72. Epilogue
Bang bang!
As Jin-woo approached the Door of Truth, they heard a commotion coming from outside the room.
Sounds of footsteps approached their location.
“That was quick. They’re already here.”
“Let’s hurry up and leave.”
Noticing the strangeness of the situation, everyone began rushing towards them.
Jin-woo felt more nervous now than when he was fighting the Devil’s Body. Unlike back then, he currently had cold sweat trickling down his forehead.
Chains and locks completely sealed the Door of Truth, their only escape out of this dire situation. Luckily, when he took out the Key of Truth and inserted it into the padlocks’ holes, they all turned into powder.
Creeaaak!
Externally, even he couldn’t tell what awaited him inside. He tried to scout ahead using the Devil’s Eye, but it provided not even a hint, much less valuable information.
Crackle!
Their hiding spot’s doorknob shook violently. A large number of people had already gathered right outside the room. Not only the mbers of the Golden Won’s Association but even Prof. Kim Dae-jin and his team of researchers had co to find him.
“Let’s go in.”
“Yeah.”
Jin-woo and Yoo-na entered the Door of Truth. As soon as they did, it closed on its own and disappeared.
Bump!
The room’s lock soon broke, allowing them to swing the door open.
There was only a brief interval between the results of their actions.
“Huh?”
Se-yeon ca in, holding a chanical device with antennae in her hand. Finding nobody in the room, she imdiately panicked while everyone else just looked at her for answers.
The technological marvel she carried was specifically designed to track Jin-woo’s coordinates. It was capable of locating him no matter the dinsion he was in, yet it couldn’t detect his presence at all no matter how many tis she adjusted its antennae. It was as if sothing akin to a wall was preventing it from sending out signals.
“I think he’s gone to a place that transcends the concept of dinsions. I’ll need to conduct a couple of researches about this.”
Se-yeon imdiately began looking for ways to resolve the problem at hand. Due to the direness of the situation, even Prof. Kim Dae-jin and his research team decided to help the mbers of the Golden Won’s Association.
* * *
Inside the Door of Truth lay a long hallway. Its walls were painted white, perfectly complinting its neat marble floor.
Jin-woo and Yoo-na walked down the hallway for a while. Upon reaching its end, they saw another door.
“I don’t think this one will take us to another dinsion.”
“Yeah. It doesn’t feel like a portal.”
He couldn’t feel any mana coming out of it. If its purpose were to transport beings to a different realm, he would’ve felt even a minuscule amount of mana emanating from it since crossing from one dinsion to another consud quite a lot of mana.
‘Its rank is also impossible to asure, though…’
There was no such thing as an ordinary door that could send people off to new frontiers, which only made him even more curious about what was beyond the one in front of him.
‘How high are the chances it’ll be a world filled with people like ?’
After standing near it for a while, he finally grabbed its knob. Externally, it looked like a normal iron door that could be seen anywhere. Even its material didn’t seem like anything unique or magical.
He looked at Yoo-na, and she nodded at him in turn, reassuring him that no matter what happened, they’d be alright.
Turning the knob and swinging it open, the two entered whatever awaited them behind it.
“Hmm?”
‘This place…’
It looked like an ordinary street. No, it was way too normal. People kept passing by them, so to enter the stores lined up on either side of the road, which was filled with old-fashioned cars that still used gasoline or diesel as fuel.
Such vehicles had long been phased out due to the spread of G%P’s battery technology.
‘Are we on yet another version of Earth?’
According to what he found out upon using the Devil’s Eye, that didn’t seem to be the case since it couldn’t properly display the information it gathered.
[You have entered the Higher Dinsion!]
[The Devil’s Eye begins to process new information.]
[You have perfectly adapted to the Higher Dinsion!]
After blinking a few tis, Jin-woo found new intel appearing before him.
“Higher Dinsion?”
He had no idea what that ant, but he was inclined to find out. He checked his physical condition and subspace first.
With a flick of his fingers, he made lightning strike around him, which ant his powers were still in normal and functioning condition, much like his subspace. The sa went for Yoo-na.
“Let’s take a look around.” She suggested.
He nodded and wandered the streets with her, thinking that would be the most logical move right now.
It didn’t take long for them to realize they were in Korea, considering this place used the sa banknotes as Earth. However, unlike Another Earth, this dinsion had no exceptionally talented people.
