Chapter 299: Epilogue – 1
#1
‘With the price of 3-tier mana stone soaring in the Mana Stone market in the second half of the year, experts who predicted the trend of the Mana stone market in the first half are perplexed. In addition, the government has introduced a bill to the National Assembly to impose a special tax on medium-sized cars that mainly consume processed 3-tier mana stones…’
‘The 51st Dark Earth Gate opened in Daejeon, Korea, on the 5th. Unlike the common gates of 50 meters or less, this gate is 100 meters tall and can carry more than Tier-8 monsters without processing. In this regard, South Korea’s technology in generating gates…’
‘So here’s the news about Elus’ Su Queen. She has appeared as a cameo in the recent movie “Elus’ Secret Death Squad” and is loved by many people on Earth for her beauty and acting skills that transcend her race. Jeremy, who directed this film, will continue to be Elus’ and Earth’s…’
‘Members of the new government of the 2Xth President of the Republic of Korea are under fire. Dae Yang-seung, who is widely expected to be nominated as the next senior presidential secretary for political affairs, is faced with controversy over the sex trade of minors during his term as a former judge…’
“Fuck it, you bastard…” Dong-cheol’s impression of watching the news on his smartphone was distorted. The president of the opposition party that was elected in the recent presidential elections was a former member of the traditional conservative party.
Despite some blemish in his career, he was a former military general who was leading the military during the invasion of the Dark Earth and became known to the public with a considerable amount of popularity before running for the upcoming presidential election as a candidate representing the opposition.
Although Dong-cheol, who considered that the ruling party and the opposition party were cut from the same clothes, was angry at the fact that a man who was nominated as a senior secretary for political affairs engaged in the sexual trafficking of minors.
“What are you doing all alone, man?”
“Oh, old man! Look at this! How can a politician do such a thing…”
“Well, that son of a bitch.”
“Can’t you go and say something?”
“Why me?”
“You are the former absolute ruler of Invincible Palace, Kwon Je!”
“It’s ‘former’. I! Don’t you know I’m retired?”
“Come on!! Aah… Is it hard for you to come forward because you’re also trying to seduce someone of your grandchild’s age?”
“What the fuck? Someone of a grandchild’s age is over 30! How dare you compare me to such trash! I guess you haven’t been beaten lately…”
“Oh! I’m the father of two children, too!”
The old man, who raised his hand, smacked his lips and shook his head again. Although he was not happy with the recent political situation in Korea, if he opened his mouth for no reason, his current peaceful life will end on the same day. This was an era of stability that was completely beyond the era of barbarism. He’s against breaking the peace.
“Don’t mess with me, son.” Dong-cheol, whose mouth was protruding at the old man’s words, saw an old car pulled out by the old man and said, “What is that rotten car?”
The old man flared up. “You son of a bitch! This is the pride of an old car – it’s Chevrolet Imperial! Do you know how much this is?”
“Geez… no doubt that you really are an old man,” Dong-cheol grumbled and looked at the sky-blue car as the old man patted it. The car, which had a sky blue background with white stripes, was being carefully cleaned. He had no idea how old this relic was.
“But you’re not going to take it, are you?”
“Why? What’s wrong with my Imperial?”
“What are you going to do if that rotten car stops in the middle of nowhere?”
“Why don’t you just take care of the kids if you have time to worry about others! How can you be so immature when you’re already this old?”
“Oh, what did I say wrong? Ah! Why are you trying to hit me again!” Blocking his hair, Dong-cheol tried to make a big fuss about what Kwon Je said, but he kept his mouth shut and looked back at the sound of a woman talking.
“Old man! I’m ready.” Dong-cheol’s wife, Ogura, appeared while holding the hand of a boy about five years old and a smaller girl. It’s obvious from her bulging belly that she’s pregnant for the third time.
“Oh, dear Jae-woo, you came!”
When Jae-woo, the first child of Dong-cheol, appeared, Kwon Je threw out a mop and strode to hug the child. Kwon Je had been living with them for three years. Dong-cheol and his son Jae-woo, who had no other relatives, treated Kwon Jae as their father and grandfather.
Jae-woo shook his head as if he was too annoyed by his grandfather, but Kwon Je was busy poking him while ignoring his small rebellions.
“You smell like an old man!”
“Hahaha! You little bastard!”
Jae-Woo pushes out Kwon Je’s face with his small hand, but Kwon Je was not concerned and was obsessed with Jae-woo’s cuteness.
“But isn’t Irumigoing, too?
“She said that she’s having a hard time with her work these days. Things would still go well even without her presence but…”
“She’s just such a perfectionist.”
Irumi inherited Invincible Palace after Kwon Je. If the invincible Palace led by Kwon Je was an organization of hunters protecting the Republic of Korea in the past, it was now transforming into a global company in the position to collectively manage the gates of each country. Many opposed the monopoly of corporate-managed gates, but all the other existing gates were closed and the emerging gates were artificially generated by the Invincible Palace after the invasion of the Dark Earth, forcing them to shut their mouths to repair or maintain the future gates.
It might be seen as a tyranny of companies with proprietary technology, but there had been no major conflict as Irumi’s corporate management policy, which moves for the common good of everyone around the world and the G20 powers on her side.
“What about Mr. Baeklin?”
“He went to Japan two days ago.” It was Dong-cheol who answered her question.
It was awkward when they first met, but after a few years, Baeklin and Dong-cheol became friends. Of course, Baeklin was much older, but he did not have any difficulty approaching Baeklin because he originally had a morbid dislike of being called by his age along with his hobby of being a maniac.
