Kang Chul-In woke up one week later.
“Mm…!”
“Son, did you wake up?”
He could hear his mother, Park Sun-Ja’s, voice.
“This is...?”
“It’s a hospital, son.”
“...!”
“Whew… son, I understand you’re busy, but what were you doing to end up like this…”
“S-Sorry…”
“I’m upset.”
“...”
“If I lose even you…”
Kang Chul-In shut his mouth. He didn’t have anything to say. Showing this injured side of him to his mother… he wanted to find a hole and hide in it.
“Don’t ever…”
“...”
“Don’t even come hurt like this. Alright?”
“Okay…”
“I can’t believe you…”
Park Sun-Ja couldn’t look at Kang Chul-In properly.
“I’ll call for a doctor, so rest up. I’ll be back.”
Park Sun-Ja didn’t try to stay in the hospital room for too long even though her son had woken up. She didn’t want him to see her tears.
“...I’ve been a bad son again.”Kang Chul-In muttered to himself and bit his lower lip. “Dammit.”
What was he doing? He promised not to be a bad son again, but he had shown this side of himself.
“Oppa!” Just then, Han Ye-Sun frantically ran into the hospital room. “Did you wake up? What a relief! Such a relief! I thought you were really gonna die…”
“...”
“You went to death’s door… if we were a bit late, you would have died…” Tears brimmed in Han Ye-Sun’s eyes again. “But still, it’s a relief… that you’re living… really a relief…”
Kang Chul-In could feel how sincere Han Ye-Sun was. Han Ye-Sun was acting like his survival was everything to her…
“But.” Kang Chul-In opened his mouth. “Where is this? Earth?”
“Yeah…”
“Why did you bring me here…”
“There wasn’t any other way, we had to save you. There wasn’t a way to go back to the Valhalla Kingdom, and we were in the south because the Belt moved us there. We were surrounded by mountains and we couldn’t go anywhere. You were in such a critical condition that we had to use modern medicine. Of course, as soon as we arrived on Earth, I called for Alfred.”
“Alfred?” Kang Chul-In narrowed his eyes.
“Yeah.” Han Ye-Sun nodded. “That was the only way to help you. Modern medicine’s surgery, and Alfred’s Blood Heal. If it wasn’t for the two of those, no one would’ve been able to save you.”
“I see… what about Alfred?”
“He returned to Pangaea as soon as you were treated. Along with Lucia.”
“Why?”
“That’s…” Han Ye-Sun couldn’t speak easily. “The situation… it’s… not... good… really not good...”
“That bad?”
“There’s a three-way fight.”
“...!”
“The Valhalla Kingdom… is fighting two forces right now… although… it’s more like they’re being beaten up one-sidedly…”
Kang Chul-In felt like he had been punched.
I didn’t hear wrong, right?
He didn’t know what kind of bullshit this was. How much effort had he put into stopping a three-way war? But it was happening anyway?
“A third party?”
“Yeah…”
“Is it…” Kang Chul-In spoke as if he realized who it was. “The Shatyameba territory? Overlord Lee Ji-Tae?”
“Y-You know?”
“So that’s what happened.”
He had thought it was strange. He should’ve realized it when some guy he’d never heard about became an Overlord after taking over Atal Ramanujan’s position.
“And the other one is the Gullveig Alliance, right?”
“No.”
“No?”
“It’s the Ancient Empire.”
He didn’t know what in the world she was talking about.
“You’re not saying… Saturnus, that damned guy, called himself an emperor and took over the Gullveig Alliance, are you?”
“You’re right.”
“...”
“The Gullveig Alliance doesn’t exist anymore.”
“How ridiculous.”
It had only been 2 weeks but he couldn’t grasp how many things had gone down during that time. Saturnus, who was calling himself an emperor, and the Overlord Lee Ji-Tae. These damned bastards were beating up his kingdom after creating their forces. It seemed a lot had happened in that short amount of time.
“I see.”
However, there didn’t seem to be any concern on Kang Chul-In’s face.
“O-Oppa, are you okay?”
