The Ugly Woman (1)
Quiet waves rolled onto the white sand.
Maybe because the armies of hell were sweeping the world, the calm that existed only as scenery felt electrifying.
"How beautiful."
Seongeum's face, looking past the sea, was more beautiful to Shirone than the ocean itself.
"Space is fiction… If you erase the existence of nations, what meaning does the size of the world we live in have?"
"I've thought that," Seongeum said, turning to Shirone. "Time is fiction, so space is fiction too. But when I look at the sea like this, what does it matter?"
Isn't it simply beautiful?
To someone outside the planet the sea might be nothing but disgusting bile, but to Seongeum it was beautiful.
"That's the heart," she said. Planting a heart in an illusory world.
"Yes." Shirone enjoyed being with Seongeum because she understood him.
"But, Shirone, I don't have the kind of philosophy toward the world that you or people like you do. All I can do is prevent my homeland from being destroyed."
Only for Jincheon.
"Seongeum, tell me. After spending a day with me, what will happen to you? What do you plan to do?"
Seongeum dodged the question. "Shirone, will I be a good mother?"
"Huh? A mother?"
"I want to bear a child. Someone who looks like me, but resembles my husband even more."
As if already carrying life, Seongeum cradled her belly with both hands.
"How much distance can I put between myself and my child?"
Shirone couldn't bring himself to answer.
"Let's go see the children, Shirone. I want to."
Before Shirone could reply, Seongeum took his hand and cast an ether wave.
They arrived at Yeomra's playground.
Noblewomen sat chatting in the corners while children ran and played.
"Ha-ha-ha! Don't just stand there!"
Outside Yeomra the war raged, but the kids in the playground were blissfully innocent.
Even after Shirone and Seongeum entered, the ladies didn't recognize the imperial princess.
"Heh. Children are so straightforward."
That anyone could still laugh here filled Seongeum with boundless joy.
"They're my children. The children I must protect."
She approached the children, said something, and began playing ball with them.
Watching her spike the ball mercilessly at clumsy little ones made Shirone snort.
"Come to think of it…"
Seongeum didn't keep people at a distance from the children.
"Hey! Get out of there!" A boy rushed into the playground, scooped up a handful of dirt, and flung it at the other children.
"Don't! You'll dirty our clothes!"
"Eat this! Eat this!"
Even though his friends protested, he kept throwing dirt; Shirone frowned.
"He's here again, Mr. Jang's son."
"I thought he wouldn't come today. But I can't very well take the children away now."
The women whispered, but none stepped forward. Shirone guessed that the Jang family outranked them.
"Stop it. The others don't like it, do they?"
Seongeum chided gently, but the dirt-throwing boy only sneered.
"Who made you an aunt? I'll play here however I want."
"Aunt?" Seongeum, baffled, flicked the boy's forehead.
"You say that to a woman who hasn't even had a wedding?"
"Ow!"
Clutching his brow, Jang's son glared at the children hiding behind Seongeum.
"Bah. Boring."
Though they dared not speak because of their parents' rank, the children couldn't hide their disgust.
The boy in the corner rolled a large stone aside. Ants swarmed, and with looks of revulsion and awe he began grinding them underfoot.
"Die! Die!"
A nameless disgust seized Shirone as he watched. Perhaps he felt a strange kinship with whatever this world was becoming.
"Stop it!"
Shirone shouted, but the boy's eyes were already glazed with a strange madness.
"I said stop it."
Unable to bear it, Shirone shoved the boy's shoulder; he fell with a thud onto his butt.
"You—! Who the hell are you?"
With his foreign face, Shirone could never be a Jincheon noble.
"Even the smallest life is precious. No — there is no such thing as a mere creature in this world."
"You're ridiculous. And you're not even noble. Do you know who I am?"
Light flared in Shirone's eyes; the boy froze.
"Oh… oh—"
It was the wrath that would make any demon tremble.
"Baby, what's wrong?"
A sharp-faced woman approached and the ladies' faces went pale.
'Mrs. Jang. Trouble.'
The child began to cry at the sight of his mother.
"Mother! This man—! Waaah!"
Mrs. Jang scooped her son into her arms and glared hatefully at Shirone.
"Who are you? Why are you bullying our child?"
"He was killing ants in the playground."
"Killing ants?"
Mrs. Jang's fury turned to incredulity. "You made our son cry over that? Children do things while playing. What do you expect them to know?"
"That's the problem."
What was truly horrific was their ignorance.
Shirone looked sadly at the crying child in his mother's arms.
When that child goes home… the mother will rub his tired legs, the father will spoon rice into his mouth.
"I don't want to go," Habitz said up at the sky. "I don't want to go back."
Who was he speaking to?
