Chapter 222 - The God Standing in the Square (2)

The world shattered like a mirror.

CRAAACK

Slowly, bit by bit, the Grand Assembly Hall crumbled. The amniotic water flowing beneath my feet shattered. Marchioness Snow Rabbit, trembling beside me, shattered. The nobles shattered.

CRAAACK! CRACK...

The world shed its skin through the broken windowpane.

Through the cracks, scenes from somewhere other than the assembly showed through. Marchioness Snow Rabbit wielding her whip. Viscount Giant Shrimp Roe burning a village. The world split into a hundred branches, a thousand fragments. Screams leaked from every crack.

"Yes, Mr. Gongja."

Kaleidoscope.

This was Ja Sujeong’s world.

"Your deduction is correct."

SPLASH

With amniotic water wetting her feet, Viscountess Ja Sujeong walked to the middle of the assembly. On either side of her steps, the world cracked and shattered. Each shattered scene peeled away to reveal another place.

"This is not my first life."

"..."

I drew in a breath.

"Which life is this?"

"I don’t know. No, I could find out, but I wonder whether I could give you the answer you want. Mr. Gongja, you’re worried that after repeating hundreds of millions, trillions of lives, I will collapse from exhaustion, aren’t you?"

I was.

Raviel was strong. Even she had been trapped in ten endlessly repeating days until her heart rotted away. But what if someone was repeating not ten days, but an entire lifetime, forever?

What would pool in that person’s heart?

What stench would seep out?

"There is one supernatural ability I was born with."

By now, Viscountess Ja Sujeong had reached the very center of the assembly.

Even the throne at its center had shattered like a pane of glass. Its armrest broke off midway, and in the gap, glimpses of Viscountess Pure Black God eating human flesh flickered into view. One of the throne’s legs had shattered, too. There, someone whose name I did not know was dying.

"Many dragons live in this world, and many have lived here before."

Ja Sujeong sat down.

On a throne with a severed armrest and a broken leg.

She rested her arm on a scene of one person killing another, and lowered her legs into a scene of someone dying at another’s hands.

"There are people who enter into special contracts with dragons. The Dragon Emperor’s royal guard. Dragon knights. Their titles vary enormously by region, but they share one thing. Their descendants inherit dragon blood."

"Dragon blood?"

"Yes. Think of it as a lesser copy of a dragon’s authority."

Ja Sujeong stroked the glass throne’s armrest.

"For example, suppose a dragon can build a vast library and stock it with records of everything in existence. That is the dragon’s authority. By contrast, the supernatural ability of dragon blood amounts to little more than entering that library and borrowing books from time to time."

Viscountess Ja Sujeong was expressionless.

Her lips, no longer shaped into a smile, parted.

"The relationship between a Dragon Emperor and a dragon knight can be compared to that of a god and a worshipper. Thus, those granted dragon blood are sometimes called apostles."

I faltered.

"Apostles..."

"Lady Golden Silk Blossom would be one of the apostles you know, Mr. Gongja."

I recalled the young lady who had cursed the world while swinging an enormous hammer.

Golden Silk Blossom’s ability. A body that took no damage whatsoever from physical attacks.

"My ability is [Perfect Memory]," Viscountess Ja Sujeong said.

"I remember everything I have ever seen, heard, and felt. Not only do I remember it, I can revisit those memories as though I were having a lucid dream."

"..."

"Have you never seen a similar authority somewhere, Mr. Gongja?"

I had.

Very close at hand.

I pictured the face of a part-timer who now greeted customers at a café with a beaming smile.

The master of the Great Library who had once collected records of everything in existence. The Director of the Great Library of Myriad Thoughts.

"Hamustra..."

"[Pond Where Memories Gather]."

Viscountess Ja Sujeong spoke the Librarian’s true name.

"I inherited Hamustra’s authority. In ancient times, an apostle who worshipped Hamustra as a god descended upon this kingdom. The apostle was eventually defeated, but left descendants before dying. If you trace my family tree far enough back, you will reach that apostle."

