Chapter 159
Chapter 159
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 159
Chapter Title: Korea, the Battlefield Against Demons
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“Pleased to meet you.”
Go Yohan’s voice echoed through the area.
“I am Go Yohan.”
No cameras had stopped broadcasting amid the sudden chaos.
Min Junhyeok had ensured that.
“Please remain silent, everyone. I would appreciate it.”
For today, in this very place, he wanted to become a god himself.
To stop any of his remaining allies from shutting off the cameras and blocking the truth he would reveal.
Splash.
In fact, Min Junhyeok himself had taken precautions.
So right now, this moment was being broadcast to everyone in the Republic of Korea.
On the massive screens of towering buildings, on channels based in the country.
-C-Can you see it? Brother Yohan has appeared!
Even on personal channels rebroadcasting the scene.
Gulp.
At Go Yohan’s single word, silence blanketed the area.
Min Junhyeok, who had wielded the power of a ranker player, lay dead. Those thought to be angels had been reduced to rags.
The one who had killed that Min Junhyeok, as well as the angels.
Before that.
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
The man who had single-handedly annihilated the nation of North Korea.
And that was hardly the end of it.
Tap, tap.
The feats of Go Yohan flashing through minds were utterly inhuman.
If Go Yohan’s mind shifted even slightly, if he so much as reached out a hand.
Thud.
Everyone present would scatter as handfuls of ash.
That was when it happened.
Screech!
Arrows flew in.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Along with bullets.
Min Junhyeok’s bodyguards, hidden among the reporters, and their allies rushed forward, thinking they had spotted an opening against Go Yohan.
Kwaaaa!
Their skills were no joke—mana erupted like an explosion.
As if the shattered status windows and collapsed system after North Korea’s fall meant nothing.
Rumble!
Skills flew wildly, charging toward Go Yohan.
Boom!
A massive blast.
For an instant, some wondered if Go Yohan had been killed.
Srrrrk.
Yet amid the scattering smoke, Go Yohan stood enveloped in a black barrier, his expression betraying no hint of emotion.
Pffft, pffft, pffft!
Black thorns burst forth once more.
The bodies of those who had just unleashed skills at Go Yohan.
Drip, drop.
Pierced through and put on display.
Even so, with their forces still remaining, presumed players surged forward in droves.
Swish.
Go Yohan simply raised his hand, spreading his fingers.
Ziiiip.
And drew an invisible line.
But the price was certain—and gruesome.
Plop, plop!
Something cleaved in half fell limply to the ground.
“There was a brief disturbance.”
Only then, with Go Yohan’s voice ringing out again, did people regain their senses.
The sheer surrealism made it feel like a dream.
But.
Haa, haa.
The fact that this towering terror refused to shatter suggested it might prove this was no dream—but cold reality.
“Are you afraid?”
Go Yohan’s question came out of nowhere.
Yet his voice carried an oddly reassuring tone.
“Yes.”
His next words were something else entirely.
“Be afraid.”
“……!”
“I told President Min Junhyeok as much, but it seems I must repeat it to everyone watching this scene.”
Creak.
Go Yohan lifted the bent microphone and spoke.
“I have said it countless times: to exterminate demons, those impure abominations, I will become a demon or a villain if I must.”
No one could even draw breath.
*
*
*
Go Yohan scanned the crowd as he spoke.
“Hic, hic.”
People stifling sobs in terror.
“…….”
Others staring wide-eyed, determined to capture the scene objectively.
“Finally….”
Even those gazing at him with bated expectations.
He could feel all those eyes upon him, each brimming with different emotions and thoughts.
These people might well represent the feelings of everyone in the Republic of Korea—no, the entire world.
‘In the past….’
Memories of Travania surfaced.
At first, he had cared for nothing, simply following the goddess’s footsteps and trials.
But as his fame grew.
-Great Holy Knight.
-Noble Paladin.
-The Goddess’s First Knight.
With each new title they bestowed.
-Michael.
They spoke and begged.
-Please watch over the people of the continent.
Protect humans who felt so utterly alien to him.
They pleaded, over and over.
-I will.
At some point, Michael had done so.
Even during the great war with the demons, as the continent fell because of them, Michael had turned away but never abandoned them.
That was why.
-Become our emperor.
He had been unable to grant such requests.
“President Min Junhyeok….”
