Chapter 190 : Happy Ending
Chapter 190: Happy Ending
[Here is the next news. We have received reports that the extermination of Pandemonium’s remnants is facing difficulties.]
[The enormous Gate that appeared at Sirius Academy. Just what exactly is it?]
[Recorded footage of the battle that took place at the Academy continues to make headlines after being leaked. It has been revealed that the individuals fighting Pandemonium’s High-ranking Executives in the footage were Academy Cadets.]
The End was dead.
At last, the war was over.
The news, newspapers, and every other form of media were busy talking about the war every single day.
Although the war had ended, the world was still in chaos.
The damage caused by the battlefield was immense.
Countless people had lost their lives.
Heroes and civilians alike.
The scars the End had left upon the world were enormous, and recovering from them would take a considerable amount of time.
After Pandemonium’s leadership met their deaths at the hands of the Heroes, the Demonic Humans who had lost their center scattered in every direction.
The Heroes pursued the remnants, but they would not be able to uproot them completely.
Little by little, the world began restoring and rebuilding the scars left by the war.
In the crimson-stained sky, the sun was slowly disappearing.
A faint puff of white breath escaped Park Siwoo’s lips.
Winter was approaching.
Someone walked up beside him.
“It’s already been a week.”
“Yeah. I don’t even remember how I spent it.”
“Well, of course you don’t. You were unconscious for four days.”
Park Siwoo let out a hollow laugh at those words.
The past week had been overwhelmingly hectic for them.
Recovering from the wounds they had suffered in the battle against the End was already difficult enough.
Then portions of the battle at the Academy spread to the public, bringing not only reporters but people from all kinds of places to seek them out.
The Sword Emperor and Cheon Ga-eun had managed to keep most of them away after learning what was happening, but there was nothing they could do about the attention surrounding them or the rumors being spread.
“So, how’s your body?”
“About the same as yours.”
“So it feels like shit.”
Although they had received treatment and undergone surgery, both Park Siwoo and Helena required absolute rest and would have to spend several months recuperating.
Even so, they started moving around the moment they became capable of walking.
Their doctors and Nurses had been horrified.
That was only natural when people who had practically been half corpses just a few days earlier were now walking around like this.
“It’s getting cold. Should we go inside?”
Park Siwoo asked Helena.
Helena nodded.
The two entered the building together.
Both Helena and Park Siwoo were dressed in black.
His memorial hall was desolate.
There was no photograph hanging where a portrait of the deceased should have been.
Anyone else looking at the place might not even realize a funeral was being held there.
“Siwoo and Helena?”
A familiar voice reached them.
The two, who had thought they were the first to arrive, widened their eyes.
“Senior Da-hee.”
“Why are you already here? Isn’t your treatment still unfinished?”
“Strenuous movement is difficult, but I can walk just fine. And if we don’t come, who will?”
He had no family.
There were even fewer people who would mourn his death.
The Hero Association had defined him as evil, while the Demonic Humans regarded him as a traitor.
The world did not know that he had been a true Hero who sacrificed himself for it.
But that didn’t matter.
They remembered what he had done for the world.
There might be few people who mourned his death, but those few cherished him more than anyone else.
Park Siwoo had no intention of simply allowing him to be forgotten.
Park Siwoo and Helena entered the memorial hall with Seo Da-hee and talked.
Naturally, the subject of their conversation was Yoo Seongwoo.
They remembered the things that had happened with him and reminisced about him.
“It still doesn’t feel real. I must’ve thought dozens of times that maybe Seongwoo is still alive.”
Originally, Seo Da-hee should have died together with Yoo Seongwoo.
The only reason she had remained alive was because of the Homunculus Core bound to Yoo Seongwoo.
But she hadn’t died.
The same was true for Lia.
Because of that, the two women secretly hoped for a miracle.
Perhaps the man who had died would return.
As time passed, people began arriving at the memorial hall one by one.
The first visitors were Instructor Kang Jae-seok and Instructor Mabel.
For the two who had worked at the Academy for many years, sending off a student before themselves was not a first.
From the moment one chose Hero as a lifelong profession, death was always close at hand.
Looking at the empty place where the memorial portrait should have been, Kang Jae-seok took something from his pocket.
“Oh, that’s…….”
Instructor Mabel smiled faintly when she saw it.
What he had taken out was none other than a photograph.
It was a group photo of Class A taken back when Yoo Seongwoo had attended the Academy.
“This should be fine.”
Yoo Seongwoo hadn’t left behind even a single photograph.
Not only was he never the type to enjoy having his picture taken,
but all official materials connected to him had been confiscated or disposed of after his identity as the S-rank Villain Devil Knight became known.
The same applied to group photographs.
Yet Instructor Kang Jae-seok had secretly kept one.
Of course, he had never imagined it would be used like this.
The next person to arrive was Dan Chun-woo.
The Sword Emperor and Sword Empress Dan Yehwa were with him.
Park Siwoo and Helena greeted Dan Chun-woo.
“You came.”
“I’m a little late.”
“But that child is……?”
A small child was standing beside Dan Chun-woo.
A girl who didn’t even look five years old.
Her face was familiar.
“She was definitely with Hero Baek Hyun-joong…….”
