Ch.541Chapter 21. Blood Pack (1)

The moment I opened my eyes.

The world was dyed completely white.

A white light brighter than a flash grenade blocked my vision.

Only after placing my hand in front of my eyes could I gradually begin to see what was ahead.

I could see the city.

The city that should have been a gray concrete jungle was now glowing white.

Each window reflected something, and that light spread in all directions, dyeing the city white.

What could it be?

As I raised my head, I realized that another color was mixed with the white.

Platinum.

In the center of the white, there was gold.

Not like the gold you’d see on a beach, but a metallic gold, like looking at some kind of metal substance.

Should I say it’s like a planet?

A massive sphere with a seemingly boiling surface was shining in the sky.

If I had to describe it, calling it a platinum sun would be most accurate.

Platinum Sun.

A meteor was floating above the city, in the sky.

What shimmered in the sky was clearly a meteor, slowly descending toward the city as it lowered its altitude.

It’s destruction.

The end of the Earth.

If that mass, that enormous chunk of mana, comes down directly onto the city, it won’t just be the end of the city.

At minimum, the Earth would explode with it.

A scene of Earth’s destruction by meteor impact, something you’d only expect to see in movies or scientific videos, was unfolding before my eyes.

‘I have to stop it.’

I need to stop it immediately.

It’s already too late to run away.

To survive, to protect what needs protecting, I must destroy that thing.

Or.

If it would disappear when the person who summoned it dies, then killing that person would be the answer.

And as far as I know, there’s only one being capable of dropping such a meteor on the city.

“Ymir.”

Platinum Sun.

“What are you doing?”

Fwoosh.

In front of the meteor, in front of the railing, the space rippled as a woman appeared.

With her blonde hair flowing, platinum eyes gleaming like the meteor, wearing a dress resembling a hanbok mixed with black and red, she stood before me, smiling.

“Hello?”

“You…”

“Good evening.”

She spread her arms and greeted me with elegant hand gestures.

“Are you Ymir?”

“Of course. I’m Ymir. If I’m not Ymir, who would be?”

Though she claims to be Ymir, the eyes with which she looks at me are not Ymir’s eyes.

“Or should I be ‘the protagonist’?”

Not the eyes of someone looking at a person they like.

Not the eyes of someone looking at a person they love.

“Isn’t that right, Reader?”

The eyes of someone looking at a clear enemy.

Not eyes that view me as a positive existence at all.

“The one who deceives this world, interprets everything as they please, and manipulates everything to bend it to their will.”

Not the eyes looking at Do Ji-hwan, nor the eyes looking at Goblin.

“As the possessor, the Reader, how satisfied have you been with this world?”

She’s looking at me as an enemy that must be eliminated.

“Ymir.”

“Not Ymir. The protagonist.”

“The protagonist I know is male.”

“He was male, but you already know that was actually a woman who changed her appearance to a man, don’t you?”

I do know.

Since I heard her original plan from Ymir, I know that the protagonist is Ymir.

“That protagonist is now standing before you in her original form. What do you think?”

“Never mind what I think, let me ask you one thing. That meteor, did you summon it?”

“Yes. Isn’t it beautiful how it sparkles?”

Ymir put one hand behind her back and extended the other to the side.

“With imagination, you can do anything. Even if this world was created from fantasy.”

“Are you planning to destroy the Earth?”

“Not the Earth. This world that’s being destroyed, this world written in lies.”

Ymir stared at me calmly.

“Wouldn’t it be better if a world that follows a predetermined script just disappeared?”

“Not at all.”

“Why not?”

“Because this is reality to me.”

“Ha…”

Ymir’s eyes narrowed.

“Even if you’ve entered a novel? Even if you’re a completely different being from your real self?”

“If I live in that world, then that’s who I am. And.”

I stretched my hand forward.

“I told you. Anyone who interferes with The Syndicate’s world domination is an enemy, and I don’t leave my enemies alone.”

The magical power extending from my hand turned black, becoming a club directed at Ymir.

“If there’s someone trying to destroy the world, they’re my enemy.”

“Don’t you think this kind of world deserves to be destroyed?”

Ymir’s smile deepened.

“A world full of human malice, if it was created just to make someone stand out. Wouldn’t it be better if everything just disappeared together?”

“Is that why you tried to destroy the world?”

“You know that better than anyone, Reader.”

Ymir stared at me intently.

“You thought so too. That a meteor was the answer for this world.”

“I did think that.”

“Then why don’t you sympathize with me?”

