Chapter 387: The Garden of Time (3)
Having left the Garden of Withered Flowers, the Sword Emperor slowly meandered.
Beneath the gradually setting sun, among those who lay like flowers in their eternal slumber, the Sword Emperor spoke.
-Nicely done.
Instead of retorting with some nonsensical preamble, I responded.
-Thank you.
Instead of asking why I was being so agreeable, wondering if I’d eaten something odd, the Sword Emperor said.
-Even the soil here seems dead, which is nice.
-…….
-On the day I awakened my ki, I placed a grain of soil on my palm and observed it closely. When I concentrated my senses of sight and hearing, I realized soil is a rather noisy entity. On that tiny grain, inside it, many beings were bustling and competing.
The Sword Emperor crouched and gently caressed the rotten soil with the tips of his fingers.
Though his touch merely grazed the surface of the earth, a gust of wind scattered the grains of soil, creating a scene as if the ground was tenderly caressed by the Sword Emperor’s hand.
-I saw and heard more that day than I ever had before.
-…….
-But the soil here is exceptionally quiet. And perhaps that silence is precisely what the flowers here need.
The Sword Emperor straightened his back and turned to look at me.
-Even before I experienced that true silence, I was amazed that you had already created such a place.
This time, I refrained from speaking back.
I merely nodded silently once.
-Thank you.
-Right.
For a moment, we continued our walk in silence.
The area we strolled through was known as the [Summer Section]. As Ester, with her hands clasped, prepared to summon rain in this place where the air was tepid like breath under a blanket, I remarked.
-This too, is wonderful.
-Yeah.
I nodded in agreement.
Passing by the weeping Ester, the Sword Emperor said:
-Gong-Ja.
-Yes.
-Did I ever tell you that if you can’t reach the 99th floor, one day, Marcus the gramps might ascend in your stead?
Of course, I remembered his words.
-Do you also recall what I added to that?
Naturally, I remembered.
-That saying “instead” is ridiculous. Sir Sword Saint isn’t my substitute.
The Sword Emperor nodded.
-Despite that, I added that I believed you would understand what I meant by it.
Indeed.
-So.
The Sword Emperor asked.
-What do you think I meant by saying that?
-It’s something I’ve thought about numerous times.
Thus, my answer came easily.
-Was it simply encouragement, telling me to cheer up because you believe in me? Or was it a consideration, suggesting that it’s okay for me to rest if things get tough because Sword Saint Marcus will handle it better?
-Neither, I presume.
Walking side by side with the Sword Emperor, I looked at him.
Before I knew it, my steps had become as natural as the words flowing from my mouth.
-Because I also remember what you added next.
『Honestly, you can fail.』
『……』
『Faith is the belief that both parties will give their best. And the best is not determined by the other, but by oneself. Thus, a trusting relationship means each decides on their best and accepts the other’s decision. That’s all there is to it. That’s all.』
-The important point isn’t the permission to fail.
-It’s the part where you explained what [faith] means right after saying you believe in me.
Therefore,
I was able to respond.
-[Either is fine.] …That must have been the meaning.
-Whether I overcome this trial, or become an eternal prisoner of the desert in failure. Whether Sir Sword Saint ascends the 99th floor bearing my will, or he too meets an unexpected disaster and becomes a visitor never to return. You meant that it truly didn’t matter which it was.
The Sword Emperor did not halt his steps. Much like in the Heaven of Truth, his pace quickened instead.
However, unlike those times when I had to grit my teeth and run to catch up, I could now follow by his side and continue my words.
-And it’s not because you don’t believe in me. Nor is it because you lack faith in the Sword Saint.
Thus, I continued.
-You believe in me.
And just as much, you believe in some old man who abandoned everything he had achieved to enter the tower.
-You believe in Sir Sword Saint.
And just as much, in a young man who fled to the tower in his youth and lived in seclusion in an alleyway on the first floor.
-You believe in the Grey Spider.
And just as much, in the resistance trampled by the Magic Tower.
-You believe in the Assistant Writer.
And just as much, surprisingly, in a petty villain who harassed the resistance, complained about the Mage Tower, and sought to satisfy his lust for power, even believing in a child like Charumu.
-You often say you’re great. Sometimes, you boast so much I feel like hitting you. But there’s a difference between your arrogance and that of the Flame Emperor.
It wasn’t just about the Sword Emperor being truly great and the Flame Emperor not.
Even the Flame Emperor before regression was certainly a remarkable person. Whether it was the Sword Emperor, the Flame Emperor, or even myself, if we said we could do something, we would do it; if we said we would undertake something, we accomplished it.
But there was a crucial difference.
-The Flame Emperor believed [only he was special].
-That only he could do it. That he was unique. That only he could achieve it, and therefore, others couldn’t possibly do the same… That was the driving force behind the Flame Emperor.
I looked at the Sword Emperor.
-But you, Sir Sword Emperor. If anything, you believe [you too are special].
In other words.
-You could do it. You had the potential to be special. There was no reason others couldn’t do what you were capable of.
Thus.
-In a way, you believe in [everyone in this world].
So, that’s why you said it back then.
-If not me, then the Sword Saint. If even the Sword Saint fails, then Anastasia or the Grey Spider. If they can’t do it, then someone currently unknown to us will eventually reach the 99th floor. You believe that.
