Chapter 378:
The atmosphere at the meal quickly became gloomy.
Tears welled up in the eyes of Kang Yura, who had a tender heart.
Only Kang Hye-rim was eating the food without any thoughts in the heavy mood.
Yu-hyun was momentarily flustered. He had only meant to comfort her by saying not to worry, but he didn’t expect her to cry.
It was just a trivial matter, why was she acting like that?
He had gone through so much that his threshold for hardship was much higher than others.
“Oh, I’m fine now. Really. Thanks to you, I feel relieved.”
“But, oppa… you must have suffered a lot.”
Kang Yura couldn’t hold back her tears and burst into tears.
“I feel so sorry for my oppa.”“No, Yura. I’m really fine. Until yesterday, well, honestly it was hard… but I got better. Really.”
“Sniff. Then what are you going to do now?”
“There are still many people I haven’t met. I have to check what they are doing, and also find my old colleagues who parted ways… something like that. Do you know anyone?”
“Who?”
“Anyone is fine. No, rather than that, what about Sumin? Weren’t you with her?”
“Uh… Sumin is… well…”
Yura hesitated for a moment and then gave up seeing Yu-hyun ’s eyes.
She confessed honestly.
“Well… she said she had something urgent to deal with and left the city a month ago.”
“A month ago? Then you were with her until then?”
“Yes.”
“What was that urgent thing?”
“She asked me to keep it a secret.”
“Not even to me?”
Yu-hyun was serious and Kang Yura couldn’t refuse any more.
She glanced at Kang Hye-rim who was still engrossed in eating and whispered quietly.
“Well… she said she was going to teach a lesson to the guy who made Hye-rim unnie like that…”
When she said the guy who made Kang Hye-rim like that, there was only one being that came to mind in Yu-hyun ’s head.
Mara Papayas.
He was the king of Hell Realm, the world of fire, and he was the one who led Kang Hye-rim’s corruption.
He was practically the culprit. Sumin had noticed his existence early on and went to take him down.
She said she would teach him a lesson, but considering Sumin’s personality, she probably said something more radical and direct.
“That’s… a big deal.”
“Right? I should have stopped Sumin. But Sumin was so stubborn that I couldn’t…”
“No. You don’t have to worry too much.”
“Why? The opponent is a first-generation Divine Spirit, no less. And the dangerous king of Hell, Mara Papayas! No matter how strong Sumin is, there are so many enemies there, including transcendents…”
“That’s why I said it’s okay.”
Yu-hyun recalled one of the stories that Gareth told him while moving with him.
A trespasser appeared in Hell Realm where Mara Papayas resided, and they swept away more than 10 transcendents and the heavenly army that resided in Hell Realm by them self.
He wondered who that strong person was when he heard it, but as soon as he heard Kang Yura’s words, he knew who the trespasser was.
Sumin.
She had already stepped into the potential of transcendence before, and she had become so strong that she was unrecognizable in five years.
Yu-hyun told Kang Yura everything he knew.
“Really? Sumin really beat them all?”
“Yes. You were with Sumin for so long and you didn’t know how strong she was? You should know how strong she is.”
“But even if Sumin is strong, the opponent is also an more powerful transcendence… It’s natural to worry.”
Kang Yura said that while telling him how great Sumin was rated as a force in the alliance.
In fact, Sumin’s ability alone was enough to be a lord-level, and even comparable to an executor among them. But she didn’t like such a position, so she didn’t become a lord.
Besides, she rarely took action herself, so only a few people in the alliance knew how strong she was, and they were mostly high-ranking people.
“I thought she would come back as soon as things were over…”
Mara Papayas ran away, so it was uncertain whether Sumin would come back.
Considering her personality, she might chase Mara Papayas to the end and get rid of him.
“Do you have any way to contact Sumin?”
“No. I don’t have anything like that…”
“It would be enough if I could explain to her that Hye-rim is fine now.”
The reason why Sumin moved was Kang Hye-rim.
She thought that if she eliminated Mara Papayas, who corrupted her, Kang Hye-rim would return to normal.
But before she could take down Mara Papayas, Kang Hye-rim was changed by Yu-hyun’s hand.
Whether it was salvation or another problem, he wanted to tell her this fact and hoped that Sumin would come back right away.
The problem was that the communication devices used on Earth did not work properly in the mixed world.
Moreover, the biggest problem was that Sumin was unreachable.
“But… I’m a little relieved to know that she’s alive and well.”
She didn’t know how strong Sumin was, but if she could go to the territory of a first-generation Divine Spirit alone and make a mess, she didn’t seem to be hurt anywhere.
If she did that much, there would be no one who would dare to touch her unless they were crazy.
I didn’t know what Yoo Young-min was doing, but he seemed to be alive and well.
“Did you hear anything from Seo-ryeon or Jia?”
“Oh. I was going to tell you about Seo-ryeon unnie. She’s in this city too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. She’s in charge of administrative work in the city. I was thinking of visiting her today.”
“What about Jia? Do you know where Jia is?”
“Kwon Jia unnie… I don’t know either. She’s the type who doesn’t reveal herself much, sorry.”
“No, you don’t have to be sorry. I see… You still don’t know about Jia.”
But he thought it was fortunate.
It was a success just to know the whereabouts of Baek Seo-ryeon and Sumin.
He was worried about Kwon Jia, but she wasn’t the type to get into trouble anywhere.
After finishing the meal, Yu-hyun got up from his seat.
Just then, his father, who had sorted out his mind on the second floor, came down the stairs and met Yu-hyun .
“Are you leaving?”
