Resurrection Chapter 12 - Me? Kim Yitae!

Amid overwhelming uncertainty, Seo Heesoo heard the noise approaching the cave entrance. It was an indistinct yet horrifying sound, as if monsters were devouring each other while snarling ferociously.

As if responding to it, the cave writhed like a living creature.

Seo Heesoo felt trapped in a nightmare. Within the narrow confines of a dark, fleshy passage, he existed as both a monstrous figure clinging pitifully to life and as the observer of his own wretched state.

A confusion where friend and foe intertwined.

Suppressing dizziness, Seo Heesoo gripped his greatsword tightly. It was a blade he had swung millions, perhaps tens of millions of times. As long as he held this sword, there was only one thing to do: swing it and fell his enemies, as he had always done.

He raised the sword above his head. He prepared to strike down the monster rushing into the cave entrance.

‘Seo Heesoo!’

Seo Heesoo heard a voice piercing through his clouded consciousness. That voice made him hesitate for a fleeting moment.

Seo Heesoo froze. He slowly blinked his eyelids, caked thickly with dried blood. Something was visible in his narrowed field of vision, but he couldn’t discern whether it was reality.

It wasn’t a monster that rushed into the cave—it was a person.

A young man who appeared to be in his early twenties.

His sharp yet orderly features seemed vaguely familiar, but he wasn’t someone Seo Heesoo knew. The man looked at him with an expression mixed with various emotions, yet Seo Heesoo was certain he didn’t know him.

The stranger looked at him with a desperate air tinged with fear. As if needing confirmation, he called Seo Heesoo’s name in a cautious tone.

‘Seo Heesoo… Heesoo hyung?’

Seo Heesoo slowly lowered the greatsword he was holding and rubbed his eyes with a rough, stone-like hand.

The caked blood fell away in clumps, widening his field of vision. Thanks to that, he could see the stranger’s radiant appearance more clearly than before.

Why was this stranger calling him hyung? The question arose, but the man, meeting his gaze, smiled broadly as if greatly relieved.

‘It’s really Heesoo hyung.’

‘…Who are you?’

‘Me? Kim Yitae!’

He said this while grabbing Seo Heesoo’s hand firmly.

The warmth that radiated from him felt like something Seo Heesoo was experiencing for the first time. Unlike the cold blood of monsters, he could feel vibrant, flowing hot blood.

A strong will to live and deep vitality. To Seo Heesoo, who was little more than a half-dead corpse, this man’s presence was life itself.

The hand gripping his, transmitting a warmth close to heat, didn’t feel entirely unfamiliar. It seemed like he had held this hand like this at some point before.

When could that have been? As he tried to recall the hazy memory, he noticed the wounds on the man’s forearm first.

The exposed arm was covered in blood, which was deeply puzzling. The scars, as if repeatedly slashed by a sword, didn’t seem like wounds inflicted by a monster.

Other than that, the man appeared relatively unscathed, which was also surprising.

How had he entered the deepest part of this impregnable demon lair, the core of a multilayered labyrinth?

The questions were numerous, but there was no time to ask them. The man pulled Seo Heesoo’s hand, urging him to hurry out of the cave.

‘If we dawdle, monsters will swarm in. We need to get out of here before that.’

Seo Heesoo, stumbling as he was pulled along, spoke.

‘Why are you here…’

To the half-formed question, the man who identified himself as Kim Yitae looked at him. With a smile bright enough to illuminate the world, he answered.

‘To save you, of course, hyung!’

The word “salvation” naturally bloomed in Seo Heesoo’s heart.

That day, at that moment, he was undoubtedly saved by Kim Yitae. He had always been the one saving others, but for the first time, he was saved by someone else.

A story that had ended at the brink of hopeless despair resumed, and from that moment, he received a new reason to live. If there was a reason he survived as a mere shell after losing everything, it was surely for Kim Yitae.

Everything that remained of him belonged to Kim Yitae.

It had to be so.

That’s why he couldn’t die in a place like this.

Seo Heesoo struggled to lift his eyelids, as if pulling himself out of a mire. The thin layer of flesh felt impossibly heavy, weighing a thousand tons.

Seo Heesoo exerted all his strength to lift his eyelids once more. As soon as he opened his eyes, an indescribable pain ebbed away from his fingertips and toes like a receding tide.

