Chapter 301: Webtoon Special Edition – Extra 13 Corin and His Children (6)

Ran’s condition for allowing Hyeok’s journey through the jianghu was this.

“What if we follow him and protect him? We can transform using the transformation technique, and you can also join from time to time when you have time and keep an eye on him.”

Hyeok would hardly get hurt, but even so, a parent’s heart cannot help but worry.

Hwaran could use the transformation technique and follow him closely, and I could also occasionally leave the world of shadows to take a look.

“Alright, then let’s start the project ‘leaving home is suffering like a dog’!”

“……I don’t remember us creating a project with that name.”

“……I don’t remember us creating a project with that name.”

Either way, Hyeok began to suffer from the very start.

A five-year-old child who had lived his entire life amid luxury in the Heavenly Sect, now facing the transportation of commoners and ordinary inns.

It seemed he had built up illusions about traveling the jianghu by reading novels and watching martial arts dramas, but works of fiction are still fiction.

“So, how is it?”

“……Then what did we leave home for?”

Hwaran followed him closely in the form of a cat, and seeing him go through hardships put her in a very bad mood.

Sometimes there were people who picked fights with Hyeok because he was small, but he, like the heroes of the jianghu in novels, avoided using force against defenseless commoners.

Apparently, the only ones he was willing to fight were bandits or monsters.

The child grew up upright.

“Still, seeing our son suffer in places like that doesn’t put me at ease.”

Would I like to see Hyeok mixed in with bearded old men, living uncomfortably?

Even if he is precocious, he is still a five-year-old child. Perhaps he could still afford to have more dreams and hopes.

“Besides, this area is far too peaceful compared to what I expected. I’d like to give him at least some decent memory.”

What if we put sect warriors disguised as bandits?

No, even if they were disguised, Hyeok might notice.

And above all, given Hyeok’s strength, there was the risk that the warriors would get hurt.

They wouldn’t be able to harm Hyeok, but he wouldn’t know that and wouldn’t hold back his strength.

“Would a monster be the most appropriate? How about placing a suitable one nearby and having Hyeok defeat it?”

“Nothing too dangerous.”

“A grade 2 monster, with us intervening a bit—wouldn’t that be fine?”

Hyeok inherited Hwaran’s indestructible steel body, so a grade 2 monster would hardly even be able to scratch him.

If we chose one with low offensive power and high defense, it could be ideal.

“Greetings! We present ourselves before the God of the Sun and the Demon Goddess!”

We summoned warriors from a nearby branch to look for a suitable monster, and a good candidate appeared.

“It’s said that near Qinghaicheng lives a huge turtle-shaped monster. It’s so tough that even Kunlun doesn’t dare provoke it easily.”

It wasn’t a grade 2 monster, but a quasi–grade 1, yet it seemed that Hyeok could handle it without too much trouble.

“Then… the problem is how to transport it.”

“I’ll handle it.”

It was decided that Hwaran would move it personally.

Since it lived in a river, it would be enough to send it along the current into a lake near the area where Hyeok would be active.

Thus we arrived at the place where the monster was.

Before us appeared a gigantic turtle monster, as large as a house.

“Wow… it’s quite big. At this size, it’ll do.”

A quasi–grade 1 monster.

An enemy that even knights or mages would have to risk their lives against, but to us it wasn’t a great threat.

“Grrr……”

The turtle monster saw Hwaran and, intimidated, hid inside its shell.

It had surely been crushed by the high-level demonic aura she was emitting.

“I’ll lift it.”

Hwaran lifted the turtle monster, and upon being raised, it began to flail.

“Hey! Stay still!”

She struck it with the shaft of her spear.

Seeing it tear up, I felt a bit of pity, but I must not forget that it was a monster that had devoured many people.

After completing the nighttime mission of relocating the monster, we mobilized sect warriors to spread the rumor that a huge monster lived in the lake, that it had caused much damage, and that the imperial palace was gathering a subjugation force.

The problem was—

“Didn’t too many people gather?”

“……That’s your fault.”

Did we exaggerate the rumor too much?

We spread it enough for it to reach Hyeok’s ears, and people started arriving from everywhere.

“At this rate, Hyeok might not even be able to catch it……”

“Ugh, there’s no helping it.”

“???”

At Hwaran’s confused look, I smiled.

“Come, Wadne.”

At my call, a harp descended flying from high in the sky.

The harp, the treasure of Dagda Mor, the Dannan of the earth, capable of causing changes in heaven and earth depending on the musical genre, fell into my hands.

“It’s the return of the successor of the Heavenly Demon Michael Jackson, Kim Corin!”

***

The waves were churning violently.

Faced with a natural disaster no one would think possible in a lake, the only one who remained relatively composed was Kang Hyuk.

A master of the indestructible diamond body, Hyuk kept his balance even amid the raging waves as he searched for the culprit.

— Now war is declared, and battle come down~!

He didn’t know which lunatic was belting out melodies in such a critical situation, but Hyuk’s gaze turned toward the boiling lakeshore.

And there he met shining eyes that revealed a gigantic form.

“You…! There you are!”

Hyuk immediately leapt from the boat and focused his inner energy into his fist.

Although he had restrained his divine power to curb the explosive growth characteristic of Dannan, when he unleashed his crushing pressure onto the lake, all the water within a thirty-meter radius was blasted outward.

“Guuwo?!”

The turtle yokai, struck head-on by the pressure that swept the water away, couldn’t react to the impact.

