Chapter 495. The Final Departure to War (2)
An order came for them to prepare for war. As soon as they heard it, everyone in the room rose from their seats. And as they left the office room in ones and twos, Chi-Woo remained seated for a while. It was because Chi-Hyun had gestured at him to stay behind. After Ru Amuh politely greeted the two and closed the door, they were left alone in the office room.
“Come to think of it, I don’t see much of Mr. Ismile these days,” Chi-Woo said while glancing at the closed door.
“It’s understandable. At this point, even that guy must’ve realized that this wasn’t a stage for him. He must be feeling the futility of his effort.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s the law of equity. For one to be the main character, one must give up something matching the position. But that guy probably can’t make a determination like that easily since he’s basically all the current Nahla family has,” Chi-Hyun replied, but Chi-Woo tilted his head confusedly.
‘Why is he being so philosophical? Did something happen to him?’ Chi-Woo simply thought and sighed. Then, he commented, “But besides that, you really are the same as ever.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m talking about your attitude to Ms. Alice. She was just expressing her opinion. You didn’t have to shoot her down like that,” Chi-Woo replied.
“When did I do that?”
“I admit your point is valid, but it’s the way you put it. Your tone and way of talking were all aggressive. It sounded as if you were telling her that she didn’t know anything and should just stay back.”
Chi-Hyun snorted, thinking there was no point in continuing this conversation. Chi-Woo shook his head at his brother’s response.
“It’s true you don’t like Ms. Alice though. I bet you can’t say otherwise,” Chi-Woo said.
“So? What about it?”
“What exactly is the reason you dislike her so much? I thought our mom was originally from Ho Lactea. That must mean she’s also a family member, and she’s someone who cares about me like an older sister.”
“…”
“I really can’t understand it. Stop hiding the truth and tell me.”
Chi-Hyun didn’t say anything and simply stared down at the ground with a frown. Chi-Woo thought his brother would tell him to not bother with useless things again and was about to change the topic, but—
“It happened a long time ago,” Chi-Hyun suddenly said. Chi-Woo’s eyes widened. “I can’t tell you everything that happened, but…the Ho Lactea tried to get involved with our family when you were born—no, since way before that.”
“What do you mean by getting involved?”
“To explain it in our terms, it’s sort of like a marriage. But from their perspective, they were trying to cross-breed for the purpose of evolution.”
‘Cross-breed’ was such a crude word that it made Chi-Woo frown slightly, but then he caught onto what his brother was saying.
“Wait, marriage? Doesn’t that mean that Ho Lactea and we are families?”
“Mind your words. How can we be families?”
“Well…wouldn’t they be our aunts and uncles at the least? Then, Ms. Alice…”
“She’s from the indirect line. Our mother was from the direct line so there’s some distance between them. If you follow our mother’s family line, she will probably…be a relative once removed.”
“Um…wouldn’t marriage between our families be a bit difficult then?”
“That’s according to the rules on planet Earth,” Chi-Hyun said while shaking his head. “The places the Ho Lactea reign over have different rules, and since their ancestor is a god, they don’t care about things like that in the first place.”
“W-What? Really? They can do that?”
“It’s not really a big deal for them. Think of Greek Mythology as an example.”
If one thought about how commonplace incest and adultery were in Greek Mythology, it was more understandable.
“Since they have divine blood and aren’t humans, inbreeding isn’t a problem for them genetically. If you think about it, you and I also…” Chi-Hyun trailed off and pursed his lips. Then, he cleared his throat and continued, “…Anyways, they behaved similarly when you were born. They worked hard to take you in as their son-in-law somehow.”
“They did?”
“They argued that it would be all right for them to take you since I was there for the Choi family. And our mother cut off all connection with the Ho Lactea after that.”
Chi-Woo gaped. If what Chi-Hyun said was true, it appeared that the Ho Lactea treated a precious life as a mere tool. Still, many questions remained unanswered. It was because Chi-Hyun didn’t simply feel distant from the Ho Lactea, but vehemently loathed them.
