Unlike usual, it was Heeyun who found out it was a good thing for them first.
…
“Open up,” Dohyuk mumbled and the giant gate opened by itself. There was one Bermuran standing inside. It was easy to guess that it was the High Priest of the city. As he walked, he seemed to be frightened by Dohyuk’s vicious presence (it was really just his annoyed face) and shook.
“W-welcome… it’s an honor to meet the God of…”
“Yeah-yeah. Call your master.”
“W-wait…”
The High Priest frantically tried to say something, but he soon became rigid as if he was struck by lightning while his eyes rolled backward and…
“Yeah, thank you for coming.”
Aruga had taken control of the High Priest.
“F*ck you, assh*le.”
Dohyuk spat viciously.
“Now, now… you don’t need to show your frivolous side so quickly. Do you think I would have dragged you all the way here for my personal assistance?”
“Nothing changes even if you bring me the best gift. It was a promise made not only to me, but to all of my people. You broke it on your terms.”
For Dohyuk who had been through a lot, it wasn’t much for a sudden change of direction. But for the other people, the direction change and Dohyuk not knowing where they were going were enough to make them concerned.
“Still caring about your ‘people’, I see. How benevolent must you be?”
Dohyuk narrowed his eyes. It seemed weird. Dohyuk was showing his discomfort and anger, but this chickenhead didn’t seem to really care.
“…What is going on?”
“I have a gift that you will like.”
“Get to the point.”
“Not too far away from here, there is a land without any master. It’s quite large.”
Land without a master. It meant that the land had no ‘tower’ controlling it with no ‘god’ or otherworldly environment written over it. The only thing it had was the ruins from the old world where no one who was living a 2nd life would ever visit.
“There are people barricading themselves within it.”
“Barricade? From whom?”
“From everyone else. They are like you. Ones who oppose the illumination.”
“How many are they?”
“About 150.”
Dohyuk was going to ask where, but he stopped and changed his question.
“And why does it matter to you?”
150 uncorrupt people. Dohyuk would surely be interested in them since he would want to rescue them if he could. But what of Aruga? What good would it do to save them?
“Don’t say you want payment for telling me their location.”
“No. If I wanted money, I would’ve sacked them and gotten some coins for myself.”
Dohyuk raised his eyebrow.
“…What?”
“….Huh?”
Aruga answered with a question. After a short silence…
“Do you not know about coins?” Aruga spoke first, “Didn’t an angel explain it to you?”
Of course, an angel did go to Dohyuk to explain, but Dohyuk started fighting the angel before listening to it all.
“The coin… it worth something to you too?”
“Of course. Do you think the Lord God would have implemented those coins only for you humans?”
Dohyuk bit his lips. That’s when he remembered what the four-winged angel had said to him. He said that Casita decided to punish the other ‘gods’ for not doing their job.
So it wasn’t only beasts that were after uncorrupt people after all. If the gods were also after them…
“…I see now. I see why you brought me all the way over here.”
“Yes. I am just trying to help…”
“You don’t want others to take it when you can’t take it yourself.”
Dohyuk guessed it right.
“W-what… I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“150 people. I have no idea where these people are, but I can see that the empty land is after them.”
It was probably mixed with all types of people. Beasts, people who believed in certain gods, and gods themselves with their own armies.
“And you are probably the weakest of them all.”
“…”
“Let me see. But that doesn’t seem enough to call me all the way here… I guess you have a certain god you are not so fond with that’s around? And you don’t want that god to take it, so you brought me here instead? I guess I’m about right.”
After facing these gods that controlled bodies multiple times, Dohyuk learned that the gods were horrible at keeping their poker faces.
“Tell me the location.”
He spoke and turned to make a sign at the city wall. Soon, someone jumped down from the top of the wall.
It was Heeyun. Dohyuk turned to Aruga again.
“When I save them… do you want me to do some kind of victory move for others? Or shout like ‘This is from Aruga!’ or ‘Aruga Forever!’ type of phrase?”
“You… you…!”
“I can do that. I mean, it’s only a phrase. I’ll do it for you for our sake.”
The land was directly next to Aruga’s region. As he walked into the land…
“… Are you okay?” Heeyun asked.
“You know what I’m going to say.”
“Yeah, but I thought it’s better to ask than be silent and act like I don’t care.”
“I guess I might have thought that if you didn’t ask.”
“Hehe.”
Heeyun seemed to be relieved. She didn’t believe Dohyuk was 100% okay, but she just thought it wasn’t that troubling at least.
“So, are we in China then?”
“Maybe…”
Dohyuk wasn’t sure, but it didn’t matter anyway.
“I mean, it might get complicated if we can’t talk to them.”
“That’s true.”
But Dohyuk thought it was the same even if they could talk. Even if they speak the same language, it didn’t mean Dohyuk and Heeyun would be considered friendly to these people. He needed to overpower them and show that he wasn’t hostile.
“They will be no match against you but… I guess they can hold themselves at least. Running away and like that… it’s not an easy thing to pull off if you are weak.”
“…Yeah. That’s why I have a guess.”
“That the Swordmaster is behind this?”
“That’s right.”
That’s when Heeyun stopped. Someone was watching them.
“Should we ‘split’ up and find them?”
“Oh, you trust me that much?”
“Of course, I do.”
It was a spontaneous act, but an obvious one to notice. It didn’t matter if it was obvious. Heeyun kept on walking in the direction they were going as Dohyuk turned to where he knew someone was watching them.
‘He’s strong.’
It was a person. From what he could feel, the person wasn’t a beast. There was one more piece of evidence: the person had a strong presence, but they didn’t seem to know how to hide it. It was not a mistake that a beast would make.
‘Is this person a leader then?’
Dohyuk then calmly walked under the place where he could feel the presence. It was under a destroyed building. The person didn’t do anything as Dohyuk walked past them, but seemed to change their mind as Dohyuk turned in that direction.
Dohyuk looked up.
“…!”
It wasn’t the Swordmaster since it was a man. It was a man who seemed to be the same age as Dohyuk. The man was falling down on Dohyuk to attack him.
Dohyuk quickly turned and kicked up. It wasn’t to attack, but a move to push the man away.
‘Maybe…’
Dohyuk looked at the man who was thrown away into the ground by Dohyuk.
‘…He’s a lieutenant or something to the Swordmaster.’
Dohyuk thought as he analyzed the opponent’s strength. The attack wasn’t bad, but the man wasn’t strong enough to defeat Dohyuk. He waited until the man stood up with his shaking body.
“Hey, can you speak Korean…”
“D-Dohyuk…?”
A question even before he could finish his own question. Dohyuk was shocked. It wasn’t a ‘Yoo Dohyuk’, but ‘Dohyuk’. It was easy to guess that the man knew Dohyuk personally.
“Is… is it really you?”
“…”
Dohyuk did not answer since he needed to organize his thoughts. But to the man, it might have been a bit of a letdown.
It was natural as the man chose to die by taking a blade to his heart that was aimed at Dohyuk.