When its form was laid bare, the sailors on the boat screamed.

“T-there, it’s a yokai!”

“The yokai is fighting someone!”

They stared in shock at Hyuk battling the turtle yokai.

“How can that child face a monster like that?”

“The lake water was blown away! Are you saying that kid did that?”

It wasn’t even appropriate to call him a boy; he was little more than an infant.

They couldn’t reconcile the contrast between his outfit—a bamboo hat and martial attire seemingly imitating the heroes of the jianghu—and the overwhelming strength he displayed.

“Hyaap! Submit to the power of this Invincible Fist King!”

Moreover, from the child’s point of view, that title sounded incredibly cool.

Although the battle had turned into an underwater struggle amid waves that continued to roar, his fierce clash with the yokai left a deep impression on everyone.

“Isn’t that the famous sub-leader of the Heavenly Sect?”

“Incredible, the sub-leader of the Heavenly Sect!”

“At that age, with such power!”

Agitators from the Heavenly Sect who had mixed in among the crowd further inflated the rumors, and when the month of his jianghu journey ended, Kang Hyuk returned with a face full of pride.

“Abamama! Omamama! This son has returned safely after completing his journey through the jianghu!”

“Very good, very good, our son did excellently.”

“???”

— Pinch!

“Aaah!”

Corin cried out, and Hwaran asked calmly.

“Do you want to say it again?”

“Ah… for now, I think this will be enough.”

Hyuk decided to be satisfied with having achieved a feat worthy of boasting to his family and the children of the sect.

Naturally, he didn’t want to go back to staying in uncomfortable inns, surrounded by dozens of men.

Whatever the outcome, it could be said that Corin’s intention to prove that “leaving home is pure suffering” had worked.

……

“So that’s what happened.”

Erin, after hearing what had occurred in the Heavenly Sect, nodded with a gentle smile.

“Hehe, all the children have such strong personalities, it’s exhausting. I thought we’d already reached the limit with Deokgu, but they’re all overflowing with individuality.”

“Well, Deokgu is a special case. And if we’re talking about that, our daughter isn’t far behind either.”

At my words, Erin nodded in understanding.

“That’s true……”

We both turned our gaze to the same place.

There was Josephine Clara, playing with a child while using magic. The small child, about five years old, had striking silver hair.

“We finally meet again! My great compatriot! I have crossed eons of time for this encounter!”

“E-eh? Y-yes…? Is that so?”

“Oh, golden witch Gold Miss, who governs space-time! Join me in conquering freedom from the clutches of the Space-Time Management Office!”

“D-don’t call me Gold Miss!”

Finn Danua, the daughter born between Corin Loch and Erin Danua.

Unfortunately, her second-year syndrome had arrived far too early.

***

Finn Danua, the child born between Corin Loch and Erin Danua, could not deny that she possessed the most peculiar lineage in many respects.

The God of the Sun and the Goddess of Justice. The daughter of the king and queen of the gods, a new-generation Dannan.

Unlike the other wives, who were choosing their future divinities, Erin was one of the primordial gods, the original among originals.

Pure blood among the pure.

Born of Corin, who had obtained complete divinity, Finn was a true Dannan of absolutely pure blood, different from the other incomplete lineages.

“That’s why Finn has a more special lineage than the others. Just as great power entails great responsibility, Finn must train to properly control her divine power—”

“Then! I’m special!”

“Huh…? Y-yes, of course.”

Although her daughter had understood something different, Erin was merely stating an objective fact.

“I see! I’m the daughter of a great hero and the queen of the gods, noble from birth! The forbidden child born between a human and a goddess after breaking divine laws amid the requiem of soul appeasement!”

“N-no, your father is clearly the God of the Sun—”

“Fallen goddess mother! We will pierce the saint of original sin with the Spear of Longinus and usher in a new Armageddon!”

At what point did everything go wrong?

The queen of the gods, who had lived for over a thousand years and been a mentor to heroes; the only remaining pure-blooded goddess of this era.

But a complete novice at child-rearing. A millennia-old virgin who, in a thousand years, had only held hands with her husband and disciple.

“Ah! A forbidden love even with your disciple…! Aaah! I’ve accumulated too many original sins!”

“N-no, that…! That’s true, but, Finn! Daughter! Mom isn’t that kind of person!”

For her, child-rearing was full of incomprehensible things, and even more so when it came to raising an overly precocious child.

“C-Clara…!”

“What is it now…?”

That was why they called Josephine, who tilted her head as she saw her adoptive mother clinging to her.

“Clara, you were always such a good child…”

“All of a sudden?”

Although she too was precocious, Josephine Clara had never caused problems in child-rearing.

Erin realized only now just how precious she had been, to the point that parents called her a kind of fantastical species.

“P-please, take care of Finn! I-I can’t handle this!”

“Huh…?”

Erin had a lot of work with Corin in the World of Shadows, so Josephine often ended up taking care of Finn more than expected.

But since the child had learned to walk, child-rearing had mainly fallen to Erin.

After several days like that, Erin returned from the World of Shadows and found Josephine Clara clinging to her.

“D-director! The child! The child is strange!”

“Ahem… Clara?”

“She talks about blood, madness, chaos! The thing about the black dragon sealed in her right arm is just a metaphor, right?! No strange dragon lineage got mixed in, right?! She calls me the great witch Gold Miss hunted by the Space-Time Management Office, but she’s just joking, right?! She just made up a nickname that sounded cool, right?!”

The purity of a child could sometimes… be cruel to adults.