184: The Demon Realm (1)
“Profile.”
[Username: X X]
[Age: XX years old]
[Data corrupted.]
“Sigh······.”
A system window that made me sigh.
Every time I see it, I feel suffocated and breathless.
But I have never lost hope.
The data is not ‘deleted’ but ‘corrupted’.
That means there is a way to restore it.
The problem is that the path to restoration is long and arduous······.
‘Nothing is impossible.’
It is not impossible.
I have confirmed this from the King of the Dead, so it is certain.
If restoration had been impossible in the first place, I would not have returned to the mortal world while erasing my existence.
Even if I did return, living a life where I would not be remembered by the heroines would be more horrible than death.
“How did this happen······.”
In the midst of the darkness.
The path I have taken flashes before my eyes.
The things I left behind in the cracks of the dimension come to mind.
I have no regrets.
But the bitterness remains.
.
.
.
It’s dark.
It’s cold.
And it’s damp.
‘Where is this.’
As the question popped into my head.
I realized it was a stupid question.
This is not ‘somewhere’.
This place is nowhere.
And it is everywhere.
A space where space does not exist.
A place that mere humans cannot comprehend.
A deep abyss where I stumbled and fell instead of stepping over to the next dimension.
It is the crack of time and space.
‘Mijung······.’
All my senses are becoming dull and seem to be gradually disappearing.
But I can clearly feel the tiny hand clasped in mine, and I will never let go.
Then the small hand grips my hand back.
I will never let go.
Where I go, Mijung goes, and where Mijung goes, I am.
Even if we die, we will be together.
Mijung, who has now become one with me.
‘Is there no way······.’
But that doesn’t mean I want to die together.
If possible.
If there is a way, I will save Mijung.
I closed my eyes (although there is no difference between opening and closing them)
and concentrated all my efforts on calmly assessing the situation.
With my senses dull and disappearing, I fumble in my pocket and barely manage to grab the Spear of Longinus.
And then I keep pressing the button.
But I soon realize it’s useless.
‘I have no magic power.’
I have no magic power.
It’s not that it’s all used up, it’s just gone.
It seems that magic power cannot exist in the cracks of the dimension.
‘It’s not just magic power. I can’t feel anything at all.’
It’s only natural.
The cracks of the dimension are made of emptiness.
Literally nothing.
A place where there is no matter, not even the concept of time and space.
If you ask how we are alive in this airless place.
We are not alive.
But that doesn’t mean we’re dead either.
We ‘don’t exist’ here.
Because in a place where there is nothing, nothing can ‘observe’ us.
We neither exist nor can we exist.
Only the part that touches Mijung is observed by the two of us, and only the concept remains faintly.
I exist because of Mijung.
And Mijung exists because I am here.
A situation where we barely hold on, proving each other’s existence.
The moment we let go of each other’s hands, we will both disappear and vanish.
‘Is the soul an exception to that rule.’
It seems like a regular rule, but there are many contradictions if you look closely.
Wasn’t it a worldview where energy increased indefinitely in the first place?
But there was another thing that was relatively free in the law, and that was the soul.
‘Soul!’
That moment.
I found a clue.
I should have thought of it sooner.
I immediately started to concentrate.
Recalling the feeling when the Underworld God entered me.
I began to dig deep inside me.Everyone carries a world within themselves.
Regardless of their level of cultivation, everyone.
Even if they never realize it in their lifetime, it always exists there.
As long as the existence called ‘I’ still exists.
That world will not disappear.
“Ugh······.”
The moment I recalled that teaching.
Suddenly, air filled my lungs, cold wind brushed against my skin, and I shivered in surprise at the cold yet soft and gentle sensation in my hand.
A voice came out!
I’m breathing!
I’m alive!
“Mijung-ah!”
“······Uh.”
I looked around and hugged the girl who was holding my hand tightly.
Her still small and frail body floated in the air.
