Chapter 16 – Close the Gate

Se-min moved forward through the bushes, keeping his posture low.

A magic beast was there.

Neutral magic beast system number 24, Mandrago.

The creature made a bizarre sound, which had the effect of luring surrounding magic beasts. A faint melody began to be heard. Soon, a single magic beast revealed its body, drawn by the creature.

It was a Kowood.

Suddenly thinking of the taste of Kowood meat, Se-min licked his lips.

“One creature.”

While approaching quietly with his claymore in hand, something appeared from the bushes on the opposite side.

“What is that fellow?”

It was harmful magic beast system number 10, Emerit. It was the magic beast whose head he had discovered in Jeon Woo-yeon’s duffel bag, which had made him startle in the past.

The creature raised its body. The Emerit, standing two horns long, approached the Kowood on two feet like a human. The beast picked up a stone with its long arm.

Sensing a presence, the Kowood flinched and began to run away.

The Emerit threw the stone.

It struck the Kowood’s butt. The Kowood lost its balance and rolled on the ground. The Emerit ran, picked up the stone again, and tried to strike the Kowood down.

Regaining its senses, the Kowood rammed the Emerit with its horns.

The Emerit was sent flying.

Just because it was neutral, the Kowood was not a weak magic beast either.

The Kowood let out a long cry and charged at the Emerit. The Emerit grabbed the Kowood’s horns and stopped it with its body.

A struggle of strength between the two ensued. The two magic beasts roared respectively, struggling to subdue the enemy.

“It’s about time for me to step in…”

Then, the sound of footsteps was heard from far away again.

“What is this again?”

It was not just one or two.

It was the Zorg, a magic beast that popped out frequently as if it were common in this place. A pack of Zorgs hovered around, surrounding the Kowood and the Emerit.

The Kowood and the Emerit glanced at the Zorgs while facing off against each other.

The cowardly Kowood gradually lost its strength and backed away. Then, the Emerit exerted great strength and flipped the Kowood over.

“Uwooooooo!”

The Emerit, who was about to deliver the final blow to the Kowood, was soon bitten and torn by the Zorg pack.

The Zorgs surrounded and clung to the Emerit. The Emerit shook its limbs to throw them off, but the Zorgs took turns attacking the Emerit’s rear. The Emerit’s blood soaked the ground.

Now, the Kowood charged toward the Zorgs. When it struck the Zorgs up with its horns, the Zorgs flew into the sky. As the two magic beasts united, the Zorgs backed away.

Then, the Emerit turned its hostility toward the Kowood again. The Kowood let out a long cry, aiming its horns alternately at the Zorgs and the Emerit.

It was a shape of joining and parting to survive respectively.

It was all a situation caused by the Mandrago.

“Now it really is my turn to step in.”

Se-min raised his aura.

No one cared about Se-min’s appearance. One Zorg discovered him, but did not react greatly and merely barked once.

To the magic beasts ruling this place, a human was merely a weak species that did not need to be minded.

“But I am different.”

Se-min leaped between the magic beasts that were merely eyeing each other.

The fight was not long.

He slaughtered the magic beasts like a tiger leaping among a flock of sheep. Every time his sword swung, more than one Zorg met its end. The Emerit and the Kowood were overwhelmed by his momentum and did not dare to attack.

Having cleared the Zorgs, Se-min rushed toward the Emerit. The resistance was fierce, but the white current rising from Se-min’s body eventually brought down the Emerit.

The clearing was stained with blood.

Only the Kowood sat down, trembling all over.

“You. Wait.”

Se-min pointed at the Kowood and tapped the ground of the clearing with his foot.

And in a single breath, he struck down with his claymore.

“Kieeeeeeeeek!”

A bizarre sound erupted. When Se-min twisted his sword, the ground split open, revealing the figure of the Mandrago that was hidden inside.

Something like a giant ginseng squirmed.

The Mandrago, resembling both an animal and a plant, lured magic beasts and absorbed the blood they spilled when they fought. It was a species whose discovery was rarely reported, but it appeared occasionally here.

Se-min processed the corpse of the Mandrago and put it in a leather pouch.

“Hey, follow me.”

