Chapter 446 - I'll wait even if a thousand years passes

The World of Emptiness was the opposite of the World under the Sun. There was no freedom, power, or honor here. It truly was a place where nothing existed. Even gods were afraid of this world of sinners.

In other words, all beings in this world were slaves of Universe. It didn’t matter if they were malignant spirits, gods, kings, or fairies; sinners from all dimensions had to serve the King of the World of Emptiness.

They lived their lives here as slaves, having no idea when their sentence would end. They lived as they pined for the world with the light.

[The world under the sun is great. We can do anything over there.]

[Who cares if this is a high-rank dimension that includes the World under the Sun? It’s still a prison.]

However, there was a being that even they showed interest in.

[I heard a new member joined us.]

[What is his deal?]

[I heard he has SSS-rank Karmic debt.]

The prisoners screamed.

[What? There is someone other than the forbidden child, who had Karmic debt of that magnitude??]

[I heard he’s a Great Spirit of the Pantheon.]

[Great Spirit?! Wow! It has been a while since we got someone nice like him.]

[If he’s from the Pantheon, he’s a big shot!]

The residents of the World of Emptiness were abuzz with the news about Lee Gun.

[It has been seven hundred years since we received a new member in this infamous place.]

Here, everyone was equal as slaves. It didn’t matter if one used to be the ruler of a dimension. Of course, the beings here were petty enough to divine themselves into ranks.

However, the gods of the Pantheon were in a league of their own! Pantheon was the place with the largest population of gods, and its gods were considered the strongest.

This was why everyone was interested in Lee Gun. It was the same when he was called for the assignment ceremony, which everyone had to go through.

[Prisoner No. 695,156, kneel in front of your king.]

[!]

Cuffed, Lee Gun was dragged here by the guards.

The subordinates of the king were surprised when they saw him.

[What the hell? He’s just a brat.]

[Don’t underestimate him. It didn’t take him long to get into trouble. He destroyed the transit camp.]

[Oh wow! We got a lively one. Well, it doesn’t matter. He’ll get crushed by the king eventually.]

[It’s to be expected. All the slaves exist to serve Universe.]

Finally, the King of the World of Emptiness saw Lee Gun. The king laughed.

[You are the culprit that wiped out the God race by yourself.]

Lee Gun smirked when he heard the voice. The red eyes looking at Universe curved as he smiled with his eyes. He had finally found the being he had been looking for.

* * *

In an entirely different timeline from the earth where Lee Gun had resided, Life and Death were carrying out their master’s orders.

They were monitoring and managing the gods that were born again as tools. These gods had gone through the process of inheritance and were reborn as tools, so they had lost all memories of Lee Gun. But this wasn’t the case with Life and Death.

Since a lot of time had passed, the Divine statuses had grown up in appearance. But they still missed Lee Gun. They continued to skip dimensions as they chased after the tools.

Protect the humans. Protect the person that’ll become their king.

Obedient to the will of their master, they looked forward to the day they would reunite. When they had heard Lee Gun had fallen into the World of Emptiness, they had cried once again.

[No! Even if Master went to the World of Emptiness, we’ll meet him again.]

[It’ll happen if we don’t forget Master. It’ll happen if we continue our mission.]

Several gods who had retained their memories, like the Fire Wheel Lord, had tried to fight them. Some had tried to get rid of Life, but Jun, the Divine status of Death, had subdued all of them. He became the leader of the tools, but that would happen in the far distant future.

“Ooh-ahhhk! A strange item appeared!”

“M-My king! A strange kid is floating in the sky!”

“What is he? Is he a god? Is he a messenger of the heavens?!”

[Yes. He must be the majesty candidate who will become our master.]

It had been roaming endlessly when it discovered the traces of Lee Gun. It caused sadness, but this was also a story that would happen in the far distant future.

* * *

[This is breaking news. A mysterious fire appeared yesterday afternoon…]

Hugo sighed as he watched the TV. When the monsters had disappeared, he had thought there would be fewer incidents, but it didn’t seem to be the case.

‘Well, it’s much more peaceful than the times when we were unable to travel between countries because of the monsters.’

Humans could now move freely through the skies, oceans, and lands. They no longer lived within domes. They weren’t like birds living in a birdcage. They had returned to a peaceful time akin to the days before the monsters and gods had invaded the earth.

