Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Aurora of Souls
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The entire world was abuzz with just one name: Lee Jung-woo.
The ripples he had caused had spread beyond Korea's politics, economy, and society, now reaching into the vast lake of international relations.
Some called him a disaster and trembled in fear, while others hailed him as a savior and clung to new hope.
But Lee Jung-woo, the source of all this chaos, had finally indulged in a long, sweet sleep after ages.
As he lounged on the sofa, munching on potato chips while watching a rerun of some trashy drama, Lee Se-ah emerged from her room where she'd been holed up quietly.
In just a few days, her face had noticeably thinned, etched with exhaustion.
The chaos outside paled compared to how her little brother's actions were burning her up inside.
Without taking his eyes off the TV, Jung-woo asked indifferently,
"What's up. Hungry? Want me to order something?"
"...No."
Se-ah stared at her brother's back on the sofa for a moment before speaking softly.
She had watched it all from her room: his live stream, that reporter Park Sun-woo's press conference, and every bit of the world's ensuing turmoil.
"Just... stuffy in here. Doesn't it bother you at all? The world's falling apart."
"What about it? It's nice and quiet."
Se-ah let out a deep sigh.
Jung-woo caught the familiar weariness in his sister's sigh—a fatigue that three hundred years hadn't erased.
He glanced back at her.
"Wanna go out for some air?"
"...Where?"
"Dunno. Somewhere nice."
Jung-woo stood with a grin.
He issued a command in a soul voice only Belial and Bolg could hear.
In the shadows, Belial bowed silently.
A flicker of complaint—like 'Why me with that bonehead?'—passed through his empty eye sockets, but he dared not object.
Bolg, standing blankly beside him, smacked his lips in regret at being left out of the stroll.
Jung-woo grabbed Se-ah's wrist lightly.
"Let's go."
"Where are we going! And what are we riding... Ack!"
Before she could finish, the apartment balcony window swung wide open massively. The outside view vanished, replaced by a pitch-black subspace.
And from beyond it, a mountain of bones forming a dragon's head thrust into the living room.
Eerie green flames burned in its empty sockets.
The Bone Dragon, Valerion.
The ancient wyrm that once ruled the western mountains of Arkea Continent—a powerhouse that had even given Jung-woo's first Four Heavenly King, Kairon, a tough fight.
After losing to Jung-woo who invaded its domain, it was captivated by his power, accepted death willingly, and chose to become his mightiest mount and loyal servant.
Se-ah froze before its overwhelming presence, too stunned to scream.
"It's fine. It doesn't bite."
Jung-woo half-dragged the horrified Se-ah along.
As he touched the jagged, sharp backbone, something happened.
The rough spines flowed like living clay, reshaping into a perfect, comfy saddle for two.
Jung-woo mounted first and extended a hand to Se-ah.
"Hop on. And hug my waist tight. Don't let go, no matter what."
Still terrified, Se-ah reluctantly took his hand and climbed up, compelled by his firm tone.
The dragon's bones felt smooth and solid like polished marble, belying their look.
She wrapped her arms around his waist as instructed.
"Got a good grip?"
The moment Jung-woo spoke, Valerion launched skyward with a massive flap of wings.
Their figures were instantly captured by drones from patrolling news helicopters.
But Valerion's speed was beyond human tech.
He vanished from the reporters' sights in seconds.
After flying a while, Jung-woo landed Valerion at a quiet rest area off a rural highway in South Chungcheong Province.
People in the parking lot scattered screaming at the sudden giant bone dragon, turning the place into pandemonium.
Jung-woo ignored it.
"Let's stretch our legs."
"Where are we...?"
Se-ah looked around, still in shock.
Instead of answering, Jung-woo nodded toward a small convenience store across the road.
The moment he opened the door, a truck driver's eyes bulged mid-slurp of cup ramen, as did the twenty-something clerk's at the counter.
"Gasp...! L-Lee Jung-woo!"
Their pounding hearts drowned out the door chime.
Before them stood Korea's most infamous—and dangerous—man.
Disaster incarnate.
In the corner ramen aisle, two guys pouring water into cup noodles froze.
They were B-rank Awakeners from the local mid-tier White Tiger Guild.
Just stopping for a bite before night patrol.
Spotting Jung-woo, their bodies locked up instinctively.
The heat of the ramen, their hunger—all forgotten.
Their trained senses screamed from every cell.
'Run. That's... not something you fight.'
But their feet wouldn't move.
Terror glued them like swamp mud.
One hand crept unconsciously to his artifact dagger at his waist.
But he couldn't draw it.
His mind flashed to footage of that monster Kairon nullifying SS-rank Choi Kang-hyuk's Absolute Guardian in one slash.
