〈 Chapter 168 〉 Trivial Tales That Don’t Need to Be Read.
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Once upon a time, there was an ordinary boy.
One day, he suddenly found himself in a completely different world.
A world where a Demon King and a Hero existed, and humans and monsters were at odds.
It was a fantasy world the boy had only read about in stories.
He had one hope clinging to him.
Like the protagonists in the novels, he too could become a hero.
He would save the world and live a happy life like the endings of the stories.
But it wasn’t a world filled with hope.
Common sense didn’t apply at all, and to survive, one had to kill someone in this cruel world.
It was normal to betray someone for personal gain, and it was an absurd place where the fault always lay with the other.
And the entire reality was viewed as common sense in this mad world.
It was a place utterly incomprehensible to a modern person’s mindset.
Thus, the outsider struggled to survive.
He scavenged for food in trash others discarded and ran away from pointless violence.
He became suspicious of others’ goodwill. After all, he could become a slave at any moment.
He warily eyed the kindness of others. If he let his guard down, he could be backstabbed at any time.
He had forgotten how to smile. His tear ducts had dried up after all this time.
While struggling to survive with everything he had, the boy stumbled upon a miraculous ability.
An ability to grasp countless principles of magic without any effort and use them instantly.
He could summon everything from simple animals to legendary creatures like dragons, and even spirits.
It was a dangerous and risky ability that one wouldn’t think a mere human would be granted.
Suddenly, people changed their attitudes and praised the boy.
They no longer swung blades at him. They didn’t stomp on the food he was eating.
They didn’t attack him while he slept. They didn’t mix filth or bugs into the food he was given.
They no longer dragged him to slavers. The beating for fun ceased.
Instead, they started to show kindness.
They acted like they knew him or greeted him first. They even offered him leftover food for free.
They began to erase the killing intent and bow to him, offering the hilt of a knife as a gift instead of pointing its blade at him.
They brought him in from the alley they had cast him out and provided him shelter.
Some even introduced their daughters to him.
However, the boy showed no emotion in response to this sudden kindness.
No, it would be more accurate to say he couldn’t express any emotions.
His heart had already been completely shattered.
In a way, it was to be expected.
To survive in a mad world, he had gone mad himself as a defense mechanism.
Then they asked him for a favor.
To kill the Demon King and restore peace.
To fulfill their wishes instead of the useless heroes.
Thus, the boy was half-forced into a journey.
He had no thoughts. He felt no emotions.
He just moved forward with a vague belief that things would be alright if he caught the Demon King.
In this way, the empty-hearted boy met a girl by chance.
She was a monster, yet like him, she suffered from the absurdities of the world.
The difference was that the boy had power, while she did not.
She was so weak that even monsters she thought were allies treated her like mere food.
By pure chance, the boy saved her from other monsters, and she chose to accompany him as he set off alone to survive.
The broken boy didn’t stop her.
He merely wanted the journey towards the Demon King to come to an end.
On the other hand, the girl had a deep desire to survive.
Her own life was precious, and although she knew the boy’s goal was to kill the Demon King, she stayed by his side.
At that time, the only thing she had was an overwhelming desire to live.
Yet, feelings for the boy began to blossom within her.
Interest in the boy. Sympathy for the pain he had suffered.
A protective desire to guard the broken heart.
Satisfaction from hearing the boy say her cooking was delicious.
A sense of fulfillment she could never feel when alone.
A desire to live together.
And all those feelings melded into affection for the boy.
At the same time, the boy’s heart began to fill.
His shattered and broken heart was slowly pieced back together.
In a world where no one could be trusted, ironically, the only being he could trust was the monster girl, whom the world defined as an enemy.
His once-closed mouth opened. A voice he thought he’d never hear again came forth.
He was able to shed tears he thought he could never cry again.
The facial muscles that hadn’t moved in a long time cramped as he tried to smile.
For the first time in that strange world, he felt happiness.
Their journey was a tale of healing, where fragile beings recovered through one another.
However, every journey has its end.
Finally, the boy and girl subdued the Demon King.
They didn’t kill him.
