Chapter 26 - Episode 5. The Dead (1)
Chapter 26: Episode 5. The Dead (1)
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“There are things more terrible than death. Anyone who has been to Chaos even once knows what that is.”
- Yu Seolha, Second Commander of 「Rupture」.
* * *
Three days after the request began.
Jaehwan stood at the entrance of 〈Twilight Dusk〉 with the completed scabbard.
The work he had expected to finish in a day had taken three in total. Still, considering that the average horn required a generous three weeks to process, it had been remarkably quick.
Meikal and several craftsmen had come to see Jaehwan off.
“Are you really leaving just like this?”
“The work is done. I should go.”
While Understanding the Dream Demons’ skill, 「Crafting」, Jaehwan had learned an unexpected piece of information.
These monstrous beasts had not existed naturally.
Before Garnak’s horn had been Processed, it had already been Processed by someone else. In other words...
Every one of these beasts had been created deliberately.
It was unclear who had made them or why, but the horned beasts were undoubtedly products crafted with considerable care.
Jaehwan did not know whether Meikal and the others were aware of that fact.
He tapped the scabbard.
“I like this one too.”
As if satisfied with its new home, the sword gave a low hum.
The scabbard was elegant, giving off a faint black gleam.
It was sturdy, and it also possessed the ability to resist sinister energy. Most importantly, it had 「Garnak’s Majesty」 embedded within it, a power that could make beasts no stronger than Three-Horned Beasts tremble in fear. It would make avoiding needless encounters with weaker beasts easier.
Meikal stared at Jaehwan’s scabbard before asking, “By the way, have you named your sword?”
“Not yet.”
“If you do not mind, may I give it a name?”
Jaehwan nodded, and a faint smile appeared on Meikal’s face.
“I realized something while watching you these past three days.”
Three days. An endlessly short time, yet one that had left an indelible mark.
“I do not know exactly what you want. Nor do I know why you showed me that ‘world.’”
Meikal recalled the world he had seen.
Once he had escaped it, everything felt like a lie. He would probably never see that world again. He had only glimpsed it at all because of Jaehwan. Meikal had grown too accustomed to skills and interfaces.
That world had felt like a metaphor or a symbol. It had also felt like an illusion, like a dream.
Looking into Jaehwan’s eyes, Meikal thought, “But I know one thing for certain.”
What did it matter?
Whether it was a metaphor, an illusion, or reality.
One thing was certain.
“The people of this world will never welcome you.”
In this world, truth was never justice.
People were too accustomed to their own reality. They disliked complicated things and turned away from things they could not understand. They feared uncertainty.
And the man before him was the sum of all those things.
“Some people will admire you. Most will not.”
Meikal remembered when Jaehwan had first entered the workshop. A man who knew nothing of humility.
“Some will fear you.”
Violent to an unreasonable degree.
“Others will mock and despise you.”
A man with qualities strange enough to seem irrational.
“Some may even try to kill you.”
Meikal knew that Jaehwan’s intricately crooked way of life would earn the resentment of countless people. Most of this world would reject him. Some might even try to kill him.
“Even so, will you keep trying to protect that world?”
Meikal wanted to stop Jaehwan.
No matter how extraordinary that world was, even if it held a truth capable of enlightening every being in 《Chaos》...
Meikal wanted Jaehwan to abandon that world and survive.
As always, Jaehwan did not answer.
Looking into his eyes, Meikal understood. That world was not something he could abandon just because he wished to. It had already become Jaehwan’s life itself.
The man would live in that world alone.
Meikal gave a bitter smile.
“Then there is only one name that suits that sword.”
He had a craftsman bring him a hammer and chisel. Then, using 「Crafting」, he began engraving elegant letters into Jaehwan’s scabbard.
Dokbul(獨不)
“Is it ‘Dokbul’ as in maverick general?”
Meikal nodded.
“While I wrote it, I tried writing in fancy Murim language. You’ll meet quite a few people from that world in Chaos.”
Not Alone(獨不)
In a sense, the name did not describe Jaehwan as he was now. It carried Meikal’s wish for him instead.
Then a bright beam of light surged from the sword. With a deep hum, Dokbul let out its first cry.
It had accepted its new name.
