Chapter 157
Chapter 157
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 157
Chapter Title: Humanity's Verdict
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“Hic.”
Yongyong was still hiccuping, apparently from the shock.
On the path following Go Yohan.
“Hic!”
The dense piles of corpses were the only things indicating what had happened here.
If Go Yohan hadn’t appeared.
“Hic….”
She was certain she could have ended up buried here today.
“I heard you played a big part in the North Korea situation too.”
At Go Yohan’s sudden voice, Yongyong lifted her head.
It was just as he said.
“Public opinion on the North Korea thing wasn’t great, but you stepped up.”
The overwhelming might he had shown in North Korea, and the tens of millions of people who had flooded into South Korea as a result.
South Korea had no choice but to fall into panic over the sudden events, and criticism poured in against Go Yohan for handling it all in secret.
Especially.
-Murderer.
When groups began forming to condemn him, saying he was no different from a murderer for failing to save all of North Korea’s residents, Yongyong had stepped forward once more to turn the tide of opinion.
-Savior.
She had swiftly gathered interviews from the escaped North Korean residents, publicizing their lives and what had transpired better than anyone.
That was how Go Yohan, who had been branded a murderer, came to be hailed as a savior at some point.
“But… wasn’t that just obvious?”
Yongyong said, her hiccups finally stopped.
“How could I just stand by while strangers talked nonsense about you, big bro?”
If anything, she seemed angry as those memories resurfaced.
Only then did Go Yohan stop and turn back with a smile.
“But how long do you plan on calling me ‘big bro’?”
“……?”
“You can call me whatever you want, I guess….”
He placed a hand on his deeply pulled-down hat as he spoke.
“Shouldn’t it be ‘oppa’ instead of ‘big bro’?”
“……!”
Yongyong’s head snapped up in surprise, revealing her scarred face in the process.
Swoosh.
With a pure white glow, the scars began to fade away one by one, but Yongyong didn’t seem to notice the changes happening to her own body.
“Teraco.”
At Go Yohan’s voice, Yongyong flinched again.
“I know you’re that survivor, and that I saved you.”
“You… remember that?”
One of the reasons Go Yohan had resolved to wield music back when he was in middle school.
He had once saved people who were on the verge of becoming test subjects for beast seeds in the Teraco Guild’s basement.
Yongyong.
“Kim Haneul.”
He had been told that Kim Haneul was one of those people he had saved back then.
Kim Haneul’s scarred face had now returned to its original state, and her cheeks flushed bright red.
“You seemed like you didn’t want to stand out, so I left you alone.”
Go Yohan said.
“But I figured no one else would come to save you now, so I came. And I’m grateful too.”
“…I’m the one who’s grateful.”
“Do whatever you want from now on.”
Rustle.
At the sight of the emerging shadow, Kim Haneul flinched.
But it wasn’t an enemy.
“Sloth…!”
Realizing it was Yun Seung-ah, her cheeks flushed even redder.
“Are you taking her with you?”
Yun Seung-ah, who had appeared, asked.
“What do you think?”
Go Yohan turned to Kim Haneul and asked again.
After agonizing amid swirling emotions for a long time, Kim Haneul spoke.
“No, I’m fine.”
It was the moment she reaffirmed that her place was behind, not in front.
*
*
*
The only one Go Yohan had saved was Kim Haneul.
“Any movements?”
“Min Junhyeok is set to issue a presidential statement.”
Below the forest of skyscrapers, Seoul’s landscape was laid bare, and people were ducking into hiding in confusion over the pillar of light from moments ago.
It was natural, with chaos already reigning and more piling on.
Various agencies were stepping in to manage it, and it seemed President Min Junhyeok was preparing an announcement on the incident.
“What’s the content?”
At Go Yohan’s question.
Clench.
Yun Seung-ah clenched her fist as if she had been insulted and spoke.
“The Holy One, Go Yohan, attempted a coup, but we successfully thwarted it in advance.”
Yun Seung-ah recited the statement’s contents flawlessly, as if she were Min Junhyeok’s spokesperson.
“Go Yohan was possessed by a demon, Go Yohan is….”
Clench.
Yun Seung-ah ground her teeth as she continued.
“Humanity’s enemy.”
Swoosh.
It felt like the wind was blowing.
“The president, deeply aware of his responsibility, declares he will seek help from the World Association to execute Go Yohan and announces his intent to address Go Yohan’s atrocities.”
With each word, her anger surged, but Yun Seung-ah’s voice gradually steadied.
“Go Yohan has seized 80% of South Korea’s economy, negatively impacting the nation as a whole and enslaving its citizens….”
Every following phrase was a true gem.
Pfft.
