The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 291

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Heavenly Supreme Has Died – Episode 291
It was a season when snow fell so heavily it stung the eyes. The crimson maple leaves that had once bloomed had long since withered away, and on that day when only bare branches trembled in the harsh wind.
Crunch.
An old man advanced slowly across the white snow that had already accumulated.
Crunch.
Strangely, though I could hear the sound of snow being trampled, no footprints appeared upon the white expanse.
The old man simply walked with his hands clasped behind his back, leaving scarcely a trace.
Silent and solitary.
The old man surveyed his surroundings in this withered season.
‘….’
It was a ghastly sight.
The area was filled with corpses.
Countless bloodstains spilled across the ground, and beneath the accumulated snow lay things buried and forgotten.
What calamity could have left behind such a horrific scene?
The old man’s brow furrowed at the faint scent of blood permeating the air.
A smell I never wished to encounter again.
‘How fleeting.’
Life is so ephemeral and arduous.
Such truths are what I have learned from my long existence.
Fleeting and meaningless. No matter how one struggles, the end of life inevitably arrives.
The old man sought to erase the traces of the life I had lived.
For it was a life marked by regret.
This too is the same. A life of struggle vanishes in an instant, becoming this cold.
‘Seongheon.’
At the acrid smell, a memory surfaced in my mind.
‘Do you still believe you can save everyone?’
Eyes burning crimson with light.
One who looked down upon me while holding the neck of a dear friend.
‘How arrogant. Withered leaf of the plum blossom, that very arrogance shall ultimately bind your feet.’
I had taken the warning as provocation.
I should have heeded those words then.
‘….’
The old man walked quietly onward, passing mutilated corpses as I continued my path.
As I walked further ahead.
‘…Hm?’
Something caught my attention.
Beyond the end of the corpses, someone was sitting.
Clearly a small figure.
A young boy. A child who should not be in this place.
The old man approached toward that location.
Then I saw it.
‘…Ah.’
Snow accumulated on the Young Boy’s shoulders and head.
And the Woman he cradled in his arms—already grown cold and lifeless.
The Young Boy gripped the Woman’s hand tightly.
The hand of the Woman whose breath had already ceased, devoid of any warmth.
A hand stained red with blood, for some reason.
‘Child….’
The Old Man called out to the Young Boy.
The Young Boy had not died. The Old Man’s ears could clearly hear the child’s heartbeat.
The Young Boy slowly responded to the Old Man’s call.
His head turned with a stiff, creaking motion as if his rigid body were being forced to move.
At the gaze that met his own, the Old Man flinched.
‘…!’
There was nothing there.
The body lived, yet the Young Boy’s eyes were dead.
A gaze that felt nothing.
Life persisting in the flesh, but the spirit already extinguished.
At that sight, the Old Man’s saliva ran cold.
‘Hah….’
How could this be.
And what was that alien killing intent dwelling in those vacant eyes.
‘….’
I gazed into those eyes and pondered for an eternity.
No—a single moment stretched like an eternity.
What should I have said upon seeing that child.
What did I truly wish to do.
‘Arrogant.’
At words that pierced my ears, I finally abandoned what I wanted to say.
‘How arrogant.’
What did I truly wish to do.
I do not know. It was merely impulse.
Then. Or perhaps even now.
I thought I would have done the same.
‘Come with me.’
‘….’
‘Winter is bitterly cold. Let us go where flowers bloom.’
I do not know where flowers bloom either.
Since I still await spring, I do not know which way to go.
Yet still, I asked him to come along.
‘….’
The child did not respond.
I could only gauge their emotions by the way they gripped the woman’s hand so tightly.
‘Your mother would prefer a warm place over this cold one too. Let this old man carry her. How about we go together?’
‘….’
Perhaps understanding those words.
The child slowly released the woman’s hand.
Following that, the Old Man hoisted the woman’s corpse onto his back.
He did not cry. He did not wish to show such a sight to the child.
‘Let us go.’
‘….’
Thus the child and the Old Man walked across the snow.
Crunch.
The Old Man’s large footprints and the child’s footprints pressed into the snow.
Seeking spring.
The Old Man and child departed winter for that purpose.

* * *
‘So that child was like that.’
