From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 194: Emotion Pt. 4

There was endless nothing.[1]

It was a darkness from which one could never escape, no matter how hard one tried.

“ROAR!!”

Sangun continued to cry out. No matter how much he screamed, no matter how much he ran, nothing changed. He was just struggling within an endless nothing.

“ROAR!!”

Fleeting cries took over the space for but for a moment, emotions surged. There was anger, sadness, and longing. So many emotions, some of which he couldn’t even fathom where they came from, cycled through his mind.

“ROAR!!”

All they succeeded in doing was to make him cry out even more. They all blended into one thing: pain.

The deluge of so many emotions coming up at the same time was more painful than having his flesh split and his bones broken. The pain continued to pierce all the way into his heart, as if his very core was being crushed.

“ROAR!!”

He wanted to escape from it all.

'Please.'

Sangun was left with no other recourse but to run amok in order to flee from his pain that was wracking his body.

‘It saps away at the pain in my heart little by little.’

Eventually, he thought of escaping more. There was not even any inkling of wanting to save the others.

“ROAR!!”

All that remained was a cry of pain.

***

BOOM!

The front paw of Sangun, which had gotten so massive by this point that it was hard to even consider comparing it to how he had looked while on Mt. Baekdu, slammed down onto the road.

Fragments of the concrete and asphalt scattered and rained down on the Hunters.

BOOM!

Although his huge size made it seem like a literal mountain was moving, the beast was still extremely fast.[2] He slammed his paw down again.

“ROAR!”

His entire body bristled, and his fur, as white as an ice cap blanketing a mountain, shot out into the surroundings.

Thud, thud, thud!

“Dodge it!”

More terrifyingly, the size of the fur was no different from that of the Hunter’s weapons.

Thud! Thud!

They began to fall to the ground, piercing through the compacted dirt and concrete.

Crack!

Alongside the falling rain, in the midst of the lightning, Sangun was running completely amok.

Flicker!

However, even while burning in the rain, Lee Jun-Kyeong’s flames showed their power. All of Sangun’s fur flying toward the Hunters was burned to ashes and swept away by the rain. The other Hunters could do nothing in this fight. Whether it was here, or even in the fight that took place over there.

“Zeus!!”

There wasn’t a single place for an ordinary Hunter to interfere.

‘Why is Zeus…’

Lee Jun-Kyeong was equally as flustered as Odin with how the situation was unfolding. The reason he was unable to focus on fighting against Sangun was because the number of enemies behind him had increased.

Someone to hold Odin back had, in fact, appeared. However, that person was different from who he had thought it would have been.

‘The person I was speaking about…’

When Lee Jun-Kyeong had warned Odin that there would be someone else to deal with him, he hadn’t been referring to Zeus. No, Zeus was unexpected.

‘Zeus…’

From what Lee Jun-Kyeong knew, Zeus should have been in Europe. However, he soon shook his head. There was no way he would have already forgotten how things ended.

No, his memory was… He couldn’t trust it whatsoever. Muninn, Odin’s Familiar, its Authority over memories hadn’t been a facade. The raven had the power to control memories, but Lee Jun-Kyeong was certain about one thing.

‘He can’t manipulate them.’

But, what if the original memory itself that Muninn’s Authority dredged up was wrong? Lee Jun-Kyeong couldn’t contain his confusion.

Boom!

His confusion was so great that it had even become an opening for Sangun to attack him. He doubted everything. Moreover, there were other variables, too: Zeus, Odin, Sangun.

“I have to get it together.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong disappeared on the spot with the raindrops soon mercilessly cascading over the empty space where he had been.

Pow!

The disappeared Lee Jun-Kyeong reappeared instantly, his fist driving into Sangun’s gigantic face.

Once.

Pow!

Twice.

POW!

A third time.

As if there were stairs built into the sky, Lee Jun-Kyeong moved about freely as he pummeled Sangun’s face. Although his fist could be considered nothing more than a pebble compared to Sangun’s, which was as large as a mountain, the power contained within it was more than enough to take down that massive mountain of a beast.