Se-min grabbed the Kowood’s horn and dragged it along. The Kowood resisted, not wanting to go, but when Se-min threatened it with his sword, it had no choice but to follow him falteringly.

Noh Hak-jae was waiting for him.

“Why are you so late!”

“Why do you get angry when it hasn’t been long since I went out?”

“Slow fellow.”

“Seeing your personality grow worse, it seems it is time for you to go…”

“What?”

“It is nothing.”

Noh Hak-jae was boiling meat soup at the entrance of the bunker.

He had wondered if they would be caught by the North Korean soldiers if they built a fire and cooked so openly, but Noh Hak-jae, worthy of a Taoist, deployed an unknown formation to deceive the enemy’s attention.

Se-min also tried to learn about formations, but found it difficult to understand and stopped at a clumsy level.

“Did you catch the Mandrago?”

“Yes.”

Se-min shook the pouch.

Noh Hak-jae nodded.

“Indeed. What did you see while catching the Mandrago?”

“I saw the terrible chaos of magic beasts eating and being eaten by each other.”

“Deficient fellow. You still know nothing.”

Noh Hak-jae’s teaching was like this.

He occasionally taught how to use the sword or footwork, but most of it was like Zen dialogue.

“Then explain it so I can understand.”

“Under-stand?”

“Why do you scold me with that tone when you aren’t even in the military?”

“You are slack. When I was in the military…”

“Isn’t that from the era when tigers smoked pipes?”

Noh Hak-jae ladled out meat soup for Se-min. While eating white rice rolled in meat soup, the Kowood he brought back let out a cry, wailing.

“Be quiet.”

“Uwoooo…”

“It seems this fellow realized this is Kowood meat.”

“It realized its fate. Even a beast feels the secrets of heaven.”

Eventually, finishing the meal, Se-min picked up a wooden sword. Noh Hak-jae also stood up, rubbing his waist, and picked up his backscratcher.

The two began to spar.

Under Noh Hak-jae, he hunted magic beasts, sparred, and refined his Tai Chi Wisdom.

A year passed while repeating this lifestyle.

Instead of learning martial arts from him, Se-min decided to do one thing for him.

To block the Hellgate together with him.

Noh Hak-jae said it was possible if he had Se-min’s help, but instead, Se-min had to reach a higher realm.

For that, Se-min trained like crazy.

Now, the time was approaching.

“You have improved a lot.”

“It is all thanks to the elder’s teachings.”

This old man, Noh Hak-jae, was a person of strength beyond imagination.

What was visible on the surface was only the tip of the iceberg. While receiving his teachings, Se-min could glimpse his true aspect. Perhaps he could be compared to the Raiders of the Black Mark.

Why was such a person wandering in a place like this?

He said it was to block the thing called the Hellgate. He said that if it could not be closed, a wicked thing would eventually crawl out, plunging the world into misery.

Se-min was half-believing, but having personally seen it, he couldn’t disbelieve it either.

“Elder.”

“What is it?”

“Fifteen days are left.”

“Indeed.”

Se-min stood up, staggering while covered in dust.

He was still no match for Noh Hak-jae.

However, he could now touch Noh Hak-jae’s beard.

“Is that so.”

Noh Hak-jae nodded, looking at his fluttering beard.

“By the time we finish eating that fellow, it will be that day.”

Noh Hak-jae and Se-min looked at the Kowood with wistful eyes. The Kowood wailed in a sad voice.

***

Se-min tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

A year had already passed.

“It is like that because it is the first time, it will be fine after a few days~”

He tried singing a song.

Then, Noh Hak-jae in the next room banged on the wall. Se-min pulled up the blanket and hummed quietly so it wouldn’t be heard.

“Just with this thought, it’s already been a year~”

It had been a year and a few months since he enlisted.

He hadn’t even caught a glimpse of the Transcendent Network, and only refined his Tai Chi Wisdom and Xing Yi Quan indefinitely. And those two martial arts had achieved tremendous development thanks to Noh Hak-jae.

Once he destroyed that thing called the Hellgate, he would be able to return.

He thought of that time.

According to Noh Hak-jae, who had crossed the wire fence alone to get supplies and returned, Se-min was processed as deceased.

