Chapter 221
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 221
Chapter Title: epilogue) Steel Rain Day (End)
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Three years had passed since the day Lee Hyun-wook disappeared beyond the Black Gate—the day known as the ‘Ending.’
And today was its third anniversary.
This was Namsan in Seoul. Once the site of the 3rd Anti-Magic Brigade's 1st Battalion, it was now home to the Korean branch of the Organization for Human Reconstruction, established to rebuild the ravaged Earth and prepare for any potential alien invasions.
But today, its function was different...
A reporter stood in a square on the mountainside, shouting into a camera.
"...I'm here at the Korean branch of the Organization for Human Reconstruction on Namsan, at the site of the Steel Rain Day event! As you can see, a massive crowd has gathered, so packed that there's barely room to stand!"
As this was also the place where the hero who saved humanity, Steel Rain, began his journey, it was the venue for the main 'Steel Rain Day' event to honor Lee Hyun-wook.
And with today being 'Steel Rain Day', a sizable event venue had been set up days in advance, now bustling with crowds from all over the world.
"Wow—Dad! Look over there, it's Steel Rain!"
A young boy ran toward a colossal statue.
The statue depicted a figure with its left hand reaching for the sky, resembling Steel Rain, Lee Hyun-wook.
Around the base of the statue, numerous greatswords, 'Mogeley'—Steel Rain's symbol—were embedded in the ground. They were all the actual Mogeleys Lee Hyun-wook had used.
Meanwhile, a woman who appeared to be a guide was giving an explanation in front of the statue.
"Now, these Mogeleys were left behind on the day Steel Rain collapsed the game and vanished into the Black Gate. A total of fourteen remained. Twelve of them are displayed here, and the other two are reportedly being used as research material in Laputa."
"Huh? Why were two of them set aside?"
A child asked.
"Steel Rain's mana pattern remains on them, so they're being studied to see if we can detect his return, should it happen."
"Gasp! Does that mean... he'll come back to Earth?"
It was a question no one could answer, so the guide simply smiled and nodded.
"They say he went to pass judgment on the villains who tormented humanity. It's not a task that can be finished overnight... but he will surely return one day."
But that was all just speculation.
On the day he disappeared, he had left only a single sentence.
'...It seems I'll have to be away for quite some time.'
His words contained no information about his destination or return, making it impossible to guess where he went, what he was doing, or when he would be back.
It was merely presumed, based on the interrogations of a few surviving Administrators captured from their crashed aircraft, that he was annihilating Administrators in other dimensions.
And just then—
*Thud-thud-thud-thud—*
A group of helicopters began to fly past Namsan. The guide's explanation was cut short as everyone looked up at the sky.
Soon, the swarm of helicopters landed at the highest point of the event site, the headquarters building on the mountainside.
"Wow, who do you think is in those helicopters?"
A child asked excitedly.
Another child next to them raised a hand and answered.
"I think it's Zeus Ex Machina, Park Jun-mo!"
"No way! Look how windy it is, it must be the Empress of Wind, Kim Se-hee!"
"You idiot, the wind is from the helicopters! Besides, the Gravity Mage Lee Seong-yoon is way cooler than them!"
Today, Steel Rain Day, was also a day for the heroes who had fought alongside him toward the Ending to gather in one place.
A huge crowd had also gathered near the headquarters to see them, but tight security prevented anyone from getting close.
"You cannot approach any further."
"Hey—you there, step back!"
Thus, although Lee Hyun-wook was no longer on Earth, the legacies he left behind had become pillars supporting the planet's future.
***
That afternoon, two people were walking around the headquarters building, which overlooked the Steel Rain Day event site—and especially the Steel Rain statue.
They were Kim Se-hee and Lee Gyo-jun.
"Are all the members of the Hope Foundation coming today?"
Team Leader Lee Gyo-jun—no, now Director Lee Gyo-jun—asked.
Kim Se-hee, the General Manager of the Hope Foundation, nodded in response.
"Yes, the team dispatched overseas arrived at Incheon Airport this morning, and the group from the Taebaek Armory is on their way, so they should be here soon."
Meanwhile, on her shoulder, the wind spirit Hani was yawning in the sunlight.
"I see. It would be a shame if they missed it; they're the secondary stars of this event, after all. And they continue to show the most heroic qualities, don't they?"
The Hope Guild, founded by Lee Hyun-wook, now operated as the Hope Foundation, a key organization in charity and reconstruction efforts.
