Ch.126Chapter 126. I Love Mom Too

Tashian Pailoi.

The one who taught love to my other self, then abandoned her, awakening hatred.

And at the end, she who sought to destroy humanity might be someone who deserves to be eliminated for the sake of humanity, beyond personal circumstances.

In this moment facing her, being overwhelmed by the impulse to eliminate her was inevitable.

‘Yet, you’re going to leave?’

And the source of my other self, despite feeling the same impulse I feel now, sought to forgive her.

Even though that resentment grew massive enough to threaten the world with catastrophe.

In the final moments of her life, she suppressed her emotions with reason and chose forgiveness.

‘I’m not leaving. I’m just entrusting everything that comes after to you, Dad.’

‘…Pailoi.’

‘You don’t need to feel regret. I didn’t expect to merge so directly like this, but ultimately, stepping back like this aligns with the purpose of my existence.’

Even after death, she could have fought for control of my body to fulfill that impulse.

Yet she didn’t because she believed it was her role.

Unlike her previous life, with no one forcing her, she concluded by her own will to entrust everything to me.

‘As you know, Dad, a soul is nothing more than self-awareness arising in an elaborate record. If life is a story, the soul is merely that story forcibly extended.’

A mere extension forcibly drawn to a story that had already concluded…

Knowing herself to be such an existence, that child must have harbored the intention to respect the wishes of whoever was qualified.

‘In the end, being merely a record, it shouldn’t hold the reins of someone else’s path forward.’

Unlike her initial naive appearance.

She deemed me worthy after I came to her having accepted all her memories.

‘Pailoi.’

‘It’s okay. I’m not disappearing. I’m just completing my mission by passing everything on to you, Dad.’

Even though things might become irreversible if she didn’t have her way.

That child shed her naive demeanor and smiled at me with newfound maturity.

‘You know, don’t you, Dad? That what she left behind, though she’s already passed away, continues on through someone in this world.’

With such a face, she tried to teach me.

Just as someone inherits history, carries on traditions, and receives teachings…

Even if one loses their life miserably at the end of a painful existence, if someone carries it on, it leaves meaning in this world.

‘…While humans can only live by inheriting from others like that, in the end, the final choice comes not from what others left behind, but from one’s own will.’

Even if one cannot correct the story already written.

That it becomes the foundation for the sequel to be newly written.

‘So, from now on, don’t worry about me and focus on your own story. Not obsessing over the story I passed on, but your story inspired by the stories of others, including hers.’

I knew that was why that child acknowledged me and left, but I couldn’t help feeling scared.

Whether I could really make decisions on my own.

Whether I could truly stand firm in this harsh world and carry on the will of such a noble hero like her.

‘…And how you’ll interpret Mom’s story.’

My hand, extended toward that departing child out of fear, was withdrawn at the sight of her turning back with a smile.

A clear smile proving her words were not pretense.

‘Whichever you choose, I’ll support you, Dad.’

Because I realized that the being who reflected the most human-like hero in this world.

Trusted me.

***

“…Tachia.”

“I’m not Tachia.”

My hatred, remembering that smile.

The spear of magic created from the mixture of human revulsion, finally evaporated as it fell from my hand.

“I’m Hyoseong Woo. Not Tachia…”

With my now empty hand, I gripped her shoulder and told her.

As that child said, that I was not her daughter, but a separate being who merely inherited her memories.

That withdrawing the spear pointed at her was also a conclusion reached by my own will.

“…That’s right.”

Tashian, who seemed unable to shake off her lingering attachment despite realizing this, showed sadness.

But though the target has changed, what she wants to do won’t change.

“Still, you know what kind of being I am, don’t you?”

“I know, because I saw her memories.”

“Even if you don’t resent me, you must feel some disgust. For me, who has trampled countless humans like you…”

As she said, she committed unforgivable acts by human standards.

No matter how special she considered me, I too couldn’t completely shake off such judgment as a human.

“Then why…”

“Because I don’t know everything.”

But what defines her.

Can what defines Tashian Pailoi’s individual life be defined solely as a monster who massacred humans?

Does her past as a hero who fought against dragons become nothing just because her daughter’s lingering regret escalated into a world-threatening catastrophe?

“Because I don’t know in detail what feelings drove you to do such things.”

Even toward her, who massacred humanity, her daughter felt an emotion that could be defined as love.

Having lived an empty life, she recognized her own awkwardness with this unfamiliar emotion, and in the end, decided to set aside her resentment by relying on her humanity.

“You don’t need to try to understand. Since I too rampaged without caring about such things, you should also honestly…”

“It was people who didn’t understand others that started the war.”

Having lived the cruelest life, I know this fact all too well.

That the era when humans killed humans was so steeped in madness because they didn’t understand each other.

“…I know. I may not know about you, but I know well about your daughter.”

Only the beginning can be blamed on the instigators. As time passes, those who inherit only someone’s hatred point their swords at strangers and continue to bite.

Lacking knowledge leads to a lack of guilt, and not understanding each other makes one cling even more to what they’ve inherited.

Tachia was a victim of such an era.

Tashian before me, too, lost her ability to think and went on a rampage because she happened to be in such an era.

“…That’s the world I live in.”

That doesn’t erase her sins, but was I ever righteous and great enough to judge someone’s sins?

Even my desire to become a hero was because I was too weak to survive in this harsh world on my own.

Without someone’s help, I would have been crushed long ago, being nothing more than a Foreign Laborer.

“Such a world… it makes me afraid to live on.”

That’s why the kindness shown to me resonated even more.

“I’m afraid to live in a world without you. Without you, I wouldn’t have grown this much.”

“It wasn’t for you. It was for me…”

“Then why did you prepare meals for me?”

A flinch. The trembling I felt from her body pressed against mine.

