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She learned later that she didn’t have even the right to be jealous. Because Shin Jiho’s last words are the reason Joo Yiwon desperately held onto his own life, despite his desire to end it. Even the time they spent together was all the divine blessing of Shin Jiho.

Joo Yiwon, who lived because he couldn’t die, made the impossible possible just to see Shin Jiho again. And when he left for his first love, he didn’t look back once.

Lee Ha Yeon continues to see new sides of Joo Yiwon. Before, she could’ve never imagined Joo Yiwon would respect an ordinary human or bow down to one just to look good.

When worlds first collapse, many adopt a hierarchical structure. Naturally, the new class with power is the awakened ones. Non-awakened ones who don’t have the ability to protect themselves from fissures can only follow them.

However, this is a world with Joo Yiwon, who should’ve never existed here.

Not even three years after the fissures appeared. An entity unlikely to be born even centuries later intervened. Joo Yiwon predicted everything that would happen in the future and blocked all disasters that should’ve naturally occurred. 

Thanks to that, this society has maintained its original structure. So while it’s natural that Yiwon doesn’t wield absolute command, she still finds it fascinating that Yiwon is so conscious of how someone perceives him.

“But you didn’t lose everything, right? Since you’ve caught one, it’s alright.”

“Yes….”

“Then let’s go.”

Yiwon gestured with his eyes and Ha Yeon took the lead. In the middle of the night, Dream Road is completely deserted. The two went down a hidden flight of stairs and walked to the end of a secret tunnel before stopping in front of a door. 

The person in front of the door is Dream Road’s CEO, Choi Sang Ho. His eyes lit up when he saw Ha Yeon, then returned to a polite look once he saw Yiwon.

“You have arrived”

“Working hard.”

“Haha, this isn’t hard work at all…. Then, I will head upstairs.”

Even though Yiwon, who’s younger than him, spoke informally, Choi Sang Ho’s attitude could not be more sincere. Sang Ho met Ha Yeon’s eyes and mouthed “Lee Ha Yeon, fighting!” before heading upstairs. Seeing this, Yiwon smirked and spoke after Sang Ho left. 

“Still have a good relationship, I see.”

“I can throw him away at any time.”

Hearing Yiwon’s words as a warning, Ha Yeon quickly drew a line. Yiwon shook his head.

“How can you throw away your person so easily? I also like that guy, use him well. Wouldn’t it be nice if you also grew attached to this place and stayed?”

“…Yes.”

It was hard to tell if Yiwon was being serious or just joking. Yiwon placed his hand over the door Sang Ho had been guarding.

Mana flowed from Yiwon’s fingertips and stretched across the entire door like veins. Though even the slightest wrong move would trigger the trap under several hundreds of layers of barriers, this is nothing to Yiwon. He can move a huge amount of mana at once without the slightest leak thanks to his delicate control.

‘To think that this is him in a weakened state.’

The Joo Yiwon that Lee Ha Yeon knew was much, much stronger than this. To be with Shin Jiho, Yiwon had to give up over half of his power. But despite being significantly weaker, Yiwon’s power is still overwhelming.

Lee Ha Yeon expressed her awe internally as she followed Yiwon into the room. The bitter smell of blood that wafted out of the open door only grew stronger as they went in. Inside, a large beast lay sprawled in a pool of blood.

Its identity: the legendary beast with the body and tail of a lion, and the head and wings of an eagle–the Griffin.

Most of the legendary beasts that appear in Earth’s legends actually exist. Among those beasts, the griffin is quite well-known and powerful. However, the dying griffin in front of them right now is so weak that he can’t change into his human form.

As soon as he saw Yiwon, the griffin squeezed out the last of his strength to lift his body. Yet Yiwon didn’t even need to move his hands to push the griffin away with his mana. Even as he slammed into the wall and threw up blood, the griffin glared at Yiwon.

“Joo Yiwon, you motherf*cker….”

Joo Yiwon tsked as if the voice filled with violence didn’t phase him.

“It feels like this took too much effort for such meager results.”

“I apologize.”

“It’s not your fault the Mireu guys have a lot more fear than we thought.”

The griffin in front of them is a hunter under Mireu Guild. Even as a human, this legendary beast is an A-rank hunter, and he holds a fairly high position in Mireu Guild.

The reason Yiwon abducted this guy was for one piece of information. For days, they dug through the griffin’s memories–even those that he himself couldn’t recall. Yet Yiwon didn’t find the information he wanted.

It was a waste of time. So now that this griffin serves no worth or purpose, Yiwon’s come to end things cleanly. 

“Since it looks like you want to die, I’ll take your life.”

The legendary beast trembled at Yiwon’s low voice. The griffin was just thinking that he’d rather die than continue to live in shame like this, but…. Actually hearing his death sentence suddenly filled him with fear. 

As a legendary beast with far more acute senses than humans, he instinctively knows. That Joo Yiwon is much more sinister than death.

Though the griffin struggled, his body had stiffened out of fear, and all he could do was squirm around. Yiwon stretched his hand out to the griffin.

“Thanks.”

Yiwon said apathetically. This wasn’t out of respect for the dying. It’s merely a habit left from when Joo Yiwon didn’t like using this skill.

As soon as he laid his ghostly cold hand on the beast’s head.

The beast let out a silent screech. Although it was excruciatingly painful when he was tortured and had his memories dug through, that was all child’s play compared to the agonizing pain he was experiencing right now.

