Chapter 99

“Ha, haha, what the hell is this…?”

Even Song Hyuk-seo, the owner of the Imma Mangryang and an S-class Returner, looked up at the scene unfolding before him with disbelief in his eyes.

This was the first time he had ever witnessed such an output right before his eyes.

And Song Hyuk-seo had felt something similar just moments ago.

“Domi.”

Recalling the man who had been with his younger sister not long ago, Song Hyuk-seo bit his lip slightly.

He was Kang Ha-chan, who had recently caught the attention of Giraseong.

‘So that’s how the Brain Dragon, the Blind Mage, and the Umbrella guy were defeated.’

It seemed the Returners from the World Returner Association had some absurd secret weapon.

Regardless, the situation had become more complicated than he had imagined.

The large-scale rapid dimensional gate he had unleashed to add to the chaos was just destroyed by a single red lightning strike.

Gathering that many dimensional beings again wouldn’t be easy, even in Fantasy Zone 32.

*Boom!*

At that moment, the monsters that were about to head toward the hunters following Song Hyuk-seo’s orders suddenly collided with an invisible wall and began piling up.

As Song Hyuk-seo’s eyes slowly narrowed at the sight, a person descended from the sky.

The one who came down holding a talisman was none other than his twin sister, Song Se-hee.

The barrier that blocked the monsters was none other than the one she had cast.

“If you’re here to stop me, what am I supposed to do?”

“How can I not stop you when my twin brother is messing around?”

She seemed determined.

She was even dressed in the same outfit she wore as a Spiritual Mage.

Seeing her, Song Hyuk-seo let out a long sigh.

He was trying to save her, but his twin sister came here just to get in his way.

Why was she so desperate to die when her life was already hanging by a thread?

“Se-hee.”

Se-hee had clearly achieved great results as a Spiritual Mage, rivaling his own past accomplishments.

As evidence, she was at the level of an A-class Returner even in her spirit form.

If she could just regain her physical body, becoming an S-class wouldn’t be difficult.

But that also meant that, in her spirit form, she was no match for Song Hyuk-seo.

She couldn’t stop him alone.

“Stop messing around and stay out of this.”

“The one messing around is you, you damn brother.”

Se-hee spat out curses she had learned from Ran, her face scrunching up.

“Domi found a solution.”

“A solution? Like Ha Si-ho getting my body back or something?”

“Similar, but different. Even if I got my body back, I couldn’t survive without Domi’s acquaintance. I wouldn’t be able to come back to life without him.”

“Good for you. Thanks to Domi, you stopped me from doing something stupid. I should thank him. Ten years of gratitude.”

As he said this, Song Hyuk-seo began to stir the shadows beneath his feet.

Se-hee, who knew what that meant, sharpened her gaze.

“You said you’d be grateful.”

“Se-hee, the premise of this conversation is the same.”

Hearing this, Se-hee bit her lip.

As he said, for Se-hee to survive, she would ultimately need Ha Si-ho’s help to retrieve her body.

Nothing had changed.

Only, there was one more step added to the process of coming back to life.

“Let me ask one more thing. Can Ha Si-ho move my body directly?”

“…She said she could.”

“You know your eyebrows twitch when you lie, right?”

“Ugh, why do you know that!”

“We’ve been looking at each other’s faces for years. How could I not know?”

Song Hyuk-seo let out a hollow laugh as he looked at Se-hee.

He had also been studying dimensions continuously to save Se-hee.

Having joined Giraseong, he had studied even more, so he knew well.

How difficult it was to retrieve a body swallowed by a dimensional rift.

All the spatial ability users in Giraseong had shaken their heads at the idea.

They had said it was not only impossible to attempt but also incredibly dangerous.

Ha Si-ho, the most skilled spatial ability user, was the only one who could even attempt such a thing.

But even she couldn’t be certain about Se-hee’s current situation.

Perhaps in the future, if she honed her spatial abilities further, she might be able to resolve this issue without risk.

But that was a matter for later.

Se-hee wouldn’t be around by then.

“Everyone’s helping, you stubborn bastard! Ha Si-ho can’t bring my body directly, but she can open a dimensional rift nearby, and Cheonma can retrieve it. That’s enough, isn’t it?”

“Se-hee.”

Song Hyuk-seo quietly looked up at Se-hee.

“You’re going to die soon.”

And with that one sentence, Song Hyuk-seo’s reason for acting this way was more than enough.

“Our parents died in a car accident caused by the aftermath of the dimensional shift when we were caught in it.”

