Episode 40 – Please Take Care of Me (Final Episode)

,This is… I’ve been had…”

Jin Tae-won twitched his eyebrows and stared straight ahead.

Two people emitting red and blue energy.

Someone who should absolutely not be alive was with someone who should absolutely not be together.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at Kim Young-soo.

“A double agent…”

Kim Young-soo.

Before the Guardians split, he and Yoon Sung-hyun led the largest faction together.

Both were rivals and senior-junior colleagues leading the largest faction, and Jin Tae-won squeezed in between them to create a rift.

He split the Guardians and made Kim Young-soo participate in their plan.

He thought he had eliminated Yoon Sung-hyun, who had been hindering their plan until the very end.

“It took quite a while. For you to come to the surface…”

“Keuk… You’ve endured that long?”

Kim Young-soo and Yoon Sung-hyun, and even Yoon Joo-won…

All of them had deviated from his plan.

From the beginning, they had been targeting him.

They had endured for a long time and reached this point.

They had peeled off the curtain draped in the shadows and found them behind the curtain.

“However…”

Hwaaaak!

Black energy surged and poured out from Jin Tae-won’s body.

“Even if it’s a trap, I can just trample it with force.”

The swirling dark energy formed a black wave and covered the space.

Paaat!

A mass of light surrounding the black energy formed a triangle and desperately blocked it.

“Everyone, gather!”

As Yoon Sung-hyun shouted, Joo-won and Kim Young-soo surrounded Jin Tae-won and approached.

The light that burst from the bodies of the three people approaching in a triangle swallowed the wave of darkness whole.

What appeared after the dark energy disappeared was Jin Tae-won, his face twisted in anger.

“How dare you…”

Jet-black energy erupted from his entire body once again.

Darkness filled with murderous intent rippled out, dominating the space in concentric circles.

The energy that stretched out with fierce momentum was blocked by the power of the three.

The two energies engaged in a power struggle, beginning to devour each other.

“What… is this…”

Jin Tae-won was seeing his own power being eaten by another energy for the first time.

Something that could never happen was happening.

“Keu…”

Jin Tae-won was feeling a sense of frustration for the first time.

He was a being who had transcended humanity.

He could never imagine being held back by such insect-like beings.

But now he was trapped in that unimaginable situation.

Kwaddeudeuk-

Explosive power erupted from Yoon Sung-hyun.

Jin Tae-won could feel that power flowing from Joo-won.

He could feel the wave of power from Joo-won.

He never thought that Joo-won’s power, who he had only thought of as a Compiler, would be this great.

“Kkeueuk…”

The power that Joo-won, Yoon Sung-hyun, and Kim Young-soo were emitting began to press down on Jin Tae-won.

The energy of the three influenced each other and amplified even more.

His eyes were bloodshot.

“This is… impossible… Keueuk!”

Kung!

His knees buckled.

Yoon Sung-hyun looked at Joo-won, and Joo-won walked towards Jin Tae-won.

Joo-won wore a complicated expression as he looked at Jin Tae-won, who was soaked in sweat.

As Joo-won concentrated, his fingertips glowed.

Jin Tae-won’s face twisted as he realized that it was the mental prison he had shown Kim Sang-ho.

“Just because you’ve caught me… doesn’t mean everything is over.”

“…That’s right.”

Yoon Sung-hyun, who had approached him unnoticed, raised his hand and stopped Joo-won.

“It would be good to tell the one who mocked us, thinking he had been playing with us all this time.”

“…Tell him what?”

“The only reason we continued the Star Gate Project was because of you. Our plan to block your Star Gates is the Star Gate Project.”

Jin Tae-won began to tremble more and more as Yoon Sung-hyun continued to speak.

“Could it be…”

He looked at Jin Tae-won with eyes like a beast.

“The Constellations that existed on Earth long ago and treated us humans as livestock, and the passage through which they are resurrected is your Star Gate. Isn’t your mission as Gate Keepers to protect that gate?”

“Ha…”

A dry sigh escaped his lips.

