Chapter 94

Breakdown VIII

Step.

The next footstep belonged to Noh Do-hwa.

On an island where a single bridge allowed only one person to pass, Noh Do-hwa set up her workshop. I worked as her assistant.

Noh Do-hwa didn't ask for much in life.

Sunlight. Water. A piece of land. Sand from the beach. Leaves, plenty. Flowers, a few.

A hammer. The number of people she could handle and the volume of wounds she could endure. Hot coffee, regardless of the bean type.

She desired summer, autumn, winter, and spring. Instead of footsteps, she wished the sound of rain falling on the garden stones would wake her.

If she were to die someday, she hoped the old winds of late summer would give her a sky burial, rather than cremation or burial.

Unlike Dang Seo-rin, who always wanted to leave, Noh Do-hwa never wanted visitors from anywhere.

Therefore, she was the person who desired the most from life.

"Assistant..."

"Yes?"

"Pack your bags for a short trip. Ugh. There are so many old folks who can't come to the island, you see..."

"Oh, yes. Understood."

When the winter ended and the last snow melted, Noh Do-hwa left the island. The bridge hadn't been repaired for a long time, so the railings were shaky in places.

The sea playfully blew its breath.

"Be careful, Master. A lot of snow fell this winter, so the bridge is quite damaged. We should repair it when we get back."

"......"

"Master?"

As I tried to turn back after walking ahead on the bridge, Noh Do-hwa lightly placed her palm on my back.

It was a pressure I could ignore if I wanted to.

I didn't ignore it.

I stopped mid-turn.

"Master?"

"I do not..."

"Pardon?"

"Assistant. I do not need ideals. Utopias. Ideal lives. Ideal endings. Ugh. Living every day mortgaged to such things is not my way of accepting the world..."

"......"

"I do not take pride in denying reality. I graduated from such hobbies at twelve. Assistant. You must know. I immensely, immensely dislike leaving debts with anyone..."

Thud.

Noh Do-hwa lightly pushed my back.

It was another gesture I could ignore if I wanted to.

I didn't ignore it.

The shaky railing couldn't support my weight and creaked before breaking.

Just before falling off the bridge, I looked up at Noh Do-hwa. The shadow of the sun concealed her face.

Only a smile, like a shadow, was drawn.

"Go to hell..."

Noh Do-hwa's face rapidly receded.

Splash—I heard the sound of falling into the seawater and couldn't help but think.

Dropping someone on the way from the island to the land, from nirvana to samsara.

That was truly a Noh Do-hwa-like murder.

Blink. Clatter.

The wheel of time moved.

Two steps forward.

Step.

The next footstep belonged to the Saintess.

"......"

"......"

Surprisingly, the two of us sat on the silver moon. We faced each other on chairs carved from stone, with a table in between.

The world held its breath.Vissit novelbin(.)c.om for updates

The Earth on the other side of the universe was still, and the sun illuminating such an Earth did not move either.

A white world.

The endpoint of time. Or rather, a pause.

A Saintess who fully bloomed her ability to its extreme inevitably reached this terminus―

"Mr. Undertaker."

Not an ocean-class anomaly.

Maybe even another Outer God-class anomaly.

The being who, as an awakened Saintess, bore the name 'Executioner' as an anomaly, opened her lips.

"You know, Mr. Undertaker, you could always face such an end."

"My original ability was merely to stop the world. But as my power grew stronger, I could move around freely in the frozen world. Just like that... Cheon Yo-hwa's ability can surely become stronger."

"What do you mean?"

"Imprinting behavioral principles on humans and controlling them like NPCs. That's Cheon Yo-hwa's awakened ability. But maybe, if she develops it, she could use it on anomalies, not just humans."

"Oh."

My eyes widened.

"Being able to control anomalies at will! Amazing! That's an incredibly powerful ability!"

"...Yes. At least for the anomalies that appeared in Baekhwa Girls' High School, or rather, the School Ghost Stories, she can control them."

The Saintess nodded.

"Cheon Yo-hwa is an apostle of the Infinite Void. She can interfere to some extent with the anomalies the Infinite Void controls. You, Mr. Undertaker, know why she was chosen as the apostle better than I do."

"Indeed..."

A strategy emerged.

The Saintess warned me.

"But Cheon Yo-hwa, who has consumed the Infinite Void's Hyakki Yagyo, will become immensely powerful. She will be no different from an anomaly herself... much like you see me in this illusion."

"......"

"Even with just the Infinite Void, this much. As you subdue anomalies, more anomalies will gather around you, Mr. Undertaker. Dang Seo-rin, Sim Ah-ryeon, eventually. ...It would be nice if we could simply call it fighting poison with poison, but ultimately, you'll just be transplanting the world's poison into yourself. If you give up, the backlash will be incomparable to Schopenhauer's. So, please..."

I held the Saintess's hand.

"I know."

The Saintess looked at me.

"Fall into hell with me."

"......"

Creak—

The previously frozen wheel of the universe creaked. The Sun, Earth, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn clattered as they moved. Ten wheels aligned in a straight line.

Grand Alignment. The most majestic constellation the universe could pronounce.

At that final line, the shadow stood.

"Yes."

The shadow smiled before my eyes.

[To wherever.]

Blink, one layer of life closed its eyes.

Clatter, the ten Constellations played a soundless melody.

Before I knew it, we were holding hands, inverted, diving from the moon's glassy surface to the ground― to hell.

Endless descent.

We tightly embraced each other.

The universe's song was time.

Blink. Clatter—

The wheel of time moved.

From nirvana to samsara. From the closest otherworld to the farthest reality.

One step forward.

"――Ahjussi! Ahjussi!"

I thought about why people are born with two eyes.

It's because the world is always made up of two layers. Hell spread out under the sunlight and beauty hidden in the shadows.

Blindness and clarity. Extremes. Gaps.

Existence as a non-void space.

I slowly opened my eyes.

"Yo-hwa?"

"Yes, ahjussi! Ugh. So... is it really you? I mean, do you remember us wandering through the School Ghost Stories?"

I looked around.

Ding-Dong-Dang-Dong.

A bell rang. This was the School Ghost Story... no, it was Baekhwa Girls' High School. The bell echoed under a blue sky, not a red one.

An infinitely normal school.

There were no grotesque birch forests or red spider lily gardens. It seemed to be lunchtime, and students were gathering in small groups, crossing the playground.

"...Yes, I remember. We were walking the four steps to defeat the Infinite Void. Now, only one step remains."

"Oh! Right! But why are we both in the same illusion this time?"

"It seems this is the fourth step."

Step.

Cheon Yo-hwa's and my footsteps overlapped.

A world where anomalies, voids, and endings had no room to intrude, only peacefulness.

That was our final stop.

Footnotes:

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