Arena

Chapter 199. After the Battle (Fin)

I woke up to a blank space.

‘What happened?’

I didn’t realize what was going on and looked around dumbfounded. Fortunately, a familiar face was very close to me.

“Have you awoken?”

Cha Jihye was indeed really close to me. I was on her lap.

“Jihye?”

“It’s all over now.”

Cha Jihye stroked my hair kindly as she said that. Her hand magically made me calm down.

Along with that, I remembered what was happening before I fainted.

‘That’s it, Kajad!’

Yes.

I locked Kajad in my arms and burned myself up with Kasa’s power.

It was not easy to burn Kajad’s near-immortal and infinitely regenerating body.

In order to defeat Kajad who was resisting with black magic, I unsummoned Sylph and concentrated all my power in burning him.

It was a long period of time. I burned him until Kasa was unsummoned after all.

However, I didn’t remember the end.

“What happened to the fight?”

“We won. Kajad is dead.”

“Then why did I lose consciousness?”

“When Kajad’s soul left his body it influenced you and your soul was in an unstable state as well.”

“Hah?”

What the hell does that mean?

“Kajad possessed too much soul energy and his soul was able to influence other life forms around him, or so I heard.”

“Then I…….”

“I brought you into the exam gate as soon as it appeared.”

So I recovered to my peak state by crossing the gate.

Wait, that means…….!

“Did, did we clear the exam?”

“Yes of course.”

“Then we don’t have to go through this anymore?”

“Yes.”

“Then we don’t have to go to Arena ever ag…,”

I suddenly thought of something when I spoke up to that point.

I abruptly sat up.

“Huh?”

“What is it?”

“Th, then I didn’t say goodbye to anyone! The elves, the people of my fief, the eagles… and now I will never meet them again!”

Then, Cha Jihye pulled me back down and made me lay on her lap. Then she spoke calmly.

“That’s fine.”

She stroked my hair again and my heart magically calmed down again.

“It’s a place we’ll never set foot to every again. You just need to forget everything, leave behind everything, and forget it as though it was just a dream.”

“But… that’s so sad.”

Everything that happened in Arena flashed through in my mind.

Lee Hyesoo, Lee Joonho, Kang Chunsung…….

The forest where they died, I would never be able to go again.

“Can I forget them?”

I felt like crying.

“You can. After a while, you may remember them again once in a while, but it will all feel like a dream.”

“A dream….”

I ended up chuckling as that felt so empty.

“Then that was one vivid dream.”

“I agree.”

At that time, another familiar voice could be heard.

“Heeey, looks like you miss it a lot?”

Flap flap flap.

The baby angel approached while flapping his wings like a chicken.

I stopped him from getting closer to my face.

“Stop. It feels awkward so don’t come close to me.”

“Sure, sure.”

How dare you put that tiny little silkworm against my face? Thanks to that, all the regrets that made my heart flutter all washed away. Sheesh, this dude really didn’t read the atmosphere.

“You really did it! Here I thought you were going to die just like that.”

“Of course. Did you think I’ll just die after I’ve gone through all that?”

“Anyway, I really have to congratulate you.”

For some reason, the baby angel smiled at me. It wasn’t that evil smirk that he usually made.

“Anyway, what happens to us now?”

“I was waiting for you to wake up precisely to tell you about that. Well, I could have woken you up with a thunderbolt, but I restrained myself. I thought you may get a bad impression about angels.”

“I already have a bad impression about angels thanks to you.”

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“I’ll take that as a compliment. Well then. I’ll do the announcement so please gather round! This is not the marketplace so everyone should just shut up!”

What the hell is this guy saying? There’s only Cha Jihye and me right….

‘What?!’

I was surprised.

Examinees were all around us. There were at least a thousand.

“Huh?”

“When did this…”

The examinees were all surprised as well.

There were numerous angels flying around as well.

