Ch.594Chapter 22. The Price of Labor (26)

[Should I go check it out myself now?]

The call ended.

Now that the connection to the scene was cut off, “he” was probably explaining the situation directly.

[Ymir. Can you open a door into the barrier?]

“You’re not going to lose something again, are you?”

[Of course not.]

“Be careful.”

Ymir drew a dimensional door in front of me, and I stepped through it.

Crackle.

As soon as I crossed the dimensional door, I saw the Goblin colored with confusion and a young Choi Ho-jung leisurely touching his face.

“W-what on earth is this…!”

[How does it feel to be resurrected?]

“Not particularly good.”

What had been Choi Ho-jung’s voice, his younger self’s voice, began to change gradually.

“Ah, aah. Aah….”

[Aaah.]

Eventually, he produced a voice using mana rather than his vocal cords.

Not with Choi Ho-jung’s voice, but with the voice of the “soul” that occupied the body—neither the body’s owner nor its host.

[It seems a bit more familiar now…?]

“L-Lord of Radiant Wings…?”

The voice of the Lord of Radiant Wings.

The spiritual entity in the form of a Goblin, Choi Ho-jung, pointed at me and the Lord of Radiant Wings alternately with trembling fingers.

“H-how on earth did this….”

[It’s simple. The one who attacked like a Goblin wasn’t a Goblin.]

[It was the Lord of Radiant Wings pretending to be a Goblin, Chairman.]

“!!”

Choi Ho-jung’s eyes filled with shock.

Behind the mask’s visor, his pupils shook violently.

“Why would the Lord of Radiant Wings…?”

[I have no reason to tell you. Go ask the King of the Underworld when you get there.]

“Kuh, kuhk…!”

Choi Ho-jung hurriedly turned around.

“D-do you think this ends here?! E-even though I may have inhabited a spiritual entity…! Though it’s not a human body, I am clearly dwelling in ‘this body’!!”

Choi Ho-jung raised his hand to his mask.

“In a body created by none other than you, Goblin-“

As soon as he removed the mask, his body froze.

“Huh?”

The face reflected in the glass window was Do Ji-hwan-

“Ma…chine…?”

No, it wasn’t.

It was merely a golden robot that looked quite convincing, with its entire body gleaming gold.

“How…?”

[I won’t tell you.]

It wasn’t a robot.

It was a mana gold doll created by Black Taejo, and what dwelled inside was merely the soul of the Lord of Radiant Wings.

I did the talking.

The Lord of Radiant Wings did the acting.

“Th-this can’t be…! Earlier when I attacked…!”

[Well.]

I was surprised too.

[‘Photonization’ is a principle I don’t understand either, so if you want to ask about it, ask him.]

[Ah, hahaha….]

The Lord of Radiant Wings scratched the back of his neck and laughed lightly.

[Well, simply put…hmm, should I say it was split at the atomic level…. Ah, using mana gold as a medium, at the moment of being attacked, it scattered like dust and then reformed….]

This guy is insane.

He’s calmly saying crazy things, but perhaps that’s what makes him humanity’s strongest ability user.

“Th-then you, Goblin…!”

[I just spoke on the phone, that’s all.]

The Lord of Radiant Wings did all the actions.

[Thank you, Choi Ho-jung. Thanks to you, the Lord of Radiant Wings has achieved a resurrection of sorts.]

It’s not a complete resurrection.

This overly kind hero will later say something like ‘this body is not my body’.

[For now-]

Crack, crackle.

The body inhabited by the Lord of Radiant Wings began to change.

The skeleton twisted and the cheekbones of the face moved.

As if running a customization at dozens of times the normal speed, the Lord of Radiant Wings’ body transformed into a new appearance in an instant.

“Ah, there we go.”

Even his voice changed.

“Brother, do I look like myself?”

[…Your hair.]

“Ah.”

Swish.

As the Lord of Radiant Wings casually brushed his hair with his hand, his hair also changed to gold, the color of the Lord of Radiant Wings.

It became a bit duller, but it would probably return to its original color over time.

“Ha, haha, hahaha….”

Choi Ho-jung sat down as if his legs had given out.

Though his body was made of mana gold, the Lord of Radiant Wings must have done something strange before leaving it.

[What did you do?]

“I just removed some joints.”

[……You’re calmly saying insane things.]

“I’m just matching the original?”

The Lord of Radiant Wings fiddled with his wrist and reached out toward Choi Ho-jung.

“You’ve killed so many people, you should at least pay for those crimes.”

“W-wait…! You’re the Lord of Radiant Wings!! Killing people is not right!!”

“Now you bring up the Lord of Radiant Wings.”

The Lord of Radiant Wings shook his head at Choi Ho-jung (mana gold) with a pitiful expression.

“Well, you’re right. I’m saying this because it’s just us, but my ability has a constraint that’s not really a constraint.”

“Con…straint…?”

Choi Ho-jung looked at me for a moment and turned pale.

“W-wait. If you’re telling me about the constraint, does that mean….”

[It means the Lord of Radiant Wings’ constraint won’t spread, so you’ll die here.]

“……Well, that’s right.”

The Lord of Radiant Wings shrugged with a bitter smile.

