Chapter 65
Chapter 65
9. Wandering and Settling -7
Will you stay, or will you leave the home you hold dear?
If you would leave that beloved home—the one that held me warmly, unchanged across billions of years past and thousands of years yet to come, where everything remained fixed in its place—then what is it you seek out there beyond it?
Perhaps at the end of that long wandering, you will not reach the paradise you yearned for in your heart, but instead find yourself clutching a handful of sand beneath a desolate wasteland.
It would not be strange if you lost the grace you could have simply enjoyed by staying, and ended up with something even worse than settling in place.
Even if you obtain what you wished for at the journey's end, blood will have already flowed thick in your homeland. Whatever it was you gained—could it truly have been worth the blood that was spilled?
And yet, you.
Will you stay, or will you leave the home you hold dear?
Joero's planet had developed its science and technology to a modern level, and unlike Earth, it possessed at least some knowledge of magic power. The best way to describe it was that ancient shamanistic rituals had been carried forward in practical use all the way into the modern era.
Perhaps because of that, the writing system resembled ancient hieroglyphs, and even though most of the scenery consisted of concrete buildings, it all gave off a strangely ancient-ruin-like feeling.
That was because characters imbued with magic power were engraved like decorations on signs, bricks, and building pillars. I made a mental note of it, thinking this could be useful for saving on materials back in Seoul too.
While I was sightseeing and looking around like that—
-Nutritional snacks for your kids! The wildly popular Torukuburu Jelly!
An advertisement with slightly degraded audio quality caught my eye. On the TVs lined up in the electronics corner of a shopping center, currently airing channels were being broadcast.
"Should we watch for a bit?"
"Let's. There's no better way to gather information."
Detailed information might be too much to hope for, but there was no better way to read the context of a planet. We stopped walking for a moment and began watching TV⋯⋯ except.
-Thanks to the success on the northeastern front, we of humanity have succeeded in reclaiming a full 5% of our territory. This is the achievement of the Ironclad Army led by our Father of the Nation, Joero—
-With Father of the Nation Joero's external deployment now in its 17th day, large numbers of citizens have gathered on site to hold rallies praying for his well-being. Our reporter Urdu, on the scene—
-Ah, in times like these, we must band together all the more tightly. To borrow the words of our Father of the Nation: 'To fight against a great disaster, we must not act selfishly just to survive—we must combine our strength. Unite—'
A name that was familiar, if anything, kept coming up.
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
Joero was a famous person on his own planet. And in a good way, at that.
Elijah and I watched the various broadcasts flowing from the TV, and through them, we could faintly grasp the footsteps of a great man who had left deep marks on this planet.
When the Gate incident erupted and the planet was being overrun by monsters, he appeared with strange powers and a massive supply of food and materials from who knows where. The man who unified a nation that had been split into three and laid the foundation for humanity.
The man who raised morality and law—which had begun rapidly decaying due to the apocalypse—back up to a meaningful level, and who, even if he ruled as a dictator, was the first to stand at the front and cry out the value of harmony and unity.
The man who gave back every bit of personal wealth he earned to society, leading to the creation of countless orphanages and development funds bearing his name.
No matter how you looked at it, he was a great man born into turbulent times—and astonishingly, he was the very same man who had joined hands with the elves and tried to sell out the entire Hunter Alliance.
"Huh."
The man who had shouted that he would survive even if it meant dragging everyone else into the pit—apparently, he had wanted to protect this planet at the cost of throwing all of that away.
Arithmetically, the calculation made no sense.
The Gate incident is cosmic in scale. It's not even easy to fathom, but if the System loses this war, I seriously wonder whether every intelligent being in the universe might be annihilated.
Even looking at it narrowly, the same holds true. The people of the Hunter Alliance whom Joero tried to sell out and kill were each and every one hunters granted the System. Each of them was responsible for a planet.
Killing just ten of them would be like shoving ten planets off a cliff. So, thinking in utilitarian terms, Joero should have abandoned his own planet.
But what human being could think that way? It's his hometown. His mother planet.
