Chapter 15
Yoon Sang-hyuk looked at Ibrahmut with clear surprise.
"I don't have any regrets."
As if he understood, Yoon Sang-hyuk nodded.
"If you'd been running the place for that long, it was probably time to hand the seat over anyway. You sat on the throne for so long that your sons ended up sticking a knife in your back, didn't they?"
"It wasn't like that."
The reason Ibrahmut had been betrayed by his children was because he had intended to pass the throne to his youngest son.
Yoon Sang-hyuk had naturally assumed Ibrahmut would try to reclaim the throne that had been taken from him. But instead, Ibrahmut had asked him to drive out the children who had betrayed him and help the imprisoned youngest son take the throne.
"But still. What are you going to do from here on out? Don't tell me you're planning to put your youngest son on the throne and then hide in the shadows pulling strings?"
On Earth, and especially in the countless ancient dynasties of Korea, wasn't that a familiar sight? Hand over the throne, then run politics from behind the curtain.
"I told you, I don't have any regrets. I just want to spend the rest of my life wandering from place to place. For now, I'm planning to follow you and your brothers."
"I don't have any intention of taking you along with me."
"I'm a lot more useful than you think. I'm not bad in a fight either... well, maybe not good enough to win every time, but I'm not so useless that I'd get beaten around anywhere I go. And if you need someone for fire, wouldn't I be perfect for that?"
"I'm telling you, you're just unnecessary."
Who would have imagined that the king of the Balrogs would be such a chatterbox?
In fact, Zeronia and his other siblings had all shaken their heads when they realized Ibrahmut was a total talker. The sense of disappointment that followed the collapse of their fantasy must have been immense.
"You just haven't seen my true self yet, hyung-nim."
"I'm not in any hurry to."
Ibrahmut set down some meat he had grilled himself in front of Yoon Sang-hyuk.
He cut it into small pieces, put them in his mouth, and chewed. There was no denying it: Ibrahmut grilled meat amazingly well. A glass of wine after a bite of perfectly cooked Galics meat brought out a tremendous flavor.
"Didn't you say you were going to the Gray Wasteland?"
"So what if I did?"
"I happen to be the last gatekeeper on the road to the Gray Wasteland. No one knows that place better than I do. Especially if it's about Atram, who rules the Gray Wasteland. I know a great deal about him."
"Atram?"
It was a name he hadn't seen in Land of Stars.
"He rules the Gray Wasteland?"
"Yes. You may or may not know this, but Atram is the God of Light. He's the biggest name among those captured in the war between the Demon Realm and the divine realm."
The God of Light Yoon Sang-hyuk knew was Brian. If Ibrahmut was telling the truth, then Atram had been captured in the Shinma War, and Brian had become the new God of Light afterward.
"Even though he's a prisoner, isn't he one of the sons of the chief god? Atram led the lesser gods and divine beings who were captured with him and turned the barren Gray Wasteland into something livable. Truth is, even the Demon Lords are keeping this quiet... but the Gray Wasteland is absolutely not a wasteland. It's a better place to live than anywhere else in the Demon Realm. Of course, it doesn't suit the temperament of those who live in the Demon Realm, but still. Atram and the others who follow him call the place the Land of Stars."
"The Land of Stars?"
That was the title of the old book he had read.
"Inside that place is the trace of the chief god, Idea, in other words, the Stigma. According to what the Demon Lords have said while passing through, that Stigma seems to be connected to the stars. That's why Atram and those stragglers call the place the Land of Stars, isn't it?"
"Hmm."
Maybe what he needed to obtain from the Gray Wasteland was the Stigma Ibrahmut had mentioned.
"To them, that would be a treasure, then?"
"You can say that again. Even the Demon Lords who visit there can never get anywhere near the Stigma. The moment they try to approach it, Atram and his people throw themselves at them like their lives depend on it."
The thought crossed his mind that Ibrahmut might actually be surprisingly useful.
"Do you happen to be on friendly terms with them?"
"Friendly terms is a little much... but we do have some bad blood."
"Bad blood?"
"Ha, haha. Well, you see... as you know, our Balrog clan was born with a mad love for war. But since I'm the king of the Balrogs, I can't exactly pick fights with a bunch of worthless stragglers, can I? So every now and then I'd go over there for fun and start a scuffle."
Yoon Sang-hyuk looked at Ibrahmut with open disdain.
"So you really were unnecessary."
* * *
"Mm, mm, mm..."
Yoon Sang-hyuk walked along, humming to himself.
It was too wide to call it a corridor. The passage was easily several dozen meters across, and even taller than that.
"Who built a staircase like this?"
Each step seemed to be a full meter high. Anyone a little short would feel as if they were rock climbing every time they went up one. He descended the stairs with a light leap and kept going.
Another vast corridor stretched ahead. Torches mounted on the walls to either side lit the way. Whoever had built it clearly had no aesthetic sense at all, because the whole passage was nothing but bland stone.
At the end of the corridor were the ones waiting for Yoon Sang-hyuk. They were massive figures suited to a space of this scale. The two beings, each easily over ten meters tall and wrapped head to toe in fire, were Balrogs.
