Chapter 80

Chapter 80 : Forgotten Being (7)

The process by which a person falls into distrust was surprisingly simple.

When very small things overlapped and piled up, one reached the point where one could no longer believe even what was right before one’s eyes.

I quietly watched Fluffnix scattering sparks, then sat down on the stairs.

My grade had risen, Deleted Original Work Loading had appeared, and a Soul Fragment was required.

The system wanted me to twist the Original Work and reach an ending. There was a route Sek had arranged, and the Soul Fragment deviated from that route.

‘Had Sek been planning an ending since two hundred years ago?’

If the system had already been attached to him back then, it was entirely possible.

Sek had arranged everything in that distant past, even predicting my behavior patterns. That was why my own past felt even harder to believe.

“You were stuck to my side and never left even then, I heard.”

[“It is only natural to follow Master.”]

“And obeying after I abandoned you in the Black Forest and disappeared?”

[“I was not abandoned. It was a promise for the future.”]

Let us recall the first day.

The moment I had wandered barefoot through the Black Forest.

Back then, when the muddy rainwater and damp air filled everything, the system had left me alone for days.

I happened to discover an Achievement and reached the ruins, but that was all.

After I fell asleep as though passing out, Woldeer was before my eyes.

As though it were natural, he led me, helped me, and even reached the point of nearly dying. It was far too devoted and active to simply say Sek had ordered him.

The Epic Quests and Field Quests had begun popping up around that time too.

I narrowed my eyes and glared at the creature brazenly scattering sparks.

The sight of him sitting quietly two steps below, looking up at me, felt like a scene I had seen before, and my jaw tightened.

“Did you hear about this designed route directly?”

[“That is…… similar.”]

“You are dodging the answer?”

The creature stared back at me, then lightly flew up and sat on my lap. The fire, not hot at all, rose like a haze.

[“Master created me. I am what the last Sovereign created with all his strength.”]

Sek had created him, and I had also created him. I had fed him, poured the production method into him, found the Seed, and had him inherit it. Whether that was someone’s intent or not, I would surely do it again.

[“I was me from the moment I was born. Nothing has changed, Master.”]

I raked through my hair and laughed hollowly.

“So you are saying you knew about the route or plan from the beginning?”

[“You finally understand.”]

So I had been barking up the wrong tree?

I tapped the floor with my fingers and thought about the still-silent system.

“Then what is the route that was set? What am I supposed to do?”

[“A direct explanation is impossible.”]

“Ah, of course.”

The system had been just as thoroughly unkind. Whatever it was, it seemed right that the route Woldeer knew was something the past Sek had engraved into him, so I decided to bury it for now.

Because another question had arisen.

How had Sek known such detailed parts of the future and made his plans?

With the relieved creature perched on my shoulder, I waved at the Ruling Phantasmal Species beyond the door that opened a crack.

[“Are you okay?”]

“Yeah. I am fine.”

---

I was not fine.

Directly sharing emotions was unpleasant. Crying, smiling, and falling into despair regardless of my will.

Was this not too self-sacrificing to call depression treatment?

After soothing Gorong, who had provided free service for long years, and receiving the heavy emotions he had accumulated and shared with me, I fell asleep in the Ruling Phantasmal Species’s residence with my thought circuits almost stopped.

This was all because I had not adjusted to the time difference, thanks to the characteristic of the sun never setting.

When I opened my eyes, Fluffnix and the room’s owner were in the middle of a conversation.

Because the subtitles that usually appeared did not show up, I stared blankly at them with hazy eyes and pressed hard against both eyelids.

‘How long did I sleep?’

My entire body was heavy, like sodden cotton stretched out with water.

Kyuu-kyuu, kya-kya. Their chattering sounds made me think of the past for no reason. It had been quite a shock when I learned those were not simply cries, but a language structure.

Mm. After sleeping, my head worked a little.

I sat up, stared half-lidded at the creatures looking back at me, and raked through my hair.

“It is finished, so let us go.”

[“Are you all right?”]

“……? What is?”

[“Just now, until……. If you are all right, that is enough.”]

“What is with that suspiciousness? Why? What did I do?”

The Ruling Phantasmal Species lowered its rabbit ears limply, blocked my way, and tilted its head.

[“It seemed as though you had regained your old self. I thought your memories had returned. So we were waiting for the decision after that…… was that not it?”]

I acted like Sek?

When I frowned around the eyes in disbelief, the creature smiled bashfully and stepped back.

So it did not intend to tell me. It was probably using that route, or whatever path Sek had made, as an excuse.

At the betrayal I had not felt in a long while, the back of my head prickled. After I took such good care of you, you stab me in the back like this?

“What a shame that I am not the Sek you know.”

[“No way, no way! Are you sulking?! This is a rare sight, so I must save it right awaaay…… mmmph!”]

While Fluffnix blocked the creature’s mouth with his wing, I waved a hand and went outside.

There was a noisy crash and commotion behind me, but I ignored it.

[“Master.”]

Fluffnix quickly flew in front of me and blocked my way, flapping his wings. I had been looking at him indifferently, but my expression shifted slightly in surprise, and I stopped.

Whoosh.

The wind that blew in shook the blue flower the creature was holding in his beak.

“What is that?”

[“Digestion is complete.”]

Even with his beak firmly closed, he said everything he needed to through subtitles.

The production method that had once been made of Blue Inferno was nowhere to be seen. This was simply a blue rose.

[“You will need it.”]

What am I supposed to do with something that went into your stomach and came back out? Thinking that, I took the flower, and the system, which had been quiet, rang an alarm for the first time in a while.

Ding!

