“Elder, you are a hero of this country!”
“I *was* a hero.”
Limon let out a smirk, his words dripping with sarcasm that silenced Kang Jeong-su.
After all, wasn’t it Kang who had just called him a traitor?
“And so what if I’m a hero? Did you really think I’d show mercy for the sake of the country in this situation? To the bastards who ignored my warning and tried to kill me?”
“…”
“You crazy son of a bitch.”
Kang Jeong-su couldn’t say a word.
To be honest, he had expected that.
Or rather, he hadn’t realized such damage would occur.
The only thing he had considered was the cleanup after killing Limon; he never imagined he would fail.
“And let’s get the facts straight. You’re not worried about the country’s future.”
Limon reached out with one hand.
He grabbed Kang Jeong-su by the collar, forcing him to meet his gaze, and spoke coldly.
“You’re worried about your petty power and political standing that will disappear because of this incident.”
“Ugh…!”
Kang Jeong-su searched for words while gritting his teeth.
Limon had hit the nail on the head.
The burden he had to shoulder to execute this plan was substantial.
He had been mocked for burning down the whole house to catch a single flea, yet he had pushed forward to gather high-level Players anyway.
If only he had killed Limon.
If only he could have secured a connection to the Infinity Monarch.
In the long run, he would have gained a much larger political foundation.
But now, it was over.
Failing to capture Limon was the least of his problems.
Having lost dozens of high-level Players, he would be lucky to avoid a prison cell, let alone keep his position as the PAB Director.
“Do you think you’ll be safe after doing something like this?”
“And why wouldn’t I be safe?”
“There are plenty of reasons! For starters, the guild leaders of [Stardust] and [Cheonjong] who just escaped will spend the rest of their lives hunting you down!”
Kang Jeong-su shouted with venom.
The two Archduke-level Players he had prepared as his trump cards.
He had been disgusted by their shamelessness when Mira and Ahn Dong-kwon suddenly fled.
But now, they were his only hope.
Having lost their core raid teams and shown the disgrace of running away while their guild members were slaughtered, they wouldn’t just back down.
They would use every means possible to retaliate.
If the power of the Infinity Monarch was added to that, even Limon would surely die.
“Hmm?”
As if he had heard a ridiculous joke, Limon’s expression turned strange.
He tilted his head and asked, as if to confirm.
“Escaped? Who?”
“I told you! Stardust and…!”
“No, what I mean is…”
Limon said, lightly kicking something on the ground.
“If you’re talking about those two who tossed aside their subordinates and turned tail earlier, they’re right here.”
“What kind of nonsense…?”
Kang Jeong-su was about to scoff at the absurd statement, but in the next moment, he froze.
It was the object Limon had kicked.
He felt a strange familiarity from the head with burst eyes that had terrified him moments ago.
It was hard to recognize because the eyeballs were missing and the expression was horribly distorted.
However, that face was definitely…
‘Ahn Dong-kwon!!!’
The guild leader of the giant guild [Cheonjong], which had dozens of small and medium-sized guilds and subcontractors under its wing.
One of the few Archduke-level Players—less than a hundred in the world.
Looking at the face of the man who now had nothing left but a head, Kang Jeong-su trembled.
“H-How? I saw them escaping!”
“Jeong-su, you pathetic brat. Did you really not know? Or did you just ignore it?”
Limon looked down at Kang Jeong-su with a smile that seemed kind and pleasant, as if he were looking at a nephew who was cute because he was stupid.
However, his golden eyes were filled with cold contempt as he asked quietly.
“Didn’t your grandfather tell you? That you can’t run away from a Sword Master?”
“I see. I figured as much.”
Limon nodded as he watched Kang Jeong-su’s face contort.
There was no way Kang Jeong-su’s grandfather, who had participated in wars with Limon several times, wouldn’t have taught him such basic common sense.
It was likely that Kang Jeong-su had simply dismissed it as an exaggerated tall tale and ignored it.
‘Idiots.’
You cannot run away from a Sword Master.
Ever since Limon chased a fleeing Demon God thirty-seven times around the Earth before finally driving his sword into its heart, it had become a matter of common sense.
Though that common sense had faded as the times changed.
Still, if they had researched anything about a Sword Master, they wouldn’t have tried to run away in front of him.
They would have either knelt and surrendered from the start or fought to the death.
Ultimately, even though they came to capture Limon, they hadn’t bothered to do any research on what a Sword Master actually was.
Or perhaps, like Kang Jeong-su, they knew but chose to laugh it off.
Clicking his tongue at that foolishness, Limon spoke to Kang Jeong-su.
“If there are any others I need to kill, tell me now. That way you won’t feel so wronged when you die.”
“Are… Are you saying you’re going to kill me?!”
“Yes.”
“I… I was just doing what I was told!”
“You son of a bitch, is that really what you should be saying right now?”
Limon was at a loss for words.
There was a limit to shamelessness.
For the sake of the subordinates who had died fighting Limon under his orders, that was the one thing he should never have said.
“T-That… was a mistake.”
“Mis… No, forget it. Let’s stop talking.”
Limon shook his head slowly.
He let go of Kang Jeong-su’s collar and drew his sword.
It was only after seeing that cold blue blade that Kang Jeong-su realized Limon was serious.
Rolling on the ground, he scrambled to cling to Limon’s feet and pleaded.
