Side Story Chapter 13. Words that I Couldn’t Say (2)

The three sat and talked. Chi-Woo’s main topic of interest was what the two have been doing for the past 1000 years. Similarly, the two were also greatly interested in what Chi-Woo had been doing after saving Liber. Then, as they listened, they were stunned to hear that Chi-Woo had placed the Sernitas among the Celestial Realm and became enraged.

“I was wondering why the Celestial Realm didn’t call me after I did so much, but to think that was what had happened…!”

“That’s why I told you to just let a crisis happen!”

Since the Sernitas split into individuals to deal with the Celestial Realm’s labor shortage, there was no need for them to recruit new heroes. Chi-Woo sweated under the two’s sharp gazes. And while this went on, people began to arrive one by one.

“My greetings, Teacher. It’s been a while. I hope you have been doing well.”

“Senior! It’s been so long—oh my, you guys! You are here too!”

After arriving first, Ru Amuh greeted Chi-Woo politely and bowed. Ru Hiana was very glad to see Hawa and Eshnunna.

“Yes, it’s been a while. Ru Amuh, how have you been?”

“Thanks to you, I’m doing fine.”

“No need to thank me. I heard that you’ve been doing very well for yourself these days?”

“It’s thanks to the power you bestowed upon me. I am feeling the weight of it these days.” Among the Seven Stars, one could say that Ru Amuh best awakened the powers Chi-Woo gave them. He continued to hone his skills after the salvation of Liber, and he used the experiences he had gained on Liber to reach a much higher standing than before. Now, it could be said that he was comparable to Chi-Woo before he became the Heavenly King. Thus, he was being called the potential legend who could possibly replace the vacant space Chi-Hyun left in his absence.

“That’s good. If you are struggling with anything, you can tell me. If it’s you, I will be sure to come running to help you.”

Ru Amuh appeared genuinely touched. But it really was an assuring line, as the greatest existence in the universe declared that he would support him. Anyway, the admiration that Ru Amuh had for Chi-Woo was the same as when he was on Liber. Then, after conversing with Ru Amuh, Chi-Woo didn’t forget to protect himself from the flow of time this time, gave the other a heads-up to give him a moment, and went to and came back from Earth.

“Hey everyone. How have you been?”

“Master!” As soon as Eshnunna saw that Chi-Woo had brought Evelyn here, she ran up to her master.

“…”

“…”

Lo-Ra and Hawa simply stared at each other wordlessly. Soon, Yeriel, Yunael, Jin-Cheon, Apoline, Teresa, Umaru, and other members of Seven Stars joined them. As food and drinks piled up on the table, more people arrived. And naturally, without anyone announcing the start of it, a gathering began. The main characters were, of course, Eshnunna and Hawa. Everyone in this place had worked to save Liber, and since their meeting place was also on this planet, they were curious about what had happened to the two, who had protected Liber for 1,000 years.

Thus, Eshnunna and Hawa became flustered by all the questions pouring over them. And after talking and having a great time for a while, Chi-Woo looked around and suddenly noticed that one person was missing.

“By the way, where’s Emmanuel?” Though Emmanuel had promised to come to this meeting at all costs, he was still not here. It was surprising considering that he always kept his promises.

“Who? Ah, Emmanuel?” Yeriel, who was quite close to Emmanuel, seemed to know something and instantly replied.

“Why did he not come? Was he too busy?” Chi-Woo asked.

“Well, it’s true that he’s busy. But if you call him, do you seriously think he wouldn’t show up no matter how busy he is? He will leave everything behind and rush here at your call.”

“I don’t know why he’s so fixated. He should just let it go at this point,” Apoline also chimed in. It appeared that there was something going on with Emmanuel.

“Why? What happened?”

“Ah well, it’s just a power struggle in his family. It’s nothing for you to concern yourself with,” Yeriel said, but looked a bit concerned. Thus, Chi-Woo pushed for more details.

“It’s a common occurrence. Among the Twelve Celestial Families, there’s basically no family that doesn’t go through internal fights for ranks. It’s the same for my family too.”

“But it’s not for my family?” Chi-Woo retorted.

“Oh, that’s right. The Choi family stepped down, so it’s among the Eleven Celestial Families. Anyway!!” Once Emmanuel returned home after saving Liber, he received great attention from his family members and the elders. Though Emmanuel had volunteered to go to his deathbed, he didn’t die and instead returned safely. Furthermore, he greatly aided the salvation of Liber, solved his personal problems with his abilities, and raised Eustitia's glory to great heights. And not only did he accumulate great skills, he also built a deep connection with the Choi family. Emmanuel had thus risen dramatically in status from the bottom.