And even that monster was just this guy's subordinate.
Against the calamity that wiped out Hwarang Guild, a mere B-rank like him could do nothing.
Jung-woo ignored their stares, grabbed a bottle of makgeolli from the fridge.
His casual vibe—like popping into the corner store for a drink—was so nonchalant it felt unreal.
"...This the one?"
It was the makgeolli his dad loved.
Se-ah vaguely recalled relatives at the funeral joking, "That guy sure loved his makgeolli."
She thought her little brother was too young to remember.
Jung-woo set the bottle and some snacks on the counter.
The clerk scanned with shaking hands.
Jung-woo offered a single gold coin etched with a bizarre dragon emblem.
Unsure of its value, the clerk just bowed, forgetting change.
Back on Valerion, they flew another five minutes to a remote mountainside.
There lay a small, weathered grave where their parents rested.
Set up half-heartedly by relatives obsessed with inheritance after the car crash left the siblings alone at the funeral.
Jung-woo visited every anniversary.
Until departing for Arkea.
He uncapped the makgeolli and poured it silently over the mound.
Then plopped down wordlessly.
First visit in three hundred years.
Three centuries had weathered most emotions to dust.
Sadness, longing—mere faint traces now.
But he remembered.
The little boy bawling while clutching his sister's hand here.
He just wanted to confirm that memory once more.
A short distance behind, Kairon stood motionless, guarding his lord's moment.
In his lord's back, he read a human sorrow too faint, unerasable by three centuries.
After long silence, Se-ah spoke first, gaze shifting to the giant knight behind him.
"Jung-woo. That's... Kairon, right? Do you have memories from when you were alive?"
Jung-woo smirked without answering, nodding at Kairon.
"Don't bug me. Ask him yourself."
Se-ah hesitated, then mustered courage to look at him.
Sensing her gaze, the pitch-black knight slowly turned.
"....."
Two red glows pierced from the helmet's darkness, meeting her eyes quietly.
Then, a deep, heavy voice resounded, like rust flaking off after centuries.
"...I remember, Lady Se-ah."
His voice clanged like steel on bone, yet carried unflinching knightly dignity.
Se-ah swallowed dryly.
"Then... our parents too?"
Kairon paused.
Then deeper:
"The faces of those who bore me, the landscapes that raised me—all, I remember."
It shocked her more.
She'd thought him a mere puppet obeying orders.
But he had a clear past, a self.
Kairon's voice continued.
"Yet, Lady Se-ah. If mortal parents gave me a fleeting life, my lord now grants eternal purpose."
His red gaze turned to Jung-woo beside him.
Absolute loyalty gleamed.
"Kairon's once-mortal memories are now mere lessons to better serve my lord. All my remembrances, all my soul, point solely to him."
The noblest, fiercest vow of a knight transcending death.
Se-ah was speechless.
She'd glimpsed just a sliver of the era her brother endured, the world he conquered, to earn such devotion as emperor.
"What about you... Do you remember? Mom and Dad's faces."
"...Dunno. Memories fuzzy. Just... a feeling they were good people."
He said, fingering the soil before the mound.
After sitting long, Jung-woo brushed off dirt and stood.
"While we're out, let's swing by Min-chul's."
"...Min-chul?"
"Yeah. His place ain't far. Ten minutes on Valerion."
Kang Min-chul and Choi Soo-bin.
Jung-woo's closest friends.
Min-chul's family farmhouse was once a big operation pre-Gate Incident.
Now much smaller.
To avoid scaring villagers, Jung-woo landed Valerion on a quiet nearby hill and walked down with the three—no, two humans and one dragon? Wait, three: him, Se-ah, and the dragon stayed.
"Hey, Valerion. Can't you fly straight? Thought I was gonna puke my guts out. Do it again, and you're bone soup, got it?"
Valerion grumbled low like it was wronged as Jung-woo smacked its skull.
Se-ah couldn't help chuckling at the bizarre yet familiar scene.
At Min-chul's front gate, Jung-woo paused.
Three hundred years.
Most feelings worn thin, yet his heart raced oddly.
He rang the bell. Soon, a warm-faced man opened the door.
"Who... Jung-woo? Hey, Lee Jung-woo!"
Kang Min-chul.
The buddy he'd shared final drinks with before flunking civil service exams and heading home.
Stunned disbelief turned to fury and joy.
"You! Why's your phone always off? Where the hell you been, what you doing, showing up now? Se-ah too! Know how worried we were, you punk?!"
Min-chul pounded Jung-woo's back in rage.
Not anger—pure, heartfelt welcome.
Three centuries faded heroes' faces, guild names, even celebs from memory.
Yet Se-ah, Min-chul, Soo-bin shone vivid as yesterday.
