[So, I wondered how you managed to come this far, and now I understand. Were you the chosen one of this generation?]
Logos extended his hand towards Yu-hyun.
From that movement, one could feel an arrogance as vast as the universe, as though looking down upon him.
And a strange magical power was instilled in it, one that made creations revere him as their creator.
[Now, chosen one. If you’ve gathered all of the Codex, hand it over to me. And in return, I shall grant you the opportunity to cross into the next universe. You, and no other, shall be the first to set foot in the new universe, enjoying that honor.]
“How many times... have you restarted the universe this way?”
[Hmm?]
“Tearing the Codex apart, scattering its fragments, and making beings of the lower and mixed realms collect them all.”
When all those fragments gathered and formed a complete page,
Logos would offer a proposal to the final holder.
To announce the end of this era and simultaneously grant the opportunity to move to the next universe.
“Have you repeated this countless times... erasing innocent lives along the way?”
[Ho.]
Logos’s reaction was calm as he watched Yu-hyun express his anger towards him.
In fact, he seemed to have taken a certain interest in Yu-hyun.
[To think you’d dare show hostility toward me. It’s not that I’ve never encountered such beings before, but one as outright and unyielding as you... that’s a first.]
“Is that so? It’s a shame I’m not the first.”
[No, you are the first.]
Indeed, many had shown hostility to the creator when facing him.
However, most of them bowed their heads and knelt the moment they encountered the presence of Logos.
Only Yu-hyun, facing Logos, stood firm, glaring without bowing.
[So, child, showing such enmity towards me, do you intend to stand against me?]
“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have come this far.”
[You came all this way to defy me? How amusing.]
A mere creation, a human, declared his intent to resist him.
For the creator, for Logos, who held the power to determine the beginning and end of this world, it could be infuriating to think he’d been so insolently mocked. R
Yet Logos laughed, as if he found the event itself entertaining.
“Is this funny to you?”
[How could it not be amusing? At the end of countless simulations, a turning point I’d never witnessed has appeared. It’s only natural I’d be delighted. At least it won’t change as emptily as before.]
“You talk about this whole process as if it’s a game.”
[If that’s how it sounded, then I commend you for perceiving it accurately.]
Logos laughed even as he faced an unforeseen variable because he was certain he could control and suppress it.
“What exactly is your goal? Why have you restarted the universe so many times? Do you have any idea how many lives have perished by your hand?”
[Lives? What a foolish question.]
Logos brushed his formless white chin with his hand.
[What’s wrong with me harvesting what was created from the seeds I sowed?]
“What?”
[Don’t you humans do the same thing? You plant seeds, then harvest the fruit when it ripens. You even trim branches to yield better fruit or discard underdeveloped ones.]
“What... what are you talking about...?”
[In other words, I mean this: to me, all life in this universe is nothing more than fruit for harvesting—no more, no less.]
Snap.
At those words, Yu-hyun felt something snap in his mind.
Perhaps it was the sound of a fruit’s stem breaking as it fell from a tree.
Grinding his teeth, he asked with desperate restraint.
“What is it... that you’re trying to achieve with all this?”
[What do I seek? It’s obvious, isn’t it? A story.]
“A... story?”
[Yes. Not just any story. An ultimate story.]
An ultimate story.
Logos openly expressed what he desired.
[The ultimate story. A story that contains the essence of every tale in the world.]
“What... what does that even mean?”
[Just as I said. The ultimate story is a story anyone can proudly declare as the best.]
Not all stories are the same.
The preferences of readers, the intentions of writers, and the genres of works differ.
Gender.
Generations.
Culture.
Yet, his concern over Yu-hyun’s strange behavior lingered; even as he departed, he cast glances back at him.
‘Is hyung hiding what he went through from me?’
While feeling a bit hurt and disappointed, Yoo Young-min guessed that Yu-hyun must have a reason for not sharing.
‘Right. I shouldn’t worry about him. What’s important is the impending great war.’
He needed to rally his subordinates, preparing them mentally. He was no longer merely the youngest collector of White Flower Management but Yoo Young-min, the Mercenary King who led his own
group.
Left alone, Yu-hyun thought he shouldn’t remain idle.
Even though knowing Logos’s purpose didn’t change what he had to do, he still needed to be fully prepared.
‘He said he’d be waiting in the deepest part of the Foundation.’
Where Logos usually resided had always been a mystery, but he’d hidden within the true body of the Foundation, nestled within the dimensional rift.
‘No, he wasn’t really hiding. He simply had no need to. He waited there, endlessly, watching for the moment the fruit would ripen.’
Once he harvested that fruit, all beings in the universe would be erased.
They’d turn into the foundation for the next universe, with only a select few chosen ones remaining.
“Damn bastard.”
A rare mutter escaped Yu-hyun’s lips.
The words Logos had said lingered in his mind, echoing persistently.
The entire path he’d traveled was summed up to Logos as nothing more than ‘unexpected.’
He had already sensed hints of that sentiment from the system notifications, presumed to have been created by Logos.
All the ordeals he’d endured to create a single story in the Mental Realm were dismissed as a single line of bland, monotonous text.
Logos had cut off a significant portion of human emotion and restraint, leaving only irrational madness in pursuit of his goal.
That was the kind of being Yu-hyun was up against.
Sighing deeply to calm himself, Yu-hyun activated Descartes’s power.
His body in reality blurred as he shifted to the land of illusions, the Wandering World.
Using it as a stepping stone, Yu-hyun reached one of the buildings in Old Town.
Now that he could perfectly control the power of fragments, it took him less than ten seconds to cross from the plains outside the city to the inside.
Yu-hyun lightly knocked on the door before him.
“I’m coming in.”
There was no reply from inside, but he could sense the person was awake, not asleep.
Yu-hyun opened the door and entered.
In the room, which felt a little barren, a woman sat demurely on the bed against one wall, waiting for him.
“Hye-rim.”
“....”
Kang Hye-rim stared blankly at Yu-hyun.
She neither ran to him like a child nor calmly greeted him.
Yu-hyun brought a chair nearby and sat in front of her.
“You’ve been well, I hope? I tried to come back quickly, but I ended up being quite late.”
“....”
“A great war is coming. Not only us but also every living being in this universe will have their fate decided in this war. With so many vested interests involved, those who can fight will most certainly join. And...”
Countless lives would be lost.
Far surpassing even the apocalypse that struck Earth.
“Still, we must fight. Those who can wield a sword must raise it. This is our final duty as those who live in this world.”
More than mere words, his tone carried a weight of conviction. From the story Satan had passed to him, he saw a glimpse of the man he once was.
He fought against Logos to avoid death but eventually compromised to protect his cherished comrades.
The emotions of fear he’d felt back then and the regrets that followed.
In truth, he wished Kang Hye-rim, Kwon Jia, Seo Sumin, Yoo Young-min, and everyone else he knew didn’t have to fight.
There was no way for everyone to survive. In war, some would surely die. And he couldn’t bear to see his loved ones perish.
But he couldn’t force his own will on others for his own desires.
“Hye-rim, what do you want to do?”
“....”
He noticed Kang Hye-rim flinch. Yu-hyun gazed at her intently.
He had already realized she’d regained her ability to speak. He didn’t mention it, knowing full well.
They both bore guilt towards each other.
“...You don’t have to answer right now. Just by tomorrow morning, please.”
Realizing it wasn’t the right time, Yu-hyun rose to his feet.
Ah. Unconsciously, Kang Hye-rim reached out to him, but he was already out of reach, having turned away.
The door closed, and silence filled the room.
Alone, her gaze remained fixed on the spot where Yu-hyun had left.