Chapter 228: Big Brother (22)
...
Jaehwan did not answer. Instead, he thought of Myad and the other Ancient Three Gods. All beings head for the same goal, but they walk different paths. This was also the same. Just like they had different reasons for bringing reaching Transcendence, they all had different feelings at the same destination.
But when he lost everything at the end of the journey, Mulack looked like he was free.
Was it because he gave up? Or was he really free? Jaehwan wasn't sure what Mulack found at the end of his road.
"Mulack. Let me ask you one thing."
At the end of the road, Jaehwan found a question he had forgotten, the question that no one could answer until now. It was a question only Mulack could answer.
"What is the [Nightmare of the Beginning]?"
It was the word that Mulack left on his tower.
Even when he was answered all of his questions, Jaehwan couldn't find out what the Nightmare of the Beginning was. He thought it was meant for <Panopticon> and still thought it was so in some sense. But he wasn't sure yet. It felt like it wasn't enough. Panopticon controlled the world, but it had no way to create it. Then, what was there in the beginning?
[Haha... ha... Nightmare of the Beginning?]
Jaehwan saw madness flashing through Mulack's eyes. The Nightmare who was on the verge of death was on fire for the last time.
[That is the home of all 'Towers'. It's a terrible place, worse than any nightmare. It's the source of all Towers of Nightmares.]
'Is it a place?'
Mulack continued,
[That is not as easy as this world.]
"Not easy?"
[Yes. That doesn't have specific 'eye' like this place, and you don't know who leads the world. The System cannot be shown. Everything is unfair and illogical, but nobody senses it. Besides, there's no Jaehwan there.]
Jaehwan wasn't sure what he was talking about. The maniacal voice even sounded eerie. Mulack raised his voice as blood began to seep out from his mouth.
[Soon... soon, you too will know. I- I wanted to stop that Nightmare from coming down. Keep this flawed System, continue Cultivation, and increase accentuated unique world... to be drunk in those dreams so I can stop the coming fa-....]
Mulack's spirit then began to dissipate. Mulack's eyes turned into disbelief and shock. Jaehwan was also shocked. Mulack was almost on the verge of perishing, but it wasn't consuming him.
But why...?
"He talks too much."
Jaehwan felt his lips moving on its own. Someone else was speaking with his. Jaehwan then looked down at the Void Sword penetrating Mulack's heart. He had killed Mulack. Mulack tried to move his mouth, but he turned into dust.
"...What are you doing?!"
Jaehwan shouted angrily. He hadn't gotten a chance to listen to the important part yet, which made him angrier. Only Mulack could answer his question. Jaehwan then spoke again on his own.
"You promised. I am becoming you now."
So it was him. The time of keeping the promise was coming.
"You have to keep your promise. I waited long enough. I waited 3 billion years."
66666. The clothes that trained the [Fall] for 3 billion years. Jaehwan promised him that if he helped, he would fulfill his request.
"Okay. Take it."
Jaehwan closed his eyes. He felt his conscious being pushed back. He then realized he was no longer 'Jaehwan' anymore. Maybe he was 66667. But he was still Jaehwan and lived as Jaehwan. He felt that was enough. That's when 66666 spoke.
"Is this enough? Are you giving up already?"
Giving up?
"You haven't fulfilled your purpose yet."
Jaehwan wondered if this Jaehwan was making of him, but he answered, 'What are you talking about? It's you who made me give up. You took my spirit and...'
"What are you talking about? I need you. You're the only one who knows the world that the Little Prince traveled in. That lady told me."
Jaehwan was confused. Little Prince? And who was this lady?
"...Was it too difficult? Well, adult languages are difficult. Let me put it this way. You have not gotten to the Nightmare of the Beginning yet. Right?"
Jaehwan felt tense. He shouted frantically, 'Do you know what the Nightmare of the Beginning is-?'
"I need you to get there. Let's say it's a travel partner. Or shall I say, I need a 'fox'?"
'What do you mean?'
"I'm taming you. Just like you tamed me once, I'm taming you now."
'Stop this nonsense.'
Jaehwan shouted in an angry voice.
'I'm just clothes now.'
"No, you are not. You call me Jaehwan and I call you Jaehwan. You are still Jaehwan."
And Jaehwan felt his vision coming back again. His senses were coming back now just like when he had control over his body.
"I told you I wanted to be you, but I didn't ask you to become my 'clothes'. I'm just telling you to have me as part of you. I will never take the spirit away from y ou. I'm still you, remember?"
He continued, "A man without clothes is not a man. A man is just a collection of clothes."
Jaehwan then looked around. Why? Jaehwan then finally was able to see Transcended ones through his own eyes. He able to see them clearly for the first time. He looked at all 15 of them in their eyes.
[Yes. It's us.]
He felt his heart ache. It was them. These were the ones who fought with him throughout all those times.
[Goodbye Jaehwan.]
[That boy fulfilled his wishes, so this is where we part ways.]
Jaehwan wanted to ask what was that supposed to mean.
[The place you'll be going is like that. We can't go to that world. Only you and that boy can go.]
They answered as if they knew what Jaehwan wanted to say. It was obvious as they were 'Jaehwan' too.
[Don't look at us like that. We've lived too long.]
[Long enough that we cannot stay human anymore.]
Jaehwan tried to say something but he couldn't. He held back his feelings and listened to his clothes.
[I envy you.]
[Beings are sometimes very precious things.]
[Don't lose your heart.]
[Even if you don't have power.]
[Even if you don't have knowledge.]
[Even if you don't have hope.]
[Even if you feel despair.]
[Don't lose your heart.]
Jaehwan had no way to press his feelings. Even if he couldn't understand everything, he heard what they were trying to say.
That he did well.
Jaehwan felt the space being dismantled. The power of [Fall] now was coming up to the top of the Tree of Imagery. It also applied to Jaehwan himself. 10 billion memories were fading away.
Wait, there's more. I have more questions. Where am I going now? What do you guys know? You...
The Nightmare of the Beginning is...
But the time came like death. The time that the clothes gave him was taking away those clothes now.
Jaehwan's body became small, as if he was going back from adulthood to a child. Soon, Jaehwan was a ten-year-old boy, as if that was his original self. Jaehwan heard his voice coming out of his mouth.
"Isn't it weird? The end of the [Branch] that holds all the secrets to this world is really similar to the [Roots] of those remote regions... as if its hard to tell which is the branch and which is the root."
Jaehwan saw Tree of Imagery and its barren branches. A lone tree that stood in its bareness.
It was lonely. It really was a lonely tree.
In that loneliness, Jaehwan closed his eyes. There was no world anymore. His job was done. But why did it feel like it wasn't the end?
His world then reached its fall.