Chapter 241
Raindrops fell one after another, but people paid no mind to the rain as they worked busily in the ruined city.
“Lift that side.”
“Hup!”
“Is anyone alive?”
“The whole building crumbled to pieces. Of course not.”
They rummaged through piles of concrete in hopes of finding survivors, and those with detection skills kept them active until their mana bottomed out.
Seong-Hwi walked along the ruined streets with his hood over his head. These streets had been bustling with people; their laughing and chattering had echoed throughout the city only a few days ago, but he couldn’t hear anything now that everything had been destroyed.
Those who believed war made people stronger were wrong. War made people silent. Neighbors who always greeted them every morning, acquaintances they met from time to time, and those whom they had not been particularly close to—they all became silent through death, and that silence went on to infect the living. War made language, thoughts, philosophies, and artistry obsolete. Hence, all anyone could do was be silent.
Seong-Hwi recalled the current confirmed casualties Jurie had told him, as he felt the raindrops hitting his head.
Ten million... More than the number of raindrops that hit me today, he thought.
It wasn’t a staggering number for Seong-Hwi, who had gotten used to handling hundreds of millions, even billions of Karma. He could only open one gold stat cube with just ten million Karma. However, it was a different story when each one was a human life.
Ten million worlds... Ten million destinies... Gone.
Seong-Hwi looked up at the sky covered in black clouds. He couldn’t see any stars. If there had been a star for every lost life, he would have seen a meteor shower of ten million stars. Roughly ten million soldiers had been estimated to have died in Earth’s World War I, which had lasted for four years, but humanity had lost the same number in the Capital invasion in just one day.
Seong-Hwi imprinted the atrocious scene in his mind as he walked, vowing never to forget what had happened. He saw a melted building, likely caused by a fire skill. He could vividly see the wretched situation. People had likely evacuated to this building once the invasion commenced, foolishly believing the thick concrete would protect them.
However, they were against dragons, who could blow a building like this away with just a forceful exhale. Concrete and plaster casts of what seemed to be corpses were sprawled throughout the area. Seong-Hwi stopped before a certain plaster cast that one would only see in the Pompeii excavations. It was of a mother tightly hugging a child.
Seong-Hwi bit his lip so hard that blood trickled to his chin and dripped on the ground, being diluted by the rain. This was what happened when one lacked power. This was what happened when one couldn’t shine brightly.
Am I just a puppet, replaying the same tragedy? he wondered as the scene of the Capital, incinerated by Regnator in his past life, flashed in his head.
“I ask for forgiveness from this world and this wretched era.”
“Gyahaha! What a beautiful sight! Is this the hell that Lord Satan has cultivated?”
“I told you, did I not, my friend? You must conquer. Conquer again and again, until you can conquer even this sorrow and despair.”
“Whose sins did these sacrificial lambs die for? It appears this era lacked someone who could atone for humanity’s sins.”
Various voices echoed inside his head alongside Seong-Hwi’s subconscious.
I became strong, incomparably faster than my past self. I obtained the Wings of Evolution, absorbed the Fruit of the World Tree, and realized my unique caliber. But... what changed?
Lee Kang-San is dead, as he had in my past life. The Capital was attacked, as it had been in my past life. I’m still weak. I couldn’t change these countless destinies! Underground... Together... Do these things even have meaning? Could the end already be decided?
The swirling thoughts, the void he had been suppressing, and his self-doubt mixed to attack his mind. Just then, he heard a commotion.
Ruff! Ruff!
“Dorry? Over here! There are survivors!”
“What? Everyone, gather around!”
“Dammit! They’re under this heap of rebar!”
“Hurry up and lift it!”
Seong-Hwi turned to the noise, his eyes completely blank. People gathered around the heap of rebar to lift it. Each person had a white flower on their chest; they had all put it on when the news of Kang-San’s death spread throughout the Capital.
“Arrggghhh!”
“Dammit! Does anyone have a high Strength stat?”
“Don’t just lfit it recklessly! It might collapse!”
Seong-Hwi stared at the people who were trying to save as many people as possible, veins bulging from their heads as they used all their might. If they were enemies, he could have killed his weak fellow humans within a single breath. However, they were strong. They did not despair despite being among these ruins and worked fervently to help people.
How can they be like that? Seong-Hwi wondered.
His fellow humans, who were undoubtedly far weaker than he, seemed stronger for some reason. He walked to the crowd as if in a trance and placed his hand on the heap of rebar. The cold metal brought him back to his senses.
“Hey, you! Didn’t you hear me? If you lift it recklessly—Huh?”
The heap of rebar instantly corroded, becoming powder that fell like dark red snow, and revealed a scruffy little girl feeding an old woman rainwater that she had gathered with her hands.
“Cough! Cough!”
“G-Grandma! Grandma! We’re saved!”
The people who had been staring blankly at Seong-Hwi returned to their senses.
“W-what are you doing?! Hurry up and rescue them!”
“Bring something to carry them with!”
“Oh, no. Her leg is broken. The child seems fine.”
