Chapter 184
Chapter 184
Ch. 184 .｡.:✧ The Demon World (1) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Profile.”
[Username: X X]
[Age: XX]
[Data corrupted.]
“Haa…”
The system window was a constant source of frustration, a suffocating reminder of my current state, but I hadn’t lost hope.
The data was corrupted, not deleted. It could be restored. The path to restoration might be long and arduous, but…
‘Nothing is impossible.’
It wasn’t impossible.
The Ten Kings had confirmed it. If restoration were truly impossible, I wouldn’t have returned to the mortal world, my existence erased.
A life without being remembered by the heroines…that was a fate worse than death.
“How did it come to this…?”
Lost in thought, memories of my journey flashed through my mind, the things I had left behind in the dimensional void. I had no regrets, but the pain lingered.
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Darkness. Cold. And a deep sense of loss.
‘Where am I?’
The question surfaced, and I immediately realized its absurdity.
This wasn’t somewhere. This wasn’t anywhere. This was…everywhere. A space where space didn’t exist, a place beyond human comprehension.
A bottomless abyss, a void between dimensions, where I had stumbled, my journey interrupted. The dimensional void.
‘Undecided…’
My senses dulled, fading into nothingness, but I clung to the small hand in mine, refusing to let go. She squeezed back, her grip firm.
I wouldn’t lose her. Wherever I went, she would be with me, and wherever she went, I would be there. Even in death, we would be together.
She was a part of me now.
‘Is there…a way?’
But that didn’t mean I wanted to die with her. If there was a way, any way, I would save her. I closed my eyes (though it made little difference in this endless darkness) and focused on assessing the situation.
My numb fingers fumbled in my pocket, finally grasping Longinus’s Lance. I pressed the buttons, but nothing happened.
‘No magic power.’
It wasn’t just depleted. It was…gone. Magic power couldn’t exist in the dimensional void.
‘Not just magic power. I can’t sense anything.’
It made sense. The dimensional void was nothingness, devoid of all matter, even the concept of space and time. If you asked how we were still alive…we weren’t. But we weren’t dead either.
We simply…didn’t exist. In nothingness, nothing could observe us, therefore, we couldn’t exist.
Only the points where we touched, observed by each other, retained a semblance of existence, a faint echo of our being.
I existed because of Undecided, and she existed because of me. We clung to each other, our existence intertwined. If we let go, we would both vanish, completely.
‘Souls…are an exception?’
Despite the seeming order, there were many inconsistencies.
This was a world where magic could create energy from nothing. And there was another entity relatively unbound by the laws of this world, the soul.
‘The soul!’
I had found a clue. I should have thought of this sooner. I focused, recalling the sensation of the God of the Underworld entering my inner world, and turned my attention inwards.
Everyone possessed an inner world, regardless of their power level. Even those who never realized its existence, it was always there, as long as the ‘self’ existed.
“Haa…”
As I focused on that thought, a sudden rush of cold air filled my lungs, a chilling breeze against my skin, the familiar sensation of a small hand in mine, cold yet warm, soft yet firm.
My body trembled.
I could speak! I could breathe! I was…alive!
“Undecided!”
“…Mm…”
I turned and pulled her close, holding her tight. Her small, frail body lifted off the ground as she let out a muffled squeak of protest, but I was too relieved to care.
“…You’re…crushing…me…”
“Sorry.”
I loosened my grip, setting her down, and my surroundings came into focus.
“…Wow.”
“Welcome…to my inner world.”
An endless expanse of snow, a familiar sight. The ‘inner world’ the God of the Underworld had shown me.
“…So this is…what it’s like…inside Yoo-jin…”
Crunch. Crunch.
Undecided stepped forward, her feet sinking into the snow. I followed, inhaling the cold air.
‘I can’t control it…?’
Whether it was due to my low level or some other limitation, I wasn’t omnipotent in my inner world. I was its master, yet I was also just a resident, a small, insignificant speck in this vast, empty snowfield.
We walked towards the only source of light in this blizzard-swept landscape, drawn to it like moths to a flame.
“…What’s that?”
“…That is…”
Four flowers. I hesitated, unable to answer Undecided’s question.
What were they? I didn’t know. I knew nothing about this world.
Perhaps this was just an illusion, our physical bodies dissolving in the dimensional void, an eternal, bittersweet dream.
But…I had a feeling, a strong premonition, that the answer lay here.
As the God of the Underworld had said, I felt a strong pull from those flowers, not a physical pull, but…
“What are they…? Hey!”
“…Huh?”
Snap.
Undecided plucked a red camellia, holding it in her hand. I rushed towards her, but it was too late.
“What are you doing?!”
“…Flowers…are meant to…be picked…aren’t they…?”
“…”
She tilted her head, her expression innocent. I was speechless, as if struck by a sudden epiphany.
