Chương 720: 2012th Cycle's First Day

Kugugugugugugu!

Time rewinds.

Within the flow of reversing time, I gaze up at the sky.

Beneath the black sky, I see new beings, and fallen beings also come into view.

The Ring and Seat symbolizing the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld still shine the brightest.

And the Seat of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity now shines just as brightly.

The two Seats shine the brightest, and beneath them, the Seats and Rings of the Naming Supreme Deity, Swallowing Heaven Supreme Deity, Liberation Supreme Deity, and Emptiness Supreme Deity emit their light.

The Seat of the Heavenly Punishment Supreme Deity, which was taken by Jeon Myeong-hoon, has completely vanished.

And the Seats of the Sal Tree Heavenly Venerable and the Heavenly Venerable of Void have grown so faint they are nearly invisible.

The Heavenly Venerable of Time, perhaps having recovered some strength compared to before, shines to a certain extent, but still dimmer than the Seats of the Supreme Deities.

The Seats of the Heavenly Punishment, Sal Tree, and Void are either completely gone or so faint they are no different from being gone.

So, in truth, only the six Seats of: the Underworld, Great Mountain, Naming, Swallowing Heaven, Liberation, and Emptiness remain.

However, the Seat of Time barely clings on, making it look as though seven Seats still shine.

And then, there are the new Seats that have appeared.

Golden Speed Heavenly King (金迅天王).

Red Pearl Cycling Heavenly King (赤珠轉天王).

Lapis Lazuli Flower Heavenly King (瑠璃花天王).

'Three Governing Immortals have fallen from the existing order. Three new Heavenly Kings have joined.'

In the end, among the Seats in the sky capable of influencing the world, the count returns back to the original number of ten.

As I ascend against the flow of time, I sense Jeon Myeong-hoon and Kang Min-hee becoming aware of me and following me into the new cycle.

'Compared to before... this warmth is truly extravagant.'

I sense the warmth of those following me and smile sorrowfully.

'But... those who are left behind...'

While the other comrades might one day become Heavenly Kings and regain memories of past cycles, What should be done for those who have no such possibility?

Paaaatt!

Before I know it, I have returned once more, and with a melancholic heart in the new cycle, I softly call out the name of the one most precious to me who was unable to regress with me.

"Ran... ah..."

Now, everything with my child...

Has vanished beyond that timeline.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

As I recall that, I feel an uncontrollable trembling in my heart.

Perhaps because time has reversed, the name 'Oh Hyun-seok' comes back to me.

My friend lives again, and has not died.

However...

My child remains unborn.

At that fact, I am seized by a hollowness so great I cannot even find the words.

'Did I... do the right thing?'

Countless questions drift through my mind, and the painful turmoil sets fire to my chest.

Just as my heart wavers— Cheok— Someone grabs my shoulder.

"... You..."

Jeon Myeong-hoon stands to my left, placing his hand on my shoulder and nodding.

My point of regression is the Outer Sea.

But perhaps because he himself is now a Heavenly King, he can cross such distances in an instant.

And just as I stare blankly at him, someone suddenly grabs my right shoulder.

It's Kang Min-hee.

"Seo Eun-hyun. I have something to say."

In this Outer Sea, where the Great Mountain Supreme Deity for some reason refrains from attacking me and conceals his presence, Jeon Myeong-hoon speaks quietly.

"Honestly... we never had a proper moment to talk. I figured I can't keep putting it off... so I'm saying it now."

"... What is it?"

"It's something I realized after recalling the past cycles, but... you really did save us a lot. Even though I tried to throw you as fox food."

"... Kuk."

We all let out a small laugh at Jeon Myeong-hoon's half-joking words.

"To be honest, back then, I was going to beat you up and offer you up in place of Seo Eun-hyun."

"Eh, eh?"

Kang Min-hee recalls the first cycle and brings up her true feelings from that time, and Jeon Myeong-hoon looks at her with a slightly appalled expression.

At the sight, I let out another faint chuckle.

My gloomy and shaken heart...

Thanks to them, has settled down just a little.

