Chapter 234: #Young Yu Il-Shin and Silently Crawling Nightmare

Enchanting ruby eyes shone through rose-vine-like locks. She sat provocatively atop a giant rosebud, with petals barely concealing her slender frame. She was one of my stalkers, Silently Crawling Nightmare, who sacrificed herself to keep me safe.

My face lit up as I rushed to her. “Ms. Nightmare, you’re safe! Do you know how worried I was?

Ah!”

Swish swish!

Thorny vines flew out of nowhere, wrapping me in an instant. No matter how much I struggled, I couldn’t budge.

“

Fufu,

were you that worried about me, Darling~?”

She approached, grinning like a spider seeing its prey tangled in its web.

“Of course! You challenged a

War God

in the Gods’ Sacrificial War! But,

uhm,

can’t you release me while we talk?”

“Yeah, nope,” she replied firmly with a smile. Caressing my cheek, she said, “

Haa,

you have no idea how hard it is for me to keep it together. Every time I tried to touch you, Cow Udder kept throwing fits... Finally, I’ve gotten my chance.”

“W-what chance?”

“

Mm~

do you even need to ask?”

Her eyes gleamed ravenously, reminiscent of Sam-Shin ogling the finest dessert. Her hands traced a path from my cheek to my neck, then drifted down to my chest.

“

Ah!

Don’t do this! Please! You shouldn’t mess around like this!”

“But I’m always serious with you?”

Aargh! I take it back, I’m not worried about you anymore! You’re just a stalker through and through!

She smirked and patted my head as I squirmed. “Don’t worry, I won’t eat you up.”

She leaned in so close that I could smell her sharp, rose-scented breath.

“Good boy, come and accept the final gift from me, Silently Crawling Nightmare.”

Thus, she whispered in my ears.

However, it was too soft for me to hear.

“Huh? What did you just—

umph!

”

I was about to ask when her lips crashed against mine, as if trying to swallow me whole.

Her kiss was fire—fierce and fleeting, as beautiful as cherry blossoms caught in the wind, tinged with the faintest trace of blood. The intense sensation left me stunned.

Nightmare licked her lips, which dripped with saliva. “

Hehe,

it’s only the beginning and you’re already like this?”

She looked up into the air and said, “I’ll leave the rest to you, Cow Udder.”

***

Zzz...

Ding!

[The power Night Rose has been lost.]

I was sprawled like a frog in my house when God-Maker’s notification woke me.

“Huh? When did I fall asleep?”

Seeing how I fell asleep on the floor without a blanket, I was probably dead tired. Well, it wasn’t that surprising, considering everything that happened recently.

“

Hmm,

I think I had a dream, but what was it?”

I scratched my head, trying to recall the dream, but nothing came to mind. If I wasn’t mistaken, it was an intense yet sorrowful dream.

“Oh? What’s this?”

What seemed like rose petals scattered around me. Did anyone come with flowers yesterday?

After cleaning up the petals, I went to the bathroom to wash up. Strangely, my lips were swollen and puffy. Just as I pondered if I should visit the hospital, my phone rang—it was a call from Kang Woo.

I definitely underestimated a regressor’s proactiveness and power.

Why did the thought suddenly occur to me? The answer was the huge temple reminiscent of Parthenon, a temple in Athens, Greece, standing before me. Keep in mind that it was located in the suburbs.

“What do you think? Do you like it? I worked hard on this. After all, it should fit the image of a god.”

The dandy, middle-aged man built a temple in a day—a near-miraculous feat. His eyes twinkled at me like a little boy seeking praise. I couldn’t bring myself to tell him how I truly felt. I racked my brain, trying to come up with a string of praises.

“It’s stunning—elegant with a Hellenistic flair, like a true Greek temple brought to life.”

Kang Woo nodded in agreement. “It

is

a Greek temple.”

My ears perked in suspicion. “Wait, it is?”

“The Greek government was strapped for cash after the Hunter War, so I snagged it for a steal. The elves also lent us their portal to move it over.”

The elves, who had been busy moving materials using their magic, bowed reverently to me.

So, it was the real Parthenon.

“...When you said you bought it for a steal, how much was it?”

Even without being well-versed in global finance, I knew for a fact that my ten golden statues weren’t nearly enough to afford a temple like that.

“A billion dollars. It’s free real estate.”

Nevermind. A regressor’s proactiveness and power, my ass! He’s worse than I thought!

It was worth over a trillion Korean won, and even selling all the golden statues—crafted from Anty’s blood, sweat, and tears—wouldn’t come close to covering that amount!

“C-can’t we refund it?”

“Huh? Do you not like it?”

“It’s too expensive. Sure, it looks nice on the outside, but I don’t think it’ll be practical for daily living.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. The exterior remains the same, but we’ve updated the interior with a modern design to ensure a seamless living experience.”

I didn’t even dare to ask how much the remodeling cost. I heard that he’d also bought the land around the temple to ensure peace of mind.

“But isn’t this too much?”

“Soon, we’ll have a thousand elves moving in, so it’ll be best to have enough land.”

Was that an established fact? My stomach churned from the thought. However, my alter ego and followers didn’t seem to have the same issue.

The now muscular Yi-Shin wiped the sweat off his face as he approached us.

