Chapter 268
Chapter 268
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 268
Chapter Title: Interlude - Ninth Memory (2)
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My head felt like it was on fire.
My heart pounded as if it would burst, and I was gasping for breath.
Thoughts erupted like a volcano, tangling together in an endless chain.
“Hah, hah.”
I gasped raggedly, clutching my head.
I calmly went over the memories, one by one, starting from the very first one passed down from Lee Shin-hyeok.
“...It's not there.”
No matter how many times I searched my memories.
The name 'Heukseonghoe' had never once appeared in Lee Shin-hyeok's memories.
“What in the world...”
Where did it go wrong?
When did it go wrong?
“...Wiseonggyo.”
A word that came up quite often in Lee Shin-hyeok's memories.
Based on his memories, the Heukseonghoe and the Wiseonggyo were essentially the same organization, just with different names.
It was home to Cheon Do-yoon, the King of Owls, and Isabella.
So.
I had naturally assumed that some event caused the 'Heukseonghoe' to change its name to the 'Wiseonggyo'.
I had no choice but to think that.
“But if that's the case... it doesn't make sense.”
The memory passed down this time was from a mere three weeks after Lee Shin-hyeok and Oh-jin first met.
It was the time when the gate in Mok-dong opened, and Yujin entered it, aiming for the Black Star's holy relic inside.
And at that time.
Yujin had proudly declared himself a member of the 'Heukseonghoe'.
'But why.'
In Lee Shin-hyeok's inherited memories, why had Yujin called himself a believer of the 'Wiseonggyo', not the Heukseonghoe?
'It doesn't add up.'
The day Oh-jin and Yujin first met was November 15th.
And Lee Woo-hyeok tracking the traces of the holy relic and confronting Yujin happened sometime between the 21st and the 30th.
A difference of one to two weeks at most.
There's no way the Heukseonghoe's name would have changed to Wiseonggyo in such a short time.
In that case.
There's only one possibility left.
“Meaning.”
In the world of Lee Shin-hyeok's first timeline.
Not even once.
Had the 'Wiseonggyo' ever been called the 'Heukseonghoe'.
“What in the world is going on...?”
Oh-jin muttered, biting his lip.
His mind was a tangled mess.
Were Lee Shin-hyeok's memories wrong?
Were the memories passed down through Heukcheon until now not actually Lee Shin-hyeok's, but false memories filled with illusions?
“...No.”
To think that, there were too many instances where Lee Shin-hyeok's memories aligned with future events.
The gate opening in Mok-dong, the monster sleeping beneath Seoul Station, the Heavenly Dragon Barbatos's lair being located under Pyongyang.
All of it.
It all matched Lee Shin-hyeok's memories.
'Then what on earth is the Wiseonggyo?'
Why did Lee Shin-hyeok call the Heukseonghoe the Wiseonggyo?
Oh-jin continued to think with narrowed eyes.
'Did the future change because Lee Shin-hyeok died?'
No.
No matter how I thought about it, the connection between Lee Shin-hyeok's death and the Wiseonggyo's name changing to Heukseonghoe was too tenuous.
Of course, I knew that, like the butterfly effect, a small, trivial event could lead to unforeseen consequences.
'Still, there's no way an organization's name would change in the short span of one or two weeks just because Lee Shin-hyeok died.'
The Heukseonghoe wasn't some gang of neighborhood thugs.
It was an organization created by the Heavenly Demon himself.
An organization like that wouldn't just change its name overnight.
“Wiseonggyo... Satellite.”
As Oh-jin muttered the name with narrowed eyes, they suddenly flew wide open.
A conversation he'd once had with Isabella flashed through his mind.
-Do you know anything about the Heavenly Demon?
-Well... I've heard that he created the Black Stars.
-...What?
-Wait. When you say Black Stars, you mean constellations, right?
-Yes. That's right. They say the Heavenly Demon gave power to the constellations known as 'Satellites' among the constellations, turning them into Black Stars.
The Heavenly Demon turned the constellations called Satellites into Black Stars.
In other words.
The beings now called the Black Star constellations were called 'Satellites' before they met the Heavenly Demon.
“So... the Wiseonggyo (Satellite Cult)?”
What if.
The Wiseonggyo from Lee Shin-hyeok's memories wasn't created by the Heavenly Demon, but by the constellations that were called 'Satellites'?
Then.
Then.
Then.
What about the Heukseonghoe?
“...Ah.”
Oh-jin's eyes shot open.
A cold shiver ran down his spine, spreading through his entire body.
I had been thinking about it all wrong from the start.
The very first puzzle piece I'd laid down was in the wrong place.
“It didn't go from Heukseonghoe... to Wiseonggyo.”
The 'Wiseonggyo' changed its name to become the 'Heukseonghoe'.
How could that be possible?