“She had nowhere to go, so I’m only looking after her temporarily.”
Wol-ah blankly looked around.
She had come because she had been told Yoo Seongwoo was here, but she couldn’t see him anywhere.
“Um, where is Mr. Seongwoo?”
At that innocent question, Park Siwoo looked at Wol-ah with pity.
“What’s going to happen to that child?”
“She’ll probably be sent to an orphanage. There’s no guardian who can take care of her.”
Perhaps that girl was the closest thing Yoo Seongwoo had to family.
That was why they wanted to help somehow, but there was little they themselves could do.
Then Wol-ah looked somewhere and murmured.
“Mr. Seongwoo?”
Everyone there turned their heads at once.
But their hopes were not fulfilled.
The person Wol-ah had mistaken for Yoo Seongwoo was none other than Eunha.
At the disappointed sighs around her, Cheon Ga-eun frowned.
“What’s with those reactions?”
Although everyone present had accepted his death, all of them still reacted to those three syllables—Yoo Seongwoo.
Perhaps they were still expecting him to suddenly appear before them as though nothing had happened.
Because that was what he had always done until now.
Seeing the small photograph placed beside the empty memorial portrait, Cheon Ga-eun shoved a hand into her pocket.
“Don’t tell me…….”
Helena looked at Cheon Ga-eun uneasily.
What she pulled out was, naturally, a cigarette.
“That bastard would probably prefer this to incense.”
Several more people came afterward.
Joo Sarang, whose face they hadn’t seen for quite some time, also arrived, as did Master Gu Ryun, who had crafted the weapons used against the End, and his disciple, the 7th Smith.
And three days later, the time finally came to truly send him away.
What exactly was death?
Was it when the heart stopped and the body ceased functioning?
Or was it when the existence called ‘me’ disappeared and returned to Void?
If death meant the annihilation of the consciousness called me, then perhaps I wasn’t dead yet.
I was sitting in a hospital room.
The place where I had spent so much time in my previous life.
This was where I had started <Become a Hero>.
I looked at the person in front of me.
A figure who didn’t fit the surrounding scenery was looking back at me.
She wore a white toga and possessed an unreal appearance.
I had definitely never seen her face before, yet I felt like I knew exactly who she was.
In a situation like this, there could only be one person who would appear before me.
“Metatron…….”
She had protected me from the End in the form of the skill 【Lamb】.
Even when the End revived and tried to absorb me.
Was she happy that I recognized her?
She smiled and nodded.
“It’s nice to finally meet you like this. I always wanted to meet you at least once.”
In a way, she was the cause behind everything.
Countless emotions crossed through me.
It was difficult to accept that everything was over.
Was this really the end?
The End was dead.
At the very last moment, after losing everything, he struggled desperately before dying to Park Siwoo’s spear.
Fortunately, no one had died.
Everyone had suffered severe injuries and enormous physical exhaustion that would require lengthy recuperation, but—
no one had died.
It was the Happy Ending I had wanted so desperately.
Of course, I wasn’t part of it.
Then Metatron spoke.
“You worked very hard.”
“Ah…….”
You worked very hard.
Those few words melted something inside my chest.
At the same time, reality finally sank in.
There was nothing more for me to do here.
It felt as though I had finished a long journey and was finally going home.
And yet I couldn’t help feeling regret.
I wanted to stay for just one more day.
I couldn’t bring myself to leave.
It had been less than a year.
There had certainly been plenty of difficult things, and I had gone through every hardship imaginable.
But perhaps because of that, the bonds I had formed here had become far too precious.
I couldn’t bring myself to leave behind everything I had built here.
Countless lingering attachments held me back.
“What happens to me now?”
I was afraid of what she might say.
What would happen to me?
Would the existence called ‘me’ simply disappear?
Would I go to Heaven or Hell, like people believed?
Or perhaps I would be born again as someone new within the cycle of reincarnation?
Metatron finally spoke.
“I have many things to apologize to you for—no, to this entire world. The End was a burden that I and the Angels should have dealt with. My shortcomings caused this world and all of you to suffer.”
“So that’s why you called me into this world.”
“……Yes.”
She lowered her head toward me in apology.
“No matter what anyone says, you are the savior who rescued this world. You practically did what I should have done in my place.”
Hearing that only made my regret grow stronger.
Then unbelievable words came from her mouth.
“When I sealed the End, I made one decision. I would never allow the person who inherited my burden to suffer the same fate I did.”
“Wait. You mean…….”
A blue message window appeared in front of me.
【Congratulations! You have unlocked the Happy Ending.】
【We applaud your journey.】
【A reward will be granted.】
【The Hidden Piece of the skill 【Lamb】 activates.】
【The special effect Miracle activates.】
【The Player’s body is restored.】
【The skill 【Lamb】 disappears.】
Everything happened far too suddenly.
Her body began turning into light and dissipating.
I understood instinctively.
She was using every last bit of her remaining power to bring me back to life.
“I have always watched over you and cheered you on. To you, who saved this world, the reward you deserve…… May blessings accompany you throughout the journey ahead.”
She reached out and pulled me tightly into her embrace.
My consciousness began fading.
At the same time, I could feel it returning to my body.
I was going back.
Back to the place where people were waiting for me.