“I like the training ground. Well done, Kang Woo. As expected of my follower.”

“You flatter me.” Kang Woo bowed humbly.

“

Haaa!

Muuuuscles!”

Suddenly, a thunderous roar echoed.

Ah, right. There was this huge gym, about the size of Eberland, and it was owned by none other than Il-Ho. He held a huge set of specially designed dumbbells.

“It has just the right amount of weight to stimulate my muscles! I finally feel like I’m working out!

Kekeke!

”

“I used the Orichalcum specially ordered from the Hunter Shop for Mr. Il-Ho.”

Wasn’t that also extremely expensive? I heard that metal was used in equipment for S-rank Hunters.

“

Haa...”

Maybe I should just go along with it. “Where’s Seong-Yeon? I heard that she’s here.”

“Your niece is with Mr. Sam-Shin, playing in the Only Botanical Garden.”

There’s even a botanical garden? Is there anything this place doesn’t have?

I let out a heavy sigh, trudging toward said garden. It was quite larger than the other facilities, so it took me a while to find the kids.

“Fairytale,

The Little Prince and Treacherous Rose

.”

After walking for a while, I heard Seong-Yeon’s voice in the distance—cheerful, yet with a slight, child-like stutter. I followed it and found a rose garden in the most beautiful bloom.

Creak! Creak!

I saw Seong-Yeon reading a book on the swing, and Sam-Shin scarfing down a chocolate cake. He was eating the cake Jeanne Lehman bought him instead of a proper meal? Did he want to ruin his teeth? Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but feel proud of how grown-up Seong-Yeon had become, reading a storybook for Sam-Shin and all. It felt like just yesterday she needed her diapers changed.

I carefully walked over them, trying not to disturb them.

"...On a tiny planet, as small as Jobless Uncle’s, lived a little prince and a rose."

My dear niece, by “Jobless Uncle”, are you referring to me by any chance?

“The rose was pretty, but had a nasty personality. She nagged the little prince daily for not taking good care of someone as great, strong, and pretty as her. Unable to withstand the nagging, the little prince decided to leave the planet to earn some money.”

Why did it sound different from the version of

The Little Prince

that I read when I was younger? Was there a version like that? I crouched by the rose garden, pondering whether I should stop her from reading that bizarre fairytale.

“Finally, the day had come for the little prince to leave the planet. Before he left, he cleaned up the small planet and tried to put a cylinder cover over the rose so that she wouldn’t get hurt while he was gone. However, the nasty rose knocked it out of his hand and threw a tantrum!

“The rose screamed, ‘What are you doing?! Just leave! Don’t you dare pity me!’

“Then, the little prince said, ‘But I’m worried about leaving you alone...’

“The rose sighed, hiding the dew on its petals. ‘Bullshit! You’ll find some adorable lamb or flirty vixen and ditch me!’

“The little prince said, ‘No, you misunderstand. Well, I do want to be friends with a lamb and a fox...’

“The rose was enraged at the little prince’s tactless reply. ‘Bastard! I want a divorce! If I can’t have you, I’ll crush you!’

“

Baaaam! Pwoosh! Beeep! Ruuumble! Boooom!

”

Seong-Yeon even did a great job mimicking the sound effects.

“Des...troy!” Sam-Shin exclaimed. The story seemed to have piqued his interest—he stopped digging into his cake and focused on Seong-Yeon’s tale instead.

Okay, that was enough. I must get rid of that soap opera-like fairytale book. Just who was the damned author who came up with such a plot? I looked them up on Google, and the name Cracker appeared.

“They said a couple’s fight was akin to swinging a sword at water. Unfortunately, this plot doesn’t work in fairytales. Life isn’t so easy.

“Eventually, the rose fell into the arms of the sobbing little prince. The little prince cried out, ‘I’m sorry! I was wrong! Rose, don’t die! I’ll protect you with all my life!’

“The rose said, ‘

Hmph,

who needs your protection? I’m not that weak of a rose!’

“The rose’s damaged petals fell to the ground like tear droplets. She caressed the little prince’s cheek with her thorny vine.

“Then, the rose said, ‘Prince, you may leave, but promise me this: never forget me, ever. And if you cheat on me, I’m going to ki—

koff!

’

“And with that, the rose died with a cur—huh? Uncle? What are you doing here?” Seong-Yeon exclaimed when she saw me standing amid the bed of roses.

I didn’t answer. A sudden gust of wind swept in, sending the rose petals swirling around me like a whirlwind. I looked up at the beautiful, fleeting sight, breathing in the sweet fragrance of the scattered petals.

Think, think!

I struggled to recall the words that the rose had whispered to me last night. At the same time, the space around me began to distort.

“

Kyaa!

Uncle Il-Shin!”

“D-Des...troy!”

Wilted petals fell, and the rose from the dream whispered to me,

“You shall forget my existence from now on. This is the final gift from me, Silently Crawling Nightmare, to you. Don’t think of taking revenge on the War God. Live happily ever after, just as you’ve always wanted.”

Those words were nothing like the rose from the fairytale.

Clenching my fists until they bled, I yelled, “No!”

I woke up from the world of oblivion that Silently Crawling Nightmare had cast on me.

Wooooo!

The space before me shattered, opening a portal to the god’s realm.