Ranker Who Shatters Myths - Chapter 195
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Broken Ranker
Devours Myths
Chapter 195
Teeth of the Two-Headed God (5)
“Kekeke! How many years has it been since all of us sworn brothers gathered in one place!”
“Well. About 300 years or so?”
“Don’t be stupid. It was exactly 281 years ago. That was when that fool Bajie got rejected by Chang’e of the Moon Palace again and came crying to us.”
“Ah, that’s right? Kekeke. It was so embarrassing I had forgotten. Who told him to confess while drunk anyway.”
“Just forget about that stuff, everyone!!”
Inside Son Wukong’s shadow dimension.
This place that Son Wukong had named 【Flower Fruit Mountain】 at some point,
was noisy with laughter for the first time in a very long while.
“Those sworn brothers really have all gathered in one place. I heard rumors that they became awkward with each other after the Journey to the West ended and went their separate ways… but I guess that wasn’t entirely true.”
Roc King sat with his bottom lightly touching the mountainside, watching the three sworn brothers chatting in the shade of a tree blooming with peach blossoms.
Son Wukong, Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing.
The sworn brothers who met after a long time had so much to talk about,
they had been chattering excitedly like this for half a day with meaningless chatter.
“Well. It’s natural after suffering together for so many years.”
Roc King smiled faintly while looking at Son Wukong, who had an expression he didn’t recognize.
“Right. There should be times like this too.”
Also, he earnestly wished in his heart.
That someday he and his brothers could also gather together and laugh like that…
* * *
Altar Cleansing Messenger Zhu Bajie.
Originally his dharma name was not Bajie but Wuneng.
The same Wu generation as Son Wukong and Sha Wujing.
So it would be correct to call him ‘Zhu Wuneng’,
but at some point his nickname Bajie became more famous and it stuck as Zhu Bajie.
Before being banished from the Heavenly Realm, he held the high position of Marshal Tianpeng, commanding the navy of the 【Heavenly Court】,
and after falling to the Lower Realm and completing the myth of 【Journey to the West】, he obtained the title of Altar Cleansing Messenger.
Though he didn’t achieve the position of Buddha, he still gained a position no less significant.
Of course, like Sha Wujing, he couldn’t avoid the blade of purges either…
“Haha!! To think our Thunder Baldy elder brother would have a disciple. The more I see it, the more amazing it is!”
How could he have been reincarnated as a ‘human’ through what path and risen to the position of ASTRA director?
“Then he would be my martial nephew? A martial uncle who almost had his head split by his nephew’s axe… that’s quite a rare experience.”
“I greet my martial uncle. My name is Jang Lee Hyeon.”
“Why be so formal? Call me comfortably like you do with Wujing. It would be good to make a sworn friend contract while we’re at it.”
At that moment,
Ding!
[Altar Cleansing Messenger Zhu Bajie wishes to form a sworn friend contract with you.]
[Will you accept the contract?]
Lee Hyeon glanced at Son Wukong.
As expected.
Son Wukong was frowning deeply.
“How long have you even known this guy that you’re already buttering him up!”
“Huh? Isn’t this like a rite of passage that everyone with the 【Journey to the West】 myth goes through?”
“It’s not!”
“But he has so many contracts already?”
“That’s exactly what’s wrong! This guy is my disciple!”
Son Wukong threw a fit, demanding the contract be canceled immediately, but,
[Contract selected.]
[Trial for sworn friend contract is being prepared. Due to insufficient myth, it may take some time.]
“Hey!!”
Son Wukong pointed at Lee Hyeon with a reddened face.
“Why refuse such a good thing? Besides, he’s an ASTRA director.”
“That’s right?”
“Ugh. Really, these guys.”
Son Wukong grabbed the back of his neck and leaned back against his seat.
At this rate, Lee Hyeon would end up making contracts with not just the Seven Great Sages, but every contract in 【Journey to the West】.
“Fine. You guys handle it yourselves. I’m getting a sore throat from all this shouting.”