It taught me that all the attitudes she had shown me so far weren’t just for her own death.

“That was unnecessary if it was just for your purpose.”

It’s not just what I wanted to think.

Tachia’s memory…

At the end of her life, she forgave her foolish mother because she was certain it awakened love toward herself.

“Did you prepare meals because you thought it was necessary for a tool that would fulfill your wish?”

“……”

“Did you only see me, who inherited her memories, as a being onto whom you projected your daughter at every moment?”

Just as she suppressed her hatred based on such evidence, I too want to evaluate the person before me based on the trust that child placed in me.

Though her innate nature may be beyond human reach, at the very end of her life, she was a pitiful being that humans could understand.

“If not, please look at me. Not Tachia, but Hyoseong Woo… look at me, who is looking at you right here.”

I don’t want to kill her, who showed me an emotion that can be defined as love, though different from how Irie and Merilyn expressed it.

I want to continue being with someone who loves me. In this harsh world, such thoughts became even stronger.

“Please…”

As I expressed these desperate feelings, I felt a vague anxiety rising from a corner of my heart.

Would even this plea not reach her? Would she express resentment toward me, contrary to everything she had shown me so far?

“…Please don’t let the person I’ve given my heart to leave any further.”

As fear of whether I could handle the responsibility that would follow overwhelmed me, my seated body began to tremble.

Is it really okay to do this?

If it were her, the child who gave me this moment… would she respect my choice even seeing her mother about to collapse?

“…Really.”

A voice finally reached me as I sought an answer.

At the same time, her hands cupping my cheeks gradually pulled me toward her, making my head face upward.

Our lips met, cold and delicate fingers contrasting with lips that faintly felt warm.

Breathing a breath warmer than the gentle breeze blowing at this moment.

“Really, what a bad child you are.”

After separating her lips, she stepped back one step and showed her true self nakedly.

“After that child was gone, only pain remained in living, yet you tell me I shouldn’t be comfortable yet…”

Despite expressing resentment toward me, she wasn’t emotional.

As if unburdening her heart, she smiled more lightly than before.

“…Tashian.”

“Still, perhaps if that child were alive, she would have said the same as you now.”

Yes, though different from her wish, she might have considered such an ending too.

With that, she closed her eyes as if resigning to something and spoke to me in a low voice.

“So, could you make one promise with me?”

A promise.

For her, it’s something that cannot be overlooked.

Though fallen, she is fundamentally a being called a dragon, and for dragons, promises are absolute.

Through that absoluteness of promises, she had endured pain until now, correcting even her will to break.

“Just promise me one thing. Just one…”

Nevertheless, at this moment, she was seeking to make a new covenant with me.

To continue this painful life in that way at least.

“…What would you like me to do?”

To live up to the expectations of the man she gave her heart to, and who had a heart for her.

“Become my son.”

The bond of family, which could be called a curse in that life…

At this moment, she was choosing to repeat it by her own will.

“…Tashian.”

“Even if it’s just a pretext. Just let me do for you what I couldn’t do for that child.”

But how could that be called foolish?

Unlike when she committed irreversible acts in confusion, now she acknowledges her sins.

If she acknowledges her sins, what should follow is not liberation but atonement.

“Give me a chance to prove that what that child left behind has meaning.”

Yes, the dragon was still in love.

With a body that had nothing left to burn, she wished for her love for that child to continue…

****

“…So it ended up like this.”

And a minstrel hiding in nearby bushes, watching all this.

A bitter smile gradually formed on Merilyn’s lips as she watched them bathed in the sunset.

The heart that a dragon, inherently empty by nature, awakened at the end of her life. Despite considering it a curse, she chose to continue it once more by her own will…

It doesn’t feel like someone else’s story because at this moment, she feels empathy for them.

Though different in form, what they feel could certainly be defined as love.

“While I welcome having more rivals, Irie is unusually quiet. She usually takes a sharp attitude whenever I get close to Hyoseong.”

Irie Haven, watching from a distance under a tree.

But in her hands, there was no crystal ball to foresee the future.

She had already guessed how their hearts felt and had firmly prepared herself for this conclusion.

“The longer the road ahead, the better to have more helpers. Moreover, since Tashian’s sense of loss from losing her child is deep, she will never betray someone she considers family.”

“Hmm~ Helpers, you say?”

Merilyn glared at her with a nasal sound in response to her blunt voice.

“Is that really all? It seems to me there might be some other reason…”

Irie, feeling that gaze, held her breath for a moment, then turned her attention away from her and back to the two people.

Swallowing the complicated feelings that arose from seeing them holding hands as they descended the hill with the sunset at their backs.

“…Because I know. At least what it’s like to lose family.”

Having lost her mother at a young age and been raised by her chieftain father and tribe members.

How could she pour cold water on their relationship by bringing up her own circumstances?

“Hyoseong also came to this world separated from his family, wouldn’t he need someone to replace them to keep his strength up?”

Yes, because people cannot live alone.

Only with companions and comrades to share the difficult journey, and someone to guard the home to return to, can one muster the courage to embark on the journey.

-Whoosh.

As if blessing the beginning of seeds sprouting for him, a warm wind began to blow between the two people descending the hill.

As if blessing their relationship, the leaves of trees fluttering in the wind gradually parted, opening the way for them.

“…Son.”

During their walk along that path.

She whispered to her new adopted son.

“Do you love Mom?”

In place of the daughter she could never meet again.

Hoping to hear that answer from her other child at least.

“…I love you.”

At the sad answer to her question.

The mother, steeped in nostalgia, endured the ache in her chest and smiled brightly.

“Yes, Mom too.”

Keeping words she could no longer convey inside her.

“…Mom loves you too.”

To the new bond she found in the end.

Hoping she could honestly express her feelings from now on.