107. Find Your Place
Marilyn collapsed. Horrible things poured out of her broken body.
She just sprawled out. Thanks to her persistent vitality, she was still able to hold out her consciousness.
“Do… ran…”
A feeble voice came out of her pouting mouth. Marilyn tried to look at Doran with defocused eyes. Bloody tears streamed down the corner of her eyes.
“I… Ahn… I… I… forgive m…”
Eventually, she crossed the river without even finishing her words. Tears flowed from Doran’s eyes. She passed her body and ran over to Ko Byeong-gap.
“Lord, are you okay?”
Ko Byeong-gap nodded silently. He felt uncomfortable since he meant to kill Marilyn but didn’t want to borrow Doran’s hand for it.
No matter how it was now, Marilyn and Doran had a parent-child relationship in the distant past. Ko Byeong-gap calmed his stuttering knees and got up.
“Don’t push yourself too hard, Lord. It’s over.”
“No, we have to end Landriol. He’s still alive.”
Landriol was half-invoiced, but they should never let their guard down. He had to make sure his heart stopped beating with his own two eyes.
“Well, I’ll do it.”
“No, I will. I can’t put blood on your hands anymore.”
He approached Landriol. The women who had fled stood guard in front of him. The tip of his sword trembled pitifully. Some covered their stomachs as if to protect them.
“Are you Goblins or Sarahons? Think carefully and answer. The lives in your womb aren’t guilty.”
“We serve only the king!”
“We don’t identify with traitors! We are the noble Sarahons!”
“That’s a lot of loyalty.”
He put down the thirteen Sarahon women. He didn’t feel comfortable, and his nausea soared every time he cut them one by one. Still, he had to do it since he couldn’t leave any trouble behind.
Ko Byeong-gap was covered in his own blood and others. He stood by Landriol’s side, staring down at him.
Landriol, once called the God of the Surface, looked up at the dark sky with his empty eyes. Aura gathered on Ko Byeong-gap’s sword.
Suddenly, Landriol opened his mouth, and his tone was so serene.
“I’ve been through this and that for a longer time than others. I took pictures of the ends of the four races in this continent, and I was immersed in their culture by going through the they? I even fought a war against the Holy Army. I cut off the heads of the four Holy Warriors as the spearhead. I spent hundreds of thousands of nights in which joy and sorrow intersected, and I saw hundreds of thousands of different skies.”
Landriol looked at Ko Byeong-gap.
“But there has never been a day as empty as today. Look at the sky. There are no clouds, no moonlight, and I can’t see any stars. That black universe is like my heart right now, and it’s strange. The sense of loss and disappointment must be deeply engraved in my bones. It’s so new.”
“…You’re talking nonsense now that it’s time to die.”
“Huh… Maybe. It was a long life. How foolish am I? I came back and realized that there was nothing written here for me. I think I know why Madmut called me arrogant.”
Landriol’s mouth gurgled, bleeding. His voice was a little hoarse.
“I was the sun. I might have lit up the day, but I couldn’t embrace all the stars.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Did you say I should have remained a ghost of the past? That’s true. My story should’ve ended in tragedy. Not everything in the world can be a fantasy. I can’t believe that it’s a tragedy again. Isn’t this a ridiculous script?”
Landriol giggled. Ko Byeong-gap brought the sword to his neck, but he didn’t try to resist or avoid it. Currently, if Ko Byeong-gap were to give even a bit strength to his sword, the glory of the past would die.
“Hold on. There’s no need to rush my death, is there?”
“Are you going to beg for your life now?”
“Hahaha! What do you mean by begging? The main seat of the continent, Conqueror, the greatest explorer, is me – King Landriol! When I lost twelve loyalists to the Holy Army, I never asked them for mercy!”
“If that’s the case, why put off your death now?”
“The sun that has lost its light is not only spewing out the darkness but also looks ugly if it covers a part of the sky. Yet, it could set a good example for the new sun.”
Landriol wriggled his loose arm. Ko Byeong-gap reacted reflexively and tried to slit his neck, barely stopping his sword.
Landriol brought his hand to his chest. Light began to gather in his hand- if the terrible thing could still be considered that.
Ko Byeong-gap knew instantly that this was the essence of the Lord.
Landriol pulled out the essence while grinding his teeth, and he stuck it out like a fortune teller saying that spring potatoes were delicious.
“My glory and despair are finally being squeezed into somebody else’s fists. I will give this to you.”
“I don’t need it. I don’t want to take anything from you.”
“Don’t be harsh. This is a trophy for your victory. Take it with joy. It will definitely help.”
“…”
The core of light slowly rose and approached Ko Byeong-gap, who finally accepted it. Curiosity and expectation were greater than his reluctance.
A radical change began as soon as he took in Lanriol’s essence. A lot of information rushed into his head.
‘This?’
It was the life of Landriol. His essence contained every moment from his birth to the present time. Ko Byeong-gap felt as if he had a huge library in his head.
“Now kill me. Before I die on my own.”
