Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Demigod (3)
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As she turned her head, Rachel caught sight of it.
Far behind the Baekkyeong.
A single ferryboat approaching amid a massive spray of water that rivaled a waterfall.
“…What?”
Rachel’s thoughts ground to a halt.
Her brain, hit with a momentary glitch, struggled to process what she’d just seen.
The fact that…
The Baekkyeong… was being overtaken?
The ship that boasted of being the fastest in the world, caught by some shabby little ferry.
“Th-that’s impossible?!”
While Rachel vehemently denied reality, the ferry that had kicked up a colossal spray reached right behind the Baekkyeong.
And then.
Bwoooosh—whiiiing!
It shot between the two Baekkyeongs, spraying a towering ten-meter wall of water.
Splaaash—
The spray from the ferry poured down like a sudden downpour, drenching Rachel’s head.
“Huh…?”
“Th-that…”
Though soaked by the deluge, Rachel and the crew couldn’t utter a word.
They simply stared blankly at the ferry before gasping in shock once more.
“It’s—already that far away?!”
It had just passed them moments ago, yet the ferry was now at least two hundred meters ahead.
An utterly astonishing speed.
And then, as the bizarre ferry closed in on the pirate ship it had been chasing.
“Where do you slowpokes think you’re dawdling in front of this old man? Get lost!”
Flaaash—
A booming shout rang out alongside a burst of pure white light.
Craaaack—
The massive pirate ship split clean in two.
“Gaaah!”
“Argh!”
The pirates leaped into the water to save themselves.
Bwoooosh!
The ferry zipped straight through the bisecting pirate ship as if nothing had happened.
It all unfolded in the blink of an eye.
All that remained was the foam churned up by the strange ferry and the wreckage of the shattered pirate ship.
And.
“Hahaha! Come catch me if you dareee!”
An echo filled with madness.
“What… just happened…?”
Rachel squeezed out the question, but no one was there to answer.
Everyone simply gazed, entranced, at the ferry that had already shrunk to a tiny dot.
* * *
The mysterious ferry Bububu, which had overtaken the Baekkyeong and cleaved the pirate ship in two before vanishing, had come to a stop before long.
Yuri, who had been pushing Bububu with every ounce of his strength, now lay sprawled on the river surface like a corpse, staring up at the sky.
“I can’t… go any further… even if you beat me to death, I can’t…”
How many days had it been since he’d forsaken sleep to charge ahead?
He’d lost sensation in his limbs ages ago.
A hollow emptiness settled in Yuri’s eyes as he bobbed on the water.
“Heh…”
He laughed.
A smile as fragile as white ash, ready to scatter on the wind at any moment.
In truth, Yuri didn’t want to laugh.
But he couldn’t stop the laughter leaking out.
“Heh heh heh…”
A hollow voice mingled with the empty chuckles.
“It’s over…?”
He had a day and a half left until the mouth of the Cradle.
And the distance to the Cradle itself…
“Heh heh heh heh.”
Even at full gallop on horseback, it would take a solid three months.
“Heh heh… hah heh heh!”
Abandoning everything, Yuri drifted with the current amid his deranged laughter.
Bob bob bob—
What caught Yuri as he floated downstream was the rope tied to his waist.
The taut rope yanked him against the flow.
Splaash—
At the other end was Johan.
“Heh heh, looks like I’ve hooked a big one.”
Yuri was hauled out of the water like a fish snagged on a hook.
Flop flop—
Once dragged aboard the ferry and tossed down haphazardly, Yuri sprawled like a jellyfish, all limp and wobbly.
Johan scowled at the grotesque sight.
“What the hell are you doing?”
In response to Johan’s question, Yuri twitched and replied.
“Old man…”
“What.”
“I think… I messed up.”
“You were always a screw-up. I’m the one who whipped you into something resembling a human.”
“…Damn old fart. Who’s fault do you think this is…?”
Too drained even to snap back properly, Yuri simply turned his back on Johan and lay down.
“Everything’s ruined… it’s all over…”
Yuri huddled in the corner of the ferry, knees drawn to his chest, looking utterly pathetic.
And small wonder—even after swimming like a madman toward the goal of the Cradle’s mouth, it had all crumbled to nothing, so even Yuri couldn’t help but feel crushed.
“I wanted… to get into the Cradle… but I can’t? Heh heh, heh heh heh…”
Now laughing like a complete lunatic, Yuri’s back shook faintly.
Seeing this, a glint of amusement entered Johan’s eyes.
“Keh heh heh, that oughta do it?”
Any more torment, and the kid might actually start bawling.
“…He already is?”
The way his shoulders shook while facing the wall—could he really be crying?
Johan chuckled softly and flicked his hand.
At that, Bububu cut through the current and headed toward the riverbank.
Thud—
Once Bububu bumped ashore, Johan hopped off and said,
“Get out.”
Yuri peeked up at him.
“Gonna take a shit?”
“…”
“Or a little one? But why me? Wanna go together?”
It wasn’t an odd question from Yuri.
Up till now, Johan had never left the ferry except to “take care of business.”
Johan scowled at Yuri’s query.
“Not that. Get out.”
“Why?”
Yuri refused to disembark, just lobbing questions instead, so Johan sighed and waved his hand dismissively.
Whoosh—
“Eek!”
A small gust scooped Yuri up and dragged him out.
Yuri tumbled out of the ferry.
“Ow ow, my back!”
As he rubbed his back, Johan patted the ferry.
“Heh heh, you’ve worked hard. Now go find your freedom.”
With that, Johan gave Bububu a push.
Watching it drift away downriver, Johan gazed at it wistfully.
Not content with that, he even waved goodbye.
Seeing this, Yuri finally concluded the old man had lost it.
