Chapter 568

Clap, clap, clap.

A vigorous round of applause rang out. At the same time, the voice of someone I’d been aware of for a while echoed through the room.

“Impressive. Very impressive.”

Click.

Shiny black dress shoes came toward me. The man wearing them had on suit pants with razor-sharp creases and a leather coat that reached his knees. He stopped in front of me.

“Mr. Jin, I’ve heard a great deal about you…… but coming all the way here was worth it. You’re even more impressive than I expected.”

I had no idea what was going on, and it must have shown. He answered with an easy smile.

“There’s no need to be so flustered. The time has simply come.”

“The time has come?”

“Yes. Did you think you were the only hero in this world?”

“What?”

“From this moment on, you’ve become part of a much greater world. You simply don’t know it yet.”

“…!”

A sharp current ran through my entire body. I let out a low groan and glared at the unwelcome guest.

“What the hell are you?”

“Not many people know my true identity.”

He gave a quiet laugh and continued.

“As for who I am…”

“No, I’m asking what the hell you’re doing.”

“Huh?”

His eyes went round, as if this wasn’t how the scene was supposed to go. I stared at him for a moment, then waved a hand.

“Never mind. Keep going. You’ve still got lines left, right?”

“Can I?”

“Sure. Finish them.”

He cleared his throat and gave me a solemn look.

“My name is King Fury. Director of Barrier…”¹

Wham!

“Urgh.”

I punched him in the face. The Skeleton King staggered like a drunk, and I followed up with a string of punches.

Wham! Wham! Crack!

“Urgh! Ugh! Wait! Wait! My jawbone!”

“Like hell I’m waiting, you fucker.”

This guy needed a beating.

While some people were working their asses off day and night to build a bright future even in times like these, he had suddenly popped up dressed like a movie character.

I’d wondered why he was wearing a leather coat all of a sudden.

“Having fun? Are superhero movies that much fun?”

The Skeleton King, who’d been getting pummeled nonstop, suddenly set his face and raised a thumb.

“Fucking awesome.”

“…”

“I hate them three thousand.”²

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Wait! You’ve cracked a bone!”

Wham! Wham!

“How can you call yourself human? Huh?”

“I—I’m a monster!”

“This bastard only claims he’s a monster when it suits him. Is your species a buffet? You just pick whichever one you want?”

Wham! Wham!

“Wait! Stop for real this time! I’ve got an orbital fracture!”

“…”

That was a surprisingly precise diagnosis for a monster.

The medical terminology made my fist hesitate. The Skeleton King promptly slipped away, trembling with humiliation.

“You vile human. You aren’t even a person.”

“My God. Did a monster just say that to me?”

“You devil. When Judgment Day comes, may you be cast into hell.”

“Have you been going to church lately? That’s a strange choice of words for you.”

The Skeleton King froze for an instant, then cleared his throat.

“A human woman…”

“What?”

“A beautiful human woman spoke to me first. I met her at the crosswalk up ahead. She said if I followed her, we could all sing songs and eat good food.”

“…And?”

“So I went. It wasn’t particularly fun, but it wasn’t bad. A man called a pastor must have recognized my nobility, because he even presented me with a gift.”

“My God.”

An undead monster had gone to church. Was this for real?

While I was still at a loss for words, the Skeleton King lowered the collar of his coat, which he’d turned up like a middle-aged man from forty years ago.

“Heh heh. Behold.”

I’d doubted my ears before. Now I doubted my eyes.

Peeking proudly out from between the coat collars was none other than a cheap cross necklace.

“This is the symbol of a noble king.”

“…”

Wasn’t it a symbol of exorcism?

For a moment, I wondered whether he’d met an exorcist rather than a pastor. But Magic Johnson’s illusion magic was flawless. There wasn’t the slightest hint that anything about the Skeleton King was out of place.

His social media followers, whose numbers had grown exponentially, were proof of that.

Click.

“…You’re taking a selfie right now? Want me to smash your phone?”

“I bought it with my own money. A vile human has no right to say anything, so keep your mouth shut.”

A monster who’d adapted to capitalism. Maybe that was the real monster.

And since he’d bought it himself, I couldn’t argue. It wasn’t even some undisclosed sponsorship. He’d paid for it with the money he’d recently received from the Peace Guild.

“I’m quite a high earner among humans now. I hear the people of this world sort themselves into classes by annual income. Mine is a full six hundred million won!³ Heh heh. And I’ll be making that much for the next ten years!”

“…”

Welcome to ten years of slavery.

If the Skeleton King were a Hunter, he’d qualify for S-rank with room to spare. Yet Team Leader Choi had him working for a mid-level Hunter’s salary.

Team Leader Choi’s cruelty made me want to give Hyuk Mujin’s balls a sharp tap.

“What’s that look for?”

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it. Keep earning lots of money.”

The Skeleton King narrowed his eyes and looked me up and down.

“Suspicious. And not just now. You’ve been acting strangely these past few days.”

“Who? The undead monster who went to church?”

“You, vile human!”

He shouted, then went on.

“You keep getting lost in thought even inside Gates. A man without so much as a finger joint’s worth of culture starts drawing pictures and taking notes. Yesterday, you even turned down an emergency rescue call, so I had to go in person!”

For a monster, he was pretty perceptive. Maybe because I’d spent more time with him than anyone else lately.

I scratched my chin and looked at him.

“I get what you’re trying to say. So?”

