The Hero Returns

"The Guide of Past Lives?"

Did it say that the condition had been satisfied?

Su-hyeun was a bit taken aback by the sudden message and scanned his surroundings. The moment the message had popped up, the deserted coliseum began to be filled with black smoke.

It didn't take him long to figure out what was going on here because he sensed a familiar aura coming from the nearest lump of black smoke.

"That's Set."

The one who died and disappeared a second ago had reappeared, of course, not in the same "form" as before. His outer shell was no more. It was only the energy he possessed that was returning to Su-hyeun.

But that wasn't all.

"All of them are my past lives."

The energies of all of Su-hyeun's past lives used to possess now filled up the coliseum instead of their physical bodies.

The Guide of Past Lives—one of the Six Paths—implied that it was meant to show the way for his past lives.

Su-hyeun finally realized what was about to happen to him.

"Hah..."

Shu-wuwuwu—

The black smoke densely filling up the entirety of the coliseum began rushing toward Su-hyeun.

"I didn't do it for this end result, you know," he muttered in disbelief, but honestly, he didn't hate this.

Rather, he greatly welcomed it. Whatever the case might have been, Su-hyeun was in need of a serious power boost.

"It was only one percent, wasn't it?"

He simulated fighting Osiris many, many times in his mind.

Out of around one hundred simulated battles, Su-hyeun emerged victorious only once. Even with simple math, the odds of him winning was only one percent.

In other words, he would most likely lose.

If Su-hyeun wanted to improve his chances, he definitely needed to attain much greater power.

"In that case..."

Shu-shushu—

Su-hyeun closed his eyes while accepting the powers of his past lives.

"By how much will that percentage go up after this, I wonder?"

* * *

Quite a long time had passed.

Sun Wukong, perched on top of Ruyi Jingu Bang, stared pensively at the black pillar that had materialized with Su-hyeun in the middle.

It had been over a day now.

From a certain point in time, the nature of the energy he felt from the pillar changed to something else. Originally, there seemed to be a mixture of all kinds of disparate energies, but now, they were "entangling" together to become a singular type.

"Just what is he even doing inside this thing?"

Since Su-hyeun asked to be protected, that was what Sun Wukong was doing.

He might be fulfilling the request asked of him, but Sun Wukong's uncertainty was still growing with every passing minute.

Rumble—

Sun Wukong's irises changed to a crimson color.

He peeked into the interior of the pillar with his Fiery Golden Eyes. The situation there had changed a lot compared to the beginning. Su-hyeun seemed to be meditating or something, while the energy flow had suddenly changed even though everything seemed to be asleep a second ago.

It was as if all those black energies were being rapidly sucked into Su-hyeun's body.

Was this a good phenomenon or an ominous one? Sun Wukong couldn't tell. Even if he wanted to interfere, there was not much he could do from the outside.

"Urgh."

What frustrated him the most was knowing that he couldn't do anything.

Sun Wukong continued to falter sheepishly and stood halfway up only to plop back down on his butt.

For the time being, he had no choice but to believe in his youngest sworn brother.

"I swear, as soon as he comes out, Imma give him a good knuckle sandwich first."

Just what kind of effect would this energy have on Su-hyeun?

Shu-aaaahk—

Right at that moment, all that energy enveloping Su-hyeun rapidly vanished.

The last wisps of energy wrapped around Su-hyeun's figure. Soon afterward, his eyes slowly opened—all that black in his eyes reverting to the normal whites.

Only then did Sun Wukong get up from his spot. Ruyi Jingu Bang below him changed back to a slender staff when he gripped it tightly.

"Hey, little bro," Sun Wukong cautiously approached Su-hyeun while keeping his Fiery Golden Eyes active and his staff pointing at his youngest sworn brother. "Are you really my little bro?"

"..."

No reply.

Su-hyeun's head turned toward Sun Wukong, but his eyes lacked focus and remained blurry. Sun Wukong stared at the wordless Su-hyeun, then slowly spoke up, "Extend, Ru—"

"W—wait! I said, wait!" That prompted Su-hyeun to hurriedly wave his hands around in clear fright.

Sun Wukong smirked and slung Ruyi Jingu Bang on his shoulder, "You dare try to pull a fast one on me?"

