Chapter 215
Chapter 215
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 215
Chapter Title: In the Memories, the Main God of the Holy Mountain (1)
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0.
“Mom?”
Stumbling along, she suddenly kicked a pebble in her path as hard as she could.
“What’s so bad about not having a mom?!”
Do Ye-jin yelled in a fit of rage. It was always the same—people going on about how she didn’t have a mom. Who the hell would want that?
“Even without a mom, I turned out way better than any of you!”
As she vented her frustration with furious huffs.
She spotted a mother and daughter walking hand in hand in the distance.
“Mom, what’s for dinner tonight?”
Mom...
That word sent a sharp pang of longing slicing through her chest.
“Hmm... How about chicken tenders? I’ll air-fry them for you.”
“Wow! Mom, you’re the best!”
“You like it that much?”
Do Ye-jin stood there in a daze until their figures vanished into the twilight.
Only after a while.
No, much later, was she able to shake her head vigorously.
It’s fine. It’s nothing. Whatever.
She could forget it.
She’d forget it soon enough.
Because she was used to it. As she tried to stride forward again with forced bravado...
Huh?
Something strange caught her eye. A seesaw in the playground.
Was there a seesaw here?
She’d walked this street thousands of times.
She’d never seen it before... When the hell did they put this in? Overnight?
Do Ye-jin stared blankly at the seesaw, tilting her head.
「A black-haired man stroking the head of four- or five-year-old Do Ye-jin.」
A memory.
A forgotten dream sealed deep in the abyss of her mind overlapped with reality in an instant.
- Daddy, what’s this?
Do Ye-jin gasped for air.
What?
Why was she calling him daddy?
It wasn’t Do Ji-woong.
- A seesaw.
- A seesaw?
- Every playground in my world had one.
- Really? Wow, Daddy, Daddy! How do you ride it? How?
The man chuckled.
He tenderly scooped up the young Do Ye-jin, whom she didn’t recognize, and she burst into giggles.
So much...
Such pure happiness in her laughter.
- First, you sit here.
A hazy memory, like morning mist.
For some reason, the man’s face was obscured, impossible to see or recall.
“Ah...”
In the next instant, the vision vanished from her sight like a lie. A dizzying sense of déjà vu washed over her.
What.
What is this...? Do Ye-jin backed away, breathing heavily. She couldn’t think about it.
It terrified her.
It terrified her so much.
The moment she recalled that memory...
“No... I can’t look.”
...She felt like her current self would shatter. Like this peaceful daily life would vanish.
「I’ve finally found it.」
As she turned to leave.
A cold voice echoed through her mind with a splitting headache.
「Hiding the catalyst in something so mundane... Clever.」
What’s this...?
It feels awful... Like bugs wriggling in my head...
「No wonder I couldn’t find it no matter how much I searched outside.」
Searched...?
What? Outside...?
「Now, Arishel’rap. Go touch it. That’s an order.」
Do Ye-jin desperately tried to resist, but she couldn’t.
「Hurry.」
Something...
Was controlling...
Her body... Do Ye-jin’s body unnaturally approached the seesaw, and something bizarre happened.
One.
The seesaw began to flicker in dark blue.
Two.
A strange repulsion, like a magnetic field, pushed against her entire body.
「Planning to interfere? Heh heh heh heh heh... With such a pathetic divinity?」
One step.
Struggling, but another.
Her bones creaked throughout her body. The controlling force seemed stronger than the repulsion.
「Even a nameless demigod like you putting up some resistance.」
And finally.
The moment Do Ye-jin’s hand touched the seesaw.
“Wha...?!”
The world spun wildly, and with the rotation, the scenery began to change bit by bit.
How long did it spin?
When she came to, Do Ye-jin stood not in the twilight playground, but atop a horizon stained blood-red.
「Arishel’rap, look around.」
But it wasn’t blood—it was this world’s sun, glaring crimson.
Excluding the sunlight, the world was...
So vibrant.
Like Earth’s summer.
Verdant green forests, clear streams, fresh mountain peaks.
Shaaaaaaa...
A gentle wind rustling through nature, carrying...
A refreshing floral scent.
「<Edelweiss>.」
Sometime.
A scent she’d smelled before.
No... A scent surely tied to precious memories... Do Ye-jin trembled desperately.
「I considered everything, but <Edelweiss> is the answer. The star of World Executor Edel Weiss.」
1.
“What are you gonna do?!”
In the corridors of Surak Mountain Shrine.
