Chapter 157
Just like the tape of an old camera, memories played endlessly.
Among them, the very first one that started was a memory from thousands of years ago.
“This will become your task from now on.”
Odin handed over a blue jewel.
The moment young Thor saw its beauty, he was captivated at once.
“What is this, father?”
“It is thunder.”
“Thunder? This?”
Lee Suhyuk stood blankly, watching their past.
It was supposed to be the memory of thunder, but no matter how he looked at it, these were Thor’s memories.
‘Why are they showing this to me?’
He thought it might be another cutscene, but this was different from a cutscene.
Instead of a single scene, it condensed a very long period of over a thousand years to show.
“I will make it mine for sure.”
From that day, Thor dedicated himself to mastering thunder daily.
Thunder was unruly. On some days, it was calm as if asleep, while on others, it exploded with uncontrollable power.
After narrowly escaping death numerous times, Thor had no choice but to admit it.
“You weren’t waiting for me, were you?”
In the end, unable to control thunder, Thor expressed deep regret.
But he did not give up.
“It’s not like there’s no way.”
At that time, someone approached him and whispered.
‘Who is this?’
The face was blurred, as if it had been mosaicked. The voice was distorted to a degree where one couldn’t tell if it was male or female.
It meant this being was not yet permitted by the system.
“What do you mean by ‘a way’?”
“You can split the thunder in half.”
It seemed like a simple enough solution at first glance.
But it was something Thor had never considered. Splitting thunder in half—it was an arrogant thought from someone who had never dealt with it.
And as if they knew what Thor was thinking, the mysterious figure continued speaking.
“You don’t know until you try, right? Are you going to give up already?”
Thor’s expression noticeably changed.
Those words deeply stirred something inside Thor.
Yes. Let’s not give up. This was a fateful task destined for him since the moment he was born.
However,
Hum.
At that moment, Thor wasn’t paying attention to the sound of the thunder in his hand.
‘Was this the problem?’
Lee Suhyuk’s gaze turned to the one whispering sweetly in Thor’s ear.
Splitting the thunder in half.
Perhaps that wasn’t what the thunder wanted.
‘Is this why it was cursed?’
**ZZZZZ, ZZZZZZZ-!**
At this moment, thunder was roaring.
“It shouldn’t be like this. Leave me as I am.”
However, Thor eventually accepted his opinion.
“Split this in half, and if possible, make it something I can handle.”
This was Thor’s request to the greatest blacksmith in Asgard. Lee Suhyuk’s eyes sparkled with a unique light as he watched the process.
‘He knows Thor well.’
The words the mysterious figure had just spoken were meant to provoke Thor. He had wielded a single, sharp sentence to control Thor. This would not have been possible without a deep understanding of Thor.
Behind the guise of goodwill lay clear malice.
He was well-versed not only in Thor but also in thunder.
In any case, the enigmatic figure’s words were accurate.
In the blacksmith’s hands, Mjolnir was forged. Mjolnir wasn’t just infused with thunder but also with various precious divine materials and metals existing in Asgard.
With Mjolnir in his hand, Thor felt a surge of energy.
In an instant, Mjolnir, guided by his hand, pointed toward the sky.
**FLASH-!**
**CRASH-!**
Thunder struck him from the sky. Not just a single bolt, but a storm of thunder rained down, setting everything ablaze.
It was a calamity. At that moment, Thor realized it.
He had finally gained control over thunder.
“Father! I did it.”
Thor immediately headed to Valhalla Palace where Odin resided.
Odin’s numerous possible voices echoed in Thor’s mind.
Well done.
I believed in you.
As expected of my son….
Despite Odin’s usual reluctance to praise, Thor thought today would be different.
But,
“A half-measure, isn’t it.”
Apparently, Odin could not be deceived.
Even with just one eye, Odin saw things others with two eyes couldn’t.
His voice, as usual, showed no signs of either celebration or regret, criticism or disappointment.
“Neither a success nor a failure.”
Those words brought Thor’s soaring spirits plummeting back to Earth.
His once light steps returned to their usual heaviness. In that moment, the Mjolnir in his hand felt like a shameful weight.
“You’ve made a dangerous choice.”
“Dangerous?”
“Going against the nature of thunder…”
Odin’s gaze turned toward the Mjolnir in Thor’s hand.
He quickly swallowed his next words and shook his head.
“That’s enough. Go on.”
Thor received neither congratulations nor rebuke. His steps out of Valhalla Palace were indeed heavier than before.
“… I shouldn’t rely on thunder any longer.”
Despite appearing like a child before Odin, Thor was a warrior with a soul second in strength only to Odin.
Even though he hadn’t conclusively succeeded or failed in a task to which he had devoted his life, he did not give in to despair.
No.
He, on the contrary, felt a new excitement.
“Am I finally free from the shackles?”
The firm shackle of thunder loosened with a clanking sound. Without dwelling on the results, he looked forward.
But it was only momentary.
– Who gave you permission?
Clank.
