Chapter 689 – The First Wish, Lee Eunsol (3) Fin
—
“Today, only one among you will receive destiny.”
The words from the gray-haired woman, a high-ranking official from the Bureau, left us absolutely bewildered.
Before long, we started to retreat awkwardly, feeling an uncomfortable chill creeping in.
— Clank!
But it was a futile attempt at rebellion.
Before we knew it, armed soldiers had appeared, front and back.
“What the heck? Who are you guys?!”
“Why are you doing this?!”
As my brothers cursed in confusion, the soldiers paid no mind. They simply pushed us forward, following the commands of their superior.
“Take them to the altar and seat them.”
“Understood.”
“What the heck are you guys doing? Do you think you’re getting away with this?!”
The words from my second brother sounded like the whimpering of a frightened puppy in my ears.
If these fellows really were high-ranking officials from the Bureau, they could do far worse than this without a second thought.
“Your Highness, Princess. I apologize. However, today truly is the day of destiny. The purpose of your birth is being fulfilled.”
*
The place the soldiers took us was the depths of an ancient site.
It was filled with strange characters, unidentified machines, tangled wires and mysteriously glowing objects that were utterly incomprehensible.
Even to my unknowing eyes, the equipment before me looked like the ultimate collision of science and miracles.
After being injected with some unknown substances and forced into bizarre bodysuits for a moment, we were soon made to sit in chairs against our will.
Until that moment, none of us had any inkling of what was about to happen.
We could only tremble in fear and guess wildly at what was coming next.
What actually took place surpassed any childish imagination we might’ve had.
*
— Bang!
A lightning bolt struck.
No, it was a bolt reaching from the ground up to the lofty heavens.
“AHHH—”
In what felt like an eternity of screams, our souls and minds broke free from the prison of our bodies and soared towards the sky.
Upwards, further up, impossibly high!
We ascended.
We soared.
We ascended!
In the blink of an eye, the Earth vanished, and the warm sun became so distant that I could hardly feel its heat.
I saw innumerable stars and even the swirling gas that formed them.
In a realm of nebulous confusion where time and space faded into nothingness…
Star light poured down upon me.
It wasn’t some grand revelation where I comprehended the laws of the universe in an instant.
Rather, it felt as if the extremely lofty principles briefly brushed past the small shadow known as ‘Lee Eunsol.’
Incomprehensible knowledge.
Information beyond recognition.
Tales that defied common sense.
The agony was unbearable.
It felt as though my brain was melting away from the sheer intensity of the pain.
…
Strangely enough, none of my siblings had perished.
For any ordinary human, enduring even a fraction of this process should lead to instant death…
Yet, we managed to withstand it.
It was as if we were born with a ridiculously thick eggshell around us.
I felt a remarkably sturdy shell enveloping my soul.
Moreover, I realized that this shell absorbed the heavenly burdens meant for me, one by one, as it peeled away.
Only then did I understand.
My two brothers and sister surely understood as well.
We were born for this moment today.
…
When the seemingly endless ascent came to a halt, something appeared that resembled a gigantic wall, undetectable to the eye.
At first sight, I strangely felt like I understood what it was.
Some might call it a ‘veil’ or perhaps an ‘aquarium.’
Beyond that veil…
…
There lies a frightening and terrible truth.
The source of evil, too potent for humanity’s distant ancestors to bear.
The reason behind having to forge the first Ark and flee!
A chilling realization washed over me.
What on earth was this knowledge swirling in my mind?
“Ah…”
“Eunsol, are you okay? Is everyone alright?”
“Yes… yes.”
As I turned my head in a daze, I caught sight of my eldest brother, panic-stricken and evidently shaken.
He seemed to have arrived just a bit earlier than me.
Soon, my second brother and sister made it to this realm too.
After a silence filled with questions, my second brother mumbled as if in a trance.
“Is this the veil? Or an aquarium?”
“…”
“If you pass through this, what’s on the other side? So…?”
Seeing my second brother mumbling words he himself didn’t understand made it dawn on me.
“… It seems strange knowledge has seeped into our minds, right?”
Nobody answered.
Not out of denial, but because the truth was so obvious that answering felt unnecessary.
Finally, my younger sister couldn’t hold back and screamed.
“What… what is happening right now? What are we even—”
“… Just an awkward imitation of ascension.”
“What?”
From the pale-faced eldest brother, incomprehensible knowledge spilled forth.
It felt as if he was overwhelmed by the swirling vortex of bizarre knowledge occupying his mind.
“A tremendous… unfathomably great being orchestrated this situation.”
“Oh, brother?”
“It created children who could endure the celestial pressure and awkwardly imitated the process of ascension—”
At that very moment!
“Awkward imitation, huh? How rude. Why, I struggled so hard to pull off this much! But it’s true that it’s an imitation, so I’ll spare you my ire.”
A voice that was too familiar echoed around us.
