155
Unexpectedly, the tea the man gave me was very ordinary green tea.
The taste I hated to drink when I was young.
“Let me first answer your first question…we literally have this supply route. Oh, I’ll call it the front door. I am the owner of this door. Manage everything.”
“Does that mean that taking care of everything is also your job to create doors in our world?”
“right. However, what we did is right, but not openly to our will.”
“No will means… there is someone above it.”
“Yes. In fact, we have no responsibility for being gatekeepers.”
I thought it would be good if there was no responsibility, but for some reason the man’s expression wasn’t very bright.
“We are the gatekeepers, and everything in this gate is doomed by our hands. Even being born.”
When I met the eyes of the man who said that, a scene from that focal point grew bigger and bigger and completely changed.
A town where people seem to live.
It was such an ordinary village where humans lived, just like the place where he went to get his inheritance the other day.
“The scenery you see now is part of my inquiry. They don’t create new life if I don’t want to. Of course, it never happened.”
The man disappeared from view, but only his voice sounded like he was right next to him.
“If we are not responsible, we are not free. We do not care what we do at this gate, but our will is theirs.”
“Are you saying you have to act like you want it even if you don’t want it?”
“Well, it’s not like that. Otherwise, we will perish.”
This time the landscape has changed again.
The landscape changed in an instant, showing a village with a much lower civilization than that of a village where people live.
“They are part of my door. Inside the door they don’t fight each other. It’s made so that you don’t even think like that.”
“…”
The scenery changed again and I returned to the table where I first met the man.
“Did your question clear up a bit?”
“…yes.”
“Then can I ask a question?”
“That’s right.”
“Why or how did you return?”
The man’s eyes lit up with a question.
Like a scientist who discovers something unknown that has never been seen before.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know.”
“Hmm… that’s really unfortunate. So, what happened just before the return?”
“then…”
Seong-hyeon explained what happened just before the return.
The mother and younger brother were killed by the overflowing beast.
And he couldn’t even take revenge on the beast, and Seonghyeon also died.
“Interesting. Then, the condition of return must be death, and the driving force behind it is revenge? What were you thinking when you died?”
It was a slightly more sensitive question, but Sunghyun didn’t care.
Because now I think it’s just a dream.
“My start was unhappy.”
It was useless for nothing, shining for a moment and having the ability to speak.
“And… that I wanted to save my mother and younger brother even if I had to sacrifice my soul.”
It didn’t seem to matter to me other than these two things.
“Oh… Then maybe, no. Now it’s your turn to ask a question. Dialogue should be fair.”
What question should I ask now?
Could it be that the owner of the power that the owner of the heritage was talking about had something to do with the beings above them?
“Then who is the master of your will?”
“…”
For a moment, the man’s expression hardened.
“It wasn’t an unexpected question, but I didn’t expect it to come up already. Who do you think is the one who brought you back?”
“It was… totally unpredictable. I didn’t see any clue…”
“Even though I have never seen the master of my will in person, I suspect that the master of my will and the one who brought you back are on a similar level.”
“Similar… level?”
“okay. All beings have a rank. I am fortunate enough to be in the ordinary class.”
What are these stories about?
In the first place, it seemed a bit far from work in the world where Seong-hyun lives.
“Congratulations.”
“…Yes?”
congratulations all of a sudden
What do you mean?
Sunghyun looked at the man with a face that he did not understand English.
The man’s expression hadn’t changed at all compared to before.
“If you step out of this door, you will become an ordinary person.”
“What…”
“You are a trivial existence now. Others in your world cannot even be called this case.”
“There are many people in my world who can stop an attack within this gate.”
“Well?”
At Seonghyun’s words, the man laughed for a long time.
The man laughed loudly for a while, then stopped laughing and said:
“The standard of class is not strength.”
“Then what the hell…”
“Knowledge and wisdom. These two are the standard of price.”
“…”
“It will be difficult to accept right now.”
As the man said, Sunghyun had a very complicated expression.
If knowledge and wisdom are the standard for price, what is the standard for that knowledge and wisdom?
It was clear that he was simply smart, clever, and couldn’t meet any of these standards.
“As you may have already noticed, the number of things that can be called the world is innumerable. But there are not many places connected to the world you live in.”
“Then how many places are connected to my world?”
In response to Seonghyeon’s question, the man spread out two fingers and said:
“Two places.”
“Two places…”
It felt as if the puzzle was coming together little by little.
The one who brought Seong-hyeon back and the master of this man’s will.
There was a slight possibility that these two were the same person, but it was highly likely that they were people from two different worlds.
“haha.”
The man who looked at Seonghyeon’s troubles showed a satisfied smile as if he was satisfied.
“Congratulations.”
“Yes?”