I couldn't do it either. If someone told me they'd destroy Earth because they'd save ten planets in exchange, I'd obviously draw my sword first. I'm the leader of Seoul. The weight of it can't be measured in mere numbers.
So this is⋯⋯ just a matter of crossed paths, that's all. They competed to survive, and one side died. Like a lion and a tiger meeting in the wild, starving. That's all it is.
That said, if you ask whether it's right to go as far as kidnapping and using children from other planets—no, it isn't. That bastard Joero crossed a line even among those who crossed lines.
Swish—
At that moment, a single finger suddenly intruded at the edge of my vision.
"Noah."
"What?"
"He had a child, apparently. Joero. Over there, on that TV⋯⋯ his family is being interviewed. The facial features resemble him too."
"⋯⋯Is that so."
That family would be left waiting for a head of household who would never return. Perhaps for the rest of their lives.
Elijah's expression as she pointed at the tragedy beyond the screen seemed tinged with curiosity, and also looked troubled, with a faint trace of confusion mixed in.
Was she perhaps bothered by getting blood on her hands? Though the way she handled those wires looked quite practiced.
"If you're regretting killing Joero, that's the wrong way to think. For your own sake, you'd be better off fixing that mindset—"
I opened my mouth out of concern for Elijah, but.
"No, Noah. Thank you for worrying. But⋯⋯ I'm not that innocent, you know. I do understand that if someone lives, someone else has to die. Very clearly."
"⋯⋯I see."
"What I'm thinking about⋯⋯ what I'm wrestling with is a slightly different matter. That's why I begged you to come with me—because I wanted to find it. But it's a little difficult⋯⋯"
Fortunately, she didn't seem to have fallen into an ethical dilemma.
She just kept tilting her head, trying to find some invisible answer.
After that, Elijah roamed all over Joero's planet. Markets where people sold all sorts of goods, hospitals where wounded soldiers were often brought in, amusement parks where children ran and played.
I walked two steps behind her and quietly observed the planet. Things here were better off than Earth, but even so, there were signs that couldn't be hidden. Soldiers oddly frequent in the city streets. Controlled roads. Broadcasts consisting only of victory reports.
Precarious here too, huh.
The fight against the monsters didn't seem to be going well. If the front line that was barely holding on collapsed, the breakdown would cascade like dominoes, and soon it would become like Earth.
After that, it would end up worse than Earth. At this level of civilization, they couldn't hold back the onslaught of the ever-strengthening plants. For this planet to seize a future, it needed the System.
And I had never heard of anyone newly being granted the System on a planet where its hunter had died.
So⋯⋯ we might well have been witnessing the final golden age of a planet.
Elijah lowered her eyes and spoke.
"There must be⋯⋯ a lot of planets like this, right?"
"⋯⋯There must be."
"They're probably being created even now. Some places made a critical mistake, others lost their hunter to an unfortunate accident, still others lost their System terminal⋯⋯ As vast as the universe is, there are probably countless deaths happening that we can't even count."
"But Elijah, those kinds of deaths were happening even when there was no System and no Gate incident. The world has those unavoidable things, you know."
Because everyone moves to survive. Because people have an obligation to try to keep living. That's why black and white are so ambiguous. This world is mostly gray zones.
At that, Elijah lightly tapped my forearm and said.
"Noah always says that. With your mouth, you say you can cut things off, you can sacrifice—but then when I look at your actions, you go in the complete opposite direction."
"⋯⋯That's because I've never been cornered yet. When things get desperate and there's no other choice, of course I'll do it. What wouldn't I do to survive?"
"Noah's 'crisis' and 'limit' must be far beyond other people's."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
Maybe so.
What the King of Seoul had said to me back in the old Hunter Monarchy days suddenly came to mind.
-'Noah Won, Honorary Duke⋯⋯ every person has their own station. Some can bear the weight of the world, while others can barely manage to look after a single family. That's just how they were born. Do you understand? Most hunters couldn't endure the Republic of Korea.'
He had tried to persuade me, saying, 'You're the strange one, and the other hunters are perfectly satisfied with the monarchy, so stop muddying the waters and just stay quiet.' Exactly three months after hearing that, I staged a coup and toppled it.
