The Hero Returns

The Bull Demon King lightly dusted his hands as he said his piece.

The battle that went on for one full day left several small injuries to appear on his body. For instance, his waist had been torn, while his forearm had been burned rather deeply.

Even then, the Bull Demon King remained utterly composed. A part of that was down to the victor's mental leeway, but it was also because he had plenty of leeway during the battle itself.

Fafnir slowly opened its mouth to speak, "I see. So you are the one called the Great Sage who Pacifies Heaven."

The Great Sage who Pacifies Heaven...

This name was surprisingly well-known. Among the gods and Predators capable of interfering with the matters of other dimensions, the Bull Demon King was known as a candidate to become one of the Five Godly Sages in the future.

As such, even Fafnir got to hear about the Bull Demon King.

"And so, what brings someone as amazing as the Great Sage who Pacifies Heaven to a small planet in the outskirts?"

"Well, a little brother of mine stays this side, you see."

"A little brother, you say?"

"You see, this little brother of mine...he had to live twice."

Fafnir's brows rose high at that.

Lived twice, he said; Fafnir could easily figure out what that claim meant.

The Bull Demon King stared into Fafnir's eyes and said, "And it seems the same applies to you, too."

"You are actually in a sibling relationship...with that man?"

"That's correct."

"You aren't even from the same species, never mind from the same realm, yet brothers? Now that's a laughable notion. Even a passing stray would mock this whole idea," Fafnir replied snarkily as its lips distorted in a sneer.

As for the Bull Demon King, he chuckled affably at that. "Ah, is that so? Are you saying something like, we don't even share a drop of blood, so being brothers is as nonsensical as dogs eating grass for life?"

"Of course that is—"

CRAAACK—!

Kwa-booooom—!

The Bull Demon King's palm powerfully smacked Fafnir's head. The dragon head deeply crashed into the ground, causing the earth to explode and overturn.

However, the Bull Demon King was still smiling away. Even his eyes were smiling, too.

He no longer enjoyed the fluctuations of emotions and had forgotten how to get angry. Only his head was "aware" of the emotion.

He was aware that he shouldn't just let anyone off the hook when they dared to slander his brothers and ridiculed their relationship.

"I have accepted him as my little brother, and he acknowledged me as his older brother. So, what do things like species or realms even matter in such a case?" The Bull Demon King said that out matter-of-factly, only to go, "Oh, shoot!" and immediately asked Fafnir, "Goodness me. Are you still alive? You mustn't die here, you see."

"If you really wish to save your brother's life, you should have killed me in this place."

Fafnir was still alive. Even though its entire body was left in tatters, an attack without any killing intent would never kill it.

And the Bull Demon King never planned to kill Fafnir in the first place.

"Didn't I already say it? I'm not the one who will kill you."

"Your foolishness will be the demise of your little brother. And also..."

Drip, tumble...

"I shall definitely devour you one day, too."

Grrrr—

Fafnir pulled out its head buried underground, stood back up, and then glared murderously at the Bull Demon King. Although the Predator staggered unsteadily as if it would collapse at any time now, it still forced itself to stand up straight again. Doing so was the last vestige of Fafnir's pride.

Step, step...

Soon after that, Fafnir turned around and headed to the other side of the empty plain, leaving the Bull Demon King behind.

The latter also wasn't planning to continue to fight, so he simply watched the dragon-headed Predator leave.

Jiiii-iiing—

Fafnir stepped inside a magic circle that appeared before its eyes. This teleportation circle would take it to a completely different destination from Earth.

The Bull Demon King confirmed that Fafnir was indeed going to a location different from its original plan and also turned around to leave.

"Well, then. Been a while, so..." He chose to head to another place, which was different from where Fafnir was heading to. "Should I go and say hello?"

* * *

Giiii-iiing—

The purple-colored dungeon faintly vibrated, and then, Su-hyeun stepped outside.

Although he was literally coated in blood, none of that belonged to him.

After exiting, he looked up at the skies above. The heavens were still blue and pristine. Seeing that there was no change, he couldn't help but wonder why he couldn't figure it out much sooner.

"I knew it. He didn't come."

