“…Is that really Han Geon-joo?”
The only person to ask was Lee Jaehee. No one else could provide as accurate an answer. As Sa-yoon turned his head, Jaehee, who had dismounted from his Gryphon, let out a low groan as he took in the man exuding a strangely unfamiliar aura. His eyes, which could see through the secrets of the heavens, rippled with turmoil.
“Is it him or not?” Sa-yoon pressed, feeling that a conclusion was due. Jaehee made a bizarre face, as if he had just eaten an unripe persimmon.
“He is, and he isn’t.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Is something wrong with Han Geon-joo?
A curse slipped out with his rising anxiety. He wanted to run over, grab the man who was and was not Han Geon-joo by the collar, and demand an explanation. Just then, Jaehee elaborated.
“It’s probably not what you’re thinking.”
“…Are you reading my mind now?”
“What can I do when it’s written all over your face? In any case, it’s not that something is wrong with him. He’s just been temporarily… consumed.”
“What?”
So something is wrong with him, then.
He interpreted the situation to mean that Han Geon-joo had been consumed by the long-haired being and scowled, his mind racing to figure out how to get him back. Just then, the Gate Clear notification appeared. Perhaps because the boss’s death had felt so anticlimactic, the success didn’t feel real.
“Ugh…”
A pained groan was heard. Only then did Sa-yoon, whose attention had been completely stolen by Geon-joo, remember his guild members. With Abaddon’s death, the locust swarm had vanished, and the newly freed members were collapsed on the ground, nursing their wounds.
“Has anyone seen my arm?”
“If the wound gets poisoned, it can’t be healed! Heal it right away unless you want to use expensive holy water!”
Some were too exhausted to even speak, their lips sealed shut. Others were shouting as if they were at a marketplace, looking for their missing limbs. Sa-yoon was watching Jongsik wake up the guild members who were about to pass out, telling them their mouths would get twisted if they slept there, when he rummaged through his inventory. He was about to take out all his healing potions to give to Chan-hee.
“You’re still kind to everyone, I see.”
“……?”
“That kind nature of yours, too.”
The man muttered as if reminiscing, then snapped his fingers. Ttak. A clear sound echoed through the space, and a mystical wave spread throughout the Gate. As the energy, which was easily perceptible to his heightened senses, enveloped the area, the guild members’ bodies began to heal. Severed arms grew back, torn wounds regenerated, broken bones mended, and depleted stamina slowly refilled.
“Wh-What?”
“Hyung-nim!”
“I’ve never even heard of a skill like this.”
Gasps of awe flowed from the guild members at the skill that had healed dozens of people at once. They looked toward Geon-joo with eyes that were markedly different from before.
A mix of slight reverence, caution, and interest. Unfazed by their gazes, the man walked toward Sa-yoon.
“…What?” Sa-yoon asked with a frown. Lee Jaehee, perhaps judging that the man’s approach wasn’t a threat, stepped back to give them space. The long-haired man drew close and leaned toward Sa-yoon. Sniff, sniff. He inhaled his scent, then let out a surprised “Oh.”
“You smell of snakes. Did your constitution change when you shouldered my karma?”
A strange feeling washed over Sa-yoon, and he immediately shot out a hand, aiming for the man’s throat. His hand was caught in mid-air. Grip. Sa-yoon’s brow furrowed.
“What are you?”
He asked again, and Han Geon-joo smiled. With the face of an unfamiliar man.
“There’s no need to be so guarded. I am something like a lingering will.”
“……”
“The ‘me’ of this life is quite stubborn. I told him I would take over his body just once to show him how to use his power, but he refused to yield and insisted on fighting only in his serpent form. I told him it was an inefficient and foolish choice, but he wouldn’t budge. So in the end, I took over when he briefly lost consciousness.”
“What?”
“Don’t be angry. It’s not like I stole his body. I told you. I am just a will, left behind for a certain day.”
The man murmured nonchalantly and leaned closer to Sa-yoon, nuzzling his chin from his head down to his neck and shoulders, sniffing his scent before smiling.
“The stench of punishment is strong on you.”
The smile was a mixture of self-mockery and pity. The man glanced around, muttered that they needed some time to talk, and snapped his fingers again.
In that instant, everything stopped.
The conversation of the guild members who had been whispering that something was off about Geon-joo, the blinking of Lee Jaehee’s eyes, the sound of people breathing.
Sensing that time had stopped, Sa-yoon roughly pulled his hand free.
“What are you doing?”
“Aren’t you being a little cold? In the end, I’m the same soul as the boy you love.”
“I’m of the mind that a past life is a past life, and a present life is a present life.”
He’s trying to persuade me with nonsense that won’t work in a million years. It might have been more effective if he had used that handsome face of his. Sa-yoon kept his guard up and studied the man’s face. Mulling over their conversation, it seemed that the will of his past life, which had been dormant, had awakened through the power of the True Word and had temporarily taken over Geon-joo’s body. If so, would he disappear if he just hit him over the head?