‘I never thought of picking them.’
I had observed them from afar, wondering what they were, but I had never considered touching them.
She was right. Flowers were beautiful in their natural state, but their true beauty was revealed when they were picked, given meaning by someone.
“Ah…”
I realized that the flowers weren’t facing the sun, but me. As I moved, they slowly turned, their gaze following me, as if pleading, as if drawn to me.
I took the camellia from Undecided’s hand, holding it gently, and knelt, reaching for the other flowers.
The yellow jasmine, the blue cyclamen, and the black rose. A thorn pricked my finger, but I ignored the pain. I held all four flowers in my arms, each radiating a different light.
I hesitated, unsure what to do next, when…
“Oh?!”
The flowers vanished. Only the red camellia remained in my hand.
The others were gone, yet I felt their presence lingering, a phantom sensation. And it wasn’t just a sensation.
“Heh. You’ve finally noticed.”
“…?!”
“No. Don’t look back. Look ahead. Keep looking ahead.”
A warm touch on my shoulder, and a chilling voice behind me. A slender yet firm hand caressed my cheek, preventing me from turning around.
“Yerina?”
“I’m here too…you idiot.”
More hands reached for me, a soft touch embracing my waist. Jill’s arms wrapped around me, holding me in place.
“Jill doesn’t resent you. So don’t be afraid.”
And Yulia’s hand gently enclosed mine, guiding it forward. I couldn’t see them, only hear their voices, feel their breath against my skin, their touch, but I knew who they were.
“You…”
“Yes.”
The same voices, yet their tones, their inflections, were different. These were the heroines from the timelines I had abandoned, the women I thought were gone.
“We haven’t vanished.”
How many times had I wished they wouldn’t disappear, how many times had I longed for the vanished timelines, for another chance?
Perhaps those desires, those regrets, had coalesced into a miracle.
The women I remembered, they were here, my past holding me back.
Their voices, a strange mixture of resentment, anger, obsession, affection, and innocence…
“Since when…?”
“Always. We’ve been here from the start.”
“From the start…? And I…I didn’t even know…”
“We haven’t vanished. Your efforts weren’t in vain. We remained here, within you, always by your side. Sometimes cheering you on, sometimes helping you…”
My failures hadn’t been meaningless. The vanished timelines hadn’t disappeared. They had accumulated within me, in my inner world, without me realizing it.
I had thought I had only saved three of them, but the others…they were all here.
“I missed you…”
“But you don’t need to look back. We’re always with you. Now, shall we look ahead?”
“Ahead…”
Yulia’s hand guided mine, palm upwards, towards the sky. My hand, a small shadow against the vast expanse of the heavens.
“We’re going to change this world, Yoo-jin.”
“How…?”
“It’s simple. You’re the master of this world. This world…is you. It’s easy to control what’s yours.”
“But in here…I’m just…a speck of dust…”
“Exactly.”
“…?!”
The voices, the hands that had held me captive, vanished.
Only the four flowers in my arms and Undecided, clinging to my sleeve, remained.
My hand, still outstretched, reached for the sky, a small, insignificant gesture, like a child trying to grasp the sun.
What was I in this world? Small. Insignificant. My footsteps left barely a mark. But this world…how big was it?
The question surfaced, and I found my answer.
‘Infinite.’
The blizzard subsided, my vision expanding, and the world grew with it. I remained small, but my inner world expanded infinitely, filling the empty void between dimensions, replacing darkness with light.
How far would it expand? Until it reached something, somewhere, beyond the infinite void.
“Huh?”
But at that moment, darkness consumed my inner world, and I lost consciousness.
[Achievement Unlocked]
[New-
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|He’s insane.|
|A human? This is…? Is this some kind of joke?|
|He carries the mark of the Ten Kings…could he be…a puppet?|
The man and the girl lay unconscious, their bodies scrutinized, their arrival met with murmurs of concern and disbelief. They were human, their bodies alive, breathing.
Not spirits, not demons, but living beings, somehow transported here.
How was it possible? Even with the pathway open, living beings couldn’t enter this place.
The answer, surprisingly, was simple.
|He just…walked through? On his own? With his own power?|
|What does he think the dimensional void is?!|
|That’s…what I saw…|
He had walked through.
Of course, there was nothing to walk on, nothing to fly through, in the dimensional void. Navigating nothingness…that was a feat only achievable by beings of immense power.
|Impossible! That’s a realm only the Great Ones can reach!|
|Draken? Did he bring them here?|
|What’s his plan?|
|I don’t know…Wrath, deal with it.|
|Yes, Elder.|
They debated, but no consensus was reached.
|Regardless…welcome to the Demon World, human.|
They could only wait for the man, this newcomer to their strange world, to awaken.
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