“Then farewell.”
Jaehwan nodded once at Meikal’s words, turned, and walked away.
Meikal watched the man’s back recede.
An endlessly lonely and proud world.
A world he would never encounter again was moving farther away.
“W-Wait!”
Meikal suddenly called out urgently.
“May I ask one final question?”
Jaehwan stopped in his tracks.
“In the ‘world’ you see, what does the person I am now look like...?”
Jaehwan did not turn around. As if he hesitated to do so, he remained with his back turned and finally said,
“...A human.”
Then he walked away again.
Meikal knew why Jaehwan had not looked back.
He sighed.
Who could understand that lonely world?
Just then, a woman approached the man from afar.
Meikal let out a hollow sigh.
“Dokbul. That is youth for you.”
* * *
As Jaehwan walked along the main road, he vaguely realized that something had changed.
Something that should have been beside him was missing.
While he had been at the workshop, someone had occasionally peeked in, then caused trouble for no reason like a cat before leaving again. Yet that person had not appeared at all since yesterday. He had thought the nuisance had finally gone away.
“Are you looking for me?”
Mino looked neat, as though she had changed somewhere.
Her Nightwalker Outfit had become a short black martial uniform, and black stockings covered her legs. She still wore that gloomy robe-like garment over it, though...
“Where were you?”
“Nearby.”
“What were you doing?”
“This and that. I'm pretty busy too, you know. Oh, take this.”
“What is it?”
“Your clothes. You can't keep walking around dressed like a beggar forever, can you?”
Now that she mentioned it, his clothes still looked like rags. Jaehwan accepted the clothes in the bag. They had a vaguely medieval feel, but the outfits were fairly casual. Perhaps to match the scabbard, even the coat was entirely black.
“...I'm only giving them to you to repay you for saving my life.”
“I see.”
“Would it hurt to say thank you?”
“Thank you.”
Mino looked back toward distant 〈Twilight Dusk〉. Meikal and the craftsmen were still watching them.
“It seems the craftsmen like you.”
“No chance.”
“You seemed especially close to that old man.”
“You're mistaken.”
“But that old man was looking at you with a really intense gaze.”
“...”
Jaehwan did not bother responding.
The two walked down the main road for a while. As they reached the street of stalls, scattered crowds came into view.
“Why do you keep following me?”
“Why? Are you worried I might have some shady motive?”
“I have not ruled it out completely.”
Mino gave him a sweet smile.
“How did you know?”
“Are you plotting something again?”
“I'm planning to kill you.”
“And what will you do after that?”
“I'll take the Soulstone you have.”
“And after taking it?”
“...I haven't thought that far ahead, but I'll use it to live comfortably.”
Jaehwan snorted.
Whether Mino intended it or not, his laugh carried the easy confidence that such a thing could never happen. Mino felt a little insulted.
“I mean it.”
“I know.”
His voice had no rise or fall. Even when she said she planned to kill him, he seemed wholly unconcerned.
Mino wondered where Jaehwan got that composure.
At first, she had thought it came from his overwhelming strength. Yet when she thought back, Mino knew several people as powerful as Jaehwan.
For example, the Hall Masters of the Ten Halls of Chaos, the faction she belonged to.
Still, Jaehwan’s composure felt different from theirs.
“What are you doing from now on?”
“I will meet the Dream Demons.”
“How?”
“Meikal told me how.”
“What will you do when you meet them?”
“I will ask about the Tree of Illusion and find a way to climb to the upper part of this world.”
“Do you even know what is up there?”
“《Abyss》.”
Mino’s expression changed strangely.
“...Why do you want to go there? Do you want to become stronger? Or do you want to come back to life?”
Jaehwan was not the only person who had tried to ascend to 《Abyss》, a Branch of the Tree of Illusion.
Most had failed. Of those who had climbed up, almost none returned.
Even those fortunate enough to survive and earn the title Abyss Powerhouse ultimately became broken wrecks amid madness.
Jaehwan sounded slightly tired as he said, “Are you that curious about my purpose?”
“Yes.”
Jaehwan stared at Mino with cold eyes.
She faltered for a moment, but she did not look away.
“You would not believe it even if you heard it.”
