Ch.123Did I Create Something Like You?

Leon immediately drew his remaining sword and swung it toward his father.

However, in close combat, there was no way he could match his father who had undergone kaijufication, even if he was from the past.

Grab.

His arm holding the sword was caught midway.

But it seemed like he had anticipated this.

“Gravity that crushes our bodies will imprison us until death.”

“Kruk?!”

Following the Absolute Declaration, the two fell into an endlessly deep crater.

It was literally a prison made of gravity.

Shinwoo could feel his entire body, covered in monster skin, trembling from the impact.

“Krururuk!”

‘Stop it! At this rate, you’ll die first!’

The problem was his son who had been standing with him.

Leon was also taking damage in this gravity prison.

Shinwoo desperately tried to make his son cancel what he had said as Leon was about to collapse faster than himself.

But.

“Father! Answer me before that!”

“Krururuk!”

‘Answer what?!’

“Why you changed so much!”

Even at the risk of losing his life.

Leon, who was Lia’s son before being Han Shinwoo’s son, had a face that showed he absolutely needed to hear why his father wasn’t satisfied with just his mother.

Why he made his mother so sad.

Therefore.

“Krururuk.”

‘I don’t know exactly how the future changed.’

“…!”

“Kruk. Kruk.”

‘But if I, as a father, made you feel that way, then it’s 100% my fault.’

“Your fault?”

I know.

How the eldest son of a family grows up thinking when ignored by his father.

Of course, the concept of pain was different between me and Leon, but at least we could share that pain.

Father and son.

How could a father say anything to a son who cries first in their relationship?

I never received an apology.

When I asked like Leon did, what came flying was not warm words but an empty liquor bottle that made my head bleed.

So at least I won’t do that.

If my future self did something wrong, at least let my current self ease that pain a little.

With that thought, I embraced Leon in the gravity prison that was crushing us.

I, as his father, took on all the weight of gravity that this child was enduring.

“Krururuk.”

‘I’m sorry.’

“You just said you didn’t know about the future…”

“Krururuk. Krururuk.”

‘Even if I don’t know, how could I just stand by when my son is crying because of his father? If you want, I’ll do my best to help you, Leon.’

“You… will help me?”

To Leon, his father.

Han Shinwoo was just Han Shinwoo.

A being connected by blood but like a god who couldn’t be approached on equal footing.

There were heaps of children who would be delighted just to receive a glance from him, considering it an honor.

But now that father was saying he would help him at eye level, like a normal parent-child relationship.

“Cancel the previous declaration.”

Leon’s mind was complicated.

So he first canceled the gravity prison created by three Absolute Declarations that had been crushing them.

Then, looking around at what had become a deep pit, he simply sat down quietly.

“I… don’t know.”

“Krururuk…”

‘Leon…’

“If you were the same person as now, I was planning to deal with you moderately and then retreat… but the past you is really a different person. …I actually ‘respect’ the current you.”

“Krururuk…”

‘Dad is sorry…’

“No need to apologize anymore. Thinking about it, I was being childish too. There are other men who sleep with every woman they see, but I was taking it out on the wrong person. Just, just let me think quietly now.”

“……”

In the dark crater, Leon had a truly complex expression.

His face showed all kinds of negative emotions from bitterness to depression, distress, and pain.

However, since this was now Leon’s personal matter.

‘Let’s go up first.’

While his son sorted out his feelings, Shinwoo jumped up toward the ground, which now looked like a tiny pinhole high in the sky, to rescue Sophia.

***

Meanwhile, on the ground, three people were staring blankly.

“How, how far down did those two go?”

“I wonder… but they couldn’t have gone all the way to Earth’s mantle, right?”

“Korea is already covered in mountainous terrain of granite, how could they go that deep?”

Riverine, Lia, and the captured Yurian swallowed hard as they looked into the dark crater whose depth was immeasurable.

Then.

Thud. Thud.

The sound of someone quietly walking behind the three.

Riverine and Lia, whose attention was focused on the crater, were still completely unaware.

But Yurian, who had been educated since childhood to recognize that chilling yet imposing presence, immediately began trembling severely despite being bound.

Thump.

“…?”

“What are you suddenly doing?”

She prostrated herself with her forehead touching the ground, like a believer witnessing a deity.

Riverine and Lia, puzzled by Yurian’s behavior, turned around to see a man quietly walking toward them.

“…Who?”

“……?!!?”

Strangely gaunt facial features.

His eyes lacked vitality, giving off an atmosphere as if he was barely alive.

Looking at this middle-aged man, Riverine thought he resembled a lonely wolf.

Meanwhile, Lia, sensing an all-too-familiar energy from him, took a step back in disbelief.

