Chapter 121
Blood poured out from Seong-Hwi’s mouth and nose after he charged through the cliff. He felt dizzy and his vision blurred. He withdrew his Wings of Evolution and canceled the symbols Knight-errant’s Armaments and Rocinante.
“Urgh...” he groaned as he collapsed.
He tried to stay conscious, but his body forced him to fall asleep after using every ounce of strength he could muster.
“Friend Seong-Hwi! Wake up! Hey! This way!” Thumper hopped in place as he shouted at Seong-Hwi’s teammates quickly approaching.
Leo ran to Seong-Hwi and picked him up, tremblingly staring at him.
He mumbled, “I can’t believe he found a sliver of possibility when everyone else had given up.”
“Human friend! We have to get out of here!”
“Run, Leo!”
“The one approaching us from behind is surely a monster!”
Leo quickly glanced at the other side of the cliff as Thumper and his teammates rushed him, and started to run. He could hear the rumbling of lightning from across the cliff.
***
A birdfolk with blue wings and blue sparks crackling around them, a sharp, curved beak, and yellow eyes with electricity coursing through them held a sword in each hand and a spear in each talon.
“I’m ashamed to be of the same race as these pathetic trash,” the birdfolk mumbled.
He was Remus, the birdfolk World Ranker, also known as Lightning Wings. He was a gyrfalcon birdfolk, known for their lightning-fast diving speed to catch their prey. He looked down pathetically at the four Rix brothers, who were coughing up blood after their unique skill, Cage of the Rixes, was broken.
He then looked across the cliff and said, “Impressive.”
His eyes, crackling with electricity, could vividly see the faces of the humans who were already too far to see with regular human eyes. They were of the same race as the Tortoise Emperor Lee Kang-San.
“This should be a fun hunt,” he said as his eyes filled with rage and resentment.
The humiliating injury on his back, dealt by a human man of the lowest of the inferior races, ached.
“Here’s a small greeting,” Remus remarked as he let go of the spear in his right talon.
[Activating Unique Skill: Blue Electricity.]
The spear was enveloped by Blue Electricity, Remus’s signature skill. It was of the lightning element, the one with the highest destructive capabilities. It flew across the cliff, becoming lightning, toward Seong-Hwi and the others. It was heavenly judgment; the first and the last greeting; an unavoidable spear from the God of Lightning.
“Hm?” Remus suddenly frowned, sensing mana from the east.
A giant black fireball flew at the spear and exploded.
“Who dares get in my way?!” Remus shouted.
“Kikik! Well, well... If it isn’t the chicken that lost against the Tortoise Emperor?”
A flower made of black flames bloomed, revealing a large male demon. He had red eyes, his skin was pitch black with red cracks like heat rays, and he had two horizontal horns like the arms of a scarecrow sprouting from his temples.
“A demon?”
“Kikik! The name’s Taizet. Looks like I’ll be having roasted chicken for lunch today,” Taizet answered, having appeared to carry out the Second Fiend Curiositas’s order.
“What did you just say?”
Remus spread his wings widely, enraged by the shameful comment. Each of his feathers was a fatal weapon infused with immense electricity.
“Kikik! You’re not the only one with wings!” Taizet cackled as he activated a skill.
[Activating Unique Skill: Hellfire Wings.]
Wings made of black flames sprouted from his back.
World Ranker Remus... He’s above me in rank, but I heard he was severely injured in his battle against the Tortoise Emperor. In that case... Taizet trailed off in his thoughts.
“Kikikik! Today might be the day I become a World Ranker!”
Taizet was skilled enough to aim for a spot in the world ranking at any time. He was one of the Spare Rankers, referring to those powerful enough to challenge a World Ranker for their spot. He had always been one step short, but that distance felt like an eternity to cross. However, challenging a weakened World Ranker was the perfect chance to escape the spare status and become a main World Ranker.
“Son of a bitch!” Remus shouted as sparks flew from his eyes.
Before, not even a demon Ranker would have been able to challenge him, but people had begun to look down on him after losing to Lee Kang-San. He couldn’t feel more humiliated.
Just then, someone shouted from the ground, “First, it was birdfolk, and now, demons?! Motherfuckers! Do you think the World Law is just a bunch of nonsense?! How dare you pull this kind of shit in Carrot territory?!”
Remus and Taizet looked down. A muscular rabbit three meters tall was furiously looking up at them.
“Kikik! Is that Pippin? What a riot! There’s another Spare Ranker!” Taizet shouted.
Killer Rabbit Pippin was a High Ranker of the beastfolk, an intermediate race. He was also a Spare Ranker like Taizet.
“I refuse to bear with this humiliation! I will kill both of you and let the whole Mirror World know of the might of Remus once again!”
“Kikikik! I’m gonna become a World Ranker today!”
“I’ll rip off your wings and make you crawl on the ground for the rest of your life, damn wild beast!”
The three-way battle began.
[Activating Unique Skill: God of Blue Lightning.]
[Activating Unique Skill: Hellfire Twelvefold.]
