immediately turned around.
“Yes!”
The priest reached out and dispelled the barrier.
As the celestial sacred power peeled away like a layer, the hidden world was revealed.
A horde of dead wyverns drifting in the sky above, and all manner of demonic beasts running rampant.
‘The veil has lifted.’
A familiar yet hazy voice echoed in his ears.
“Hehe. What is that sorry sight?”
The priest sent the three off and looked to the sky.
A woman with mangled limbs emitting a turbid light.
‘I barely survived. Now I understand! I need it! I should never have left this place! Hand it over right now!’
Seeing that the priest was not following, Sinhyeok shouted.
“Father!”
The priest turned back, smiled, and waved his hand.
“I am sorry. I could not leave with you from the very beginning.”
“What?!”
Ichan tugged on Sinhyeok’s sleeve.
“Hyung, he couldn’t come anyway.”
Sinhyeok looked at Ichan.
“It’s because he absorbed a Core. Once you absorb a Core, you cannot leave that world to begin with.”
“What? But what about you?!”
“I’m different. I didn’t absorb one.”
Ichan realized how this ended.
“From the start, the Father had no intention of leaving.”
Smiling, the priest reached out his hand.
“Brother, our residents… please look after them.”
“Father!”
A brilliant light struck the three simultaneously.
“Ugh?!”
“Urk?!”
“Mmph!”
They were sent flying and tumbled straight into the portal.
The priest watched that and turned back.
To the horde of demonic beasts and undead floating in the sky.
At its center sat the goddess who had once been the chief deity of this world, its only light.
Ariel.
The one who had lost her divinity and origin, and fled.
Yet torn to shreds, she had been forced to return here.
“Goddess. It grieves me to see that hideous form.”
‘Hand it over. Hand over what is mine again!’
“Hehehe, yours, you say? This was never yours. It belonged to the people of this world.”
He unleashed a brilliant radiance and smiled benevolently.
“So let us all go together. Let us all remain here together.”
The priest’s entire body became the sun, blazing with scorching heat.
The sacred sunlight that would burn everything away enveloped all.
‘Stop! Stop this madness!’
“Ariel. It was shit, meeting you.”
Spitting out the profanity he had once heard from his brother, he blessed the future of the fallen, degraded goddess.
“Let us be off.”
* * *
“Ugh!”
Sinhyeok, forcibly ejected from the portal, sprang to his feet.
“Staff Sergeant Bu Sinhyeok!”
As the three suddenly burst out, Cha Gicheol called out to Sinhyeok.
Sinhyeok stared at the portal without looking back.
‘It’s closing.’
The portal was flickering.
“Bu Sinhyeok! Where is the Father?!”
Cha Gicheol called for the one person who had not arrived.
“Damn it!”
Sinhyeok spoke the name of the one who could not—or rather, would not—come.
“Father Eijar.”
“Staff Sergeant Bu Sinhyeok… what on earth happened?”
Seeing the unusual look in Sinhyeok’s eyes as he stared at the portal, Cha Gicheol called out to him quietly.
“Bu Sinhyeok! Stop!”
Sinhyeok sprang up and leaped in.
“I’ll be right back!”
“You crazy bastard! Hey! He’s causing another acci—”
Sinhyeok, having crossed through the portal, clenched his teeth.
‘Not twice. I won’t let him die a second time!’
That helpless experience of having to send someone away was not needed twice.
The world was burning.
A single burning candle.
By the light and heat of that candle, the evil of the world was melting away.
“Brother, why have you come?”
Father Eijar looked at Sinhyeok in a state where he had nearly melted away.
“Wh-why do you think I came! I came to get you!”
The priest laughed.
“Brother. How foolish…”
“The foolish one is you, Father!”
Sinhyeok ran toward him.
But he could not move due to the goddess’s interference.
‘You wretch! You damned thing! Hand it over!’
The priest said with a smile.
“What can I do? I have nothing left to give now.”
‘Aaaah!’
Sinhyeok looked up at what was screaming in the sky.
“Do not look. The end of a fallen false god is not a pleasant sight. Avert your eyes.”
‘Fine! Let us all die! Kiyaaaah!’
The priest was bewildered by the suddenly changed situation.
“What are you doing…!”
[Warning.]
[Evacuate immediately.]
[A demon is manifesting.]
[Fallen gods are swarming.]
“Huh?”
Sinhyeok looked at the sky with a bewildered face.
Countless gates forming in the empty air.
‘Hohoho, everyone dies. You foolish wretch!’
‘Hmm, there doesn’t seem to be anything to eat.’
‘It is not yet time…’
Bizarre beings rushed in from everywhere.
“Uurp?! Ugh!”
Space grew heavy.
The atmosphere crushed down as transcendent absolutes gazed upon the priest and Sinhyeok.
‘A dog trying to devour its master, and one who resists fate.’
