Hospice. This ward is designed to allow patients on the verge of death to comfortably live out the rest of their lives.
Yoon-seok had been there when he was young. There was a sick old man who reached the twilight of his life like his grandfather, a youth in his twenties, and even a kid similar in age to Yoon-seok, who was an elementary school student at the time. However…
‘Maybe I am not different from them.’
Regardless of their age and lives thus far, they all had one thing in common.
‘I didn’t understand it back then.’
They lived even though the end was near. They did their best to enjoy life until the end. They tried to find happiness rather than emptiness and despair. Nevertheless, at that time, Yoon-seok stayed up all night crying after his grandfather passed away. He didn’t know what death was, but he was sad that he would never see his grandfather again.
Tears kept coming out. Then, the nurse handed Yoon-seok candy and said-
—You may not understand now, but your grandpa must have been happy.
The nurse was right. He didn’t understand then. He only found out later when he had to find out about the hospice ward for his homework.
A hospice ward is a medical institution that helps people face death. Of course, even then, he thought, what was the use when you would only die, but…
‘It wasn’t meaningless.’
Now he knew meaning lay in the moment, not in the future.
“I need to go back quickly.”
“That’s the expression of a human who realized something.”
“Thanks to you.”
“I’m so envious. Being incomplete, to be able to mature.”
Yoon-seok smiled at Henigus, who said he was envious with an expressionless face.
“The way I see it, you’re the same.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yeah, I’m certain that you’re talking just like the kids with 8th-grade syndrome.”
“What is an 8th-grade syndrome?”
Yoon-seok shrugged. See, didn’t this just prove it? Did he not know what 8th-grade syndrome was while everyone else knows? Even Henigus would sometimes encounter and learn new things.
“So, how do I go back?”
“You can just ask me.”
“Please.”
“…Okay.”
“It’s easier than I thought.”
“I was going to do that from the beginning. After all, I can’t leave a bad code like you in my world.”
Yoon-seok was struck speechless, but he accepted it.
“Will you of that world be okay with this?”
“Is it my business? It must have been me over there that threw this shit out first.”
It made Yoon-seok feel strange to be treated like shit over some malicious code, but he laughed.
“Yeah, this place is the real one to you.”
“Aren’t you the same?”
“If I succeed over there, this place will disappear. Will it be okay?”
“No one knows.”
It was a wise answer. No one knows the future. Just as neither the Tower nor Elle could accurately predict this moment, all possibilities were open.
“I will send you back.”
“Yeah. Goodbye. If possible, please let the Heavenly Buddha live here.”
“…I guess it wasn’t just one thing that was thrown here.”
“You can’t even compare him with me. After all, he’s a bad guy who believes everything there is fake.”
“…I must find him quickly and send him back.”
Henigus would find him and send him back later. Yoon-seok might have mentioned the Heavenly Buddha for no reason, but… well, if it were this little boy, he would find him. In the first place, the Heavenly Buddha would be able to make his way there in a few months.
“…Please tell him I didn’t forget to mention him and asked you to send him back.”
“I will.”
Henigus passed Yoon-seok and approached the computer. He started tapping on the keyboard. Was there another shortcut that only users knew about? Rather than a simple search box, some complex formulas appeared on the screen. Because of that, Yoon-seok was worried that Henigus might be doing something else, but…
Tap.
It couldn’t be taken back. The moment Henigus pressed the enter key, his vision darkened.
“Don’t return.”
Yoon-seok smiled as he heard Henigus’s faint voice. Did he think Yoon-seok came because he wanted to?
Now, it was time to go and throw some shit into his original world.
* * *
The moment he opened his eyes, Yoon-seok was outside the cave. However, he could tell that he had moved to another world line at a glance. It was because of a simple reason.
“Khieeeeeeek”
The monsters that had been sleeping a while ago were awake and moving. However, he didn’t know if he had returned properly, so Yoon-seok checked himself.
‘First, the equipment is the same…’
After checking the rest, his skills and powers were the same as they used to be. {Divine Ultimatum} and {Transcendental Muscle} were back too.
‘I’m back to the right place.’
Yoon-seok laughed.
‘I’m back.’
This was where Elle, Cheon-ma, Lee Su-yeon, and everyone he knew were.
‘Still, that’s a bit disappointing.’
Yoon-seok smacked his lips as he recalled b The Realm of Drama}. He lost his main weapon in the world there. It was nearly impossible to get the materials again.
‘It can’t be helped. Let’s not have any regrets.’
Yoon-seok turned around and looked into the cave. If his prediction were correct, Henigus would be in there. A completely different existence from the person he had just spoken to.
“…”
Before entering the cave, Yoon-seok once again organized the situation. To be precise, he was re-setting his goal.
‘I didn’t know that such a secret was hidden here.’
If he killed the Queen and destroyed the Tower, the world would disappear. However, the moment the Queen was killed, the future when the Tower was destroyed would arrive regardless. One way or another, it meant that the world would eventually disappear.