The shackle that had barely loosened tightened even more, as if it had never loosened at all. Now, it was so tight that he couldn’t even move a finger.
– You won’t be able to escape, not ever.
Crackle, crackle-!
Mjolnir’s rampage began. He thought he could manage it, but it was arrogance. Mjolnir constantly devoured Thor. Like a cursed item, it clung to his hand, unremovable.
With great power comes significant sacrifice.
Thor, who wielded Mjolnir, garnered the epithet of the God of Thunder, but he feared that power himself.
“Do not use it any longer.”
One day, Odin visited him.
“Consider it just a hammer that’s convenient for swinging. Believing you could control thunder was my mistake.”
Gulp.
The emotions Thor felt at that moment were vividly conveyed. A mistake.
It wasn’t his pride that got hurt. Thor was not foolish enough to flaunt that.
He merely felt guilty.
It hurt that his father’s life came to bear the stain of a mistake because of him.
After Odin left.
For a long time, unable to sleep, Thor sat in his chamber and murmured.
“… I will make it not so.”
Crackle, crackle-!
At that moment, as the memory of thunder faded, unbearable pain began to transmit to Suhyuk’s palm.
“Ugh.”
Conscious of the pain, the world centered around Thor shattered.
Thor’s chamber vanished completely, and in place of the face of a warrior with a strong spirit, there now was a monster.
Crackle, crackle-!
Mjolnir resisted fiercely.
The more it resisted, the more Suhyuk clenched his hand tighter.
“Did you live all your life to end up like this?”
He only observed briefly. He couldn’t have seen even a fraction of how Thor lived and how intense his life was.
But precisely because of that, Suhyuk found Thor’s current state even more lamentable.
“Did you train so hard just to be devoured by this thing?”
Suhyuk kept talking.
As he watched the cutscene unfold, he understood.
This trial was not something he could overcome alone.
To master thunder, to become a warrior.
It was a trial to be overcome alongside a great warrior who shed blood and sweat without hesitation to gain his father’s recognition.
“If it were me, I’d overcome this out of sheer shame. Don’t you think so?”
Thor’s eyes showed agreement.
I would, even more so.
Squelch.
It was at that moment when a crack appeared on Mjolnir.
The other half of the thunder within Mjolnir began to be drawn in. Lee Suhyuk’s dominance shone brighter than Thor’s, who had lost consciousness.
‘It’s working.’
Thor’s consciousness was slowly returning. The mad glint in his eyes had dimmed halfway.
At that moment.
Boom!
A thunderbolt from Mjolnir flicked Suhyuk’s hand away.
It happened in an instant. The current output was too much for Suhyuk to endure in his present state, resulting in his palm being charred black and tingling.
『’Heart of Lightning’ resists ‘Status Effect – Electrocution’.』
『’Blessing of Yggdrasil’ resists ‘Status Effect – Electrocution’.』
The fact that he was able to withstand this much was thanks to the Heart of Lightning, and the Blessing of Yggdrasil prepared by Odin.
At the moment his hand fell away, Thor turned his body.
Crackle.
In the blink of an eye, he was far away.
Suhyuk did not chase him.
It was impossible to chase Thor once he had made up his mind.
Unlike before, when Thor had found him interesting, now he was afraid of him.
No, to be precise, it was not Thor himself but the thunder within him that feared Suhyuk.
‘It just might work.’
At first, he was skeptical. Could he really break the curse on Mjolnir? Was Odin placing undue expectations on him for an impossible task? Or might he end up being consumed by the thunder this time?
It was not an unfounded expectation.
Suhyuk looked at his hand, blackened by Thor’s thunder.
This time, Thor had come to him.
Next time, it would be the other way around.
* * *
Suhyuk climbed back to the surface. Odin had created steps for him to ascend, and Suhyuk walked up the thousands of steps.
The expression on Odin’s face, who had been watching the situation from below, was complex.
“…Neither a failure nor a success.”
It was not despair over failure or joy over success.
However, one thing was certain.
With this, he saw hope.
“As you can see.”
Suhyuk raised his charred hand.
“He still doesn’t listen to me. He just runs away.”
“Would it help if I captured him for you?”
“You know that’s pointless, right? What we need isn’t capture or suppression, it’s breaking the curse.”
Odin nodded.
Even though he saw everything, he did not intervene because he shared the same thoughts.
Odin said no more.
There was only one thing he was curious about now.
“Is it possible?”
“It will take a little more time… but it should be possible.”
At that moment, Odin’s expression brightened slightly.
It was a very small change, but Suhyuk noticed. And he could guess how significant that small change was to Odin.
“How much time?”
“I’m not sure.”
Suhyuk could not give a precise answer at this moment.
It was no longer a matter of how exceptional his abilities were now.
“That’s not something I can decide.”
“Then?”
After facing it once, he understood.
How powerful Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer, truly was. Why was the great prince of Asgard being controlled by such an object?
It intrigued him all the more.
“The time depends on what the thunder wants from me.”
If thunder had truly wanted, he would not be alive now.
Why had it allowed him to live?