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Jeong Gyeoul, caught in Chronos’s mutual destruction, arrived in the Monster Realm.

In the passageway leading to the Monster Realm, she pushed Chronos away.

Chronos was trapped in a dimensional rift, unable to escape forever.

For a villain who had shaken not only Korea but all neighboring countries, it was an absurdly anticlimactic ending.

“Familiar neighborhood, huh?”

“Sigh… How long do I have to endure this nonsense?”

While listening to Son Goku talk about the Monster Realm, she had anticipated that such a day would come.

But she hadn’t expected it to start with cleaning up after Chronos, that crazy villain, without even having a proper meal.

Disgusted by Son Goku sniffing around and showing off how happy he was to be back home, she kicked him.

At the same time—

Poof—

A puff of cloud rose and enveloped the cat.

“What the hell is this now?!”

Startled, Jeong Gyeoul quickly distanced herself.

As the cloud cleared from below, two straight legs appeared.

The cloud gradually rose, revealing a monkey in human form.

She realized Son Goku had returned.

It seemed like the time had come to face the consequences of her words and actions toward Son Goku.

But surprisingly, Son Goku did nothing.

Jeong Gyeoul swallowed nervously, staring at Son Goku.

“What? Scared? I won’t eat you.”

“…Come to think of it, that strange, echoing way of speaking isn’t there anymore, Senior.”

“This is the Monster Realm. No need for that.”

In the Middle Realm, it was because he was a cat.

Perhaps there were some restrictions in the Immortal Realm.

But she decided not to dwell on other dimensions anymore.

“So this is the Monster Realm… How do we get out? Is there a Dimensional Stone here?”

“You can’t leave.”

“…What?”

This was like a bolt from the blue.

In the Demon Realm, they used Dimensional Stones.

In the Immortal Realm, the Queen Mother of the West sent them away.

She thought there must be some way in the Monster Realm too, but Son Goku’s words were shocking.

“What do you mean we can’t leave?!”

Jeong Gyeoul, who had immediately become polite upon seeing the cat turn back into a monkey, quickly reverted to her usual self.

But Son Goku didn’t seem to care much.

It was a sign of respect for a human who had mastered spiritual power.

It meant he acknowledged Jeong Gyeoul.

But that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

“Just kidding~”

“You bastard…”

“What did you say? Bastard?”

“…Sorry, my bad.”

“I’m a monkey bastard~”

Son Goku’s already light attitude became even lighter, and his pranks increased.

His ear-picking and giggling were incredibly annoying.

But to get back, she needed the monkey bastard’s help.

“Please tell me how to get back, Great Sage Equal to Heaven!”

She forced out the words she didn’t want to say, but she didn’t stutter or trail off.

Kneeling, flattering, and catering to his ego were simple tasks for Jeong Gyeoul.

It was more important to get back home than to stand on pride and fight Son Goku.

“But seriously, there’s no way out.”

“At least tell me something!”

“Are you mad now?”

“I tend to raise my voice at the end of sentences, sorry~”

The conversation with Jeong Gyeoul was the most fun Son Goku had had in centuries.

He could have lifted the restrictions the Queen Mother of the West had placed even in the Middle Realm, but he chose to live as a cat because it was more fun.

And now that they were in the Monster Realm, he couldn’t miss out on more fun.

“Grab any monster you meet on the road and say Son Goku sent you. They’ll guide you to the Demon King. Then ask to be sent to the Immortal Realm on the Banana Fan. That’s the only way.”

“…Really? Are you sure? It doesn’t seem right.”

“Don’t believe me if you don’t want to.”

“…”

Rather than searching for a Dimensional Stone that might not even exist, she decided to trust Son Goku.

Just then, a monster was walking in the distance.

Perfect timing, she thought, and ran over.

“Hello. I was sent by Son Goku. Could you guide me to the Demon King…?”

“Ugh! Son Goku! Son Goku is back!”

“No, I mean, could you take me to the Demon King…?”

“It’s Son Goku! The crazy monkey is back!”

“That’s not it!”

Thud—

Jeong Gyeoul knocked the monster out, sensing things had gone awry.

But the sound had already spread far.

All around, large movements began to be felt.

Some monsters flew away like birds, others jumped dozens of meters, and some swam through the sky.

