Seol looked completely pitiful as he was wrapped in chains and slept silently.
“Hey, Mirei! Is this really alright?”
“Nothing’s happened yet, so I don’t know either.”
“Even though Master is sitting still like he’s dead?”
“Because it’s a False-Death Inducing Device. He’s essentially dead right now.”
Karuna pondered with his eyes shut, leaning against the wall. Meanwhile, Karen was worried about both Seol and Jamad as nothing was happening.
It wasn’t as if Seol’s summons waiting for him in reality felt easy either. Rather, it was more painful because they didn’t know what was happening.
Frrssss…
“Huh? L-Look!”
Seol’s body was turning black.“Is it a success?”
Mirei looked at Seol with focused eyes.
However…
“Ah…”
Slide…
The black energy reached Seol’s golden eyes and turned them black.
Seol’s face looked not only eerie, but also somewhat frightening.
Not to mention…
Bathump!
Bathump!
Seol’s body contorted and bent like a bow as if his heart pounded intensely. Shaking the chains as well.
“This… is bad…”
“Why? What’s happening?”
“It looks like he’s having a harder time overcoming his memories than I thought. This isn’t the normal response. This… means that the shadows are eating into him.”
“Are you serious?! What should we do then?”
“Nothing. We just have to wait and hope he overcomes it.”
“That’s so irresponsible, though…”
“It’s something your master decided. Do you not trust him?”
“......”
Step.
Karuna stepped away from the wall and approached Mirei.
“Mirei, let me ask you a question.”
“Sure.”
Karuna then continued.
“Didn’t you say… that there was a method for us to enter our Master’s nightmares?”
“Well… um…”
- We could forcibly try including more shadows, but because we don’t know what side effects would occur if we do that, we’ll just have to pretend that option doesn’t exist.
Mirei had said that in her conversation with Seol.
She grabbed her head.
“I mentioned it as something only possible in theory.”
“I will go.”
“Karuna!”
Karen shouted at Karuna.
“No, you won’t be able to find your way. The deep consciousness is a maze, so you’ll get lost. Regardless of your master’s intent, you would fall into danger.”
“I don’t care.”
“Karuna, take me with you!”
“Karen, this is dangerous.”
“That’s exactly why I’m telling you to take me with you, you idiot! Are you going to leave me alone again?”
“......”
Mirei listened silently for a moment before snapping her fingers like she had realized something.
Snap!
“Yeah! You could just do that.”
“Do what?”
“You’ll definitely lose your way if you enter alone. Just finding where your master is could take… in the time there… about a month or even a year. However, it’s different if it’s two people.”
“You heard that, right?”
“What would be different about it?”
“The nightmares treat intruders as foreign entities. The two of you won’t be welcomed there. And when that happens, a ripple will occur in the deep consciousness which in turn would create a resonance that would not only let you find each other, but also your master—”
“Stop! I don’t understand any of that! For now, just send us in! Master will die at this rate.”
Though Karen was hasty, it was hard to blame her for it.
Mirei didn’t tell them outright, but the two still realized that it was a dire situation where talking would be wasting time.
Not to mention, it didn’t matter to them whether they understood what Mirei was talking about.
“Get into position. I’ll send you to your master.”
“Alright! Come on, Karuna. Come here.”
“What do we do?”
Craaaaaackle…
“First, it will hurt like hell. We already used all of the medicine.”
“That’s fine.”
“Yup, for me too!”
“After you endure that, search for your master in the dark space. And then, run to the exit.”
“Understood.”
“Hurry!”
Karen and Karuna shouted after being attached to the False-Death Inducing Device.
It was because the machine had started running.
“Guaaaaaaaaaargh!”
“Aaaaaaaaaaargh!”
Zap!
Beeeeeeeeeep…
Both of their heads sagged forward.
“...Then am I the only one left?”
Mirei pulled out a cigarette from her inventory and lit it.
“Fuu… Like master, like summon… Wouldn't you agree, Sodin?”
As expected, there was no answer.
“Yeah. Honestly, I’m a bit jealous. Those are the dreams I wanted to achieve. And as such…”
It started to get louder outside.
“...nitely here! I can smell the witch!”