Mijung let out a short scream as if she was a little suffocated, but I was so happy that I didn’t have the余裕to adjust my strength.
“······You’re going to break me.”
“Sorry.”
I barely suppressed my excitement and put Mijung down.
Only then did the surrounding scenery come into view.
“······Wow.”
“Welcome to my inner world.”
A field covered in pure white snow.
It’s a place I feel like I’ve seen somewhere before.
It’s the ‘world within me’ that the underworld deity guided me to.
“······Yujin, the inside. It feels like this.”
Crunch, crunch.
Mijung walks forward, stepping on the snow.
I follow behind her and inhale the cold air.
‘I guess I can’t just do whatever I want in my inner world.’
I don’t know if it’s because my level of cultivation is low or if it’s not possible in the first place.
At least it seems that I’m not omnipotent in here.
Even though I’m the master of this world in name, I’m just a poor resident here right now.
A desolate snowy field with no buildings, trees, or anything.
The only place where sunlight shines in the snowy field where you can’t see more than an inch in front of you because of the constant snowstorm.
Mijung and I walked towards it as if we were possessed.
“······What’s that.”
“That is······.”
And finally, we found four flowers.
To Mijung’s question, I tried to answer but swallowed my words.
What the heck is that?
I don’t even know yet.
In the first place, I don’t know anything about this world yet.
Maybe this is just an illusion right now.
Our bodies may be disappearing in the cracks of the dimension.
It might just be a bittersweet dream that lasts forever.
But.
I have an inexplicable conviction.
I have a strong feeling that the answer lies here.
To borrow the words of the underworld deity.
I feel a strong attraction from those flowers.
Of course, not in the physical sense.
“What the heck is that······. Hey?! Hey!!!”
“······Huh?”
Just then, Mijung hesitated and plucked a red camellia and held it in her hand.
I was startled and ran to grab her, but it was too late.
“What are you doing now?”
“······Flowers are meant to be picked. They’re there, aren’t they?”
“······.”
Mijung tilted her head and spoke calmly.
For a moment, I couldn’t refute her words and froze.
I felt like I had been hit in the head.
‘Come to think of it, I never thought of picking it.’
I just watched and observed it from a distance, wondering what it was.
I never even thought of picking it once.
Mijung’s words are not wrong.
Flowers are beautiful even when they bloom in the field.
But they are most beautiful when they are picked by someone and used meaningfully.
“Ah······.”
Only then did I realize.
The direction the flowers were looking at was not the sky where the sunlight was shining, but me.
It was the same even when I took a step forward.
The flowers moved slowly, still looking at me.
As if pleading.
As if drawn to me.
I carefully held the camellia that Mijung handed me.
I knelt down and reached out to the other flowers.
Yellow jasmine.
From Noble mtl dot com
Blue cyclamen.
And a black rose.
I didn’t care that the thorns pricked my hand and left it wounded.
That’s how I came to hold a bouquet of four flowers in my arms.Flowers that each emit a different light.
At that moment when I was bewildered, unable to figure out what to do with the four flowers I was holding in my arms.
“Ack?!”
The flowers disappeared in an instant.
Only a single red camellia remained in my arms.
The others had definitely disappeared.
I still had the illusion that they were in my arms.
And it wasn’t an illusion.
“Hoo hoo. You’re only just noticing now.”
“······?!”
“No. Don’t look back. Look forward. Just look forward.”
A warm sensation on my shoulder.
And a creepy voice coming from behind me.
A slender but strong hand caresses my cheek, preventing me from turning my head.
“Yurina?”
“I’m here too······. You idiot.”
The hand extended further from there.
It wrapped around my waist, and I felt a soft sensation leaning against me.
Jill wrapped around my waist, preventing me from turning around.
“Jill doesn’t resent you either. So please stop being so scary.”
And Julia’s hand gently wrapped around my hand, making me reach forward.
I couldn’t see it, but I could only hear the voice, breath, and touch.
I could tell who it was.
“You guys······.”
