Chapter 199 : Homecoming
Chapter 199: Homecoming
Helena paced around the enormous Gate.
Looking anxious, she bit at her fingernails.
It had already been a week since he entered Void Space and disappeared.
One week.
It was a long time if you considered it long, and a short time if you considered it short.
But for those who had already lost Yoo Seongwoo once, it was more than enough time to stir their anxiety.
“Why the hell is this guy taking so long?”
Helena stared fearfully at her phone.
Countless missed calls and messages had piled up on it.
Ninety percent of them came from one person.
Seo Da-hee, who had opposed Yoo Seongwoo going into Void Space from the very beginning.
With him still not returning after an entire week, her anxiety had exploded.
At first, Helena had replied to every message one by one to calm her down, but as each day passed, Seo Da-hee’s obsession grew worse.
Over the past week, Helena had ended up seeing entirely new sides of Seo Da-hee.
Who would have imagined that such a side was hidden within the kind, cheerful woman who was friendly to everyone?
If access to the ‘Gate’ hadn’t been strictly controlled by the government, Seo Da-hee would probably have stormed into this place long ago, and not only that, thrown herself directly into Void Space to find him.
Cursing Yoo Seongwoo, Helena irritably kicked a stone nearby.
Because he hadn’t returned for a week, she too had ended up stuck here.
“When he gets back, I seriously need to tie him up somewhere or lock him away.”
At that moment, something changed within the Gate.
It wasn’t a visibly obvious change.
Her body reacted first.
Every hair on her body stood on end, and all of her senses focused on the Gate.
Something was trying to come out.
But was the one coming out really Yoo Seongwoo?
The presence she felt from beyond was far too ferocious to believe it belonged to him.
At that instant, brilliant light burst from the fissure leading into Void Space.
A familiar figure shot out from within.
A human silhouette blazing while wrapped in dazzling radiance.
It was Yoo Seongwoo.
But he wasn’t alone.
There was a woman beside him.
Yoo Seongwoo shouted,
“Helena, Breath!”
The command came without warning, but she followed it.
Mana instantly condensed at the Sword Tip of her weapon.
Natural Mana gathered to its limit and fired.
Kwaaaaaa!
Dragon Breath slammed into the fissure leading to Void Space.
At the same time, Yoo Seongwoo stretched out his hand and closed the Gate.
Krrrrrr, boom!
The enormous Gate’s light faded as it shut.
After confirming that the Gate had completely closed, Yoo Seongwoo collapsed on the spot.
Unusually for him, his entire body was drenched in sweat.
“Huuuuugh…….”
A bizarre wheezing sound escaped his mouth.
“What in the world happened?”
Helena approached him and asked.
With his eyes closed, he muttered softly.
“Later. I’ll tell you later.”
“Wait…. Are you seriously falling asleep right now?”
Utterly dumbfounded, Helena poked his body a few times.
Then a voice she had never heard before came from behind her.
It was an extraordinarily beautiful voice.
“Leave him be. He exhausted his vital energy rescuing this lady.”
Helena turned around and temporarily lost the ability to speak.
She knew why Yoo Seongwoo had gone into Void Space.
It was to rescue the Heavenly Demon, his master who had sacrificed herself to save him from Pandemonium.
Because of her sacrifice, Pandemonium’s strength had been weakened, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this had greatly influenced their victory in the war.
But even knowing all that, Helena was overwhelmed when she actually saw the person before her.
The Heavenly Demon recognized Helena.
“Your face is familiar. Child, are you a friend of my useless disciple?”
“Yes…….”
“It seems there is much this lady must hear.”
By the time I opened my eyes, everything was already over.
I woke up in a hospital room.
Several familiar voices could be heard nearby.
“That useless disciple of mine had no cuteness whatsoever even as a child. He used to sigh all day long like some old man who had already lived through everything in the world.”
“Do you happen to have any photos from back then?”
“Photos? I have none.”
“Ah…….”
As I slowly sat up, everyone’s attention focused on me.
“You are awake.”
“Master……?”
“Yes.”
It had been several months since I last saw her.
My master, who had sacrificed herself for her disciple.
Until just before the End revived, I had believed she was dead.
I didn’t burst into tears or become overwhelmed with emotion.
All of that sentiment had been shattered into pieces while we were fleeing from the Inhabitant of the Void.
Even so, seeing her standing perfectly fine before me made my chest ache for no reason.
“How long was I unconscious?”
“Not very long. Perhaps half a double-hour.”
“I see.”
“I heard everything from your friend.”
With those words, she reached out.
Her graceful hand lightly settled atop my head.
Her hand was cold.
“You worked hard. And you did well. You have truly grown up now.”
“…….”
Something surged into my throat.
I desperately swallowed it back down.
I didn’t want to cry now of all times.
I simply lowered my head and felt her hand against me.
For a while, she did not remove it from my head.
“Ahem.”
Then someone cleared their throat nearby.
“Your partner appears jealous.”
The Heavenly Demon wasn’t the only one in the hospital room.
Helena, who had helped open the Gate, was there, along with Seo Da-hee, who had apparently arrived at some point.
She stared at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read.
I hadn’t done anything wrong, yet for some reason, I still felt guilty.
Seo Da-hee had known I was entering Void Space to rescue the Heavenly Demon.
I had even told her that it might take several days.
Even so, the fact that her expression looked this bad showed how worried she must have been.
I cautiously looked at her.
