Former Warrior Turns Into A Million-Dollar Actor [EN]: Chapter 186

Unveiling Secrets (4)

Gun opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was the face of Emperor McLaine Javazranti from within the ‘Book of the Main God.’

Next were the actors behind him… and further back, the cameramen and staff.

It was a scene as familiar as ever, so much so that he wondered when his memory had become hazy.

Except that everyone was frozen in place.

“McLaine.”

He called out experimentally, but of course, there was no response. The veteran Hollywood actor, who had been exchanging lines with him, was frozen like a statue.

Gun stared intently at McLaine, who seemed to be about to say something, his mouth open.

‘It’s not an illusion.’

The senses of a Hero told him that this was reality, not an illusion or dream of the Iron Kingdom.

Yet, he couldn’t even feel a breeze. It felt like being in the eye of a storm, at the center of a vortex.

He immediately came to a conclusion.

‘A dimensional rift has opened. This side and that side, worlds are connected.’

It was an absurd idea, but now that he had regained his last memories, he knew.

The fifth Great Demon,

Asmeraus, did not exist.

From the start, the number five must have been bait. Up to the fourth, Berial, was a trial and journey arranged by the archangels for the Hero.

-Hero, do you believe in yourself?

-What are you talking about?

-Do you believe that your faith exists, do you believe in what you believe? If not….

-Nonsense, just die.

-Khehehe… someday you will know.

-……?

-I am the truth.

In his mind, where the fog had cleared, the conversation he had with Gorzon of Pride belatedly surfaced.

At the time, he thought they were just words to confuse him, but it was a kind of message. Sent to a junior who had been dragged into another dimension.

-Just one question.

-Hero, which number am I?

-The time… has not yet come.

The Great Demons who asked puzzling questions, his enemies who had fallen silent like a lie after the first playthrough, flashed by one after another.

-Beware of the light.

-The Saintess knows.

Modeum and Valmon, Berial, must also have been Heroes summoned in some era.

They, too, would have fought against the demons like Park Gun himself, and after their usefulness was exhausted, they would have turned into Great Demons through some process.

A chill ran down his spine as he thought of the angels descending from the sky as soon as he had defeated Berial.

If he had been dragged all the way to the high heavens under the pretext of chasing the non-existent Asmeraus….

“…Damn bastards.”

A curse leaked out through his clenched teeth. How could those who should protect a world, those who possessed powers akin to gods, be so vile?

If the Saintess hadn’t intervened at the last moment, he might have been helpless.

‘What did she do?’

Even now that all his memories had returned, he couldn’t quite understand that moment.

Asruel’s restraints were broken, and the archangels’ streams of light scattered all at once….

When he opened his eyes, he was on Earth. Amidst faces in military uniforms looking down at him, a voice he didn’t recognize floated in his head.

-…Zenga, again.

Was it magic, or a forbidden secret art? If it was the Saintess who sent him back, what happened to her left behind in that world?

A sense of reality chased away his thoughts. After shaking his head once, Gun clenched his fist tightly. Now was the time to face reality, not to worry uselessly.

‘If it’s possible for them to open a door from over there, just like I was transferred….’

According to the archangels, the other dimension where the Iron Kingdom was located was already unstable.

A world running out of life and a Hero who had fled. But in such a situation, what if those bastards succeeded in opening the door to this side?

“…A war will break out.”

He was sick and tired of the desires of the absolute beings to sustain their existence. And he knew all too well what kind of evil deeds they would commit to achieve their goals.

As Gun opened his closed eyes, a dark red aura enveloped his fist and arms, blazing up.

Just in case… if those damn pigeons really came over, he was determined to repay the debt from the past with interest.

‘Even if it means I die.’

The world was still frozen. It was when Gun slung even a prop sword around his waist like in the old days.

“Hero.”

A familiar voice was heard.

*

-Hero.

Aria Riverot, the Saintess of the Iron Kingdom, always called him that.

-Why do you call me?

-You don’t have to live so kindly. No, why would you jump in there to save a soldier when your arm is flying off?

-The Saintess will regenerate it anyway.

Early in his transfer to the Iron Kingdom. It was when he was just challenging Gorzon of Pride.

The novice Hero struggled even to get to the first Great Demon.

Bending over his injured body, the Saintess frowned as she concentrated her divine power.

-…I can’t do anything about the dead. More than that, what are you, an iron man? You clearly feel the pain, but why do you act like you don’t know what’s so painful….

-It hurts.

-……?

-That’s why I’m trying to save them. Because I know that if I don’t step in, others will suffer more.

Her platinum blonde hair, which was still glossy at the time, rustled nervously.

But the eyes within held a strange warmth.

-If you couldn’t even talk, really.

After that… through countless battles, even as reason wore away and only instinct remained, the Saintess faithfully stood by him.

Sometimes they died together, and occasionally she saved him and sacrificed herself, but she always said the same thing.

-Saintess! Hey, Aria!

-…Don’t call me by my name, cough. I told you not to.

-Why did you do this? I told you so many times not to jump in instead of me…!

-Puhuh, how could I do that.

-What?

Against Valmon.

Was it the 21st attempt? With a demigod exploding, the Saintess coughed up blood and laughed.

