Chapter 291: Hero of the Origin (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 291: Hero of the Origin (2)
Boss yanked my limp arm and pulled me upright.
"Hurry up and get up. Drink this and snap out of it."
Boss pushed the glass of water on the table toward me. His hand was still tightly clutching a sashimi knife.
'Classic him.'
No matter what he was doing, this guy never let go of his blade.
I cautiously wetted my throat with the water Boss handed me, looking like a sinner walking on eggshells.
"...Ugh."
A groan leaked out on its own. Not because the water was poisoned, but...
"What? Stomach churning just from drinking water on an empty stomach?"
Sharp as ever. His keen eye hadn't dulled a bit.
"...Yes."
I quietly nodded. Boss glared at me with a face like a raging bull, then let out a low sigh.
"Wait a second. I'll fetch you something light to eat."
Leaving only those words, Boss spun around and headed for the kitchen.
"What is even happening..."
Left all alone, I gulped down the rest of the water. Chilling my empty stomach with cold water stung, but it cleared away the grogginess completely.
'This is the restaurant where I learned the trade under Boss.'
That was the conclusion I reached after carefully looking around the interior. I wasn't old enough to forget a place where I'd stayed for nearly ten years.
"Believe it or not, I'm still an eighteen-year-old with a bright future ahead of me..."
I broke off mid-mutter and rushed frantically to the restroom. Past the short hallway and around the corner was the restroom. The plastic soju crates stacked on both sides of the hallway stubbed my toes.
"Ugh."
It hurt. Yet, even in the midst of that, I was impressed. Every single prop felt so vivid. I could feel the full intensity of stubbing a toe—the most painful thing in the world.
"...!"
The moment I stood before the bathroom mirror, my eyes widened instantly.
"My god."
I clawed gently at my cheeks, feeling my face. Had I returned to the past? If so, I would have thought, 'Ah, it was all just my delusion.'
The reason I was so horrified was that my face was still that of Kang Geomma. Wearing the face of the character from Miracle Blessing M, I had returned to the shop where I used to work on Earth.
I was confused. Unsurprisingly given the situation, but even more so because Boss was treating me just like he always did.
"What are you doing?"
A voice suddenly came from behind me. I spun around like a child caught stealing money from his mother's purse. Boss clicked his tongue with a pathetic look in his eyes.
"I wondered what kind of major business you were taking care of that you didn't even close the bathroom door, but all you're doing is feeling your own face? Do you like your changed face that much?"
"It's not like that..."
"If not that, then what?"
"...I'm just a bit out of it."
"Out of it, my ass."
"..."
Strangely, ever since coming here, my actions and words were like a thief with a guilty conscience. Is it because my clan root is the Seori Kang Clan?
"Take it easy, take it easy. Your bones are gonna rot if you keep that up."
"Ah—no, wait! What are you talking about?!"
"I set the table, so come and eat."
Once again, I had no say in the matter. I checked my face in the mirror one last time before leaving the bathroom.
Thud, click.
I shut the door and turned off the light. I didn't want to get stabbed with a sashimi knife over something stupid. Not that I'd actually been stabbed before.
"Oh."
When I returned to the spot where I had been lying, a sumptuous feast was set out. Three side dishes—a lavish treatment by Boss's standards—along with soybean paste stew and white rice.
It was my absolute favorite meal setup. He must have swept the floor while setting it, as there wasn't a single shard of glass left.
"Come and sit down."
Boss, who had sat down first, gestured with his chin toward the opposite seat. After hesitating briefly, I did as told.
I cautiously sat down across from him. In the next moment, a suffocating silence settled over us.
"..."
I lowered my eyes, counting the grains of rice as I reflected on the situation. I intermittently stole glances at Boss.
"Are you performing a ritual service?"
As expected, a fiery reprimand flew my way. Boss placed extreme importance on table manners. Having been scolded severely for it multiple times, I knew all too well.
'Yep, it really is Boss.'
Had the world of Miracle Blessing M been too harsh on me? Paranoia was my default state. Even if it was Boss, I kept the 'just in case' scenario in mind.
But this man was Boss. The one who took me in, raised me, and gave me a place to sleep. A prickle hit under my eyes, and the tip of my nose grew hot.
Instead of speaking, I picked up my spoon. I used food to plug my mouth before any other emotions could burst out.
'Damn it. It's just plain white rice, but it's bloody delicious.'