“Brother! Get out! Hurry!”
‘Ha ha. Where do you think you’re going.’
When Sinhyeok turned his head, the portal was warping.
‘We have plenty of time, so let us all play together.’
“Tch, dammit.”
Sinhyeok foresaw the end.
It was a situation with absolutely no resolution.
“Ha…”
Thump.
[Jigoryong’s Blessing activates.]
“Huh?”
‘…Are you still running around doing crazy things even here?’
A familiar voice was heard.
“Huh? Jigoryong’s Blessing…?”
Silence fell around them at the word Sinhyeok uttered.
‘What?’
‘Jigoryong? It cannot be!?’
Riiip.
All the absolutes discovered the tear in splitting space.
A single rift opening right behind Sinhyeok.
Visible between that rift was the eye of a gigantic reptile.
Its wide-open pupil—
Jigoryong’s aura engulfed them.
‘T-this!’
‘Insane! Jigoryong!’
‘Why isn’t that thing dead!?’
Jigoryong declared with a laugh.
‘Be torn to shreds and die.’
“Kuaaaack!”
“Kkeuuugh!”
The screams of the undead covering the world and the intervening absolutes rang out.
‘Be gone. It is not yet your time either.’
‘Damn it!’
The gates covering the sky were forcibly closed.
Sinhyeok turned around.
The giant eye visible between the rift.
‘…Good to see you.’
“N-nice timing.”
Sinhyeok pulled over the priest, whose entire body was ruined.
He was still burning.
“Father, even now…”
The priest shook his head.
‘He is too late. He has already begun to burn. It is an unstoppable tide.’
“Father! Father!”
Father Eijar stopped the approaching Sinhyeok.
“Brother. Thank you for everything. Because of you, I depart happily.”
The blazing sun’s light and heat were rapidly diminishing.
‘Thank you.’
In the end, everything burned away, leaving nothing behind.
Very small ashes scattered.
Seeing this, Sinhyeok urgently spoke to Jigoryong.
“Is there a way… is there a way?!”
‘Who knows.’
“Don’t drag it out! You know!”
An primordial being whose existence could not be fathomed.
‘If I must say, it is possible for you as well.’
“Me?”
‘With what is grasped in your hand, with what is given in your heart…’
At the cryptic words, Sinhyeok turned around.
“What is it?”
‘Will you try it?’
“Yes!”
‘It will hurt a great deal. And you will not be able to meet me for some time.’
“It’s fine! Hurry!”
His pupil turned toward Sinhyeok.
He spoke.
“Break your limits.”
[Jigoryong’s Blessing activates.]
[Jigoryong intervenes in the system.]
[Jigoryong forcibly adjusts user ‘Bu Sinhyeok’s skills.]
[Skill ‘Mana Heart’ forcibly transcends its limit.]
[Mana Heart transcends and transforms into a Core.]
[The Core forcibly transcends the user’s rank.]
[Main Skills: Synthesis, Enhancement, and Potion Crafting forcibly transcend their limits.]
[Class temporarily transcends.]
[Class temporarily changes.]
[The Alchemist’s Authority activates.]
Sinhyeok felt a mad exhilaration.
‘Do as you please. Adjust, command, and create everything at your fingertips.’
With a single fingertip, all mana could be touched and kneaded.
Literally, he could feel the world.
“Amazing…”
Everything was tangible.
Everything was like a toy being kneaded in his hand.
“Back into one…”
He reached out to gather the scattering ashes.
They gathered according to his will.
Gathering them all, he contained the sun that the priest had burned away, fully and completely.
He reached out and seized the light filling the sky, the heat, the sun, and gathered them.
The scattered sun was fully contained within the form gathering into a human shape.
“The Father’s form…”
This time, he molded it like a person.
Carefully, feature by feature, he touched and shaped the priest’s face as it remained in his memory.
“Done!”
[The Alchemist’s Authority: Transmutation activates.]
The things he had touched and gathered were woven together one by one.
Soon, the familiar figure appeared.
“Brother, doing this will not bring me back… huh?”
The returned Father Eijar made a dumbfounded expression.
“What is this…?!”
Eijar looked at himself with a blank face.
Sinhyeok smiled and grabbed his hand.
“Sigh, let us go.”
“Uh? Wha?!”
Watching this, Jigoryong quietly smiled.
‘Alchemist… We shall meet again.’
The shrunken portal swelled large once more.
“Yes, we must.”
[Jigoryong’s Blessing is released.]
[Everything returns to its original state.]
“Huh? Uwaah…! Y-you crazy!”
Pain like being beaten by hammers all over his body surged through him.
‘Kekekekeup.’
Flustered, the priest supported Sinhyeok and crossed through the portal.
“B-brother!”
