After Sima Ryunju disappeared, Oslo, the Fairy Queen who was still there with them earlier, approached Lee Sungmin.
Lee Sungmin took a few steps back, startled by her presence as he was still a blur.
The Fairy Queen, who looked like a young adolescent girl rather than the miniature fairies the size of play dolls, stood at the same level as Lee Sungmin with her colorful butterfly wings spread wide and flapping behind her back.
“……huh.?”
Oslo’s eyes became narrowed as she stared at Lee Sungmin with curiosity.
Lee Sungmin swallowed his saliva out of reflex from the sight of her all-encompassing eyes.
Oslo, who had been staring at Lee Sungmin with a strange smile for a long time, opened her mouth.
“I’d like to ask you a little favor. Would that be okay?”
“What sort of favor are you going to ask for?”
“I want to touch you.” (T/N : WTF LOL)
Lee Sungmin’s eyes widened at the sudden request. Of course, Lee Sungmin did not misunderstand what Oslo said. However, he still hesitated due to the sudden information he had received from Sima Ryunju, about his mutated body.
“I’m just curious.”
Osla continued in a cool voice.
“You are quite interesting. Sima said you were amusing at most, but you……are actually much more than what Sima seems to think of you. It’s not a miracle that your body is still holding itself together…since it’s actually in harmony, you are a jumble of different things, but you aren’t dead, nor are you truly suffering for some reason. And I may be ancient and secluded in this forest, but I am fairly sure humans are not able to use Dragon Fear, correct? I’ve been living for so many years, but the only beings who have been able to use that ability are the dragons themselves, or the half-draconic humans.”
Oslo came a little closer to Lee Sungmin.
“Aside from that, however, there’s something…… unpleasant, deep within you.”
“……what about me is bothering you so much?”
From Oslo’s words, Lee Sungmin only had one thought. It stuck out like a sore thumb. The Apostle of the Apocalypse, which had previously been mentioned by various people and “beings” so far. Lee Sungmin regained his composure and asked Oslo a question.
“I have a question, as well.”
“Hm? What might that be?”
“Your existence… I mean, as one of the beings that holds the title of Queen… Are you at the same level of a God in this world?”
“That’s a little weird to ask… Who are ‘you guys?’”
“I’ve met the Spirit Queen before.”
Oslo’s expression immediately hardened at Lee Sungmin’s answer. She opened her squinted eyes wider to get a clear look at Lee Sungmin and make direct eye contact.
“The Spirit Queen? Did you go to the Spirit Realm?”
“No.”
“But how did you meet the Spirit Queen? She doesn’t exist in this world. Or at least she shouldn’t exist.”
Oslo had spoken affirmably. This did not mean that Lee Sungmin was lying about encountering the Spirit Queen. Lee Sungmin shook his head and denied what Oslo had said.
“No, I know that I met the Spirit Queen, and I met her in this world, not another.”
“……no way.”
Oslo murmured with an incredulous face.
“She’s been brought over to the Mortal Realm? Oh my god, that’s a breach of contract…!”
“Huh? Contract?”
“You don’t have to know that. What the hell was she thinking……?!”
Oslo grumbled and got lost in thought. Then, she shouted, “Oh!” and looked at Lee Sungmin, remembering his initial question.
“We’re a little different from the Gods…. I can’t say that we’re too different. Should I say that the planes of existence are different, or rather what I value is different…… It’s not about who is right or wrong, but the gods and our ilk are different in our ideals and beliefs. Well, it’s not like you as a human need to know anything anyway.”
Oslo slowly raised her hand and hovered it in front of Lee Sungmin’s face hesitatingly.
“I want to touch you. You’re okay with that, right?
“It doesn’t matter to me what you want to do, unless you try to harm or mess with me that is.”
“If I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn’t have to ask permission like this. I’m asking for your permission because I don’t want to hurt you.”
Oslo grumbled and reached out and grabbed Lee Sungmin’s shoulder. Nothing happened out of the ordinary, and there was no manner of noticeable response, Lee Sungmin thought. However, Oslo’s eyes narrowed again.
“………You’re connected to a monster, a very dangerous one at that. Hundreds of years ago, a very notorious and troublesome Yokai died in the South. I thought it wouldn’t be possible for a monster like that to actually be slain by humans, but it did. It’s been a spirit, it seems, reluctant to pass on, and is attached to you.”
But to Oslo, she sensed that much at least, and it was an ominous presence… but it wasn’t what she truly felt frightened about. There was something else she was looking for.
Even deeper than Lee Sungmin’s connection to Heoju’s Spirit…… Oslo closed her eyes. The wings spread behind her back, gleamed with a bluish glow.
‘Deeper.’