“Ah-ah! Noisy! Chat again and I’ll bring down thunderbolts on you people!”

The baby angel threatened everyone with a bland tone.

The examinees were dissatisfied as well…

“What the hell is that dude saying?”

“Did that thing just threaten us?”

“For who do you think I fought until now!”

The baby angel just shrugged his shoulders.

“My work here is done and I’ll never see you people again so I can act as I want. You are all getting lightning strikes to be prepared, okay?”

“D, damn that thing.”

“I really hate that thing.”

“His honesty is as lacking as his crotch.”

The baby angel listened to the insults from the examinees like music to his ears.

Anyway, his threats seemed to have worked and the examinees became quiet.

“Well, then! I hereby announce the end of the exams. You will never have to take these exams, nor will you ever go back to Arena.”

Everyone’s faces became joyful.

The baby angel continued speaking.

“There’s one thing that all of you here are curious about, right? What happens to your skills and items? There may be some of you asking if it is going to all disappear now that the exams are over.”

The examinees waited for his words in nervousness.

The baby angel spoke.

“They will all disappear.”

“Aaah!”

“Dammit!”

“All of it!?”

The examinees exclaimed.

However, the baby angel continued to speak.

“Now, then. Please quieten down. You should listen to your angel until the end, puny humans.”

“What the hell did that just say?”

“Now he’s acting so high and mighty that we’re never going to see again.”

“Damn that thing!”

“How the hell is that an angel?”

Rumble! Boom! Boom!

“Arrgh!”

“Dammit!”

“He really threw down thunderbolts.”

“That dude is even worse than Kajad!”

The baby angel really did summon several thunderbolts to subjugate the examinees.

After it finally became quiet, the baby angel spoke again.

“It will be very sad if you don’t get any rewards after clearing the last exam, right?”

“…….”

“That’s why we came prepared. Check your tablets.”

The examinees summoned their tablets.

I also summoned my tablets and checked the contents.

-Name: Kim Hyunho

-Class: –

-Karma: +81,000

-Mission: Receive the final karma rewards.

-Time limit: 10 days.

-After the time limit, the tablet and remaining karma will disappear forever.

‘Over 80 thousand.’

It was thanks to sniping a lot of the corrupt examinees. The one who finished Kajad off was also me as well.

‘But the skills and items are all going to disappear. What good is this?’

Everyone had similar thoughts.

The baby angel spoke.

“Once you are no longer an examinee, you will lose all your skills and items. However, if you regain your skills and items with those remaining points, it will not disappear and will be yours until you die.”

“What!?”

“So we can only own karma that we’ve earned in this round, huh?”

“Dammit! I didn’t do much in this last exam!”

“Oh shit! I only got 3,000 points in this exam!”

“If I knew this was going to happen, I wouldn’t have stayed in hiding.”

The examinees all exclaimed.

But at that time.

“Then what happens to me!”

One man suddenly shouted out loud. Everyone’s gazes, including that of the baby angel’s directed to him.

‘Whoa.’

I was surprised.

It was none other than Lee Chang-wee! How tenacious, that dude.

“There will be separate rewards for examinees with negative karma as well.”

“Rewards?”

“Oh, I should say consequences.”

The baby angel smirked. Lee Chang-wee became very nervous. This was the first time I saw him so scared.

“In your remaining lifetime, you will experience penalties as large as your negative karma.”

“Wh, what does that mean?”

It wasn’t just Lee Chang-wee. There were numerous other corrupt examinees as well.

The baby angel shrugged.

“What? You’ll be as misfortunate as your negative karma will get you. If you do not experience enough misfortune than your negative karma states, then the misfortune will carry over to your next life, and the life after that as well. Until all of it is paid back.”

“Th, that’s….”

Lee Chang-wee’s expression became pale.

“We angels did not advise you to do good things, nor did we advise you to do evil things. We are not the ones to decide what’s good and what’s evil.”

