Chapter 195 – The Greater Good (Part Two)

“You don’t seem as surprised as I expected. Did you know I was alive?”

Il-hyeon asked calmly.

Just as he said, Baek Il-ho, who stood facing him, showed no sign of agitation, even though the man he had personally stabbed through the heart had returned alive and well.

“I anticipated it to some extent. I developed a way to track the administrators in case they vanished as they are now. But the signals from a few of them suddenly cut out. Besides myself, the only people who would hunt administrators, excluding our own, were you and Ryu Jin-tae. But since I went and killed Ryu Jin-tae first, that only left you.”

“You killed a former comrade so easily?”

“What happened back then is a story from over twenty years ago for me. Through my regressions, I’ve learned who my true comrades are—the ones who will stay by my side until the very end.”

Baek Il-ho let out a small sigh as he spoke.

Then he continued.

“Like the people with me now, or you and Hwa-yeon. Though things have ended up like this.”

Without drawing a weapon, Baek Il-ho took a few deliberate steps toward the wary Il-hyeon.

It was a confidence born from a body that wouldn’t die from a surprise attack, and Il-hyeon, knowing this, didn’t try to strike him immediately.

“Coming back from the dead has never been possible before. It must be the result of variables that only appeared in the third regression. That woman back then… Gwen, was it? It seems you found a useful ability user among your new team members in this life.”

Baek Il-ho said.

Though he hadn’t been present when Il-hyeon was resurrected, he had pieced it together from memory.

Back when they’d met at the site of Hwa-yeon’s murder.

He’d found it a bit odd at the time that Il-hyeon had brought along an ordinary person with no abilities, bypassing his other powerful team members. But thinking back now, he could see it was a thoroughly calculated move.

Of course, none of that changed anything now.

Il-hyeon glanced toward the city.

The launch preparations for the missile containing the nuclear warhead were nearly complete.

“That nuclear weapon you stole—you’ve modified everything from the launch system to the missile itself with completely different equipment. What on earth are you planning? The original hardware should have been more than sufficient.”

“Let me ask you instead. What do you think we’re going to do with the nuclear weapons we seized from them?”

In response to Il-hyeon’s interrogation, Baek Il-ho asked back, as if amused.

“You’re planning to leave only a fraction of the world intact, covering the rest in radiation to create a no-man’s-land where even monsters can’t emerge. It would topple governments, reduce the number of ordinary people, and naturally narrow the area that needs defending from monsters. All to create the Awakened-centric society you desire.”

Il-hyeon answered his question.

It was a conclusion he had drawn from their movements so far, and there were no other logical options.

But upon hearing his words, Baek Il-ho laughed heartily.

“A plausible theory. In fact, we considered such ideas before we found Plan A.”

“So that’s not it?”

“Correct. We’re not dropping a nuke on a perfectly fine Earth. The missile is aimed at the sky right above us.”

“The sky…?”

Il-hyeon furrowed his brow at the nonsensical statement.

But when Baek Il-ho continued, his expression changed completely.

“Our goal is to fire the nuke through the Gate. To ensure those monsters can never cross dimensions and set foot here again.”

“What…? No, that’s impossible…”

Stunned by his words, Il-hyeon shook his head.

All Gates that appeared on Earth were one-way streets, opening only toward this world to spew out monsters.

No one had ever succeeded in entering a Gate from this side; it was theoretically impossible.

It had been an absolute, immutable law since the calamity twenty years ago, like apples falling downward.

To launch a nuclear missile into the empty sky and send it to another dimension was utterly impossible.

But Baek Il-ho, who had made the absurd claim, simply curled his lips into a confident smile.

“Is it really?”

Baek Il-ho glanced at his watch.

It was almost time for their long-standing plan to be set in motion.

*Rumble-rumble-rumble!*

*Screeeech!*

Suddenly, a piercing sound accompanied a violent tremor in the ground.

It was definitely not the scream of a monster, a sound he had heard to the point of exhaustion, but it was an unpleasant noise that felt like it was drilling into his eardrums.

And what happened next left Il-hyeon speechless.

*Shudder!*

The sky, split in two, was opening wide from side to side.

A massive, dark gray fissure appeared, identical in size and location to the Gate that had unleashed the first Guardian, the three-eyed giant.

A fissure of a color never before seen in all the analytical data compiled from every Gate pattern.

Beyond it, something shimmered brilliantly, like waves.

