Chapter 419. Organizing (3)
Noel Freya and Byeok left the room to give the brothers some space. Once they were the only ones left in the office room, the two brothers stopped bickering and sat while facing each other. Chi-Woo opened the multiple-layered lunchbox he brought. Then he was stunned to see Chi-Hyun dive into the meal and devour everything. He wasn’t just eating the food hungrily, but like a man possessed.
“What….? Do you have a group of beggars inside your stomach or something?” Chi-Woo’s eyes turned wide. “But I thought it’s not necessary for you to eat anymore.”
“I already passed the stage where I need to continuously supply nutrients to my body for survival,” Chi-Hyun replied with his cheeks full of food. “But I haven’t forgotten the joy of eating and drinking.”
Hearing this, Chi-Woo understood where his brother was coming from. Chi-Hyun had said that during difficult times, he remembered the snacks he left inside his room and endured. Those snacks could be substituted for proper food, drinks, and other treats of the same vein. Chi-Woo stared piercingly at Chi-Hyun as he moved his spoon at terrifying speed. It wasn’t a bad feeling. He felt that the war was finally over with his brother’s return.
“Oh, that’s right.” After watching his brother eat and not saying anything for some time, Chi-Woo said, “I beat Bael.”
Chi-Hyun was lifting the multi-layered lunchbox over his face and shoving its content down his mouth when he snorted. Though he didn’t say anything, his face seemed to say, ‘So what?’ But Chi-Woo didn’t relent in the slightest, and his eyes sparkled even more intensely.
“And it’s not just the great demon Bael! I beat Bael after she’d accepted the Sernitas!”
Chi-Hyun’s hand stopped this time. He slightly lowered the tilted lunchbox from his mouth and sighed a bit exasperatedly. “…Ah. Don’t act out unnecessarily. I told you to behave yourself this time, but you…” He sounded conflicted, but in the end, Chi-Hyun went back to tilting the lunchbox to his mouth again.
Chi-Woo wanted to ask what his brother meant, but held back. Since this war was his first official meeting with Bael, it didn’t matter much to him whether or not she died. Yet Bael was someone his brother had known since a very long time ago. Perhaps she could’ve been their real ally this time if only her goal had aligned with his brother’s. But now, that was no longer possible.
Silence flowed in the room again, and the only thing that could be heard was the sound of Chi-Hyun clacking his spoon.
“…Hyung.” After hesitating a bit, Chi-Woo called out to his brother again, and Chi-Hyun glanced at Chi-Woo. “Will we be…able to return home?” Chi-Woo asked. Though they had overcome a huge hurdle, it was too early for them to talk about returning home. Liber was still far from getting its salvation, and Chi-Woo was aware of this. Yet Chi-Woo was curious about how much better the situation had become since he first entered Liber and how high the possibility of them returning home was.
“I don’t know,” Chi-Hyun replied curtly.
Chi-Woo made a bitter smile. ‘That’s what I thought,’ he was about to say when Chi-Hyun continued.
“Still, if we safely overcome the next crisis…we might be able to think about returning home then.”
“What?” Chi-Woo asked in shock. It hadn’t been long since they overcame the last big crisis, but another one was coming again? “What are you saying? Are you sure?”
“It’s not confirmed, but…it has been forewarned to us.”
“When?”
Before Chi-Hyun answered, he gulped down the soup in a separate container and wiped the corners of his lips with the back of his hand. “The moment we won this war.”
Chi-Woo’s face fell. He didn’t know what his brother was saying at all. “Are you saying that the Sernitas and the Abyss are going to come back for revenge soon?”
Chi-Hyun smiled dryly. “Then, we won’t have anything to contemplate about since we will just have to decide between fighting or not.”
“Then?”
“I’m not talking about enemies from the outside,” Chi-Hyun said and pointed his spoon toward the ground. It seemed he was gesturing at Shalyh—in other words, humanity and the Cassiubia League. Chi-Woo thought about this and gasped.
“No way…are you talking about a traitor or something?”
“Hm, rather than a traitor… Well, if you really think about it, I suppose that’s right. Since I’m talking about those who won’t hesitate to weaken their own forces for their self-gain.” It sounded like Chi-Hyun was suggesting that something like an internal conflict would arise among humanity and the League.
“Why do you think that? It hasn’t been long since we gathered our strengths to overcome this recent crisis.”
“They will of course all join hands when it looks like everyone will die. Why wouldn’t they fight for their lives?”
There was the expression ‘enemies on the same boat’; no matter how much two parties hated each other, if they faced a difficult situation together, they would help each other and unite under one goal. Yet what would happen if they were no longer in a difficult situation?
“Do you think the relationship between humanity and the Cassiubia League will worsen?”
Chi-Hyun shook his head. “Even if I disregard the League, the conflict I’m talking about could happen within humanity.” The more dire the situation was, the more people were willing to collaborate; they didn’t even have the luxury to think about anything else after all. But the opposite would also be true, and considering that, Chi-Woo understood a bit of what Chi-Hyun was saying.