“At last your knowledge has reached the mediocre level.”
It is determined based on knowledge and wisdom.
If so, it meant that one of the two possibilities Sung-hyun had just thought of had the correct answer.
“Who is the master of your will? Since you are a normal person, he must be of a higher standard, right?”
“…”
The man was silent.
Usually silence is positive, but it was not that kind of silence.
Silence as if no more could be said.
“That’s it.”
“Yes?”
“This is all I can tell you.”
“…”
“Would you like another cup of tea?”
“yes. It tastes good.”
At Seonghyeon’s words, the man smiled lightly and poured the green tea from the old kettle again.
“It’s all cold.”
While Sung-hyun savored and drank the cooled tea, the man disappeared for a moment and then reappeared.
Holding something tightly wrapped in leather in his hand.
“What is this…what?”
“I will explain it slowly. Before that, I have a few things to tell you.”
The man put the leather wrapped thing on the table and continued talking.
“You must be fully aware that the moment you step out of this door, you become a normal person.”
“That’s right.”
“If you go out, the gates of your world will be strengthened even more.”
“You mean the 4th and 3rd grade doors?”
“I don’t know what those 4th and 3rd grades mean, but it’s probably right because it’s on the same level as the one I’m the current owner of.”
Hearing the man’s words, Seonghyeon felt as if she had been hit in the head.
When dealing with the owner of the previous level 5 door, the condition that the level 5 door disappears.
In other words, it was chosen because it was a direction that could significantly reduce the number of beasts.
But now?
‘If the magic beast is strengthened, it is different from the disappearance of level 5.’
The possibility of flooding the door increased, and it was clear that the hunters who were subjugating the 4th and 3rd grade gates would have more casualties.
While there was no change in the number of beasts.
If he had known through the window that the outcome would be like this, Seonghyeon would not have chosen to enter the door.
He would have taken it out and fought a battle.
I felt as if I was reading my thoughts and actions beforehand.
“Hey… are you okay?”
“Ah yes. Please speak.”
“Anyway, the door will be fortified. Even though I’m weaker than a higher gate than me.”
“…that’s not a welcome thing.”
“What should I do? Everything has costs and consequences.”
“Do you know who the owner of the other door is? What kind of ability you have, something you have to be careful about.”
However, the man did not respond to Seong-hyeon’s words.
He just handed Seonghyeon something wrapped in leather on the table.
“…?”
“Let’s unpack it first.”
As the man said, when I unwrapped the leather, there was a black dagger inside.
“I am not hurt by any attack. Your abilities will be the same.”
“Then this black…”
“That’s right. It’s the only weapon that can hurt me.”
“Uh, why is this…”
To Seonghyeon with a complicated expression, the man let out a light laugh and said:
“Do you remember what I said earlier?”
“what…”
“They say we are not responsible.”
“Yes. I remember.”
Responsibility is a burden to some and a pressure to others.
However, for men, the meaning was different.
“Ahh…”
The man, who was staring at the sword with an ecstatic expression, immediately grabbed the sword and handed it directly to Seonghyeon’s hand.
“I am finally able to take responsibility.”
The man grabbed Seonghyeon’s hand holding the sword with both hands.
Then he took it to his heart and said.
“You have been promoted to a normal level. Responsibility for saying things you shouldn’t have said.”
“no way…”
Instead of answering, the man nodded.
It sounds like you want to take responsibility.
“It’s the first time.”
“…”
“Acting my will and taking responsibility for it.”
As the man said so, he slowly thrust his sword into his heart.
Drops of red blood that had been falling down began to form a single stem.
“I wanted to act a little more at my own will and take responsibility, but beyond that, my existence does not allow.”
“So… so…”
So, did he put on a bitter expression on Sung-hyun’s question?
I wanted to tell you more, but because the question of accountability came out prematurely.
“Thank you…yes…”
The blood that had formed a single stalk grew thicker and thicker.
The blood that only flowed from the puncture site immediately ran down the man’s mouth.
“…”
The man, with his eyes closed with a satisfied smile and expression, scattered into the air and disappeared as if to announce that he was definitely dead.
with a weapon that stabbed his heart.
[You have dealt with the owner of the 4th and 3rd level doors.]
[An unexpected process has been detected.]
[Clear reward does not exist.]
[Level 4 and 3 doors are strengthened.]
[The door disappears soon.]
“…okay. I’ll leave at once.”
I thought the man who was the master of this man’s will might have been watching this moment, but the window that appeared now dispelled that suspicion.
that an unexpected process was discovered.
You might have seen the man gone now, but you wouldn’t have heard the conversation you had with him.
“Drink well.”
Seonghyeon poured all the green tea left in the kettle into a teacup.
Then he put his glass in front of where the man was sitting and left.