Chapter 319: Episode 319

Hong Yeon’s body collapsed as she coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“…I’m sorry.”

Even as her consciousness faded, she was apologizing to someone.

During this trial, Hong Yeon believed I was Nemesis. Was she apologizing to the survivors because she had failed to protect the world?

“…I’m sorry.”

Shedding endless tears to her very last breath, she murmured her apologies before finally closing her eyes.

I was left speechless.

I felt like absolute garbage.

It was just a trial.

She was just a fake.

Yet it hurt as if my heart were being violently hollowed out.

Would this sight truly become reality? Would I really have to kill her?

-Tower Master.

I couldn’t bring myself to reply.

[Congratulations! You have cleared the trial.]

[The 8th floor of the Magic Tower, ’Otherworld Garden’, has been unlocked.]

[You have acquired a portion of the ’Main Planner’ traits.]

I couldn’t accept this.

I felt like total shit. There was no way I was going to accept this.

Yeah, I understood the intent behind this trial perfectly well.

It foresaw what would happen in the future and told me exactly what I needed to do. It had even kindly given me a practice match against the final boss.

But it was just so fucked up that I refused to accept it.

Screw all of this.

I was scrapping every single plan I had made up to this point.

I had made my decision.

I was going to defy this destiny.

*

I had finally obtained the eighth-order and unlocked the final 8th floor.

Without taking even a moment to celebrate, I called the real Hong Yeon.

And I asked to meet her.

I paused for a moment.

When I was the one to suggest meeting up first, she was openly, genuinely delighted. All without knowing a single thing about what I was going to say.

After ending the call, I sank into a deep, lingering sense of heaviness.

Then, I gathered my thoughts and looked ahead. The path to the final floor—the 8th floor.

“Let’s go. Ea.”

She appeared in the air amid a gentle cluster of light and spoke.

“Yes, Tower Master. I will guide you.”

With this, I had unlocked every floor of the Magic Tower. I had opened everything from the 1st to the 9th floor. If it hadn’t been for the looming shadow of Hong Yeon’s fate, I might have been jumping for joy.

We walked up the final flight of stairs to the 8th floor.

“Welcome to the 8th floor, the Otherworld Garden,” Ea said.

“…What is this?”

I doubted my own eyes.

“This is the 8th floor?”

The moment I climbed the stairs, what appeared out of nowhere was a cozy, rustic cabin.

It was built from thick, stacked logs. At the far end, a fire crackled warmly in a stone hearth. The floor was covered with soft animal pelts, and a half-empty bottle of rum sat abandoned on a small wooden table.

It was far too small to be called the 8th floor of the Magic Tower. It was just a tiny, single-story cabin.

Hm? There’s a door leading outside, too?

We were inside the Magic Tower—completely indoors. So why was there a door leading outside?

I grabbed the doorknob and stepped through.

Whoa.

A breathtaking, wide-open vista stretched out before my eyes.

Puffy cumulus clouds drifted lazily across an expansive blue sky. The sunlight was warm on my skin, and the clear, melodic chirping of birds filled the air.

The cabin sat atop the highest hill in the area. When I lowered my gaze, a brilliant sea of gold and pink flowers blanketed every slope, rolling in endless waves all the way to the horizon.

Who could look at this scenery and say it wasn’t beautiful?

“…Could this be?”

“Yes, your prediction is correct, Tower Master.”

Ea stepped up to my side and continued.

“It is a world created by the eighth-order’s Otherworld magic.”

She snapped her fingers. Instantly, the beautiful surroundings and the small wooden cabin vanished, returning to the cold, familiar stone aesthetic of the Tower’s interior.

“The 8th floor is the floor that manages the ’Otherworld’.”

“Manages the Otherworld? What kind?”

“First, isn’t there another Otherworld that you are most familiar with?”

Huh? That couldn’t be right.

I had only just acquired the eighth-order magic.

Ea walked toward a fireplace built into the inner wall. She reached out her hand, and a piece of firewood from the back flew into the hearth.

Embers instantly caught, and the wood began to blaze brightly.

“Huh…”

The heat haze rising from the fireplace shifted, forming floating words in the air around me.

[Mana Power: The mana power plant is operating permanently. The Tower’s mana is maintained at a constant level.]

[Shape-Memory Alloy: The walls of the Magic Tower are made of a special alloy that returns to its original shape over time, even after taking massive impacts.]

[Natural Regeneration: Affiliates of the Magic Tower receive stamina and mana regeneration effects while inside the Tower.]

“Uh, wait a minute! This is the Magic Tower’s…”

“Yes.”

Ea stood back up, turned to me, and explained.

“The interior of the Magic Tower is an Otherworld space.”

That was it.

The reason the fatal wounds I sustained in the trials naturally healed so quickly while in the Tower, and the reason the walls returned to normal despite taking catastrophic impacts—it was all because this was an Otherworld.

The Magic Tower itself was a massive eighth-order magic spell.

“Then is the purpose of the 8th floor to alter the effects of the Otherworld magic applied to the Magic Tower?”

“That is merely its most basic function. The world you saw earlier…”

She snapped her fingers, and the golden flower field reappeared in the distance. The space was now split evenly down the middle—half Magic Tower, half sunlit flower field.

“This Otherworld Garden is also yours now, Tower Master. You can create an Otherworld whenever and wherever you desire.”

I listened carefully to Ea’s explanation. In short, it meant that I was now the master ruling over three distinct worlds.

First, the Otherworld I could personally create using the eighth-order magic.

Second, the interior of the Magic Tower, which was heavily under the effects of the Otherworld.

And finally, the Otherworld contained within the 8th floor’s Otherworld Garden.

“So I can change this Otherworld Garden however I want, right?”

“Of course.”

