“Hoo, so it’s like this?” Seo Jun-Ho quickly skimmed through the Memory Projection’s functions.
‘Fast-forward, reverse, volume controls and screen brightness…Huh? There’s a search bar too.’
He let out a sigh of relief. People had ma.s.sive memories, and it would take him days to find the memories he was looking for.
Seo Jun-Ho watched the most recent memory.
— W-why are you doing this to me?
— I-I’ll give you everything! I’ll give you all my money!
— Gah, urk…..
Most of the Memory Projection was filled with countless scenes of murder. Seo Jun-Ho furrowed his eyebrows and started to regret his actions.
‘s.h.i.t, it seems that I let them off too easily.’
He clicked his tongue lightly and put ‘a.s.sociation’ in the search bar.
In the video, the Shadow Brothers were in America, carrying suits to a laundromat. A man took their clothes and started to press them as he spoke.
— These are orders from above. Check it.
— Orders? We’re preparing for the Las Vegas auction.
— Why are you complaining to me? I’m just a messenger, so I don’t know the details.
Jim’s Cleaners. Seo Jun-Ho quickly memorized the name.
‘It’s where they receive their orders…So that’s one of the Fiend a.s.sociation’s rendezvous points.’
Seo Jun-Ho had caught a big lead. He skimmed through a few other memories, and just as he was planning to shut it off, a mysterious man entered the screen.
— Hoo, they’re brothers? I like the look in their eyes.
— I’ll give you power.
— From now on, they’ll be cla.s.sified as 2nd-grade items.
Throb.
As soon as he heard the man’s voice, his head exploded with pain.
“Gah!”
[The skill grade is too low. You could not recall the memory completely.]
[The skill has been automatically deactivated for the safety of the user.]
Seo Jun-Ho ma.s.saged his throbbing temples, his face was wrinkled.
‘Ugh…What was that?’
The man who had offered the Shadow Brothers power was obviously a higher-ranking fiend than them.
“It would have been nice if I saw his face.” It might have been because Seo Jun-Ho’s skill grade was too low, but the man’s face was dim as if covered by static.
Seo Jun-Ho huffed in frustration and stood up. He looked through Edvar’s memories this time, but the man’s appearance caused the skill to deactivate again.
‘If I want to see more useful memories, I should raise my skill rank.’
If you used a skill a lot, your level of technique would increase, and your skill rank might also increase as a result.
‘Of course, depending on the level of talent and effort, there are people who can’t raise a skill rank their entire lives…’
But Seo Jun-Ho was extremely talented. He was also a strong-willed person who pushed his body to its limits. He rolled his shoulders and looked at the corpse of the Nameless Dragon.
“Now that I look at it, the skill isn’t limited to use on humans.”
Confession of the Dead let him read the memories of dead “beings,” so that meant he could also read the memories of a dragon. Seo Jun-Ho walked over to the Nameless Dragon’s corpse.
‘To be honest, I am a little curious.’
Why did the dragon look at him with such a sad expression? Of course, Seo Jun-Ho was also curious about its origins.
“If the dragon is this strong, it should have had a name too.”
The Cinder Fox couldn’t even be compared to it.
He was only able to kill this dragon that easily because he used the Shadow Brothers as bait. If he hadn’t, he would have sustained injuries. That was how strong this dragon was.
“Show me what kind of guy you were.”
Seo Jun-Ho gently placed his head on the Nameless Dragon’s forehead.
Wooosh!
Perhaps it was because he’d already done it twice before, but the scene on the screen was familiar. But unlike the brothers, the Nameless Dragon’s Memory Projection consisted only of one short video.
“...Huh?”
As he started to admire the scenes in the video, Seo Jun-Ho’s face gradually softened.
***
The king on the throne had a very sickly complexion. He coughed up phlegm and looked down at the empty Royal Palace.
“Priest,” he said solemnly.[1]
“Yes, Your Majesty.” A Buddhist monk wearing a robe bowed his head to the king.
“I don’t have much time left.”
“...I understand.”
“My death is already decided. I should be more focused on more realistic problems at present.”
The king slowly got up from his chair and opened a window, looking up at the painted-blue sky.
“It has only been 5 years since the long war between the three nations has ended.”
“Your peoples’ praises reach the sky.”
“Of course, the people are enjoying this era of peace. But we know that the war is not over yet.”
“...”
The king was right. The Great Republic from the north was still waiting for a chance to invade their land.[2]
They said that an era of peace had begun, but it was as futile as a lamp in a storm.
“I will die soon. Even my peerless generals who once defended this land are getting old.”
“Your Majesty, it is said that river water always flows from above to below. The junior scholars will not smear the names of their ancestors.”
“Ah, as they should. As they should.”
The king had a proud expression on his face as he looked up at the floating clouds and closed his eyes. “But talent is not enough. The Great Republic is a nation protected by countless Divine Dragons of departed heroes.” [3]
“They are simply evil spirits.”
“But what if they are not?” The king’s bright red Kingly robes fluttered as he turned around.
“If there really are dragons that protect their land, do you think my people and my soldiers will be able to face them?”
