Chapter 183
Chapter 183
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 183
Chapter Title: Restored Memories
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Rumble, rumble, rumble.
Construction noises echoed here and there throughout the Magic Tower.
Creak, creak.
They were sounds bordering on deafening roars.
But.
Shh.
As soon as Go Yohan appeared, it fell silent, just like any other sanctuary.
"Thanks."
Se-hwa, the Magic Tower's administrator, had made sure those vibrations and noises didn't reach Go Yohan.
Right now, the Magic Tower was undergoing massive construction by heavyweights and outside contractors to fulfill its role.
It had revealed its exterior, but the interior remained closed off.
People still couldn't easily guess its purpose and simply thought of it as something that lured in and contained gates.
Tap.
At that moment, Yoo Se-hwa appeared in midair and lightly landed on the ground.
"Se-hwa."
Go Yohan spoke as if about to get to business.
Swish.
Yoo Se-hwa reached out her hand.
"......?"
Go Yohan blinked, unable to comprehend.
Tap.
Yoo Se-hwa simply extended her palm again and smiled brightly.
"What are you doing?"
Finally, Go Yohan couldn't hold back and asked.
"Don't jump straight to business the moment you see me. Pay the fee first."
Yoo Se-hwa said, still smiling brightly.
"The fee?"
"Today, right here."
Tap, tap.
She tapped her open palm with her other hand.
"You want me to hold your hand..."
Swish.
Before Go Yohan could finish, he passed by her.
Yoo Se-hwa puffed out her cheeks hard.
But.
Pfft.
She soon smiled again.
"Your face looks a bit better now."
It had been three days since Park Dong-uk had been moved to the Magic Tower. During that time, Go Yohan's face had seemed no different from usual.
Ripple.
But Yoo Se-hwa could see it.
How much Go Yohan was holding back right now, and what emotions he was feeling.
That's why she'd played a little prank, and it had worked.
"I'm just dumbfounded."
"That's exactly how dumbfounded you should be."
"Enough with the nonsense."
Park Dong-uk, thought to be the incubator's sole success, had been moved into the Magic Tower and placed in the pod.
"Any progress?"
Park Dong-uk, Park Sung-hoo.
And even more importantly, them.
"What about the Apostles?"
The agenda was the recovery of the Apostles and Lee Jae-kyung.
"There is progress."
At Yoo Se-hwa's words, Go Yohan's eye twitched.
"Some of them have started molting."
"Molting?"
"Shedding their shells. Something you went through in the past."
"Body Change..."
It was growth akin to the evolution humans who entered the transcendent realm underwent.
Even on Earth, a similar concept existed.
'Marrow Cleansing.'
The act of discarding the old flesh and reconstructing bones and meat, like a ritual.
"Bodies fitting their power, not vessels predetermined for Archdemons or the like, but ones truly their own."
Yoo Se-hwa said.
"It's the first stage of molting to become Apostles in the true sense."
"When can they wake up?"
"I don't know yet."
Perhaps.
'They might never wake up.'
The Body Change they were undergoing was an entirely different concept from what countless humans had experienced.
Go Yohan seemed to still think it was merely reconstructing the flesh at this moment.
'Rank.'
In truth, it was the process of shedding their rank and finding a new one.
"If they don't lose their way, they'll wake up soon."
And.
'I wonder what he's so worried about.'
Yoo Se-hwa thought inwardly, her expression sullen.
Because among the Apostles, there was one expected to wake first.
"What about the incubator?"
Go Yohan asked.
Swish.
Yoo Se-hwa shook her head.
"We've checked all of South Korea again. If we haven't found it yet, it means either I can't detect it, or it doesn't exist."
Grip.
Even the land forced into his grasp wasn't enough.
He wanted to move right now, but it wasn't time yet.
"Got it."
Go Yohan finished speaking and seemed about to leave.
These past few days, he'd been heading nonstop to the Magic Tower's core without rest.
The demon lair where hundreds of gates tangled and spawned.
He was pouring his power and time there to establish a new order, in a place that even repelled Yoo Se-hwa's power.
She, as the administrator, knew best how wildly he was venting his pent-up emotions.
If he went there again, it would be a long while before he emerged.
"You haven't heard it yet."
Yoo Se-hwa grabbed the departing Go Yohan.
"......?"
"I told you about the Apostles' progress, but not the Demonic Humans'."
Demonic Humans.
The third race the demons sought to create.
An army to fill the gap between beasts and demons.
"The human named Park Dong-uk has awakened."
Yoo Se-hwa said with her usual smile.
