### Chapter 413 – Glory and Transcendence (2) Fin
—
— Han Kain
“Kain, um… there’s something I want to say.”
“…”
Let’s just admit it. Seeing Ga-young after such a long time made my heart race a little.
“I… I’m sorry for what happened before. I wanted to reach out multiple times after that, but for some reason, I felt embarrassed.”
“Em-embarrassed…?”
“Kain! I want to—”
“…”
“I want to…! Go out with—”
“Aah! I can’t listen to this!”
“Eh?”
Without looking back, I sprinted away like a man possessed! What the heck is this place trying to show me? A scene where Ga-young confesses to me?
As I dashed down the street while incessantly cursing, a revelation began to show confusion.
「Why did you run away when a happy moment was about to start?」
“Happy? This is pure madness! That’s not really Ga-young—”
「Of course, this scene is an illusion. However, a achievable illusion carries more meaning than just a simple dream.」
An achievable illusion. The boundless glory laid before me.
I understand the intention behind the revelation. He never pretended to hide it anyway.
It’s an extension of what I heard from the Owl before.
「The human mind is like water in a vessel.」
“…”
「Too much black dye—the power of magic—was mixed into that water. It’s not all bad. There’s great wisdom in that dye.」
“…”
「How should we respond? The owl has imparted teachings to you.」
First method: Embrace humanity that never fades away. The Owl expressed this as “freezing the water.”
Ahri is in this state. She was born with a love for a maze that never melts. This is something I can’t easily replicate.
Second method: Gaining the power in contrast to the grimoire. The Owl described this as “pouring in white paint.”
「The radiance of the holy sun lacks nothing compared to that of the grimoire… May the Lord’s glory shine upon you.」
“… Okay. I understand that, but what does this have to do with Ga-young confessing to me?”
「The time that has passed, the lingering emotions of a first love unfulfilled. Such things are meant to be realizable through the Lord’s glory—」
“Aah! Seriously, you jerk! Are you trying to embarrass me and shake my mentality? I won’t fall for your tricks—”
「You misunderstand. If that had been my purpose, I wouldn’t have shown this.」
— Ding! Ding!
“…”
As soon as I heard that sound, I became breathless. Something came to mind that would pop up in this situation.
— Ding! Ding!
“No way!”
No no no no no!
Even though this revelation is a strange one, there’s no way it could go this far.
My hands were shaking as I opened my messaging app.
“Gah!”
Aahhhh! Gahhh! Gahhh! Gahhh! Gahhh! Gahhh! Gahhh! Gahhh! Gahhh! Gahhh! Gahhh! Gahhh! Gahhh!
I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die.
This isn’t a joke— I seriously just want to escape!
The despair I felt cannot be expressed in mere words.
I could even exaggerate it to the feeling of meeting a prisoner in Curse Room!
This is the memory I wanted to cram into my head and forget for the rest of my life!
The horrific confession I sent to Ga-young when I was in middle school!
And someone else knows about this, not just me?!
「I’m not technically you or anyone else—」
“Gaaah!”
Half out of my mind, I used the power of the grimoire to tear apart this dream.
Well, I intended to rip it apart. If someone hadn’t grabbed my arm right before that, it might have worked.
— Wham!
“…”
He appeared, shrouded in darkness. I was far more familiar with him than the revelation.
He was the one who awoke the moment I acquired the grimoire.
And he had fully formed during my long time in Room 203.
The first sound I heard was laughter.
“Hahaha! This is just too hilarious!”
“…”
“No, seriously! Is that revelation crazy or what?!”
“…”
“Kain, you get it now, right? That revelation isn’t planning on teasing you or tormenting you.”
“… I know.”
“He’s just pure-hearted! Saying this is the happy moment he wants to show you?”
“He lacks understanding of humanity.”
“Exactly! He’s showing you this foolishness— the idea of fulfilling a love that never happened. If it were me, I would just go with Elena, Ahri, Miro, and Songee—”
“Please be quiet.”
“Sure, sure. I’ll keep quiet.”
“…”
“Wow, but this message is genuinely insane. What on earth were you thinking sending this?!”
Now, I have three entities who know my most hidden secret.
“Wow! That confession over text is the definition of stupidity, but what’s with the April Fool’s joke? Who taught you this nonsense?”
Should I just shove this jerk into a truck?
Aren’t the dreams meaningless anyway?
“No way. I want to show something too, but something more urgent came up.”
“… Urgent?”
“As you know, I’m technically not you. What light Kain? Dark Kain? Human Kain? Those distinctions mean nothing.”
“…”
“So the current situation is just one Kain contemplating the direction to move forward.”
“…”
“And that’s why I wanted to show you the path of ‘Transcendence.’ But thinking about it, what I’m about to do is quite similar.”
“What’s similar?”
“What is transcendence?”
“Huh?”
“It’s not the world defining me; I define the world myself. Isn’t that transcendence?”
“What kind of nebulous nonsense are you spouting—”
“I’ll show you. This is also a kind of psychological therapy.”
*
Now, what I am about to do has a very logical and justifiable reason.
The memories connected to Ga-young are a kind of trauma. I simply weren’t triggered enough to remember it.
I felt it earlier— if someone pokes at this wound, it hurts immensely!