Ea snapped her fingers once more, and countless formula windows popped up in the air in front of me.

“What background would you prefer? A snowy mountain? A wasteland? Or perhaps underwater? You can also determine the absolute rules of this world, Tower Master.”

“Even a snowy mountain is possible?”

“Yes.”

As she manipulated the formulas, the surroundings instantly turned pure white, and a howling blizzard struck.

I rubbed my shoulders at the sudden, biting drop in temperature.

“Ugh, it’s too cold.”

“Then I will change it slightly.”

She tweaked the formulas again. Suddenly, the snow falling from the sky became comfortably warm.

When I knelt on one knee and touched the ground, it radiated heat like a hand warmer. I dug a hole in the snow and shoved my hand inside; it was as hot as a boiling pot of water.

“Wow, this is straight-up cheating.”

What more needed to be said?

This wasn’t on the level of some cheap spatial pocket. I had gotten my hands on my very own, fully customizable world.

*

That evening, I waited for Hong Yeon at a quiet neighborhood cafe, my hat and hood pulled low over my face.

Because it was nighttime, the second floor where I sat was completely empty.

Just then, I heard the cheerful chime of the front bell, followed by the soft clacking of footsteps coming up the stairs.

I felt nervous.

I swallowed hard, my throat completely dry.

A moment later, she appeared.

Just like our last outing at Carnival Land, her hair was dyed black to hide her identity, and she wore sunglasses. Wrapped in a thick chestnut-brown scarf and wearing a slightly oversized fleece coat, she looked incredibly cute.

“Hey, Yusin.”

She greeted me shyly. I waved my hand and offered her a bright smile.

When she shrugged off her bulky fleece coat and draped it over her chair, it revealed the soft, full curves she usually kept hidden. I let out a pointless, awkward cough.

We ordered warm coffees and spent some time exchanging light pleasantries. She stirred her coffee with a straw, the ice clinking softly, and looked up at me.

“You don’t look too well, Yusin.”

I remained silent.

I had no intention of dragging this out.

I let out a long breath and looked straight into her stunning golden eyes.

“I have something to tell you.”

Sensing the sudden shift in atmosphere, her expression stiffened, and she nodded.

“It’s what I couldn’t bring myself to say the last time we met.”

I slowly unraveled the conversation. I told her the dark secret behind the impending arrival of Nemesis.

At first, I had planned to hide it from her entirely, but my thoughts had changed.

I confessed everything to her, completely and honestly, leaving absolutely nothing out.

I told her that only the Guardian could kill Nemesis. And that if she struck the killing blow, its true essence would leak out and possess her body.

“If that happens, you will become the new Nemesis and destroy the world.”

At the shocking revelation, she couldn’t hide her utter astonishment.

Yet, she didn’t deny my words or dismiss them as a lie.

I also revealed that I was Oracle. I explained that my prophecies were based on the pasts of previous Erendels and other destroyed worlds, and that my predictions had never been wrong. Not even once.

“Then what if I don’t destroy Nemesis?”

“Nemesis will destroy the world. That’s even worse.”

She fell silent.

“And here’s the main point.”

My voice hitched in my throat.

I really didn’t want to say it.

But I desperately forced the words up and spoke them out loud.

“If you become Nemesis… I will have to stop you with my own hands.”

A heavy silence hung between us.

She would kill Nemesis, and I would execute her.

Perhaps that was the only ending where this world survived.

Hearing this, an indescribable expression washed over her face.

“…Please give me a little time to think.”

“Okay.”

She clasped her hands together tightly and rested her forehead against them, occasionally wiping her face with her palms.

I stayed perfectly quiet, giving her the space she needed to process everything.

“Is it possible that I…”

She spoke, her voice trembling slightly.

“Could I be able to resist Nemesis?”

“Even I don’t know that. But you don’t even need to look as far as Nemesis for an answer; I’ve never heard of a single person who managed to resist Demonization.”

“…No, that’s not what I mean.”

She tightly clasped her shaking hands together.

“According to Oracle’s… no, your prophecy, Yusin, Nemesis will try to steal my body after I destroy it. I will somehow stall for time. In that narrow window…”

She looked up at me, her eyes curving into a heartbreakingly gentle smile.

“Please… stop me, Yusin.”

I was too stunned to speak.

“I can be completely satisfied with the fact that I saved the world, and that I saved you. If that is the final role given to me as a Guardian, I will gladly accept it.”

Strength entered her trembling hands.

“In a future without calamities, my power won’t be needed anyway. It’ll be fine even if I’m not there.”

Don’t make me laugh.

Saying she was fine with that kind of agonizing expression, in that shaky voice, held absolutely zero persuasive power.

I let out a heavy sigh.

“Let’s just scrap that.”

She slowly raised her head, blinking in confusion.

“That’s all just a story from the past, and it’s just a wild guess that the Magic Tower will end up following that exact path. I think a bit differently.”

“…Yusin.”

“I’m going to create an ending where you live. From here on out, I’ll tell you my real plan.”

I laid out my strategy for the future.

The more I talked, the more her trembling worsened, but this time for an entirely different reason.

“…Is that really possible?”

“In theory, it’s possible.”

“B-But!”

She suddenly jumped up from her seat.

“If you do that, you’ll be the one sacrificing yourself again! No! You’ve already given up so much, so why must you—!”

“Who said anything about sacrificing myself?”

I continued with a soft smile.

“In the end, you’re going to save me. That makes it fair, right?”

She was dumbstruck.

Suddenly, tears began pouring endlessly from her eyes.

She rushed over from where she stood and threw her arms around my neck, hugging me fiercely.

“Yusin.”

“Yeah?”

“…I love you.”

I closed my eyes and held her tight.

“I love you too.”

I made up my mind once again.

I was going to save her.

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