Since Noh Hak-jae told him not to speak about him, Se-min decided to act like Papillon, who had barely escaped after being detained in North Korea.

He had already prepared the interview.

“Every day was a continuation of despair. Even so, I did not give up. There is a saying that pain which does not kill you makes you stronger. I chewed on those words and struggled not to die. In the end, I did not die, grew stronger, and escaped.”

A beautiful announcer would frown slightly, expressing sympathy for his past days. Se-min would continue with sad eyes.

“I saw many things. I will never be able to forget those painful memories…”

And a bitter smile.

“However, I returned alive. I will live on in the future, using that experience as a foundation. Thank you.”

Se-min finished the mock interview and bowed his head.

A commercial offer might come in. Perhaps he would be cast in a variety show about surviving in the jungle to show his tenacious survival skills.

“This is troublesome… I am going to be a Raider…”

Se-min grinned and pulled down the blanket again.

It was a desolate room just like when he first came. However, the characters he had carved on the wall with a knife rose under the dim light.

They were records of the martial arts and secrets he had learned from Noh Hak-jae.

It was Dokgo Cheonma who gave him the Tai Chi Wisdom, but it was Noh Hak-jae who taught him how to use it. He passed down his own aura method and even taught a unique sword technique.

At this point, it seemed he should call him Master instead of elder.

“Phew.”

Tossing and turning in bed, Se-min stood up and picked up his claymore. And he took a natural stance.

Aura rose from his body.

The energy of Tai Chi Wisdom, which neither flared up nor settled down, but merely circled his body in balance.

The harmony of aura without bias.

This realm was the essence of what he had acquired over the year.

It connected to the blade he held. Se-min moved his sword slowly. The subtle principles of Tai Chi were loaded onto the sword.

He realized anew that his past self had been a frog in a well.

For a year, he rolled with magic beasts every day and hunted them. He had also killed magic beasts that were only permitted to Gold Marks. However, let alone Dokgo Cheonma, even Noh Hak-jae’s back was not in sight.

The path of martial arts was long and rugged.

“Tomorrow.”

And the time had come.

Tomorrow was the day.

He and Noh Hak-jae would destroy the gate of hell that emitted dark power.

That was Noh Hak-jae’s request.

Se-min’s role was to face the North Korean soldier he met back then, Park Min-cheol.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t afraid. He was an opponent even Noh Hak-jae was reluctant to face. In his memory, the man was stronger than the current Se-min.

However, he had to keep faith.

Noh Hak-jae had saved him. He had even passed down the aura method and martial arts, which people considered as precious as their lives.

“Min-cheol, you bastard.”

Se-min swung his sword in the air. In his mind, Park Min-cheol was swinging a sword at him. A virtual life-and-death battle took place.

“That bastard fights well…”

Se-min sat down and sighed.

He was defeated even by the imaginary Park Min-cheol.

Se-min stood up and began to swing his sword again. The wind of his sword echoed in the small room.

The day broke.

***

Se-min wore his well-folded military uniform. Though it was torn and scarred here and there, its condition was clean.

He put on his combat boots and tightened the laces hard.

He wore his protectors.

He hung his claymore on his backpack.

“Armed and ready.”

It was the exact appearance from when he was left behind.

Noh Hak-jae was waiting for him.

“You finally look like a soldier.”

“You look like a Taoist dressed like that, elder.”

As always, he was in a traditional coat, holding a backscratcher, with his hands behind his back. They walked out side by side as if taking a walk.

“Aren’t you going to eat breakfast?”

“I do not eat anything before an important task.”

“I need to eat well though…”

“An empty stomach makes the body light.”

Outside the bunker, the bones of the Kowood he had caught and eaten to the last bit were scattered.

“We won’t have any reason to come back here, right?”

“None.”

“It is a pity.”

“What is a pity?”

Noh Hak-jae pulled something out of his chest.

It looked like a car key, but a button was in the middle.

“Press this.”

“Are we going by car?”

“You will know soon.”

“What is it?”

Se-min clicked it repeatedly.

The expected beep of a car did not sound.

“No sound is made.”

“Wait.”

Se-min pressed it wildly.

