Chapter 35

Chapter 35. The Patriot (1)

"Your servant still has twelve ships remaining—."

The trial the Patriot had undergone was to unravel the grudges of the Constellations and, beyond that, to make the South Korea of his era successful.

In every period of history, the nation called South Korea had followed a stream of being plundered by foreign invaders.

Sometimes the Chinese had invaded.

Sometimes the Japanese had crossed the sea to invade.

And sometimes, damn-far-off Mongols had come riding horses and trampled the land.

'Why the hell are there so many foreign-bastards?'

The enemies were all different, but their actions were consistent.

The invaders had mercilessly slaughtered the ancestors of South Korea — his homeland — and dragged them off like slaves.

"So that's what they meant by a people of many grudges."

A high-school dropout.

A construction laborer for years.

The Patriot hadn't had much formal schooling, so he didn't know much about the history of his homeland.

Still, he knew well that King Sejong was great, Yi Sun-sin was honorable, Yulgok Yi I was wise, and Cheok Jun-gyeong was a Sword Master.

That thin historical background knowledge of the Patriot, ironically, had been a great help in overcoming his trial.

"Crushing tens of thousands of Jap ships with twelve vessels?"

No matter how he thought about it, it was only possible with aircraft carriers equipped with cutting-edge super-advanced technology.

That was why Yi Sun-sin had become the master of a futuristic, state-of-the-art aircraft carrier.

"If it's that Yi Sun-sin…"

Fighter jets were basic — flying ships and firing out cutting-edge drones would be perfectly feasible.

Wasn't he one of the great figures whose name even an uneducated man like himself knew?

And then, Yulgok Yi I.

"The Ten Thousand Troops Preparedness Theory."

It was a saying so famous he knew it well.

A great ancestor who had tried to fight against the vile Japanese demons.

He must have wanted to create special-forces soldiers armed with cutting-edge weapons.

And so Yulgok Yi I had become the commander-in-chief leading a 100,000-strong army armed with cutting-edge futuristic weapons.

Next was Cheok Jun-gyeong.

"In wuxia terms, he's unmistakably a master beyond the heavens-beyond-heavens, surpassing even the Realm of Creation."

The Patriot knew a bit about wuxia novels too.

He didn't like things with lots of hanja and long prose, so instead of books, he had watched a few as webtoons.

Though the genre originated in China, Cheok Jun-gyeong, who single-handedly smashed an entire Chinese army, was unquestionably a master whose skill couldn't even compare to the masters in wuxia novels.

'But people said Cheok Jun-gyeong was a Sword Master.'

He didn't know the precise difference, but Sword Master surely meant using martial arts in a cooler, more medieval-fantasy-like way.

And so, Cheok Jun-gyeong had become the 'Sword Master' with the highest martial attainment of the era.

Thus, the three mighty Constellations were born.

After that, the real trial began.

"Tae-jong, Tae-jo, Taesong-mun-dan-se… I don't understand a single thing, dammit."

Joseon? Goguryeo? Baekje? Silla?

Dropped into some era he didn't know the name of, ordered to save his homeland alongside the Constellations — an absurd trial.

Mostly it was a trial of South Korea being plundered and the Patriot having to save it.

"This kind of garbage is the king and the ministers?"

The Patriot's hatred of the powerful was rooted here.

In every dynasty, the ruling class was corrupt and plundered the common people.

Even in rural villages where the destitute traded their children to eat, the so-called kings lived in luxury.

Some bastards bowed their heads to Ching officials and handed over the nation's wealth.

"I'll have to normalize things."

The Patriot overcame every trial through overwhelming firepower.

Every time they invaded, he killed them all and won.

Not only that — he handled the aftermath flawlessly, too.

Even if it was a trial that would vanish regardless, replacing the corrupt government and executing the wrong kings was basic.

[You have completed the Joseon Empire.]

[You have unified Asia.]

[You have set all history right.]