Seongheon, the Old Man, entered the room and let out a laugh.
The child who had gazed at him without emotion.
That child from whom he could feel not the slightest hint of feeling.
‘To look at me with such desperation.’
Those eyes pleading with him to help, clutching at his sleeve.
Seongheon laughed at the memory.
‘Whether I should call it loneliness or pride.’
Or perhaps jealousy.
It was difficult to say.
Difficult though it was, Seongheon already knew where this emotion led.
‘That wretched boy.’
The Young Man standing before him.
He was jealous of this beautiful child sweating cold beads of pain.
That his cherished disciple had shown emotion to this man.
And yet.
‘I am grateful.’
Gratitude was also woven into his feelings for making it so.
“….”
That is why I stepped forward.
For a lifetime. After the war. After ‘his’ death, I had resolved never to do this again.
I had resolved to save no one, to preserve no one, ever again.
I had thought I should not do it for my own spring.
‘To end it.’
I never knew I would step forward for that spring.
“Ugh… ugh….”
“That bastard really.”
I brought my hand gently to Bangseong-yeon, who was drooling.
Whoooosh–!!
Not only wounds, but venom had crystallized within his body.
“Master and disciple are no different, it seems.”
These blue eyes have always been the problem.
They shake the convictions I barely managed to grasp so carelessly.
These bastards have always been the problem.
“Sigh….”
Seongheon exhaled deeply.
In that moment.
Whoooosh–!!!
A floral fragrance erupted from his body.
The flower scent that flowed out enveloped Bangseong-yeon’s side.
“Ugh… ugh….”
The sound of drooling began to subside.
Swish.
Seongheon drew something from his embrace.
It was a needle.

* * *
Splash.
‘Hmm.’
Splash.
‘…Mmm.’
Water seemed to pool at my feet. The dampness clinging to my toes felt deeply uncomfortable.
‘What is this.’
What in the world is this?
Ink water? It certainly looks like it.
Black water. It completely saturated the ground.
Splash.
I walked across it. An endless procession of liquid beneath my feet.
And yet.
‘Why is it so dark?’
Not just the ground—the entire world was black.
Simply looking around was suffocating.
Why was everything so dark?
‘Where am I now….’
Yoo Cheon-gil. What had that old man done this time?
‘It feels like an Illusion.’
The sensation matched entering an Illusion. If so, it must be Yoo Cheon-gil’s doing.
‘But for something like this.’
That old man’s Illusions were always brilliantly white, yet I’d never seen one so darkly shrouded as this.
‘What could it be.’
What exactly was this place?
“Hello there.”
I called out. The entire space resonated.
“What is this supposed to be?”
It must be Yoo Cheon-gil’s doing again. I spoke with that assumption, but.
“Why won’t he answer?”
The old man gave no response.
Here we go again.
‘Does he think I won’t understand?’
I closed my eyes. Finding Yoo Cheon-gil within an Illusion was not particularly difficult.
I concentrated my energy to locate the old man’s presence.
When I found it.
Whoooosh—!
“Found you.”
I’d discovered his location. But.
“…The ground?”
It was directly below. Within the depths of this waterside.
What? There’s more below in this shallow place?
I gazed down at the bottom. It was pitch black—I couldn’t see anything.
Yet my senses screamed that someone existed beneath the surface.
“Old Man.”
So I spoke while looking at the bottom.
“Are you perhaps down there—”
Flash—!
“Damn—!”
Crimson eyes blazed within the black water.
I tried to move in shock, but—
Crash—!
“Gah!?”
Splash—!!
An outstretched arm seized my ankle and dragged me down.
In an instant, I was sucked beneath the surface.
“Glub, glub, glub!”
My breath caught. Oxygen bubbles surged violently as my body sank faster toward the depths.
‘Damn it…!’
I rolled my eyes. Who was this? A figure with a twisted expression stared down at me from below.
I could see it.
‘Eyes.’
Red eyes.
Those crimson irises seemed oddly familiar.
Their owner gripped me and pulled me deeper.
‘Ugh.’
The moment I saw them, I understood. This was an overwhelming malevolence. What was this evil?
Chills ran down my spine. At this level…
‘It’s a Demon God.’
