Chapter 145: Episode 28 – The Ultimate Sacrifice (5)
Translator: Rainbow Turtle
The moment that the third and second rankings were announced in Seoul, the incarnations fell into a panic.
“Fuck! What is this?”
“Then who is the strongest? What are we going to do?”
The incarnations assumed that the strongest person was either Yoo Jonghyuk or Nirvana, and that both of them would die here. Now the situation had changed. The moment the first ranked person was obscured, the incarnations trying to clear the scenario shivered at the unexpected reversal.
To make matters worse, one of the 5th grade monsters pierced through the defenses. The miserable incarnations were torn apart by the beast’s teeth.
“Aaaagh!”
The situation was becoming worse. The 5th grade monsters weren’t easy and the incarnations were less united than expected.
[* Current number of incarnations: 89,041.]
Thousands of incarnations died. Lee Hyunsung broke the head of a monster with Great Mountain Smash.
“Soldier ahjussi! What the hell is going on?” Lee Jihye and Jung Heewon rushed towards him.
They had also been responsible for defending against the monsters.
“If Nirvana isn’t the strongest, isn’t Dokja ahjussi wrong? What are we going to do now?”
The party’s plan was based on the assumption that ‘Nirvana is the strongest incarnation.’ Now the scenario wouldn’t end even if they killed Nirvana. Lee Hyunsung stared blankly at the stadium.
“I think...”
Lee Hyunsung’s face paled as he had a thought.
***
“Kuaaaak!”
Nirvana screamed as his body flew through the air.
“You will tell me about death? Don’t make me laugh!” Despite being helplessly beaten, Nirvana remained steadfast. “I won’t die. No matter what you say, true death won’t come to me! If I could die that easily, I wouldn’t have suffered like this!”
I was amazed that he could retain such emotions after living such a long life. Perhaps this was his purpose when preaching of salvation.
I grabbed his collar and told him, “You actually want to die. Right?”
“...!”
“It is because you can’t die that you are comforted by the deaths of others.”
Every human placed value on their life because they only died once.
“That’s why you preached to the Salvation Church. You watched them live a one-time life and also want to be absorbed into their lives. You want to share the emotions they feel.”
[Your understanding of the character ‘Nirvana Moebius’ has increased.]
I knew Nirvana. I didn’t just know him because he was a character in the novel. Nirvana yearned for something he could never be. Nirvana resembled me.
“Don’t speak nonsense.”
Unexpectedly, Nirvana’s voice was calm. It was when he was really angry that he made a voice like this.
“It is the same for humans who don’t know death. Nothing exists after a rare death! Humans can die but they can’t suffer from death in a true sense. It is something that can’t be owned by anyone!”
“At least we can feel the fear of death. It makes human life possible. That is the biggest difference between you and an ordinary human.”
“You...!”
Nirvana’s fist flew towards me but I easily caught it.
“That’s why you want to become ‘one’ with Yoo Jonghyuk?”
“...?”
“You think you can erase your existence by becoming one with Yoo Jonghyuk. Right?”
Nirvana’s expression completely stiffened.
“Reincarnation is the stigma of the highest grade constellation. To erase it, you need the power of a higher constellation.”
Nirvana looked at me and gritted his teeth. “...You are beyond my imagination.”
“I hear that often.”
“Then kill me. I’m not afraid of death as you said.” Nirvana’s eyes were burning with vengeance. “Still, you better keep something in mind. I’ll come back again and again. I will come back to life a number of times, kill you and show you the worst pain. Just like I did to your mother.”
I was surprised. “...Did you meet my mother?”
“She is a very good mother.”
[The exclusive skill, ‘Fourth Wall’ is shaking!]
“It is fun to make her submit. You know, I like to corrupt a virtuous spirit.”
[The exclusive skill, ‘Fourth Wall’ is shaking!]
“The scene where she struggled and begged for her life is still vivid in my eyes.”
There was such provocation in this world. I was hooked despite knowing it was a provocation. This was despite knowing my mother wouldn’t have done that.
[The exclusive skill, ‘Fourth Wall’ is steadily shaking.]
“Hahaha! You are caught!”
My vision shook and the world became black.
[The character ‘Nirvana Moebius’ has used 108 Worries Lv. 2!]
My consciousness was sucked somewhere and I was thrown into a world other than the stadium. I heard familiar voices in the darkness.
「 Master, run away! 」
「 Please, please save this world. 」
「 You can easily throw away this world. But I...! 」
They were voices filled with resentment. I knew where this world was. It was the place where the Fourth Wall was shaking. It was the inner part of Yoo Jonghyuk, who was infested with many worries.
“Yoo Jonghyuk! You finally allowed me in! Now... you will be one with me.”
Nirvana was standing in front of me. I smiled as I looked at him. Preparing a counterattack at the last minute, a reincarnator was truly a reincarnator.
I told him, “It was a mistake for you to enter here.”
A mandala pattern appeared under Nirvana’s feet. The inner surface of the soul was less affected by probability. Here, Nirvana was able to use the power of the stories he accumulated.
Nirvana grew to the size of a giant in a flash. The pressure of the soul that accumulated countless stories was really great. Once again, it was natural for him to have built up such stories.
Hundreds of arms grew like wings from his back while his legs were half covered with the feathers of a bird and half covered with the scales of a snake. A wolf-like snout protruded and horns grew from his head.
It looked like he was concentrating all the reincarnations he had experienced.
[I am Nirvana Moebius.]
This was Nirvana ‘himself.’
