The Strongest Oppa in History - Chapter 428
Chapter 429: Epilogue (6)
At Yggdrasil’s comment about dying if infected with the void once more, Kim Sehoon suddenly burst into laughter.
His laughter was hearty, like that of an adult taking a sip of beer.
After laughing uproariously for a long while, Kim Sehoon’s gaze turned toward the deceased Raon.
“All things return to their rightful place… In the end, everything returns to the right path. Yes, Raon. You were right. They exist. Oh yes, this is how it should be. If I lose you alone and gain everything else, such an ending… would be the height of absurdity.”
Despite being faced with the worst possible situation, Kim Sehoon did not waver.
Perhaps he had foreseen this.
If the countless sins he had committed were to go unpunished, who would live their lives righteously in the future? In the end, the knot had to be untied by the one who tied it.
He had brought all of this upon himself, and he had to resolve it.
Yes. No matter the price.
“Yggdrasil, let me ask you something. If I head to the Byway, what will happen to the reserve logout server prepared for the 150 people?”
“I cannot guarantee that the reserve server will last long either. It is highly likely that… it will be infected by the void and rendered useless while Master is on his way to the Byway through Heaven.”
“If I fail, I will lose everything. My precious people, humanity’s 1 billion lives, my own life… everything.”
“That is correct. That is why I would like you to choose the 150 people. Even if you were to come to Heaven now, there is no guarantee that you will safely reach the Byway from there, which is consumed by the void. In other words, it would be inefficient and a long shot.”
Kim Sehoon’s mind raced.
“There is no guarantee…”
“Master. Choose what is most certain. What is right before your eyes.” Choi Ara approached Kim Sehoon, who was deep in thought with a sorrowful expression.
She carefully took hold of Kim Sehoon’s thumb with her small hand.
As if afraid that he might push her away, Choi Ara held his thumb instead of his hand, and Kim Sehoon gently stroked her head.
“Ara.”
Choi Ara said nothing in response to Kim Sehoon’s call.
She simply hung her head as if all of this were her fault and sobbed quietly.
Kim Sehoon wiped away Choi Ara’s silent tears with his index finger and said,
“Sejeong. That kid… He’s really something. He turned down my offer to become an operator, stubbornly chose to reincarnate, and even in the midst of all that… he worried about me.”
-Oppa, do you know why humans have to go through life, old age, illness, and death? Because it’s necessary. People have to get sick to come to their senses, regret things when they get old, repent when faced with death, and have lives in order to feel happiness. So don’t worry about me and take care of yourself. I just hope that Oppa… has no regrets.
That kid had always been like that. He was an incorrigible fool and an idiot.
He willingly suffered losses and received hatred if it meant he could avoid being hated, and he simply laughed it off if he got hit in the face and it didn’t make him bleed.
One day, I asked him.
Why do you live like that?
Why are you so foolish?
-Why? Because instead of being a greedy person who lives alone, I think it would be better to be an idiot who is loved by everyone.
Then I asked him what would happen if he lost everything.
-Take it if you want. I can live without it. Hey, and even though I’m a sucker, I’m not an idiot. I won’t get scammed or do anything drastic or get hurt. Hmm, I have some sense, you know.
Then what if people treat you like an invalid? I asked.
-They’ll come looking for me eventually, right? Do you know why people like the ocean and trees? Because they give without expecting anything in return. So… there may be people who treat suckers like idiots, but there’s no one who hates them.
Why do you live like that? I asked.
-Because it makes me feel good. Actually, I’m not kind. I do it because I want to, so how can that be kind? So maybe… I’m a coward. A coward who doesn’t have the courage to be hated by people.
That’s why Kim Se-jung was an idiot and a fool.
But why?
Kim Se-hoon was always dazzled by her.
Yes. Just like someone had told him, she was his light.
Maybe that was why.
He had tried to paint her in his own colors.
Of course, he had failed in the end.
Kim Se-hoon mumbled.
“If it were that guy, he wouldn’t have hesitated.”
“…Mister…
Kim Se-hoon stroked Choi Ah-ra’s head affectionately and said.
“The only thing that bothers me is that the end of my precious people is being chosen and manipulated by someone like me. But… I can’t help it. No matter what… it’s my fault, and I can’t turn my back on my people.”
“Mister. Dead people can’t speak. So no one… will be able to hate you.”
Was it because she was trying so hard to comfort him?
Kim Se-hoon smiled.
“Ara. If you get out of here and survive… you’ll find out then. Just like dead people can’t speak, the ears of the living are open.”
What good is it to live after sacrificing 1 billion lives?
The living would have to carry that weight on their shoulders and live their whole lives in guilt.
They would imagine the words they could not utter and suffer and be in pain.
Of course, the 150 people he had saved would not remember this.
However, when they asked why they were the only ones who survived, Kim Se-hoon could not bring himself to lie to their faces.
And he was not sure if they could handle the weight of the truth.
Kim Se-hoon opened his mouth.
“Yggdrasil.”
“Yes. Master.”
“The location of the secluded place with the glass tube that Raon mentioned. You know it, right?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Go and clean it up for me.”
“No problem.”
“Oh, by the way, what happened to Sin Jesis and Gyul?”
“Gyul won, and I collected the torn body of Sin Jesis. However… Gyul is not in good condition.”
Sin Jesis is said to be strong, but he is still Raon’s creation.
He was no match for Gyul, whom Kim Se-hoon had created with his heart and soul.
Kim Se-hoon walked towards the huge body of the mechanical dragon lying on the battlefield and stroked its head.
“Gyul.”
-Krrr… Gyul blinked its camera lens-like eyes and stared at Kim Se-hoon.
The hulking figure, which had once been a force of nature, was now riddled with holes from the tendrils and its wings, which had once been able to blot out the sky, were now in tatters.
