Chapter 137
Chapter 137
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 137
Chapter Title: Demon King's Advent
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“Stay over.”
Shin Sookyung said with a hint of reluctance.
What had started as a tense dinner soon loosened up.
Thanks to Shin Sookyung’s efforts, and the apostles’ as well.
“I’ll bring them often.”
Shin Sookyung reached out and approached Go Yohan as he spoke.
“How could you? You’re the busiest people in the world right now.”
Her hand brushed Go Yohan’s cheek, her eyes brimming with emotion.
“But…”
Shin Sookyung continued.
“Still, make time to come. Or we’ll come to you.”
“……”
“They’re still kids.”
Their behavior and abilities didn’t match their age at all.
But in Shin Sookyung’s eyes, they were just half-grown children.
Nod.
Go Yohan nodded, sharing the same thought.
“…Thank you for today.”
Yoon Seung-ah stepped forward first with her greeting.
Swish.
Kim Sion bent at a perfect ninety degrees, offering a deep bow.
“Thank you very much!”
“Th-thank you! Thank you!”
Joo Inkyung mimicked Kim Sion’s bow, prompting a sharp glare and a ruffle of her hair from Kim Sion.
“Eeeek.”
Joo Inkyung puffed out her cheeks.
Everyone watching couldn’t help but smile.
“It was the best meal ever.”
Lee Hayeon offered her greeting too.
Everyone watched the scene with warm contentment.
“I did too. Thanks to you all, I got some good rest.”
The gathering was wrapping up with Go Yohan’s words.
Swish.
Go Yunsu stood beside Go Yohan with Rachel.
“…Huh?”
“Rachel needs to stay with Yohan for a while.”
Go Yunsu said.
“I’ll stay with them too for now.”
He had just returned home, yet they wouldn’t be together.
It stung a little, that was true.
“Do as you like.”
This time, Go Jaehan spoke up.
“Yes.”
Go Yunsu nodded in response.
“Then me too!”
Go Minji tried to join them.
“You, don’t talk nonsense. Come here.”
Shin Sookyung pulled her in.
A small laugh rippled through again.
“Then we’ll be off.”
Shin Sookyung had no idea.
How joyful this time had been for the apostles.
It was true rest for those who had been running nonstop, a moment that let them feel ordinary, just like everyone else.
“Drive safe.”
They began boarding their vehicles.
Go Yohan rode with Lee Jaekyung and Yoon Seung-ah.
Vroom.
The engine started, and the time appeared.
11:52
Midnight was approaching fast.
Go Yohan gazed out the window of the departing car, a contented smile on his face.
It was his family that had changed him, someone he thought unchangeable.
He hoped that positive influence would reach the apostles too.
‘Goddess.’
Please watch over your servants.
11:54
The car pulled away from the holy estate.
“We succeeded in extracting the World Tree’s dimension.”
Yoon Seung-ah said.
They had successfully separated the dimension of the World Tree and the surviving elves.
It was already nearly isolated by Yggdrasil, so easier than expected—yet still nearly impossible.
It would require deep understanding of Yggdrasil and similar dimensions.
“Linking with the temple is underway…”
Yoon Seung-ah continued.
11:57
“We just need to designate a place for it to take root.”
Nod.
“Good work.”
“I heard about North Korea. Captain.”
Yoon Seung-ah said.
“As you know, the reason we left North Korea alone was due to various political interests and global situations… China… and such.”
She spoke almost like she was explaining herself.
Since Go Yohan’s blood relative, Go Yunsu, had been involved, she wanted to clarify the reasons.
“If we had approached carelessly…”
Yoon Seung-ah said.
11:59
“All humans in North Korea could have been destroyed…”
That was when it happened.
Kuuuung!
A massive tremor shook the earth.
“……!”
Amid the shock, Go Yohan checked the time regardless.
12:00
December 26th.
The stroke of midnight, ending Christmas Day.
Kwaaaaa!
A colossal pressure numbed their bodies, shaking everyone.
“North Korea…”
Yoon Seung-ah turned to look out the rear window.
A black pillar—no, not quite a pillar.
It was.
“Already a demon realm…”
A barrier.
A massive black barrier draped over the border between South and North Korea.
The car had come to a stop.
Go Yohan wasn’t the only one.
Screech.
Every vehicle carrying the apostles.
No, everything on the road had halted.
Stepping out, they stared in the same direction as if possessed by a demon.
“That…”
“What the hell…?”