BOOM!

He had grown again. Lee Jun-Kyeong had gained something from his memory. He wasn’t sure what it was yet, but it was undeniable that it was helpful.[3]

Lee Jun-Kyeong was looking down at the fallen Sangun from the air and reached out his hand.

"I can't keep fighting you without a weapon forever, Sangun.”

A storm raged within his small fist.

“So…” he continued. The storm shot directly toward the fallen Sangun.

“Wake up.”

***

Whistle.

A piercing whistle rang out through the rain.

“He isn’t a joke either.”

It had been a long time since he had stepped onto Korean land–no, the sky above Korea.

Crackle!

He was the Master of the falling rain and lightning.

“Zeus…”

Odin’s face and voice was illuminated by a flash of lighting, and his face, as he gazed over at Zeus, was enveloped in a green light.

“Damn. Though, it would have been nice if you had just died in that attack,” Zeus said nonchalantly.

Odin’s hands and the nape of his neck had turned black. That had been a result of Zeus’ Authority that had fallen earlier: Thunderbolt. Its marks had swept all over Odin’s body.

“Why are you…” Odin said to Zeus with a face contorted with embarrassment and anger. “You shouldn’t be here.”

"As expected," Zeus said, answering as soon as Odin finished speaking. “You seem to be related to that bastard too.”

“By that guy…”

“Him, right over there.”

Gray hair fluttered in the wind as if it didn’t get wet, even in the rain, as the owner of the gray hair playfully pointed over at Lee Jun-Kyeong, who was fighting Sangun.

“That bastard that looks just like that brat over there.”

“...!”

“Don’t ask me how I survived, because I really almost died there.”

Zeus' face hardened. Instead of his usual mischievous expression, his face was full of gravity and dignity.

"But I'm glad I’m not late."

“…”

“I’ll kill you here.”

Zeus shot down toward Odin with lightning-like speed.

Crackle!

The sky also emitted lightning once again. However, Odin wasn’t standing still either. A green light shot toward the sky like a countercurrent breaking through a jet stream.

Boom!

There was an explosion, one that tore through space.

BOOM!

A fight unfolded between Odin and Zeus, Sangun and Lee Jun-Kyeong. A meaningless dogfight was taking place between allies and enemies. However, Zeus’ angry voice cut through the air.

“You bastard!”

Odin, whom the Hunter had expected to fight directly against himself, had shot past him, disappearing behind Zeus’ back.

“Let’s put off our little showdown till later, dear Greenhorn,” Odin said as he sped away, green light traveling quickly.

“I have no intention of letting you go,” Zeus said, grinning.

"Athena."

He called out to the Hunter. He hadn’t come to Korea alone.

Crackle!!!!

Lightning fell once more. However, this time, it was different. His divine might, the Thunderbolt, was quickly approaching Odin.

–I’ve received your order.

***

“…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong bit his lip. Blood flowed from his mouth, so much so that it was unclear whether he had bit his lip too hard or if his head had been wounded from being hit by Sangun. Sangun was no longer the being they once knew.

–ROAR!!

He had become a true monster in an age where real beasts roamed the earth. He had the size of a mountain and the power to resonate with the earth.

‘A ruler.’

Lee Jun-Kyeong was reminded of the words that Odin had said to him earlier. Odin had done something to Sangun, who had been about to become a ruler.

‘He had awoken him.’

Sangun had barely been holding on and had been awoken into a monster that even his allies couldn’t recognize.

Crackle!

In the midst of the crashing lightning, two monsters faced each other.

–ROAR!!!

“…”

Sangun was a monster.

'I am also a monster.'

Lee Jun-Kyeong knew that he himself had become one as well. Covered in blood, they attacked each other as if they were going to kill each other. However, there were no fatal wounds on Sangun.

