Chapter 458: From Behind to the Front
I recall the first workshop, which was also the last workshop.
Was it a Mountain Spirit? Whatever it was, there were a bunch of clay dolls, and then the divine being I met back then.
What was it I said back then? That a god is ultimately something born from someone's belief.
I brace my stance.
Even the Team Leader braces his stance without saying a word.
"What's going on, Team Leader? For once, you're not even trying to run away."
"I'm scared to death."
He answers my question calmly.
"I'm so scared, honestly, I feel like I'm going to throw up."
"..."
"But if I think that thing over there is the mastermind behind my wife's disappearance, anger comes first."
The Team Leader mutters through gritted teeth.
"Even when you're scared, there are times when you can't run away."
"You never had any intention of running away in the first place, did you?"
"Correct. Even if I go bald, I plan to finish things here today."
The Team Leader mutters calmly and nods.
"You probably won't need to go bald."
-BOOM!
I wonder if it was really necessary to appear by punching a new hole, but Ahn Sang-hyun rises to his feet in a rolling stance, sparks and smoke pouring from his entire body.
"Haha! We've brought them as you requested, sir!"
And behind him are the others.
"..."
I let out a sigh of relief without realizing it.
"Is anyone injured?"
"I'm fine!"
"Me too."
"Worry about yourself."
"It's okay."
Thank goodness.
I sigh in relief, but the four of them were sighing in relief while looking at me.
As if I were the one who had caused a major incident.
"I should be the one sighing in relief, why are you all doing it?"
"We'll talk to you after this is over."
Song A-rin mutters through gritted teeth.
Why, what did I do wrong?
"So, what should we do now?"
"I've thought a lot about that too."
What should we do?
At first, my head hurt a lot.
What is Mara, what is Buddha, and why were we dragged here in the first place?
But the conclusion came more easily than I thought.
"We just do what we always do."
"What nonsense is that?"
"Since when have we ever fought with meticulous strategies?"
To be precise, even if we devise a meticulous plan, it always gets blown apart by variables, just like always.
It's always like that.
Nothing ever goes the way I want it to.
[Critical: 0 -> 1]
A semi-transparent window unfolds before my eyes.
Ahn Sang-hyun tenses his body again.
The Team Leader throws off his hat, and Yu Daon steps in front of me.
Jang Chae-yeon raises her hand beside me, and Song A-rin and Eileen also brace their stances behind me.
At the same time, the walls and pillars begin to collapse.
"...They're breaking through!"
"Everyone, protect Kim Jae-heon!"
People naturally gather around me.
"Mr. Ahn Sang-hyun! Rolling!"
"Thank you!"
Ahn Sang-hyun shouts happily as he rolls forward, destroying everything.
Stone fragments fall, and Jang Chae-yeon stretches out her hand to clear them away.
"Hit the deck!"
The Team Leader shouts urgently as strands of his hair fall out, and we all drop to the floor as if we'd made a promise.
A pillar collapses, sending up a cloud of dust.
Eileen shoots, sniping the falling debris, while Yu Daon and Song A-rin cover me from above as if to protect me.
"Ugh...!"
The ground shakes so much I can't move.
How utterly pathetic. Trying to block us like this.
But, on the contrary, I figured it out.
"Ms. A-rin."
"Yeah. Those bastards are just amateurs."
Song A-rin answers calmly to my words.
"They have no physical attacks."
"Correct. Ms. Daon!"
"Yes!"
Yu Daon, who was covering me from above, helps me to my feet.
"I'm sorry... but the path ahead might be a bit painful. Can you help me?"
I look at Yu Daon, and Yu Daon meets my eyes.
Without a moment's hesitation, she smiles brightly.
"If it's Jae-heon's request, I'd be glad to!"
Yu Daon leads me as we start walking, and Song A-rin follows behind.
"Me too—"
"You stay here."
And grabbing her by the scruff of the neck, Jang Chae-yeon speaks up.
"Me staying here won't be of any help anyway!"
"It will."
Jang Chae-yeon answers calmly to Song A-rin's words, and at the same time, a large rock falls towards the Team Leader's head.
"Team Leader!"
I shout in a panic, but the Team Leader's body was slow to react.
No, it should have been.
With an acrobatic movement, the Team Leader performs two backflips in a row, dodging the rock.
"T-Team Leader?"
"Ouch! My back!"
And then the Team Leader collapses, clutching his back.
"How did you do that?"
"I didn't! I was made to do it!"
"...It's helpful."
And Song A-rin mutters while rubbing her temple.
"Was there any reason to make him do a backflip!"
"I was in a hurry, I couldn't help it! It'll be good for his back health too!"
"At his age, that'll cause a disc herniation!"
I let the conversation between the Team Leader and Song A-rin go in one ear and out the other as I look at Yu Daon. Yu Daon nods.
"Yes, let's go."
Yu Daon and I hurriedly move forward.
Countless pieces of debris collapse, but
"See you later! Hahaha! Hahahaha! Hahahahaha!"
"...So noisy..."
Ahn Sang-hyun laughs as he breaks the debris, and Jang Chae-yeon sighs as she clears it away.
"But, where are we going?"
"Weren't you following me knowing where?"
