Chapter: 969
My mother, who is not the ruler of the universe.
I needed a moment to reflect on Noya’s words that it was her request.
What could it mean? Noya’s expression was too serious to be dismissed as a mere pun.
I had to concentrate for a moment to decipher the meaning behind the words.
‘… It was my mother who asked me to do this. She is not the master of the universe….’
What does this imply?
That Noya was a general? That he ultimately betrayed her?
If that’s also true…
‘Did he become a general at his mother’s behest? Or did he betray her at her request?’
The words were ambiguous and left me unable to grasp their full context.
But without dwelling too long on it, I quickly reached a conclusion.
Whatever the case, what it boils down to is the same.
“Does that mean the owner and my mother are different people now?”
This implies that Noya did not equate the current owner with my mother.
As if to validate it, Noya gave a slight nod at my statement.
“As I mentioned last time, your mother is not the person you knew.”
“I know.”
I had only heard it mentioned previously, but now I understood for certain.
When you meet someone in person, there’s no room for doubt.
She was not the mother I recognized. Neither in her appearance, scent, nor voice.
She resembled the mother I knew, yet…
She was not my mother.
So what should I call her?
Ah.
‘master.’
She is the owner.
The master of a world that rules this land.
I had to perceive her as my master, not my mother.
Even if that wasn’t an easy feat, it felt necessary.
“…”
The image of her taking Yarang, declaring her as her daughter, flashes through my mind.
Damn it. I couldn’t quite shake off that sight.
slap-!
“Eh?”
As I swung my hand and slapped my own cheek, Noya looked at me with an incredulous expression.
“… Sweetheart. Do you have a taste for that?”
“… I just did it to snap you out of it. And what do you mean, do you have a taste? I don’t have any other preferences.”
I regained my senses a bit, my cheek still stinging. I had hit hard enough that blood trickled from the corner of my mouth.
Wiping it away clumsily with the back of my hand, I spoke to Noya.
“So… what do you mean when you say you did it at your mother’s request?”
“What could it mean? It was genuinely your mother’s words.” “So yes, which is it—was it the former or the latter?”
Is that what it meant to become a general?
Or was it the betrayal that indicated such a meaning?
When I asked, Noya looked at me irritably and replied.
“Both.”
“…Both?”
“Yes, both.”
swish.
Noya stood up as he spat out those words.
He must have finished the skewer, as it was no longer in his hand.
“Since your mother couldn’t possibly be unaware of what was happening in the universe, she was certainly aware of my arrival here.”
“…”
Hearing that made me remember the calf that referred to Noya as an outsider or foreigner earlier.
“I merely assisted briefly when a situation arose.”
“… What situation caused you to suddenly play the role of a general in someone else’s world? Were you bored?”
“I was just lonely anyway. This was also somewhat necessary… Hey, check this out!”
bang-!
“Ugh!”
I got thumped on the head.
“Who made you suffer like that? What? Bored? An old man wore himself to the bone tossing you around! You shouldn’t even consider being grateful!”
“… So, what hardships did you endure all that for?”
I asked, rubbing the back of my sore head.
What kind of trouble warranted going through all this to become a general here only to end up running away?
Hmm.
Noya silently regarded me following my question.
Was he pondering whether or not to reveal the answer?
His expression suggested precisely that.
“No, in terms of hardship, that’s not the point.”
I slightly switched gears. If I continued this way and couldn’t glean any answers, I’d be the one at a loss.
OK, let’s say for argument’s sake that becoming a general was a challenge he managed to overcome.
But…
“What about the betrayal?”
I was more intrigued by the allegations that Noya had betrayed before disappearing.
At that, Noya scratched his cheek. His reaction hadn’t varied much from before, yet it was an improvement.
Noya answered with regards to the betrayal at the mother’s request.
“There’s a sacred tree lodged in the volcano at the moment.”
Upon hearing that, I envisioned the massive ancient tree residing in the volcano.