The Hope Foundation also included Dwarves, Dark Elves, and Ancient Red Drakes. They were no longer called 'Monsters' or 'NPCs' but 'Humanoids,' and were becoming integrated as members of humanity.
"Hah... 'heroes.' They're the types who love hearing that. If you praise them too much, they'll get drunk on it and start spouting old war stories."
"Well, today is a day for getting drunk, and reminiscing is a must, isn't it?"
"You're right, it is that kind of day. By the way, is Director Woo coming today? Hmm... It was a shame he suddenly announced his retirement last year. It would be quite disappointing if he didn't even show his face after that."
Woo Seong-mun, once an untouchable power in South Korea, had announced his retirement at this very place one year ago today.
However, he still worked on many things behind the scenes. The fact that he had supported Steel Rain with everything he had garnered attention, and he was being mentioned as a candidate for the next presidency, receiving national... no, global support.
Thus, he was a candidate for both president and the director-general of the Organization for Human Reconstruction.
"Well, the old man is still hale and hearty, getting healthier by the day, so he wouldn't miss a day like this. Even in retirement, he's the type to lose sleep worrying about the country."
Soon, helicopters began to land in succession at the headquarters' helipad.
"Hah—I still can't get used to these rattling, noisy helicopters. We need to fix the airship already..."
The first to jump out of a helicopter while grumbling was Kang Hee-seol. Behind her, Kang Jeong-du and the Dwarves disembarked in a line.
Following them were the original members of the Hope Guild, such as Park Cheol-su, Yeo Sang-min, and Lee Jeong-jun. They were still active as the core of the Hope Foundation.
From the next helicopter to land, Humanoid representatives like the Water Spirit King, Soiller Wirebeer, Clypeus Griseo, and Agaidika emerged.
From another helicopter came Go Jun-cheol, Go Jin-hwa, and other executives from Red Hole Village, who had once hidden in Incheon's Pandemonium. They too had now come out into the open and were active.
Kim Se-hee and Lee Gyo-jun greeted them warmly.
"Director Kang, that... repair research, is it going well?"
Kim Se-hee asked Kang Hee-seol.
"Ah, Sis, it's almost done! The mana in my nervous system has started to access the magitech items!"
Currently, at the Taebaek Armory, Kang Hee-seol and Kang Jeong-du were leading blacksmiths and Dwarves in the diligent development of a mana power engine. It seemed humanity would soon regain the mana power it had lost after the game's Ending.
"Whew—it's good that the System is gone, but it should have at least left some information behind. This is a real pain."
At the moment of the Ending, the System disappeared.
And the System had been both a shackle that restrained mana and a 'tool' that allowed Players to wield it more easily.
For instance, skills and items all activated with a single click, following formulas set by the System.
In other words, the moment the System vanished, all Players lost their abilities.
However, the 'mana' that had already spread throughout the world and was integrated into the Players' nervous systems hadn't disappeared. As time passed, people began to reawaken their methods of mana manipulation one by one, and some could even control mana in various ways unrelated to their original traits.
In this way, humanity still held the power of 'mana' and was continuing to develop it.
Just then, a pair of enormous wings flew toward the headquarters.
*Whoosh—*
It was a small white dragon, a hatchling.
Watching it, Kang Hee-seol shouted.
"Oh, the Dragon Mom is here!"
Kim Se-hee flinched and waved her hands dismissively.
"Ahem, Eun-ha really hates being called that, so be careful."
"...Ah, right! Haha—my mouth really runs away with me."
The hatchling soon landed behind the building. As they approached, the giant dragon was nowhere to be seen. In its place, a woman was holding onto a little girl of about eight or nine, dressed in a gown, and talking to her.
"...Did you hear me? Hmm? No breathing fire inside, and no releasing divine power, either. You got scolded by Uncle Agaidika last time you did that, remember?"
Seo Eun-ha was holding the girl's arm, giving her a stern talking-to.
But the girl had a pouting expression.
"Argh, I get it... How many times have you told me that since this morning? How old do you think I am... I'm tired from flying, so stop nagging."
"You... you'll be in trouble if you talk back like that in front of others."
The dragon that had become Seo Eun-ha's familiar long ago had hatched from its egg two years and eight months prior. The girl was its polymorphed human form.
Kim Se-hee, Kang Hee-seol, and Lee Gyo-jun waited for a moment before approaching as the mother-daughter(?) conversation came to a close.
