Sure! I think I got a bit carried away with this tho, might've enjoyed retelling too much so my apologies. You can skip to the last part of the reply to see the scene where they converse, but for a bit more context then feel free to read the whole thing ^^ To anybody else who'll come across this reply, please be advised that this contains spoilers for a chapter that would be coming for a bit far away from now. For anyone who wants to read ahead, the current chapter we are in is included in Ch.216 of the novel. The things I say here covers Ch.216 to Ch.224 although it's a summarized version for the most part.
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So, before this reunion there are a lot of other things that would be happening. Long story short, Jin-woo will be a bit roughed up by the other Sovereigns, he manages to take care of the insect lady but the Sovereign of Frost and the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs would eventually kill him. He dies, which triggers his passive ability and then he meets with the previous Shadow Sovereign, Ashborne. Through him, we'll learn truth about the past, the future, and about the system. During this time Jin-woo would be sleeping with his body being completely unguarded from the outside so while all this was happening, someone would come and protect Jin-woo's body. As the Beast Sovereign and the Sovereign of Frost senses Jin-woo's heart beating once again, they tried to make a move on him but someone blocked their attacks. It was his dad, as to give his son some time to fully receive the power of the Shadow Monarch, he fought off the other sovereigns. Yes, he knew everything. Turns out, when he disappeared all those years ago he was actually taken by the Brilliant Fragments of Light. Since then, they used him as a vessel for one of their own. But unlike the sovereigns, the Fragments of Light don't fully take over of their hosts body, they just let them borrow a bit of their powers, kinda like how Thomas Andre, Christopher (something, forgot his name but the other special authority rank hunter that got killed a while back), and Goh Gun-hui's situation is, so his ego is retained. He still remembers everything, the only catch with his situation is that his body slowly deteriorates as he continually borrows the power of the Fragments of Light, nonetheless he still protected Jin-woo because he is his child and he was also ordered to. At first, he was actually ordered to eliminate Jin-woo because the Fragments of Light thought he was a threat to humanity, Jin-woo's dad couldn't do it even though he had to since obviously he didn't want to harm his child, he tried his best to delay his mission for as long as possible until thankfully the Fragments of Light realized how Jin-woo was the only one who could protect humanity from the sovereigns so they instead ordered for the dad to protect him. So, during this fight where his child needed his protection more than ever, he decided to protect him even if it means to lose his life afterwards.
Jin-woo eventually wakes up after getting the shackles of the system off, just before the Sovereign of Frost deals a last strike to his father. The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs ran away (he's a filthy coward tsk tsk) but he took care of both it and the Sovereign of Frost no problem as he's much stronger now than he was before. After the battle ended, the man who was covered in a robe that protected Jin-woo (his father) fled from the scene, while he was conversing with Igrit and Beru about what happened he was out he noticed how the man dropped their shortswords and realized how they're identical to what his father uses. Seong Il-hwan, Jin-woo's father went to find shelter in an abandoned building, he felt that his body couldn't hold up anymore so he fled the scene as fast as he could although he wanted to converse with Jin-woo even for a little bit. He didn't want Jin-woo to see him in such a state and thought that it was better to just quietly disappear just like that. At this point, one of his arms were already gone and disintegrated into ash due to him using the Fragments of Light's power to protect his son. Soon enough though, Jin-woo arrived to where his father is.... (the next parts are taken directly from the translated novel, figured it'd be better to be read this way)
He didn’t even have to take a look to know just who it was standing before him like this. It was Jin-Woo.
Even though here was the son whose name he so wanted to call out to, he still resolutely brushed past Jin-Woo’s side while hiding his face with the hood.
However, Jin-Woo turned towards the departing man and asked.
“Did you honestly think I wouldn’t have noticed it if you went away like this?”
Halt.
Seong Il-Hwan’s steps came to a halt.
But, how….?
He turned around towards his son, only to spot a certain item thrown by Jin-Woo slowly flying at in an arc towards him.
Grab.
What Jin-Woo returned was a shortsword. It was Seong Il-Hwan’s own shortsword that he ended up dropping after his left hand became useless.