His status became so much higher that the elders began to think that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to consider him as a potential successor of his family. Thus, naturally, Emmanuel gained the jealousy and scrutiny of several of his siblings, who dreamed of becoming the next head of the Eustitias.

“They first attacked his contribution to the salvation of Liber. They said that the Liber’s salvation was done wholly by the Choi family, and Emmanuel simply rode on your coattails. Other people also attacked Apoline and I in the same way, and it’s a way to undermine our honor and reputation.”

“I see.”

“Honestly, it’s the truth, but you know how Emmanuel is. If he was really seeking to be the head of his family, he would have just given an adequate response to those claims and went along with the public opinion, but he admitted to everything.”

“He admitted that?”

“Yes! Don’t you also find it baffling? He said he didn’t do a thing on Liber, and that Sir Chi-Woo was the one who did everything! Do you know how much Apoline and I had to suffer because of him…!” Yeriel gritted her teeth as the thought made her enraged again. She had planned to feign ignorance and wrap up the situation nicely to gain some benefits, so it annoyed her that Emmanuel revealed the truth on his own.

“But do you know what’s funny? Because Emmanuel admitted to everything, his siblings became even angrier.”

It was because though they made those claims to provoke Emmanuel, Emmanuel admitted to everything they accused him of so calmly. His siblings interpreted that as Emmanuel not wanting to even bother dealing with them and him looking down on them.

“It sounds like it really hurt their pride since they are going as far as to try to get him killed.”

“Are you saying that there was a bloodbath between Emmanuel and his siblings?”

“No, they are not that crazy, and there’s no way the family would simply watch as that happened. They used another method to trigger Emmanuel. They know the kind of person he is.”

In order to become the head of the family, one needed to pass internal and also external assessments; in other words, how people from the outside viewed them was very important, as well as the difficulty of the crisis they had resolved and the kind of world they had saved. And Emmanuel was a hero who gained great fame and glory by fighting alongside the legend. Thus, it would’ve been understandable for his family to plead him to take the position as the head.

“Thus, they provoked Emmanuel by saying, ‘Hey, are you as great as people say? Then, can you also solve this case? If you do, I will acknowledge you.’” Yeriel explained.

“They must have purposefully given him missions that surpassed his abilities.”

“Yes, that’s exactly it. They kept mocking him, saying that even Ru Amuh, who had no family backing, solved such a crisis, and that he should be embarrassed and so on…ha,” Yeriel sighed. “If you think about it, it’s the same for them. They are just idiots. It’s so stupid.”

Apoline nodded. “I also heard about that. Even the Eustita family and elders advised Emmanuel to not respond to his siblings, but Emmanuel didn’t listen to them.”

Yeriel nodded. “You must also know his personality. He could’ve just said everyone is the same in front of Ru Amuh and told them all to piss off, but he went off to do what they had egged him on to do. And he plans to shut their mouths with his feats.”

“Wait, so then…”

“Yes, he’s probably having a go at it right now. He told me that he would attend this meeting at all costs, but seeing that he’s still not here…”

As soon as he heard this, Chi-Woo abruptly got up. If it was any other hero, he would just have a laugh about this matter, complimenting the hero for their perseverance. But Emmanuel was a hero he personally picked and fixed. Though he believed in Emmanuel, he couldn’t sit still in case something happened.

“I will come back after a bit.”

“What? Where are you going all of a sudden—”

“To bring Emmanuel here, of course,” Chi-Woo said and jumped across space and time.

***

Meanwhile, in another world, there was a fierce battle ongoing between a hero who was trying to save the world, and a demon god who was trying to destroy it. However, the fight was going a little strangely.

“Die!”

—No! Hey man! Why are you attacking as soon as you came! This is the final battle! Shouldn’t we at least set up the scene a bit!?

“He called me! I must answer his call and go!”

—What sort of nonsense are you saying!? Who called you!?

“It doesn’t matter, so please just die! I’m already late to the meeting!”

—Kuaaah! What a crazy bastard! What are you going on about!

Sparks of fire flashed across the battlefield, and amid it, the hero’s desperate cries and the demon god’s screams raged on. Emmanuel knew that the meeting with Chi-Woo he had promised to attend must have started for quite some time now. He grunted and used his greatest skill right away out of urgency. But the demon god wasn’t an easy opponent.

—You bastard!

After redirecting Emmanuel’s electric shocks, he penetrated Emmanuel in a sudden ambush. Emmanuel caught on to what happened then, and the demon god didn’t really feel satisfied about his win.

