Chapter 118
Chapter 118
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: End of Childhood - Epilogue (2)
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4.
“Oh, right, Uncle!”
Shin Tae-yeop finally stopped laughing and spoke up.
“You hear about that? You’re gonna focus the new soulstones on training recruits?”
“Yeah. We’ve lost so many people already... Gotta raise the next generation.”
“Good call. Well, aside from your love life, when have you ever made a bad decision...?”
“......”
“Kidding! Kidding! You know kidding? Put the fist down. Relax.”
This cute kid.
Was it because he’d let his signature ponytail down into long hair?
His face was so pretty-boy-ish that if you didn’t hear his voice... Huh?
“......You don’t look girly anymore?”
First raid.
Back when we first met in Independence Park, if he didn’t speak, you could’ve mistaken him for a pretty girl.
“Huh? What’re you talking about?”
“Just... you seem more grown-up overall? Like, the androgynous vibe’s fading and you’re getting more masculine?”
“Really?”
“And you look taller.”
At that, Shin Tae-yeop’s eyes sparkled, and he giggled.
“For real? Right? Right right? I’ve been feeling it lately too.”
“Yeah?”
“No wonder— that chocolate-mop-head Do Ye-jin? I can look right down at her now.”
No...
He hadn’t grown that much.
I set that aside for now and got to the point.
“Actually, I came to give you something.”
“What? If it’s food, make it sweet.”
“It’s cold.”
I rummaged in my bag, pulled it out, and handed it over.
A crystal clear as a glacier, blue as the sky.
A soulstone so big you had to hug it with both arms. This was none other than.
“Skesari’s soulstone.”
Shin Tae-yeop, who’d been grinning.
The moment I said that and handed him the soulstone, his smile froze solid.
“I figured it suits you best.”
Shin Tae-yeop knew Skesari. Skesari knew Shin Tae-yeop.
A bond transcending eras, you could say.
Naturally, that power belonged with him.
“It’s so... clear... Everything’s transparent...”
“Probably thanks to you.”
“Not thanks to Verkensia’s power?”
Shin Tae-yeop said that, then flinched.
“What’d I just say? Ver... what?”
Verkensia.
The Dawn Sword’s other name.
Were his memories coming back bit by bit? I smiled.
“I thought so too.”
I actually hadn’t.
The ice dragon Skesari had regained its senses... after Shin Tae-yeop showed up.
“But the tooltip says otherwise. Take a look.”
Shin Tae-yeop stared at me wordlessly, then steeled himself and peered into the soulstone.
“......Can’t read it.”
“No, you have to. There’s a message for you.”
“A message?”
Shin Tae-yeop looked up.
He clutched his chest, took a deep breath, then looked back down.
“Got it... I’ll read it all.”
“…………………….”
Shin Tae-yeop stayed silent for a long time. He stared at the tooltip forever before finally speaking.
“You know how it cried when it was just a baby?”
“How’d it cry?”
“Shyrak, shyrak, shyrak. Like that. So cute, seriously.”
“I heard it too. In the illusion. Or was it kerylac back then?”
“Kerylac. Why are all my other memories fuzzy... but these with him are crystal clear?”
A single tear rolled down Shin Tae-yeop’s cheek.
“If it hurts this much... If we have to part again like this... I wish I’d never remembered in the first place.”
“You really think that?”
“......Yeah.”
“Even knowing Skesari got to rest easy because of you?”
“......”
“I can’t pretend to know your pain... but I’m sure there’s meaning to it.”
I gave a bittersweet smile and patted his small shoulder.
“Maybe Skesari said something like this back then?”
“......?”
“‘I’m happy you remembered me and came...’”
Shin Tae-yeop’s pupils dilated.
Moisture glistened in his eyes, and a teardrop fell onto the soulstone.
Just as silence hung in the air, the door slammed open.
“Ow! Let go! Let me go!”
“Not till you kneel and beg. Hey, you little bitch! Don’t bite. You ain’t a damn dog.”
