CH 190

It had been a long time since I wore jeans, a jacket, and a t-shirt instead of a white shirt and cotton pants.

It was the clothes I was wearing when I first arrived here with Ha Tae-heon. When I got out of the temple after changing clothes, Elohim and Elahah, who had opened the passage, looked at me.

“I didn’t know these clothes were still there.”

“I kept it aside for the day I left.”

As I walked closer to the two of them, Fox that had been wandering around rushed over. Piiik. He came down on my shoulder and wept softly.

Is it Fox’s farewell? It wasn’t a bad feeling, so I left him for now and turned to Elahah.

“I’m going.”

“Yeah.”

Elahah, who answered in a dull voice, looked at Fox on my shoulder for a moment before opening his mouth.

“Will you take him?”

“Pardon?”

“I think this kid is already planning to follow.”

Surprised by the unexpected remark, I hurriedly tried to pull Fox away, but the guy raised his claws and grabbed my clothes.

“No. It’s a little…”

“Why? It’s no big deal, right?”

Piiik! Piiik!

Fox trembled and hung on me till the end, and when I grabbed his back, he started crying bitterly. Having become a bully to a small animal, I eventually let him go in embarrassment.

“He is a child who has always lived safely here, how do I suddenly take him?”

“Well, that’s possible. That’s what he wants.”

Fox crawled back on my shoulder in a hurry, fearing that I might take him off again, and nailed his claw. Surprisingly, it was quite painful.

“But…”

I turned a helping eye to Elohim standing behind Elahah. He made eye contact with me and smiled.

“Why don’t you take him?”

“……”

I had no one to trust.

“As I said before, they are monsters, not ordinary animals. You don’t have to feed them or brushed their hair, so it’s worth taking them with you.”

“Still, I…”

I sighed as I watched Fox blinking his big eyes, still with a claw on my shoulder.

“I don’t know what will happen when I return to Korea, but I don’t have the confidence to protect him properly.”

“Hm…”

Piiik! Piik!

Not knowing how others felt, Fox continued to cry in protest. As I was contemplating how to convince this guy, Elohim, who was touching the corner of his mouth, suggested.

“Then why don’t you keep him until we get the weapon from the gate first?”

“Umm…”

“Even then, if you still don’t like it, after you get the weapon, I can take him with me. It’s okay, right?”

“If that’s the case, I’m fine too.”

When the conversation was over, Fox let out a small sigh. I was the one who was in trouble, but I didn’t know why he was sighing.

In the end, Elahah said to me, standing in front of the aisle with Fox on my shoulder.

“Kwon Se-hyun, you know because you read the book. You are responsible for what you have tamed. Even if it wasn’t intentional.”

“……”

“So are the other children, including that Fox.”

I didn’t know what to say, Elahah took a step back with a smile towards me, who hesitated.

“Go carefully, Kwon Se-hyun. I hope to see you again someday.”

Hearing that greeting, I raised my head belatedly and looked around. A wide meadow and a large temple could be seen under the blue sky.

A beautiful place where a pleasant wind blew and white petals scattered. Elahah was standing in the middle and seeing me off.

“……”

Can I come again. He turned his back as I swallowed a question no one knew.

Elohim held out his hand to me. I walked slowly into the passage, holding his soft, warm hand.

* * *

I could feel the cool air of the underground. As I exited the passage, I caught a glimpse of the familiar interior I had seen before.

“We come to the right place.”

Elohim, who closed the passage, looked around with a relaxed expression. A soft light emanated from him, who had his long white hair hanging down.

I looked carefully at the huge statue of the goddess, which hadn’t changed since the last time I saw it. The statue of the goddess who suffered from Ha Tae-heon’s attack and her body turned into marble.

Seeing that the broken and collapsed traces were still there, I could tell that it hadn’t been reset since Ha Tae-heon and I went in.

It had been over five months since I came here, so in the worst case, I even thought that I might have to deal with the statue of the goddess again, but it was a bit steamy.

“It’s because it’s a hidden boss monster.”

Elohim, who could clearly see my head, explained briefly.

“This is because, once the boss monster dies, it doesn’t come back to life even if the gate is reset. It’s even more certain there are items under the pattern.”

“I see.”

After seeing the statue one last time, I followed Elohim, who was leading the way.

“Hey, El.”

“Ung?”

“Do you know why the gate is reset?”

“Yeah.”

Elohim, who blinked for a moment, spoke the words.

“Gates are passageways to other worlds, but they are not perfect.”

“If not perfect…”

“To be exact, it’s a connection between parts of another world. It’s connecting to the starting point where the monsters are alive, so even if you clear it, it will return to that starting point after a while.”

After listening to the explanation, I understood it to some extent.

“Kali is a being similar to us, but since she has opened so many passages, she lacks the power to connect and is unstable. So a strong being like a boss monster can’t return to the starting point of life and end up dead.”

“Then gate anomalies…”

“Not similar. As the world weakened due to the repeated passage of time, there were more gaps in the connected passages.”

