Disciple of The Three Kings [EN]: Chapter 449

“You….”

Lee Shin-woo carefully opened his mouth, looking at Lee Ro-woon.

“What on earth did you go through?”

Their eyes met. It was as if unseen, fierce sparks were flying.

-Gaeshin Library.

When Lee Ro-woon stepped into that place, the Gaeshin Library desperately tried to read him.

And finally, it succeeded in touching a part of Lee Ro-woon, reaching into his depths.

-Chaos.

Ultimately, the Gaeshin Library was consumed by chaos as a price for touching the chaos that should not have been touched.

In the process, it read the time Lee Ro-woon had spent.

The time of his struggle.

And that record remained imprinted in the Gaeshin Library.

Lee Shin-woo, having taken over the Gaeshin Library, had glimpsed those fragments.

“It was an endless darkness.”

Lee Shin-woo said.

“It was a dazzling brilliance.”

If someone who knew nothing heard this, they would have thought it was nonsense.

Kwaak.

But Lee Ro-woon clenched his fist.

The things he had seen.

“Emptiness.”

The times he had felt.

“Silence and fear, dread….”

Lee Shin-woo’s face contorted.

The scar that now remained on him throbbed painfully.

“It was truly hell.”

There was light, and there was darkness, but all of it was empty.

It was fierce yet mild, warm yet chilling.

It was something that could not be expressed in words.

Oso so.

It was a realm that those who had not experienced it, had not felt it, could never know.

“You….”

It was a repeat.

“What on earth did you go through?”

Lee Shin-woo said to Lee Ro-woon.

What Lee Shin-woo had experienced in the Gaeshin Library was also like hell, but compared to what Lee Ro-woon had gone through, it was nothing.

In fact, Lee Shin-woo knew that the memory of Lee Ro-woon he had glimpsed was only a tiny part.

Just that much.

“Kuh!”

He had gained a scar that he could never escape.

What about Lee Ro-woon?

No.

“You….”

There was something Lee Shin-woo had seen in that memory.

Emptiness, brilliance, darkness, and fierceness, a multitude of things mixed together.

‘Chaos.’

It was something that truly deserved the name chaos.

At first, it had fought against Lee Ro-woon, but at some point….

“That’s enough.”

Lee Ro-woon said to Lee Shin-woo.

A different atmosphere.

Gulps.

Lee Shin-woo unknowingly swallowed hard.

“You look tired.”

Lee Ro-woon said to Lee Shin-woo as if it were nothing.

“…….”

Lee Shin-woo remained silent, waiting for Lee Ro-woon’s words.

“It’s better not to step into a needless abyss.”

“……!”

“The abyss is not a place you can easily escape from.”

It was unclear whether it was a warning or advice.

“You’ve worked hard.”

Lee Ro-woon said, finishing his words.

Lee Shin-woo couldn’t say anything until Lee Ro-woon left the room.

Kwaak.

Lee Shin-woo gripped the blanket as Lee Ro-woon left the room, taking deep breaths.

What he had seen, what he had felt.

-Dream.

He had thought it was just a dream, an illusion shown by the Gaeshin Library….

“It was real.”

At this moment, he could feel that it was real.

His only blood relative, his younger brother, Lee Ro-woon….

* * *

Lee Shin-woo had recovered to some extent.

It would have been an injury and trauma that even a powerful martial artist would not have been able to recover from.

However, Lee Shin-woo got out of bed not long after.

This was partly because Lee Shin-woo had an extraordinary mental strength that could not be compared to others, but also because the time he spent in the Gaeshin Library had elevated his mental strength to a higher level.

Above all.

“The Gaeshin Library did not only contain the history of Eun.”

He had gained something from the Gaeshin Library.

Gathering the executives of Eunha and Lee Ro-woon, Lee Shin-woo slowly opened his mouth.

“In that place….”

The Gaeshin Library.

“There were also stories of the players.”

In the past, it was a place that only collected information about Eun and the Gaebang, but after the world’s gate opened, it also collected information about Earth and the players.

Information about Einheart and Gehenna was also collected.

Above all, the core of the Gaeshin Library was the cores and minds of the players, not the Gaebang leaders.

“It felt like wandering through a vast universe.”

Lee Shin-woo said.

“And then, there was something that allowed me to take over the Gaeshin Library.”

Lee Shin-woo, while floating in the endless universe and confronting the Gaeshin Library, was finally able to find it.

A way to confront the Gaeshin Library.

That was.

“It was something created by the players.”

They, who had been trapped in the Gaeshin Library and had to have all their brains, bodies, and even cores used, gathered their small minds in pursuit of freedom.

Lee Sae-rom became the center of this and worked for a long time, finally completing it in a place where even the flow of time was different.

Kung.

The air seemed to become heavy.

“……!”

The executives of Eunha widened their eyes at the sudden change in the air and the flow of energy.

In the next moment.

Kwaaaa-!

Blue magic materialized and poured out from Lee Shin-woo’s entire body.

“Kuh!”

The intense shockwave was so strong that it twisted even the meridians of the Eunha executives.

Out of control.

The same appearance as when Lee Shin-woo first appeared in the Gaeshin Library.

However, Lee Shin-woo slowly began to control that energy.

Gooo.

The raging energy subsided, and it soon became calm.

Lee Shin-woo’s appearance also changed.

His body was wrapped in blue lightning, and the shockwave extended like lightning behind his back.

That appearance was.