“Why Japan?”
“To go to the comic market or something with Ms. Babel…”
Dong-cheol shook his head as if he didn’t want to think anymore. Dong-cheol was not happy to see that Bakelin, as the head of the Invincible Palace’s first attack squad, was wasting his long-cherished ability every day. Of course, he could not force him to do a hunting mission because he was a vital force in the making of the gates, but Ms. Babel’s ability would be enough to handle all the necessities even if the entire 1st squad were to go on a vacation for a month. In addition, she could control the Babel Tower, the one that spearheaded mankind’s attack on the Dark Earth.
Although it’s true that they were the main players who prevented Earth from getting invaded, they’ve spent a few years playing around that Dong-cheol, who was serving as the captain of the Invincible Palace’s 1st attack squad and the invincible warrior, was getting frustrated by them. It’s such a waste of manpower. To put it bluntly, he envies them. He wanted to give up everything right away and to play around with the money he had earned, but he knew that his retirement was still a long way off as long as the old man, who was now holding his son behind him, was alive.
“Did you contact Jaehwang?”
“How can I reach him? You know where he is. All we can do is to go there and hope we find him.”
“True…” Kwon Je nodded in response to Dong-cheol.
The place where Jaehwang stayed was cut off from the world, a place where it’s almost hard for them to reach unless Jaehwang contacted them first. In the past, he’s been in regular contact once a month or so, but they haven’t heard from him since about a year ago when he said his ‘wife’ was about to give birth.
It was a shame, but without him, the Earth would have been occupied by the monsters of the Dark Earth by now. He saved mankind, so he was a savior to Kwon Je as well. So, they have to go and see them themselves.
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
#2
“The air is always clear here.”
“It’s the ‘Holy Land’ after all.” Dong-cheol, who was climbing Mt. Goongi with them, took a deep breath and answered Kwon Je. His wife, who was an ordinary pregnant woman, was in his arms while Kwon Je carried his two sons.
“It can’t be a holy land. The trail goes up to the middle of the mountain.” Kwon Je pouted his lips as he glanced at the path he had just walked. Kwon Je didn’t like all of it. “Jaehwang is the owner of this mountain and because he said it was okay, people sneaked in.”
“Ha! Even if that’s true, how could they do this to him?”
This was the land of the Master Archer, the savior of mankind, who blocked all the Dark Earth gates and wiped out Ruler, the ruler of Dark Earth.
“He’s completely cut off from the world and doesn’t tell the public whether he’s alive or dead in the mountains, so the people are slowly forgetting him. And since Jaehwang gave some permission as the person in charge, I had to stay shut.”
“I don’t like it.”
“I know, but what can I do?”
If it weren’t for Jaehwang, Kwon Je would have stood up and defended this mountain.
It was incomprehensible that the people would not follow Jaehwang’s words while they would not even worship the existence of a God that saved humanity.
“Whoa, I wonder how much he’s changed.”
“Yeah.”
The welfare district built by Jaehwang had expanded further and was now almost the size of a medium-sized city. Outside the welfare district, the city was continuing to expand in size, and standing tall in the middle of it would be the Goongi Mountain, where Jaehwang came from. It used to be an off-limits area, but Jaehwang opened the mountain as a track. Even though it’s an off-limits area, the mountain was located right next to where people lived, so it was inevitable for some people to step on their feet unknowingly and get dirty. That’s why Jaehwang donated some of the mountain to the city and declared only its peak to be restricted from the public.
Of course, Jaehwang did not simply do this through words. As time went by, there were people who wanted to secretly climb Mt. Goongi again, hoping to meet the Master Archer, known to be the strongest in the world and the strongest in the ranks of God. No matter how tall their fences were, they kept trying to see if they could find their way in but of course, they failed. The frightening hallucinations that appeared at the moment they stepped inside drove them away. The hallucinations, strong or weak, were fair. Everything about Mt. Goongi ruled them out.
Only then did the people recognize this area as a sacred place. As expected, a human being only listens once a lesson was learned.
Creak…
Standing in front of the fence’s only entrance, Dong-cheol took the antique key out of his arms and opened the lock on the door. Only those who had this key were entitled to access the area and that’s Kwon Je and Irumi. As soon as they entered the Holy Land and started climbing the mountain, it slowly started to get foggy. At the same time, the way they walked on had also become flat. This could never happen in Goongi Mountain, which boasts its steep mountain range. Dong-cheol’s wife and two children also got off from them and started walking.
“The path has changed in a strange way than it was before.”
“I see and…” Kwon Je, who was walking with their children on his side, said, “I think someone is watching you, but it’s a strange wave. And there’s more than one or two.”
These beings were hard to sense even for Kwon Je, a Tier-9 hunter.
“Is that so?” Dong-cheol tilted his head at Kwon Je’s words. Because this was Jaehwang’s territory, no one could exist without his permission. It was incomprehensible that such people were watching them secretly because they would know someone of such power.
“We’ll see once we get there.”
“Yes.”
After about 10 minutes, a huge gate appeared through the fog. There, Dong-cheol tried to call for Jaehwang with his voice sweeping through the huge goblin patterned gate.
The door creaked open and a figure peeked out.
“Who’s there?”
“…”
Dong-cheol’s group briefly forgot to speak when they saw the person who appeared.
It was because she was such a beautiful young girl, let alone a character they have never seen before. Her breathtaking beauty made Dong-cheol’s face flush red.