Chapter 126
Chapter 126: The Hero's Funeral (2)
Nearby, a quiet location somewhere.
Im Ye-rin's hideout was a small apartment that looked to be about five pyeong.
"Pretty cramped, right? Still livable, though."
Im Ye-rin cleared away some of her things and gestured for me to sit.
"Ye-rin. What are you doing here?"
"Hiding. You really have to ask?"
She answered without a care in the world.
"Out of sight, out of mind, as they say. With all those noisy protests happening around the embassy every day, nobody pays this place any attention. It's safe. And the rent's cheap."
Is this something a girl who was a college student until not long ago could actually think of?
"Chief Han taught me before. Sometimes when a tiger is chasing you, the tiger's den is actually the safest place."
Well, the role model taught her well.
"So I borrowed my cousin's ID and rented a place through Airbnb."
Im Ye-rin said it as if she'd seen right through me.
"You're not sitting? You going to drink your tea standing there?"
"Fine."
I sat down in the chair.
She prepared some coffee.
"Tae-yang. What have you been up to all this time?"
"Just stayed busy. Raised some cattle."
"Cattle?"
"Something like that."
I changed the subject away from the words that had slipped out carelessly.
"The location's good for a hideout. But I noticed there were nicer places up for rent nearby—do you not care about that sort of thing? The vibe?"
Im Ye-rin let out a small laugh at that.
"Vibes have to match the situation. What kind of vibe can you afford when you're broke?"
"You had quite a bit, I heard."
"Kim Tae-yang. I spent it all booking the same hotel you stayed at just to follow you! God, the prices. I nearly split myself in two trying to keep up with you."
"You should've asked Elder Choi to send more."
"Chief Han told me not to use my phone. I barely have any money left—what am I supposed to do? It's fine, I'm satisfied."
Is that so.
Good thing she's got a positive attitude.
Not really my concern, anyway.
I threw out a casual joke.
"You should've told Chief Han not to book such a big room."
"Even so, I'm alive because of Chief Han. She got me out back then, and we were supposed to meet near the embassy. I'm still waiting to hear from her."
While she went to fetch the coffee, I looked out the window.
The Murim Tower was visible.
From Bo-reum's room you could see the Eiffel Tower—this was the opposite.
‘That one is hope. That one is despair.’
I was idly recalling what Bo-reum had said as she gazed at the Murim Tower when the coffee arrived.
"You can always feel the vibes next time at the Louvre. Oh—have you been to the Louvre?"
"The Louvre?"
"You came to Paris and you haven't even been to the Louvre?"
She tapped the pyramid drawn on the coffee cup with her fingertip.
"I'll go sometime."
"Alright. I'll give you a tour. I'm on my tenth visit to the Louvre, you know."
‘Easy for her to say, I thought.’
The aroma of the coffee she'd given me was lovely.
Slurp—.
"This is good."
"I'm hiding out with nothing else to do, so I've been brewing coffee all day long. I've gotten pretty good at it."
I sipped my coffee and looked around her room.
There was a Scarlet Scale Shield.
"Nice, isn't it?"
"Looks like your master gave it to you."
"Yeah. It's the shield of Aegis."
……This woman really doesn't listen.
‘Should've gotten her to sign it if I'd known it would come to this.’
"Why?"
Im Ye-rin let out a long, slow sigh.
"He passed away. You know that, so why are you asking?"
"……"
"Sorry. That's not something I should be saying in front of you. I was babbling about something else and it just slipped out…… You must be feeling a tremendous sense of loss."
"Well. I'm fine."
I finished my coffee.
She took the cup over to the sink and started washing it.
"I feel so unsettled. I wanted to be like the Nameless Hero."
"I thought Chief Han was your role model."
"That too, but the Chivalrous Hero is impressive in their own way."
"Is that so."
She paused mid-wash and turned to look at me.
"Kim Tae-yang, you really do talk about everything like it doesn't concern you."
"Why?"
"Aren't you sad? Your master passed away! And you're out here making jokes about raising cattle or whatever."
"It doesn't feel real yet."
"I cried my eyes out for days. Can't you see my eyes are still puffy?"
She walked over and shoved her face right at me.
I leaned back and made an awkward expression.
"Even without the master, we still have Ghost."
"How can you say something like that?"
Im Ye-rin's voice rose.
"Look outside! Do you think all those people out there are going crazy for nothing? The grief is just as great as the hope the Nameless Hero brought. "
She pointed out the window.
"I know! I know that the Golden Tower is the result of Ghost's conquests. But the Nameless Hero accomplished things no less—no, maybe even greater than Ghost!"
"……"
"Ghost is, how do I put it…… Like a star up in the sky. Reassuring, but somehow distant. But the Nameless Hero is different. Right there beside us."
