episode_0179

Jongjang – Village of Back Alley Nymphs #1

“Hey, look at that!”

Lucy shouted.

The white halo of the moon that had risen above Lucy’s head, covering the entire world, began to flash and emit a strange light.

Gooo-.

At the same time, the sky and the earth shook, creating a great tremor.

“What is it? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know!”

People were confused and couldn’t figure out what to do.

They wanted to run away, but they didn’t know where to run in this situation, so they just stood there.

So so so so-.

The earth split open and the clouds in the sky were distorted into strange shapes.

This was a sign of imminent destruction.

If the end of the world prophesied in the Book of Revelation were to come, wouldn’t it look exactly like it does now?

Psyche saw that and thought.

“Failure… Did you do it… ?”

Did Hyde really fail?

But, they’ve gotten better now.

In what could be considered the last moments of the world, people chose to look up at the sky rather than blush and get angry.

Their hands floated anxiously in the air and held the hand of the person next to them.

The same goes for Psyche and Milione, who were fighting just now.

Tsk, said Milione, clucking his tongue.

“On such a terrible day, it is you, Psyche, who is by my side at the end.”

“… … .”

Milione was disingenuous until the last moment.

Is everything really over now?

When Milione thought that, he suddenly felt better about all of this.

In a world that was going to end like this anyway, why did I live with a temper tantrum and a frown? If I think about it now, I could have spent the wasted time a little more meaningfully.

“Psyche. Actually, I wanted to be friends with you.”

Milione turned his head.

He even spat, as if he had said something he shouldn’t have said.

Kuuuk-.

Psyche squeezed Milione’s hand tightly without saying a word.

Soon Lucy also hugged Milione and Psyche.

“I like you guys!”

Lucy’s body was warm and soft and smelled of peaches.

If it were a normal Milione, she would have pushed Lucy away, but actually, Milione liked hugging others like this.

Because I was always shy, I never showed that, but I decided not to do that now.

Lucy said.

“I wish we could talk like this a little more, go for walks together, drink delicious tea with each other, and talk about people we like together… !”

Lucy really, truly regretted a lot of things.

Lucy had so many things she wanted to do with her friends, but in the end she couldn’t do any of them.

It was because I spent a lot of time on things that were so meaningless.

“Born on a small island, life wasn’t fun, but-. The two years since I met you have been the most enjoyable of my life! I will never forget it!”

“Lucy… .”

Sze-.

Psyche patted Lucy’s back.

He also patted Milione’s back.

Kwa-rung, kwa-rung-.

In many ways, people began to shiver at the sound of thunder and lightning hitting the ground.

In this surprising and frightening situation, there was naturally only one thing people could do.

They put their hands together in front of them even though no one told them to.

I prayed as if I desperately wanted something.

#

Gooo-.

Kugugugugugung-.

Tilt-.

The axis of rotation that rose into the sky gradually bent to the left.

This meant only one thing.

It was said that the Earth had deviated from its correct orbit and had begun to deviate from its orbit and the solar system due to its rotation axis being misaligned.

“Stop!”

The man shouted at the world that was starting to tilt.

However, it was difficult to stop the fall once it started.

“I am a better Hyde than anyone else! Listen to me!”

Gooo-.

The tilting pillar of light made a loud roar.

It sounded like the screams of a dying person, and it was.

Many things were dying before the man’s eyes.

The man now had no choice but to give up.

“Yes, actually, my life has been a series of pain.”

How many inconveniences have you ignored while living as an orphan raised in an institution?

How painful was it when you were unexpectedly dropped into this terrible, barbaric world of the Middle Ages and faced all kinds of con artists, charlatans, murderers, robbers, and heretics?

“Yes! Let everything that happened like this be ruined. You stupid bastards! You uneducated and ignorant idiots! It looks good!”

In fact, among the people the man met in the world, there was not a single good person.

There were only humans who blushed, slandered each other, threw punches at each other, and wasted time day after day.

“You fucking bastards! You are not worthy of being alive! It was right for this world to end in some way in the first place!”

This world was too much for them.

In the current situation, I must confess that the man hated the world.

He thought it would be great if all the people who fucked him were cursed and died.

Today is the end of the irritation, anger, and sadness that have invaded his life from beginning to end. When I thought about it like that, I felt relieved.

“But I did my best!”

He tried to stop it somehow.

I tried somehow.

But in the end, the result is like this.

I felt relieved.

But why is he standing still, unable to leave this spot?

“You fucking bastards.”

They must all have been terrible people.

However, the man actually knew.

