Chapter 8: Celestial Realm (5) (2/2)
“It’s not for free”
The old man frowned
Chi-Woo clearly pronounced each word and said, “You ate the corn I gave you”
The old rinned widely and took off his beret “You really are his brother” His wrinkled eyes softly curved upwards “You’re saying the sas as hi hih”
“Just come back safely When you come back, prepare to eat sashi+mi until your stomach is about to burst” It was not hard to tell that this was the oldhim on Soon after, the old man put the beret back on his head, and Chi-Woo turned away
Brrrrrrrrrrrm!
As the motor sound faded, Chi-Woo walked towards the direction the old man had pointed him to The thick mist made it hard to see, and the rocks were slippery because of the ot steeper the further he walked Even though the path was very difficult to climb, Chi-Woo steadfastly adhered to the path that the oldfor him to climb thea short break, he sat on a flat rock and looked around
ed The slope of theup Stagnant, blue water filled the surface of what looked like a crater The view of the hazy, flowing s reminded him of a miniaturized version of the Paektu Mountain Chi-Woo looked on in a daze, and then soht his eyes There was a black hole at the edge of his sight Judging by hoater was surging near the hole, Chi-Woo was sure that it was a cave Chi-Woo beganHe soon reached the top of the place he found the hole in and sloent down
round The water was deeper than he thought, coer than he had expected when he stood right in front of it Even though it felt like he was facing a monster’s mouth, Chi-Woo walked in without hesitation The inside of the cave was quite dark, so he needed to depend on his phone’s flashlight while walking After walking for a long time, the water that had reached his knees was now just up to the soles of his feet
‘How is the level of water getting lohen I’ about this question, he saw a faint light frohter and brighter until it illu when his phone’s flashlight was completely drowned out Before he realized it, he was already surrounded by nothing but a brilliant luminescence, and he let out an excla before—not in reality, but in his drea placed the source of his sense of déjà vu, Chi-Woo was about to take a step forhen he felt a sudden suction, sweeping him off to God-knohere And when he finally opened his instinctively closed eyes again—
“!” Even though he had experienced this before, Chi-Woo was still unable to suppress his surprise
A coht opened up in front of hin to his populating the streets of the city; living beings that didn’t look like hu their wings, bears and other beasts that looked like they had failed to eat garlic and ht and thus couldn’t becoy), monsters with tentacles that he had only seen in lance, most of them appeared to be humanoid, but there were some that looked completely different from humans If he hadn’t seen Giant Fist, who looked like a black lizard, he ht have dumbly screamed out loud
Chi-Woo returned to his senses and realized that he was standing in what seemed like a circular plaza in the center of the street It was very wide, and s continued to pop up from the air
‘Did I also come out like that?’
Everyone who came out seemed to be used to this, as they casually walked out of the plaza There were also beings outside that see for someone to come out; in a way, this whole place looked like an airport
er’s space’
On the other hand, it was no wonder that it was different, as unlike before, he had coh the proper process this time
‘But what do I do now?’ Chi-Woo looked around and sloalked forward His senses were more vivid than in his dreao first?’</eet out of the center of the portal Not one to sit idle, Chi-Woo was about to blindy nificent white castle he could see in the distance when—
“Ohhhhhhh!” A thunderous voice pierced through his ears Chi-Woo turned to the source of the sound and stu towards hi in the wind
“Giant Fist-huk!”
“Sir, you’ve arrived!” Giant Fist gave Chi-Woo a very strong hug as soon as he ithin reach
“I can’t—! I can’t breathe—!”
“Sir, you can’t enter through the entrance!” Fortunately, an angel that looked like the er stopped Giant Fist, and Giant Fist released Chi-Woo froot out of the square, Giant Fist began crying
“Thank goodness…I’lad…”
“I’m not dead”
“But sir, e last separated, you were forcibly dragged out You don’t knoorried I was about you”
“I wasn’t really dragged out though”
“Anyway…Thank you for co here Thank you so an to redden
Chi-Woo sighed Rather than being glad to see him alive, it seemed as if Giant Fist was more touched that Chi-Woo believed his words and came to the Celestial Realm with his own feet
“It’s because I became certain that this was real” Chi-Woo continued while tapping his waist “I’h all that”
“Yes I also heard about what happened, and that’s why I aiting for you here If you decide to couide station so…” Giant Fist wiped his eyes and finally gave a s directly to the Celestial Real an avatar?”
“I was surprised” Chi-woo’s words were brief
Giant Fist smirked “But sir, you don’t look very surprised…ah!” Giant Fist slapped his forehead so hard that it ed hio, sir I’ll tell you ?”
