Chapter 468
Chapter 468
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 468
Chapter Title: Kim Ji-yeon
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The place Lee Hyuk-soo guided him to was a small villa in a quiet neighborhood on the outskirts of Seoul, in Gyeonggi Province.
A place so ordinary and modest that no one would ever imagine it as the home of a heroic figure.
"...I'm sorry for bringing you to such a humble abode."
In front of the weathered villa building, Lee Hyuk-soo bowed his head once more.
His face was filled with an unavoidable sense of guilt.
Park Chan-woo waved it off as if it were no big deal.
"It doesn't matter."
He knew Lee Hyuk-soo was a young man with no particular greed for material things.
But considering the rewards and honors he must have received as a hero of the interspecies war, it did feel a bit peculiar.
"You must have made a fortune. Why haven't you moved to a safer, bigger house?"
At Park Chan-woo's question, Lee Hyuk-soo scratched his head sheepishly.
"My mother... she's stubborn about it. She says there are too many memories of my father here, and she doesn't want to leave."
A shadow briefly crossed his face, soon replaced by a faint smile.
"But lately, more people around here have started recognizing me. For security reasons, we're planning to move to a safer place soon. The Abyss Security Division has already provided us with a residence."
Listening to him, Park Chan-woo nodded quietly.
Finally, they arrived at the small front door on the third floor, where the savory aroma of doenjang jjigae and a warm coziness seeped through the crack.
Kiiik-
As Lee Hyuk-soo opened the door and stepped inside, a middle-aged woman in an apron from the kitchen greeted them with a radiant smile.
"Come on in! Oh, you've finally arrived!"
Faint traces of her long illness lingered, but her face glowed with healthy color and deep warmth.
Lee Hyuk-soo's mother, Kim Ji-yeon.
"Mom, let me introduce you. This is the person I've told you so much about..."
"I know, son."
Kim Ji-yeon gently cut off her son's words and approached Park Chan-woo.
Without the slightest hesitation, she grasped both of his hands firmly.
Her hands were small and warm.
"Truly... thank you so much, Prophet. Thanks to you, our Hyuk... our son was able to come back to us safe and sound."
Tears glistened in Kim Ji-yeon's eyes.
She kept bowing her head repeatedly, pouring out her gratitude.
"My son praised you so much his mouth must have worn out. He said meeting you changed his life, that you helped him find his path. I heard so much about it my ears were practically callused."
At her words, Lee Hyuk-soo, standing beside her, flushed red as a beet.
Faced with this heartfelt thanks, Park Chan-woo stood silently for a moment, unsure of what to say.
This warm gratitude from one mother stirred deeper ripples in his heart than being called a god or worshipped as a king.
Just then, his gaze stopped at one corner of the living room.
Atop an old television, dangling from a fishing line tied to the ceiling, a small coin gleamed faintly.
A brass-colored Coin.
The currency used in the Abyss, and sometimes the last hope that could save a life.
Park Chan-woo recognized that Coin.
The 'Escape Coin for Your Mother' he had given to Lee Hyuk-soo before slaying the Dragon God General in the 'First Night' Abyss.
Noticing Park Chan-woo staring at the Coin, Kim Ji-yeon spoke up proudly.
"Oh, that? It's the first gift our Hyuk ever brought home."
A smile of pure happiness lit her face, as if she possessed the whole world.
"Our rundown house didn't have a single decent decoration. But with that there, it somehow makes the whole place brighter, don't you think? It's my son's first gift, so I'm afraid the Abyss might come crashing in and we'd have to use it. That's why I hang it up like that and polish it every day."
At her innocent words, Park Chan-woo found himself smiling faintly without realizing it.
'It's still here.'
The fact that the Coin was still hanging there meant that, fortunately, no life-or-death crisis had befallen this home or this family.
That single fact lightened the heavy burden on Park Chan-woo's shoulders, if only by a little.
He had merely planted one tiny seed.
Yet that seed had grown into a great tree of happiness for this small family.
"Oh dear, look at me!"
While Park Chan-woo was still gazing at the Coin, Kim Ji-yeon clapped her hands in sudden realization.
"What am I doing, keeping such an honored guest standing in the entryway? Please, come in, Prophet. The meal is all ready."
She hurriedly but attentively guided him to the small dining table.
On the table was a feast of steaming dishes.
Freshly cooked rice, hearty doenjang jjigae, golden grilled fish, seasoned vegetable side dishes, and neatly rolled omelets.
"It's nothing fancy, but I picked only the best from the market. I hope it suits your taste."
Kim Ji-yeon said with a shy smile.
Park Chan-woo silently took in the warm scene.
'A warm meal.'
When was the last time he had one?
He couldn't even remember.
Since his return, his life had been nothing but battlefields.
He struggled day by day just to survive, to grow stronger.
A proper meal was a luxury; he never attached any meaning to it beyond filling his stomach.
Dagon the devil merchant occasionally cooked for him, but that was always just for 'survival'—calculated nutrients and mana-restoring ingredients, never infused with the human warmth of the meal before him now.
As Park Chan-woo sat down, Kim Ji-yeon seized his hands again and began pouring out her words as if she'd been waiting.
"Really, if our Hyuk hadn't met you... just imagining it is horrifying. He's such a deep and upright kid, but I was always worried if he could make it in this harsh world."
Her eyes held boundless love for her son and infinite gratitude toward the one who had protected him.
"But thanks to you, Prophet, our Hyuk has grown into such a fine man. He's even more reliable as the head of the household than I am now. It's all because of you. Please, keep looking after our boy from now on. He might seem stubborn and gruff sometimes, but he's really soft-hearted deep down."