Back on Earth, their parents were no longer there.

There were a few distant relatives, but even they had lost contact over the long years of their return.

“You’re the only family I have left.”

Just one.

The one thing Song Hyuk-seo wanted to protect, both in the dimensional war and on Earth.

But protecting that one thing was proving to be so difficult that even Song Hyuk-seo felt bitter.

Yet, he would sell his soul to the devil if it meant protecting that one thing.

“Even if the chance of you surviving is 99%, I will do anything to raise that 1%.”

Because that’s what family is.

How could he just sit still and do nothing when his family was on the brink of death?

To Song Hyuk-seo, Ha Si-ho was like a doctor.

Inexperienced, but skilled—an intern.

And now, she was the doctor performing the first surgery in a field no one had ever attempted.

Ultimately, Ha Si-ho was a source of anxiety for him.

The awakening through doping could temporarily push Ha Si-ho’s spatial abilities to an extreme level.

The extreme focus that comes at the brink of life and death.

The doping’s power was to maximize the efficiency of spatial movement.

That alone could increase the accuracy of retrieving Se-hee’s body several times over.

Doping was the power to forcibly bring future abilities into the present.

That single fact was why Song Hyuk-seo had no choice but to choose this method.

Because sacrificing Ha Si-ho would increase Se-hee’s chances of survival.

“You dragged unrelated people into this, and now you’re acting like it’s for my sake. Where in this is there anything for me? Please, I told you not to do this. Why do you never listen to my requests…?”

Seeing her tearful plea, Song Hyuk-seo closed his eyes.

“…I’m sorry. It seems this is the only thing I know how to do.”

But Song Hyuk-seo knew.

Even if the situation were reversed, Se-hee would have done the same.

Because they were twins.

And knowing that, Song Hyuk-seo was prepared to use everything, even if it meant Se-hee would come to hate him.

That was his one remaining belief.

*Boom! Crash!*

At that moment, explosions and combat noises could be heard from beyond the barrier.

Though Kang Ha-chan had taken out most of the dimensional beings, Giraseong had already infiltrated Korea directly.

Unable to rely on the dimensional beings, Giraseong had no choice but to cause chaos themselves.

After all, Ha Si-ho still needed to focus on closing the large-scale rapid dimensional gate.

‘If Ha Si-ho is going to move, it’s now.’

With the dimensional beings blocked, now was the best time to close the dimensional gate.

Naturally, she would be pouring her energy into it.

Knowing this well, Song Hyuk-seo gripped his Shadow Greatsword as he saw Se-hee throw a talisman at him.

“Just sleep for a bit.”

When you wake up, everything will be resolved.

—

“Haah, hoo.”

After blowing away the dimensional beings from the large-scale rapid dimensional gate, I was catching my breath.

We were currently on the rooftop of a building located in Jung-gu.

The Thunderbolt I had just unleashed, using my full power for the first time in a while, still left a heavy burden on my body.

Only one shot left for today.

Feeling the strange weakness creeping over me from using the Thunderbolt, I sheathed Kerafe and turned to Si-ho.

“Si-ho, can you do it?”

As I asked, Si-ho was already reaching her hand toward the sky.

The flow of air around her had changed since this morning.

After sending her mother off yesterday, Si-ho had begun to regain her spatial abilities, which had already far surpassed human comprehension.

“Manager, it’s Si-ho.”

That’s why a confident smile was drawn on Si-ho’s face.

“Leave it to Si-ho.”

Such Si-ho was the most reliable hunter on our team.

“But how long are you going to stay like that?”

The problem was that Si-ho’s eyes were now quite sharp.

I looked at the person behind me.

There, with a hood over her head and her face buried in my back, was Juk-sim, who refused to let go.

She had followed me out after I informed Baek Seol-hyang, but she had been like this since we got in the car.

She could handle it at home, but it seemed she couldn’t outside.

Nae-ki had gone to help evacuate civilians, and Eva had left saying she had something to do, but I wasn’t sure if they were okay.

*Boom! Crash!*

At that moment, various noises could be heard from afar.

As expected, Giraseong, having infiltrated Korea, had launched an attack in place of the dimensional beings.

“Seol-hyang.”

“Yeah, everyone’s already moving.”

Seol-hyang, who was listening to the situation beside me, told me not to worry.

After hearing about Giraseong’s attack, Seol-hyang had immediately called upon Returners from all over the world.