And thus, the Patriot, who had become an SSS-rank Hunter and a Transcendent—

"Patriot, does a world truly exist where a man who has lived as uprightly as you becomes destitute?"

Just before returning to South Korea, he decided his principles of action.

Spending time with the Patriot, the Constellations had come to realize that despite his rough language, he was a man of firm conviction — a good man.

And yet, modern South Korea was a truly lamentable nation.

The future of his homeland was this bleak!

"Is a world where those who have grown rich by plundering the people live in comfort — while someone as diligent as you must live in hardship — truly a just world?"

"Patriot, recall the histories you set right."

Together with the Constellations, the Patriot had set every history of South Korea right.

He had struck down foreign invaders and re-established the nation's proper discipline.

He had executed corrupt kings and ministers and made those who cherished the people into the powerful.

The process of making the people and the nation prosperous had been quite gratifying.

And leaving all that behind to return to South Korea, the Patriot—

"Come to think of it, this makes me angry."

He grew angry at the nation called South Korea.

He went through all this hardship, across immeasurable time, barely clawing his way out of the trial…

While a criminal who'd embezzled tens of billions paid a fine of a few hundred million, rested briefly in prison, and came out to live high.

Members of the National Assembly — most of whom had dodged military service — held forth on military discipline, and convicts of every kind ran about trying to play politician.

"I've never once failed to pay my taxes."

The Patriot reflected on his own life.

Without any great achievements, he was just an ordinary man of his time — a dutiful taxpayer who had worked steadily and lived sincerely.

The Patriot had never once committed a crime.

No, when he was young he had stolen a few jjondeugi from the stationery store, but…

That wasn't really a crime.

"Rapists and murderers aren't put to death but live eating free meals in prison?"

"And what does that mean?"

"A descendant of someone who sold the country off to Japan has become a great wealthy man living high?"

The Constellations lamented the reality of South Korea as the Patriot recited it.

They were shocked that violent criminals weren't put to death, and stunned by the reality that Japanese collaborators from the colonial period had not been purged.

The Patriot resolved.

"This trial was a rehearsal for setting South Korea right."

The Patriot finished his trial and returned to South Korea.

And he killed that many people.

All of it for the sake of South Korea.

 

—Ep. 13. The Patriot.

"……Power really does corrupt a person, doesn't it."

The Patriot looked at the Constellations with a bitter expression.

[Yi Sun-sin's Axe] was a sacred relic of the Constellations — a kind of protective device and surveillance tool.

It had the ability to safeguard the being upon whom it had been bestowed, and at the same time, to detect when actions had been committed in violation of the Patriot's ideology.

It was a paranoid measure born of the Patriot's having witnessed countless instances, throughout his unfathomable trial, of those in power being assassinated or corrupted.

"For Senior Prosecutor Kang Mu-jin, on the heels of President Lee Seok-hyeon, to have betrayed me as well…"

After the Black Gate raid had ended, a portal connected to Earth had appeared.

For some unknown reason, [WorldNet] hadn't worked inside the [Black Gate]…

But now, with the raid finished, things were different.

When the portal connecting to Earth appeared, the Patriot's relic activated.

At the same time, the Patriot became able to peruse WorldNet.

"This new Transcendent named Shin Si-woo is clearly a traitor to the nation."

In the brief time the Patriot had been absent, the country called the Republic of Korea had gone insane.

It was enough to make him want to scream and stomp his feet.

He had been pouring his power into this country without rest, and one Transcendent bastard had set the whole nation back.

"Granting freedom to Japan's Transcendents?"

"An alliance? Clearly trying to hand the Republic of Korea over wholesale under the guise of an alliance."

If the Patriot recalled correctly, there had been some 'Eulsa-something' treaty that had sold the Republic of Korea off in its entirety?

History repeats itself.

In the present world, some powerful traitor was up to that very thing.

And what?

"An alliance with those American bastards?"

Anti-Japan, anti-China, anti-US.

Among them, Shin Si-woo had hit the Patriot's anti-Japan and anti-US feelings square on.

