The Temple (2)
"An epic poem, out of nowhere? I'm hardly a poet."
Yang Myeonghyeon shrugged with a look of sheer bafflement.
Of course he'd be flustered if you asked him to compose a poem on the spot.
But if I want to connect Greek and Roman mythology to Yang Myeonghyeon's traits, literature is really the only way.
"Docent. Among the epic poems of Greek and Roman mythology — hmm, Homer. No, wait — find me Hesiod's poetry."
Shhhk—
When the woman lifted the lid of the great jar
and with her hands scattered all its woes abroad,
countless sorrows poured out to wander the earth.
Yet Hope alone remained within,
unbreakable jar, resting just beneath the rim.
…….
…….
…….
The epic poem that mentioned Pandora's Box unspooled before us in full.
Yang Myeonghyeon swallowed his embarrassment and speed-read through the poem floating on his Leaflet.
"You can't just recite it as written. You need to reinterpret the poem to weaken Zeus's resolve, even a little."
"I've drafted things before, but I've never improvised spoken word on the spot.... Very well. I'll try."
After a brief moment of deliberation, Yang Myeonghyeon rose from his seat with a resolute expression. Then he opened his mouth and began to recite, his voice clear and unwavering.
"Mankind was left with no way to escape Zeus's merciless will. And so the world filled with calamity."
"…?!!"
A radical opening line that launched a direct attack on the god before us.
Zeus's face twisted in an instant.
It'll be fine, right? This.
The lightning bolt crackling in Zeus's hand suggested that no, it was very much not fine.
"What do you think you are doing—?!"
"Whoa, hold on a moment!"
KRAKOOM—
Zeus's lightning flared, thunder rumbling in its wake. Shadows crept slowly across the bright temple, drawing it into darkness.
Forget the darkness — lightning is a hard no…!!
I hurriedly grabbed Yang Myeonghyeon and clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Hey there, Yang Myeonghyeon. Composing a magnificent poem is all well and good, but how about we lead with the conclusion for once?"
"If we hope to touch Zeus's heart, surely a slow build is the better approach, is it not?"
"……."
At this rate, we'll be reduced to a fistful of ash before we ever get around to touching anyone's heart.
…Still, for now I have no choice but to trust the expert.
I decided to put my faith in Yang Myeonghyeon — at least until he'd said too much about Zeus.
He flashed me a smile, apparently fairly confident in himself.
"Thank you, Jisan-hyung. Now—"
Because Pandora at last sealed the lid of the jar,
Hop remained within the unbreakable vessel, waiting in the dark.
O fire — language of the gods and breath of humankind.
I dared to sing of you.
The raging flame tore my flesh and stole my breath,
yet within the eyes of humanity, a small flame endured.
Fire is no sin — fire is hope itself.
Hope is not what remains alone; it is the crouch that waits for its hour.
When we pray, our hands reach not toward the pitch-black dark, but toward the bright flash of light.
"And so hear me, O Zeus. Even within your silence, mankind craves fire still — that it may go on praying."
"……."
Yang Myeonghyeon had recited a genuinely magnificent poem, like some bard of the ancient world.
Granted, he wasn't a poet, so the meter and the structure were a little rough around the edges.
But I felt certain this poem could move Zeus.
…He sang of mankind's desperate hope while also expressing faith in a transcendent being.
To compose something like this in such a short span of time.
He was being modest, lowering himself, but Yang Myeonghyeon might well be a far more seasoned writer than his years suggested.
"……."
Zeus rested his chin on his hand and closed his eyes in contemplation.
Yang Myeonghyeon and I swallowed hard and waited for his reaction.
At last, Zeus opened his eyes and broke into a hearty laugh directed at Yang Myeonghyeon.
"…So you have moved me after all, bard."
"Thank you."
We did it!
Yang Myeonghyeon bowed with practiced calm.
Zeus's demeanor had shifted noticeably in our favor.
Apparently Yang Myeonghyeon's reinterpreted poem had struck quite a chord with him.
