Chapter 325 |
Prologue (■)
Underground City, Artman.
A place that refused to cast its light equally on all things in the world. And so it remained sunk in darkness all year round, day and night. Since the sun never rose here, the city relied on artificial light from luminous ore.
People from the upper district called it this.
Landfill.
A place where discarded trash was buried.
A boy born in a place like that suddenly looked up at the sky. All he could see was a dark ceiling. Staring at the glowing stone embedded in it, the boy thought to himself.
It felt like he had dreamed for a very long time.
In that dream, he had been a knight. A hero. A once-in-an-age genius who pulled out Excalibur. A figure like the protagonist of a story. But dreams were always like that. It was never easy to recall their scenery in full. Only vague traces remained.
How could someone who had never seen a star imagine what one looked like? How could he picture a knight? A dream needed something real to lean on. The boy let out a long breath at his absurd dream.
A useless dream.
Hadn't Ivan said it himself? If you clung to empty dreams, life only got harder. The best way to live was to be satisfied with what you were given.
"What are you doing out here, Najin?"
"Ah, Ivan."
As Najin stood there looking up and brooding, someone approached with a rough, easy stride. A middle-aged man with an eyepatch over one eye. It was Ivan, Najin's employer, the man who held the underground city's center in his grip, the ruler of this city.
"Nothing much. I just had a weird dream."
"A weird dream?"
"Yeah. I dreamed I pulled out Excalibur..."
Ivan blinked at Najin's story, then burst out laughing.
"Kuhahaha! What's weird about that? At your age, that's exactly the kind of dream boys have. You feel like the hero in some novel."
Ivan smacked Najin on the back.
"I was the same at your age. Felt like I was special, like I could pull out Excalibur, like I could become a Sword Master."
"You were like that too, Ivan?"
"Of course. Men are all the same at that age. I had those dreams too, until I was about nineteen. Dreaming is a privilege for children."
Then he added:
Ivan pointed to one of his eyes.
"Just don't throw your whole life into a dream. Life gets hard if you do. Look at me. Missing an eyeball and still living like this."
"..."
"You're smart, so I trust you'll understand what I'm saying."
"I know. I just said I had that kind of dream."
Don't challenge. Live as given. Stay inside the line that's drawn, and be satisfied with the life you have. Even while listening to Ivan say that, Najin suddenly thought:
Still, at least once.
Wouldn't it be better to challenge something once, instead of living like this and dying?
That thought crossed Najin's mind.
【You awaken from a long dream.】
Blink. Najin closed and opened his eyes.
Breathing hard, he pressed two fingers to his brow. Why did that memory have to surface now? It was a conversation he had with Ivan around age fifteen. Ivan telling him to live as he was given.
Why did he remember that moment now?
The truth was, Najin already knew the answer.
Najin looked ahead. In front of him lay the ruined landscape of Underground City, Artman. Knights and shadow operatives from the upper district had set fire to the outskirts, then speared anyone who escaped the flames.
"Hh, hhaaaaaaak!"
"Please spare me, please, please!"
"At least save our child..."
"Sir Knight! We really don't know anything! Ah, aaaagh!"
People were dying.
The owner of the shop he often visited. Old Jack the street vendor. Brother Hari from the family, who had always been warm to Najin. The kids who sold newspapers in the streets. Adults and children alike.
Everyone was burning.
Underground City, Artman was engulfed in flames.
The reason this disaster happened was Najin. Najin had pulled out Excalibur, and the moment the Starlight Order noticed it, they brought their forces down into the underground city. At first they chased Najin, but when they failed to catch him, they chose an extreme method.
They set the entire city on fire.
As if it did not matter how many people died as long as they caught Najin, or as if they had decided to clean out the underground city while they were at it, they speared citizens fleeing the fire and shoved them back into the flames.
Burn to death, or die on a spear.
Najin's eyes shook as he looked at the underground city filling with acrid smoke.
"Cough, kh, khup..."
Hearing coughing from Master Hogel's forge, Najin forgot to hide and ran there. He tried to jump into the blaze and pull Master Hogel out, but:
Smack.
Even while coughing in the smoke, the old man coldly slapped Najin's hand away. His eyes were full of hatred. A look that asked why he had done this. Najin's lips trembled. In the end, Najin could not save Master Hogel.
Artman burned away.
Black smoke rose thick and high.
As he walked through the chaos, some people recognized Najin. They screamed and rushed him. This was all his fault. Did he know how many had died because of what he did, because of his selfish act? My child, my parents, and me, and us...
Screaming, they clawed at Najin. Even as the heat cooked their lungs, they blamed him.
He walked and walked.
There was Offen, bleeding out. Leaning against a wall, Offen looked up at Najin and gave a bitter smile. He did not blame him.
"Why did you do it, Najin."
He only asked a question.
"You're smart enough to know better, so why?"
That troubled gaze hit harder than all the curses in the world. Soon Offen's head dropped. No more breathing could be heard.
Najin walked a little farther.
It was the center of the burning city. Ivan was there, staring at the city with empty eyes. At the sound of footsteps, he turned his head. The moment he saw Najin, his eyes widened, then narrowed.
"You selfish bastard."
Blood vessels stood out in Ivan's eyes.
"Because you crossed the line, everyone is going to die. Didn't I fucking tell you? Don't cross the line. Be satisfied with what you're given. Don't challenge!"
Ivan shouted.
He strode over and grabbed Najin by the collar.
"This is what happens."