The unbearable pain made Seo Heesoo gasp, “Hurk.” His body jolted, and his lungs, whose existence he normally barely noticed, swelled to their limit. Soon, his silent heart began to race wildly.

His entire body burned as if he had jumped into a fire, and he could feel the blood coursing through him. Simultaneously, a profound fear and a hollow despair close to emptiness dominated his mind.

An overwhelming urge to jump off somewhere or stab himself in the throat consumed him. But seeing the face looking down at him, he couldn’t dare entertain such thoughts.

Seo Heesoo moved his lips.

“Yitae…”

Kim Yitae’s usually gentle and bright expression was strangely cold. Before Seo Heesoo could fully register the unease, Kim Yitae extended a claw-like hand and grabbed him by the neck. With tremendous force, he lifted Seo Heesoo off the ground.

His feet dangled in the air as his throat was constricted.

“Urk…”

As Seo Heesoo struggled, clutching Kim Yitae’s forearm, Kim Yitae gave a chilling smile.

“Do well, alright?”

With that cryptic remark, he suddenly closed his eyes. The hand choking Seo Heesoo’s neck went limp.

Seeing Kim Yitae collapse backward, as if fainting, Seo Heesoo spread his arms wide. He caught Kim Yitae with his entire body.

👑

Yoon Younghyun couldn’t comprehend what he was witnessing.

He understood that Kim Yitae, in his rage, had summoned the Golden Emperor into his own body.

That was the most forbidden act for Awakeners. To put it bluntly, it was suicidal.

Summoning a god so powerful it couldn’t be bound to the earth placed an immense burden on the body. It not only inflicted excruciating pain but also drained vitality, accelerated aging, and hastened death.

It was as foolish as drinking seawater out of thirst while adrift at sea. And to summon not just any god, but the Golden Emperor, a demon god!

Blown away like fallen leaves by a single swing of Kim Yitae’s magic sword, Yoon Younghyun barely regained his balance, utterly dismayed.

If Kim Yitae, blinded by Seo Heesoo’s death, desired their deaths, it was over. They had to escape quickly before being skewered by the magic sword.

After all, possession couldn’t be sustained for long. The plan was to flee the scene and deal with the relationship with Yitae sunbae later.

Yoon Younghyun immediately pulled out a scroll from his pocket. The teleportation magic scroll was exorbitantly expensive, but he was glad he had prepared it just in case.

Yoon Younghyun prepared to tear the scroll and shouted.

“Team A, we’re escaping! Get close!”

While calling his team, Yoon Younghyun froze at an unexpected sight.

Instead of swinging the magic sword in a rage, the Golden Emperor approached Seo Heesoo’s fallen corpse. Knowing what that implied, Yoon Younghyun bit his lip, his stomach churning.

He had confirmed Seo Heesoo’s death and even shown it, yet Kim Yitae clearly didn’t believe Seo Heesoo was dead. That’s why, even after summoning the Golden Emperor, he prioritized checking if Seo Heesoo could be saved over seeking revenge.

But this wasn’t a game. The dead could never be revived. Even healers’ recovery abilities had limits, so defying death was impossible, even for a descended god.

It was a pitiful scene, but it worked in Yoon Younghyun’s favor. While the Golden Emperor was preoccupied with the dead Seo Heesoo, they could escape.

Seeing his team members gather beside him, Yoon Younghyun put the scroll in his mouth. Just as he was about to tear it forcefully, the Golden Emperor, looking down at Seo Heesoo’s corpse, said something unbelievable.

“Resurrection.”

As he uttered what was undoubtedly the activation word, a soft light emanated from the Golden Emperor’s entire body. It flowed toward Seo Heesoo like threads unraveled in water, enveloping him completely like a cocoon.

Yoon Younghyun was so shocked that he forgot to tear the scroll. Even witnessing the skill being applied, he couldn’t believe it. All he could do was mutter in a daze.

“Wh-what did he just say…?”

His team members, witnessing the same scene, were clearly unable to grasp the situation either. None could respond to his muttering with anything resembling an answer. Instead, Kang Cheoljun, on the opposite side, shouted in shock.

“He said Resurrection!”

Yoon Younghyun convulsed as if struck by lightning.

Resurrection, resurrection!

Impossible!

It was as if ice water had been poured over his head, draining the color from his face. As his mind froze, all the rumors that once swirled around Kim Yitae flashed through his head.