"When did you notice?"

"I can tell by looking at your eyes."

Su-hyeun sheepishly scratched his head after his prank was discovered almost right away.

Whatever the case might be, Sun Wukong was relieved to see that Su-hyeun came back all fine. He slammed Ruyi Jingu Bang on the ground and asked, "Did anything happen to you?"

"Well, many things happened."

"And no more of those complicated musings to worry about, I hope?"

"Yes. Probably."

Despite answering with "probably," Su-hyeun's expression came across a lot more refreshed than before.

This was why Su-hyeun decided to take a gamble in the first place. Although the end result turned out to be a bit different from his expectations.

Sun Wukong asked, "Okay. But what was that just now?"

"What do you mean?"

Was he referring to the Guide of Past Lives?

Su-hyeun accepted the powers of his countless past lives. All the strength that continued to build up every time he repeated a life had finally been concentrated into one individual.

He began explaining to Sun Wukong all the events that took place. He talked about facing his desire and fighting all of his countless past lives that harbored opposing views.

After listening to Sun Wukong's simple-sounding advice of, "Do what you want to do," Su-hyeun chose to use brute force to suppress his past lives. Rather ironically, that turned out to be the key to activating the "Guide of Past Lives" ability.

He thought, "To think that the method to activating the Guide of Past Lives was to completely defeat my past lives."

Of course, it wouldn't have mattered if he chose to go with another method.

After the Guide of Past Lives activated, Su-hyeun instantly figured out others ways to activate it.

He didn't have to defeat or make his past lives submit through force. He just had to earn their acknowledgment somehow. Meaning he simply had to earn the right to "lead" all of his past lives, which would be enough to satisfy the activation condition.

Sun Wukong asked, "Hmm... So, like, what happened just now was kind of a ceremony to absorb the powers of your past lives?"

"Well, yes. But let's not complicate it any further. Third Brother, you told me that I should just do what I want, didn't you?"

Sun Wukong smirked at Su-hyeun's reply. He then energetically pounded on the latter's shoulder, "Now you sound like my little bro."

"Huh. Was I always this simple-minded?"

"You tend to worry about lots of stuff, sure, but you always wanted only one thing in the end. And when it comes to that aspect of you, you're like bamboo or something, all straight and unbending and stuff. Yesterday, you looked okay outwardly, but your head was a mess. You ain't even a blade of grass, so why all that flip-flopping? Your pathetic streak was about to bore me to death."

"Did I really?" Su-hyeun could only smile sheepishly at Sun Wukong, who still remained straightforward. Then, he suddenly began loosening his shoulder muscles, "You know, I was constantly fighting on the other side. But in reality, I haven't moved a muscle for over a day, and I feel really sluggish at the moment, Third Brother."

"What, you wanna start fighting right away?"

"Yes. So can I ask a favor, Third Brother?"

Snap, crack—

Su-hyeun cracked his joints and loosened his neck muscles while locking his gaze in a certain direction, "Can you leave us for a bit?"

Giii-iiing—

A spot near the two men suddenly distorted. Almost at the same time, a familiar handsome man walked out of the doorway created by the folded space.

It was Osiris.

"Will it be fine, though?" Sun Wukong asked in a worried voice while glaring at Osiris.

He wasn't asking about whether Su-hyeun could win or not.

Sun Wukong heard about Set's story, Su-hyeun's very first past life. That was why he couldn't help but worry about whether Su-hyeun could properly fight against Osiris or not.

Contrary to his worries, Su-hyeun simply nodded, looking quite composed. Sun Wukong faltered for a little bit, but eventually, he summoned a cloud and jumped on top of it.

And so, after Sun Wukong's figure disappeared from view...

"You don't want to be interrupted, right?"

His voice entered Su-hyeun's ears.

"In that case, I'll make sure no one interrupts you—whether it's Buddha or that blonde idiot Thor, no exceptions.

What a dependable ally Sun Wukong was, as expected of him.

Su-hyeun smirked and nodded in silence.

That should be enough as a reply. Sure enough, Sun Wukong stopped chatting to him as well.