Looking back, yeah. Fortunately, I had talent. In most cases, when I tried something, it just worked. When I fought, I always won, even if it took some effort. Maybe that's why I can afford this luxury.
Even knowing that in this dying universe, the blue-green tide of plants would never stop. Even though it was clear that if I didn't grow stronger quickly, every human on Earth would become nourishment for tree roots.
The luxury of not choosing the path of growing stronger by throwing away all morality and goodness and devouring people as I clawed my way up.
To someone desperate, it would probably be so enviable and jealousy-inducing that they'd grind their teeth. Because they too would have wanted to be good, if only they'd had the chance. They would have wanted to grow stronger the righteous way.
Who would want to advance by harming people? Joero too⋯⋯ if he'd had the talent to reach A-rank hunter, he might have lived an ordinary, upright life instead of defecting to the elves.
Even so.
Right now, I had no intention of giving up this luxurious life. I wanted to enjoy this fortune. Until a blade came for my throat⋯⋯ at least.
We headed to the rooftop of a building.
Screech—the rusted hinges that had long been asleep twisted as the door opened. Like any building, the top had a fair amount of miscellaneous equipment. Elevator-related machinery, and large structures humming as they spun—probably for heating and cooling management.
After pushing a few steps through those complicated obstacles, a railing appeared, and beyond it, the city's scenery could be viewed from above. The deeper the dark night grew, the brighter the city's lights sparkled. As if they could push back the night itself.
But I knew these lights were not an eternal blaze—they were small candles. If the wind blew⋯⋯ they'd probably gutter out without even burning a single dandelion.
With a puff.
The city's noise. In the embrace of these humming sounds that would turn cold once swallowed by the blue-green waves, I felt the irony.
In the past, Sohye had been granted the 『System』—the chance to save the world—yet she couldn't pull herself out of the grief of losing her older sister. Was that negligence?
Joero and Muyeon had both made enemies of the bandit group called the Hunter Alliance, but one was a man trying to protect even a single planet, while the other was a man trying to protect this vast universe. Which was the right answer?
Elijah parted her lips.
"That kind of thing⋯⋯ you'd call a great cause, right? The idea that there's some grand purpose, and that you have to act a certain way for it."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
"You know, Noah. There are too many great causes in this world. They've become too many. They're so enormous that a single person can't possibly contain them. They can only exist after crushing other people beneath them."
Yeah.
Heroes are born in turbulent times, and great causes arise when crisis looms. If the Gate incident had been a matter of a single planet, who knows—but now, with this entire vast universe sinking into greenery.
Those who would save the world even if it means crushing others⋯⋯ are many.
And yet it's hard to point fingers at them.
"Noah, their actions weren't wrong. We live in a world where you can't bring yourself to call them wrong. In this era where the world's destruction is right at our doorstep—how can you call it wrong to shove others from behind, saying at least a handful must survive?"
The size of that handful differs from person to person, and the method of shoving differs too.
In truth, everyone is the same. We are killing someone to save someone else. There's no need to divide right from wrong. It's simply that kind of era.
Elijah.
Standing before the era, she asked me this.
"It's that kind of era. Even in this kind of era, Noah—will you still be that kind to someone born in the lowest place⋯⋯?"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
I could feel deep expectation from her eyes. It wasn't anything like instigation. Elijah held an innocent expectation, like a wounded lamb crying and clinging to its mother—like a child.
As if saying, please let Santa Claus really exist.
I opened with an apology.
"Sorry, Elijah. There's only one thing I can tell you. I don't trust myself. I'm narrow-minded—no, not exactly broad-minded either, and I think that if I'm pushed into a dead end, I'll definitely shove someone else from behind. Just like everyone else."
"⋯⋯Is that so?"
"Yeah. As a superhuman riding down on a white horse, I've got⋯⋯ a lot of disqualifying factors. Me, I mean."
So, what I'm trying to say is.
In this world, you see.
There are things that can't be helped. On a small scale, like that time Minsik got into an accident on the way to a concert and blew up the rental car along with the whole show.