Was he saying that they had already seen through them?

“If you’re expecting other Gate Keepers, you should give up on that.”

Kim Young-soo approached.

“The moment senior-nim and I appeared before you, the other brothers went to subdue the other Gate Keepers.”

Jin Tae-won looked at Kim Young-soo as if he couldn’t believe his words.

“You guys won’t be enough…”

Kim Young-soo gave his unique smile.

“It’s not just us who are fighting against you Constellation’s scraps, you know.”

“……”

Jin Tae-won was silent.

He had been defeated.

And the one reason was arrogance.

Yoon Sung-hyun and Jin Tae-won’s gazes met in the air.

“Farewell.”

Yoon Sung-hyun wore a stern expression.

Joo-won approached him and raised his arm.

Kiiing-!

Soon, Joo-won’s glowing fingertip touched Jin Tae-won’s forehead.

His mind faded in the slowly slowing time.

Thud-

The sound of Jin Tae-won’s body falling to the floor echoed.

The sound of the cold winter wind whipping past was eerie.

The three looked down at Jin Tae-won with complicated eyes.

“…What are you doing?”

Joo-won looked at Yoon Sung-hyun with strange eyes.

He was rummaging through Jin Tae-won’s pockets.

“Ah, do you want to do it too?”

What he took out after rummaging through Jin Tae-won’s pockets was the cigarette he had been smoking.

“I’ll pass on the nicotine.”

Joo-won shook his head.

Kim Young-soo chuckled and snapped his fingers to light it.

“Weren’t you supposed to quit smoking, senior?”

“…Isn’t it okay on a day like today?”

Yoon Sung-hyun inhaled the smoke and exhaled it.

The smoke was scattered into the air as if to shake off all the worries he had had.

.

.

.

“……”

Father and son.

Silence flowed between them.

It was Joo-won who broke the silence.

“I have a lot of questions I want to ask… Have you been well?”

“Well… yeah.”

Joo-won glanced at Kim Young-soo, who was grinning.

“I knew that there was someone helping my father, but I didn’t think it was that person.”

Kim Young-soo met Joo-won’s eyes and smiled.

Joo-won turned his head at his unfamiliar appearance.

Yoon Sung-hyun wore an embarrassed expression after seeing Joo-won’s face.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you all this time.”

Kim Young-soo approached Joo-won.

“It’s been a while, Joo-won-ssi.”

Joo-won looked at him with strange eyes.

“It’s been… a while?”

“Joo-won-ssi probably doesn’t remember, but I saw you when you were in the lab.”

Joo-won nodded as if he understood.

“What are you planning to do now?”

Yoon Sung-hyun wore a troubled expression for a moment at Joo-won’s words.

“Right now, the first priority is to find out what happened to the other Gate Keepers… If the gate is opened according to their plan, who knows what will happen.”

“…Are you leaving again?”

“It can’t be helped, since this is what I do.”

A faint smile lingered on Yoon Sung-hyun’s lips as he turned his body.

Traces of much worry could be seen in his eyes.

“That… well, you see…”

He trailed off, unlike his usual self.

Yoon Sung-hyun, who had been hesitating, made a small, almost inaudible sound.

“Please… take care of my younger sister and nephews.”

Yoon Sung-hyun, who had spoken about his younger sister Hye-jin and his nephews Chae-won and Seo-yeon, wore a relieved expression and put his hands in his pockets and walked away with heavy steps.

His complicated feelings could be read in his turning back.

“…Senior-nim?”

Kim Young-soo looked at Yoon Sung-hyun’s back, sighed, and slung Jin Tae-won, who was lying on the floor, over his shoulder.

“You’ve worked hard. I hope this kind of thing doesn’t happen again… but I hope my premonition is wrong. If we meet again next time, let’s meet in a good way.”

He turned his body without hearing Joo-won’s answer and followed Yoon Sung-hyun with quick steps.

Joo-won muttered as he watched their backs fade away.

The breath that escaped from his mouth slowly rose.

“Shall I go back?”