Chapter 821 |
I couldn’t believe it.
All this time, I had fought tooth and nail not to let go of anything. And maybe that was exactly why I couldn’t simply grab on to those words and accept them. I had already lost him in the first place. Wanting to bring back his body, at least, might have counted as a wish granted, but…
The words were so hopeful that they only made something inside me recoil.
– The path that led here was clear.
White Bird’s gaze turned to Yuhyun again.
– I was certain you would come here. That, without question, was a prophecy.
White Bird’s unmoving lips parted, and a voice flowed out.
“In every future I saw, Han Yuhyun loved only Han Yujin. No matter the path, you never changed. Han Yuhyun was a flame that belonged to Han Yujin alone, and I believed in that truth as I waited.”
Silent White Bird sang.
Why did White Bird place so much importance on the purity of Yuhyun’s feelings for me? Enough to take the risk of speaking a prophecy aloud?
‘…Was A World of One her doing too, after all?’
But why? I tried to trace back everything that had happened so far and make a guess, but nothing came to mind. I had gone through all kinds of things. I had learned most of what there was to know about the world beyond ours, about the existence of origins, and about the varied goals of the transcendents.
But White Bird’s actions were still shrouded in fog.
She had said long ago that she wanted to protect the Snowfall Tree, but… I could not understand the path she had taken to reach that destination at all.
“I prophesied that Han Yujin’s flame would burn for his world alone, down to the very last moment.”
The voice of a future–sight species rang clear and high, yet at the same time sank heavier than anything. It spread wide, yet burrowed deep. Even though this was inside Yuhyun’s memory, I could feel the power contained in that prophecy with startling clarity.
– But now, this is Han Yujin’s path. The path of an ordinary human being, someone who is nothing special.
White Bird closed her mouth again. Her long white lashes lowered.
– A thorny road walked by the weakest one, by one already exhausted, by one carrying the heavy cross called guilt. A road where even if he could no longer take another step and collapsed where he stood, it would feel only natural.
Her eyes, wholly black without even a sliver of white, slowly closed.
– To look upon the end of that road cannot be called prophecy. It is only a prayer cast upon a threadlike hope…
In the end, prophecy was probably the future with the highest likelihood of coming true. But White Bird had told me and Seong Hyunjae about an extremely unlikely hope.
In truth, it had not been a prophecy.
It had been a prayer.
– Unlike you, Han Yujin’s path is not set. But that path, too, is unmistakably a path.
White Bird’s eyes opened once more, filling with Yuhyun as though asking what he would do. Yuhyun, who had been silent with a grave expression, finally spoke.
“I want… hyung to live.”
His voice was thick with hesitation as he continued.
“I already had a chance to erase hyung.”
That red fruit. With it, he could have erased my memories and let me live in peace. Yuhyun lowered his head. His gaze fell toward the snow piling white beneath him.
“…But I couldn’t do it.”
Just as I had been unable to give up on my brother, Yuhyun, too, had not been able to fully let me go.
I could feel what he felt. That heart of his, the one that had tried to throw even himself away to protect me, but in the end had still been unable to leave the world called Han Yujin. Because Han Yuhyun could exist only there.
So long as Han Yuhyun was still Han Yuhyun.
“I still… hyung…”
He wanted to hold on to me. He wanted me to remember him. Yuhyun’s back rose and fell heavily. His rough breath pushed the snowflakes away.
– If you choose this possibility, Han Yujin will wander in search of your corpse. He will try to keep walking without giving up, but compared to when he was trying to save a living younger brother, he will have room to breathe.
“…He’ll be told that I’m dead?”
– And you will gain one chance to save Han Yujin.
Yuhyun lifted his head. He looked White Bird straight in the eyes.
– Even I do not know exactly when that will be. Han Yujin’s life will be threatened often, and at some point, when he finally reaches his limit, you will be able to save him.
“I can… save hyung?”
– It is the final arrangement I can make for you. Your corpse will be taken by the Gardener, and through your contract with the Gardener, you will save Han Yujin once…
That had been last Christmas.
It had simply happened to be then. Maybe it could have been earlier. Things had been dangerous in China, and I had risked my life during the Chatterbox incident too. Or it could have happened later.
But it had been Christmas.
‘Even after that single chance disappeared, my situation must have still looked dangerous.’
That was why Yuhyun, when we met again, had tried so desperately to protect me.
– You will not reunite with Han Yujin while alive. Your place has not been left empty.
“That doesn’t matter.”
– Your body will remain here.