“What could it possibly be? Are you planning to conquer the world or something?”
Jaehwan did not smile at Mino’s joke.
Instead, he looked up at the sky.
Mino watched him. Looking closer, it seemed Jaehwan was piercing through the sky and beyond the heavens. Looking again, he seemed to be looking at nothing. Yet as she continued watching, it seemed he was looking at everything.
A moment later, Jaehwan’s lips moved.
Mino was left stunned.
At first, she could not understand what Jaehwan had said. Not because she could not understand the sentence itself.
She could not understand it because...
It was impossible.
So Mino burst out laughing exaggeratedly.
It had to be a joke.
This person could make jokes too, she thought.
But after a moment, Mino saw Jaehwan’s expression and realized the man was serious.
Her laughter faded.
The muscles in her face stiffened.
Mino felt strange, as if she had risen into the sky without any Plausibility at all.
It was truly absurd. It was impossible...
Yet she gradually began to think that perhaps he could do what he had said. Perhaps it truly was possible.
Then Mino slowly grew angry.
“...Why do you want to do something like that? Who do you think you are? What gives you the right?”
“...”
“I wasn't going to say this much, but you're really irritating, you know that?”
Without knowing why she was so worked up, Mino kept talking.
“You don't care what anyone around you thinks. You never consider anyone else. You're blunt and unbelievably arrogant. Above all...”
Her voice, trembling with anger, slowly quieted.
“You do not see the other people here as equal ‘humans.’”
The moment she said it, Mino realized she had made a mistake.
But her mouth kept moving.
“Your life isn't the only important one. The people here also struggled to leave their Roots, reached the Great Realm, then died there and came all the way here.”
Why was she saying this? Mino wondered.
Was it resentment? Inferiority? Or some other emotion?
Even Mino did not understand herself.
“You said it once. You said you were human.”
At the time, Mino had thought she understood that meaning a little.
Maybe she had been mistaken.
“I'm human too. I'm not as strong or as steadfast as you, but I'm definitely human.”
Perhaps the “human” he spoke of was something entirely different. Something far nobler and greater.
But such a “human” was too difficult for Mino.
“A being who has no grand dreams or beliefs, but feels satisfied and happy as long as they survive another day safely. That's the ‘human’ I know.”
Were people like that unworthy of life?
At the end of the main road, two paths split apart.
Mino felt as though they were some fateful signpost.
“In that sense, you do not look human.”
Something fell somewhere with a thud.
When she turned around, someone was raising a fallen signboard.
“We should part here.”
“...”
“I don't think I can travel with someone who has that kind of purpose.”
Without saying goodbye, Mino walked down the branching path lined with stalls.
Jaehwan watched her retreating back for a long time.
The final image of the first human he had met since coming to this world.
After some time, Jaehwan suddenly looked down at the bag in his hand.
* * *
At the end of the path Mino ran down stood a tavern.
It was the tavern Claire ran.
‘...I did not have to say all that.’
Mino stood before the tavern entrance, thinking.
This had not been her first plan. She had meant to bring Jaehwan here. She had planned to walk in with him and introduce him to Claire.
That would probably never happen now.
Mino opened the tavern door and entered.
“Sorry, ma'am. I'm really late, right?”
Most of the lights were out, leaving only the bare minimum.
At the center of the tavern, Claire sat with vacant eyes. Bound from head to toe, Claire saw Mino arrive alone and gave a crooked smile.
“...I knew it.”
“I'm sorry. Really.”
Claire chuckled and shook her head.
“This time, it looks like we are both really going to die.”
Claire.
The woman who had cleared the 《Tower of Nightmares》 with Mino, then traveled with her all the way to 《Chaos》.
Mino looked at her and bit her lip. She would not be able to protect her last Companion now.
“Witch of Massacre.”
The cold voice froze the air in the tavern.
It was not only this tavern. The entire nearby residential area was filled with dreadful killing intent.
The owner of that voice was the man who had come looking for Mino in the tavern not long ago.
“What happened to the deal?”
“That person won't come here.”
The air was cold enough to cut flesh.
Had Jaehwan influenced her somehow? Even in such a terrifying atmosphere, Mino found herself giving a hollow laugh.
“He went to destroy this world.”
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