Chapter 422
Chapter 422
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 422
Chapter Title: Racial War (61)
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Thud!
The gateway slammed shut.
The heavy clash of metal against metal.
It felt as though an entire world had been sealed away.
Behind Park Chan-woo's back, the presence and noise of everyone who had followed him—even the faint air currents swirling around the station—were perfectly cut off.
Silence.
And nothing but pitch-black darkness.
But that darkness was familiar to Park Chan-woo.
From within the rifts.
From the void of nirvana.
He had faced deeper darkness than this before.
Without panic, he simply advanced calmly into the quiet.
How long had he walked?
The darkness gradually lifted, revealing a new space before his eyes.
It was a space of nothingness.
No up, no down, no left, no right—just pure emptiness.
It resembled the primordial state before the world was created, where no concepts existed.
In the center of that space, where even time seemed to lose its flow, a man stood with his back turned.
His form was distinct, yet somehow impossible to perceive.
As if his very existence had merged with the surrounding void, constantly deceiving sight and senses.
He existed there, yet simultaneously did not—a paradoxical being.
"……."
Park Chan-woo halted his steps and stared at him.
He could feel his heart beating faintly.
Instinct told him that the entity he now faced was on a level beyond any god, demon king, or transcendent he had encountered before.
The man slowly turned around.
And Park Chan-woo witnessed a bizarre sight.
There were no eyes, nose, or mouth on his face.
Only a smooth surface, like an unfinished statue.
Yet strangely, Park Chan-woo could sense all his emotions and intentions.
On that faceless face floated deep wisdom, the boredom of one who had witnessed everything, and the pure curiosity of a child discovering a fascinating toy after a long time.
The Heavenly Emperor.
The 'Faded Truth' foretold by the system.
He directed a will of admiration toward Park Chan-woo.
The Heavenly Emperor's gaze swept over Park Chan-woo's entire form.
As if piercing deep into his soul, seeing every step of his journey.
At the Heavenly Emperor's gesture, four eggs floated up.
They were the 'Easter Eggs' Park Chan-woo had gathered after countless trials.
Fortune, Harmony, Honor, Endurance.
The Creator's four footprints.
But the Heavenly Emperor's next will carried a profound regret that overshadowed all that praise.
His gaze turned to Park Chan-woo's unstable divinity.
The Heavenly Emperor's words were spot on.
He had perfectly pierced Park Chan-woo's current state—the fatal instability hidden behind his glory.
"...What are you trying to say?"
Park Chan-woo frowned.
What a curse.
Wasn't this too harsh for the first person to reach this point?
For someone who had overcome all these trials, to be told he was merely 'fated to fade'?
He finally spat it out bitterly.
"If that's the case, does that mean I didn't even deserve to get here? You speak as if you know everything, but there's no substance to it. The Faded Truth? It just sounds like the empty words of something fading away."
Despite Park Chan-woo's provocative words, the Heavenly Emperor's aura didn't waver in the slightest.
If anything, a faint ripple like a smile seemed to flicker over his faceless face.
His will paused briefly before continuing with even deeper regret.
"……."
Park Chan-woo's eyes froze for a moment.
A word he hadn't anticipated was mixed into the Heavenly Emperor's words.
A phrase that had felt off since earlier.
"...Other candidates? There are more gathering Easter Eggs?"
Until now, he had believed he was the only one walking the Creator's path.
In countless regressions, in no lifetime had anyone delved so deeply into the existence of Easter Eggs.
Yet there were other 'candidates' besides him?
"Are they after the Easter Eggs?"
Park Chan-woo's mind raced.
If that was true, the situation changed entirely.
Sepiro wasn't the only enemy.
There were unknown rivals in the shadows, pursuing the same goal—or viewing him as a sacrifice.
"Can you tell me who they are?"
The Heavenly Emperor was firm.
But in exchange, he opened the door to a more fundamental secret.
Park Chan-woo's brow furrowed deeply.
The Heavenly Emperor's will sketched two opposing images in the void.