"Thanks to that," Ja Sujeong said, "I can do this as well."

It happened the moment the viscountess raised her finger.

CRAAACK

The windowpane covering the entire world shattered once more. A single shard fell and touched another shard falling just as it was. When the two pieces collided, they suddenly shone brightly and became a snow-white butterfly.

The two shards became its two wings. The world shattered, and millions of glass fragments rained down, joining together into hundreds of thousands of fluttering butterflies.

CRAAACK, CRACK...

White butterflies blossomed throughout the world like petals drifting down on the wind.

"Come here, Mr. Gongja."

Viscountess Ja Sujeong beckoned.

"..."

I took a deep breath and headed toward the mirrored throne.

FLUTTER

White butterflies were already fluttering wildly around me. One passed right in front of my nose. A voice seeped from its wings.

["The count has fallen in battle, my lady."]

The butterfly was made of two shards of glass. Each silver wing held a scene. The person reflected in this butterfly’s wings was Count Fang-Tower Tiger.

The young count’s lips moved.

["And my eldest brother?"]

["There has been no word. He led a suicide squad into battle to recover the count’s remains, but we have heard nothing yet. Forgive my impertinence, but I fear..."]

["Ah."]

["My lady, there is nothing to be done. You, too, are a proud member of House Tiger. Misfortune comes to everyone, but a tiger swallows the misfortune that comes its way, chews it to shreds, then spits it at the world that dared challenge it."]

["I know nothing about politics. I’m not ready."]

["We enter the world unprepared, and meet a death for which we cannot prepare. Life is not something we prepare for, but something we endure. My lady, take the count’s seat."]

The white butterfly flew lightly away.

Into the thick cloud of butterflies drifting like petals.

"..."

One butterfly’s wings bore the image of Marchioness Snow Rabbit holding back tears. There was Viscountess Pure Black God with her teeth clenched, too.

Viscount Giant Shrimp Roe muttered, restraining his anger.

["Those pathetic bastards couldn’t do a damn thing during the rebellion. But the moment they’re in the assembly, every last one’s a supreme commander, a decorated general. Fuck, should I beat the shit out of them or not?"]

Hundreds of thousands of butterflies fluttered about, each spilling its own sounds.

"As you can see," Viscountess Ja Sujeong said as I reached the throne, "everything I have experienced in the past is recorded here. Originally, I could remember only my own life, but after obtaining [Golden Dragon’s Eyes] and [Glacier Dragon’s Breath], I began to hold other people’s lives as well."

"..."

"This is the world where my memories are recorded. Only two people, including you, have ever set foot here. You may feel proud, Mr. Gongja."

"Have I been invited into your consciousness, Viscountess?"

"Yes, you have."

Viscountess Ja Sujeong opened her palm.

"In your terminology, you are getting a glimpse of my skill."

A glittering golden card formed there.

This was the last card among the Tower Master’s skills.

[All Life]

Rank: EX

Effect: Originally a supernatural ability amounting to little more than ‘perfect memory.’ However, through overlapping with several skills, it has blossomed into a skill of an entirely higher order.

This is a glass garden where the people, objects, and events you have experienced are recorded in their entirety. You can replay the memories stored here as much as you wish.

That is not all.

FLUTTER

Something landed on the back of my hand.

It was the butterfly I had seen earlier.

["Aaaaaagh!"]

A red scene flowed across the transparent surface of its glass wings. A scene that had now become somewhat familiar to me. Marchioness Snow Rabbit’s whipping played out again.

Only...

The face of the child groaning beneath the whip was different.

["Ugh, hhng! Aah, aaaaaagh!"]

It was Ja Sujeong’s face.

Much younger than she was now.

I gasped involuntarily.

"Viscountess. What on earth is this...?"

"What if the person Lady Snow Rabbit encountered that day had been me, rather than the little free commoner?"

CRACK!

