Chapter 227
Chapter 227
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 227
Chapter Title: 2부 에필로그 01 - Sword Saint of the Ruined World (2)
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2.
“Come in.”
As I entered the hospital room.
Choi Uk was sitting up in bed, intently reading through some documents.
“How’s your body feeling?”
What an incredible person, I thought.
The desk beside him was piled high with stacks of papers. He truly never rested.
“I’m sorry. I can’t even pretend to say I’m fine. After being frozen for so long…… it’s still hard to move my body.”
No sooner had Choi Uk replied than the grenade launcher on the bedside table began flickering with starlight.
「Uncle. Hello. Hello.」
I gave a bitter smile. That cold grenade launcher, bound to the soul of…… Choi Uk’s only daughter.
Rin.
I waved warmly at Rin, then flung open the curtains and slid the window wide.
Ah……
Fresh, cool dawn air blowing into the room. Choi Uk continued speaking.
“But you can still move, right? Be grateful for that.”
“Better than nothing. I once wrote a paper on cryogenics…… but there are so many more precautions I need to add now.”
Choi Uk looked up from his papers and grinned.
Choi Uk had returned to the <Association>.
Seeing that distinctive intellect and confidence in the middle-aged man’s smile made the encouraging reality sink in anew.
“Shouldn’t you rest a bit while you’re hospitalized?”
“So many incidents have piled up in the meantime. I can’t afford to waste time sleeping just to review them all.”
“Like what?”
“The Association Chairman and his secretary blatantly disrupting decorum in the conference room, apparently.”
I was so shocked that if I’d been drinking something, I might have spat it right in Choi Uk’s face.
「Ha. Haha. Haha. Uncle. Uncle. Funny. Funny. So funny.」
Rin laughed as if delighted.
My face flushed, but Choi Uk picked up a few sheets of parchment from the bedside table and held them out to me.
“Enough chit-chat. We need to revise all the strategies and tactics.”
“Agreed.”
“For instance, we have to organize systematic interpersonal combat training for all combatants.”
“I see.”
“We can’t let our guard down. There are still two more Paradises out there.”
“True.”
“No one knows if they’ll be friendly or as hostile as Nowon-gu.”
“Correct.”
“The Southern Limit Line still exists, but no one knows when it might open. So from now on…….”
Choi Uk must have sensed my half-hearted responses, because he scolded me.
“Are you even looking properly? I need your approval.”
“Well, you won’t need my approval anymore.”
“What?”
Choi Uk furrowed his brow.
His signature gesture demanding a proper explanation.
“From now on, handle everything as you see fit, Mr. Choi Uk. I’ll follow your lead.”
“What are you talking about?”
Now for the main point.
I deliberately pulled out a chair slowly and sat down without saying a word.
“I’d like you to take on the role of the <Association>’s second Chairman.”
A brief silence fell.
Choi Uk stared at me, speechless, then slowly shook his head.
“You’re playing a cruel prank on an old man.”
“I’m serious.”
“I told you back then. No one but you can take the Chairman position.”
He had, indeed. I pointed to my hazy eyes in response.
“I’m only telling you this, Mr. Choi Uk, but unlike back then, my eyesight’s gotten really bad.”
“……?”
“I can’t read documents anymore. System messages are weirdly clear…… but sounds are muffled too.”
After the final battle with Choi Jin-yul.
Over 700 fragments of my unique skill, 《Western Apostle Scripture》, had shattered, and my body had crumbled accordingly.
“I can focus and make out sounds somewhat…… oh, and my sense of smell’s gone. Can’t taste food properly either.”
In combat, I’d activate <Peytezla>, so no issue there…… but in daily life, even faces looked blurry.
“Kim Baek-jun…… what the hell happened to you?”
Choi Uk finally spoke in a worried tone after a long pause. I replied with a wry smile.
“If the <Association> knew about my condition, wouldn’t it cause more anxiety and division than unity?”
“…….”
“So, Mr. Choi Uk, I’m stepping back from the front lines now.”