Oslo thought, as she dug deep into Lee Sungmin’s very presence and existence.
The subconscious space within Lee Sungmin could not even enter at will, where he had fought for control over his body, which was accessed by the Fairy Queen as she delved deep within him.
Before she knew it, Lee Sungmin was slowly letting go of his consciousness, and fragments of light flowing from the wings floated around Oslo like the light of fireflies.
“……Oops!”
After wandering about Lee Sungmin’s dark and mysterious realm of the subconscious for a long time uneventfully, Oslo was suddenly thrown back by an unknown force that pushed her out of Lee Sungmin’s subconscious, like she was a fly.
Lee Sungmin’s blurred consciousness and eyesight, slowly returned. Lee Sungmin managed to hold onto his balance, which almost collapsed, as he gasped and swallowed for air.
“What did you do?”
Lee Sungmin shouted at Oslo. Oslo, who barely showed her dust and lights of excitement, was rolling on her wings on the ground, and looked at Lee Sungmin with a face as if she were possessed by an emotion of something inexplicably fearful.
“……I see.”
After observing Lee Sungmin for a while, Osla nodded her trembling head.
“It’s been a long time. So…… of course I forgot about ‘him’ without realizing it. Or maybe ‘he’ didn’t want us to remember ‘him’…….”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Such a pity…”
Oslo sighed and murmured.
“It’s just a pity that I can’t tell you much about what you want to know. But…… I think it’s okay to tell you at least this much.”
“Tsk-“
Lee Sungmin kicked the floor with his feet, cussing. He figured who Oslo was talking about, as his premonitions were probably correct, but was upset that he got the same answer as always.
“Be faithful to your life.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Every single day….Be sure to live a faithful life every day.So that later…… only… so that you don’t regret it.”
Oslo appeared bitterly and sorrowfully at Lee Sungmin. So far, Lee Sungmin had constantly heard vague words whenever higher existences, like gods and what not, looked deep into his existence.
But it was the first time he had ever heard something like what Oslo had said. Especially with the face she was making.
Lee Sungming shut his mouth and then realized. Oslo, the Queen of Fairies, knew something about him that none of the other people or gods he had talked to about his existence, knew about him.
“……I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“I suppose it would sound that way.”
Oslo nodded slowly.
“I know you’re confused. But I can’t answer anything for you other than that.”
“Because of the Apostle of the Apocalypse?”
Lee Sungmin spat out desperately for answers.
“Is it because someone you don’t understand is threatening you? I’ve heard this several times so far. None of the people have ever said anything close to what you just told me. You people always speak as if whatever is within me, is some sort of fucking game that’s interesting to you and not even think about what I’m even saying!”
“……I can’t help it.”
Lee Sungmin reacted violently and angrily, but Oslo did not even reject the act of rudeness, since it was something she sympathized with.
It was simply that, if she ever leaked out any information further about it, she would probably be erased from existence.
“…It’s a promise from a long time ago. A promise that has been in effect even since the beginning of this very world. Neither I, nor are gods able to break this promise.”
The air around Lee Sungmin seemed to chill at an unnatural degree.
He looked back in surprise, but there was no one there.
“If you can, please answer……what or who exactly is the Apostle of the End?”
“…The end itself.”
“What? The apostle?”
“He is the one who fulfills ‘the end’.”
“Then, what… who am I..?!”
Lee Sungmin spoke looking directly at Oslo with a desperate and surprisingly emotional facial expression. Completely different from his usual stoic and indifferent facial expression.
He still couldn’t seem to get an answer to this question.
Both Heoju and Oslo were silent at Lee Sungmin’s plea.
In the following silence, Lee Sungmin recalled everything he had been told about this topic.
Mush had once told him that there were no coincidences in the world and that they would have to all prepare for ‘him’ one day.
Kim Jonghyun had then told him later, that this ‘him’ or entity that was hidden deep within him, while also looking out for him, was called the Apostle of the Apocalypse
The Head Monk of the Shaolin, Bulyeong, told Lee Sungmin that he had a powerful feeling of goodwill and attraction to him applied by this entity. Coercing others to show him random goodwill.
Frau and Envirus had talked about the flow of fate and destiny of Lee Sungmin and his importance.
There were no such happenings known as coincidences. That meant everything up til now and even in the future was fate, an already predetermined course of action. What was it all headed to, what was the end of the script? The Apostle of the End was the one who would fulfill this ‘ending’ then.
Okay… but what did this all have to do with Lee Sungmin?
“……Am I the Apostle of the End?”
Spitting out the question, Lee Sungmin thought to himself that his own words were just complete and nonsensical nonsense.
He had no choice but to believe so. He had never been anything important. He was a wastrel, a garbage, a talentless mercenary, who had a little luck and returned to the past.