“…Oppa?”

“……What?!”

She asked cautiously in a low voice.

Then.

“Are you… Lia? I see. It’s 20 years ago, so you’d still be in your younger form.”

“So, that’s Shinwoo?!”

Future Shinwoo smiled at the sight of young Lia.

Riverine was shocked to see how the once cheerful Shinwoo had become such a lifeless figure.

‘His Majesty smiled…?’

He who always maintained an expressionless face in the palace no matter what happened.

Yurian couldn’t believe she had witnessed him smiling pleasantly, even if just for a moment, when suddenly.

“You there, bowing.”

“…! Yes! Yes, Your Majesty!”

“Who are you?”

“Yes! If I may humbly introduce myself, I am Yurian, the 24th child born between Your Majesty and the 6th Empress Rene!”

“24th…? I don’t remember. Did I really create something like you?”

“Yes, that’s correct!”

“You didn’t inherit the Han surname… Anyway, your current state is disappointing. Don’t show your face before me again.”

“…!! Yes, I understand…”

She had expected this since failing her mission.

She expected it, but.

Not only was she not remembered by His Majesty, her father, but being told never to show her face again made Yurian’s heart feel like it was being torn apart.

However, she was now in the presence of His Majesty.

She absolutely could not let these sad emotions show.

If she did, not only herself but all her direct family members born from her mother would suffer.

“How pathetic that such a thing is my child…”

“I’m sorry.”

Yurian apologized to her mother, the 6th Empress Rene, in her heart, wishing she could just hold her breath and die right there…

“Oppa! How can you talk to your own daughter like that!”

“Yeah, Shinwoo! How did you grow up to become such a nasty person?!”

As she was making that resolution.

“…Are you Riverine?”

“Hey! If we’re counting by Villain’s Troupe membership, I’m your senior, and now you don’t even call me senior anymore?!”

“Oppa! Why have your manners become so bad!”

Why.

For some reason, the 2nd Empress and 4th Empress from the past were getting angry on her behalf.

Seeing the two of them, Yurian strangely couldn’t hold back her tears.

But not wanting this to be discovered, she kept her forehead pressed to the ground and quietly sobbed.

“Riverine… senior. I never thought I’d have a conversation with you again like this.”

“Hmph. Why? I guess you’re not on good terms with my future self?”

“It’s not that we’re not on good terms… Well, yes. We’ve been fighting a lot lately, so things aren’t great.”

“Hmph. Of course! Who would like someone who treats their own child like that! I especially have trauma about that kind of thing! So please, don’t do that.”

“Senior Riverine…”

“…?! Oh, oppa, isn’t he getting closer?”

But then future Shinwoo, who had been smiling strangely with wide eyes, slowly began walking toward them.

Sensing danger, the two immediately fell silent.

“H-Han Shinwoo! Stop right there!”

“Oppa, stop!”

“Senior Riverine… Originally I was only planning to take Sophia, but seeing you in this state after so long… I might as well take one more while I’m at it.”

“Hey, hey! Junior! Do you think I’m some kind of object?!”

This isn’t some neighborhood supermarket.

It’s one thing if I were the main target.

Riverine, who felt like she was being treated like discounted vegetables grabbed alongside premium Korean beef, shouted in anger.

“Senior, please stay still.”

“Wh-what?! Let, let me go! I said let me go!”

Future Han Shinwoo had already moved behind her and easily hoisted the escaping Riverine onto his shoulder.

There was clearly no sign of “kaijufication”…

Lia froze in place, shocked, while Riverine struggled in vain.

Smack!

“Kyaak?!”

“Hmm. Indeed, though smaller, this era has more elasticity.”

Future Shinwoo first squeezed the buttock of his fourth wife from this era, which was right next to his face, then immediately turned to find his real objective.

‘I’m coming for you, Sophia.’

Just as he was about to walk toward the Hunter Association building…

“Get up, Yurian.”

“F-Father…?”

That’s when it happened.

“…Hmm.”

After a cool breeze seemed to pass by, future Shinwoo put Riverine back down on the ground.

“Uh, huh?”

Surprised by his arbitrary actions of grabbing and releasing her, Riverine watched as a masculine, thick arm reached over her head and gently patted her while he said:

“Senior Riverine. Please step back with Lia for a moment.”

“…!”

“Because I think things are about to get very dangerous.”

Just like future Shinwoo’s actions.

“Yurian, step back.”

“Father…”

“And ignore what I said earlier. A daughter should be able to visit her father whenever she wants to see him, why be so cautious about something like that?”

Past Shinwoo similarly patted the head of his daughter, who was almost his height, and smiled gently.

The two Shinwoos then simultaneously turned around, walked toward each other, and faced one another.