“Big Sis……?”
Seo Da-hee stared at me silently before sighing.
“This is really the end now, right? You’re not going anywhere else, are you?”
“Hmm.”
“Why are you thinking about it?”
Her eyes turned cold.
“No. You never know what might happen in life.”
“What?”
“That was a slip of the tongue. Where would I possibly go?”
Only then did she nod in satisfaction.
Watching us, the Heavenly Demon smiled faintly.
“Disciple, this lady likes that child.”
“I really like you too, Heavenly Demon.”
Seo Da-hee cheerfully agreed from beside her.
I stared at the scene in disbelief.
When had they gotten this close?
Hadn’t they met less than an hour ago?
Yet they were getting along like mother and daughter.
Seo Da-hee’s social skills were occasionally impressive enough to deserve respect.
After some more time passed, the others began arriving one after another.
I told them I had only briefly exhausted myself and that there was no need to come, yet they had gone out of their way to visit anyway.
I stared at someone with thoroughly unimpressed eyes.
“Greetings. I am Dan Chun-woo, Yoo Seongwoo’s one and only closest friend.”
“Did that bastard eat something weird?”
I looked toward Park Siwoo and Helena.
But their expressions weren’t much different from mine.
That was how impossible Dan Chun-woo’s current appearance was to get used to.
First of all, his clothes were excessive.
What kind of lunatic wore a tailored suit to visit a friend in the hospital?
On top of that, his shoulder-length hair was far more glamorous than usual, as though he had gone to a professional stylist.
“Did that bastard even put on perfume?”
“Seems like it.”
“Has he seriously lost his mind?”
Dan Chun-woo ignored everything we said behind his back and continued trying to sell himself to the Heavenly Demon.
“Looks like he’s fallen hard.”
Park Siwoo grinned at me.
I hated that grin, so I punched him.
“Ghk!”
“But seriously, does that guy have no fear?”
It felt strange saying this as her disciple, but the Heavenly Demon’s public image wasn’t exactly good.
She had been the most mysterious of Pandemonium’s High-ranking Executives, and her notoriety had reached the heavens.
Of course, the Heavenly Demon had never personally harmed the world.
Her relationship with Pandemonium had only ever been cooperative.
She had never once involved herself in Pandemonium’s operations.
Then why had she become so infamous in this world?
It was because of an incident in the past.
Back when the Heavenly Demon’s existence was still unknown to the world,
Heroes learned about Pandemonium’s new High-ranking Executive through spies who had infiltrated Pandemonium.
It was an enormous topic even among Pandemonium’s Demonic Humans.
After all, a new face had been added to the pinnacle of the Demonic Humans, a hierarchy that hadn’t changed for hundreds of years.
For the Heroes of the time, this was an extremely serious matter.
Pandemonium’s forces were already powerful.
If another powerful individual joined them, the delicate balance of power could instantly tilt to one side.
So the Heroes came up with a clever plan.
They would bring several Top-ranking Heroes and other Heroes to eliminate the Heavenly Demon.
Of course, everyone knew how that ended.
The Heavenly Demon was not merciful enough to spare people who attacked her.
Of the two Top-ranking Heroes who attacked her and the other Heroes sent as reinforcements,
not a single one survived.
That incident alone turned her into an object of fear among both Demonic Humans and Heroes.
“What a weird taste that bastard has.”
Of course, the Heavenly Demon was truly breathtakingly beautiful.
But she also gave off an aura that made her seem utterly unapproachable.
Dan Chun-woo seemed completely captivated by that very aura.
I shook my head as I watched him lose himself in front of the Heavenly Demon.
He was dreaming an impossible dream.
I simply prayed for the soul of the bastard who would soon be crying bitterly from heartbreak.
“But why are we still here?”
At Helena’s question, I asked,
“What do you mean?”
“No, you’re already awake. There’s no reason for us to keep hanging around here, is there?”
“There’s still one more person coming.”
Helena tilted her head.
“Someone else is coming?”
“Yeah. The most important person.”
I checked my phone.
She should be here soon.
Speak of the tiger, and the hospital room door rattled open.
A cute little girl stood there.
“Ah.”
The girl—no, Wol-ah—stared at the Heavenly Demon in disbelief.
Her eyes trembled pitifully as she alternated between looking at me and the Heavenly Demon.
“M-Mr. Seongwoo……?”
“It’s been a long time since you saw Master. Aren’t you going to say hello?”
“Ah…… Uuu…….”
Large tears gathered in Wol-ah’s eyes.
Seeing that, the Heavenly Demon opened her arms toward Wol-ah.
As though telling her to come into her embrace.
Unable to hold back any longer, Wol-ah began to cry.
The others nearby also wiped at their eyes when they saw the little girl’s tears.
Wol-ah slowly walked toward the Heavenly Demon.
Her steps gradually quickened until she finally broke into a run.
“Mommy!”
Wol-ah had always addressed the Heavenly Demon respectfully as “Heavenly Demon” and treated her with the utmost courtesy.
But at this moment, she was no longer the Heavenly Demon’s attendant or the mature, dependable child she had always been.
She became nothing more than a child her age.
“Waaaaah! Why, why did you take so long to come back?! I thought I’d never see you again!”
Holding Wol-ah in her arms, the Heavenly Demon embraced her tenderly and whispered,
“I am sorry I came back so late. I missed you.”
A tear I had been holding back finally slipped down my cheek.