“D-damn Jigoryong…! It’s not scary, it feels like death…”
‘Young one, alchemy is an equivalent exchange. Consider yourself fortunate it was only that much.’
Sinhyeok, having crossed the portal, trembled.
“Sinhyeok!”
What greeted them upon crossing over was Battalion Commander I Gangyeol.
“Ah, i-it is very good to see you.”
Sinhyeok promptly lost consciousness.
I Gangyeol was bewildered to see the priest who had crossed over, the collapsed Sinhyeok, and the faint presence from before the portal closed.
“What are you doing!”
He roared, but the man in question had passed out, and the other two pretended not to know.
“L-let us head back for now. Haah.”
I Gangyeol let out deep sighs.
Buzz.
But seeing the ringing phone, he squeezed his eyes shut.
“Those bastards.”
Clutching his phone, I Gangyeol requested to the smiling Cha Gicheol.
“Throw this guy back at the unit for me.”
“Will do. Hang in there.”
“Haah.”
Cha Gicheol smiled as he looked at the collapsed Sinhyeok.
“This crazy bastard. Came back from there?”
He turned to the priest who had crossed over with him and spoke with a smile.
“Are you Father Eijar?”
The priest made a surprised expression at hearing words that were being automatically translated.
“It translates here as well? Was it that man I heard earlier who did this?”
Carefully supporting Sinhyeok, Cha Gicheol spoke.
“There are many talents of this caliber in the Republic of Korea. More importantly, shall we go? It is a bit urgent.”
“Ah, let us do that.”
Taking the priest, he immediately gave orders.
“Move to the safe house. Hurry.”
He was about to board the vehicle when he flinched at a streak of light shooting through the sky.
“Bu Sinhyeok! You bastard!”
Kwaaaaaang!!!!
The thunderous howl of Sergeant First Class Kim Hyeonsuk; she landed roughly on the ground and glared at Cha Gicheol.
“Where is he! This damn troublemaker!”
Smiling, Cha Gicheol pointed.
“He’s unconscious from mana exhaustion. Wow, he’s a spitting image of ‘Bu Chanyong.’ Really the same, staying quiet and then causing a huge accident.”
She ground her teeth as she looked at Sinhyeok loaded in the car.
“You damned brat. Just wait until you open your eyes.”
When he saw the two who would be riding along with him, he smiled in an utterly sinister way.
“You two can wait and see too.”
“Y-yes? Yes, sir!”
* * *
A conference room prepared somewhere in Seoul.
“Brigadier General Lee Gangyeol, the meeting has resumed.”
“Understood.”
When the Blue House bodyguard opened the door for him, Lee Gangyeol stepped inside.
“My apologies. I was delayed by an urgent call.”
Inside were the president of the Republic of Korea Awakened Association, the president, the minister of national defense, and the heads of the army and the other branches.
The president paid it no mind.
“We only just came in ourselves. But I see a few people are missing?”
He looked around the room, searching for those who were absent.
The chiefs of staff of the navy and air force spoke.
“The Hyeonmu Unit of the Awakened Navy left due to an urgent operation.”
“Our Cheongryong Unit of the Awakened Air Force is also absent due to an urgent operation.”
“Tsk. Everyone’s so busy, honestly.”
Like the army’s Hongik, the two units were responsible for Gates that appeared at sea and in the sky, and they were upper-tier Awakened military units on the same level as Hongik, sharing its name in stature.
Like Hongik, they possessed independent operational authority and handled various Gates in their respective regions.
The president clicked his tongue as he looked at the empty seats.
“Let’s settle this with the people who are here, at least. In any case, the two of them delegated their decision-making to Brigadier General Lee Gangyeol, so there’s no issue, is there?”
The chiefs of staff of the navy and air force nodded.
“So, what are we going to do?”
At the president’s prickly question, the association president, a man in his mid-thirties seated to one side, took over.
“Mr. President, it is an extremely simple matter. The right to close Gates should now be shared with civilian Awakened.”
Lee Gangyeol glanced briefly at the minister and the army chief of staff.
When they nodded for him to speak, he opened his mouth.
“Our military’s position has never changed. Impossible. We cannot accept it.”
The president repeated the arguments the two had made, exactly as they had made them.
“The military’s lack of strength has been exposed. Then Brigadier General Lee Gangyeol says that using civilian power is dangerous. Then the association president raises a fuss that the guilds have a sufficient sense of relief and rescue as well. And then—can that solve the problem?”
When the president finished speaking, the two fell silent.
“We have been repeating this same exchange for over a week now. There are so many matters we need to handle, and yet this! Only this! Haa.”
At the president’s deep distress, everyone remained silent.
“Since neither side can persuade the other, I will put forward a compromise. Do you agree?”
Both sides carefully watched each other.
“Enough. Whether you agree or not, I will issue instructions under my authority. My term is almost over anyway.”