Fafnir didn't come to Earth.

The appearance of countless dungeons and the subsequent outbreaks, followed by the entrance of the purple-colored dungeon, meant that Fafnir was trying to come to Earth but, in the end, failed. The blue sky above was proof of that.

Buzzz—

Su-hyeun's phone buzzed noisily inside his pocket, so he dug around in there to find it.

The battle had been fought for quite a long while, resulting in his phone's screen cracking. This device had been constructed out of high-grade Ether stones, as well as a variety of special materials, so it cracking like this served as a reminder of how ferocious the ripples of the battle were.

He answered the call, "Hello?"

"What were you even doing until now that we couldn't even contact you?"

It seemed that the other party had tried to get in touch lots of times while he was absent from Earth.

Su-hyeun slightly distanced his ear from the phone's speaker where the frantic voice was coming from and replied, "Just, you know, popping in and out of a dungeon for a bit."

"A dungeon? What dungeon are you talking about?"

"Yes, a dungeon. A purple-colored one still remained, you see."

"Wait, what? A purple?! Is it the dungeon where that monster called Fafnir comes out of?!" the voice of the caller, Lee Ju-ho, grew shrill in an instant.

Such a reaction was understandable since the monster that Su-hyeun of the previous timeline failed to win against and somehow ended up traveling back in time with was supposed to come out of a purple-colored dungeon. Therefore, Lee Ju-ho not panicking would have been even weirder, actually.

"Yes, that one. But Fafnir wasn't there."

"Not there?"

"Yes. He was quite literally not there. I ran into plenty of other small fries, sure, but it seems that Fafnir didn't come to Earth in the first place. I don't know the reason, but—"

"Is that why?"

"What do you mean?"

"The sky. It hasn't changed yet. You said that when Fafnir showed up, the sky turned pitch-black, right? And that monster showed up with countless dungeons back then, just like how things were unfolding this time."

Lee Ju-ho clearly remembered what Su-hyeun had told him. The sky turning pitch-black—that was the sign of a dead world that had lost its magical energy.

A world that lost its energy, its vitality, would turn black in color. Su-hyeun had confirmed this already.

However, the world he reached by going through the purple-colored dungeon had rain falling in it even now, which could only mean that that world hadn't been fully devoured yet.

"That's why I sort of knew that Fafnir hasn't shown up yet. But now, Fafnir is not there, but a purple dungeon still showed up...? Could it be that it was a different type of dungeon? Or maybe the future changed as you traveled back in time?"

"No, it wasn't a different type of dungeon. All the monsters I saw in the past were in it."

"What kind of monsters are we talking about here?"

"The Heavenly Dragon, Dragoon. The Insane Knight, Chang. The Corrupt One, Cloone...They were all boss-level monsters from the purple-colored dungeon that I remember."

It wasn't only Fafnir that came out of that purple dungeon in the previous timeline.

Many boss-level monsters also showed up in droves. Each of those monsters was even more threatening than bosses from indigo-colored dungeons, and they could all be thought of as Fafnir's underlings.

"Did you run into them all?"

"Yes."

"What happened to them?"

"I killed them all. It'll make things easier by killing them while Fafnir isn't around, after all. It wasn't such a bad deal in the end."

The number of monsters that showed up in this purple dungeon was about 10 percent of the total monsters that appeared on Earth.

Meaning, tens of millions of monsters would pour out from just one dungeon, and Fafnir commanded them all, so that bastard was like an impregnable fortress that you couldn't even get close to.

But now...

"Its defenses are gone now," Su-hyeun thought.

Fafnir's army had been decimated by Su-hyeun.

All the monsters were dead.

No, more correctly, he killed them all—something he failed to do in his past life.

But he did it this time.

"For now, I'm coming home."

* * *

Su-hyeun made his way back to Seoul.

The world still remained unsettled and disorderly. Although not too many people had died, the damage to physical assets was simply too extensive.

Buildings and homes were demolished by countless monsters, and society had become paralyzed as a result. However, it was still not to the level of extreme despair because there were almost no casualties.

