The Hero Returns

* * *

Inside a room of a shabby little thatched-roof cottage.

The people sitting within were wearing rather heavy expressions.

The Great Sage who Pacifies Heaven, the Bull Demon King.

The Great Sage Heaven's Equal also known as the Handsome Monkey King, Sun Wukong.

The Great Sage who Confuses Heaven, the Roc Demon King.

And then, Kim Su-hyeun.

Only the four of them were present, yet the room already felt full to the brim. It was a small room—only about three square meters—to begin with, which was barely large enough to accommodate them as they sat with teacups in their hands.

"So, it's finally begun," muttered the Bull Demon King after hearing the news.

It had begun.

Those words seemed well suited for the current situation. The Heavenly World that had been holding their breath and saving up their strength for a long, long time had finally made their move.

Or more correctly, they were about to.

"Are you sure about this, big bro?"

According to the Roc Demon King's report, that was. The Roc Demon King didn't hesitate to nod his head at Sun Wukong's question. He had been tirelessly roaming the outside world until that moment, more than anyone present in that room.

"I personally went to the Heavenly World to find this out. So yeah, I'm sure."

"You went to the Heavenly World?"

"That's right. All commander-level gods say that the operation will begin in a few days."

"Wasn't it dangerous for you, though?"

"I've been frequenting that place even before you got locked up in the eight-way trigram Crucible. Erlang Shen nearly caught me several times, but you know how good I am at running away, don't you?" the Roc Demon King boasted.

"That's not something you should be boasting about, you fool," the Bull Demon King admonished lightly, which caused the Roc Demon King to cough in embarrassment.

Sun Wukong cackled at the sight, which didn't fit the severity of the current situation, before shifting his gaze over to the Bull Demon King.

"Big brother, what should we do now?"

"Why are you asking me that?"

"Ah, right," Sun Wukong said with a rueful expression at the reply and scratched his head. "You can't be with us anymore, can you?"

"I'm sorry about that."

"Nah, it's alright. Well, we have a peerless, unrivaled little bro with us, anyways. Don't you agree, little bro?" Sun Wukong said as he looked over to Su-hyeun.

Su-hyeun was so completely immersed in the grave topic they were discussing, judging by the stiff expression that he had been wearing since the beginning, that he was caught off guard by Sun Wukong's playful question. "Pardon? Ah, yes. That's true," he automatically replied, nodding his head.

"...Oh, so you are peerless and unmatched, is that it?"

Su-hyeun replied to Sun Wukong in an instant, so he hadn't really heard what the question was in the first place. He urgently waved his hands around at the Roc Demon King's icy-cold voice.

"N—no, that's not true. It doesn't mean anything other than I'll do my best to help you guys out."

"Didn't sound that way, though."

"He's right, you know. I didn't hear it that way either."

"Indeed, that's not how you sounded to me."

"Ha, haha..."

The Roc Demon King, Sun Wukong, and even the trusted Bull Demon King all grumbled at the same time, and Su-hyeun could do nothing but smile awkwardly at them.

The overall atmosphere was rather cheery, which seemed odd considering the Heavenly World's previous attack, as well as the looming threat of war itself.

"I guess they are not nervous at all," Su-hyeun thought.

There were only four of them here. No, wait—with the Bull Demon King not even in the picture anymore, only three people would participate in this war.

No matter how excellent each of them was, they still had to invade the Heavenly World by themselves and kill the Jade Emperor.

"Then again, I'm also like them, aren't I?"

Su-hyeun's expression was stiff not because he felt nervous about the upcoming task.

"I guess this is the end of this trial then."

In the past half a year, Su-hyeun could proudly boast that he had grown stronger a lot faster than ever before. He certainly learned so much by spending time with these supernaturally powerful beings.

"But that's about to come to an end."

The purpose of his trip to this place was to stop the Jade Emperor and the Heavenly World. For some reason, though, half a year had to go by from the beginning of the trial to get to this point, but Su-hyeun didn't think this was such a bad thing.

Honestly, he was feeling rueful instead—rueful that he couldn't stay here for a bit longer.

"When will the war start?" Su-hyeun asked.

