Ranker Who Shatters Myths - Chapter 307

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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 307

The Other Side of the Sun (4)

“….”

“….”

With cold coffee cups between them, the brothers remained silent.

Moon Su-chan stared out the window.

Then he quietly closed his eyes.

His eyelids trembled slightly.

A suffocating silence.

The trace of anxiety he thought he had washed away at the 【Nest】 seemed to strangle his throat again the moment he set foot on Korean soil.

“…Hyung.”

Lee Hyeon tried to break the silence, but Moon Su-chan shook his head.

“I know. But don’t say anything right now. What my eyes saw and what my head remembers are so different that I feel like I’m going crazy too.”

“….”

“I don’t want to doubt him either.”

Sometimes ‘him,’ sometimes ‘that old man.’

The inconsistent way of addressing meant Moon Su-chan’s mind was just as confused.

Lee Hyeon kept his mouth firmly shut.

‘Stains of causality….’

The sense of déjà vu he felt in the meeting hall.

Even the evidence that Moon Su-chan had seen with his [eyes].

The circumstantial evidence was overwhelming. But still, one corner of his heart held a great conflict about not wanting to doubt Lee Gun-san.

That’s when it happened.

Buzz.

The mobile phone placed on the table rang.

Coincidentally, the caller was Choi Hye-jin.

Lee Gun-san’s wife.

Was this also a kind of ‘prophecy’?

Lee Hyeon hesitated for a moment, but the text message that soon appeared confused him.

―He’s critically ill. His condition has deteriorated rapidly. Can you come now?

“…!?”

Lee Hyeon unconsciously shot up from his seat.

‘The General is… sick?’

His heart churned.

‘Come to think of it, definitely…!’

At the Olympus Vineyard. Apollo’s spirit he had seen in the spiritual meeting hall had definitely felt somehow unsettling.

“What’s wrong?”

At Moon Su-chan’s question, Lee Hyeon silently showed him the mobile phone screen.

“…Let’s go.”

Moon Su-chan stood up from his seat after a long silence.

His body felt heavy, like a beast being dragged to a slaughterhouse.

* * *

Uijeongbu Residence.

A place that was like a hometown and family home to Lee Hyeon and Moon Su-chan.

“Lee Hyeon!”

When the taxi carrying the two arrived, Choi Hye-jin rushed over urgently.

“What on earth happened? You said the General collapsed?”

“Right now that…! You, you, are you perhaps Su, Su-chan?”

Choi Hye-jin belatedly discovered Moon Su-chan, who had been hesitating to get out until late, and her eyes widened in surprise.

Because someone she thought was dead had returned.

She too was someone who had regarded Moon Su-chan like a son, just as much as Lee Hyeon.

“It’s been a long time, ma’am.”

“Even when I heard you were coming, I wondered if it could be, but it’s really you…!”

Choi Hye-jin’s eyes wavered slightly.

The Moon Su-chan in her memory had always affectionately called her ‘mother.’

Sometimes he would follow her even more than Lee Gun-san.

But now she strangely felt a sense of distance.

“I’ll explain the parts related to hyung separately later. More importantly, what exactly happened?”

“Well, about half a day ago, he said he had something to do and shut himself in the study, then suddenly there was a thud sound of him collapsing…!”

‘Around that time would be when the meeting was called?’

“…His mana circuit was shaking so abnormally that he suffered greatly, but now he’s at least resting and says he’s okay. But still, the damage to his core won’t heal easily….”

Choi Hye-jin’s hands trembled.

She too was an excellent doctor and healer.

Yet if it was difficult for even her to help, it meant the situation was truly serious.

Whoosh!

Lee Hyeon brightly lit up Noeancheongjeong and asked.

“Where is the General?”

* * *

The moment he opened the room door, instead of the familiar smell of disinfectant or bunker, a terrible heat rushed in.

The smell of dry firewood burning.

‘This is….’

「Tsk. The legacy is leaking.」

‘Leaking?’

Sha Wujing had somehow emerged from Flower Fruit Mountain and stood on top of Lee Hyeon’s head with a serious expression.

「It means the legacy is crumbling.」

‘…!’

