LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 123 - Did I Create Something Like You?
Chapter 123 Did I Create Something Like You?
Leon immediately drew his remaining sword and swung it toward his father.
However, in close combat, it was obvious that even in the past, he couldn’t possibly defeat his monstrous father.
Chomp.
The arm holding the sword was caught midway.
But it was as if he had expected this.
“A gravity that could crush our bodies confines us until we die.”
“Grkh?!”
Following the absolute declaration, the two of them fell into the endlessly descending crater.
It was truly a prison made of gravity.
Han Shin-woo, whose entire body was covered in trembling monster skin, felt the impact of the recoil.
“Grkh!”
‘Stop! If this continues, you’ll be the first to die!’
The problem was his son, who stood beside him.
Leon was also taking damage in this gravity prison, just like him.
Han Shin-woo desperately tried to make his son cancel the words he had spoken, as Leon seemed to be on the verge of collapsing before him.
However.
“Father! Answer me before that!”
“Grkh!”
‘What the hell?!’
“Why did you change so much?!”
Even if it meant losing his life.
Leon, who was not only Han Shin-woo’s son but also Ria’s, needed to hear why his father wasn’t satisfied with just his mother.
Why had he made his mother so unhappy? Leon needed to know.
Because of that.
“Grkrrrr.”
‘I don’t know exactly how the future has changed.’
“…!”
“Grkh. Grkh.”
‘But if I, as your father, made you feel such emotions, then it’s 100% my fault.’
“Father’s… fault?”
I knew it.
I knew how the eldest son of a family, who grew up being ignored by his father, would think.
Of course, Leon and I had different concepts of suffering, but at least we could share that pain.
Father and son.
In the father-son relationship, how could a father say anything to a son who sheds tears first?
I never once received an apology.
When I asked like Leon, what I got wasn’t warm words but an empty liquor bottle that made my head bleed.
So at the very least, I decided not to do that.
If the future me had made a mistake, at least the present me would try to alleviate that pain, even a little.
With that thought, I hugged Leon in the gravity prison that was crushing us.
I, as his father, took on all the weight of the gravity that was pressing down on this child.
“Grkh.”
‘I’m sorry.’
“You just said you didn’t know about the future…”
“Grkh. Grkh.”
‘Even if I don’t know, how could I stand by when my son sheds tears because of me? If you want, I’ll do my best to help you, Leon.’
“You… will help me?”
To Leon, his father.
Han Shin-woo was just Han Shin-woo.
A being connected by blood, yet like a god, someone he couldn’t dare to approach on the same level.
Just catching his eye by chance was enough to make a group of children rejoice as if it were a blessing.
But now, this father was saying he’d help him like a normal parent-child relationship, on the same level.
“I cancel my earlier declaration.”
Leon was confused.
So for now, he canceled the three absolute declarations of gravity prison that had been crushing them.
Then, he quietly sat down, looking around the deep pit that had formed around them.
“I… don’t know.”
“Grkh…”
‘Leon…’
“If you had been the same person as now, I would have just fought you moderately and then retreated… The past you was really a different person. …The current you is someone I almost want to ‘respect.'”
“Grkrrrr…”
‘Dad is sorry…’
“No need to apologize. Now that I think about it, I was being childish. There’s someone else who sleeps with every woman they see, and I took out my anger on an innocent person. Just, just let me think quietly for now.”
“……”
In the dark crater, Leon wore a truly complicated and subtle expression.
His face showed a range of negative emotions, from bitterness to gloom, suffering, and pain.
However, from this point on, it was Leon’s matter to handle alone.
‘For now, let’s head back up.’
While his son sorted out his feelings, Shin-woo leaped high into the sky, heading toward the surface, which now looked like a tiny pinhole in the distance, to rescue Sophia.
***
Meanwhile, on the surface, three people were standing with dazed expressions.
“How far down did those two go?”
“I don’t know… But they couldn’t have gone all the way to the Earth’s mantle, right?”
“Korea is already a mountainous region covered in granite, could they really have gone that deep?”
Riverine, Ria, and the captured Yulian nervously swallowed as they peered into the pitch-black depths of the bottomless crater.
Just then.
Step, step.
They heard the sound of footsteps approaching quietly from behind.
Riverine and Ria, too focused on the crater, didn’t notice at all.
However, Yulian, who had been trained since childhood, immediately sensed the creepy yet overwhelming presence, and even though she was bound, she began trembling violently.
Thud.
“…?”
“What are you doing all of a sudden?”
Yulian turned her back to the ground and pressed her forehead against it, bowing like a worshiper who had just witnessed a divine being.
Confused by Yulian’s behavior, Riverine and Ria turned around, only to see a man quietly walking toward them.
“…Who?”
“…?!”
The man had a strangely gaunt face.
His eyes were lifeless, giving off the impression that he was barely alive.
To Riverine, he seemed like a lonely wolf, a solitary figure.
On the other hand, Ria, who felt a deeply familiar aura from this middle-aged man, took a few steps back in disbelief.