“Huh?”

“What do you want from me? I’m not allowed to think? I can’t draw a few pictures and take notes?”

“I—I didn’t say that.”

He faltered, then rallied.

“Even so, that emergency rescue call—”

“I put it off because I could. They still had you.”

“Wha—what?”

“It wasn’t a Mutated Gate, and from how much the magical power reading had risen, I figured it would be fine. So I sent you instead.”

“You sent me in your place?”

He blinked at me, mouth hanging open.

“Why?”

“Because I trust you to handle it.”

“…!”

“I’d been going with you just in case. But I’ve seen what you can do, and after hearing what other people had to say, I figured you could go alone.”

The Skeleton King was a Named Monster in every sense of the word.

He had possessed powerful abilities even back when he was called a Warlord, but after his battle with the Arch Lich, he had evolved into an even more powerful being.

An ordinary Named Monster wouldn’t stand a chance against him.

From what I’d seen firsthand, his physical abilities were exceptional. He could also use his own Authority to raise a one-man army.

In that respect, none of the S-rank Hunters alive today could match him. Though a Grand Mage like Magic Johnson, who could dominate an entire battlefield, might be another story.

And there’s me, too.

The Skeleton King was an undead Lü Bu⁴ who could sweep a Gate by himself. There was only one reason I’d kept someone that powerful at my side.

His complete and utter lack of social skills.

He’d never come right out and announced what he was, but he went around advertising that he was born to be a monster.

If I had taken him to the official Blue House⁵ press conference last time, he would have referred to President Baek Hanseong as a “human male.” Then the Liberation Army,⁶ led by the Lady of the House,⁷ would surely have risen up, waving Korean flags and demanding that they investigate the identity of that long-nosed bastard.

But now…

“This hyung⁸ can finally relax. You even went to church, you little punk. Go on, live a little more freely from now on.”

Pat, pat.

I patted his shoulder. The Skeleton King’s eyes widened—perhaps at the warmth of my touch, or perhaps at one word I’d said.

“F-freely?”

“Yeah. You’ve reached the point where I can trust you with things. You deserve that much freedom.”

“Vile human. Weren’t you keeping watch on me?”

“Keeping watch?”

I gave a quiet laugh.

“After you saved my life in China?”

“That…”

“Sure, you owe me too. Neither of us needs to say it out loud. Just know I’ve always been grateful.”

“…!”

His golden eyelids quivered. He looked at me with an expression I couldn’t quite place, then opened his mouth, eyes wet.

“Vile human.”

“Oh, shit. Don’t say anything.”

“But I have to say this.”

“Don’t. Seriously. I hate this kind of mood.”

I could almost hear soft background music playing somewhere. I looked off toward the distant mountains, uncomfortable, as his voice reached me.

“Then can I go to a club tonight?”

“…”

“That mage tricked me into going to a gay bar twice. This time, I intend to enjoy some noble bump-and-grind at a club.”

“…”

Noble bump-and-grind, my ass.

Give me back my emotions, you bastard.

“Please, vile human. I swear I’ll be back before midnight!”

“Fine. Go.”

“R-really?”

“Yeah. Go. If you want to die.”

“…”

“You crazy bastard. A club? What kind of trouble would you get into there?”

Hearing that he had gone to a gay bar twice did make me feel a little sorry for him, but the Skeleton King still wasn’t socially developed enough for that.

This had nothing to do with the fact that I’d never been to one myself.

…Really.

“Why? How can this happen when I’m so handsome!”

As the Skeleton King howled in anguish, the smartphone in his hand vibrated.

Bzzzz.

His face crumpled when he checked the screen. I didn’t need to look to know why. It might as well have been projected as a hologram.

“Emergency call?”

“…Damn it.”

Talk about timing. I checked the call details, then looked up at him.

“What are you waiting for?”

“I refuse, vile human. You go this time.”

“What are you talking about? One look tells me all I need to know. You can handle this by yourself.”

“Damn it! Why do you get to play around here while I work?”

Play around? Who?

But he had no way of knowing what I was doing.

I gave a quiet laugh and raised a hand instead of answering. He caught the hint and darted out the door.

Bang!

The door slammed shut and did not open again from sunset until the following morning.

And then…

Inhale. Exhale.

Whoosh. Boom!

In that quiet, isolated room, I circulated my qi and trained without pause.

It was a long journey in search of a path I’d never taken, with the faintest thread of a clue in my grasp.

A pale face. Trembling fingertips.

When had it started? A drop of cold sweat that had run down the back of his neck while he listened fell with a soft plop.

“W-what did you just say?”

He had the imposing build of a man whose age of seventy seemed impossible, along with the face of a middle-aged man. But the voice that slipped between his lips was as faint as that of someone standing on the brink of death.

What he’d just heard was that shocking.

“Th-that is……”

Even remembering what he had heard made his vision swim. The old man barely pulled himself together and forced out his trembling voice.

“You—you kidnapped our children?”

“‘Kidnapped’ sounds rather unpleasant. Someone might get the wrong idea.”

“Y-you dare…”

“So let’s call it protection.”

Across a table laden with an elaborate feast, Go Jun answered brightly and took a bite of steak.

Juice from the rare beef ran down his angular jaw. His next words, added almost in passing, cut into the old man’s ears.

“For now, at least.”

“…!”

Go Jun smiled with pleasure at the frozen face of the old man, Song Cheonwoo.