“Waeoong….”
“Mieum-ah, what’s wrong?”
“Waeuung, The Great System, they cannot act against your will.”
“Really?”
She must have been bothered by what my uncle said a while ago. Mieum rolled her eyes and added after staring at me for a long time.
“This much is true. Believe me, waeooong!”
My uncle had a point about the system. The system, or rather, the Saintess, had given me abilities with a certain intention, Still, now it is also true that the skills and quests the system gave me are helping me.
So….
I smiled and poked Mieum’s soft cheek.
“Really? Mieum-ah, whose side are you on? Is it me or the system?”
“Waeong, waeooooong! That question is frivolous!”
Like a child who was asked, ‘Do you like your mom or dad?’, Mieum was torn. She glanced at me for a while before she replied in a small voice.
“Of course … Human, I like you better….”
“Out! Your answer timed out. I’m not giving you snacks today.”
“I, I’m trying to answer seriously … did you make fun of me, waeoong!”
“Oh, I got caught.”
“Kyayakyakyaoo!”
Pak. A meow punch flew in.
In the meantime, I must have gotten very attached to this cat. Teasing her gave me so much fun.
No matter how the system works.
‘I wish you’d continue to be my cat….’
I went into the space with Lime and Mieum. The cat was glaringly sulky.
“Mmoooo!”
Cornelia Longinus, who had spotted Lime, came running from the barn. She licked Lime with her tongue.
For your information, Cornelia Longinus is the name of this Golden Triangular Rhinoceros.
… in my defence, I didn’t make up the name. Seriously.
I couldn’t think of a good name for the Golden Triangular Rhino, so I decided to ask everyone in the house for suggestions. We were going to have a vote and choose democratically.
But….
“How about Bieup?”
Candidate No. 1, this is my opinion.
“Isn’t it okay to call it Spot, waeoong!”
Candidate No. 2, Mieum’s opinion.
“Kkyuuu! Kkyuuu!”
Candidate No. 3, when translated, means Pythagoras. I guess it’s Pythagoras because it’s a triangular rhinoceros.
“Belial. Hoho, I named it, but it’s a nice name.”
Candidate No. 4, Ash’s opinion. I looked it up and it was the name of a demon.
There were four candidates, but everyone insisted that their name was the best, so there was no consensus at all. The vote ended in a tie, and after much debate, we decided to let the Golden Triangular Rhinoceros decide for herself.
“Mmmeh! Mmmoo!”
But this cow snorted and got furious.
[Summon: The Golden Triangular Rhinoceros in love reveals her name.]
[Name: Cornelia Longinus]
That’s, umh, an elegant and wonderful name.
[Cornelia Longinus angrily asks why you’re trying to pick someone else’s name.]
Uh, I’m sorry….
“Mooo!”
As if accepting the apology, the Golden Triangular Rhino nodded.
That’s how I learned this cow’s name.
I put a new bucket in Cornelia’s barn. I thought I should give this cow a Christmas present, so I prepared it. I also replaced the full milk jug with a new one.
It was just when I finished my work, and I was going out with a bucket of milk.
“…..?”
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a slate roof. It was the roof of the cabin at the bottom of the cliff.
That’s right, over there. That’s the place where I found the hand mirror at Grandma Kim Deokyi’s request. There were traces of my grandmother there.
How had I forgotten?
Wait, no way.
No, that’s nonsense. It’s unbelievable, but … perhaps that cabin was the place where my grandmother lived, the one that Cthugha spoke of.
I put the milk jug back on the floor.
“Waeong, where are you going?”
“Kkyuuuu?”
Leaving behind the call of the animals, I went down the cliff.
After passing a small path through a gap in a pile of stones, a large space appears. The cabin remained on the border of the forest. I immediately opened the door and went inside.
The room was like a living room with a thick carpet. There was a small door behind the table I hadn’t noticed it when I first came to this place because it was hidden by the furniture.
Beyond the door was an old-fashioned kitchen. A piece of charcoal remained in the fireplace. It was a sign of human habitation.
I knew it right away. This is the cabin that Cthugha was talking about.
“…….”
My head was spinning.
Until now, I hadn’t really questioned the identity of this space. A forest shrouded in mist on all sides.. You can’t see beyond the dense forest because there are no paths. So, I just assumed it was a closed space for planting and growing crops.
If the cabin that Cthugha said is really here, where the hell is this space?
Unrefined questions popped out and stirred my head.
No, this is not the time.
There may be another traces of my grandmother left here. Let’s find it. There’s definitely something that could be a hint….
However, the cabin is empty, with no plausible objects in sight.
In the end, I stick my hand into the unlit fireplace, just in case. When I stirred through the crumbled ash, something solid reached my hand.
“……this is it.”
It was a notebook.
I swept the dirty surface with my palm. In the corner, my grandmother’s name ‘Park Heesun’ was written. It looks like a diary.
What could she have written in it?
It was the moment when I sat down on the floor and opened the diary.
“Ugh…!”
A blinding light burst from the blank pages of the diary. My mind was pulled into somewhere. With the sound of a fast rewind, my vision blurred.
