Chapter 249
Chapter 249
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 249
Chapter Title: Kanghwan Realm (1)
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All things mingled—the boundary between the earthly realm and the abyss.
"...This is troubling."
The revolutionary murmured softly to himself as he stood still, gazing at the cracks surrounding him.
How had things come to this?
Just a few years ago, everything had been going smoothly.
Decades of meticulous preparations were falling into place one by one, and he had only been awaiting the finale of his millennium-spanning grand scheme.
But it was the resurrection of the Immortal King—the very first step—that had started things going awry.
He had schemed to let the Fragment of the Immortal King naturally fall into the hands of the greedy Marcos, guiding him to offer up everything he had to complete it of his own volition.
The Brocoslak Clan, which held another fragment, had been handled the same way.
In truth, as long as those two fragments successfully fused, it didn't matter whether Marcos or the Brocoslak Clan took control.
The Immortal King born from it would become an uncontrollable bomb and rampage anyway.
'From the Kingdom of Talia onward, it was supposed to shake the West and naturally trigger a chain reaction.'
But the Immortal King had started moving on its own, turning all his carefully laid plans to dust.
The Brocoslak Clan, which should have lost its base and clashed with Yupersh before being absorbed into Obipo, remained intact.
Oldman, who had planned to topple the Tulk Kingdom the moment the Church and kingdoms united against the Immortal King, had only been biding his time for the right moment—only to be devoured in reverse by the undead army.
And Nurabe, who was supposed to lead countless monsters down from the northern mountains in response, had foolishly touched an elf sacrifice and been swiftly exterminated by the Church's intervention before he could do anything.
'And from then on, the plans kept going wrong.'
At least the continent-scale sacrifice ritual he'd personally overseen and the opening of the Abyss Gate had proceeded smoothly...
Had even those failed, he wouldn't have been able to start the aftermath at all.
'And on top of that...'
The revolutionary, quietly observing the cracks, slowly closed his eyes and attuned his ears to the sounds coming from all directions.
The noises of the world, mingled within the sand-like static.
Those sounds were telling him.
'...This is not good.'
Of the end of the great scheme he'd poured his life's blood into over long years.
Of the overwhelming, unknowable death creeping toward him even now.
'Very not good.'
If he stayed still like this, everything would end with his death.
Death itself held no fear, but failing his given mission was a grave problem.
He absolutely could not allow that.
Wasn't that the very reason he'd lived until now—the be-all and end-all of his existence?
"No choice, then."
It seemed he needed to make a decision before it was too late.
The revolutionary's gaze turned to the side.
Toward the seed of madness writhing as if it might come alive at any moment.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ While Hans had been immersed in his research and finally produced results,
the other avatars were making smooth progress in their respective domains.
"Nice to see you again. Allow me a formal introduction—I'm Yun Jiyoon, branch manager of the Korean Returnee Association's Seoul Southern Branch."
"I'm Heinz. I'm currently representing the Blood Alliance."
"...If I may ask before we dive in, there's been talk of a masked figure in an opera mask hunting criminals every night lately. Could it be...?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"...I see."
Heinz 2nd had been busy shuttling between Earth and Outerica, reorganizing his forces and building cooperative networks with outsiders.
"Ugh! You didn't have to come along, miss. It's gonna be tiring enough."
"Ufufu—looks can be deceiving; I'm quite the social butterfly. I can guide you and have personal ties with the chiefs of each tribe. After all, who could argue with the great chieftain's daughter?"
"Haha! That's perfect! But we're covering a long distance fast—are you sure you'll keep up? Even for a grand shaman...?"
"Ah! Well... if you'd be so kind as to carry me, Sir Hari... ehehe."
Hari, with Misty's cooperation, had been traveling the south, uniting the tribes into one.
Meanwhile, the Hubert Merchant Company, bolstered by all-encompassing support from powerholders across factions, had transcended its status as Tulk Kingdom's top firm to become the West's largest trading house.
Harris, the high elf who had reached transcendence yet spent his days idly by the World Tree amid the massive lycanthrope purge, continued lounging.
'Hesperon and Horus are deep in training trances as always.'
One noteworthy point was that, reluctant to let the undead army's overflowing manpower go to waste, he'd diverted some to resource development in the north.
Gruesome, inhuman mines like slave camps sprang up across the northern mountains, and tireless undead workers mined rare ores without rest.
The needed amounts went to Dwarf Howard, with the surplus flowing to the Hubert Merchant Company, greatly bolstering their power.
'That accidentally made Hubert a minion planted by the Immortal King among humanity. Well, if the executives buy it, no issue.'
Even if they didn't, they'd have to go along—but acceptance and proactive buy-in would be far more efficient, right?
'Some of the belligerent executives even served as sacrifices to boost Heinrich's fame.'
While operating the undead army, he'd taken down as many distasteful powerholders as desired, heightening humanity's sense of crisis in the process and uniting them tighter than ever.
All that remained was to crush the revolutionary of the Oath of Reverse Heaven—the root of all evil—and thoroughly dismantle his conspiracy.
