Chapter 433 – Fragments of Mist (2)
The hospital ceiling darkened black, then suddenly rose impossibly high. It was a starless night sky. Moonlight rippled across that pitch-black sky in full.
Silver strands flowing down in thread after thread. Those spreading silver filaments felt almost like someone’s hair. In the very middle of them, an eye slowly opened.
Even though this was only a fragment of memory, an oppressive pressure weighed down on my entire body. It felt as if I were submerged in water—no, in a thick liquid even heavier than water. And this probably still wasn’t Crescent Moon fully manifesting.
How in the world were we supposed to fight something like that? In the suffocating hopelessness tightening around my throat, the moonlight shook violently.
[My lovely little moon.]
The voice held faint pity. As though it had not the slightest doubt that the one under its hand could never escape.
[If you wish to keep wandering along a fleeting dream path, then by all means do so.]
With a tone so gentle it was almost soothing, she spoke.
[All paths have an end.]
The moonlight stained black at the edges began to dim. Ruka Feiya tilted her head and looked up at the sky where the silver light was scattering.
“That must be why Crescent Moon suddenly fell asleep. Because she interfered in order to stop Eclipse.”
And she had succeeded. It had only briefly delayed the completion of Sung Hyunjae, but it had removed the one and only threat.
Song Taewon.
I blinked slowly. He was no longer in human form.
Within the blurry replay of memory, a black shadow was melting down. It dripped to the floor endlessly like falling teardrops.
He held out what had once been a hand.
[Please go on living.]
Song Taewon had protected humanity.
Whether Chief Song truly felt that Sung Hyunjae was human rather than a monster, or whether it had only been meant as a final consolation, I couldn’t know. But for some reason, he, whose form could no longer even hold together properly—his face—
It seemed as though it was wearing a faint smile.
[As a human.]
I couldn’t see Sung Hyunjae clearly. But I could confirm that Plunder, Song Taewon’s final power, had been given to him.
[I was a monster in the end, but.]
…I wanted to shout that that wasn’t true. It pained me that my voice could not reach a record of the past.
[Please live on.]
“…what, …sir?”
Sung Hyunjae said something, but I couldn’t hear it properly.
[With that, I…]
Thud, the shadow collapsed in on itself. Sung Hyunjae’s hand touched the darkness that had spread like a pool.
[…I am sorry.]
It was a voice so frail it sounded as though it might snap at any moment. What in the world was he sorry for, even at the very end?
[I… was greedy… but, again……]
Again.
[…even if I did… human……. however many times……]
“Of course, …would.”
The black shadow wound itself around the tips of his fingers one last time, then scattered white. Not even a corpse remained. There was only a single gift left behind.
The last gift that would allow Sung Hyunjae to go on living as a human.
Before my regression, Song Taewon ultimately could not accept himself as human. Yet he had continued protecting people, and even to the one he had regarded as a monster, he left behind a path toward humanity.
…Had he been satisfied, even a little?
The fog disappeared. A clear sky emerged, and the surroundings changed back into the forest. A long sigh slipped out of my mouth without my realizing it.
“Crescent Moon…”
My throat felt a little dry.
“She backed off more easily than I expected.”
“Because Eclipse disappeared. She must have been satisfied. Even if she pretends to be so magnanimous in memory, she’s probably in quite a bind right now.”
The King of Harmlessness smiled mischievously.
“Because when you turned back time, Eclipse was revived too.”
“But Chief Song would never harm Sung Hyunjae, never harm the little moon. He’s not that kind of person. Wouldn’t Crescent Moon know that too?”
“How could she trust a being that might have been born from the Source’s will?”
“Even so, he’s not that kind of person. Absolutely not.”
I went over again what I had just seen. My brows furrowed on their own.
“I can’t really tell even after seeing it, but you must know something. About Chief Song’s condition, I mean.”
“He definitely wasn’t an ordinary human. It seemed like the black shadow inflicted at least a little damage on Crescent Moon too. Crescent Moon revealed that much power, and yet he endured without being killed. Though he collapsed in the end because he couldn’t overcome his own power.”
The King of Harmlessness lamented that she wanted to summon Eclipse over too and examine it.
“If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve sided with Han Yoojin!”
“That’s something I regret too.”
Even if her motive were impure, if even one Transcendent had taken my side, I would have welcomed it with both arms raised. And if the King of Harmlessness were alive and on our side, Chatterbox might even have come along as a bonus. …Damn, what a waste it was enough to make me cry.
“It should be possible for Chief Song to swallow Sung Hyunjae whole too, right? Then could he maybe remove only what Crescent Moon bound onto Sung Hyunjae?”
“Impossible.”
Ruka Feiya answered flatly.
“It’s been woven tightly over a very long time, so with Eclipse’s current ability it can’t erase only Crescent Moon’s influence. What’s needed is delicate work, carefully cutting away the thin yet incredibly tough threads wound tightly around the body. For Eclipse, who hasn’t even lived a hundred years yet, that’s impossible. The current Eclipse is not a blade but more like swinging around a huge blunt weapon.”