Still, I had no regrets.
No anger either.
It was the path I chose, and this was the result. If anything, I was grateful to be alive.
“Don’t worry about combat strength. I’ll join for subjugating Subordinates or the ‘Exalted Ones.’”
“Do I look like I’m worried about that right now?”
“If there was one gain from the Nowon-gu battle…… it’s that the Association members gained incredible combat experience.”
“Yeah?”
“The <Association> has grown stronger. Please lead this <Association> to even greater heights.”
That was when Choi Uk slammed his fist on the bedside table.
“Do I look like I’m worried about that crap right now!”
“…….”
“You…… is your body really okay? That’s what I’m asking!”
I didn’t answer.
Choi Uk could use a truth-detection unique skill.
“You foolish…….”
Choi Uk glared at me, then let out a deep sigh and slumped back against the bed.
“You’re probably not okay. I don’t know the details…… but the more you fight, the worse it’ll get. Right?”
“Everyone dies someday.”
I gave an evasive reply.
Choi Uk sighed deeply and gazed out the window.
“No. It feels like you’re rushing toward that moment, screaming all the way.”
There was no avoiding the coming battles, no time to spare.
My life was on a timer now.
I couldn’t waste a single minute or second of what little time remained……
「Uncle, don’t die. Don’t die. You can’t die.」
Rin pleaded with me in her mechanical voice. I smiled gently and stroked the cold barrel.
“Uncle won’t die, Rin.”
Not until I fulfilled the mission entrusted to me.
Absolutely not.
I didn’t say it aloud.
Instead, I kept smiling and shifted the topic away from Rin.
“Now Rin’s the secretary. The Chairman’s secretary! Impressive for your age, huh? Take good care of your dad now.”
Had she inherited his intellect too? Rin stayed silent, as if her mouth were sealed, unusually mature for her age.
“Those eyes of yours…… I’m realizing now just how stubborn they can be. Same as with Do Ye-jin.”
“…….”
“No matter what I say, you won’t budge. You’ve already decided. Right?”
I’d trusted Choi Uk would say something like that. He was brutally realistic.
What a relief.
Thanks to his personality, no pointless arguments.
“If you’re done, get out…… I need time to think.”
“I’d like to talk more.”
“I said get out. Scram. That’s an order from the Chairman.”
Choi Uk put his glasses back on and returned to his papers.
Classic Choi Uk.
Perfect. Just perfect. Muttering to myself, I stood up.
“Then I’ll be going, Chairman.”
Choi Uk glanced up briefly, then waved me off dismissively.
Was it my imagination?
The eyes he turned back to his papers seemed steeped in sorrow……
「Uncle. Uncle.」
……As I was leaving the room, Rin’s mechanical voice came from behind.
「Thank you. For finding my dad. Thank you. Thank you.」
3.
It had been so long since I’d returned to the Chairman’s office. I collapsed into the Chairman’s chair.
The scent of solid wood and leather filled the air.
So many things had happened here, more than I’d realized……
It was tough, but fun too.
……Recalling those memories brought a smile to my lips unbidden.
I couldn’t have done it alone.
But I’d been blessed with unwavering allies.
Hong Byeong-gyu and Kim Gye-sang. Yoon Geon-woo and Cha Seung-hyeon.
Eom Jae-beom and Lee Seong-mi.
Yoo Seong-deok and Do Su-jin. Shin Tae-yeop and Seo Hwa-yoon, and Choi Uk and Jeong Ha-kyeong.
Finally…… I could take off this heavy crown.
- A crown, milord?
It was as if I heard Cha Seung-hyeon’s laughing voice.
Don’t overdo it.
I chuckled and shook my head at the empty air.
A fool like me never suited that seat anyway.
Letting out a relieved sigh, I started gathering my personal items.
Thump.
Deep in my heart.
No, deep in my soul, a warm resonance stirred.
Thump, thump, thump.
I didn’t know how, but I knew right away.
This was the signal from [Master of the Broken Dawn] calling me……
How can I get there to meet you?