"Director Seo, it's been a while."
Seo Eun-ha held the position of Director of the 'Strategic Operations Division,' an elite unit under the Organization for Human Reconstruction.
Today, although the System was gone, the things created by the game all remained.
This meant that monsters hostile to humans still lurked in various parts of the world, necessitating forces to subjugate them.
Of course, peaceful exchange was prioritized if communication was possible, but unfortunately, violent monsters with low intelligence needed to be suppressed... Seo Eun-ha was in charge of such missions.
"Ah, we're not the last ones, are we?"
"No, everyone's busy, so they're just starting to arrive."
Just then—
*Thud-thud-thud-thud—*
In the distance, a massive military transport plane was approaching, and hanging from its underbelly was a giant figure—a colossus.
"Ah, Talos is here."
「"(^▽^)」
The creature looked their way and waved, causing the military transport to sway precariously with each movement.
***
"Hah—it was better when we had White Holes. Riding a plane all day is exhausting..."
The one grumbling was the administrator of the World Tree, Donald Harris.
He was sitting across from Peter Clarke, the former commander of the White Tree Guard and now the Minister of Defense for the Republic of Chad.
"Haha—old man, you're such a homebody, you complain that even coming out for a stroll in Yggdrasil City is too much for you, don't you?"
"...What'd you say, you brat?"
"A brat? I'm the minister of a country now."
"Tsk, tsk. Don't get drunk on the taste of power, kid. Anyway, where did that girl, Emilia Müller, go?"
At that question, Peter Clarke sighed.
"......She came with me, but she's disappeared."
Donald Harris chuckled.
"Tsk, tsk—still living soaked in alcohol, is she?"
Just as he said, Emilia Müller, upon arrival, was already in a corner of the yet-to-begin event, drinking soju by herself.
"...Well, at least she can restore her alcohol-damaged liver with Heal."
Just then, two men opened the door and entered.
They were both in uniform; none other than Kim Kang-seok and Choi Jeong-cheol.
"Ah, you two are already here?"
Kim Kang-seok approached and offered a handshake.
"It's been about half a year. Is everything peaceful over there now?"
"Yes, everything has been sorted out and is stabilizing."
Kim Kang-seok now wore the rank insignia of a Brigadier General.
And General Choi Jeong-cheol was now a four-star general, the supreme commander of South Korea's A.M.T.
"Now, now—the party seems to be starting soon, let's go inside."
Once all the attendees had gathered, the party began.
One might expect these noble heroes to be elegant, but...
"—Here, another bottle of soju!"
"Hoo... Saintess, please maintain some dignity."
"Why am I a Saintess? Hah—I'm not a Saintess anymore!"
Perhaps because many of the heroes gathered here were Korean, the first year's event had been filled with elegant dishes, but since last year, grilled pork belly and soju had become the main menu.
And so, inside the event hall, thick with the smoke of grilling pork belly, familiar faces gathered and conversed.
"That time was truly incredible. No one could have imagined he would appear like that."
"I was on that battlefield too, and hah... it was so absurd I couldn't stop laughing incredulously."
As old war stories and memories were exchanged, the party's atmosphere heightened, and the heroes' faces began to flush red one by one.
Among them, the reddest face belonged to Park Jun-mo.
"Ugh—Hyun-wook-hyung... I've never called him 'hyung' before... I was always grateful to him, but for some reason, I was also scared of him... *hic*—"
He was already quite drunk, and whenever he lost his composure like this, electricity would arc from his hands...
*Crackle—!*
Once again, electricity flowed from his grasp and ran across the table, causing screams to erupt from all over.
Kim Se-hee, who was sitting next to him, shot up from her chair in fright.
"Agh! Dammit! This bastard turns into Pikachu every time he gets drunk! Hey! Go to sleep!"
Park Jun-mo staggered and held up his hands.
"Uh—uh... has my power... finally returned?"
True to his long-established image as a slow-witted genius, the recovery of his mana-wielding abilities was still sluggish. Yet, his powers would manifest uncontrollably whenever he drank.
Just then, someone helped Park Jun-mo to his feet.
"Hey, hey—get up. Let's get some fresh air."
It was none other than Ahn Min-tae.
He now wore the rank insignia of a Sergeant First Class.
Normally, he commanded an operations team under Seo Eun-ha, but today he was the head of security for the event.
"Ah, *hic*—if it isn't Corporal Ahn Min-tae..."