All things are dismantled under that hand. Mana, vitality, the physical body, and even the soul. Every single component of him is broken up into the smallest pieces to flow into Joo Yiwon.

Though the griffin felt like the pain continued for an eon, in truth, not even a second passed. 

When Yiwon lifted his hand, the legendary beast had been completely dismantled and there was no trace left of him. Yiwon slowly opened and closed his fist. Even though Yiwon absorbed the mana of a centuries-old griffin, this amount of mana is nothing to Yiwon.

Yiwon has once feasted on mana from a soul much cleaner and tastier than this. He has savored the crystallization of several millennia of the star’s preparation for this very moment to his heart’s content.

No matter how many beings he consumes, they all fall short of that single taste of Jiho.

“…”

Yiwon suppressed his habitual craving and moved. Not only did he ruin his palate with this trash, but he didn’t even gain information. This was a huge loss.

This is the fifth Mireu guildmember he’s caught. But not a single one of them knew anything. Yiwon looked down at the hand he used to prey on the griffin and mumbled.

“Capturing Kim Tae Yong would be better.”

“As you know, the risk of that is too high. On top of that, if this gets too big, Shin Jiho-nim might learn of it as well.”

“I know.”

Yiwon responded indifferently to Ha Yeon’s fear. If Jiho saw the current Yiwon, he’d get angry. Naturally, he’d be disappointed, maybe even sad, and maybe… he’d want to erase the name Joo Yiwon from his life.

Normally, it’s hard to even pass the first three years after fissures appear. But once the big obstacle in the beginning is cleared, the world’s survival rate increases exponentially. 

As the first administrator, Shin Jiho was carefully crafted just for this moment. Whether this world degenerates to a mere dungeon or retains its original form depends heavily on the administrator. 

This world gave Shin Jiho only the best. Everything from a beautiful appearance, a sharp mind, and even a harmonious and wealthy family. 

So that this child who grew up loved would love this world more than he loves his own life. So that even at the expense of his own life, this world will pass the first three years.

That Shin Jiho would never accept killing someone just for information. Even though he knows this, Yiwon didn’t stop. 

Who Shin Jiho likes is the past Joo Yiwon anyways.  

He never thought he’d be jealous of his own past. 

A bitter smile formed on Yiwon’s mouth. Although he already knew this, confirming it with his own two eyes hurt. It hurts so much that despite thinking it’s a good thing he followed Jiho there today, he’d rather forget everything.

In the end, Joo Yiwon can’t win against his past self. Dumb, weak… yet so much more pure and gentle of a person than the present Yiwon.

Like a miracle, he returned, but Joo Yiwon himself can never return to how he was before. Too many things have happened. Instead of this meaningless jealousy, he’s better off fighting to stand by Shin Jiho’s side.

“Dragon’s Palace. The Dragon’s Palace….”

Yiwon repeated the information he wanted to himself. 

After this land was decided on for the birth of the administrator, Shin Jiho, mana was heavily centered around the Korean Peninsula. 

Influenced by this mana, Korea has a higher ratio of awakened ones than any other country does. And that applies to non-humans as well. Thanks to that, like the hunters, the otherworldly powers surrounding Korea are also the strongest.

Of those powers, the strongest is the Dragon Palace in the East Sea. That is the actual power behind Mireu, who placed their representative, Kim Tae Yong, in the position of guildmaster.

Currently, Joo Yiwon’s biggest goal is to keep Mireu Guild, who’s blocking him, in check. 

Of course, Joo Yiwon can simply wipe Mireu Guild out if he wanted to. However, getting rid of Mireu Guild won’t solve anything.

While not as big as Mireu, there’s countless forces all around the world. If he gets rid of Mireu, a second and third Mireu will appear. In fact, they might have stronger unity than Mireu thanks to a common fear. 

This is why Joo Yiwon wants to suppress Mireu’s origin and head of the otherworldly powers, the Dragon Palace. He’s not trying to exterminate them. He’s just taking out a couple of people at the top to scare them into not trying anything stupid. This is the simplest method, right after exterminating everyone.

On the other hand, Ha Yeon’s expression darkened as she looked at Yiwon deep in thought. Yiwon saw her loyal face and chuckled.

“Worried?”

“No, I am not.”

“You can tell me truthfully. It looks like you’re worried about many things.”

“Indeed, I am… worried. Did you not return to live in peace? However, it seems that you are too impatient….”

“You’re right. But I can’t be at peace unless everything is under my control.”

“Did you not say that impatience begets mistakes?”

So, to create the right moment, you must bow down and wait, even if that’s to the enemy. Ha Yeon clearly remembers what Yiwon told her. 

“I did.”

Unlike before, Yiwon doesn’t have a solid base right now. Joo Yiwon desires absolute control and dominance over every situation. He is only satisfied once he eliminates all uncertainties and everything is in his hand for him to move at his will.

But the current situation where there’s too many variables and Jiho’s been in danger multiple times has made Yiwon impatient. 

“But that advice is for those below me.”

“…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t fail after I’ve come all this way.”

He might make a few mistakes in his impatience, but he won’t fail. He can’t fail. It’s impossible for him to fail. After all, Yiwon returned to reverse the biggest failure of his life.

This is his last chance. 

He has not even the slightest intention of letting him go again.

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LaZ Bird Corner

It’s like that saying. Jiho would die to save the world, but Yiwon would let the world burn to save Jiho.

!! UPDATE NOTES !!

This is the last chapter of “The Last as well as The First.” See everyone April 2nd with 12. I’ve Settled the Bill!

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