Tap tap tap.
She rapped the table.
"If Ghost is like a father figure, then the Nameless Hero is like a mother who's always right there, helping out one thing at a time. A mom who cheers you on from your side, telling you to hang in there, that you can do it! Tae-yang. Could you live without your mom? Hey! I'm asking if you could!"
She was worked up into a real frenzy.
"After the Nameless Hero appeared, the conquest method for the Murim Tower came out. I'm already on my way to the fourteenth floor. The reason I'm not even afraid of that fourteenth floor everyone calls hell is entirely because of their conquest method and the Chivalrous Hero's Secret Medicine! Don't you know that because of them, new climbers like me multiplied several times over?"
I said nothing.
Her voice and gestures grew more and more intense.
"And that's not all! Not long ago, it was the Nameless Hero who even created the antidote for the supposedly impregnable thirty-seventh floor! You saw the announcement made in France. The Nameless Hero is everyone's hope! Since the Murim Tower appeared, everyone's been living what feels like a march toward death, inside a tunnel of despair. And then they showed us a light!"
Im Ye-rin's eyes glistened with tears.
She bit her lip and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
"Phew. Sorry for yelling…… Ugh, I honestly don't know what's gotten into me."
She sat down in her chair and pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them close.
"I was feeling so suffocated, stuck in here all the time, so I went out. I went to the embassy on the chance I might catch a glimpse of Chief Han through a window. And then I thought I saw you."
"……"
"I thought you'd come to the embassy feeling the same way. I was a little surprised to find out you hadn't…… But I'm not disappointed. If anything, you must be the one who's disappointed."
I mulled it over.
The Nameless Hero had been far too exposed.
They were receiving an enormous amount of attention—and by that same measure, Kim Tae-yang was in danger.
If they were the light, then Kim Tae-yang was the shadow.
When the light disappears, so does the shadow.
The Nameless Hero was something I'd intended to quietly erase from the world, for my own convenience.
Of course, the Nameless Hero brought in Happiness Points, but even with a death ruling, the points kept coming in.
And there was still ‘Ghost’ remaining, and if necessary, I could just create another identity.
It was nothing more than a mask I'd worn—I never gave it much thought.
And yet, there were people who felt this deeply about it……
"Bring back the Nameless Hero! Bring them back!"
The rowdy clamor of the protesters filtered in from outside the window.
I recalled the messages I'd seen upon transmigrating.
【You have spread far too much suffering into the world.】
【Fill the world with happiness, and one wish will be granted.】
She stood up.
"Sorry. As an apology, I'll make you dinner. There's a Korean mart next to the embassy, so I picked some things up. How does kimchi fried rice sound? It's instant rice, but."
Right.
I'd made up my mind.
"Im Ye-rin."
"Yeah?"
"The master. They're still alive."
* * *
Park Jae-yeol stood watching the tens of thousands of people gathered near the Versailles Murim Tower.
His bodyguards kept their distance from Park Jae-yeol, and only Pyeon Jae-yeong stood by his side.
"There are more people today than yesterday."
"Yes. Police estimate thirty thousand."
"Then it's close to a hundred thousand."
"That it is. We were the same way."
The people swarming like ants were a sight to behold.
Had there ever been this many people gathered near Versailles in all of French history?
It wasn't just French people.
There were Koreans, Asians from China and Japan, North Americans, and even Arabs.
Though it was late and cold, well past December, people had gathered to sing and pray.
"Today is D-Day."
"How many hours are left?"
"About two hours."
A few days prior, a post had begun circulating on the internet.
'The Nameless Hero is alive. They will be resurrected on such-and-such a date.'
At first, no one believed it.
But attached to that post was a single photograph—and in the corner of that photograph, the most famous sword in the world was visible.
The Iron Instrument God's Sword, which had been offered as a prize on Korea's Super Climber K.
The Iron Instrument God's Sword was known to the world by name only, never having been properly revealed.
Tower climbing was directly tied to each nation's survival, and the Iron Instrument God's Sword was like a nation's secret weapon.
And so Korea's Iron Instrument God's Sword, revealed during a live broadcast, was the most famous of all—and the one who owned that sword was the Nameless Hero.
The post featuring a photograph of that sword caused a tremendous stir.
Without anyone telling them to, people began flocking to the area around the Versailles Murim Tower.
A natural consequence.
Ghost and the Nameless Hero were practically seen as a pair.
If the Nameless Hero was dead, Ghost would leave France—and the Golden Tower they were creating would disappear with them.
But if they were alive?
The only way Ghost and the Nameless Hero could announce their survival in a manner befitting a drama was through the Golden Tower.
"To the Murim Tower!"
