Chapter 201 - God of Destruction (1)
There was Jung-minchan, and Woo-sooghoon. Then there was Kim-haemin and Blanka, who he hadn’t seen for awhile. Even Bibi was there....
“Why are you all gathering around me?”
“Are you ok? The sounds from inside the...”
“I want you to heal the bastard inside.”
Blanka possessed a Healing ability, so he discreetly went into the isolation room. The rest of the group followed behind Woojin.
“Why are you guys following me like dogs?”
“Mmmm. . Are you ok, president?”
Jung-minchan bolstered his courage as he asked a question. Woojin frowned as he replied with a question of his own.
“Why wouldn’t I be fine?”
“Your complexion doesn’t look good.”
Woojin looked around his surrounding.
Everyone looked worried, and there was something common in all their faces. They were all looking at him with worried eyes.
“Are you guys perhaps worried about me?”
“Huh. Jeez.”
Woojin grinned. He relaxed his stiffened face.
He never expected to receive such gazes from others in this life.
No, there had always been someone, who had looked at him with such worried eyes.
‘This is a first aside from my mother.’
Maybe, this should have been obvious if he looked back on it.
These people already deserved to be called his family.
He could worry about them independent from what power they possessed.
It was a refreshing feeling. He had decided to protect them all, but he didn’t realize they were worrying about him.
He didn’t hate the feeling.
“Are you all frustrated?”
“Yes? Yes, sir!”
Jung-minchan’s voice was especially overflowing with energy.
Of course, everyone felt frustrated by the situation, but it was the worst for Jung-michan.
Important figures from different countries contacted Minchan so much that these calls just rolled off his back. He shrugged them off, yet kings and government officials kept trying to get Minchan to arrange Kahng-woojin’s support.
It wasn’t just these people. All the people of the world held a similar view. Kahng-woojin was the vanguard spearheading the Dungeon Breaks and the Monster Rush. This was why everyone surmised Kahng-woojin had the most information regarding what was going on.
In truth, Jung-minchan also thought the same. However, even if he did receive answers from Woojin, Minchan wouldn’t never pass on what he learned to others.
His role was to take the requests and criticisms. He stopped the threats and entreaties for cooperation from reaching Kahng-woojin by solving issues beforehand. He made it easier for Kahng-woojin to operate.
However, Minchan was staring at an endless war with the monsters. Of course, he was curious to know if this war would come to an end.
“Gather around.”
Woojin’s expression softened a bit, and this served to relax the uncomfortable atmosphere.
“Mmm. How should I explain this....”
Hadn’t he been angry, because he couldn’t organize this situation within his head?
However, everyone was waiting with bright eyes as they waited for his answer. He did his best to summarize the situation.
The act of trying to explain it to someone else made it easier for him to sort everything out.
“It is year 2529 on the real earth. This world was a world created in virtual reality.”
“What?”
Everyone became surprised.
Soonghoon’s eyes turned round as he asked a question.
“So what are we?”
“We are people connected to this reality. Maybe some of us are fakes..”
Woojin’s words lingered, and everyone kept looking at each other. It seemed they couldn’t comprehend his words, so they kept repeating Woojin’s words inside their heads.
It seemed Woojin wasn’t going to wait for them to comprehend it. He continued to pour out the words he organized.
“There are 72 of these fake worlds. Earth is one of them. Alphen is another. The Planet Jaku was also.....”
“T...then what are Dimensional lords? What are Dimensional Domains, and the Dungeons....”
“It is the crack between Dimensions. It might be a small planet, and the owners are the Dimensional lords. They are probably connecting to this place from the real earth. They are probably humans barely hanging onto life through a life-support machine. ”
His words were so serious that it felt like a joke. They felt an instinctual need to deny Woojin’s words, but they felt a sinking feeling in their stomach.
“So the Roused are the humans, who are accessing this place? The others are virtual humans.... Are you saying we are NPCs?”
Minchan’s voice was shaking unusually hard as he asked the question. Woojin shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.
“I have no idea.”
