Chapter 86
[Sealed Rebellion].
‘What in the world is LIMITLESS? What could it be, that a mere fragment of it could transform Chang-kyung into someone whose Internal Energy and strength were so difficult to match?’
“The place we’re going now is the back gate of that Buddha statue, called Taebudong.”
Perhaps because Chang-kyung hadn’t fully recovered yet, Mantae guided them to Taebudong’s back gate.
Next to the main building of the Great Buddha Temple, they climbed what must have been at least a thousand stone steps. At the top, a wide, open space appeared.
As soon as they reached it, they could see the feet of the giant Buddha—something impossible to see from below.
“The Abbot will come and explain, but the back gate of Taebudong that you wanted is by no means a trivial place.”
As they crossed the open space, the towering cliff and the giant Buddha statue looming at its side exuded a strange pressure.
Hyuk-min’s party once again felt the overwhelming weight of sheer size.
“The warning I gave you before wasn’t a lie either. Looking back on yourself and awakening the Latent Dragon sleeping within is not only difficult—failure will also lead to death.”
As they drew closer, they saw a small gap between the cliff and the giant Buddha statue.
When they reached the space behind the giant Buddha, five stone gates leading inside the statue came into view.
And as if everything had been prepared in advance, three of the five stone gates were already open, greeting Hyuk-min’s party.
“Line up in front.”
Mantae stood facing the stone gates and had Hyun-jung, No Death, and Hyuk-min stand in a row from the left.
“What you must do is overcome the Buddha’s trials, meet the Latent Dragon, and defeat it to make it your own. To do that…”
Mantae’s thick fist rested over his left chest.
“You must have the right mindset.”
After that, he looked back the way they had come and saw Chang-kyung approaching, his hands clasped behind his back.
There was nothing unusual about his gait as he walked without support.
Twitch.
But Hyuk-min saw it.
Chang-kyung was pretending to be fine, but the arm he kept behind his back trembled faintly.
“Do you know what this Taebudong your leader wanted is for?”
At Chang-kyung’s question, Hyun-jung answered.
“You said it’s a place that draws out one’s potential.”
It was a satisfactory answer.
“Potential is something some people can’t draw out even if they try their entire lives. However, there are many people who draw out their potential to its limits and use it even without Taebudong. What do you think is the difference between the two?”
This time as well, Hyun-jung answered.
“Effort!”
“You’re only half right.”
“Is the other half talent?”
“I’d say you’re about eighty percent right.”
‘If it’s neither talent nor effort, then what is it?’
As Hyun-jung tilted her head, unable to find the answer, No Death spoke in an annoyed tone.
“It’s the difference in one’s vessel. It could also be a difference in qualification.”
“Precisely.”
Even if he was usually playful, the years he had lived couldn’t be ignored.
Hyuk-min and Hyun-jung’s eyes widened in surprise at an answer that was so close to perfect.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m just surprised, No Death.”
“I’m also surprised you’re not completely thoughtless, old man.”
Their chatter was brief.
Chang-kyung gestured for them to be quiet and continued.
“Taebudong is merely a place that creates that qualification and vessel. It is not a place that draws out the Latent Dragon coiled within you.”
No Death, who had been staring into the dark stone gate for a while, couldn’t hold back his curiosity.
“It doesn’t look dangerous at all, but have people actually died in there?”
Although it was dark, the faintly lit interior looked anything but dangerous.
It was a question asked out of pure curiosity, but Chang-kyung and Mantae—who had recently lost precious people here—could only look at each other, unable to answer right away.
Finally, Chang-kyung opened his mouth.
“Everyone who went in before you died.”
To those about to enter, it was a bolt from the blue.
“They were all friends who had lived at the Great Buddha Temple for a long time—people who shared joys and sorrows together—and they were outstanding martial artists.”
Hyun-jung, standing beside Hyuk-min, tried not to show it, but her eyes wavered faintly.
Chang-kyung didn’t miss it.
As if to steady her before the task ahead, Chang-kyung approached Hyun-jung, smiled brightly, and stroked her head.
“Do you want to live?”
At Chang-kyung’s question, Hyun-jung’s wavering gaze first turned to Hyuk-min without a word.
Hyun-jung’s heart was clear even without words.
When Hyuk-min returned a small smile, the wavering in Hyun-jung’s eyes disappeared, and a smile spread across her lips.
“I want to be with you, Uncle. If you’re here, I’ll be here, and if you’re not, I won’t be either.”
It wasn’t flattery or hypocrisy.
Perhaps because the eyes of the One Who Awakens Potential clearly saw Hyun-jung’s sincerity, a genuine smile bloomed on Chang-kyung’s face for the first time in a long while.