-I told you too. Every moment, you have to go even one step further.

-…….

-Only then can you break this terrible cycle.

Now he could know. No, he could be sure.

Park Gun was not the only one who had memories of the past.

‘I, those times….’

Death, battle, and death again.

Times in the Iron Kingdom, stained with despair, anger… and resignation, but that time was enough to turn an ordinary special forces soldier into a Hero.

That was why he was able to act, something he had never done before, after returning to Earth.

Because the desperate battles fought through countless times, crossing life and death, were deeply engraved in his soul.

The existence that kept the human Park Gun—Hero God—from going insane during those long years was now standing before his eyes.

“…Aria? How… …?”

Time was still frozen, but the platinum-blonde Saintess, who had suddenly appeared, smiled mischievously.

“I said we’d meet again someday. It’s a little late, though.”

Only then did the voice come to mind. It was the message he had heard as the archangels’ streams of light shattered, pushing him into the dimensional rift.

Someday, again.

The old comrade he thought he would never see again shook even the Hero’s emotions. Gun rubbed his blurred eyes and asked.

“How did you come? No, more than that, is this reality… is this really Earth?”

The Saintess nodded readily.

“That’s right. It’s not the illusion of the Iron Kingdom that you see every time, and I’m not a ghost left only in your memory. The flow of dimensions has mixed, and for a moment, the times in the two world lines have met. In a little while, these people will return to normal.”

Peter Shawn, McLaine Javazranti, and the other actors who were acting together were still the same.

Gun looked around at his colleagues in this frozen world and suddenly turned his head.

“If the times in the two world lines have met, then the Iron Kingdom now….”

“It’s stopped, like here.”

The Saintess’s tone was the same as before. Not too high, not too low, not too slow, not too fast, but smooth as if reciting a sacred song.

Before he could be surprised, the next words flowed out.

“I made it that way. After sending you away, all the way until now.”

Gun blinked.

“So it was you who returned me.”

“Yes. That day… when the sky opened after defeating Berial, I instinctively sensed it.”

“That those bastards would stab us in the back?”

Originally, her tone was much more gruff, but today it was a little different.

The Saintess smiled softly and said.

“You sound just like me. That’s right, usually when three archangels move together, it means a powerful physical force… or an issue that requires a consensus. The fact that there was no information about the fifth Great Demon, Asmeraus, was also suspicious.”

“Then, you could have sent me back to our world before that?”

“No. That was a gamble.”

The Saintess shook her head and continued.

“As you already know, there were many old secret arts in our world. From magic that transfers Hero candidates from other dimensions to this dimension… the secret art of memory created by Tariel of Oblivion was one of them.”

“I remember. The one I didn’t get caught by.”

“That’s right. It was a disgusting shackle that made them faithful servants of the archangels under the pretext of protecting the Hero’s mind. But I knew from the beginning that you weren’t caught.”

Obiel of Time and Space poured all his power into creating a rift in the dimension, and Tariel of Oblivion created the secret art of memory… The droning wavelengths of the archangels that he had heard in the Iron Kingdom suddenly came to mind.

“Just in case, I thought I should send you back even in the worst-case scenario. Because Asruel is a shady con artist, I didn’t think he would keep his promise even if we caught the last Great Demon.”

Gun crossed his arms with a feigned pout.

“Weren’t you on the same side as that con artist, Saintess? You must have known everything from the beginning.”

“…I won’t deny it. Because I summoned you to that world and made you participate in their purpose. But I always thought.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Even if my body burns and my soul falls into hell, I will send you back to your original world safely. Even if it means betraying God.”

The two stood facing each other, only a few steps apart. Gun took a breath and said.

“It’s too late, but thank you.”

The Saintess tilted her head and replied.

“Thank you for what? I kidnapped a person who was living well and made them do all sorts of things they shouldn’t have.”

“It can’t be helped. I was needed.”

“…Really, even after returning to your original world, that personality is the same. It’s been quite a while.”

“People don’t change easily.”

After laughing at the same time, the two walked around the set and talked for a while.

The Saintess showed interest in the frozen filming set, especially the sets that were made to look real.

“Wow, what is this? Is there a demon here too?”

“Not a demon… it’s a kind of play. I’m the main character, and that actor over there becomes another main character and confronts me.”

“What are those black things over there?”

“They’re cameras; they make it possible for us to be seen again on the screen.”

“So what is the screen….”

It wasn’t a good explanation, even as a compliment, but the Saintess seemed to have understood this culture in her own way.

She looked around here and there with an interesting expression, then looked at the cloak Gun was wearing.

“Come to think of it, the clothes suit you well. You wore this kind of cloak when you were in our world too.”

“I ended up wearing it again. The sword is also a prop, but it looks similar to the Holy Sword.”
The Saintess, who was repeatedly saying ‘amazing, amazing,’ suddenly hardened her expression. The tip of her outstretched hand passed right through Gun’s cloak.

“…….”

While Gun’s eyes widened, she muttered in a bitter tone.

“I wanted to talk more… but there’s not much time left.”

“What do you mean by remaining time….”

“Soon, that world will collapse.”

* * *