"Of all things, with America?"

When the Gate crisis broke out, China had thrown Awakened into laboratories.

And America, using that as a pretext, had forward-deployed nuclear warheads onto the innocent Republic of Korea's soil and provoked China.

Because of that, the Republic of Korea had been forced to suffer through armed demonstrations under the pretext of North Korean provocations.

"If Gates hadn't been bursting all over the place, the Yankee bastards and the Chings would've started a Second Korean War."

The moment he Awakened, the Patriot had annihilated the American nuclear warheads forward-deployed at the Yongsan base, and bombed the Chinese Red Army base stationed in North Korea.

A war he had stopped — and yet—

"Hmm…"

The Patriot rifled through WorldNet and went over footage of Shin Si-woo.

Identifying the enemy's combat power before raising hell was basic.

Sound countermeasures learned from the Constellations.

'He looks fucking strong, though?'

Just as Jesus had annihilated an undead fortress with a single palm.

Shin Si-woo had summoned terrifying demons and devoured the Red Sea whole.

Then he had blown up Japan's lava Gate with an unidentifiable blue light, and in the process, Mt. Fuji had vanished.

The Patriot's thinking accelerated.

"So that's basically Japan handing their tech over to us, isn't it?"

He had begun to assess the figure called Shin Si-woo rationally.

He'd thought him a traitor, but it felt like something different…

"Patriot. It's all sleight of hand."

At that, Yi Sun-sin spoke.

Having reviewed WorldNet alongside the Patriot, Yi Sun-sin had clearly identified Shin Si-woo's intentions.

"That bastard has become a daimyo of Japan."

According to the Japanese Prime Minister's announcement, the Roppongi Hills area had become Shin Si-woo's territory.

A daimyo — a position equivalent to a feudal lord, with the right to collect taxes as well.

"Hmm…"

The Patriot looked at Shin Si-woo's combat footage again.

He looked fucking strong somehow.

The sword flashed, and everything around it shattered.

Power on par with a Yi Sun-sin nuclear bombardment.

"No, hold on — this is Korea taking Japanese land, isn't it?"

The Patriot said.

A Korean — Shin Si-woo — had absorbed Japanese territory.

So calling it treason was actually a bit ambiguous.

"That's true. We'll have to see in person to settle this."

Yi Sun-sin agreed with that view.

Just then, Yulgok Yi I asked,

"However… your real-estate restrictions, Lord Patriot, are being completely ignored."

The Patriot's directive had been to drive Seoul housing prices below 1 billion won.

But…

<Seoul: housing prices surge to historic highs since the Gate crisis!!!>

<News that Bizarre without Gates can be overcome drives up prices in eroded zones too!!>

<Real estate nationwide: extraordinary boom!!!>

Beyond the stabilized Goyang City area and Seocho-gu, even prices in regions corroded by Gates were climbing across the board.

"This bastard?"

The Patriot tilted his head sideways.

He had no idea by what means the man had gotten rid of the Gate-less Bizarre…

"Even ghost towns with no people in them are seeing prices skyrocket. That intent is grossly impure."

"In the end, is it truly a nation if a citizen cannot acquire a single home even after a lifetime of labor?"

"This Shin Si-woo doesn't even hate you, Patriot — so why is he tearing your great cause apart so disastrously?"

That bastard was clearly out to make him eat dirt — that much was certain.

The Patriot, vowing to teach him a lesson at once, examined Shin Si-woo's combat footage again.

KWAANG—!!!

KWAANG—!!!

KWAANG—!!!

Beating up the British Doctor with some blunt sword…

"The British Doctor is dead?"

The bastard was dead, apparently.

A powerhouse who had broken Korea's SS-rank Hunter, the Sword Emperor.

An unidentified Transcendent who had escaped the isolated British Empire and roamed the world freely.

Beaten to death with just a blunt sword.

No matter how he looked at it, this Shin Si-woo bastard looked seriously fucking strong.

