486 - The Chapter of Samsara #2

How much time has passed?

I was floating above the void that knows no limits.

But even that wouldn't last forever.

The Underworld, which was called a world, collapses.

The space gradually narrowed, and the ceiling lowered, shrinking until it was like a small stadium, and from a small stadium, like a tiny house.

I don't know if the Underworld was shrinking, or if my existence was growing bigger, but....

In the end, what remained was a familiar cabin.

A tiny cabin where many things happened.

If I opened the door and went inside right now, it felt like a cabin where noisy, chattering girls and the strange spider, Kkangkang-i, would peek their faces out of a jar....

I don't know why the cabin remained before my eyes.

Perhaps the place indelibly imprinted in my memory remained last as the Underworld collapsed. Or, perhaps it holds no particular meaning.

But right now, none of that mattered.

Dallang, dallang-.

I rang the clanging bell at the entrance of the yard, strolled through the garden, and slowly opened the door of the cabin.

Giiik-.

Of course, there was no one to greet me.

The creaking of the door, worn out from so much coming and going. The jars and furniture scattered messily. Even the scars on the wall from when I hammered nails - everything was vividly reproduced exactly as I remembered it.

『....』

Unfortunately, only I exist in this cabin.

This place is the only territory that I, Hassan, the God of Samsara, possess.

The only place permitted only to me.

My temple.

My hometown-.

My....

...Only my prison.

Deureuk-.

I went upstairs to the second floor, brought a chair to the window, and sat down.

Normally, the clamor of the noisy slum should have been heard outside the window.

There should have been a girl chattering about it with the moonlight shining beyond the clouds.

....

Outside the window, there is only darkness.

Honestly, I can't quite grasp it.

I decided to shift my focus from the silent darkness.

Did everyone heading to the surface arrive safely?

What about the companions fighting in Elysium?

Did I end up living a different fate from my shadow with this?

Did I escape the prophecy of killing my family?

Did Nyx-nim or the gods of Hypnos know that I would make this choice?

There are many questions.

Even though I became a complete god, my curiosity doesn't seem to go anywhere.

Of course, no one answers. I probably won't hear the answers for the rest of my life.

Because I will exist alone in this place forever.

『Since no one is here, there's no need to worry about anyone's eyes. How convenient.』

I spoke to myself, knowing no one would hear.

It didn't hold much meaning; I just wanted to hear someone's voice. Because this silence felt like it was swallowing me whole, I started to feel lonely.

"Damn, I'm so lonely."

I thought everything would become my world once I became a god.

The reality was a bit different from that.

Even though it feels like less than a day has passed, I've already started feeling lonely and desolate. Regret also washes over me, wondering if this was truly the right choice.

However.

I knew well that all those worries and emotions would eventually dull. In the time that will flow endlessly, I will sit here and become a dull, numb god.

I might even disappear entirely, becoming the very concept of Samsara.

I don't know when that will be, or at what moment, but surely that time will come.

Seureuk-.

I picked up the smartphone Paranoy had given me at the end.

I opened the gallery and looked at the photos taken and saved there.

There, not only the photos I had taken were stored, but also many things taken from angles I didn't know, at times I didn't know.

But most of them are Paranoy's selfies.

Damn it, why did he take so many? He was using it completely as he pleased.

Of course, as I turned the pages, it wasn't just Paranoy's photos.

Flowing streams, carriages and horses. Wildflowers. Grass. Sky. Clouds. Melted candy. A 'Kkwing' sitting on a tree branch. Colorful 'Kkangkang-i', and-.

-And familiar faces.

Looking at their unique hair, their familiar faces, my chest felt heavy like wet cotton.

There was a time when living facing them felt natural. It was like that just a short while ago.

But looking back now, all of it feels miraculously like a dream.

It's as if I existed only in this dark, dim cabin from the beginning, and they only existed as photos beyond the screen.... To the point where such foolish thoughts arise.

If I had known this would happen, I should have taken more photos. I should have laughed together more, held hands more, eaten delicious things together more, and spent more time together.

81% battery.

If this, too, runs out completely, will I no longer be able to see their world, the world beyond the surface, even through the screen?

If I can no longer see them, will they eventually be forgotten from my memory too?

Suddenly, that thought crossed my mind.

But the answer is, of course, no.

Laughter, warm body temperature, angry faces, confident expressions - I vividly remembered many things about my acquaintances.

Forgetting this will never happen.

Thanks to that, I was able to gain a little courage in guarding this silent cabin alone.

Recalling the faces I must be responsible for gives me the strength to endure even difficult and lonely tasks.

My father had said many times.

"Responsibility is what makes a man a man."

"A strong sense of responsibility makes a man manly," he said.

At the time, I thought it was like a spell to make me inherit the health clinic, but.... Thinking about it now, Father was right.

I bore responsibility.

Finally, I felt like I existed in the world as a man.

"Father, I... I did well, didn't I? Now that I've become independent, can I proudly say I've surpassed you and become a man?"

Now I think I understand a little.

A man is a lonely thing.

My eyes turned to the smartphone.

I traced the brightly shining screen, their faces, with my fingers, engraving them one by one into my memory.

"Yes. This is enough. This is...."

81% battery.

75....

51....

35....

15....

0.

Finally, when all the screens turned off, and the cabin itself, along with the light, was filled with pitch-black darkness.

At the moment I thought the light of my life had also disappeared.

Ttok, ttok-.

Someone knocked on my cabin door.

Who on earth?

Auditory hallucination?

Did I hear wrong?

There's no way someone could knock.

This place is my kingdom.

Because it's the territory of Samsara.

Ttok, ttok-.

But someone was clearly showing their presence, imbued with their own will. As if possessed by something, I got up from the chair and slowly headed downstairs.