“Kekekeke! Originally, our sworn friend has been doing well on his own, far beyond what elder brother thinks!”
“You shut up!!”
Of course, Sha Wujing wasn’t the type to quietly shut up just because he was told to.
He said to Zhu Bajie.
“He’s acting like that because he’s worried his share in our sworn friend will keep decreasing. He’s always been quite greedy, hasn’t he?”
“I thought so. It seemed like that. I’ll remember that well.”
“These guys, really. Ugh.”
Son Wukong pressed his temples at the alliance of his two junior brothers who had given him headaches multiple times in the past.
“Enough. Bajie, tell us your story now. What the hell is this situation?”
Son Wukong looked Zhu Bajie up and down with narrowed eyes.
His Golden Eyes of Truth wide open.
Zhu Bajie, as seen through his eyes, looked strange in many ways.
Neither human, nor fallen from heaven…
Then Son Wukong belatedly discovered it.
Hidden by his collar, but a scar remaining on Zhu Bajie’s chest.
“You’ve noticed this already. As expected, the insight of the Golden Eyes of Truth is truly remarkable.”
Zhu Bajie smiled as he unbuttoned his shirt.
Then a scar that cut deeply from his left chest down to his lower abdomen was clearly visible.
Instantly, the eyes of Son Wukong and Sha Wujing deepened.
Lee Hyeon was also startled.
It was a familiar pattern.
“That’s…”
“Isn’t that the Vessel of Light?”
Vessel of Light.
The sealing magic that Raphael had installed to seal Jiaoma Wang.
Zhu Bajie nodded at Lee Hyeon.
“Correct. It’s the same as the one on Jiaoma Wang who’s currently in Sullyeom Cave. This was also left on me directly by Raphael.”
“…!”
“Explain in detail. Did that bastard harm you too?”
As Son Wukong growled as if he would immediately storm the Heavenly Realm, Zhu Bajie shook his head while buttoning up his shirt again.
“The opposite. Rather, Raphael tried to help me.”
“Raphael, helped you…?”
Son Wukong and Sha Wujing looked confused.
However,
Lee Hyeon was able to understand the inside story precisely.
It seemed like all the disconnected points were connecting at once.
“By any chance, did you form some kind of alliance with 【Malakh】 that Raphael belongs to?”
“…!?”
“Kekeke! This doesn’t seem like something I can just let slide! Please tell me in detail how you came to that conclusion, young master!”
Lee Hyeon nodded and spoke while looking at Zhu Bajie.
Zhu Bajie was quietly smiling.
“It’s simple reasoning. Raphael never intended to harm Jiaoma Wang from the beginning, right? If subjugation was the goal, there would have been no need to go through the trouble of using a sealing technique.”
“Kek. That’s true. Sealing is definitely not easy.”
“And in the world, many people suspected that there might be some connection between Astra and 【Malakh】, or that Astra was receiving 【Malakh】’s protection.”
“Kekeke. Why is that?”
Zhu Bajie still had no answer.
Rather, he just smiled while looking into Lee Hyeon’s eyes as if telling him to continue.
Lee Hyeon had seen such eyes before.
When he first met Lee Gun-san.
The current Zhu Bajie
was not the Altar-Purifying Messenger Zhu Bajie, but Astra Director Kaileb.
“The word ASTRA itself originally means ‘stars’ in Latin. In scripture, stars are also governed by angels.”
Not simply as the successor of Great Sage Equal to Heaven Son Wukong,
but if recognized for his abilities as the leader of Blue Thunder, Jet Jang Lee Hyeon,
“Michael Shepherd, Astra’s Chief of Operations, has also been showing me favor continuously under the orders of Archangel Gabriel from some point. Didn’t you already have suspicions or certainty about me from that time?”
he could develop an even closer relationship with Astra.
“You deduced this fact just from the reactions shown by Gabriel and Raphael, the two archangels?”
“If you knew that I was Jet and Gwiroae, naturally you would have had to have such ‘eyes’ not only on the surface but also in the heavens.”