“Thunder… God….”

It was as if he resembled a thunder god.

“This is.”

Lee Shin-woo said in that form.

“I have decided to call it Awakening.”

Awakening.

It was not a word given by anyone.

Lee Shin-woo thought that there was no word that suited it better.

A state where all the power of the core is fully awakened, allowing the player core to use its maximum power.

Paat!

The lightning that had been emanating from Lee Shin-woo disappeared in an instant.

“Of course, it is difficult to maintain this properly right now.”

The form of the thunder god was maintained for less than three minutes.

However, Lee Shin-woo, who was among the top players, seemed so exhausted that he could barely speak.

“The maintenance time is at most five minutes. If I am given more time, I can control the power, but it is still too much for now.”

However, when he entered the awakened state, Lee Shin-woo showed a power that was truly beyond life and death.

“…….”

The executives of Eunha closed their mouths.

They had seen many players so far, and they had also seen those called high rankers up close.

Moreover, those who had transcended the limits of players.

-Unknown.

They had even seen them.

“This is….”

The power that Lee Shin-woo was emitting now was a power that could crush all of that.

“Not all players can use this.”

Lee Shin-woo said.

He could not know everything, but there was something he could feel.

“Only a very small number of players will be able to reach the awakened state.”

This was not a power that anyone could use.

If all players could reach awakening.

Gulp.

That would be a power that would not only overturn the current system but also subvert and destroy the world.

“However, it will be possible to raise the overall abilities of the players.”

Lee Shin-woo said.

“The Gaeshin Library was not just….”

Lee Shin-woo got to the main point.

“It was not just holding the location of the stake.”

“Then… ?”

“The Gaeshin Library itself is also acting as a stake.”

And that Gaeshin Library now belonged to Lee Shin-woo.

“The players will once again throw off their shackles.”

* * *

By completely opening the Gaeshin Library, what was sleeping inside would be released in this Asia, on Earth.

At first, they would not feel a big change, but it would slowly change the players.

Of course, the Gaeshin Library was not the stake that Lee Ro-woon was looking for.

It was just.

-Containing a part of the stake.

Only a few players would benefit from this change, and it was only a temporary measure.

In the end.

-The real stake must be found.

The real stake that was stuck in the world had to be found.

To pull out the stake, three keys were needed.

The first was the key to open the door.

The second was a map showing the location of the stake.

And the third key, which he learned through the Gaeshin Library, was….

“The gatekeeper.”

The one who stood guard over the stake.

“It is the stake itself.”

It was the stake itself.

Lee Shin-woo succeeded in grasping the location and identity of the stake to some extent.

Also, by reaching awakening, he was able to grasp the flow that only players could feel.

That was the location of the stake.

As Lee Shin-woo said.

-It feels like the world is pressing down on me and crushing the players.

He had not felt it when he did not know, but it was a sense of pressure that he felt when he found freedom.

-And this is….

Finally, all three keys were found.

Only one thing remained.

To find, break, and pull out the stake.

“So, where is the stake?”

Ha Se-min asked.

Lee Shin-woo had only told Lee Ro-woon about the stake.

“It’s as I thought.”

At Lee Ro-woon’s words, Ha Se-min closed his lips and nodded.

There was a place he had suspected since he learned about the existence of the stake before setting out to find the keys.

That was.

“Shaolin.”

“Shaolin.”

The great mountain of the north.

A place that could never be left out for Eun [a fictional country].

In the past, it was the symbol of the righteous faction, and it could be said to be the righteous faction itself, and the guardians who had protected Eun throughout Eun’s long history were Shaolin.

It was said to be the origin of all martial arts, and Shaolin was Eun itself.

Shin-gae, who was the leader of the Gaebang [a fictional organization], expressed the Gaebang as Eun itself, but that was just his own words, and the biggest pillar of Eun that was recognized by everyone was Shaolin.

“Indeed….”

Ha Se-min said.

“It’s Shaolin.”

Shaolin.

They were the center of the council.

There were three council leaders in the Martial Arts Association, and those three council leaders managed the association and exerted influence over the entire Eun.

-Namgoong Cheon, representing the Five Great Families.

He was the Heavenly Council Leader.

He represented the will of the Five Great Families and wielded enormous influence.

-Baek San, representing the Nine Great Sects.

And the second was the Earthly Council Leader.

“Hwasan.”

The sect leader of Hwasan, and the Earthly Council Leader.

One of the three council leaders, the Nine Great Sects moved at his word.

It was said that they had lost much of their power now, but Baek San’s influence was still endless, and in fact, they were leading the pro-demon faction.

They could be said to be leading those who contained demons.

And the last one.

“The Human Council Leader.”

Heaven, Earth, and Human, the Human Council Leader among the three.

And this one did not represent the Five Great Families or the Nine Great Sects.

Alone.

Although he belonged to the Nine Great Sects, he was separate from them, and he became a council leader on his own, occupying one of the three pillars.

There were many stories that Hwasan was the best in Eun, or that Wudang was the best swordsman in Eun, but they were never mentioned.

That was not because their skills and power were poor, but because they were not the subject of comparison.

“The Living Buddha, Daejeong.”

He was the Human Council Leader, Daejeong, and he was Shaolin.

“…….”

Ha Se-min closed his mouth.

After a little time had passed, Ha Se-min slowly opened his mouth.

“In the end.”

That was right.

“It’s Shaolin.”

In the end, it was Shaolin.