I didn’t know much about my first love, and neither did he.
Others said we were a couple with a great relationship, never fighting.
I felt that while watching couples around us, who started dating around the same time as us, fall apart like a house of cards.
We hardly fought, and the boredom that is common in relationships never came.
Perhaps it was only natural.
Compared to other couples, we met significantly less.
Half of what I wrote was for fun, and the other half was serious, and suddenly, it blew up.
Contract proposals came pouring in from everywhere, but without any experience and no one to advise me, I ended up signing a ridiculously unfavorable deal.
In the early stages of our relationship, I was busy writing 120 episodes in two months to prepare for a launch and hardly met him. After that, I was busy with extensive proofreading and revisions for a platform expansion.
Breaking promises became a daily routine, yet he never got angry with me even once.
Around that time, I had a gut feeling.
This is where it ends.
I would have to pay for confessing without really being able to date him properly.
That day, he came to my house neatly dressed.
In a rather serious atmosphere, he said:
“Let’s live together.”
“Stop eating cup ramen. Eat the meals I make and focus on your writing.”
“Instead, let’s come out of our rooms during breaks to face each other.”
“Let’s talk more often and even have a fight at least once.”
From that day on, my house, which had been a dump, became tidy.
The laundry basket that had been overflowing became empty, and the boxes of cup ramen I had bought weren’t even touched.
From that point, I started gaining writing muscles and could finish an episode in under three hours.
Every time there was a break, I would come out and meet his gaze, hold his hand, and talk.
We went on many dates that we had missed out on.
It wasn’t until almost three years into our relationship that I realized.
He was so lively, had a loud voice, and was incredibly stubborn.
We fought a lot.
We fought so much that it surprised those around us.
But still, it never put a crack in our relationship.
We both understood that we cared deeply for each other.
I was slowly realizing that this was love.
Then he got sick.
It felt unreal.
Whether it was a coincidence or a psychological weakness manifesting physically, his illness progressed rapidly as soon as it was diagnosed.
Just days ago, he was laughing, chatting, walking, and running, and now, he was holding onto a pull-up bar, sweating profusely and struggling to walk with shriveled legs. It was truly shocking.
“It’ll be okay, you’ll get better soon,” I couldn’t even utter such meaningless words.
Everyone visiting him said that, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
I could already see he was dying.
[You can return to the original world from the moment you embodied this world, four years ago. After that, ‘Han Ah-reum’ will not develop the incurable disease.]
I was choked.
Four years ago he was still healthy.
He hadn’t even had minor illnesses, let alone an incurable disease.
I could go back to that time.
Moreover, it said that his incurable disease would never manifest…
“Alexia.”
*Crack.* My teeth ground together.
Alexia was on the ground, clutching her chest, struggling to look up at me.
She came up with quite the scheme.
So this is how she intends to send me back.
By shaking my heart.
What was most humiliating was that I found her proposal tempting.
There had been no lies among the things displayed on my status window.
I didn’t know if it was because the god who created this world was honest or bound by some sort of rules, but if I accepted that proposal, I would really be able to return to four years ago and meet a version of him free from any incurable diseases.
It sounded like a dream.
It was so absurd that I couldn’t help but be suspicious.
Could something so sweet really be true?
“Schlus… why are you hesitating? What you’ve longed for is right in front of you…”
“Shut up.”
I remembered.
The exact date I embodied into this world was exactly four years ago.
That day was the day after I successfully confessed.
The Majin’s supernatural memory vividly retrieved the day’s events.
As usual, I attended the 9 AM class and found myself captivated by the beauty sitting next to me.
And then I recalled.
That she had become my girlfriend.
The night before, I had downed an entire bottle of alcohol, which I had only planned to sip for courage, and I had succeeded in my confession.
In disbelief at that reality while feeling immense joy, I…
*Ha.*
A smile automatically appeared on my lips.
Just recalling the past brought me happiness.
I made my decision and opened my eyes.
“Alexia.”
“Huh?”
“Please don’t do this. This is such a bother, okay?”
“Schlus… you can’t be serious…”
“It’s futile. I’m not going back. I’m staying here.”
So many opportunities had already been given.
Though in the form of a soul in this world, I had been able to reunite with him.
And the decision to part ways from him was mine alone.
I had also let go of Julia, who was like an extension of him.
I buried it deep in my heart.
For a long time, I had been stuck in the past, chasing only the dead.
But I’ve now learned how to let go of people.
I learned the art of parting.
What others learned early on, I came to realize much too late.
“If you were to bring me back without any cost, I’d gladly accept. But this… it’s just not right. It shocked me.”
“Why…”
“Thanks to you, Alexia. You got me into the Imperial University.”
“What do you mean… what are you talking about…”
I may never forget him, but there are others around me to help mend that wound.
Since coming to this world and enrolling in the Imperial University, I’ve made precious friends whom I care for just as much as him.
There’s the would-be terrorist who could cause chaos in my absence, and the ruler who could turn tyrant at any moment.
I couldn’t abandon the living just to meet the dead.
There could not be a more foolish choice.
[Confirmed your resolve.]
[Shutting down the system.]
In that instant, the window that had been in front of me vanished.
No matter how much I internally shouted for the shop or called for my powers, the translucent window would not reappear.
Instead, a window I had never seen before popped up.
[Profile]
[Name: Schlus (Kim Jin-woo)]
[Gender: Male]
[Species: Majin]
[Congratulations.]
The last window that had appeared before me vanished without warning.
That was it.
All the embodiment perks disappeared.
I had now become a part of this world.
*
Alexia was dead.
When I came to my senses and looked back, she had already stopped breathing, suffocated.
I went down the mountain and found Hertlocker, covered in snow, and dragged him back.
