Chapter 67

Chapter 67. Confession (2)

A carriage bearing a massive casket advanced toward Beijing.

Its destination—.

[The Forbidden City]

The emperor's palace where China's true powers resided.

The carriage passed through Beijing's city center, lined with skyscrapers, and arrived before the golden citadel at its very heart.

The moment the carriage reached the gate, it halted.

BOOOM——.

A mystical gate bridging heaven, earth, and world—Tiananmen—asserted its ponderous presence.

All things under heaven, halt before the emperor's palace and pay your respects.

That was what it seemed to say.

NEIGH—.

The crimson steed pulling the carriage—Red Hare—bent its knees in reverence.

Simultaneously, the carriage twisted.

The perfectly square casket atop the carriage tilted.

As if bowing its head.

Because even inanimate objects were compelled to lower their heads before the great being they beheld.

Gazing upon the portrait of China's living god—Mao Zedong—all things, living and lifeless alike, paid their respects.

In response to that pure and devoted sincerity—.

GRIN.

The portrait smiled.

From between the smiling lips, blackened teeth protruded.

Satisfied with their reverence, the gate swung wide open before they knew it.

The carriage moved once more.

Slowly, it passed through Tiananmen and advanced into the Forbidden City's outer precincts.

The Forbidden City's inner depths were the domain of true gods; the carriage was permitted only as far as the outermost threshold beyond Tiananmen.

Yet even that threshold was vast beyond measure.

[GREAT CHINA]

The largest territory on the continent.

The greatest population on the continent.

True to its name, China's heart was immensely expansive.

The Forbidden City.

It was a warped world.

A mystical place blanketed in citadels of staggering size.

Where the carriage stopped was a building at the outermost edge, towering to a dizzying height.

BOOOM!

From within, an enormously massive being emerged.

A giant whose name was unknowable.

The being picked up the casket from the carriage and slowly opened its mouth.

SWOOOSH——.

Pitch-black fog seeped from between its parted lips.

A heavy fog that settled with weight.

And with it, a voice as dense as the fog flowed out.

"Lord Guan, why has only your head come?"

***

The Patriot Education Act.

A fairly well-known and only half-successful piece of legislation.

<People without money live as idiots while only the rich get smarter? What kind of law is that? Education must be equal!!!>

The Patriot had grown up in an impoverished household, forced to enter the workforce before he could even graduate high school.

He'd recounted that background at an official press conference and shut down the Republic of Korea's entire private tutoring market.

His reasoning was that no more people like him should ever have to exist.

'Abolition of private education.'

The Patriot had insisted that every minor in the nation should receive equal, high-quality education.

As a result, celebrity instructors across the country had their assets seized and were hauled away.

Having profited under the guise of education, they were now obligated to provide free, entertaining, and beneficial lessons to the entire populace.

Naturally, nobody slacked off just because they weren't being paid.

In those days, the guillotine at Gwanghwamun never ran dry of blood.

"So why'd you bring up that seditious text?"

This "seditious text" business was also part of the Patriot Education Act.

However, the seditious-text provisions had been a complete failure.

1. Replace all martial-arts novel terminology and settings with Korean equivalents.

Bulguksa Temple replaced Shaolin, Hwasan Sect became Bukhansan Sect—that sort of thing.

The reason martial arts novels themselves weren't banned was supposedly for the sake of the Sword Emperor, who'd cultivated power rooted in martial arts, but.......

2. Prohibition of positive portrayals of China, Japan, and America in webtoons and web novels.

A formula emerged: anti-Japan, anti-China, anti-America content was guaranteed to succeed.

Works like "Great Korean Empire—Devouring China" and "The Great Korean Empire Tears Apart the Land of the Eagle" dominated the charts.

That trend persisted to this day.

'But books were different.'

In actual "books," nothing had changed.

At the time, I'd thought the Patriot had a surprisingly lenient side.

Now I knew the truth.

'That bastard has zero relationship with books.'

The Patriot didn't read "books."

He was so utterly disinterested that he didn't even know the titles he'd designated as "seditious texts" were still in circulation.

Perhaps President Lee Seok-hyeon and Senior Prosecutor Kang had something to do with it.

'Odds are high they coaxed and cajoled him into never paying attention.'

At any rate, I knew the Patriot lacked even basic common knowledge.

He sang the praises of King Sejong all day long, yet I had to wonder whether he'd even finished learning all his letters.

His calling the Three Kingdoms a "seditious text" was proof enough.

