Disciple of The Three Kings [EN]: Chapter 446

Dream.

How sweet and….

‘A futile word, perhaps.’

That’s what I thought back then.

Daily survival.

An uncertain future.

A life decided by others, not myself.

In such a world, the word ‘dream’ was sweet and empty.

A story like a novel’s protagonist.

“Dream….”

But Jung Ji-yeol said he had a dream.

“Why don’t you have a dream?”

A world where you could ask such a thing.

“It shouldn’t be like that yet.”

Lee Ro-woon blurted out.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I mean, it’s not stable enough to dream, is it?”

Jung Ji-yeol chuckled at Lee Ro-woon’s words.

“Who doesn’t know that?”

Much had changed.

But the Association was still going strong, and the Nine Great Sects [powerful martial arts clans] still dominated Asia.

It was true that regulations and policies were being relaxed, but everything was still under control.

“Still, you have to dream.”

Still, he dreams.

“Look, I’ve always dreamed of the day I could glare at the Murim people [martial artists], right? And that day actually came.”

“…….”

“I know, I know. It’s all because of that great Milky Way and….”

Jung Ji-yeol said.

“The Blood Demon or whatever. But still, didn’t it eventually happen?”

Jung Ji-yeol smiled.

“Our guild becoming a guild like the Milky Way isn’t impossible either.”

Chuckling.

This time, it was Lee Ro-woon who laughed.

“Are you laughing at me?”

Jung Ji-yeol crossed his arms, pretending to be offended, but it didn’t look hateful.

“It’s not that….”

How should I express this feeling?

“It doesn’t seem bad.”

“So….”

“What are you two doing there?”

An Association employee approached them, speaking to the two who were talking.

“Mr. Jung Ji-yeol, I told you not to solicit during the tutorial, didn’t I?”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, but I can’t help it when I see talent like this.”

“It’s dangerous to leave the formation. Please come quickly.”

“Okay, I’m going, I’m going.”

Jung Ji-yeol gestured to Lee Ro-woon as he followed the Association employee.

A middle-aged man.

Yet, one who could still dream.

And….

Chuckling.

A world that doesn’t laugh at it.

-See it for yourself.

The world was not yet complete.

Yet, I could tell.

“I guess I was doing well.”

No one had ever told me that.

But now, Lee Ro-woon felt like he had been acknowledged.

A not unpleasant feeling.

“Hurry up!”

Lee Ro-woon chuckled as he looked at Jung Ji-yeol.

* * *

It was like a break.

-Don’t you have any hobbies?

Lee San-hoo had asked once.

Hobbies.

I didn’t have any.

My whole life was about trying to survive and move forward.

-Then how do you relieve stress?

It was an interesting question.

The others in the Milky Way treated me like a god.

As if I had no emotions, as if I was something beyond human.

So they just provided convenience and took care of me.

-…….

No one thought of me as an equal human being.

It wasn’t a bad thing.

But.

-What, aren’t you a person?

Lee San-hoo’s words gave Lee Ro-woon a different feeling.

-How can a person live only working? You have to rest a little. You can’t ride a bike… and you can’t do racing… maybe reading… or something… do whatever you want.

That’s what he said, but he wasn’t interested.

After all, rest was meaningless to me, and nothing could replace or bear what I was carrying.

But now.

“We’re almost at the end, so please focus a little more! When it’s over, you’ll get a grant based on your performance!”

This time felt like a little break.

A time that made me look back at what I had overcome.

“This is the last one.”

The tutorial was, as the employee said, coming to an end.

“What’s an essential part of clearing a gate?”

“Boss battles!”

The players answered.

They seemed used to hunting in gates, but they couldn’t hide their tension.

Grrr.

A growling sound came from inside the cave.

‘Hobgoblin.’

Lee Ro-woon had already identified it.

“Boss battles are a crucial part of clearing a gate, accounting for more than half of it.”

The employee and instructor continued the explanation.

“It’s also where the most casualties occur.”

“…….”

“Don’t let your guard down….”

A long explanation.

Even the talkative Jung Ji-yeol was quiet now, nodding his head as if he couldn’t be careless.

“Then, we’ll enter. Stay close to the instructor.”

They began to enter the cave.

“Come here and stick close.”

Jung Ji-yeol gestured to Lee Ro-woon.

“As you know, I’m not at the level to be taking a tutorial.”

“…….”

“You never know what kind of dangerous situation might arise. Just trust me then.”

Indeed, Jung Ji-yeol seemed to be at a level that was not inferior to the instructors.

Was this his first time taking the tutorial?

Or was he taking the tutorial repeatedly while soliciting?

Whatever.

Chuckling.

Jung Ji-yeol seemed to have some confidence.

“It won’t be easy.”

“What do you know?”

Jung Ji-yeol retorted at Lee Ro-woon’s words.

“It’s a boss monster, but it’s just a hobgoblin. Even someone around level twenty can handle it.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong.

“And your level is higher?”

“You keep talking down to me… I….”

Jung Ji-yeol smiled.

“I’m level forty.”

Forty, as Lee Ro-woon expected, he was at a level that was not inferior to the instructors who were around level fifty.

“Then why are you taking the tutorial?”

“I’m different from you. I’m here to get a tutorial instructor certificate.”

A deep, damp cave.

