Chapter 177
Chapter 177
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 177
Chapter Title: Why Are You Crying?
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Unlike his frail appearance, a thick scent of mana wafted from the man.
“…….”
It was pure enough to draw the eyes of Go Yohan and Yu Se-hwa.
And then.
-Go Yohan!
On his face, which recognized him and filled with fear, there.
“Why are you crying in a place like this?”
Was resentment directed at him.
“…….”
Even at Go Yohan's words, the man did not easily open his mouth.
Once again.
‘Hostility.’
Clearly, hostility toward him was emanating from the man.
It suddenly occurred to him.
The reason Yu Se-hwa had taken an interest in the man—it might have been due to this subtle hostility toward Go Yohan.
A smirk.
At that moment, he caught Yu Se-hwa's smile.
Only then did Go Yohan realize his hunch was correct.
‘The World Tree can read emotions and thoughts, they say.’
On the land where its roots are planted, it can attune to and read the emotions and thoughts of beings who stand there like gods.
“Haa.”
Realizing he’d gotten tangled in something quite troublesome, Go Yohan sighed and spoke to the man again.
“What’s your name?”
“…….”
The man still showed wariness and hostility.
He tried to hide it, but it wasn’t enough to fool Go Yohan.
There was a way to handle times like this.
“Name.”
When he asked in a cooler, more subdued voice.
“P-Park Dong-wook! Park Dong-wook, sir!”
The man, already frightened, shouted loudly.
“Mr. Park Dong-wook, I don’t know what you’re thinking. But I’ll ask again.”
Go Yohan said.
“Have you committed a crime?”
“N-No, sir!”
“Then there’s no need to be scared. I’m here to help, so please speak freely.”
Gulp.
The sound of Park Dong-wook swallowing was like a vibrating phone.
*
*
*
Slurp.
It was a grating noise, as if something was caught in the straw.
Sluuurp!
It soon turned into a loud roar.
“……!”
Park Dong-wook, the culprit behind the noise, jumped in surprise and looked at Go Yohan.
At the sight, Go Yohan nearly sighed again.
He’d promised not to harm him, so why was he so terrified?
-He’s extremely frightened.
Yu Se-hwa’s voice came to Go Yohan.
-And resentful at the same time.
The resentment, he could understand.
But.
‘Am I someone to be that afraid of?’
That part didn’t make sense to him.
-Hah!
A voice like Yu Se-hwa’s sigh exploded in his head.
-You haven’t changed at all in that regard, not in the past or now.
‘What’s that out of nowhere?’
-In Travania, just your appearance...
He seemed to hear a chuckle.
-Turned the land into a pile of manure.
‘……?’
-I thought things had changed a lot, but humans are still the same.
The last words weren’t directed at him.
They were aimed at ordinary people like Park Dong-wook.
‘Humans were afraid of me?’
-You’re really going to say you had no idea?
‘That’s why...’
While Go Yohan and Yu Se-hwa conversed.
“…….”
Park Dong-wook, gradually calming down, stared blankly at Go Yohan and Yu Se-hwa.
“You’re... different from what I heard.”
The middle-aged man, Park Dong-wook, finally spoke.
“A murderous demon who kills people indiscriminately... Eek! No, that’s not—”
One thing was certain.
“What I meant to say is...!”
Park Dong-wook, this middle-aged man, was more oblivious than expected.
“I told you it’s fine.”
“...You really are different.”
“So, will you tell me what happened now?”
It was a sight rarely seen in modern society.
A middle-aged man crying in a cafe, or young people curious about his story.
“...Why are you interested in a guy like me?”
“You just caught my eye, that’s all.”
Just caught my eye—that simple explanation brought a faint smile to Park Dong-wook’s lips.
A smile tinged with bitterness.
“A simple story. Then I’ll speak freely as well.”
And finally, after all the back-and-forth, Park Dong-wook’s tale began.
It wasn’t anything special.
If anything, it was cliché.
The death of his wife, his child’s rare disease.
A life of dogged effort, debts too heavy to bear.
Then.
‘A miracle.’
For someone like Park Dong-wook, a miracle.
“I awakened as a Player.”
It was awakening as a Player.
A chance for an ordinary human to become a superhuman in an instant.
And if one took the risks, income and fame beyond what any normal person could imagine.
Even with that miracle, Park Dong-wook didn’t get greedy; he prayed only for his son’s healing and worked hard, but.
“...As you know.”
Go Yohan could guess even without Park Dong-wook saying it.
“I lost my Player powers.”
It was about how the miracle that had come to him vanished in an instant.