Click, click, click.

And it exploded.

Boom!

Startled, Se-min turned around and covered his face. Sand dust filled the surroundings.

The bunker they had stayed in all this time was completely blown up.

Se-min stared blankly at the black smoke rising high into the sky, his mouth open.

“When entering a decisive battle, one destroys the place of return.”

Noh Hak-jae took the button from Se-min’s hand and threw it into the flames that had not yet gone out.

“Now, let’s go. To play a round.”

Se-min nodded.

For some reason, a sense of solemnity welled up.

Se-min drew his claymore, rested it on his shoulder, and lifted his chin. And walking sluggishly, he muttered a passage from his favorite novel.

“In an era when survival became a vulgar joke…”

“What?”

“Two men were walking the north.”

“What are you talking about?”

***

The enemy’s defense had become sturdier.

They expanded the fortifications and prepared for attacks with higher walls. Even now, workers were constructing new buildings.

According to Noh Hak-jae, they were researching how to mass-produce Raiders artificially using the wicked aura.

Park Min-cheol was the example.

Originally an outstanding Raider, he inherited power from the Hellgate and became a monster capable of facing Noh Hak-jae.

“If we do not stop that, a more terrifying thing will happen.”

Se-min nodded.

With his higher realm now, he could feel that demonic energy much more deeply.

He also understood why Noh Hak-jae wanted to destroy it so badly.

This place was a demon’s den overflowing with demonic power. He even wondered how the North Korean soldiers could live normally.

“Follow me.”

Now that the time for the decisive battle had come, Noh Hak-jae did not hide his full strength.

His coat fluttered, and an unknown force flowed out from Noh Hak-jae. That energy gradually erased their figures. The presence of the two subsided.

It was a technique called Shadow Walk.

Se-min had also learned it, but had not reached Noh Hak-jae’s realm.

“Let’s go.”

Noh Hak-jae moved forward through the gaps he had identified in advance.

There was a reason they set the decisive battle for today.

After the collapse of the system, the North Korean forces were divided into several warlords, and one of them was Lee Sang-woon, who was infatuated with the wicked power of the Hellgate.

Today was his birthday. A banquet would be held to celebrate the birth of the leader.

That atmosphere was transmitted even to the Hellgate fortress, which was away from the city.

They hid behind a rock, waiting for the guard shift.

“By the way, how are you going to break that?”

“There is a way.”

“Must I not know that to cope as well?”

Se-min grumbled while chewing on a chocolate bar.

“Only knowing things himself…”

“Let’s go.”

Suddenly, Noh Hak-jae moved. Se-min threw the chocolate bar wrapper on the ground and followed.

The voices of the guards at the outpost talking were heard.

They all sounded like they had had a drink.

“There is a rumor that our turn will come soon.”

“Is it finally happening?”

“Yes. We will also become like Comrade Park Min-cheol.”

Not only them, but laughter was also heard from the fortifications far away.

They chose the day well. The effect of Noh Hak-jae and Se-min staying as quiet as dead rats all this time was showing. It seemed no one expected them to launch a surprise attack.

At Noh Hak-jae’s nod, Se-min nodded.

The two subdued the sentries simultaneously.

They fainted without even being able to scream. Se-min tied them up tightly with rope and gagged them.

“Let’s go.”

They climbed over the wall under the cover of darkness. They knocked down a soldier who was smoking a cigarette on the wall.

A large drinking party was taking place in the center of the camp.

They bypassed them without standing out. They occasionally ran into drunkards, but the drunkards did not notice the infiltration and threw up on the wall.

“Around here…”

Noh Hak-jae winked at Se-min. Se-min nodded and unpacked.

He had brought something filled in his backpack.

The sound pouches of Mandrago.

A heap of Mandrago’s body organs, which Se-min had gathered while hunting magic beasts, poured out. Noh Hak-jae gathered and wove them together.

Se-min and Noh Hak-jae went up to a high place holding it. It was the rooftop of a building.

Noh Hak-jae raised his aura. His coat fluttered. The Mandrago’s vocal cords began to swell.

Noh Hak-jae’s power revived the Mandrago’s sound pouches. He lifted the Mandrago’s sound pouches above his head.