“Of course.” Kang Chul-In nodded. “What’s important is time, not those small fish.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. What were you saying right before you fainted? That Earth was in danger…”
“I meant what I said.”
“What?”
“Overlord Lee Ji-Tae... that bastard isn’t human.”
“He’s not…?”
“Do you want to know?” Kang Chul-In turned to Han Ye-Sun. “It’ll be hard to take.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Han Ye-Sun’s eyes flashed. “I need to know what you’re doing.”
“Fine, whatever you want.”
Kang Chul-In didn’t plan on hiding anything from her.
“Everything goes back to a thousand years ago, during the rule of the Emperor of Blood and Iron, Julius Berlineta Pon Aurangzeb.”
Kang Chul-In began to explain the secret he knew, about Pangaea’s past and the system, Erinyes.
***
Meanwhile, at the same time, in the Esmeralda territory.
“Kuk!” Kwak Jung vomited blood.
“Kuk, kuk, kuk!”
Not just once. He continued to vomit blood. Vibrant red blood stained the map in front of him.
“Tactician Kwak!” Podolski quickly supported Kwak Jung. “Are you alright?”
“Do I look alright?” Kwak Jung asked back, sharply.
“O-Of course…”
“Of course not… I feel… like I’m gonna die… almost to the point that I want to kill myself…”
Kwak Jung’s face was extremely pale. He looked poor. The black circles under his eyes, purple lips, dried skin, and bony cheeks would remind anyone of a sick person. No, like a patient who was going to collapse any second.
“Please take it easy…”
“Do you think I’m doing this because I want to?” Kwak Jung spoke as he wiped the blood from his mouth in an irritated manner. “The moment I make a mistake this kingdom will be destroyed in the blink of an eye. I can’t take it easy right now.”
“Tactician Kwak…”
“Please send General Drakan to the north and General Amur to the south. The enemies will come. Their scales are large. It’ll be hard to block them, so please send the Full Metal Dragon and Zeppelin as well.”
“Yes, sir…”
“When the battle begins, Saturnus will appear two hours later.”
“S-Saturnus…!”
“Then, we will drop His Highness Dorian off to stall for time and Lucia will hold our backs. If we do this… we’ll be safe for today.”
“R-Really?”
“Do you think I’d use my Foresight because I want to die? Don’t say anything useless and go quickly. I want to rest today.”
“Yes, sir… I hope you rest well…”
Podolski carefully left Kwak Jung’s tent.
“Kuk!” Kwak Jung began to vomit blood again. “Dammit… am I really gonna die?”
He was using his Foresight to make up for Kang Chul-In’s absence so they could continue with the war. He really felt like he was going to die. Every time he used his Foresight, the feeling of his lifespan decreasing was like hell every day. However, there was nothing else he could do.
In front of them were the Ancient Empire soldiers, and in the south, Overlord Lee Ji-Tae’s army was beating them up. In this disadvantageous situation, if they made a mistake, it would be the end of the Valhalla Kingdom.Even though he didn’t want to, he had to use Foresight to stay ahead of their enemies.
“Shit… please come… please…” Kwak Jung prayed for Kang Chul-In to come again and again. “What do you want me to do when we need you the most… ugh…!”
But Kang Chul-In was recuperating back on Earth because he was critically injured. According to what Alfred said, Kang Chul-In’s recovery wouldn’t take that long, but it was unclear when he would return.
Moreover,
“That damned bastard is playing with us!”
Saturnus only appeared when the soldiers of the empire were in danger and messed up the battlefield. Although he could sweep away the soldiers of the Valhalla Kingdom with his power, he just stepped back and observed the war, like he was playing war games.
No, Saturnus was definitely enjoying watching the Valhalla Kingdom suffer. Like a pervert.
“So please…”
Suddenly,
“H-Huh?”
Kwak Jung narrowed his eyes at the sudden dizziness.
“I-I can’t see well… dammit…”
His vision spun in front of his eyes. He couldn’t move his arms and legs properly.
Plop! Kwak Jung fell to the floor.
