“Why are you so late, stink!”
As soon as we arrived home, Soo-oh pinched her nose.
“Does it smell that bad?”
“I just met some sea creatures for a bit.”
Daegon lives in the sea, so he’s basically a sea creature himself.
His origins aren’t from the ocean of this world but from another sea. He was born in a different world, became the highest monster of that world, and invaded other worlds until his own was burned down.
So, he came to this world, where his kind thrives the most, among the worlds he invaded. He tried to rise again but failed spectacularly.
After hiding in the ocean, he waited for a second chance and encountered me.
He has a ridiculously huge variety of techniques. I have no clue where to even start cutting them down, but there’s also a technique to summon me.
The problem is, it’s so fragmented I don’t know where to start inserting it into someone. It’d be nice to have someone who could interpret and organize it for me.
That’s the feeling I get.
It’s like standing in front of a lithium mine while being stuck in the Bronze Age. If you try to put memories into a person, they’ll just age and die on you.
I definitely need a summarized version that people can actually use. Inshimwon knows a bit, but he doesn’t know everything.
Originally, these techniques weren’t meant for people to use, and one person can’t handle it all.
So, Daegon thought things through.
He made each person memorize bits of the summoning technique, focusing only on those parts.
Using a piano analogy makes it easier to understand. Assign each key to a person to hit or not. He assigned just two parts.
Even if you can’t read sheet music, or aren’t fast with your fingers, you’re only required to play your part.
After all, hitting 25 keys at once would take skills no single person can pull off.
He’s also gone through a ton of trial and error.
The problem is, Daegon only knows the original.
To solve the issues, he tasked his underlings, who then provided answers. So, only the subordinates know the separated parts.
The sad part is that the one holding those divided parts isn’t Daegon or the residents of the city he destroyed. They already passed away from old age a long time ago. It’s genuinely unfortunate. He has some organized data, but that vanished along with the city.
If only they were alive, they could’ve extracted those memories somehow.
But hey, at least he got a lot out of it. If worse comes to worst, I can stick a few people with it, right?
However, the smell is so excruciating that Soo-oh repeatedly tries to come closer before backing away. Is it really that bad? I can’t smell anything!
Or maybe my nose has already gotten used to it. What do I do?
“Is it that smelly?”
“It’s a mix of toilet stench and fish smell! It’s unbearable!”
I guess it’s time for a wash.
If it smells that bad, I’ll probably brought a lot of germs with me.
But, washing means going quite a distance north to a lake.
“I’ll go wash up.”
“Make it quick!”
Seeing Soo-oh point toward the back of the house makes me think the smell really is intolerable.
I can’t climb up and down the cliff behind the house like Soo-oh. So, I have to walk.
The house is quite elevated, so I have to go a long way north to get water. Then, I can reach the lake that’s below the cliff.
Arriving at the lake.
It’s dark already, so I can’t see clearly, but I have a problem.
Hmm.
No. What do I do?
Right now, the lakeshore is swarming with wild animals. Why? Because there are dead aquatic creatures floating all around!
Come to think of it, shockwaves travel better underwater than through air. They must’ve died and got pushed to the shore.
So, here’s this feast going on. For some reason, the larger carnivores don’t chase away the medium-sized ones, even though they’re eating side by side.
In fact, many of the big carnivores are snoozing with their bellies proudly on display.
So, it’s not dangerous, but the problem is the water is filthy, covered in corpses. Plus, the boundary between land and water seems really far away.
The water has receded a lot.
There’s no helping it. I’ll head back up.
Sure, I could change reality, but honestly, I’m hesitant to use that power right now.
The area where I fought Daegon is already filled with gold, and I’m afraid that messing it up might cause the second world to shatter again.
I’ll be cautious unless absolutely necessary.
I turned back toward home. Well, I was trying to.
Something in the forest caught a glimpse of me. As I turned to look, I saw something that looked like a rotting piece of meat moving at the forest’s edge.
To my surprise, it’s the giant beast that bit my neck last time.
It seems there are eye-like organs stuck all over, making the world appear pixelated, and it has no properly functioning limbs.
On top of that, its body is tangled with someone’s weapon; any slight movement sends its nerves into chaos.
A monster that frequently sends out warmth while ambushing a small village or rushing into a beast’s den has shown itself.
It’s my first time seeing a creature that survived for so long without its warmth.
Seeing it up close is different from how I felt before.
Its entire body is white.
Not just plain white, but like it aged too much, its fur has lost all luster and turned a dull white.
Its body is as skinny as a ancient tree and grotesque bones protrude from its rotting flesh. Is that why it’s covered in bugs?
The simultaneous appearance of decay and aging!