‘No, he was always nuts, but today he’s even worse?’
Staring blankly at Johan, a surge of irritation welled up in Yuri.
‘Hold on… I did all the hard work, so why’s Bububu getting the pep talk?’
Who pushed the damn boat day and night?
Just as Yuri’s lips began to pout,
Rustle—
Johan turned toward him.
With hands clasped behind his back, Johan approached the seated Yuri.
Looking down at him, Johan spoke.
“This’ll probably be the last lesson before you enter the Cradle. Well, I’ll still see you around, but I won’t be stuck by your side like now.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“Listen closely.”
Yuri straightened up at Johan’s serious demeanor.
Lessons were one thing Yuri always took seriously, no matter what.
As Yuri sat up straight, Johan continued.
“The difference between Certified 9th Dan and Grandmaster is the opening of the spirit blood and the manifestation of the incarnation.”
It was knowledge Yuri was already familiar with.
But hearing it again now hit differently.
“Abnormal spirit blood and incarnation…”
Johan had once said Yuri was around Unofficial Rank 1 level.
Of course, considering how little proper training he’d done, it was an absurd height.
But that was it.
Not even Certified 1st Dan—a total greenhorn.
That was his current state.
Now he truly grasped how ridiculous it was for such a novice to wield an incarnation, a Grandmaster’s domain.
Of course, that was one thing.
What puzzled him was why Johan was bringing this up out of nowhere.
“So? Why bring that up all of a sudden?”
“If someone who’s steadily climbed the ranks opens their spirit blood, even their first incarnation will take a clear form. But yours…”
“…”
“Was nothing but a crude black blob, laughable to even call an incarnation.”
The moment Johan uttered “black blob,” Yuri unconsciously touched his earlobe.
A hard texture met his fingertips.
It was the sky-blue gem called Shari that he’d received from Ralph as a condition for accepting the sparring bet.
Before proper training began, Johan had turned it into an earring and given it to Yuri.
[This Shari’s power will seal your spirit blood, letting you build mana even without me. Plus… it’s a safety lock to keep that monster inside you from breaking out.]
Yuri used to have frequent nightmares.
Dreams of turning into a black monster, rampaging, drenched in sticky blood.
Even after meeting Johan, they persisted.
But since wearing the Shari earring, not a single nightmare.
Things had improved, but Yuri knew full well.
The black blob monster still lurked within him.
Without the Shari earring, it could emerge anytime.
Seeing Yuri touch the earring, Johan continued.
“What do you think caused your incarnation to fail to take proper form?”
Yuri pulled his hand away from the earring and met Johan’s gaze.
“…Beats me? I’m a weirdo? Everyone else builds a solid foundation before opening their spirit blood and manifesting an incarnation, but I skipped it all?”
“Hoo?”
“Maybe that’s why—an abnormal process birthed an abnormal incarnation?”
“Then what do you think that ‘foundation’ others build is? What exactly must one pile up to manifest an incarnation with a proper form?”
“…”
Yuri couldn’t answer this one easily.
No surprise—Johan’s question was the kind someone might give their life to hear.
It was that profound.
So Johan didn’t press.
He simply waited to see what answer this young genius would come up with.
Meanwhile, countless possibilities raced through Yuri’s mind.
‘Foundation, foundation…’
Pure mana accumulated in the body?
Mental fortitude from cultivation?
Knowledge and wisdom?
Or experiences gained from living in the world?
After a whirlwind of thoughts,
As his deliberation dragged on, Yuri’s tightly pressed red lips finally parted.
“A wish… maybe?”
A wish—that was Yuri’s answer.
At that, a spark lit in Johan’s eyes.
He asked back with keen interest.
“A wish?”
“Yeah, or a desire? A longing? Something like that?”
“Why do you think so?”
“Honestly, no clue what to build it on. So I thought backwards. What was I like the first time I manifested an incarnation?”
A method no one else could use.
Only Yuri, with his abnormal but already opened spirit blood and manifested incarnation, could approach it this way.
Johan showed clear intrigue.
“How was it?”
“When I first manifested my incarnation, back then… I…”
Yuri had first unleashed his incarnation the day his childhood village was trampled.
His sole sanctuary burning, the people he knew slaughtered before his eyes—so Yuri…
“…wanted to kill everything in the world.”
Yuri suspected the black monster within him was born from that childish murderous urge.
But the immature, blind rage had soon dissipated upon realizing his terminal life.
Survival instinct had overtaken slaughter.
“My first wish was someone’s death. Maybe that’s why my incarnation, born from that wish, remained incomplete when the murderous intent faded—stuck as a shapeless blob?”
Yuri stated his theory calmly, staring at Johan.
Hoping he’d confirm if it was right or wrong.
Johan smiled with his eyes.
“Is that so?”
“Am I right?”
“Who knows? Maybe? Maybe not?”
“...?”
Yuri’s face twisted—what the hell, we were on a roll, and now this bullshit?
Johan grinned at the expression.
“Think you’re getting a lifetime’s enlightenment for free?”
“…Then why ask?”
“Because this question is your homework.”
“…”
“Ponder it hard. What must you build for your incarnation to take proper form? Whether that ‘wish’ of yours is really it.”
“…Can’t you just give me multiple choice?”
“Multiple choice, my ass.”
“Or a hint at least.”
“Tch, no shortcuts. This homework only matters if you solve it alone.”
“Tch.”
The theme Johan tossed out: the foundation for forging an incarnation.
It might be homework Yuri wrestled with for life.
A problem meaningful only if solved solo.
Thus, Johan merely posed it, wanting Yuri to find the answer himself.
However…
“Well, I can’t give hints, but I can tell you the reward for solving it.”
“Reward?”
Yuri’s eyes lit up greedily at the word.