While talking, Elohim and I arrived in front of the 14th room. Unlike the other rooms with red jewels in their doors, it was the only room with blue jewels in it.

Pressing the jewel, the door opened, revealing a dark room with candles lit here and there. Recalling the memories of coming with Ha Tae-heon, I looked on the floor and found that the pattern I had previously found was still there.

“El, here it is. A rose pattern.”

“Hmm.”

Sitting with my knees bent and pointing to the pattern, Elohim walked closer and bowed. His long hair was flowing gently.

Piiik.

When I and Elohim focused on the pattern on the floor, Fox also came down from my shoulder and wiggled his tail and wept.

“Well. Se-hyun-ah, it seems to me that this’s not a rose pattern.”

“What?”

“I think it might be a peony rather than a rose.”

Pe, peony?

I asked awkwardly, knowing that the peony was a flower, but I had no idea what it looked like.

“It looks like a rose.”

“To some extent. If you’re not interested in flowers, it’s confusing. Then, let’s get the weapon out right away.”

At Elohim’s glance, I moved away while holding Fox, who wondered about the pattern. As his hand approached the dusty pattern, a pure white light burst out and began to be absorbed into the pattern.

Kugugung!

The pattern shone brightly with Elohim’s power, and the ground vibrated strongly. Then, the stone floor engraved with the pattern slowly rose upwards.

“The divine power of a monster and mine are similar, so I guessed that they would react… Fortunately, it’s right.”

“Isn’t it dangerous to touch it?”

“It’ll be fine, so open it.”

The tile engraved with the pattern was slowly lifted up by the wind, revealing the weapon hidden beneath it.

“This…”

It was a long sword with a dark blue gem embedded in the centre. It was a little bigger than Lilith’s sword used by Cheon Sa-yeon and had a wider blade, but the energy was similar.

“Is it SS-class?”

“I’m sure seeing the amount of energy.”

Carefully, I reached out my hand and grabbed the sword. The long black sword was much heavier than I thought.

“You have to measure it to know how effective it is, but I feel like it’s a pretty useful item.”

“It’s good.”

It would be nice to become an S-class, but it was an SS-class. Besides, it was more credible because it was recognized by Elohim and not by anyone else.

I smiled broadly, imagining Ha Tae-heon fighting with this sword. Even if not, I was thinking that it would be good to have at least one weapon.

Twenty days ago, Roheon officially announced that the SS-class coat belonged to Ha Tae-heon. It was an SS-class coat obtained from the gate of the newly appeared D45 Area, and the Requiem Master Cheon Sa-yeon was a witness for the remark. In a nutshell, Ha Tae-heon was now able to wear a coat proudly at any time without having to look around, so it was okay to give him a new gift.

‘When I return to Korea, I have to meet and give it to him.’

I felt very good for the first time after a very long time. As I couldn’t hide my smile, Elohim patted his head and asked in a soft voice.

“Are you so happy?”

“I really didn’t expect it to be SS-class.”

“Great. Ha Tae-heon, you have already made up your mind to give it to that child.”

“Umm. The only people around who use swords are Cheon Sa-yeon and Ha Tae-heon-ssi, but Cheon Sa-yeon already has one.”

I continued looking down at the blade of the sword shining smoothly in the candlelight and then said.

“And since this is the gate that Ha Tae-heon-ssi is in charge of, I think it’s right to give it to him.”

“To me, Se-hyun-ah, I think it would be good enough for you to have it.”

“……”

With that said, I looked at the sword in my hand for a moment. But no matter how hard I think about it…

“No. It’s too heavy for me and I’ve never handled with a long sword like this before. It is better in many ways to hand it over to Ha Tae-heon-ssi.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

While talking to Elohim, I looked around the sword and found the name engraved on the blade that was in contact with the handle of the sword.

‘Kayin…’ (Literally wrote as ‘Kayin’)

Was it the name of this sword? Cain (카인)?

Elohim, who recognized the name just like me, tilted his head slightly.

“Aa, is that…”

“El?”

“Maybe it was a flow that we came to this sword.”

As if realizing something, Elohim passed a light powder in his eyes.

“Give the sword to the person you want to give it to, as I said before. It’s an item you wouldn’t have gotten if you hadn’t come in the first place, and it’s here for you… After all, it’s yours.”

“Is, is that so?”

I smiled awkwardly. I thought about it before, but it wasn’t easy at all to deny what Elohim was saying. If I listened to it, I thought I would agree without knowing it.

Elohim, who was quietly staring at me, raised the corners of his lips and gave a deep smile.

“You are a very precious child, Se-hyun-ah.”

“Yes?”

“I mean it.”

“……”

Elohim, who lightly swept my cheek, who was bewildered by the sudden words, asked.

“Now that you have the sword, you must go back to Korea. Do you have a place in mind?”

“I don’t know. I want to go to a place where people can’t see it as much as possible.” But what about this sword? Since there was no inventory, there was no way to hide it. I couldn’t walk around the middle of the road with this big sword.