An extraordinarily familiar voice.
“Um, Mother…”
We were crushed under an overwhelming sense of dread, unable to take a proper breath.
We were no longer the oblivious children of the past.
Thanks to the shards of knowledge that poured forth during this ‘awkward imitation of ascension,’ we had come to a realization.
Our mother is not human…!
No, she was beyond just not human—she embodied cosmic evil!
“Now, go forth. Challenge the infinite domain beyond the veil.”
Her words, overly gentle and warm.
Yet, they also carried a command that could never be refused.
The ever-obedient eldest son, who always heeded our parents’ words, stepped forward first.
“Um, Mother…”
“Do you have something to say?”
“There’s… a world on the other side that we cannot handle. It’s, uh, heavenly—”
“Heavenly? The upper realm? They say there’s a domain where those who cry out for the Three Thousand Worlds dwell.”
“Diving in like this… is just reckless—”
“Child, do you even know what you’re talking about?”
Her lips formed a playful curve.
It was as if she both appreciated the ‘son’ who grasped the clumsy yet great principle while also mocking him for uttering things he didn’t understand.
“Today, one among you shall cross the veil. This is a destiny already set in stone. There will be no greater opportunity. Go. See who among you will be chosen by destiny.”
Tears flowed endlessly from my eldest brother’s eyes, and his legs trembled in fear, but…
He could no longer refuse our mother’s abstract command.
“AAAH!”
Soon, the poor boy who had leaped into the veil faded away in a singular scream.
“Ah…”
A sigh escaped our mother.
I could genuinely feel her sorrow.
However, this sorrow wasn’t for the eternal disappearance of her beloved son.
It was the grief of a precious expendable being being hastily destroyed.
“Next.”
Taking the next step was my meek and fragile little sister, Heeyoon.
“EEEK!”
Her situation was no different.
Tears streamed down her face as she dove into the veil, vanishing without a trace or meaning.
The deaths of my brothers and sister, whom I thought would always be with me.
They vanished without leaving a single trace of their bodies, hearts, or souls.
“Huh… Next.”
Upon hearing that, I attempted something that none of my siblings dared to contemplate.
I tried to understand the principle of our mother’s actions.
Why, oh why, was she putting us through this? I sought out the bare minimum of logic behind it.
Soon, some chaotic principle grazed my tiny gray matter and gave me a hint.
“Mother, you can… see destiny a ‘little bit,’ can’t you?”
“Ah?”
“Today, you know that someone in this room can cross the veil and attain eligibility.”
“…”
“You know someone can cross the veil, but… you don’t know who or what process will allow them to do so.”
In that moment, I felt ‘displeasure’ in my mother’s expression.
At the same time, I also felt ‘pride.’
I realized her mind was incomparably greater than that of a human, and I could feel countless emotions and thoughts vanish while others arose simultaneously.
“Then, this time, let’s see if Eunsol can do it.”
An unyielding command I couldn’t refuse.
Soon, my body began to move toward the veil, half out of my control.
“Ah, ah, aaah…”
I was terrified.
So scared, filled with fear…
Just like my brothers and sister, tears began to flow unendingly from my eyes.
Yet, I couldn’t stop walking.
In that moment, it felt like all I could do was walk toward the terrifying veil that had consumed my brothers and sister.
Thus, at the moment where my small, fragile mind felt like it would be swallowed by cosmic evil…
An awkward imitation of ascension.
The imperfections inherent in it allowed fragmented principles of chaos to brush against our minds.
Some pieces of that principle whispered to me like a living creature.
Or perhaps they stirred a subtle and wicked thought that had long lain dormant deep within my heart.
…
Who do you think you are?
What gives you the right to consider yourself so grand?
You’re nothing more than a mere puppet in the hands of a deity, playing with us like toys!
A flame burst forth in my heart.
While it might look like ‘anger’ on the surface, the underlying true emotion had a slightly different direction.
Always, deep within my heart, the emotion directed toward ‘Dad’ was now pointing toward ‘Mom.’
I was envious of my mother.
I envied the high place she occupied.
I wanted to snatch away the greatness she didn’t dare think of passing down to her children!
Jealousy, greed, longing—such intense emotions that couldn’t be expressed otherwise filled my heart.
At that moment, I understood one massive principle.
Sometimes, good cannot defeat evil.
Sometimes, evil can prevent even greater evil.
Thus, I acknowledged that those who cry for the universe to be saved must have greed within heaven as well.
I made a wish.
“AAAAH!”
Screaming like a banshee, I hurled myself toward the veil—no, toward my mother, who had been guiding us all along!
I wished.
The first wish that would start my destiny.
If there is a god in this world, if there is someone who wishes to create even a single light in a universe full of despair…
Please feel compassion for my father and brothers, who have been toyed with their entire lives.
So that me and those I cherish will never be trifled with by demons again.
And tear apart the haughty power of that devil…!
Give it to me.
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.