NOVEL NEXT Chapter 128 - The End
Chapter 128 The End
The demon, who had wished to proclaim itself as a transcendent being, was now being annihilated by a human who had truly become transcendent.
Present Shin-woo, who was watching the scene, was left speechless, and in the next moment.
“Kyokushin Karate – Dimensional Slash.”
Future Shin-woo raised his hand high and struck the space of hell, splitting it open. As the very world began to shatter, they soon returned to the original world, leaving Shin-woo no choice but to acknowledge it.
This being was the same as him, yet they were far from equals.
“You… defeated the demon?”
“Jin-ah Lee. I’m simply amazed that you didn’t use this power in the future.”
“I… didn’t use this power in the future?”
Jin-ah Lee, having lost even her trump card, was disheartened, cold sweat beading on her forehead as she realized there was truly no hope left.
Meanwhile, as he glanced at the remaining humans.
“Are you… Shin-woo?”
“Shin-woo…”
“Uncle… Auntie…”
He spotted two people by chance—the only ones he could genuinely call family, the ones he truly loved.
However, they could never fill the void left by Sophia.
“I’m sorry, both of you.”
With a look of pity, future Shin-woo waved his hand, and all the heroes, including those two, collapsed unconscious to the ground.
“Huh?”
Before Sophia knew it, she was the only one left standing.
“Sophia, it’s all over. So now, let’s go back to the future together.”
“No! I’m staying here!”
“How? There’s no one left to protect you anymore.”
“…! Th-That’s…”
Indeed, there was no one left around Sophia to stand by her side.
“Sis, run away!”
“Ria!”
Taking advantage of the momentary calm, Ria returned and stood in front of Sophia, spreading her arms wide.
“Move, Ria.”
“Kyaa?!”
But with just a wave of his finger, future Shin-woo sent her flying, her body battered.
“Han Shin-woo! Stop this!”
“Riverine, I’m sorry, but I can’t overlook this any longer, not even for you.”
“Urgh?!”
Riverine, too, was flung aside and soon lost consciousness.
“Han Shin-woo!!”
*Clang.*
Jae-won, who had barely managed to stand again, tried to grab him from behind.
But even he was grabbed by the head and slammed into the ground, losing consciousness completely.
*Boom!*
“It seems… there was a misunderstanding between us. Let’s talk about it when we’re together in the future.”
The only one left was the present Shin-woo.
However, having realized the vast difference in power between them, he, too, wouldn’t be able to stand any longer.
“……”
Or so he thought.
“The me from 20 years ago… was even dumber than I remember.”
“Sigh…”
“Do you think you can defeat me?”
“No… Shin-woo, don’t do it!”
Sophia, just as certain as his future self that he had no chance of winning, shouted for him to stop.
Yet, despite this, present Shin-woo didn’t relax his clenched fist.
If he had given up so easily…
“Kyokushin Karate…”
“Straight Punch.”
*Bam-!*
He wouldn’t have even fought in the first place.
Future Han Shin-woo, who was using his true strength, was indeed far stronger than him.
Even though they were performing the same basic straight punch, he could painfully feel the difference in levels.
His shoulder felt like it was about to dislocate from the counter.
As future Shin-woo’s many attacks rained down, he could only endure them without being able to react.
*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!*
“No… Shin-woo! Stop!!”
Sophia’s screams echoed.
His heart was stopping, his vision fading.
He tasted blood in his mouth and even thought he might actually die.
At that moment.
‘Ah… so that’s why this guy became so strong.’
The resonating monster cells showed him a future self he hadn’t been aware of.
This guy had literally used the entire world as experience points to reach his current position.
He had taken down the most powerful empire in human history, the United States, subdued the apostles of God in the Vatican, and devoured every hidden boss monster in the game, finally becoming a god.
‘So, to become as strong as him, do I have to kill that many too?’
A god.
That means an all-stat of 20.
In other words, it meant there was no more room for growth.
He was the strongest.
And I was the not-quite-strongest.
What could I possibly do to defeat him?
“Straight Punch.”
*Bam.*
“It’s useless.”
Then again.
“Crescent Kick.”
*Bang.*
“It’s useless.”
Then once more.
I used every single karate technique I had learned at the cost of my life in my previous life.
Meticulously, each move was prepared, each strike thrown with the determination of hitting only once every hundred times I got hit.
