Chapter 458
Chapter 458
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 458
Chapter Title: Creator
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"......"
Chronos could offer no reply.
He simply stood there frozen, staring blankly up at the Reaper King who gazed down upon him.
The Forgotten One.
When Park Chan-woo had called him that, Chronos had finally obtained a word that defined his very existence for the first time.
Yes, he was the Forgotten One.
From the ancient depths of time when the Abyss first stirred, he had always been alone.
A being born from the shadows of the Reapers—neither one thing nor the other.
Born because light existed, yet forever unable to become light itself, he was the greatest error spawned in the cracks of the laws.
This Reaper Realm was his homeland.
The place that had shaped him, like a father.
But his homeland did not love him.
The Reapers were beings of order and law.
Their instinct was to detect and eliminate "foreign matter" like Chronos that appeared in their world.
His very existence was a bug threatening this rigid system—a blemish upon it.
'I wanted to become a Reaper.'
More than anyone, he yearned to become a Reaper.
He revered this world's order above all else and longed to be part of that noble duty overseeing the cycle of souls.
But he was merely a shadow.
No one paid him any mind. No one acknowledged his existence.
He always had to hide.
He knew that the moment he revealed himself, the scythes of the Reapers—fathers to him—would turn upon him.
So he left.
He turned his back on his homeland and plunged into eternal darkness.
There, he lurked in the shadows, just as his essence demanded.
He led fallen ancient evil spirits before him but never revealed his true form.
That was the only way an error like him could survive—and his final shred of pride, to avoid burdening the homeland he loved any further.
But then...
'Park Chan-woo.'
Park Chan-woo had appeared.
That human had pierced the deepest shadows where no one had ever looked across eons, seeing the truth within.
He did not call Chronos an error.
He did not reject him as foreign matter.
He simply recognized him as a complete being and extended a hand.
A contract. Purification. And the granting of divinity.
Park Chan-woo had "completed" Chronos's imperfect existence.
Through the final sacrifice of the forgotten gods, he was reborn as a proper "god" who no longer needed to hide.
And now, the king of the Reapers was offering to hand over the throne to him.
The deepest wish he had harbored all his life—too sacred to even voice aloud—was unfolding before his eyes as reality.
He didn't know what to do.
Become king?
Himself?
Lead this Reaper Realm and stand at the pinnacle of all Reapers?
He had never once received such recognition from anyone in his life.
He had never even dared to imagine he could.
Overwhelming emotions surged through his empty soul, filling it to the brim.
Well done.
The words he had always carried on his lips.
Perhaps they were the very praise he most wanted to give himself.
A sad soliloquy for the boy who longed to be a splendid Reaper but could never become one.
Chronos's gaze naturally turned to the being who had sparked all these miracles.
Park Chan-woo.
He said nothing, simply watching Chronos in silence.
His eyes held no commands or demands—only profound trust, as if to say, choose for yourself.
Through Park Chan-woo, Chronos finally believed in his own worth.
If this great being acknowledged him...
If the lord who had willingly moved the gods for his sake believed in him...
Then perhaps it really was possible.
Park Chan-woo met Chronos's wavering gaze and nodded very slowly.
It was no mere nod.
A silent encouragement that he was worthy.
A quiet, steadfast expression of trust: Follow your path.
His soul trembled.
At last, he lifted his head and looked back and forth between the old god offering him the throne and the new god who had opened this path for him.
And after a long, long silence, he spoke in a trembling voice.
"......Are you acknowledging me... as a Reaper?"
All the emotions suppressed across eons—loneliness, sorrow, and finally the hope he had gained—poured out in that single phrase.
The Reaper King silently accepted Chronos's quivering resolve.
Then, very slowly but more certainly than any oath, he nodded.
The Reaper King's will echoed like the final breath of a weary ancient giant—yet also like the first light of dawn heralding a new era.
The Reaper King's gaze swept over Chronos's newfound divinity.
Within it dwelled the sublime light of the forgotten gods and the new possibilities granted by the enigmatic being known as Park Chan-woo.
A perfectly novel existence, unbound by outdated laws.
The Reaper King's form flickered faintly.
The weight of the throne he had borne across eons now began to crush his shoulders at last.
His will carried deep regret and self-mockery.
He had merely watched powerlessly as the world crumbled and his people withered into empty husks.
