Former Warrior Turns Into A Million-Dollar Actor [EN]: Chapter 187

Revealed Secrets (5)

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The world is in peril.

The only ones we can rely on are the Heroes.

If we fail to defeat the five Archdemons, the continent will be torn apart, humanity will be destroyed, and everything will return to the void.

It wasn’t an unfamiliar story. After being transferred, he had often heard the songs sung by bards in the Iron Kingdom.

-Hero, please! Save this world!

-The old fortune teller said so! If those demons continue to expand their power and reach the royal castle, the world will collapse!

-It’s over… we’re doomed…

Even while hearing such things, he didn’t feel particularly afraid. Even if he couldn’t return to Earth, he would have fought the same.

For the sake of the people, and for the sake of this world.

That’s why he had overcome so many deaths, but suddenly the world was collapsing…

“If the Hero fails to defeat the demons, the land will be torn apart and the sky will fall. Isn’t that just a bard’s tale?”

“It’s not just a tale. It’s not completely baseless nonsense either.”

The Saintess’s answer was unwavering. Gun frowned.

“Then, could it be that we really won’t be able to defeat the Archdemons in time…?”

“No. It’s because of me.”

“Excuse me?”

“Who do you think sent the Hero back to this world?”

Gun searched his memory.

Angels had descended to take him, and in the moment he was bound in the air, the Saintess blinked… and then a cluster of light shattered.

When he opened his eyes, he was already on Earth.

“I still remember the last signal. Wasn’t it the Saintess who did it?”

“That’s right. I sent you.”

“But why is the other world collapsing…?”

The Saintess, Aria Riverot, looked around the set that had stopped, instead of answering. As if trying to capture every detail of this world in her eyes.

“Bringing the Hero to the other world was a forbidden art related to dimensional travel. It was a forbidden magic that forcibly transferred someone with matching wavelengths.”

“I know that well. I was dragged there without my consent.”

“…If it was like that when you were brought here, would it be any different when you were sent back?”

Gun closed his eyes and then opened them.

“You made a sacrifice to send me back.”

“You don’t have to see it that way. It’s also the price for summoning countless Heroes to this side, across my predecessor… and the one before her.”

“Price?”

The Saintess took a breath and continued.

“Forbidden arts always come with a price. Even the archangels, those beings of immense power, couldn’t defy the great order.”

Asruel, Matekael, Prauriel… the three archangels possessed power virtually equal to that of gods. Even they couldn’t prevent the coming destruction?

Gun silently waited for his former comrade to speak.

“Several times… no, perhaps dozens of times, while summoning people from other worlds, an unstoppable rift began to form in the fabric of dimensions. When transferring the Hero, it was almost at its limit. Yet Asruel couldn’t wait any longer and forced the ritual.”

Only then did the whole situation become clear. When he arrived, the Iron Kingdom was already like a sinking ship.

“What’s happening in that world now? Is it possible that time has stopped in this world as well…?”

“That’s right. After sending the Hero back, before we could even confirm whether it was successful, the dimension opened. The extraterrestrial enemies that the archangels feared most appeared, and eventually, the three archangels stopped time.”

Extraterrestrial enemies. He had already heard about the devourers who consumed dimensions and planets whole, beings that couldn’t even be compared to the Archdemons.

‘How did the Saintess escape?’ Reading the question in his eyes, the Saintess smiled faintly.

“What’s here now… is a part of my consciousness that I let flow. Following the Hero’s traces, it drifted through dimensions and finally arrived here. I had one last thing to tell you.”

Silence fell. He had met his old comrade again after so long, but even now, he couldn’t save her with his power.

Gun murmured quietly.

“I was an ordinary person.”

“…?”

The Saintess tilted her head, but listened without questioning.

“I wanted to be righteous, and I wanted to help people. So when I was summoned to the Iron Kingdom… I was secretly happy. It felt like I had found an answer, even if it was a young and immature belief.”

After his first death, the driving force that moved the Hero God was humanity itself.

Because there was a family waiting in the other world, people waiting for salvation in this world, and comrades fighting alongside him right next to him—

“That’s why I didn’t go crazy. Even while traversing the desert, the great forest, and the demon realm hundreds of times, I only thought of one thing. I will definitely save you and this world, and return home.”

“…Hero.”

“Thanks to you, I learned a lot. Enough to receive more love than I deserve in this place.”

The Saintess waved her hand in the air without a word. Then, golden dust flew and the shape of a person began to appear.

-Department Head Oh Gwi-jun.

-Uh, yes?

-He’s Manager Park Sun’s older brother. Apologize for the habitual harassment, verbal abuse, and assault against my sister.

The day he returned to Earth, he went to Roman Entertainment and met Oh Gwi-jun.

-This is it, this is it! Isn’t that right, Writer Eun?

-Director of Photography, did you get that? Martial Arts Director, you’re not really dead, are you? I got goosebumps watching and had to get up. -Actor, you’re definitely going to be a star. I can’t wait for the day this episode airs.

His first meeting with PD [Production Director] Na Jong-mo, writer Eun Hee-wook, and countless extras for ‘Dog of Seoul’.

-I’m curious, how many times has Lee Jang-mi failed so far?