Before I knew it, I was in a pitch darkness.
I’ve already experienced this once. I noticed that I was seeing a vision.
The video rewinds quickly in front of my eyes and stops at one scene.
A strange voice is heard.
【Our Foolish King.】
【You may repeat the time of eons.】
【If you can reach the end of Causality and awaken the King on the Throne of Darkness.】
【Yes, even if it transcends eons of time.】
Then, I felt my consciousness being sucked into the video.
The next moment, I was in an unfamiliar space. It looked like a large auditorium.
I inadvertently checked the floor. It was a solid ground, my footprints are imprinted in the dirt. It’s the same as when the Saintess called me. The scene was too realistic to be a mere fantasy.
What is different from then is the fact that there are many people here. Most of them were children who seemed to be in the upper grades of elementary school, and there were one or two adults who looked to be guiding them.
What the hell is going on here? I walked around, trying to get a sense of the situation.
However, these children didn’t respond no matter how much I called them, as if they couldn’t see me.
Then, a familiar face caught my eye.
“Ah, hey, kid!”
I reached out and grabbed the child by the shoulder.
“….Yes?”
Thank goodness. This boy heard my voice properly. The boy turned around, looking slightly annoyed.
“Don’t you remember me? We’ve met before.”
“I don’t think so.”
On the way back from the Garden of Cthugha, this is the boy who led me.
But the boy had a sulky look on his face, as if he didn’t remember me.
“My name is Kwon Rieul. What’s your name, kid?”
“My teacher told me not to tell my name to an adult I didn’t know.”
He was a very smart boy……
“Teacher? Is this a school?”
“You don’t know that? Noona, you’re really suspicious. Are you not a real kidnapper?”
“Huh? No, I’m not! I’m the one who, uh, came to deliver goods! So I don’t know, ahaha.”
“Hmm.”
I think I’ve convinced him. That’s good. It was a vision, but at least I didn’t get accused of being a kidnapper.
“This is the Church.”
“What? What did you just say….”
I wanted to ask more details, but the boy didn’t listen to me and brought up another topic.
“We’re all gathered today because we’re going on a field trip. I wanted to go to Jeju Island, but they say we’re going to Gyeongju. Noona, have you ever been to Jeju Island?”
“Huh? Uh, I’ve been there once.”
“Che, I envy you.”
The boy kicked lightly on the floor.
“Rather than that, what do you mean by what you said earlier? What is ‘Church‘?”
“You don’t know that either? That’s it, of course, The Church of Starry….”
Just then, a chime sounded in the auditorium. The boy stopped talking and turned his head.
An adult was gathering the children. He must be the teacher.
Behind him was a large door. It had an old-fashioned design that didn’t look like it belonged in an auditorium.
For what? Something about that door felt ominous. It’s very ominous and … I have a gut feeling that it shouldn’t be opened.
“Oh! It’s time for the gathering, I have to go.”
“Wa-wait!”
I reached out in a panic, but grabbed nothing but air. Tada, the boy ran three steps and smiled brightly at me. The smile looked so much like someone I knew.
“It was nice meeting you. My name is Ki Yoohyun.”
“……!”
The boy walked away.
It was impossible for me to intervene in what happened next. In an instant, the view became distant and I had no choice but to watch the scene in front of me like a spectator.
The door opened, and something dreadful beyond is about to be summoned.
Only then did I realize what this place was for.
No. All the kids here are going to die. An eerie premonition flashed through my mind.
Soon, my surroundings turned into chaos. The children screamed in pain and fainted. The boy screamed and covered his ears. He looks distressed.
No, what are you doing? You’re going to get killed!
I shouted, but my voice did not reach the other side.
The moment when the slender body collapsed in a heap, unable to bear the pain.
Slowly, the trembling stops. A net of light stretches out from the open doorway, wrapping around the boy’s body and pulling him in.
Ah, I see. This is his ‘Awakening’.
A net of light surrounded and patched up the boy’s once shattered mind. Guided by the web of light, the boy’s soul…..
【Oh my, you were watching something like this.】
“……!”
It was the Saintess’ voice.
【Did you enjoy watching it?】
【I’m sorry, but I can’t show you more than this.】
【Now, go back, to your world.】
…….
…….
My vision is blacked out.
“Heuk, huuh….!”
My forehead was damp with sweat. My eyes sting in the dim sunlight.
When I came to my senses, I was crouching in front of an unlit fireplace.
“Waeooong! Human, what are you doing there?”
“Kkyuuuu, kkyuu!”
Mieum and Lime, who had followed me belatedly, jumped up and down in front of me.
“…….”
“Kyaoog! Don’t touch me with soot-stained hands!”
First of all, I’m pretty sure that the boy I just saw in my vision is Ki Yoohyun’s childhood self. I know up to that.
But why did the boy I met on the path of the stars have the appearance of a young Ki Yoohyun?
Is it the Time Paradox or something similiar that appears in a lot of movies?
Didn’t he go back in time? Is it actually time travel, not regression?
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