“Then what happens to me?”

“However, we always said, didn’t we? You will receive comparable consequences for your acts. Why didn’t you live more kindly?”

The baby angel clicked his tongue.

“Aaah, aaaaaack! NO!”

Lee Chang-wee despaired.

There were many other examinees who acted the same away. They should be corrupt examinees like Lee Chang-wee.

He really did some unexcusable stuff, but now that I saw him like that, I felt a little pity. I was scared thinking about what he would experience in his future life.

Pop!

The exam gates appeared in the surroundings.

The baby angel smiled.

“Well done for your hard work until now. Please, be on your way.”

The examinees started to return to reality through the gates.

There were quite a lot of gates so the large gathering of examinees disappeared quickly.

Cha Jihye and I waited calmly without hurrying out.

However, seeing that, the baby angel approached us.

“Examinee Kim Hyunho, what are you doing? Go home already.”

“Don’t you still get it? I’m waiting for my turn.”

“It’s not that you will miss me?”

“Urgh, this little prick.”

I punched the angel, and he lightly evaded it.

The baby angel chuckled. As this was the last time, I didn’t find his personality that bad for some reason.

“Perhaps we’ll meet again once you die and come to the underworld. Don’t come too early just because you want to see me.”

“I’m never going to die. I’ll live a long life.”

“Well, as long as you don’t become undead, we won’t really restrain you. Live a long life.”

“…… Bye.”

I grabbed Jihye’s hand and walked towards the gate.

But at that time the baby angel spoke.

“Are you satisfied with the reward?”

Am I satisfied?

I stopped walking.

Then I smiled.

“Yeah, that was the best reward.”

I hugged Jihye and gave her a kiss. Although it as a sudden kiss, she didn’t get startled and accepted it.

Once we go back, it will be our wedding.

We’re finally getting married!

***

Epilogue

After we returned to Earth, numerous things happened in just a few days.

First, the world changed.

Magic essence crystals and its technology were revealed to the public.

The core members of the political world and the financial world were already aware of it, but to the civilians, it was a huge shock.

It was announced as a special energy source found in a few mutated animals, and it soon became a hot topic.

The biggest problem was procuring the ‘animals’ that contained magic essence crystals, and in Korea, there was the farm that I, the Korean government, and Jinsung group worked on to create, so our future economy looked safe and sound.

However, precisely due to that problem, I had experienced some difficulties. My wedding, which I planned to hold on a small scale due to the fact that we didn’t have anyone to invite, ended up meeting a huge crowd!

Odin, Marie, and their Nordic crew.

Dana Litalin and the members of the final battle.

Oh, and the 33 members of the final battle gained the most karma points so they remained as the highest ranking people of the world. This ranking was now set in stone and wouldn’t ever change again.

Anyway, the examinees were fine.

But it wasn’t just them. Not only Chairman Park Jinsung, the Presidential Secretary, and even some big guys of the economic and political world from all over the globe attended my wedding, and I didn’t even invite them!

Though, I could understand their feelings.

I am the examinee that received the most karma points in the last exam, even more than Dana.

Not only that, but there were also my darling cows that produced magic essence crystals at the farm that were like new oil sources.

There were numerous countries that would ask for a pair of male and female cows once my darling cows produced offspring.

Thanks to that, my small scale wedding became a large party that spanned over several days.

The hotel that we booked for the wedding turned out to be run by Chairman Park Jinsung’s daughter so we were easily able to expand our wedding to fit the larger crowd.

I wished I could just leave for our honeymoon, but the government people kept nagging me about ‘international relations’ and I ended up staying for longer.

In this wedding that had many international big shots, our dear little ex-chicken shop owner, that is, my mother, was scared stiff.

Instead, my big sister was able to confront those big shots well with her ice cold face, and my little sister who knew absolutely nothing, started hitting on young handsome foreigners that attended.

In any case, I suddenly received attention from all over the world and became a mystery figure behind all magic essence business.