A black barrier.
That’s all ordinary people could perceive.
But Go Yohan and the apostles saw more.
Tremble.
Their skin prickled, telling the tale.
“Nine black gates have appeared worldwide.”
The brief respite was over.
*
*
*
“What’s the situation?”
The apostles gathered immediately upon returning to the church.
They had already received all necessary reports en route.
“America, Japan, Germany, China…”
Nine black gates across the globe.
“Two in South Korea.”
One in Busan, one in the East Sea.
And.
“……”
In the hologram display, a massive barrier loomed.
It enclosed North Korea like a prison.
Shiver.
Goosebumps rose across their skin.
“The energy from the black gates is different this time.”
The strongest gates so far had been hexagram-level demons.
‘Kartul.’
The archdemon fight had been off-world, not on Earth.
“This time the gates…”
Yoon Seung-ah said.
“Are septagram demons.”
Septagram—the archdemons.
Nine of them in total.
No.
“The North Korean black gate is different.”
Go Yohan said.
It barely qualified as a ‘gate.’
Immense energy converged toward North Korea.
“……”
The plane lost over North Korea.
The S-rank gate and Iron Lion Knights encountered there.
Memories flashed through his mind.
“The good news is…”
Yoon Seung-ah said, her eyes blackened.
She was scanning the entire planet.
Peering into depths of the black gates invisible to ordinary eyes.
That was when.
Drip.
Blood trickled from Yoon Seung-ah’s eye.
“……!”
Go Yohan’s eyes widened as he grabbed her.
“Stop!”
Even with his command, her darkened eyes refused to release.
And slowly.
“De….”
Her lips parted.
“Sister!”
“Noona!”
The apostles tried to hold and wake her, but Yoon Seung-ah delved deeper, rejecting them.
“Ki….”
Kwaaaaa!
Go Yohan unleashed his power.
He lacked the magical knowledge or control of Yoon Seung-ah or Lee Hayeon.
Only raw power to shatter and tear.
“……!”
But he had something special.
Whumm!
Divine Eye activated.
Through it, Go Yohan alone could see the world’s underbelly.
“…What!”
Kwaaaaa!
The world unfolding before Go Yohan’s eyes.
A power that once merely showed the back side now felt like dropping into an entirely new realm.
There, Yoon Seung-ah floated in the air, bound.
“…Cap…tain…”
Go Yohan reached out without shouting.
To sever the black tendrils binding her.
“A… no… don’t…!”
Yoon Seung-ah cried out urgently.
He had been a fraction of a second from ripping them all away.
“…Captain.”
“Seung-ah, tell me! What’s happening!”
Go Yohan shouted desperately.
“…De….”
The word from before Divine Eye activated.
“Demon… King… descent…”
“……!”
Kwaaaaaang!
With a boom, Go Yohan’s Divine Eye shattered.
*
*
*
Swish.
The white towel was soaked red.
Go Yohan had wiped his face with it.
“……”
Intense light flickered in his sunken eyes, then faded.
Step.
Footsteps approached.
“How’s Seung-ah?”
“She hasn’t woken.”
She had been overtaken while probing the black gate.
“What happened?”
Lee Jaekyung asked worriedly.
“Seung-ah bound herself to suppress the black gates.”
Go Yohan couldn’t help her, but he knew what was occurring.
She was holding back the black gates swelling to burst, all by herself.
Something more vital than the gates themselves.
“……”
At their center, buying time.
“…Demon King.”
Go Yohan looked to the sky.
“Hayeon and Inkyung will need to help.”
Lee Hayeon for magical prowess, Joo Inkyung to coordinate, support, and infuse power.
“We’ll do that. What about the black gates?”
“……”
They needed personnel to close them.
Yoon Seung-ah would normally coordinate, but she was lost in deep darkness, unreachable.
That was when.
Go Yohan looked up at the approaching presence.
“…You okay?”
Go Yunsu, who had come to the church with them.
He too had seen the barrier over North Korea and sensed the world’s shift.
“…No.”
Go Yohan’s words drew a nod from Go Yunsu.
Hoo.
Go Yohan handed the bloodied towel to Lee Jaekyung with a short exhale.
Blood from pushing Divine Eye to its limit.
“Hyung.”
Go Yohan approached Go Yunsu.
“I don’t think this is unrelated to us.”
Go Yohan’s eyes burned fiercely as he stood before Go Yunsu.
“Where’s Rachel?”