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Chapter 7: The Question of Existence

“Why are you still alive?”

“What do you mean by that, you brat?”

At my words, Shin Noya grimaced. I paused, taken aback by his grotesquely contorted face.

“No… that’s not what I meant.”

I clamped my mouth shut mid-sentence. To say otherwise was clear, wasn’t it?

After a moment’s thought, I spoke again.

“Seriously, why are you still alive?”

“…What should I do with you?”

Eventually, repeating the same question, Shin Noya let out a bemused sigh.

“Why? Is my existence displeasing to you?”

“…How could that be?”

How could it? My trembling fingertips were proof that wasn’t the case. Seeing that, Shin Noya chuckled softly.

“Don’t get all mushy and hug me or something.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to do that either.”

“Damn it.”

Hahaha!

Noya laughed.

Watching him chuckle, I asked.

“But Noya.”

“Yeah.”

“…Is there really no other way?”

“Um?”

Hearing that, Shin Noya’s eyes widened momentarily before he let out a laugh.

Then, he spread his arms slightly.

With my heavy feet finally moving, I ran and hugged Noya.

“…Tsk tsk tsk. You foolish boy. Didn’t you just say you didn’t want to?”

“….”

As I quietly embraced the elder, his rough hand stroked my head.

“Well…”

I paused, realizing my voice didn’t sound quite right.

“Look here, you.”

As soon as I heard that, laughter mixed into Noya’s voice.

“Are you crying?”

“…I am not.”

“You are, you little brat.”

“I’m not crying! Who’s crying?”

“Hahahahaha—!”

Noya burst out in hearty laughter.

“You funny little guy. You pretended to be so strong, and now you’re whining over a little trouble?”

“So who’s crying…?”

“Chuckle, chuckle.”

“Ah, stop laughing already.”

I rubbed my eyes. Luckily, no tears had formed. Just a little sadness, perhaps.

‘How embarrassing.’

That thought lingered in my voice, causing it to tremble slightly. I held back the urge to cry like a child.

“…So, why is that?”

What on earth was the reason? I spat out my resentment, and Noya’s laughing face turned serious.

“I told you to just stay still, didn’t I? I… I’ve been through so much…”

“Yangcheon.”

The stroking hand moved to my crown.

“Doing that won’t change much. You already knew, didn’t you? Why cling to some useless regret?”

“One…”

Even if that were true.

I needed you. The words welled up in my throat.

But I couldn’t spit them out.

“That desire is selfish too.”

Noya must have already known what I was about to say.

He always did.

“Whether it was my desire or yours, it doesn’t matter. It’s still selfish.”

“So, you died instead of me?”

“Died instead? Ha! There’s no need to say it like that. I just couldn’t stop it in the end. What’s left is something you need to do.”

“Don’t you feel regret…? You said there were things you wanted to do.”

About the things he hadn’t finished. He had called them regrets.

He had urged me to accomplish what he couldn’t in the past.

Mentioning that, Noya spoke to me.

“It’s not about what I wanted to do; it’s what I wanted to see. You know that, don’t you? It’s no different from this.”

“So… you’re just going to leave?”

Without seeing what you wanted to see.

Without doing what you wanted through me. Just up and leave?

“I won’t let you.”

That couldn’t happen.

I couldn’t let Noya go like that.

If you left.

‘What would be left for me?’

Nothing would remain.

A figure who knew the secret, who had been completely on my side, teaching me, would disappear.

‘I can’t.’

How would I endure?

It was terrifying.

It felt like returning to childhood.

The fear of truly being left alone. That was daunting.

So I tried to cling to Noya somehow.

“Yangcheon.”

Shin Noya called me with a sorrowful voice.

Just as he was about to say something.

“You’re rambling on. It’s not like I’ve given you that much time, have I?”

A cold voice slammed down from above.

With my eyes widening, I looked up at the sky.

There…

“You…”

“It’s been a long time.”

Covered in white hair.

An existence identical to mine flickered in the embers.

Staring in shock at it, I heard.

“My incompetent descendant.”

The Goblin smiled.

*

Grroooool!

A deafening noise reverberated from all directions. In the place once filled with flatlands and forests, only ruins remained.

In the middle of that crumbled and devastated area, someone was exhaling tired breaths.

“Huu…”

Each time the man exhaled softly, I felt the surroundings shake.

“Unbelievable.”

With a sigh, the man—Taechon laughed.

His body was a mess, unlike before. His left arm torn apart. His side appeared to be devoured by something. Only his right leg remained, and the right arm barely hung on.

Normally, his regeneration would have long since finished, but Taechon’s physical body was failing him.

“It’s a limit.”

Even the vessel infused with vitality had reached its limit.

It should have been suitable for containing divine status; this shouldn’t have been so easily ruined.

However…

“How laughable.”

Even with a thoroughly prepared body, he had reached his limit.

And that was right before him.

“What the hell are you?”

With his shattered body, Taechon stared straight ahead. There…

“Grroooowl!!”