"Mom...!"
Lee Hyuk-soo, who had been scooping rice beside her, finally couldn't hold back and cried out.
His face was red as a ripe apple.
"What are you saying in front of the Prophet?"
Ignoring her son's reproach, Kim Ji-yeon just playfully rolled her eyes.
"What's wrong with it? It's the truth. You need to be honest in front of the Prophet, don't you think?"
Watching their innocent mother-son exchange, Park Chan-woo felt a tickle in a corner of his heart without realizing it.
Awkward and unfamiliar, but not at all unpleasant.
"Eat up before it gets cold."
Kim Ji-yeon placed the meatiest piece of fish atop his rice bowl.
Park Chan-woo quietly picked up his spoon.
And with one spoonful.
The moment the warm rice touched his tongue, he forgot everything.
'Delicious.'
So, so delicious.
It was as if every cell in his body was recalling the taste of happiness he had forgotten.
A simple, ordinary happiness.
The everyday warmth he thought he could never return to after the Abyss appeared.
It was reviving now, right on the tip of his tongue.
From that moment, Park Chan-woo couldn't think of anything else.
He began devouring the food voraciously.
Like a man who hadn't eaten in days.
He mixed doenjang jjigae into his rice for a big spoonful, shoved an entire omelet roll into his mouth, and crammed handfuls of vegetable sides with his chopsticks.
Chew. Chew.
The dignity of the god who sat on the Dragon God's throne deciding the Abyss's fate was nowhere to be seen.
There was only a starving man, overwhelmed by the joy of a home-cooked meal after so long, indulging his appetite without restraint.
"...?"
"...?"
Lee Hyuk-soo and Kim Ji-yeon stared at the scene with wide eyes, dumbfounded.
The Prophet they knew was always transcendent, a mysterious being who seemed to see through everything.
The man before them now ate like a child, so purely and defenselessly.
At the sight, a pleased smile crept onto Kim Ji-yeon's lips unbidden.
"Oh my, you like it that much? I should have prepared more."
She rose from her seat and began pulling new side dishes from the fridge.
Park Chan-woo swept it all into his stomach without leaving a scrap.
Perhaps he was filling not his body, but the hunger of his empty soul.
His heart, chilled by countless deaths, regressions, betrayals, and solitude, was melting bit by bit before this warm table.
How much time passed?
Finally, when every grain of rice and dish on the table had vanished into his belly.
Park Chan-woo set down his spoon.
And in that instant, the trance ended, replaced by a slightly awkward silence over the table.
Recalling how he had been focused solely on eating moments ago, Park Chan-woo felt his face heat up.
He cleared his throat awkwardly, stood, and bowed deeply to Kim Ji-yeon.
"...Thank you. It was truly delicious, ma'am."
His voice wasn't that of the dignified god, but a young man sincerely grateful for a good home-cooked meal.
Kim Ji-yeon waved it off with a laugh.
"No need for that. Seeing you enjoy it so much makes me happier. Come again anytime."
At her warm words, Park Chan-woo hesitated briefly before speaking again.
"And please, don't worry too much."
He looked at Lee Hyuk-soo.
"Hyuk-soo here will do just fine on his own, even without me."
Kim Ji-yeon's eyes widened.
Park Chan-woo had seen through her anxious heart from the start.
Boundless trust and pride in her son.
But beneath it, the deep maternal fear that he walked dangerous paths.
And that he, the 'Prophet,' was the only one who could ease that fear.
"He would have become a hero even without me."
Park Chan-woo's words were no mere consolation.
They were sincere truth.
He had only cleared a tiny path for that brilliant sprout to bloom.
"In fact, I'm the one receiving more help."
Lee Hyuk-soo and Kim Ji-yeon's eyes widened again.
A god-like being, receiving help?
Lee Hyuk-soo shook his head frantically.
"Prophet, what are you saying? Compared to the grace you've given me, what I've done is nothing!"
But Park Chan-woo looked at him quietly yet firmly.
"No, Lee Hyuk-soo. You don't know."
He glanced again at the weathered Coin hanging in the small villa's living room.
"How much comfort and strength this ordinary daily life you protect, this unwavering conviction you hold, gives to me."
The reason he kept fighting without giving up.
Was this everyday life.
Because he hoped everyone's ordinary days would continue.
And because he himself longed to melt into that everyday.
'I'm... helping too.'
Lee Hyuk-soo's eyes shook violently.
He had thought himself only a recipient of one-sided aid and grace.
The great Prophet.
Humanity's leader, a living god.
He was merely a frail being following at that great one's feet.
Yet that one found comfort and forward momentum through him, Lee Hyuk-soo.
Then.
'Then I...'
Something hot surged in Lee Hyuk-soo's chest.
'I won't be a burden. I'll work harder. Grow stronger. Trust my path and never waver.'
The path he had walked was never wrong; his conviction never in vain. He had received direct affirmation from the greatest being.
His road ahead might be a dark, chaotic sea.
But now, he felt no fear.
Before him stood Park Chan-woo, the brightest beacon to pierce any darkness.
Lee Hyuk-soo had never been one to lose his way.
As the warm, overwhelming emotions filled the small living room.
Kim Ji-yeon spoke.
"Now it's time for dessert. I made sikhye, fruit punch, and even yakgwa. Still room in that stomach?"
"...That sounds delicious too."
Park Chan-woo smiled faintly.
Prophet? Leader? Great god?
No.
Right now, he was just a guest savoring a good meal and awaiting dessert.