"For now, let's at least talk first. If two Transcendents fight each other, the Republic of Korea might just disappear."

The Patriot persuaded the Constellations.

* * *

"The Patriot might actually be the strong-to-the-weak, weak-to-the-strong type."

That was the conjecture put forth by Senior Prosecutor Kang Mu-jin and President Lee Seok-hyeon.

But in my view…

'Low probability.'

The Patriot was a lunatic who had publicly executed tens of thousands.

A being who had toppled rule of law and enthroned the Patriot Special Law in its place.

For Dokdo, he had bombed and killed Japanese citizens; to reclaim the name 'East Sea,' he had wiped Yasukuni Shrine off the face of the earth; and to force an apology for the Japanese colonial period, he had pelted the Japanese Prime Minister's residence with missiles.

How could a psychopath like that be 'weak-to-the-strong'?

He was the kind of man who would push 'strong, strong, strong, strong' until he died, but never bend.

⦗Sword Master, all swords await Sword Master's command.⦘

While waiting for the Patriot's return, I conversed with my swords.

The ever-reliable 1st Sword Reinhardt told me that all the swords had finished preparing to deploy at any moment.

Anticipating a possible clash, I looked downward.

——Uoaaaaaaa!!!

The Life-and-Death Demon, born of Muratan, let out a magnificent roar.

The ability dwelling within it was terrifying, but its appearance had become considerably cuter than the original demons.

'Because it's something akin to a sword.'

It looked nothing like a sword, but wasn't it a new sword that my sword had created using another sword's summons?

I quite liked it.

There was a perfectly rational reason I had ridden out here on a Life-and-Death Demon like this.

'The Patriot will be hostile to me.'

Putting together everything about the Patriot's conduct, it was obvious he was going to treat me as a traitor — so I'd come prepared.

The Life-and-Death Demon's ability was the power to devour the life force or death of an area.

Iris's demons, who ate anything, could also eat life and death, so on the surface there might not seem to be much of a difference.

'But the Life-and-Death Demon can spit back out the life and death it has eaten.'

This was the part that explained why the British Doctor was called a 'Doctor.'

Meaning, the Life-and-Death Demon could spit back out the life and death it had consumed and inject it into another person.

The method was a bit horrifying, but…

Anyway, just as I was thinking that.

Zhing———.

The portal in empty air shimmered.

The Gate the Patriot had entered had truly been Black — the Abyss, after all.

The black portal stood out particularly, and the being emerging from within it sent a chill through me.

Sreuk—.

A being holding a glowing laser-sword.

The Constellation most familiar to all the citizens.

Sword Master Cheok Jun-gyeong — the very figure who had publicly executed countless criminals at Gwanghwamun Square.

He stepped forward with his sword extended.

'The Patriot's coming out next.'

The Patriot ordinarily traveled with only Cheok Jun-gyeong as his guard.

Yi Sun-sin and Yulgok Yi I dwelled within the Patriot's inner world, the [Constellation Spaces], like my [world of swords].

But for some reason?

Kuguguguguung———.

The Gate's portal began to expand, and from within it, the bow of a ship appeared.

It was an utterly enormous aircraft carrier.

Flying through the sky, cleaving the seas, turning the earth into a sea of fire — Yi Sun-sin's aircraft carrier, the Patriot's most famous Constellation power.

'As I thought…'

At the overwhelming mass appearing through the portal, I pulled the Life-and-Death Demon back.

The aircraft carrier wouldn't be the end of it.

As expected—

Stomp, stomp, stomp!

The orderly sound of military boots came through.

The Patriot's core combat power that I had only heard of, the kind he rarely deployed.

The footsteps of Yulgok Yi I's 100,000-strong army emerging.

Which meant…

'He's saying let's settle this with full-scale war right now.'

I gripped my sword tightly.

At that, a whisper came.

⦗This maiden shall answer the Sword Master's command at any moment—.⦘

The [5th Sword, Iris Ruzbella] — possessor of terrifying power.

But in this very moment, I felt deeply reassured.