Above Your Head

Vol 2. Chapter 13: Great Nations and Small Countries (1)

They took a step forward. There was a cloud of dust on the sand floor. Booooom! They took another step forward. Booooom! It was between Gwanghwamun Gate and Heungnyemun Gate. If this was the surface world, there would be a ticket office on the right side of the square. At the moment, a group of seven people were walking slowly over the square. Their steps were at a crawling pace, where a single step needed almost 3 seconds to execute.

'Agh, really now.' I looked down from the perspective of the Albatross ship, through the glasses-shaped Magic Armament, Udjat. Then, I let out a scoff at the sight of the man who was overpowering everyone around him. 'That's an anachronistic outfit and behavior.'

Unbelievably, he wore an official hat that was only seen in historical dramas. On that hat, there was a peacock's tail feather attached and it reflected the blazing sunlight in various colors. The part where the tail feather was affixed was carefully and meticulously crafted with gold-colored flowers and clouds. Its top was also embedded with an extremely red and transparent ruby.

The outfit he wore was a navy-colored gwanbok[1], and the rank badge (A badge or emblem that was attached on the chest and back of the outfit, and it represented a particular rank in the Joseon, Ming, and Qing Dynasty) on the chest plate was embroidered with a gold Kirin[2] that represented the First Rank Military Official.

-Keureunggg!

'Ohhhh. Look at that,' I thought. Interestingly enough, the Kirin was growling even though it must have been embroidered by the hands of humans. It also did not hide its ferocious look. Moreover, it was stealthily rolling its eyes and glaring all around the place. The atmosphere seemed to indicate that it was not controlled by the man who was wearing it, meaning it had a life and will.

Genie explained, perhaps because she could sense my surprised expression, It's an outfit made by a producer-type ability user. It's a pretty well-made item.

'Come to think of it, you did say that the producer-type did not necessarily only make weapons... But, even if so, there's a producer-type ability user who can make silk clothes?'

Everything is possible as long as they have a rich imagination, though the only constraint was what properties an ability user was born with. However...

Boom! Boom! The ground continued to reverberate while I was having an idle talk with Genie. The Chinese, who were dressed as if they jumped out of a medieval historical drama, were walking in near synchronicity. There was a heavy energy that scattered in all directions with every step they took. Among them, the Aura of the man standing at the very front was quite exceptional.

It's a Compléter-class neigong user, Captain-nim. If he entered the ranks of the Leonhardt Empire, he's a capable person who could start his military career at the position of Lieutenant just after a year of military training. As long as he's earnest and diligent, he would be able to reach the stars, so he has quite a bright future.

'That's only if the future is bright.' I laughed in vain. 'He's not just at the level of reaching a star here, though?' He had a sturdy height which was probably above 190 centimeters, and he had impressively big and sharp eyes. Despite the fact that he was a martial artist, he was dressed up quite glamorously. No matter who looked at him, it was not an attire that a person with a low status could be endowed with. I then added, 'In particular, look at that necklace.'

The necklace, which was long and ran from the chest to the abdomen, was densely threaded with red corallites. Ridiculously enough, there were beads radiating a gentle light in between those corallites. It wasn't a joke, but it was a vibrant light that could be clearly seen even inside Gyeongbokgung Palace, which was always surrounded by bright lights. If this was a dark place, there would have been a bright Aura that seemed like 100 fluorescent lights were turned on around it, so there was no need to further explain its inherent splendor. He was walking with heavy steps, adjusting to the atmosphere. However, every time he walked, the 'criiiing criiing' sounds that came from the corallites bumping into each other was rather ludicrous.

Boom! "Cough cough...!" After passing through Heungnyemun Gate leisurely, he walked through the Yeongjegyo Bridge[3] and crossed the Geunjeongmun Gate[4]. Then, as he reached the top of the flat stone stretched in front of the Geunjeongjeon Hall[5], the ability users of the Lee Family, who were eventually lined up around him, began to kneel and vomit blood. They could not overcome the Aura that the Chinese martial artists exuded.

"Hmmm." I casually raised my hand and fidgeted my chin. I did not understand the scene I was seeing through the glasses. "What kind of composition is this?"

"What are you mumbling about?"

"Huh?" I turned my head to the sudden voice that interrupted. "…Jae-seok?" I stood up from my seat, because I was surprised by the appearance of a totally unexpected character. At the National Museum Palace, where even the court ladies who had always been guarding the area disappeared, my friend, Bae Jae-seok, was there wearing a tight suit.

"That's right. It's me, you little bastard. Why are you here?"