'If I lead with the Three Kingdoms, I'm doomed.'

But bringing up the Three Kingdoms here was a bad move.

Given that Guan Yu had appeared in China as a Fallen Demi-God, any word in defense of the Three Kingdoms would inevitably drag me into a tiresome argument.

"That seditious text contains the history of China, which you despise."

The Patriot squinted.

He stroked his stubbly beard while his legs trembled—clearly wanting to cuss me out but too conscious of my gaze to follow through.

I pressed on quickly.

"Korea has plenty of great figures who can't even be compared to the likes of the Three Kingdoms."

"R-right! Chinese history's nothing but kinslaughter. Disgusting stuff."

The Patriot's lips curled upward.

I was going to leverage his patriotism to get him reading at least a children's Korean history comic.

So, I spoke.

"Patriot, be honest. Besides the Constellations you already have, how many Korean historical figures can you actually name?"

"Junior, I'm the Patriot. The Patriot!"

I stared at him steadily.

"King Sejong the Great!"

"And?"

"Y-Yu Gwan-sun! Yun Bong-gil! Kim Gu! Oh, a-and Syngman Rhee!"

One of those felt a bit off, but regardless, they were all names no Korean could possibly not know.

"......Hongik Ingan!"

I'm not one to swear all that much.

But hearing that, the thought 'We're fucked' crossed my mind.

Hongik Ingan is the founding ideal of Gojoseon.

"Oh! And Grandfather Dangun?"

The Patriot stopped there.

I asked nothing further.

"Ah, shit. I actually know a ton, but you put me on the spot and I blanked out."

My reason for bringing this up with the Patriot wasn't simply because the Three Kingdoms thing had gotten under my skin.

'Guan Yu appeared in China.'

Which meant China had an Awakened with abilities similar to the Patriot's.

Moreover, there was a very high probability that said being was currently Fallen.

Or.......

'Being exploited, or having only its abilities extracted and canned.'

Dark Gods, Demon Gods, and the like.

The atrocities I'd witnessed those things commit in Raise a Sword were so heinous that I couldn't even begin to imagine what China's reality looked like.

'If that prisoner Ling Ling was telling the truth, they have two hundred million Awakened alone......'

I was convinced China had gone even further off the deep end than Britain.

Not only were they mass-producing Awakened, but a Fallen Guan Yu was roaming their territory—something I'd never even imagined.

"Junior, what exactly are you trying to say?"

"Patriot. Given what China looks like, don't we need to get stronger too?"

"Why are you stating the fucking obvious?"

At the very least, even setting aside other Awakened, I believed the Patriot needed to grow stronger.

My own problems were piled high, but I was more than willing to help him.

'If I raise the Patriot right, maybe I could even see Cao Cao and Yi Sun-sin clash at the Battle of Red Cliffs......'

Ahem.

I steadied myself and brought up the main point.

"Patriot, let's study some Korean history."

"Why the hell should I study!"

The Patriot exploded.

He forgot all about watching my mood and shouted wildly.

His eyes were half-rolled back.

"In the time it takes me to read one more line, I could be running a bombing sortie and stabilizing people's lives! And Jeju Island—you know if I take my eye off it for even a second, the whole island gets isolated, right? Junior, don't tell me you're planning to write off Jeju as some tangerine republic?"

Ah, I really fucking don't want to study.

—That was the face he made as he railed at me with everything he had.

And yet, nothing he said was actually wrong.

Just as I was mulling over what to do.

"You are troubling the master of our stars too greatly."

The Patriot's Constellations, who had been watching in silence, stepped in.

Yi Sun-sin and Yulgok Yi I.

The two of them stood squarely between us, as if to block our lines of sight.

Then Yi Sun-sin extended his hand to me.

"Come to think of it, we have never been properly introduced. I am Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin."

I didn't know Joseon etiquette, but I responded in kind.

"I am Sword Master Shin Si-woo."

At Yi Sun-sin's out-of-the-blue appearance, I extended my own hand.

I didn't have the heart to ignore such a venerable hero just to force the Patriot to study.

CLASP!

The grip of our joined hands was weighty.

It didn't feel like he was squeezing to hurt me.

More like he wanted to convey something.

I raised my head and looked at Constellation Yi Sun-sin.

"......"

The admiral who commanded twelve aircraft carriers was staring straight through me with wide-open eyes.

His gaze conveyed its meaning with visceral directness.

—Please, shut up!

He was telling me to keep my mouth shut.