「The children of Zeus that the Chosen One saw usually never let their legacies remove their masks…. It seems the mask has broken or suffered a shock equivalent to that.」

Lee Hyeon felt his heart sink.

‘That means?’

「It would mean someone ambushed him. Or, the vessel that originally received the legacy was weak.」

‘…Ambush. Weakened vessel.’

Those words struck Lee Hyeon deeply.

‘Dionysus made his move.’

He bit his lower lip hard.

That’s when it happened.

“…You came.”

Deep inside the inner chamber.

An old man, unrecognizably gaunt, was leaning against the bed.

It was Lee Gun-san.

The medals he had earned from a lifetime as a soldier lay abandoned on a corner table, covered in dust.

Instead, there was a small picture frame placed at the head of where he lay.

From when Lee Hyeon and Moon Su-chan were middle school students.

It was an old Polaroid photo of all three of them smiling brightly, covered in dirt after going camping with Lee Gun-san for the first time.

“General.”

Lee Hyeon approached and took the old man’s hand, which had become like a dry tree branch.

Originally, he had boasted muscles and a physique that wouldn’t be envied even by those in active duty…

What on earth had he experienced during the time they were away in South Africa?

His hand was even burning hot like a fireball.

It wasn’t human body temperature.

“What happened here?”

“Heh heh. How embarrassing this is. I told that fellow so many times not to tell you kids who just got back to Korea.”

“General!”

“It means I didn’t want to show you this side of me, Inseok.”

Wrinkles formed slightly around Lee Gun-san’s eyes.

“What father would want to show weakness to children who were like his own sons?”

“…”

“You’ve been through a lot. Going all the way to that distant place… That fellow must have already told you my story?”

“…Yes.”

“Well now. This means all my cards have been revealed.”

When he first heard from Choi Hye-jin that Lee Gun-san had a terminal condition, the shock was overwhelming.

It felt like the world was spinning around and around.

-The truth is, he absolutely didn’t want to show weakness to you kids.

-Not to you, not to Su-chan, not to the other unit members…

-He thought that if he showed weakness, you who were just starting to come together would be shaken again.

Lee Hyeon asked when exactly Lee Gun-san had started being sick.

And…

-From four years ago.

-It’s been like this since four years ago.

-After you all scattered, after you disappeared without a trace.

Four years ago.

Lee Hyeon intuitively realized that the Gangneung incident and Lee Gun-san’s terminal condition were connected.

-Until now, he somehow managed to protect his heart meridian with magic power and tried to prevent the complete opening of his inheritance.

-But now it seems he won’t be able to last more than six months at most.

When she mentioned half a year, tears welled up in Choi Hye-jin’s eyes.

[‘Sacred Relic: Noeancheongjeong’ outputs analysis results!]

[Apollo’s myth is collapsing.]

[The vessel has crumbled.]

[The pillar of causality that constituted ‘Player: Lee Gun-san’ has broken. The karma he built up is scattering.]

…

Evidence that he was indeed Apollo. And results showing that his actual lifespan wasn’t long.

And,

[There are traces of forcibly twisting causality multiple times.]

[Currently investigating the cause of these traces.]

[Investigating.]

…

[Investigating.]

…

[Brithra adjusts the glasses on the bridge of his nose while muttering that something is strange.]

[Mahabali asks Brithra whether humans can interfere with causality.]

[Brithra is searching through dragon knowledge reports. He states his opinion that he’s flustered since this is his first time seeing such a case.]

[Mahabali says something is strange since Apollo’s inheritance is just an inheritance, not a human directly becoming a god.]

[Brithra says that the ■■ in charge of causality through ■■■’s ■ number ■■ed■ possibility■…]

[Mahabali says that in that case ■■■■ would result in ■■■ and ■■■■ being caught ■■■■■…]

…

[Yarhibol screams asking what the hell this is all about!]

[Agribor perks up his ears saying studying is fun.]

…

Stains of causality.

The phenomenon Moon Su-chan had named seemed to be curious even to the Logoi, as the message window rang noisily.

Noeancheongjeong, which said it would investigate the cause, also hadn’t been able to provide any particular answer since then.