To an unknowing observer, it was a mystical sight that would inspire awe, but Il-hyeon gripped the scabbard at his waist and swallowed hard.

The chances of this fissure being a good thing were slim to none, and a deeply alien energy was flowing out of it.

“That… that’s…”

“A type of Gate. Though it’s one we forced open from our side.”

Il-hyeon flinched at Baek Il-ho’s answer.

Not closing a Gate, but a technique to open one yourself.

It was something he had never even considered.

“We were always scrambling to stop them from crawling into this world. But in the first regression, I realized that approach was endless, so I changed direction. I knew we had to eliminate the root cause.”

Baek Il-ho raised his hand and pointed upward.

“The world beyond that fissure is the source of all these events. And we are going to destroy that source.”

“You’re saying that’s the monsters’ world…?”

“To be precise, it’s a passage connecting the two dimensions. It was created by the power of their final Guardian. It’s impervious to most physical intervention, but as you said, radiation is practically their weakness. We can kill it and damage the world connected beyond.”

“Then you should have sought cooperation from the governments, from anyone! You could have dealt with them first and saved your revenge for later…!”

Il-hyeon exclaimed, feeling a sense of futility.

He had formulated a plan and revealed himself here to stop the nuclear launch at all costs, but if Baek Il-ho’s explanation was true, there was no reason to stop it.

He couldn’t understand why they would cause such chaos internally when the enemy was right at their doorstep.

“They’re both targets we need to eliminate anyway, so what’s the difference? Well, of course, that’s not the whole story. There was one serious problem that most people wouldn’t be able to accept.”

“A problem…?”

“It’s been over twenty years since that passage was created. Because of that, their dimension and Earth are now intricately linked. When their dimension takes damage, half of Earth, centered on this area, will be blown away with it. We have no way of knowing how large their world on the other side is, but since they have little resistance, they’ll die off in numbers far greater than ours.”

His tone was utterly calm, a stark contrast to the shocking content of his words.

Only then did Il-hyeon realize exactly what they were about to do.

“You crazy son of a bitch…”

Sensing Il-hyeon’s intense emotion, the Peacemaker throbbed.

But Baek Il-ho, his face impassive, lowered his hand and spoke slowly.

“Kang Il-hyeon, do you know why I didn’t come to you from the beginning? Why I didn’t recruit you early like Hwa-yeon, to Awaken and nurture you sooner? With your growth rate and potential, you could have easily achieved revenge and stopped them.”

Il-hyeon didn’t know.

He had immediately forced himself to erase the memories Hwa-yeon had injected into him during her final struggle.

But Baek Il-ho didn’t wait for an answer and continued.

“I actually did that in the second regression. There was no reason not to. But it was a mistake. ‘That thing’ could sense any presence that might threaten it. You weren’t dying from an illness like Min Ji-hoon, and the pawns they could control were gone. That’s when the final Guardian revealed itself here.”

As the memory surfaced, Baek Il-ho clutched his throbbing left arm.

The second regression had proven that their final Guardian, though cautious, was an enemy that not even Min Ji-hoon could handle.

“To avoid annihilation, this is the only way. The world must go on, even if people die.”

“Cut the bullshit.”

Il-hyeon gritted his teeth.

Seeing him angry like this, it was clear his obsession with innocent people hadn’t changed.

But Baek Il-ho knew his behavior wasn’t born of pure character, but rather a single, driving obsession.

With a faint smirk, Baek Il-ho followed Il-hyeon’s lead and drew his sword.

“A sacrifice for the greater good… that’s all it is. Just as the trash who stabbed us in the back used to cry. With this, half of those who stood by and watched will pay the price.”

***

*Crackle!*

Intense sparks continuously erupted in the air.

Massive beings had gathered in one place.

Their violent energies, radiating without filter, collided with one another.

*Fzzt!*

All contact with the dispatched administrators had been lost.

Given that every means of communication had been severed at once without the slightest deviation, it couldn’t be dismissed as a simple accident.

That was why the first Guardian had personally crossed dimensions.

However, even the Guardian who crossed over was no different.

The continued silence was enough to give them certainty, and a language incomprehensible to humans was exchanged several times.

According to the established rules, it was time for the second Guardian to reveal itself.

But a being capable of shattering those rules at once stirred from its place.

*Rumble…!*

The abyssal being, located in the deepest, darkest place.

It began to move.