Instead of Richard, the president of the United States was Donald Trump, and there was no Religion of Evil. Just like the old Earth, Christianity was prevalent here.
‘Is Earth the Higher Dinsion? The concept revolving around this domain is hard to understand.’
It was complicating his thoughts.
Still, none of it mattered all that much. Nothing here could threaten him, which ant it wouldn’t be bad for him to simply enjoy his long-awaited cozy and comfortable vacation here.
“We need to find a place to stay first.”
“Are we going to stay here for a long ti?”
“Let’s just take it easy for now.”
Yoo-na nodded and smiled.
Their lack of identity or records in this world didn’t co across as inconvenient since he could just use his powers to solve it. It would be quite a simple process.
The two walked into a nearby hotel.
Money wasn’t an issue either. He could still use the dinsional gold exchange system, after all.
“This is a pretty good love hotel,” Yoo-na said in awe, her eyes scanning their room. The two weren’t new friends to feel awkward being stuck together in a place like this.
Pulling out her cellphone, she turned on her wi-fi. There seed to be no problem accessing the Internet either.
“I will rest for now. I’m a little tired.”
“Yes, please get so sleep. I’ll investigate for now.”
“Thanks. I owe you one.”
Jin-woo lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and basked in the silence that he had been longing for while he was stuck amid battlefields and noisy crowds.
He finally felt comfortable. As a result, half a day had passed by the ti he woke up. His mind seed refreshed, and he felt better overall.
Yoo-na was on the bed with him, a serious expression on her face.
It had been a long ti since he had seen her look like that.
“What’s going on?”
“Well, we have a pretty serious problem.”
“What is it?”
Jin-woo got up and sat down next to her.
She said they had a serious problem, but he didn’t think much of it… At least until he saw it for himself.
“Take a look at this.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a novel publishing site. I found it by chance, but sothing about it strangely urged to open it. Anyway, this is what I found…”
She showed him a novel.
“Becoming the Ultimate Villain? What’s with the childish title?”
Its author’s pen na was Credo. Shaking his head in embarrassnt, he proceeded to read its prologue.
“… What?”
His eyes grew bigger and bigger. Only then did he truly understand why Yoo-na looked so serious.
The main character of ‘Becoming the Ultimate Villain’ was Jin-woo. The novel detailed what he had been through, though it wasn’t finished yet.
‘Am I in a novel within a novel?’ Jin-woo thought, reading all the parts available for free.
He pondered about it deeply right after.
“Credo’s the author’s na, right? I need to et up with them.”
“Then we should head over to their publisher. We’ll be able to get their information from them.”
“Alright.”
Yoo-na looked up the publishing company’s address on the Internet, and the two went over to their location. Upon arriving at its entrance, they imdiately noticed a man standing in front of it, exhibiting all signs of exhaustion.
Jin-woo looked at him using the Devil’s Eye.
[-] Person-In-Charge S
Credo artist’s representative. Has low alcohol tolerance.
He felt lucky.
They were able to find the person they needed to talk to imdiately. When he approached him, Person-In-Charge S just blinked at him in confusion.
“Can I have a mont of your ti? I’d like to talk to you.”
“What? Where did you co from?”
Jin-woo grabbed S’s shoulder, causing his eyes to widen.
“I want to know about Credo, one of your writers.”
Person-In-Charge S nodded frantically and wrote down his talent’s address without hesitation. Jin-woo then took out a potion from his subspace and handed it to him, which was his way of paying for the help he provided them.
When the two disappeared, Person-In-Charge S’s blurred eyes returned to normal.
“Huh? What?” He tilted his head, his gaze on the gift he had just received. Drawn to its fragrant aroma, he took a sip.
“Hmm… Woah!”
He could feel his strength rising!
Credo, the author, was in a state of despair.
He had to submit his manuscript by 4 o’clock. However, his computer suddenly went down and stopped working. Lee Jin-woo was just about to fight the Devil.
He was almost done, but his device refused to turn on.
“Ugh, please…”
He prayed for even just his manuscript to be safe as he pressed the power button, wondering if it would boot up.
Push!
Contrary to his wish, though, his CPU began exuding smoke. He hastily pulled out the cable.
“Why on Earth did this happen now of all ti…” He let out a long sigh. Looking at his computer’s condition, it didn’t take that long for him to realize it would be difficult to save his manuscript.