He wasn’t qualified to determine if it was true or not. However, it wasn’t as if he trusted 100% of Dr. Toppler’s story.
“That’s just what I heard. Well... Do you feel like a fake?”
Minchan blanched as he shook his head from side to side.
“Not at all!”
Woojin grinned.
The people here thought, took actions and lived their lives. How could they be defined by aggregation of 1s and 0s?
He wouldn’t define these people here as fake. He would instead define the program or beings, who created these people, to be gods.
“If you heard it from someone.... Who did you hear it from?”
“Professor Toppler.”
“You met him?”
“He did as he pleased. He opened a gate to come to me. He said he’s a human from year 2529. He said he’s from the real earth.”
Minchan couldn’t help it. He asked a question about the preposterous story.
“......so is it possible to correspond with them?”
“I have no idea.”
“Huhk.”
Should he be called irresponsible? Maybe he was just thoughtless?
Woojin had spoken about a story that was hard to accept, yet he was acting unperturbed.
“That is why....”
He grinned as he looked at each one of them.
“I’m going to go and confirm it.”
Minchan wondered if he should try to stop Woojin, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak. He was in a state of confusion.
This world was fake... There was a chance that he wasn’t a human....
The other countries were asking for support, and Japan had come out against them. However, those events didn’t seem important anymore. Even the monsters from the Dungeon Break felt insignificant compared to this.
Toppler had said everything here was fake....
He thought maybe the most important task he could do was to check the veracity of this claim.
Woo-soonghoon, who had been still as he listened, suddenly asked a question.
“Do you trust his words, king”
“I don’t know.”
“Mmm. What if this is some big ruse? I’ve hatched a lot of them before, and this smells a bit fishy.”
He grinned as he replied to his words.
“If it is a ruse, I’ll just beat him to death.”
“Ha ha....”
Soonghoon had duped Woojin into buying a particular handphone, and he had been beaten like a drum. He put on an awkward smile as remembered the past.
“It is worth checking out.”
“What if it turns out to be true?”
“Well, what do you think I’ll do?”
When Woojin put on a weird smile, Soonghoon gulped.
Woojin looked at the needlessly nervous people, and he brought up a topic he had been holding back.
“While I’m gone, you guys have to do something for me.”
“What do you want of us?”
“I want you all to protect Sooah.”
“Of course, we will.”
The protection of Kahng-woojin’s family was their first priority. At Jung-minchan’s untroubled answer, Woojin spoke to him in a serious manner.
“You have to protect Sooah even if you lose everything.”
Woojin’s gaze head towards Bibi.
“Do you understand?”
“Yes, master.”
If Sooah was a proxy of earth’s god.... There will be an relentless push by the Dimensional lords to gain the Code.
He couldn’t hand them over the Code, and he couldn’t lose Sooah either.
“When everyone gets back, I want you to deliver my words to them.”
“Yes, sir."
Do-jaemin was still continuing his Dimensional Battles, and he was steadily increasing the stockpile of Points.
There was no news regarding Sunggoo, and Haesol had left after leaving behind a letter. She was somewhere on Alphen, and no one knew when she would be returning.
“Where are you going to go, president?”
“Before I go, I have someone I have to meet.”
The Moon World bastards would facilitate his logout? He had been summoned before against his will before. Once was enough. If he had business on the earth from year 2529, he would go there of his own volition.
Woojin summoned his Phantom Steed, and he got on.
“Bibi.”
“Yes, master.”
“If I don’t make it back... I leave the Undead army to you.”
When the Undead familiars were summoned, the magical energy of the Necromancer started to be consumed. This was especially true for Yong Yong. It had an enormous body, and it always received considerable damage during battle. One had to regenerate it, and it siphoned off a significant amount of magical energy.
This was also the reason why the Undead army had a hard time operating far from its king.
Occasionally, he had given command of his Undead army to Lich Jaenis. It was also inevitable that Jaenis had a smaller reservoir of magical energy compared to Woojin, since it couldn’t steal souls.
However, he had already assigned Bibi as the admin in charge of taking care of the Flying Fortress.
