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Oh Kang-Woo smirked while watching Vaal Zahak fold the laundry.

He\'d already performed the demonic beast summoning it twice, but he couldn\'t help but think about doing a third one.

\'Why do they keep coming from the continent of Aernor?\'

At first, he wanted a Cerberus and then a Halcyon. However, the result was that he kept summoning beings from Aernor, which was located in another world. It wasn\'t at all what he\'d expected.

\'Since my second summoned beast also came from Aernor, the probability of the third one coming from there too is high.\'

In that case, he had to think carefully before summoning another demonic beast. Leaving everything aside, if he ended up summoning Lucifer, everything would be over.

\'I can\'t beat that guy at the moment.\'

The princes of Hell were strong—so strong that he couldn\'t think of any other word to describe them. That was clear from how Lucifer was considered a godly being in the continent of Aernor.

\'The probability should be astronomically low though.\'

Lucifer wasn\'t a demonic beast but a demon, so the probability of summoning a demon was likely extremely low.

\'But it\'s also weird to refer to Echidna and Vaal Zahak as demonic beasts.\'

Even if the probability was close to zero, he couldn\'t risk it as long as there was a chance that Lucifer could be summoned. Everything he\'d worked so hard for could crumble instantly with one mistake.

\'I can\'t let that happen.\'

Kang-Woo shook his head. Even if he needed to do so because of a desperate situation, summoning a demonic beast now would be too risky.

\'In that case, I\'ll just have to wait for the Demon Cult to—\'

Ding, dong.

His doorbell\'s chime rang through his home, cutting his thoughts short.

"I\'ll go," Han Seol-Ah said.

"No, it\'s okay."

Kang-Woo stood up to answer the door, as he was closer to it.

\'Is it Cha Yeon-Joo?\'

The only person who would visit him at such an hour was probably Cha Yeon-Joo since she lived close by.

Kang-Woo opened the front door, and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Huh?"

An extremely handsome young man was standing in front of him.

Among the people Kang-Woo knew, only one person had such an appearance.

"You\'re back," Kang-Woo uttered.

"Long time no see, hyung-nim."

Kang-Woo smiled.

For the past three months, he\'d strangely felt lonely, but Kim Si-Hun, his soul-bound comrade, had returned.

\'It\'s nice to see him after such a long time.\'

"I\'ve missed you," Si-Hun expressed as he hugged Kang-Woo.

\'Well, I didn\'t miss you this much,\' Kang-Woo thought, his expression hardening.

He smiled awkwardly and gently pushed Si-Hun.

"Hahaha. Why don\'t you calm down first, Si-Hun?"

"I heard there was a war while I was absent."

\'Get off me,\' Kang-Woo protested inwardly.

"I\'m… so glad you\'re safe, hyung-nim."

\'Seriously, dude. Get off.\'

Kang-Woo used considerably more strength to push Si-Hun off him, but Si-Hun wasn\'t budging in the slightest.

\'Did he eat a bull or something?\'

Si-Hun had become incredibly strong. Kang-Woo looked at Si-Hun in surprise.

Right then…

"Huh?" Si-Hun uttered in shock as his eyes darted toward the living room.

Upon noticing something, his eyes widened, and an intense Qi burst forth from within him. Si-Hun unsheathed his sword at lightning speed and shot forward.

"Watch out!"

[Huh?]

Si-Hun reacted to the presence of the skeleton, Vaal Zahak, peacefully folding the laundry in the living room.

[How dare a human interrupt the mighty Vaal Zahak folding laundry?!]

Vaal Zahak was also very powerful. He focused demonic energy on his hands and prepared to fight.

"Stop!" Kang-Woo shouted.

He extended his hand toward Si-Hun, who was running forward, and Vaal Zahak, who was facing him.

\'Fuck, my apartment!\'

The first comfortable home he\'d obtained after ten millennia… was about to be destroyed.

* * *

"Fuuu," Kang-Woo sighed in relief.

Before the two clashed… Si-Hun had managed to stop at the very last minute, and Vaal Zahak had automatically stopped because of the forced command given to him as a summoned beast.

"I-I\'m sorry, hyung-nim. I didn\'t imagine he would be your summoned beast…" Si-Hun apologized.

"No, I get it," Kang-Woo replied.

Considering that Vaal Zahak looked like an undead monster, it would have been weirder if Si-Hun hadn\'t misunderstood.

"That aside, are you done with your training?" Kang-Woo asked while looking at Si-Hun.

He couldn\'t tell exactly how much Si-Hun had changed, but there was one thing he was sure about…

\'He\'s gotten stronger,\' Kang-Woo thought with a smile.

The Qi circulating within Si-Hun couldn\'t be compared to before. He had already been incredible; he had always been extremely gifted in terms of his techniques and the knowledge he possessed. What he had been lacking was the physique to back up his techniques.

Kang-Woo wasn\'t sure how much Si-Hun had leveled up over the past three months, but his physical specs improved vastly.

\'Nice.\'

Kang-Woo nodded while making a satisfied expression.

Si-Hun\'s growth had a greater significance than that of others. No matter how much other people grew, Kang-Woo only saw them as strong enough to take care of themselves. However, Kang-Woo believed there was a chance Si-Hun could become stronger than Echidna or Vaal Zahak, who were truly powerful beings. Now, after seeing how much stronger Si-Hun had become in just three months, Kang-Woo knew that possibility was real.

