[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Chapter 46: The One Who Opens the Path (1)
"Hey, shouldn’t we start teaching Yura some Korean soon?"
"She’ll learn when she’s interested. She’s still at the age to play."
I should’ve listened to my wife back then.
"Other kids are even learning English..."
"She has a whole life of studying ahead of her. There’s no need to rush."
I thought Yura had a ‘whole life’ where all she needed to do was study.
I naively believed it was guaranteed.
If I hadn’t...
She might have been able to read her father’s final words.
──── ────
ᆞTo: Kim Yura
ᆞFrom: Kim Hanul
ᆞAre you hiding well? I love you, Yura. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you until the end. Please, stay safe.
──── ────
─ Thud!
"Crush the traitors of death!"
"Uwaaaahhh—!"
If I hadn’t...
Even as I was trampled to death by the skeletal soldier’s feet, maybe, just maybe, I would have felt a tiny bit—just the smallest bit—less miserable.
"Argh! My daughter..."
I believed.
─ Thud!
That Yura would enter elementary school.
Make friends.
Wear a school uniform and smile shyly.
─ Thud!
That the time would come when friends became more important than her parents.
She’d bury her head in her desk, wrestling with studies.
Facing fierce competition and small failures, she’d grow into an adult.
─ Thud!
And someday.
She’d meet a kind, albeit ordinary man, and smile beautifully.
Start a family.
Have children as lovely as herself and become a parent.
I believed she would live such an ordinary life.
Cough!
"In the... next world..."
If I’m reborn.
If I can still be Yura’s dad in that life, too...
"Please..."
My dry lips moved, but no sound came out.
My vision blurred.
Was it just aging eyes?
Or perhaps...Nôv(el)B\\jnn
‘Is this the end?’
Swish.
A father closed his eyes.
And then.
Clatter.
From the distant shores of the afterlife—
Clatter! Clatter! Clatter...!
A familiar noise echoed.
The sound of those wretched things that had tormented him all this time.
Yet there was something different about this sound.
Thud. Thud. Thud...!
It was a deafening noise—enough to rouse even the dying.
So, he opened his eyes.
He couldn’t not open them.
And what filled his vision was...
Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank...!
Feet. Feet.
Feet filling the entire road.
Countless skeletal feet lined up like a net.
"White...?"
Strange.
The troops assigned to him must have been annihilated.
Then where did these come from?
And leading them...
Clatter-!
A skeletal soldier wearing a helmet made from a beast’s skull.
No...
"The Demon King...?"
Purple smoke billowed from beneath his feet.
His ominously glowing eyes pierced sharply into the distance.
Behind him, the sunset bled into the horizon.
Its crimson light shone around him like a halo of grim radiance.
"All troops! Halt!"
The moment he stopped, everyone stopped.
Simultaneously, someone pointed this way.
Swoosh!
With great effort, he lifted my dimming eyes and weak head.
And then, the shadow of the figure grew long as he approached with steady strides.
Thud.
The closer he got, the more the oppressive aura pierced his skin, leaving him trembling.
And yet.
Why on earth is his daughter...
"...?!"
Sitting on his shoulder?
It couldn’t be...
"Hanul."
"Dad!"
"......!"
Swish!
The creature extended its bony fingers, with nothing but skeletal remains in place of flesh.
Thus.
"Get up."
Clap!
He grabbed that thin, outstretched hand.
* * *
A space too messy to be called a museum, yet too grandiose to be called a laboratory.
When someone once referred to this place as a natural history museum, its owner didn’t think they were entirely wrong.
Countless body parts of various creatures, suspended in vividly colored liquids.
Evidence of the endless evolution of countless species in this universe.
Within them was history—nature’s history.
Abundantly so.
[The blood is fine. Hm, the skin... this should do.]
At that moment, when a shaggy-haired researcher was dissecting that sacred nature...
─ Ding!
The system announced the dawn of a new history.
【Simulation complete.】
Finally!
The researcher, who had been burying his nose in reagents, lifted his head abruptly.
【Predicting the victor.】
This was it.
The moment for his crowning achievement to shine.
The moment when the universe would shower him with praise, as he ascended to the realm of gods!
Excited like a child awaiting praise, the researcher urged the system forward.
“Wake up.”
“...!”
“I said, wake up!”
Hanul, chanting prayers and refusing to get up, finally joined after a long while.
“It is you, Eunho!”
“Hm? Aren’t you going to ask more questions?”
“Your shoulder line screams Eunho. And that great ratio, too.”
“...Excuse me?”
Jieun, after staring at him intently for a while, spouted some strange nonsense and tagged along.