But Jung Ji-yeol’s voice didn’t echo.

The hobgoblin’s aura emanating from within was suppressing the sound.

“Ten times, this is the last one. Once this is over, I can get the tutorial certificate.”

“Then are you planning to get a job at the Association?”

“No way. I’m just getting the certificate to train the new guild members of our Libam Guild.”

Ahem, a loud voice as if to say, ‘Do you understand now?’

“You know what?”

Lee Ro-woon said comfortably.

“That’s a death flag.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“The last one. Those words….”

That’s when it happened.

Kuaaaaaah!

A roar came from inside the cave.

“Are words you say right before you die.”

Kwa kwa kwang!

The cave began to collapse and crumble.

The voices of the instructors who had gone ahead echoed.

“Kuaaak!”

A scream.

“Ho, hobgoblin!”

This was a tutorial gate, and the Association would have already scouted and confirmed it several times.

The level and extent of the boss monster, even its danger.

“That’s not a hobgoblin!”

But they didn’t know.

“Krrreurr…!”

Black, flickering eyes.

A huge size that couldn’t be compared to a normal hobgoblin.

Kwang!

As it slammed its fist down, the cave collapsed, and the instructors were swept away by the shockwave.

“E, evacuate!”

They were leading the players, but.

Kwang!

The hobgoblin’s actions were too fast and fierce.

No, that wasn’t a hobgoblin.

-Goblin King.

My Demon King master’s knowledge had information about that guy.

No, it was information about goblins that most people didn’t know.

Goblins are….

-Corrupted, fallen demons.

Things like corpses that had lost their status and had all their power taken away.

And those things….

“What!”

React to the Demon King’s power and occasionally awaken.

Regaining their lost past and their power.

Of course, in the process, ninety-nine out of a hundred are engulfed in fear and despair and end their own lives, but one of them….

Kwaaang!

Awakens in this way and reaches the Goblin King.

What the instructors, the Association, and no one else knew was that there was a strong person in this tutorial who could stimulate the goblins’ nature and instincts.

Kwaaaang!

And that strong person had the Demon King’s power.

“Dodge!”

And that the hobgoblin, instead of choosing suicide, would react to that Demon King’s power and overcome it to reach awakening.

A coincidence upon coincidence.

A situation that was so unlikely that it wouldn’t be strange to think it was a lie.

But it couldn’t be called just a coincidence.

The Demon King’s power that was awakening in Lee Ro-woon was a pure, true power, so it was perhaps natural for it to react.

“Keok!”

The instructor right in front was hit by the hobgoblin’s fist and flew away.

The other instructors were busy taking care of the players, and now there was only one instructor left and….

“Shibaal!”

Jung Ji-yeol, and Lee Ro-woon.

Jung Ji-yeol was shouting.

His hand holding the sword was trembling.

It was an unexpected appearance of a formidable enemy, and he had been hit by the fear that the Goblin King was emitting.

But even so….

“I….”

Jung Ji-yeol stood with his sword in hand.

“I said I’d protect you. Just stay behind me.”

Kang!

The hobgoblin’s fist and Jung Ji-yeol’s sword collided.

But it was Jung Ji-yeol’s sword that was knocked away.

Jung Ji-yeol, who had lost his balance and was being knocked back, quickly regained his stance.

“Hwaaaap!”

He charged at the Goblin King.

Kang!

The sword came down.

Faint blood oozed from the Goblin King’s fist.

“What are you doing!”

Jung Ji-yeol shouted at Lee Ro-woon.

“Dodge!”

Was it a promise?

A player who keeps his promise, following his dream.

“This is precious.”

At the same time as those words.

“……!”

Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the Goblin King.

Stiff.

It, which had been running wild and trying to kill everyone just a moment ago, had stopped like a broken robot.

Kkireuk, kkireuk.

The Goblin King, as if that wasn’t enough, was contorting its joints in a bizarre manner.

“W, what’s going on…?”

The moment Jung Ji-yeol’s voice spread.

Paat!

It burst into a puddle of blood.

Standing in front of it were only Jung Ji-yeol and Lee Ro-woon.

* * *

“Is everyone okay?”

“There are no casualties.”

An accident that occurred during the tutorial.

The gate was eventually cleared, and the tutorial participants were leaving the gate.

“What was that….”

At the last moment.

The monster suddenly burst.

“Maybe the hobgoblin couldn’t handle its own power and burst.”

“I don’t know….”

No one knew what had happened.

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

Jung Ji-yeol joined the instructors’ conversation.

“It was me.”

“……?”

“I don’t know yet, but maybe I had some kind of awakening!”

Jung Ji-yeol raised his sword.

“What are you talking about?”

“Think about it. Who was in front of the hobgoblin?”

Their eyes turned to Lee Ro-woon, but.

“It was me! It was me!”

Jung Ji-yeol pointed at himself.

“I did it, okay? Of course, I don’t know how….”

Jung Ji-yeol clenched his fist, and he seemed to really think so.

“Yes. Yes. I’m sure you did.”

“I’m serious!”

It was the moment they finally came out of the gate.

Thud.

The players who had crossed the dimension stopped as they bumped into something.

It was the other players and instructors who had gone ahead.

“What, why aren’t you moving and just standing….”

Jung Ji-yeol, who had also bumped into something and stopped.

He slowly closed his mouth.