Kang Hae-il's Awakening (3)
They say the first time is always the hardest.
Once you get through the first time, everything after becomes easier.
Junil, who had clawed his way up from rock bottom, understood the meaning of those words better than anyone.
Everything had been strange and painful when he was left alone in the world. But no matter what it was, once you repeated it enough times to master it, the emotions eventually faded, leaving behind only a child far more skilled than his age suggested.
He summed up the process in a single phrase.
‘You go numb.’
Going numb had always been a good thing for the young Junil.
Because there were far too many things he couldn’t endure without becoming numb.
The violence inflicted on him every single day. Friends leaving one by one. Unjust accusations…
No matter what trial came, the first time was difficult. Once you went numb, you could overcome it.
Becoming numb was, in other words, a shield for him.
Conversely, “the first time” was an enemy to him.
It was something he had to dismantle, analyze, and gradually blur until it disappeared.
A kind of stain.
If you kept wiping away that stain, one day your life would quietly improve.
From his orphanage days until he entered university, those principles had been absolute truths to him.
But after nearly twenty years as a hero…
Now, sometimes, he thought otherwise.
Some stains were better left alone.
For example, the moment Meyrin had clung to him and wept when she thought he was dead.
At the time, Julian had been cradled in Meyrin’s arms, barely piecing his dazed consciousness back together.
In his blurred vision, he saw a single white flower blooming in the dirt.
‘……A flower?’
A white daisy.
The same kind that had been in full bloom around him when he first arrived in Archidia.
Amidst everything fading into haze, only that flower stood out with perfect clarity.
He couldn’t understand it.
How had this flower bloomed in the middle of that ruined, blood-soaked ground?
He wondered if it might have been a hallucination born of shock.
Maybe everything he had suffered as a hero was nothing more than one massive, elaborate lie.
But one thing had been real.
The thought that crossed Julian’s mind as he stared at that flower had been completely sincere.
‘I never… want to be a hero again.’
He didn’t want to grow numb to this.
He didn’t want to become so used to it that it no longer affected him.
He didn’t want to dig out this stain, grind it down, and erase it.
If he wasn’t careful, he might not just erase the stain—he might tear open a hole so large that nothing could ever fill it.
He might have to live the rest of his life with a gaping wound in his chest.
Junil stared blankly at the massive hole torn into the ground.
‘He dug this deep…’
He felt Kang Hae-il’s strength anew.
‘Was awakening this powerful?’
Even he had only experienced awakening once, during his first playthrough. It wasn’t something he was particularly familiar with.
Because in his view, the ideal strategy was to grow steadily stronger without ever awakening, then defeat the Demon King.
After all, the conditions for awakening… weren’t exactly pleasant experiences for a hero.
‘The grief of losing a comrade.’
Just then, the ground began to tremble.
Kugugugugu……!
Uuuuung!
Suyeon raised both arms and cast a protective barrier.
A magic circle far more intricate than before materialized in the air around them.
‘Wait. What is this? Did she awaken too?’
The power radiating from Suyeon had changed.
But it was different from the kind of awakening the first-playthrough Julian had experienced.
The flow of mana felt far more stable.
‘Are there different types of awakening?’
Junil was concerned about Lee Suyeon’s condition, but he had no time to dwell on it.
Kugugugugugu—
The tremors were growing more violent.
‘It’s coming.’
He could feel it clearly.
Sar’s repulsive magi.
‘That snake bastard still isn’t dead.’
True to its earthworm nature, it seemed to be burrowing its way back up.
‘Don’t tell me… Kang Hae-il…’
He found himself fearing the possibility that Kang Hae-il’s corpse might come rising out of the hole.
If that happened, wouldn’t it all be over?
‘Maybe I shouldn’t have used the Troll Scroll after all.’
He had originally intended to give it to Kang Hae-il if he was in danger.
But things had gone sideways, and Junil had ended up using it himself.
‘No. There was never a scenario where I wouldn’t use it.’
While his anxious mind raced with all sorts of thoughts—
Suyeon shouted.
Kwaaaang!
An explosion erupted roughly ten meters away from Junil.
A colossal serpentine body surged endlessly upward.
Kwawawawang—
Just like how subway cars blur into a single streak when they pass at high speed, Sar’s body appeared the same.
Fast. Massive.
Suyeon couldn’t help but gasp in awe.
Sar’s body was simply too dazzling.
Each individual scale was wreathed in yellow flames.
They melted and fell like snow.
Then they oxidized into multicolored smoke and burst apart.
Poof!
Pop!
It looked like living fireworks.
Junil had seen something like this on YouTube before.
Some kind of fireworks festival in China or Japan.
A dragon-shaped kite danced through the sky, scattering brilliant fireworks in its wake.
‘I always wanted to see one with a girlfriend someday.’
Junil found it absurd that he was watching it now with Suyeon instead.
Even as his gaze was captivated by the dazzling display—
‘Kang Hae-il……!’
Relief flooded Junil’s eyes.