Since Giraseong had concentrated their forces in Korea, we might be outnumbered, so Returners from other worlds had also been called in.

As a result, including Orzia, others were also moving to confront Giraseong.

It was an all-out war between the World Returner Association and Giraseong.

I felt a sense of responsibility in this all-out war.

“Don’t worry.”

Seeing me like that, Seol-hyang smiled her usual reliable smile.

“The Returner Association I created can’t lose to the likes of Giraseong.”

That was true.

If Giraseong could stand against the Returner Association, they would have launched an all-out war from the beginning.

The reason they hadn’t done so until now was that they were far inferior in terms of strength compared to the Returner Association.

The Returner Association is invincible, and my childhood friend is a god.

There’s no need to worry unnecessarily.

“Huh?”

At that moment, an unexpected sound came from Si-ho’s mouth.

When I turned to look at her, her face was filled with confusion, and at that moment, the dimensional beings I had swept away earlier were gathering again in the sky.

“What? What’s going on!”

“That guy.”

As I panicked and hurriedly reached for Kerafe, Baek-san, who had been looking up at the sky, spoke.

That guy.

“The immortal, Liu Xiao, the mastermind behind the Beijing overthrow.”

The incident that occurred during the Beijing overthrow.

China, with its vast landmass, frequently has dimensional gates open.

That incident was primarily caused by dimensional beings from all over China converging on Beijing and turning it into a wasteland.

And the mastermind behind it was none other than the immortal known as Liu Xiao.

To Returners, he was the spark of revolution, but since he killed even innocent civilians unrelated to the incident, he was branded as the worst criminal in history.

Even the Returner Association acknowledged that the incident he caused was rooted in the fundamental issues of the Chinese government.

But his criminal acts were something they could never agree with.

He single-handedly killed 30 million people, including those in the Beijing area.

Moreover, the unleashed dimensional beings attacked other cities, causing damage that spiraled out of control.

He was undoubtedly the worst criminal in history.

“The immortal has finally made his move.”

Realizing the situation, Seol-hyang’s face also contorted as she looked up at the sky.

“Seol-hyang, I’ll go one more time…”

“No, the number that’s gathered is much smaller than before. We should handle this side.”

Saying this, Seol-hyang turned to a man sitting in front of a laptop wearing blue-light blocking goggles.

He was Ju Seong-min, a Returner in charge of the entire Returner communication network.

“Should we focus on intercepting the dimensional beings?”

“Yes, please do that. And contact Eun-hyeon as well. Since the immortal has made his move…”

Seol-hyang’s words suddenly stopped.

“Kang Ha-chan.”

At the same time, when Baek-san called me, a chilling sensation ran down my spine.

As my gaze slowly turned toward the sky, I saw a woman standing vertically on the outer wall of a building slightly higher than where we were.

Her head was adorned not with human hair but with a dragon, and the dragon’s whiskers slowly fluttered in the wind.

As a sly smile crept across her lips, Seol-hyang shouted.

“Intercept!”

As soon as the words rang out, beams of light poured toward her from all directions.

But before the beams could reach her, they shattered as she swung her hand.

Seeing this, Seol-hyang’s face twisted as she pulled on her gloves and turned to Ju Seong-min.

“Inform them that S-class Returner Yong Cheon-sung has arrived here.”

There are a total of five known S-class Returners in Giraseong.

Asura Song Hyuk-seo.

Eun-namu.

Following the immortal Liu Xiao, the fourth S-class Returner, Yong Cheon-sung Karen Goldberg, had appeared.

“Heeha!”

She laughed as she shattered the beams and began to fall downward.

But she soon stopped in mid-air, blocked by an invisible barrier.

Seol-hyang had been preparing to confront Giraseong since hearing my story.

Naturally, she had prepared barriers to ensure Si-ho could focus on closing the large-scale rapid dimensional gate without interference.

But the opponent was an S-class Returner.

*Bang bang bang bang!*

No matter how strong the barrier, it couldn’t hold forever, and Yong Cheon-sung was madly pounding on it with the dragon’s forelegs.

But that didn’t last long either.

A middle-aged man descended from the sky like a bolt of lightning, grabbed her head, and threw her aside.

My eyes widened as I saw this.

His white hair, fluttering with age.

A black martial arts uniform.

Wrinkles that only added to the charm of a living legend of South Korea.

“That’s Geumgang-ho!”

As I excitedly shouted, Seol-hyang and Si-ho shot me strange looks.

I coughed awkwardly and averted my gaze.