Chapter 199
Chapter 199
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 199
Chapter Title: Apology from the Gods
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As they followed Hecup's carriage up the slope, a colossal citadel came into view.
The structure was composed of several tiers. The first tier was a dodecagon, with towers rising at each vertex. Even a single face of it seemed to stretch at least a kilometer, and its height appeared to reach dozens of meters.
Atop it stacked smaller tiers, repeating this pattern six times in total.
The final tier culminated in a triangular prism, each face adorned with geometric patterns reminiscent of lightning bolts or tree branches.
Ramin thought something felt off.
"The tower is incredibly vast, but doesn't it seem a bit strange? The citadel looks far larger than the tower's diameter."
"It is, in fact."
Bion replied.
Ramin waited for further explanation, but even as Hecup resumed moving toward the citadel, no more words came.
The area around the tower was landscaped as gardens, where people of various races strolled, played games with balls on the green fields, or sat in small pavilions within the gardens playing go.
"It doesn't look all that different from below."
"Naturally."
"This might be rude, but it doesn't seem all that different at all."
"Correct."
"Then why hold the trials at all?"
Bion answered.
"Because people desire it."
"There are stories of priests glimpsing the afterlife through dreams and peering into the Trial Tower. If those tales are true, it seems odd that people would crave this."
"It's not odd."
Bion said.
"Some people always strive to become better. Yet there was no clear measure to confirm it. Or rather, there wasn't—until the Trial Tower appeared."
"So they're not taking the trials to come up here, but rather taking the trials because they want to, and that grants them the right to ascend?"
"Exactly. Only then can they enter this upper realm, the Pantheon."
Hecup passed through another gate, then scaled the wall once more.
"Not entering again this time?"
"This way is faster. Curious about the interior?"
"Who living in the Empire wouldn't be curious about the Pantheon?"
"The first tier is mainly used as a library. It holds not only past knowledge but also knowledge of the future that will shape the Empire."
"Knowledge of the future?"
"By the law of causality, knowledge from the Pantheon cannot descend to the mortal world. Conversely, those who enter the Pantheon have already surpassed mortal knowledge."
Sairan spoke up.
"The power I showed you belongs to that category."
Ramin asked with keen interest.
"The power that deflected bullets or sent swords flying? That's future knowledge?"
"Indeed. That power is for the chosen ones like you. It merely changes based on how you perceive it."
"I don't know any such methods."
"You'll learn."
"Can't you just teach me? I've heard people sometimes meet ancestors in dreams and gain clues to vexing problems."
Sairan cut in.
"It would violate causality. Even with the gods' permission, I could share only a little—and you won't have to wait long anyway, so no need to be impatient."
Ramin said.
"It's still puzzling."
"Which part?"
"The dead don't need food or drink, nor beds or rest spaces. Yet the gods built this magnificent realm. So why pursue scholarship and hoard knowledge?"
Bion replied once more.
"The same answer as before. They don't do it out of necessity. They came here because they pursued something better, and they continue because they can't stop. It's not that the gods commanded it; rather, such people drew near to the gods."
Ramin fell into brief thought.
'Does that mean even the beings closest to the gods—the gods themselves—are the same?'
As they ascended another tier, a new vista unfolded.
Things that appeared distant should seem larger upon approach by the rules of the mortal world, yet somehow it looked even more remote.
"Those are merely the mortal world's rules."
On the second tier, people trained in military arts—swinging swords or firing guns. The third tier housed mages, and on the fourth, crowds gathered peering down at what seemed a small lake, but was actually a mirror reflecting the mortal world.
Soon, Hecup surmounted the fifth tier—an observatory—and began scaling the sixth, a long triangular prism.
"What's at the top?"
"The gods reside there."
"...All of them?"
"They're at war, so unavoidably, a few are absent."
"I can't imagine they're waiting for us."
"If you're curious, think what you will."
"...You're saying that after coming all this way, but talking to you feels impossible."
Bion stared fixedly at Ramin before gazing upward where Hecup headed.
To Ramin's interpretation, Bion seemed utterly perplexed.
Ramin tensed as Hecup climbed, watching the carriage wheels crest the tier's edge.
Fortunately, nothing appeared immediately.
From the carriage, dozens of stairs came into view.
Hecup spoke.
"This is as far as we can bring the carriage. From here, we ascend on foot."
Bion said.
"Follow me. Sairan and Hwikyung stand beside me, then Ramin and Juran behind."
Ramin clutched his pounding heart and slowly climbed the stairs.
'What happens now?'
If Hwikyung's fears proved true and she was to be punished for her sins, that would be heartbreaking.
'Can I help Sairan save Hwikyung?'
It was an absurd fancy.
He had just witnessed Yacheon reshaping the world.
No mortal could imitate such a feat.
Resisting it was unimaginable.
'But doing nothing would be the real wrong.'
Hwikyung had suffered enough.
