Chapter 1175

Every story has an ending.

Jin Taekyung already knew what it would take to end this nightmarish catastrophe. He had to defeat one being.

“Demon King Asmodeus.”

The name was a curse to modern humanity. As it left his lips, the air around them seemed to freeze.

The old heroes, who still remembered that horrific past vividly after all these decades, looked especially stricken.

“…Asmodeus?”

“That—that can’t be.”

Chuck Hagel and Magic Johnson spoke almost at the same time. Their reactions were exactly what Jin Taekyung had expected.

He’d shared his deepest secrets with them, but they couldn’t take it all in so quickly.

No, this was closer to an instinctive defense: the human urge to deny reality rather than live through that nightmare again.

“I understand. I thought the same thing for a long time.”

Jin Taekyung meant every word.

He hadn’t experienced the Great Cataclysm firsthand, but he’d been born on its final day.

Growing up, he’d been taught about it until he was sick of hearing it: what had happened during the Great Cataclysm, and how humanity had survived.

And how the ruler of the Demon Realm who had caused the Great Cataclysm met his end at the hands of a great hero born of humanity, without leaving so much as a trace.

But…

“He’s alive. I’m certain of it. In another world, under the name Lord of Heaven.”

Just as Cheon Taemin had existed as the Martial God, the king of demons had gained a new name in another world.

The beginning and the end of all this.

Jin Taekyung was certain. To reach the end of the path he’d walked—and the path still ahead of him—he had to reach that bastard.

But no one else could see the shape of the enormous puzzle he’d pieced together while traveling between two worlds. They could only trust the young man standing before them.

And someone did.

“I see. Understood.”

Choi Minwoo’s voice was calm. That made it sound all the more unnatural.

As Cheon Taemin’s only direct blood relative, Choi Minwoo had more reason than anyone there to be shaken by what he’d heard.

His gaze passed briefly over the others, then settled on Jin Taekyung. It didn’t waver in the slightest.

“If that’s what you believe, Mr. Jin, that’s enough for us.”

This time, silence didn’t fall.

Choi Minwoo’s words had made everything clear.

They trusted Jin Taekyung.

The simple certainty in those words swept away even the faint doubts and denials everyone had kept hidden in their hearts.

Even when everything around you is dark, you can still see the torch moving ahead.

And to them—no, to all humanity—Jin Taekyung was the one torch burning brighter than any other.

“Right. I had it wrong for a moment.”

Magic Johnson muttered to himself, then let out a small laugh.

“Still, I never thought my greatest wish would be answered like this.”

“Your wish?”

“I couldn’t make sense of anything about you, Jin. I wanted to talk you into letting me run all kinds of experiments on you. Maybe even a little dissection, if you agreed…”

Jin Taekyung asked in all sincerity, “Are you insane?”

“Don’t worry. I’m not planning to do that anymore. Good grief, you said it was a System? My poor imagination never got that far.”

“I don’t think anyone would’ve imagined that.”

Song Song, sitting alone among the mountain-sized men, gestured with her eyes toward the seat beside her.

“Look at Uncle Kkeokjeong. He’s practically out of his mind.”

Every eye turned to Im Kkeokjeong. Still looking dazed, he jumped as though he’d just woken up.

“Huh? Wh-what? Why me? I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

“No, I was just… listening.”

Im Kkeokjeong scratched the back of his head as he struggled to get the words out.

“Honestly, I’m not sure I should even be hearing something this incredible.”

“Yeah, I feel the same. Team Leader Choi here—no, our Guild Master—has every right to hear it. But us? Well…”

Jin Taekyung gave a quiet laugh at their reactions.

“What’s this about having a right? I called you because you belong here.”

And they did.

They might not have known one another for a large part of their lives, but they were friends and comrades who’d been together through some of the hardest, most turbulent times.

There were others he wanted to call but couldn’t.

People like Butler Kim, who had passed away, or Faye Chen.