Heo Cheon-gyeom, ahead of Ryu Hyun-ji, asked urgently.
“Whi... White’s gonna blitz her! Ye-jin!”
“...Kill her?”
“No, no!”
Ryu Hyun-ji shook her head and began explaining.
“You know Pope Song Chan-un?”
“Yeah.”
“We’re gonna use the experience from that close fight...”
Once the rough explanation ended, Heo Cheon-gyeom zeroed in on the key point.
“So, Song Chan-un appeared as an illusion back then... And White’s attack hit it clean, right?”
Kwang—!
Heo Cheon-gyeom kicked open the door blocking his path and charged inside.
“Yeah... Right...!”
The room was filled with sinister gloom. Thanks to the bluish candles glowing from spots on the outer walls.
“So... Ye-jin’s brainwashing implant... Maybe White can hit that too? Same kind of intangible power.”
“Maybe? Fuck, this is uncertain?”
“Yeah... Sorry...”
Heo Cheon-gyeom scanned the room, then moved toward where his senses pulled him.
“No need to apologize. Fuck... This is the best we got. I can’t beat Do Ye-jin anyway.”
Heo Cheon-gyeom let out a hollow, resigned chuckle.
“Fine. Fuck it, let’s try. See who drops first.”
“Th... There’s only one shot. It has to work on the first try!”
“Fuck... Only one?”
Heo Cheon-gyeom froze, asking in shock.
“Yeah. If... If that Saito Nan guy finds out about this plan...”
“...?”
“He... He won’t give us any more time... Right?”
2.
「I considered everything, but <Edelweiss> is the answer. The star of World Executor Edel Weiss.」
Edel Weiss?
Her skull throbbed like it would split.
As she squeezed her eyes shut, swallowing a groan... She heard it.
- Now, sit here for starters.
She couldn’t understand why.
Why her mouth had muttered “Daddy...?” on its own back then.
Why her eyes had burned unbearably.
What the hell...?
Through her increasingly blurry vision, she first saw the seesaw.
Of course, other things came into view too.
After seating young Do Ye-jin on one end... The man heading to the opposite side.
I’ve... Seen this guy.
When the world ended... He came to me, gave me the power of a subordinate... Right?
- Now? Daddy, now?
- Wait.
The moment the man sat opposite.
The seesaw tilted, lifting the girl high.
- Wh... Whoaaa!
- It’s just starting.
- It hurts! Whoa! It hurts! Whoa!
Creak, creak, creak.
The seesaw went down, up, repeating.
- More! Do it more! More! More!
Each time, young Do Ye-jin laughed...
With utter bliss.
「Pathetic. A god living like a human in a human world.」
Saito Nan sneered.
But seeing that, the man wore a faint smile.
- Daddy, Daddy.
- Yeah.
- Did you ride this with your daddy?
- No. With Mommy. Maybe with big bro too.
- You have a mommy and big bro. Where are they now?
That instant.
The seesaw halted abruptly, pain flickering in the man’s eyes.
- Who knows... Where could they be?」
3.
「Heh heh heh ha ha ha ha...」
Terror gripped her.
Fear, fear closing in. Ryu Hyun-ji’s legs buckled; she wanted to collapse right there.
「Hiding and running has always been you humans’ specialty.」
An icily chilling laugh.
An unreal presence pressed into the dark shrine interior.
Squelch.
The heavy tread of something ominous.
Squelch, squelch, squelch.
A stench not of this world.
The vibrations made the shrine shudder, the candles flickering like sobs.
Squelch, squelch, squelch, squelch, squelch.
「Let’s see what farce you’ve cooked up.」
As Saito Nan’s voice echoed through the hall... It finally began.
The sound of bare feet brushing marble.
The footsteps she’d been waiting for... Ryu Hyun-ji signaled Heo Cheon-gyeom with her fingers.
Three, two, one...
Next instant. Heo Cheon-gyeom smashed through the sliding door with his shield and lunged, covering the target.
Do Ye-jin.
That moment. Do Ye-jin’s neck twisted at an unnatural angle.
「Quite the elaborate plan.」
She spun around, grabbed Heo Cheon-gyeom’s collar from behind, and hurled him down the corridor.
「All that rushing just for this obvious trick?」
As expected... Just as she thought.
Ryu Hyun-ji realized. It was a blind spot... But with Saito Nan in that kid’s field of vision, it reacted instantly.
Kwang! Kwang! Kwaaaang—!