Seong-Hwi stared at his hands in silence. They were covered in calluses from grasping to his destiny for dear life all this time. He clenched his fists. There were still countless things he could do with these hands, and countless destinies he could still grasp. He had no leeway to be nihilistic. An ember blazed once again from his deeply abyssal eyes.
I must... do something!
***
Seong-Hwi patrolled Ismailia, Tallinn, and every other city that had been attacked. Lastly, he headed to Zaanse Schans in Amsterdam, which was also filled with people working hard to clean up the ruins. The neighborhood was filled not only with those who lived there, but also with people from other districts who had come to help out with the restoration.
Volunteers and children were also working hard at the Windmill Orphanage.
“Where should we put these, Directress?”
“Please put the broken bricks in the backyard. If they can still be used, you can pile them in the front yard so that the children and I can...” said a woman with silver hair and eyes, wearing a bloody pink apron, diligently leading the people on the scene among the blazing windmill and the destroyed red-brick buildings.
Seong-Hwi stared at the Windmill Orphanage from afar and thought, You’re working hard, Melody.
Melody Mulder was his lover in his past life. He couldn’t help but fall in love with her from their first meeting. Melody carried the guilt of aborting her son, Theo, from an unwanted pregnancy all her life. Abortion was legal in the Netherlands, and she did not have the confidence to raise the son of her wretched mortal enemy.
However, although Theo was the son of that man, he was also Melody’s son. The guilt of killing an innocent, unborn fetus generated Theo Mulder, her D Weapon.
You said you were happy to have been allowed to shower the child you abandoned with love, Seong-Hwi thought.
However, that was a lie. Melody was stricken with trauma every moment she used her D Weapon, and that did not change even after she found and killed the source of that trauma, Gernandt, Theo’s father, in the Mirror World. She returned to the Capital after taking her revenge and built the Windmill Orphanage to raise abandoned children, partly to atone for her sin toward Theo.
You’re... the culmination of those I feel sorry for, resent, and love, Seong-Hwi said inwardly.
He felt sorry for Shin So-Eun, his little sister in the children’s home, for being unable to protect her from the serial killer, Kang Hyun-Tae. He resented his mother, who had abandoned him. He loved Mother Maria, who had cared for the orphaned children at the Calasanz Home for Children. It was only natural for Seong-Hwi to be drawn to Melody.
But that’s exactly why I won’t associate with you this time. You make me weak.
“Huuu. You interpreted our promise in a twisted way.”
“Oh, I see. I also had a weakness on my back because a linden leaf was stuck on it when I bathed in Fafnir’s blood.”
Seong-Hwi ignored the voices echoing inside his head and turned around. He noticed a boy with green eyes looking up at him.
“Oliver... was it?” he asked.
“Yes, Master Cheon Seong-Hwi, Record Breaker,” Oliver replied.
“You know me?”
“Your wings are quite unique, after all. You used the alias, Chok Chun-Gyong, last time, right?”
“Then I suppose she knows, too.”
Oliver’s eyes narrowed as he asked, “What is your relationship... with Directress Melody?”
“We don’t have a relationship. Not anymore,” Seong-Hwi remarked concisely as he was about to walk past Oliver.
However, Oliver grabbed Seong-Hwi by his clothes and said, “Please wait. I have something to give you.”
He pulled out a messy crown made of a hairpin, a piece of a broken dagger, a coin, a pendant, a brass ring, bolts, nuts, and the like from his pocket.
“What is this?” Seong-Hwi asked.
“I told you I would repay the Coins you lent me once I get older, didn’t I? This is nowhere near enough, but... This is the very first item I’ve made,” Oliver said.
“You made this?”
“Yes, though it’s only F-rank. I made it with the treasures of all the children you’ve saved.”
Seong-Hwi stared at Oliver, whose eyes were now shining as brightly as a star, unlike the dead eyes he used to have.
“Hahaha, what an artisan. He has impressive talent. We changed that boy’s destiny, Seong-Hwi,” Chun-Gyong said as he laughed heartily.
Seong-Hwi accepted the crown from the boy and examined it.
[Scrap Crown (Item)
Rank: F(0)
Description: A shabby crown of scraps, made from the treasures that 128 children gathered for their benefactor, and created by the representative Oliver. Although the materials and crafting techniques are severely lacking, it became an item through the children’s genuine feelings. A special skill is available when equipped by Cheon Seong-Hwi.
Skill: Save]
...
[Save (Item Skill)
Rank: Shared - F(0)
Description: The wearer can save a small amount of mana in the Scrap Crown and use it when needed.]
“It’s... pretty shabby, right? Haha, I should be able to make something better next time,” Oliver remarked.
“Save, huh?”
“Yes, because you saved us. Twice, no less.”
Seong-Hwi stared at Oliver, then shifted his gaze to the Windmill Orphanage, where the many children were helping Melody carry the bricks. These children were meant to face a tragedy once at the Segura Church, and again during the dragon invasion. However, they were still alive and smiling. He had changed their destinies.
Yeah... I suppose I haven’t been retracing the footsteps of my past life, Seong-Hwi thought with a faint smile.