A bizarre sound erupted.

Se-min blocked his ears.

It was a terrible roar that could only be heard as noise. The sound started from the camp and shook the earth loudly.

How would this sound be heard by the magic beasts that spent the night holding their breath in the distance? Would it be like the beautiful voice of a siren luring them?

The sound that shook the camp soon died down.

The sound pouches that emitted output beyond their limits died black. Noh Hak-jae threw them away.

“We must move quickly.”

“Yes.”

A commotion arose in the camp. The soldiers had noticed the intruders and were moving.

They advanced toward the gate of hell again. Despite the banquet, the defense there looked solid.

“How do we block that?”

Se-min asked.

It seemed to have deepened further than before.

He had thought it wouldn’t be visible well because it was night, but it was still burning with clear darkness.

The scenery where the black and damp thing flickered like flames strangely shook a person’s mind. Se-min clenched his sword, struggling not to be possessed by it.

“Shh.”

Noh Hak-jae covered Se-min’s mouth with his hand.

North Korean soldiers ran around, searching the inside of the camp.

Aura users leaped across buildings, searching for them from the sky.

“You will know soon. Wait.”

However, their hiding did not last long. One of the aura users discovered their trace and shouted.

“Run!”

Noh Hak-jae and Se-min burst out. The aura user chased after them, shouting.

However, he soon had to stop the pursuit.

From far away, there were black shadows running toward the camp.

They were magic beasts.

The sound of the Mandrago amplified by Noh Hak-jae lured magic beasts indiscriminately.

Even giant magic beasts, whose presence made him wonder where they had been hiding, popped out. They charged toward the camp, emitting shrieks.

The North Korean soldiers cursed and rushed to the defensive line. Gunfire that was useless against magic beasts erupted, and soon the aura users faced the magic beasts at the front.

Magic beasts were charging toward the camp endlessly.

Even Noh Hak-jae, who had summoned them, was surprised by the scale and cleared his throat.

“Incredible. You expected all of this, right?”

“O-Of course.”

Despite the commotion outside, the soldiers guarding the gate of hell did not leave their posts.

Noh Hak-jae and Se-min leaped in.

The soldiers who discovered them quickly drew their swords and rushed.

“Intruders! There are intruders here! Support us!”

However, their request for support was ignored. The situation here did not reach those who were facing magic beasts right in front of them.

They rushed at Noh Hak-jae and Se-min. They all used aura. It was not easy.

Se-min lowered his posture and cut the enemy’s lower body, but he leaped from his spot and kicked Se-min instead.

However, Se-min was not the same as a year ago. After gently absorbing the kick, he bent the knee. The soldier crawled on the ground, screaming.

Noh Hak-jae had already brought down several soldiers. He swung the backscratcher, scratched his back, and leisurely dusted his coat.

“Se-min.”

“Yes.”

Se-min unpacked again.

In addition to the Mandrago’s sound pouches, Se-min had brought something else.

They were papers.

Unidentified Hanja and patterns were drawn on them. Se-min handed the tightly wreathed papers to Noh Hak-jae.

Noh Hak-jae unwrapped them one by one and dropped them on the ground. He placed them in turn while circling the gate of hell.

A formation was unfolding.

Watching him, Se-min suddenly felt a chilly presence and swung his sword.

Clang!

He was thrown back by the impact. He quickly recovered his posture.

“Long time no see?”

It was Park Min-cheol.

Emitting a terrible aura, he swung his sword at Se-min. Se-min blocked it with all his might, but flew through the air.

“Keheuk!”

Even though he had trained all this time, the gap was massive.

“Elder!”

“Endure.”

Noh Hak-jae was continuing his work.

That was right. Blocking Park Min-cheol was his role.

“What kind of trick is this…”

Seeing what Noh Hak-jae was doing, Park Min-cheol walked over with large strides. Se-min ambushed his back, holding the claymore.

Park Min-cheol’s figure blurred.

He was standing behind Se-min before he knew it.

“Do not keep tangling with me.”

His sword stabbed Se-min’s waist.

“Oh?”

Se-min twisted his body, catching it in his flank. And twisting his body, he struck Park Min-cheol with his elbow.