Roaring impacts.
Ryu Hyun-ji, hidden in the inner room opposite Heo Cheon-gyeom, peered cautiously through a small hole in the sliding door.
“Fuck yeah!”
She saw Heo Cheon-gyeom struggling, covered in blood.
“Fucking science itself, you crazy bitch!”
Blocking Do Ye-jin’s fists with his shield-sword.
“When you’re on our team, you’re a total troll!”
Each time he charged with hardening.
Merging sword and shield, swinging wide to block her approach completely...
“And when you switch sides, you possess pro-level skills like fucking science!”
...In close quarters, he’d separate them, parrying her attacks defensively.
Puhwaaaak—!
Ryu Hyun-ji swallowed dryly.
But the physical gap between them was clear...
- Fight as loud as possible.
- Loud?
- Make... That Saito Nan kid focus on you.
Please... Please...
Heo Cheon-gyeom’s movements slowed, while Do Ye-jin’s grew smoother.
One chance.
Now everything depended on Ryu Hyun-ji’s acting.
「Swing harder.」
A bit, just a bit more.
Squelch, squelch, squelch, squelch, squelch.
「Think you can kill that mongrel like that?」
At some point.
The sticky footsteps and Saito Nan’s voice seemed right in front of her nose.
「Shall I rip out some guts as a test? Might flush out the sorceress too.」
Ryu Hyun-ji kicked the sliding door as noisily as possible, screaming with desperate force.
“B... Black! Go! G-Go fetch that orb—!”
A bluff risking her life.
Black wasn’t even in fighting shape. So she prayed. Please work.
Did her prayer reach?
That instant. As Saito Nan turned toward her with a flinch...
「Hmph, lowly thing.」
...Do Ye-jin’s movements hit a brief snag.
Success. The gamble paid off.
The plan was always to steal Saito Nan’s attention, even for a second!
「From the start, it was me—?!」
Right then.
White, hidden near Heo Cheon-gyeom, turned feral and tackled Do Ye-jin from behind, sending her tumbling.
「GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」
4.
「What is this?」
Unlike most stars... This one resembled the human world perfectly.
「Edel Weiss... What the hell were you up to?」
A verdant pastoral landscape.
A stream reeking of fish. Do Ye-jin and her attendant walked along it.
- Hey, kid, why’re you carrying that wildflower? Toss it.
- No way. It’s mine! You just keep drinking, Balpa.
- Jeez, it’s just one of a million flowers by the roadside.
Ridiculous...
As the attendant reached out, Do Ye-jin slapped his hand away.
- No, it’s not. Every single one is a gift from Daddy.
「Useless, Arishel’rap. No need for this memory. Move to the next.」
At the command,
The memory scene shifted like a curtain falling.
This memory’s setting was a pond.
There stood... Edel Weiss by the pondside. Do Ye-jin watched from afar.
- Dude, what’re you doing out at [Vyrasda Pond]?
The attendant followed Do Ye-jin’s gaze to the lakeside.
Edel Weiss pouring something from a horn cup onto the head of a kneeling subordinate.
Pointing at the inexplicable scene, Do Ye-jin asked the attendant.
- Why’s Daddy sharing human stuff? We’re not human.
Saito Nan, peeking into the memory, tilted his head.
What’s that golden liquid?
That’s... No doubt. The light of the creation gods... Humanity itself.
Unbelievable.
How did that World Executor have enough humanity to share with others?
- You’re not human now, but you were once.
- Huh...? What’s that mean?
- You’ll understand when you grow up.
This memory’s worth watching. That attendant’s no small divinity either.
- If you don’t tell me, I’ll tell Mommy.
- You little... Getting craftier by the day.
- Who’d I learn it from? Spill it.
I think I know who this is.
An Exalted One, Varpahtika maybe.
Varpahtika chugged from his gourd, sighing.
- We’re different from you, Zasha. We became gods chasing something from our human days.
Hmph... Interesting.
Did he know then he’d die by the woman he served?
- We were tricked... After becoming gods, we couldn’t even remember it.
- Why? You did your homework but got no reward?
- Such childish thinking... Well, close enough?
Varpahtika gave a wry smile, gulping from the gourd, as Do Ye-jin tugged his sleeve.
- Must’ve been tough... Balpa.
Varpahtika fell silent for a moment, then flicked her small forehead with a chuckle.
- It’s okay. Thanks to the Lord sharing his humanity, I can remember a little now...