Ch.142142. You Promised Me.

Yangsan was literally scorched earth.

Every place the monsters had passed through was literally massacred and destroyed.

Park Tae-sang was coming while engraving all those tragic scenes in his eyes.

As he marched alongside the guild, he spotted a blood-covered child running from far away.

Park Tae-sang immediately embraced the child.

“Captain! It’s dangerous.”

“Shut up. No, it’s not.”

Despite the warnings from those around him, he hugged the child and smiled.

“Mister… please help…”

Park Tae-sang gave a warm smile to the child who was sobbing.

“Don’t worry. We’re here now.”

“My mom… my dad…”

“I’ll definitely save them.”

Park Tae-sang immediately handed the child over to his guild members.

Then he charged toward the monsters that had turned an entire village into a wasteland.

With a single blast from his horn, dozens of monsters were being annihilated by him alone.

As evident from his attacks, Park Tae-sang specializes in area-of-effect attacks.

Though he might be considered “weak” in one-on-one combat, that’s only relative to powerhouses like Dokgo Jun—he’s still undeniably one of the strongest Jaegers.

Even among the top three guilds, he’s the most effective against monster hordes.

While Jo Seong-hui shows versatility with spatial movement and Dokgo Jun is a single-target damage dealer, he sweeps away troublesome enemies with wide-area destruction.

When these three joined forces, they had even managed to easily repel large armies in worse situations than now.

For someone like him, subduing these amateur monsters was simple.

He easily exterminated the monster groups left behind by those advancing toward Busan.

“They’re asking you to come alone—it’s an obvious trap.”

Kang Sang-mun, the third-in-command and field captain, offered his advice.

“I know. It’s the same for me and Sister Seong-hui. But once Sister Seong-hui rescues the hostages, it’s over. I can hold out until then.”

“With the Guild Master’s power, you can definitely handle them, Brother Sang-mun.”

Jung Ha-ru offers support from the side. Park Tae-sang tilted his head in confusion.

“Hey, Jung Ha-ru! There’s only a three-year age difference between Sang-mun and me. Why am I ‘mister’?”

“Because you are. Guild Master, really, asking such an obvious question?”

Park Tae-sang looked dumbfounded as she nodded, seemingly satisfied with her own explanation.

“Fine, fine. Talking with you just gives me a headache.”

“I feel fine.”

“Well, I don’t!”

Park Tae-sang began receiving buffs from his subordinates.

“Buffs are definitely possible at this distance, Captain.”

“If the enemies want you to come alone, they can’t complain if they don’t see us. Fighting, our Guild Master.”

That was Ha-ru’s encouragement, delivered in an unenthusiastic voice. Park Tae-sang nodded.

“If you’re not making a fuss, that means it’s enough.”

“This is sincere encouragement.”

They weren’t just letting him go. It would be strange to go alone just because the enemy asked. They needed to take all possible precautions.

Park Tae-sang headed toward the location the enemies had provided.

Monsters waiting for him began emerging from underground.

Jino was waiting with other monsters.

Kwon Ah-seon was observing the situation while hiding according to her ability.

As soon as Park Tae-sang arrived, she finally summoned her field and trapped him inside.

Park Tae-sang remained calm. In his experience, situations like this were already covered in his mental manual.

“Hey. So I’ve fallen into your trap—what now? Surely you don’t expect me to just stand still while you try to kill me?”

[Die.]

Total attack. The monsters charge to kill Park Tae-sang.

“Hahaha! That’s more like it.”

But a bright light began to emanate from Park Tae-sang’s body.

The power of a priest. A new power infused his horn. Wasn’t it elongating like a flute?

Park Tae-sang began to play a melody.

[First Movement]

-Multi-Strike

At that moment, sound spread in all directions, literally tearing apart the charging monsters.

The power was different from before. Plus, he had buff amplification and physical enhancement active.

“Let’s turn up the volume, shall we?”

When Park Tae-sang confidently shouted, sound waves twice as powerful as before spread out. Monsters that had withstood the first attack all coughed up blood, and even Jino and Ah-seon, who were some distance away, suffered damage.