“Elder, no, Uncle! Please save me! If not for me, then for the sake of your bond with my grandfather… please…!”
Limon suddenly stopped his hand.
The moment he heard the word “Uncle.”
In that instant, an image overlapped with Kang Jeong-su.
A little kid who would wet himself from fear as soon as they met, always hiding behind his grandfather to peek at him.
A child who, despite that, would come running to take a snack with a bright, innocent smile if Limon offered one.
A truly foolish child.
“B-Besides, if you kill me too, Elder, you’ll undoubtedly become a traitor. There will be nowhere in this country for you to stay!”
Sensing an opportunity in the silence, Kang Jeong-su desperately shouted about what could be gained by keeping him alive.
Limon looked at the man who was now balding and pot-bellied, a man who couldn’t be satisfied with any amount of power and had grown accustomed to scheming and betrayal, and spoke softly.
“Jeong-su, I have never once been afraid of becoming a traitor.”
“…What?”
“Rather, it was the country that was afraid of me becoming a traitor.”
“What does that…?”
*Slash.*
Kang Jeong-su, who was asking with a dazed face, couldn’t finish his question.
He simply stared at Limon with wide eyes before collapsing, clutching his throat as blood sprayed out.
“Guh, ugh…! Gur-rk!”
Perhaps it was because he was equipped with all sorts of items befitting the PAB Director.
Despite his artery being severed, he remained conscious and struggled.
Limon looked down at him and muttered languidly.
“I told you, didn’t I? If you want to live, get on your knees and beg for your life.”
Limon had already warned them.
That there would be no mercy for those who opposed him.
From the moment they ignored that warning, they had kicked away their last chance at survival themselves.
“Well, I was planning on killing you anyway.”
“Kk… huff, hah!”
“But what can I do? Na-kyung must have felt so wronged. You should go with her to comfort her soul. Are you upset? I’ll listen to you.”
Kang Jeong-su twitched as blood poured from his neck.
Limon sat down lightly beside him.
He looked up at the star-studded night sky and spoke casually.
“Do you remember?”
“You know, that time your grandfather begged me to go watch the meteor shower with you.”
“Your dreams were big even back then. As soon as you saw the meteor shower, you wished to become the President.”
“Your grandfather bragged that you were general material.”
“I just clicked my tongue, seeing how a little brat was already aiming for power.”
As if telling a story to a nephew, Limon spoke in a calm voice next to Kang Jeong-su.
He didn’t even spare a glance at the man bleeding to death.
Until the limbs that were thrashed in pain began to convulse.
Until the bloodshot pupils lost focus. Until the spraying blood came to a stop.
Limon, who had been talking about memories while looking at the stars, finally stopped his story only after Kang Jeong-su’s body went completely limp.
Then, he looked at the man, who had kept his eyes wide open until the very end, with a lonely gaze.
“…In the end, it turned out like this again.”
He didn’t regret cutting him down.
Kang Jeong-su had no right to feel wronged.
Cutting down a child he had watched grow up was something he had done several times before.
Nonetheless, the reason Limon felt regret was not because of Kang Jeong-su, but because he thought of the man’s grandfather.
“Myung-jin, your promise didn’t even last a hundred years after all.”
The man who had sincerely said he would serve Limon as his family’s benefactor for generations.
A man who had kept his word throughout his life and left it as a final instruction before closing his eyes.
Thinking of Kang Myung-jin, Limon lamented briefly.
“I suppose I should be more surprised if your promise had been kept even while I’m being discarded by this country.”
Whether this was orchestrated by Kang Jeong-su or the Infinity Monarch Lee Cheon-gi.
Without the government’s silent approval, they wouldn’t have been able to pull off something like blowing up a building in the middle of a city.
Assembling such a large number of high-level Players was also something that could be labeled as internal rebellion.
Above all, the presence of the 909 Unit, which cannot perform operational actions without the authorization of the Commander-in-Chief, proved the government’s active participation in this matter.
The country Limon had dedicated most of his long life to protecting had ultimately chosen to discard an outdated hero.
Just as Kang Jeong-su had betrayed him to grasp the Monarch’s leash, they did so under the pretext of national interest.
“I’ve protected this country for hundreds of years, and yet you throw me away just thirty years after the times changed? You heartless bastards.”
Limon chuckled.
He knew that as long as Sword Masters were treated as has-beens, this was bound to happen eventually.
He knew all too well, having lived for so long, that people forget everything.
That there are no eternal promises.
That trust is broken.
Even so, Limon had continued to form bonds that would one day break, trust people, and strive to protect this country.
Instead of resisting the change of the times, he had tried to become a part of the new era.
But that was over now.
Since the country had abandoned him, Limon no longer had any loyalty left to keep.
‘I wonder if their desire to kill me was truly their own pure will.’
Limon glanced over.
He looked toward Kang Jeong-su’s corpse lying in a pool of his own blood.
Or more accurately, he was looking at the One-eyed Old Woman’s Shadow, which was melting away with its head split open beside him.
Kang Jeong-su wouldn’t have known.
He didn’t know that even before he crawled on the ground to escape, Limon had first cut down the shadow of the old woman who was trying to ditch him and flee.
He didn’t know that this sea of corpses didn’t just contain 200 bodies, but also 200 shadows created by the starlight.
He didn’t know that Limon’s warning didn’t just apply to humans.
And he didn’t know that those who held the positions of great stars were also unable to escape from a Sword Master.