Chapter 177
Chapter 177
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 177
Chapter Title: Becoming the Demon King
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Killing all hunters.
Was this truly the answer I had been seeking?
The first thing I did after regressing was save Yeonsi, who had nearly been disemboweled.
Saving the family I hadn't been able to save before brought me such joy.
I climbed Babel to save everyone, rescued Teacher Christina who had died in my place, and pressed on while remembering the hopes entrusted to me by countless heroes.
I had transcended the world alone.
Repeating my regressions, I tried to save people the right way and save humanity the right way.
"Just where the hell did I go wrong?"
To save even more people the right way, I killed the dangerous hunters.
"Even after killing the Demon King, even after killing the deranged hunters, the world kept heading toward destruction..."
I made even more correct decisions.
If the Demon King destroyed the world, I killed the Demon King.
If the hunters destroyed the world, I killed the hunters.
'I had no choice but to kill every last hunter.'
It was too simplistic—and that was exactly why it was wrong.
To take the easy path, I turned a blind eye to everything else.
I knew I was doing it, so I made excuses.
There was no ideal way to save everyone. I could never become that kind of person. I gave up.
And so I 'became a monster'.
Ju Gonghyeok had wanted to save everyone, too.
He had wanted to create an 'ideal ending' where everyone was happy.
'To eliminate every problem, kill every human.'
Who wouldn't know that was the wrong way?
A decent human, a hero—none of them would ever make that choice.
But...
'I got impatient.'
My mind, fraying more with every loop.
A world that perished even after I killed the Demon King.
No answer in sight.
So my eyes turned to the nearest future, the one within reach, the one I could actually achieve.
"I knew it was wrong, but I had no choice."
There was no other path he could make real.
No way to stop humanity's extinction. No way to save the world.
"I had no choice!"
In hindsight, it had been a temptation.
An easier path. A surer way to save humanity.
So I abandoned the hard road and methodically killed the hunters.
Because I figured I couldn't do it.
Because someone like me had no idea how to save everyone unscathed.
I fell for the temptation.
'My choice is right. You're all idiots.'
'You know nothing.'
That was how I justified it to myself.
But who was the real idiot?
Which choice was truly the right one?
"Haha. What kind of world protagonist are you? You moron."
Only I regress. Only I remember everything.
I'm the protagonist of this godforsaken world.
That's what I went around proclaiming.
"A real protagonist wouldn't pull this trash."
A real protagonist wouldn't give up on the 'everyone-happy ending' until the very end.
A real protagonist wouldn't choose a 'kill-them-all garbage ending'.
Someone in my dream had said it.
'Don't do anything you'll regret, Ju Gonghyeok.'
Ha Yeonsi had always stayed by his side, saying,
'I hope oppa can be happy.'
Remembering that, he clutched his face again.
"Sorry."
He had become unhappy.
Fallen into the abyss.
"I want to die."
The hands covering his face slid downward.
To his throat, where he could end it all.
Strangulation.
Suicide.
His steel prosthetic hands clenched together.
He strangled his own neck with his own hands.
Unless he crushed his throat until it burst, he wouldn't be able to bear it.
"Guk... kwek..."
The pressure made his eyeballs bulge, filthy drool spilling from his mouth.
His body was too sturdy—even compressing his carotid wouldn't knock him out.
He had to squeeze until his neck exploded...
Crack—
A sky-blue instep slammed into Ju Gonghyeok's skull.
He smashed into the well wall, the rebound forcing his strangling hands loose.
"You fucking moron. Sitting there fumbling around."
"Kuh... heuk... heuk! Heuk!"
Instinctively, Ju Gonghyeok gulped down ragged breaths.
Hild of Foresight looked down at him with eyes full of contempt.
"GM, can this utter failure really conquer Babel?"
GM had appeared at some point and raised six fingers.
Meaning he had killed the Demon King six times.
Hild let out a deep sigh.
"Ju Gonghyeok, the Demon King knows now. You didn't think you could just regress without consequences, did you?"
"Re...gress?"
That thought hadn't even crossed his mind.
He just wanted to die.
End this shame-filled life.
- Y-You, you! Human scum!
A tiny Nathanael appeared on the water's surface and grabbed Ju Gonghyeok's hair, shaking it wildly.
- What the hell are you doing all of a sudden! Why are you wailing alone, moping, strangling your own neck!
"......"
- You want to regress? Wipe this world away and start over?
Tears welled up in Nathanael's eyes.
- Does this world hold no value for you? Just erase it and call it a day?
Tears plopped onto Ju Gonghyeok's turned face.
- Even if going back revives the dead from the past, the people alive now, the ones who cease to exist—they might as well be dead!
He knew it all too well.
Ju Gonghyeok knew it better than anyone.
- This is the only world I know. Now that it's started, take responsibility...
Nathanael squeezed his eyes shut and gripped his hair.
A bloodied hand rose.
It hesitated for a moment, then more gently and carefully than ever before, stroked the angel's head.
"Sorry for yelling just now."
- ......I don't know.
"Sorry. I'm really sorry."
Ju Gonghyeok gazed up at the round patch of sky beyond the well.
"Just a bit. Leave me alone."
Nathanael met his gaze with sparkling eyes and nodded.
Hild turned and scaled the well wall vertically.
Ju Gonghyeok was left alone in the well.
A silent well, echoing only with the sound of dripping water.
He lay back on the water's surface and asked himself.
'What is my true wish?'
If asked a year ago, he would have answered like this.