"Are you two done talking now?" Osiris asked while looking up at the cloud where Sun Wukong's figure had disappeared. "That was entirely pointless, though. Even if he didn't offer to do it, I wouldn't have allowed anyone else to interfere, anyway."

It seemed that he had eavesdropped on the Voice Transmission between Su-hyeun and Sun Wukong.

"What, are you thinking of bringing out your small fries this time, too?" The glare in Su-hyeun's eyes and the way he talked suddenly transformed.

That prompted Osiris to look back at Su-hyeun again. He observed the latter's sharply rising brows and smirked deeply, "So, you have returned to your old self, my friend."

"Friend... right, we were once friends."

But that was nothing more than a tale from the ancient past.

Set was undoubtedly one of Su-hyeun's past. His ideals and his philosophy were definitely a part of Su-hyeun's memories. Even Set's emotions were part of him, too.

However, Su-hyeun managed to defeat all of Set's desires and resentment in the end. The memories were still there, but his mind was already made up on what he wanted to do.

"So, how about it? Have you come to a decision yet?"

Osiris still hadn't heard Su-hyeun's reply.

The answer was already set in stone, though.

Su-hyeun flipped his middle finger at Osiris.

"Hm?"

"Eat sh*t, as*hole."

Osiris had no idea what raising a middle finger meant, but he could more or less figure it out by looking at Su-hyeun's face or what he said.

It couldn't have been something nice. That's for sure.

"Hah!" Then Osiris suddenly began guffawing uncontrollably at Su-hyeun's reply.

Buzz, brr, brrrrr—

His laughter caused the land to quake just as uncontrollably as well.

It was as if he and the land below had become one. Not just one person, but hundreds, thousands—no—hundreds of thousands seemed to be laughing together with him.

Osiris laughed for a long while before bending over to hold his aching belly. He raised his head and, with tearful eyes, stared straight at Su-hyeun's face, "Although you're slightly different, no doubt, you are still my old friend."

Set's personality was noticeably different from Su-hyeun's. Still, it was also true that Set's personality was gradually bubbling back up to the surface after running into Osiris.

That was what Osiris found so puzzling right now. "But how can this be? The Set I know... You are not someone who'd forgive the world no matter what."

"You see, this thing called desire is a monster with thoughts and emotions."

It was a simple enough explanation.

"So, I brought them together and killed them. All of them."

"Is that so?"

That explanation was enough to make Osiris realize that Su-hyeun had completely defeated his desires.

The experiences and memories of Set remained. Even the way he spoke and his mannerisms all remained, too. However, his hatred and desire to destroy the world were gone for good.

That wasn't Set's choice but Su-hyeun's.

"Alright. I accept it. Indeed, you're a little different from the friend that I remember."

"It's the same story for you, being different from what I remember." Su-hyeun also had something to ask, "Just what happened to you, anyway?"

"Oh, that? Doesn't concern you," Osiris waved his hand around.

The color of the surroundings changed according to his hand movement. Even though the light had not been blocked off, deep darkness materialized. This darkness could exert physical force, and it began restricting Su-hyeun's body.

"It seems that working together is definitely off the table now, I guess," Osiris replied, implying that he didn't want to reveal the truth.

And to learn all about it, it sounded like Su-hyeun needed to get violent from now on.

"You're right."

Splat—!

Right at that moment, Su-hyeun's sword cleanly cleaved apart the darkness around him in a single strike.

That was the swordsmanship Set used in the ancient past.

"We can never work together."

"Ahaha!" Osiris guffawed briefly at the swordsmanship that made him briefly recall the past.

Set's visage seemed to be overlapping Su-hyeun's face just then. Even though their facial features were not even remotely the same, they still had the same expressions and eyes right at this moment as he glared at Osiris.

However, the current situation was the exact opposite of what happened in the past.

Set, who used to hate the world and wished for its destruction, now occupied Osiris's old role.

Meanwhile, Osiris, who used to love the world and wished to protect it, came to understand Set's viewpoint.

"Both of you... Although things are not the same anymore..." Osiris spread his arms open. "I still want to congratulate you for coming back, old friend."

The moment he said those words...

Fwhoooooosh—!

The one thousand hells revealed themselves once more up in the sky.