Epilogue (2) End
Adam came to me the day after I returned to Earth after a long time.
“I stand in front of the successor.”
He no longer disguised himself as a human. He returned to his original appearance, whereas the entire body was covered with white fur. He deeply lowered his head that resembles a mixture of a bear and a raccoon.
“I’ll brief you on the reports during your absence.”
It had been a while since Adam’s ruling dimension joined the Union. The reason why they changed their stance, which was to remain neutral, was simple.
The “System” had changed.
Since they didn’t trust the System, they didn’t join the Union that blindly worshipped it, but the situation had changed.
One more mission was added to the Union they joined. I told the command both my goals and plans as a successor. A road map to establish the future Empire and win the battle against the Void.
Therefore, the Union had realized that it was the skeleton of the future Empire. And Adam’s species were fulfilling their purpose of becoming one of the Empire’s foundations by becoming a member of the Union.
“Five of the dimensions that have remained neutral expressed their desire to join the Union.”
Their species’ job in the Union was to roam around similar dimensions to encourage Union membership and negotiate terms. It was also the direction I desired.
When Adam left after finishing the report, a voice rang in my head.
He spoke with his whole heart.
– My god!
I frowned as I replied as if it was troublesome.
– I told you not to call me that, didn’t I?
Then, Secretary Kim, who was praying in his room, said, proudly…
– But I can’t call you the Guild Master, can I? Since that’s not true.
Over the past three years, all guilds on Earth had been merged into one. That decision was made based on each country’s judgment that it was desirable to establish a unified command to focus its power on defending against the Red Gate.
Of course, my influence moderately seeped in the process.
Ironically, it wasn’t an Awakened but the Senator, who took the role of being the head of the only Awakened organization in the world in that manner. Although he grumbled that he would retire soon, he had yet to find a successor and was still active.
The bottom line was, I was no longer the Head of the Celestial Dragon Guild.
– Just call me by my name.
– I can’t just call the name of a benevolent god!
– I told you I’m yet to be a complete god, didn’t I?
– Well, aren’t you going to be one day? And at that moment… you will be the only deity that contributed greatly in the mortal world without being sealed.
The System had returned to normal, and almost all the fragments of the previous god of the mind in the Void had been absorbed, but not all the problems in the world had been solved.
The Void hadn’t been eradicated yet, and the Red Gate continued to open… Most of all, other gods were still sealed in the blood-red world.
However, the future was bright. All the gods, including the god of time, had been granted their lost fragments. Furthermore, the number of their believers was increasing, and new incarnations continued to emerge.
One day, they would all escape from the Void, and from then on, the fight against their old nemesis would begin.
And I would maintain my existence “as myself” without reincarnation or regression, watching all of it and participating in all of the events as who I currently was.
– Anyway, why did you call me?
– Please speak comfortably. How can the great being address the first scepter that serves you with honorifics…
– I’m going back to catching Mercadius, then?
– Wait! Wait a minute. Actually, there’s a matter that I need to discuss with you…
Secretary Kim wanted to seriously discuss the new “launching”– he really used that word! – of the congregation emblem, clerical uniform, and outline of the scriptures, and I was going to cut the connection while pretending to listen for a while.
However, he spoke in a hurry just before that since he was ever so quick-witted.
– This is the last one! Well, I’ll be on a business trip.
– Have a safe trip.
– Aren’t you asking me where I’m going or why?
– I can see everything if I want to anyway.
Secretary Kim explained the plan regardless. On another dimension, many individuals were interested in the denomination that would soon be launched and continued to explain that he intended to travel around such places to promote the religion.
I spoke after listening to him.
– Don’t move alone. Take Euclid with you. The dragon is deep into the Internet these days, so tapping on the keyboard all day is all she does. What’s the use of playing around? She should be working.
After finishing the conversation like that, I disconnected the communication with him.
And I decided to get on the long-pending project.
I concentrated my mind and sank inside.
*
I dived into my soul and dug even deeper. Throwing my consciousness so deep still felt unfamiliar even after I had become a half-god.
There were more fundamental elements underneath the thick deposition of the memory of the previous life.
Fragments that made me exist as myself.
Among them, the empty space was once where the traces of the god of time’s fragments and the Monarch of Evolution’s soul stayed.
The former was returned to the main body of the sealed god. That was because there was no need for regression anymore.
Meanwhile, the latter was sent together with Genograche when he returned to the Magic Kingdom. After becoming a half-god, I didn’t have to carry his soul to maintain his Unique Skills.
Past the area where embedded stones had been pulled out, I went further down and deeper.
I then saw the fine dust that had been sinking and swirling inside my ego. It was rotating with a shape similar to the Milky Way seen from outer space.
I looked inside with the power of ‘mind.’
A very faint image was formed in the middle.
It was someone’s soul.
A person who had been hidden as my soul was at the front of my consciousness and who couldn’t be found because of the fragment of a god and the Monarch’s soul had pushed it behind.
I called out to him.
“You’re awake now.”
The soul opened its eyes.
– … This place is?
He seemed confused.
He, who woke up from a long sleep, recalled his last memory. A hazy recollection. The image that resurfaced splashed everywhere like a drop of water.
The soul remembered the last event he experienced. A high-level officers’ meeting of the Celestial Dragon Guild. There, he met eyes with a Hunter named Park Chang-Hee. Something was blazing in his eyes.