[Activating Race Skill: Golden Carrot - Exterminate.]
The cliff collapsed. Their battle was so intense that the entire canyon was leveled.
***
Seong-Hwi and the others arrived at the human city of Glasgow after running with all their might. It was the hub of Scottish culture on Earth, but in the Mirror World, it was a beautiful harmony of traditional and modern aspects.
However, the party immediately hid in a Black Market safe house without leeway to relish in the scenery. They could no longer feel any pursuit, but lacked too much information to rest easy.
“Huuu... My heart is pounding like crazy. How’s Seong-Hwi?” Frank asked as he paced back and forth in the safe house hallway.
Leo was sitting in front of a door as he patted his D Weapon Rhodes. The door led to the room belonging to Seong-Hwi.
“He hasn’t woken up yet,” he replied.
“Is he okay?”
“He’s fine. The Black Market healer said he just used up all his energy.”
“That’s a relief. It’s understandable, considering that attack. I’d bet he used every ounce of strength he had,” Frank nodded as he recalled Seong-Hwi’s charge that destroyed the barrier skill and bore a hole through the cliff.
He initially thought Seong-Hwi had gone mad after seeing him charging in old, worn-out armor and on a scrawny horse, but he accomplished a miracle no one expected. He would never be able to forget that unrelenting charge.
The door of another room opened, and Yuri walked out as he yawned. “Huh? Is it just you two? Where are the others?”
“Enrique’s eating, Sonya went out, and Onie Yuki went to the Glasgow Necropolis,” Frank replied.
“Glasgow Necropolis?” Yuri asked.
“She said she has a mannequin workshop hidden there.”
“Hah! Does that mean the Puppeteer is making a comeback?”
“Yeah, she said she’ll return after replenishing her mannequins, so we’ll be safer than before once she arrives.”
Yuri nodded. He then thought of something and asked, “What about that rabbit?”
“Rabbit? Oh, you mean the beastfolk Thumper? He’s in Seong-Hwi’s room.”
“Friends with a rabbit beastfolk, huh? That’s amazing,” Yuri remarked as he recalled the small rabbit who had been worried sick about Seong-Hwi and did not leave his side.
Leo asked, “When are we leaving this place? We’re not safe here, are we?”
“Well... I’m not sure. We sensed the presence of that incredible monster chasing us, but... their pursuit suddenly stopped.”
“The warp gate user is on standby on the first floor.”
“Then let’s depart as soon as everyone’s here,” Leo said impatiently.
Seong-Hwi was currently defenseless. Hence, he was in grave danger if they were to be attacked. They needed to move to the next city as soon as possible.
Just then, agonized groans echoed from inside Seong-Hwi’s room.
***
Seong-Hwi was in a library, sitting at a warm wooden table. Bookshelves were endlessly laid out like dominoes, filled with books.
“Is this... a lucid dream?” he mumbled as he looked around the library.
Lucid dreams were proof that the side effects of Borrowing Destiny had begun, meaning his psyche had been significantly corrupted.
Six books flew out from the bookshelves and fell on the table. Their titles were: The Bravest Gamblers, A Thief’s Biography, Industrial Society and Its Future, The Worst Serial Killers, The Shining Valor of Goryeo, and The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha.
They were books containing the figures Seong-Hwi borrowed destinies from. In order, they were the destinies of William the Foolish Gambler, Iljimae the Gentleman Thief of the Plum Blossom, the Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski, the Devil of Los Angeles Richard Ramirez, Chok Chun-Gyong the Unfortunate Martial God, and the Knight-errant of La Mancha Don Quixote.
The books swung open as if a gust hit them, and the figures from the books poured out of them to face Seong-Hwi.
“You guys...” Seong-Hwi trailed off as he stared at the figures.
They sat at the wooden table like the apostles in the Last Supper, staring at Seong-Hwi, who felt like he had become the accused in a courtroom.
“Thank you for drinking a gimlet in my stead,” said William, the middle-aged white man in a brown raincoat and cowboy boots, as he smiled blankly.
Seong-Hwi felt as if a bottomless void had been made in his heart.
“Have you helped your neighbors to your satisfaction? Have you earned forgiveness in my stead?” asked Iljimae, a man who looked all too ordinary.
Seong-Hwi’s heart was filled with compassion for the world.
“Have you destroyed technology? Have you killed the elite minority? Have you bestowed them nature’s judgment?!” the Unabomber shouted.
Resentment for the system and hostility for those who violated autonomy surged within Seong-Hwi.
“Gyahaha! The ecstasy when killing that superior race was excellent! I knew we were the same. We’re filthy psychopaths. Don’t deny it, my friend. All humans are born evil,” said Richard Ramirez, wearing jeans and a Members Only jacket, with bad breath.
Filthy pleasure welled up from inside Seong-Hwi.
“Fuck off! I don’t ever want to feel... that filthy sensation ever again!” he screamed.
“Have you also become a tool? What do you wish for as a living human?” Chok Chun-Gyong asked the agonizing Seong-Hwi.
