CH 171

Gi-Gyu was returned to the rest area from before.

He mumbled, “It was so hectic.”

This was his review of the second test. He hadn’t experienced any particular difficulties, but he had been frantic during the entire test. He felt emotionally drained, but at least he had gained plenty of useful information.

Gi-Gyu called out, “El.”

-Yes, Master…

El sounded weak. Gi-Gyu instantly realized why.

He asked, “Have you remembered your past because of this test?”

-Yes.

El replied immediately. While Lou had erased his memories, El’s memories had either faded away with time or had been erased for an unknown reason. She appeared confused because she now remembered bits of her memories.

Suddenly, El said,

-Thank you, Master.

Gi-Gyu wordlessly smiled at the sudden appreciation. The second test brought many changes for him, but the biggest one was…

‘My connection to El has become much stronger,’ Gi-Gyu realized in excitement.

When he had been healing El, Gabriel had attacked him from behind. Then, Raphael had used his body to shield El. The important thing was that, at that moment, Gi-Gyu had felt something very similar to one of his previous experiences.

‘Just like then...’ Gi-Gyu remembered how he had involuntarily synced with everyone at the funeral home. The similarity was the feeling; the difference was whom he had synced with. There, he had synced with every mourner in the funeral home; in the simulation, he had only synced with El. Their connection had strengthened, allowing him to better sense her emotions and thoughts.

Gi-Gyu replied, “There is no need to thank me. It is my job as your master to protect you.”

-This conversation is becoming very annoying.

Lou muttered.

-Thank you, Master.

El whispered.

Gi-Gyu ignored Lou’s comment and asked in a heavy voice, “By the way… El! Your memories have returned, right?”

-Not all of them, but… They are returning slowly, Master.

El’s voice also sounded heavy as she replied.

Worried that he might hurt her feelings, Gi-Gyu asked cautiously, “Then can I ask you a few questions?”

El replied.

-Of course. I will answer any questions you ask, Master.

Lou seemed curious as well as he commented,

-I want to know a few things too. I don’t know about my side of the world, but the angels’ side has always been so secretive.

Gi-Gyu could feel that El was a little nervous, so he took a short rest. Since the tests were just simulations, he didn’t feel physically fatigued, but he was mentally exhausted.

Gi-Gyu sat down on the floor. “Let’s just check one thing first.”

-Of course, Master.

Gi-Gyu looked up and asked the system, “Give me my reward first.”

Just like after the first test, something dropped from the sky.

***

Gi-Gyu touched the item in his hand, which shone in gold. It was a cup that looked beautiful, like a piece of art.

Gi-Gyu asked quietly, “So is this the Holy Grail?”

He remembered the Vatican Michael, originally named Gabriel according to the second test, talking about it. But…

“This is only half of it.” Gi-Gyu had only received one-half of the Holy Grail. It was as if someone had cut the cup in half vertically and given Gi-Gyu a piece.

“Also, I feel strangely connected to it,” Gi-Gyu commented. He couldn’t explain it, but he felt a connection to it. He was linked to his other Egos via an invisible thread that he could feel. However, he felt no such connection with this item, and the item also didn’t give him any abilities like his Egos. But still, something about it felt strangely familiar.

Lou suggested,

-Maybe it’s because you have a piece of the Holy Grail inside your body.

Gi-Gyu nodded in agreement. After he had gone berserk in the Gangnam Gate, Lim Hye-Sook had used a piece of the Holy Grail from Michael to fix him.

“That must mean…” Gi-Gyu trailed off.

El replied,

-You’re right, Master.

This had to mean that this Holy Grail was a piece of the original.

“This is so complicated,” Gi-Gyu muttered. With Gabriel’s Holy Grail in hand, Gi-Gyu went through all the information he had gathered and tried to piece the puzzle. It didn’t take long for Gi-Gyu to figure it out. Perhaps it was because of his heightened intelligence.

“The Holy Grail the Vatican Michael has must be the other half of this piece. Combining them would make the grail whole…” Gi-Gyu trailed off again. He had solved the Holy Grail mystery, but there was still one question that bothered him.

“Just what is he?” Gi-Gyu wondered. The player he knew as Michael turned out to be Gabriel in El’s memory. Just what was happening here?

-I think you should go meet him, Master.

Gi-Gyu nodded and agreed, “I think so too.”

El was right. There was no point in them discussing it at this point. The best thing would be to confront Michael and talk to him. If Michael was indeed Gabriel, why was he using the name “Michael?” And why was it that he didn’t recognize El?

‘Or perhaps he was pretending not to recognize her,’ Gi-Gyu wondered. After the Gangnam Gate had been closed, Michael had told him he would return once he had his affairs organized.

For now, Gi-Gyu stored the Holy Grail in Brunheart’s gate.

Old Man Hwang asked telepathically,

-Can I also study this item?

Gi-Gyu replied to him, ‘Of course, Sir. You can do whatever you wish with it.’ 

-Thanks to you, I get to study so many precious items. I’m grateful.

‘It’s no big deal, Sir.’ Gi-Gyu scratched his cheek in embarrassment.

Old Man Hwang warned in a more serious tone,

-But, please be careful. No matter what happens, keep your safety the top priority.

‘Gi-Gyu remained quiet for a while before replying, ‘Thank you for always watching out for me, Sir.’ 

It was nice to have someone worry for you. Gi-Gyu closed the gate and inhaled deeply, “Huuup.”