It was possible. Like a person with multiple personalities, perhaps one would awaken when the other lost consciousness.
As Sa-yoon’s eyes narrowed, Han Geon-joo burst out laughing. Puhat. It was a kind of laugh he had never heard from the original Han Geon-joo.
The current Han Geon-joo’s laugh always felt like a gentle breeze.
It wasn’t this sort of hearty, authoritative sound.
As his aversion grew, the long-haired man clapped his hands, created a white chair, sat down, and crossed his legs.
“Don’t get any funny ideas. Attacking me now won’t wake up the current me. Besides, there’s no need to be so wary. As I’ve said several times, I am a lingering will, and I have only the karma of teaching the ‘me’ of this life, who has awakened after a long time, the proper way to use his power. Once that is done, I will disappear.”
“And how am I supposed to believe that?”
“So you’ve learned to doubt.”
What a bizarre answer. A hollow laugh escaped him at the thought that a proper conversation with this man would be impossible. The man, who had been resting his hands on his crossed knee, raised the corner of his lip.
“I told you, didn’t I? That a day would come when you would regret it. Well? Do you regret it now?”
The soft question reached his ears. Sa-yoon could see the fallen god from the underground prison in the face of the man before him. As he lowered his guard a little, he could see the emotions left in the man’s eyes: pity, sympathy, and joy. He really was the will of that old god.
Sa-yoon made a face of disgust, thinking that both the past and present versions of this guy said the same damn thing. Seeing this, he felt it was an undeniable reality that the soul of the annoying will before him and the insolent Han Geon-joo were one and the same.
“Why would I regret it? In my past life, I did what I wanted, and in this life, I’m living how I want.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Even though you’ve lost so much?”
“What are you trying to say?”
He had been feeling prodded for a while now. Unable to stand it any longer, he asked sharply. The long-haired man let out a hearty laugh, saying he was really different from his memories. He followed up with comments about how time changes everything, and how becoming human means you can’t help but be colored by human nature. Sa-yoon stuck his pinky in his ear to show his disinterest, and finally, the man answered his question.
“That’s a good question. What am I trying to say?”
No, that was less of an answer and more of a question thrown back at him.
“…Are you a madman?”
He stared at him as if to ask why he was asking him, and the man laughed again. He wished he would stop laughing and just bring back Han Geon-joo.
Unfazed by his cold gaze, the long-haired man touched his long hair and took a breath.
“I suppose I just wanted to ask, now that I’m seeing you after so long. The ‘me’ of today has likely heard your answer, but I have not.”
“……”
“Seeing this, it seems the past and present lives really are separate. And yet, why is it that only our sins and karma remain, unerased? I’ve always wondered about that.”
Speaking as if confessing to himself, he lifted his head and looked straight at Sa-yoon.
“You’re about to wage a war against the major gods, aren’t you?”
Sa-yoon affirmed it with his silence.
“The fate I carry is that of Defiance of Heavens. I have been granted the right to defy the heavens and overturn the board. If so, what right do you think you hold?”
When Sa-yoon didn’t answer, the man stood up and reached a hand toward his head.
“Become the sun. You shouldered my sin and even took the killing curse of my Defiance, so your power is not just magnificence. Magnificent Defiance of Heavens is a power that actually came from you. Magnificence comes first, doesn’t it?”
He ruffled Sa-yoon’s hair, speaking as if it were a joke, then lowered his hand and pulled him into an embrace. Their bodies pressed together before he could escape, and warmth spread between them. A low voice whispered in his ear.
“Become the sun and create a new stage. You are the purest good, born for that very purpose.”
“……”
“I will keep my promise by your side.”
The man whispered affectionately, then rubbed his face against his, saying it was time for him to go. It seemed that Han Geon-joo, as a god, had been a much more cheerful person than the current one. Or perhaps, he had just waited that long for his reunion with the purest good.
Sa-yoon pushed the man, who had advised him that he too could use the powers he had just used, out of his embrace. Just as he was about to face him again, Han Geon-joo’s body swayed like a piece of paper and collapsed toward him.
“……!”
His surprised hands frantically caught him. A steady, even breathing could be heard by his ear. The long hair fluttered in the wind, slowly shortening until it returned to a familiar length.
Han Geon-joo.
The one he knew was in his arms.
The moment Sa-yoon realized this, tick, time began to flow again, and a notification appeared, telling them they would be moved to the reward room. It felt as if he had been in a dream.
Gram is the legendary sword that the hero Sigurd used to slay the dragon Fafnir in Norse mythology.
Fafnir is a famous dragon from Norse mythology, known for guarding a cursed treasure.
A reference to the Greek myth of Persephone, who was bound to the Underworld for part of the year after eating pomegranate seeds given to her by Hades, the King of the Underworld.