Do Ye-jin, dragged in by the nape of her neck by Jeong Ha-kyeong, flailing her limbs in the air.
“Ha-kyeong, looks like you and Ye-jin are real buddies now.”
“Me? Me? With this brat who ain’t got a cute bone in her body? What kinda bullshit is that?”
Do Ye-jin mumbled sullenly.
“I... thought we were getting close, sis... You used to be so cold to me before...”
An astonishing thing happened.
The great Jeong Ha-kyeong panicked and started stuttering.
“No... not total bullshit level... Yeah, giving some leeway... Uh... Fuck, just bullshit level...?”
Seizing the opening.
Do Ye-jin slipped free from Jeong Ha-kyeong’s grip.
“Yeah, you’re just bullshit-level to me. That’s high praise. Right, Kim Baek-jun?”
Do Ye-jin beamed, then stuck out her tongue.
“Yeah? But I was kidding~ Fooled ya? Totally gotcha?”
She bolted out fast as a flash.
“That... that little shit just... stuck her tongue out at me? Right?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong stood dazed... then dashed after her with 《Super Acceleration》.
Watching that peaceful chaos.
Shin Tae-yeop wiped his tears and burst out laughing, and I laughed along.
5.
“Give the New Moon address?”
Choi Uk’s proposal made me blurt that out.
“Not New Year’s, but New Moon... How peculiar.”
“The name doesn’t matter.”
Choi Uk chided.
“It’s a hugely important event. We fully conquered a Nightmare Zone, didn’t we?”
“Indeed.”
“But the casualties were way too high. Civilians and Hunters alike.”
Hunters alike.
That was the key point.
Two top execs dead, nearly half the squad leaders gone.
“So we need you to step up personally for internal unity and resetting goals.”
Another brilliant insight.
But... I cleared my throat and tried to sidestep.
“I get that. But why address all citizens instead of just Association members?”
“Didn’t you hear me? Or did you not listen?”
Choi Uk shook his head with a scolding sigh.
“Internal unity. It’s not just Hunters. Citizens need to unite as one too.”
He pointed straight at me.
“And the key to that unity can only be you. No one else.”
“I see.”
“Exactly.”
Something felt off.
We’d had that meeting with Choi Uk just moments ago...
So why was I standing here now?
The old Blue House building.
The garden of this medieval Western palace-style place... packed with Paradise Zone citizens.
“Association President!”
“Waaaaah!”
“Look this way too!”
It was madness from the entrance.
Even along the outdoor path to the Blue House.
At the stone platform in the garden’s center.
Citizens crowded around... and Association members in crisp uniforms lined up like guards.
“What the hell is...”
Shin Tae-yeop, my aide, scanned my outfit and swallowed a laugh.
“I can guess who picked it. Oh boy... And what’s with the hair? Huh?”
“Looks good, right?”
I was in modern noble attire.
Pure white linen... Enough explanation. I looked classy.
- It suits you great.
Before being dragged here.
Jeong Ha-kyeong had hauled me to the [Clothing Shop] for custom fits. Shin Tae-yeop gaped.
“......You serious?”
“Why?”
“Uncle, that outfit in one word... It’s like a stray cat rummaging through food trash. And that slicked-back hair... Ugh, killing me...!”
“Ha-kyeong picked it out?”
What was that?
Shin Tae-yeop, who’d been giggling, froze for a second.
“Judge, what you just... That was... Our, our house... c-c-cat said it.”
That’s when.
“Everyoneeeee!”
Seo Hwa-yoon, mic set up on the platform, called me.
“Let’s welcome this stage’s star with applauseaaaa!”
Wait... Hold on.
Stage? Am I some idol?
The problem was the citizens and Hunters ate it up.
“Wooooow!”
“Lead Hunter! Lead Hunter! Lead Hunter!”
“Kim Baek-jun! Kim Baek-jun! Kim Baek-jun!”
This was pure insanity.