Park Min-cheol lost his sword and backed away.

Se-min threw his sword far away and continued the attack with his claymore. Park Min-cheol kept backing away and eventually reached the wall. Se-min split him along with the wall without hesitation.

The wall collapsed.

Park Min-cheol was not there.

He was standing beside Se-min before he knew it. Se-min backed away and provoked him.

“Are you a rat?”

“Impudent punk.”

The two exchanged mocks, exchanging fists and swords.

Park Min-cheol deflected Se-min’s greatsword with his palm strike and jabbed a fist into his abdomen. Se-min’s breath stopped for a moment. Without stopping, he kicked Se-min’s head with his combat boot.

His brain shook, blurring his vision. Se-min did not let go of his sword until the end. Recognizing the approaching Park Min-cheol, he hurriedly rolled on the ground to escape the crisis.

“Are you a wild colt?”

“Petty fellow.”

Se-min straightened his waist and picked up his sword again.

Behind Se-min was Noh Hak-jae. He was completing the formation and gathering his aura.

The energy of great nature flowed from him.

Park Min-cheol’s expression changed.

“What is that old man doing…!”

He picked up the sword that had fallen on the ground. Pitch-black aura flared on the blade. His momentum changed. His eyes were also dyed black.

“Stop that!”

A black current erupted from Park Min-cheol’s shoulders.

They were wings.

Park Min-cheol growled savagely, clad in demonic aura. It was a bizarre sight. He was no longer human.

“What, that…”

No way. The fight was entering an unrealistic stage. Se-min backed away.

“This is ridiculous.”

Se-min clenched his teeth.

He must not back down.

Whatever appearance Park Min-cheol took, his role was one.

Se-min shouted at Park Min-cheol, who had become the form of a demon.

“Are you Devil Jin, you bastard!”

The Tai Chi Wisdom flered up in Se-min’s body as if running wild. He rushed at Park Min-cheol and swung his sword indiscriminately.

“Impudent fellow.”

Park Min-cheol kicked him.

Se-min flew through the air and rolled on the ground.

“Keheuk!”

The class was different.

As Park Min-cheol clad himself in darkness and spread black wings, the energy he exuded amplified.

Originally a stronger enemy than Se-min, since he even evolved, Se-min had no way to face him.

Still, Se-min stood up again and rushed at him.

Park Min-cheol swung his sword greatly as if it were a nuisance. Se-min turned to the side to escape the attack radius and stabbed, aiming at Park Min-cheol’s flank.

However, his claymore could not advance further and was blocked. Park Min-cheol’s hand was holding his sword.

The white aura burning on the blade was suppressed by the darkness and grew faint.

“You cannot defeat me.”

Park Min-cheol grinned.

His face was still human, but his fishy expression was not human-like at all. Se-min’s lips twitched.

“Do you not look in the mirror?”

“I will see how long you can wag your tongue!”

Park Min-cheol put force on the blade.

He must not lose the sword. Se-min clung to the sword. In the end, he flew along with the sword and crashed into the wall.

“Keheuk!”

Se-min coughed blood.

His insides were damaged.

His entire body groaned from the continuous fight. Every time he took a step, his joints creaked. He was in a state where he could not move anymore.

Still, he had to cling to Park Min-cheol.

It was already a place of death.

Buildings burned, and magic beasts ran wild. It was a hell where screams and groans did not end.

Because death stared at him, he had to continue the reckless fight instead.

Se-min calmed his mind and circulated his Tai Chi Wisdom.

It responded to him as always. Even in the midst of the violent fight, the Tai Chi Wisdom was unshakable like the surface of a quiet lake.

In the fight where he offered his all, Se-min’s aura entered a new realm.

“To live is to die, and to die is to live.”

Se-min muttered, drawing up his aura.

The claymore shone white.

Park Min-cheol was approaching Noh Hak-jae.

Se-min rushed.

Park Min-cheol counterattacked roughly, thinking it was a nuisance.

Clang!

However, Park Min-cheol was pushed back instead.

Park Min-cheol’s eyes widened. Without losing the momentum, Se-min kept swinging his sword. Park Min-cheol kept backing away.

