Player who Returned 10,000 years Later

‘Am I fucked?’

The cold sweat covering Oh Kang-Wo’s back was drenching his clothes. He had gotten way too excited because Kim Si-Hun’s Deific Essence reached a rank far higher than he expected. Kang-Woo made a terrible blunder in a situation where the heart was crucial. Kang-Woo stared at Si-Hun anxiously.

“H-Hyung…” Si-Hun was looking up at Kang-Woo in confusion. His eyes were hazy as if he were half asleep. “Wh-Why are you here…?”

He was stuttering as if he could barely talk or listen, likely due to being in critical condition.

‘Fucking safe. No, I shouldn’t be happy.’

It meant that Si-Hun’s condition was so bad that he could barely hear anything. Kang-Woo bit open his finger without hesitation and let his blood flow into Si-Hun’s mouth.

“Haaa, haaa.”

Si-Hun’s pale complexion returned to its normal color. Si-Hun bit his lip as he panted heavily.

“Si-Hun.”

Si-Hun remained silent as Kang-Woo called him.

Kang-Woo made a fist and said in a trembling tone, “What the hell were you doing until you ended up like this?”

“W-Well…”

“Don’t you dare bullshitthat it was a duel. Anyone could see that it wasn’t.”

Si-Hun flinched. It had initially been a duel, but both Si-Hun and Kim Tae-Hyun had lost their sense of reason the more it went on and turned into a deathmatch. No organization was fond of internal conflicts; the duel between him and Tae-Hyun crossed the line.

“I’m sorry.” Si-Hun lowered his head in dejection.

Kang-Woo bit his lip aggressively and looked down at Si-Hun in rage. “Was it… because of Deific Essence?

“Did you push yourself until you almost died… for something as meaningless as Deific Essence?”

Si-Hun turned away from Kang-Woo’s rage-filled gaze and answered, “It’s… not meaningless.

“Without Deific Essence… I can’t help you in any way, hyung-nim. I can’t… lessen the weight on your shoulders.”

Beings with Deific Essence were able to do as they liked after being freed from the Law of Titans. Gods of Earth as well as outer gods would begin to covet Earth. Having no Deific Essence in a situation like this was practically the sas leaving everything to Kang-Woo.

“I…” Si-Hun bit his lip and continued, “Want to stay… as your little brother.”

Kang-Woo’s eyes widened. He had never imagined that Si-Hun would be thinking this way. He looked at Si-Hun in sorrow.

“Have I… ever said that you won’t be my little brother anymore if you don’t have Deific Essence?”

“...”

“Did I ever say that I don’t need you if you’re useless to me?”

“Th-That’s…!”

“Si-Hun,” Kang-Woo interjected. “I didn’t have a family. I’ve never seen my parents and I’ve always been alone since I was born.”

Si-Hun knew this already.

“You’re the first family that I ever had,” Kang-Woo said.

Si-Hun’s eyes widened. The word family impacted him greatly. Family was always associated with despair for Si-Hun as well as a nightmare that plagued his life— until he met Kang-Woo, that was.

“Who gives a shit about Deific Essence? What does it matter whether you’re of help or not?” Kang-Woo hugged Si-Hun tighter. He continued with a subtly trembling voice, “Even without that…”

Even without Deific Essence, even if Si-Hun would no longer be of help in battle…

“You’re… my one and only little brother.”

Si-Hun teared up. “H-Hyung-nim… No, hyung.”

Hearing that he was Kang-Woo’s one and only little brother touched him deeply.

“Get srest.”

Kang-Woo covered Si-Hun’s eyes. Si-Hun fell asleep like a puppet with its strings detached, likely because his fatigue had reached its limit.

Silence fell in the training room. Kang-Woo slowly turned to look at Tae-Hyun, who was crouching with his hands on his eyes with blood vessels bulging around it. The physical burden seemed to have been great from using Foresight past its limit.

“Tae-Hyun,” Kang-Woo called him formally.[1]

Tae-Hyun, who was covering his eyes, looked up in confusion. “H-Hyung.”

“Why did you fight Si-Hun to the point that he ended up like that?”

Tae-Hyun remained silent, unable to make any excuses. He had taunted Si-Hun to fight, knowing that Si-Hun had just finished his training. He averted his gaze from Kang-Woo and slurred, “W-Well…”

“Cto think of it, you treated Si-Hun aggressively from the beginning.”

“H-Hyung.”

“Please do not callhyung,” Kang-Woo replied fiercely. Tae-Hyun flinched in pallor. “There is no reason forto be called hyung by someone who hurts my family.”

“K-Kang-Woo hyung.”

Tae-Hyun reached out for Kang-Woo with a stiff expression. Kang-Woo coldly slapped his hand away.

Tae-Hyun kneeled in pallor and lowered his head. He shouted, “I-I’m sorry! I’m… so sorry.”

Tae-Hyun shed tears as his shoulders trembled. “I was… jealous.”

He had been jealous of Si-Hun, who had everything that he desired but couldn’t have.

Silence fell again. Tae-Hyun stood back up and bowed to Kang-Woo. He took out a token in the shape of a shield from his pocket and handed it to Kang-Woo.

“I’m sorry. I will never… show myself to Guardians again.”

Tae-Hyun expected that he wouldn’t be able to stay in Guardians after pulling something like this. He bowed once again and turned around.

Kang-Woo stared at Tae-Hyun’s back in silence. “Fuuu.”