“That’s how it usually is,” Chi-Hyun said nonchalantly. “When people’s bellies are full and their lives become more bearable, there’s bound to be those who start getting ideas. It’s their way of trying to get compensated for their past sufferings and whatnot.”
Chi-Woo suddenly recalled what Zelit had told him before. If the original four factions on Liber were the main forces with vested interests, humanity was an emerging force; and what humanity was trying to do right now could be seen as a revolution. Regarding that, Zelit said that throughout history, it was very rare for a revolution to succeed. Most of them did well in the beginning until they suddenly broke apart for various reasons. If one looked at Earth alone, the Taiping Rebellion and the Yellow Turban Rebellion were both such examples.
“Nevertheless, don’t think about doing anything. You should just keep your house in check—you know, your Seven Stars,” Chi-Hyun warned when he noted how serious Chi-Woo looked. “You should start with fixing that overly polite way you speak to your members.”
“I’m already working on that.”
“You might not think it’s important, but this is Liber, not Earth. In the end, the one with strength—hm?” Chi-Hyun stopped. He thought Chi-Woo would ask him what the big deal was about his way of speaking, but Chi-Woo immediately agreed to it. After a moment of surprise, Chi-Hyun continued. “…Did you hear that from Eval Sevaru? Yeah, if you listen to that guy, you at least won’t suffer losses.”
Then, he nodded while snorting. “It’s difficult.”
Chi-Woo sighed while stretching his arms. “Since we crushed the Demon Empire, I thought we would only have to deal with the Abyss and the Sernitas.”
“I already told you, don’t get ahead of yourself,” Chi-Hyun said firmly, and Chi-Woo raised one of his eyebrows higher.
“I told you I defeated Bael.”
“Yeah, sure. Good job. Really good job.” Chi-Hyun stirred his soup with a spoon and continued. “I’m sure you now know why I told you to not even dream of it.”
Chi-Woo didn’t know how to answer. After going through the recent war, he knew his brother hadn’t been wrong. If a myriad of miracles and coincidences hadn’t happened at the same time, the ones who would be celebrating in this place wouldn’t be him and his brother, but Bael.
“If you want to talk to me about that, reach at least Master tier first.”
“Hey, come on, what is your tier then?”
“Grandmaster.”
Chi-Woo blinked twice because he was a bit surprised by what his brother said.
“What? You aren’t a Challenger?”
“Challenger is not a tier you can just reach because you want to. Anyways, can I eat in peace now?”
Chi-Woo wanted to point out that Chi-Hyun had been eating the whole time, but he managed to swallow his words.
“Oh yeah, hyung, I want to ask you one more thing.”
“Ah, what now?”
“What is our relationship with Alice?”
That stopped Chi-Hyun from lifting the spoon again.
“I also heard that our mother’s name isn’t Okboon, but Elrich, and that our family from her side is Ho Lactea. What’s that about?”
Chi-Hyun's face hardened and turned solemn. He didn’t look like he was in the mood for jokes anymore.
***
Chi-Woo left the official residence looking a bit shaken up. In the end, he failed to get an answer for his question, and his brother refused to talk. His brother only inquired about the one who gave him the information. Because of how fearsome Chi-Hyun looked, Chi-Woo couldn’t simply answer that it had been Ismile. After that, his brother instantly dashed out like he had something urgent to take care of. Because of how chilling his brother looked, Chi-Woo didn’t attempt to stop him.
‘Seriously, what in the world happened…?’ Chi-Woo scratched his head and sighed. His head was in a mess because of the conversation he just had with his brother. Even though he had overcome a huge hurdle, he couldn’t rest easy thinking everything was over. His brother always thought several steps ahead and told him what would happen. Thus, it seemed like he should do something about it, but Chi-Woo didn’t know exactly what he should do. His brother had also told him to not try or force anything.
‘He told me to reach at least Master tier.’ Perhaps the answer was to become stronger. On Liber, strength was the same as money. The more the merrier. And though Chi-Woo had all the intention to become stronger, he needed to take one step at a time. His first priority was raising his tier, and Diamond was the highest tier that most heroes could reach normally. After firming his resolve, Chi-Woo quickened his steps.
—I think it’s about time.
Meanwhile, a voice that sounded like a fierce wind blew from somewhere.
—Yes, that seems to be the case. I have no objection to it after going this far.
There was a sensual voice, perfect for seducing the opposite sex.
—I agree.
This time, it was a low-pitched voice embedded with mystical mana. Several voices swirled around the white space.
—Hm, it seems that everyone agrees…
A rough, low voice that sounded like it would belong to a general responded.
—What do you think? Astraea’s daughter?
Everyone looked toward where the goddess dressed in white cloth with a deeply pressed-down hood stood. In her hands, she was holding a balance scale.