Because that was the essence of Kyokushin.
“So, ‘Kyokushin,’ is it… Well, there was a time when I admired that. But it’s that kind of thing that made you like this now.”
My bones broke.
My monsterized body was torn to shreds.
I could see the monster’s dark red blood flowing from my body.
One eye couldn’t see, and what little I could see was the sight of Sophia kneeling and crying behind his shoulder.
“Please… stop…”
I thought I was strong, but the world is vast.
No, in this case, saying the universe is vast might be more appropriate.
Anyway, I had no techniques left to use.
Because the hand chop I just performed was my last move.
“It’s over.”
In contrast, future Shin-woo raised his hand, as if just beginning, preparing to finish everything.
The Kyokushin I believed in so much…
No matter how hard and painful it was, I endured it to the end and improved.
Was this all it amounted to?
Was I going to stop here with no way forward?
Just as I was thinking that.
My body,
My cells,
My memory,
More precisely, what would soon be my memories of the future,
“…?”
Raised its arm just like the figure before me.
Then, as if telling me not to doubt my Kyokushin.
*Swoosh.*
I unleashed my strongest strike, neither too slow nor too fast.
“Kyokushin Karate…”
“Gah?!”
“Dimensional Slash.”
For the first time, my once-ineffective strike carved a deep wound into the chest of my future self.
***
Future Han Shin-woo instinctively stepped back, avoiding a fatal wound in the process.
However, he was still shocked nonetheless.
“You bastard…!”
“……”
He had wounded his body, which had become divine.
Even if it was the past Han Shin-woo, this was something that shouldn’t have happened.
That was because, in this era, he was not at the level to do such a thing.
‘How on earth did he manage to perform Dimensional Slash just now?’
That technique was something he had developed after returning to the Korean Peninsula and establishing an empire following the world’s destruction.
It wasn’t a technique that could just come out accidentally like that.
The only possible explanation was this:
“You’ve been peeking into my memories, haven’t you?”
Why hadn’t he noticed until now?
Why was he just realizing it?
Somehow, even after undergoing monsterization, he had been speaking in human language rather than the guttural growls of a mindless monster.
He had advanced.
Not only that, but he was still standing despite being a complete wreck when he should have collapsed long ago.
As if he had grown much stronger than he was just a minute ago.
The cause was likely the fact that he had encountered his future self—this body.
“Was it that the monsterized cells resonated…? Or did this result from some time trouble…”
He was already complete.
He could no longer grow.
But the 20-years-ago version of him was still a developing monster.
While it still had a long way to go before reaching the level of his future self, he could instinctively feel it.
The longer this fight went on, the closer he would get to catching up with him.
Each time their monster cells clashed, he would continue to grow.
But that was only if he had the chance.
“A mere wound.”
“…What?”
“Don’t you get it? After all that, all you managed was this—a single wound.”
Future Shin-woo raised a finger as he looked at present Shin-woo, who was on the verge of collapse.
Then, spreading his wings wide.
“I’ll show you.”
“…!”
“The absolute wall that you can never surpass just by peeking into a few memories.”
With a speed too fast for his current self to react, he grabbed him by the neck and began to leap into the sky.
“Shin-woo!”
“Ugh, urgh?!”
“Sophia is here. So let’s move to a different place.”
And so the two of them flew and flew, endlessly soaring.
They ascended higher and higher, transforming into a red comet that left the blue planet behind as the blue sky turned black.
“Urgh…!”
“Even for you as you are now, you should be able to endure this much with your monsterized body.”
Absolute Zero.
In the near -270 degrees of space, where the wings of future Shin-woo continued to spread, the place where he finally slammed present Han Shin-woo down was none other than a refuge he would often visit when he wanted to clear his mind.
Earth’s satellite—the moon.
“When things got complicated and too difficult, I would always come here.”
“…Telepathy?”
There was no air, so no voice could be heard.
Instead, what he heard was a unique resonance, a telepathic communication that only monsters—or more precisely, those who had undergone monsterization—could perceive.
This was another skill that Shin-woo had mastered after countless incidents and accidents in the future.
“Sometimes, I’ve wondered. What would Earth look like without the moon?”
“Ugh…!”
“This isn’t something I did.”
“!!”
“This world is doomed because of you.”
*Boom.*