Bye Bye, My Beautiful Great Forest
Operation BTS (Back to the Stone Age) had successfully drawn its curtains to thunderous applause. All that remained in the Great Forest were the sunken ruins of buildings and piles of charred black ash. It was literally the advent of the Stone Age. The elves who had witnessed this spectacle live were all in the same state. It was as if Cheonma Michael Jackson himself had descended upon the Great Forest—they were all foaming at the mouth and fainting one after another.
It had been a spectacular performance, but all good things must come to an end. Just as the M16A1 type had said, the bell had tolled, signaling that it was time for the masquerade to end. We began moving busily to take care of the cleanup.
"Elsia, this is the final stage now."
"Yes! Leave it to me!"
A red number floated above the head of the brightly smiling Elsia. It was the result of escaping the World Tree's terrible nightmare. At the same time, it marked the beginning of a new future.
"Shinu, this is too much of a hassle. Can't we just finish it here?"
"Every novel has to have an ending, so we need to wrap things up properly here too."
Hiatus is not an option.
"Shut up. Seeing that really shattered my mentality and my hands were shaking all day."
"Warrior Elsia, is this the location you mentioned?"
"Yes! That's correct!"
"Let's hurry."
It was time to draw the curtains on the story of the Great Forest.
We finished all preparations as quickly as possible and activated the gate. The elves must have been so overwhelmed that they were still unconscious. We inputted the coordinates for the Academy and waited for the gate to open. Then, suddenly remembering Jung Ayeon's situation, I asked.
"Jung Ayeon, how exactly are you going to report this to the Martial Artists Guild?"
"Ah......"
Jung Ayeon, who had only now realized the reality of the situation, began trembling violently as her pupils shook like crazy. She had been supposed to submit a special reason for not reporting to the Martial Artists Guild during the break.
"We're fucked..."
Jung Ayeon clutched her head and collapsed on the spot. I patted her shoulder and said,
"Don't worry. Everything will turn out fine."
"Young Master Shinu..."
Jung Ayeon looked up at me with eyes full of emotion.
"I'll testify that you were the mastermind behind this incident."
"Silence!!!!!!!"
While Jung Ayeon was grabbing my collar and shaking me, the gate opened at some point. We sent the animal herd through first and began to follow. Then, I suddenly remembered something I'd forgotten and stopped dead in my tracks.
I forgot to collect the loot.
"Wait a second!"
I urgently stopped the party that was about to step through the gate. Hye-ji, who had been at the front, paused and gave me a questioning look.
"Shinu, what's wrong?"
"We have to collect the loot!"
"What could there even be to collect?"
I looked over the elves still bound by Elsia's power.
"Let's pick their pockets."
"Sounds good!"
"Young master, have you lost your mind?"
"You go on ahead. You don't get a share then."
"......Divide it four ways."
"Shinu, these bastards' pockets are insanely loaded!"
When visitors come, isn't it common sense to take a souvenir each? Since we'd visited the Great Forest, it was time for us to collect our own souvenirs. We diligently began looting the elves' valuables one by one—earrings, rings, wallets, liquor, and more. We managed to farm quite a variety of items.
By the time our bags had grown heavy, it was finally the turn of Sharit and his sons Demian and Fabian. I'd already looted Fabian earlier, so I skipped him. Demian had nothing on him. Sharit, however, was draped in flashy gold accessories all over his body, so I swept up everything in sight.
Feeling like something was still missing, I was pondering what else to take when Elsia shouted urgently.
"Husband! The gate is about to close soon!"
What would I even use a supply for? It's not like I could offer it at a rain ritual.
Only the Academy President's and his son's heads were suitable for a rain ritual. Anything else wouldn't be very effective. I quickly racked my brain and decided on the final piece of loot.
"I've chosen you!"
- Riiiiip!!!!!!
I grabbed and tore off the hair from Sharit, Fabian, and Demian in order. Lucian's hair was already gone, but it would be too sad if he was the only bald one. As a way of telling them to get along as a family, I made them all bald just like him.
Now now, murder is not allowed.
In Demian's case, thanks to that high-molecular alloy diamond-indestructible body of his, his hair was surprisingly tough and didn't come out easily. But who was I? The hair mass-murderer Kim Shinu. I even materialized the gauntlet from the eleven o'clock position on my right hand's Mana Tattoo and, with great effort, ripped out every last strand of Demian's hair.
Piece's following voice sounded almost pitying.
"Ah, four baldies would be a huge problem."
"If four of them gather like in Puyo Puyo, they explode, you know."
Ignoring Piece's scream, I dashed toward the gate that was on the verge of closing. It was finally time to return to the Academy.
After Kim Shinu's party had crossed through the gate to the Academy, some time passed before the unconscious elves began to regain consciousness one by one. However, the moment they woke and saw the miserable Stone Age spread before them, most of them fainted all over again.
