Chapter 155
Chapter 155
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 155
Chapter Title: The Messenger of the Gods
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155
“Go Yohan.”
Drip, drop.
Blood from Go Yohan trickled down the blade.
“I’ve come to deliver the words of the gods.”
At that moment, Shin Min-gyu’s voice rang out.
Go Yohan’s emotionless eyes began to tremble faintly.
“The gods…”
Shin Min-gyu noticed the change.
Kwaaaa!
An untouchable power began surging from Go Yohan’s body.
No words came out.
‘The sword…?’
The gripped sword wouldn’t budge.
Shin Min-gyu’s pupils widened in the same instant.
‘This much power?’
He had secluded himself, severing ties with the mortal world.
Even when occasional news from outside reached him, he paid it no mind.
In the end, the outside world was filled with nothing but…
—Those not chosen.
Unnecessary appendages to the world, existences that might as well not be.
That’s what he thought.
Yet amid it all, the rumors he heard most often were about Go Yohan.
Drdrdrdrdr!
The prince from the rumors surpassed his expectations.
Kwaang!
Shin Min-gyu’s sword finally shattered, unable to withstand Go Yohan’s power.
“……!”
It was the Thorn Sword, hailed as Korea’s first unique item, and after several enhancements, it was said to rival legendary items—yet it had broken.
‘How?’
Right now, Go Yohan should be enduring the constraints of space with his entire body.
Even his blessings should be wavering.
‘And yet he can wield this much power?’
By now, time flowed differently for Go Yohan and Shin Min-gyu.
In a world where everything seemed frozen.
Paat!
Go Yohan’s hand shot toward Shin Min-gyu’s face like a hawk’s talon.
“I didn’t want to bring it out.”
Shin Min-gyu retreated and extended his hand.
Kwaang!
An explosion rang out soon after.
Another sword had appeared in Shin Min-gyu’s grasp, perfectly blocking Go Yohan’s hand.
A pure white sword boasting a pristine blade.
Only then.
“Captain!”
“Captain!”
Time seemed to resume as Yoo Baek and Kim Cheon-seok shouted.
“Step back.”
Go Yohan’s voice echoed.
“I was going to hear you out at first.”
Sssk.
“You’re smiling?”
“My curiosity’s piqued now.”
In that instant, time seemed to slow again.
Kwaaaang! Kbang!
Thunderous roars as if the world were shattering.
Shin Min-gyu was…
“……!”
Truly astonished.
*
*
*
One of the first players.
Heroes who vanquished monsters within gates and saved the world.
Shin Min-gyu found it baffling.
‘Heroes?’
He soon realized people were greatly mistaken.
‘Players… equal?’
They deluded themselves that all players were equal.
That through effort, anyone could grow strong—and that effort was accessible to all.
And so…
‘Player Shin Min-gyu! I’m a fan! My dream is to become as strong as you someday!’
They spewed nonsense like that.
‘I’m commuting to gates every day, aspiring to be like you, Player Shin Min-gyu.’
Eyes filled with admiration toward him.
But Shin Min-gyu could sense other emotions mixed in.
‘Player Shin Min-gyu!’
‘Shin Min-gyu, Player.’
‘Min-gyu.’
Envy, jealousy, greed, and the like.
Pointless feelings, as if the power he possessed would someday be theirs.
It made no sense to him.
‘Ha!’
Equal?
On the same level?
That they’d eventually reach it?
All bullshit.
‘Players are not equal.’
Awakening itself was rare; the starting line was different from the outset.
Even after awakening, base stats varied.
Most didn’t seem to know.
‘Experience pools are different.’
The experience required for level-ups differed too.
The skills and classes gained upon leveling up varied wildly.
A warrior class, deemed ordinary, differed vastly from a knight class, deemed superior.
Did that gap come from effort?
‘Nonsense!’
He could confidently say no.
It was predetermined fate—talent from the start.
And when others began calling him the Sword King, Shin Min-gyu finally witnessed the truth.
‘You have been chosen.’
The truth he had long pondered.
It was merely a matter of selection.
Kwaang!
An explosion jolted Shin Min-gyu awake.
Drip, drop.
He wiped the blood trickling from his face with a wry smile.
“……”
He couldn’t believe it.
In the past, fewer than ten people in the world could truly match him.
And even among them…
—You were chosen.
He thought no ‘human’ could push him this far anymore.
“Kuh.”
Shin Min-gyu twisted into a smile.
He had a mission, but it didn’t matter now.
“You’re no ‘human’ either.”
“……”
“But those who aren’t ‘human’…”
In that instant.
Paaa.
With a cascade of pure white light, Shin Min-gyu’s wounds began to heal.
“…are the same as me.”
Paat!
Shin Min-gyu’s view flipped in an instant.
The sword in his hand cleaved through the air, the space itself.