He stared at the weapon for a moment or two, before raising his head. Jin-Woo was staring back at him with reproachful eyes.
Jin-Woo could still remember quite clearly that particular shortsword.
When he was a young boy, he got found out while playing around with his father’s shortsword and received a scolding worth remembering.
Only now did Jin-Woo consciously realise why his own weapons had been set as shortswords when the previous Shadow Sovereign swept through the battlefields with a longsword, instead.
It was all because of the memories he had of his father.
Influenced in part by his memories, the dungeons generated by the System ended up presenting Jin-Woo with daggers and shortswords as his main weapons all this time.
His hushed voice continued on.
“Are you going to leave again without saying anything, Dad?”
‘Dad’.
That one word dug deeply into Seong Il-Hwan’s heart and he had to remove his hood.
His right hand was slowly turning into ash as well.
His son flinched greatly after realising the state of his hands, but Seong Il-Hwan formed a thin smile as his reply and spoke.
“I didn’t want to show you this sight.”
Jin-Woo understood that a body turning into ash after exhausting all lifeforce couldn’t be saved no matter what. He hurriedly tried to get closer, but Seong Il-Hwan raised his right hand to stop his son.
His left arm had scattered away in dust and only his shoulder remained by then.
Jin-Woo hesitated, before remaining in his spot, and asked his father.
“Then, what about you, Dad?”
“…..?”
“Didn’t you want to see me again? Dad?”
Surely, he could still use his right hand for the time being, so how come…
Jin-Woo’s question caused Seong Il-Hwan’s raised arm to slowly go back down.
“I wanted to see you. Always.”
….To the extent that, even if you couldn’t see me, I still felt happy from the fact that I could see you from far away.
Jin-Woo finally came closer to his father until he stood right before his face. Seong Il-Hwan reached up with his remaining hand to gently touch his son’s face.
Thick tears falling from the boy’s eyes wetted the back of his hand.
‘This foolish father wasn’t able to do anything for you, yet despite that, you have….’
“….Grown up so well.”
Jin-Woo opened his mouth.
“Is this the Rulers’ doing? Are they throwing you away after using you?”
A scary amount of rage could be felt in Jin-Woo’s voice now.
Seong Il-Hwan shook his head, though.
“They only gave me an opportunity to make a choice. I chose to protect you, that is all. And that choice was not wrong.”
And now, even his remaining right hand was turning into ash and scattering away.
“I wouldn’t have minded talking to you for a little bit longer, but….”
And he wanted to stay here for a little bit longer, too….
He had done something reprehensible.
He ended up making a boy say goodbye to his father not once, but twice now. He tried so hard to hold back, but in the end, tears began flooding out from Seong Il-Hwan’s eyes.
“I’m sorry for not being a good father to you.”
Those were his last words.
Shururuk….
Seong Il-Hwan’s body, all his lifeforce exhausted from fighting against the Sovereigns, turned to ash. Jin-Woo hurriedly tried to embrace his father’s body slowly crumbling away, but….
What remained in his palms wasn’t a person, but grey-coloured powder.
Eventually.
In the spot where Seong Il-Hwan once stood, nothing remained.
Something from deep inside angrily welled up in an uncontrollable burst. Jin-Woo couldn’t hold it back anymore and in the end, raised his head towards the sky and roared out loudly.
“Uwaaaaaah-!!!”
When he did, the Mana in the atmosphere reverberated.
The sky, the air, the ground – they all cried.
And soon, Jin-Woo’s mouth began emitting the heavy, grave voice similar to other Sovereigns.
[Hear me, remaining Sovereigns!!!]
If all these events were set in motion simply because the Sovereigns decided to settle on Earth, then….
Then, I shall make them pay an unforgettable price for that.
Alright, first of all Jin-woo is about to fight other sovereigns so yey for that. Second, he's about to become the 'real' shadow monarch, we're going to see the og monarch woop woop! But Jin-woo's gonna get a bit roughed up first tho... Lastly, his dad is about to show up wooooo~ it's gonna be a bitter sweet reunion(/TДT)/