A gigantic beast with white fur was quaking, its body pierced with spears.

An existence with scarlet eyes.

As he gazed at it, Taechon’s face contorted.

“I can’t comprehend.”

Jaw clenched.

With his broken legs, he moved slowly closer.

“Why?”

The more he approached, the more certain he became. No, he had already been certain during the fight.

“How do you possess the divine status of Mankye?”

“Grroooowl!!”

Bang—!!!

As Taechon stepped closer, the beast attempted to move. Despite the agony and bondage all over its body, it seemed unbothered as it lunged again.

Seeing that, Taechon waved his hand.

Bam—!!

“RAAAWWWRRRR—!!”

A spear plunged from the sky into the beast’s back.

“What a resilient one.”

It was a brutal fight. So intense and unwavering, it was nothing short of a grueling battle.

“Even if it’s not a direct descent.”

Even if he hadn’t brought his true form, he hadn’t expected to use this degree of power. It would have been much easier had Taechon brought his true form with him, but that was not an option.

“Mankye wouldn’t allow that.”

The true owner of this land wouldn’t permit it either. Just as he thought that…

“It’s strange.”

Taechon muttered, glancing up at the sky.

It truly was odd.

“Why is there no response?”

The scarlet aurora sparkled in his eyes. It was nighttime now.

The moon was rising as even Taechon’s territory disappeared.

“Why do you not come?”

After such a fierce battle.

A battle against an existence not of the ordinary, a master-level confrontation was unfolding, yet Mankye wasn’t coming.

Ah, I see.

Having come this far, Taechon realized.

“Ah, I see.”

Taechon laughed.

Mankye isn’t not coming;

“She cannot come?”

Now, she’s unable to.

Even if emitting this level of divine status, she could either not sense it or couldn’t move even if she did.

It was either one of the two, and either way, Taechon found himself in a favorable situation.

Moreover, if he considered the reason Mankye couldn’t move…

“Could it be because of you? That’s what I’m thinking. What do you think?”

“…Grrroowl!!”

At Taechon’s words, the monster growled. To Taechon, the reason Mankye wasn’t moving was clear.

“I’d know, even if it’s not perfect.”

Within the body of that monster.

Somewhere contained an extraordinary power.

In this vast land, at the center where all living beings converge, a massive energy was emanating.

Two powers bestowed by the grand world.

One of those was emanating from that unknown creature’s body.

It was indeed puzzling.

“What could it be?”

At a glance, it felt like a dragon. The power of the arrogant master from the past that Mankye had eradicated lingered.

“How could…”

Its form was originally the primordial look Mankye had once possessed. How could the two powers be intertwined?

Especially when they seemed to be meshed yet still maintained was bewildering.

“What have you concocted?”

What in the world was Mankye thinking?

As Taechon pondered that, he shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Whatever it was, it was of no consequence. After all,

“I’ll just take it.”

If Mankye couldn’t move, it was the optimal situation.

Whatever intentions she held, it would suffice for Taechon to obtain what was in front of him.

Drrrdrd.

Taechon’s broken body began to regenerate.

The speed was notably hindered, yet it was not impossible.

“Time is running short.”

Due to the damage to his physical rank, the time he could manifest even a trace of himself was decreasing.

He needed to finish this quickly.

Thinking that, Taechon reached out to the monster.

Just then.

Crash—!!!

“…….”

Taechon widened the distance.

A sharp energy had brushed past in front of the monster.

Feeling that energy, Taechon looked somewhere.

“Oh dear, I almost forgot.”

He had forgotten this fact while concentrating on the fight with the beast.

“Right, you were here too.”

This vicinity wasn’t just limited to him.

A figure wielding sword energy. A woman with black hair was looking at Taechon.

As he looked at her, Taechon spoke.

“Now isn’t the time for pointless actions; since I’m in a rush, would you prefer to show mercy or fight for no reason?”

With Taechon’s words, the wind blew.

Woosh.

The distant woman had suddenly moved before the monster, facing Taechon.

“Mercy?”

She tilted her head, as if she couldn’t understand what that meant.

“You’re just making an ugly attempt to disguise your anxious plea.”

“……”

At those words, Taechon silently stared at the woman.

Just like the monster.

‘That too is the same.’

“What are you?”

This was the fundamental question.

What was that?

Initially, he saw it as merely the residue of the Dragon Emperor or a fragment of lost rank.

That was his impression.

“What are you wrapped in?”

It wasn’t just that.

The woman was wearing something else entirely.

There wouldn’t be such a feeling otherwise.

“What exactly…?”

“Remnant.”

“What?”

That was the woman’s answer.

What she was wrapped in. That was her response.

“Do you know what remains when endless time mingles with hope?”

At the end of a very long contemplation.

At the end of that, she knew the answer.

“It’s regret.”

It is regret.

Because it cannot be achieved or obtained.

It leads to endless yearning.

The woman called it remnant.

Or perhaps, love.

 

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