Chapter 158
Chapter 158
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 158
Chapter Title: The Supreme One Has Returned
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The pitch-black prison crumbles.
Iron bars bent so far that half the monster's body could protrude.
The damp, shadowy walls of the cave.
The moldy stench filling the air around them.
And finally...
'No!!!!'
The demon's arm stretching straight toward Cheon-il.
Like a glass photo shattering, cracks suddenly splintered across every inch of space before his eyes.
'You will regret it. You will lose everything you achieved because of me. You! You will surely regret it. Surely...'
Crash.
As the demon's final words, like a dying testament, scattered into the air, the fractured space shattered into fragments that flew in every direction.
And then, Cheon-il—who had kept his eyes tightly shut—slowly opened them.
The first thing he saw upon opening his eyes was the now-familiar ceiling of his own room.
"Are you with us?"
As his senses cleared, the Supreme One's voice reached him.
He reflexively shot upright.
"Huh?"
The same old ceiling, the Supreme One, and Haru.
So why...?
Why this unfamiliar sensation the moment he sat up.
Cheon-il glanced down at his right hand, the one he'd planted to push himself up.
It looked no different on the surface.
'But why...'
Why did it feel like there was no strength at all?
Having propped up his upper body, Cheon-il immediately stared at both hands.
Nothing seemed off.
But something was terribly wrong.
These were undoubtedly his own hands, yet the sensation was so profoundly different.
They felt alien and feeble, as if they belonged to someone else.
"Second Ghost Soul."
The Supreme One's voice rang out.
Forcing his attention away, Cheon-il looked toward Yong-un, whose eyes brimmed with worry.
"Supreme Bro? Why that look...?"
Behind Yong-un stood Myung-su and Barum.
Their faces, usually beaming with friendly smiles every day, mirrored Yong-un's exactly.
"You're up. That's what matters."
Yong-un patted Cheon-il's back.
"Bro? Was I sick or something?"
As if unable to bear looking into Cheon-il's wide, puzzled eyes, Barum forcibly turned his head away.
This day felt so different from the norm that Cheon-il had a dozen questions bubbling up.
He wanted to ask them one by one.
"Why's everyone acting like this? I'm totally fine..."
That was when, over Yong-un's shoulder, his eyes caught Viscount Raton sitting on the floor.
A chill raced across Cheon-il's entire body.
"Demon!?"
Cheon-il hurriedly kicked off the bed to leap up.
Thud. Crash.
But instead of floating perfectly into a graceful landing as he always did, he tumbled flat onto the floor.
"You okay?"
Myung-su hurried over.
"Ah... it hurts... Why, why does it hurt?"
"Falling off a bed hurts, that's why."
Pain registered, but to Cheon-il, this hurt was nothing at all.
Instead, a slithering anxiety began to gnaw at his heart from within.
"If it hurts... it shouldn't... And why doesn't my body feel like my body?"
Having fallen, Cheon-il struggled to push himself up.
Normally, he'd control his feather-light frame with effortless strength.
But right now, even that simple act drained him immensely.
As if...
All the power he'd possessed until now had vanished.
'All my power... gone?'
Doubt swiftly turned to worry.
And worry slowly solidified into certainty.
Whoosh.
Forcing himself upright, Cheon-il bit his lip and tried to summon his demonic qi.
"Cheon-il..."
He meant to trigger demon transformation and slaughter the demon before his eyes.
"Why..."
But with his contract severed, there was zero chance Cheon-il could use demon transformation.
"Why... why... demon transformation... demon transformation..."
Cheon-il stared at Yong-un in shocked horror.
His face, mingled with tears like a child robbed of his favorite toy.
Yong-un wore a bittersweet expression as he gently stroked Cheon-il's head and spoke.
"Your contract has been severed."
Short, blunt, and utterly shocking words.
Packed with implications, they set Cheon-il's mind spinning with thoughts.
His head grew dizzy, a pounding headache crashing in.
Stagger.
"Cheon-il!"
Myung-su caught him.
It was the backlash from forcing a nonexistent energy to manifest.
"Then... what do I do?"
Clutching his head, Cheon-il asked weakly, gaze dropped.
"No demon transformation... then I'm not Second Ghost Soul anymore?"
"Cheon-il..."
Thick teardrops fell onto the arm supporting him.
This wasn't the Cheon-il who used to snivel like a little kid.
"Supreme Bro... you gonna throw me away? Send me back there?"
Myung-su shot Yong-un a pained glance.
'Even the Supreme One must be agonizing over this.'
Myung-su bit his lip and forced his eyes downward.
As a leader himself, he could somewhat grasp the Supreme One's turmoil upon hearing Cheon-il's question.
In Myung-su's view, blood was thicker than water—he wanted to keep Cheon-il in the Second Ghost Soul spot no matter what.
'But that's just wishful thinking.'
Surely the Supreme One felt the same deep down.
Yet the reason he couldn't decide easily...
Myung-su knew it all too well.
"Supreme One..."
Myung-su's words toward the Supreme One trailed off.
"Second Ghost Soul."
At last, the waited-for Yong-un spoke.
Even so, Cheon-il couldn't lift his head.