The Demon King was also a weak being, much like the boy and girl.
Moreover, ironically, he had the kindest heart in a crazy world.
He simply asked the boy and girl to spread a false rumor that they had killed him.
Thus, the boy and girl returned, and the false rumor of the Demon King’s death spread.
And everyone lived happily ever after.
Unfortunately, such a sweet ending only existed in fairy tales.
Reality was a bit bitter.
There’s a saying that useless hunting dogs should be killed.
And that saying also applied here.
Suddenly, the world turned on the boy and girl, trying to kill them.
The boy was considered a dangerous existence.
The girl was thought to be a remnant of the Demon King.
Thus, the boy began his struggle against the trivial giants of the world to protect the trivial weak girl.
Though they had become stronger throughout their journey, the existence of the world was no easy foe.
Just as an ant cannot resist a wave, the world slowly gnawed away at the boy and girl.
Even the so-called heroes, who had done nothing during the Demon King’s reign, turned their blades against them now.
However, the journey of the boy and girl was not completely meaningless.
The Demon King they spared began to help them fight against the world.
It was a long battle.
Countless bloods were shed.
Yet, they did not stop.
At last, the boy and girl brought the world down and restored peace.
The boy and girl were presented with two choices.
Stay here.
Or return to their original world.
The Demon King promised to give them the entire world if they chose to stay.
Because if not for the boy and girl, he would have already been dead.
The boy and girl silently faced each other and smiled.
Then, without a moment’s hesitation, they made their choice.
Thus, the boy and girl returned together to the boy’s original world.
Leaving behind a message to the Demon King to meet again.
So, the boy walked into a familiar world, while the girl stepped into an unfamiliar one.
The boy’s name was Jeong Siwoo.
The girl’s name was Lilith.
Later, they were known as the Great Wizard and Succubus Queen.
Yet, this tale is but a hidden story behind their facade.
Just a trivial tale of an ordinary boy and an ordinary girl.
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The boy and girl soon formed a family.
And they had lovely children.
Although their names were a bit less than charming.
It was a happy marriage.
However, it didn’t last long.
Around the time they had their fourth child, the boy unexpectedly met a wizard from another dimension, and he completely changed.
He returned to the emotionless figure he had been when they first met.
No, he became an even more passive being.
Yet, the girl believed.
She believed that one day, the boy would return to his original self.
But for children, the world is all about their parents.
Thus, the children found those parents difficult to bear.
What followed was an almost abusive neglect.
No, if neglect were the only issue, that would have been fortunate.
They treated the child merely as a commodity and tormented them.
Though they awakened abilities, they were disregarded as half-baked.
“Why can’t you do better?” they would push the child towards the nearby battlefield of monsters.
Indifference became the best benefit the child could receive from the boy.
Though the girl cared for the child diligently, this half-baked world was too cruel for them.
Thus, the child turned their sights elsewhere.
To the martial artists training themselves and honing their minds.
The child denied their own power and began a repetitive cycle of physical training.
It may have arisen from a resignation of giving up on oneself and everything.
This behavior didn’t stop until they reached adulthood.
No, it only intensified.
The child hid their weak self behind the shell of being a martial artist.
They changed the way they spoke, discarded their old garments, and donned the doboks of martial artists.
In this way, the child turned their back on their fragile self while whining.
And they hypnotized themselves.
“I am strong.”
“I am not weak.”
Then, the child met a boy.
The worst first impression.
Words and actions that were out of touch with reality.
A completely incapable person with no abilities.
Yet, as time passed, their view of the boy began to change slightly.
The boy was weak, but he knew how to admit it.
He crawled on the ground but never stopped reaching for the sky.
He didn’t give up, even in the worst situations.
He was the complete opposite of the child.
And the boy didn’t hesitate to defend himself.
In the end, the child recognized and accepted their own weakness.
When one realizes and acknowledges their own self, they can truly grow.
And at this moment, so can any child.
They will no longer hide their weaknesses.
They will no longer give up.
They will struggle as much as they can.
Thus, the child broke free from the mere facade they wore and stepped into the world.
This too is just a trivial story of a child.
Just that.
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