He didn’t know at the time, but it was a resonance felt among those who bore the seeds of Mercadius.
The soul was deeply disgusted by Park Chang-Hee. So he provoked him. Park Chang-Hee also lost his reason and rushed in to kill his opponent.
Then the soul heard the voice.
– … Who was that? When I kicked, Park Chang-Hee tried to fight back, and… The time suddenly slowed down just before the fist touched my body. The time slowed down indefinitely until… It stopped. At that moment, someone spoke to me in my head.
To avoid it from being more agitated, I calmed the soul down and explained it to him.
“It was the fragments left by the god of time that called you and threw you an offer.”
I looked at the soul, the spirit of a young man who had been asleep for a long time deep in me.
A man who had endured madness for a long time because he had a strong and tough mind.
The one who fought to the end against the whispers that coerced him to act violently.
When he had the urge to kill someone, the young man chose to hurt himself, and in the process, he was distanced from everyone he tried to protect.
I spoke to the soul of the “original Seo Jin-Wook.”
“You remember now, don’t you? The god of time… Those fragments gave you a suggestion in the past. That was the big turning point.”
He charged at Park Chang-Hee with the determination to die.
It was because he had given up since he was already fatigued. He couldn’t estimate how many people he would hurt if he went completely crazy like that. His fatigue had reached a point where he just wanted to finish everything.
“Unlike what you think, the god wouldn’t have let you die even if he had left you alone. The curse in your heart was supposed to intervene the moment Park Chang-Hee attacked you at that timeline. Instead of maintaining your life, the erosion of madness would have become a lot faster. And irrevocably so.”
Like the future timeline that Han-Seol saw, he would eventually become a dark lord, completely eroded by the curse.
“So the god of time gave you that suggestion. You wanted to rest, didn’t you? So it would let you rest. In the meantime, It would borrow your flesh for a while.”
Hence, when the body owner retracted his soul with his will, my soul that regressed filled the empty seat.
Again, the god’s proposal was only to “borrow.”
“But there’s was a problem. In the process… I have become a half-god.”
There was no lingering attachment to social status as a human being. The Celestial Dragon Guild had long been disbanded, and the people important to me had already become my followers. The Union served me, the successor and half-god, instead of the human Seo Jin-Wook.
Nevertheless, there was no way to return the body to the original.
“Now, the ordinary mortal soul can’t handle this body. So I can’t give it back to you.”
I felt a sense of old debt towards the original Seo Jin-Wook, even if it’s a contract that he agreed to.
That’s why I suggested to the original, who barely woke up.
“So I’ll give you a new body. Sculpted in the form, given the age, and born with the ability you desire. Don’t worry. Your memories will be retained.”
The soul of my body’s original owner seemed to be contemplating over something, unable to answer readily. I waited without urging him on.
Then the spirit finally told me what he wanted.
– The memory… Could you erase my memory?
It was an unexpected reaction. But the feelings that followed touched my soul, and I could see why he said so.
– It was a short life… but I don’t have any good memories because of the voice that bothered me since I was young. I can’t remember anything else but the hard times I suffered because of it. So I just want you to erase everything. Please give me a clean slate so that I can start all over again.
The original owner also said that he hoped his new body wasn’t that of an Awakened.
I felt bitter because I knew the reason behind that as well.
That was because of his suffering in the past caused by his father, Seo Gyu-Cheol.
After being brainwashed by Mercadius, Seo Gyu-Cheol projected his desire on his son and severely tormented him, focusing on his potentials.
His father treated him only as a prospective Hunter and an heir to achieve his dream.
The past, in which he was treated as a tool, remained in his mind like an incurable wound, and the rejection made him loathe being Awakened.
I decided to grant his wish. Rom’s grace still lingered in me after I became a half-god. I used his power to build a new body and filled his soul in.
And before departing, I asked another god for his cooperation.
‘Ramang-Schitre!’
The force of a scale was infinitely skewed to the extremes. He added some of the principles of causality that led to endless luck to his soul.
After finishing the preparations, his memory was erased at last before I sent him away, wishing endless luck and happiness to him in his new beginning.
‘Farewell. I’m grateful.‘
The original disappeared towards the next life.
After finishing that, I turned my vision around.
After awakening incompletely as the next god of the mind, I was able to access the inner world of the mortals scattered throughout the entire dimension. I observed through them how each world revolved.
The Red Gates hadn’t stopped opening, and a fierce battle even broke out.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t picture the future in which the newly created would-be-Empire to be defeated by the Void.
‘The Empire will be remade in a more powerful form. With far more possibilities than before my regression.’
I was made aware of what kind of Empire the future citizens looked forward to before they sent me to the past, after all.
It wasn’t simply an organization defined by the concept of a state.
The Empire they had in mind was the entire universe.
A base where the mortals could struggle and fight for the future without being divided. They had sent me to strengthen the foundation even more.
And the victory had already tilted toward the mortals.
That was neither the first nor would it be the last war between the Void and the living.
But at least the one I was fighting would be won by those who had the will to live, fight, and continue their existence. Therefore, in front of my eyes, I saw the victory of those who desired to become better beings.
However, the fight would continue persistently for a long time to come. And I would always be with them in the process.
As I thought so, expectations and hopes rose from the deep.
Facing the overwhelming vision that infested my heart, I gazed at the universe through the eyes of the mortals.
[The End]
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