[A reincarnator who leads the unfortunate people to Nirvana.]
He looked confident but Nirvana didn’t know. I deliberately let myself by hit by his 108 Worries. I smiled and opened my mouth. “Nirvana, do you know the principle of reincarnation?”
The space trembled ominously. I kept speaking.
“Your soul is bound to the mandala’s guardian. Once you die, you don’t go to the Underworld. According to the unique laws of the constellations, your soul is nestled in a body that was just born.”
[...What are you talking about?]
“You aren’t immortal. Your body is born again but your soul isn’t.”
[Nonsense!]
The hundreds of arms on Nirvana’s back poured towards me. The Thousand Hands of Avalokiteśvara poured out like a waterfall. If I was hit by that in reality, my body would burst and I would be dead. However, this place was different.
Now I was Yoo Jonghyuk. In other words, this was also my ‘inner self.’ The Thousand Hands of Avalokiteśvara melted away in front of my nose.
Nirvana looked baffled. I saw the numerous pages that surrounded me.
[The exclusive skill, ‘Fourth Wall’ is activated!]
There was the sound of pages turning and the pages started to flutter around. There were words written on the white pages. The countless words that I read formed a huge wall.
The astounded Nirvana tried to escape but it was already too late. Sparks formed as Nirvana’s body hit the wall.
[What have you done?]
The Fourth Wall could even repel the constellations. I was curious. Maybe it was possible to use this to wipe out a ‘reincarnator.’
[Release this wall! This, this is...!]
The perplexed Nirvana looked at the wall. A blinding light emerged from the letters on the wall.
「 If this world continues to be reborn, we can clear it. 」
[This... don’t tell me...!]
Nirvana stared at the pages that contained his truth.
「 Yoo Jonghyuk, I can take you to the end of this world. 」
[H-How do you have this?]
I approached Nirvana and said, “You don’t have to go until the end of this world.”
Every time letters appeared on the world, Nirvana’s huge body started to disintegrate. Nirvana’s body split into countless letters and started to be sucked into the Fourth Wall.
“You will die here.”
There was a strange emotion on Nirvana’s face as he saw his soul disintegrating.
「 At last, the reincarnator Nirvana reached a ‘single life’ after hundreds of years of wandering. 」
Nirvana laughed as he saw the sentence on the wall.
[Ha... haha, hahaha!]
「 He greeted his first real ‘death.’ 」
Nirvana’s expression was jubilant.
「 This is... dying. 」
[I see. This is it.]
「 At that moment, Nirvana realized what he had long been waiting for. 」
It had been hundreds of years. He reached the end after countless incarnations. Nirvana closed his eyes at this long-awaited moment. Despite closing his eyes, Nirvana’s inner thoughts were still written on the wall.
「 Then why? This is what I’ve been hoping for. 」
Nirvana’s entire body was covered with minor cracks. His feet, legs, thighs, chest... The broken pieces were being sucked into the Fourth Wall.
「 Why am I feeling afraid? 」
He felt the fear of death for the first time.
To die. There was no future. He couldn’t think, move, talk or even feel his own existence.
「 I don’t exist. 」
Nirvana’s eyes flashed open for a moment.
「 Don’t... I don’t want to! 」
「 However, Nirvana’s mouth was gone and he couldn’t shout it. 」
「 His disappearing arms stretched helplessly towards me. 」
「 In the first place, existence isn’t beautiful. 」
No one would hold a philosophical view when fated to die. All beings were helpless before death.
「 No! Please! Stop! Don’t kill me! 」
「 Yes, your mother’s secret. I know it! I know the story that your mother never told you―」
「 Save me. Please. If you save me...! 」
I looked at him. It was as if witnessing the end of a character in the novel.
「 In his last moments, Nirvana repeated the words he hated the most. 」
「 I don’t want to die. 」
Soon, Nirvana’s soul completely disappeared.
[The Fourth Wall has eaten the character ‘Nirvana Moebius.’]
This was the first message I heard. The wall reacted differently from when it killed the Theatre Dungeon’s boss. I was frightened at first.
[The Fourth Wall is smiling with satisfaction.]
It was fine to kill Nirvana. However, once I thought about it, I didn’t know exactly what the Fourth Wall was.
[The Fourth Wall is looking at you with greedy eyes.]
It wriggled like it was alive. The wall wanted a taste of me, like swallowing Nirvana wasn’t enough. Something popped up on the wall.
「 At this moment, Kim Dokja thought, ‘Maybe someday, I will also be eaten by this wall.’ 」
[108 Worries has been disabled.]
My vision started to return to its original state. The wall, Nirvana, Yoo Jonghyuk. It was as if nothing had happened from the beginning.
...
I blinked and found I was back at the Gwanghwamun stadium. Nirvana was scattering in front of my eyes. After a long time wandering, he finally found rest.
The area was silent, as if cold water had been poured on it. I slowly moved Yoo Jonghyuk’s feet.
The dokkaebi started talking. [This... It is already the end of the scenario. Shall I now announce who the strongest incarnation is?]
I found it hard to move due to fatigue. The voice of the dokkaebi was heard above my head.
[The strongest incarnation, he is...]
At this moment, my consciousness blurred and I couldn’t hear the voice anymore.
It seemed that my time had run out. I couldn’t hear the final words as my consciousness disappeared.
[Excessive mental exhaustion has turned off Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint stage three.]
[1st person protagonist’s point of view has been released.]
.
.
.
[You have died.]
***
Two days later, my funeral began.