"... So, what is it you want to say?"

"All of us... were saved by you."

Jeon Myeong-hoon drops his smile and continues in a more serious tone.

"So, Seo Eun-hyun. You are now... no, honestly, since long ago... regardless of status or relationship from Earth, you are essentially our pillar. You are our Lord (主君)."

"... So you're telling me to stop wavering because I'm the leader?"

I try to read their inner thoughts using Indra's Net, but perhaps they did something with the power of the absolute before coming to the Outer Sea—because I can't read their inner thoughts easily. So I ask them directly to understand their true feelings.

"... Yeah, even for your sake, wavering is..."

"I'm not trying to tell you to not waver."

Jeon Myeong-hoon cuts me off and speaks.

"If it's to steady your wavering heart... we'll do whatever it takes. So Seo Eun-hyun... give us your command."

"What...?"

At my response, this time Kang Min-hee speaks.

"You are our head. Our leader. Our Lord! So, if there's something that brings pain to your heart... give us your order. If you give us your command, we'll do anything to carry it out. Just like you faced the impossible for us... we'll face 'any impossibility' for you. So Seo Eun-hyun. Your pain... share it with us. Tell us to achieve what you want the most, and command us."

"... What are you saying? What I want the most is..."

"Seo Eun-hyun. What's your dream?"

"... What?"

"Your dream... the desire you most long to fulfill. Tell us. And... command us to help you achieve it."

"... Kang Min-hee... I appreciate the sentiment, but... my dream is your dream. All of you making it back home and living happily is more than enough..."

"Seo Eun-hyun."

Then, Kang Min-hee looks me straight in the eyes and leans in close.

Her forehead nearly touches mine.

Is it perhaps due to the power of the absolute? Kang Min-hee's eyes are dyed deep blue.

Within those deep blue eyes...

I feel a warmth, like I'm being embraced.

"Say it."

"... Wh-What..."

"The desire you carry... Before, I couldn't read you at all, but now I can. Only after becoming a Heavenly King did I learn your greatest secret... and through that secret... I could infer it."

"..."

"Tell me, Seo Eun-hyun."

'No.'

I don't want to ask my friends for the impossible.

But as if reading my heart, Kang Min-hee speaks again.

"Tell us, Seo Eun-hyun. You don't need to ask. Just give the command. If you do... we will make it happen, no matter what."

'No.'

Jeon Myeong-hoon opens his mouth.

"I ask you as a friend. Give us the command, Seo Eun-hyun."

Bududuk...

'No...'

How do they know?

Even if they've discovered the truth about regression, this secret was the one buried deep inside...

How in the world do they...

"... As your friend. And... as your child's friend... I'm asking you."

'No...'

At Kang Min-hee's words, I grit my teeth, feeling as if my entire body is about to collapse.

But I must endure.

If I say it...

They will continuously grind themselves down in pursuit of an impossible goal...

For the sake of my personal desire, I cannot force sacrifice upon my friends...

"Give the command, Seo Eun-hyun. Just one word is enough. Just like how you risked your life countless times to save us... let us also risk our lives for the dream you desire."

'N...'

"This too, is our choice and our life... Please remember that."

"..."

'Aaah...'

"... Kang... Min... hee... Jeon... Myeong... hoon..."

I feel my body trembling uncontrollably.

Even I, who possess a transcendental level of self-discipline that has reached the ultimate of Martial Arts, cannot control my lips.

More than the pressure of any absolute existence I've ever felt until now, Kang Min-hee and Jeon Myeong-hoon's request is harder to endure.

No...

It is impossible.

"I... command... you..."

I speak with my hands and feet shaking, my voice trembling, and tears flowing.

'I'm... the worst...'

Just by placing this impossible burden on those I hold dear— I find myself unable to endure, feeling pathetic and repulsive at myself.

'In the end...'

"I... want to... meet them... again..."

'I... said it...'

I spit out to them the desire I had most desperately yearned for in my heart.

"I want to meet... the connections of my past... just once more... again... I want...! To turn back time...!"