"No. I wasn\'t able to reach the stage I had been aiming for," Si-Hun answered.

\'Greedy son of a bitch,\' Kang-Woo remarked inwardly.

He\'d been the one who had made Si-Hun like that. Nevertheless, he felt proud of Si-Hun.

Kang-Woo drank the coffee that Echidna had brought him and said, "Then why did you come back?"

It probably wasn\'t because he missed Kang-Woo.

"…"

There was a short silence.

Kang-Woo tilted his head in confusion as he stared at Si-Hun\'s stiff expression.

“Someone came to see me while I was in the middle of my training," Si-Hun finally replied.

"To see you?"

"Yes. It was a person wearing a white mask."

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes. There was one possibility he could think of.

"Were they a member of Guardians?"

"Haha." Si-Hun nodded while laughing. "As expected of you, hyung-nim.”

"I can\'t think of anyone else who would come to see you."

Si-Hun was a Protector, and there were fewer than ten others like him around the world. There was no way they would leave someone as important as him on his own.

"Yes, a member of Guardians came to see me."

"Hmm."

"I\'m sure you know them as well, hyung-nim."

"Hmm? Didn\'t you say they were wearing a mask?"

"After I said I had no intentions of talking to someone who doesn\'t show their face, they took off their mask," Si-Hun explained and smiled bitterly.

Kang-Woo nodded while his eyes lit up with pride. That was a surprising response considering how much of a pushover Si-Hun was.

"Good. So, who was it?"

"Grace McCubbin. You\'ve heard of her, right, hyung-nim?"

"Oh."

There was no way that Kang-Woo hadn\'t heard about her—First Lady, Grace McCubbin. There probably wasn\'t a single Player who didn\'t know of her.

Grace McCubbin was the first ever Player to emerge as well as the strongest. She had made the United States the most powerful country in the world. Listing all of her achievements would probably require quite a few sheets of A4-sized paper.

\'So, she\'s a Protector.\'

Grace had grown at an incredible speed that completely outpaced everyone else except Kang-Woo and Si-Hun. It made sense if the reason behind that insane growth rate was her aptitude as a Protector.

\'She might be even stronger than the rumors say.\'

There was quite a lot of detailed information regarding Grace\'s powers because there were many records of her fighting against monsters. Despite that, there had never been any mention of her being a Protector. That meant that she\'d hidden information about Guardians and her role as a Protector on purpose. So, there was a chance that she was even more powerful than rumored.

\'How interesting.\'

Kang-Woo\'s eyes shone with interest.

After he had surpassed 120 in his Demonic Energy stat, he thought he had surpassed every single Player in the world. However, he thought otherwise after finding out that Grace McCubbin was a Protector.

\'That\'s good news.\'

The Protectors and Kang-Woo had the same main goal. As long as Guardians weren\'t lunatics like Alec, Kang-Woo could continue being allies with them. It was good news that his allies were stronger than he had expected.

"So, what happened after you met Grace McCubbin?"

"I received an offer to join Guardians again."

Kang-Woo had expected it.

"I said I\'d think about it since I wanted to hear your opinion, hyung-nim."

"Well done."

Kang-Woo smiled. Si-Hun had dealt with the matter as Kang-Woo had hoped he would.

"Then, is Grace McCubbin in Korea at the moment?"

"I\'m not sure about that. But I told her about you, and she asked you to come with me since she wanted to meet you as well."

"Okay. Did you get her number?"

"Instead of a number, she told me about how I could meet up with her."

"What?” Kang-Woo uttered, tilting his head.

Si-Hun stood up and told him, "Follow me. I\'ll guide you there."

* * *

Kang-Woo told Seol-Ah, Echidna, and Vaal Zahak to stay at home. Then he followed Si-Hun to the rooftop of the apartment building where Kang-Woo lived.

Si-Hun glanced around and then said, "This place should be good."

"What are you planning to do?"

"Just a second, please."

Si-Hun took out a device that was the size of a fist. It was a mechanical device that shone blue.

He threw the device on the floor.

Clink. Whirr.

"Woah."

The device opened, and a white Gate that a person could cross through appeared.

\'It feels like I\'m in a science fiction film,\' Kang-Woo thought, smirking.

He walked through the white Gate with Si-Hun.

"This is…" Kang-Woo uttered.

He had entered a white space. The ceiling, walls, and even the floor—they were all shining white with no blemishes.

The pair walked along a passageway until they reached the door at the end.

Click.

Si-Hun opened the door to reveal a white room with a giant circular table in it, where two people were seated.

\'One is Grace McCubbin,\' Kang-Woo thought, shifting his gaze to the two people.

Grace was a blonde woman who seemed to be in her mid-forties. She looked the same in person as in the photos that he had seen of her.

\'The other person is…\'

The other person present was a woman sitting in a wheelchair, and she had light-brown hair that reached her waist. She was so thin that she might break if someone were not careful around her. Her skin was sickly pale, and the white dress she was wearing made her appear even more poorly.

The woman, who seemed to be in her early twenties, had her eyes closed.

"Nice to meet you," she greeted without opening her eyes. "My name is Gaia."