Go Yohan said.
“No—former President Min Junhyeok’s words are all true.”
Staring at Min Junhyeok’s now coldly lifeless corpse, Go Yohan continued.
“I control Korea’s entire economy and military.”
“……!”
“I hold sway over the world at large as well.”
“…….”
“So.”
Go Yohan said.
“What would you have me do?”
A chill ran through the crowd as he shrugged.
“Korea is more prosperous and safer than ever before. Even with that power in my hands, no one truly noticed.”
Go Yohan continued.
“It was all prepared solely to fight demons—those filthy things. Is that what frightens you?”
He knew little of politics and cared even less.
If he wished, he could craft a speech to sway the masses.
He could leverage his influence across Korea and the world to manufacture public favor.
But.
‘Why?’
Why should he bother?
Why go through such hassle?
That was for.
“Then be afraid.”
The weak alone, desperately clawing for power.
In Travania. On Earth.
“I won’t tolerate it any longer—the sight of those too pathetic to stand against me one-on-one, quaking in fear and lashing out at what I hold.”
His tone began to shift.
“What do you think your situation is right now?”
Leisure seeped in. Emotion as well.
-Do you even have feelings?
Someone had once asked. He hadn’t answered.
Only at the very end had he felt a twinge of regret, a surge of fury.
“Without me, you won’t last ten years before perishing. Do you dream of enslavement, of becoming livestock? Too bad—it won’t come to that.”
Emotions he had never felt began surfacing, one by one.
“You’ll all be massacred.”
“……!”
“Hear me, all who would interfere.”
Go Yohan said.
“From this moment, I intend to spare no one who sabotages the war against demons.”
Gasps of swallowed breath echoed.
“I will become your demon to annihilate the demons.”
That was when it happened.
Kwaaaaa!
The pillars of light that had recently erupted across Korea.
They reappeared.
Kwaaaaa!
From the holy sites and sanctuaries where they had first manifested.
Those overwhelmed by Go Yohan yet entranced by the beautiful glow soon realized.
Crack.
A fissure marring the radiant pillar somewhere.
Crackle!
The crack spreading, devouring the pillar.
Craaaack!
And then they shattered.
“From today, Korea is the battlefield for the war against demons. If you hate it, leave whenever you like. I promise—no one will stop those who depart.”
Just twenty-one years old.
No one could mistake his tone or aura for that of a young man.
He resembled an executioner revived from some ancient abyss.
Step, step.
Go Yohan finished speaking and strode forward.
No one dared stop him.
Creak.
The microphone crackled to life once more.
A masked woman stood there.
“…….”
Known as Go Yohan’s closest confidante.
A specialist thriving in the great demon war, a member of the elite guild Sins.
Swish.
As she removed her mask, eyes bulged all around.
“……!”
The impression she gave was the same as Go Yohan’s.
So youthful, yet unyieldingly firm—an irresistible pressure.
And.
“Ahh….”
A beauty too profound for words.
“For the next month from now.”
Even her voice seemed to melt ears.
“Anyone who wishes to leave may do so without issue. And anyone who comes—no matter who—will be welcome.”
Srrrrk.
Yun Seung-ah’s form dissolved into shadows after those words.
*
*
*
-Become our emperor.
All the pleas once directed at him.
-Please lead the continent.
Unlike those past memories he had ignored.
“If that’s what you want, what you desire.”
This time would be different.
“Then I must rule.”
But in a different way.
The simplest path to victory in the war against demons was to eradicate the human variable entirely.
Failing that, subjugating all humans, turning them into an army.
Like Greed or Lee Ha-yeon wielding her minions—bind them so they could never betray, then hurl them into the fray against demons.
They would have to fight to survive.
“…….”
Yet he couldn’t do that alone.
-Yohan-ah.
-Go Yohan!
Not every human—but some he wished to protect.
And for their happiness, some he had to safeguard.
Srrrrk.
Yun Seung-ah appeared at Go Yohan’s side.
She wasn’t alone.
“Captain, you’re all right?”
The Apostles.
Sent to key locations in anticipation of this crisis, they had shattered the pillars and barriers, then answered his call.
“I’ll lift every restriction on you.”
Go Yohan turned to face the Apostles.
“From now on, do as you please.”
It was the moment all constraints on the Apostles were fully released.