The World’s Denial

Realizing my fatal mistake, I pressed my eye sockets with both hands. My head throbbed, and my neck was stiff.

,Shibal, you stupid bastard…,

I never imagined that such a setting error would exist in the novel. If the Order’s god actually exists, I have to revise all my plans so far. The final enemy will be the Order’s god, whose existence I can’t even know, not the Demon King.

,Judging by your reaction, you’ve figured something out.,

As Raelan looked at me with eyes asking me to tell him what I had figured out, I sighed and was about to tell him about why the God of Chaos Order had descended when someone knocked on the door.

,Ross, dinner’s ready.,

The voice from behind the door was Roel’s. Raelan put his finger to his lips as if telling me to hide that he was here. I nodded and answered in a calm voice so that Roel outside the door could hear.

,Yeah, I’ll be right there. Go ahead first.,

,Okay.,

The sound of footsteps faded away with the sound of going down the stairs. As I got up from the bed, Raelan grabbed my shoulder. As I tilted my head in puzzlement, Raelan asked with a serious expression.

,Do you know the biggest reason why I serve Roel as my lord?,

I tilted my head in confusion at the out-of-context question and answered.

,…Because he’s the hero who will save the world?,

Raelan raised the corners of his lips as if he was enjoying my answer.

,Well, it’s a similar reason.,

After answering that, Raelan added, his eyes gleaming with madness.

,It’s because the hero Roel has a perfectly defined justice.,

For some reason, I felt uneasy at Raelan’s words. I don’t know why, but an instinctive feeling was slowly rising in my chest. Memories popped into my head against my will.

The memory of watching an unknown child impaled by Roel’s greatsword, submerged in a pool of blood. According to his justice, it was an insignificant life that Roel sacrificed to save tens of thousands of people in the future. If I had been in the child’s place in the same situation, would Roel have hesitated to swing his sword?

As my expression became serious, Raelan sighed and lowered his hand from my shoulder.

,I said that to remind you not to lose your vigilance against Roel. You don’t have to get too serious. Go downstairs first, I’ll go down after a while.,

At Raelan’s warning, I wiped my face once and got out of bed.

*

As I went down the stairs, I saw a large table with delicious-smelling food on it. There were only three people I knew sitting there. Roel, Illia, and Conrad. Judging by the fact that there were only five chairs, it seemed like there were no more people coming. Or maybe the people here are all that’s left alive in this world.

Thinking that, I sat down in the chair next to Roel, who was waving his hand enthusiastically, and Illia, who was sitting across from me, stared intently at my face. The gaze was closer to curiosity than wariness, so it seemed that the misunderstanding that I was a demon had been resolved.

Roel, who poured wine into my empty wine glass, turned his head and asked Conrad.

,Wasn’t Raelan in the room?,

,Maybe he went to the bathroom or something.,

As if waiting for those words, Raelan appeared, gliding without a sound.

,I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.,

As Raelan bowed to Roel in a polite manner to apologize, Roel smiled and turned his head to me, saying it was okay.

,I didn’t prepare much… but enjoy your meal.,

At Roel’s words, everyone started eating. My head was so full of thoughts that I was simply repeating the act of pushing food into my mouth rather than tasting it. Perhaps that’s why, even though I ate less than usual, I felt an unpleasant heaviness near my solar plexus.

As I put down my fork, Roel, who was skillfully cutting the steak with his one remaining arm, asked with a flustered face.

,You’ve already finished? I cut some more here, how about eating just this much more?,

Saying that, I raised my hand to stop Roel’s action of pushing the plate with the steak towards me.

,I think I’ll get indigestion if I eat more.,

,Ah, then I can’t help it.,

Roel, who took the plate he was pushing towards me back in front of him, took a piece of steak to his mouth. I sighed and looked down at the runes wrapped around my wrist, feeling Roel’s earnest face, who was being as careful as possible so that I wouldn’t feel uncomfortable.

I feel like the red color has faded a bit. When it turns completely green, I’ll be able to open a passage back to my original world. But if I disappear with Raelan and Conrad without any explanation… I could imagine how Roel, who would be left with Illia, would feel, and it hurt in a corner of my heart for no reason.

I know that there is an inexplicable contradiction in Roel. But I had a feeling that if I didn’t do anything about it, I would never be able to resolve Roel’s contradiction. If I honestly told Roel that I came from another world, I would definitely be able to explain the contradiction. If the result is good, Roel and Illia could also return to my world with me.

I glanced at Raelan’s face, who was sitting on the opposite side. Raelan was wary of Roel’s contradiction and told me not to reveal the existence of another world, but I thought that perhaps my choice to tell the truth was the reason why Roel regressed.