Was it because I was starving, or had his cooking skills improved while I was gone? It was never this good before.
I kept my spoon and chopsticks moving busily. Boss watched me expressionlessly.
His eyes were always cold, like someone who had transcended worldly affairs. I paid it no mind. The guy was always like that.
'Then again, he is the great Hero of the Origin.'
So saying he transcended worldly affairs wasn't entirely wrong, either.
"So. What happened?"
Boss, who had been sitting quietly, finally opened his mouth. My chopsticks froze right before touching a piece of braised fish cake.
"Didn't you already know everything?"
"Know what? You just popped out of nowhere. I don't know a thing."
"Ah—no, wait a minute."
Clack. I set my chopsticks down.
"It's not like you know nothing."
"Still the same selfish conversational skills that don't expect the other person to understand. What good is swinging a blade well if your customer service spirit is abysmal?"
"I didn't mean it like that... Boss."
"What."
"How does my face look?"
Boss scowled deeply.
"Did your madness flare up again?"
"What?"
"A grown man asking how his face looks. Do you like your changed face that damn much?"
"So you mean I look like this face to you too, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then why aren't you surprised?"
"What am I supposed to be surprised about?"
"No, seriously..."
I ruffled my hair roughly. I had forgotten. Back then, even the customers usually couldn't adapt to his insincere way of talking.
'Though in the end, everyone just accepted it, saying he had the face of a true artisan.'
In short, Boss was in no position to preach about customer service spirit to me.
Two of a kind. Boss was no better than me.
The only difference between him and me was talking less versus talking more. Boss was the former, I was the latter.
'Maybe my terrible temper was something I picked up after being tormented by him all this time.'
I felt much more like I was confronting myself now than when I looked in the mirror earlier.
Is this what they call mirror therapy? It's draining all my energy.
"Ever since the past, you pretended to be an adult on the outside, but inside you always wanted to lean on someone."
Boss continued with solemn eyes.
"Look at you even now. You were convinced that I would naturally know. A conversation, by definition, is an exchange of emotions as well as words. One side doing it unilaterally is just a notification."
Ah, I finally realized it. This man...
"I don't know the situation you're in. I'm merely making a rough guess."
...wanted to talk with me.
"So eat while you tell me."
The corners of Boss's mouth remained in a straight line. Yet I, more than anyone, felt a faintly spreading, benevolent smile.
"Tell me what happened in my hometown, and at the academy I established for you."
* * *
Boss listened attentively with his eyes closed to my story. One year since enrolling in Joaquin Academy. I confessed everything that had happened during that time.
Roughly summarized, over the course of that year, I almost died about once a month. No exaggeration, it really was like that. Midterm Exam, Buffalo Dungeon, Avallon, Joaquin Disaster, Gehenna Gate Defense Operation...
...They were incidents and accidents that made me wonder how I was even still alive until now. Whether it was incredible luck or terrible fate, I could only say heaven truly helped me.
Was that all? In the end, I even got beaten by Leon and sent flying into outer space. On top of that, I was slammed into the moon.
My memories cut off there, and now I was sitting face-to-face with Boss having a meal. Saying it out loud, the cause and effect really was bizarre.
'Then again, there was practically no cause and effect when I flew into the world of Miracle Blessing M from Earth, either.'
One day I woke up and found myself possessing someone else's body. There was no trigger like being hit by a truck or falling off a rooftop.
It just happened. It was like that a year and a half ago, and it's pretty similar now.
And the culprit behind this truncated causality sat right in front of me.
The Hero of the Origin, Balor Joaquin. His Earth name was the rather earthy Ho Ak-hyeon.
"...So that's how things turned out."
Boss opened his closed eyes. Contrary to his meaningful words, his tone was remarkably flat.
"Do you have any idea what's going on?"
"Yeah."
"Let me in on it, too. Why did I go to that world? And how did I end up here after filming Drag*n Ball with Leon?"
"Is that a question or a demand?"
Boss countered, resting his chin on his hand.
"A question."
"Your tone says it's a demand."
Boss let out a sigh before speaking.
"The first question is something I can't answer. It wasn't something where my will intervened. All I did was recommend a game shaped like my hometown to you."
Boss wetted his tongue with soju and continued.
"Honestly, I was surprised back then, too. To think the exact academy I established would come out in the form of a game. That was likely the Outer God's will as well."