「And how does this weird behavior connect to what you’re doing?」
“Aren’t you going to keep quiet?”
The wounds of the heart and the wounds of the body are not so different.
Both are painful, can become weaknesses, and need healing.
So this is something I must do.
With determination, I looked at Ga-young, her eyes sparkling.
“G-Ga-in! Earlier, what I said… what do you think? I’m… I’m….”
I firmly replied in a steady voice.
“I’m sorry.”
The eyes of the local A-grade beauty widened, and she seemed to be at a loss for words.
“Ga-young, the truth is I have a girlfriend.”
This is it~!
“Y-You didn’t say that!”
“Oh, you didn’t know because I never told anyone? Here, take a look at this picture I took before—”
I showed her a photo of me happily smiling alongside Ahri.
Of course, I just made this photo up.
I mean, it’s a realm of imagination, so what’s the harm?
“Huh! Hnngh!”
I feel free!
At the very moment my lips curled up in satisfaction, the revelation couldn’t hold back anymore.
「How is this related to ‘trauma resolution’?」
Just as I was waiting, a boy appeared and chuckled.
“Hey, hey! Ignore that idiot! Let’s do it again.”
“Do it again?”
“Do it again! Come on, doing it just once won’t heal anything!”
Since the grimoire’s persona insisted, I couldn’t refuse.
It’s a process for healing the wounds of my heart!
「…」
*
So, over three occurrences, I confronted the illusion of Ga-young, in places like a coffee shop, college campus, and high school playground.
As I did this, I remembered how Miro confessed to me once and then insisted, “I’m the one chasing!”
What a foolish thing to recall, but surprisingly, it worked.
And now, this moment is the most crucial.
— Gulp!
I stared at ‘it’ without realizing I swallowed.
He was diligently tampering with the ‘image,’ the most important procedure in this “healing process.”
“Is it going well?”
“Keep quiet, I’m concentrating.”
Each time he opened his mouth, he’d been playful, yet now he was so immersed that his tone had shifted.
“You know this isn’t just simple image manipulation, right? We’re altering the very memories ‘we’ hold in our minds.”
“Ugh!”
“This is only possible in this dream realm. Ah!”
“Ah?”
“This is it; we’re all done!”
When the grimoire’s persona showed a delighted expression, the images in my mind switched.
“Ah… it’s done now. All truths are buried in history. I’ve never been rejected—”
He looked at me in confusion.
“What do you mean? Rejected? Were you talking about the time you were ‘chased’ by Ga-young?”
As the trauma that once occupied a corner of my heart slowly melted away, someone murmured.
「I wanted to hold back if possible, but I must ask. How does this relate to ‘transcendence’?」
“…”
「Did the magic taint you? Or did you taint the magic itself…?」
This bizarre dream slowly came to an end.
*
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 274
Current Location: Floor 1, Corridor.
Sage’s Advice: 3]
—
As soon as I stepped outside, my companions, with rabbit-like eyes, approached me.
“How was it?”
Elena grabbed my shoulder with a worried expression, while Ahri carefully observed me.
Miro had likely already cried a couple of times.
“… What?”
How was it?
I suddenly lost my words.
Songee’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Oppa! Did you talk to the Lord or the revelation? That’s what Ahri heard.”
“…”
I just realized that was the case.
“Um, there’s like a persona created by the Lord called the revelation? I talked with him.”
“What did you talk about?”
“Just… nothing much. It was more like a deep discussion about the direction I want to go in.”
Ahri tilted her head, looking puzzled.
“Why are you stuttering like that?”
“I’m just surprised. Everyone is gathered here.”
“Well, you suddenly fainted and just kept sleeping.”
“But anyway, it wasn’t bad. I clearly realized the meanings of Descent and the Holy Sun. And….”
“And?”
“I experienced a bit of mental growth.”
“Mental growth?”
My companions tilted their heads in confusion.
“It’s not a big deal; just that I brushed off a tiny bit of guilt from my childhood.”
It really wasn’t anything significant.
So we relaxed, sipping drinks at the snack table while chatting.
“It was in the third year of middle school? There was a girl named Ga-young who confessed to me.”
“Eek! What happened?”
As soon as I brought up the confession, Miro blushed and screamed, while Jinchul already started chuckling and hitting the table.
“It’s nothing much. I told her for various reasons it’d be hard to go out, and she ended up really hurt—”
“Aah! So you were doing that since middle school?”
“Ugh… I envy Kain-hyung….”
“Seungyub.”
“Y-yes, Grandpa?”
“I’ll definitely introduce you to a girl your age later, so don’t worry.”
“Huh?!”
“Haha, wouldn’t our agent find love in the hotel?”
“That’s a problem in itself….”
“Wahahah!”
The raucous atmosphere was pure joy.
Isn’t it a skill to fall asleep right after lying down, living such a hectic life?
As the saying goes, we try to find even a bit of happiness between trials.
After all, that’s our way.
By evening, we resolved to finally see the end of the room we had left untouched for so long.
Tomorrow, we head to Room 104.
The advice was also thoroughly outlined for Room 104.
“…”
Just before falling asleep, a trivial question popped into my mind.
Why had I clung to the memory of chasing Ga-young for so many years like some kind of trauma?
No idea.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.