“That’s right.”
Even though it was the same voice, the tone and emotion in the words were different.
These are the heroines of the timelines I abandoned.
They are the ones I believed had disappeared.
“We didn’t disappear.”
How many times have I prayed that I didn’t want to lose them as I sent them away?
How many times have I missed the past episodes that I can no longer return to, saying that I wanted to see them again?
Maybe that determination came together to create a miracle.
The ones I remember are here.
My past is holding me back.
It is a strange situation where resentment, anger, obsession, affection, and innocence are all mixed together in each voice.
“Since when?”
“Always. We’ve been here from the beginning.”
“From the beginning······. I didn’t even know that······.”
“We didn’t disappear. Eugene’s efforts were not in vain. We stayed here and have been with Eugene all along. Sometimes cheering quietly, sometimes helping······.”
It wasn’t meaningless.
The failed episodes had not disappeared.
I was building it up in my inner world without even knowing it.
I thought I had only recovered three people.
The rest that I had lost were all within me.
“I wanted to see you······.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to look back. We’re always with Eugene. So. Shall we look ahead?”
“Ahead······.”
Julia’s hand opens my palm and points it upwards.
A hand that blocks the sunlight.
The sky is so big that you can’t cover it all with this small hand.
“From now on, you’re going to move this world, Eugene.”
“How······?”
“It’s simple. Eugene is the master of this world. This world is soon Eugene. It’s an easy task to move what’s yours as you please.”
“But in here, I’m just a speck of dust······.”
“That’s it.”
“······?!”
That moment.
The voices and hands that had been entwined behind me and whispering to me disappeared all at once.
All that remained were the four flowers I held in my arms.
And only Mijeong, who was holding onto my sleeve.
My hand is still reaching towards the sky.
As if trying to cover the sky with this small hand.
Like a foolish child······.
What am I like in this world?
Small.
Infinitely small.
No matter how hard I stomp my feet, all I can do is leave a small footprint.
On the other hand, this world is big.
So how big is it?
That question came to my mind.
And only then did I find the answer.
‘Infinite.’
The snowstorm clears.
My vision expands.
At the same time, this world gradually grows larger.
I’m still small.
But the world within me expands infinitely.
The gap in the dimension, which was once empty, is filled with ‘me’.
The gap that was once dark is filled with light.
How far will it expand?
Until it hits something!
Until it reaches somewhere!
Until it goes beyond the emptiness that is considered infinite and reaches somewhere else!”Huh?”
But right at that moment.
In an instant, the world inside me was enveloped in pitch-black darkness.
And I lost consciousness.
[Achievement Unlocked]
[New-
.
.
.
-This guy is crazy-
-Human? This? Are you out of your mind?-
-There are traces of the King of Hell······ Isn’t he a puppet of the King of Hell!-
The man and girl lying unconscious.
Gazes were fixed on the two people.
Worried voices mixed with murmurs erupted here and there.
No matter how you look at it, it’s a human body.
Moreover, it’s a living body.
It’s not a spirit body or a demon, but something that led a living body here.
How on earth was that possible?
No matter how much the passage was opened, something alive would never be able to enter this place.
Surprisingly, the answer was clear.
-Just, crossed over? By himself? With his own power?-
-What do you think the gap in dimensions is!-
-I just said what I saw······-
He crossed over on his own.
Of course, there is nothing in the gap of dimensions, so there is no way to walk or fly through it.
Sailing through an empty void.
It was something that could only be done by a being who could turn the impossible into possible.
-No way! That’s a realm that only the great ones can reach!-
-Is it Draken? Did that bastard bring them here-
-What’s the catch?-
-I don’t know······ Deal with it yourself, Wrath-
-I understand, elders-
Various discussions were going on.
But no matter how much time passed, no consensus was reached, and it all fizzled out.
-Anyway······. Welcome to the Demon Realm, human-
For now, all they could do was wait for the human who had arrived in this strange world to wake up.