Chapter 376
Chapter 376
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 376
Chapter Title: Tribal War (15)
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Han Shin remained utterly expressionless.
There was no surprise or shock whatsoever.
Instead, a profound seriousness, as if lost in deep thought, mingled with a fleeting sense of déjà vu.
While everyone else was overwhelmed by Park Chan-woo's "divine" aura, Han Shin was delving deeper into more complex questions about the true nature of this man called Park Chan-woo.
A name that kept nagging at him.
Especially since even Lee Hyuk-soo and that "Adora" seemed to follow him—it felt all the more peculiar.
Even Sylphia, the Queen of the Wind Spirit Tribe, hadn't denied Park Chan-woo's name.
'What am I missing?'
He couldn't figure it out.
It felt just within reach, yet always slipped away.
A name that seemed familiar, like he'd heard it somewhere before.
Was there another human who received such praise?
They were practically deifying him.
When he'd first heard Lee Hyuk-soo call him his "master," it hadn't stirred much emotion.
Han Shin had simply assumed he was some powerful figure that Lee Hyuk-soo unusually revered.
Or perhaps not human—an ancient race or something.
But now, things were different.
As soon as Adora finished speaking, the air inside the tent froze solid.
Reaper Johnson gaped back and forth between Adora and Lee Hyuk-soo.
"You're insane. Completely out of your minds."
Adrianne's reaction was far more intense.
"Lee Hyuk-soo, Adora. Please explain properly. A god? We're risking our lives out here too."
The other team members stared at them with similar expressions.
Reaper Johnson still couldn't close his mouth, and confusion and shock were plain on Lingling, Eugene Seo, Aorum, and Han Min-oh's faces.
"……."
Lee Hyuk-soo fell silent for a moment.
Their reactions were entirely expected.
He knew full well how absurd it would sound to his comrades, who suffered daily just to survive this hellish tribal war, to say their fate hinged on the return of a being called a "god."
But he could hide it no longer.
If they didn't grasp Park Chan-woo's true significance, they wouldn't find the strength to overcome the trials ahead.
Lee Hyuk-soo slowly opened his mouth. Every sound in the tent focused on his voice.
"Master… I don't even know where to begin explaining Park Chan-woo. Even I am still far from understanding everything about him."
A subtle ripple passed over the team members' faces at his honest admission.
Even Lee Hyuk-soo didn't fully comprehend him!
"But this much I can say for certain. He transcends mere strength. No words like 'common sense' or 'limits' that we know can contain him."
Lee Hyuk-soo paused, meeting each of his comrades' eyes one by one.
"For an unimaginable span of time beyond humanity's grasp, Master has fought colossal threats we can't even fathom, protecting mankind. In that endless struggle, he staked everything to safeguard a single hope."
Lee Hyuk-soo couldn't presume the depths of Park Chan-woo's suffering, but even the fragments he knew carried immense weight.
Adora watched Lee Hyuk-soo with an inscrutable expression.
She alone knew Park Chan-woo's deepest secret.
"In that process, Master surpassed every realm humans could reach. Once, he moved the stars in the night sky to forge a path, shook the world's axis in rage, and even the god of death bowed before him."
Reaper Johnson swallowed dryly, muttering.
"Is that… really something a human could do?"
"It might only have been possible because he was human."
Lee Hyuk-soo replied in a low voice.
"The desperate will and ambition unique to humans. Master pushed those emotions to the extreme, turning miracles into reality."
A deep sadness shadowed Lee Hyuk-soo's face.
"To give humanity this one decisive chance, Master exhausted everything he had. He burned even the foundation of his existence to create this opportunity for us."
Even after Lee Hyuk-soo finished, disbelief lingered heavily in the tent.
"You expect us to believe that right now?"
Reaper Johnson shook his head.
"Still feels like grasping at clouds."
Adrianne's eyes demanded something more concrete.
Their minds swirled with questions like "A human moving stars?" and "The god of death bowing?"
No matter how earnestly Lee Hyuk-soo spoke, it sounded more like myth than reality.
Han Min-oh, who had listened quietly, nodded.
"…If he's the one who saved me in the 'Sniper Abyss,' then yeah, he was definitely incredible."
All eyes turned to Han Min-oh at his unexpected words.
Until now, talk of Park Chan-woo had been mostly Lee Hyuk-soo's one-sided reverence and Adora's enigmatic affirmation.
Yet the team's youngest and most ordinary member claimed to have met Park Chan-woo personally—and been helped by him.
"Han Min-oh, what do you mean? You met this Park Chan-woo guy yourself?"
Adrianne asked sharply first.
