How A Mythical Holy Knight Lives As A Villain (Novel) - Chapter 4
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Chapter 4
A Gate was a dimensional rift connected to another world.
[You have sufficient Karma Points.]
[A Black Gate has been detected.]
Gates were called differently according to their color.
Blue Gates were the common ones where most ‘players’ conducted their ‘raids’. While the grade changed based on the magical power emitted from the gate, and the forms of monsters inside varied, there wasn’t anything particularly special about them.
‘Red Gates.’
Beyond that, there were Red Gates.
The reason gates became true disasters and why survival was the initial motivation for attempting gate raids.
-Gate Break.
It meant gates that were set to explode soon, potentially releasing hundreds or thousands of monsters.
However, the term Black Gate had never been heard of anywhere.
Something that hadn’t even been discovered yet.
[A Black Gate has been detected.]
The Goddess was informing him.
Go Johan was certain about the current situation.
‘It’s a revelation.’
This was a revelation from the Goddess to him.
He closed his eyes to focus on the message the Goddess was trying to send.
And he could feel it.
“……”
What the Goddess desired, what she wanted to say.
When Go Johan opened his eyes again.
“W-what are you doing?”
Lee Jae-kyung’s urgent voice was heard.
Swoosh.
The air in the room where Go Johan and Lee Jae-kyung stood was pressing down on everything like heavy steel bars.
Flash!
It was such an overwhelming force that, had they been slightly later, it might have pierced through the barrier spread in the room and been felt by the players of Shinsung and his parents.
“What…”
Go Johan was equally disturbed.
“Are you alright?”
Lee Jae-kyung carefully asked Go Johan.
“If we’d been a little later… whether it was Madam or the Guild Master, someone would have known.”
But they weren’t discovered.
Currently, there were no signs of anyone approaching the room.
“Why are you acting like this?”
This was the second time Go Johan had shown such behavior.
-I will give you a chance for atonement.
It was at the villa in Incheon, where Lee Jae-kyung’s world had once collapsed.
That anger and emotion.
Swoosh.
It was a killing intent that made even Lee Jae-kyung, who claimed to have survived countless chaotic situations, shudder.
And now, what could make an eight-year-old boy want to kill so badly?
“…When is the entrance ceremony?”
“In a week.”
Lee Jae-kyung answered Go Johan’s sudden question.
“That should be enough time.”
By now, Go Johan had returned to his usual self.
“……”
He knew what needed to be done.
The method was the problem.
‘I can’t sneak out of the mansion avoiding mother’s eyes right now.’
While concealing his energy wouldn’t be an issue, there was no way to prevent Shin Soo-kyung, who frequently sought to spend time with her son.
‘If I move during the night…’
It might not be enough.
And when morning came, Shin Soo-kyung would mobilize Shinsung to search for the missing Go Johan.
“Sigh.”
Was it too greedy to want to make his mother happy?
Go Johan shook his head.
He knew he couldn’t stay as a normal son forever anyway.
He just wanted to delay that time a little longer.
“I need to… go on a trip.”
Go Johan said.
*
*
*
The next day, Go Johan went to Shin Soo-kyung and said.
“I want to… go on a trip.”
“…A trip?”
After the incident at the Incheon villa, he hadn’t properly left the mansion.
It was due to Shin Soo-kyung’s anxiety, and Go Johan, who had no particular reason to leave the mansion, hadn’t wished to either.
Now this Go Johan was mentioning a trip.
“…Son.”
Shin Soo-kyung hugged Go Johan tightly and spoke.
“Yes, let’s go on a trip. Where should we go? Is there somewhere you want to go?”
Shin Soo-kyung also thought that while he hadn’t mentioned it, the incident had left trauma.
It made sense, as after the Incheon villa incident, the once special child had become completely ordinary.
While it was a joyous thing, such a dramatic change in a young child couldn’t just be accepted as purely positive.
“Let’s go anywhere. Should we go abroad? Should we all go as a family?”
Despite her voice being full of concern and consideration.
“……”
Go Johan had to tightly close his eyes.
Now, he had to plant a dagger in Shin Soo-kyung’s heart.
“…I want to go alone.”
“…Huh? Alone?”
Shin Soo-kyung quickly pulled Go Johan away and grabbed his shoulders.
“I’m starting elementary school. I thought I’d get some fresh air before that…”
He knew it was nonsense.
It wasn’t something for a kid entering elementary school to say so seriously.
It would make more sense coming from a teenager about to become an adult, entering university.
“Well…”
The words he had thought about, Go Johan spoke them.
“I want to see the ocean.”
Thump.
Shin Soo-kyung felt something sink in her chest.
That day, it was at the Incheon villa overlooking the ocean.
‘He hadn’t forgotten.’
Indeed, that day’s events were still branded in Go Johan’s mind, refusing to disappear.
That’s why this young child was trying to gather courage to shake off those memories now.