He grabbed his cellphone and texted his superior.
Credo: My computer exploded! I think I won’t be able to pass today’s manuscript in ti.
Person-In-Charge S: No, that can’t happen. Go to a PC room if you have to.
Credo: Umm…
Person-In-Charge S: I’ll be waiting for the manuscript.
He was left with no other choice. Even if it were to be submitted a little late, he had to serialize it!
Ding Dong!
While he was preparing to leave and head over to a PC rental room, the bell rang.
‘Is it a courier?’
Upon checking the intercom screen, he found a man and a woman standing right outside his ho. There was no one else with them, but they looked so handso and beautiful that they ca across as quite suspicious.
People coming over to tell him to believe in Tao had been a frequent occurrence these days.
The author just stood still.
Ding Dong! Ding Dong! Ding Dong!
The stranger continued to ring the bell.
‘Why is he doing sothing so terrible?’
Credo carefully put his ear against the front door, hoping to eavesdrop on what they were talking about.
“He seems to be inside.”
“Um, should we just force our way in?”
“Sure. I’ll cut through his door then.”
Fusuk!
Blue light passed through the crevices of Credo’s door as they silently destroyed his lock.
“Huh!”
The author fell backward, finding the sight far too unbelievable.
When his door swung open, the duo imdiately entered and smiled at him quite nacingly.
“Credo?”
“U-uhh… Yes, but… How did you find ?”
“Forget about that. Let’s talk.”
The way the man’s lips were curved upwards gave him goosebumps all over his body. It was a cool and gentle smile, but it exuded such a domineering pressure that weighed down on him so much he felt inclined to simply nod.
Their conversation wasn’t at all what he expected, but it was still an incredible tale nonetheless.
Jin-woo and Yoo-na had appeared in reality!
At first, he was skeptical of it, but Jin-woo left him no choice but to believe him when he showed him his magical prowess.
According to him, he defeated the Devil with money and absorbed all of its demonic power. What truly transpired and what Credo had in mind for the battle scenes had a lot of differences.
“I want to see the manuscript.”
“Yeah? Oh, I see.”
The author had no choice but to follow and et his demands.
“Um, Credo, so is there a moon base here…”
“Ah! I don’t want to be sent to any form of moon base, please!” He shouted, to which Jin-woo just nodded.
He felt a little sad, but he decided not to dwell on it. He took a look around the author’s ho.
“Quite the nice place you got here. It’s pretty tidy and clean.”
“Well, I just moved in recently, so…”
“Do you own it?”
“Oh, no. I pay rent monthly.”
Jin-woo nodded. Credo just kept staring at him.
“Can I stay here for a while?”
“Huh? Uh… Wouldn’t it be better to go to a hotel?”
“I want to talk to you about a really deep story.”
The author tried to shake his head in refusal, but just as he was about to, Jin-woo took out a dinsional gold coin from his subspace and converted it to Korean won. The huge amount that appeared in his hands made Credo’s eyes flutter and widen.
“Yeah! Feel free to stay. Hahaha!” He exclaid.
Jin-woo imdiately took things out of his subspace as soon as he did, showing not an ounce of care towards him.
‘He’s not a bad guy, though…’
For as long as they wouldn’t do anything wrong, he didn’t seem like the type to bring people any harm.
Quite the contrary, he seed to be offering great help instead.
‘No, if he really is the real Lee Jin-woo, then…’
Then serious incidents would always follow him, even if he didn’t want them to.
If such dire problems were to happen here…
‘The Earth will be in danger!’
No, it would be more accurate to say it would’ve been destroyed.
He had to return him to his original world sohow!
“This is great. I like this small place.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty cozy.”
The two had already started making themselves comfortable in his ho, though. And since they did pay him, he couldn’t just easily ask for them to leave and go back to where they ca from.
Were they really real?
‘Maybe I’m just dreaming?’
It would have been more comfortable if this was a world in a novel.
The author sighed and looked out his window.
“Huh?”
A flash montarily enveloped the sky, followed by the appearance of a huge ship. Next to it was a colossal dragon, the identity of which he easily identified.
It looked exactly like how he imagined Arcana would in real life.
Credo’s jaw dropped open.
“This is insane…”
Lee Jin-woo brought the end to Earth.
He truly was evil.
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