At his reaction, which was not merely cool-headed but outright extreme, both sides grew anxious.
“We will transfer part of the closure authority to civilian Awakened.”
“Mr. President!”
When Lee Gangyeol shot to his feet and shouted, the president sighed.
“Brigadier General, listen to the end. In return, the military will command everything, just as before. The military will be in charge of selecting which Gates to hand over, selecting the guilds and Awakened who will lead Gate closures, and supervising them.”
The association gained half a benefit, and the military suffered half a loss.
“And the upper units of each Awakened branch will supervise them, and any Awakened raid team that falls below the standard will never be allowed to take one on again. Will that do?”
The association president nodded with a regretful expression and said,
“Our association will accept.”
Lee Gangyeol looked at the minister of national defense, the army chief of staff, and the heads of the navy and air force.
“……Gangyeol. This is the best we can do.”
“Haaah. Understood. Mr. President, our military will accept as well.”
At that, the president let out an impassioned sigh and rose.
“Then let’s conclude it here. We can exchange the remaining details in writing. I’m sick of this place now.”
After the president left, Lee Gangyeol stared at the association president.
“What a shame, Brigadier General Lee Gangyeol. You’ve ended up handing over rights you didn’t want to give.”
Lee Gangyeol did not waver at the association president’s sarcasm.
“Wouldn’t it be more of a shame for your side? I’ll be showing you the bare faces of those pathetic Awakened.”
“Ha! The guilds’ abilities have risen enough by now. So you can set your worries aside.”
Lee Gangyeol smiled at the man, who was revealing his confidence, and warned him.
“I will prepare and send over the selection criteria, the disqualification criteria, and the criteria for disqualification during the closure process.”
“Do as you please. Whatever criteria you give us, we’ll pass them just fine. And will you even be able to look through all of that?”
“I’ll look carefully.”
“Suit yourself.”
After the association president left, Lee Gangyeol pressed down his anger again and again.
“Gangyeol. Stop it. At least we managed to protect this much.”
At the army chief of staff’s words, Lee Gangyeol clamped his mouth shut.
“I’ll be going now. I have many operations backed up.”
“Go on, then.”
After leaving the conference room, Lee Gangyeol looked at the association officials and the association president as they walked away with smiles.
“I’ll send you the most devilish bastard there is.”
The association president probably thought he had won.
‘I’ll show you that there’s a guy more suited to this than anyone else.’
There was one guy who had mastered the art of looking, gauging, measuring, and confirming.
A guy whose very skills were optimized for it.
A guy whose nature was twisted beyond belief.
A guy who enjoyed the despair and grief of others.
“It’s a bit early, but I’ll have to send him out sooner than planned.”
Lee Gangyeol, who had been about to leave, paused for a moment.
“Right. The mess he caused.”
He remembered that Eizar had been brought out of the Gate.
“Haaah.”
Lee Gangyeol ran to find the army chief of staff, who was just about to leave work, in order to clean up the situation.
“Chief of Staff!”
The army chief of staff looked puzzled when he saw Lee Gangyeol running toward him.
“What are you running so hard for?”
“Let me ride with you.”
At those words, he briefly looked around, then nodded.
They went down to the underground parking lot and got into his official vehicle.
The car set off, and Lee Gangyeol looked toward the driver’s seat.
“He’s fine. He’s one of the few I trust.”
“Even so, I’ll block the sound.”
When he snapped his fingers, the sound from the back seat was cut off.
“What is it that you came running over to whisper about in secret again? If it’s about Hongik, I’d rather you not tell me.”
“Chief…… it is about Hongik.”
At the confirmation, the chief of staff frowned.
“I told you not to tell me. I’m better off not knowing.”
“I know. But you still need to know this.”
At the words that he needed to know, the chief of staff became quite uneasy.
“How big of a problem is it?”
“Quite big. Several otherworlders emerged from an Importance A-rank Gate that was being secretly concealed.”
“……”
The chief of staff did not look uneasy at the mention of its importance, but he was flustered and dumbfounded at the fact that there were several of them, and that they were otherworlders.
“Why? No, why did you even take them out instead of just leaving them in there? After that dark elf kid, didn’t we decide to just bury everything?”
“Well…… one thing led to another.”
Lee Gangyeol had nothing to say.
“Haaah. First, what are you planning to do with the ones who came out?”
“Most of them are ordinary people, so after giving them suitable education, we plan to protect them in secret. But three of them are different. One is a pope-level figure capable of training priests and holy knights. There is absolutely no divine interference.”
“Damn it. That’s good—too good. If another country found out, it’d be perfect grounds for war.”
The chief of staff sighed as he spoke.
“Ha. Protect them in Hongik. As for the information, keep it concealed as you have been.”
“Yes. We will process it as him enlisting as a military chaplain officer in Hongik.”
“Do that. Then good work.”