Chapter 47. New Year, Part I
Translator: Khan
Editor: RED
1.
It was a warm sunny winter in Hawaii. A man was walking slowly toward a container which was arranged under the sun. The man’s appearance was unusual.
Wearing two swords on his back, carrying a bag over two swords, waving his shaggy black hair and carrying a dragon-shaped flute in his right hand, his shape was not suitable for the warm sunshine in Hawaii.
The man’s steps did not stop. The man continued to walk towards the container and as the man approached, the door of the container opened by itself.
That was all. There was nobody in the container. It was mysterious.
The man, however, did not seem to be surprised at all, and he walked into the container. When he came into the container, the first thing he saw was a map filling the walls of the container.
A map of the world, the wide unfolded map was filled with various X-character markings, and not in monochrome. There were three colors, blue, dark blue, and purple. Most were blue, followed by dark blue, and the least numerous were purple. The number of purples was only five, compared to the blue filling the map as if they were coloring it: Russia, Central Asia, Europe, Africa, and North America. And at this moment, a purple pen moved on its own, drawing a sixth X-marking in Latin America.
“It’s over.”
The man who was watching it spoke slowly, “The long war is over. Mankind has won, and I have survived.”
Only then did the man speaking move on to the table inside the container. On the table were the tools needed to make coffee. The man began to use it to bring coffee down slowly, as if to savor the process itself.
Then, when the coffee began to steam in the mug, the man continued to say his paused words after a sip of the coffee.
“I was the only one who survived.” The man who spoke the words had a bitter look. “It’s not strange. It was a long war and a hard one. Many people died, and I was able to win because of their deaths.”
The man who had coffee again continued his story on the stage without one listener. “Even if I regret it, it’s a thing to chew on after the war. That’s the situation now. The war is over. I have killed the last purple monster, and there are no monsters to threaten the world.”
He said again, “The only thing left to me who have survived is to chew on my regrets. That’s what this is about.”
The man who had been drinking coffee instead of saliva as if his mouth was dry continued to say, “If I had prevented the Six Snakes who destroyed Russia with nuclear explosions, it might have been easier to hunt Chernobog, and if I had found Bogatri’s Great Sword hidden in Lenin’s Tomb a little earlier, I might have prevented Chernobog from coming down to Europe and making an end to the Vatican’s history.”
The man who swallowed the coffee again and immediately gave a long sigh. “Hyun-wook would not have died to protect the Vatican.”
The man began to recall, and with that recollection, he carefully rubbed his temples. “After all, the fall of the Vatican eventually brought Fafnir in its wake, and Europe became hell. There were countless victims in the hell equal to world war to find the Balmus, and in the meantime, killing Chernobog and gaining the ability of immortality was good luck.”
The man looked at the back of his right hand with the words. “But in the end, the Six Snakes acquired the Balmus, and the sacrifices were repeated to kill Fafnir—”
The man who was recalling stopped again and took more coffee. It was so clear, and in front of the memory, the man had been silent for a while with coffee.
Then the man said, “Mao Spencer, if I had made a deal with him, if I had obtained the Mayan Calendar from him, if I had prevented Quetzalcoatl from waking up, the war would have ended earlier, and sacrifices would have been less.”
Then the man gave out a bloody tone, like a beast growling. “If I had done so, Sung-hoon would not have died.”
The man finished his speech and put the empty coffee cup on the table. Instead of a coffee cup, he held the dragon-like flute in his hand. “I have won the war, but only regrets remain. Fortunately, now is the time when I don’t need to be, and there’s only one way to reverse regret in this situation.”
The man looked at the flute with his black Eyes.
=====
[Manpasikjeok]
– Relic Grade: Grade 1
– Relic Value: Legend
– Relic Effect: Any anxiety and worry can be silenced.
=====
“The only way is to undo the immortality that has been given to me.” With those words, the man injected Mana into the Manpasikjeok, and it began to emit a bluish light. The light enveloped the man.
In the light, the man said softly, “My story is that far.”
2.
January 1, 2018, the first day of the New Year, which Kim Tae-hoon looked at, was not warm.
It was not because the place to see the sun was the northernmost part of the Korean Peninsula, where Baekdu Mountain and Yalu River could be seen at the same time. Nor was it because he spent hours watching the dawn before the sun rose, nor the coldness of the coffee that Kim Tae-hoon held in his hand.
‘That was terrible.’ Making the first year of the new year so cold was Kim’s dream, which he had lived through before the dawn.
‘That was the most terrible death ever.’ The Kim Tae-hoon of the future was dead. No one, nothing, but he killed himself.
‘Fucking hell.’
It was literally suicide. It was a noble thing in a way. There were not many greater things than giving up on himself for something.
But it was not so for Kim Tae-hoon.
‘Suicide…’
So far, what made Kim Tae-hoon move was his will to survive. It was an undeniable fact, and he did not want to deny it. His obsession with survival had made the present Kim Tae-hoon. If it had not been for that will, he would not have struggled so hard to survive. For him, suicide was not just death.
‘I’d rather be grateful for the deaths I’ve been through.’ It was the most terrible, tragic death he could face. It was denial and disgrace to everything he had done so far.
“Hoo-oo.”
Therefore, in front of the first dream of the new year, Kim could not easily organize his mind. Even coffee did not give him a clear picture. In the end, he had to admit that the reality he faced now was not that he could understand and solve.
There was the only thing that could be obtained by dreaming of this death: anger.
‘I cannot tolerate such a death.’