“Yes. That is enough.”
Standing before the stone gates, Chang-kyung had everyone stand before their respective gates and spoke.
“Steady your mindset and your spirit. All of the Buddha’s trials will be trials that everyone can handle. They are things you can overcome, and those trials are also yourselves.”
Hyuk-min was the first to step into the dark stone gate.
When he turned back to look at Chang-kyung, everyone else followed.
“Empty your minds, focus your spirit, and embrace the Latent Dragon sleeping within you—another version of yourselves. We’ll see each other again soon, monks.”
As soon as Chang-kyung finished speaking, Hyuk-min shouted so everyone could hear.
“We are!”
No Death and Hyun-jung craned their necks to look at Hyuk-min.
Their eyes went to Hyuk-min’s wrist—more precisely, the black band positioned as if it were binding them all together.
The [Dark Ring].
“We’re connected. I trust you guys. We’re family, aren’t we?”
At the word “family,” smiles appeared on faces that had been solemn just moments ago.
Perhaps Chang-kyung found the sight pleasing, because he smiled again.
“Is there any need to wait longer? Let us begin.”
“Yes, Abbot.”
Starting from Hyun-jung’s left, Mantae approached and began to close the stone gates.
“See you in a bit!”
Thud!
“Worry about yourself. I’ll flick your forehead when I see you again.”
Thud!
Finally, Mantae stood before Hyuk-min, about to close the last stone gate.
Chang-kyung approached.
“There are a total of two Latent Dragons inside you. Keep that in mind. If you meet the black dragon, you must avoid it.”
Chang-kyung’s expression—so serious it brimmed with anxiety—made it clear just how dangerous LIMITLESS was.
“I will.”
“Wait.”
As the stone gate was about to close again, Chang-kyung stopped it and stared intently at Hyuk-min.
“I see a murkiness that wasn’t there before.”
As expected, he couldn’t fool Chang-kyung’s eyes.
In truth, while Chang-kyung had been away for a moment, a text message had arrived from Hwang Ji-young.
Hyuk-min had tried not to look, knowing he had a major task ahead, but in the end, he had checked it.
Bzzz. Bzzz.
From the box of belongings placed behind Chang-kyung, the sound of a phone vibrating could be heard.
The vibration, which had been drowned out by everyone’s focus on Taebudong’s back gate, now rang clearly in their ears.
The steady buzz felt urgent, and just as the small ripple rising in Hyuk-min’s heart was about to spill from his lips…
“I…”
“Abbot!! Abbot!!!”
The small ripple became a tidal wave as a gatekeeper monk rushed over, out of breath.
“I told you the back gate of Taebudong was being opened!”
Despite Mantae’s roar, the gatekeeper monk bowed deeply and shouted.
“I apologize! However, the matter is so serious that I ran here like this.”
“What is it!”
“Right now, at the entrance to the bamboo forest, dozens of people who appear to be Koreans are killing each other!”
“Killing each other? What do you mean!”
“Bombs are going off, guns are being fired—it’s complete chaos! At this rate, they’re going to push all the way to our formation!”
“What era are we in? What are the public security officers doing! This won’t do. I’m going.”
“Y-You can’t go alone! It was far, but the power I felt for a moment… it wasn’t normal. It’s dangerous!”
“What did you say?”
It was an unusual situation, as if war had broken out.
But Hyuk-min stepped away from Taebudong’s back gate as if he’d been waiting for this.
“I’ll be back.”
Hyuk-min’s expression looked like he’d already made his decision.
Only then did Chang-kyung realize that the murkiness he’d seen in Hyuk-min was precisely that.
When Chang-kyung answered with a nod, Hyuk-min started down the stone steps.
“Were you trying to hide it for your comrades?”
At Chang-kyung’s question, Hyuk-min replied with a smile.
“They’re my precious family.”
“Family…”
“I’ll be back soon.”
At his words that he would go himself, the gatekeeper monk tried to stop him.
“Alone, you absolutely—”
Chang-kyung stopped the gatekeeper monk.
“Let him go.”
Mantae looked at Chang-kyung.
“But right now is—”
“He said he’ll be back soon, so leave the stone gate open.”
“However—”
“I will wait too.”
At Chang-kyung’s decision, which cut off all of Mantae’s words, a cool smile spread across Hyuk-min’s lips as he descended the stone steps.
And there, with everyone watching—
“I’ll be going now.”
Bang!!
“Huk!”
Hyuk-min displayed a tremendous speed that made the gatekeeper monk gasp, and in an instant, he was out of the Great Buddha Temple.