‘Did he get such a backlash from looking into causality too much, from using his prophetic abilities too much?’

The damage was too severe to simply attribute it to receiving Dionysus’s ambush. He could only think that the vessel itself was too weak.

「Tsk. For now, we can only think of it that way. Certainly, if he attempted future sight as a mortal, and even used it for his own benefit, it would be no different from revealing heavenly secrets.」

Sha Wujing laughed bitterly.

「Divine punishment is bound to fall for revealing heavenly secrets.」

It meant that from continuously using prophetic abilities, not only was his lifespan shortened, but even his status was shaken.

Just what…

—What was Lee Gun-san trying to achieve that he would commit such acts while shortening even his own life?

Lee Gun-san was smiling faintly.

As always.

As if he knew all of his thoughts.

Those thoughts, that smile, that warmth.

Were they all results created by Apollo’s prophecies?

“Are you able to smile right now?”

“Then should I cry?”

Lee Gun-san’s gaze turned toward outside the door.

Toward Moon Su-chan, who was frozen stiff, unable to cross the threshold.

“My sons have finally gathered here.”

“…”

“You came. Don’t just stand there, come inside.”

“…”

“Finally… I get to see both of my boys in one place.”

But Moon Su-chan couldn’t rashly come in.

One step.

He just needed to take one more step…

But that wasn’t easy.

As if there was an invisible wall.

* * *

‘…Father.’

Moon Su-chan forcibly suppressed the voice that was about to burst out without him realizing it.

If Tiamat had been a mother to him, then Lee Gun-san was like a father figure.

The person who had first taught him affection.

That’s why he was afraid to face Lee Gun-san, and despite needing to hear the truth, he was scared to listen.

He feared that the memories he had experienced would be tainted.

If those memories were shattered, Moon Su-chan didn’t have the confidence to endure it.

So this wall placed between him and Lee Gun-san

was also the gap he couldn’t bring himself to close for the past four years.

“Don’t you plan to come in? Even though we’re meeting after such a long time?”

Lee Gun-san looked at him bitterly.

As if he knew exactly why Moon Su-chan was avoiding him.

[Warning! ‘Divine Authority: Tiamat’s Eye’ detects a massive distortion in causality.]

[Apollo’s sacred fire is burning the human vessel from within.]

‘…As expected, something’s different. From ordinary people.’

A sun that seemed ready to boil over at any moment.

Solar flames were flowing out through the cracks covering his soul. His soul looked precarious, as if it would shatter immediately.

Rather, because of that, everything appeared abnormal to Moon Su-chan.

Some kind of ‘obsession’ that rejected natural death and forcibly twisted time to extend life.

“….”

Clench.

Moon Su-chan clenched and unclenched his fists tightly several times.

“…Hyung.”

Then, at Lee Hyeon’s call, Moon Su-chan bit down hard on his teeth and took the difficult first step.

As the invisible wall disappeared, hot heat caressed Moon Su-chan’s face.

“…The General is a wise person, so I trust you understand why I couldn’t contact you all this time.”

And he decided to approach the truth he had kept postponing.

“I have always believed while also doubting. Your sincerity.”

“….”

“What if you didn’t raise us, but bred us instead?”

Lee Gun-san listened to Moon Su-chan’s voice with a faint smile.

“What if you didn’t raise us out of love, but tried to ‘complete’ us for something? What if you used prophecy to ‘design’ this world?”

“….”

“The money you supported us with, private school admission, us becoming Blue Thunder… What if none of that was coincidence?”

Moon Su-chan’s eyes flashed gold.

“What if even now there’s a calculator clicking away in that head of yours? Even my death four years ago, for Lee Hyeon’s awakening…!”

“Hyung, what on earth are you saying,”

Lee Hyeon tried to stop Moon Su-chan, then hesitated for a moment.

Moon Su-chan’s golden eyes were burning hotly, but tears were flowing down from the corners of his eyes.

Tears he never shed even while dying in the 【Ice Palace】, even when his comrades died.

“Please tell me, General. You.”

Moon Su-chan shouted with fear and anguish.

“Just what are you looking at!”

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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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