"One thing led to another and it just happened. Gangster-nim." I laughed. To put it nicely, he was a high school student. However, who would see him as a student when he looked like that? His facial features were rough around the edges, and he had broad shoulders. Moreover, he was wearing a suit, so he looked like a gangster syndicate's leader rather than a minor.

Nonetheless, Jae-seok shook his head as if hinting that I shouldn't say such things. "What do you mean 'gangster'? I'll be beaten to a pulp, even if I fought the court ladies that were on the streets here. No, that aside, hurry up and follow me! You're not supposed to be here!"

"What?" Disregarding my question, Jae-seok grabbed my arm and dragged me to the square between Gwanghwamun Gate and Heungnyemun Gate. The square was full of people, unlike its usual emptiness. As the party of Chinese people crossed the square, a bunch of people gathered in front of Heungnyemun Gate as they did not dare to even approach. "What the, was I supposed to come here too?"

"What do you mean you too? There was a royal order that depicted that everyone was to gather here. Even if you are an outsider, you have to be sensible and be aware of the circumstances! Didn't you find it strange that all the court ladies standing by the doors disappeared?" Jae-seok looked around as he said so. "No, more importantly, why did the court ladies leave you alone? I heard that all the Barrier Masters were taken away, and the external barrier was temporarily suspended though! No, are they discriminating against ordinary people who are unrelated?"

He was bad-tempered, but I laughed and replied, since I felt he sounded concerned for me. "It's because I have something to do."

"No, didn't I just say it's a royal order? Everyone was dragged away, regardless of whether they had work or not, so what is this… Were you left out because you're new here?" Jae-seok had an expression that seemed to indicate that he found this situation incomprehensible, but I could roughly figure out the situation.

'Was it because of Yul?'

The status of the group of Selection Masters in the parallel world seemed to be quite outstanding. Seeing that they ignored my existence, as if they had planned for this situation when even the most essential personnel was called in, it seems that the matters regarding him were beyond most of the parallel world's authority.

However, while we were having a conversation, I could still hear the people of the Lee Family making a commotion. The situation was quite grave.

"Damn it… Those bastards from the Continent…"

"Wicked, so wicked. I can't believe His Majesty would be reduced to this."

"No, after coming this far, Emperor my ass."

"That's right. Does it make sense to talk about the Emperor after seeing what happened? He's just a family head that couldn't become a king."

A group of old men with finely trimmed beards, dressed in hanboks, trembled at the words of the young man. "Wha-What did you say? What did you bastards say about the honor of the Korea Empire…!"

"Shut up, old man. There is no meaning behind a Qingje (One who declares himself Emperor) that is not recognized by anyone. No, beyond that, do you not know that the term Qingje[6] is a very Chinese concept? They have spoken about the honor of the Korea Empire despite the fact that they were the ones who already had toadyism[7] mindsets." He was a sarcastic man who was like a thug, but he was also not an ordinary person either. He was a strong martial artist, with mobility that transcended that of a human by honing Qi, also known as neigong, in his body.

"No, putting that aside, if it's an Empire, doesn't it need vassal kingdoms?" The man who replied was also not an ordinary human. He was a man with the head of a wolf, the monster of the night. He wasn't a human, but someone who received the blood of a non-human species. If he went berserk in the surface world, he would be able to single-handedly cause thousands of casualties.

To that sort of monster, the martial artist replied, "Why? There's Tamnaguk (A Kingdom of the old that once existed in Jeju-do Island during the Three Kingdoms Period), isn't it? Tamnaguk."

"Kekeke… Crazy fucker."

"By the way, it's really annoying. Those idiots didn't even contribute much, but their mouth is at the level of a Great Wizard."

The old man again trembled at the words of the werewolf, who was shaking his head. "Y-You bastards…"

"Shut up. If you want to console yourself, do it alone in the corner of a room where no one is watching. I don't know about the Korea Empire, but at the very least, I can't stand the embarrassment as a member of the Lee Family."

As the people of the Lee Family, who whispered without being able to raise their voices, heard his words, they approached the Heungnyemun Gate.

"That's a lot..."

"I know right. Were there always so many people of the Lee Family?"

As I saw earlier, the square between Gwanghwamun Gate and Heungnyemun Gate was packed with countless people. There wasn't even space for them to step on. There were people huddling and making noises even at the Yeongjegyo Bridge, which was a line that separated the space of the King in the past.