She shouldn't endure more pain.
Hwikyung glanced back, her eyes anxious as if sharing Juran's thoughts.
Their gazes met, and as if reading her mind, she gave a small nod.
'With these three, maybe we can manage something.'
Ascending the stairs revealed a floor paved with gray-white rectangular stones stretching into the distance.
At its end stood ten thrones in a row.
Three seats were empty; the rest occupied.
"The four have arrived."
-Well done.
The voice came from the one at the far end.
An elf.
To Ramin, once human, she appeared incomparably beautiful, sharing the aesthetic sense with elves despite transcending races.
'The Dancing Shadow God, Muyoung.'
Ramin realized all seated were gods.
Mujin with black skin and horns, Mangyeol in a white dress, Sokseon with star-shaped hair, Ambong with a veiled face, Changryu with a goblin-like head.
'And Yacheon too.'
Yacheon, at the center throne, spoke.
-Hwikyung.
Hwikyung, dazed, replied.
"Yes."
As she awkwardly bowed, Yacheon said.
-No need for that. I care nothing for mortal etiquette.
"Ah, yes."
-Do you know why I summoned you?
Hwikyung replied in a trembling voice.
"To punish me, I believe."
-Why think that?
"There are... many reasons."
-Speak them.
Hwikyung said.
"I defied your will to gain eternity through automatons. I became a vampire, craving others' lives to survive. Ultimately, I fell to the Wrathful One's deception. Captured by that god, I borrowed your name to plunge many into delusion."
-Wrong.
Hwikyung's eyes widened at those words.
"Another sin?"
-You committed no sin. Thus, the notion that I summoned you for punishment is mistaken.
Seongun said.
-I summoned you to apologize.
Ramin felt an odd sensation at words he never imagined from a god's mouth.
The others seemed similarly affected.
Hwikyung said.
"Apologize?"
Seongun said.
-To continue the automatons required a human child. So I sent a revelation to Sairan. But Sairan exceeded my expectations in her execution.
Sairan stepped beside Hwikyung and bowed deeply.
"It is my fault. I could not endure the separation otherwise."
-I should never have sent the revelation to begin with. My choice gave the Wrathful One an opening. That is my error. Sairan, you merely made the best choice between divine revelation and the pain of parting.
Hwikyung interjected lightly.
"Then ultimately, it was my own failing..."
-Hwikyung, you have no failing. You fought for your lover and suffered for her. You too made the best choice. I should have seen it sooner. In reading the world's grand changes, I neglected the petty feelings of my faithful. That too is my error.
"Do you really have to go that far?"
Jangwan snarked at Seongun's declaration of apologizing to Hwikyung.
"You've done worse before and never apologized for those. Even if this is a special case, I doubt it."
"True enough."
"So? Does it help the strategy?"
"Possibly, in the long term."
Jangwan eyed Seongun up and down.
"Where's the guy who said he'd apologize?"
"I meant indirectly."
"Indirectly."
"Better for players to game without guilt weighing them down. Mental fortitude wins games, after all."
Jangwan pointed accusingly at Seongun.
"Ah, so that's it. Not genuine remorse, just for your own peace of mind."
"Maybe. ...But don't people who apologize find peace by doing so?"
"How should I know?"
"Right, you wouldn't, since you never do."
"..."
"Not picking a fight."
"I know."
"Just stating facts."
"...Even more annoying."
Jangwan said.
"But seriously, what's the angle?"
"Angle?"
"You could've ignored it like always."
Seongun touched his chin thoughtfully.
"A hobby."
"What?"
"Like Aldi floating in the tub, Krampus drinking, Eeal making frilly clothes, or Wisdom trying to build a computer with rubber bands—I'm pursuing leisure too."
Jangwan was flustered.
Seongun, whose only hobby had been gaming, claiming a hobby was fine, but it still boiled down to gaming.
'Does this guy not get why others have hobbies?'
Seongun continued.
-The mortal war grows dire, forcing me to summon you here instead of descending. I didn't gauge if you'd accept an apology; I simply did what I could.
"...Such words are undeserved."
-I'm sorry, Hwikyung. Whether you accept is your choice. I can't heal the time filled with pain.
"No. This is already more than I deserve."
Hwikyung blinked to hold back tears.
Ramin witnessed a god apologize to a human.
An unforgettable sight.
Only now did he grasp the relationship between gods and humans.
He had seen gods use humans as tools, accepting only that vast gulf.
Discarded when no longer useful.
But gods held emotions toward humans.
They could apologize.
Meaning when gods thrust harsh trials upon people, they felt pain too.
The gods knew suffering.
'Our world presses toward its destination, enduring such pain.'
Seongun said.
-However... I can at least finish what began long ago but never started.
"Pardon?"
-Bion, begin.
Bion bowed deeply to Seongun before straightening.
"The wedding ceremony of Sairan and Hwikyung now commences. Guests, take your places!"