He simply clenched his fists tight, steeling himself for an uncertain future.
"I ask you this. Can you now perform your duties as a Ghost Soul of the Ghostslayers, without burdening the others?"
Squeeze.
Even more strength poured into Cheon-il's fists.
He couldn't answer.
The answer was already set.
"No......"
He finally voiced the inevitable reply.
Tears poured even harder.
"One final question."
Yong-un's eyes slowly curved into a smile.
Myung-su's face lit with surprise at this smile, so at odds with the cold voice that sounded like a farewell.
"Yeah...."
As Myung-su moved to speak, Yong-un quietly raised a finger to his lips.
Head bowed, Cheon-il couldn't see.
He merely sorted through his Ghostslayer life in his mind, aching all the while.
'What in the...'
Myung-su's eyes widened to the point of bulging.
But at the smile spreading across Yong-un's lips, Myung-su's own eyes began to redden stealthily.
"Your answer to this will decide your fate."
"Yeah....."
"Do you wish to remain as the Second Ghost Soul of the Ghostslayers?"
If Cheon-il still had demon transformation, he'd have answered without hesitation.
But now, it was different.
"......."
He hung his head in silence, like a guilty child.
Cheon-il was just a kid.
Old enough to throw tantrums and act spoiled.
Yet he didn't.
He'd seen too much of the world far too soon.
"I want to stay..."
Despite his age for spoiling, as Second Ghost Soul, Cheon-il was unlike other children.
"But I won't..."
He didn't act like kids who put their own safety and comfort first.
"If I stay... it'll be hard for everyone..."
Second Ghost Soul Cheon-il.
This tiny child loved the Supreme One more than himself.
Loved the Ghostslayers more than the Supreme One.
"Just... let me go. Supreme Bro, let me leave. Sob. Sob..."
The moment he finished speaking, it was like a dam bursting—grief overwhelmed Cheon-il's emotions.
It toppled the fragile kingdom of this innocent little child.
To the point where his sobs, as he desperately held back tears, looked utterly heartbreaking...
Cheon-il, in a child's body, acted far beyond his years.
"Supreme One!"
Was it because of Cheon-il's farewell words?
Barum, who had listened to everything from outside the door, rushed in and dropped to his knees before Yong-un.
"I'll do it! I'll work twice as hard, cover for Cheon-il too! So... so..."
Bowing his head as he spoke, Barum slowly looked up to meet Yong-un's eyes.
"......."
And froze, speechless in shock.
'Why... is he smiling?'
At this unforeseen expression from the Supreme One, just then Myung-su quietly approached and patted Barum's shoulder.
'Shh.'
Myung-su was smiling too.
But Barum, unable to comprehend the situation, blankly scanned his surroundings.
'To choose that, thinking how to survive out there.'
Yong-un let out a soft chuckle.
Without demon transformation, Cheon-il clearly couldn't continue as a Ghostslayer assassin.
He was still young; with time, he could grow into one. But no one could guarantee his survival amid the unknown dangers that might befall the Ghostslayers in the interim.
Knowing this, even Myung-su couldn't throw a fit.
'He must think there's no way.'
Even if the famed master Jin-cheol were here, he couldn't solve it.
Everyone knew it so well that Barum was begging in Myung-su's stead.
Severing the contract with a demon was already impossible.
Remaking it with a nonexistent demon was nonsense,
and restarting that perilous gamble wasn't a viable option either.
A chain of riddles with seemingly no answers.
Sneer.
In this reality, only Yong-un knew the way.
"Raise your head."
At Yong-un's words, Cheon-il sobbed while wiping his tears on his sleeve.
Like someone resolved to farewell, he slowly lifted his heavy head.
And stared at Yong-un in stunned surprise for a long while.
"Supreme... Bro?"
"Is this not a smiling matter?"
Cheon-il's eyes reddened once more at Yong-un's words.
Not the face of someone gladdened by his departure, but one gripped by despair—no, wait.
'He trusts people way too much.'
The tears streaming down Cheon-il's cheeks were tears of joy.
Warm tears born from the peak of hope that he might not have to leave.
All his subordinates, Cheon-il included, gazed at Yong-un.
And Yong-un finally spoke the words they'd all been waiting for.
"Can't leave the Second Ghost Soul seat empty; you've carved yourself deep into our hearts."
"Bro...?"
"I'll help you so you won't be a burden."
"Su, Supreme Bro...?"
"Demon transformation. I'll get it back for you. Your own, worry-free version—I guarantee it."
Yong-un's words were more than enough to redden everyone's eyes.
"Supreme Bro!!!"
"Supreme One!"
"Ahh... Supreme One..."
Cheon-il threw himself into Yong-un's arms.
Myung-su quietly stroked his chest, swallowing his tears,
while Barum went slack-jawed, nodding in a daze.
"Cheon-il!"
"It's good... really good..."
The other Ghost Souls, unable to hold back their curiosity any longer, poured in from hiding.
But the one exception...
Only Sixth Ghost Soul Sung-min hid an enigmatic smile behind his own grin as he turned away.
"So it ends up like this after all..."
Muttering meaningfully, Sung-min quietly returned to his room.