“Of course, Alice didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not like I don’t know that,” Chi-Hyun continued, “Still, she is a member of the Ho Lactea, and I reject everything and everyone that is part of that family.”
“Hm…are you saying that you dislike the Ho Lactea because they kept trying to get involved with us?”
“Yes,” Chi-Hyun said firmly.
Chi-Woo scratched his head. He didn’t know how to describe the situation. It was true that Ho Lactea had gone too far at one point, but it made him think, ‘Still, isn’t it too much to act like this?’ It seemed that there was more to this matter than what Chi-Hyun was letting on—probably some deep secret that he couldn’t tell anyone. However, it appeared that Chi-Hyun didn’t intend to explain further, as evidenced by his succinct response.
Chi-Woo thought he should leave matters at that. He was already surprised that Chi-Hyun had revealed so much to him when he would’ve usually scolded him for even posing the question. Chi-Woo thought he should be satisfied with knowing that the problem lay in the Ho Lactea family rather than Alice as a person.
“There was something else that I wanted to talk about, but we went off track quite a bit,” Chi-Hyun said with a sigh. Though it was late, he was getting right to the point now. “Let me ask you one thing.” He frowned slightly. “Did you notice anything strange?”
“What do you mean?”
“Especially in relation to me?”
“Uh…I don’t know what you are talking about. Not really?” Chi-Woo shrugged, and Chi-Hyun looked dissatisfied like he thought there was no way Chi-Woo wouldn’t notice.
“Think about it carefully and tell me anything that comes to your mind.”
“Even so…”
“For example, your promotion to Challenger tier.”
“That time? Well…ah.” There was one thing that came to his mind. Chi-Woo explained how his promotion to Challenger tier almost became null and was suddenly followed by a set of conditions. After listening to Chi-Woo’s explanation carefully, Chi-Hyun nodded.
“Ah, that’s why…” He made a short exclamation and nodded. “Something like that happened. I see. I got it. I’m sure you are busy too. Why don’t you return and get ready too?”
Chi-Woo blinked hard. What was his brother going on about? And Chi-Hyun threw him a glance when he didn’t move.
“What?”
“Is that all?”
“What else?”
“I thought you would want to talk about war plans or something.”
“What is there to talk about when we have no information? We will only know what to do once we get there. It’s meaningless to talk about anything before then.” Chi-Hyun nodded, “It might be irresponsible, but…it’s not like I have no counterplan at all.”
Chi-Woo’s eyes glinted. His brother wasn’t the type to spit out any words thoughtlessly. There was a good basis for everything he said, and Chi-Woo was curious about what that was.
“What is it?”
“I can’t tell you yet because it’s really the last resort. It doesn’t change the basic fact that we would only know what to do when we get there.” Chi-Hyun continued while getting up. “If you must really know, basically what had all been red suddenly changed to all green. I wondered how that happened…but if that happened because of the ‘cause’ you talked about, it’s understandable. And I have a good guess on what I need to do then.”
Chi-Woo crossed his arms and stared at Chi-Hyun. ‘Damn this bastard,’ his face seemed to say. “You say you are explaining, but again, you’re spitting words that only you understand,” Chi-Woo complained.
“It’s all what you’ve seen and heard as well.” Chi-Hyun smirked. “If you don’t remember, blame your thick head.” Chi-Hyun then left the room like he had no more time to waste. Chi-Woo thought he had no choice but to trust his brother. He sighed and also got to his feet.
…That night, Chi-Hyun secretly visited the Seven Stars’ building without anyone noticing. He didn’t go to see Chi-Woo. It was Byeok who answered the door.
“…What did you say?” She demanded fiercely as her eyes widened.
***
The next day, the morning sky was bright and clear. Shalyh’s expeditionary force had to leave for war after returning only a month ago. It was a brutal schedule, but no one complained. Not only was it because of their ally—the Cassiubia League’s situation, but also because everyone knew that this war could be the last one that decided everything. If they didn’t win, all that awaited them would be death. They needed to win at all costs. Only then would they all live.