But hearing it all, Go Yohan curled his lips instead.
“Really….”
Seated on the rooftop of the building, he swung his legs.
“Humans never change.”
During the time he had been dormant, Go Yohan had recalled memories from the past.
His time in Travania.
The great war against the demons.
And.
‘Humans.’
In the small kingdom of Ryutrelia, a single archdemon had revealed itself.
The archdemon had already taken the king under its control and grown its horns by feeding on countless citizens as fodder.
Just as it was about to fully manifest with abundant sacrifices, Michael stepped forward to slay the archdemon.
-Demon!
But the one pointed at was Michael instead.
-That guy’s the demon!
The lords’ private soldiers rose and gathered, and the king’s army appeared in droves.
They raised their swords against Michael.
And protected the smirking archdemon.
He had to fight the legion alone and slay the archdemon.
And what awaited him upon return.
-If it hadn’t been for you.
Was finger-pointing.
Because slaying the archdemon had erased the nobles’ promised eternal life and treasures.
Because he had executed the king, the citizens’ condemnation continued.
At that time, Michael had turned his back on the endless mob and left the kingdom without a word.
Later news said the small kingdom had summoned the archdemon again, only to be fully engulfed in demonic flames and perish.
And the demons summoned in turn had poured back onto the continent, prolonging the war.
“I thought my only job was to hunt demons.”
Go Yohan said.
“I believed that slaying impure beings threatening the continent was the sole service to the Goddess.”
“…….”
“I thought the humans under the Goddess’s watch would find their own path, realize the truth, repent, and reflect.”
Go Yohan continued.
“I thought enduring their finger-pointing was just something I had to bear, perhaps even the mission the Goddess had given me.”
After all, there was only one thing in Michael’s mind.
-Goddess.
Nothing else mattered, so he didn’t need to care about the rest.
-Why-! Why!
-Become our emperor.
-We need your rule.
-Lead our army.
-You.
-Only you.
He had ignored all of humanity’s cries and simply roamed the continent, pursuing only demons.
And what remained.
Thud.
Was nothing.
That the Goddess had ultimately abandoned all the corrupted humans.
“Seung-ah.”
“…Yes, Captain.”
“Do you know the most perfect way to completely defeat demons?”
Yun Seung-ah didn’t answer Go Yohan’s question easily.
Swoosh.
Go Yohan stood up.
“Wipe out all humans.”
“…….”
“Demons infiltrate the world through humans. Humans become their nourishment, granting power and summoning armies.”
If there were no humans.
“I could have kept sweeping demons from that world forever.”
Perhaps even until now.
“I didn’t want that. But now I have to accept it, right?”
He could see armies and players swarming.
“That freedom you can’t take responsibility for is poison.”
Yun Seung-ah had said.
“We need to take South Korea.”
To fully grasp South Korea in his hand.
Even so, he had tried to proceed step by step by the rules, but they were thrashing about as if they couldn’t even wait that long.
“Let’s take it now.”
Finally, he resolved.
Whoosh!
Shadows extended from Yun Seung-ah.
Just as they began to engulf everything around.
“I need to change too.”
All of this for one reason.
“For the Goddess.”
Swoosh.
Go Yohan and Yun Seung-ah’s figures vanished.
*
*
*
“…….”
Min Junhyeok’s face, preparing his announcement, was deathly pale.
Because of one piece of news he had just received.
-Shin Mingyu has failed.
The legend who had drawn a massive stroke across South Korea after gates appeared, the one they boasted about.
Shin Mingyu had failed.
-How! Didn’t you have confidence!
-Shin Mingyu failed, but don’t worry. It seems he wasn’t fully prepared.
-Then….
-There is a way.
He had tried to dispel the encroaching anxiety.
-Failed to secure and execute Kim Haneul.
The news that followed only brought despair to Min Junhyeok.
-…It seems Go Yohan appeared personally.
His heart sank.
-The Holy One! What about the Holy One!
-The barrier is still active.
They spoke of safety measures, but they had already failed repeatedly.
‘Did I shake the wrong hand?’
Regret finally dawned, but it was too late.
-Remember what you received.
He had already received their ‘price.’
A price from a future moment, impossible in human realms.
Thump, thump.
Yet anxiety gripped him that even that could vanish in an instant.
‘No, I….’
Made the right choice.
And if it was wrong, he would make it right.
“Everyone gathered?”
He was the president of South Korea, Min Junhyeok.
And he realized.
The expected response wasn’t coming.
“Min Junhyeok.”
Instead, a chilling voice slithered into his ear.
Fwoosh!
A massive blue light erupted from Min Junhyeok’s entire body.
This was the price from the angels.
Boom!
The power of a player.