The most contradictory statement for a regressor.

But that's how desperate I am.

I...

I want to go to those past timelines...

And meet the connections from those timelines once more.

Just knowing that they weren't illusions that ceased to exist was an overwhelming salvation in itself.

But perhaps it's true when they say human desire has no end. The moment I realized that truth, I couldn't suppress the new yearning.

Until now, I've only endured through transcendent self-restraint, never speaking it aloud.

But I...

I want to meet them again.

In whatever form!

"Please... let me... meet my past connections... the life of that past time... again..."

Thus, I spill forth my deepest and greatest desire to return to the timelines already passed...

Before Kang Min-hee and Jeon Myeong-hoon.

Before my most beloved friends.

I reveal it all.

Cheok, cheok!

"I've said it before, but you are already... our Lord."

Jeon Myeong-hoon lowers his head in a bow.

"Therefore, if you command it, then as many times as you wish..."

Kang Min-hee steps back from me and bows with her eyes ablaze.

"We shall obey!"

"Your command!"

At those words, Kang Min-hee grabs my hand, and Jeon Myeong-hoon takes hold of my arm from the opposite side and stomps his foot down.

Kwarururung!

It happens in an instant.

We begin transcending the world, turning into a single streak of lightning.

Pachijijijik!

Jeon Myeong-hoon seems to accelerate faster than light in an instant, then immediately reaches Kim Yeon and Oh Hye-seo in the Outer Sea, snatches them up, and sets them down in Mount Sumeru before accelerating again.

"Huaaaaaaaa!!"

"Jeon Myeong-hoon!?"

I begin to panic as I see Jeon Myeong-hoon squeezing out far more strength than necessary.

And at that moment, Jeon Myeong-hoon's form begins to change.

"...!!?"

He begins to draw forth all his power from the Origin Essence of Heavenly Punishment and the Absolute.

Jeon Myeong-hoon's body transforms.

With three eyes on one head, three heads on one neck, and four arms on each shoulder, he changes into the form of a Vajra.

Kwajijijik!

Transformed into the figure of three heads, nine eyes, and eight arms, and having drawn out all the power of the absolute, Jeon Myeong-hoon lets out a great roar.

"Kuhaaaaaaaa!"

Kwarururung!

For an instant, I feel Jeon Myeong-hoon transcend the world at transcendent speed, using the power of the 'Absolute'.

At that moment, I see a familiar scene.

'This is...'

The very beginning point of creation that I once reached with Kim Young-hoon.

The outskirts of the Akashic Records!

The other side of spacetime!

The flow of countless timelines shaped like a [baby] becomes visible up close.

However, while Kim Young-hoon had moved so far that the [baby] looked small, Jeon Myeong-hoon, whether due to the nature of his authority or his strength, has only barely moved away from it.

"I can break away for a moment if I add the spell Returning Lightning Strike on top of my authority of the Absolute..."

Kurururung!

'With Returning Lightning Strike... he can partially break away from the very timeline I regress into...!?'

Is this the authority of Jeon Myeong-hoon, who has reached Heavenly King!?

As I flinch in shock, Kang Min-hee, who is holding my hand, tightens her grip and speaks.

"Look... Seo Eun-hyun. This is the way we intend to repay you."

Chechechechechet!

And then...

As her next action unfolds, my eyes widen.

I tremble, struck by a shock greater than anything I have ever received.

"... Ah... aaaahh..."

The 'lines' extending from Kang Min-hee intertwine and twist together, forming another Indra's Net.

She is creating a law web that belongs to her.

But it doesn't end there.

Her law web seems to grow thicker and darker, and soon it extends to those far reaches of spacetime, taking on yet another form.

It rather resembles...

A hammock-like 'bridge'.

Chwararararak!

Then, from Kang Min-hee's body, overwhelming dark blue petals begin to flow out, completing the bridge.

Splurt!

And perhaps due to the excessive forceful use of her authority, divine blood pours out from all seven of Kang Min-hee's orifices.

"Kang Min-hee!"