“So it’s not that it can’t be done, but that his ability is insufficient?”
“In about a thousand years—no, ten thousand years—it should become possible. By then he’d be able to handle his power with the precision of surgical scissors.”
Ten thousand years. In other words, it meant nothing could be done about it right now.
“This is hard.”
“Of course it isn’t easy to extract a being that a Transcendent on Crescent Moon’s level has painstakingly cultivated. It’s already amazing that you managed to screw things up for her this much~”
What do you mean, screwed things up.
“If someone were to cut even one single strand from among those dozens, hundreds of tangled threads, then perhaps something might become possible. Even then, though, it would still be difficult. It’s simply a lack of experience.”
Who was supposed to cut that? Then did that mean Chief Song needed to live several thousand more years before he could safely help Sung Hyunjae? That was a bleak thought.
“I wonder if Chief Song will live a long time too.”
“If he doesn’t get devoured by his own power. The little moon too. One acquired it afterward, one was born with it. Both of them ended up bearing power they couldn’t handle because of an outside will. And Han Yoojin, you…”
The jellyfish circled around me once.
“You’re embracing things you can’t handle with your own hands. Ignoring even broken arms and a chest torn open.”
“I can still manage for now.”
“Ah, but it’s going to get even more interesting from here.”
Ruka Feiya, sounding regretful, let out a soft sigh, then looked back at me.
“So then, how should I give you your reward? Since the Han Yoojin inside the dungeon is treated as the same person, it was processed as you solo-killing the boss monster.”
Ah, right, that was true. I looked at Ruka Feiya with eyes full of expectation.
“An F-rank solo-killed an L-rank, didn’t he? Shouldn’t something better than a Wish Stone come out of this?”
“Not L-rank. S-rank.”
Tch, she wasn’t fooled. If it was S-rank, then compared to before my regression, it was only one or two stages lower.
“Is there anything you want?”
“If there’s something I want……”
Of course there was. But asking her to save our world would probably be impossible, and getting my brother back was…
“…Before the reward, could you help me with one thing?”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Chatterbox.”
Ruka Feiya tilted her head.
“What about him?”
What do you mean, what about him.
“He’s saying he’ll avenge you and gnashing his teeth at me.”
“Avenge me? Why?”
Her expression said she truly didn’t understand. Don’t tell me Chatterbox…
“Because Chatterbox… um, loves you, Ms. Ruka Feiya?”
“I see.”
“No, what do you mean, ‘I see.’ What kind of response is that.”
She was far too unmoved. For a fleeting instant, Chatterbox felt just the tiniest, tiniest bit pitiful. About as much as ant dandruff.
“There were lots of people who loved me. I’m charming, after all.”
Ruka Feiya smiled as she swayed her tentacles.
“I can’t really judge given how different our species are.”
“The abilities one cultivates have nothing to do with species~ Of course, when I was young too, when I was the king of one world and one race, there were lines of people wooing me.”
“Even so, the tentacles are a bit much.”
“You’re really prejudiced against tentacles.”
In any case, it seemed the King of Harmlessness had no particular feelings toward Chatterbox.
“Leaving love aside, weren’t you at least friends?”
“We did spend time together, and we had tea together, so probably.”
“Then please try to stop him. Write him a will or something. Like, ‘I bear Han Yoojin no grudge, so give up on revenge.’ Or ‘In truth, the one who killed me wasn’t Han Yoojin,’ that would work too.”
“I can write it, but revenge is the self-satisfaction of the living.”
Ruka Feiya shrugged.
“If it were purely selfless love for another, then the moment that person disappeared, it would end. Because nothing remains. There’d be no need even for revenge.”
…Suddenly I thought of Yoohyun. My brother, who had looked only at me while disregarding even himself.
“Love, emotions, are normally interactions, and the ‘I’ who loves you comes to matter too. Because it is ‘I,’ and no one else, who loves you. For ordinary, universal love, for emotional exchange, there has to be me before there can be you.”
“That sounds kind of vague.”
“It means Chatterbox is acting for the sake of ‘himself who loves Ruka Feiya.’ It isn’t revenge purely for my sake.”
…That had been true of him too. Though, to be fair, when you really think about it, what would the dead know about revenge anyway?
“Even so, if it’s someone truly precious, it’s only natural to want revenge.”
“It’s Chatterbox’s grief, not Ruka Feiya’s grief. Chatterbox’s anger, not Ruka Feiya’s anger. Of course, the heart is not something one creates alone, so I’m not entirely unrelated either. It is grief that arose because I existed, and anger that arose because I existed.”
If there were only that one person in the world, then perhaps feelings themselves could not come into being. Surely only when there was something else, someone else, could a person feel joy or sadness.
“Even so, in the end it’s still for oneself. Han Yoojin, if you received a letter saying, ‘Please don’t take revenge even if you lose someone precious,’ would you stop?”
“…No.”
I absolutely wouldn’t. I would never stop until I’d slit their throat. Still, I had no intention of touching the people around Chatterbox the way he did.