"Even if I don't know, the path Jae-heon is taking is my path."
Let's stop talking.
*
Strangely enough, once we passed through the collapsing area, there was nothing.
Just empty void and a ruined corridor now made of wood.
"...It's not harming us?"
"It must not be able to."
I answer Yu Daon's mutter as we walk.
It was a one-way street now.
How far had we walked? A single silhouette appeared in the distance.
"..."
It was a silhouette I'd seen many times.
A mummy wearing tattered monk's robes, now little more than bones. A case of skin and bones joined together.
I couldn't forget it.
And for good reason—how many times had I been killed by this thing in my dreams?
"...Jae-heon."
Yu Daon tightly grabs the sleeve of my clothes.
"...It's okay."
I comfort Yu Daon and keep walking.
"Probably, that thing won't be able to directly harm us."
Unless it's through the medium of a dream.
"Why?"
And Yu Daon looks up at me with bewildered eyes.
"It's really dangerous, Jae-heon. We don't know what might happen. I'll go instead."
"No. It's really okay."
I slowly shake my head.
"If it could directly affect us, it would have killed us already."
And that's why only Yu Daon and I came.
Me, who is immune to mental attacks, and Yu Daon, who can reset as long as I'm here, no matter what attack she receives.
"Ms. Daon, if it seems like I'm about to die—"
"I'll carry you on my back and run away."
"No. You have to destroy that thing instead of me."
I point at the mummy in front of us with my hand.
A semi-transparent window was floating before my eyes.
[Name: Mara Papiyas]
[Age: X]
[Specialty: Death, Destruction, Desire]
[Talent: X]
[Background: This one has already seen countless versions of me.]
[Weakness: And, though not always, I will someday find a way to defeat this thing.]
-SCREEEEE!
A terrible headache arrives, and Yu Daon, right beside me, snaps her own neck.
-CRUNCH!
With the sound of breaking neck bones, Yu Daon's body starts to collapse,
"S-so that's why you called me!"
Yu Daon returns to her original state.
Only after taking a few more steps did the headache stop and Yu Daon also stopped her self-harm.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Three people, no. Two people and one being remain silent.
Slowly, the skeleton opens its mouth and a sound flows out.
"You've finally reached the main body."
"I'm probably not the first one to come here."
"Of course not. The first person to come here arrived 2,500 years ago."
It laughs, kkeul-kkeul, and opens its mouth.
"There have been a few who made it before me."
"..."
"But none have killed me."
"I don't think that's true."
I draw my gun, and Mara Papiyas laughs softly again.
"Are you talking about Critical? That's more about piercing the essence of a thing than giving it death. And in the first place."
[Critical: 1 -> 0]
The world turns black and white, and I look at Mara Papiyas's body.
Countless red dots were floating.
Too many to shoot just one.
"You see. I am like you."
It says in a calm voice.
"People are always weak to desire. There are times when they envy and jealousy others, and they often have destructive thoughts."
"..."
"And I am what is created when such people gather."
Mara Papiyas points at its own body.
The aged body squirms in a bizarre way.
"There have been those who tried to subdue me by force, and there have been those who tried to enlighten me."
"..."
"All failed. You cannot kill a concept, nor can you enlighten it."
That's right.
A concept is like that.
No matter what we do, violence will not disappear, someone will envy others, and people will hurt others with absurd logic.
Perhaps that will never change. There will never be a generation that is entirely peaceful.
"So let's make a deal."
It opens its mouth calmly.
"If you do, I will return everyone else to their original state right now. You and the others included."
"..."
"And then, let's live forgetting each other. How about it?"
It stares intently at me.
And I.
I take the Manual from my pocket and untie the ribbon.
The ribbon flutters and flies into the sky.
I place the Manual on my hand.
"As you said, I probably won't be able to kill you."
How could a mere human oppose an existence created from thousands of years of accumulated human malice? How could one oppose an existence that will only grow stronger?
I'm not that great of a human. There are no such people to begin with.
However, there is something only I can do.
"The first recorded history of Mara Papiyas begins with it meeting a man under a Bodhi tree 2,500 years ago, before he attained enlightenment."
-Whoosh!
The Manual opens at a furious speed.
Someone might have met Mara Papiyas before that. Whether they lost or won, I don't know that either.
But what is certain is that 2,500 years ago, Mara Papiyas was recorded for the first time.
The man who met Mara under the Bodhi tree must have thought the same.
That he could not defeat it.
To be precise, even if he defeated it, eventually someone else would fall to it.
I think so too.
So, what did he do?
He preached.
He taught others how not to be swayed by desire, and with his own words, he proclaimed how to confront the monster.
And that sermon, even now, thousands of years later, is being passed down to someone by word of mouth, to someone in writing.
I intended to do the same.
"I will now update the record on Mara Papiyas."
At my words, letters begin to be inscribed on the Manual.
[Manual for Office Workers]
[Mara Papiyas - Record by Kim Jae-heon, HR Team, Gangseo Branch]
Humans are beings who record.
Through records, we know the past, and through records, we send messages to the future.
Holding the Manual, I look at the emaciated old man.
"I am merely leaving advice and methods of confrontation for the juniors who will follow in the future."
Just as all the seniors who walked before me have done.