When I opened the door with trembling hands, wasn't there the familiar pink twin-tailed hair right there?

"Luna-ya...."

"Hassan, I'm sorry. Hassan, you helped me escape, but I... I just came alone."

...."

Luna appeared before me.

I thought I would never see this face again, but seeing it like this, honestly, my vision started to blur. It felt like tears would well up.

They say men don't cry.

"Luna-ya, why are you here? What about the other friends-."

"The other guys probably went up safely! Only I... I secretly slipped out of my body as a spirit. The small Goddess of Night, Luna Noxdoti's, ultimate skill, Spirit Step, how about it-?"

"How about it...? Luna-ya, you... you don't know what it means to stay here...?"

"I know-! But, we made a promise."

"A promise?"

"Hassan and I decided to be a fixed party. Hassan's 30%, no, 50% share is mine. So, Hassan's burden should be split in half too. Therefore, wherever... I'll be with you...."

Luna laughed, sticking out her tongue with a "Heh-."

I couldn't hold back anymore and cried.

Crying my eyes out in Luna's arms.

Actually, "crying my eyes out" is a very softened expression.

"Hassan, don't do that here, let's go inside. It's too dark outside."

"Okay."

We lay down together on the second floor of the cabin.

Lying together, we looked at the same ceiling.

"Hassan, look at that. Up there, there's that plank I hammered hastily on a rainy day. It really looks like Hassan's cabin in Sodomora. The wall I scratched with a knife to measure Paranoy's height is the same too-."

...."

"So this cabin, it was Hassan's and my underworld. Just like the prophecy of Delphi, I've become the Queen of the Underworld, Hassan-."

"Queen of the Underworld?"

"Yes, since we decided to split the property half and half, Hassan can have the second floor, and I'll take the first floor. Right? And, I think we can give the yard to Paranoy, the Margrave. Unfortunately, Paranoy isn't here."

Luna laughed, sticking out her tongue with a "Heh-."

I couldn't hold back anymore and cried.

Crying my eyes out in Luna's arms.

Actually, "crying my eyes out" is a very softened expression.

"Hassan, what are you thinking?"

"I'm not thinking anything."

"Liar, you're thinking about the other girls."

"No."

"Hippolyte, Elfriede, and the other girls too, they're all pretty. Hassan, you're weak to temptation and fall for it easily."

...."

"But, they're all good girls. I don't dislike them anymore either. Even though we might never meet again..., I thought of them as my friends..., my older sister, younger sister, family...."

"Really?"

"Still, I might dislike sharing Hassan a little. But, coming here at the very last moment, it's me, Luna Noxdoti, who gets to be by Hassan's side. So, it's my victory...?"

The candle lit in the room was getting smaller and smaller.

Our tiny cabin, submerged in darkness by the light of the shrinking candle, slowly seeped into the suffocatingly vast darkness.

But I wasn't scared.

Because beside me, the small moon that fell from the surface clearly existed.

"Hassan, whoever is in your heart, whoever is with you, it's fine-. So, just don't leave me.... Because that's what scares me the most.... Coming here at the very last moment, I realized that...."

I felt Luna's arms wrapping around mine in the darkness.

"Hassan, you're there, right...? Can you hear my voice...?"

"Yes, I'm here. I'm next to you, Luna."

"Hassan, let's definitely go back someday. To the small cabin in Sodomora, let's go there, set up a bonfire in the yard, and grill meat."

"Okay."

"Paranoy, Doris, Ignoi, Old Man Platan, Malko, bald Kalidur, Elfriede and Hippolyte, Antiope, and even Gloria, who's a bit scary, and all the others, let's invite them all...."

"Yes, let's invite them all."

"We have to go back again...."

"Okay."

"Hassan, you're there, right...?"

Luna's voice grew fainter and fainter.

"Yes, I'm here."

"I think I'm getting a little sleepy. Later, wake me up when morning comes-."

You're sleepy.

"...Heeu-ah-eum-."

I felt Luna yawn softly. Soon, Luna started breathing softly, 'saegeun, saegeun-', and then stopped even the slightest breath.

She fell asleep.

Sleepiness also washed over me.

Is it okay to fall asleep like this?

As I was having that thought-.

Ttok, ttok-.

Someone is knocking on the door.

"Damn it, what is it?"

Suddenly, my vision brightened.

"Eek-! Hassan, what is it? I was about to fall asleep. Why did you suddenly wake up? You startled me."

"Luna, it looks like someone else has come."

"Who came? Who?"

I helped Luna, who had buried her face in my chest, sit up, then went downstairs and opened the door. Who could it be? Elfriede? Hippolyte-nim? Paranoy? Who is it?

The moment I opened the door with a welcoming heart.

"Greetings-!"

"Who are you-?"

A bearded man I'd never seen before stood there, holding an axe in both hands.

Seriously, who is this guy. Damn it, what the hell.

What is it?

What is it?

As I panicked, the man spoke.

"I heard stories and came-! Is this the paradise of warriors, Valhalla? I heard glorious battles await me-! Hurry, hurry, lead me to the battlefield-!"

His voice was booming, like thunder.

Of course, I don't understand the content.

"No, damn it, wait, what are you talking about-?"

"That man over there! That man told me! He said if I come here, I can find the way to Valhalla! So, is this Valhalla? They say if you come here, you can drink delicious beer until you die...! Free beer...! Meat...!"

"Who told you? No, what is this nonsense-."

"That man over there! That man told me! He said if I come here, I can find the way to Valhalla! So, is this Valhalla? They say if you come here, you can drink delicious beer until you die...! Free beer...! Meat...!"

Where the suddenly appearing bearded man pointed, beyond the darkness, stood something like a small streetlight.

And the man standing under that flickering lamp was someone I never expected.

But it was a face more familiar than anyone else's.