Chapter 576 – Father & Son (1) (1/2)
Although his expression and words were like those of a kid who was telling on someone who had roughed him up, Yeon-woo’s tone and cadence sounded mechanical, like he was reading from a textbook. However, this was something Kronos enjoyed.
“Oh my! You’re not injured anywhere, are you? You’re still too weak.” Kronos played along. It was the kind of conversation he’d always hoped to have with his sons after his wife’s illness was cured.
However, Kronos’ use of the word “weak” provoked Yeon-woo and made his eyes twitch. “Weak…you say?”
“Hmm? I must have hit a sore spot. But, am I wrong? It’s stupid to get beaten up by these guys. I didn’t raise you like that, son.”
“I don’t believe you raised me in the first place?”
“Since we’re married, whomever Rhea raised, I also raised.”
A thought crossed Yeon-woo’s mind to just cancel the Summon of the Dead. He hadn’t expected his reunion with his father would be like this. He’d been hoping that they would defeat the Demonism together and then catch up. However, Yeon-woo was only receiving bruises and cuts!
Kronos burst into a large smile as if he found it cute to see his son holding down the anger that constantly reared its head.
Yeon-woo frowned. “What’s so funny?”
“Well, everything is.” Kronos, who had always seen Yeon-woo with a serious and unsatisfied expression, couldn’t help smiling. He was having a lot of fun.
Yeon-woo became even more annoyed by that look. That damn father… It seemed that he and his father were just not compatible. They would probably clash often since they had such different thoughts and expectations.
“Anyway.” After laughing for a while, Kronos wiped the tears from his eyes with his index finger and smiled. His eyes now reflected a sense of pride—the pride of a father who could see how well his son had grown. “It is very nice to meet you like this, son.”
“Yeah. I’m pretty happy as well. Although, I didn’t know that my own father would appear this way,” Yeon-woo continued sulking as he squinted and glanced at Kronos, who was smiling and looking at him with a kindly expression.
Smile. Yeon-woo didn’t even realize that a faint smile had appeared on his lips.
“That’s right. I thought we would meet again on Earth. I never thought it would be in a place like this. Let’s see… How many years has it been?”
“It hasn’t been that long ago for me.”
“That’s right. It wouldn’t have been very long according to how much time has passed for you. To be honest, I don’t have many memories…” Kronos smiled as his words trailed off.
Yeon-woo looked at his father and realized that Kronos was looking at him yet focusing on something else. He could easily guess what it was. Even though Kronos had closed his eyes after dividing the spring, Vigrid was like his alter ego. It was likely that Yeon-woo’s accumulated experiences were inside Vigrid, and now that Kronos had regained his ego, he was probably reflecting on Yeon-woo’s past experiences.
Yeon-woo felt strange about it. What did his father, who had stayed by his side and supported his efforts, think of him? He probably saw Yeon-woo as a child playing with danger as if it were fire. Children always stayed young to their parents. Yeon-woo’s chest tightened with a not-entirely unfamiliar feeling. He didn’t want to let it go.
As Yeon-woo and Kronos enjoyed their reunion, the Demonisms ground their teeth at being ignored.
『While I’m standing here…!』
『Are they fooling around?』
『Father and son, they’re both despicable!』
They had been taken aback when Kronos unexpectedly manifested, but they quickly understood the situation and began talking once more.
“Oh, are you all still here? From the start, you guys have been able to read the room! Hmph!” Kronos looked displeasingly at the guys who ruined the good time he was having with his son. “Well, even if he’s such a weak son, he said you hit him. As his father, I can’t just let this happen without doing something.” Kronos twisted a corner of his mouth.
Whoosh!
The world of Kronos’ conscious mind shook again, this time due to another reason. Yeon-woo had felt intimidated when Demonism shook the conscious mind, but when his father did it, it simply felt comfortable, as though he were in a warm embrace.
On the other hand, the Demonisms grew astonished and their expressions stiffened now that their plan to take over Kronos’ corpse had been interrupted when Kronos regained his ego. Kronos’ true body was responding to Kronos now.
Sss. Kronos’ darkness appeared and began to push away the Demonism’s darkness, which had just seemed to be on the cusp of taking over the world of conscious mind.If the Demonism’s darkness was cloudy and sticky like a swamp, Kronos’ darkness was like the night sky. Though it was the same darkness, the sensations were completely different.
After a long period of time, the spring had been rewound. Although the spring was only half its original size, it had been enough to awaken Kronos’ true body out of its deep sleep. However, due to the incomplete clockwork, Kronos didn’t have complete control over his body.
The Demonism had also been a part of Kronos’ Consciousness, and so it still had command over Kronos’ true body. It was difficult for Kronos to completely take over his own body with only half of a spring. However, Kronos thought that this level was sufficient. No matter how much Demonism struggled to become the owner of his true body, what could he do with the real owner present?
“How dare a mere portion of the Black King’s darkness—no better than a servant—covet the king’s possessions? You don’t know how serious of an offense this is, do you?” Kronos said arrogantly as he released his destructive powers. It seemed that Kronos had returned to the time when he’d been young and known as an unpredictable scoundrel. His eyes, which reflected his determination to stomp on lesser beings, pierced through the crowd of Demonisms.
The faces of the Demonisms all turned red and green when they heard the word “servant”. When they thought of how Kronos had treated them in the past, they could not help getting angry. Kronos was implying that they were little more than tools.