Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: An Earthforged Demonic Item
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After the press conference held by Go Yohan at the Saman Convention, South Korea was in absolute chaos.
-He's lost his mind.
The reactions were brutal.
-Born into royalty, living however he pleases, then hitting peak middle school syndrome—that's how you end up talking like that.
-Middle school syndrome? More like peak edgelord lmao.
-Holy War! Apocalypse! Cringe at maximum.
Even though demons and demonic objects had recently come to light, the unprecedented tone and warning of the conference.
And then.
-This is my holy war! Without me, you're all doomed lol.
-My hands and feet curled up so bad I had to go to the ER.
-Michael lol Michael!!!
The words spat out during the conference.
Combined with Go Yohan's appearance...
-The greatest middle school syndrome announcement in history.
It seemed like nothing but mockery and ridicule.
But then.
-Russia issues statement fully endorsing and supporting Player Go Yohan's declaration.
Something strange was afoot.
-Wait, hold up.
-Goldian: 'Demonic objects' are real and will destroy players and civilizations. All governments, associations, and players must remain vigilant.
-What...
News was popping up faster than anyone could keep track, hour by hour.
-French Duke Odrea Guild under Duchess Odrea: Demonic stones are real. Invasion is real. Do not ignore Monsieur Go's warning.
-What's going on...
The big shots, the ones who moved the world, were stepping forward one by one in support of Go Yohan.
Even in South Korea.
-The Sanctuary Alliance declares total war against the demons. We are already at war.
South Korea's top guild alliance, the Sanctuary Alliance, issued a statement.
At first, it was dismissed as the ravings of a madman.
The ravings of some spoiled princeling treating South Korea like his playground.
-Holy.
But as changes unfolded, the mockery turned to shock.
-Not affiliated with Go Yohan, but we support his intent...
Tension.
-What's... what's happening?
-Is this a real war? A war?
And spreading fear.
No one was talking about "holy war" anymore.
'War.'
The name Michael was being floated as a warning weapon, a system name, or perhaps an alliance.
'Doom.'
That word.
-What the hell is this...
For the first time, it was hitting home.
*
*
*
Yohan Church, and the Yohan Orphanage standing beside it like twins.
Rather than cutting-edge facilities, it was a building full of warmth, surrounded by a playground, park, and sports field where children could run around.
"Oppa, what's a holy war?"
"Hyung! What's Michael?"
The children swarmed around a man there, chattering away.
"Doom?"
"You don't even know holy war? It's, like, a religious war! For the will of the great god or something?"
"Don't search it! Idiot!"
The kids were lively and pure.
"God! Right, church is a place to worship God! Does hyung worship God too?"
In the midst of those children stood a man with silver-white hair and sky-blue eyes.
Go Yohan, the man the whole world—South Korea included—was searching for.
"How about you kids stop watching so much TV? Aren't the teachers showing it to you too much?"
Go Yohan laughed in disbelief.
The church wasn't functioning as one, but the orphanage was different.
"Should I confiscate your phones?"
"Aaah! Run!"
"I'm sorry!"
For a few years now, the number of kids at the orphanage had grown quite a bit.
Originally, the Yohan Orphanage had been a front to let the apostles live without suspicion, but things were different now.
"Anyway, worship God? Nah, nothing like that. Just following."
"God?"
"Nope."
People who died connected to demons.
When their children had nowhere to go, Go Yohan had taken them in and brought them to the Yohan Orphanage.
"Then who?"
"Buddha?"
"That's something you don't need to know."
"Why? I wanna believe in a god too."
Heh.
Go Yohan chuckled, finding it cute.
"You can decide that for yourselves, but it's not something you just do like that."
"Then what is it?"
The kids pouted.
They were truly children, nothing like the precocious apostles.
'The apostles... I knew they weren't really kids at heart.'
Still, he wanted them to experience a normal human life at least once.
"Belief... tough word, huh? Something like that. Anyway, faith isn't something you force or decide on a whim. Not on you kids, not on anyone."
Go Yohan stood up.
"If someone tries to force it, say no. Like this."
"Nooo?"
"When you want to find it, you will. If you don't need it, you won't."
Go Yohan stroked each child's head as he spoke.
"And... these are things you don't need to know anyway."
"Why?"
"By the time you grow up and learn about it all."
Go Yohan glanced at Lee Jae-kyung, who was waiting off to the side.
"The holy war and all that will be over by then."
"......?"
"Truth is, it's better not to seek God. People only look for Him when they're suffering. That's not what matters. I heard you kids aren't eating properly?"