White Bird extended her hand and opened it.
– But the origin of your existence must not fall into the Gardener’s hands. Give it to me.
The origin of his existence.
The moment I heard those words, my heart gave a violent thud. The Yuhyun of this time was still S–Rank. This was before his magic stone had formed. But if, by some chance, White Bird had Yuhyun’s magic stone…
“The origin of my existence…”
– Your magic stone. It has not yet formed within you, but I received ownership of you from Diarma. The foundation is in place to extract the origin of your individual existence, so give your consent.
“All I have to do is consent?”
– Yes. It will not be used in any way that harms Han Yujin. More importantly, after this moment, the Bird that Counts the Stars, as a transcendent, will disappear.
Disappear? Wait.
‘Then Yuhyun’s magic stone!’
Yuhyun nodded. White Bird’s mana wound around my brother’s body. The light in Yuhyun’s eyes faded, and his eyelids slowly closed. Instinctively, I reached out, but there was nothing for me to grasp.
A black flame threaded with bloodred light.
That small fire gathered above White Bird’s hand. Soon, it hardened like a jewel.
Yuhyun’s body collapsed. Without a sound, he fell onto the layered snow. Snow scattered into the air. A few flakes settled on his cooling skin. The snow on the back of his hand, on his cheek, by his ear, melted against the last remnants of his warmth.
Even though this was only a memory of the past, I couldn’t breathe. A wringing pain stabbed through my heart.
‘Hyung.’
At the sound of Yuhyun’s consciousness calling me, I barely managed to exhale.
‘This isn’t my memory.’
“What?”
I snapped my head up. White Bird stood there, Yuhyun’s magic stone in her hand. She was looking at me.
…
Right.
The Yuhyun of the past had already lost consciousness. This scene was something Yuhyun could not see. Something he could not remember.
One of White Bird’s feathers fluttered—
– and drifted down.
It fell onto Yuhyun’s body where he lay in the snow, then sank into him.
‘…That feather. White Bird’s power was still inside me. This memory is…’
The image of Yuhyun inside the memory vanished. The feather reappeared in his place, floated gently upward, and then—
“It’s the power White Bird left behind.”
It transformed into the twenty–six–year–old Yuhyun.
He was only the remnant of Yuhyun’s consciousness given form. Even so, my heart leaped. Without the slightest hesitation, I pulled my brother into my arms again. I didn’t care if he wasn’t real.
– I left behind a portion of my power because it might be difficult for Han Yujin’s flame to deliver the memory in full.
This time, White Bird spoke clearly to me. I pulled away from Yuhyun’s arms and looked at her. Complicated emotions tangled inside me. I wanted to shout at her and demand what she was really after, and I was also grateful that, whatever the reason, she had helped Yuhyun.
But before anything else—
“Is that my brother’s magic stone?”
– Something similar. But you cannot bring your brother back to life.
“Even so, it should be with me.”
Instead of answering, White Bird smiled. Her gaze wrapped around me with a warmth so strange it left me flustered. There was unmistakable affection in those black eyes.
– It will be waiting here. Always.
The Snowfall Tree.
I tilted my head back and looked at the pure white branches splitting the sky.
The final destination was here.
Just as I had resolved in the beginning.
– I’m so happy I was able to meet you like this.
White Bird laughed out loud. It sounded like a child’s laughter. The ancient transcendent was nowhere to be found; like a little kid who had just received a birthday present, she spun around in place. White Bird sprang into flight.
“Wait! What the hell do you want?”
– For you to be happy.
Snowflakes danced between her snow–white wings.
– For you to protect everything precious with your own hands.
White Bird disappeared among the white branches. Snow continued falling without end. When I drew in a deep breath, cold shards seeped all the way into my lungs.
“Hyung.”
“That’s why you hesitated.”
I looked back at Yuhyun. The time White Bird had given us would only last a moment. Yuhyun nodded slightly.
“That’s why you… called yourself a fake.”
“Because Han Yuhyun’s origin was taken out. I’m only a body and the memories dwelling in it. Honestly… it might be hard to call me your younger brother.”
“Who gives a damn about that?”
I hugged Yuhyun again. I patted his back.
“Let’s set the complicated stuff aside for now. You’re my little brother, and I’m your hyung. Just think about that.”
“…Okay.”
A short silence passed. I loosened my arms and looked my brother in the face.
“The last chance to save hyung had already been used up, and the Gardener’s offer wasn’t actually that bad. Honestly, it was fine. If the Gardener took the pseudo–origin, hyung could be safe.”
