#262
I wanted to feel something. I wanted to be filled, and I wanted to be confirmed that I was alive.
But it was closer than the child thought. When ‘it’ first swallowed a species ‘like the child’ passing through the mountain, the child felt its hunger satisfied for the first time.
All kinds of emotions were there. Pain, fear, astonishment, sadness, mourning, misery, sadness and even despair. It gave the child a certain feeling of being alive. It gave me joy and fulfillment.
The child realized then. That we must eat ‘life’ that has distinct emotions.
【more… I want to eat more… . more.】
The more ‘life’ it ate, the bigger it got. The child remained the same, but ‘it’ had already grown as large as a tree. Still, the child’s hunger was not satisfied.
The more I ate ‘life’, the less I felt and the fullness I felt when I ate it. The child wanted more ‘life’. And ‘it’ swallowed countless ‘lives’ as the child had wished.
‘It’ lived only for the child. And as the child wished, it swallowed up countless planets and ‘life’ over eons of time.
When I realized it too late, ‘it’ had become an irreversibly vicious monster. ‘It’ could no longer hear the child’s voice and did not talk to it like before. As if by instinct, I wandered in search of a planet full of ‘life’.
【Stop it now. we… Let’s stop.】
The child cried. At some point, whenever ‘life’ was swallowed up, voices of despair flowed in. The child saw resentment, sadness, fleeting hope and a desire to live in that voice.
Those were the same feelings the child felt when he was abandoned in the mountains. I forgot. For a moment, I forgot about the time when I wanted to live as much as they did.
【I’m not hungry anymore. Stop it, I was wrong. Let’s stop now.】
The child cried for a long time. She cried so much that her tears formed a river, and she prayed so much that her hands were worn out. However, ‘it’ could not hear the child’s voice.
【Sorry. Sorry for me.】
If I were to go back to that time, I wouldn’t ask for the same favor. I no longer remember what ‘it’ looked like the day we first met.
The child lived curled up in the heart of ‘it’ with sadness. Whispering my apologies without stopping.
The sight that passed before my eyes began to blur little by little, as if it had been dissolved in water. When they realized, there was a faint figure of a child in front of everyone.
The child looked as if he had been abandoned in the mountains for the first time. Ugly, foul-smelling, with rotten legs.
The child looked at the people lined up closely and stopped on Sehyeon’s chest. It was a place with pockets. After staring for a while to see what he was seeing, the child limped towards Sehyeon, dragging his broken leg.
The grand dukes immediately showed vigilance and protected their king. Ruhak was no different. He stretched out his arm in front of Sehyeon and blocked it as if to protect her. Still, the child did not stop. He limped and dragged his legs until he arrived in front of Sehyeon. And he held out what he held dearly in his hand to Sehyeon.
【I’m not a bad kid. because of me… I did. It’s all me… I did that.】
The child cried and laughed. It was a bright smile. It was a simple and innocent smile. And it was an infinitely sad smile.
【therefore… Please raise me well. Tea, be a good boy… Raise it well… please.】
Sehyun took something from the child’s hand to grab Ruhak’s arm, which was blocking her path. I could feel the warmth in his hand and the pounding heartbeat. It was small. It was a life barely the size of a thumb.
【i like you… please.】
It was a word filled with love. With the child’s smile, the pure white world was erased before my eyes.
The wind blew, and I smelled the air through my nose. Everyone raised their heads and looked up at the sky. Feathers were fluttering in the pile of ruins.
It was a vast world. ‘Beusbrihel’ was nowhere to be seen. The world was quiet and distant. It felt empty and lonely.
In Sehyun’s hand was a small, breathing creature. It looked like a small dragon that had just hatched from an egg.
Suddenly, I felt a pounding heartbeat inside my chest. I could now clearly feel the warmth that I had never felt before in that cold body. Sehyun took out a small creature from his inner chest pocket and placed it on his hand along with ‘it’.
It was alive and breathing. The little rabbit was breathing heavily and announcing that it was alive.
As soon as I saw that, tears flowed.
Tuk-tuk-
In this quiet world, many people began to sit down one by one. And then they hugged each other and started crying. Sehyun also shed tears endlessly in the arms of Ruhak, who held her back tightly.
I don’t know what made me cry so sad. Perhaps it was because of relief that it was all over, or feeling sorry for Agatha’s sacrifice, but Sehyun also shed sad tears while holding the two lives in her hands.
