[Constellation, ‘The Ten Kings Who Rule the Underworld’ commands.]
[Do you see? Those are the angels.]
“I see them very well.”
Min Heejae rested his chin on his hand and commented.
He was on the outdoor terrace of a café located on a high floor. Stirring his coffee with the straw in the glass cup on the plastic table, he simply gazed into the distance.
It all happened while he was leisurely spending time at the café. The people gathered around him had all frozen, immobilized with slash-like marks drawn across their bodies. According to ‘The Ten Kings Who Rule the Underworld,’ such events occur whenever a new constellation is born.
‘So…’
Staring into the distance, Min Heejae thought.
Whenever a constellation is born, the world briefly stops, and countless guardian angels fall to welcome it.
Well. That made sense. Considering cases recorded in mythology, ascension was always a splendid process.
“But somehow…”
However.
“…the angels look rather weak.”
This time, things didn’t seem to be going as planned.
[Constellation, ‘The Ten Kings Who Rule the Underworld’ smiles in unison.]
[And speaks.]
[Guardian angels are beings created for mechanical salvation. In terms of hierarchy, they belong to the lowest rank of angels, and precisely because of that, they are nothing more than dandelion seeds before ‘The Archangel Who Cast Down the King of Hell’ and ‘The Star Hated by All.’]
“I see.”
Min Heejae nodded.
At one corner of the sky, curves of black and white swirled.
He could tell that they were ‘The Archangel Who Cast Down the King of Hell’ and ‘The Star Hated by All.’ They simply swirled through the sky as curves, yet countless guardian angels fell like snowflakes.
‘They must be trying to close that gate.’
Probably so. If guardian angels were the lowest rank of angels, their numbers must be unimaginable. As if pulled from a factory’s production line, hundreds more might be manufactured even now. In that case, preventing them from reaching the human realm would be the top priority.
Min Heejae picked up his glass and drank the coffee.
“So, what do we do now?”
Wiping his damp lips, Min Heejae asked.
[Constellation, ‘The Ten Kings Who Rule the Underworld’ declares.]
[Now is the time to move. For indeed—]
“Heejae hyung!”
A shrill voice called from afar.
It was Jeong Noeul. Min Heejae looked at him walking over.
“So you were here? Somehow you look…”
Jeong Noeul narrowed his eyes.
“…very relaxed?”
“I was planning to spend the day leisurely.”
Shrugging as he spoke, Min Heejae waved his mask at Jeong Noeul and smiled.
“You’re quite dirty, Noeul.”
“Dirty?”
Jeong Noeul frowned and looked down at himself. Indeed, he had fought many guardian angels while following Min Heejae’s presence to this place. His dust-covered clothes were ridiculed by the vividly shining crown of Abrilah on his head.
“…You have no idea how hard it was for me to get here. I fought like crazy.”
Sighing deeply, Jeong Noeul grabbed Min Heejae’s arm.
“Let’s go quickly.”
Jeong Noeul pulled Min Heejae along.
“Iro hyung is holding Aiden’s constellation. Iro hyung’s constellation has descended directly to fight. As you can see in the sky, Star-nim is busy fighting the guardian angels… So probably Dojin hyung is acting together with Eunyul hyung.”
But, just the two of them wouldn’t be enough.
Jeong Noeul thought so. As an apprentice angel, Madojin’s divinity was about on par with Jeong Noeul’s, who wore Abrilah’s crown. That might allow him to fight several guardian angels, but it would not be enough against Aiden, who was on the verge of becoming a constellation.
‘And more than that…’
He thought there was a chance Madojin might have dropped out along the way. Judging by the number of guardian angels he had encountered while coming here to find Min Heejae, there must be even more clustered near where Aiden was. Defeating them all to reach Aiden was impossible. So it was likely that after sending Ryu Eunyul ahead, Madojin was still fighting the guardian angels.
‘His presence is too far to feel properly.’
Biting his lower lip, Jeong Noeul thought.
‘So we have to hurry.’
Time was running out. Separated like this, the battle situation would naturally turn unfavorable.
‘But really, what is all this?’
He let out a hollow laugh. Why were they even doing all this? What does it mean to save a person? What price is paid for that? What is the point of new constellations being born? Was this how Sun Wukong felt playing around on Buddha’s palm?
“Noeul.”
Stopping, Min Heejae spoke.
“Yes?”
Jeong Noeul turned back to look at Min Heejae.
Min Heejae was looking toward the sky.
“Over there… that looks like the direction of our lodging?”
Min Heejae pointed with his index finger at the distant scenery.
“Is our lodging on fire?”
Jeong Noeul couldn’t answer Min Heejae’s question. It was obvious what was happening at a glance.