Kim Sehoon, who had been silently looking at the miserable figure of Kyul that had once fought alongside him in the Age of Genesis, opened his mouth.
“Yggdrasil. What will happen to Kyul if we leave?”
“Since Kyul is an AI subordinate to the System, it will remain in the Outer unless there is a separate task.”
“So it will be scrapped.”
“That is correct.”
“In the past, I remember uploading Kyul’s AI to the Outer and leaving its main body in reality… It’s been a while, but there shouldn’t be anything wrong with its main body, right?”
“Yes. I have been managing it separately, so there are no major problems.”
“Save Kyul’s AI data. I’m taking Kyul with me.”
“I understand. I will do as you say. However, as you know, Master… Kyul’s AI data is too large to be uploaded to the emergency logout server.”
“That doesn’t matter. I’m going to the Byway.”
“…Have you made up your mind?”
“Yes.”
“If you fail, you will not be able to save even those who could have been saved. Even so, will you do it?”
Kim Sehoon replied in a calm voice.
“I promised. I said I would repay the debt. Well, no matter how much of a fool I am… I can’t be such a loser that I would ignore my son’s last request.”
Yggdrasil emphasized in a clear and concise pronunciation.
“Do you really understand what I’m saying? I repeat, no matter how powerful you are, you cannot avoid death if you go to the Heavenly Realm. And Raon told you to live. So don’t you know that this is also a breach of promise?”
“I’m sorry for that guy, but… I’ll try my best, but if I can’t keep it, what can I do? Well, he must have known that I would only keep the promises I could keep. That’s the kind of guy he was.”
Yggdrasil tilted its head.
“I don’t understand. You have always valued your own people more than anyone else. You would have willingly died if you could save a friend by killing a hundred people, and if you could save your family by killing a thousand people, you would have done even more. But… why are you making this choice?”
Kim Sehoon chuckled and said.
“That’s why I’m in this shape. I became this wretched thing because I lived that way. I made a mistake. I regretted it. So… I have no choice but to stop making the same mistakes.”
Kim Sehoon, who had said that much, turned his gaze toward the still-standing Jiggido City.
Looking at the many people who were still in the city, Kim Sehoon smiled wryly.
Even at this moment, he felt sorry for himself for shirking his responsibility for them onto others.
“Yggdrasil. Leave the cleanup of Jiggido City to me.”
“Then Master…”
Kim Sehoon stared into the distance, beyond the sky.
“I’m going to the Heavenly Realm.”
Kim Sehoon reached the gate of the Heavenly Realm with just a flick of his thumb and forefinger.
Since he was proficient in the code of the Outer, there was nowhere he could not go if he knew the coordinates, so if he put his mind to it, he could even travel around the world in seconds.
However, Kim Sehoon’s expression was not good when he arrived at the entrance of the Heavenly Realm in an instant.
It was because he had felt uneasy while exercising his authority just now.
‘It’s getting harder and harder to manipulate the System. I have to get out of here quickly.’
A translucent message window appeared in front of Kim Sehun.
– Have you arrived?
o ” =
– As you may have already noticed, the system’s condition is worsening the more time passes.
“I felt a chill down my spine just from moving. It seems like… the system erosion caused by the Void is more severe than I thought.”
– It is as you have sensed… I am doing my best to resist, but it is only a matter of time before the system collapses.
“How much time do I have left?”
– 3 hours.
“… It’s much more urgent than I expected.”
– The erosion of the Void was much faster than expected.
“Okay, I think I’ve got the gist that I don’t have much time, so let’s get straight to the briefing.”
– Assuming there are no variables, it will take 30 minutes to traverse the Celestial Realm and reach the Byway. It will take 1 hour and 20 minutes to go outside through the Byway and separate and repair the system facilities that have been eroded by the Void. This is the estimated time I have calculated.
“A total of 1 hour and 50 minutes… So I have 1 hour and 10 minutes to spare? It’s both generous and urgent.”
– Excluding the 10 minutes it will take for the briefing, it is exactly 1 hour. However, keep in mind that this is the time assuming that there are no variables caused by the Void and that things go smoothly.
“What are the other variables to worry about? For example, issues related to reality. I don’t know, but I don’t think you would have paid much attention to that side since the system has become like this because of the Void.”
– You are sharp. Yes, that’s right. After the Vertex Project began and you were reincarnated in the lower realm, I have not paid any attention to that side at all. That’s because the Void erosion accelerated after you started your activities in earnest… I didn’t have time to pay attention to the outside.
“So reality… has been neglected for at least a hundred years?”
– Yes. Of course, I automated the facilities to maintain the system for at least a hundred years even in my absence. However… it seems that the external situation is much worse than Master thought, so I cannot guarantee that there will be no variables.
Kim Sehun frowned at the news that the external situation was not good.
“What the hell has been going on all this time? How much has changed outside? Could it be an issue that even you can’t handle?”
– That’s….
Rumble.
Thunder and lightning struck, and the gate of the Celestial Realm in front of Kim Sehun shook.
The Celestial Gate, a huge castle gate placed in the void.
Shadow fog rose from the gap there.
It looked like black smoke seeping out of the cracks in the entrance of a burning house.
Kim Sehun, who realized anew that he was running out of time, said.
“Okay. I’ll find out when I go out. Yggdrasil. When I go outside and take action, prepare the place where I am right away. That way, I’ll be able to fix the system quickly… Well, that’s only if I get out safely….”
With those words, Kim Sehun spread his arms left and right.
At his gesture, the Celestial Gate swung open, and the shadow fog that had been trapped inside gushed out like a whirlwind and covered his body. Kim Sehun covered his face with his arms as if he was wading through a typhoon and entered the gate.
And the door closed.
As if it would never open again.