The thick whip gouged the young Ja Sujeong’s back. Blood stained the snow everywhere.

"This scene unfolds under that hypothetical premise. I understand every causal relationship in the past. [What if someone else had been there?] [What if something else had happened?] I can reconstruct as many what-if scenarios as I wish."

"Why would you watch this particular what-if scenario...?"

"Because only then can I know."

A scream erupted.

"How much pain the child killed by the marchioness suffered."

In the scene reflected in the glass wings, Ja Sujeong foamed at the mouth and collapsed to the ground.

"People don’t want others to claim they understand them so easily. They hate it when someone rashly says [I understand you], when it comes to how badly they truly hurt, how much they suffered. Naturally. We are all strangers to one another."

CRACK!

The little back convulsed.

As the whip struck, Ja Sujeong gripped and twisted the snow piled on the ground. As though trying to hold on to her dying life.

"I will stand before the people who have suffered in this kingdom. And I will tell them, [I know how much you suffered]."

The snow in her grasp melted from her body heat.

It streamed down.

Where the melted snow flowed and flowed, a pool of blood lay on the ground.

Clear water slowly spread across its bright-red surface.

"The pain they experienced. The pain they have endured. The pain they will endure. Only once I know every last bit of it can I finally tell them without a single lie."

I know how much you suffered.

"Now unleash that same amount of pain upon me."

"The Golden Rule..."

"Yes. The subjects sacrificed and cast aside by the kingdom will at last be understood by me."

"..."

"The resentment they can vent nowhere, the grudges they can unleash on no one—they can take them out on me. Do you understand? I am not comforting them merely with sympathy. Nor am I consoling them with words alone."

Viscountess Ja Sujeong spoke, her eyes clear.

"I truly understand."

"They can truly be understood."

"..."

"Once I ascend to the ducal title, not a single subject will ever be cast aside by the kingdom again. Of course, misfortune will not stop. Someone will suffer. But now, through me, the kingdom will understand their pain. Accept it. Relieve it."

I...

Looked around me once more, dazed.

["Spare me! Please, General, spare me!"]

This was hell.

["Aaaaaagh!"]

["Ugh, ...hhng. Ah..."]

In this garden of glass, Viscountess Ja Sujeong bled and screamed in someone else’s place. In the pillars that formed the garden. In the arches supporting its dome. In the countless windowpanes that formed its walls. In the hundreds of thousands of butterflies beating their wings around the pillars, beneath the dome, beside the walls.

Everywhere, Viscountess Ja Sujeong was bleeding.

["M-my name is Lady Snow Rabbit. The marchioness’s daughter."]

That was not all.

["You’re only a commoner. Consider yourself honored!"]

In one glass wing, Lady Snow Rabbit had come to apologize to Ja Sujeong.

In that what-if scenario, Ja Sujeong had not died.

Ja Sujeong had greater stamina than the original commoner child. She was healthier. Though the whipping had ruined her body, it had not killed her.

["My name is Ja Sujeong."]

["Ja Sujeong? What a strange name."]

["My lady, you..."]

In that world, Ja Sujeong and Lady Snow Rabbit grew closer and closer.

Born a commoner, Ja Sujeong was intelligent and capable enough to make up for Lady Snow Rabbit’s gaps in knowledge.

Thanks to Ja Sujeong’s secret tutoring, Snow Rabbit could complete her grandfather’s assignments flawlessly.

["I-I got praised by Grandfather for the first time! What do I do? I’m so happy. I can’t stop grinning. Seriously, what do I do...?"]

["Congratulations, my lady."]

["Yes! It’s all thanks to you, Ja Sujeong!"]

Lady Snow Rabbit took Ja Sujeong’s hands and hopped up and down.

There was no trace of the obstinate, prejudiced young noblewoman who believed nobles and commoners should not even breathe in the same place.

A small chance created a change.

A small change created an encounter.

A small encounter was creating a human being.

["I will live for you."]