They’d prepped everything before I even approved?
“Now it’s time for the star to take the stage. Go on, Uncle.”
Shin Tae-yeop shoved my back.
I stepped out reluctantly into the cheers, red carpet (shape memory-made) on both sides lined with familiar faces.
“The outfit... Too late to change... Mind your manners. Everyone’s watching.”
Command Sergeant Choi Uk.
“The clothes are so... Uh... Yeah... Great sense! Unique, individualistic guy... Love that?”
Scout Sergeant Lee Seong-mi.
“Who picked that...? You chose it yourself? Did your own hair? My god...”
Hunt Sergeant Do Su-jin.
“L-Lead Hunter!”
First Hunt Squad member Ryu Hyun-ji.
With her identical twin sisters on either side, I couldn’t help smiling and patting her shoulder.
“L-Le-Le-Lead Hunter! Honor to meet you again!”
And Heo Cheon-gyeom.
“Y-You p-probably don’t r-remember buh-buh-but──”
“──I remember, Cheon-gyeom. Thanks for looking after Ye-jin.”
“N-No! Taking care of this idiot’s my top priority.”
Top priority?
Haha... I burst out laughing when someone flicked Heo Cheon-gyeom’s forehead.
“Who’s taking care of who, you moron! Oh! Uncle!”
As expected.
Do Ye-jin, now the Association’s official tomboy.
“Seen Shin Tae-yeop and Su-jin sis? Know where they are?”
“Back there, I think.”
“Oh, seriously! She said she’d come with! Thanks!”
Near the end.
Park Ji-yeon, sweetly standing with her younger brother Park Ji-won front and back, waving.
“Hyung!”
“Baek-jun!”
“Ji-yeon, we meet again so soon.”
“Of course. What kinda couple would we be...”
“What kinda couple? Huh? What couple. You two?”
Park Ji-won lifted his chin and eyed Park Ji-yeon, who flushed and waved it off.
“Nothing.”
“What? Hiding something?”
“Uh... I’ll tell Ji-won when you’re grown up!”
“What? No fair!”
At the platform stairs, Jeong Ha-kyeong stood guard. She murmured low.
“I gotta hear what you two are later.”
“......Pardon?”
“Hmm... Talk later. Just some honest chat. Why, got something to hide?”
Fleeing her menacing smile, I finally mounted the platform.
Silence fell all around.
In that hush, every eye fixed on me.
No choice now...
I gave a greeting first, then took out my speech and began reading.
[Skesari’s Soulstone]
[Description Summary]
― 1: Clear blue soulstone.
― 2: Remnant of a fallen subordinate to a nameless demigod.
[Usage]
― Hand it to the Star Messenger to liberate the power dwelling in this raw stone.
[Exclusive Skill: 《Froststorm》]
- Temporarily unleashes the subordinate’s power, summoning a wide-area froststorm in the cast direction.
- Charges: (2) uses
The world’s last true dragon.
The ice dragon Skesari’s soulstone.
Ice dragons.
Beings forged from flawless, pure souls and flesh.
This race was created solely.
To stand against the Abyss.
The Black Sun spoke.
Verily, verily I say unto you.
To bear the world’s sins in your stead is your mission and purpose of creation.
A fate too cruel.
Yet no ice dragon ever rebelled against it.
Skesari was no different.
Pure, thus obedient.
Loved, thus obedient.
Grateful, thus obedient.
She loved her mother.
And to the providence of the Creator who gave her such a mother.
The mission to offer her body and devour the Abyss. The Creator’s earthly command. The promise with her mother.
At the end of that mission.
At the end where all memories were lost.
What awakened the ice dragon’s soul.
Was an old friend’s voice. An old friend’s warmth.
Thanks to that.
Her soul awoke from the nightmare.
And could bid farewell to her dam.
The last dragon.
Not a shred of despair left in that soul.
You who bore heavy burdens.
Your labors are now sufficient; rest in the light at last.