One was the warm, vibrant white Easter Egg Park Chan-woo knew.
The other was an ominous black Easter Egg tinged with despair.
Creator and Destroyer.
Light and darkness.
"...Who are you?"
Park Chan-woo finally voiced his curiosity.
"You're the first to see through the true nature of Easter Eggs so clearly. Even the transcendent Lil couldn't be certain of their identity. Who are you to know all this?"
The Heavenly Emperor's faceless face tilted slightly upward, as if toward the sky.
There was no sky in the void, but his will pointed to some distant firmament.
That will carried a tinge of sorrow.
His words were enigmatic, like a Zen koan, but Park Chan-woo vaguely grasped their meaning.
The Heavenly Emperor was no specific individual or god.
He was the 'Gate of Truth'—the record of the Abyss's birth, change, and fading.
Regret seeped from the Heavenly Emperor's will once more.
He valued Park Chan-woo's potential higher than anyone, yet saw his incompleteness clearly.
Before the Heavenly Emperor could finish.
His will trembled for the first time, ever so slightly.
His faceless gaze seemed to turn beyond Park Chan-woo, to the world outside this void—to reality.
Something beyond his calculations was happening.
This was a perfectly sealed space.
His absolute domain, impervious to any external force or causality.
Yet now, countless faint but pure streams of will were flooding toward his domain like a river.
Shwoooo—!
Around Park Chan-woo, invisible particles of light began gathering one by one.
Not mana, not divine power.
A purer, more primordial force.
His unstable divinity was regaining stability.
Soon, the Heavenly Emperor had no choice but to acknowledge it.
Kzzt!
Kzzzt!
The sky broadcasting the 'Station of the Crown of the Weakest' began warping with violent noise.
The clear sky vanished.
People panicked.
"W-What's that?"
"The sky suddenly...!"
Soon, it turned pitch black.
And two lines of message hung motionless in the sky.
The sentence hung like an unfinished verse.
But the weight of each word defied imagination.
The First Demon? Imprisoned Emperor? Nameless God?
Titles that contradicted and could not coexist pointed to one being.
The Faded Truth.
Was that the 'Heavenly Emperor's' true identity?
No one fully grasped the meaning, but all instinctively felt it.
A myth from the Abyss's deepest depths had awakened.
"What does this mean? A demon that's a god? An emperor that's imprisoned?"
"'Faded Truth'... I don't get it at all."
"Ominous. Too ominous. Feels different from any enemy before."
"Creators value names highly."
"...No being with such grandiose epithets could be ordinary."
"We don't have to fight it, do we?"
Chaos.
Ataraxia was powerful but fell within the comprehensible realm of 'despair'.
But this name was entirely different.
A herald of an existence mocking all common sense and language—contradictory and incomprehensible.
Amid the chaos, eyes naturally turned to one place.
Park Chan-woo's back as he entered the final gateway alone just before the blackout.
"Still... if it's him..."
The man who subdued even the dragonkin.
But.
"What are the others doing? Shouldn't we all fight together?!"
A young man shouted in frustration.
His cry became the spark.
"Right! Where's Lee Hyuk-soo?"
"Adora, Han Shin, where are the other representatives? They didn't even get off the train?"
People finally realized.
Just as Park Chan-woo had alighted alone at the 'Station of the Forgotten Gods', he had been alone throughout the 'Station of the Crown of the Weakest'.
No one had been by his side during the miracles—summoning the ominous god Baal to block all races, saving the forgotten gods.
And now, facing the enigmatic absolute known as the 'Heavenly Emperor', he was still alone.
Why?
Why must Park Chan-woo bear humanity's greatest trials alone?
What were the other human warriors doing?
Anxiety swiftly turned to distrust, then resentment toward unseen allies.
"This is too much! Park Chan-woo's doing everything alone, while others just reap the benefits!"
"Lee Hyuk-soo calls himself his disciple! What kind of disciple lets his master suffer like that?!"
Online communities ignited once more.
Public opinion praising Lee Hyuk-soo as a saint flipped in an instant.