Se-min’s aura was light. The light was driving away the darkness.

Se-min mocked.

“I asked if you look in the mirror.”

“You bastard whom I won’t even be satisfied chewing!”

The enraged Park Min-cheol screamed and thrust his sword. Se-min did not lose either. The two swords collided, echoing sharp bursting sounds continuously. The two fiercely exchanged offense and defense.

“Damn it!”

Suddenly, a shadow cast over the sky.

A single giant magic beast was standing on the building, roaring.

Park Min-cheol cursed repeatedly.

“Damn it! Damn it!”

The magic beasts lured by Noh Hak-jae broke the containment line.

It was not just one or two.

Even magic beasts that Se-min, who had wandered this land for over a year, had never seen before appeared occasionally.

“Tell them to open the beacon immediately!”

Park Min-cheol shouted.

“Use the beacon!”

At his shout, the soldiers hurriedly ran somewhere.

Sentries, soldiers who rushed in, magic beasts, the gate of hell shaking and fluctuating as it sensed the anomaly, and Noh Hak-jae’s energy mixed together, making his vision dizzy.

Se-min guarded the surroundings, protecting Noh Hak-jae.

The energy extending from Noh Hak-jae now formed a wall, blocking the gate of hell from the outside.

“They say they will use the beacon!”

“Right now!”

The North Korean soldiers joined Park Min-cheol.

Now the camp was shattered. Buildings collapsed, and magic beasts clashed with each other.

As Park Min-cheol swung his sword in anger, a large magic beast approaching them was cut in half and fell to the ground.

“You fellows! I won’t let you die peacefully!”

It was the moment Park Min-cheol rushed at Se-min with his sword.

“The beacon has operated!”

“Is that so!”

Then, a bizarre purple light flowed from the building beside the gate of hell. It crawled on the ground, penetrated Noh Hak-jae’s barrier, and connected to the gate of hell.

The darkness in the gate of hell throbbed once.

It began to beat like a heart.

Noh Hak-jae’s face warped. However, he did not stop. A brilliant five-colored light surrounded him. The darkness did not dare invade him.

Noh Hak-jae pulled something out of his coat.

It was a Vajra.

Noh Hak-jae gathered his aura and loaded it into the Vajra. And he struck down toward the bottom.

The harmonious aura flowing from his body.

The natural energy summoned by the formation.

All of those things were swept into a single move and became a dot. The force, infinitely condensed, became a small sphere and fell toward the Hellgate.

Within it.

Everything was contained.

The darkness stepped back startled. The light sphere kept falling.

The darkness at the entrance, the darkness below it, and the darkness below that stepped aside in turn, opening a path of light.

It fell to an infinitely deep place.

At the end of it, an explosion occurred.

The earth shook.

Se-min lost his balance and sat down. Magic beasts wailed, and Park Min-cheol and the North Korean soldiers also ran around to avoid being caught in the collapsing buildings.

“Damn it! Were we late!”

“You must avoid this!”

“Where is there a place to avoid!”

Se-min looked at Noh Hak-jae with awe and respect.

He had destroyed this terrible hole with his own strength. The wicked power that filled the area was gradually dying out.

“Elder!”

Se-min shouted.

“Elder! Are you alright!”

Noh Hak-jae smiled faintly and nodded. He was floating in the center of the dark hole.

And at that moment.

Se-min’s eyes widened.

“Elder?”

Behind Noh Hak-jae.

The figure of a demon formed of pitch-black darkness was rising.

It grabbed Noh Hak-jae’s neck.

***

Noh Hak-jae had said this before.

“I coveted wealth and fame in my youth.”

Se-min was curious and asked back.

“Then why do you live like a Taoist now?”

“Because I regret the past.”

He also said he had done bad things.

“How bad were the things you did?”

“I turned a blind eye to injustice for my safety, deceived others for fame, and lived selfishly, thinking only of myself.”

“Doesn’t everyone do that?”

“There were those who did not.”

Se-min smiled and offered him alcohol. At that time, they seemed to be drinking soju.

“People change.”

“Yes. Just as summer comes after spring, and autumn and winter come at the end of summer, everything changes. People are the same. But there is also something that never changes and remains as it is.”