Unlike the plot-driven original, Yang Myeonghyeon's poem was mostly about expressing meaning.
That very approach might have been what managed to capture Zeus's heart.
"Yes. Hope is a truly beautiful thing. Mankind is a creature that lives on that very hope."
Zeus bowed forward and extended his hand toward us.
The enormous hand flew at our faces — I was so startled I nearly dove out of the way.
"It grieves me to take the hope of such frail creatures as you."
Then don't take it. Just let us keep it.
He hymned the beauty of hope at such length, and now he means to take our offering without a shred of mercy.
Maybe it was just me, but even his expression of regret sounded fairly ceremonial.
"But that, too, is the inexorable order of things. O humans who must now live without hope. Dream once more."
"Yes…."
My hand, outstretched to hand over the box, trembled faintly.
Thoughts collided and clattered inside my skull.
In the Gates of Hell quest on the first floor, I resolved to dream again even after losing hope. But….
Even if this was a choice made for survival, just like on the first floor —
was it truly wise to surrender my hope, meekly, to a being called a god?
"Jisan-hyung?"
When I kept hesitating, Yang Myeonghyeon urged me on from the side.
"Surrender your hope."
If we handed it over like this, calamity would be all this mythic world had left.
…Fine.
"Ah—"
My grip suddenly went slack, and the box slipped from my hand and clattered to the floor.
"My hand just — slipped. I'm terribly sorry."
I turned around, crouched down, and picked up the tumbling box.
Zeus, spectating my awkward fumbling, let out a mighty yawn. I hurried to present the box to him before he could fly into another rage.
"We hereby offer our precious sacrifice to Lord Zeus."
"Haha. Yes, I accept it gratefully. I cannot allow you to keep the fire, but I shall permit your infiltration of Olympus."
What a relief. Yang Myeonghyeon and I let out a sigh of relief in unison.
I bowed my head in thanks to Zeus.
"Thank you. Then, might we look around a little longer?"
"Of course. Take your time, and when you wish to return to the world of men, summon Hermes."
"You're truly sparing us? You won't harm us?"
"Did I not just say it? So long as you do not take the fire, I shall overlook your transgression. I swear it upon the River Styx."
The Oath of the River Styx.
In Greek and Roman mythology, this oath must be kept by the gods themselves, no exceptions.
Zeus had invoked that absolute oath in order to place his trust in frail humans.
"So long as you do not steal this god's fire, I shall be merciful."
Right. He's a god, so he does have a reasonably merciful side after all.
Our business was done — no reason to linger and fidget in front of Zeus any longer.
After a few more mechanical bows and formulas of gratitude, I began inching toward the exit.
"Thank you. We'll go take a look around elsewhere, then."
"You're not thinking of visiting Hephaestus, are you? Haha!!"
"We don't even know the way there."
Zeus's booming laughter rang through the temple — loud enough to leave my ears ringing. I just barely managed to stifle it, forcing a strained smile as we made our getaway.
"Right, Myeonghyeon. Let's walk faster and faster. Slowly, so it doesn't look suspicious."
"I was wrong."
"Sorry?"
Yang Myeonghyeon, walking behind me, wore a deeply conflicted expression.
Unlike my hurried footsteps, his shoes stayed glued heavily to the floor.
And then—
[Quite right.]
[Visitor Kim Jisan.]
[Visitor Yang Myeonghyeon.]
We'd walked just far enough that Zeus was out of sight — and now the Curator's voice echoed around us.
From the robe floating in midair, a pair of human arms and a plaster neck emerged.
"Appearing out of nowhere like that — I nearly mistook you for one of the statues on display here."
The Curator clutched his belly in a comically exaggerated posture of laughter. Then he jiggled his robe and straightened himself up at once.
The Curator's shadow, pooling on the floor, stretched longer and longer, lending the air a sinister pall.
"So my fears were justified after all."
Yang Myeonghyeon, who had been silently enduring the Curator's sniping, finally let his head drop.
"…Is there really such a thing as superior and inferior, between gods and men?"