Sharit, who had regained his senses, nearly fainted as well, but with superhuman mental fortitude and high resilience he endured the crowd-control effect. He felt a refreshing coolness on his head, but he casually dismissed it as a side effect of having been unconscious for so long.
Sharit grabbed the elves who hadn't fainted yet and issued urgent orders.
"Quickly! Hurry and chase after them!!!"
But the elves who saw Sharit simply lost their voices and stared at him. Precisely at Sharit's head.
"U-um, Lord Sharit..."
"What are you doing standing there instead of moving!!!"
"Lord Sharit... your head... your head..."
"What?"
At that moment, a chill ran down Sharit's spine. It felt like countless warnings not to touch his head were ringing from every direction. With trembling hands, Sharit reached up to his head.
"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!"
There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not a single strand of his brilliant golden hair remained. In his desperate desire to deny reality, Sharit fainted on the spot once more.
"Lord Sharit!!!!"
"Don't touch it! It might be contagious!"
"Ugh!"
The command tower that should have been giving orders had collapsed, and no one dared reach out. They were terrified it might spread. After all, hair was important.
Sharit's sons Fabian and Demian fared no better. True to their status as elf great warriors, they instinctively realized their heads were now bare and immediately fainted. Since they too were now bald, the other elves left them completely alone.
The fainted Sharit staggered back to his feet. With pure venom in his eyes and his lips bitten bloody, he muttered under his breath.
"Killkillkillkillkill."
Blood flowed from his torn lip, but he didn't have the luxury of caring. He had to kill the escapees no matter what. Instead, he gave orders to the elves watching him.
"Hurry and chase after those bastards, all of you!"
"May I ask where they went?"
"Are you brainless? They obviously fled to the Academy!!!"
"Y-yes!! I'll activate the gate right away!"
Perhaps because he no longer had hair, his former dignity was gone, but the rage pouring from his body was overwhelming. Pressured by that fury, the elves swiftly carried out his commands.
They attempted to input the Academy coordinates into the gate. However, having grown used to the inch-pound system, they struggled with the conversion to metric.
"Faster! Do it faster, I said!"
"I-I understand!"
Maybe Sharit's urging finally paid off. The coordinates for the Academy were at last entered successfully. There were multiple gates scattered throughout the Great Forest, and every single one of them began activating at once.
Watching the moving gates, Sharit reviewed his simple and clear plan once more.
All elves would move to the Academy through the multiple gates. Then they would judge every last one of those scoundrels.
I have nothing more to lose! I'll kill them all!
He couldn't expect help from the Korean government or the Academy. They had already written the oath, after all. Therefore this was something that had to be completed solely with the elves currently present in the Great Forest. It was an extremely personal and petty revenge.
Sharit mulled over his hatred as he stared at the gates. His appearance was so steeped in ominous energy that anyone who saw him might have mistaken him for one of the elf great warriors.
As the gates continued to activate, one elf came running toward Sharit in a panic.
"Lord Sharit! Look at that!"
"What is it!"
What the elf pointed at was a timer. Behind the gate, countless explosives had been connected. Yes. It was a time bomb. And the timer had almost reached 00:00.
"These bastards dare!!!"
"And there was a note left here addressed to you, Lord Sharit."
"Give it here!"
Sharit roughly snatched the note from the elf. A short message was written on it. The recipient was clearly labeled To. Baldy.
"This bastard!!"
"Lord Sharit! What about the bomb—"
"Shut up! That's not what's important right now!"
If Sharit had been even slightly calmer, he would have quickly dismantled the bomb. With luck, it might have been the best possible decision that could have saved at least one gate. But having lost his reason, his judgment was too clouded to make such a call.
Instead of ordering the bomb dismantled, Sharit quickly began reading the note. Its contents read as follows.
Hair is gold, my friend. Though you won't have any of the three.
— From the one who made you bald
"Fuck!!!!!!!!"
Sharit spat out a curse and crumpled the note, hurling it to the ground. At that moment, he noticed something written on the back of the fallen paper as well. With hands trembling from rage, he unfolded it. Another message was written there.
Bye bye, my pretty gate.
— From the one who made you bald
The instant he finished reading the sentence, the timer on the time bomb attached to the gate hit 00:00.
Only then did Sharit remember what order he should have given. But it was far too late. The bomb attached to the gate exploded right on schedule. And it wasn't just the gate in front of him—every other gate exploded at the exact same moment.
In the end, every single gate in the Great Forest was blown to pieces.
"You inferior species, you fucking bastards!!!!!!!!!"
In front of the shattered gates, only Sharit's hollow scream remained. While screaming, he coughed up blood and collapsed right where he stood.
It was all in ruins. Both the Great Forest and Sharit's head.