Or his family, who couldn’t accept a situation like this, and Seong Jinho, his closest friend since his days at the goshiwon.¹

“Oh, that’s kind of touching. Didn’t know you could say things like that.”

“I’m pretty good at it, if I do say so myself.”

“Then what were you thinking when we first met? Remember that night we were drinking, and you started going on about Taurus and—”

“…I was wrong.”

Starting with that shameful memory, words came pouring in from every direction.

Some were about little things they could barely remember. Others were as vivid as if they’d happened yesterday.

For a while, they laughed and talked together.

None of them said it aloud, but they all felt it.

This might be the last time they faced one another with smiles like these.

Maybe that was why Jin Taekyung couldn’t bring himself to speak when the time came to say goodbye.

Tick. Tick.

At some point, the sound of a second hand reached him through his keen senses. Jin Taekyung closed his eyes.

The broken pocket watch.

It was moving—the thing that likely linked the modern world and Murim through the absolute power of time.

I have to leave. Before it’s too late.

He knew it in his head and in his heart.

Even so, he felt more conflicted than ever.

Before him were faces he was always glad to see. The faces of precious people he hadn’t been able to see hovered before his eyes like mist.

If only this moment could last forever.

But it couldn’t.

Time would keep moving. So would the enemy waiting for him in another world.

Unless someone stopped him, he always would.

That’s why I have to go.

It was the one thing he had to do.

The one thing only he could do.

Jin Taekyung reminded himself of that unchanging truth and opened his eyes. Everyone was looking at him.

As though they’d instinctively sensed that it was time to part.

“Go on, human. Don’t make a whole thing out of it.”

The Undead King made it sound as though Jin were just popping over to the neighbor’s house. Jin Taekyung couldn’t help laughing.

He looked at the smiling faces before him. Then, thinking of those who must be desperately searching for him somewhere, he said goodbye.

“I’ll come back. I promise.”

Muttering the words like a vow to himself, Jin Taekyung logged in.

Deep in the darkness, a being suddenly awoke and drew a deep breath.

Like a child opening its eyes for the first time in a new world.

Or a pitiful evil spirit struggling to feel that it was still alive.

But this time was different.

The air around him. The qi. All of it.

His breath, always ragged and labored, like that of someone on the verge of death, was calm. And a strength and vitality he hadn’t felt in decades welled up in his body, which had been as good as dead.

Slowly, but without stopping.

The loyal servant who had been waiting alone for her master in the darkness and silence could sense the change, too.

“Congratulations, great Lord of Heaven.”

The Grand Sorceress’s voice trembled. She had always been so composed.

Moments earlier, she had recognized the source of a sudden feeling of déjà vu. She’d come here without hesitation to wait for her master.

“This lowly servant dared to wait for her master without permission. Please punish me.”

The next moment, an answer rang out—one she’d thought she would never hear.

It came not as a sound, but from deep within the Grand Sorceress’s mind.

—You are forgiven.

It could scarcely be called a voice. It was cold as ice, yet the Grand Sorceress trembled with joy.

She’d been right.

The strange sensation she’d felt a moment ago was real. After only a few days, her master had awoken again, having regained even greater power.

And all of this could mean only one thing.

“Has it finally been completed?”

—Far from it.

“Ah…!”

The Grand Sorceress let out a regretful groan before she could stop herself. Then another reverberation filled her mind, and she caught her breath.

—But it will be completed.

“Then…”

—Nothing can stop what has already begun. No one.

“…!”

At that pronouncement, like an oracle, the Grand Sorceress—prostrated with all five limbs on the ground, unable to dare face her master—bowed even lower.

Cold seeped up from the damp stone floor, but she didn’t care. The fierce emotion rising deep within her warmed her body like a ball of fire.

“Please give your command. What should this lowly servant do?”

Her joy was plain in the question. Her master answered in a voice that none could hear.

Not the eternal snows of the Tianshan Mountains. Not the sky touching their peaks, nor the moon and stars beyond.

Nor the countless armies crossing the vast continent, finally nearing the Land of Ruin beyond the desert, could hear the voice.