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Chapter 124

‘An incredible incident happened even in Hwe Yeon City.’

As Yeon-woo ran towards the clock tower that stood tall in the center of the city, visible even from the gate, he thought back.

It was an incident related to the clock tower, and only when its figure, obscured by mist, became clear could he recall it.

Although Hwe Yeon City didn’t fall, it was an event that sent shockwaves through the Hunter community.

‘When did the incident occur… around third year?’

As he remembered, it must have been in winter. It was right before graduation, two and a half years in the Academy. Perhaps it would be the last event he could resolve before graduating.

With that thought in mind, Yeon-woo began to sift through the events that had unfolded over the past half year in his mind.

The Doppleganger wasn’t intentional, but he had discovered it early, and he had taken a beating from a named shadow warrior named Kai.

He had saved Baek In-hwa and managed to cut off the deceiver Louis beforehand. He managed to bring Relin’s Archive to humanity without any damage. As for the extraterrestrial deity, he had no words since he didn’t know if it was from before his regression.

He had also picked up some information related to the Demon Kings, so perhaps it wasn’t a bad outcome, but…

‘I haven’t really changed the outcome on purpose.’

Thus, there were points to reflect upon. Yeon-woo had regressed. Shar was the one who took on the great risk to enable his regression. He even received the mana he had always dreamed of.

Therefore, it was only natural that he should use all means to fulfill Shar’s wish. A prime example being the memories of the future before the regression.

In this period before his regression, Yeon-woo was nothing more than a porter. No matter how much he followed the news, what made headlines were the major incidents. Harmony was the center of incidents, but not all of them happened around Harmony.

Looking up at the looming clock tower, Yeon-woo gently set down the two children he had been carrying in his arms. The children had covered their eyes with their tiny hands.

“Is it okay to look now?”

“It’s suffocating…!”

After a moment’s hesitation, Yeon-woo nodded.

At the very least, he could show them something like this clock tower. A symbol of Hwe Yeon City, it had its own worth to be seen.

The children removed their hands from their eyes and gazed at the clock tower in front of them.

It looked like a small wristwatch. The sharp hour and minute hands meeting the white background made it look like the eyes of a beast. As their gazes drifted, a pocket watch on a rusted chain swayed gently. Another round white face.

The clock tower was, quite literally, a tower of clocks. From a distance, it was hard to see, but up close, that fact became starkly clear. From small wristwatches to pocket watches, wall clocks to grandfather clocks, useless clocks were piled high.

Anyone who saw the clock tower for the first time would feel like they were facing a giant monster with countless eyes.

The children, all in unison, could have burst into tears at its startling appearance, but it was hard to say that they were ordinary kids if they thought it was okay to see it.

Shar’s golden pupils glinted sharply. The eyes of a dragon read the essence of things. With that, Shar would be able to grasp the meaning of this clock tower.

Tae-oh lightly fiddled with the pocket watch that dangled from the clock tower.

While the clock tower was a symbol of Hwe Yeon City, every clock that composed it was, before anything else, waste. There were no restrictions for touching it.

Tae-oh’s shadow licked the rusted pocket watch once. Yeon-woo didn’t feel the need to stop him.

“What a unique artifact.”

“It has an interesting taste.”

Yeon-woo nodded at the children’s voices, expressing their curiosity rather than fear. This clock tower was the first artifact created by humankind on Earth.

It was an artifact but had no special effects. It couldn’t be moved, nor could the hour or minute hands be turned. If a person near Hwe Yeon City were to ask, “What time is it?” while looking at their smartphone or wristwatch, the exact time would simply be telepathically inserted into their mind.

But, the birth of this clock tower gave humanity hope. If humans could create such an exceedingly transcendent object that even in another world, they couldn’t decipher how it was made—something that was described as magic in ancient times—then perhaps, if one continued training, they might someday even be able to kill the Demon Kings.

It was a meaningful and symbolic architectural artifact, but thinking that such an event would occur two years later was quite an eerie feeling.

After explaining this to the children, they looked at the tower again as if realizing something.

From Yeon-woo’s personal perspective, he always thought that this tower, looking as if it could crumble at any moment, was ominous.

The gate to the Alkeion Continent was being strictly managed. Simply showing an Academy student ID wouldn’t be enough.

However, perhaps since Count Lionel had given a heads-up, after a simple verification process by the wizard at the inspection station who checked Yeon-woo’s student ID and said, “Yes, Choi Yeon-woo confirmed!” he was allowed to pass.

After passing the wizard, Yeon-woo stood in front of the gate, which shimmered in various colors, and murmured.

“Heh heh… The quality of the wizards really has hit rock bottom… there are three of them…”

[Heh heh, what foolish humans….]

[Dad…? Big sister…? Why then…?]

In a sudden turn of events that Tae-oh couldn’t comprehend, he voiced his fears.

Neither of the two said anything. After a moment of silence, they only uttered an “Ah,” as if they had realized something.

As an awkward atmosphere enveloped the three, Yeon-woo dashed forward.

“Eek!!”

Jumping was second nature. He had a habit of jumping whenever he entered a gate.

*

Normally, the process of passing through a gate would take just an instant. The paths connecting one world to another cannot be marked by width or length, unlike paths that people walk.