“Eh… n-not now… no… hehe…”
He lost consciousness. After using too much of his Foresight, he was drained.
***
“S-So…” Han Ye-Sun wasn’t able to hide her shock at Kang Chul-In’s words. “So from the Great Summoning till now… everything is the will from a thousand years ago to stop the Agnaga?”
“As you heard.”
“I-I can’t believe it…!”
“Neither could I.”
It was true. It had taken a while for Kang Chul-In to accept the “truth.”
“But it was true.”
“Mm…”
“Anyway, the most important thing is to prevent the resurrection of Rindermergel.”
“What happens if he… resurrects completely?”
“The end of Pangaea.”
“...!”
“And…”
The reason why Kang Chul-In had to take over the Emperor of Blood and Iron’s mission escaped his mouth.
“The dead Agnaga will resurrect. To be exact, they won’t be resurrected, but new Agnaga will be born.”
“New Agnaga?”
“Rindermergel himself is Agnaga. He has the DNA of the dead Agnaga, and if he absorbs some energy, he can create new Agnaga. If that happens…”
“The Agnaga will come to Earth after taking over Pangaea?”
“There’s a 100% chance that will happen.”
It was true. That was the reason why Kang Chul-In had taken over the Emperor of Blood and Iron’s unfinished work. It was important to save Pangaea, but he couldn’t let the Agnaga invade Earth, could he?
“From the beginning, Earth and Pangaea were the same parallel worlds. They are connected because they’re not from different dimensions. That’s the reason why Dragon Lord Emilia was able to call us into Pangaea.”
“I-I see…”
“Anyways, as I said, Saturnus and Lee Ji-Tae are only small fish.”
“You have a way to defeat Saturnus and Lee Ji-Tae?”
“Now… I will defeat Saturnus.”
“R-Really?”
“5 minutes is enough.”
Kang Chul-In was sure of victory.
Because…
[Ectoplasm Oversuit, synchronization complete!]
His strongest artifact, this armor, had perfectly synchronized with his body.
[Physical strength, 400% increase!]
[Stamina, 300% increase!]
[Reaction speed, 180% increase!]
[Defensive power, 60% increase!]
[Resistance, 60% increase!]
Yes, the present Kang Chul-In was strong enough to be able to guarantee his victory in a fight against Saturnus.
Right now… I’m stronger than the Emperor of Blood and Iron.
After getting up from almost having died, he wasn’t afraid of anything. Furthermore, the Outrage Drive he was only able to use for one minute could now be used for five.
This was the reason why Kang Chul-In was scary. Every time he came back from death’s door, he would grow stronger.
“Lee Ji-Tae?” He had a sour smile. “He’s probably Cereb, the mind of Agnaga… that disgusting squid… kek!”
The Emperor of Blood and Iron’s memory was filled with information about Cereb. Kang Chul-In knew too well how he could bring the great mind of Agnaga down.
Saturnus? He would be finished after beating him up. Kang Chul-In wouldn’t be defeated anymore. It was showtime.
“I’ll return right away.” Kang Chul-In raised himself.
“W-Will you be okay?”
“Of course.”
He still had some pain left, but it would dissipate with some potions. There was no more time to waste. He had to leave now.
“You should rest for just one more day…”
Han Ye-Sun looked at Kang Chul-In with a regretful face.
“It’s not time to rest.”
“Still… it’ll be so tiring… you’ll have to do everything yourself… this isn’t fair… with Pangaea and Earth. You have to protect both worlds by yourself… that’s a heavy burden… I don’t know why you have to do it all alone… why…”
“Because I’m a Lord.”
“...!”
“That’s all.”
That was Kang Chul-In’s identity. The reason why he was living.
“I am the king of a land and the father of many citizens. I must take on the responsibilities if I want to rule.”
“O-Oppa…”
Han Ye-Sun painstakingly felt that Kang Chul-In was a Lord to the bones.
“Let’s go.” Kang Chul-In began to walk.
“To beat up Saturnus, that damned bastard, first.”
It had begun.
The salvation of two worlds, the path of Kang Chul-In, and the path of Blood and Iron.