= = =
The Turbulent Revenant.
Hyuk-min had heard the rumors about Nansan Wi Gwakdu since his past life.
‘A lot of time has passed since the text came.’
Perhaps because of the invisible formation surrounding the Great Buddha Temple, the calls and texts that hadn’t come through had piled up all at once, exploding onto his phone while Chang-kyung took a short rest.
Dozens of missed calls and texts from Hwang Ji-young.
Among them, the content of a text that arrived at dawn set a grim mood in Hyuk-min.
[10 of Baeksan’s Shadows and 10 members of the Haeundae Guild’s elite special strike team have just departed to capture you and Wi Gwakdu! It’s a smuggled speedboat!]
Ten of Baeksan’s Shadows.
Ten members of Haeundae’s elite special strike team.
That force alone was formidable, but what truly mattered was the text that followed.
[Knife Rain is leading Baeksan’s Shadows, and Yaksha is leading the Haeundae Guild’s elite special strike team. A total of 22 people.]
Knife Rain and Yaksha leading each side.
The sheer force, as if meant to start a real war, made him instinctively think it wouldn’t be easy even for Wi Gwakdu.
‘To think Baeksan and the Haeundae Guild would join hands… More importantly, if it’s the elite special strike team, has the Haeundae Guild already fallen into Park Chung-ho’s hands?’
But the quiet Great Buddha Temple itself, even as he read the text, told Hyuk-min that all the rumors about Nansan Wi Gwakdu were true.
Whoosh—
Leaving the Great Buddha Temple behind and running through the dense bamboo forest, a deafening explosion echoed in Hyuk-min’s ears.
Whip!
He twisted mid-run, kicked off a bamboo stalk hard enough to nearly snap it, and changed his path.
“Nice.”
His movements were smoother than ever.
The strengthened body and faster movements from stat pumping had once felt awkward.
But after the decisive battle with Wi Gwakdu, his heightened intelligence had allowed him to adapt to his drastically changed body. Now, he had almost completely erased the sense of incongruity.
It felt like wearing clothes tailored perfectly to him.
‘Not bad.’
Boom!!
Whip!
Each time an explosion rang out, Hyuk-min’s path bent in an unreal zigzag.
Such abnormal movement wasn’t difficult at all.
Even as he ran, Hyuk-min judged his movements—marvelous in their own right—to have surpassed even his prime in his past life.
Soon, he spotted a group of people in the distance.
Fwoosh—
Smoke obscured his vision, with a few figures moving around it.
Hiss.
To identify his target, Hyuk-min abruptly stopped.
It was quite a distance, but the moment he focused his eyes, the attire of the people moving here and there came into sharp view.
Among them, one person stood still, surveying the surroundings.
His distinctive outfit explained everything.
A man covered head to toe in white clothes and a mask.
On his back, two Chinese characters were clearly written.
[Baeksan (White Mountain)]
‘Found them. Baeksan’s Shadows.’
Having found the enemy, Hyuk-min lowered his stance and poured power into his lower body.
His muscles twitched and swelled as if they would burst his pants.
His shoes dug into the ground, and his sharpened eyes quickly pinpointed Wi Gwakdu’s position within the smoke.
The moment both ally and enemy were in his sight—
Bang!!!
With a roar as if a gun had been fired, Hyuk-min’s body shot forward like a bullet, leaving a deep crack in the ground.
He really was like a bullet.
A speed so far beyond human limits that by the time someone turned their head at the sound, it would already be too late.
The [Strength] Stat of 381 and the [Agility] Stat of 412 made such movement possible.
Thud-thump!!!
He soared through the air and kicked the white Shadow who had been standing still, embedding him into the ground.
Rumble!
The impact shook the earth, and cracks spread as if an earthquake had struck, kicking up a fierce storm of dust.
Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought a meteor had fallen.
The disaster named Hyuk-min, which happened in an instant, brought a moment of silence to everyone in the midst of battle.
The wind blew, and as the dust cleared, Hyuk-min’s figure was revealed.
“The [Legendary Title] holder…?”
With the white Shadow embedded in the ground behind him, he drew the [Immortal Demon Sword] from the air.
There was no need to check.
If they came to kill, they should be prepared to die.
Hyuk-min, gripping the [Immortal Demon Sword], nodded toward his only ally in the distance, Wi Gwakdu.
Wi Gwakdu nodded back, then smirked.
Swish! Swish!
As the [Immortal Demon Sword] cut through the air once or twice, the smiles vanished from both their lips.
And so, the battlefield—frozen in silence—began to move again.