[Episode 146]
“God…?”
“How have you been? baby.”
The boy said, pressing my cheek hard. I blinked my eyes and nodded.
It’s very strange to have your cheek pressed against a child with wings.
“Suddenly…why…”
Rather than expressing embarrassment, I put the emotion of surprise on the tip of my tongue.
It was because of the feeling of uneasiness running down his spine.
“I think I should say sorry first.”
Arma put her hands together and lightly bowed her head.
I knew that it was not so easy for a god to bow down to a mere human.
“Let’s explain this first.”
Arma, too, struggled in the air for a long time as if she was very embarrassed, and then quickly opened her mouth as if she had put her mind in order.
“Do you remember the black space you were in? Where the cogs were.”
“yes.”
“It was a space halfway between Eirin’s world and Chamiso’s world.”
“…was it?”
“Yes, it is normal that the original world and the world cannot come and go. The same goes for me, a great god, to intervene in Cha Miso’s world and not be able to physically save you.”
I nodded my head at Arma’s words.
Well, if each god could interfere with the other world when he wanted, it would surely be a matter of seconds for the world to become a mess.
I nodded as if I understood, and Arma hurriedly added an explanation.
“So, to put it in a word, originally, that space is a space that cannot exist. But a dreamer is a ‘creator of the world’.”
“…it was.”
Because of that, the soul was washed and the starkeepers continued to use it.
“Because of that specialness, you created a small space where no one can interfere… you guys can exist.”
“Yes, but why is that…? Didn’t it collapse when we disappeared?”
At least Cha Miso’s soul was harvested by Arma, so there seemed to be no reason to keep it.
Arma nodded as if I was right.
“It collapsed and disappeared.”
said Arma.
“But there is a problem.”
“Is it a problem?”
“It took a while to fill in the missing hole. To mend clothes with holes, you need thread and needles, and you need people, but that can’t be done at once.”
“You mean there are still holes left?”
“No, the hole is gone. I paid the price to stop it.”
“Ah…”
Then what is the problem?
The answer came out before I could even tilt my head.
“But while I’m collecting probabilities to fill in the holes in the world, there’s a bit of empty time.”
“…”
“A small crack appeared in the world, and the Star Keeper entered through it.”
Originally, Arma added that she could never cross the world line and sighed in frustration.
‘…no way.’
Suddenly, the world of Cha Mi-so, which had changed dramatically, came to mind.
When I went back to the place where everyone hated me, no one hated me.
And it was Byeoljigi who had a hand in it.
“Because I couldn’t detect at all whether it had entered someone’s body…”
Arma looked at me with a teary face.
Looking at his wide eyes, I could see how worried and hesitant this god was until he told me this story.
“…What is that star keeper doing here?”
“It has already lost one eye and lost its body, so all it has left is its mind and one eye.”
Arma chose to explain a bit more than answer my question.
But the more you do it, the more it fills up with anxiety. Why don’t you answer right away?
“Besides, it’s my world, so I can’t use my full strength.”
Arma continued to speak.
For some reason, I felt that I was averting my gaze.
“But… this world is a world you wished for and longed for, so to be honest, a lot of your wishes have been melted into it.”
“…”
Maybe that’s what I thought.
Maybe it’s just intuition.
That kind of intuition that the anxiety I had vaguely felt until now would solidify into a lump and appear in front of me as a reality.
“My child, you must have often felt that in this world the things you wished for and wished for came true.”
“yes.”
“Actually, it doesn’t matter. It’s only natural that you, the creator of the world, are treated favorably. No matter which world you go to, whatever world you are in, in fact, the Creator is treated well. That’s why the star keeper never sends you to the world he created.”
But this time something strange happened.
I…
no we.
We have passed into the world we have created. I found a new life here.
‘I thought it was over there.’
The world wasn’t as easy as I thought.
“However, as the starkeeper is the manager of the dreaming child… he can take away the creator’s authority from you.”
I smiled dejectedly at Arma’s words while looking at me.
It felt like I had been stabbed in the back of the head, or that I had suffered something I expected.
“The heroine of a certain novel becomes happy if she is subjected to such an ordeal…”
I awkwardly opened my mouth.
“A fake heroine must have a hard time with that too.”
“If the Creator’s authority is taken away, won’t the wishes that have been granted so far come true?”
Was it because of the authority of the Creator that people who appeared whenever I was lonely and who told me what I wanted to hear?
“The ones that were forced… maybe a little bit like that. So, like an unconditional favor, or anything that works out the way you think…”
Arma said cautiously.
“Of course, since you are a dragon, you can get anything back if you want. The dragon’s orb will make your wish come true.”
He added that the dragon’s orb is a very powerful artifact even in this world, and there was even a sense of urgency in his voice.
“Unlike the power of the Creator, of course, there are limits, so even human emotions cannot be moved, but…”
I kept my mouth shut while watching Arma.
“Yes, my God. Everything I’ve been through so far…”
I swallowed the words that filled my throat again, unable to finish my words.
After stroking the mokuldae several times, I struggled to lower my head, and Arma, flapping her angelic wings, flew in and held me in her arms.
“no.”
“…yes?”
“You don’t think that everything was a lie, that it was all coercive force under the authority of the Creator, right?”
“…”
“Of course, it is true that most of the things born of you in this world are bound to be friendly to you, unless they are united with evil intentions or for some reason.”
Arma said while holding my head tightly in her arms.
“Being close to someone must have had that kind of power to some extent.”
said Arma.
I blankly hugged Arma and closed my eyes tightly.
How long has it been since I set foot in this world after coming back from hardships to give me this kind of misfortune?
“But that’s only about pushing on the back. Now, the refreshing energy that I felt from you has disappeared a little, so there are many people who are confused, but…”
Arma calmly patted my head.
“Soon everyone will find out. That it wasn’t all forced.”
But in truth, I want to resent you, but there must be a part of me that I couldn’t resent.
Dad is like that, Callan is like that, Cillian is like that, and Charnett is like that too.
I lost my wife and mother because of me, and I thought about how I could be okay.
A lot of things I could have were taken away because of me… The same goes for Sharnet who only loves me.
It was awkward.
A world where no one hates me must have come about because I secretly wished for it so strongly.
“I will catch the Star Keeper and banish him from this world without fail.”
“…”
“So, hold on a little until then.”
If so, will I change people’s hearts favorably again by force?
‘I’d rather…’
It wouldn’t be bad to go somewhere where no one knows me.
“Baby.”
Arma’s hand gently cupped my cheek.
“Never think of abandoning you. got it?”
“…”
“Your misfortune will increase the power of the Star Keeper, and your soul will be taken away by the Star Keeper again.”
At the voice that added that there was no way back then, I smiled and nodded.
“I’ll do my best.”
Upon hearing my answer, Arma smiled broadly.
I took a deep breath and slowly closed my eyes. When I opened my eyes again, it was as if a chill was running around me.