It was the kind of cry that echoed in a world that was welcoming its origins. The brilliant sun dividing the horizon announced the beginning of the dawn of time. Only then did survival become a reality.
The cries that floated like shouts signaled the end of the ceaseless suffering. There were also those who cried and held the last traces left by Agatha. Those brilliant feathers. We must not forget that. We must never forget this world she left behind. She must remember what she has left behind and what she has left behind.
On that day when the cold wind brushed their cheeks, they were able to avoid the end of the world through the sacrifice of countless others.
It was a creation made possible by sacrifice.
***
Many empires have been wiped from the face of this earth. Among the sacrificed empires, there were many who had a close relationship with Sehyeon. I did not want to define their sacrifice with just one word: mourning. For that to be the case, the path they walked was too winding and rough. As if they knew this, many empires did not leave the battlefield for a while on the day of creation and mourned them in silence. It was the least they could do.
“We’re ready, so let’s go out.”
Sehyeon held the two lives wrapped in cloth and approached Ruhak, who was standing in front of the door. There was a scar on Ruhak’s cheek that could not be erased. Sehyeon stretched out his hand and slowly touched the wound. A thick warmth passed over his hand.
As soon as their eyes met, a firm fingertip swept over the corner of Sehyeon’s eyes. And she impatiently pulled the back of her neck to narrow the distance. A short breath lingered on her lips.
Ruhak said nothing. On days when he dreamed, there were no words to come and hold him back. He just looked at Sehyun with calm, calm gaze. He had a lot to say, but didn’t actually spit it out.
The breaths that had been close to each other slowly overlapped. That was all. Just like Sehyun who awkwardly kissed Nell, Ruhak only took in the warmth of their contact. His gentle hand continued to sweep under my ear and caress my earlobe.
It was as if he was telling me not to go. It seemed as if a hand full of regret was holding her footsteps.
“… “Let’s go out.”
Sehyun was the first to speak. Ruhak kissed the corner of Sehyeon’s eyes one last time. Even the warm breath made my heart hurt. The hand that brushed the back of his neck only left after rubbing his blonde hair.
It was a light kiss that made the inside of my neck tickle. That itch tormented Sehyeon the whole time he left the empire and left the gatehouse.
And when he stood in front of Billwill’s white space portal, Sehyeon opened his mouth to everyone as he was greeted by a gentle breeze.
“I will be back.”
These were words of promise. Sehyeon smiled as he looked at the 12 legendary vassals, including Ruhak. Euncheong’s sad eyes saw Sehyeon off, and Pen’s crying eyes pushed Sehyun’s back.
Se-Hyeon held the two lives wrapped in thick cloth in his arms for the last time, holding the tightly held fingertips of the retainers, turned his back, and stepped into the guides’ white space portal. Not only Se-hyeon, but also Kwak Jeong-han, Owl, Huey, Kim Gap-jun, and Yoon Je-ha also moved together.
The white space was crowded with road players. It was all to receive guidance to return to the ‘original world’. The sounds floating around in the cluttered space were all heightened voices. Nervousness, joy, and tension filled the white space.
“A little late?”
As Sehyun walked, he ran into Tyra. Next to Tyra were Theo and Hume. They glanced at Sehyeon and nodded his head with a displeased expression.
“Yeah, whatever. “All three of you came first.”
“How do you feel about suddenly becoming a nanny?”
“what… .”
Sehyun just laughed. Tyra was talking to the rabbit in Sehyeon’s arms while looking at ‘it’. Suddenly, there were many people other than Sehyun holding baby rabbits in their arms. Most of them were Celestials, and all of the rabbits could not even open their eyes and were barely breathing.
They were all guides rescued from the battlefield.
One day and four hours have passed since the removal of ‘Beusbrihel’. Nevertheless, the reason they gathered here was because a final message of guidance appeared to the road players before the fatigue of war was relieved.
[Road players, please immediately go to the guides’ ‘space’. We begin with the final guide to returning to your ‘original world’. Remaining time: 59 minutes and 46 seconds.]
This was the current situation when everyone hurriedly heard the news that they could return to their hometown. Sehyun, who was looking at the crowds filling the white space, heard her name being called from somewhere.
When I turned my head, I saw Lee Jae-young and Baek Do-hyeon approaching in the distance. Fan and Rijeong were also coming from the other side.
