Chapter 180
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: An Old Tale
“How much do you know about the Garden of Eden?”
“I only know the basics.”
The suspicious trader set the potted plant down on the table and spat into her own hand.
She kneaded the white, highly viscous saliva until sticky threads formed, then skillfully twirled them with her fingers to weave a spiderweb, which she stretched wide with her six hands.
“In the beginning, there was a certain being.”
Through the spiderweb, illusions appeared.
“At the time that being existed, there was nothing in the world. In a complete void of nothingness where neither time nor space existed, only those beings who had created themselves from nothing were all there was. That being reached out a hand and cried out.”
In the illusion, a space of nothingness imperceptible to humans.
In that world visible only to his right eye, a shadow in human form extended a hand forward.
“‘Let there be light.’ And so light came into being, and with it, time and space finally appeared in the world. Harmonized as one, they formed the universe. The being plunged into the universe as its primordial creator, and the existing void space outside became known as the outer universe.”
In the illusion, the universe expanded endlessly, split apart, and gave birth to more universes.
“Beings who followed it began creating universes as well.”
Beyond the universe, other dimensions proliferated like a hierarchy.
“The remnants of the power they used in creation floated about and mingled, endlessly birthing new dimensions, but that's not important right now.”
The primordial creator shaped the universe and formed planets.
So absorbed in adorning the universe, he didn't even notice fragments breaking off from his own body.
“The fragments that fell from the primordial creator were very small. In human terms, they were less than atoms. But even so, they held great power, gained self-awareness, took on form, and followed the primordial creator like a parent.”
Numerous small shards transformed into horrific monsters.
I knew what those were.
They were the true forms of the angels from the Bible.
“The primordial creator named them angels. Among them, the one born from the largest and brightest shard was made leader of the angels, and inspired by this, they went about creating life forms.”
Beyond the spiderweb, time flew by like an arrow.
In an era where angels mostly praised and worshipped their creator, his right eye saw it.
‘A war?’
For a fleeting instant, a vision that had passed.
An angel glaring at the heavens with eyes full of rage and hatred.
Angels filling the universe vanishing before his sword, thunderous lightning pouring from the sky as if to destroy the world, flames engulfing and burning the entire universe.
Finally, the angel who had shone like the morning star discarding his sword and vanishing into the darkness.
That scene was visible only to the right eye, but the suspicious trader seemed unaware and continued her tale.
“The primordial creator, imitating his own form, created life in his image. This was the first human, Adam, and he created a separate world for Adam.”
He first made a beautiful, peaceful world.
“The Garden of Eden.”
Next, like the angels who followed him, he created beings to follow and faithfully serve Adam.
“All manner of beasts.”
Then, to keep Adam from being lonely, he used Adam's rib to create a companion who could truly understand him and be with him.
“The first woman, Eve. The primordial creator truly cherished and loved him. But having been betrayed once before by his most beloved, the creator dug a small trap.”
“The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.”
The suspicious trader nodded.
“Sadly, the first woman fell into that trap, and Adam left the Garden of Eden with her. But the creator was willing to forgive, and while waiting for his return, he prepared three glories for him.”
In the vision, a world bloomed with beautiful tulips stretching to the horizon.
“An afterlife paradise for Adam and Eve's descendants when they die—a eternal heaven where each one's desired world comes true.”
In the vision, all manner of beasts gazed at Adam in awe.
“The immense power granted to Adam's legions, the beasts.”
In the vision, a beautiful sword streaked across the sky, shining like the sun.
“A sword that makes its wielder the greatest of all.”
But Adam never returned.
“Seeing Adam's actions as betrayal, the primordial creator destroyed all three glories he had made.”
The paradise was shattered and buried deep in the earth.
The great power given to the beasts was taken back and scattered on the winds.
The sword holding promised greatness was smashed to pieces and cast into darkness.
“That is the full story of the lost three glories, and the tulip you brought, Mr. Lee Seung-hoon, is a flower from that paradise.”
“One flower isn't enough to fully manifest paradise's power, is it?”
“Indeed. It's impossible for the destroyed paradise to function normally. If it were a perfect paradise flower, this single bloom alone would create the world you desire and bring eternal happiness.”
He understood how Ulysses' flowerpot worked.
‘Because it's imperfect.’
Being imperfect required near-fanatical faith to activate.
Being imperfect meant one bloom alone wouldn't suffice.
Being imperfect meant it took time to work and caused disasters like colliding with the original world as if crossing parallel universes.
‘If it were perfect, it would have been the ultimate entity free from worries about the afterlife. What a shame.’
The suspicious trader coveted the flower from the false paradise, which only changed color based on faith.
“It's a fine collectible. I might never get another chance like this—it's truly tempting. Do you have something you want? I'll make it happen.”
“I want something that can restore my driving skills to normal.”
She stared piercingly at him and shook her head.
“I'm sorry, but nothing like that among my items.”
“Then nothing comes to mind.”
“How about this instead?”
She handed him a single ticket.
It resembled the invitations she always sent—similar design, but blank.
“What's this?”
“A ticket to the warehouse holding my most precious items. Tear it, and you'll go there. Take one item, and you'll return here.”
“Deal.”
Far better than having to choose right away.
It showed just how valuable the flower was as a collectible.
“It was a most satisfying trade. With this, Mr. Lee Seung-hoon's rank will reach the highest level.”