"This is the footage we received from one of our satellites called Bruce. Dear viewers, as you can see, a massive pattern was drawn over the entire Earth at that very moment. This is the so-called "magic circle" that a portion of awakeners uses. All of the awakeners know what had been used for..."

"Kim Su-hyeun has saved the world. He has definitely earned the qualification to be called the hero."

"The material damage of the outbreak this time will cost..."

"What kind of reward should we give to the individual who has saved the entire world? Many people say that the Nobel Peace Prize isn't going to be enough for him. The leaders of various nations are..."

The mass media were completely dominated by the stories of Su-hyeun and the worldwide outbreak.

Stories such as losses of life and destruction to properties or stories about such an outbreak potentially not being a one-time phenomenon and even the stories related to Su-hyeun's rewards, as well as his feats, continued to be published nonstop.

The way things were unfolding in the media was like watching a movie right now.

"Speaking of which, you also got a movie offer." This was the first thing Lee Ju-ho said when Su-hyeun showed up at the half-destroyed Jongno Tower. "Not only that but as the lead, too. So how about it? Interested?"

"What are you even on about all of a sudden?"

"If I'm honest, you got an offer in the past, too. But I didn't bring it up since the role was for a supporting character."

"No, wait—"

"The subject this time is the 'Hero's Journey.' They said that they wanted to shoot a movie with this event as the focal point. So, are you interested now?" Lee Ju-ho continued to ask while showing his phone's screen to Su-hyeun. It showed an email written in English.

By the look of things, that email seemed to have come from a film director.

Su-hyeun groaned, "No, thank you. Please stop teasing me."

"The whole world has started calling you a 'hero' again, though. But well, even to me, you do look like the hero who successfully defended everyone this time."

"But Fafnir hasn't shown up yet. It's a bit too early to call it a success, unfortunately."

"Is that so?" While replying like that, Lee Ju-ho sneakily gauged Su-hyeun's current moods.

Su-hyeun was staring outside the windows for a bit from the top floor of the Jongno Tower. He occasionally sighed and shook his head at the sight of the city that was left in ruins after countless monsters appeared, but Lee Ju-ho thought that the expression on the younger man's face didn't look all that bad overall.

"I guess he's gotten over one of his worries, then," he thought.

Fafnir might not have shown up, but regardless of what, the end of the world had been prevented. That fact alone seemed to have taken off a large portion of the massive burden crushing down on Su-hyeun's shoulders, especially when seeing how he didn't show much of a change to his expression after hearing the term "hero," which he used to react sensitively to in the past.

"Let's stop talking about weird stuff like movies. Is there any other news to worry about, bro?" Su-hyeun asked Lee Ju-ho.

"It's only been a day since this crisis has come and gone, you know. People are still scared of not knowing when an event like this one will occur again, and the awakeners are still on high alert for the time being."

"Is that so?"

"For now, restoring all the damaged buildings will take priority, I believe. Thankfully, the communication lines seem to have been repaired somehow, and the Gordon Company is unleashing their wealth and know-how to assist the refugees who lost their homes."

"Only the Gordon Company, though?"

"Well, you'll always find those unscrupulous people who chase after money even in times of great anarchy and turbulent changes, after all. That's why we need your help one more time."

"What kind of help?"

"Can you speak publicly at least once? I know that you don't really enjoy being in the spotlight like that, but I think it'll help everyone a great deal."

"Okay. I'll do it," Su-hyeun nodded in agreement rather easily.

He wasn't the type to step up to the front to become famous. That was why Lee Ju-ho was in charge of handling such matters up until now.

However, there was a clear limit to how much Lee Ju-ho could do in Su-hyeun's stead.

Until now, Su-hyeun was something like an idol to the people, or even the top celebrity, but his status had completely changed.

Su-hyeun had become a true hero now.

"And besides that, there's also—"

"Hold on for a sec." Su-hyeun briefly stopped Lee Ju-ho and then turned his head away at the slightly ajar door.

He definitely remembered closing that after entering the office, though?

Su-hyeun asked, "Excuse me, who goes there?"

"Well, your perception seems to have improved."

A familiar voice came to him.

Su-hyeun's eyes grew wider just as a familiar figure revealed itself. "It's been a while, little brother."