***

With that brief commotion concluded, the system announced the end of the settlement.

Not just me, but the Patriot and all his Constellations stared into the void, reading the system messages.

A beat ahead of the messages, the Voice of the World rang out.

<Contribution rank 1, Shin Si-woo—the world thanks you for your achievement and grants your reward.>

Yes, this was it!

If there was one difference between reality and Raise a Sword, it was the existence of a "system" that rewarded my actions.

It fulfilled the need for recognition, made the effort feel worthwhile.......

'The driving force that gets Hunters to raid Gates.'

Before my Awakening, I'd never understood why something like the Voice of the World existed.

What good did it do for ordinary people to hear about what Jesus or the Patriot had done?

But it turned out it existed for us—the Transcendents.

Raiding small Gates.

The complete annihilation of the Red Sea and Molten Sea.

Subjugating the Dark God that had descended upon a cult leader.

Resolving every major domestic catastrophe.

All of that combined, the system offered me "praise" and granted fitting "rewards."

'And then there's the Tower.'

The Tower was tailored to each individual Awakened.

No competition—just a space that existed solely for personal growth.

Since the Tower's content reproduced each Awakened's unique trial, there was no reason to set benchmarks or compare scores.

Yet what appeared at the end of a Tower raid?

SSS-rank clear, overwhelming performance, incredible rewards, and so on.

Heaps of praise, one after another.

Exactly.

This was the second piece of evidence that the system's consensus served humanity.

Despite the fact that what humanity did was simply what they had to do to survive, the system encouraged, cheered, and supported them.

And Transcendents like me, along with every Hunter and Induced Awakened, all became addicted to it.

The higher the rank, the worse the addiction.

'The Voice of the World is the final boss of it all.'

The first time I heard the Voice of the World.

I'd shivered at the fact that the world had announced my achievement, and felt elation at the enormous rewards that followed.

On top of that, my swords had grown stronger in real time, letting me confirm the rewards instantly.

And so I was certain.

'Jesus is the same.'

Even Jesus—the sole EX-rank monotheistic god in existence—had undoubtedly been tearing across the world performing miracles just to hear the Voice of the World.

His stated reason for observing this place and showing it to the world was partly for my reward, but also partly to share the thrill he'd felt with me.

These achievements weren't even one-time rewards.

'They get discussed on WorldNet for ages, making waves across the entire world.'

At this point, I was starting to think that WorldNet, bestowed upon all of humanity, might exist to make non-Awakened people worship the Awakened.

Hadn't the Patriot, buoyed by the praise of the entire nation, turned Korea into one of the world's cleanest countries?

The frightening truth was that the system's direction was never wrong.

I had zero attention-seeking tendencies, yet before I knew it, hadn't I started looking forward to this?

This was a phenomenon no human—or former human—could resist.

'Here comes the reward.'

Just like that.

I'd saved a fallen world—North Korea.

And I'd taken the overwhelming first place in contribution.

So then, what would be given to me?

Whatever it was, rewards come to those who look forward to them.

FLASH!

[Level Up!!! 6 → 7]

It had been a while since I'd leveled up.

And now, abilities related to my swords would appear.

But.......

[Dual-Wielding Sword Master is unlocked.]

[Ego Swords can now Manifest independently.]

[You can summon two swords simultaneously.]

"Two swords?"

It was a reward I'd never once seen before.

'Each of my swords Transcends on its own, and I can summon two of them at once......'

I could wield those resplendent, colossal, brilliant greatswords simultaneously?

Embarrassing as it was, despite having Awakened as a Sword Master, the thought that I could use two of my swords at once had never once crossed my mind.

I'd assumed the world wouldn't allow it.

But the system had shattered every one of my expectations and given me the ability to draw two Ego Swords at the same time.

'The possibilities just expanded enormously.'

Infinitely opened horizons.

A life with two colossal greatswords at my side.

As all manner of thoughts swirled through my head, something surfaced unbidden.

'That card.'

The tarot card the Saintess of Fate, Im Ji-a, had given me.

Surely, it had contained a prophecy about me and the Patriot.

[A picture of me threatening the Patriot with two swords.]

And I'd been holding two Ego Swords in it.

Hadn't that just been fulfilled in reality?

'Im Ji-a's prophecy has an absurd accuracy rate.'

With that, I completely abandoned any thought of persuading the Patriot.

That approach would never teach him history.

I would do exactly as the tarot card depicted—draw two Ego Swords and threaten the Patriot.