"Run!"
"Uwaaah!"
The children scattered in a flash.
Go Yohan approached Lee Jae-kyung, who was smiling at the sight.
"You're not teaching them religion, right?"
The orphanage kids were being educated by the followers.
"Are you insane? We'd really be a cult."
"Good. Make sure nothing like that happens. They can choose their own paths freely, but I don't want to force or influence anything."
They walked together.
"Why go that far?"
"Because I..."
Go Yohan smiled.
"...don't plan on sharing my goddess."
"What does that even..."
"Let's drop this topic."
Lee Jae-kyung nodded at Go Yohan's words.
"Public opinion is definitely shifting after the statements from the major guilds and organizations. At first, it was all ridicule—you have no idea how embarrassing that was for me."
Lee Jae-kyung chuckled.
She probably hadn't been embarrassed at all.
'Sue them all...!'
She'd been furious.
"Edgelord this, hasn't grown out of it that..."
"It's just been a day or two."
Go Yohan smiled back.
"When someone's belief becomes reality's punchline, it's common. Because it's hard to accept."
Go Yohan said.
"It's just fear of the terror you'll feel when you face it and realize it's true."
Nod.
"If there's really a Black Flame Dragon on your left hand, it wouldn't be a joke—it'd be a catastrophe."
Lee Jae-kyung said out of nowhere.
"Black Flame Dragon?"
"Nothing."
Lee Jae-kyung snickered.
"Anyway, you didn't come here just to chat."
There had to be a reason to interrupt Go Yohan spending time with the kids at the orphanage after the conference.
"Goldian sent something over."
Lee Jae-kyung said.
"As you might expect, it's a demonic object..."
Gluttony was working on an item that could detect demonic objects.
They'd sent a prototype to Goldian's Samuel.
"And there's a problem with it."
"Problem?"
"...You need to see it."
*
*
*
"C-Captain..."
There stood a boy who looked about sixteen, calling out to Go Yohan with a haggard face.
His dark circles were so deep they reached his chin, and his long, unkempt hair covered his face.
His clothes were filthy, and he smelled like he hadn't bathed.
"How long since you slept? When'd you last wash? You look like an undead."
Ghost, corpse, undead.
Words like that came to mind.
"...D-Don't know... Can't remember..."
Go Yohan frowned.
Snap.
The boy snapped his fingers.
His filthy clothes bleached sparkling white, the dark circles retracted and vanished.
He tied back his hair tightly, revealing a face full of future promise.
"Don't just clean up the outside—go sleep."
"...Can't."
The boy—Kang Yunbae.
The name Lee Jae-kyung had given him.
"...Only I can do it."
"You're already getting called a villain, and now cult plus child exploitation? Captain, you're definitely getting arrested."
Lee Jae-kyung laughed at the sight and said to Go Yohan.
Kang Yunbae.
"...Different, mister. I want... to do it..."
"Brainwashing too?"
"Shh."
Lee Jae-kyung shrugged and stepped back at Kang Yunbae's words.
This boy, as peculiar as Go Yohan himself, was one of the apostles.
"Gluttony."
Gluttony.
The guy who holed up in the church basement lab, not even seeing sunlight.
A master alchemist with expertise in magic engineering and mechanics—a genius among geniuses.
He was the one who'd made the elixirs now hitting the market, and the demonic object detector.
"...I like it this way. No need to chat with people..."
Squirm squirm.
"Sunlight... makes me... tired."
What could you do? He wanted it himself.
"And..."
In one corner of Gluttony's lab was a door ornately decorated.
"...Being together... is nice..."
It looked like a place fit for a princess, a far cry from the stuffy lab.
"Doing okay?"
"...Yeah. Said to say hi to Captain."
With that, Kang Yunbae, Go Yohan, and Lee Jae-kyung headed to one spot in the lab.
There floated a single sword in midair.
A longsword that looked utterly ordinary, like something a novice blacksmith hammered out.
"It's a demonic object."
Go Yohan knew at a glance.
But if that was all, there'd be no reason to call him.
Ever since Black Gates appeared in the world, these "demonic objects" had occasionally turned up inside gates.
Cursed items, they were called.
But.
"......?"
"As expected... Captain would... notice."
Go Yohan sensed something and approached the sword.
"This..."
His sky-blue eyes sank deeper.
"Yeah... Made on Earth..."
Not Travania, not the demon world.
Someone on this Earth—a blacksmith—had forged this demonic object.