Leveling with the Gods

Lee Rangjin took YuWon to tour the Celestial Realm.

With a man the size of a Lord/War General personally guiding the way, it naturally attracted attention.

Then, it grew dark.

"It's getting late."

As the sun set, Lee Rangjin gestured for the carriage to stop.

"What do you say, let's have dinner together, a proper meal this time, not a small one like the last time we met."

"I don't really enjoy eating with people."

YuWon made a dismissive gesture with his hand.

Then one of Lee Rangjin's servants, who was driving the carriage, turned his head and looked at YuWon.

"Where do you get that arrogance from..."

"Forget it."

He waved his hand.

"If you want to eat, eat; if not, don't. There's nothing wrong with refusing."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not forcing you, I'm just offering, and you don't have to apologize for declining."

Lee Rangjin-gun laughed exaggeratedly, perhaps to lighten the mood.

"So, if you feel like it, let's have a drink together next time, whether you enter the Celestial Realm or not."

"Okay..."

"Have you decided where to stay?"

"Yes. My guide arranged it in the beginning."

"Do you know where it is?"

"It's not hard to find, so I'll go there separately, so I can explore more on my own."

"Really?"

Lee Rangjin nodded.

"That's right. I see. Then, I'll see you tomorrow."

"General."

"Huh?"

Lee Rangjin turned his head.

As he watched him, his mind stirred. Unintentionally, YuWon was able to spend a day with him.

"Lee Rangjin? He's crazy."

When the Celestial Realm was mentioned, the person who talked the most about it was, of course, Son OhGong.

Especially when it came to Lee Rangjin, Son OhGong was the one who talked the most.

"He's even worse than that bastard when it comes to fighting. Isn't that crazy?"

"Why are you picking a fight with me?"

"Because while he's not a musclehead like you, his fighting style is as straightforward as yours..."

"Did you say 'musclehead'?"

Son OhGong and Hercules used to growl at each other.

Apparently, Lee Rangjin's fighting style was similar to Hercules'.

"And when he has a target, he bites and doesn't let go. Do you know how many years he's been chasing after me?"

"Is he persistent?"

YuWon asked, and Son OhGong pondered for a moment before answering.

"I wouldn't call it persistence, more like perfectionism."

"Perfectionism?"

"Whatever he does, he does it perfectly. That's why he never loses sight of the enemy he's trying to capture."

Recalling his fight against Lee Rangjin, Son OhGong shook his head with a furrowed brow.

"He's an enemy, but he's annoying."

The conversation was short, but Son OhGong's opinion of Lee Rangjin was not bad.

For a guy who always looked down on others and lived in his own little world, it was kind of him to say that.

Furthermore, the evaluations of other people who knew Lee Rangjin were not bad either.

"He was very loyal."

"The impression wasn't bad."

"A hard worker. That's all I know about him."

"I should have fought him once..."

Aside from Asura, who had been raising his fighting spirit ever since Lee Rangjin's story came to light, the others judged Lee Rangjin as an upright warrior.

He was as straight as bamboo.

He could bend, but he would never be swayed by others.

"Why did you call me?"

When YuWon remained silent for a moment, Lee Rangin asked with a perplexed look.

In response, YuWon shook his head and said,

"Next time, let's make sure to have a drink."

Zebuck-.

After getting off the carriage, YuWon turned around and walked away.

"A tough guy."

His impression of Lee Rangjin, whom he had met by chance so quickly, wasn't too bad.

But still, he was a Celestial General.

"In the end, we're just speculating about him."

"That's right. We can't get an answer by talking amongst ourselves."

"Let the person who returns make their own judgment and address the situation accordingly. That's it."

A vague conclusion.

And with that, YuWon returned to the past using the Clock Mechanism.

This left YuWon with no choice but to keep thinking.

Should he kill him or capture him alive?

The thought didn't last long.

"Let's wait and see."

Right now, he couldn't do anything against Lee Rangjin with his current abilities.

Furthermore, he couldn't judge what kind of person he was right now.

YuWon pushed aside the thought of Lee Rangjin and landed in the middle of the Celestial Realm, looking around.

"I need to delve a little deeper."

YuWon took out a hat from his inventory and put it on his head.

"The Great Sage, Who Pacifies Heaven..."

Son OhGong's sworn brother, who also bears the name of the King of Great Power.

Not much was known about him. Apart from fighting alongside Son OhGong against the Celestial Realm, he hadn't done much else.

However, he was a high-ranking player who could threaten the Celestial Realm.

Rankings don't lie.

There must be a reason for the ranking.

"I'm sure he'll be pleased."

Ever since he learned that the Great Sage, Who Pacifies Heaven was alive.

Son OhGong attacked the Celestial Realm to find him, but he was eventually captured.

Later, a thousand years later, when he finally broke the seal of the Five Elements Mountain on his own, Son OhGong set out to find him again, but he was already beyond any help.

YuWon remembered the instructions he had been given at that time.

"The direction..."

Turning his head, he saw an old and dilapidated building.

"That way."

Pak-.

A damp and musty smell pricked at the tip of his nose. A man with a long scar running from his forehead to his right eye frowned.

The Celestial Guardian, High Ranker Jin Hurak, muttered as he entered the prison.