That wasn't all. Even the Royal Court, built with various stones, where the civil and military officials of the past stood according to their ranks, were filled with various ability users without any public order. Hence, we did not dare to try to squeeze through as we were standing at the end of the crowd. In the first place, we could not even enter Heungnyemun Gate, let alone Geunjeongmun Gate. So, even the fact that the Royal Court was full of people was just an assumption based on the glimpse I could see from Gwanghwamun Gate.

"By the way." I asked among the crowded wave of people, "Are you a person from 'this side' too? A superhuman or wizard or something of that sort?" Classmates did not necessarily know everything about each other, but even I did not expect to meet Jae-seok here. That was because Jae-seok was… He was without a doubt a…

"I'm an ordinary human." He shook his head and let out a deep sigh. There was resignation and sighs mixed in his tone of voice. "I practiced a little bit of magic power because I had the minimum qualification to move over to the parallel world, but… It wasn't at a level where I could display any sort of impact. I am really a regular person with absolutely and completely no ability."

"…Then why are you here?"

"Why else?" 'Tchh', Jae-seok clicked his tongue. "It's because I have a lot of money at home."

"..." The fact that his family had a lot of money… What I mean was, I have already known from a long time ago that he was superior in terms of wealth, even among our school where only rich people attended. Even though he did not show that he was a rich person, his family was definitely one of his important statuses. I slightly raised my head and tried to change the details of his title by Classification.

Wol-il High School

Level 1

Third Generation Chaebol, Bae Jae-seok

It was quite interesting that it was not his representative status. But anyway, my friend, Jae-seok, was the grandson of Bae Jin-man, the Chairman of Il-sung, the largest conglomerate group in the Republic of Korea. He was always easygoing, and even if he was a shameless fellow who committed the atrocity of stealing a bite of the bread that I bought from the canteen, that was without a doubt the truth. However, I was dumbfounded at that fact. "In a world where there are tens of thousands of people with superpowers, a lucky chaebol is safe, huh."

"That's because, even in a world where there are tens of thousands of people with superpowers, money can't be resisted."

"...I see."

"No, that aside, what actually happened to you?" We were at the square between Heungnyemun Gate and Gwanghwamun Gate. Jae-seok, who leaned his back against the wall where the ticket office should have been located in the surface world, put on a dumbfounded expression. "Aren't you just a normal person? It's well-known in the surface world that both Teacher Kwan Il-han and his biological son are ordinary people."

"...How can a regular person be well-known?" I did not bother asking questions such as, "Why are you addressing my father teacher?" or "You never called him teacher before this, right?" That was because Jae-seok did not hide his look of respect and admiration for my father back when he was in the surface world, and even in the parallel world, where we were right now.

"It can be special. Because ignoring the fact that he was a normal person, Teacher Kwan Il-han was an extraordinary person. In the first place, can just anyone steal the heart of a God?"

"..." That's right. My father's nickname in the parallel world was The One who Stole the Heart of God. Moreover, it had a literal meaning, and not just some sort of metaphor. It reminded me of the conversation I had with Bo-ram.

"Our star's Primordial God has fallen in love with Teacher."

"...Primordial God?"

"I heard she's already been rejected three times."

"..." From the perspective of the people from Earth, the Primordial God was literally a parent-like existence who had taken care of mankind since the beginning of civilization. Now, I was also reminded of what I said to that Primordial God, "Give birth to my child."

"..." I'll have to quickly dig up my brain and erase that damn guy's memory or something.

1. Gwanbok is Korean for the Chinese term Guanfu. The Gwanbok is a general term that refers to the historical court attire of government officials and which was issued by the government.

2. A Kirin or Qilin is a mythical hooved chimerical creature known in Chinese and other East Asian cultures. It is said to appear with the imminent arrival or passing of a sage or illustrious ruler.

3. Yeongjegyo Bridge is a bridge that visitors pass over after having passed through the initial main gate (Gwanghwamun Gate) and secondary gate (Heungnyemun Gate).

4. Geunjeongmun Gate is aligned and located directly to the south of Geunjeongjeon and it is the main gate to the courtyard and to Geunjeongjeon.

5. Geunjeongjeon Hall is the throne hall where the king formally granted audiences to his officials, gave declarations of national importance, and greeted foreign envoys and ambassadors during the Joseon dynasty.

6. 稱帝. It is a term that refers to a self-proclaimed Emperor/King.

7. Toadyism refers to the attention to submissive or blindly accepting a state or force that is not autonomous and stronger than its own. It is a critique made by critics of the ruling class at the beginning of the twentieth century, when fascists were overly concerned only with big, strong states.