'A death without regression.'
Ten years ago, a hundred years ago—it would have been the same.
But that hadn't been his real wish.
He had simply been in too much pain from his own powerlessness.
Dreaming impossible dreams had been too agonizing.
He had only wanted it all to end.
"Alright. I've decided."
Ju Gonghyeok reached his arm toward the sky.
"I need to become the Demon King."
He would bear the Demon King's avatar and become the Demon King himself.
Ju Gonghyeok gave up on death.
Far in the future, some would praise him, others would curse him.
It didn't matter.
Even those curses and praises would fade someday.
What he wanted was a world that continued on.
He put strength into his legs, stood, and climbed the well wall.
Nathanael waited midway up the wall.
- You ready?
Ju Gonghyeok nodded.
- Then let's go.
The angel perched on his shoulder.
The frog carrying an angel emerged from the well.
* * *
Beastkin.
With beast heads and fur cloaks draped over them, they boasted sturdy physiques and robust builds.
They dwelled in the Beast Martial Realm, divided into twelve tribes and two major factions.
The North Dynasty Six Divine Flow, centered on the Dragon Tribe.
The South Sect Six Divine Method, centered on the Tiger Tribe.
"Mother! Grandmother!"
A young wolf-headed man embraced two petite beastkin.
"No troubles on the long journey, I hope!"
"Troubles? With one of the Twelve Successors like you? Don't be silly."
"You've been minding the shaman lady's words properly?"
The city of Mount Tai, stronghold of the South Sect Six Divine Method.
Once known as the Sleepless Fortress and the city of the Knight Order, it was now the site of reunions among various beastkin tribes.
These were beastkin who had recently reached the fifth floor.
For beastkin, the mission from floors one to four differed from that of humans.
Humans started with half eliminated on the first floor, but beastkin had to get an entire group to the fifth floor within the time limit.
It seemed unfair at first glance, but it was a matter of population.
While 25 million humans had been summoned from a global population of billions, the beastkin had their entire populace summoned.
A total of 100,000 summoned to Babel.
That was the entirety of the beastkin race.
A glance around revealed a far worse composition than the humans'.
Half of those who had ascended were elders and children.
Those were the ones they had to protect.
"Wolf Tail, Gien. Mission accomplished."
"Well done."
The Wolf Tribe elder accepted his greeting.
Gien looked around.
The one he should greet wasn't the elder, but the tribe's shaman.
"Where is the shaman of the Wolf Fang?"
"She's in the South Sect Six Divine conclave."
The elder stroked the loose skin of his aged neck.
"Be a pillar of strength for her. She's been under a lot of strain lately."
The elder glanced up at the pavilion where the meeting was underway.
Among the twelve factions, the Wolf Tribe was the weakest.
During the Hybrid Uprising a century ago, the Wolf Tribe had charged forward most bravely and lost ten of their Successors.
Of the Twelve Successors who inherited the Dog God arts, only two had survived.
Other factions had lost several Successors too, but none as devastatingly as the Wolf Tribe.
Losing the Twelve Successors meant the Dog God Method was effectively lost.
Ten of its twelve forms had vanished.
They had barely restored half the arts by combing through the previous Successors' teachings and duel records, but the other half was gone for good.
The Dog God Method had been reduced to a mere half.
"About that..."
Gien broached the topic cautiously.
"With all beastkin summoned this time, I met someone truly precious."
"Precious?"
Gien introduced the Wolf Tribe member seated behind him.
"The great-grandson of a Wolf Tribe Twelve Successor who fought the hybrid Gio a hundred years ago."
The gray-furred wolfkin raised a fist salute.
"Wolf Heart, Gongcheon, and Right Ear of the Wolf, Yuran's great-grandson. Gonghyeok."
"Gongcheon-nim and Yuran-nim's great-grandson?"
The elder's heavy eyelids snapped wide open.
"Then surely, regarding the lost Dog God Method..."
The gray-furred Gonghyeok nodded.
"It's incomplete, but my sibling and I each inherited one form."
"Oho, two forms from siblings..."
"During the Hybrid Uprising, it seems their family hid deep in the mountains and survived alone. Without the Great Summoning, we'd never have met."
Gien eagerly recounted the story he'd heard.
Of course, it was all a lie.
Wolf Heart Gongcheon and Right Ear of the Wolf Yuran had died without passing anything on.
By the hand of the avatar Gonghyeok now possessed: 『Hybrid Gio』.
But those arts had been transmitted to Ju Gonghyeok through Gio.
"It's a relief to return the arts to the main house in this way, at least."
Gonghyeok offered a fist salute and bowed his head.
The small wolf beside him, Imir, bowed as well.
The two of them had infiltrated the beastkin city together.
Nathanael slipped lightly from his sleeve.
- Confident you can fool them perfectly?
"Transformation is your domain. If they catch on, it's on you."
- ......I hate when people shove blame. Just drop dead.
She'd been bawling for him not to die earlier, and now the insults flew freely.
The elder, oblivious to the formless Nathanael, nodded proudly.
"Yes, yes, you've come to the right place in the Wolf Tribe. Lady Gisuah will be delighted."
Ju Gonghyeok gazed at the pavilion.
The meeting hall where six shamans and five chieftains were conferring.
'Will she even have the mind to be delighted?'
She would suffer the worst humiliation today.
As far as Ju Gonghyeok knew, the Wolf Tribe's shaman Gisuah...
Would 'get pregnant' today.