But despite my cry, she continues to wring out her authority with the resolve to burn away her life.

"Huaaaaaaaa!"

Chwararararak!

The lines of law form the bones, and the petals that flow out from Kang Min-hee's body form the flesh.

Urururung!

Kang Min-hee's form transforms in an instant.

She bears a medicine bottle atop her head, and has changed into the image of a Bodhisattva radiating a blue hue from her entire body.

Her essence as the Lapis Lazuli Flower Heavenly King (瑠璃花天王) is revealed, and she radiates the power of the Absolute.

"Stop it, Kang Min-hee!"

And only when I shout in desperation does she finally realize that no matter how much more power she squeezes out, the bridge can no longer be completed. She gives a self-deprecating smile and ceases her effort.

'Half' of the massive bridge is complete.

"Look... Seo Eun-hyun."

Kang Min-hee returns to her original form and pants heavily.

I hold her, who seems about to collapse, in my arms...

And at the same time, I gaze blankly at the 'half-bridge' she has created.

The end of that bridge...

Points toward the 2011th cycle's timeline.

Tsuuaaaaaaaa!

Jeon Myeon-hoon has also returned to his original form, having exhausted all of his strength, and we begin to be pulled back into the timeline under the attraction force of the 2012th cycle.

The familiar Mount Sumeru begins to appear once again.

As we are pulled into Mount Sumeru, Kang Min-hee and Jeon Myeong-hoon firmly grasp my hands.

"It's not... impossible. We will... make your dream come true. If we combine our strength... it's definitely possible...! So, Seo Eun-hyun."

She smiles confidently, just like before, and says,

"Don't be too sad. I'll bear your sorrow for you. And... everyone will push you forward. From now on... let's go together."

I grit my teeth against the rising surge in my chest.

Until now...

I have been so utterly alone.

No one who stood by me understood my situation.

I wasn't even allowed to speak this secret to anyone, so for a long and longer time...

I...

"Thank you..."

I lived burying an impossible dream in my heart.

I embrace Kang Min-hee and Jeon Myeong-hoon tightly, shedding tears as we fall together back into Mount Sumeru.

"When everything is over... with everyone together... let's watch the story I went through..."

"... Yeah. Once everything is over, let's definitely do that."

The first day of the 2, 012th cycle.

Thanks to the friends who are now becoming Heavenly Kings one by one...

I receive the greatest comfort I could ever be given and reaffirm my goal.

No—more accurately, perhaps I should say that a dream has been born.

My dream is...

To someday look back on all the past timelines together with my friends...

All together.

With no one dying, and everyone safe.

If that alone could be achieved...

Then life would be the greatest blessing of all.

"Life is..."

Kim Yeon and the Immortal Treasures who notice my existence in Mount Sumeru come toward us to receive us.

Hong Fan rushes over in a hurry with open arms toward us, who are falling from outside the timeline, and Kim Yeon, using the power of the Bright Cold Realm, heals our internal injuries inflicted from transcending the timeline.

"... a blessing."

"Master...!"

Hong Fan flies over to me and asks how I am, and I smile in the embrace of my friends.

From far away, the presence of the Naming Supreme Deity is felt.

Since the point of my regression is the Outer Sea, it seems Hyeon Rang has kidnapped Hyun-seok Hyung-nim taking advantage of that gap, as I can sense his presence from Hyeon Rang's direction.

And judging by how I am gradually forgetting O■ seok's name, it seems the name retrieval is steadily progressing.

After a while, I can no longer remember ■■■'s name no matter how hard I try, and I rise to my feet and look toward where Hyeon Rang is.

"... Everyone."

At my words, everyone turns to look at me, and I quietly...

Entrust a part of my burden to my friends.

"Please help me."

Thanks to Kang Min-hee and Jeon Myeong-hoon, I have come to understand.

They are no longer young mortal beings I must protect with my own hands.

They are now...

Each and every one of them, true 'comrades'.

Thus, leaning on the shoulders of my comrades, I stand up and begin to discuss the operation to rescue ■■■ and annihilate Hyeon Rang.