Then it would be time for the final stage of his home theater spectacle: the 'final battle.'
'Of course, plenty left to do in Outerica, but those can proceed independently of the home theater. More intriguingly, something else has my attention now.'
I stroked my chin in excitement, organizing my thoughts.
'Theory's solid. All that's left is waiting out the cooldown on 「Otherworld Teleportation Circle Summon」 and executing.'
Being able to go to a different otherworld than the initial destination was monumental, no two ways about it.
There was only one otherworld any Earth Awakened could access.
No exceptions had ever been heard of until now.
'Returnees don't emphasize their origin dimensions for nothing.'
Aside from their first Unique Skill, the abilities and added skills they acquired were all influenced by that world.
In simple terms, you couldn't get magic-related skills in a murim dimension, and vice versa.
'Kanghwan Realm is totally different from Outerica. Can't wait to see what powers I get.'
While waiting for the teleportation circle cooldown, I researched the new dimension.
For the first otherworld trip, I'd gathered whatever info blindly since the destination was unknown—but knowing exactly where made this a breeze.
"Huh? This seems... off?"
But in the process,
I spotted something fishy and frowned unwittingly.
The number of known dimensions: around several hundred.
Typically, info updates came from returnees reporting to their national associations upon returning to Earth.
Not everyone reported honestly, and some skipped it altogether, but global aggregation was nothing to sneeze at.
'Why's the recent return rate so low? And the latest update date...'
For Kanghwan Realm, the most recent update was from one person a full year ago.
No one had returned in about 10 years of otherworld time since.
'Even assuming an unknown returnee like Salma or the Thousand-Killing Demon Emperor, this is excessive.'
The stats bore it out even more.
It was a fairly active dimension discovered early on, with steady returnee numbers after debut.
'Then at some point, numbers plummeted sharply, leading to this.'
Several possibilities flashed through my mind.
Simplest: danger spiked for some reason, making survival impossible, leading to wipeout.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ - Dimension Name: Kanghwan Realm - Registration Number: C-309BK - Dimension Type: Murim Realm - Danger Level: Very High, Survival Priority - ······ Conveniently, the Returnee Association database on Kanghwan Realm reflected that.
Considering Outerica's danger level was 'Quite High, Caution Advised' due to the Demon King's descent engulfing the continent in war, what hellscape must Kanghwan be in?
I scrolled down to the densely packed basis for the rating.
'...Couldn't get details like this from Salma's memories.'
Partly because his soul and body were shattered in the abyss and I focused on his Oath of Reverse Heaven ties, but mostly because his memories were filled with destruction and slaughter.
Reading the Association's info also confirmed the Thousand-Killing Demon Emperor had been one reason for the world's heightened danger.
'His boast of being the "Terror of Kanghwan Realm" wasn't entirely empty. ...But that's not the only issue.'
Self-proclaimed terror or not, he was just one individual.
Unless he could command a continent-covering army like the Immortal King, even a realm transcendence expert had limits to their solo influence.
Kanghwan's danger rating stemmed from a total systemic meltdown of intertwined factors.
'Still doesn't explain zero returnees.'
Danger was a factor, sure.
But no returnees at all screamed a prior issue beyond mere peril.
Yes, for example...
'No more Earthlings being summoned after a certain point.'
No new inflows would explain the current stats fully.
'Salma filled the full 20-year system warning and returned.'
The last official Kanghwan returnee appeared about 10 years ago in otherworld time.
Average return around 10 years meant their awakenings and transfers aligned roughly.
'And that was likely the end of transfers to Kanghwan.'
Digging further revealed such dimensions weren't rare.
Danger spikes to 'Very High,' return rates crash, then no one knows what happens after—aka 'Closed Dimensions.'
'Of all places, the newly opened one's a Closed Dimension?'
By now, probably not a single Earthling left in Kanghwan.
Like others before, it'd fade into obscurity, lingering only as memories in a few returnees' minds.
Unclear why it'd closed left a nagging unease that soon vanished.
It had nothing to do with me anyway.
'Intriguing. A Closed Dimension...'
Instead, pure curiosity and some gut instinct kept prodding me.
That something crucial lay there.
Time passed as I gathered info.
And finally, the 「Otherworld Teleportation Circle Summon」 cooldown filled—
"Alright, let's go."
I dispatched an advance scout to that unfathomable, dangerous world.
"Ah... the air there should be better than here, right? Whew, even with the barrier like this..."
Harris, the transcendent high elf who'd done nothing but lounge by the World Tree.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Achievement Unlocked! You have entered a new world beyond the permitted worlds. ⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ As a reward for pioneering a new world by crossing dimensions, the special privilege 「Otherworld Teleportation Circle Summon」 has been strengthened. The cooldown, once once per day, is now halved. ⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ You have achieved a great feat, greatly influencing the world. Karma greatly increases. Finally, the veteran newbie entered a new world...
No, to be more precise.
It was the moment a fully matured megacorp extended its reach into a declining back-alley market.