The feeling of magic filling his lungs felt refreshing. Gi-Gyu was currently in the rest area, where the air was rich with magical energy. This had to be the best place for any players to rest and recuperate.

To change the subject, Gi-Gyu called out, “El!”

-Yes, Master. I’m ready for anything you wish.

El replied promptly.

“Just why did you have to carry out the holy sword ritual back then?” Gi-Gyu asked bluntly. “And what really happened on the day of the ritual? Tell me everything you remember. Oh, and what was your relationship with Raphael?”

-Moron.

Lou muttered while El chuckled.

***

-God, our father, died.

El explained in a serious voice.

-Afterward, the world experienced many changes. Although he never got involved in worldly affairs, his existence maintained and protected the world.

Gi-Gyu and Lou listened to El quietly.

Lou agreed,

-I admit that this is true. Do you remember when you asked me if God existed?

Gi-Gyu had asked Lou this question during the second test. Lou had avoided answering the question at the time.

Lou replied,

-God definitely did exist. But he is gone now.

El explained,

-Yes, Lou is correct. God disappeared. They wanted God out of the picture because… They wanted the seal that trapped the underground monsters undone.

“The underground monsters?” Gi-Gyu asked.

-The underground monsters…

El’s voice shook as she continued,

-They are God's forgotten brothers.

Before El could say anything more, Lou quickly added,

-They are also hell’s original owners.

Gi-Gyu gasped.

Lou continued,

-They are referred to as the underground monsters because hell was built atop their prison.

One by one, secrets were being revealed. Gi-Gyu quickly checked his body.

“The penalty hasn’t been triggered…” he said in surprise. What Lou and El told him had to be important secrets of the Tower and the world. Yet he didn’t feel the pain he would usually feel from the penalty.

“Is it because this is the 50th floor?” Gi-Gyu wondered. Was the penalty already gone?

Lou replied,

-Probably not. The system must consider this information something you already know.

“What?”

- The first test gave you my memories. You might not realize it, but they are already in your head. I mean that everything I’m telling you right now is deep inside your brain somewhere. That has to be why the penalty hasn’t been triggered yet. The penalty will disappear fully only after you conquer the 50th floor.

“But what about the things El told me? The information she’s giving me…” Suddenly, Gi-Gyu clapped and continued, “Wait! It must be the same for El. After the second test, I must’ve obtained all of her information too.”

-You got it.

-That’s correct, Master.

Lou explained,

-You’re just failing to access the information you already have. We’re telling you things that can trigger the memories inside you.

Gi-Gyu nodded in understanding. Gi-Gyu had obtained Lou and El’s data from the first two tests. Unfortunately, he had no easy way to access the information and memories of the two Egos. So, Lou and El were telling him stuff that could bring to the surface the information he already had in his head.

“I got it,” Gi-Gyu replied.

Lou commented,

-Thank goodness you’re smarter now.

“Shut up.”

El continued her explanation,

-Anyway, the underground monsters could never be reawakened as long as God existed. But after God died, they began waking up. The day they are fully awake… The world will end.

El took a grim pause before adding,

-That is why the angels had to come up with a solution. Since we couldn’t defeat them, we decided on the only other solution. It had to be done by the one closest to God. One who had received God’s power.

“So they were the ones you were imprisoning with your seal,” Gi-Gyu replied.

-That’s right, Master.

Gi-Gyu nodded and asked, “But wait. El, you were inside a gate, weren’t you? If what you said is true, shouldn’t you have been in hell?”

The two Egos had just explained that the underground monsters were imprisoned under hell. So shouldn’t El have been in hell to keep them trapped?

El explained,

-The Tower is like a spear that pierces through different worlds. The Tower connects hell and my world, and it absorbed the underground monsters. The gates are like doors to other worlds and paths to the Tower.

“Ah, I see.” Gi-Gyu nodded. He didn’t understand it completely, but he got the gist.

El continued.

-I will give you a more detailed explanation about them later. Anyway, since all of these things happened due to God's disappearance, we had the duty to clean up the mess. After all, that was why God created us.

El waited for a moment for Gi-Gyu to absorb all this new information. When she thought he was ready to hear the rest, she continued,

-The only way to do this was for us to become holy swords and trap the underground monsters. And the most powerful monster among them was…

El now sounded fearful. Gi-Gyu tried to console El as he murmured, “It’s all right. You don’t have to talk about it if it’s too hard for you.”

-No, Master.

El took a deep breath before continuing.

-It was our mission to suppress Chaos.

“Chaos?”

-Yes, that’s right.

El’s voice shook, and Gi-Gyu tried to calm her down. He remembered the time when he had first met El. He found her inside a gate and…

‘So those red eyes… El was keeping one of the underground monsters away from the world, and this monster is named Chaos?’ Gi-Gyu wondered[1]. He organized his thoughts slowly and asked, “Wait, El. So when I freed you, Chaos was also freed? Didn’t you say it was a demon?”

As far as Gi-Gyu knew, the creature El was keeping away from the world was a demon. But now, she was saying that they were the underground monsters, God’s brothers.

He had never heard of the creature named Chaos before. Just what was it?

Chaos… The name only brought chaos to Gi-Gyu’s head.

El murmured,

-The answer… You’ll be able to hear it from Gabriel.

1. Gi-Gyu used this same word tentatively on one of his new skills (ch 162) ☜