“I’m not really going alone. I’ll go with Uncle Jae-kyung.”
“…Really?”
“I want to go quietly. Will you allow it?”
Shin Soo-kyung, who valued Go Johan above all else, seemed lost in thought.
Go Johan, who had stood at the forefront of countless battlefields, knew.
What was needed now was a decisive move to turn the situation around.
“…Nnng.”
A deep contemplation, and an action requiring courage.
Something he had never done before.
Chu-.
Go Johan had to do it.
Moving on his own initiative, not as Shin Soo-kyung’s, Go Johan kissed her cheek.
“M-mom…”
Unexpected aegyo.
“Kyaaaa!”
Shin Soo-kyung screamed like a girl who had seen something shocking.
But Go Johan knew better than anyone that it was a scream of happiness, as he was held tightly.
“Go ahead. But next time you have to go with mom too, okay? Promise.”
“…Promise.”
Go Johan quietly returned to his room.
“Do you have a cold too? Your face is so red…”
“Be quiet.”
Lee Jae-kyung, who had been waiting, teased him.
“Don’t tease too much.”
The once-leader Go Johan had returned with news of success.
“Now… it’s my turn, isn’t it?”
With a grave determination, Lee Jae-kyung left the room.
*
*
*
Lee Jae-kyung returned late at night.
His body was covered in small scratches that seemed to have been healed with potions.
More serious than that was his face.
A face that looked completely beaten.
“…I got permission.”
While Go Johan had to get Shin Soo-kyung’s permission, Lee Jae-kyung needed Go Johan’s approval.
“…Combat ranking 4th.”
He had to prove he could adequately protect Go Johan by himself.
That was what the combat ranking was for.
Two years ago, Lee Jae-kyung had retired and stopped raiding gates.
At that time, he was ranked 9th in level rankings and 8th in combat rankings in South Korea.
But two years had passed, and two years brought many changes to players.
Lee Jae-kyung’s level ranking had naturally fallen outside the top 20 while he remained stagnant.
However, combat ranking was different.
He had to prove his skills by fighting against rankers.
Lee Jae-kyung had pushed himself without rest for two years, and now he had finally confirmed those results.
“Was that enough?”
At Go Johan’s words, Lee Jae-kyung exhaled deeply and straightened his back.
“I also re-contracted with Shinsung. For now, I’m just security.”
Unlike before when he provided security while retired without affiliation, he was now bound to the name Shinsung.
“Security personnel will be minimal, and even then, they’ll maintain maximum distance. I told them their precious young master only trusts me.”
“Good work.”
Only then did Go Johan praise Lee Jae-kyung.
The next day, Go Johan and Lee Jae-kyung left home early in the morning.
Though they tried to leave without telling anyone.
“Be careful, son!”
Shin Soo-kyung, who seemed to have stayed up all night worrying, was already out to see Go Johan off.
“I’ll be back.”
As soon as Go Johan got into the car driven by Lee Jae-kyung, they departed.
Their destination was the East Sea.
“Now please tell me.”
After driving for a while, Lee Jae-kyung spoke up.
“Why this sudden trip? It can’t be because of trauma like Madam thinks.”
It wasn’t a believable story for Lee Jae-kyung, who knew the truth of that day.
“And you’re not really going just to see the ocean, so what is it?”
Lee Jae-kyung asked.
“……”
Go Johan, who had been looking out the window, seemed to be contemplating something.
[You are getting closer to the Black Gate.]
Even at this moment, the Goddess was giving revelations.
And.
‘Black Gate.’
Go Johan knew exactly what the Goddess meant by Black Gate.
He could feel fragments of the Black Gate caught in the widely spread energy.
“I’m still thinking about it.”
At those words, Lee Jae-kyung didn’t ask further.
Having departed early, they were able to reach the East Sea at a reasonable hour.
There weren’t many people at the beach yet.
“……”
Standing on the sandy beach, Go Johan closed his eyes again.
His sky-blue eyes began to see things that ordinary people could never see.
Countless blue threads interconnected, covering the whole world.
Among them, discordant red threads and.
‘Black.’
Even black threads.
It was a sight that no ordinary person, not even any player, could see.
Go Johan reached out and brushed a blue thread.
Ting.
When the thread was plucked.
“…!”
Lee Jae-kyung was shocked.
“W-what did you just do?”
For a split second, though Lee Jae-kyung couldn’t see it, he felt it.
“Just now… did I feel gate energy…?”
He momentarily felt the energy typically sensed when a gate appears.
But that wasn’t all.
Ting.
When he touched the red thread, Lee Jae-kyung unconsciously had to release killing intent.
If Go Johan hadn’t blocked the surrounding energy beforehand, Shinsung’s security might have come running.
And finally.
Ting.
When he plucked the black thread.
“Kuhk!”
Lee Jae-kyung trembled with his eyes wide open.
An indescribable fear had overwhelmed him.