episode_0007

There are memories that refuse to fade.

A scene whose fresh scent remains entirely intact, even after a long time.

“Always remember, Irene.”

A gentle hand caressed her head.

Master-nim smiled softly.

Back then, she’d turned her head, disliking his nagging, but now even that had become a cherished memory.

“Someday, a moment will come when you want to give up.”

His voice gently permeated her thoughts.

Beyond that aged resonance lay the childhood of a certain fox.

“Irene.”

“The world is a dawn ravaged by storms.”

“No matter how desperately you try to run, misfortune will eventually find you.”

Tenderness settled in the wrinkles around his eyes.

The old man, lying in bed, struggled to raise his body and continued.

“It will hurt. You’ll be scared, sad, lonely… perhaps you’ll even want to collapse.”

“You might even kneel before the raging storm.”

“Life is like that.”

“But, Irene.”

“This Master wishes for you not to yield.”

Become a person who does not bow down.

Become a person who can hold their head high amidst a raging storm and swing their sword.

“It’s fine to be blocked by unreasonable beings.”

“It’s fine if all your being is denied, and only a wretched tremor remains.”

Just don’t compromise on what you believe is right.

Rather than a reed that bends to the wind, become a pine tree that fiercely resists.

This is the sword I taught you.

“Swing your sword towards the storm.”

“Turn your back on cowardly comfort, and be the first tree to break.”

This is your Master’s last lesson.

The most important things are invisible. You must always see with your heart.

Life continues even in the storm-tossed dawn.

“Just as ancient navigators found their way by looking at the stars, life needs a direction to move forward.”

“So, Irene.”

Master-nim spoke those words.

His voice still lingered in a corner of her memory.

It became a signpost on a path filled only with wandering, sustaining her weak self.

“You must find your star.”

It was always like that.

I wanted to be like you.

***

Silence.

“……”

Nothing could be heard.

In a world enveloped by death-like stillness, the fox stood alone in the darkness.

Her body was, quite literally, a wreck.

Irene staggered.

Her legs had already given out, but she barely managed to keep her balance.

Only a feeling of utter exhaustion remained in her fingertips.

She desperately clung to her consciousness, which kept fading away.

“Hah, hah……”

Breath caught in her throat.

As she gasped for air, a voice soon broke the silence.

“You look tired.”

What she saw in her blurry vision was an enemy.

An overwhelmingly powerful enemy, as if embodying all the unreasonableness of the world.

A mocking taunt whispered in her ears.

“Just a moment ago, you said you’d see this to the end… What will you do if even raising your sword is too much for you now?”

The shadow twisted its lips.

It was an overt sneer, but Irene showed no particular reaction.

She felt no need to.

It was a strange feeling.

Irene’s heart was utterly peaceful.

Even at a provocation that would normally have made her boil with rage, only a gentle ripple spread.

The girl simply breathed.

“……”

Was she becoming detached in the face of death?

An unexplainable sense of comfort enveloped her.

Her thumping heart. A pulse that resonated with unusual clarity.

Click.

She re-gripped the sword she had been using as a cane.

Her palm enveloped the hilt. For a moment, a tingling sensation spread throughout her entire arm.

‘What a strange feeling.’

Something felt just out of reach.

Irene pushed aside her dazed, lingering thoughts and raised her weary head.

Her destiny awaited her there.

‘Death.’

For a moment, the girl’s shoulders trembled.

She was afraid, after all. But even so, there was a sufficient reason for her unyielding steps.

“This Master wishes for you not to yield.”

The nagging words lingered in her ears.

Irene let out a small chuckle.

To think those were the words that came to mind at a moment like this.

‘Of all times.’

At the time, she hadn’t understood and had let them pass, but now she seemed to grasp them a little.

The important things are invisible.

You must always see with your heart.

It was fine to be blocked by unreasonable turmoil. It was fine to have all her footsteps denied.

“Just don’t compromise on what you believe is right.”

“Turn your back on cowardly comfort, and be the first tree to break.”

Life continues even in the dawn.

If the star she held in her heart did not waver, the world would not shatter.

She would only move forward with a handful of will.

“I am.”

Meager courage.

Though it might appear like worthless scrap to others, for the girl, this alone was the compass of her life.

The sole light glittered.

“Still alive.”

The moment of awakening.

Crackle!

Sparks flew from her fingertips.

Following the tingling thrill, a faint glow swallowed the sword.

The halo of light grew clearer.

“Hoo.”

The snake watching exclaimed.

A brilliantly blooming scene.

Before long, the radiance covered the rusted sword, vividly illuminating the surrounding darkness.

Pure white fragments scattered.

What was this strange power?

A sense of omnipotence she had felt for the first time. Right now, it felt like she could cut through anything.

Awakening arrives suddenly.

Whoosh!

Amidst the roaring noise, the fox raised her sword.

Her focus was solely on the sword.

She exploded all the internal energy within her body.

She intended to pour all her remaining strength into this final attack.

“You must find your star.”

This was the star the girl had chosen.

Irene braced for her final moment and spoke to the stranger standing before her.

“Welcome, to my star.”

A single phrase, briefly resounding.

The girl, who had calmly taken her stance, immediately swung her sword. Immediately after, the entire passage brightened.