[Second Movement]

-No Resistance

And when Park Tae-sang’s second strike hit, the field trapping them literally dissipated.

Like Doh Jong-hyun’s wolf, it nullified the opponent’s technique.

The rural road reappeared, and only monster corpses surrounded Park Tae-sang.

‘I hope this buys us time.’

But there were still SS-rank and higher monsters and humanoid monsters left.

The most problematic kind.

Park Tae-sang couldn’t let his guard down.

His phone rang.

Amidst the powerful monsters, he calmly answered the call.

“Hey, Sister. How’s it going?”

Monsters leaped at him during this opening, but Park Tae-sang blew his horn with one hand.

The sound wasn’t beautiful or refined, but its destructive power stopped the monsters’ advance.

[From your voice, I can tell you’re fighting?]

“Sister, how’s it going? Are the higher-ups getting their butts on fire?”

[Unfortunately, things have calmed down. We just need to clean up the monsters in Haeundae, and we’re done.]

“That’s good news. No more obstacles then.”

Park Tae-sang now saw black shadows forming around him.

Human-shaped illusions and doppelgangers appeared.

“This is impressive. Honestly, fighting like this, I might lose?”

That’s only when defending against multiple opponents.

But Park Tae-sang has the power to attack multiple opponents at once.

He adjusted his horn, prepared to blow away the entire area.

[3rd Movement]

-Rampage

And with a massive explosion, the road in this area was literally obliterated.

*

Busan’s Haeundae was devastated. With the large-scale monster attack and damage, corpses were scattered everywhere.

Jo Seong-hui was opening spatial portals to send guild members to various locations.

‘Tremendous damage. Even though we stopped them, it hardly feels like we did.’

One district of Haeundae was completely destroyed. Moreover, other areas were flooded from the tsunami’s aftermath.

It was literally like a typhoon had hit.

It swept through like a typhoon.

‘I guess this is still better thanks to that monster dealing with the others.’

Given the cooperation with Poseidon Guild and various conditions including hostages, they would have suffered even more without that monster’s help.

Jo Seong-hui received a signal on her phone.

“Did you handle it?”

[The humanoid monsters and remaining high-grade monsters escaped. Haha, I’m telling you, they definitely have danger detection abilities. How about your side?]

“We took a typhoon hit, but I think we managed well enough. Without that monster helping humanity, we would have suffered three or four times more damage.”

[That’s fortunate at least. I saw Yangsan on my way—it’s completely devastated. It needs to be rebuilt from scratch. If we managed to protect a densely populated area like Busan with minimal damage, that’s a relief.]

It was literally a blessing in disguise. They ended with minimal casualties.

“Sister Seong-hui! It seems we’ve caught all visible monsters.”

“Then have a small group patrol while the rest focus on rescue operations.”

Jo Seong-hui now began full-scale rescue operations.

While soldiers were being deployed everywhere and rescue work was in full swing, Jo Seong-hui saw a man collapsed near the shore.

‘Surely it’s not a corpse?’

A man in blue reinforced clothing. Jo Seong-hui approached to check his face.

“Isn’t this Aerial’s boyfriend? Was he in Busan?”

And only after being unconscious for over an hour was Doh Jong-hyun rescued by Jo Seong-hui.

*

It was a memory from a dream I had before.

Monster fighting monster. Right before my eyes, the monsters I had seen during the Siwujin incident were fighting.

I know the outcome. The individuals divided into two groups fought, and one side was defeated.

But they’re fighting again. Something seems different though. That sense of enormity I felt before is missing.

No, they’re a bit smaller.

Slightly smaller monsters entangled in battle, with something glowing and watching from behind.

Fighting and dying

Fighting and dying

But strangely, their size kept decreasing. Why? They keep getting smaller.

After countless ages passed, the largest ones had shrunk to units of 20 meters.

But their numbers increased. They spread in enormous quantities.

Invading each world, worlds different from ours.

They destroyed many civilizations. And they were desperately searching for something.

But they couldn’t find it.

They perished. As if they couldn’t find an antidote.