“Haha. To gather small clues and draw one big picture. As expected, my eyes weren’t wrong. You’re a talent absolutely necessary in this world.”
Zhu Bajie’s eyes curved into crescents.
“How about it? Coming over to Astra with this opportunity.”
“I’m sorry, but I already,”
“This isn’t the scouting offer I made before, but a new proposal.”
Zhu Bajie’s eyes looking at Lee Hyeon were filled with greed.
“I also know about the new proposal White Burn made to you this morning. They’re even planning to grow Z Team into a new Blue Thunder and separate it as an independent corporation, right?”
Lee Hyeon inwardly let out a hollow laugh.
To think they were seeing through everything so clearly.
Whether Zhu Bajie was amazing, or America’s capabilities were amazing.
“I can do that much too. No, I can do even more. If I actively support you, not only the Guam business, but even the next director position here wouldn’t be a problem, would it?”
“Just hearing it gives me chills.”
“Right? So come over to this side. I’ll accept all your colleagues too,”
“Still, I’ll have to decline.”
Lee Hyeon smiled and shook his head.
“No, why? Passing up such a good opportunity? It’s not because you’re worried about racial discrimination, is it?”
“I just like it here. I can move more freely too.”
“Is that so? Well, Astra is a bit strict with regulations. What a shame.”
Zhu Bajie clicked his tongue.
“Still, we can maintain a good relationship, can’t we?”
“Hahaha! To have such a brazen attitude after rejecting the offer. Senior brother, you really have an excellent disciple, don’t you?”
Zhu Bajie seemed to cherish Lee Hyeon while also being in a very good mood.
Lee Hyeon also secretly liked such a Zhu Bajie.
Before, he had only seen him as an unreadable conspirator, but now that he knew the truth, he was someone he could trust his back to.
Zhu Bajie spoke.
“Actually, everything you said is correct. Astra is currently receiving 【Malakh】’s protection. It was thanks to them that I could barely preserve my life from the murderous blades of those main gods, and establish a foundation for revenge in this Lower Realm.”
Lee Hyeon nodded heavily.
The alliance between 【Malakh】 and Astra.
Just confirming this was a great help in understanding the world’s future political situation.
‘【Malakh】’s pursued ideology is absolute good, order, and the balance of scales.’
It seemed such influence reached not only the heavens but also the surface.
However,
“【Malakh】 helped you? That Metatron?”
Son Wukong furrowed his brow with an expression of complete incomprehension.
Metatron.
【Malakh】’s supreme angel.
Sometimes classified as a main god.
“Yes. That’s right.”
“No, why on earth would those guys….”
“According to them, it’s for ‘balance’. If we all fall, the scales won’t be balanced, they say. Haha. Ridiculous, isn’t it?”
Son Wukong’s face turned bright red.
“That’s exactly why I can’t understand it even more! Metatron, that bastard was definitely…!”
“That’s right. He was one of the main culprits who brought you down.”
“And yet you’re being deceived by such trickery?”
Crash!
Son Wukong struck the table hard with his fist.
Sha Wujing squeezed his eyes shut.
Whoosh!
Son Wukong’s intense anger began strangling Zhu Bajie’s neck.
His face turned pale in an instant.
But Zhu Bajie answered calmly.
“So what if it’s deception?”
“…What?”
“Anyway, didn’t this disciple survive thanks to them?”
“…!”
“I don’t know exactly what 【Malakh】 is thinking. No, I don’t even want to know.”
Zhu Bajie twisted one corner of his mouth to the fullest.
A ferocious appearance completely different from the calm attitude he had shown so far.
It was a demon’s smile.
Once, due to gluttony and lust, he had devastated several cities and made people tremble in fear….
“They hid me from heaven’s surveillance. Thanks to that, I survived. Isn’t that enough?”
“….”
“They arranged for me to enter this body, the body of a child named Kaileb, and gave me the opportunity to find my brothers in the Lower Realm. Do you know this?”
