Became a tyrant of defense games - Episode 410
◈ 410. [Side Story] Shattered
Last night in my dream, I became a butterfly.
I flapped my wings and flew happily between the flowers, and it felt so good I didn't even know it was me..
Then when I woke up from the dream, I was not a butterfly, it was me.
Did I dream that I was a butterfly??
Or is the butterfly dreaming of becoming me??
……This is the famous dream of Zhuangzi's Tiger-eye dream..
…….
All this time, I thought I, a classic fanatic, was dreaming of Ash..
But it was the opposite.
Actually, I, Ash, was dreaming of becoming a classics fan..
***
“Ash, you have been chosen to be the last player in this game against the Demon Lord..”
Ader explained slowly..
“Because she inherited the 'Curse of Return' from her mother, Dustia, she was able to keep her memories in this game that repeats itself while resetting the world. It was the optimal talent for a player..”
“…….”
“But in the infinite return, the soul could not endure and began to weather. It was because life had been repeated for too long for one soul to bear..”
I was quietly listening. Ader continued..
“Although he tried to endure until the end, he was so broken that he could not even remember his purpose or the names of the people around him. She just couldn't continue playing as a player. so…….”
“so?”
“……I decided to use the last method.”
last way……?
“After the regression, the last time Ash managed to maintain his senses... … In the spring of twenty-three years old.”
Ader looked at me blankly..
“Taking another player's mind from another world and transplanting it into Ash..”
“……!”
“Just like wrapping cracked pottery with cotton cloth, bringing in another personality and putting it on top of Ash's personality. This was the last way.”
Why is Ash... … I am.
Did you try to keep fighting like that?.
“Our 'game' happened to be quite popular among other beings of this world... … Among them, contract with players who recorded decent clear data. I copied the ritual and added it to Ash every time a new round started..”
In short, so.
Copy & Paste.
Did you copy and paste other players' minds onto Ash?.
“So I was able to continue playing the game. I was able to try a variety of strategies that I had never seen before. But, that too has its limits..”
“…….”
“Even if I wrapped it with new cotton cloth every time, the porcelain was already cracked… … It's falling apart more and more.”
Ader frowned bitterly..
“Ash's soul was ultimately shattered, and this was the last time..”
“…….”
“It's the final game your shattered soul can endure.”
There was silence.
I was standing still and suddenly asked.
“……What if I fail? What next? Are there any more players??”
“doesn't exist. the game is over.”
Ader opened her arms slightly..
“Even me, who has taken on the role of director, is now at our limit..”
Is it because this is the spirit world?.
Only then did I... … Countless incontinence was seen..
It was embarrassing how he was able to maintain his form, and his soul was literally on the verge of being crushed to dust..
“For me and for you, this is your last chance.”
“…….”
“Sorry for hiding the truth, Ash. but… … I thought this fact would only confuse Ash..”
I let out a long sigh..
“so… … In the end, I copied and overwritten the memories of a classic fanatic... … You're Ash, who lost all of his original memories..”
I felt dizzy. It was difficult for her to breathe..
……A ship that had all its parts replaced.
Is it still that ship??
I covered my face with my hands and stumbled. Ader tried to come towards me, but I waved his hand to stop him..
“Just give it some time.”
“…….”
Ader quietly retreated..
I staggered along the sandy beach and fell down on a high sand hill..
I looked up at the sky still filled with aurora and smiled helplessly..
“In the end, I'm neither a classics fan nor Ash..”
I am not a classic fanatic.
A true classics fan must be living somewhere on Earth..
I am just a fake copy and paste of his memories..
And, I'm not Ash either..
I don't have any memories of Ash left. Because it's already been overwritten.
Sometimes there are memories that remain and come to mind unconsciously, but they are no longer mine and are unfamiliar as if they belong to someone else..
I slowly lowered my head and exhaled with difficulty..
“There's nothing real left for me.”
In the end, I'm not a classics fan, I'm not Ash, I'm a completely different person... … I'm just a broken human being.
Made just to be used as a player. It's just a chimera patched together.
‘Everything that makes me is not mine.’
Both in body and soul. Mine is… … there is nothing.
i am fake.
He covered his face with both hands and bowed down. I'm out of breath, my eyes are hot..
The truth was harsh and I was confused.
How long has it been like that?.
Suddenly my shoulders became warm. I slowly raised my head, puzzled..
“……?”
The sun is hitting my shoulders.
When I looked up and looked, the sun was rising at the end of the endless land on the other side of the coast..
Does the sun rise here in the spirit world too?.
I frown at the dazzling light and raise my hand to block the light..
‘huh?’
Is it an illusion??
Under the shining sunlight, something stirred like a haze..
I concentrated to look at it closely..
that…….
- PRESS START
……Engraved in my childhood memories, from a classic game.
It was a letter made of dots..