Pook!
A flash sliced into Go Yohan’s shoulder.
Even if Go Yohan was special like him, Shin Min-gyu believed himself more so.
After all…
“You weren’t chosen by Them.”
The tiniest gap: untouched by the hands of the greatest.
Paaaaat!
As the hand lunged, Shin Min-gyu twisted his body.
His arm, moving in an eerie arc, was seized by Go Yohan.
Kwaduk.
It crumpled outright.
But Shin Min-gyu regenerated from there.
“After all… after all…”
As Shin Min-gyu tried to speak.
“That all you’ve got?”
Go Yohan tilted his head.
“What?”
“Is that really everything?”
“……!”
“There’s more left in you.”
Aduduk.
Shin Min-gyu ground his teeth.
“I didn’t invest time in this just to see that. Show me more—everything you’ve got.”
He thought he was the examiner.
“Yeah, I see.”
Shin Min-gyu smiled at words that made it seem like Go Yohan was the examiner.
They probably thought it too soon to reveal this power, but it didn’t matter.
What Go Yohan insulted now were the great ones.
For Their honor…
“Watch closely.”
He needed to show the power granted to the chosen.
Hwaaaak!
Bursting light.
“This is the power of the Creators, called gods.”
Paaa.
“The power only those truly chosen and anointed can possess.”
Amid the scattering light, Shin Min-gyu’s form emerged—alien.
Yes, it was like…
“An…gel…!”
Just as Yoo Baek said, it resembled an angel’s.
*
*
*
One of Shin Min-gyu’s eyes gleamed gold.
But more captivating was the wing of light sprouting from his side, undulating.
Kwaaaaa!
It wielded destructive power on its own.
“Hueup!”
A force that felt like the gate’s pressure had multiplied several times.
Swish.
Even compared to Go Yohan standing against it now…
“These are the chosen.”
A transcendent power that refused to yield.
“The power of those who became angels.”
Shin Min-gyu.
‘Ahh.’
Intoxicated by the immense power emanating from himself, his vision sharpened.
He wanted to see it.
The gazes worshiping and adoring the power he’d gained.
And…
‘Behold.’
The eyes Go Yohan, who’d been so arrogant until now, would show him.
Finally, as he met Go Yohan’s eyes…
“……!”
Shin Min-gyu felt an incomprehensible emotion.
Indifferent. No reaction to this immense power and miracle.
And simultaneously, eyes filled with contempt.
“Like…”
Go Yohan’s voice rang out.
“…a bug.”
That was the moment.
“…Huh?”
By the time Shin Min-gyu sensed something off, it was too late.
His left arm, when he glanced down…
Chwaaaa!
Had been severed, spraying blood.
What followed was a golden flash; Shin Min-gyu instinctively moved to dodge.
Chwaaa!
And soon he realized.
His lower body had been sliced clean off too.
Plop, plop.
The wing pulled his body along—otherwise, he’d have sprawled on the ground, truly…
‘Bug.’
Looking just like the bug Go Yohan described.
The emotion he felt was…
“The gods told you to relay a message to me?”
Terror.
“Uh…. Uh…!”
He tried swinging his sword at the approaching Go Yohan, but it wouldn’t move.
Chwaaaa!
The golden sword in Go Yohan’s hand spewed intense light.
Ironically, the feeling Shin Min-gyu had then was…
‘Beautiful.’
Utterly beautiful.
And before the regaining Shin Min-gyu…
Ripple.
A massive golden blade dropped to pierce his heart.
‘Ahh. I’m dying.’
Certainty struck him then.
Paat!
The unfurled wing yanked Shin Min-gyu away.
Kwajijik!
The golden sword embedded in the ground where Shin Min-gyu had been.
Kwaaaaa—!
It emitted fierce light, cracking the earth.
In that interim, Shin Min-gyu regenerated his severed limbs, but it was too late.
Paat!
Go Yohan’s right hand gripped Shin Min-gyu’s throat.
A grip unbreakable no matter how he struggled.
“You’re wrong.”
At Go Yohan’s voice, Shin Min-gyu could look into his eyes.
Pupils brilliant, as if holding a clear blue sky.
But…
“Not gods. Only the Goddess exists.”
Behind them loomed a vast darkness.
“Is the Goddess among the gods you speak of?”
“…Tha! That’s…!”
She must be.
But was it the same Goddess Go Yohan meant?
No, from the start…
‘What are you! What the hell are you!’
Even chosen by Them—could they do this?
It was as if…
“Go back and tell Them I’m grateful They showed Themselves.”
Kwaduk!
Shin Min-gyu’s neck snapped outright.
That was when.
Chijik, chijijik.
Noise and a shattered status window.
Amid it, clear text began to emerge.
[You have acquired Divine Power.]
What a joke.