However, occasionally, there are cases where nothing is wrong with the gate, but something happens.

A feeling like one is dreaming. A sensation of weightlessness, as if gravity has lessened, a fluffy feeling as if there are no physical laws at play.

Was this how the celestial beings frolicking above the clouds in ancient tales felt? Or did the raindrops bounce before plummeting to the earth feel like this?

What came into sight was a scene more colorful than the gate. At the end of the slender space’s stepping stones, a glimpse of Alkeion’s landscape flickered through a gate.

Looking around, numerous worlds he had never seen before decorated the sky and earth like shattered glass pieces. He felt he might fall if he glanced the wrong way, so Yeon-woo steadied himself.

[Wow! So cool!]

[W-Where is this?]

“I can’t exactly say where…”

If one were to force a name onto it, people called this place ‘The Crossroads.’ When everyone entered the gate together, if one person arrived later, they would often say someone was standing at the Crossroads.

Yeon-woo had experienced it a couple of times. It was said that one could sometimes encounter a deity while standing at the Crossroads, but Yeon-woo had never had such an experience.

“Now that I think about it, I was always in a hurry, so I never paid attention to the Crossroads.”

He had to quickly reunite with the Hunters and tackle the gate, so it was only natural. It was said that time inside the Crossroads differed slightly from that outside, so now that he was here, Yeon-woo walked slowly to take in the sights.

The path was narrow, making it seem difficult to walk with the children, but it wasn’t impossible. He cradled the children’s mana with him. The two kids startled and wrapped their arms around Yeon-woo’s neck.

“Eek?! You scared me!!”

“I-I’m uneasy underfoot!!”

“Wahahaha.”

Well, to the naked eye, it looked like stepping stones, a path made of thin, fragile glass, but that wasn’t entirely true. Before his regression, hitting it wouldn’t leave a scratch.

Thinking back, it was likely because of its nature of connecting spaces; even a scratch would be impossible for someone of his beginner Aura Expert level. It would take someone at the tail end of Aura Master for that.

As he was sharing an unusual sight with the children, an experience he hadn’t had before came crashing over Yeon-woo’s senses.

He heard what sounded like water…

Splash, splash…

No, it was the sound of someone walking barefoot. You couldn’t hear your own footfalls in the Crossroads; what was going on? Just as he started thinking that, a thought from earlier suddenly popped back into his mind.

A slender figure was walking towards him from the gate to Alkeion.

To put it simply, the figure had a princess-like impression. If Nea exuded a sickly, yet alluring vibe from being trapped for eons, this woman gave off a lively sensation.

It could be the simple, comfortable cloth she wore bare-footed and the golden bow slung over her back.

With black hair that evoked the night sky billowing in the wind, the woman walked toward him. Yeon-woo, who had been blankly staring at her, stood up.

“Do I know you?”

“Hmm, surprisingly. Ah, not an ex-girlfriend or anything.”

“I know, Dad, you’re a virgin.”

What?! Hearing his daughter call him a virgin was quite contradictory.

“…It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lunaria.”

“You’ve recognized me well.”

The Moon Goddess of the Crescent Moon Order, Lunaria, had personally descended to the world’s Crossroads to visit her romantic candidate.

Yeon-woo was evidently tense. The Moon Goddess who had previously shot and killed her unfaithful lover.

If it were reality rather than the Crossroads, Lunaria might have to bear a burden to exert her power, but here, on the border between worlds, it made it somewhat easier to flex her capabilities.

Watching Yeon-woo warily, Lunaria brought her hand to her lips and chuckled softly.

“You don’t need to be so guarded. I’ve come to talk today.”

“…Today, you say.”

That comment certainly left an ominous lurch hanging in the air. If a deity had come down for a talk, it was unlikely that she’d immediately attempt to harm him. With that thought, Yeon-woo sighed.

Meanwhile, Lunaria sat at the very edge of the space where she stood and patted the ground beside her, indicating that he should sit.

Yeon-woo hesitated, caught between options, but eventually sat a little away from her. Even that made Lunaria smile, finding it cute.

“You seem uncomfortable, Yeon-woo.”

“Conversations with gods tend to make one uncomfortable.”

“Ah, I see… Then I suppose I should quickly get to the point to ease your discomfort.”

With that, Lunaria looked up at the sky.

The space trembled. Countless worlds that had been visible through the cracks disappeared in an instant, and the darkness of night engulfed the scenery completely.

“What…!?”

Yeon-woo recoiled, startled.

He had weapons. He could use magic. However, even so, he wouldn’t dare to draw a sword against a god from another world, even if it was a somewhat popular deity. Doing so could easily lead to death.

Lunaria seemed indifferent to Yeon-woo’s reaction as a gigantic figure surged forth from the darkened scene.

A silver whale soaring toward the starry night sky.

“I have watched over you since you were a child. I have seen your potential. Your will. Your brilliance……. Your courage.”

“…….”

“Will you not love me, little star? I am prepared to love you, so if you only have the courage, I can do anything.”

Lunaria spoke with a serious and longing expression that Yeon-woo never expected to see from a deity. It was reminiscent of a scene from days gone by.

(To be continued in the next part)

 

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