“To the testing site”
When Giant Fist spoke with a nervous tone, Chi-Woo also becahtly nervous “When does it start?”
“There are probably so the test”
“Huh? But I caht time”
“The test doesn’t start at the same time for everyone Everyone takes it separately, but…” Giant Fist cleared his throat “The acceptance is based on a rolling basis”
“A rolling basis?” Chi-Woo wasn’t able to fully understand Giant Fist’s words “Has the test already started? What if the first test is to arrive at the testing site at the correct tiht?”
“Ahahah! No Sir, it’s not like that at all” Giant Fist burst out laughing and quickly shook his head “Sir, you don’t have to worry about it toobasis, it’s still a conditional acceptance From what I know, there have been very few cases of failure due to tardiness until the fourth or fifth recruitment”
“Fourth or fifth recruitroups that take the test in advance There were a total of six recruites If you count the total nues, it’ll easily pass over thousands”
“Then my brother…”
“He was part of the 1st recruitment Honestly, rather than a recruitment, they called for hio in by hihed “Even after he went, they selected a second group of test-takers And seeing how they sent out the seventh recruitment announce too good”
Chi-Woo organized his thoughts for a bit and asked, “Mister, you told ht?”
“Yes Hhed and bunched up his shoulders before continuing, “Then it anize a massive recruitment like this to specially select heroes, who could all save a world, seven times”
“It may not be unprecedented, but it’s certainly rare”
“Then, what is the situation like?”
“Sir, I don’t know” Giant Fist i predictions Since they have tried to recruit heroes seven times and evenworse As a result, the nu as well”
Giant Fist breathed heavily “In order to knohat’s going on inside…”
“You’re telling me that I need to pass the test”
“Yes But honestly, regardless of whether you pass or not, the test itself is not very difficult”
“Is that so?”
“You just have to stand in front of a round orb”
Raphael had told him that even ordinary people could take the test, but Chi-Woo found it hard to believe that the test would be that easy
“I only have to stand in front of it?”
“Yes The orb will automent?”
“Hmm, it’s hard to explain this part of the process” Giant Fist struggled to find the right words as he continued, “Let e whether Sir Chi-Woo is suitable and necessary for the future to save a specific world in crisis” When Chi-Woo only stared at hiroaned once ine a toilet”
“What did you say?”
“A toilet, toilet And let’s say that our goal is to make the toilet perfor its function…”
“A toilet’s function is to reoal, who should we send?” Giant Fist continued in high spirits, “We need to send those who ate a lot rather than those with an empty stomach Or someone who drank a lot of water We may also consider those with enteritis So that they can poop and pee as fast as possible”
Chi-Woo looked disgusted, but he understood what Giant Fist was trying to say There were two outcomes for a world in crisis: extinction or salvation Thus, the test he was going to take was selecting those ere fit to save the world on the verge of extinction That didn’t usting metaphor Giant Fist had come up with as they walked
Suddenly, Giant Fist came to a stop Before Chi-Woo realized it, they had walked inside the pure white castle Now that he was in, he saw that there were a group of creatures queuing in a long line on the path of light By a rough estimate, there were easily over hundreds of test-takers
ht’
“As expected, there are a lot less applicants It’s really fortunate” Unlike Chi-Woo who clicked his tongue, Giant Fist murmured calmly
“A lot less applicants?”
“Yes There were a crazy a the 2nd recruitment If everyone stood in one line, it would have reached all the way to the Stranger’s space” Giant Fist scanned the line and snorted “But I can assure you, sir, only one or tould pass out of all these test takers”
“What the hell? Who was the punk saying…” A hero who stood at the end of the line seery eyes “Ah, it’s you” He snorted when he recognized Giant Fist “Tch You sure talk big as a five-tih he’s going to take his sixth test soon”
“Five-time test taker?” Chi-Woo turned around to look at Giant Fist No wonder he knew about the test so well
“Het in line” Giant Fist spoke as calmly as possible and quickly moved his feet
Chi-Woo stood behind Giant Fist and fell into contemplation Giant Fist told him that the Celestial Realether Chi-Woo could uess from the perspective of a Korean; it probably meant that all his fellow test-takers were heroes However, most of them would be eliminated in this test Moreover, he heard that the current situation was getting worse and worse
o to find his brother was a place very little could be done even if a bunch of heroes with the potential to save a world rushed in together In other words, it was an environ a trial of hellish difficulty
At that el quickly fly towards him