Chapter 18. Those Trying to Understand Me.
Chapter 18. Those Trying to Understand Me.
The moment she confirmed her parents' faces, Chaeyeon burst into tears like a child and threw her arms around them. They were crying just as hard.
Taking the hint, the rest of us quietly stepped outside to give them space.
"What a relief... In a world like this, to be reunited with your own flesh and blood as if by a miracle..."
"I'm so glad you got to see your parents too, unnie!"
"Ahem, truly glad for you, miss..."
I could sense relief, envy, and other emotions from them. But there wasn't a trace of spite mixed in—everyone's happiness for her was genuine.
'These people had all but accepted their parents were dead...'
A little while later, Chaeyeon and her parents came back out. The moment the old man saw me, he called out like he was truly happy to see me.
"You little punk... you've gotten so tall since I last saw you. Chaeyeon told me everything. Thank you for protecting my daughter, and... you've been through hell getting back here."
The old man and his wife didn't say another word—they just hugged me. They seemed to actually believe the absurd story about me being stranded on Titan.
Nearby stood the same man who'd been speaking with us earlier, and a middle-aged woman holding a staff and wearing sunglasses.
"With all the chaos earlier, I never got the chance to ask your name. My apologies. I'm Seo Ji-hoon."
I waved a hand to say it was fine. Then I introduced myself and the others. Chaeyeon was still inside, so I introduced her on her behalf.
'This must be the woman with the special ability he mentioned earlier.'
"Pleased to meet you. Cheon Sihu, was it? I'm Im Ji-hye."
"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Cheon Sihu. As you've probably heard, we came from Seoul."
"Actually, the reason I went out of my way to come here is that you, Mr. Sihu, are unusual."
"Unusual... how?"
"Yes. Most people have a clear distinction between good and evil. At worst, it's half and half. But with you, there's something... off. You're different from other Awakened, too."
She went on. She said that for ordinary Awakened, she could feel a pulse near the heart—but with me, she felt an incomparable pulse radiating from my entire body.
"And... you're a strange being who has taken countless lives, yet you don't lean toward evil."
I don't know what she saw inside me, but the moment she finished speaking, she was drenched in sweat and collapsed.
"If I had to define it... a Chaos without Order..."
"Ji-hye ssi!"
Seo Ji-hoon hurriedly caught her as she crumpled and carried her away.
"Haha, my apologies. She's exhausted. If you'll excuse us."
'No. She saw something inside me. She must have glimpsed—however faintly—my karma and my origins. And she couldn't bear it mentally.'
My companions probably had a pretty good idea what she was talking about. They'd seen my memories. They knew I'd really taken countless lives—but that the people I'd killed had never been innocent.
To change the mood, I spoke up.
"How about we have some meat for the first time in a while? There's plenty to share with the people here, too. And let's have a drink, while we're at it."
At the thought of drinking for the first time in ages, everyone was smiling.
We got their permission and headed up to the rooftop. While we ate, we heard from Chaeyeon how her parents ended up here.
"So, you know Dad runs a defense contractor, right? He traveled a lot for work anyway."
Her father said that as soon as things went to hell, he and her mother went straight into a private bomb shelter. As time passed, he decided to try calling for help and started constantly transmitting over the radio.
Day after day of what seemed like meaningless effort—until one day, they happened to pick up a signal from a nearby military unit. The soldiers linked up with them, gathered all the food, and established their base of operations inside this department store. When I asked how they happened to have a bomb shelter in the first place—
"When he said he was going to build a bomb shelter, we all tried to stop him. Called it a waste of money. Mom even whacked him on the back and asked if he was crazy. But thinking about it now, that's the reason they're still alive, hee-hee."
'Do you have to be able to see this far ahead to succeed in business? Impressive...'
"And the officer in charge here—Dad said it turned out to be someone he'd gotten to know at some weapons conference way back. Lucky break, right?"
'It takes luck to succeed in business, too, I see.'
Maybe thanks to the alcohol, the old man's face had gone red, and he laughed heartily as he spoke.
"Bwahaha! Coincidence piled on coincidence—at this point, meeting like this must've been fate."
"So, Mr. and Mrs. Lee—you believe that I went to Titan and came back?"
"Of course they didn't believe it at first. But then I showed them the staff you gave me and a few spells, and they believed."