“Satisfying for me too. I'll look forward to our next meeting.”
I wonder what form the suspicious trader will take next time?
『What are you looking for?』
“Something about animals.”
Sarang-i asked as I searched for information.
Evidently unsatisfied with the vague answer, she asked again.
『Why are you looking for that?』
The voice came not from the smartphone but the computer.
Beyond the monitor, Sarang-i's virtual reality body flitted about like a fairy.
“The story I heard last time came to mind.”
『You were looking into the beast-related one among the destroyed three glories.』
“Yeah.”
I showed her the various open homepages one by one.
[Cats, dogs, birds, snakes, etc., show unusual behavior before earthquakes.]
[Dogs and cats sometimes sense their owner's impending death and refuse to leave their side.]
[Dogs can detect human illnesses by scent.]
[Birds sense Earth's magnetic field, allowing them to travel thousands of km without getting lost.]
[Elephants use infrasound to communicate with herds over 10 km away and detect subtle ground vibrations to predict disasters.]
[Cats' homing instinct lets them find their way home from hundreds of km away.]
There were many more tales of animals' special abilities.
“The creator granted powerful forces to animals but took them back in anger at Adam's betrayal. Could those bizarre animal abilities unexplained by science be remnants from then?”
『It's possible.』
“When I saw Adam at Uluru, countless beasts still followed him. Under his command, they wielded far greater power than now. If they were that strong even after losing their power, what must they have been like before?”
『Undoubtedly very powerful.』
“I think so too. In particular, I suspect the creator planned to make Adam his second Lucifer.”
Preparing a sword as a gift.
Building an army of beasts instead of angels.
It all looked just like Lucifer's template.
“Trauma from betrayal led to the Tree of Knowledge, so maybe the creator was projecting Lucifer onto Adam.”
『A creator, yet somehow so human.』
“He made Adam in his own image, so the creator probably isn't much different from humans.”
『But don't they all praise him as omniscient, omnipotent, and flawless?』
“Humans instinctively want their idol to be perfect.”
Whether animal superpowers or remnants of ancient power, animals remained fascinating.
“By the way, how'd the donations to animal groups go?”
『We sent the appropriate amounts to those properly organized and operating normally.』
“So some weren't normal?”
『We excluded ones that capture stray cats and force 'care fees,' those that deem meat-eating violence and steal farm animals in the name of animal freedom, those that claim to love animals, etc.—ones where the money would be wasted.』
“Why the 'love animals' group?”
『They meant physical love.』
An organization daring to break an ancient taboo in human history.
“Good girl, Sarang-i.”
I closed all the animal search results.
Sarang-i, who had been eyeing the trash bin on the desktop, spoke up.
『Mr. Lee Seung-hoon, I found something interesting.』
She tossed the trash bin aside and opened an internet browser.
[Found a cat with a human face today, shivers]
On my way home from work yesterday, I spotted Cheese-n the lamb in an alley.
It was so cute from behind that I went 'aww' and called out. Then it turned around.
But it had a human face. Seriously, my heart nearly stopped.
I yelled in shock, and the cat ran off. I still don't know if what I saw was real.
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[Comments]
[Overtime?]
└[OP: Yeah, sunrise for three days straight!]
└[Go wash and sleep]
└[Roger]
Just a typical internet shitpost.
“A human-faced beast urban legend.”
『What's that?』
“Ghost stories born from fear of beasts with human faces.”
From ancient times, beasts with human faces were seen as ill omens or cursed beings.
“Japan has yokai like nue, human-faced fish, human-faced dogs. The West has manticores; stretching it a bit, minotaurs count too. Korea has tales of the Jangsanbeom tiger with a human face.”
As I spoke, Sarang-i pulled up an adult site.
Search term: [Robot]. Related porn videos appeared.
I closed the site with the mouse, but she kept reopening it.
“It's superstition or illusion at most, but if entities exist, there's no rule these can't either.”
『Eek! Don't close it!』
This time, I didn't close it and entered a new search.
[Big Breast]
『……Mr. Lee Seung-hoon, what does this mean?』
“You seem to hate big breasts, Sarang-i. Scary?”
『If I had a body, I'd exercise real violence on you.』
Petty revenge for making her bad at driving.
Late at night.
As the city's lights faded one by one, a group of people sneaked into the zoo at the city's heart.
“Guards?”
“Put to sleep.”
“Good, now's our chance.”
Thirteen people clutched cameras, eyes gleaming.
“We'll expose the zoo's horrific conditions to the world and liberate them to reclaim their freedom.”
They were an animal liberation group.
Their goal: restore freedom to animals and return them to nature.
“How much farther?”
Having scouted the zoo in advance and rehearsed thoroughly, they were ready to release the animals—tonight was execution day.
“This lock won't budge.”
“Grab a new cutter.”
“If only that fixer Lee Seung-hoon had donated to us!”
Why us alone no donation!
Grumbling like it was unfair, the man suddenly felt a chill and glanced sideways.
[Eagle Owl]
In the enclosure of trees for the owl to rest.
The owl watching him with glowing eyes sent a shiver down his spine for a moment.
‘Owls are nocturnal.’
With its face hidden in darkness, only its shining eyes visible, it was pretty spooky.
As he turned back to cut the lock, he realized belatedly.
‘But those owl eyes just now……’
They looked human, didn't they?