It was similar to how Woojin gathered the souls nearby to fuel his magical energy. Bibi would be able to use the Colony’s Points to bolster her magical energy. Of course, this was assuming she was near the Colony.
If Bibi was able to give them support, the Undead army would be able to display its full power.
“It won’t take me too long to check this out. I want you to protect Sooah.”
“Yes, master.”
“Please don’t worry.”
“We’ll protect her at all cost.”
The Phantom Steed jumped into the air, and everyone waved their hands towards Woojin.
The several people, who was aware of situation surrounding the Holy Maiden of earth, started their defense against the beings gunning for her.
Poo-shoohk.
Toppler, who had been connected through the interface adapter, opened his eyes after his Code was withdrawn.
“Mmm.”
When he groaned, one of the team member pushed a bottle towards him.
“Thank you.”
“Were you successful in convincing him?”
“Hmmm. I’m not sure.”
“What?”
He became surprised at the professor’s wishy washy answer.
“If we don’t have the Code, how are we going to restore the planet?”
“Mmm.”
They needed two things to reset the virtual servers.
They needed the Restoration Code and the Planet Code.
Woojin possessed the Deletion Code, and he gained the Restoration Code by killing Iello. However, that was all he possessed.
Only the 72 Thrones possessed the Planet Codes.
Dr. Toppler’s job was to convince Kahng-woojin to acquire the Earth’s Code, and it would make him the 1st Throne.
This was the only way he’ll become useful after his logout.
If he didn’t have the Planet Code, it didn’t matter if he had the Deletion Code and the Recovery Code. It was like asking someone to cook with a knife and pan with no ingredients.
“Shouldn’t we halt everything right now? What if our actions instigate the god of destruction to descend....”
They had gone through hardship to hold out for this long, yet it could all disappear in a flash. This was why they hadn’t approached Kahng-woojin, who had the Deletion Code, in the first place. He was too difficult to deal with. Their hopes had been with Iello....
Toppler let out a bitter laugh when the person in front of him looked at Toppler with distrustful eyes. He couldn’t blame the man. He deserved to be berated, since he had acted without seeking approval from the others. He wanted to put all the blame and consequences squarely on his shoulders, but events had gotten too out of hand to do so.
“I’ll have to give orders to Kim-kahngchul.”
“I’ll make preparations.”
They had to prepare for the unexpected. If Kahng-woojin logged out without possessing the Planet Code, it would be the worst possible scenario. They had to prepare for it.
Hweeeee.
It was a desert where only sand was carried by the wind. One could see a dried up tree, and two abandoned buildings. After stopping his Phantom Steed, Woojin jumped off as he looked at his surrounding.
He looked in all directions, and all he could see was sand. There was no sign of life here, yet he was careful.
“Ggaebi.”
[Koo-koohk. Did you call for me?]
“Check if anyone is nearby.”
[Do you need a sacrifice? Or maybe you need blood?]
“Stop talking nonsense. Just go and search.”
[Koo koo. I will carry out your order.]
Woojin frowned as Ggaebi spoke with great mirth.
Woojin had sought out a location with no people nearby. He wanted to minimize the loss of life.
“Shall I start now?”
Woojin took out the Sealed Stone, Return Marble and the Summon Stone. He had bought them from his Achievement Store.
After surviving in Alphen for the past 20 years, he had been barely able to find this method. It allowed him to return home.
He gathered the three Items in one place, and he smashed them.
Pah-ah-ah-ah.
The Items turned into dust, and it scattered as if it was smoke. Soon, it coalesced in front of Woojin’s eyes as it let out a light.
Hooooohng!
It was a mass made out of light.
The mass of light was wearing armor, and it was able to speak even though it didn’t have a mouth.
“You are a warrior that has reached the pinnacle.... Where do you want to go?”
The tail end of his mouth lifted when he heard the same word from this being.
Seventy Second Throne.
He possessed all the Planet Codes.... He was the closest to being the absolute being.
He spoke towards the Dimensional Admin.