-Everyone has potential.
By the time we passed Ester, some time had elapsed. We had been swiftly walking through this garden ever since.
Over the fields.
Over the mountains.
Above the sea.
-Those who will make it, will make it. Those who won’t, won’t. People never change… That’s something one might say only when their life has been too short and their perspective too narrow.
Thus, in the distance, we faced the land where the red rain fell.
-If it doesn’t make sense to say, [That person could do it, but you can’t], then naturally, the opposite, [I could do it, but others can’t], is equally nonsensical.
Indeed. We had seemingly traversed the entire world together.
-That’s a fair attitude.
The raindrops pierced through us and drummed on the ground.
-After all, haven’t you always been like that as you looked at the crimson— the requiem for nameless deaths.
For the first time, truly able to [see] in the deepest sense, the scenery that unfolded was startlingly vivid. Rather than falling from above, the rain seemed to rise from below, gradually ascending.
-You sometimes reminisce about the days spent in that small room, saying,
『How did I end up here?』
-Others, upon seeing you during your times of collecting newspaper clippings about Yoo Soo-Ha, would click their tongues and say,
『What kind of idiot is this?』
『Nothing good will come out of someone like that.』
『I should never end up like that.』
-Yet…
As if walking through the rain was like stepping into water, where the positions of air and water seemed reversed, and red bubbles endlessly burst around us
-Here you are now.
My heart throbbed.
-People change. Given even the smallest opportunity, they transform. Isn’t that what you’ve been proving over and over, day after day?
It was like the time I received praise from the director for the first time as a child.
-Was that all there was to it? Even the Grey Spider, who lived unchanged for a thousand years, changed.
-…….
-Because of you? Of course. But was it something only you could have done?
Certainly, that could not be interpreted purely as a compliment.
Depending on how one took it, there was ample room for a malicious interpretation. It could be seen as the typical elder’s reprimand, questioning why you can’t be like me, or paradoxically, declaring one’s own uniqueness.
However, I knew that wasn’t the intent behind the Sword Emperor’s words.
-Perhaps that’s why the first skill I received upon entering the tower was this.
In the absence of malice, when words bear no hidden motives and serve purely as speech, the Sword Emperor’s words conveyed their literal meaning.
-Skill Card Open.
The Sword Emperor raised his hand. From within the tattered robes, a skill card slid out.
On that skill card, it was written:
+
[I Can Become Just Like You]
Rank: F
Effect: You can see all the skills possessed by your opponent.
*However, an opponent who has been defeated by you can copy one of your skills, making it their own. Opponents who have already been defeated by you once are excluded from this skill’s effect. The skill to be copied is chosen at random.
+
I, as if spellbound, raised my hand.
-Skill Card Open.
I pulled out the first skill I had acquired and looked at it.
+
[I Want to Become Just Like You]
Rank: S+
Effect: Automatically activated when killed by an enemy. You copy one of the skills of the enemy that killed you and make it yours. You may not copy from an opponent you’ve already copied from. The copied skill is selected randomly.
*However, you will die!
+
The two cards touched.
An F-rank skill and an S+ rank skill. The two skills reflected each other like facing mirrors.
Within the similar worlds separated by the two skills, the Sword Emperor and I… we faced each other and I said.
-Sword Emperor.
-Yes.
-What is your sanctuary like?
I stood in my sanctuary and asked.
-Even the Constellation Killer had a sanctuary. And since you’re here on the 99th floor, it means you’ve created one as well. I am…
I am.
-Curious about what your sanctuary is like.
-Hm.
The Sword Emperor raised his hand.
His robe fluttered, and then…
-Ah.
A world unfolded before my eyes.
■
In the lightly sunlit forest, the morning glory stretched its neck even longer.
To half its size, with half its head bowed, again to half its size, the morning glory’s heroic crown shrank, and as it shrank, dawn turned to morning, morning to midday, midday to evening, from the sunset where the sun dies…
As the sun grew weary,
Into a night that made the dead descend, in the sparsely rained wilderness, the sunflower unfolded its buds even wider, and ah…
Ah.
In that lightly sunlit, rain-scarce season, those who couldn’t bloom just withered away, the people’s flowers and the flowers’ people, and the ten million flowers they intended to embrace, the ten million flowers they could have embraced, the ten million flowers they wanted to embrace.
Morning glories, spinning flowers, frost flowers, peonies, roses, globe amaranths…
The world…
A man sitting in a lotus position was there.
‘…….’
A man dressed in tattered robes.
Sitting cross-legged, with a sword as tall as himself planted on the ground, amidst a flowerbed blooming with millions of flowers, there he sat. I knew that man— I knew him very well. I had seen him. Witnessed him.
Countless times, yet,
For the first time, I truly saw this non-translucent man.
The Sword Emperor.
The reason I couldn’t speak his name was perhaps because I was not truly here.
Yet, despite that, I saw. I was able to see.
Only because he was showing it, I
could understand that much.
The man— the Sword Emperor, without opening his eyes, with his eyes closed, simply quietly opened his lips.
And, ‘spoke.’
“Come, Kim Gong-Ja.”
For the first time, I heard his voice.
“Here.”
On the 99th floor.
“I will be waiting for you.”
He was waiting for me.