‘Well, small monsters do appear from time to time.’

However, they were weak enough that spraying holy water could defeat them. But that wasn’t the problem right now.

[Dad? Dad? Are you listening to me right now?!]

“Ah. Yes. I'm sorry. I was watching the news for a moment.” Hugo was on a call with Sungjae. He fixed his grip on his phone. “You said you won’t be able to come home today? We decided everyone would gather here and have dinner together.”

[Uh! I’m sorry! I’m going to have to stop a fight between gangs of awakened beings!]

Hugo sighed. The real problem that had appeared recently was the children of the awakened beings.

This might have happened because the earth once believed in Lee Gun, who had been the god of Creation. The children of the original awakened beings were causing issues.

In simple words, the third-generation children, like his daughter Jisoo, were born with abilities despite not receiving a blessing.

In the past, humanity had a common enemy: monsters. So awakened beings had been united. However, this era of awakened beings liked fighting against each other from time to time. It was an attempt to show off their power.

‘It’s why all the Zodiac Saints have a headache dealing with this problem.’

In reality, the number and size of such groups were getting larger.

It was why Sungjae was being called to various locations.

[Dad! Since I’ve relayed this information, I’m going to end the call! Tell Mom that I’m sorry!]

Hugo furrowed his brows. Taking down gangs, my ass! “Chun Sungjae, you plan on drinking alcohol since it’s the end of the semester for you? This is an excuse to not come home, right?”

[Damn it! It isn’t like that! What happened that time was—]

“Whatever. I’m fine if I get to see Yooha’s face. I don’t care if you never come back home.”

[Whatever. I bet Noona won’t be able to make it there either.]

“What??? Why?!!” Hugo grabbed the phone in consternation.

Chun Sungjae laughed.

[Ah! Noona is really popular right now. Men have been following her around in front of the library.]

“Who is it? Who dares to chase after our Yooha? Where is she?”

Click!

When his son ruthlessly ended the call after having said what he wanted to say, Hugo screamed alien words.

“He became more impertinent after he went to college!!! He really isn’t taking his father seriously!?” Hugo didn’t need children who thought about only Lee Gun. He sat back on his desk.

‘Of course, I don’t have time to have dinner with everyone either.’

Hugo glared at the manuscript before him. The deadline was fast approaching.

Lee Jaewon, who had been watching all of this from the side, laughed. “Still, you achieved your dream of becoming an author thanks to Lee Gun-nim.”

“!”

Hugo was writing a memoir of Lee Gun. He pouted when he heard Lee Jaewon, who was there to help him. “You know this isn’t a novel. This is Lee Gun’s biography.”

“It might be non-fiction, but people might think it’s a novel.”

Hugo became silent.

‘Gun is gone.’

When Lee Gun had gone to the World of Emptiness, the presence called Lee Gun had disappeared from the world. All the items that he made also disappeared.

The wristwatch that was used as a badge for the Sagittarius temple had been created by Lee Gun as a talisman-type holy item. However, his engraved seal, a proof of his power, had disappeared from it.

In fact, Aslan and the Primordial god were also gone.

‘At least, Gun’s Constructs are still around.’

However, they had dispersed since their master was gone. Some had left to monitor the gods that had turned into tools. Some had left to look for Lee Gun. The rest either went looking for the invading monsters, or they had reincarnated as humans.

It was how the world continued to forget Lee Gun. Of course, this didn’t mean the existence of Lee Gun was completely gone.

‘His existence is fading away slowly.’

It was like how people from several hundred years ago continued to fade from people’s memories.

This was why Hugo was putting so much more effort into writing the biography. He kept pushing out content about Lee Gun into the world, trying to make sure people didn’t forget about Lee Gun until he came back.

As proof of this, he religiously showed a picture of Lee Gun to his youngest daughter. “Yes, Jisoo. This is Gun. You must never forget him.”

However, Jisoo pouted as if she was dissatisfied with the picture.

This made Hugo pleased; he had raised her well. He put a hand over his mouth. “As expected of my pretty Jisoo…! You like your dad better than Gun, right?”