The place Min Heejae pointed at was indeed the direction of their lodging. The lodging was located in a rural mansion complex at the foot of a mountain, quite far from the city center. Amid the rare greenery, flames were blazing.
‘No way…’
Jeong Noeul realized it was a fire ignited by ‘The Ever-Burning Mother.’ Unlike ordinary flames, it burned dark red, swirling like something alive.
‘…They didn’t lose, did they?’
They wouldn’t have. They couldn’t.
More importantly, they couldn’t return there right now.
“Don’t worry, just follow me.”
Jeong Noeul reassured Min Heejae and walked ahead.
“How can I not worry?”
Min Heejae said with a dazed look.
“Our lodging is on fire…”
Even if the files on his computer were saved to the cloud server, he had brought a lot of expensive records…
Thinking that, Min Heejae scratched the back of his neck.
‘The Star Hated by All’ floated.
At one corner of the sky.
<Truly, they’re like worms crawling on the ground.>
He caught his breath and sighed. Below his gaze, flocks of guardian angels were falling.
<…I agree.>
With a sighing voice, ‘The Archangel Who Cast Down the King of Hell’ spoke. The brothers stood back-to-back, confronting the guardian angels. The guardian angels, armed with spears, surrounded them on all sides.
<Why did they make so many of them?>
Swinging his arm, ‘The Star Hated by All’ spoke. He merely swung his arm, but the guardian angels gathered around him began to be shredded apart.
<After the gate to hell opened, heaven considered such situations could happen at any time.>
Though it was but a tiny star from heaven’s perspective, the fact that a gate opened there was significant. Just as two lives create civilization and build nations over generations, a faint spark could eventually burn the entire world.
Thus, it was horrifying.
For the human world and hell to be connected. Gates might open simultaneously on other planets, in other parallel worlds, everywhere.
<We wanted to prepare for that. Too many lives were lost when the gate opened on Earth. We had to ensure such a thing wouldn’t happen again.>
In short, this is your fault.
‘The Archangel Who Cast Down the King of Hell’ said to ‘The Star Hated by All.’
<The Demon God acted while you were asleep, didn’t he? You don’t even need sleep, do you?>
<If you fall into hell, you’ll understand. It’s a place where you can’t endure without sleep.>
Surrounded by screams, full of wailing repentance for past sins.
Monsters cry, demons grin with predictable schemes…
<Could you endure such a place without sleep?>
<Absurd. Heaven is just as boring.>
<That, I agree with. Just looking at heaven’s white scenery makes me want to vomit. But at least you guys can peek at the human world and find some amusement. All the souls reaching hell from the human world are always the same evil sinners.>
<So!>
‘The Archangel Who Cast Down the King of Hell’ turned toward ‘The Star Hated by All.’
<You! Are you proud of yourself?>
The Archangel’s roar echoed across the sky.
<When!>
‘The Star Hated by All’ shouted back.
<Did I ever say! I was proud of myself!>
With their shouting, guardian angels began to be destroyed. Watching the helplessly shattering guardian angels, the two brothers sighed. As guardian angels were destroyed, new ones descended to replace them.
<…Let’s close it quickly.>
‘The Archangel Who Cast Down the King of Hell’ muttered.
<I agree.>
‘The Star Hated by All’ looked at the heavenly gate spread above his head.
It was fundamentally the same kind of gate as the one opened by the Demon God. The only difference was whether it led to heaven or hell. Also, while gates to hell polluted the human world, gates to heaven merely offered a slight benefit to air quality.
<…To think I have to go to heaven again. Disgusting.>
‘The Star Hated by All’ sighed.
The gate had to be closed from the inside.
For the source sustaining the gate was beyond it.
‘The Star Hated by All’ drifted into thought. He recalled when he met the Savior Who Is One and All in heaven after fighting Enoch. Nothing had changed. He was a being like a system that sustains the world. Systems do not change. If a system appears outdated, it is simply because its surrounding environment has evolved.
‘You… my father…’
Have fallen behind.
‘The Star Hated by All’ was convinced.
He had believed so for a long time. Just as the scriptures supporting human religion eventually become outdated ethics, the Savior Who Is One and All could also naturally fall behind the times.
‘It’s time to prove it now.’
Thinking that.
<Let’s go, Michael.>
‘The Star Hated by All’ soared.
<Wait for me, brother.>
‘The Archangel Who Cast Down the King of Hell’ followed ‘The Star Hated by All.’
The two beings penetrated the gate open in the middle of the sky.
‘This time, it will be a true family gathering.’
Enveloped in light, ‘The Star Hated by All’ thought.
Little Pink Starfish 
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