It was a sacred tree formed of plum blossoms.
“Yes. Isn’t that the one that Noya allegedly stole and ran off with?”
It was indeed the tree Noya was said to have absconded with, seeds and all.
Why was this topic suddenly resurfacing?
And yet…
“Bringing that out was at your mother’s request.”
My brow involuntarily furrowed at the follow-up remarks.
“… Stealing seeds is what my mother asked me to do?”
“Indeed.”
“Why…?”
“Why? Because I was told to do it, obviously.”
“…”
Because it was commanded?
For a moment, I sat there, bewildered by such an absurd declaration.
Noya chuckled, perhaps finding my expression amusing. What a guy…?
“It was necessary as well—for your mother’s agenda, my own tasks, and for you.”
Fortunately, it seemed to be mere jest, as Noya continued to elaborate while observing me. After that insight, I couldn’t help but narrow my eyes even further.
“What do you mean by ‘agenda’? What agenda might that be…?”
Your mother’s purpose. What on earth could compel her to ask Noya such a thing? Furthermore…
‘What could have led to the present situation…?’
If only things were different back then,
I felt there must be some reasoning as to why it had ended up as it did now.
Thinking of that as I asked, Noya looked at me and spoke matter-of-factly.
“My dear.”
“Yes?”
“Do you know how many sacred trees are in Man-gye?”
“… I’m not sure.”
“Reportedly, there are four. The same number as the generals.”
Noya pointed at the floor with his finger.
“One is ruled by Yusa, the pseudo-guy. And…”
Next, he pointed north.
“Another one—exists in the same mountain range as that foolish leader.”
Then he pointed to the west.
“And yet another is guarded by that unfortunate crow. The final one is the volcano.”
“… And Yarang?”
“That child? Surely, since I stole it and left, you could consider that one belongs to the volcano.”
“That’s….”
Isn’t that incongruous?
I hesitated to voice my questioning, but Noya spoke up first.
“The vital point here is that while four sacred trees are known, there actually exists one more.”
“Yes?”
An additional tree? For a brief moment, I was taken aback by Noya’s words.
Noya directed his finger toward the sky.
“There is one more up there, referred to as the Heart of the Universe.”
Looking at the sky as he spoke.
The dusk gradually painted the sky, but it remained vividly tinged in purple.
However, only that was visible. The tree Noya spoke of was nowhere to be seen.
“If you wish to see it, you might not be able to. Being hidden is sometimes simply a secret.”
“…”
Then why point it out?
I stared at him in disbelief, and Noya clicked his tongue.
“Anyhow, the main point is not the tree itself. It’s the state of your mother caused by the distortion.”
“Distortion?”
“According to the number of generals. And since even one of the sacred trees that should have been safeguarded has gone amiss; the current status of the universe will be unstable. The established parameters have been altered. The most significant change is the shift in the energy concentration in the air.”
“…!”
That revelation made my eyes widen. The altered concentration of energy in the air— that really startled me.
‘So that was it?’
Upon my arrival, I felt something was off.
Specifically, the energy contained in the atmosphere was overwhelmingly higher than what I’d experienced in the central plains.
At that moment, I pondered how such disparities could exist.
‘…Was that the residual effect of the broken rules?’
Noya articulated it in depth.
It was an oddity that arose when the established rules were disrupted.
Noya explained the current circumstance like this.
‘If there’s such an anomaly due to a sacred tree’s issues…’
That would indeed signify a serious predicament.
Now then,
“…Why hasn’t my mother—no, the master—taken action?”
The fact that the current ruler was aware of this circumstance but remained rather passive struck me as peculiar.
Even if Yarang’s activities served this end, there remained many odd elements.
“It’s not that there’s no motion at all.”
Noya promptly corrected my assumption.
“It’s more accurate to say she cannot move.”
“You mean she can’t? She was moving just a moment ago!”