"Ten days from now, so—"

"In that case, let's go kick down their doors in five days."

Su-hyeun's question was answered by the Roc Demon King, and then, Sun Wukong took over from there.

The Roc Demon King nodded his head, maybe thinking that it wouldn't be such a bad idea. Su-hyeun also thought that was quite acceptable.

He didn't need to prepare himself, anyway. All he had to be mindful of until then was managing his physical condition.

"In five days," he thought.

Su-hyeun memorized that date and stared up at the ceiling of this room where he got to spend time with not just the Bull Demon King but also his two other sworn brothers.

"So I'm going to say goodbye to this place, too."

For some reason, he felt reluctant to leave.

Act 10

Step, step—

When the meeting ended and as the sun began setting below the horizon, Su-hyeun headed to the backyard once more.

There it was, a tall cliff easily tens of meters high.

Su-hyeun stared at the cliff that he split in half only a couple of hours ago. It had already reverted to its original state.

"I was really shocked by this at first," he recalled.

For his training, Su-hyeun swung wooden sticks at things like the surrounding trees and boulders, and even at this cliff.

In the middle of that, he also frequently sparred with Sun Wukong. Every time things like that happened, the surrounding topography would end up destroyed beyond recognition.

However, all those signs of destruction reverted to their original state sometime later, just like now.

"It's all because of the big brother."

The Bull Demon King.

It was so much more natural for Su-hyeun to call him and think of him as his big brother these days.

He was able to define the Bull Demon King with a simple term after observing the latter for the past half a year.

"The Taoist god."

An existence that managed nature and was also capable of wielding it.

The Bull Demon King was basically in that stage by now. Flattening the overturned ground or repairing the sliced-open cliff was as easy as breathing for him at this point.

"What are you doing?"

A familiar presence followed after Su-hyeun. He turned around to look at Sun Wukong and bowed his head. "You came here as well, big brother?"

"I told you, don't be such a stickler for formalities. Especially between us."

"No can do. I feel more comfortable this way."

"You know, I like everything about you, but your manners are sometimes too polished, and that kinda makes me uncomfortable," Sun Wukong muttered and shifted his gaze at the perfectly-fine cliff before asking a question. "Did you pull it off?"

"Yes, finally. Earlier in the day."

"Really? That's a relief since you did it before we started fighting against the Heavenly World."

"I'm not sure if I can do it during the actual battle, though. I've only grown familiar with seeing Gyeol recently, so..."

"Getting familiar with it so soon is already an amazing feat in itself. It's only been half a year, after all."

Step—

Sun Wukong walked toward the cliff as he said that. He placed his palm on the surface before pushing it in.

And when he did...

Crack, craaaack—

Gu-wuuuung—

The cliff split apart again and large boulders began crashing down.

Sun Wukong didn't care about the rocks falling on his head and simply turned around to face Su-hyeun. "How long do you think it took me to get this far?"

"Not sure. I can't even gue—"

"Although I still can't see Gyeol, I can feel it. But it took me hundreds of years to reach this stage. And another few hundreds before I got really familiar with it."

Hundreds of years—the length of time that easily exceeded the lifespan of an average human being. The half-year Su-hyeun spent felt incomparably short and shabby next to that period.

"Yet you managed to get this far in only half a year."

"Is...that so?"

The Bull Demon King never said anything like that to him until now. All he did was to encourage Su-hyeun and tell him to continue in the same manner.

"But I heard that I only managed to lay the foundation," Su-hyeun said.

"And it takes a minimum of one hundred years to lay that foundation. Well, usually, that is."

Su-hyeun had already heard that story before.

When he first heard about the Sage Arts from the Bull Demon King, he got the impression that this field of study would take a long, long time to master.

However, Su-hyeun's case turned out to be rather different.

"It's probably due to the system," he thought.

The system.

Just like how the Bull Demon King described it, the system was exactly like unseen hands.

Except for some special circumstances, Su-hyeun could learn any technique in the form of "skills." And the moment his system was applied to the Sage Art, he would inevitably master it much faster than other regular beings who didn't enjoy the system's help.

