Chapter 149

Episode 149. Jeong Si-woo (3)

The five guardians were powerful.

They were so powerful that the present-day members of the Jeong Si-woo Division couldn't handle them. And they possessed many powers that were more incredible than what I remembered.

"Ugh... Uhhh......."

But the 'Five Heroes' were way stronger. Just the five of them had always overcome all sorts of incidents and unexpected events in the past.

I wasn't aware when I commanded them directly, but I could tell for sure now that I viewed them as a third-party. They were so powerful that I was uncertain if we could defeat them if we met as enemies.

'Well, we're on the same side, so there's no need to worry about that.'

Thud!

The last guardian fell helplessly to the ground. None of the 'Five Heroes' were injured at all.

Many hunters were dead, and Han Yeon-soo's army was mostly permanently damaged. But no one despaired or mourned.

"Great Overlord."

"Ugh... Aaargh......."

Because it was over.

The Disaster that held onto me all my life was finally over.

"It... it hurts......."

The Great Overlord looked no different from an ordinary boy. All of his allies were gone, and he was groaning as he shook, lying on the ground. He looked weak, unlike in the past when he brought about the end of the world.

"How boring. If things were this easy, it wouldn't have ended like that. Don't you think?"

"...Right."

"So our job here is done?"

"Yes."

Asked the other 'me'. He was already smoking another cigarette. He finished smoking, shook off the ash, and was now disappearing along with the smoke.

"I hope we never meet again."

"I agree."

"I mean, it's not that I hate seeing you....... I just don't want to be summoned to deal with circumstances like this. You understand, don't you?"

He spoke with a grin. Although we were the same person, he was unfamiliar in some ways. Did I use to joke like this?

The Analyst Jeong Si-woo who experienced death and sunk to the depths instead of coming back in time, had become a different person due to that small twist in fate.

He was a steadfast ally that was very similar to me but not identical. That was the Jeong Si-woo that the Great Legacy brought back to life.

"Good. Well, I suppose you do understand....... I'll head back with my hunters now. You can clean up the rest, can't you?"

"Better than you can."

"Sure. Well... If you have a chance to summon us again, make it a drinking party with everyone after the monsters are all gone. How does that sound?"

"No thanks. Let's never meet again."

"So cranky. Okay, then......."

Fizzle.

He disappeared before finishing his words. I snuffed out the cigarette butt he left behind. And taking a step forward, I approached the Great Overlord. He was crawling on the ground.

"What an insignificant end. Don't you agree, Great Overlord?"

"Uhh......."

"I guess you might find it unfair that you're dying before doing anything significant. But... I felt pretty crappy when I died, too. So, if you don't like it, you can go back in time like I did, then find me and kill me. Okay?"

"Ughhh! You ba... stard─"

Thud, thud.

The Great Overlord tried to yell, but his head fell off. I glanced back, and the past-life Kim Seung-hyun wasn't gone yet. He was calmly holding up his sharp sword.

"Now I have repaid my debt. I heard that he threw my head at you and gloated."

"......."

"I guess you wanted to finish him off, but I harbored a grudge, as well. You understand, don't you?"

"...Of course I do, Seung-hyun Hyeong."

The past-life Kim Seung-hyun smiled faintly. And with the flash of his sword, the old-time 'Five Heroes' vanished completely.

At the same time, the darn monsters howled loudly all around the -Land of Death-. They were mourning the death of their overlord.

Their overwhelming noise caused a few hunters who gathered in to frown. Instead of frowning along, I picked up a dagger and thrust it into the headless Great Overlord's chest.

With the sound of his shell ripping apart, a red core revealed itself. The source. Once this was gone, Rifts would no longer appear. The unstable Dimensional Distortion Phenomena would disappear, and invaders would no longer threaten this world.

"...Mr. Si-woo?"

"I'll do it."

I gripped the dagger upside down. And without hesitation, I stabbed it into the core. The core was hard. It didn't break with a single blow. Feeling my hand ache, I stabbed it once more. The core cracked slightly. Again and again.

As I repeated the process, nobody made a sound. Everyone held their breath as they witnessed the historical moment, and I quietly brought an end to the Disaster.

Crack, crunch!

With a somewhat anticlimactic sound, the core broke. And the red sky regained its original color. The sky that had been distorted due to numerous Rifts reclaimed its beautiful blue glory as was recorded in the textbooks.

"Oh......."

A voice broke the silence. It wasn't a yell or a roar of joy. Some looked up at the sky in disbelief, and some cried silently.

The world was saved. Less than 10 percent, no, 1 percent of the entire human race had saved the vast world and its numerous people. The emotions they felt were indescribable with words.

I keenly felt those emotions, as well. My heart felt overwhelmingly full. Lee Hyun-seung wiped his uncharacteristically reddened eyes, and Yoo Ji-yeon looked up at the sky in a daze.

We saved the world.

We did it all.