It approaches me, moving all seventeen of its legs.
It used to be a four-legged feline beast, but now resembles a crab. It gazes down at me with its body-clinging eyes.
Then it opened its mouth.
“Keh. Heh. Heh.”
But not to eat me. It laughed like it was mocking me.
And then began its bizarre performance.
It used its legs to tear itself apart right in front of me. Blood and guts splattered, and a corpse tumbled out of its rotting insides.
Having carved itself into pieces, it died. The pitch-black ooze scattered and turned to dust.
Ah, so that’s it.
It came here to mock me!
What a long and twisted mockery. It must have figured out that I can’t die. Right?
When the harvesting period arrives, intelligence increases. So, it’s not odd for monsters to get smarter.
It understood I would be eternally cold, taunting me as it took its own life.
I didn’t need words to understand that.
Although I shouldn’t know the feelings of such a monster, I knew it came to mock me before meeting its demise.
I swallowed the words I almost said: “You were the one to attack me first.”
But honestly, it wouldn’t have heard me anyway.
I learned something new again.
What creatures become when robbed of their warmth.
If I can help it, I won’t create such beings in the future.
This is nasty.
Dragging my blood and guts-covered body back home, I heard Soo-oh scream.
“Screeeam!!!”
But today, I wasn’t in a good mood and was about to snap…
Failed that.
No, what I need to express isn’t irritation.
“I took out my frustration while on the way back. Let’s sleep separately tonight. Don’t forget to cover yourself with a blanket when sleeping on the porch.”
It’s been a while since we decided to sleep apart. By the way, the room is like a sauna in summer, so it’s not a feasible place to sleep. I went to the kitchen and sat by the fire.
A lot has happened today. I’ve gained so much. It’s all about getting more.
But why do I feel so bad?
I curled up in the middle of the kitchen, waiting for time to pass.
The fire was crackling brightly in front of me.
I sat there staring blankly at the flames. Is this what they call fire-gazing?
Strange, though. There are no bugs around. While I was walking up home, they were swarming everywhere, but there’s nothing here. One wall is completely open, so it’s odd there are no bugs, right?
The likely culprits could be this fire.
A fire that keeps burning without any fuel at all.
Just yesterday, I thought it was good, but after everything that happened today, this feels odd.
It’s like I’m forcibly overlaying what I want onto the world.
What I desire is important.
In other words, what I don’t think shouldn’t happen.
Then what is this fire in the furnace? There’s nothing inside. It has physical heat, but no light or warmth; just fire.
Maybe I can play god and become a priest with this.
Cheonma is on my side too. If I slowly create believers, it might be fun to make Baehwa Church instead of Cheonma Church.
Hmm…
I expected faded memories to pop up randomly, but it’s oddly quiet. Almost like it has a persona.
But it doesn’t have a personality. Memories are just memories.
I continued watching the flames that were burning on the sand.
Until the moon sank and the sky brightened blue again.
In the summer, the sun rises early.
Having rested enough, I stood up and shook off the remnants stuck to my body.
Then I promptly left the kitchen and gazed far into the forest.
Just now, Gumi Mil had suggested to Oh Myeong-seong that they should head to Cheonma Church, and Oh Myeong-seong agreed.
I searched through my memories for maps and calculated the approximate distance from where they are to Cheonma Church.
By tonight, they would arrive at Cheonma Church.
Of course, if I walked, I’d have to walk continuously for three days and nights without rest, but both Oh Myeong-seong and Gumi Mil are Murim practitioners—talented individuals.
By using a technique called Bojeok, they can leap great distances in an instant. It’s quick when moving towards a destination rather than just scavenging for survival.
They plan to visit Cheonma Church and find out more about Cheonma Martial Art.
Wondering if there’s a way to revert to their previous state.
But such things don’t exist.
Randomly singled out as Madura, he fell to being Madura as per people’s opinions.
Oh Myeong-seong and Gumi Mil have already realized they won’t be able to return.
If they come together, there will be a major change at Cheonma Church.
As usual, I ponder over how to complete the automatic warmth harvesting system.
Because coldness is more severe than mere appreciation, and escaping it requires constant effort.
“Choseol?”
Soo-oh woke up groggily and called my name upon seeing me at the yard entrance.
“Did you wake up? Then let’s wash up and prepare breakfast, Soo-oh. Also, keep in mind, there might be a schedule tonight, so don’t forget that.”
“Hmm? Uh-huh, got it.”
Leaving Soo-oh stretching lazily behind, I headed into the kitchen. I tidied myself up as usual and prepared breakfast.
Whether this is the last day of my routine or if I’ve returned to my regular life isn’t clear yet.
I guess I’ll find out once they arrive.
