#249
Ganghwan Realm (1)
The boundary between the surface and the Abyss—where everything was mingled together.
“...Troublesome.”
The Revolutionary, who had been standing still and looking at the fissures in every direction, murmured quietly to himself.
How had things ended up like this?
Until just a few years ago, everything had been going smoothly.
The arrangements laid over several decades had been coming to an end one by one, and all that remained was to wait for the finale of the thousand-year grand design to begin.
But from the very first step—the resurrection of the Immortal King—things had begun to go awry.
He had arranged matters so that the greedy Marcos would naturally get his hands on a “fragment of the Immortal King,” and guided him into voluntarily offering up everything he had as a sacrifice to complete it.
The Brokoslak Clan, which possessed another fragment, had been the same.
In truth, as long as the two fragments fused successfully, it did not matter whether Marcos took the initiative or the Brokoslak Clan did.
Either way, the Immortal King born from it would become an uncontrollable bomb and begin running rampant.
‘I intended to shake the west starting with the Kingdom of Thalia, then naturally aim for a chain reaction.’
But the moment that Immortal King began moving as he pleased, all the plans he had painstakingly prepared turned to nothing.
The Brokoslak Clan, which should have lost its base, come into conflict with Yufersh, and then been absorbed by Obaipo, remained perfectly intact.
Oldman, who had planned to overturn the Tulk Kingdom at the moment the Order and the kingdoms joined forces against the Immortal King, kept waiting for the right timing after the plan went awry, only to be devoured in reverse by the Immortal Army.
And Nurabe, who should have responded to that and led countless monsters south from the northern mountains, carelessly touched the wrong elven sacrifice and was slain before he could do anything, thanks to the Order’s swift intervention.
‘After that, the plans just kept going off course.’
It was fortunate, at least, that the continental-scale sacrificial ritual and the opening of the Gate of the Abyss, which he had personally paid special attention to, proceeded smoothly...
If even those had failed, he might not have been able to begin what came after at all.
‘And on top of that...’
The Revolutionary, who had been quietly examining the fissures, slowly closed his eyes and listened to the sounds coming from all around him.
The sounds of the world, mixed into a noise like grains of sand trickling down.
Those sounds were telling him.
‘...This is not good.’
The end of the great design to which he had devoted his heart and soul for long years.
The overwhelming, unidentified death that was even now slowly crawling toward him.
‘Not good at all.’
If he stayed still like this, everything would end with his own death.
He did not fear death, but failing to accomplish the mission he had been given was a grave problem.
That alone was something he could never sit by and watch happen.
Was that not the very reason he had lived until now, and the entirety of his existence?
“It cannot be helped.”
It seemed he would have to make a decision before it was too late.
The Revolutionary’s gaze turned to the side.
Toward the seed of madness, writhing as if it might come alive at any moment.
***
While Hans, who had been immersed in research for some time, finally produced his results.
The affairs of the other avatars in their respective domains were also proceeding smoothly.
“It’s good to see you again. Let me introduce myself properly. I am Yoon Ji-yoon, the branch manager of the Seoul Southern Branch of the Korean Returnee Association.”
“I am Heinz. At present, I serve as the representative of the Blood Alliance.”
“...Pardon me, but before we begin speaking in earnest, there is one thing I would like to ask. Recently, they say a mysterious man wearing an opera mask has been hunting criminals every night. Could that perhaps be...”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“...Is that so.”
Heinz II was busy traveling back and forth between Earth and Auterica, organizing the forces under him and establishing a cooperative system with the outside.
“Hmph! You really don’t need to tire yourself out by coming along too, miss.”
“Woohoo— I may not look it, but I have quite a wide circle of acquaintances, you know? Not only can I guide the way, I also have personal friendships with the chiefs of each tribe. No matter what anyone says, I am the daughter of the Great Chieftain, after all.”
“Wahahaha! That’s good! But we’ll be moving quite a long distance at high speed. Will you be all right? Even if you’re a Great Shaman, it’ll be hard to keep up.”