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Only the intense anger about the future him who died in that way remained to Kim Tae-hoon now.
‘Never.’
On January 1, 2018, Kim made a New Year’s resolution, “If I go this way, I will someday gain the history of victory, but I will deny it!”
3.
“Boss!”
On the first day of the new year, Jang Sung-hoon raised his voice on the day when he gave a pleasant New year’s greetings and smiled in front of the big New Year’s gift money.
“What do you mean, going to Russia?”
The reason for his high voice was due to a word from Kim Tae-hoon.
By the time the morning sun was just rising, Kim said briefly, “I’m going straight to Moscow.”
Of course, it was foreseen. Now Kim had three curses: Dragon, Eight-tailed Fox, and Blue Qilin! The strong power made him a terrible monster, but at the same time it demanded a huge price from him, and what could free him from the curse was eating the crystal of Chernobog, the Immortal Wolf who occupied Russia.
“Of course, it’s not strange to go to Russia, but…” Jang Sung-hoon was not just anyone. Kim had experienced his death and said what would happen. It was natural that Kim Tae-hoon’s next destination would be Russia.
“So just because you are going there right now does not mean that there is a solution, right?”
The problem was that Kim said that he would start his trip to Moscow right away, using the Siberian railway as a guide without any preparation, without any new operations or new orders.
At this moment, on January 1, Kim said he would go to Russia.
“We need to plan and prepare properly.”
In the situation where the ability of immortality became the key to judge the life and death of Kim Tae-hoon, the attack on Russia could not proceed carelessly. That was why Jang Sung-hoon worked with the ambassadors to Korea, even with the show.
The ability of immortality could not be extorted by simply ignorant force, but it was something that could be obtained after steady preparation. It was clear that it would not be better to run into Russia with a naked body, and without a proper understanding of the situation.
“Moreover, it’s purple, purple!” Crucially, Chernobog was a purple-grade monster, as it was now known.
Kim Tae-hoon was a monster. However, he had never fought a monster of the purple grade. It was the same in the dream of Napoleon’s Golden Glass, and he had never experienced dealing with the purple grade or even faced it, not even in the dream. In other words, no one in the world knew what kind of strength a monster of the purple-grade had.
Kim Tae-hoon was just throwing himself with little ability against such a monster?
“This isn’t like you, boss.” This was not Kim Tae-hoon’s way. In fact, he did not want to rush to Chernobog, but after winning the Russian government over to his side, he would try to solve the problem sequentially. That was his way. It was rough, but it was not foolish, ignorant, or reckless.
“What the hell did you see?” So, Jang was curious and worried about why Kim suddenly showed such a change because of what he dreamed of.
Kim answered Jang, “I can’t tell you.”
Jang gave a long sigh to the answer. In the sigh, Jang realized, ‘Boss’s will is firm.’
Kim’s will was more firm than ever, and in some way, he was putting his priority on starting with Russia.
‘I need a guardrail.’ There was no way to stop Kim from driving. He was the one who had killed the Dragon alone. It would be better to stop a rushing locomotive than to stop him. That was why Jang used the term guardrail. If there had been something that could stop Kim, he would have used the term “brake” instead of “guardrail.” In other words, Jang felt the need for a scapegoat to sacrifice himself when Kim fell into crisis.
“Boss, I will never send you alone.” In this part, Jang also had no intention of withdrawing or compromise.
“Tell me what you want to attach.”
“I’ll attach the Dragon Knights.”
“Dismissed, the Dragon Knights are the most obvious alternative power to fill my absence. Instead, I will take the Unit that Colonel Lim Hyun-joon has. One platoon, Jang Sung-hoon, you build the members with your discretion.”
“Then please include Hyun-wook in the members.”
“Dismissed.”
“There is no need for Hyun-wook to be left behind because the Dragon Knights are left. And you saw it during the hunting of the Blue Giraffe. The teamwork of Hyun-wook and Boss is the best.”
“It’s meaningless against the purple-grade monster, and Bang Hyun-wook is a competent hunter, but he’s not a competent soldier.”
“Then add Maria. What are you going to do in Russia alone? You don’t speak Russian. Of course, you’ll have to negotiate on the way.”
“That’s it?”
“And one more, a very important, essential, valuable, and excellent Joker card.”
At the words, Kim cocked his head. He couldn’t think of anyone who was a very important, essential, valuable, and excellent Joker card.
Jang answered seriously in the tilting. “Please include me.”
“Dismissed.” Of course, Kim immediately dismissed him. “You won’t be able to bear it.”
It would not be easy to hold on to the hard schedule to Moscow unless he was a Dragon Knight. In addition, he would not be traveling to Moscow.
The reason Kim was rushing to Russia now was that he wanted to kill Chernobog faster than the Six Snakes were trying to destroy Russia with nuclear weapons.
It was to not allow the history that he had told himself in his dream.
‘Do I take Jang Sung-hoon, a civilian who is not an Awakener, to the crazy battlefield? It’s nonsense.’
Jang asked a question in return in such appearance of Kim. “Am I that important to you, to keep me from going to a dangerous place?”
Kim did not answer. It wasn’t a question that needed an answer. For him, Jang was the most reliable subordinate, colleague, and friend. This fact did not need to be expressed in words.
Jang was also like that. He did not ask that question because he wanted to hear the answer. He just spat out such words to make Kim think.
“Then, can you be relieved if you leave me here on the Korean Peninsula, and are you sure you won’t regret it? Can you be sure that the Korean Peninsula is the safest place for me?”
Kim did not answer Jang’s question.