Hadn’t we just met and everything seemed fine? What did that even mean? I struggled to comprehend it further.
“Do you actually think that’s her coming down?”
“… Then what?”
“Tsk tsk. Do you have any idea how much presence a master possesses? If she truly set her mind to something, this place would be left in shambles. At most, she could barely create something resembling a body and send her consciousness, never mind the spirit.”
Noya’s gaze searched the vicinity. The throngs of people were still bustling about.
“From the beginning…”
At that, Noya glared at me.
“If she appeared with determination, your meager tactics would hardly prevail.”
“…”
“I’ve only managed to get through due to sacrificing my own form and possessions to minimize potential damage. Otherwise…”
poke.
Noya’s finger abruptly jabbed my forehead!
“He’d have lost his head long ago.”
“…”
“You should be made aware of how dangerous your actions were.”
I rubbed my forehead as I bit my lip.
“Then I still don’t quite grasp it. If the sacred tree was that crucial, and if it was that easy to locate—the same should apply, right?”
It’s feasible, yet it’s conspicuously unaddressed. How should I articulate the bewilderment I felt?
“If what I’m saying boils down to merely one anomaly, that would suffice.”
“Yes?”
“If the sacred tree had just gone missing, it wouldn’t have mattered. Yet, what just transpired is a significantly larger issue.”
“…What do you mean?”
“I said it before. If your mother manages the sky, there’s also someone governing the abyss beneath.”
Instantly, a certain entity flicked through my mind when Noya mentioned this.
That would be Kkureung, though one cannot rightly call him by that name.
“… The Bottomless Pit?”
“Precisely.”
The ruler of the abyss.
The sovereign of the profound darkness that dwells within the universe.
‘They once said it was the source of demons?’
An entity that encapsulates those who vanished without reaching the universe.
Moreover, the monsters known as demons—those who emerge through mystical gates—are apparently under the bottomless pit’s management.
“The one who should have been faithfully performing his duties beneath is now… where?”
“… In the volcano…”
“That scoundrel came to the surface and disappeared. Thus, the underground of the universe is likely in utter disarray. Your mother will be exerting every ounce of her effort to contain that situation.”
“So you’re saying it’s not the time to search for the sacred tree?”
“That is indeed correct.”
Noya nodded affirmatively.
Though the vanishing of a sacred tree and the subsequent oddities is a grave matter,
The greater issue arises from the disappearance of another ruler responsible for one aspect.
Thus, the universal master should be managing that as well.
“The main entity cannot move as it is engaged in handling that. If it were to step away even for a moment, catastrophic issues would arise throughout the universe.”
“…Is that why it’s difficult to act to recover the sacred tree?”
“Originally, it would have never crossed their mind that the Bottomless Pit could go missing in the first place. They would find it exceedingly challenging to deal with that.”
“However, if it has escalated to that extent, didn’t they even make preparatory measures?”
“Of course. In this universe, nothing can operate without her permission. Even if it’s the same ruler, it’s no different.”
Thus, there was no need for worry at all.
Noya’s quiet statement prompted me to immediately respond.
“Well then….”
You said it couldn’t operate without permission, yet wasn’t it the case that it still acted without it? As I was about to express that.
“…Huh?”
Before I could divulge it all, I found myself blankly reacting.
Even the Bottomless Pit cannot act without the Lord of the universe’s consent.
Yet, the Bottomless Pit has not only moved but has also set up shop beneath the volcanic sacred tree.
The sacred tree of the volcano was seized by Noya upon the request from my mother.
Though this within itself has triggered a significant anomaly,
Even that was in accordance with my mother’s wishes.
What did all of this imply? Could it even be…?
“…Was Kkureung’s vacancy in that location also a desire of my mother?”
Even the Bottomless Pit’s actions,
All were instigated by my mother.
Coming to this conclusion left me pondering.
“You’re quite perceptive, aren’t you?”
Noya smiled as if I had given the right answer.
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