"...Was in a dead zone. Circumstances."
Jung-woo grinned awkwardly.
"Circumstances my ass! Saw you on TV, punk! Emperor? Necropolis? You join a pyramid scheme or cult?"
"....."
"Anyway, you're safe. That's what matters, you idiot."
His grip on Jung-woo's shoulders didn't loosen.
Tears welled in his pudgy, worried-happy face.
Min-chul frantically called Soo-bin.
"Soo-bin! Choi Soo-bin! Where you at? Get here quick! Jung-woo's back!"
Her incredulous shriek echoed from the phone.
That evening, a small barbecue fired up in Min-chul's yard.
His parents were away for days, perfect.
An hour later, a taxi screeched up.
Choi Soo-bin leaped out.
Gone was the poised lawyer; hair messy, eyes bloodshot like sleepless nights.
Spotting Jung-woo, she yelled through tears and fury.
"You crazy bastard! Know what I've been through because of you?!"
She marched up, thumping his chest with fists.
Feather-light to him, but packed with her ordeal.
"NIS calls for questioning, firm demands relation statements, reporters camp my door!"
"And Se-ah unnie... Imagine her pain! Both phones off!"
Words failed; she buried her face in his chest, sobbing like a child.
All worry, fear, relief exploding at once.
The four old friends chatted like high school days, gossiping trivially, laughing loud.
Apocalypse, empire-building—irrelevant now.
Jung-woo recounted that night calmly, omitting three centuries and Demon King truth.
"...After drinks with you guys, took a wrong turn home. Ended up in some wonky-time neighborhood briefly. Snapped back, world's like this."
His vague tale drew "What?" from Min-chul and Soo-bin.
He just shrugged: "Headache. Don't ask."
They dropped it.
No need to spell out he'd been through hell.
Safe return was miracle enough; they silently refilled glasses.
"But... who's that? Been standing there forever."
Soo-bin cautiously pointed at motionless Kairon in the yard corner.
Too intimidated to approach his aura.
"Oh, my bodyguard."
"...Bodyguard? Scary-looking. Eaten yet? Wish I could offer something... but he's all bones."
Min-chul's earnest worry cracked Jung-woo up.
"He doesn't eat. Don't worry."
Kairon ignored their talk, silently guarding his lord and his called "family."
Seeing friends call him Jung-woo, not Emperor, and sister gazing worriedly, Jung-woo recalled forgotten sensations.
He still belonged to this world.
Deep in his heart, something frozen three centuries began thawing, bit by bit.
Night deepened, glasses circled.
Fun neared end.
"...Gotta head out."
Jung-woo rose.
"Already? Crash here! Plenty rooms!"
Min-chul clung; Soo-bin smacked his shoulder.
"Let him go, dummy. After that mess, no time to lounge. Jung-woo, Se-ah unnie—whatever it is, stay safe. Got it?"
Genuine worry in her eyes.
"Yeah. Don't fret."
Short goodbyes; they left.
They walked dark country road to hidden Valerion.
"...Seeing them after so long... felt good."
Se-ah broke silence.
"Min-chul, Soo-bin—unchanged."
"Yeah."
"You laughing earlier... reminded me of old times. Felt good for you too, right?"
"...Maybe."
Gruff reply, but faint smile lingered.
He'd thought three centuries ground all feelings away.
Yet today, the deepest frost thawed a touch.
Back on Valerion.
The bone dragon soared silently into night sky.
Cool wind brushed Se-ah's cheek.
She gazed down at darkened Korea from behind him.
Countless lights.
Each harboring folks like them—laughing, chatting, worrying, living.
Todays events felt dreamlike.
Parents' grave.
Friends' reunion.
And the monstrous brother enabling it all.
As she pondered complexly,
"Sis."
Jung-woo called softly.
"Look there."
He pointed to faint glow in distant dark: Necropolis.
Muttering unintelligible words low, an unbelievable sight unfolded.
From Necropolis core, the Soul Refinery, thousands, tens of thousands of soul flames rose.
Pure remnants, grief and rage refined away.
Blue and white flickers like fireflies formed a vast Milky Way ascending to night sky.
A river of living stars.
Over city of death, river of life flowed.
The emperor's miracle for his sole kin.
The world's saddest, most beautiful: Aurora of Souls.
"What... is this?"
Se-ah gasped in awe.
Her shining eyes filled with blue galaxy.
Jung-woo just chuckled at her question.
"Just... pretty, right?"
Clumsy, sincere comfort from a three-century Demon King, for family alone.
Se-ah said nothing more.
Just leaned on his back, drinking in the world's strangest, most beautiful night sky made for them.
She couldn't fully grasp or endorse his path yet.
But at least this night, it might not be all darkness.