The two Balrogs stood guard over a place no unauthorized outsider was supposed to enter. The instant they spotted Yoon Sang-hyuk, they drew their flame whips.
"Swing that around and you'll regret it. If you're not ready to clean up the mess afterward, you'd better quietly put it away."
Yoon Sang-hyuk muttered under his breath. But the result of that muttering was astonishing. The Balrogs' enormous bodies began trembling violently. The power leaking from Yoon Sang-hyuk's body had triggered a reflex in theirs.
Still, as members of a warlike race, the Balrogs regained control of themselves and tried to attack him with their whips. But once again, the attack was undone by Yoon Sang-hyuk's quiet voice.
"Oh? You're confident? Think you can handle it?"
Before either of them realized it, Yoon Sang-hyuk was already right in front of them.
"This is your lucky break. Your brother came here on someone's request, and I'd rather not spill blood if I don't have to. I was asked to keep things down too. So let's do this quietly and move aside."
They flinched, but the Balrogs did not open a path.
"I'm talking about the guy locked up in there. Think about it. You aren't guarding this place because you want to. It was an unhonorable duel, and the one locked inside was sealed away only because of its outcome."
"...Has the king returned?"
The Balrog on the right asked.
"The king? Ah, Ibrahmut? He has. By now he's probably meeting the brothers of the one locked up in there. Don't worry, though. Ibrahmut took a brother who's a real powerhouse with him. So let's leave it at that and step aside. I'm usually the kind of person who reaches for his fists before his words, and then his sword before his fists, but I've already shown a lot of restraint, haven't I? So you two can give me an inch as well."
As Yoon Sang-hyuk started walking again, the Balrogs unconsciously backed away. Watching them, he let out a faint snort and stood before the enormous door blocking the way forward.
This was the place where the purest fire in the Scorched Earth gathered. It was said that the door had been cast from a single ingot of metal forged with that fire, and that it boasted absurdly formidable strength.
Yoon Sang-hyuk placed his palm on the center of the door and slowly pushed with force.
Rumble-
As the door was slowly forced backward, the Balrogs who had stepped aside stared at Yoon Sang-hyuk in shock.
"I..."
"It's fine. I'll take care of everything."
"That's not what I mean..."
"Then what is it?"
The Balrog jerked and took another step back.
"That door opens sideways."
Yoon Sang-hyuk looked at the Balrog for a moment, then scratched his head awkwardly.
"You should've said that sooner. Damn, I think I broke it. Nothing to be done about it now. Tell Ibrahmut to fix it later."
Crash, boom-
The massive door toppled backward.
A space filled with darkness, with not a single shred of light, welcomed Yoon Sang-hyuk. Deep in the innermost wall of that room, someone was bound there, or rather, a Balrog. A narrow crimson chain pierced through the Balrog's wrists and ankles. A slightly thicker chain ran through both thighs and shoulders. Finally, chains thicker than a human thigh bound all four limbs and pulled them taut in opposite directions.
"You're Baront?"
Yoon Sang-hyuk asked the bound Balrog.
Two red flames rose from the darkness. They were the eyes of the helplessly bound Balrog, but there was nothing weak about them. Seeing that gaze, as if it might burn the whole area to ash at any second, Yoon Sang-hyuk gave a crooked smile.
"As expected of his son. You really don't know how to read the room, do you?"
"...Who are you?"
"Good question. Who am I? A guy who got hired by your brothers to kill you, maybe?"
"My brothers can't kill me. If they do, Father will return."
Yoon Sang-hyuk nodded.
"That's true, but also not true."
"...?"
"You may not be dead yet, but Ibrahmut has already returned here."
Kwaaaar-rumble-
A massive tremor rolled through the room. The bound Balrog Baront looked upward in surprise. There was only the ceiling above him, but his gaze was already passing beyond it.
"Looks like it's started. Your father asked me to help. So come along quietly."
"Father has come? Is that true? No, I can't help believing it. But I can't go. The chains binding my body were made by the finest blacksmith in the Demon Realm..."
Snap-
"Hm? What was that? I didn't catch it. Say it again."
"H-how did you break them?"
"These? The chains? What's so hard about it? You just grab them like this and put some strength into it."
Snap-
"Easy, right?"
"...!"
Baront's body trembled.
Yoon Sang-hyuk ignored him and kept doing what he had to do. The chains restraining Baront snapped and shattered in Yoon Sang-hyuk's hands as easily as dry kindling.
"Eat this."
"Th-this is...!"
Baront's hand shook violently as he took what Yoon Sang-hyuk handed him.
"That's insanely expensive. I didn't even give it to your father."
It was the essence of Ifrit, the King of Fire Spirits.
The item contained a force of fire so powerful and pure that it could not even be compared to the Heart of the Phoenix. Just from their grades alone, the difference was clear: the Heart of the Phoenix was unique, but the Essence of Ifrit was legendary.
"I'm giving it to you because I ended up with a little brother I never asked for, so eat it with gratitude."
Yoon Sang-hyuk snorted faintly at Baront.
"Nephew."