“It could even backfire. But should I at least leave a message? Even if I won’t see it myself, it would be far too dull if your story got blocked by Chatterbox’s revenge.”
“What do you mean, dull. It’s because you died. Because you died.”
“Right. Dull indeed, truly.”
As expected, the jellyfish in front of me was hard to understand. Wasn’t she taking her own death far too lightly? The tentacles stretched out again and wrapped around my shoulders as if holding them. Then Ruka Feiya’s face came close—
“Wait, wait!”
“Close your eyes.”
Wh-what are you trying to do! I panicked for a moment, but the faint warmth touched only my eyelids.
“The rest is luck.”
“I don’t know what that was, but thanks anyway. But by any chance, do you want to come with me too? I can make magical beasts even from memory fragments. Like that fairy dragon I showed you before.”
“No. That wouldn’t be me.”
Ruka Feiya refused at once. Certainly, even if a fragment entered them, a changeling and Sung Hyunjae were very different. It could take on a form resembling Sung Hyunjae, but its abilities and personality would be completely different.
“There isn’t much time left now. With the current reward value, you could even get SSS-rank equipment. Or a skill, if it suited your aptitude. But I don’t recommend a skill. It’d be bad for your body.”
“It’s impossible to get an S-rank attack skill, right?”
Since doubling effects was possible for me, even an S-rank skill would be useful. As expected, she shook her head.
“Even A-rank would be difficult.”
“That’s harsh.”
“Your aptitude from the beginning was only around simple support. Now it seems more specialized toward nurturing, though aptitude does change depending on environment and effort.”
“If I’ve been through hell for five years, shouldn’t I have developed some combat aptitude too?”
“For that side, your physical condition matters too. You wore your body out, didn’t you.”
Before regression, me, yeah. To be honest, my body had been a little better then. Then would that guy have had some combat aptitude? Ah, I should’ve told that point-shop bastard to try using it! There might have even been a discount!
“My points… Crescent Moon made me lose all of them……”
Instead, my body had gotten a little healthier and my mana engraving had stabilized, but it still felt like a waste. Ruka Feiya rolled her eyes toward empty space as if checking the system, then spoke.
“The point shop did look useful. Shall I give them to you as points, then?”
“What? You can do that?”
“The conversion rate is bad. You’d lose about twenty percent.”
“In that case I’d rather just take equipment.”
It would be better to outfit the kids. Since Myeongwoo was there for weapons and other things containing metal, something SSS-rank that a blacksmith couldn’t make would be best.
“Don’t you have anything you’d recommend? Chatterbox and Crescent Moon both know you. I’m bound to run into them in the future……”
“You’re greedy.”
“Then give me information instead. Don’t they have any weaknesses?”
“Crescent Moon gets a little weaker during the day, but you still can’t fight her. Chatterbox handles the system well, but like most system managers, he’s not very good at fighting. It’s not his aptitude. Of course, even so, he’s muuuch stronger than you.”
That was really not helpful at all. Then again, this was probably worse than throwing an egg at a rock. Maybe I really should just take equipment…
“Ah, should I give you one of my drawers?”
“Hm? A drawer?”
A square object like a Rubik’s Cube appeared in front of Ruka Feiya.
“Since the others won’t be able to use it anyway, and it would remain shut forever. This is the smallest among my drawers, but even so, it contains items better than what your reward value could buy.”
“…Are you really allowed to give me something like that?”
“It’s a loophole. It’s mine, after all. Of all the things inside, you can take only three items out with you. That’s the maximum.”
Should I really accept it? She wasn’t trying to screw me over, was she? For now, I held out my hand and received the cube.
[The King of Harmlessness’s 71st Drawer]
It really was a drawer.
“…How do I use it?”
“You just go inside and bring out the things you want.”
“All at once?”
“No. It’s fine even if you go in several times. It’s similar to that blacksmith’s forge.”
In that case, the cube itself was already more than valuable enough. It could serve as an emergency shelter too.
“You’re suspiciously kind.”
“You’re more interesting.”
It seemed that to her, good and evil meant nothing—if something pleased her, that was enough. In any case, there was no reason to refuse when she was being generous.
“What should I do with the little reward value left over?”
“Hmm, convert it into points.”
It was better to use the point shop when I needed it than to take miscellaneous items now. Once I had received the full reward, the scenery around me began to blur. Ruka Feiya’s figure also started to turn transparent. Her tentacles waved slowly, as though in farewell.
“…Thanks. Goodbye.”
After all the trouble she had caused, who would have thought I’d end up receiving help like this. Really—
“Ah!”
“Hm?”
With a face saying she had just remembered something, Ruka Feiya spoke.
“You can’t take things from this place out unless they’ve been processed as rewards.”
“That’s only natural—”
“Clothes too.”
What!
“W-wait! All my clothes are from here!”
Not just my outerwear—even my underwear had all been changed!
“I can make clothes easily, so it slipped my mind. Still, it’s nothing serious. Goodbye~”
It is serious! The instant I hurriedly pulled out Silekia and put it on, my vision darkened. The desolate island came into view.
—Krruuung!
And along with it came a familiar cry.