Flames rolled around them.
"I said it because I knew this would happen. Good for you. Thanks to you, everyone dies. You too."
He let out a hollow laugh.
"Hey, Najin. Was my request really that hard? In this city, you're one of the people eating and living best, right under me and guys like Horace. Was that still not enough? Huh? Najin? Say something."
"Th, that's..."
"Answer me!"
Ivan roared. Then he threw Najin to the ground. Ivan sat down helplessly and dragged a palm over his face.
"Why."
It all burned.
"Why did you do it? Why? You're smart. You know better. Why..."
Because he had crossed the line.
Because he had dreamed.
Because he had challenged.
"This is your fault, Najin."
Everything burned and disappeared.
"Etch this into your eyes. What you've done. What happened because of you."
Only then did Najin understand what Ivan had meant when he said not to challenge. What the price of challenge was. A burn scar carved itself deep inside Najin. Watching the city burn, Najin closed his eyes.
【You awaken from a long dream.】
Why was it like this? Whenever he dreamed, whenever he tried to challenge something, Najin felt his heart throb. He did not know why. He ignored that pain and challenged anyway, every single time, and the result was always ruin.
Master Hogel was killed. Offen tried to kill him, or he killed Offen. Ivan cut off his arm, or he cut off Ivan's arm, and Ivan's hate-filled blade pierced Najin over and over.
Those things repeated again and again.
【You awaken from a long dream.】
Dozens, hundreds, thousands.
【You awaken from a long dream.】
Every time Najin challenged something, he paid for it. Each time, the burn marks in his Imagery spread.
【You awaken from a long dream.】
He dreamed. He could not remember what he had dreamed, but Najin no longer looked up at the sky. Instead, he looked at the ground. He only looked where he could walk, where he was allowed to set his feet.
Dreaming brought nothing good.
It only made his life miserable.
His steps naturally turned deep into the alleyways. As if avoiding light, he went farther into darkness.
There was nothing to gain from challenging.
You only lost.
Now, Najin was afraid to challenge. He did not know what he might lose next. He was afraid of those resentful eyes. He no longer challenged anything. He stopped looking up.
Najin's first star shook.
Because the very knight who had carved the Star of Challenge into Najin kept denying him over and over. A star denied at its root trembled as if it might fall at any moment.
For anyone...
The first always carried enormous meaning.
It was the same for Najin. Every one of Najin's constellations began from Challenge, and what was carved into the Star of Challenge was the prologue that announced the beginning of Najin's story.
A constellation whose starting point was denied began to shake.
Inside a story that repeated endlessly, Najin still held himself together, but his Imagery was slowly reaching its limit.
"..."
An alley where no light entered. An alley where discarded things had piled and piled again. Najin had entered there on his own feet and sank down between heaps of trash.
It felt like he had dreamed for a very long time.
Najin's clothes were worn to shreds. His body was gaunt, and the light in his eyes was fading. His stage was shrinking from the edges.
At the end of that long story, the Carnival King became certain of victory.
Just as she moved to finish it.
Flash.
Something lit up in Najin's chest. It was a Star Relic containing someone's star. The relic scattered light for a brief moment.
"Hey, boy."
Then someone's voice rang out.
"What are you doing in a pitiful little place like this?"
A voice that should never have been heard.
2.
At that voice, Najin turned his head.
A young man in adventurer's clothes stood there. A man who looked strangely bright, out of place in a city like this. He flicked the pointed hat on his head with a finger and grinned.
"What are you doing here?"
He sat down next to Najin with a thud, relaxed and casual.
"Wow, it's so dark here. Can you even see anything?"
Then he lightly tapped a luminous ore lamp that had burned out and no longer shone.
Flash.
The dead lamp lit up again. The alley grew a little brighter. Najin looked at the man sitting beside him.
Then he asked:
"Who are you?"
At that, the man stroked his chin and answered lightly.
"You already know that, don't you? Who was it that told me my name, the one even I had forgotten?"
You already know.
After saying that, the man asked Najin.
"Why are you like this here? The you I know is not someone who sits around in a place like this looking pathetic."
He was afraid to challenge anymore. If he challenged, he only lost. His master had once told him to live within the line given to him, and those words had never been wrong. Najin said as much.
"Ah, sure. Challenge is scary. The more you build up, the heavier your steps get. Even a bird that could fly forever can't fly high anymore if it crashes when it's young."
The man smiled bitterly.
"Because crashing is terrifying. The higher you fly, the scarier the fall becomes. You're afraid you'll lose everything you've built, your whole life so far."
He touched his hat as he spoke.
"I was the same."
"..."
"I could fly far, farther than anyone, but at some point I stopped looking at the sky. I got so afraid of falling that I lived looking only downward. Yeah, just like you said, satisfied with what I was given."
But then, he smiled.
"One day, my irreplaceable friend asked me this."
Najin looked at the man's face.
"Icarus, when is the next journey?"
Only then did Najin remember his name. Meeting Najin's eyes, Icarus chuckled.
"Remember now?"
Cheon Yuseong, Icarus.
"Then now it's my turn to give something back to you."
The one who became Najin's eighth star.
If Najin ever ended up as he had, if Najin stopped looking at the sky...
「Icarus, when is the next journey?」
Just as his own close friend once did for him, Icarus had left behind a Star Relic so he could push Najin forward this time. That relic shone in Najin's chest.
"It's time to go on an adventure, Najin."
He snapped his fingers.
The Star of Adventure shone.