Something moved underground—probably a monster.

Every monster that heard the sound fled as if running for their lives.

“Ah, damn… I think I messed up.”

She cursed herself for trusting Son Goku, of all people.

Things were already tangled, and she didn’t know how to fix it.

The only silver lining was that the monsters fled upon hearing Son Goku’s name instead of attacking.

At least the monkey bastard still had some clout.

But as she trudged back to her original spot, monsters began to gather in numbers dozens of times greater than those that had fled.

“Hey, you crazy monkey bastard!”

“Do your best!”

Son Goku disappeared after those words, at a speed even Jeong Gyeoul’s eyes couldn’t follow.

She thought she shouldn’t mess with him, but also wondered how she could beat the crap out of that damn monkey.

But first, she had to deal with the swarming monsters.

***

A month passed.

The crazy monsters kept coming endlessly.

At first, she just subdued them, but eventually, she had to kill them.

“Are they zombies or what, damn it…”

Even after subduing them, they’d recover and attack again.

It felt like fighting tens of thousands of Jang Gil-yongs.

In the end, she had to confirm each kill, but it still didn’t end.

She must have killed hundreds of thousands, if not millions.

“Hey, you monkey bastard! If I catch you, you’re dead!”

She called out to Son Goku with a faint voice, but only his giggling, carried by the wind, could be heard.

Grinding her teeth, it took Jeong Gyeoul half a year to wipe out all the monsters in the vicinity.

In the process, she became adept at handling spiritual power, almost reaching infinite energy levels.

But her stamina wasn’t infinite.

She panted as she walked.

In the Demon Realm, she learned that dealing with the head first made things easier.

Now, her Magic Power Detection could cover an entire dimension.

She searched for strong magic powers nearby.

‘Why are there so many transcendent-level beings? Like cockroaches!’

Even a rough scan revealed hundreds.

Among them, six had powers similar to hers.

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven couldn’t even be detected.

Cursing the Monster Realm and its monsters, she moved on.

She experienced the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, where all sorts of monsters roamed the Monster Realm in a line at midnight.

She caused chaos at a goblin’s gambling den, fought a macho in underwear wielding a club, and even made a fur coat from a nine-tailed fox’s tail.

A year passed as she subdued all sorts of monsters and moved forward.

The Monster Realm wasn’t unimaginably vast.

It was just that there were too many monsters.

If her foot caught on something while walking, it was a monster.

If she swung her arm, a few hidden monsters would fall from her punches.

In the end, she thought that if she kept beating them, it would eventually end.

Whether Son Goku, the Demon King, or another monster would be at the end, she didn’t know.

But to get back, she had to keep moving.

Even when she found monsters with relatively strong magic powers nearby, there wasn’t much to gain.

They didn’t rule the Monster Realm like the Demon Kings.

Famous monsters like the nine-tailed fox, the darkness, the starfish, the steel man, the snow woman, the tengu, and the face-on-a-stalk were around, but they didn’t know much either.

She learned that only the Seven Great Sages, monsters who had left the Monster Realm by their own power, had that ability.

But the strong magic powers presumed to be the Seven Great Sages hadn’t been detected since a few weeks after arriving in the Monster Realm.

Son Goku must have done something.

“Ahhhhh! So annoying!”

She shouted at the sky.

“Damn monkey bastard!”

She shouted at the ground.

“Kekeeke”

Only the sound of laughter from somewhere unknown could be heard.

Now, she even cursed the Queen Mother of the West.

‘That bastard is just a natural disaster. The Queen Mother of the West, who threw such a thing into the Middle Realm, is a real bad woman.’

The memory of giving her a peach had completely faded.

‘…Everyone must be waiting.’

Every day, no, every hour, the thought of taking a break for a few months tormented her.

But each time, the faces of those who must be worried flashed before her eyes.

So she kept walking and walking.

Beating and beating.

After two years, even the most battle-crazed monsters, more aggressive than the demon race, began to fear Jeong Gyeoul and quietly avoided her.

But that only made things worse.

They scattered in all directions, making it a waste of time to chase them.

Time continued to pass.

After all sorts of hardships, she finally found the location of the Demon King, known as the Great Sage Who Pacifies Heaven.

Four years had passed since she arrived.

 

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