“I’m not so sure. I think she doesn’t like the pictures where Hugo-nim can be seen clearer than Lee Gun-nim.”

Hugo glared at Lee Jaewon. “For your information, Jisoo likes her father more than Gun.”

“Do you really think that’s true…?”

“Whatever! What about Sagittarius? Does he remember Gun?” Hugo asked.

Most of the Constructs had gone their own way. And since Hugo was trying to write a memoir about Lee Gun, he needed accounts from a Zodiac. That would have a bigger impact.

The Archer disciples clicked their tongues as they brought the research material.

“We are taking care of Sagittarius-nim, but he has no memories of his past life.”

“When he went through the process of inheritance, his ability was transferred, but all his memories are gone now…”

Hugo grumbled, saying Sagittarius was always useless.

Only Lee Jaewon had an odd expression on his face. His eyes twinkled. It was said that the process of inheritance made one forget the memories of one’s past life, but…

‘Is it really true that he’s unable to remember Lee Gun-nim?’

Sagittarius didn’t look like someone who couldn’t remember Lee Gun. He looked more like someone who was pretending to not know Lee Gun. Well, it didn’t matter in the end.

“It has been three years since Lee Gun-nim disappeared. Last year, Yeonwoo-nim and Virgo went looking for Lee Gun-nim’s traces. Have you heard anything from them?”

“Nothing.”

When Hugo became sullen, everyone sighed. Their reactions were understandable.

“Hailey-nim was able to come back. So why has Lee Gun-nim not returned yet?”

Yes, Hailey had already returned to the earth around three years ago. She had even reincarnated, and when Hugo had gone looking for her, he had been surprised.

The reason for his surprise was the parents who were raising Hailey. At a glance, they looked like humans, but Hugo could clearly see it.

‘They are Flame and the god named Shiva…!’

They were Hailey’s original parents: the old Great Spirit of Mahabharata, Shiva, and the first-generation monarch Flame.

He had no idea how Shiva had died, but both of them had been accused of tarnishing the name of the Great Spirits. They had bought the enmity of the gods.

Anyway, they had ceased to exist, and they weren’t supposed to be able to come back. It should have been impossible, yet they had returned as humans. They also had a young Hailey with them!

This was why everyone had thought the same thing.

- It is Lee Gun-nim!

Lee Gun must have done something within the World of Emptiness.

Anyway, Hailey was growing at a ridiculous speed, and her parents had returned with her. This was why everyone had high hopes.

‘Lee Gun-nim will be back soon!’

However, that hadn’t been the case. They had received no news of Lee Gun even after three years.

Lee Jaewon sighed.

‘Since there was the future prophesied by Hugo-nim, we expected this to be a rocky road, but…’

Hugo had received two prophecies back then. One was a future where they were all dead. The other was where Lee Gun held a woman in her arms with sadness.

‘I’m pretty sure it was Hailey-nim.’

This was why Lee Jaewon had sighed when he had heard Lee Gun had gone to the World of Emptiness. He had gone there to save the woman he loved.

Lee Jaewon understood his feelings, but… “You should have stopped him. Why did you let Lee Gun-nim go there?”

Only Hugo had been within the Cradle. Had the rest of them been there, they would have done everything to stop Lee Gun. They would have insisted Lee Gun find a different solution.

“He could have used Karmic debt transfer to somehow….”

“Gun said he didn’t want to use that.”

“!”

That wasn’t all. In reality, Hugo had tried to stop him. He was Lee Gun’s friend. Lee Gun was choosing a certain death by jumping into the ocean. Of course, Hugo couldn’t just stand by.

- Gun, do you really have to go? Hailey is important, but you are more…

- If it were you, I would have gone too.

- !

In the end, those words had put Hugo into submission.

‘Shit! Damn Creators!’

It was his fault for falling for that tribe.

Anyway, it didn't matter who it was. Lee Gun would have gone there for either one of them. And since Hugo knew Lee Gun’s resolve, he had sent Lee Gun on his way.

The disciples had been sighing when they heard those words. They were sad since his absence left too big of a hole.

Hugo then asked, “Why are you guys here? Do you have something to report?”

The disciples who had entered the room scratched their cheeks with awkward expressions.

“Now that you mention it….”

When Hugo heard their story, he screamed for them to leave the office.