“…Oppa?”
“…What?!”
She cautiously asked in a soft voice.
Then.
“Ria, is it… I see. It’s been 20 years, so you would still be in your infant form.”
“Th-Then that’s Shin-woo?!”
The future Shin-woo, who was smiling slightly as he looked at the younger Ria.
Riverine’s mouth fell open in shock as she stared at the lifeless shell of the once cheerful Shin-woo.
‘His Majesty smiled…?’
The man who was always expressionless, no matter what, in the palace.
Even though it was only for a brief moment, Yulian couldn’t believe she had just seen him smile pleasantly, and she was lost in thought.
“Hey, you, over there.”
“…! Y-Yes, Your Majesty!”
“Who are you?”
“Y-Yes! If I may humbly introduce myself, I am Yulian, the 24th child born between Your Majesty and Lady Renee, the Sixth Empress!”
“24th…? I don’t remember. Did I create something like you?”
“Yes, that’s correct!”
“I see you didn’t inherit the Han surname… Anyway, I find your current state disappointing. Don’t show yourself in front of me again.”
“…!! Understood…”
Yulian had expected this ever since she failed her mission.
She had expected it, but…
Not only did her father, His Majesty, fail to recognize her, but he also told her never to show her face again. The pain in Yulian’s heart felt unbearable.
However, this was her father’s presence.
She could not, under any circumstances, show these sad emotions outwardly.
If she did, not only she, but her mother and her direct family would all suffer the consequences.
“To think something like that is my child, how pathetic…”
“I’m sorry.”
Yulian silently apologized to her mother, Lady Renee, wishing she could hold her breath and die right there…
“Oppa! How could you talk to your daughter like that!”
“Yeah, Shin-woo! What happened to you that made you so bad-tempered?!”
Just as she was resolving herself.
“…Are you Riverine?”
“Hey! I’m your senior in the Monster Group, and you don’t even call me that anymore?!”
“Oppa! Why have you become so ill-mannered!”
Why.
She didn’t know why, but the Second and Fourth Empresses of the past were getting angry on her behalf.
Seeing these two women like this, Yulian found herself unable to hold back her tears.
But not wanting anyone to see, she kept her forehead pressed to the ground, quietly sobbing.
“Riverine… Senior. To think the day would come when I could talk to you like this again.”
“Hmph. What? Are things not going well between you and the future me?”
“Not so much that it’s bad… Well, yes. We’ve been fighting a lot lately, so things aren’t that great.”
“Hmph. Of course! Who would be happy when you treat your children like that! I’ve got a bit of a trauma about that kind of thing, so you better not do it.”
“Riverine, Senior…”
“…?! O-Oppa, aren’t you getting closer and closer?”
The future Shin-woo, who had been staring with wide eyes and a strange smile, began walking slowly toward them.
Sensing the impending danger, the two women immediately shut their mouths.
“Han Shin-woo! Stop right there!”
“Oppa, stop!”
“Riverine, Senior… Originally, I only planned to take Sophia, but since it’s been a while since I’ve seen you in this state, I suppose I can take one more along.”
“Hey, hey! Do you think I’m some kind of object?!”
This isn’t some neighborhood supermarket.
It wasn’t like I was a main dish or anything, but now I was being treated like some discounted greens you grab along with premium Hanwoo beef just because they’re on sale.
Enraged by this, Riverine shouted.
“Senior, stay still.”
“O-Oh?! Let go, let go! I said let go of me!”
Before she could react, the future Han Shin-woo, who had sneaked up behind her, easily hoisted the struggling Riverine onto his shoulder.
There were no signs that he had ‘monstrified’…
Ria, who had frozen in place with shock, and Riverine, who was frantically resisting as she was captured.
But it was futile.
Smack!
“Kyaaa?!”
“Hmm. Even though you’re smaller, I guess you’ve got more elasticity in this era.”
The future Shin-woo, after giving the rear of his fourth wife from the past a firm squeeze, turned to fulfill his real purpose.
‘I’m coming now, Sophia.’
He started walking toward the Hunter Association building…
“Get up, Yulian.”
“F-Father…?”
That was when it happened.
“…Hmm.”
A cool breeze seemed to pass by briefly, and then the future Shin-woo, who had been carrying Riverine on his shoulder, calmly set her back down on the ground.
“Huh?”
Just as quickly as he had captured her, he released her, leaving Riverine momentarily stunned.
Then, his masculine arm gently patted her on the head as he spoke tenderly.
“Riverine, Senior. Please step back for a moment with Ria.”
“…!”
“Because it seems like it’s going to get very dangerous soon.”
Just like the future Shin-woo’s actions.
“Yulian, stand back.”
“Father…”
“And ignore what I said earlier. If a daughter wants to see her father, she can visit anytime. No need to worry about such things.”
The current Shin-woo gently patted his daughter’s head and smiled.
Moments later, the two Shin-woos turned simultaneously, walking toward each other until they were standing face to face.