"They accepted it more easily than I expected..."
"They're rational, that's all. Think about it: even the look of this staff alone—it'd be impossible to make. It's not something I'd normally carry around. In a world like this, who'd be crazy enough to lug this thing around if it weren't real?"
Actually, even a stranger would probably feel that this wasn't an object from Earth. It was crafted so that the wood coiled upward from the base like a serpent, and at the top, a jewel floated suspended in the empty space between the coils.
"By the way, that woman earlier—she seemed to know something about you."
"That's right. I was meaning to ask you, son—who exactly is she?"
"Hm... have any of you ever heard of 'karma'?"
"Mr. Cheon, are you talking about that karma stuff?"
"In a sense, it's similar. It's the accumulation of your deeds forming a law of causality that later influences whatever you do."
"..."
"Hm... Did I make it too complicated? To put it simply: if you commit a great sin, you'll definitely face punishment someday. You've heard that, right?"
"Isn't this what Buddhism talks about? Like, when something bad happens, people say you committed a great sin in a past life."
"Right. Ordinary people accumulate karma—whether big or small. Whether they're virtuous or evil. And what's accumulated becomes the law of causality. That law is applied and influences your next life."
"The more I hear, the more my head hurts. So, to sum it up: if you're bad, you go to hell; if you're good, you go to heaven. Is that about right?"
I thought there was no simpler way to put it, and I let out a quiet laugh.
"Fine, let's say you're right. Then why did she collapse?"
"Because the amount of karma I carry is more than an ordinary person can bear. There are things in this world you shouldn't know—things you shouldn't even be curious about."
Maybe talking made my throat dry. I took a sip of water and kept going.
"She tried to confirm that, couldn't endure it, and collapsed."
"Then... are you saying you're the kind of being people shouldn't even be curious about? What happens to you... in the end...?"
"Hang on, brother. We saw your past, and we came out fine, didn't we?"
"That's because I permitted it, and I personally intervened. The old man's right—even the gods can't escape the law of causality. If someone were to become an existence that transcends even that law..."
"..."
"Truth is, I've never seen anyone like that."
"Can't you answer my question?"
I gave a bitter smile and said nothing.
The more perceptive ones would understand. I had transcended it. And that if they heard the answer, something beyond their ability to endure would happen.
When I didn't speak, the old man suddenly stared at me with a burning gaze.
"No matter what anyone says, you're a human being. I, Chu Seong-geun, guarantee it."
"He's right! Where else would you find someone as human as you, Mr. Cheon!"
"Pff-haha! You're right. I am human."
Truthfully, Titan was a peculiar planet. Gods could directly intervene there, and a place called the Pantheon existed where countless gods dwelled. Even they probably couldn't transcend the law of causality—but I had done it. That's exactly how I was able to use a dimensional passage to return to Earth without any repercussions.
While we were chatting warmly, someone opened the rooftop door and stepped in.
"Huh? Mom, Dad—what are you doing up here?"
"Do we need a reason to come see our daughter?"
"Geez... so corny... Sit down and eat with us."
"We already ate plenty downstairs, dear. Honestly, we came up because there's something we wanted to talk to Sihu about."
Startled by suddenly being summoned, I looked at the old man and his wife. They opened the rooftop door and we stepped into the stairwell to talk.
"Sihu, we heard about things from Chaeyeon. And the woman showed us a rough picture of you as well."
"Like she said, we've come to understand things in quite a bit of detail—though not everything."
"Though for some reason, we were only allowed to see a small portion."
'She showed them? She has that kind of ability, too?'
The old man and his wife placed their hands over mine as I gripped the railing.
"All that time... I can't even begin to fathom how you endured it..."
"When you say she showed you—"
"As one human being, I respect you deeply."
"Please don't say that. I only... I had something to aim for. That's all."
Hearing my answer, the old man and his wife pulled me into an embrace. Then his wife spoke.
"You can depend on us more, just like the old days. On Chaeyeon, and... on the other 'people' around you, too. You are not alone."
In an instant, all my thoughts—wondering what and how that blind woman had shown them—vanished.
Standing there, in a concrete stairwell thick with the stale, decaying smell, I felt something I'd never experienced in my entire life—not on Earth, and not on Titan either.
And that feeling was unlocking something inside me.