Although he had failed to change some futures, he had also changed some. He just needed to change even more futures and in the right direction from now on. His Destiny Force emerged by itself, instilling in him a certainty of the future.
Seong-Hwi brought his fist toward Oliver and said, “I’ll pay for it.”
“Pardon? No, that was part of the debt I owe you—”
“Coins can’t quantify the certainty you’ve just given me. Besides, I’m sure you need Coins to rebuild the orphanage. If you’re going to be stubborn about it, I’ll just go.”
Oliver hesitated momentarily, then closed his eyes as he bumped his fist with Seong-Hwi’s.
[10,000,000 Coins obtained.]
“T-ten million?!” Oliver gasped once he read the Akasha Message. He quickly looked up, but Seong-Hwi was nowhere in sight. He gritted his teeth and mumbled, “I can’t repay this much... even if I work my whole life.”
***
“That’s why you need to stuff the Fruit of the World Tree you ate inside a large-capacity storage apparatus! I’ve prepared the process, so all you need to do is follow it! I won’t let you die!” shouted Lina, with massive dark circles under her eyes, as she assertively pulled Seong-Hwi to her underground lab by his hand.
“Wait... Lina,” Seong-Hwi said.
“There’s no time to wait. You used that power during the battle, didn’t you?! I’m sure you did. It’s you, after all. How much time do you have left now? A month? A week?”
Oh, boy, Seong-Hwi thought. He could pull his hand away any time he wanted, but he let Lina do as she liked.
“I found the answer from what Curiositas mentioned. Angels and dragons! The halo and the Dragon Heart!” Lina swung open the door to her lab and continued, “I mentioned the overclocking concept last time, right? Let’s use the computer example again. What you need is an HDD or SSD.”
“HDD? SSD?”
“You can think of them like supplementary storage devices. You’ve been stupidly storing the Fruit of the World Tree inside yourself this whole time.”
“Well... Now, I’m—”
“But the angels have that disc-like halo, and the dragons have the Dragon Heart. They both have innate storage apparatuses. You have to imitate them.” Lina fixed her purple-rimmed glasses and grabbed a thick pile of paper from her desk. She flipped through the pages and explained, “We’ll divide the process into three steps. First, we’ll extract the Fruit of the World Tree from inside you.”
“Lina?”
“This step is more or less cleared. I’ve heard rumors of someone capable of it through Jurie. Someone named Shin Jun, the leader of Clan One Tree, uses a black hole-like ability.”
“Shin Jun?”
“Second, we’ll hijack the power of the extracted Fruit of the World Tree and put it inside a new storage apparatus. This step can also be cleared if you grab the Dragon Heart of Vharagar, whom you killed, or ask Lee Bong-Seong for Seringer’s Dragon Heart. I doubt it would be enough, but it should be enough to serve as a stopgap.”
“Listen, Lina. I’m fine n—”
“Third, for you to be able to use the resulting orb without issue—”
“LINA!” Seong-Hwi shouted, interrupting Lina’s quick-fire of words. Lina stared at Seong-Hwi wide-eyed. “Huuu... Thanks, Lina, but it’s okay now. I resolved the Indigestion quest. I’m not dying anymore.”
“What do you... Are you a ghost?”
“Obviously not.” Seong-Hwi smirked and grabbed Lina’s shoulders, saying, “A large-capacity storage apparatus, you called it? I got one. Something that makes a mere Dragon Heart pale in comparison.”
It was Desire. Seong-Hwi still did not understand how he obtained the star, but he did—along with a pen to use for recording his destiny in the Akashic Records.
“You... got one? Then, are you... okay now?” Lina asked.
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
Lina lost strength in her legs and plopped down on the ground. “Haaa... You... son of a... You should’ve... said something. Do you have any idea... how many nights I’ve gone sleepless?”
The pile of paper slipped out of her weakened grip and scattered on the floor. She was overwhelmed with fatigue once her nerves, which had been tensed to the extreme from the thought of Seong-Hwi’s death, relaxed.
[Activating Unique Skill: Borrowing Destiny.]
[Love-Yearning Bard]
[Activating Unique Skill: Symbol Embodiment.]
[Golden Lyre]
[Activating Exclusive Skill: Happy Days.]
Seong-Hwi borrowed Orpheus’s destiny and strummed the Golden Lyre. Lina collapsed, unable to withstand the urge to sleep. He grabbed her, laid her on the couch, and placed a blanket over her.
“My research... is a... success... The Nobel Prize... is mine... Mmm,” Lina mumbled in her sleep.
Seong-Hwi smiled as he collected the scattered papers from the ground. Perhaps it was because of Happy Days, or Lina’s genuine feelings toward him, that he felt like the aura of despair and death accumulated inside him today was being purified bit by bit. Just then, he froze after noticing the sentence written on one of the pages.
“Hm?”
Even if we secure a supplementary storage apparatus, Seong-Hwi may need RAM. The power of the Fruit of the World Tree will undoubtedly place a burden on Seong-Hwi’s body. If we can secure high-performance RAM, the power can be loaded in advance so it doesn’t place as much of a burden. In that instance...
Seong-Hwi’s eyes widened the more he read.