Viscountess Pure Black God, who had met Ja Sujeong a little earlier, smiled brightly.

No, she was no longer a viscountess. Pure Black God had cast aside her noble title. Then she joined the Special Task Force with Ja Sujeong. The two became close colleagues and tackled the kingdom’s crimes one by one.

["We must avoid massacring civilians, General."]

["Why?"]

Viscount Giant Shrimp Roe, with Ja Sujeong as his adviser, pouted.

["Isn’t massacring them faster?"]

["It may be faster, but it is not right. Dealing with the aftermath will be much harder. This may be enemy territory now, but it will be restored to royal rule anyway. You must create subjects of the kingdom, General, not enemies of the kingdom..."]

Countless pieces of glass.

Countless white butterflies.

In countless worlds, Ja Sujeong bled, screamed, and died. This formed each butterfly’s left wing.

And opposite it flowed a slightly better possibility. Scenes without victims, without murderers, unfolded. This formed each butterfly’s right wing.

Her world held so many butterflies, and just as many deaths and lives.

"Because I was not there."

Glass and butterflies. Blood and screams. Death and life.

"Because I was too late. Because I was born too late. Every tragedy in this world happened."

Beneath the butterflies streaming down in white,

the god clasped her small hands as though offering a prayer somewhere.

"Had I been beside you, you would have reached a slightly better ending. You would have lived a slightly happier life. It is my fault that I could not always be beside you. My sin. Thus, I will scream as much as you suffered."

Forever.

"..."

I finished reading the words inscribed on the card.

[All Life]

Rank: EX

This is a glass garden where the people, objects, and events you have experienced are recorded in their entirety. You can replay the memories stored here as much as you wish.

That is not all.

You know the causal relationships that shaped past events. The more precisely you understand those relationships, the more accurately you can construct what-if scenarios.

You can simulate worlds.

※ However, this skill can only be activated if you possess [Golden Dragon’s Eyes] and [Glacier Dragon’s Breath].

There it was: an ability that created hell.

"Mr. Gongja."

The Master of All Life spoke.

"You asked which repetition of this life I am living."

"..."

"Giving you a number would be meaningless. I am not merely repeating my own life. The kingdom’s subjects. Everyone who has lived and died in this kingdom. I am living their lives in their stead, forever."

That was why.

That was why Viscountess Ja Sujeong’s entire life was trauma.

Why, unlike everyone else, her whole life had been selected as her trauma.

"Always..."

I was at a loss for words.

"Are you always replaying these scenes in a corner of your mind? Even while you were sitting in the assembly just now?"

"Yes."

"Even when you’re smiling in front of your lovers?"

"Yes."

Viscountess Ja Sujeong said,

"I’m sorry."

A drop.

A single utterance fell from Ja Sujeong’s expressionless face.

"I’m sorry."

"..."

"I’m sorry I was born too late. I’m sorry I could not live alongside you. I’m sorry I could not save you."

I’m sorry.

The butterflies flying through the glass garden all released those words at once. The happy what-if scenarios went dark. The silver wings reflected reality: Marchioness Snow Rabbit whipped a young commoner, Viscountess Pure Black God tore into human flesh, and Viscount Giant Shrimp Roe burned a village to the ground.

"I’m sorry."

The young god was telling everyone she was sorry.

She was apologizing for the deaths, every disaster, every catastrophe that had ever occurred in this kingdom. Those killed by people. Those who killed people. Those killed by things that were not human. Those who were not human.

For everything.

"I’m sorry, everyone."

That was the only sound of breath left in her heart.

"Viscountess..."

Unable to bear it, I took a step forward, and—

"I’m sorry, Mr. Gongja."

Viscountess Ja Sujeong took my left hand.

"Because I was not beside you, Mr. Kim Gongja."

Something warm passed from her hand to mine.

When I looked down, a white butterfly crouched in my grasp with its wings folded.

"That is why you were killed by Mr. Yoo Suha."

For an instant,