Ah, and—
“You bitch! Do you even know what kind of sword that is, you fucker?!”
“It’s me, Lee Eunho.”
“...What the fuck?!”
The moment he saw the blade in Eunho’s hand, the foul-mouthed man let loose a waterfall of curses.
Regardless—
[Skeleton Soldier (Lv.1) acquired!]
[Remaining troops: 370]
[Skeleton Soldier (Lv.1) acquired!]
[Remaining troops: 512]
[Skeleton Soldier (Lv.1) acquired!]
[Remaining troops: 683]
...
The remaining forces of the group, along with those of the enemy, had been absorbed as they advanced.
[01:00]
Before they knew it, the mission was nearing its end.
─ Bzzt!
"One minute left, boss!"
"Right. Everyone still got their flags?"
─ Bzzt!
"Thanks to the kid, we do!"
"Yes! It's all thanks to you, sir...!"
And so, I thought it was finally... over.
[...... Emergency!]
Suddenly, the announcement broadcast crackled like a walkie-talkie in a movie.
[00:55]
The countdown, which had been fine until now—
[00:&%]
Started to distort and writhe.
[%~$*&]
The numbers turned into strange, incomprehensible symbols.
[Emergency ...... broadcasting...... begins!]
Until the abrupt emergency announcement rang out.
[Emergency!]
[By the temporary administrator’s authority, the 'Mock Battle' mission has entered 'Overtime'!]
"!!"
Overtime?
There wasn’t anything like that mentioned in the proposal!
An icy chill crawled up my spine at the unexpected turn of events.
My eyes snapped wide open, a foreboding feeling gripping my entire body.
"Overtime?!"
"What the hell! We already secured the flags! What do you mean, overtime?!"
Yeji and the foul-mouthed one both shouted in panic, one after the other.
Of course, the system didn’t care.
And a moment later—
BEEEEEP-!
"Ahh!"
"What’s that sound?!"
It started with a mechanical tone, like tinnitus.
A nerve-grating warning that seemed to pierce not my ears, but my mind.
Sssssssssssss-!
Next, a black hole appeared in the sky.
At first, it could have been mistaken for a small dot, like a bird.
Then it grew to the size of the sun, and finally spread like a cloud.
A literal black hole—pitch-black, ominous, and massive enough to swallow a whole building.
"This is...!"
I’d seen it before.
"Isn’t that the same thing we saw in the KTX ceiling?!"
"It looks similar... but it’s much bigger this time!"
I could tell.
Something was going to fall from that hole soon.
And it would come straight for us, just like the dozens of demons that had done so before.
Except this time, it’d be much larger and far more powerful.
"Shit! If it’s this big, even a tank wouldn’t stand a chance!"
The foul-mouthed one shouted, his face pale as a corpse.
At the same time—
─ Sssssssssssss-!
The black hole rippled, filled with unease, menace, and dread.
"Get ready."
"Yes!"
"Got it, boss!"
By then, Jieun and Jaehyuk had already stepped up beside me, standing firmly.
"You're not seriously thinking of fighting it, are you?! C-Can't we just hide somewhere?"
Unlike Yeji, who was trembling as she pleaded,
"I know you're strong, but this is way too dangerous! Or maybe we should just try to run as far away as we can—"
"No."
"...?!"
It was obvious.
The hole was on a scale we’d never seen before.
It was bound to spawn a massive monster.
Hiding would only lead to getting trampled and dying a pointless death.
Running wasn’t an option either.
The skeleton soldiers’ agility stats ranged from 1 to 4 at best.
We’d be lucky not to get ambushed while fleeing.
It was hopeless unless I abandoned everyone.
Instead—
"All troops!"
I gave the best order I could.
"Surround the hole!"
My loud and commanding voice was filled with conviction.
The skeletons responded immediately.
"Yes...!"
"Surround... it...!"
Clatter! Clatter! Clatter! Clatter...!
Fifteen hundred skeletons began to move.
Like waves of white shattering against the shore.
Though they didn’t march in unison, they moved as one.
Even as shoulders collided and heel bones got stepped on, they reached their designated spots.
Clack—Clack—Clack—
The skeleton soldiers lined up tightly behind me.
Reassuring figures: Jaehyuk taking the lead, Jieun standing beside me, and the foul-mouthed one approaching hesitantly.
The formation was ready.
['Mock Battle' mission has entered 'Overtime'!]
[Eliminate the enemy and survive!]
The enemy we needed to eliminate—
"!!"
"What the hell... is that...!"
Come.
Whether it's ghosts or monsters, I’m not scared of a single one.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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