He had spotted something clinging to Sar’s body.
Kang Hae-il was alive.
Suyeon stared at Junil in disbelief, but—
‘What’s so great about someone who gaslights people…… Wait. Or is he the one being gaslit?’
She decided it must be the behavior of a gaslighting victim.
But this wasn’t gaslighting, nor was it an act.
Junil was genuinely overjoyed.
If Kang Hae-il had died, this entire scenario would have ended.
Junil’s three billion won would have vanished, and his own life would no longer have been guaranteed.
Hell, he might not even have been able to die properly.
He had no idea what happened to characters inside a folded story.
Because there were no survivors.
Fortunately, Kang Hae-il was alive.
No—he was more than alive.
He looked stronger than ever.
Hwarurururuk!
Brilliant yellow flames erupted from his entire body, scorching Sar.
Even after being driven deep underground by Kang Hae-il’s blow, Sar still hadn’t died. It continued to thrash violently.
It twisted and turned in every direction, trying to shake Kang Hae-il off.
But Kang Hae-il had buried his hands deep into its flesh, refusing to let go as he poured flames into it nonstop.
Hwarururururuk!
The fire was so intense that the heat reached all the way to where Junil stood.
It was strong enough to penetrate even Suyeon’s barrier.
Junil’s eyes, which had been filled with relief, now widened in shock.
‘Kang Hae-il……’
It wasn’t because of the size or temperature of the flames.
‘He’s angry.’
Perhaps the heat that had passed through Suyeon’s barrier wasn’t heat at all.
It might have been Kang Hae-il’s emotions.
He was furious—burning as fiercely as the flames themselves.
Even as he incinerated himself, he still hadn’t vented all of his rage.
What could have made him this angry?
‘No…… Is it sorrow?’
Hisss……
Steam rose from the corners of his eyes.
His anger stemmed from sorrow, and that sorrow in turn fueled even greater rage.
Hwaruruk!
The steam was instantly swallowed by flames once more.
He burned himself endlessly while burning his enemy as well.
Hwarururururuk……!
No matter how powerful its body modifications were, no matter how grand its title as a Demon King’s corps commander—
It could not stand against a hero’s awakening.
Because that was the fundamental law the storyboard had established.
The moment a hero awakens, no enemy survives.
Has anyone ever seen a story where the protagonist awakens and then loses?
Such a story doesn’t exist.
Even if it did, all the Constellations would have left, and the story would have been folded.
No matter how strong Sar was, now that it had been incorporated into this dimension, it was nothing more than a character in a story.
All it could do was writhe in agony while desperately trying to heal itself.
But that only prolonged its suffering.
It was merely buying time, serving as a billboard advertising just how powerful Kang Hae-il had become.
Yet its attachment to life was so strong that it continued making this foolish choice.
Even though it was already dead, it struggled desperately not to die.
But it felt nothing.
Only its obsession with survival.
No anger. No sorrow. Not even despair.
Something was missing.
A sense of déjà vu washed over him.
“……”
Junil’s gaze dropped to the ground.
There was the gaping hole.
He unconsciously clutched at his chest.
Suyeon tilted her head in confusion.
No.
It was over.
Junil was certain of that, if nothing else.
He looked away and whispered to the spirit on his shoulder.
Sar had already lost its strength.
This was nothing more than its final struggle.
Isilen agreed.
Isilen didn’t know every detail of Junil’s plans, but she understood how this ending was supposed to play out, so she asked.
At the final moment of Chapter 2—
The one standing atop the boss’s corpse was supposed to be Sagosul.
That had been the original plan.
They were supposed to bring the World Boss to the graveyard, keep it preserved until they reached level 30, then have Sagosul defeat it to gain fame.
Isilen didn’t really understand what was so great about “fame,” but it seemed like a very important matter to Junil.
That was why she hesitated.
But Junil simply said—
Neither Isilen nor the Constellations understood what he meant by “letting it go.”
But Isilen granted his request anyway.
Swish—
The crimson dome vanished with surprising ease.
Above them, the sky had already turned a deep red with the setting sun.
Several broadcasting helicopters were still hovering in the air, waiting.
Startled by the sudden disappearance of the dome, they hurriedly turned their helicopters around.
And at that moment—
Sar leaped as high as it could and let out one final scream.
Against the backdrop of the setting sun, the massive serpent burned black in silhouette.
Then, one last time, a yellow flame brighter than the sun itself flashed.
Ding.
The World Boss has been defeated!
At last, this world moved on to the next stage.
Congratulations!
You have cleared the second quest!
The second main quest had ended.
All Awakeners below level 30 will lose the power of awakening.
Chwarurururur!
Out of a total of 9,620,124 Awakeners on the server……
After the fiery conclusion came cold calculations.
No one—not even Junil or the Constellations—could predict exactly how many would survive.
‘Huh?’
But when Junil looked up at the sky, he was startled.
‘Oh no.’
He immediately broke into a full sprint.