He understood.
Why Park Dong-wook harbored resentment toward him.
‘The Player system is disappearing because of Go Yohan.’
Rumors like that were circulating.
Seeing him as the cause and holding a grudge.
Losing his Player powers meant losing his income; he scrambled for other work, but in the chaotic state of affairs, nothing suitable came up.
“Why not stocks?”
Go Yohan’s voice passed by lightly.
The Korean stock market, which had turned into worthless scraps in an instant, becoming shining gold bars was already famous.
“I don’t know much about that...”
“No assets at all?”
Land prices across Seoul, its suburbs—no, all of Korea—were skyrocketing.
Even a small piece of real estate would’ve made a difference, no?
“...I’d already sold it. A while back.”
“A while back?”
“About three months ago...”
“…….”
Go Yohan looked dumbfounded.
That timing was probably when land prices had hit rock bottom, the lowest ever.
‘How...’
How bad was his luck?
How could everything go wrong like that?
-You haven’t changed.
Yu Se-hwa’s voice came suddenly again.
-Back then, you couldn’t empathize because you had nothing. Now, you can’t because you have too much.
Go Yohan squinted and looked at Yu Se-hwa.
-In the short time I’ve observed, that’s how life is for ordinary people.
‘No way.’
He’d lived over twenty years on Earth himself.
Even the servants in the mansion, considered working class in Travania, owned houses of considerable value.
The kids at Sacred Middle School, said to have it the toughest, still had decent assets.
And they weren’t ordinary?
-Let’s hear him out first.
After that, Park Dong-wook’s life remained relentlessly arduous.
And by sheer coincidence, Go Yohan seemed tied to most of the causes.
“And... I found out recently.”
From Park Dong-wook’s eyes emerged a deeper resentment, different from before.
“About my son’s rare disease...”
Park Dong-wook, who had only feared Go Yohan until now, stared straight at him.
The thick scent of mana emanating from him.
It surged toward Go Yohan like an arrow.
“Go Yohan, you’re involved.”
“…….”
*
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*
For Park Dong-wook in crisis, the biggest one had been just recently.
During his Player days, the guild he’d been part of started pressuring him for breaching contract terms.
Having lost his Player powers, he’d caused major damage to the guild, so he had to pay the price.
The threats grew worse by the day, and then they told him.
‘You’re cursed. It’s all Go Yohan’s fault, so resent that bastard.’
They mentioned Go Yohan’s name again.
‘Your son’s rare disease, you—everything’s because of Go Yohan.’
Incomprehensible, but he needed someone to blame.
“In the end, as for my direct involvement...”
Go Yohan started to say, then stopped.
On second thought, it didn’t seem entirely unrelated.
Moreover.
“They said the rare disease was due to foreign mana.”
At Go Yohan’s words, Park Dong-wook nodded.
“Yes.”
Demonic energy.
The reason demons were impure existences that had to be exterminated.
The demonic energy they possessed corrupted and destroyed everything around them just by existing.
Go Yohan had been suppressing it until now, but leaks through the cracks seemed to be affecting Korea.
“It seems...”
Go Yohan cautiously began to speak.
If he was the cause, he’d help.
Just as he was about to offer to step in personally to resolve the situation.
“I want to help.”
It was Yu Se-hwa.
“…….”
“You’ve piqued my interest. And you might even provide answers to my own dilemmas.”
Yu Se-hwa smiled brightly at Go Yohan.
“I heard Yoon Seung-ah did something similar.”
“Huh?”
“We spent time together and talked a lot.”
This time, Yu Se-hwa spoke directly into his mind.
-She said people occasionally come to the church to pray. Sometimes she’d grant their prayers.
Such things had happened?
“With that child stepping back now, I suppose I should step up.”
Yu Se-hwa was undeterred.
“As the lady of the church!”
“What are you talking about...”
“Park Dong-wook, right?”
“Y-Yes, that’s right.”“I’ll help you.”
Yu Se-hwa had already stood and taken hold of Park Dong-wook’s hand.
She shook it vigorously up and down as she spoke.
“First...”
She flashed a sly smile.
“The child!”
*
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*
The local hospital wasn’t famous, but it lacked for nothing.
“I wanted to admit him to Sacred Hospital, but... the conditions didn’t match.”
It was the place in Korea filled with the most skilled and exceptional doctors, yet admission wasn’t easy.
Aside from the exorbitantly expensive VIP rooms, it required stringent screening.
Park Dong-wook said this as he gazed at the boy sleeping before him.
“My son...”
Park Dong-wook’s son, Park Sung-hoo.