Landriol looked tired and was sweating profusely as if he was going to die at any moment. Ko Byeong-gap fixed his sword and raised it high above his head.
“You won’t be comfortable even in death.”
“Well, it’s a good thing to hear before you die.”
The blade drew a straight trajectory.
The life of the 8th Lord and the greatest man on the continent, King Landriol, ended that day.
***
“Please kill me!”
Dorma fell and showed his neck. Ko Byeong-gap sat down, smoking his cigarette one after another, and answered dryly.
“Why?”
“I betrayed the Lord once. Now I will not come and make excuses or beg for my life shamelessly. Cut me down and let go of your wrath.”
“Cut your throat and let go of my anger… That makes sense in its own way.”
Ko Byeong-gap got up and walked to Dorma. The Goblins who watched the scene had a deep worry on their faces. They were afraid the Lord would really kill Dorma.
Ko Byeong-gap spoke, putting a sword on Dorma’s neck.
“Okay, any last words?”
“Please rebuild Ashvilam and rule the people with a good heart.”
“Okay. I’ll do that.”
Ko Byeong-gap slashed his sword. Some Goblins covered their eyes and screamed, but there was no horrible sight of blood or flesh. The sword he wielded simply sank into the ground.
Dorma’s eyes widened and looked up at Ko Byeong-gap.
“Lord…?”
“Did you think I’d dance if I killed you? I didn’t expect you to think of me as such a reckless bastard.”
“Yes, but I—!”
“That’s enough. It’s only natural for a pack of lions to pursue the stronger leader. Let’s stop talking about the tragic past. Most of all, I still need you.”
“Ugh! Whew…”
Dorma sighed and swallowed a cry. Ko Byeong-gap glanced around his surroundings. Traces of a gruesome battle were rife all around them.
While he was away, so many things were in disarray. Now that he had taken back his place, it was time for Ashvilam to find its place as well.
Ko Byeong-gap shouted, “Everybody, listen! Somnium and Valtadren, you and I are in a mess. But if we work together, we can all go back to where we were! Am I right or wrong?”
“That’s right!”
“We’ll be busy for a while from now, so be prepared. If you don’t want to do it, say it now!”
“We want to!”
“Okay. Now, we have to get things back in place.”
After the storm…
Ko Byeong-gap and the Goblins worked day and night to restore Ashvilam. Thanks to him, their kingdom quickly regained its old form.
In less than two months, while Ko Byeong-gap was away, a lot had changed in Ashvilam. Some of them were bad, but some were positive, such as the rapid expansion of farmland.
“Landriol, you son of a bitch. You’ve done a great job.’
The acre fields increased noticeably and were even pretty well maintained. The farm tools and weapons he created were all first-class. The Goblins’ combat abilities were also in a state of rapid growth in a short period of time.
He hated to admit it, but Landriol was better than himself in developing territory and setting up the military.
‘This is a kind of momentum that came out of nowhere.’
Ko Byeong-gap decided to make full use of Landriol’s experience, knowledge, and tricks. There was no reason to let what he had received rot. While the castle was being reorganized, he took it upon himself to expand the farmland and barns. He also built a new wall that would connect to Valtadren.
“Lord, why are you building a wall here?”
“I’m going to bring the Spirits from Chitosan here. This is their home.”
“Oh!”
The relocation plan of the Spirits also proceeded step by step. He intended to bring the Spirits soon. As the farmland and barns were expanded, there was a shortage of workers, so the labor force of 800 Spirits was desperately needed.
‘I’m out of my mind.’
Twenty-four hours wasn’t enough to take care of Ashvilam’s affairs. Unfortunately, there weren’t just one or two things that had to be done on Earth.
First of all, Ko Byeong-gap’s mother was discharged from the hospital. After a month of close examination, no signs of a recurrence of the Phantom Disease were found.
Ko Byeong-gap was able to take his mother home with a light heart. He had many things to thank Jeong Seon-kyung for, so he would treat her nicely.
However, Ko Byeong-gap had never met Jeong Seon-kyung again since he met her at Jirisan Mountain since she had been dispatched to the northern region.
‘Another Monster Wave.’
Something pretty crazy happened while he was in Ashvilam. A large Monster Wave took place in the northern part of the truce line, where the expedition was located.
Troops and hunters were gathered in the area to stop the monsters from moving southward. The Monster Wave area was limited to the northern part of the country, so the property damage wasn’t significant. Nevertheless, South Korea’s air was heavily frozen.
South Korea wasn’t the only country that went crazy. In Argentina, located in South America, there was a large-scale Monster Wave that couldn’t be compared to Korea’s.
It had already been declared irreversible on an international level. Many experts also predicted that South America would follow in Africa’s footsteps. In short, the entire continent would become barren.
That was why the atmosphere in Korea was especially cold. There was widespread anxiety that Korea would follow after Argentina.
From Ko Byeong-gap, the news was so absurd that it didn’t come to him easily.
However, he could feel a strong foreboding that something was about to happen. So, before it was too late, he visited Jirisan Mountain again.
To meet Kim Hana, who wanted to tell him the truth of the world.
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