Mirei opened her eyes.
“I plan on looking over him until the end.”
She stepped out of the hideout.
* * *
Karen, Karuna, and Mirei’s worries were on the mark.
Currently, Seol and Jamad were in a dire situation.
Jamad had broken the wall and met Seol.
However, the gods weren’t going to just sit and watch.
Crackle…
As they waved their hands, the cracked area immediately reformed.
Seol blankly stared before asking them a question.
“Wasn’t… Wasn’t there something here just now?”
The gods feigned ignorance.
“I don’t know… I didn’t see anything.”
“Maybe you just saw it wrong?”
“Well, it could be due to the shock of making so many mistakes… haha…”
“Come back here and sit down. You need to keep playing with us, Snowman. Don’t you enjoy our games?”
Seol’s vision started to blur once more.
‘Yeah, I want to play with them forever. That’s what I want.’
Seol looked at the game board once more.
One of the strongest desires is the desire to control. The act of controlling something other than oneself provides indescribable pleasure.
Did Seol move the pieces on the table to satisfy this desire? Was it really to let those pieces live their own lives like he had claimed?
Seol no longer knew the answer.
He had become a fool, a child, and simply watched the game board.
However…
“...No, I’m sure that I saw it correctly. I’m sure… I saw it.”
“Do you not trust us?”
“Aren’t we your friends? You should trust your friends.”
“Friends…”
Were we really friends?
Seol, who had become a child, shook his head.
And then he spoke.
“I want to leave here.”
“Haha! You’re choosing that path? Everyone, look! Snowman’s trying to leave!”
“Do you think it’s possible?”
Slide.
A dice was handed to Seol.
The hand holding the dice flicked their fingers, gesturing Seol to quickly take it.
“Roll the dice, Snowman.”
“It will all depend on what the dice say.”
“Whether you leave… or stay… all depends on this dice.”
Seol silently looked at the dice.
It was something that he had been with for 17 years. Its faces were smooth, and the corners sharp.
Whenever Seol rubbed his fingers against the dice’s sunken eyes, he felt uneasy.
To Seol, the dice was his god, his fate, and his life. He had always lived as the dice told him to. Those were the rules.
Toss.
Clatter…
The dice spun.
The dice that would decide everything.
Clatter…
Stop.
And finally, the dice stopped.
It stopped on a 1.
The dice had announced his death.
“Bwahahahahaha! It’s a 1, Snowman.”
“What are you going to do now? You can never leave from here, Seol.”
“You’re going to be with us… forever…”
Ah, really? I guess if the dice said it, then it must be true.
Seol despised everything.
He despised their mocking laughs, the dice that rolled a 1, and the table itself.
Seol despised it all.
He held hostility toward everything.
It was clear that he would be eaten away by his nightmares.
He believed so too.
But then… the ground started rumbling.
Thud!
“Huh?”
“What?”
“What did you do, Snowman?”
Seol looked at the dice that rolled a 1.
It had turned into a 2 from the rumbling.
The gods, who didn’t recognize it, started blaming Seol. They accused him of cheating.
“I didn’t do it.”
Thud!
Thud!
The rumbling became stronger.
Roll…
Each time the ground shook, the dice continued to change faces.
It would turn into a 4, then even turn back into a 1.
“Stop it, Snowman!”
“I’m telling you, it isn’t me!”
“Hmph, who else would it be?! Why won’t you listen to the dice?!”
Thud!
Roll.
The dice weakly rolled until it finally revealed a new face.
6.
The dice had rolled a 6.
It was the highest number a six-sided die could have.
The gods were all in silence.
Seol glanced at the location where the rumblings came from. He saw his own shadow.
"Look, Snowman. I'm a simple troll, so I only know how to do things like this. Hitting things is the best I can do."
Seol noticed a fang, which reminded him of someone.
“Jamad? Is that you, Jamad?”
“How dare you look into my nightmares, Snowman. You’re quite fearless, aren’t you.”
“...Go back. The dice rolled a 1.”
“No, I never agreed to that.”
Thud!
Thuuud!
Jamad continued to pound on the dark space.
“Who cares! Who cares about the damned dice!”
“But those are the rules.”