"...Mr. Si-woo!"

Han Yeon-soo hugged me. I didn't say anything and stood still, holding her. And at that touching moment, I felt a strange emotion.

Like a smooth turning gear had fallen out of place, it felt like a creaking sound was ringing somewhere in my head.

-You... will regret this.

It was a voice that felt like the Traveler's, but it was entirely different.

A voice full of extreme hatred and humiliation.

-How... dare you break the system and go against the rules. You are merely a chess piece in a game... How dare you.......

The voice sounded like a broken machine, and it kept tormenting me. Listening to the voice, I glared into the empty space.

-I will... crush everything. Everything you had... as a mortal... and everything you gained as a Transcendent....... Everything. Everything!

There was no need to feel scared. I was no longer beneath him. I was on the same level.

Han Yeon-soo kept speaking in a tearful voice, but I couldn't understand her words. I held her tight and patted her back.

I wasn't going to let go of anything. Like the Akashic Records said, I wasn't going to sacrifice myself. I was going to get everything I wanted without surrendering a single thing. I was going to be greedy and hold on tight.

[#Freedom.]

[A story based on the keyword handed over by the Akashic Records has been completed.]

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[-Two Attempts, Complete Success-]

[Your first achievement.]

[Based on the achievement, the 'user's class' is stored in the Akashic Records.]

["Good job."]

* * *

Rifts no longer appeared in the world. Many monsters were still roaming around, but their number rapidly decreased over time.

The world changed. Just like how the world was turned upside down when the first Rift occurred, it changed swiftly the moment the Rifts disappeared.

The mana studies and magic that numerous people developed became useless. As the Dimensional Distortion Phenomena disappeared, people slowly lost their mana, characteristics, skills, and stats.

Hunters became a thing of the past. The -Guilds- still maintaining their forces, and the -Association- that still held onto its belief were more than enough to eradicate the few remaining monsters.

"...I'm jobless now, and I don't have anything. So you have to take care of me, Mr. Si-woo."

"Don't you have a lot of money saved up? The number of buildings you own..."

"They all crashed down. I can't even get compensated for them~"

"You're such a liar."

And Han Yeon-soo, who lost her Queen's army, was clinging onto me. It looked like she had no intention of letting me go.

Yoo Ji-yeon and Lee Jin-woo left in search of new professions, and Kim Seung-hyun was still training himself although he lost his powers. And I heard that Zhang Wei was doing very well as a doctor, the best profession both before and after the Rift occurrences.......

I thought everyone would be at a loss, but they were all adapting quite well.

"Okay, I'll take care of you. So let go of me, will you?"

I was the only one who remained the same amid the changed reality. My powers as a Transcendent didn't disappear. Rather, I was becoming stronger with time.

The power inside me was so much stronger than right after I transcended. As if I was absorbing the Awakeners' disappearing powers, I grew stronger every minute and every second. Was there some sort of connection between the two? I couldn't tell for now.

"What do we do now?"

"I don't know."

"I lost my powers, and the Association is going to take care of the clean-up, right? We have so much time......."

"Well, let's rest first. We've been busy for quite a while."

"Sounds good. We can stay at home for a few years, sticking to each other like this. Hehe."

Yes. It was a constant repetition of days like this.

This wasn't so bad... but something kept bothering me.

[Haven't you rested enough? Why don't you come back now?]

Ever since I killed the Great Overlord, the Traveler kept pestering me.

And in response to his annoyingly persistent voice, I was making the same excuse over and over again.

'There's still a lot I have to deal with. I'll go back when it's time.'

[...When it's time? And why do you have so many things to deal with? Are you planning on having a kid? Let me warn you in advance, I don't recommend a Transcendent making a child with a mortal.......]

'Stop it. Just wait a little longer.'

[You haven't made a child already, have you?]

'......'

I shook my head at his ridiculous words.

The voice soon disappeared.

"You're shaking your head by yourself again. Is it some sort of weird habit?"

"Yeah. It's a habit."

"Hehe. Oh, right. Mr. Si-woo, when did you get these? You said they weren't scars when I asked last time... And they don't look particularly meaningful to be tattoos."

Said Han Yeon-soo, who was chattering away in my arms. She was talking about my hand.

The lines drawn on my palm.

"They're just tattoos."

"They look creepy sometimes. I mean... who gets all these lines as tattoos? You have so many."

Like she said, countless lines were engraved on my palm. So many that it was impossible to count them all in one day. I grinned. Yes, they did look quite hideous.

"I'm going to get rid of them later. When it's time."

Once I was done with everything, I was going to take them all off.

But I wasn't prepared yet.

Countless Transcendents could endanger this world, including the Traveler. I had created numerous powers in preparation. And before I reached a position where no one could recklessly provoke me, I wasn't going to let go of these powers.

"Just wait."

I saved the world, but my fight wasn't over yet.

"Just a little longer."