"...So the culprit who dropped me into Miracle Blessing M isn't you, Boss, but an Outer God."
"Could be, could not be."
"Did you become a Taoist immortal while I was gone? Why did your speech get so vague? It's frustrating to listen to."
"There is no such thing as 'certainty' in the Outer God's will. That Person is merely an observer who extremely dislikes intervening. However, if That Person intervenes to that extent, it's proof that the entire worldline is in danger."
Stopping mid-sentence, Boss rolled his soju glass around in his palm.
"It seems you were dropped there to stop it..."
With his face flushed red, his body was still extremely cost-effective—one glass of soju was enough to get him drunk.
"...Looks like the world is ruined."
Boss muttered like some kind of doomsayer. The world is ruined? Unable to grasp it, I immediately asked.
"What do you mean, the world is ruined?"
"Just as I said. The world—no, the entire worldline will perish."
"Was it ruined by the Hero... Leon von Reinhardt?"
"No."
Boss firmly shook his head. Then he raised his index finger and pointed straight at me.
"You."
My index finger also pointed at myself.
"Me?"
"Yeah. You destroyed it."
I couldn't understand. At my strangely twisted expression, Boss put away the soju glass and filled a beer glass to the brim with soju.
"You know that the power residing in your body is enough to eradicate a world with ease."
"Yes."
Boss said as he brought the beer glass to his lips.
"And you know your body belongs to Lycan."
"Yes."
Red-faced and drunk, he recited like a poet enjoying refined taste.
"What tuned and supported those two was your humanity. But in the end, you abandoned it. Swept away by the impulse to cut down the false gods, you ultimately became drunk on the sword."
Boss downed the half-glass of soju left in the beer mug in one gulp. Uh, that's a lethal dose for that guy.
"You are destined to meet an end like the God of Sword. No, perhaps even worse. The God of Sword committed suicide before destroying the world, but in the end, you will slash and cleave the world apart. It seems the thread of humanity remaining in you brought you here through the Demon Eye Defying Heaven, but the destruction of the world is only a matter of time."
The Boss I remembered always had a cloudless face. However, right now, his expression looked bitter beyond belief. The glass he was downing was a bitter cup in more ways than one.
"I'm sorry..."
Looking at my master, I squeezed out my voice with difficulty. Boss blinked lazily. Perhaps because he had drunk to his limit, his eyelids were visibly swollen.
"What do you have to be sorry for? You did your best."
Boss chuckled faintly.
"I'm not saying this just judging by your story; I know you better than anyone. You did everything you could. I cannot fathom the Outer God's will, but you must have done far beyond That Person's expectations."
I swallowed back a groan. Boss was praising me, but it was painful to hear.
"...Is there no other way?"
"..."
Boss remained silent, staring intently at the beer glass. The dim lights blended like seasoning into the atmosphere of the shop reflected on the glass surface.
Without looking at me, he opened his mouth.
"There is one. But it's not a method I'd recommend to my kid."
"Please tell me."
I pulled my upper body forward and shoved my face closer. Boss opened just one eye to look at me.
"You'll end up thinking dying would be sweeter. Are you still fine with that?"
I answered immediately.
"Yes."
"In the first place, that world isn't even your hometown. You don't need to sacrifice yourself to that extent. So why?"
"It's your hometown, Boss."
I smiled faintly.
"You're my foster father, Boss. So doesn't that practically make it my hometown, too?"
Boss had a blank, stunned expression for a moment. Normally, he'd make that face when he was dumbfounded, followed by a loud scolding.
"Foolish brat."
Yet Boss chuckled. He tossed the beer glass over his shoulder and abruptly started chugging straight from the soju bottle.
Just as I was about to stop him, worried he might actually die from alcohol poisoning, he slammed the soju bottle down and wiped his mouth.
"The beginning and the end are one and the same."
At that moment, as if an earthquake had struck, the table, lights, and various decorations shook violently. Cracks tore through the walls and floor, and pillars of light surged forth through the gaps.
"Return to the Mythic Age, before the beginning. Do so, and you will be able to prevent the foreordained apocalypse."
Beyond the flash splitting my vision, I could see the corners of Boss's lips lifted halfway.
"Run faster than light and reverse time. Turn back everything."
"...!"
As my consciousness faded into the distance...
"I am not the Hero of the Origin."
Boss playfully patted my head with his one remaining hand.
"It will be you, my son."