Something that had already touched the Demon God. It seized me and dragged me toward those abyssal depths.
I struggled, but my strength was insufficient. At this rate, I would be swept away entirely.
What do I do? How can I escape this?
‘Old Man…!’
Where was Yoo Cheon-gil? Why wasn’t he appearing? Last time when Dokjon stepped in, he arrived so dramatically.
‘Regardless…!’
He’s absent when I need him most. Damn.
‘At this rate, I’m done for.’
I couldn’t afford to deliberate. I shut my eyes immediately.
My breath grew increasingly strained. The ring fastened within my heart. Just as I reached for it—
-Child of Yoo Cheon-gil.
“…!”
A voice reached my ears. Upon hearing it, I opened my eyes.
Then I could see it.
In a landscape where nothing had been visible, something gleamed with unmistakable brilliance.
Flower petals.
Pink petals swirled gently around me with vivid clarity.
‘What is this?’
Soft and beautiful, as if illuminating the darkness itself.
Those radiant petals somehow made my body feel weightless.
The petals enveloped my body. And with that.
-Now, awaken.
The voice sounded.
Only then did the darkness surrounding me dissipate.
Blooooooom–!!!
The petals repelled the darkness, and the world grew steadily brighter.
[Still.]
A different voice reached my ears.
[An arrogant choice, I see.]
That voice marked the end of the memory.

* * *
“Gasp…!”
My eyes snapped open and I jolted upright.
“…Gasp…. Huff….”
My body was drenched in cold sweat as I breathed heavily.
“…What….”
I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand and swallowed hard. What was that just now?
‘It was an illusion…?’
A black world. Being pulled into its depths.
And crimson eyes, along with flower petals.
As I continued blinking at the strange situation.
[Oh, you’re awake.]
Yoo Cheon-gil spoke as he looked at me.
The old man smiled brightly as he spoke. I asked him.
“…Old Man.”
[Hm?]
“Did you perhaps use an illusion technique?”
[An illusion all of a sudden? Did you have some strange dream?]
“….”
At Yoo Cheon-gil’s response, I bit my lip. Strange dream, my foot.
‘It’s not a misunderstanding.’
That was definitely an Illusion, but not Yoo Cheon-gil?
‘What is this?’
What could it be? Something felt off then too, just like now.
‘Something….’
There’s a sensation of something within my body.
This uncomfortable and strange sense of alienation continued to leave me uneasy.
“Ugh… Grrgh!?”
The moment I tried to move, pain surged from my lower back.
“Ow…!”
[Hey, why are you suddenly moving around? Don’t you remember getting hurt yesterday?]
“…Yesterday? If you mean yesterday… Ah…!”
I remembered. The Gwima had appeared, and I’d been wounded by that man.
I recalled it.
I immediately examined my body. Upon checking, I found bandages wrapped around my lower back.
It seemed I’d received treatment during the night.
“I’m alive….”
Fortunately, since I’d opened my eyes, it seemed I was very much alive.
[Alive? You nearly kicked the bucket. If it weren’t for that man Malko, you’d already be dead.]
“Malko?”
Malko? If Yoo Cheon-gil is referring to someone called Malko.
Could it be.
“Do you mean Maehwa Ilgeom?”
Does he mean Seongheon? I ask the question, but.
[….]
Yoo Cheon-gil didn’t answer.
“Old Man?”
Why did he suddenly fall silent? Puzzled, I tried to ask again.
Creak—!
Before I could speak, the door burst open.
And then.
“Huh? Huh!?”
Whoosh—!
Someone rushed at me.
“Ugh!”
I cried out in pain and fell backward.
“Grrgh….”
I thrashed and struggled, but couldn’t break free easily.
What is this?
Who rushed at me? Bewildered, I looked at my attacker.
“…Yoo Yeon?”
The figure embracing me was, surprisingly, Yoo Yeon.
“What are you doing?”
I spoke in bewilderment the moment I regained my senses.
“You’ve awakened.”
“…!”
A leisurely voice followed. I lifted my head slightly to glance toward the door.
“Hehehehe.”
Seongheon was watching me. Upon seeing me nestled in Yoo Yeon’s embrace, his brow furrowed.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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