A foolish king who had grown accustomed to despair, fearing change and clinging to his outdated authority until the very end.
That was him.
The Reaper King's gaze returned to Chronos.
His eyes now held not the authority of a king, but the hopeful anticipation of an elder passing the torch to the next generation.
He was ready to relinquish everything.
To declare the end of the old era with his own hands and pave the way for the new king.
That would be his final—and greatest—deed for the Reaper Realm.
And after a long silence, he uttered his most difficult and sincere words.
His will was so small and faint it seemed it might scatter into the void.
The Reaper King had known.
Of that lonely error born in the shadows.
But he had turned away.
For the stability of the system, to preserve the old order, he had treated one suffering soul as if it didn't exist.
Just as he had failed to save the gods he himself had forgotten, he had failed to save the small shadow groaning at his feet.
No—he hadn't even tried.
The Reaper King sighed.
Before that desperate apology, Chronos quietly shook his head.
His once-empty eyes now held not the loneliness or sorrow of the past, but a deep, serene understanding born of all he had endured.
"It's alright."
Chronos's will was clear and pure.
"Because of the me from back then, the me of today exists."
His gaze briefly drifted beyond the Reaper Realm, toward distant memories of the Abyss.
"If I had stayed here, I would have hidden in the shadows forever. Fearing the king's judgment, avoiding the other Reapers' gazes, seeing myself only as an error—I would have learned nothing else."
But he had left.
Turning from his homeland, he had thrown himself into the vast chaos of the Abyss.
There, he had faced countless despairs and witnessed radiant hopes.
All those experiences had forged Chronos into something unbreakable.
"In the Abyss, I experienced and learned far more. I saw the sorrow of the forgotten ones, realized the nobility of sacrifice, and above all......"
Chronos's gaze turned to the one being who had opened this entire path for him: Park Chan-woo.
"At the end of that journey, I finally returned here—to my homeland. No longer hiding, no longer fearing, as a complete god who can contribute to this world."
Chronos faced the Reaper King directly.
"So your turning away was not a wound to me, but an opportunity. Your silence was an unnamed encouragement that propelled me into the wider world. Do not blame yourself any longer, great former king."
At those words, the Reaper King's form shook violently.
Awe and an immeasurable wave of emotion crashed over him.
'Ah......'
To forgive his sins and turn even that darkness into a stepping stone for growth—what a vessel.
For a mere error to possess such profound depth of heart.
The Reaper King was finally convinced. Park Chan-woo's words had been entirely right.
Chronos alone possessed the qualifications to save this dying Reaper Realm.
He hesitated no longer.
With both hands, he reverently removed the crown that had faintly glowed above his head—the symbol of the Reaper Realm's authority across eons.
And he extended it toward the new king with utmost respect.
Chronos hesitated for a moment, but feeling Park Chan-woo's silent encouragement, he steeled his resolve.
With reverence, he extended both hands and accepted the new era from the old god.
The very instant Chronos placed the crown upon his head...
Woooooong—!
The entire Reaper Realm—no, the very foundations of the Abyss—began to resonate like a massive bell tolling.
Time, which had halted, began to flow once more.
The first to show change were the Reapers who had been mindlessly harvesting souls like empty husks.
A faint light of self-awareness flickered back into their vacant eyes.
-What... was I doing?
-Why was I...
They tilted their heads, staring at the scythes in their hands, questions budding within.
The mechanical slaughter finally ground to a halt.
And that was only the beginning.
In the deepest depths of the Reaper Realm, massive gears that had been sealed shut for eons began to turn with a heavy groan.
The stalled cycle of reincarnation responded to the birth of the new king, reclaiming its power.
The Reaper King trembled.
He could do nothing but react that way.
For the stalled world—and everything hurtling toward ruin—was returning to its original state.
Chronos. The world itself was being reborn to welcome the new king.
But at the center of it all...
'Park Chan-woo.'
Was him.
The one who had shaped the former lord of the Great Rift from primordial light, enthroned a new Reaper King, and brought light back to the world.
Yet it was inexplicable.
A halted cycle of reincarnation could never turn again.
No matter how he pondered it...
'The will of the Creator must dwell within that human......'
Nothing else explained it.
Or perhaps...
......The Creator Himself had devoted Himself in human form.