“Ah! As for that... if it isn’t too much trouble, if Sir Harley could carry me on his back... heeheehee—.”
Harley, with Misty’s cooperation, devoted himself to traveling around the south with her and uniting the tribes.
In addition, the Hubert Company, thanks to the all-around support quietly provided by the powerful figures of various factions, was in the process of being reborn as the largest merchant company in the west, surpassing even the greatest company of the Tulk Kingdom.
And Harris continued to laze around while guarding the World Tree, even amid the large-scale search for lycanthropes.
‘Hesperon and Horus are still completely absorbed in training.’
If there was one point worth noting, it would be that it felt wasteful to leave the overflowing manpower of the Immortal Army idle, so a portion of them had been redirected toward developing resources in the north.
Terrible, inhumane mines that looked like slave camps were set up throughout the northern mountain range, and tireless undead laborers began endlessly digging up rare ores.
The amount needed was provided to the dwarf Howard, and the remaining minerals flowed straight into the Hubert Company, greatly helping it expand its influence.
‘Because of that, Hubert suddenly ended up becoming a pawn the Immortal King planted among humanity. Well, if that’s enough for the executives to accept it, then it doesn’t matter.’
Of course, even if they did not accept it, they would have to do as they were told, but wouldn’t efficiency be higher if they understood and accepted it actively?
‘And I can use a few of the more belligerent executives as sacrifices to raise Heinrich’s fame.’
During that time, while operating the Immortal Army, he had beaten down as many of the powerful bastards he had found displeasing as he wanted, and in the process, he had heightened humanity’s sense of crisis and made them unite more closely than ever before.
Now, all that remained was to strike down the Revolutionary of the Oath of Defiance, the root of all evil, and thoroughly crush the conspiracy he was plotting.
Once that was done, it would be time to slowly enter the final stage of the home theater: the “last decisive battle.”
‘Of course, there are still many things left to do in Auterica, but those are things I can do regardless of the home theater. More importantly, right now, I’m more interested in something else.’
In an excited mood, I stroked my chin and organized my thoughts.
‘The theory is perfect. Now all that’s left is to wait for the cooldown of “Summon Otherworld Transfer Formation” and execute it.’
The fact that I could go to another world other than the one I had first been transferred to was, without question, an enormous incident.
There was only one otherworld that each Awakened person from Earth could go to.
Until now, I had never even heard of there being an exception to that.
‘There’s a reason returnees place such importance on their world of origin.’
Aside from their initial unique skill, the supernatural abilities they learned and the additional skills they gained were all influenced by that world.
To put it simply, it meant that in a murim-type dimension, one could not obtain magic-related skills, and the reverse was also true.
‘Ganghwan Realm is completely different in nature from Auterica. I’m looking forward to what kind of abilities I can get.’
While waiting for the transfer formation’s cooldown, I investigated the dimension I would newly enter.
When I was preparing for my first otherworld transfer, I had not known which dimension I would end up in, so I had gathered information indiscriminately. But now that I knew the exact place I was moving to, investigating it could not have been more convenient.
“Huh? This is a little... strange?”
But during that investigation.
I discovered something that did not sit right with me and unconsciously frowned.
The number of dimensions identified so far was a staggering several hundred.
Generally, information on those dimensions was updated when returnees who had come back to Earth reported to the associations of their respective countries.
Naturally, not everyone responded honestly, and there were quite a few who did not report in the first place, but even so, the worldwide statistics were not something that could be ignored.
‘Why is the recent return rate so low? No, on top of that, the most recent update date is...’
In the case of Ganghwan Realm, however, the most recent information update was from a single person a full year ago.
Did that not mean no one had returned for about ten years in otherworld time since then?
‘Even assuming there are unreported returnees like Salma... like the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Emperor, this seems far too extreme.’
Looking at the statistics for the number of returnees from Ganghwan Realm made it seem even more so.
Perhaps it had been discovered fairly early, because it had been a rather active dimension where the number of returnees had steadily increased since its first appearance.
‘But from a certain point, the numbers began dropping sharply, and in the end, it reached this state.’