Zhu Bajie’s sneer grew even more, fully revealing his fangs.
“The dungeon where senior brother was, 【Monkey Den】. I was the one who hid it from the outside world all this time.”
“…What?”
Son Wukong’s eyes widened.
“Whether it was China or India, I was the one who hid all that commotion they made trying to find senior brother. 【Malakh】 supported that from behind.”
“…!!!”
Lee Hyeon nodded heavily.
Actually, he had had similar thoughts.
Despite Feng Jinghao searching so thoroughly across the entire world, how could Son Wukong have remained safe all this time?
The thought of whether that was really just simple coincidence.
‘Probably only a very few who directly communicated with Zhu Bajie in 【Malakh】 would have known that fact. The reason Michael was initially wary of me but suddenly became favorable would also make perfect sense if he received word about it later.’
“Wujing, what about you?”
“….”
“What about Master’s other sworn brothers? Who helped the Roc King escape from the laboratory, and who interfered to prevent forces from recklessly jumping into the rift where Jiaoma Wang was? Who disrupted the information? I wonder who that could be?”
“….”
“Surely you’re not foolish enough to dismiss all of that as mere coincidence or good luck, are you!!”
The louder Zhu Bajie’s laughter grew, the more Son Wukong and Sha Wujing found themselves unable to say anything.
Only deep silence flowed between them.
Zhu Bajie shrugged his shoulders while half-leaning against the backrest.
“That’s why I’m saying it doesn’t matter to me. Whatever scheme 【Malakh】 has, if it’s a card our sworn brothers can use right now, there’s no reason to refuse it.”
Lee Hyeon recalled the rumors about the ASTRA Director, who had been thoroughly shrouded in mystery.
A capable person who made ASTRA the world’s greatest combat unit, with a past as difficult to know as his skills.
A strategist unmatched in espionage and conspiracy.
Thanks to this,
An ambitious man who restored the declining United States to the ranks of superpowers in the dungeon era.
…That was exactly who Zhu Bajie was.
“He’s even found out that Master is currently captured by the Sima Society and is doing everything he can to rescue him. Why? Because now I have nothing left but this wretched body!!”
Son Wukong pressed his lips tightly together.
A slight shadow also fell across Zhu Bajie’s eyes.
“I know well what Master is worried about. You’re concerned that this is all part of Metatron’s grand scheme, that he’s targeting the moment when all our brothers gather together, aren’t you?”
“…Yes.”
“Then let him try when that time comes.”
Zhu Bajie grinned wickedly.
“We can just think of countermeasures when that time arrives.”
“….”
After a long silence flowed.
“Hah! Really now. What a thing to live long enough to see. To think I’d live to owe you such a debt.”
“Isn’t that what makes life interesting? Or wait, are we talking about our demon lives?”
Son Wukong scratched the back of his head vigorously before bowing his head.
“I apologize. It seems I was too swayed by emotion.”
“No. If I were in Master’s position, I would have done exactly the same. Actually, I probably would have used them even more ruthlessly before discarding them.”
Son Wukong scratched his forehead with his index finger. Thinking about it, he really would have done the same.
“Good. Then what exactly is the true purpose of those 【Malakh】 bastards? Forget all that talk about balance and peace. What are they really after?”
“That is,”
Just as Zhu Bajie was about to give some answer.
『That answer—might we have the opportunity to give it directly?』
An echo suddenly resounding from the sky.
In an instant, all three sworn brothers raised their gazes upward in unison. Son Wukong’s expression hardened particularly severely.
‘A gate…!’
Lee Hyeon could see a massive elongated beam of light stretching across the blue sky of Flower Fruit Mountain.
A sacred radiance that seemed like it would melt one’s soul just by looking at it.
A gate with similar shape and size to the one that had imprisoned Jiaoma Wang, but with indescribably greater power,
was trying to open.
[The myth ‘Wednesday’s Archangel’ wishes to reveal itself on 【Flower Fruit Mountain】!]
[Raphael attempts to descend.]
Raphael
was trying to appear.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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