It was a beautiful, flashing strike.

CRASH!

A thin golden line cut through the pitch black.

A flash of light streaking at top speed.

The snake seemed flustered and tried to avoid the attack, but the fox was a little faster.

It finally reached the boy.

‘It hit.’

That thought flashed through her mind.

Just as she was about to cut down her opponent without any delay…

“That’s enough.”

The snake moved his lips.

As if he had never been flustered, he gazed at the fox with a relaxed expression.

For a very brief moment, a sliver of his eyes opened.

“You passed.”

His bleached white eyes.

As the boy and girl’s gazes met, a large crack appeared in the intact air.

CRACK! CRACKLE!

As if a mirror was shattering.

The background surrounding the two shattered into pieces. An utterly unbelievable sight.

Towards the girl, who was overcome with astonishment, the boy whispered.

“It’s time to wake up from the dream.”

SNAP!

The overturned world returned to normal.

***

SNAP!

When her consciousness, which had gone dark, returned, Irene was standing in the passage.

Her vision flickered and blurred.

The girl stared blankly, a question mark hovering in her mind.

“……Huh?”

She seemed unable to grasp the situation.

Watching the fox’s reaction, which was steeped in confusion, I let out a chuckle.

‘It’s understandable she’s confused.’

Until just now, Irene had been trapped in a world manipulated by fiction.

She had been engaged in a fierce life-or-death battle within a fantasy magic that I had arbitrarily made to seem like reality.

In short, she had been fooled by a ‘lie.’

I hadn’t moved from the beginning.

More precisely, from the moment Irene screamed for the young foxes to run and charged at me, the girl had been trapped in a mental plane.

“Did you enjoy your brief dream?”

I offered a cheerful good morning greeting.

In reality, almost no time had passed, so it was still dawn, but.

“What is this, exactly……?”

The fox murmured, frozen in place.

It didn’t take long for her to grasp the current situation and for her complexion to turn pale.

Her black eyes gazed at me.

“……Illusion magic?”

“Correct.”

“That’s impossible… I felt no incongruity at all.”

“Haha, I’m a bit special, you see.”

After all, I possess a body capable of destroying the world alone. Of course, that’s based on the original story, but.

I leisurely scanned the girl.

Her pupils were subtly out of focus.

It seemed the aftereffects of the hypnosis still lingered.

While waiting for Irene to regain her senses, I recalled the scene just before.

“Welcome, to my star.”

The girl unleashing a sword strike after a simple line of dialogue.

As I watched the rapidly surging halo of light, a dizzying thrill spread throughout my body.

I couldn’t suppress my laughter.

“I was impressed.”

Ding!

[The subject’s emotions are fluctuating rapidly.]

(Despair -> Will)

[Due to the rapid emotional change, the Lie has greatly recovered.]

[Current remaining output: 100.0%]

Thanks to that, my output was maxed out.

It’s been a while since I filled it completely; it feels new.

That must mean it was an intense emotion.

As I stood there enjoying the afterglow, a sharp scream pierced my ears.

“Kids, kids?! Snap out of it…!”

It seemed she had found the young foxes behind her.

The children were all sprawled on the floor, unconscious.

Irene wavered for a moment. Then, a look of furious anger flew and pierced me.

“Damn it! What did you do to the kids?!”

“Oh, calm down.”

“You dared to do this even to these young ones……!”

“They’re merely asleep.”

“……”

The girl quickly checked on the foxes.

Only after confirming that all ten children were safe did she withdraw the venom from her eyes.

Of course, her wariness remained.

“……What do you want?”

Irene asked, her voice trembling.

Given that I hadn’t harmed the defenseless children, she seemed to have judged that I didn’t intend to kill them.

And I had just erased my killing intent.

I spoke with the gentlest smile in the world.

“First, please lower your sword.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“Hmm~ If a fight breaks out here, these young ones might get caught in it, you know?”

“……Damn it.”

Clang!

Irene seemed to hesitate, but eventually disarmed herself.

“Good. It seems you’re ready for a conversation.”

“……”

“You don’t have to be so tense. I’m actually quite fond of you.”

“Fondness…?”

“Yes, I promise not to hurt you.”

I raised both hands.

It was a gesture, albeit a timid one, to propose peace.

In truth, if I had intended to kill the foxes, I possessed the power to annihilate them all with a single gesture.

Irene had no choice.

“……What conversation do you want to have?”

“That’s a good question.”

I gazed at the fox with mischievous eyes.

In my flickering vision, her appearance, still showing fragments of awakening, remained vivid.

The girl did not lose her integrity even at the edge of a cliff.

‘She’s cool.’

A Swordsman with an unyielding heart.

A cliché and childish story.

Stories like these… I’m absolutely mad about them.

“Welcome, to my star.”

A star, what a wonderful word.

It was even more so because the one who uttered that line was the girl.

Because she was, quite literally, a person who shone like a star.

Humans, by nature, when they see a light they do not possess, tend to harbor a desire to own it.

I was no different.

“I will buy your star.”

I decided to possess the girl.

“Will you not be tamed by me?”

A faint question. I gently extended my hand.

Like the Little Prince who first tamed a fox, I wore a pure smile.