Unless he could break through a new route that didn’t exist in any world.
‘What should I do?’
First of all, he should avoid the worst ending that the world disappeared. And to do so, there were a total of three possible cases.
No. 3 was the best.
‘But there’s no guarantee it’ll work out the way I want it to.’
Realistically, he needed to keep the others in mind. Well, No. 2 may be highly uncertain, and No. 1 may be highly likely, but he didn’t like it for some reason. Especially the part where he had to compromise with himself.
‘If there is no other way, there is no choice…’
Yoon-seok decided on his course of action. He would move based on No. 3 for now but keep those other routes in mind. He couldn’t expect it at this time, but maybe one day, he would be given another option.
‘Then let’s do that… shall I go soon?’
Yoon-seok approached the cave. He was planning to kill Henigus quickly and join Cheon-ma. However, he still didn’t know a single thing about the future.
“Huahahaha!”
Suddenly, familiar laughter echoed from above. As he looked up, he saw a muscular giant that was too annoying to look at. Yoon-seok couldn’t hide his shock.
‘…That kid sent him back so quickly? Why did he get things done so quickly?’
His previous gratitude toward the Henigus of the other world soured into resentment. However.
“Good Devil! I believed in you!”
Seeing that bright expression on his face, fortunately, that kid seemed to have conveyed his words properly. The Heavenly Buddha even looked like he would kill Yoon-seok when he ripped up the ticket and abandoned him.
“Are you here?”
Yoon-seok greeted him, ignoring his growing conscience. Ignorance is the best medicine. That monk didn’t have to know the cruel truth.
This was a win-win.
“I realized today. What does it mean that the only good demon followers are dead? It was such a narrow-minded idea!”
“…Is that so? That’s great.”
Yoon-seok, who somehow stopped the Heavenly Buddha’s hatred towards the demon followers, smiled awkwardly.
“Then, sir, what are you going to do now?”
“I am going to guide that pawn of the Tower.”
Seeing him using the word guide, it was clear that he would try to slaughter the kid. It was the expected answer.
“Could you please entrust him to me?”
“Huh? To you, Devil?”
“Yes. After all, you only need the kid to die, right?”
“Hmm…”
After agonizing over Yoon-seok’s proposal for a while, the Heavenly Buddha responded.
“Good! I was indebted to you, so it shouldn’t matter!”
“Thank you.”
“However, you’d better not think about any other tricks because I will be watching.”
“Don’t worry.”
It’d been a while since he agreed with the Heavenly Buddha. Yoon-seok had no intention of keeping the boy alive after he got his answers.
“I think he’s in there. Let’s go!”
“Yes”
Yoon-seok entered the cave with the Heavenly Buddha. By any chance, did he hear the conversation outside?
Without going too deep into the cave, Henigus came out to meet them.
“…I’m sure I’ve put up a code. How did you get in?”
That code must’ve been what blew them to another world line. Yoon-seok answered honestly.
“I just asked, and you sent me back here.”
“…It seems you don’t mean to talk slowly, huh?”
“I suppose so.”
Yoon-seok, who had no reason to explain, went straight to the point.
“I want to hear more about what you said last time.”
“Do you mean about what is going on in your body and soul?”
“Yeah, you said it as if I had a time bomb in my body.”
By the way, Henigus from the other world couldn’t comment about it. Maybe it was because he didn’t acquire the Transcendence that allowed him to synchronize his avatar’s information with his real body.
“I made an offer, and you turned it down. So why should I tell you?”
“If you don’t answer, I’m going to smash everything in this cave.”
Of course, even if he answered, the future wouldn’t change. Rather, it would be better to hide the truth for the sake of persuasion.
“…Okay. Instead, please promise me one thing.”
Promise? Well, was it something like kicking out the Heavenly Buddha together? If so, he was willing to answer yes for now, but…
“Killing him, you say?”
Just when he was about to ask what the kid wanted, the Heavenly Buddha muttered to himself. It was like he was having a conversation with someone invisible.
“Are you saying that you want me to break what I said?”
Yoon-seok felt an unpleasant intuition blooming. It seemed that things were going wrong.
“Phew. Then I guess I can’t help it. I see. I’ll do it.”
“…Sir, who are you talking to now?
Though Yoon-seok asked, he could guess. The person who revealed the reality of the Space-Time World and the unknown colleague who ordered him to kill this little boy. Maybe the Heavenly Buddha just got a contact from them. Of course, he hoped this intuition would be wrong, but…
As always, this ominous feeling fit in nicely.
“Devil, I’ll say sorry first.”
“…What do you mean?”
“I think I should kill that guy myself.”
“The reason is?”
“…”
Couldn’t he say? The Heavenly Buddha closed his mouth. Although he hated breaking promises, he seemed to want to do what he was told…
Whooooong–.
The Heavenly Buddha’s hand was filled with mana.
“Abuta Dharma Palm.”
He was trying to unleash that monster-like skill in this narrow cave.
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