"Hah, Corporal? This guy is still stuck in the past, isn't he?"
"*Hic*—*hic*—You know I'm always grateful, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. Tae-yong is over there, too. Let's get some air together."
Behind him was Choi Tae-yong, who had once fought alongside him in the same company. He too had earned the rank of Sergeant First Class and was still serving on the same team as Ahn Min-tae.
The three men went out to the terrace.
"Hoo......."
Park Jun-mo leaned against the railing, then staggered and pointed somewhere.
"...Over there, do you, do you see it?"
He was pointing to the ridge on Namsan's mountainside. Though not clearly visible, it was probably where an A.M.T. guard post was located.
"Near that guard, guard post... Hyun-wook-hyung and I were on duty when a Goblin Gate appeared."
Ahn Min-tae and Choi Tae-yong nodded.
"Ah, that's right. And... the 4th Wave started there too, didn't it?"
"Yes. During a shift change, Hyun-wook-hyung suddenly said, 'Wait—' and stopped us. He said he heard shouting from somewhere and told me to check the main gate with my night vision... I still remember it vividly."
Choi Tae-yong chuckled as he spoke.
"Wow—when you really think about it, his senses were supernatural, weren't they?"
It was the day all of Namsan had been sealed off by an 'Unlucky Event,' which had been the precursor to the 4th Wave.
Ahn Min-tae also nodded, his expression nostalgic as he scanned Namsan.
"That was the day the first Steel Rain fell..."
"That was the climax. Wow, it was truly immense."
"Yeah, I think it was the greatest scene of my life."
Recalling their journey, they looked up at the night sky.
Their gazes soon settled on the distant Steel Rain statue. Lee Hyun-wook was still standing on Namsan, albeit in a different form.
"......."
But then—
"Oh!"
Suddenly, Choi Tae-yong let out a gasp.
"Hey, what's wrong? You'll scare me if you shout like that!"
Then and now, Choi Tae-yong was a marksman, so he had excellent eyesight and always sensed danger before others.
For Ahn Min-tae, who had always been with him, it was a signal that reflexively put him into combat mode.
"Team Leader Ahn, over there, in f-front of the statue... a Mogeley is moving."
Ahn Min-tae snorted at his words.
"What? You bastard, did you sneak a drink since you're in charge of security here?"
"No, sir! Look closely!"
And indeed—
*Whoosh—!*
A single Mogeley, one that should have been firmly fixed in the ground, shot up into the air and flew away behind the building.
"........"
In that instant, the three men stared at each other blankly. That Mogeley wasn't a fake. The real ones weighed 2 tons... or even 50 tons.
It wouldn't just fly up on its own, which meant someone had lifted it using mana, and the only one with that kind of power was...
"......."
All three of them instinctively knew there was only one person.
"—He's, he's here!"
Finally, Ahn Min-tae yelled without realizing it. The people inside the venue turned their heads toward him.
He looked at them and shouted with a confident expression.
"...S-Steel Rain is here!"
At that, the heroes all rushed out to the terrace.
"—Huh? What do you mean?"
"What, is Sergeant Ahn drunk too?"
Ahn Min-tae shook his head and argued back.
"The three of us saw a Mogeley embedded at the base of the statue suddenly shoot up and fly off somewhere."
"Yes, I saw it too!"
"*Hic*—Me, me too..."
As the three gave the same testimony one after another, a murmur spread through the heroes.
"Hmm... But where did it go?"
"If that's true, there are almost no Players with the mana control to move that Mogeley..."
They all raised their heads and looked at the sky.
If Steel Rain were to appear, they felt he would be floating in the sky amidst a rain of steel, as he always had.
But there was nothing in the sky. Sighs were heard here and there, and just as it seemed about to end as a simple incident—
"...I don't make entrances like that anymore."
From behind them came a familiar, long-unheard voice.
One by one, the heroes turned their heads.
And they saw a man standing there.
"......."
The star of this party, who hadn't attended for three years... Steel Rain, Lee Hyun-wook, was really standing there.
"I looked down from above to wipe things out more effectively... but there's no need for that anymore."
His words held many meanings.
A Mogeley was in his hand. It slowly shrank to the size of his palm, and he put it in his pocket.
"......."
He looked at the heroes, gave an awkward smile, and opened his mouth.
"Ah... I'm not sure what kind of party this is, but I think you can continue. And... I'd like to join."
As a single person, he had returned to the world.
.
.
.
The Player Who Eats Steel (End)