1010 - Childhood Friend of the Zenith

The tranquility seeped into the air. A lake that quietly flows. The scent of grass brushing past my nose. A warmth that could easily be mistaken for sunlight, accompanied by an unknown breeze that continued to tickle my hair. There was nothing particularly out of the ordinary—in fact, everything seemed exceedingly mundane. And the tree I was touching was just another ordinary one among many. Amidst all these ordinary things, I furrowed my brows at the appearance of someone special in front of me. 'What is this?' What am I looking at? Thump—! It felt as if my body had nearly stopped functioning; the blood coursing through my veins noticeably slowed. This must have been because of the figure standing before me. Our eyes met. Eyes that seemed to have captured the full brilliance of an aurora gliding across the night sky—crimson-purple irises. White hair cascading down, matching pale skin, accompanied by a gentle voice that called to me. As each aspect began to gradually settle into my mind, my frozen body slowly began to react. 'How...?' How is it possible that she's here in front of me? Did she follow me? That could be the case. The presence of the master was an enigma, not something easily quantified, and perhaps it was possible for her to appear like this. '...Just now.' The words she just spoke held something that instinctively soothed my spirit, more than inducing any wariness. 'My son.' The words spoken by the master. How could I not understand them? “…Mother?” I cautiously uttered the name I yearned to say. She smiled tenderly. Then she reached out with a white hand to caress my cheek. Her approaching touch was slow, but I couldn't bring myself to push it away. Soon, her fingertips touched my cheek. It was then. "Ah..." Receiving my mother's touch, I finally realized. There was no sensation that came with it. It's not a question about temperature. Truly, there's no sensation. This implies... 'A thought form?' The mother in front of me wasn't a living being. Moreover, since I knew she was alive, calling her a thought form seemed a bit off. 'Is this also the power of a true formation or a spell?' It wasn't merely an illusion. If one were to deduce, it might be one of those. Realizing this made the disappointment inside me flare up. Because I realized that the person in front of me was a fake. At that moment. "I'm sorry." The illusion of my mother apologized to me. "Your face looks quite disappointed." "…Mother." "Even so, this was the only way." Saying that, my mother changed her expression. Her lonely smiling face crushed my heart. A face I couldn't clearly remember anymore. But the expression she wore then—I could never forget it. As she left me. The last face that looked at me was just like that. "I can't ask you to understand... Meeting my son like this—it means there was ultimately no other way, right?" "…What is this situation?" What on earth is happening? How did my mother's illusion appear here? Not understanding the situation, I asked, and my mother spoke to me. "This was the only way I could convey a message to my son." "…A method to convey?" "Yes, and it was also thanks to touching the Divine Tree." My mother pointed at the tree behind me, the Sacred Tree, as she spoke. "And it also means that child helped." "…Child?" "The one who took care of you in my stead." "…Are you referring to Shin Noya?" "That's right." "…." Hearing those words, I momentarily had to show a dumbfounded expression. To call Noya a child—based on appearance alone, my mother could have easily been mistaken as not just a daughter but even a granddaughter, yet she referred to him as a child. "Thank you. It seems they worked hard." "No…." Though there were a few points I wanted to correct, now wasn't the right time to delve into that. There was a mountain of things I needed to ask. "Was it you who called me to the Myriad World?" My mother looked at me quietly for a moment at my question. Mumbling as if choosing her words. "Yes." She confirmed not long after. "My son being here means… it must be because I called you." As expected. Though I had heard it before, I asked just in case, and it was confirmed. The reason I'm in the Myriad World is because my mother called me. Then, the next question was straightforward. "…Why did you call me?" What was the reason for calling me? Additionally... "Am I truly destined to be a disaster?" "…." As Shin Noya mentioned. Not someone else, but exactly me—was I really meant to be the disaster for the Central Plains? My mother widened her eyes at my question. Then with a more bitter expression than before, she gave her answer. "…You have reached there, unfortunately." "…." A more terrifying statement than silence or affirmation. I had unconsciously clenched my fists. "Truly, am I a disaster?" My mother's reaction suggested a being capable of wiping out all life in the Central Plains and reconstructing anew. That was me, she seemed to say. This too was within my expectations. Having discussed with Noya, I understood it could be possible, and the probability wasn’t low. "…Why?" Had I fully accepted that? No, I hadn't. "Why me?" I didn't know what expression my face held at this moment, but it was likely twisted with frustration. "…Why must it be me? How I've... how I've lived till now." The joy of meeting the mother I missed, even as an illusion, didn't prevail over the tumultuous complexity erupting from within me. "Damn it—! What...! What have I been living for up until now!" Less than ten years since my regression. A comparatively short span, even shorter than my previous life, yet what I accomplished within wasn't trivial. Initially, for a slightly better life... At the very least, I aimed to lead a better life than the one before. Quietly, without entanglement in the events to come. If I could live a better life than before, that would suffice. That was the first resolution I made. As time passed, the second was the realization that to protect those dear to me, I must personally stop the Heavenly Demon. I did many things for that purpose. My body, once too rusty and blunt to pursue beliefs and righteousness. I didn't hesitate to use any means necessary. I set aside what little conscience remained, staining my hands with blood I should never have touched. I didn't chase honor or fame, considering even those as mere tools. Everything was for the path I needed to take. To press forward, and forward again, for those who lived and died for my sake. I endured all of this and made it here. "Why am I considered a disaster…." Was it truly me who would kill those very people? "Why…? Why must it be me? At the very least, it shouldn’t be me." How could I possibly be called a disaster? I couldn't understand. "Of all