Seong-Hwi couldn’t answer.
“There you go again, Sancho Panza. You’re supposed to be a knight-errant who brings justice to villains and glorifies chivalry! Stop staying in place and call Rocinante, now!” Don Quixote shouted.
Seong-Hwi felt like his head was going to pop. It was like an endless tempering. A metal heated and cooled too many times became as fragile as glass.
Dammit! Who... Who am I?
The six destinies began to devour Seong-Hwi’s psyche. It was to be expected. In his past life, Seong-Hwi had borrowed one three-card, one four-card, and one five-card destiny. However, he now had two each, totaling six. They helped him immensely thus far, but there was no such thing as power without a price. He had to repay as much as he borrowed.
“Gurgh!” Seong-Hwi grunted as he clenched his head.
The owners of the six destinies talked to Seong-Hwi without rest, endlessly hammering Seong-Hwi’s brain.
“Nothing matters anymore...”
“My poor, poor neighbors...”
“Individual autonomy...”
“Gyahaha! The next target...”
“I don’t want to be a tool...”
“Sancho! Sancho Panza! Hurry and...”
The various voices entered a cocktail shaker and intermixed, turning into an unbearable tinnitus. Seong-Hwi was so disoriented that he had no idea where to go. Everything was empty, and he had lost himself.
“Urgh...” Seong-Hwi groaned.
A gentle voice echoed throughout the library as his psyche was about to fall into the endless void.
“From now on, your name is Seong-Hwi, meaning brilliant splendor. Become someone who shines as brightly as your name.”
Director! Seong-Hwi shouted inwardly.
It was Mother Maria’s voice, the only source of warmth in his memories filled with scars. He could vividly remember the elderly director in her nun’s habits, her smile, her wrinkles, and even the presence of her soul.
He remembered how thankful he had been for her interest in him whenever he read books in a corner by himself. He remembered her kind gaze, which he had never been uncomfortable with. He felt unconditional trust that she would always be on his side. He also remembered the inexplicable conflict he felt when she came to his open class wearing a floral dress.
He asked himself as he felt these countless emotions: was he loved?
Yes, I was loved, he said inwardly.
These memories pulled his sinking psyche back up.
“I am... Cheon Seong-Hwi, a man destined to shine brightly!”
He was reminded of himself again. His psyche returned to his control. The bookshelves in the library fell apart, and the six books lost their light and fell to the ground.
“Hurgh!”
Seong-Hwi opened his eyes.
***
“Huff! Huff! Huff!”
“Friend Seong-Hwi! Are you okay?”
“Seong-Hwi! Cheon Seong-Hwi! Come to your senses!”
Seong-Hwi looked forward as he felt someone shaking his shoulders. His vision slowly regained its focus. He saw Thumper and Leo staring at him worryingly.
“Thumper? Leo?” he said.
Thumper sighed in relief and said, “Haaa, I’m glad you’re back to normal.”
Leo asked, “What just happened? You suddenly started writhing in pain.”
Seong-Hwi was drenched in sweat, and he had a splitting headache.
He grabbed his forehead and put pressure on his temple, thinking, Has my psyche’s corruption progressed so far already?
He had borrowed six destinies, twice as many as he had in his past life.
He gritted his teeth and thought, The lucid dreams have begun for real. I suppose I can say goodbye to my good night’s sleep.
After borrowing Don Quixote’s destiny, the corruption rate exceeded what Seong-Hwi’s psyche could bear. He experienced this phenomenon in his past life, during his ninth year in the Mirror World. The lucid dreams haunted him every night, gnawing at his mind and psyche.
Once he returned to the past, the lucid dreams disappeared after a year of enduring the corruption. However, the lucid dreams had already begun due to overusing Borrowing Destiny.
It’s nothing I can’t handle. I was ready for the side effects once I established the rule. I’ll do anything if I can climb even higher!
Seong-Hwi steeled his mind. His agony did not matter if it would alleviate humanity’s agony.
I was ready to burn myself alive once I decided to shine brightly.
The wax melting from a burning candle was not tears of sorrow, but the sweat of one resolved for tribulation.
Seong-Hwi gathered Destiny Force in his right hand as he squeezed his temple. He felt anticipation for the future, optimistic certainty, and an epiphany.
“Huuu,” he exhaled, removing all worthless thoughts with his breath, and opened his shining eyes, held firmly. “Are we at Glasgow?”
“Yes. It’s been a few hours,” Leo answered.
“Where are the others?”
“Enrique and Sonya are back, so... everyone will be here once Onie Yuki returns,” Frank answered from outside the room.
Seong-Hwi nodded and remarked, “Let’s move to the next city once everyone is here. Leo, you’ll have to choose before we arrive at the Capital.”
Leo hesitantly nodded.
“To reiterate, I have no intention of handing that item to that old man,” Seong-Hwi said.
He had already decided on how to use one of the Elixirs. He would use it to negotiate with the Steel King. Since his objective was the complete opposite of what the Black Merchant Filipe Kabuka had in mind, a clash was unavoidable.