Or practicing until you were half-dead for an idol debut, only for a parachute hire to come down and kick you out with a bang, stealing your spot.
In the face of these natural disasters, what a person can do is⋯⋯ actually just one thing.
Choice.
Instead of firing road manager Kim Minsik, covering for him and gaining an irreplaceable friend.
Instead of despairing over the reality that my spot had been stolen through connections and giving up, going all the way with the mindset of "if I've drawn my sword, I might as well cut something with it"⋯⋯ and managing to become an idol, even if I never got popular.
Choices made as my heart led me.
"I'm going to live however I feel like. If I want to save people, I'll save them. When I want to put myself before others, I'll do that. If I think I can endure by pushing myself, I will. If I think I'm about to be crushed to death, I'll run."
I can't know whether those choices will be good or bad, but at the very least, they won't leave regrets behind.
I grinned and said to Elijah.
"So, help me out a lot from beside me."
"⋯⋯Pardon?"
"If you liked seeing me save others, then all you have to do is help make sure the person called Noah Won can keep doing that forever⋯⋯ right? So I never get driven to the edge of a cliff."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯!!"
At those words, Elijah startled as if struck by lightning, then murmured.
"You're clever⋯⋯ Noah. That's right, I just have to make it so. I have a body that can think and move on its own, after all. I can do that."
She was so surprised, as if she'd never thought of it at all, that I was a little surprised myself. It didn't seem like I'd said anything that remarkable. Probably⋯⋯ Elijah's circumstances were special, so this might have been the first time she'd ever heard this kind of thing.
I patted Elijah on the back and spoke. It was about time to leave.
"Let's head back. It's a shame about this planet Joero left behind, but right now we have neither the power nor the ability to do anything for it. And even if we did, looking after the people around me comes first. But."
"But once you've gained enough power that you can look after those around you and still have plenty to spare—if it's a situation where helping one planet wouldn't really cost you much, you'd save it, right?"
"⋯⋯Well, something like that."
So I won't get sentimental for nothing. Joero died because he was my enemy, and I still think he was a piece of shit. But I have no intention of taking out that grudge on Joero's planet.
Today, I simply saw one of countless planets in distress. And I made up my mind to come help someday, when I had the capacity. That's all.
Let's go.
There's a lot to do. I need to practice handling the variable-type shield I got from Joero's warehouse, and since we've been outside the fortress too much, it's about time to give Seoul a once-over.
Now that I've obtained the books, if there are volunteers among the hunters under my command⋯⋯ it wouldn't be bad to have them learn the First-Realm Ladder Ascension Method too. And I should test out the magic power construction techniques I saw on this planet.
[Warning]
[You are a promotion candidate. If you become stronger beyond a certain threshold, you will be immediately moved to the promotion stage and the C-rank promotion procedure will commence.]
Above all, I need to prepare to leave D-rank behind. If I stay in one place, I won't be able to see anything better.
"Return."
Flash—!!
Elijah and I were enveloped in the System's white light. Through my gradually blurring vision, I caught a glimpse of her smile. It was quite radiant, like someone who'd just had an aching tooth pulled.
Well⋯⋯
I was glad she seemed pleased with the answer.
Whoooosh—!!
Amid the pouring rain, Minsik, holding an umbrella open far off in the distance, popped open a can of coffee and called out to me. Honestly, it was much closer to mockery than conversation.
"Noah Won, what are you doing?"
"Can't you tell by looking?"
"I can tell by looking. I can tell, but⋯⋯ thanks to that magic power generator you brought in, we've got plenty of electricity. So why are you hugging a lightning rod and being all dramatic? If you're free, come do some paperwork."
"This is important, so stop bothering me and go⋯⋯!"
I'm not slacking off. If I wanted to rest, I'd have laid out a hammock and lain down—I wouldn't be hugging a lightning rod and dozing off on a rainy day. And honestly, this 'getting struck by lightning' business is sickening.
Floundering in an endless wait with no promise of when the lightning will strike—it's frustrating, is what it is.
Then why am I doing this?
I was gathering raw materials for 『Skill Creation』.