—…Huh?

It was then the demon god gasped, and the world suddenly stopped. He couldn’t move no matter how much he tried. Emmanuel was going to seize the opening to back away, but what happened next left him flustered.

“Whew. That was close. But even if he died, I could’ve revived him,” a voice said, and a young man suddenly appeared between the two.

“Teacher?” Emmanuel said in shock as soon as he saw Chi-Woo.

“You took so long, so I came personally to get you,” Chi-Woo said with a wink.

“I apologize, sir!” Emmanuel immediately got down on his knees and bowed. To Emmanuel, Chi-Woo was like the sky. And not only had he broken his promise to such a being, he had also made Chi-Woo personally come to pick him up; and thus, Emmanuel felt like he couldn’t apologize enough.

“It’s fine. It’s fine. I will settle things here, so you should quickly come with me. There are a lot of people who want to see you.”

—?

It might’ve been very unfair for the demon god, but Chi-Woo planned to just quickly solve the crisis in this world and take Emmanuel.

“Ah…!” But as soon as Chi-Woo extended his hand, he saw Emmanuel gasped with a flustered look on his face.

“What is it? Did something happen?”

“No…that’s not it…” Emmanuel didn’t finish, but Chi-Woo could clearly read him. He also could understand it more quickly this time because of what Yeriel had told him. Emmanuel felt very guilty for rising to the podium alongside Chi-Woo; and thus, he tried to deal with any suspicions to his abilities and wanted to prove himself without borrowing anyone else’s power.

‘Hm…’ Reading Emmanuel’s thoughts, Chi-Woo contemplated a bit. It was truly commendable for Emmanuel to think this, and it didn’t seem right to scold him for wanting to do things on his own.

‘Now that I’m here, it looks like he has a good chance too…’ Chi-Woo thought. It seemed that Emmanuel had also honed his skills, feeling a sense of competition with Ru Amuh. But of course, it would still be a difficult fight. Though the demon god wasn't as strong as the Sernitas, Emmanuel had about a 30% chance of defeating his opponent at his current level.

“Then, how about this?” Chi-Woo spoke first as Emmanuel didn’t dare to speak his own thoughts. “I can separate this space from the outside and keep it frozen like this.”

“Sorry, sir?”

“Then, you can go to the meeting with me and come back. After that, you can start fighting again since I can have the seal automatically released. How about it?”

“Uh…” Emmanuel blinked hard. Besides wondering if that was really possible, Emmanuel wondered if that would be the right thing to do.

“Let’s go. I want to hear from you after all this time.” But then with Chi-Woo’s suggestion, all hesitation that Emmanuel felt washed away, and he followed willingly. Yes, what could be more important than Teacher? And if what Chi-Woo said was true, it sounded like he would be able to resume the fight even if he came back after paying.

“Yes, I understand. I will do that.”

“Good, then let’s do that.” With this, Chi-Woo took Emmanuel’s hand and disappeared. Left alone, the demon god felt completely baffled. It felt like he had been struck with a sudden bolt of lighting.

—No. What?

It was understandable since the fight had come to a sudden stop in the middle, yet that wasn’t the only problem. Though his body was frozen in place, his consciousness continued to run. In other words, it was like he was in a vegetative state but with a fully awake mind. Of course he could’ve easily endured a couple of hours, but unfortunately for him, because Chi-Woo had isolated this space, the flow of time became drastically unstable. As a result, a second on Liber became 750 years here.

Since Chi-Woo and Emmanuel were free from the flow of time and space, it didn’t matter to them, but the demon god had no such protection. In short, by the time Chi-Woo and Emmanuel arrived at Liber, the demon god would have waited in this place alone for thousands of years. And of course, their meeting didn’t end with just a couple of seconds. Since it had been a while since they met and the meeting place was Liber of all places, everyone went outside to look around the changed world. Thus, the meeting went on for far longer than usual and easily surpassed one or two hours.

There were 60 seconds in a minute and 36000 seconds in an hour. Thus, by the time two hours passed in Liber, the demon god would have waited in this secluded space for 27 million years. Even a demon god would not be able to endure the weight of those years. Perhaps it would’ve been better if his body was free, but frozen in place, the millions of years felt like pure torture. Moreover, it wasn’t as if a mere demon god could free the bind a Heavenly King placed on him.

—Ugh, uggggh…

In the end, the demon god couldn’t bear it any longer and burst into sorrowful tears.

—When are you coming?

And waited desperately for Emmanuel, who never seemed to return.