No, it’s just a plausible excuse after all. To be honest, I just want to believe in Roel, the protagonist created by my wish. Even if there is an inexplicable contradiction, even if he killed Ross in this world… I want to think that there must be something going on with Roel, the hero for all.

I don’t know what this choice will bring, but I know now that doing nothing halfway will not accomplish anything.

Before the quick-witted Raelan could stop me, I turned my head to Roel. Roel, who was drinking wine, smiled happily when he saw me looking at him.

Looking straight at such Roel, I started with these words.

,I want to be as honest as possible with hyung-nim.,

For some reason, my sincere voice felt unfamiliar. I could feel Raelan glaring at me, but I fixed my gaze on Roel.

Roel, who put down the wine glass he was holding, scratched his cheek with a slightly bewildered expression.

,Thank you for saying that… I want to treat you, my younger brother, with sincerity too.,

I leaned back in my chair and said to Roel, who was scratching his head, embarrassed.

,I came from a different world than this one.,

In an instant, the noise disappeared, and silence flowed over the table. I guess I was too blunt. I could feel everyone at the table’s gaze focused on my face. Roel, who was staring at me blankly, made a pleasant expression.

,Are you saying you’ve returned to the afterlife? Was there really a heaven that the church was talking about?,

,No, I’m saying I came from a world five years ago where the flow was different from this one.,

Roel made an expression that he didn’t understand my words. Just as I was about to explain further, Conrad interjected.

,You’re talking crazy. Did getting hit in the head make you come up with delusions?,

,…It’s true. I came from another world.,

At my answer, Conrad distorted his face as if he was dumbfounded.

,Have you forgotten who I am? I’m the Coordinator of the World. There’s no way I wouldn’t be able to sense a being from another world. But I don’t feel anything from you.,

,So you already knew about the existence of another world.,

It was Raelan, who had been maintaining a blank expression, who answered Conrad’s words. As the others looked at Conrad with curious eyes, Conrad, who was scratching his forehead with a sigh, said.

,Yeah, I knew.,

,Why did you hide it?,

Conrad scoffed at Raelan’s question.

,Hide it? Hmph, I just didn’t say anything useless.,

,Why? We might be able to escape the destruction and cross over to another world.,

,….,

Conrad’s face frowned at Raelan’s question. Roel, who had been quietly watching the situation, opened his mouth as if he wouldn’t answer any more questions.

,Coordinator-nim, please. Please explain.,

Conrad couldn’t refuse Roel’s request, so he finally opened his mouth.

,A long time ago, I accidentally learned about the existence of another world, and I experimented with the sage Nelson to see if we could cross over to another world, and I learned about a great danger. That is, the world denies the existence that came from another world.,

,Denies…?,

Conrad nodded and explained at Roel’s murmur.

,With my and Nelson’s magic, we barely managed to bring a leaf from another world here. We were happy that the experiment was successful for a moment, but I could feel the balance of the world greatly fluctuating with just one leaf. The existence of one leaf that should not exist in this world affected causality.,

Illia, who had been silent for the first time, interjected.

,With just one leaf…?,

,Yeah, just one leaf affected causality. So Nelson picked up the leaf to send it back to its original world, but suddenly the leaf turned to ashes and scattered. All that was left in his hand was ashes.,

I stroked my chin once and fell into deep thought. Conrad and Nelson’s experiment must have been a past that didn’t appear in the novel. They must have created a plausible story.

The reason why the leaf that touched Nelson’s hand turned to ashes… that’s probably because the world denied the existence of the leaf, so it turned to ashes.

As I was organizing my thoughts, Raelan said as if to summarize the conversation.

,You’re saying that if we cross over to another world, that world will deny our existence and we’ll turn to ashes.,

,Yes, because the existence of another world affects causality, the world denies the existence to protect itself. That’s the result of several experiments with Nelson after that. Whether it’s a leaf or a living creature… the world denies the existence of another world. Nelson and I realized the danger of destroying the world and hid the existence of the experiment. And to prevent anyone from doing the same experiment as us, I became the Coordinator to maintain the balance of the world.,

There was no setting about the Coordinator’s past. So it seemed that causality had acted arbitrarily and created a plausible story about the birth of the Coordinator.

Suddenly, Raelan burst into mad laughter and turned his gaze to me. For some reason, I had the urge to cover Raelan’s mouth with an ominous feeling.

,Then what are you going to say about that guy?,

At Raelan’s question, everyone’s gaze focused on my face.