***
There weren't many places that Ismile could escape to, and he was soon caught by Chi-Hyun.
“No, I really had no idea. How would I know how clueless he was? Do you think I would’ve told him if I had known?” Ismile said while groaning. Under Chi-Hyun’s order, he was pressing his face into the ground with his arms held behind his back. His head and feet were his only points of support, while his butt was high in the air. One would wonder why a hero would struggle so hard to maintain a position like this, but it was because he had been beaten to near death by Chi-Hyun just a second ago.
“It’s really true. It just slipped out while I was talking to him. Please spare me. Come on, we are friends,” Ismile said nonstop as cold sweat poured down his back. He couldn’t see because he had his head on the ground, but he knew with certainty that Chi-Hyun was seriously contemplating whether or not he should kill him.
Ismile thought he could play around for a bit after the war, but his blabbermouth put him in trouble once again. And though he was begging for forgiveness and apologizing, he was cursing at Chi-Woo for betraying him in his mind. Nevertheless, his top priority at this moment was to survive Chi-Hyun’s ire, and Ismile continued to beg. Then, he suddenly realized that Chi-Hyun was no longer contemplating ways to kill him, and he looked up slightly. He saw Chi-Hyun staring at the space before him with a serious face. It appeared something significant had happened.
Ismile gulped. Perhaps this was his ticket out of this pinch. “What is it? What happened?”
Chi-Hyun’s reply came much later.
“…It’s a request to defect.”
Ismile’s forehead wrinkled. Then, he focused on listening to Chi-Hyun’s following words.
“Majority of the great demons who survived are asking us to accept them.”
“What? Why would they—”
“The Demon Empire fell to ruins.”
Ismile stopped speaking. That was how shocking the news was. He blinked fast for a while and in the end, let out a deep sigh and said, “So in short, you are saying that the Demon Empire fell, and those who barely managed to survive want to surrender to us?”
“That’s what it seems to say,” Chi-Hyun calmly agreed. “They say that the troop they left in their main base for defense was wiped out. So thoroughly that there’s not even a single survivor. But I suppose we will hear the exact details after meeting them in person.”
Ismile shared Chi-Hyun’s mixed sentiments. The Demon Empire used to be one of the most powerful factions fighting for dominance on Liber. The fact that such a power disappeared in what seemed to be overnight hung on his mind.
“And one more thing. This came just now.” Chi-Hyun wasn’t finished. “It’s a message from the Celestial Realm. Soon, they will be sending the largest number of reinforcements ever to be transmitted—” Chi-Hyun stopped momentarily and continued slowly. “And they will be the last reinforcements to be sent to Liber.”
A new glint passed through Ismile’s eyes, but he quickly recovered from the shock.
“…That means…” he said in a low voice while quietly getting up. “I suppose this is the start of the three becoming four.”
Chi-Hyun didn’t say anything. He shifted his gaze from the sky and turned around, staring at Ismile while the man wore an uncharacteristically serious expression.
“Who told you to get up?” Chi-Hyun asked.
“I apologize, sir!” Ismile shoved his head back into the dirt.
***
—I acknowledge your promotion to Diamond Tier and bestow you the class of Cadinalis.
A familiar voice rang near his ears in a completely white space.
—I expect you to play a pivotal and central role in the progress of humanity, which will continue to grow bigger.
Chi-Woo bowed deeper. With this, he succeeded in reaching the Diamond Tier. It was definitely no easy feat, but it was only expected that Chi-Woo would reach the tier. After all, every big accomplishment Chi-Woo had made in the previous war was akin to passing a promotion test.
‘But anyways, a Cardinalis…’ It was a bit of an unexpected class, and Chi-Woo fell into deep thought. Cardinals was based on the latin word, ‘cardo’, which meant ‘hinge’. As the hinge was the part that allowed a door to open and close, a cardinal was meant to fulfill a pivotal role for the Church. The Korean equivalent of Cardinal, ‘chu-gi-gyeong’, contained the Chinese characters that meant ‘an apparatus that plays a central role’. Chi-Woo didn’t know exactly what this class would mean for him, but he thought La Bella would have a good reason for the choice—just like how he received the class of Inquisitor and placed judgment on his opponent to recover balance.
‘Thank you, Goddess La Bella,’ Chi-Woo expressed gratitude inside his mind and waited for her to continue with a smile. No matter how long he waited, however, he didn’t hear La Bella speak again. Chi-Woo was confused. He thought it was time for him to receive promotion privileges now. Chi-Woo glanced upwards and looked dazed. He didn’t know when it had happened, but before he realized it, he was surrounded by several gods. Shahnaz, the White Horse General, and gods he supposed were Mamiya and Miho. Furthermore, there was the god that Alice had apparently established.
—…Furthermore.
La Bella continued.
—We will declare you a great saint and discuss whether you can rise to the Master Tier.
Chi-Woo’s eyes turned wide. What La Bella said meant only one thing: this was possibly a two-tier promotion.
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