“...” The Priest closed his mouth. From his Buddhist perspective, he did not understand the king’s concern.
The king looked at him for a second and slowly opened his mouth. “...When I die, cremate my body and release my ashes in the Eastern Sea.”
“Your Majesty! Please, change your decision, Your Majesty!” The Priest’s voice cracked in surprise. The king was supposed to be laid to rest with his ancestors in the tomb. Why did he suddenly want to be cremated?
But the king spoke firmly with an unbreakable resolution. “I shall become the Guardian Dragon of the Nation and protect this country.”
“Your Majesty, a dragon is but a dragon. Even though we reside in the human realm, we are no different than the animals below us. Why must you reject reincarnation and carry the karma of an asura?”[4]
“Priest, I have already experienced all the luxuries the world has to offer. If I lose myself and become a beast, that will be my destiny.”
***
The Memory Projection zoomed out from the image of the laughing king as it ended. Seo Jun-Ho took a second to process this and forced a laugh.
“...Hah?”
He started to realize who the Nameless Dragon was.
‘He was the person who called himself the Guardian Dragon of the Nation…’
It was a name that anyone in Korea would have heard at least once in their history cla.s.s—the person who brought an end to the Three Kingdoms Era through unification—King Munmu of Silla.
“Wow, I never expected this. What just happened?” Seo Jun-Ho muttered to himself as he scratched the back of his head.
Then, a new message popped up in front of him.
[You have witnessed a portion of history through the Confession of the Dead.]
[Your skill proficiency has increased drastically.]
‘Huh? I didn’t expect this either.’
Today was full of surprises, it seemed.
Seo Jun-Ho looked wearily at the Nameless Dragon’s corpse. He killed him, but wasn’t the dragon an ancestor who had protected this land from foreign invasion?
“...”
Seo Jun-Ho took a moment to sort his thoughts. He slowly brought his hands politely together in prayer. “...O King, this land is now safe. I bid you a good rest.”
A white light started to seep from between the Nameless Dragon’s pitch-black scales. The tumorous scales melted against the light, and a transparent, holy dragon looked down at him from the sky.
‘Is that...his spirit?’
A soul without a body.
He heard a clear voice in his head.
— You prayed...For me...Thank you...I can...Ascend…
The dragon looked down at Seo Jun-Ho once more before it pierced through the pitch-black clouds and ascended above the sky.
[You have cleared the hidden mission of the Forgotten Dragon’s Island, ‘Dragon’s Ascension’.]
[You have received the item ‘Flute of Tidal Breath’.]
[You have received the t.i.tle ‘Helper of Ascension’.]
[You have leveled up.]
[All stats have increased by 1.]
[You have regained 3 speed stats.]
[You have regained 1 strength stat.]
[You have regained 2 stamina stats.]
“This was a hidden mission?” He even reached level 20 as an additional reward. Seo Jun-Ho scratched his head and let out another laugh. “...Well, sometimes surprises are good.” His perfect clear was completely different from what he expected, but it wasn’t bad.
His eyes lingered on the evening glow against the ocean before he left the Gate.
***
“T-the Gate’s color changed! It’s green! They did it!”
“They’ll come out soon! Keep the doctors on standby!”
“Hey, reporters at the front! Stand behind the line!”
Ilsan Beach was full of commotion. The a.s.sociation had sent a medical team just in case, and they kept them on standby while they blocked the reporters from the front.
A man walked out of the Gate and into an air full of anxiety and antic.i.p.ation.
“Seo Jun-Ho! It’s Korea’s Player Seo Jun-Ho!”
“But why does he look so grim?”
“Huh? Wait, the Gate is…closing?”
“Then the Shadow Brothers…” The people fell into chaos.
If someone died in the Gate, they expected it to be Seo Jun-Ho. They had never imagined that it would be the Shadow Brothers.
Shim Deok-Gu walked up to Seo Jun-Ho with a forlorn expression and patted his shoulder.
“...You’ve worked very hard, Player Seo Jun-ho.” It was a charged statement.
The fact that Seo Jun-Ho came out alone meant that the Shadow Brothers had indeed been fiends. It also meant that he had taken care of them.
Click, click!
Not knowing the full story, the reporters took two shots of them. A grieving Player who had lost two of his teammates, and the a.s.sociation President consoling him. It was the perfect composition.
A moment later, Seo Jun-Ho was cleared of any major injuries and went up to the interview podium.
“...It was an accident.” Fat tears spilled from his eyes. It was convincing enough to make Shim Deok-Gu blink from a distance.
After spending plenty of time sniffling, Seo Jun-Ho finally continued. “I will not forget the Shadow Brothers and their heroic sacrifice.”
This was the moment when two fiends were packaged into heroes who had sacrificed themselves for the greater good.
1. the original word was 법사 which means Buddist Priest, a t.i.tle ☜
2. Old Korean name for China ☜
3. 신룡 literal translation: G.o.d-dragon ☜
4. These are all Buddhist concepts. In Korean Buddhism, an asura is a violet spirit that is always fighting with Sakra, a ruler of one of the heavens. Because the king will not die as a dragon, he will not be reincarnated ☜