He was in a near-death state too, but after a few days of care, he recovered quickly.
As expected, he was incredibly tough.
When I heard that there were no casualties from the south, I was quite surprised.
I had a gut feeling at least one of Trie or Pelaine might die.
Though Pelaine had every bone fractured and was in horrible shape, Iris said full recovery was possible.
It would take some time, but if he stayed put, he would be back to normal…
Though of course, Pelaine, claiming he could move, tried to grab a sword and broke a few more bones before finally concentrating on his treatment.
Trie’s severed wrist healed impressively fast.
With a flick of Iris’s hand, it was back to normal.
In the end, when Iris offered to remove the scar, Trie vehemently refused, resulting in a round scar on her wrist, much like Frankenstein’s monster.
She claimed scars were cooler or something…
That kind of sensibility was hard to understand.
But still, holding hands while walking and feeling that rugged texture was surprisingly nice.
“What’s that? Explain, Aria. Why are there so many people gathered in front of my house?”
“Oh, that? To put it simply, it’s because you’ve become a god.”
“What…?”
And so, I became a god.
After the Papal Palace collapsed and the authority of the Aigis Church was severely damaged, Aria began to present me as a god.
No matter how much I expressed my desire not to, it was futile.
In reality, now that I was the only Majin, I had powers close to omnipotence and lived like a god.
In the end, I gave up.
Whether others exalted me as a god or not, I decided to remain unresponsive.
I ignored requests to come to strange temple openings, returned donations, and disregarded the daily group prayers in front of my house.
Of course, there were benefits to being worshipped as a god.
The remnants of the Asylum all revered me as a deity, turning into loyal subjects who hung on my every word.
As soon as I commanded them to disband the Asylum, they obediently submitted and were captured by the Imperial Army.
The citizens no longer had to fear potential self-destruction terrorism.
“It’s joyous news. The number of believers in Schlus’s church has exceeded ten million.”
“Why does it keep increasing?!”
Even in that chaos, Schlus’s Church continued to grow.
It threatened the old church, the Aigis Church, to the point of consuming it.
Consequently, tensions between the old and new churches became inevitable.
When I heard the news that Aigis, the true god with traditions, was fighting against Schlus, the real god, I nearly lost my mind with embarrassment.
I had almost never interfered with religious activities, but I strictly prohibited believers from exercising power in my name.
I would not witness any religious wars waged under my name while I was alive.
As for marriage…
*Sigh…*
There’s too much to say, and it runs deep.
Thinking about it again makes my head spin, so I’ll save it for later.
But I can cheerfully talk about anything else.
For example… yeah.
About school.
“So… I’ll be taking classes totaling 50 credits. Is that what I’m saying right now?”
“Yes, that’s correct, Professor.”
“I refuse. There is no increase in the credit limits.”
“If you accept, I’ll consider enrolling in graduate school after graduation.”
“You should have said that sooner. Welcome.”
Fifty credits in total.
With that much, I’d probably be living on campus without even returning home.
I decided to escape to school for just one semester.
Things got complicated regarding marriage, making it uncomfortable to stay at home.
Though it felt a bit too much like running away, I had my reasons.
Having taken almost two semesters off, I couldn’t graduate alongside the others unless I did something.
Now that I only had time left, graduating late wouldn’t be an issue, but…
“Thank you. Then I’ll consider this my confirmation of course registration.”
“Wait. Hold on.”
“What is it?”
“Are you really planning to live eternally?”
“Yes, I am.”
“…”
And so, I chose to live eternally instead of Julia.
Until there wasn’t a single living soul left in this world for him to reincarnate into, I decided to keep living.
By then, I would have no one to hand over my powers to, making it impossible to turn back.
Until then, I could only pray that I wouldn’t go insane or become fickle and end up passing my powers to some strange being.
Having talked so much around me, I couldn’t bear to give up my eternity out of embarrassment.
I had to think in advance about how to spend an exceedingly dull and boring old age.
I had seen someone mindlessly living without purpose, regretting it while farming vineyards in solitude.
“Schlus Hainkel.”
“Oh, I dropped the last name. Now, it’s just Schlus.”
“I see… Schlus. Do you know what that name means?”
“In the language of Freya, it means end. The end. Something like that, right?”
“You know it well. Now get lost. It feels unpleasant if the smell of Majin lingers in my lab.”
A rare smile appeared on Ludwig’s face as he said that.
I lightly nodded to Ludwig and turned around.
*Huff…*
I left the lab and lit a cigarette.
As I raised my thumb, sparks ignited from the tips of my fingers and lit the cigarette end.
*Huff,* I exhaled smoke and looked up at the sky.
It was a nice, sunny day.
The kind where no flashes rained down from the sky, and no explosive sounds were heard from anywhere.
“Ugh…”
I put out my half-smoked cigarette and shoved it back in the pack.
Emilia hated the smell of cigarettes…
I stuffed the pack into my pocket and moved on.
I didn’t really know where I was headed.
On such a fine day, I just felt like walking anywhere for starters.
‘Come to think of it, what was that profile?’
At the moment when all the benefits of embodiment disappeared, a window that I had never seen before popped up.
It clearly bore my name, along with Schlus and my real name, Kim Jin-woo.
It was evidence that I hadn’t completely fused with Schlus.
Though I chose to live eternally, the end of this life undoubtedly existed, and after that, Kim Jin-woo’s life would continue.
In that last profile, I had confirmed that truth.
Who am I?
It was a question I had often asked myself, but I had never come up with a clear answer.
But now I could confidently say this.
I am the one who witnesses the end of this world.
The one who closes his eyes only after this world has ended.
The end of all things.
I am Schlus.