He sighed and grabbed Tae-Hyun’s shoulder.

“Tae-Hyun.”[2]

“H-Hyung?”

“You’d better apologize to Si-Hun later, got it?”

“O-Okay! I got it!” Tae-Hyun quickly nodded with an expression much brighter than before.

Kang-Woo smiled bitterly and lightly flicked Tae-Hyun’s forehead.

“Ouch.”

“You look like you pushed yourself a bit too far as well, so get srest. I’ll set a tand place for you to talk things through with Si-Hun later.”

“Hehe. Okay, hyung.” Tae-Hyun giggled as he gripped his forehead.

Once Tae-Hyun left, Kang-Woo lifted Si-Hun.

The corners of his mouth rose and he licked his lips with his long tongue.

‘With this, Si-Hun has awakened Deific Essence and Tae-Hyun can no longer defy me. Tae-Hyun’s ability seems to have gotten stronger as well.’

Possibly due to it having been a clash between protagonists, the two of them powered up one after the other when it would have been difficult for a regular Player to do so.

“Pfft. Bwehehehehe!!”

A vulgar laughter echoed within the training room.

***

Si-Hun and Tae-Hyun were unable to avoid incapacitation after their aggressive bout. Since the duel had been closer to a death match, their wounds were naturally very deep.

“Shit,” Kang-Woo cursed as he entered his room.

He collapsed on his bed in exhaustion. He had no choice but to fill the vacancies that Si-Hun and Tae-Hyun while they were recuperating. Resolving the abnormal Gate phenomena that were occurring one after the other was draining Kang-Woo mentally.

“I’m so goddamn tired.”

Kang-Woo sighed deeply. He already had a mountain load of things to do even without resolving Gate issues.

‘I have to deal with the Church of Splendor too.’

He had heard from Lilith that the Church of Splendor’s influence was spreading at incredible speed on Earth as well due to the active interactions between Earth and Aernor.

The reason was obvious. With Earth’s protection gone, monsters from all over the world began to run wild, and several abnormal Gate phenomena were being spotted per day. Not only were new Gates being formed, but new monsters never seen before were also appearing from them.

Kang-Woo had expected this to happen now that the dangers of otherworldly invasions were looming over them, but this was more than he had expected. The victim count was growing larger despite the entire force of Guardians doing their best to eliminate the monsters. When the world was in such a crisis, there was no way that the Church of Splendor wouldn’t grow when simply putting one’s faith in the God of Splendor would give them power.

‘I can’t leave an opportunity as good as this unused.’

If the Church of Splendor successfully took off on Earth, Kang-Woo would gain hundreds of millions of devotees. He needed to seize the opportunity since he was able to convert faith to Divinity, but he had no leeway to pay it any attention due to Si-Hun and Tae-Hyun’s incapacitation.

“I need someone with Deific Essence.”

He would have liked to borrow the power of the gods, but they did not have the leeway to help him because they were busy enough to keep the chaotic divine realm under control.

‘What should I do?’

Kang-Woo needed a way to control the growing Church of Splendor and make an ally with Deific Essence at the stime.

“I guess this is the only way.”

‘I need to make an incarnation.’

He needed someone who would control the Church of Splendor in his place.

“Mm…”

Kang-Woo fell into thought with his arms crossed. If he made an incarnation, he could let them borrow a portion of his Deific Essence.

‘But the problem is that it would be far less powerful than if they acquire Deific Essence on their own.’

Han Seol-Ah and Layla were not very powerful despite possessing Deific Essence because their Deific Essence was borrowed.

‘But it can’t be helped.’

The difference between having Deific Essence and not having it was far too great. Not only that but those who acquired Deific Essence by themselves could be counted with two hands even after combing through the history of the entire world. Kang-Woo couldn’t afford to wait for such a rarity to happen.

‘There’s a limit to hodling[3].’

Even Si-Hun only managed to awaken Deific Essence a few days ago. It was far too inefficient to wait for his other comrades to awaken it.

‘Who should I choose?’

Seol-Ah and Layla were out of the question since they already possessed Deific Essence.

‘Balrog?’

Kang-Woo thought of his subordinate whom he had spent a millennium fighting together with.

He shook his head after much thought.

‘Balrog has the possibility of awakening Deific Essence on his own.’

Balrog had surpassed a demon’s innate limits and acquired a new power known as Overlord Armor. If he earned Deific Essence without any cost, his growth would stop then and there like Kang-Woo had feared would happen with Si-Hun.

‘I need to choose someone with absolutely no possibility of awakening Deific Essence on their own.’

It sounded cruel but no matter how hard one worked, only a select few were able to surpass their limits.

“Then who should I—”

Clack.

“Huh? It’s rare to see you in your room.” A red-haired woman entered his room. “Hey, about the monster that appeared in Yeongdeungpo—”

“Yeon-Joo.”

“Huh?”

Kang-Woo grabbed Cha Yeon-Joo by the shoulders and stared at her sincerely.

“Wh-What’s up with you?”

Yeon-Joo backed away with red cheeks.

Kang-Woo continued in a low tone, “How would you like to receive the blessing of light?”

“Huh? What the fuck are you talking about?”

1. This can’t really be reflected in English but just know that Kang-Woo started to talk to Tae-Hyun as if they were strangers. ☜

2. Kang-Woo is back to using casual speech. ☜

3. HODL is a crypto term (hold on for dear life) that refers to the strategy of not selling your assets even amid extrprice changes in the market. ☜