But at some point, they returned to invasion mode.

Invading new worlds, searching for something, perishing. And then returning to invasion mode again.

Wait, isn’t this regression? Are these creatures regressing?

It was a shocking realization. Come to think of it, didn’t I also regress due to the monster summoning spirit?

Is humanity another chosen invasion target? But something’s strange. Until now, they just invaded other civilizations directly, so why use methods like gates with us?

But I thought I glimpsed something. Something like reptilian scales briefly revealing flesh from the light behind them.

It was smiling. Smiling at us with a face that said it had found what it had been looking for.

And behind it, I saw massive statues. Those gigantic entities I first saw.

I woke up with an ominous feeling. Not an unfamiliar ceiling, but a hospital ceiling and bed.

“…Again?”

[Awakening]

The Awakening card seems to have shown me something again. It’s just speculation, but aren’t these creatures approaching us differently because they found something in our world?

“Phew… Those gigantic ones…”

Wait, isn’t there something extremely important besides this?

“The promise!”

What time is it now? I hurriedly got up to check the clock.

4 PM.

The date? Most important. I was about to stand up when I screamed, and only after a nurse and doctor came could I hear the explanation.

“What? The 31st? Busan, you say?”

Busan, the 31st, 4 PM. By the way, the year-end ceremony starts at 6:30 PM?

I have to go. I must go.

I checked my deck, but all I could see was the phrase [Transformation Impossible].

What should I do?

I won’t be able to keep my promise to Seol Yu-hwa. The grim reality was right in front of me.

*

December 31st. The last day before the new year. The White Dragon Guild decided to scale down their year-end ceremony from its usual size.

There was social damage, and they felt no need to make it as grand as before.

So they simply rented a hall for a light celebration of the year.

But Seol Yu-hwa’s expression wasn’t good.

[What? He collapsed?]

She had heard what happened to Doh Jong-hyun with Lee Chae-rin’s help.

‘Right, of course he can’t come.’

Originally, Doh Jong-hyun should have been by her side as planned, but he couldn’t make it. The message said he seemed to have collapsed after fighting monsters in his reinforced suit.

Seol Yu-hwa felt deeply disappointed at this moment.

Amidst everyone’s applause, the award ceremony began.

Seol Yu-hwa was troubled despite the ceremonial applause. She wore the clothes he had bought her today.

Despite it being winter, her beige sleeveless shirt and black skirt showed off her shapely legs.

If not for the cardigan covering her upper body, she would have been cold.

‘He’ll feel unnecessarily sorry. No, I shouldn’t let my emotions waver.’

Jong-hyun might not be able to come, and in fact, he couldn’t come because he was saving people.

It was a righteous act deserving praise.

But what was this disappointment troubling her heart?

While she was still trying to understand her own feelings, she recalled what her brother had told her.

[Sister, you can look forward to today.]

‘Look forward? To what?’

After all, Doh Jong-hyun couldn’t come. She was slowly watching the award ceremony. It was past 7:30 PM, and the ceremony was in full swing when she felt someone beside her empty seat.

Seol Yu-hwa slowly turned her head. And her eyes widened to twice their size.

“Jong…”

“Shh. We’ll disturb the ceremony.”

Yes, Doh Jong-hyun had appeared in casual formal attire.

‘How did Jong-hyun…?’

At the entrance, an exhausted Kyung-su, who had carried someone on his back, was giving a thumbs up.

Additionally, Chae-rin, who had applied makeup to Doh Jong-hyun, was nodding contentedly with another guild member who had helped restore his energy.

But these facts weren’t important to her right now.

She was happy. Seol Yu-hwa felt happier than ever before.

In truth, she would have understood if he couldn’t come, but this wasn’t just about being touched that he came despite everything.

She felt good.

Having this man beside her stirred her emotions.

‘Ah, I see now.’

This unsettled feeling, and her attempt to deny her emotions even when she knew Doh Jong-hyun couldn’t come.

But now her heart, her emotions, were clearly declaring:

‘I like this boy, Doh Jong-hyun.’

The moment she clearly realized this, she felt more at peace than ever before.