After finishing his preparation and heading outside, Chi-Woo found that everyone was waiting for him. There was the always reliable Ru Amuh—the one and only member of Seven Stars to reach the Master tier. Then there was Emmanuel with a resolute look on his face. Rumors said that he was determined to try for the Master tier again through this war, and Chi-Woo didn’t have the heart to ask him what the point of that would be, since he understood Emmanuel’s desire to catch up to Ru Amuh.
As usual, Yeriel’s face was filled with weariness and fatigue. It was understandable, considering how immersed she had been in producing supplies for the army as soon as she returned. Even today, she had pulled an all-nighter until early morning. Though she didn’t shine on the battlefield, Chi-Woo appreciated her contribution. If it wasn’t for her AI Armor, half of the Shalyh forces wouldn’t be standing here now. Chi-Woo was about to walk past Yeriel and then Yunael when he stopped. Behind Yunael, who was yawning with her mouth wide open, Aida had her head raised high.
“Aida,” Chi-Woo called out to her, and Aida lowered her head back down. “What are you looking at?”
“I was looking at the sky.”
“Why?”
“Because the light in the sky looked different from usual.”
Hearing this, many others looked up at the sky, including Chi-Woo, but the color of the sky looked the same as usual in their eyes. To the blind Aida, perhaps the sky appeared differently.
“What light do you see?” Chi-Woo asked.
“The sky is…” Aida smiled brightly. “The sky is emitting the same color as you.”
“Is that so?” Chi-Woo smiled. Then he turned around to look behind the slightly tense-looking Apoline, where Shersha was. “That’s what she says. What about you?”
“…I had a dream,” Shersha said in a polite, quiet voice. “It was pure white…a completely white dream.” The color of the sky and the color white. Chi-Woo turned back and smiled dryly before continuing to move. There was one person standing firmly and not cowering even among the great stars.
“This will be your first and last departure for battle as a star,” Chi-Woo said.
“The last one is always the most important. Even after losing nine times, if you win the tenth time, you will be the victor,” Teresa replied good-heartedly and winked. Chi-Woo patted her on the shoulder and continued moving, coming to a stop when he saw Evelyn, Hawa, Eshnunna, Wallie, and Flora in the center. It was because there stood someone who shouldn’t have been with them.
“Master?”
Byeok stood there with a pipe in one hand.
“It’s a decision I made after thinking all night,” Byeok said, “I’d like to join you this time.”
Chi-Woo was a bit taken aback. Rather than a hero, Byeok was someone who specialized in cultivating the heroes who would take the central stage. Byeok herself must be aware of this. Thus, Chi-Woo didn’t understand why she was suddenly acting like this.
“There’s no need for you to go so far, Master,” Chi-Woo tried to persuade Byeok to leave in a gentle tone.
“You look down on me too much,” Byeok replied and remained stubborn for some reason. “Do you think I would’ve been able to teach the disciples I did without any skills? If you really thought that, that makes me sad.”
“No, that’s not it…”
“Hasn’t everyone decided the result of this war anyway?” Byeok asked, and Chi-Woo couldn’t deny it. As she said, they would either all die or live.
“Though we had raced toward our goal without stopping so that we didn’t even have the time to collect our breaths, there’s still all the time we spent together between us. At the least, I want to spend the time we have left with you all.”
Chi-Woo looked conflicted. In wars on Liber, even heroes who had saved other planets could drop dead in the blink of an eye, but he also had to admit that Byeok was better than most heroes.
“And…no, never mind.” It appeared that Byeok wanted to say more, but she closed her mouth again. Regardless, Chi-Woo couldn’t deny what his master wanted.
“If that’s what you want, Master…I understand.” Chi-Woo said. Then, after he brushed past Byeok, he glanced momentarily behind him. He wondered if he could return to this place with a smile on his face once the war ended. After looking at the Seven Stars’ building once more, Chi-Woo announced, “Let’s go.”
That night, Shalyh’s expeditionary force departed for their final war.
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