*
*
*
"Oh, you've come?"
Park Dong-uk hurriedly stood and greeted Go Yohan.
"No need to go that far."
Go Yohan waved for him to stop, but Park Dong-uk bowed deeply at the waist.
Holy Order medical staff crowded around him on both sides, with wooden vine-like tendrils entwining his legs and body.
"...I want to do at least this much."
Having regained his memories, Park Dong-uk looked markedly different from his former awkward self.
He'd seemed dazed and lacking before.
"Thanks to you."
Vigor swirled in his eyes.
'It goes without saying.'
Park Dong-uk's past deeds had been much the same.
Much had been erased by the Onda Guild, but after learning the truth, Kang In had easily uncovered his history.
A far-from-ordinary family, a harsh childhood where he'd still seized his own success.
'Having abundant mana means his talent was exceptional.'
Even suppressed by the Onwi Fortress, Park Dong-uk had exuded immense mana.
It was only natural his true self was outstanding.
"Thanks to you, I could get revenge on the Onwi Fortress..."
Grip.
On the other side of the glass, another room was fully visible.
A boy asleep as if dead, wrapped in far more wooden vines than Park Dong-uk.
Park Sung-hoo's room.
"I could also save Sung-hoo."
Though Park Sung-hoo had fallen back into deep slumber, Park Dong-uk showed no doubt his son would awaken.
"It was a contract, right?"
Park Dong-uk said.
"I have no intention of breaking it. I'll do anything you command. That's the only way to repay the favor."
"I'm glad."
Only then did Go Yohan smile faintly.
"I had no intention of letting it go either."
And.
Crack, crackle, snap.
The wooden vines around Park Dong-uk began falling away.
"All vitals... abnormal."
A Holy Order doctor said.
He was there to monitor and verify the changes in Park Dong-uk.
"It's miraculous he's even alive."
According to the doctor.
"His heart rate is over twice that of a normal human, and his blood vessels and muscles..."
As a long explanation seemed forthcoming, the doctor shook his head.
That wasn't important now.
One word.
"I don't even know if we can consider him the same human anymore."
Even with Park Dong-uk right there, he didn't mince words.
It was because of his trust in Go Yohan, and knowing nothing should be hidden from him.
"I've heard similar phenomena occur in Players with special skills."
Go Yohan said.
"Ah, yes. Players with the passive 'Beast Heart' had heart rates several times normal."
"Think of it that way."
Go Yohan asserted.
"No need to complicate it. Mr. Park Dong-uk is the same human as always."
"......"
The doctor fell silent.
Grip.
Park Dong-uk clenched his fist.
"Understood."
"Thank you."
Separate greetings came.
*
*
*
"How far do your memories go?"
Go Yohan asked.
"Not all of them. The World Tree said the damage can't be recovered."
His flesh and soul had twisted and been reborn in the incubator.
What vanished then couldn't be found in any form.
"I don't mind missing my childhood memories..."
He didn't need to remember his harsh early years.
Grip.
But something he never wanted to forget didn't come to mind at all.
"...Her face... I can't picture it."
The face of the one human who had held Park Dong-uk together.
And the face of one incredibly precious woman.
Park Dong-uk's wife and Sung-hoo's mother.
"An Hye-kyung."
Go Yohan said.
"That's her name."
"......!"
"Unlike you, Mr. Park, she grew up in an affluent environment without major incidents."
"Th-that..."
Park Dong-uk's body trembled.
"Then she met you, Mr. Park."
"How?"
"Were you imagining something dramatic? It was a blind date."
At those words.
"Pfft."
Park Dong-uk let out a small laugh.
"She was a friend of one of your acquaintances, and that person thought you'd match well and set you up. The friend's name is Kim Yeon-su."
Go Yohan continued.
"And it's a clichéd story. The two fell in love, got married, and had a child."
After that.
"......"
It was ruin.
"...Thank you, thank you."
Park Dong-uk opened his mouth with difficulty, as if choked.
"I really... so much..."
It was then.
Swish.
Go Yohan pulled something out and handed it to Park Dong-uk.
"Among the people I know, there's an amazing hacker. She normally wouldn't take a job like this, but after hearing the situation, she said she'd help just this once."
"Wh-what's this?"
In Go Yohan's hand was an old-looking phone.
"They said it was the couple phone you two matched back then. I wouldn't know."
"......?"
"Open it."
Click.
The flip phone opened, revealing a fully charged screen.
There.
"Gasp...!"
Park Dong-uk and young Park Sung-hoo.
And one woman with them.
"A gift."