"I can't get used to this place, no matter how many times I come."

Several years had passed since he was transferred from Celestial General in the Celestial Realm to Chief of the Guard.

He was told that he had been demoted for his sins, but he didn't take the news well.

"Who the hell do they think I am, that I have to spend ten years in this sh*tty place..."

Of course, a decade wasn't a long time for a Ranker.

As long as they weren't stabbed in the throat, they had a life that seemed like eternity guaranteed.

Furthermore, Jin Hurak's crime was brutally killing dozens of his subordinates due to the loss of emotional control.

"Guardian, are you here?"

The guards under his command bowed in greeting upon seeing Jin Hurak.

It was much later than the original starting time, but no one scolded him.

"Anything to report?"

"All clear. Nothing worth reporting."

"Yes. What could be happening in this boring place?"

This dark and silent place, with only the occasional candle as light.

The prisoners were so terrified of what the guards might do that they took care not to breathe.

"I'd rather have some fun if the prisoners went crazy and caused a ruckus..."

Jin Hurak looked at the prisoners in the cages.

"That's unlikely."

A part of him wanted to play with them and pass the time.

But if he got caught, his punishment would be much longer than a decade.

"Hey, guys."

"Yes!"

"Tell a joke."

"What?"

"A joke, a joke. Do something funny."

Jin Hurak sat back in his chair, leaned back halfway, and gestured for them to do it.

The guards hesitated, unsure of what to do. They were Rankers like Jin Hurak, but unlike ordinary Rankers, Jin Hurak was a superior Ranker with a different classification level.

They didn't know if they could defeat him even if they tried, or if they would be summarily executed at worst.

"Tsk. Idiots."

Jin Hurak clicked his tongue and waved his hand at the guards, who remained rigid at his command.

"Get out of here. Step aside or go clean something."

The guards, their faces slightly brightened, bowed and left.

Everything returned to calm.

"It's strange, by the way."

It had been four years since he became the Chief Guardian here.

Not a long time, but enough to know how the prison works.

And in all that time, he had been asking himself the same question.

"What kind of prison holds all this power?"

It was strange to see himself, a Ranker on the verge of becoming a High Ranker, as the Chief Guardian.

However, this was a direct demotion, and it was understandable because it was a punishment.

However...

Not long ago, he heard that his predecessor had been a Chief Guardian of a similar rank.

The Chief Guardian is a high-ranking Ranker, and the guards who run the prison are all ordinary Rankers..."

With a glance, Jin Hurak observed the prisoners.

"It's definitely strange."

After all, the prisoners couldn't leave their cells.

So far, the guards had had no trouble controlling them.

To make sure, he checked the prisoner list, but none of them were anything special.

So, what was the point of investing so much power into this?

He wondered.

He sat at his desk, passing the time with such useless thoughts.

Bam.

Then, the prison door opened.

For a moment, the moonlight from outside poured in.

Shortly after...

Thud.

The prison door slammed shut once more.

"......?"

Jin Hurak felt strange.

"Did I leave the door open?"

He remembered closing the door upon entering.

He stood up and approached the man.

"No one can enter here except the manager. Go back."

"...Jin Hurak?"

The man recognized him.

He stared at the man's face, wondering if he knew him.

Certainly, it was an unfamiliar face. Although his face was quite recognizable to the outside world, the way the man looked at him didn't seem like mere recognition.

"Do you know me?"

"Are you the Chief Guardian?"

"Yes, and?"

"Then it's fine."

"It's fine?"

Thud-.

A familiar sound came from nearby.

The sound of a knife cutting through a hard bone. It was a sound Jin Hurak was familiar with.

However...

"The direction the sound is coming from..."

The movement of his body, like the flow of his thoughts.

Everything seemed unnatural and slow.

After a while, Jin Hurak realized.

"It's coming from my body..."

Crack-!

A fountain of blood shot up, splattering against the not-so-high ceiling, barely noticeable against the jet-black ceiling.

Thud-.

YuWon sheathed his sword again and said, "It's good that the person to be killed is in a good place to die."

Jin Hurak's body fell to the ground.

He was one of the many Rankers who had fought alongside YuWon since the invasion of the Outer Gods.

The problem was that while fleeing from the fight against the Outer Gods, he often argued with the internal Rankers and caused trouble.

In the end, he even threw a knife at his own comrades.

"Those who are unnecessary must be ruthlessly cut off."

It was as important to YuWon as saving someone's life.

"I'm already here."

After piercing through Jin Hurak, YuWon looked towards the long staircase leading to the basement.

'The King of Great Power.'

The prison.

They say if you want to hide a tree, hide it in the forest.

Unlike Son OhGong, who was sealed in the Five Elements Mountain, the King of Great Power was sealed in a celestial prison.

Although his form is different from the other prisoners.

As long as you know where he is sealed, it shouldn't be too difficult to find him.

'Now it's a race against time.'

He wondered how long it would take for the outside world to realize what is happening.

Probably at least thirty minutes, at most two hours.

If there's a problem with the guards' shift, they would know there was a problem in the prison.

'The location is on the ground floor.'

Thump-.

["Cinder Eyes" illuminate the way]

YuWon's eyes burned red.

'It's time to move'.