possible things, it shouldn't be me." "..." "…That just makes no sense." I recalled the bloodshed the Heavenly Demon wrought in my past life. The winds over the Central Plains were tainted with the scent of blood. A time where only screams and despair lingered. The fires that blazed mercilessly and the wails of mothers who lost their children. The burnt corpse of a husband cradling his wife beneath a collapsed house. The moon descended, and stars plummeted. It was a day when numerous heroes, who could have shone bright, died while disgraceful and barren figures rose to prominence. So much blood was shed that the heavens were stained, the earth soaked with a crimson hue. If asked what hell was, I would surely designate it as that. "Why am I considered a disaster?" The disaster the Heavenly Demon caused wasn't enough to brand her as one, yet I'm the one deemed as such? No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't comprehend it. "…What have I done…." Claiming I've done nothing would be deceitful and arrogant. Although I've lived and acted, it pales in comparison to the actions of the Heavenly Demon in my previous life. To my grief-stricken lament, my mother's response was simple: "...I'm sorry." A brief apology. Damnably so. "Hah…." I let out a hollow breath, a smile inadvertently creeping onto my face. "I wished to see you so much... never thought it'd be in this way." How much I'd longed for her. And paradoxically, how much I'd wanted to forget. To me, my mother was an endless thirst. A thirst that couldn't be quenched due to a broken jar that couldn't hold water. Longing my entire life, only to hear these words upon meeting again. "…Really…." It's maddening. I barely held back the words bubbling to the tip of my tongue. "So, was the reason you called me to turn me into a disaster…?" I realized that my tone carried the anger I felt. Trying to revert it was impossible. It was said that my soul was twisted, causing my fate as a disaster to not properly activate. Yet consuming the celestial fruit reverted me to my original state. The problem here is— "The celestial fruit, that was your doing, wasn't it…?" "Yes." Following Yarankyo and consuming the celestial fruit was indeed orchestrated by my mother. "…Were you also the one to twist my soul?" "That's also true." I didn't bother asking how. What I needed to know now wasn't the 'how,' but the 'why.' "Why did you do this? After blocking it with difficulty... why bring me here and restore it?" If coming to the Myriad World wasn't simply a miracle or a coincidence, then this was likely another intention of my mother's. What in the world did she want from me? Could it be— "You wish for me to become a disaster—." "That's not true." Before I could finish, my mother denied it. Her reaction differed from earlier. "…Absolutely not." "Then—" "Destiny, you know." Before I could ask further, my mother interrupted, adding her own words. "Destiny is like a path that cannot be twisted or blocked. It's a journey that cannot be stopped, no matter what, and one must continue." "…What are you saying?" "The will of the world that has seeped into you was like that... something that could not be changed by any means." Crrk. My mother reached out to touch the Divine Tree. In contrast to the absence of sensation I felt, the sound resonated from her fingertips as they touched the tree. "Therefore, I decided. If I couldn’t stop it or twist it, I'd choose to hide it." "Hide it...?" "Yes, if there were no way to alter it, I decided to obscure the eyes of the world. That's the choice I made." "To hide the eyes of the world…." What could that possibly mean? As I furrowed my brow, trying to comprehend. "The Central Plains is a peculiar place." My mother continued speaking, gazing at me without pause. "Overcoming a disaster deemed unbeatable was where the problem began." That likely referred to the first bloodshed caused by the Blood Demon. "They made the impossible possible. This drew the world's gaze... Before long, they uncovered contradictions and anomalies. Overcoming 'absolute' meant someone did what shouldn't have been done." Something that shouldn't have been done. And someone. In my mind, I recalled Moo Ah, who was once considered the owner of the Central Plains, and Yeon Ilcheon, who had reincarnated. "Thus, regarding such matters, the world sought to address them in many ways. To prevent the same mistake from happening again." "…That's why they sent you to the Central Plains." To ensure no second mistakes. They lowered the martial limits of the warriors of the Central Plains and sent another disaster. That disaster was my mother, but— "And it failed." She even failed. My mother neither became the ruler of the Central Plains nor descended as a calamity. The world, having experienced failure, devised another plan. 'Me.' They decided on me as the disaster. All possibilities I had explored led to that conclusion. Why me? If it were truly me, how did I become a disaster? Though I neither wished to understand nor could comprehend it, that's what reality was. As awful as it was, this was the reality. Grating my teeth, I was about to speak when— "…That's wrong." My mother denied my words. "The world did not fail." "Excuse me…?" It did not fail? "What…?" "My son, from the beginning, the world never intended to send me to the Central Plains as a disaster." "...Yet here you are." "Yes, I came. But... it wasn't as a disaster." What did she mean by that? Not as a disaster? "The world wouldn't have been pleased to entrust the work to a master who lost her world, and I was merely the only one capable of temporarily leaving my own world." This aligned with what Noya had mentioned. He said there were things possible in the Myriad World because it had two masters. However. '...Isn't that precisely why she could come as a master?' That was why my mother could come, not as a disaster, but as a master. And because that failed, am I not the next substitute tasked with this role? It seemed like the current situation was precisely that. "I didn't go to the Central Plains as a disaster, or more precisely, not as a master at all…." My mother stopped her words and frowned gently as she looked at me. The faint wrinkles engraved with emotion. The name of the emotions that formed was sadness and regret. Why would she make such a face before saying those words? This question filled me when— "…It would be more accurate to say I went as one who would give birth to a disaster." That's what she said to me. Upon hearing that, I couldn't utter a word for a while. It was inevitable. Those words meant that— 'Then from the very beginning…' That my entire life was part of the world's plan. --- That means Mom isn't the second but Yangcheon is the second, isn't he?