No sooner had I thought it.
A method appeared in my mind, as if someone were writing it there.
“I see.”
I slid off the chair and sat on the wooden floor.
Then, I crossed my legs in the lotus position.
I clasped my hands reverently as if in prayer, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath in and out.
How long did I stay like that?
The next moment, I felt the gentle warmth of twilight brushing my face. Only then did I slowly open my eyes.
“Ah…….”
The scene had changed.
The dim Chairman’s office was gone, replaced by a dazzling twilight paradise filling my vision.
My sight was clear.
Proof that this was the world of souls, not flesh.
Now, no one else was here.
Not a single holy flame bearer remained in this place.
Only.
The last beacon bearer, [Master of the Broken Dawn], sitting atop his own grave.
No, beside him sat the girl of light, Yua.
“You’ve come.”
As I hesitated and stood still, he spoke first.
“I never doubted you’d pull it through, Baek-jun.”
I couldn’t respond to [Master of the Broken Dawn]’s words, not even briefly.
“Me……?”
“Yes. Who else?”
“Why, how…… since when?”
I couldn’t believe it.
How could he believe in me? How could he not doubt me? Me, who was so weak and even resented him.
“From the moment I chose you as my successor.”
His answer to that question…… was truly heartbreaking.
“From the moment I saw you refuse to ignore a child’s tears…… and never give up on saving their mother until the end.”
“That’s nothing compared to what you did…….”
“No. In that small act of devotion, I glimpsed your great life, one that would dawn a new day upon the entire world.”
I was speechless for a moment.
How…… could he trust me completely based on something so small?
“That’s why I believed in you from then on. Without a shred of doubt.”
“…….”
“Of course, you were unbelievably weak back then. Body and mind.”
It was the first time [Master of the Broken Dawn] had joked.
Ha, hahaha…… I laughed hollowly in response.
“Yeah. I still vividly remember tumbling across that dirt after your kick. It really hurt back then.”
“Hm? You always bounced back so energetically, I worried my kicks were too weak…….”
“?”
“Were you just a fool with more will than strength? Ha, sorry, better late than never.”
I was glad he was teasing me. He’d always been so serious. I said,
“Who do you think I got it from?”
“Hm?”
“Tersia said you were the spitting image of her 100th something. Who the hell is…….”
I shot back playfully, and [Master of the Broken Dawn] burst into loud laughter.
Ah……
Damn it……
A sharp ache pierced my chest.
His form.
Was gradually fading into the twilight.
I had to deliver my apology.
My gratitude.
Before [Master of the Broken Dawn] left my life…… completely.
“Baek-jun.”
As I opened my mouth, he spoke first.
“Will you forgive me?”
What……?
I couldn’t speak for a while.
My eventual reply was this.
“How could a wretch like me possibly forgive you……?”
“Jeong-cheol…… forgive me for trusting him, and that poor man.”
Those words were another shock.
I was speechless again. They even twisted my gut.
“How can you ask me to forgive that bastard……?”
I couldn’t comprehend [Master of the Broken Dawn]’s request. Couldn’t accept it.
“He killed you! He destroyed Cserinia-nim’s world for his own desires!”
I couldn’t accept it.
Couldn’t even think it.
“Because of him, Roheirits…… Artsreheid…… and Skesari…… died in such misery!”
Not just that world. The entire Earth had turned to ashes.
Seoul’s streets were littered with nameless bones…… the once-beautiful rivers and mountains long stained with blood and tears.
“And countless worlds after that! Isn’t that right? Yet, yet!”
Forgive the one responsible……?
“Why……?! How……?!”
“Baek-jun.”
At that moment, [Master of the Broken Dawn].
“When I gathered all the fragments of Verkensia, I promised everything would be restored, didn’t I?”
The man who had lost comrades, lover, everyone to the [Nameless Demigod]’s blade…… smiled gently.
“Do you still believe in me now?”
“Of course…… I do.”
“Then, I beg you to forgive Jeong-cheol, the soul of my poor friend.”