That there are the most terrible and ugly sinners in this world.

That there are people who should fall into hell first than anyone else.

He was a liar and a murderer who hated his brother.

Although he said that he was more faithful and kind than anyone else, the man had known for a long time that he was really just a monster with nothing to boast about.

He was a man who made compromises with the world.

I gave in to injustice, ignored goodness, and chose a dark path for myself.

He was a petty person more than anyone else and the ugliest coward in the world.

That man was me.

Hyde is an incompetent human being who ultimately cannot do anything on his own.

In the end, I was a human being who, until the last moment, could not accomplish anything on my own.

My power to rely on others was ultimately just a mask to cover my own powerlessness, unable to do anything on my own.

I was a waste that there was no way to save me in any way.

“… Yes, actually I am a sinner.”

How long has it been since you prayed sincerely?

Now I can’t even remember how to pray.

Kugugugugugugung-.

I felt a lot of things shaking.

I didn’t know if this was truly back to normal or if it was the sound of many things going off track to the point where they could no longer be reversed.

But I knew that if I had any chance to make my final argument, it would be now.

“But─OMG!!! You continue!!! As it has been and will continue to be!!! You are beautiful just the way you are!!! And—!!!”

Actually, there was something I had dreamed of for a long time.

That was the wedge of will that brought me to where I am now.

“and─.”

It was as if I was standing here just to say this one thing.

It would be no exaggeration to say that he was born for this one word.

I took what might be my last breath in the world.

And in his slowly fading consciousness, he mustered up his last strength and spoke as if spitting out a wedge in his chest toward the group of lights.

“And I hope that the people of the world will recognize the true value of “The Village of Back Alley Nymphs,” which is my greatest masterpiece and an indispensable treasure in the world─.”

Susss-.

Was it because he spat out the last word?

My consciousness, which I had barely been able to maintain until now, became increasingly blurred, as if I had given up on it.

However, I couldn’t stop here.

“People should write a book review after reading “The Village of Back Alley Nymphs.””

sss-.

Consciousness becoming increasingly blurred.

“Also, people who like “The Village of Back Alley Nymphs” can make a play! In the future, when technology develops, it can be made into movies, dramas, and cartoons… .”

I ended up screaming because my vision turned completely white.

There was a lot I wanted to say, but I couldn’t say it all.

“Gaaa!!! No, no, no!!!!”

#

“Come quickly! Quickly!”

“Melong melong!”

It was an unusually lively village with the sound of children running and playing.

The old Agarpe Village, a land of beautiful hills where sheep graze green pastures and the dazzling sunlight shines brightly.

A man and a woman appeared there.

They stood under a tree high up on a hill.

There was a tombstone beneath it, with the following written on it.

“The worst person in the world, but a friend to everyone in the world”

“… Has it already been a year?”

The first to speak was Alter Archibald.

There was a small baby in Alter’s arms, and it looked exactly like Alter.

“Hyde. Hecate and I were born safely. Thanks to you. I named him Henry. I thought it was a cool name. Henry Archibald. Even if you are clumsy and make mistakes, you will definitely become a great person.”

Sze-.

Alter ran his hand over the tombstone and placed a thick wad of paper along with flowers in front of it.

On the antique cover, the title was written in gold thread: “Village of Back Alley Nymphs.”

“It was your dream. Making sure that every last person in the world reads “The Village of Back-Alley Nymphs.” I’m trying. We worked hard to print, take pictures, and distribute them to every person on the street… .”

Kuuuk-.

Alter clenched his fists.

“To be honest, the reaction from adults is sour. The kids loved it. When these children grow up─. Surely, a world that likes your story will come. For sure… .”

Sze-.

Alter raised his head to ignore the heat rising around his eyes.

The halo that had been floating high in the sky since one day no longer existed anywhere in the world.

With that, I remembered many things, as if I had all woken up from a dream.

“Alter… . Are you okay?”

Hecate stroked Alter’s back with her palm. It was on that day that all of Hecate’s memories came back, a time when many things were shaken.

From that day on, all traces of “power” disappeared from this world.

The same was true for those whom Hyde brainwashed and forced into submission.

They returned to their daily routine and lived their day as if nothing had happened.

They still fought, slandered each other, cried and suffered.

“But Hyde-. You actually liked those people, right?”

The sky that Alter looked up at was as clear as any spring day.

Alter had no doubt that Hyde was also somewhere under this sky.

“Hyde, just as you made our dreams come true, I will make your dreams come true. I will spread “Village of Back Alley Nymphs” to every last person in the world, so that everyone can love it.”