He managed to reach the second-rate realm by learning the third-rate martial arts in the past, and died while trying to break through the dungeon alone in greed.
Shortly before his death, found a weird stone called the ‘stone of past lives’ and came back to the age of 14, when he was first summoned to Genavis.
That was all that had amounted to his pitiful life.
He snorted at her and waited for her denial to the question, but she gave no answer. Lee Sungmin laughed awkwardly at her silence.
“…How am I supposed to accept your silence?”
“I can’t say anything. Your question is directly related to the long-standing promise between several gods and existences. Nobody can answer that question, no matter how much you pry.”
After a lengthy silence, Oslo opened her mouth. Lee Sungmin laughed at her words once again.
“But not yet…not yet once again! Isn’t that right? Nothing has been decided as of yet, and nothing is for certain.”
The cool and chilly air that touched the nape of Lee Sungmin and Oslo’s necks, turned sharp. Oslo’s body flinched and drooped her wings down.
“You are… you are right. That’s absolutely correct about that.”
Oslo said so, and then tore at her hair with both of her hands.
She seemed confused and frustrated, too. After messing up her well-braided hair, Oslo sighed deeply.
“Ah this…really!”
“What?”
“Just like you’re frustrated, I’m frustrated, too! I want to tell you everything I know! But I can’t tell you anything!”
“Why are you so annoyed?”
“You’re annoying me!”
After shouting like that, Oslo took a big breath and pressed down on the hair she had frizzled and messed up earlier with her hands.
“Ahhh… I don’t know anymore… There’s nothing more I can say to you. But-“
Right as she said she had nothing to say, Oslo gave room at the end for imagination.
“……I will definitely be friendly in your favor. Just know that.”
Oslo spoke as she glanced at Lee Sungmin.
Lee Sungmin opened his mouth to talk more, but Oslo closed her eyes tightly and put her hands over her ears.
“I can’t hear you!”
After shouting like that, Oslo became a ball of light and disappeared in thin air.
Lee Sungmin smiled and touched his forehead.
Whenever he had conversations with others about this ‘Apostle of the End’, he always became more and more confused about its presence and frustrated at the fact he couldn’t learn more.
Nothing had been clearly resolved in his mind. The topic in itself was only building up more and more anxiety.
[……hmm.]
Heoju, who had been silent all along, opened his mouth.
[This Apostle of the Apocalypse, or whatever, I’m not interested in such a story…….]
Heoju let out a fake cough at the end in Lee Sungmin’s shared consciousness with him.
[Right now, it’s not like the ‘end’ seems to have come. I don’t think you need to worry about it now.]
‘It’s easy for you to say.’
[What’s happening right now is more important for you to concentrate your worries on, rather than worrying about what you don’t know will even happen in the future.]
Heoju spoke in a careful tone of voice.
[You have become a public enemy in the eyes of the Murim Alliance and Beyond the Heavens. If anything, you’ll be having to struggle with keeping up in the present and not dying to them first.]
Lee Sungmin did not protest against Heoju’s logic because it was spot-on. So, in the end, he kept his mouth shut.
Merely because he had trained in the trial of time for over 2,000 years, this did not make him invincible only because he had been going against people weaker than him. The fight, from now on, would be something he would barely even survive, if at all, if he remained at his current level.
‘…You’re right.’
Lee Sungmin sighed and nodded.
He had no room for easy growth at this point.
Heoju consoled him in a calm voice.
[Now that you’ve reached the Realm of Transcendence like you did in the mental world, You won’t know what comes next. There’s not too much room to grow further at this point.]
‘…….’
It was a heartbreaking fact. Today, Lee Sungmin had completely arrived at the same level he had once been at in the Trial of Time. He no longer had any easy growth, and paired with his lack of talent, it would be nigh impossible to grow further into a Realm he had no experience with.
In other words, he really had no time to be wasting on worries in the future if he couldn’t even make it there alive.
Lee Sungmin lacked talent. Geniuses like Wijihoyeon had plenty of room to continue to grow and pioneer their paths down the road of martial arts, but not Lee Sungmin.
It took 2,100 years to reach his current level of power in the Trial of Time, without any guidance. Although the Trial of Time had several restrictions, making it exceedingly slow and difficult for anybody to grow, it would still be incredibly difficult to attempt and achieve a higher Realm on his own.
But, weren’t things looking rather good? He had become the direct disciple of Sima Ryunju, who had pioneered his own martial arts to an incredibly high level of power. Under his guidance, Lee Sungmin would be able to have direction with his training and growth from here on out.
‘Maybe it isn’t too bad.’
[And well….]
Heoju once again let out a fake cough.
[Let’s ask her as well…]
Heoju’s voice trailed off at the end.