“I have no intention of killing people, but I’m someone who cannot kill people.”

A hero’s constraint.

No killing.

“Rather than kill someone, I would rather die myself. I have no intention of killing people.”

It’s not just that he doesn’t kill people because he’s a hero; it’s because that’s the “ego” of the human known as the Lord of Radiant Wings.

“But… I’m not sure if this is a person or not.”

“Huh, huhk…! W-wait…! I may be a soul, but I’m clearly dwelling in this body…! I am a living person!! A person!”

“I wonder. It could be that the personality of the human called Choi Ho-jung remains in the traces of mana and is making claims, or it could be that the amount of mana used for the ability exists as a lifespan.”

“Th-that can’t be…!”

Choi Ho-jung crawled on the floor and hurriedly approached.

“P-please spare me…! Please!”

“This is troublesome, really.”

Choi Ho-jung grabbed the Lord of Radiant Wings’ leg.

Clutching both pant legs, he struggles desperately to survive.

“Brother, I just realized something really interesting.”

[Me too.]

Thanks to Choi Ho-jung’s desperate struggle for survival, I discovered one of this world’s secrets.

“Abilities aren’t related to the physical body, huh?”

[It would be interesting to find the conditions. Whether entering an ability user’s body is the condition, or whether the ability user’s thinking being imprinted on the soul makes the soul an ability user.]

“Or maybe just this ability, ‘Body Change,’ works that way. Ah, please stop, Chairman. It won’t work no matter how many times you try Body Change on me.”

“Kuh, kuhk…!!”

He’s persistent.

Grabbing the Lord of Radiant Wings’ pant leg to survive was actually an attempt to use Body Change.

“G-give it back…! That’s my body!”

“I’m sorry. If I were my pre-death self, I would have returned it, but I’m a bit desperate too.”

It didn’t work on the Lord of Radiant Wings.

It doesn’t work on the current Lord of Radiant Wings.

“I’ve worked hard for the country for over 22 years, so shouldn’t I at least receive compensation for that labor?”

“W-what…?”

“You see, I died once. And I now have a reason to live with a physical body. So, I’m sorry, but I can’t return it.”

If it were the pre-death Lord of Radiant Wings, he might have really given it back.

Either out of compassion to Choi Ho-jung, or to the original owner.

“Chairman. If you really want it back, you can answer my question.”

“W-what…?”

“Do you know the name ‘Jamar’?”

“Ja-Jamar…?”

A truly random question.

But the Lord of Radiant Wings’ eyes were serious, and Choi Ho-jung rolled his eyes—despite being mana gold—as if thinking about something.

“O-of course…! Isn’t that the owner of this body! Do you think I wouldn’t know the name of my subordinate…!”

With a bright face, a desperate face, Choi Ho-jung gave his answer.

“Jamar did everything for Haeguneul-“

“That’s the name of the demon who shared my fate.”

“…….”

“This body’s original owner’s name is Choi Ki-woo. He was mixed-race, and it’s the name his parents gave him.”

“…….”

Choi Ho-jung’s expression distorted.

Though it shouldn’t have such functionality, emotions keep flowing out on the mannequin-like face of the mana gold.

If it’s not an illusion, this is clearly….

[This is dangerous.]

“Brother?”

[We need to dispose of it immediately.]

I raised my Goblin’s club.

[Mana gold shouldn’t be able to show emotions like this on the surface. This is clearly-]

Suddenly, I felt something touch my shoulder from behind.

[!!]

“Brother!”

At the same time, the Lord of Radiant Wings reached out to me, and I immediately leaped away to create distance.

[Tch…!]

A black touch that brushed past my shoulder and flew forward.

“Demon…!”

“State your wish.”

The Monkey’s Paw wiggled its fingers above Choi Ho-jung.

Bang!

The Lord of Radiant Wings immediately shot a beam of light forward in attack, but it didn’t reach the demon.

“What…!”

[Too late. …It’s a gimmick.]

During transformation, invincibility.

“Brother, more output…!”

[It has nothing to do with you being weakened. Even I can’t penetrate that.]

For a demon that grants wishes, it seems that during the process of granting a wish, no attack can get through.

“State your wish.”

“Kuh, heheheh…! Heaven has thrown me a lifeline! Yes, I’m not dead yet…!”

Choi Ho-jung stretched both arms toward the Monkey’s Paw.

“Give me immortality! And the power to kill them!!”

“Is that your wish?”

“Yes…!”

“Then.”

Snap.

“Your wish is granted.”

The Monkey’s Paw snapped its fingers.

“Ha, hahaha…! Demon, kuhaha, give me power-“

Whoosh.

“Immortality.”

Choi Ho-jung.

“You will neither age nor die, even in the destruction of the world.”

“W-wait a minute…! Why is my body…!”

“Your wish.”

The Monkey’s Paw curled four fingers and:

“Has been granted.”

With only the thumb sticking up, it turned into mist and disappeared.

“…….”

[…….]

Before us.

There was only a mana gold mannequin, frozen in the pose of reaching toward the sky.

Never to be damaged.

Never to corrode.

Never to be destroyed.

A golden mannequin reaching toward the sky, even after the Earth perishes and the world ceases to exist.