Praise for his leadership and mercy vanished, replaced by accusations of an incompetent leader dodging responsibility at crucial moments.
But amid the chaos, another voice quietly gained strength.
Opinions from Abyss Safety Bureau analysts and a few experts who had deeply studied the Abyss's laws.
"...This might be Park Chan-woo's intention."
An elderly analyst spoke cautiously on air.
"Look back at everything so far. He has always been alone. But it's not isolation... it's more like he deliberately excluded others' 'interference'."
People paused to listen.
"At the Station of the Forgotten Gods, he summoned Baal to block other races. And achieved the unimaginable inside. This station is the same. With his 'Progenitor' authority, he sealed all other races' powers, creating a stage free only for himself. And now, he enters the final gateway alone."
The analyst caught his breath and stated his conclusion.
"He may not need anyone's help. Or rather, others' presence might hinder his plan, so he moves alone intentionally. He's painting a grand picture beyond our understanding."
His words weren't a perfect answer, but offered a new perspective to those swept in blind criticism.
Right.
Park Chan-woo didn't need their worry level.
The gap was too vast.
He advanced alone, bearing everything like a god saving humanity.
Fighting in his own way, utterly unlike any known hero.
"So... we just watch?"
"Is there really nothing we can do?"
It hadn't been like this before.
When the Abyss first opened, everyone fought from their positions.
Some wielded weapons, some tended the wounded, some gathered and shared info.
Small and feeble as it was, they felt solidarity as members of humanity.
But not now.
Everything rested on one man's shoulders: Park Chan-woo.
His victory was humanity's; his defeat, its end.
Before that immense weight, their existence felt infinitesimally small and meaningless.
"No."
Abyss Safety Bureau Director Park Sang-min shook his head firmly.
"There is something we can do."
"What can we do, Director?"
To the agent's question, Park Sang-min replied calmly.
"Prayer. Faith."
The control room buzzed at his words.
Hard to believe from the heart of disaster response, driven by science, data, and cold reason.
"Director, this isn't the time for jokes! We need real measures...!"
"This is the most real measure."
Park Sang-min cut the agent off decisively.
He stood and walked to the center of the control room.
His eyes were clearer than ever.
"Everyone, we've missed something. We've tried understanding Park Chan-woo solely as overwhelming 'power'. But retrace his actions. He's no mere powerhouse."
Park Sang-min's gaze swept every agent.
"The Station of the Forgotten Gods. Remember? He 'saved' the cursed forgotten gods there. Gave them back their 'names', listened to their 'stories', birthed new 'gods', granting them eternal rest."
His voice held insight beyond mere analysis.
"What is a god? We marveled at his miracle then but didn't probe its essence. Gods are born of faith, perish in oblivion. Park Chan-woo knew this law best. By renaming the forgotten, he made them gods again."
The room's atmosphere shifted subtly.
Agents were gradually drawn in.
"And he declared himself a 'god'. The dragonkin's 'new god'. Why? To boast his power? Out of arrogance?"
Park Sang-min shook his head.
"No. I see it now. What he seeks from us—from all beings in the Abyss."
His voice trembled.
The thrill of one who grasped truth.
"He wants 'faith'. Through our belief, he transcends mere strength to become a true 'god'. No matter his power, his existence may still be unstable under the Abyss's laws. But if all humanity's aspirations and faith flow to him, it becomes a force stronger than any magic or authority, rooting his divinity fully in this world."
His words weren't mere speculation.
The only solution to the enigma of Park Chan-woo.
Also confirmed by observing Lee Hyuk-soo's actions.
"This is all we can do. Believe in him. Accept without doubt that he is humanity's sole savior and true god, and send him all our aspirations."
Park Sang-min shouted toward the comms gear.
"...Broadcast what I just said across all global channels and networks immediately."
He added one more thing.
"Faith alone will save us."
Thus, all humanity prayed fervently.
And that prayer surged toward Park Chan-woo like a massive wave, forging him into the true 'Progenitor'.