“And the dream world had conveniently been created by then.”
“Yeah. It was based on our world, but it was a world the transcendents could interfere with more easily. If the pseudo–origin and Eclipse ended up there, whether in the Gardener’s hands or some other transcendent’s, and if hyung was sent back to the original world… then everything would have been over.”
So from Yuhyun’s perspective, the twenty–one–year–old Yuhyun must have been unbelievably frustrating. Every method to protect me had been prepared, and yet he wasn’t moving. In the end, the twenty–one–year–old Yuhyun had agreed to that method too, but still.
“Even if hyung forgot me… I was a fake. This time, finally…”
“You’re Han Yuhyun. My brother.”
“…Yeah. But hyung didn’t give up. Not your memories of me, not anything. I think I understand why my twenty–one–year–old self went soft. Hyung, you’re incredible.”
No, I’m not, I almost said out of habit.
Instead, I smiled. And nodded.
“Yeah. I’m incredible. You can trust your hyung.”
“I wasn’t ever going to tell you that my origin, my magic stone, was still there. Once you knew, hyung, you would definitely go looking for it. I didn’t think you needed to. You had your younger brother at your side, and it was a point where everything could end well.”
Just as Yuhyun said, I would never have been able to give up on my brother’s magic stone. I would not have been able to bear it without setting out to find the traces he had left behind.
“But I… trust you, hyung.”
A gentle smile turned toward me.
I smiled back.
This time, I would really say goodbye with a smile.
“Do what you want, hyung.”
“…Okay.”
“I was happy I got to see you again.”
“Me too. Me too.”
My little brother’s smiling face was so beautiful.
And that only made me feel more wretched for no reason at all.
“My current memories were absorbed into the spear with me.”
A small bead appeared above Yuhyun’s palm. It was that very memory Ru Ga Pheya had stolen, the one I had recovered and then lost again. Around the wrist of the hand holding the bead was a watch.
It was hard to hold back what surged up inside me.
“It originally belonged to him, so once it gets within a certain distance, it should naturally return. Then hyung will be able to receive it too.”
“…Yeah.”
I pressed down my tears and smiled brightly.
“Thank you.”
For everything.
“That Han Yuhyun is still Han Yuhyun, so he’ll be all right. He was shaken because of me, but he has you, hyung. Then… hyung.”
Yuhyun’s form began to blur. I hurriedly reached out. I wanted to hold on somehow. No matter how many times this repeated, I would feel the same way. Even so, I clenched my teeth. I kept my eyes fixed on my brother until the very end.
“I love you.”
“Me too, Yuhyun. I love you.”
My brother disappeared between my outstretched hands. The whispering snow blossoms and the vast snowfield scattered away.
In my hands, as though taking my brother’s place, a white spear appeared.
The spear, a black branch blooming with red flowers, was clutched tightly in my grip.
I felt eyes on me. But no one could easily speak, and no one could come closer.
[Three Godslayings – Three–Life Flame]
An item information system window appeared. In the spot where the rank had still been undecided, new words had appeared instead of a grade.
Three–Life Flame.
A fire that lived three lives.
[A single ray of white light meant to bring about the fall of a false god. Dwelling within it is a flame that devoted three lives for the sake of that light. A flame for one person alone. Some of the skills possessed by the flame can be used. ※Bound to Han Yujin]
The item description had also changed. From within it, I could faintly sense White Bird’s mana. It conveyed to me directly what the system window’s meager explanation could not.
The Godslaying Spear had spent most of its power severing the system, and now a new flame had settled within it.
My brother, who had lived as a Hunter for my sake.
Who had returned once more in a dead body to protect me.
Who, at the very end, had become a weapon and been placed anew in my hands.
‘Yeah. You lived three times.’
Whether his body had died or even that body had vanished, he still lived. In the past, in the present, and in the future, he would always live with me.
White Bird told me that the fire of those three lives would harmonize with the three Godslayings, slowly make itself the center, and transform the weapon.
Yuhyun’s skills were contained within it.
The spear could turn into any weapon. It felt like Blade–Devourer’s free transformation and the Weapon Expert skill had been combined. Blessing of Fire dwelled inside it, and it could summon Black Blood Flame as well, though the strength of the fire would be proportional to my own stats.
But more than its abilities, what struck me deepest was the fact that it was a trace of my brother.
I slowly stroked the length of the spear, then turned around.
Facing the gazes fixed on me, I smiled.
–TL Notes–
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