Gustav's unit glanced around and murmured.
"Sometimes he does that. Is he saying there's someone in the sky?"
"It's a delusion. Honestly, Habitz and the rest of us aren't exactly sane, are we?"
Natasha covered her lips.
"Maybe he feels the presence of a god…"
"If this world were false…" Valkan muttered.
"Huh?"
Crowd-watching sometimes led to chilling thoughts.
"Like, there's an outside world and we're just virtual personalities connected to it?"
Valkan looked at his friends. "In that outside world, what would Habitz be?"
A child.
And if a child who had clearly realized this world was fake had come here, what life would he lead?
A mere playground.
Children don't play games they're destined to lose. It's boring.
Why doesn't Habitz die? How does he break through impossible odds and become nearly invincible?
Was he designed that way from the start? By whom? A system that lets someone alter their own probabilities? If that were possible, there would already be a second Habitz, a second emperor, a second set of rich people everywhere.
Smodo asked, "Why'd you stop? So what is Habitz?"
Valkan snapped back. "Nothing. I just had a thought."
Assuming an outside world that doesn't even exist makes the whole idea absurd.
"Even the Buddhas fight only to remove this world's suffering. They don't know the outside world."
Valkan glanced at Habitz. Then what are you looking at?
Perhaps Habitz was…
"I want to play more."
Deep, dark loneliness churned in Habitz's eyes as he looked up at the sky. I want to play hard.
"Take him," Shirone said. "Teach him what's important. Otherwise he'll be lonely his whole life."
Mrs. Jang's anger boiled over. "Who does that little nobody think he is, trying to teach people? Do you know who I am? With a single word at the office—"
"Please, take him away!"
When Shirone shouted, Seongeum turned in surprise. Take him, please! He wasn't angry at the child.
"What a rude little brat!"
Mrs. Jang, already fierce, sprang up and slapped Shirone's cheek.
A crack sounded — but it was her own face that spun, not Shirone's.
"Ow—?"
Before they could process the impossible, Seongeum approached.
"Follow his words."
Mrs. Jang turned, and the instant her eyes met Seongeum's, shock overtook her.
"Y-Your Highness!"
From hundreds of meters away she had seen Seongeum, but a noble could not forget the imperial bloodline.
"I am a lowly one who greets Her Highness!" Mrs. Jang blurted. Seongeum waved a hand. "Take your son and go home. The situation is unstable…"
As Mrs. Jang left with her son, the other ladies hurried back to their houses as well.
Seongeum said to Shirone, "Let's go. I think we've had enough fun."
"Now tell me what you're thinking. When we return to the Imperial City, what will you become?"
"You already guess why I don't say." "It's for your own good. But if you hear me out, you won't be able to choose."
"I can choose."
"It won't be a good choice."
"That's my choice to make." Seongeum sighed. "Shirone, demons are killing people. If you could stop that, you'd do whatever it took, right?"
"Of course."
"If I devise something incredible that can win this war, would you marry me?"
"Yes."
It was a sudden question, but Shirone's resolve made nothing impossible.
"I'll do whatever it takes. I love Amy, of course, but beyond that feeling, nothing else matters."
Seongeum, who had been looking at Shirone with a pained expression, smiled and stepped back.
"That's enough."
Shirone's space was stripped away and Seongeum's voice grew faint as she moved alone. "Goodbye, Shirone."
"Wait!" But Seongeum was already gone.
"Damn it! What the hell—?"
Spreading radiant wings, Shirone vaulted into the sky and flew toward Yeomra at top speed. Slower than Seongeum, but still fast.
"Seongeum! Seongeum, where are you!"
As he rushed toward the great war, an Anchal appeared and blocked his path.
"Stop! No one may approach!"
"What is this? Are you saying it's okay to kill a healthy person to win the war?"
"The Princess proposed it! Aren't you sacrificing yourself for the world too?"
"Even so, I won't commit suicide! Killing Seongeum won't end the war!"
Shirone shoved past the Anchal's shoulder and pushed onward.
"We will close the spirit domain!"
His feet stopped dead.
"What—?"
"You know demons can be endlessly produced. But if we close the spirit domain, replenishment will be impossible."
"How is that possible?"
"From equipment developed by the Jincheon Space Agency, Her Highness will open the Immortal Function. Using ether-wave power, it will swallow the entire space of hell."
If the spirit domain is closed, no matter what humans do, demons cannot cross into reality.
We can win.
His heart pounded.
"Wait."
A terrible thought flashed through his mind.
"What nonsense is that? Then what about Seongeum? Do you know what will happen to her?"
"Yes. The Princess's mind—"
The Anchal bowed his head and ground his teeth. "She will be made to wander through a dreadful hell." Forever.