In a way, it compensated for his lacking parts. Indeed, it was the "unseen hands" that aided Su-hyeun to master the Sage Arts a bit quicker.

"Before we get going, why don't we spar one last time? You know, to warm up our muscles and stuff."

Crack—

While saying that, Sun Wukong cracked his knuckles. Su-hyeun picked up the fallen wooden stick from the ground as he listened to that sudden order.

"But we spar every day, don't—"

Snap—!

The stick in his hand broke in half. Su-hyeun lowered both the stick and his arm and looked at Sun Wukong. Having snapped his fingers to easily break the stick, the latter then began shaking his head. "Not with my clones, though."

Crack—

Sun Wukong smirked deeply as he popped his finger joints one by one.

"With me."

"...Spar with you, big brother?"

"You've been fighting my clones so far, haven't you? Sure, you did fight against brother Roc Demon King on that day, but honestly, the two of us never had a proper go at each other until now, right?"

His eyes were burning with the flames of competitiveness.

Su-hyeun was not unfamiliar with those eyes. Sun Wukong had been looking at him with the very same eyes for a very long time now.

The Monkey King had been holding himself back until today. He had been waiting until Su-hyeun got a bit stronger, just a bit more powerful than before.

"Someone told me that once this war ends, it's likely that I won't get to see you ever again."

That "someone" Sun Wukong mentioned was probably the Bull Demon King. He knew that Su-hyeun wasn't from this world, after all.

Swoooosh—

Grab—

The Ruyi Jingu Bang fell from the sky and landed in Sun Wukong's hand.

Whoooosh, whoosh—

He lightly spun that weighty pole around and continued, "I have no idea what that even means, and I also don't know the reason why, but well, it's probably true."

"Yes. That...will probably happen."

The Bull Demon King knew the truth. He knew that once the trial was over, Su-hyeun would have to leave this world. Also, for him to stay in this place, he had too many things to do in the future.

"This is my final lesson as your big bro."

Swiiiirl—

As Sun Wukong spun the Ruyi Jingu Bang with one hand, he beckoned with the other. "Come."

"In that case..."

At that beckoning, Su-hyeun reached down and gripped the hilt of his sharp sword for the first time in the past half a year.

It had been a while since he felt this sharp fighting intent.

Su-hyeun stopped wielding his sword about four months ago at the Bull Demon King's recommendation.

"From its inception, a sword is a tool designed to help you cut something without exerting a lot of strength. And that's precisely why your senses will dull simply by holding such a tool in your hands."

His words were indeed correct.

That explanation could only come from someone who had accurately seen through the utility of the tools called "swords" and the backstory to their initial conception.

This fact sounded so obvious, yet people often forgot about it because it was so obvious in the first place. Along with that reminder, the Bull Demon King recommended that Su-hyeun should not unsheathe his sword anymore.

"In your future sparring, always use a wooden stick. And once you become capable of fighting without having the stick break on you, then there will be nothing you can't cut anymore."

The Bull Demon King's advice proved to be right on the money. He might not have been a swordsman, but he was almost a Taoist god who had reached the zenith of the Sage Art. It basically meant that he could see through the meaning of all objects in existence better than anyone out there.

At first, Su-hyeun was only half convinced. Would there really be any improvement by doing that?

But he decided to trust the Bull Demon King. If he couldn't believe his big brother, then there was no one else he could believe in anymore.

Besides...

"There's been a definite improvement," he thought.

In this very moment, as he gripped the hilt for the first time in four months, Su-hyeun felt the confidence of being able to cut anything and everything in the world swell within him.

"Fuu-wuu..."

Squeeze—

Su-hyeun gripped the sword even tighter and shifted his gaze over to Sun Wukong who was wielding the Ruyi Jingu Bang.

Split—

He even opened the Third Eye on his forehead. At the same time, bluish aura began swirling within his eyes.

Shu-wuwuwu—

One of the Sage Arts Su-hyeun had mastered, the Sage's Eye, was activated.

"Well, then..."

Pah-ahk—!

Su-hyeun's figure shot toward Sun Wukong.

"I won't hold back and come at you."