“Rules? Do you think rules exist in the world? Are you stupid?”
“What?”
“Who are you?”
“Me? I’m…”
For a moment, Seol was about to say that he was Snowman. Why did Jamad ask him this question now? The snowman mask Seol wore started to feel uncomfortable.
“I’m…”
Seol then gave his answer.
“I am Kang Seol.”
“I see. Seol, what is reality to you? Is rolling dice with these terrible bastards reality?”
“No, it’s not.”
“Then why are you hesitating? You always think too much. Sometimes, you have to be simple, like me.”
The mask-wearing gods grabbed Seol’s arms.
“Snowman, snap out of it! What are you doing?!”
“The dice rolled a 1. You’re going to follow the rules, right? You’ve always followed!”
At that moment, Seol realized something.
He realized that he should have told them something a long time ago.
He should have told them the moment he became an adult, pioneering his own future.
Grab.
Slide…
Seol took off the snowman mask.
His heart was swirling and surging with many emotions. He felt light and relaxed, but also free.
He carefully opened his mouth.
“It’s boring.”
“...What?”
“Y-You’re joking, right? You’re going to stay with us, right?”
Seol looked at them, expressionless.
“Things like this now… it’s boring.”
He had finally become an adult.
He had become an adult living in the real world.
“You can play these boring games on your own.”
Throw!
Seol grabbed the dice and tossed it aside.
Jamad laughed.
Rumble…
The dark space started to tear down.
Seol realized why he felt so hostile toward the world.
It was because he hadn’t met them.
He, himself, chose to wear his mask and refused to face them head-on.
And now, Seol turned around to look at his shadow. The same shadow that would turn its back on him if he would turn his back to it. However, this time… he also saw another shadow.
There, Jamad smiled.
Seol called out to Jamad.
“Let’s leave.”
The gods refused to let Seol go.
“Where do you think you’re going?!”
“Bad children like you need to be punished for breaking the rules!”
Craaaackle!
“Aaaaaargh!”
Seol’s neck was burnt black again.
It was a memory that Seol had forgotten… It was the same ring of lightning that was wrapped around his neck before he was kicked out by the gods.
Once again, it materialized and choked Seol.
“Krrrgh…”
“The world only exists thanks to rules. Do you not know that a world without rules is chaos itself?!”
At that moment, Seol’s shadow crumbled away.
Crumble!
Jamad leaped out from it and stood side by side with Seol.
“I see… so that black mark around your neck was because of this. I finally learned everything about you, Seol.”
“Gasp… Gasp…”
“You had… some very interesting thoughts. Let me ask you this then, what do you plan to do now?”
“Krgh… Krgh…”
“I should get rid of this annoying chain first.”
The lightning god laughed at Jamad’s words.
"Haha! That's not something you can break with your powers!"
“Is that a rule too?”
“It is.”
“Then… I will reject them.”
“What?”
Jamad grabbed the ring of lightning that choked Seol and flexed his forearms, slowly pulling them apart.
Crackle…
Craaaackle!
“No… No way…”
“Rules are just promises made between cowards. I shall reject everything about you. Seol! Tell me! What do you desire?!”
Seol gasped for air for a second before immediately responding to Jamad.
“Revenge. I only want revenge.”
“Kuahahaha! Don’t you think that’s too small? How could a man abandoned by the gods only dream so little?”
“For my revenge… I shall become a god. And I shall punish them from the same eye level as them.”
Seol, who had become an adult, stood up.
“I will become a god.”
Jamad gave a big smile and reached out a fist.
“Then you have the right. You have the right to join me on my journey to become king of all beings. I will prepare a spot for you in my glorious journey.”
Seol laughed as well. He reached out his small human fist to Jamad’s big troll fist.
Bump.
“Don’t make me laugh. I’m going to use you for my Ascension.”
“Hmph! Regardless, it means that we have the same goal.”
Jamad’s eyes glowed red.
He looked at the gods, who were the cause behind everything.
“Then… let’s leave here…”
The two of them were now individuals who had rejected the rules imposed by the gods.
Jamad finished off the sentence by quietly murmuring to himself.
“My true brother, chosen by my own heart.”
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