Several possibilities flashed through my mind.
If I thought of it simply, I could say that for some reason, the level of danger had risen to the point that survival became difficult, causing them to be wiped out.
-Dimension Name: Ganghwan Realm
-Registration Number: C-309BK
-Dimension Type: Murim-type
-Danger Level: Extremely High, Survival Priority
-......
As it happened, the information on Ganghwan Realm in the Returnee Association’s database contained such details.
Considering that Auterica’s danger level, a dimension known to have been engulfed in war across the continent after the descent of the Demon King, was “Considerably High, Caution Required,” I could not even guess what kind of hellscape had unfolded over there.
I immediately lowered my gaze and examined the densely written information listing the grounds for the danger rating.
‘...When I read Salma’s memories, I couldn’t obtain such detailed information.’
Part of the reason was that his body and soul had been ruined by the Abyss, and I had been focused on his connection to the Beoncheon Society. But it was also because his memories had been filled entirely with destruction and slaughter.
And while reading the Association’s information, I was also able to confirm that he, who had been the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Emperor, was one of the reasons the world’s danger had increased.
‘It seems the “terror of Ganghwan Realm” he spoke of himself wasn’t complete nonsense. ...But that alone isn’t the issue.’
No matter how much he called himself terror or whatever, he was ultimately just one person.
Unless he could command an army capable of covering the continent like the Immortal King, even someone at the Profound Realm had limits to the influence he could exert with his power alone.
The danger rating of Ganghwan Realm was a total crisis caused by many factors intertwined.
‘Even so, that doesn’t answer the question of why there are no returnees.’
Of course, the danger could be one reason.
But no matter how I thought about it, the fact that there were so few returnees had to be due to a problem that came before the danger itself.
For example...
‘From a certain point onward, Earthlings stopped being summoned there.’
If there had been no new influx of people, the current statistics could be sufficiently explained.
‘Salma had returned after filling the full twenty years before the system sent out a warning.’
And the last official returnee from Ganghwan Realm had appeared about ten years ago in otherworld time.
Considering that returnees came back after an average of around ten years, it would be reasonable to assume that the two had awakened and been transferred around roughly the same time.
‘And that must have been the tail end of transfers to Ganghwan Realm.’
After looking into more information, I found that there were surprisingly many dimensions like that.
Their danger level would soar to “Extremely High,” their return rate would sharply decrease, and then before long no one would know anything about what came after—becoming what was known as a “closed dimension.”
‘And the newly pioneered dimension just had to be such a place?’
By now, there probably was not a single Earthling left in Ganghwan Realm.
And as had happened with other dimensions before, it would slowly be forgotten, remaining only as a memory in the minds of a few returnees.
Not knowing why it had turned out that way filled me with an inexplicable uneasiness... but it soon disappeared.
In truth, something like that had absolutely nothing to do with me.
‘Interesting. A closed dimension, huh...’
Instead, pure curiosity and an inexplicable intuition continued to stimulate me.
There, in that very place, there was some important clue.
Time flowed as I gathered information like that.
And finally, when the cooldown of “Summon Otherworld Transfer Formation” had completely filled—
“All right, then shall we go?”
I sent a single advance party into that dangerous world whose current state I could not even gauge.
“Ah... The air there should be better than here, right? Ugh, how is it still like this even after putting up a barrier...”
The high elf Harris, a transcendent powerhouse who, despite having reached transcendence, had nothing in particular to do and merely lazed around beside the World Tree.
《Achievement Accomplished! You have entered a new world beyond the one permitted to you.》
《As a reward for crossing dimensions and pioneering a new world, the privilege “Summon Otherworld Transfer Formation” has been enhanced. Its cooldown, which was once per day, has been reduced by half.》
《By accomplishing an achievement, you have exerted a great influence on the world. Karma increases greatly.》
At last, an experienced newcomer had entered a new world...
No, to be more precise.
It was the moment a major corporation, already grown as much as it could grow, extended its reach into a collapsed back-alley market.