Doubt still lingered in her eyes, but so did anticipation for new information.
"Yes. A few months ago, in the sudden 'Sniper Abyss,' I could do nothing but wait for death. That's when he appeared."
Sniper Abyss.
A Creation Abyss opened by a Creator to kill a specific target.
It was vaguely known, but becoming a Creator's snipe target was exceedingly rare.
After all, it required incurring a Creator's wrath—and humans rarely drew the ire of the Creators, lords of demons.
"In a situation swarming with countless avatars gunning for me, he saved me in an instant. He'd rescued me several times before that too. Always like a miracle in impossible situations…."
"Creators sniped you?"
For a split second, Han Shin shot back in disbelief.
A faint trace of contempt laced his voice.
Han Min-oh was his younger brother.
And Han Shin knew better than anyone how utterly ordinary and frail his brother was—or bluntly put, how utterly worthless.
For such a brother to become a target of the "Creators."
Targeted by "countless avatars" no less—it sounded utterly preposterous to him.
From childhood, showered in expectations yet failing at everything.
A talentless mediocrity without a shred of gift.
That was Han Min-oh.
Han Min-oh's face flushed red for a moment, then paled.
His brother's blatant scorn and doubt stabbed his heart like a dagger.
That cold gaze treating him like a bug, one he'd heard endlessly since childhood.
He'd thought he'd overcome it, but Han Shin remained a daunting, terrifying older brother.
'Even now… am I still less than a worm in front of him?'
He mustered courage to retort, but his voice failed under Han Shin's icy stare.
His lips merely trembled.
"Do you think a wretch like you is worth incurring a Creator's wrath?"
Han Shin asked coldly again.
He recalled the time Han Min-oh had shown up wounded, healed by a "high-grade elixir."
Claiming he'd nearly died to a demon merchant but was saved by someone.
'Survived then by someone's excessive charity too. Is this the same? Did this Park Chan-woo see some value in you?'
Absurd.
To him, Han Min-oh wasn't worth the immense cost of saving.
No talent, no grit, not even the venom to survive—just a flower grown in the greenhouse of the Han Yeon Group.
For such a brother to be targeted by Creators and saved by a so-called god? Pure delusion.
And frankly, calling this "Park Chan-woo" a god made no sense either.
A real god wouldn't bother saving his brother.
"B-Brother… I'm just telling you what I experienced."
"Are you certain the Sniper Abyss was because of you?"
"……."
"You've been like this since you were a kid. Always exaggerating, spinning tall tales. To win Father's approval, or get my attention. Isn't this the same? In this hellish tribal war, desperate to survive, so you're fabricating a convincing story to impress Lee Hyuk-soo and Adora?"
"No! Absolutely not, it's not like that!"
Han Min-oh cried out desperately.
But he unwittingly stepped back.
Han Shin's overwhelming presence still crushed him.
An unbeatable existence since childhood.
One he couldn't even dream of facing.
That was his brother, Han Shin, to Han Min-oh.
"Then what is it?"
Han Shin pressed without yielding an inch.
Not a shred of pity in his eyes.
Only thickening contempt, as if looking at something pathetic.
'This fool hasn't changed. Still weak, lost in delusions.'
He'd harbored faint hopes.
Climbing to humanity's top 10, perhaps reaching his level.
No change.
He'd thought the temperament had shifted, but no.
It shamed him to share blood with such a one.
"A bird without wings can't fly."
Han Shin's final words pierced deeper than any physical blow.
From Han Min-oh's earliest memories, his brother had repeated that phrase.
The brother who effortlessly aced everything with genius, versus himself, who couldn't catch up despite endless effort.
A cruel brand confirming the gulf between them.
"Don't force it, Han Min-oh."
"……."
All color drained from Han Min-oh's face.
His trembling lips moved several times, but no words came.
Before that phrase, the last scraps of courage he'd gathered shattered.
His vision blurred with rising heat, but he clenched his teeth, holding back tears.
Showing them here would only prove his brother right.
That was when it happened.
"Enough."
Adora, who had silently watched their exchange, cut Han Shin off with an icy voice.
Her red eyes fixed on him.
No anger or pity in that gaze—just an eerie pressure that chilled even more.
"The reason Park Chan-woo saved Han Min-oh multiple times… was because Han Min-oh harbors a Divine Beast."
"…What?"
Han Shin furrowed his brow.
The others reacted similarly.
Divine Beasts were beings even demons feared.
Yet humanity knew only shallow scraps about those majestic monsters.
But Adora's next words plunged them all into even greater shock.
"And not just any Divine Beast. It's the king of Divine Beasts, 'Cygnus.'"