“Yes…”
He didn’t ask when he would come back. Yu-hyun didn’t say anything more either.
They knew without talking.
They couldn’t guarantee when they would meet again after leaving today.
His father hesitated for a moment as if he didn’t know what to say, but then he seemed to make up his mind and lightly patted Yu-hyun ’s back.
“Be strong.”
“…”
There was a lot in that one word of encouragement.
When he saw him before, his father spoke to him as if he was a stranger. But now he treated him comfortably as if he was his family and cheered him on.
That small change came very big to Yu-hyun .
“Heh, heh. I’m embarrassed. I feel like I’m getting older and more nagging.”
“No, it was enough to cheer me up. Thank you.”
“Is that so? I’m relieved to hear that. You see, I’ve been dealing with my daughter all the time, so I don’t know how to treat my son.”
“It’s the same.”
“Huh?”
“It’s the same. Then and now.”
Yes.
His father was the same then and now.
Regardless of whether the other person was a son or a daughter, his father’s appearance as a family was unchanged then and now.
And in the future.
That’s what family is.
“Heh, heh. Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“If you say so, I’m relieved. Yes. Be strong and achieve what you want.”
“I will.”
After finishing the conversation with his father and coming out of the house, his mother was waiting for him.
“Your father talks a lot, doesn’t he?”
“No. It wasn’t much.”
“I see. I won’t say much either. Be strong.”
“…Yes. Thank you.”
That alone was enough consolation for him, so Yu-hyun smiled faintly and nodded his head.
When he came out of the house with Kang Hye-rim, Kang Yura, who had been waiting for him first, smiled brightly again and led Yu-hyun .
“Come on. Let’s go. To the central administration of Old Town.”
“Okay.”
Kang Yura led Yu-hyun , and Yu-hyun led Kang Hye-rim in a strange formation.
Old Town had quite a lot of transportation options as a large city, and he saw some of the amazing transportation options that he had seen at Cosmo Market before.
A large rat-like creature that ran fast on the ground, or a winged dragon that flew in the sky.
“Don’t you have anything to ride?”
“Me? Of course I do.”
She seemed to be waiting for that question and bragged with her chin up.
“I was going to tell you later, but if you’re so curious, I can’t help it.”
“Why don’t you call it now if you have it?”
“Mine can’t be called like that.”
“Just like that?”
“You’ll see.”
Kang Yura took Yu-hyun to a place that looked like a helicopter landing pad.
“Captain Kang Yura of the security team. Nice to meet you.”
“Yes. You’re working hard.”
She greeted the person who was guarding the pad lightly and then stretched out her right hand toward the sky.
A light flowed from her back of her hand and shot up high into the sky.
Yu-hyun and Kang Hye-rim stared at the sight with curiosity.
After about 10 seconds, a large shadow appeared over the pad.
The fierce beast that appeared with its back against the bright sun was a huge bird with wings.
“Huh?”
Yu-hyun widened his eyes as he thought that bird looked familiar somehow.
Kang Yura, who stood next to Yu-hyun , curled up her lips and smiled.
“You haven’t seen him for a long time, have you?”
“Baek-hyo?”
“That’s right.”
What appeared was a huge white owl the size of a house. Yu-hyun immediately recognized that the bird was Baek-hyo.
It was a world of difference from the size he had seen when it was a baby, but how could he not know?
Soon after landing in the center of the pad, Baek-hyo growled and widened his eyes as he recognized Yu-hyun .
He also recognized his master who had returned after five years.
“It’s been a long time, Baek-hyo.”
Hoot!
Baek-hyo flapped his wings and approached Yu-hyun .
He used to fit in his arms when he was small, but now Yu-hyun barely fit under Baek-hyo’s wings, such was the difference in their sizes.
Yu-hyun stroked Baek-hyo’s forehead as he leaned his head against him.
“Yura, you took care of Baek-hyo.”
“Yeah. Do you know how sad he was after you disappeared? He barely ate anything, I raised him hard to get here.”
“I’m glad Baek-hyo followed you.”
Yu-hyun didn’t feel much strange about Baek-hyo following Kang Yura.
Baek-hyo was a divine beast that could be considered as Minerva’s owl lineage, so he instinctively felt his master’s scent from Kang Yura.
Thanks to that, even though Baek-hyo felt sad about losing his master, he was able to live again with Kang Yura’s help.
Now Baek-hyo was considered one of the best divine beasts in Old Town, boasting a flying speed that no one could match.
Even the giant eagle that Choi Do-yoon rode couldn’t compete with Baek-hyo’s speed.
“Come on, let’s move.”
Kang Yura climbed on Baek-hyo’s back. Yu-hyun also nodded and got on Baek-hyo’s back. Kang Hye-rim was wary of Baek-hyo at first, but soon she liked the soft touch of his feathers and lay down on his back.
Baek-hyo soared into the sky with a flap of his wings.
His speed was so fast that it surpassed a fighter jet, but strangely enough, Yu-hyun didn’t feel any gravity acceleration or wind pressure.
As he rose high, he could see the whole view of Old Town.
The place where Baek-hyo was heading was the tallest building in the center.
It was so tall that even Burj Khalifa on Earth couldn’t compare to it. That place was the central administration of Old Town.
The building was so big that there were spaces for giant divine beasts to land on every part that looked like an outdoor terrace.
Baek-hyo landed on one of them near the center.
“Here we are.”
Kang Yura was already excited to surprise Seo-ryeon and knocked on the door at that moment.
Bang!
A huge explosion occurred inside and swallowed up Yu-hyun ’s group.