-She’s failed over a hundred auditions. She got the part but couldn’t seize the opportunity about twenty times, and if you add up all the minor failures, it’s double that.

-That’s less than half of mine.

-What?

-No, half of half of half of half.

A director abandoned by Chungmuro [Korean Hollywood] and actors who had given up on their dreams due to the walls of reality.

They formed an underdog team and delivered a satisfying blow to the world that said they would fail, ‘The Black Priest’.

Following that, there was ‘Grey City Team Leader’, the documentary ‘The Road of Fire’, his first historical drama ‘Butcher and General’, and then ‘The Executioner Returner Returns’…

The rapidly flowing images turned into white light and scattered, ending with them standing on the set of ‘The Scripture of the Gods’.

The smiling Saintess said,

“You’re still a hero here. And you gather good companions as always.”

Gun shrugged his shoulders.

“I can’t forget what I’ve learned.”

“Did you say actor? It seems like a more interesting job than a bard or a jester. Living life as a different person each time.”

“My time in the Iron Kingdom helped a lot. I lived there for decades.”

“I’m sorry. Because of me······.”

“That’s why I wanted to say thank you.”

The Saintess’s hardened expression turned puzzled. Gun looked down at his hands and continued.

“After returning to Earth, my life changed a lot. I could protect the people I love… the colleagues I couldn’t protect before, and I could bring joy to more people. There are countless ways to make the world beautiful.”

“······.”

“If the Saintess hadn’t summoned me, none of that would have been possible. The hero’s journey to the Iron Kingdom changed my life.”

Her lake-blue eyes began to fill with clear moisture. The Saintess quickly turned her head and rubbed her eyes with her white arm.

“Really, you are······.”

It was when the Saintess was about to say something. Both of their gazes turned downwards at the same time.

Long, white fingers were gradually turning into light.

The Saintess, as if trying to concentrate, briefly furrowed her brow and let out a short breath.

“There’s no time left. Consciousness that has left the body quickly loses its way.”

“Then what happens now?”

“Originally, I would be trapped in the stopped world again, waiting for the dimensional rift to close, but······.”

Now the Saintess’s right arm had completely disappeared. She stated in a calm tone.

“If that happens, I’ll eventually be dragged away by the angels and trapped in the prison of light. So, I’m going to have one last adventure.”

“Adventure?”

“Yes. Someday, when the rift closes and Asruel and the archangels release the stopped time, I plan to transfer my consciousness and body together through the passage I came through.”

Gun’s eyes widened slightly.

“Is that possible? No, if it’s possible, right now······.”

“It’s difficult now. The dimensional energy has already been used up so much that I almost couldn’t even get here. Even though the time axes of the two worlds are different… it will probably take quite a long time.”

Gun looked at the Saintess in front of him.

His comrade who had spent the longest time with him, the person with whom he had shared some affection, and the benefactor who had brought him here was disappearing.

“I often receive letters.”

“Letters?”

“Letters saying they are watching me and gaining the strength to live their day by seeing me. I’ve heard countless stories about how their lives have become happier thanks to me.”

“…Hero.”

“My parents who have suffered so far, my sister who was devoted to me, my precious old friends… and all those who send me excessive love.”

The hand of the former hero, now the hand of a veritable ten-million-dollar actor, grasped the place where the Saintess’s hand was.

Gun spoke to the light.

“Thanks to the Saintess, I was able to repay them. Our hero’s journey was not a failure.”

The moment the Saintess smiled brightly, the scattering light accelerated and the world began to shake. Gun shouted at the top of his lungs in the dazzling particles.

“Aria!”

-You’re finally calling my name now.

As if the form she had barely maintained had scattered, her voice was heard from afar.

He tried to run, but he couldn’t even get up. Gun knelt on one knee and listened to his comrade’s last words.

-Someday, I will definitely come and find you.

The light scattered. Just like when he first opened his eyes on the cold stone floor, a voice mixed with laughter brushed past his ears.

-And this look. It suits you well.

*

“…What is it?”

The main cinematographer of ‘The Scripture of the Gods’ blinked.

He was clearly holding the camera until just now, but his body felt stiff as if he had woken up from a long sleep.

Looking to the side, the other cinematographers were looking at each other with similar expressions.

“Eric, did you feel it too?”

“Uh… yeah, this thing, right?”

“It’s a very strange feeling. It’s like we’ve all been hypnotized.”

One of the cinematographers suddenly looked around.

“But where’s Park Gun? He was here just a moment ago······.”

“He’s over there.”

McClane, who had come to their side unnoticed, said. The eyes of the people also turned towards the veteran actor.

Park Gun was standing in front of the throne where the sunlight was coming in, where the wrinkled finger was pointing.

“······.”

What was the feeling that time had stopped just now, how everyone in this place felt it together, why the main actor was alone in that place······.

Despite the numerous questions, no one opened their mouth. They only looked at the man in the black cloak who had his head bowed halfway.

After a few seconds that felt like an eternity, Park Gun finally raised his head.

“Until now, everyone.”

Finally laying down the karma [destiny or fate] of the hero,

The actor’s voice echoes through the set.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

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