Starting with a few hundred, then several thousand the next day—and now, a hundred thousand had gathered.
At the Arc de Triomphe, a police-estimated ten thousand; at the Eiffel Tower, thirty thousand.
"Haah."
Park Jae-yeol and Pyeon Jae-yeong let out a low groan at the sight.
"It's staggering. No matter how much they carry on, the dead won't come back to life. The Nameless Hero is no god."
"They probably don't genuinely expect it, either. They're doing it because they're anxious."
"I suppose you're right. Gathered here making all this noise."
Fuuu—.
Park Jae-yeol drew a long drag of his cigarette and exhaled the smoke like a sigh.
He asked Pyeon Jae-yeong:
"Minister Pyeon, what does it look like to you—what are they doing out there?"
"It looks like a festival. Or perhaps a worship service."
"Doesn't it look like a funeral?"
"That too…… It does."
Pyeon Jae-yeong noticed that embedded in Park Jae-yeol's earlier words was a fair amount of his own wishful thinking.
Park Jae-yeol and the Nameless Hero had not parted on good terms.
His approval ratings, which had collapsed, were on a rapid recovery trajectory—propelled by the image of a strong leader standing against the enemy that was France.
The situation couldn't be called perfect just yet, but finally visible again was the path of ‘kingship’.
And on top of that, still five years or so remaining.
The antidote the Nameless Hero had created was also being rapidly researched for replication by the Miraejegwa Group.
‘There's still a chance.’
Park Jae-yeol wanted the Nameless Hero's resurrection less than anyone else in the world.
Pyeon Jae-yeong, on the contrary, couldn't conceal his regret.
[Why don't we try joining hands?]
If the Nameless Hero was truly alive, brushing aside someone like Park Jae-yeol, who was busy talking about funerals, would be no trouble at all.
But since the Nameless Hero had died, there was no way he could ever admit that he'd been about to switch sides to the Nameless Hero's camp.
Pyeon Jae-yeong's complicated feelings showed on his face.
Park Jae-yeol asked,
"Why do you look like that?"
"……It's nothing, Your Excellency."
"Speak."
"It's nothing."
"Come now."
Pyeon Jae-yeong opened his mouth with a sigh.
"A few months ago…… Someone said something to me."
"What was it?"
"That sometimes, there are individuals greater than nations."
"……"
Park Jae-yeol's expression showed he'd been struck, but he said nothing.
Pyeon Jae-yeong suppressed his true feelings and spoke to Park Jae-yeol.
"Please bear with it a little longer. The time the rumors have been floating around will soon come to an end."
"Will it?"
Park Jae-yeol answered with a question.
A tone edged with worry.
"Yes. At that point, as Your Excellency said, it will truly turn into a funeral."
"But here's the thing. What if……"
Park Jae-yeol hesitated before speaking.
"What if, truly. What if the Nameless Hero really does come back…… What should I do?"
Pyeon Jae-yeong recognized that as Park Jae-yeol's true feelings.
The explosion at Killian's mansion.
Among the wreckage, the DNA of the Nameless Hero—of a Korean—had never been found.
And so Park Jae-yeol could not, until the very end, let go of his anxiety.
"I keep thinking about it. Not long ago, when Chief Han Jang-mi appeared at the embassy—the head of security, who had been by my side for years, brought her right in front of me without a single report!"
"……"
"I gave my entire life to the military. That's precisely why I specially selected my bodyguards from military-background climbers. And yet they…… chose Chief Han."
Park Jae-yeol had been about to say ‘betrayed me’, but changed it to chose.
Pyeon Jae-yeong stared blankly into the air and spoke.
"The Republic of Korea isn't in a state of war right now. And Your Excellency is a soldier who has never experienced actual war, either."
Park Jae-yeol turned his head.
"The Murim Tower is different. Inside it, people fight with their lives truly on the line. To them, Chief Han is a master, a patriot who risked her life for her country, and…… a comrade-in-arms."
At Pyeon Jae-yeong's words, Park Jae-yeol clenched his fist tightly.
It was not what he had wanted to hear.
Park Jae-yeol asked again:
"The Nameless Hero, if they come back…… if they truly come back, will my bodyguards and soldiers stand in front of me then? Hey? I think it might be possible if I could get Chief Han on my side."
Park Jae-yeol's voice was trembling.
Pyeon Jae-yeong couldn't find words for a moment.
To think that inside the shell of a powerful soldier—there was this frail old man.
He looked at Park Jae-yeol and answered.
"Then you'd have to accept it. No—you'd have no choice but to accept it."
"……"
"How could anyone win?"
Pyeon Jae-yeong gazed at the hundred thousand people with distant eyes and spoke.
"Against a god."