The government protected my personal information, so the mass media only considered me as some rich kid with rich grandparents.

Well, who cares.

Everything is going well now.

Whatever happens, I am going to enjoy my life with my woman, in peace.

***

We went on our honeymoon on a private jet.

This private jet was obviously ‘borrowed’ from the big shot grandpa, Chairman Park Jinsung.

“Have you still not decided on your karma rewards?”

Cha Jihye, who was next to me, asked.

I nodded my head with a sigh.

“Yeah.”

By the way, she put her points into aura control mid lv 1 and mastered health adjustment and officially became the strongest wife in the world.

The amount of karma I gained in the last exam was 81,000.

I first put points into elementalism and spent 36,500 points to get it to high lv 1.

Although the exams were over, Earth still wasn’t at complete peace. As I became an important person in the magic essence crystal industry, I needed power to protect myself.

Actually, I just didn’t want to part ways with my cute little Sylph and Kasa.

I also spent 5,500 points on both animal training and growth boost because of my new business.

I was left with 33,500 points.

“Hmm, what should I do with it?”

“You should choose something that contributes to your happiness in life.”

Cha Jihye said to me.

“Happiness, you say.”

“Living healthily means living happily, is it not?”

“I guess that’s true.”

I thought about it for a moment before selecting skills to acquire.

“First, this is for the health of me and my family.”

-Fire of Life (Fusion skill): Imbues the Fire of Life to bestow vitality. Only usable twice a day.

*Mid Lv 1: Recovers vitality, reduces aging, effective treatment against illnesses and curses.

“And this is for my own health.”

-Health adjustment (Sub skill): Enhances health and stamina exponentially.

*Mid Lv 5: Gains health at a level of the strongest elves.\

“That should be fine, but let’s get something for everyday use.”

-Virtual Space (Fusion skill): Creates a virtual space to store items. Able to store items using the command ‘put in’ and ‘take out.

*Master: 1,000 * 1,000 * 1,000cm. Able to store electronic items and life forms.

-Athleticism (Fusion skill): methods of moving the body is enhanced.

*Master: Allows the body to become a master of all movement.

Now, I had exactly 10,000 karma points left. I thought about what to do with it before thinking up of a good skill to invest in.

“I will acquire pathfinder to master level!”

-Pathfinder (Sub skill): Gains a sixth sense to learn the position of a specific place, person or item.

*Master: Allows learning the position of items, locations and people without having to see it personally.

-Consumes 5,500 karma to master it.

-Remaining karma: +4,500

“You raised pathfinder?”

Cha Jihye asked in wonder.

“Yes, I want to chase my wife once she runs away later on in life.”

“I don’t think such a thing would happen, but that looks like it will be helpful in finding our future child when he or she leaves home.”

“……Let’s not go there right now.”

“You started it first.”

“You simply won’t lose to me. And you still speak like a soldier too.”

“I, I apologize.”

When I acted mad, Cha Jihye looked very startled. Hm, it was still worth it to tease her.

I invested the remaining karma to master the fire of life which was at mid lv 1.

That made me spend another 3,600 points and I now had 900 points left.

Since there wasn’t a lot left, I just decided to buy 9 item bags worth 100 points each. This was an item that we would not have again on Earth.

I spent all of my karma like that.

The tablet appeared in front of me.

-Name: Kim Hyunho

-Class: –

-Karma: –

-Mission: Receive the final karma rewards. (Success)

-Time limit: 4 days 12 hours 12 minutes.

“It said I succeeded.”

The tablet’s words wriggled around and changed to something else.

-You have spent all of your karma. You may end the exams.

-The tablet cannot be summoned again once the exams end, and there will no longer be any karma rewards. It is also impossible to refund items into karma again.

-End the exam?

I smiled.

“Yes.”

-Ending the exams

-Thank you for your work. Until the day we see each other again.