“There are times when I want to destroy things badly enough to drop a meteor, but if Earth is destroyed, humanity still has nowhere else to live.”

It’s not terraformed yet.

We haven’t expanded to outer space either.

“If you want to destroy Earth, do it freely after humanity has left Earth. Drop meteors or create an ice age, do whatever you want then.”

“Don’t change the subject. I’m talking about the extinction of humanity.”

“Then that’s even more unacceptable. Human extinction is out of the question.”

No matter how many disappointed people in various creative works conclude that humanity must be exterminated by all means.

“You have no right to judge humanity.”

Unless you’re a god, arbitrarily defining humanity’s continued existence is just one individual’s stubbornness.

“Don’t impose your ego.”

“Isn’t imposing one’s ego how ability users use their powers? It’s the foundation of this world. The ‘setting’ of this world.”

“Then embrace that setting and quietly disappear alone.”

“You’re so resolute. Even though we’ve been through so much together.”

“That might have been true before, but it’s different now if you’re a villain trying to exterminate humanity. And villains get executed.”

“Are you going to kill me?”

“Of course.”

I raised my club high toward Ymir, who was still standing motionless.

“I’ll remember. Even if the whole world remembers you as a villain, I alone will remember the time when you wanted to live as a hero.”

“…Do you know why I want to exterminate humanity?”

Step, step.

“Because I know this world is actually a novel, and I’m the protagonist of that novel?”

Ymir approached me with light footsteps.

“The world is a poorly constructed stage, and everyone I’ve seen until now has lived a fate of suffering for that purpose? To liberate everyone from that?”

Leisurely yet defenseless steps.

She approached me with her hands behind her back, but I couldn’t swing my club at her.

“Or is it because I truly believe humanity is beyond salvation?”

“…Is it me?”

Her eyes were clearly looking at me.

“Yes. It’s because of you.”

She pointed to me as the reason she was trying to destroy the world.

“I’m trying to exterminate humanity because of you.”

“Because I’m a possessor?”

“No.”

Ymir came close enough that I could feel her breath and placed her finger on my solar plexus.

“Because you’re a harem-chasing scum.”

“…What?”

What did she say?

“Because you’re garbage who doesn’t look at just one person, but chases after multiple women.”

“No, wait.”

“What?”

Ymir was still smiling broadly, looking at me as if asking what was wrong.

“My beloved man goes around meeting different women, having children with every woman he meets—did you really not expect this kind of ending?”

“Are you insane?”

“Yes. I’m insane. Driven mad by love. You must have heard stories like that, right? Like…”

Ymir’s face drew closer.

“I love you so much that I’ve decided not to leave anyone in this world except you and me.”

“……”

“You’re no longer Do Ji-hwan or Goblin. I’m not Ymir either. I am Eve. You are Adam. Now… we’re going to create a new world together.”

“You’re insane.”

Completely insane.

“What logic makes you think that way? What process did you go through to reach this conclusion?”

“Well, obviously…”

“Hey.”

I took a step toward Ymir.

“No woman has had as much of a relationship with me as you have, and for that reason you’re now trying to destroy the world?”

“……”

“Honestly, if Baek Seol-hee appeared before me instead of you and dropped a massive glacier rather than a meteor, I could at least accept that.”

If it were Baek Seol-hee, I could understand.

“But you’re not even that.”

“……”

“If you’re destroying Earth and suggesting we become the Adam and Eve of the world for such a reason, do you think I’d willingly go along with it?”

I raised my club.

“Go to hell.”

And brought it down on myself.

“If I become the cause of this world’s destruction, I’ll kill myself.”

“Hmm…”

“And one more thing you should remember.”

Even if Ymir goes berserk, even if a meteor falls on the world, there’s one thing that will never change.

“Ymir isn’t a woman who’s obsessed with me like you are.”

“What?”

“Ymir doesn’t want to monopolize me.”

In my gradually blurring vision, I pointed to the sky.

“She wants to monopolize patriotism with me.”

“……”

“Disappear. Phantom from my mind.”

That name is the shadow of the original work.

“The original work died long ago, yet you still appear in my mind trying to destroy Earth with a meteor. How foolish.”

“What?”

“There’s no need to summon a meteor to blow up Earth; just firing mana at Earth’s inner core would make it explode. And.”

The meteor ending, a “trauma” left by the author for the readers.

“Ymir doesn’t talk like that.”

“…Ah, who turned on the fluorescent light?”

It was just a bad dream.