[<Story-Laden Blue Flower> acquired. Do you have a confession to make?]

[Story-Laden Blue Flower

A flower processed from the ember once cherished by the Forgotten Beings.

Good for ornamentation.

Activates a fixed buff when certain conditions are met.

Trade between opposite sexes▶Cold Resistance for a certain time.]

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

I need this?

Frowning, I was about to refute him when a passing thought made me close my mouth.

Because I thought of one person who needed “Cold Resistance for a certain time.”

---

Because there was no separate way to contact Dimel, he was waiting for me in the square right in front of the Immigration Hall.

It was fortunate our paths had not crossed.

“Dimel! Did you wait long?”

“Ah, you came! No. I had just finished my own business and was resting. Did your work go well?”

“More or less…… yes.”

No. At the very end, Blue almost cut me down with an icy wind.

Beside me, Fluffnix pecked my head with his beak and mocked me.

[“Master is a fool. An idiot. If your goal was to make her laugh, you succeeded.”]

As a bonus, he kept filling my sight with subtitles and distracting me.

“They say the Immigration Hall’s operation will stop until tomorrow. Considering the season, it must be because of a snowstorm. I found lodging. Let us go.”

As I followed Dimel, who was walking ahead, I grabbed Fluffnix’s beak and protested, but since those subtitles seemed to show consciousness inside my head rather than sound, he kept muttering and disturbing my vision the whole time.

[“Master, who was cursed even after giving a gift, was unprecedented.”]

“Will you shut up?”

[“I did not tell you to use it on Blue. It was Master’s choice.”]

“Are you backing out now?”

[“Anyone would draw a blade if given the cause of their curse. Master does not understand people’s hearts.”]

“Ah, seriously.”

Fluffnix was acting like that because of what I had done.

I had shoved the Blue Flower straight onto Blue.

After all, as far as I knew, Blue was the only person who needed a buff called Cold Resistance.

“Are you telling me to keep looking at the thing that cursed me and remember that day?”

“That…… was not it. I did not mean anything by it. I just thought you needed the effect.”

“I have lived here for two hundred years. Do I look as though I feel the cold?”

“Mm…… so you do not.”

“……You have become foolish.”

Roughly after exchanges like that, I had forced it onto her as if disposing of it. Blue had walked around that empty Ice Castle wearing only a single dress.

I had thought from the beginning that she was no ordinary person, and yet I had felt as though I had to give it to Blue.

Even if she did not need it, I wondered whether Blue, left alone after I returned, might feel lonely for no reason.

[“Master is foolish after all.”]

“Leave me alone. I gave it because I wanted to.”

I had no need for it anyway.

Perhaps Dimel was bothered by my muttering behind him, because he looked back several times. After that, I closed my mouth and ignored Fluffnix’s provocation. I will pluck your feathers later. Thinking of small revenge inwardly.

The lodging Dimel found was usable.

I liked it very much for how thoroughly it protected privacy.

The small room had old-fashioned interior design and a refreshing atmosphere, and it was a single room. I only heard later that Dimel had found it out of consideration for me.

In any case, the cost could be extorted from Pan.

I grabbed Fluffnix’s beak, since he had been chattering nonstop, buried him under the blanket, and sat on a chair made of woven wood beside it.

I lifted my head and organized the miscellaneous stories I had picked up.

Even as I continued thinking that something would work out somehow, one thing bothered me.

[Fame Value: 1921]

[Points Held: 24P]

Checking the numbers, I tapped the armrest with my finger. Seeing the Fame Value nibble its way upward even in that brief moment, I weighed Designated Original Work Viewing.

The required points were sufficient. I would be nearly emptied out after using them, and not much would remain, but it was a necessary investment to confirm something important.

I had seen quite a lot of the Original Work by now, but not once had Sek ever appeared.

Well, my grade had been Minor Role, and only barely risen to Supporting Role E, so I had not expected too much.

But Sek was a figure who had too much influence on the Original Work’s basic setting to simply bury.

He was none other than the Former Underworld Lord, had steadily built trust by moving between the Surface World and the Underworld since two hundred years ago, still had Surface Folk who respected him, was the last Sovereign, and was the father of all Phantasmal Species who freely commanded the Forgotten Beings.

‘Shouldn’t the main characters have at least mentioned him once?’

I would never find him through Random Loading, but I wondered whether Designated Original Work Viewing might work.

There had been moments when I worried over it and almost went for it, but each time, something happened that required me to spend points.

This time too, it was not a point amount I could have reached through simple Achievements alone, but thanks to the Fame Value I had forcibly unlocked, I had accumulated enough to call the Designated Original Work.

I stared quietly at the Fame Value that was still rising little by little and tightened my jaw.

The system had become sparse and gone into hiding after that number appeared.

One could think it was because I had forcibly pulled in an ability from Supporting Role C grade, but what bothered me was that Woldeer had devoured a large amount of Black Mist around that same time.

‘Hey, system, come out.’

I called just in case, but there was no response, so I executed the loading without hesitation.

‘I want to designate an Original Work scene where the character Sek is mentioned.’

Blue had said it was my story. I do not think she said that because she knew the principle behind the system. Still, I agreed with those words.

Ding!

[Command cannot be executed.]

[A higher grade is required to search 〈Sek〉.]

[Required Grade: Supporting Role A.]

[Work harder (〜￣▽￣)〜]

“Are you insane?”

The special characters I had seen for the first time in a while brought deep rage to my recently careless mind.

Fluffnix poked his head out from under the blanket and fussed at my fierce words, but none of that entered my eyes.

Supporting Role A is practically right below the protagonist.

Ding!

[Wow! Correct!]

Fuck.