The Curator spread both arms wide and waved them about triumphantly. Having toyed with us to his heart's content, he couldn't hide his giddiness.
I glared at the Curator and simply listened for a long while to his prattling.
And then, at last, I couldn't hold back the twitch at the corner of my mouth any longer — it curled upward.
"Why would we lose hope?"
As my lips drew into a smile, the Curator shook his neck in apparent confusion.
Presumably he wanted to tilt his head.
KA-BOOM—!!
A bolt from the heavens detonates the pillar — and the Curator
A bolt of lightning plunged from the sky and blew the pillar and the Curator to pieces.
The explosion swallowed the surroundings, dust and smoke billowing thick across my vision.
I threw up my arms to shield my face from the Curator's flying plaster shards.
"UWAAAAAAAAAH—!!!"
Zeus's furious roar shook the very earth.
"RUN!!"
I signaled to Yang Myeonghyeon and sprinted at full, insane speed.
One wrong move and a lightning bolt would leave us in exactly the same state as the Curator.
KA-BOOM!
Every time Zeus bellowed, thunder and lightning came crashing down.
The bolts struck agonizingly close behind us.
Unlike lightning in the real world, the light plunged into the ground like a blade driven into the earth.
Truly worthy of Zeus — devastating offensive power.
"Gah…!"
"Jisan-hyung — did you, by any chance, touch the box?"
"When I took out the hope, I swapped it with what I was carrying."
The fact that the substitute happened to be the Useless Dagger with the broken handle must have infuriated Zeus all the more when he opened the box.
What could I do? It was the only item I had on me.
"I thought Yang Myeonghyeon's killer poem would earn us a little grace, but in the end he wasn't willing to grant it — he just tried to take our hope!"
All the grinding slog of climbing had apparently paid off in some small way, because my sprint was faster than I expected.
I kept talking, a triumphant grin plastered across my face.
Running full tilt while explaining myself at the same time — my hands were utterly full.
"Just like Yang Myeonghyeon said! Handing over hope just like that would be a crying shame! Especially when he isn't giving us anything else in return!!"
I had deliberately dropped the box, turned my body away from Zeus, and flipped the lid open. Then I slipped the Useless Dagger inside and handed the box straight back to him.
I'd moved my hand with every ounce of strength I had, moving so fast that even Yang Myeonghyeon, standing right beside me, hadn't noticed.
"You ignorant mortals—!!"
"But Jisan-hyung, at this rate the lightning is going to catch us!"
Zeus's voice, booming in the distance, was drawing nearer by the second.
KA-BOOM!
"Ugh—!"
The ground where the bolt struck exploded, and we pitched forward onto our faces.
Coughing, I barely managed to haul my battered body up off the ground.
They had us cornered at last. The next bolt would consume us for sure. But—
I secured a very convenient oath when I handed over the box.
"I SWEAR IT UPON THE RIVER STYX!!"
I screamed the invocation at the top of my ruined lungs.
Did I not just say it? So long as you do not take the fire, I shall overlook your transgression. I swear it upon the River Styx.
I was making Zeus recall the very oath he had spoken moments ago.
"……."
"……."
The thunder and lightning tearing the temple apart stopped dead.
"When you steal the fire…. Then — and only then — shall I hurl my lightning."
Zeus's final words faded into the distance, thick with killing intent.
In any case, the surroundings had fallen quiet — Zeus had apparently departed.
"I think he's gone."
"I believe we've earned ourselves a lasting grudge. But thanks to you, Jisan-hyung, the quest can continue."
Yang Myeonghyeon and I kneaded our aching bodies and finally allowed ourselves to breathe.
If I were my old self, I'd have flinched at every bolt that landed anywhere nearby. But the thrill of landing a hit on the Curator made me forget my fear, if only for a moment.
Maybe there simply hadn't been time to feel afraid in the middle of that headlong sprint.
And yet, strangely, my breathing had been steadier when the bolts were flying close than it had been when Zeus held the lightning in his hand.
Is this the beneficial function of revenge?
Just then, the Curator strolled calmly out of the smoke that filled the temple.