“uh?”
I was out of breath..
When I rub my eyes and look again, there is no trace of the letters, as if it was just an illusion. But I had already jumped out of my seat and stood up..
The sun rises. Peeling back the veil of night, the sunlight illuminated the day with a terrifying force that seemed to set the spirit world on fire..
In a world that was starting to become dazzlingly white, a voice suddenly rang in my mind..
- What matters is not where you come from. What do you want to do in the future?.
What the Goddess Said and What I Said to My Colleagues.
I took a deep breath and looked down at my hands..
“…….”
i am fake.
Neither my body nor my soul nor anything is completely mine. everything about me is fake.
But even if my life is all a lie…….
‘Still, I want to save it..’
The child lying in the hospital room.
This world is collapsing.
Everyone within my reach…….
‘I want to save you.’
Wow.
I clutched my chest tightly..
Even if everything about me is a lie, this heart is mine.
The flag I raise for him is also unmistakable... … It's really my heart.
It was then.
Wow!!
Sunlight poured from the sky, created a whirlpool, and fell into my hand..
“……ah.”
When I came to my senses, I was holding in my right hand the flag of light I had seen in the spirit world..
hot, heavy.
The once broken flagpole was clumsily reattached, and the torn and burned flag was stitched up in an ugly manner..
my flag.
my heart.
my pieces.
“……haha.”
As I looked at the ugly flag fluttering, I suddenly burst into laughter..
- If you're torn to pieces, you can just live with being torn to pieces..
Before I fell here.
What the serenade said while holding my hand.
- If you're shattered, you can just live with the shattered pieces..
I muttered blankly..
“Living in pieces…….”
……Looking back.
I was always broken..
‘Even as a classics fan.’
I couldn't write poetry, so I couldn't become a poet, and no matter how hard I studied, I couldn't get into a prestigious university..
I couldn't hold on to the company I barely joined and had to run away..
‘Even as Ash.’
He lost his mother, abused himself, ruined those around him, and ran to destroy himself as a spoiled brat..
‘It wasn't strange that I had given up on everything a long time ago..’
Either way, my life has been a series of broken things. I'm always broken, broken, broken again.
741Attack failed.
And, the path to the true ending that doesn't succeed until your soul is shattered..
…….
……But, although I may be broken, I am not yet defeated..
All those hurts didn't finish me off. Even though it's patchy and fake, I'm still standing here looking up at the sky.
The game isn't over yet.
Even after experiencing hundreds of game overs, the classics fan continued to fight to give words of support to one child..
Ash did not give up, even as he put another person's consciousness into his broken soul..
And I am something of a mixture of fragments of those two people..
Wow.
I held the flag in my hand tightly..
I will continue to break.
More adversity will come, more hardships will come, more loss and more sadness..
I will hurt more and shed more tears than I have ever suffered before..
As long as you don't give up and fight, it is your destiny.
But who cares??
It's already broken into pieces.
If it breaks, just put it back together and stand up again..
- If you don't lose your heart, even if it breaks into a thousand pieces, you are still you..
I closed my eyes, remembering the words of the serenade..
“I am…….”
I am not a classic fanatic.
i am not ash.
I'm not a player, I'm not a tyrant, I'm not a monster.
“I am…….”
I'm none of them,
At the same time, they are all.
Facing the dazzling sunlight, clenching my fists and gritting my teeth.
Opening my eyes and looking at the sky - I declared.
“……I am in pieces.”
That's why finally.
“I am me.”
What defines me, what proves me, is my heart.
As long as this heart remains, no matter how broken I am, I will pick myself back up again and not give up and fight until the end..
Until the moment this life ends.
“Phew…….”
I let out a long sigh..
My heart became much lighter. There's nothing to hesitate about anymore.
I looked up at the sky again.
Whether it was an illusion or a mirage, the letters made of dots are still not visible..
But I reached out to the sky.
And then I pressed a button that didn't exist.
OK,
[Player existence proof completed.]
As if I had actually pressed the start button, a familiar system interface appeared before my eyes..
[System All Green.]
[Welcome back, player.]
I pressed the start key.
And then, my real life began.
In my mind, I grab the flag and start going down the hill.,
- I will support you too.
Finally, suddenly.
The greeting given by a certain dreamer rang in my mind..
- cheer up.
“…….”
Thank you for supporting me even though I'm in so many pieces..
“I'll do my best.”
As I went down the hill, I saw a frightened Ader running towards me from the other side..
“Let's go back, Ader..”
I smiled calmly.
“I have to finish the game I was playing.”
The Game Continues.
Because as long as people don't give up, the game must go on.
“…….”
Ader looked at me and the flag in my hand in turn..
“……yes!”
He took off his glasses, roughly wiped away the tears from his gray eyes, and smiled brightly..
“Let's go back to Crossroads.!”
Comments