“What is that?”

“It is…”

What did he say?

He couldn’t remember.

He had merely thought that Noh Hak-jae would not change in the future.

Half of it was a joking idea of how much an old man could change, and half of it was the belief that because he was so strong and overwhelming, he would be as constant as Mount Tai.

So he couldn’t believe his limp appearance.

The hand of the demon with black wings was piercing his chest.

Noh Hak-jae coughed blood.

“Keheuk…!”

The black tentacles extending from the beast’s hand wrapped around Noh Hak-jae. He convulsed, unable to resist, as if impaled by a harpoon.

“Elder!”

Se-min burst out.

Park Min-cheol attacked him from behind, but nothing was visible to Se-min, who had lost his mind. He shook off Park Min-cheol. Park Min-cheol was sent flying.

His eyes met Noh Hak-jae’s.

Do not come.

He was saying that.

Escape.

He mumbled that.

The moment he understood the shape of the mouth, Se-min’s legs grew faster.

He was right.

People change.

In the past, he could do nothing and stood on the spot.

To the children of the facility who oppressed the weak, to Ahn Sung-jun who bullied other friends, and to himself who was shut in his room, dying day by day.

Even when looking at the Zorg biting Park In-jae, he was pinned to the spot.

It was winter.

However, someone gave him warmth.

The spring bud lifted its head, and Se-min now tilts his body toward the sun.

“Elder!”

Se-min’s legs kicked the earth. Tai Chi appeared on the claymore. Toward the demon binding Noh Hak-jae, the claymore caused a flash of light.

The moment he flew toward him, he made eye contact with the demon.

The beast was smiling.

Se-min’s heart grew cold.

The aura that was violently fluctuating as if to destroy the claymore settled down.

‘Tai Chi refers to yin and yang, heaven, earth, and human, and further refers to origin, prosperity, utility, and perseverance.’

Everything he knew dwelt in a single sword. At the end of the leap, Se-min reached the demon holding Noh Hak-jae. His sword pierced the demon.

At that moment, all power died.

His vision was dyed in darkness.

His aura was submerged in the darkness as if sucked into a black hole. It no longer emitted light, nor was it harmonious.

Emptiness encroached on Se-min instead.

Foolish.

It was saying that.

Se-min shook his head.

And he thrust his sword again.

His reasoning, the instinct leaping inside him, the Tai Chi Wisdom burning in his hand, and even the claymore extending from his body to sharpen its blade toward the enemy—everything moved by a single will.

A crack appeared in the darkness.

Beyond it, Se-min saw someone.

A silhouette that was familiar if it was familiar.

Who was it?

And he fell.

Time and space warped. He was falling, then rising, and at some point, he stopped.

The scenery of the world was projected in all directions.

At one moment it was Korea, followed by a distant jungle rainforest whose name he couldn’t know, and then he was on a glacier. He saw a city, and at one moment he saw the bottom of the infinitely deep sea.

Finally, he left Earth.

He passed through a scenery he could not know or understand at all.

Someone called him.

‘Foolish fellow.’

Se-min lifted his head.

There was Noh Hak-jae, bleeding with a hole pierced in his chest.

Se-min wanted to say something, but couldn’t speak. Noh Hak-jae reached out his hand. Harmonious energy flowed from both of his hands.

‘Live.’

That word was the end.

Noh Hak-jae struck toward him. Se-min was hit by that force. Blood rose in his mouth from the impact.

And he.

Was thrown out of the spatial tunnel.

***

Se-min opened his eyes.

It was a sky he saw for the first time.

He raised his body.

The claymore was stuck beside him.

A foreign smell lingered.

It was different from any scenery he knew. Bizarre plants surrounded him, opening their leaves wide.

Two moons in the sky.

An ominously flowing purple sky.

He had heard about such a place.

“This place is.”

Se-min grasped the claymore.

Not far away, the low growl of a beast was heard.

A giant shadow cast over his body.

Se-min lifted his head.

A reptile’s eye was floating.

Looking up at the giant body of the magic beast rising toward him, Se-min laughed helplessly.

He.

Was standing in another world.