How could the name Heukseonghoe, which didn't even exist in the world Lee Shin-hyeok experienced, now replace the Wiseonggyo?
It couldn't be explained by saying the future had changed.
Because the Heukseonghoe existed even before Lee Shin-hyeok died and Oh-jin awakened Heukcheon to absorb his power.
“In that case....”
If the future had already changed before the point when Lee Shin-hyeok regressed.
If the past had changed, before the future could.
There's only one answer, isn't there?
“There wasn't... just one regressor.”
Someone.
Had gone back to a past far more distant than Lee Shin-hyeok's point of regression and changed the future.
And the name of that being was—
“......Heavenly Demon.”
The Heavenly Demon.
The being who turned the constellations called Satellites into Black Stars.
He was the one who changed it.
The future where the 'Wiseonggyo' should have existed, into a future where the 'Heukseonghoe' exists.
“Ha.”
A laugh escaped Oh-jin's lips.
Stagger, stagger.
The strength drained from his legs, and his body swayed precariously.
If the Heavenly Demon is another regressor.
Who could he possibly be?
Who could go back to a past more distant than Lee Shin-hyeok's and change the future?
It didn't take long to find the answer.
“There's only one person... who could do that.”
Why didn't I realize it sooner?
Why didn't I understand?
The clues were there from the very beginning.
The answer was written on the test paper from the start.
He was blatantly showing me, going so far as to change the perfectly fine name 'Wiseonggyo' to 'Heukseonghoe'.
-You've come. I've been waiting.
When the black fissure went berserk and I was sucked into the Mirror World.
The memory of someone whispering to him in a voice full of ecstasy came to mind.
Yes.
The Heavenly Demon had been waiting.
For me to notice.
For me to understand.
For me.
To reach him.
“...Right. So that's how it was.”
The scattered puzzle pieces clicked into place.
How the name Heukseonghoe had never once appeared in Lee Shin-hyeok's memories.
How two Heukcheons could exist at the same time.
How the Heavenly Demon could corrupt the constellations called Satellites into Black Stars.
When I thought about it, the answer was simple.
Because there was only one possibility that could explain everything that had happened.
“You... were me.”
Oh-jin murmured softly, looking up at the sky, black with dark clouds.
***
A black sky.
The sun had died, and even the moon had faded into darkness.
A hill covered in countless corpses stretched out before them.
Atop that vast mountain of bodies.
Stood a goddess with brilliant silver hair and a young man.
“Alright. Send me back to the past.”
With those last words, filled with resolute will.
A dazzling mist of light enveloped the young man's body.
Wrapped in starlight that glittered like the Milky Way, the young man's body gradually turned to dust and scattered.
[.........]
The goddess reached out, caressing the silver mist that drifted in the empty air.
The brilliantly shining mist gradually lost its light.
Where the starlight vanished.
Only a desolate, empty space remained, as if nothing had ever been there to begin with.
The goddess, who had been silently gazing at the empty space, slowly turned her head.
The gruesome hill of corpses that filled her surroundings.
Countless humans, heroes, and constellations.
Had lost their lives in this place.
All by the hand of a single being.
Looking down at the sea of corpses, devoid of even a speck of life, she quietly opened her mouth.
[The promise... has been kept.]
To whom were her words addressed?
On the hill made of blood and flesh, there appeared to be no other living being besides her.
The goddess bit her trembling lip and clenched her fists.
Her beautiful, golden eyes turned toward the top of the corpse hill.
Where her gaze landed, there was the corpse of a young man, dead with a spear pierced through his heart.
As the goddess's voice echoed emptily over the hill filled only with death.
Crunch.
The young man's corpse, lying on the hill, moved.
He gripped the spear embedded in his left chest and slowly pulled it from his heart.
Clang.
The spear that had been in the young man's heart tumbled down the hill and struck the rubble of a collapsed building.
The young man's closed eyes slowly opened.
Two pupils burning with blue ghost fire.
He staggered to his feet, then lightly tilted his head from side to side as if to loosen his stiff body.
“That hurt more than I thought.”
A dry voice escaped the young man's lips.
He glanced down at the fist-sized hole in his chest and flicked his hand lightly.
Ruuuumble.
Black storm clouds swirled into the gaping hole in his chest.
“Hah.”
After letting out a soft breath, the young man leisurely surveyed the corpse-covered hill, then twisted his lips into a dry smile.
“Finally... the curtain has fallen.”
His chilling laughter echoed.
The goddess's golden eyes, which had been watching the young man, wavered.
She stared at him with sad eyes, her lips pressed firmly together.
The young man, who had been casually looking around, turned his head toward the goddess.
Squish, squish.
Walking across the blood-soaked hill, the young man placed a hand on the goddess's trembling cheek.
Gently, warmly.
As if comforting a frightened child.
“You did well, Vega.”
The Heavenly Demon smiled brightly.
-End of Part 1-