There were wounds all over his body, but even though there had been many openings before him, Lee Jun-Kyeong hadn’t capitalized on any of them. He had several opportunities to end Sangun, but Lee Jun-Kyeong continued to give the beast chances.

“I’ll say it for the last time,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said as he clenched his fists even tighter. “Wake up. I can’t let this go on any longer.”

His eyes scanned his surroundings. Hunters and his companions lay, groaning, as the land lay in ruins. In the distance, he could even feel the worry and anxiety of the ordinary humans.

Sangun was devastating everything around them and had truly become a Ruler.

‘Hel.’

Lee Jun-Kyeong called out to Hel, but the answer he heard was useless.

–Not yet, Master.

He hadn’t been able to find the answer he had wanted, and the situation wasn’t improving. Although the fight between Odin and Zeus may have moved somewhere else, he couldn’t continue to let things progress like this.

“This really is the last chance,” Lee Jun-Kyeong warned.

Crack!

ROAR!!!

/p>

As he spoke, with the falling lightning, Sangun’s front paws came barrelling down. Sangun’s paws were as powerful as thunderbolts, and they came down upon Lee Jun-Kyeong as if they had already torn his body to shreds. In the ensuing explosion, there was a spark.

“I told you.”

Intense flames pierced rain and lightning.

“This is the last time.”

It pierced Sangun's forepaw and soared into the sky, stems of flame connected in a straight line swirling. At the end of its arc, high in the sky, Lee Jun-Kyeong apologized, “I’m sorry.”

It was time for him to let it go. Just as how the beast had begged him.

“I have to kill you.”

It was time to kill Sangun, who had become the Ruler and given up everything.

Ungnyeo and the residents of Heaven Lake Village briefly passed through Lee Jun-KYeong’s head.

“I can’t help it.”

Then, the swirling flames expanded and exploded outward.

BOOM!

The spreading flames, expanding flames, stopped expanding outward and suddenly poured into Sangun.

–ROAR!!

The beast that had become a monster let out a scream, the flames penetrating into the wounds Lee Jun-Kyeong had made, cooking its flesh and blocking its movements. In a split second, he had become enveloped in flames.

–ROAR!!

The beast cried and twisted its body back and forth, but it was no use. Even the rain falling from the sky couldn't extinguish Lee Jun-Kyeong's flames.

Swoop.

When Lee Jun-Kyeong stretched out his hand, as always, Muspel's Spear appeared. Many things had changed, but the spear in his hand had stayed the same. It had become an extension of his limbs and subdued his enemies.

Clench.

It was all bittersweet. There was the sorrow of an ally that had become his enemy. Moreover, this ally had become an enemy unwillingly. Lee Jun-Kyeong wondered if he was just seeing things as he seemed to see tears forming in Sangun’s eyes.

“You’ve done well,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said, consoling the beast as he crashed down.

BOOM!

Someone murmured while they watched Lee Jun-Kyeong dive down as one with Muspel’s Spear, “A Bolt of Flame…”

However, others who saw the same thing called it something different.

“No.”

“The Punishment of God.”

“…”

This was no longer a battle of kings.

Someone spoke once more, “The War of the Gods.”

Then, a desperate cry followed.

“NO!” a warm and longing voice cried out. “SANGUN!”

It was Ungnyeo.

1. Korea has quite a few different words for the concept of darkness (both Sino-Korean and native Korean have their own words for it). The word ?? can mean both the literal darkness/dark matter/unknowable darkness that defines space or the more figurative darkness at the end of hopeless despair. ????

2. Remember, the San in Sangun means mountain. ????

3. There are a lot of comments about how it’s strange how good of a fighter Lee Jun-Kyeong is right off the bat, but throughout the book, the Author has been alluding to something going on about his situation, which I hope I’ve conveyed properly. Although he may not have remembered being trained, his body does, and now that his mind has remembered it again, he’s beginning to bridge the gap between muscle memory and intentional movement, making him stronger. ????