KRRRRAAAAGH!!!
{Just from a quick look, I think I can tell what’s going on. You’re short on troops, ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) aren’t you?}
Monsters poured down, shrieking.
They were disgusting and grotesque—horrific things like nightmarish fusion-abominations.
{My children will be of help.}
Right now.
Those monsters weren’t our enemies.
“What the hell are those monsters......!”
“Goddamn it, what the hell is even happening in Seoul......!”
“Don’t panic—respond calmly!”
What those monsters fell on was—
the soldiers who had been charging straight at us.
“N-no. Don’t come......!”
-KRRRRAAAAGH......!
I’d already felt it back when we fought on Yeouido, but—
those monsters weren’t just high in numbers. Their overall level was high, too.
So high that I’d thought even our unit could break through, but it would be impossible to exterminate them all.
And when monsters like that slammed into the military—
“KAAAAAAAGH!!!”
CRRRAAACK.......
Those powerful monsters started tearing living people apart—literally ripping them to death.
The army was also dealing with them using powerful firepower, but—
these were monsters that suddenly dropped down from the sky.
“Where did monsters like this come from......!”
Because monsters were pouring down inside their formation,
a huge number of soldiers were butchered.
And that wasn’t all.
“......We need aerial fire support!”
“I know! I already requested it, so soon......!”
The fighter jets and helicopters that had been painting the sky as they dropped shells on us.
There were shapes running straight at those helicopters.
-SKREEEEEEE!!!
BOOOOOM.......
The moment grotesque monsters with bat-like wings latched onto the fighter jets,
the aircraft became impossible to properly control, and they crashed all over the city.
Countless humans dying as they fought monsters.
And.
‘......I know those soldiers aren’t real, but still.’
I was feeling an enormous, unsettling awkwardness at the fact that those humans were my enemies—
and the monsters were helping us.
And then.
{And what are you again......!}
A huge voice suddenly boomed across the entire city.
At that voice, I looked up at the sky.
Black holes that had formed all over the sky.
And beyond them, in that sky—
I could see a figure looking down at this place.
{Everything was just about to end, and you dare interfere......!}
A body made of nothing but black.
Eyeballs embedded all over it, shedding grief-stricken tears of blood.
[Matron] was looking down at this place from outside.
{......I see. I was wondering what kind of existence would have to interfere to produce an [Otherworld] on this scale.}
And.
Even though that mighty Matron was openly revealing their rage without hiding it—
{So it was you lot from the Outside after all. The things you do truly never get old.}
{How dare you, you worm......!}
{A worm?}
The grotesque bat monster looked up at the sky,
then deeply furrowed its stitched-shut eye, and spoke in a tone of pure disgust.
{If these worms bother you that much, why don’t you come down yourself and stomp on them?}
{......What did you say?}
{If you have such mighty power, then if you push yourself a bit, it’s not like it would be impossible.}
At those words,
I flinched and stared at the eyeball monster.
‘It’s provoking them!’
I’m fighting Matron too, but—
that’s because Matron tried to forcibly drag me and the Legion under their command and expand their influence over this world.
If it were possible to let it pass without fighting,
I would’ve tried to get through it as gently as possible instead of picking a fight with a being like that.
{You can’t, can you.}
But that bastard wasn’t like that.
{If you were to descend with your true body onto this land in your overflowing confidence, you could crush me—hell, even that Legion Commander—in a single stroke. But you can’t actually do it. You talk about worms, worms, but you can’t do it.}
When Matron couldn’t answer its provocation,
the eyeball monster spoke with a knowing, mocking voice.
{Want me to tell you why? Because you’re afraid.}
{You.}
{You’re afraid that if you descend with your true body onto this land, you might suffer even the slightest wound. That’s why, isn’t it?}
Heh, heh.
The eyeball monster let out a contemptuous chuckle.
{You only forced your order higher—yet you’re a coward who’s terrified of even a scratch. No matter how strong your power is, your essence is worse than a worm...... and you call the weak “worms,” just to slander them and toy with them.}
{.......}
{Filthy, loathsome things.}
That bastard was being blatantly—
contemptuous toward external existences.
‘This bastard...... is hostile to the external existences.’
I’d wondered why it suddenly started helping us, but—
it didn’t do it because it wanted to help us.
‘It wanted to interfere with [Matron]...... to interfere with an external existence.’
I don’t know the reason behind it, but—
either way.
It was good news for us.
“Keep going!”
Grotesque monsters blocked the soldiers rushing in to hold Seoul—
and we, who had been soldiers, destroyed Seoul indiscriminately.
It was so ironic it made a bitter smile creep up inside me.
Even I felt doubtful about what I was doing right now, but—
{......Human with desires beyond your station.}
It seemed our actions weren’t meaningless after all.
{Why do you reject me?}
Because Matron—
spoke to me.
*****
{If you follow me, everything you have regretted until now will be set right in the proper direction.}
As the unit kept destroying the city,
the blood-tear giant above the sky stared down at me and spoke.
{Not only you. Every child on this land who carries regret—every one of their sorrows will be perfectly healed.}
“.......”
{Why do you refuse such conditions?}
At those words, I let out a hollow laugh and answered.
“Bullshit. That’s all a lie.”
The past Matron showed Jang Youngwoong was ultimately an illusion,
and even this world right now was nothing more than a fake born from that illusion.
{A lie. For now, perhaps that may be true. But.}
But.
{If you become my child and this world becomes mine, then the story changes.}
“What?”
{Because this cramped sanctuary of mine—this place you see—will cover this entire world.}
Mirinae said it.
That the reason those external existences wanted to exert influence on this land—
was, in the end, because they wanted to become the owner of this world.
{For now, my sanctuary is nothing but an illusion. But if my sanctuary covers this entire land and is painted over it, then the truth inside will fall asleep beneath the illusion.}
“......!”
{And then inside and outside will be inverted—reality will become illusion, and illusion will become reality.}
If that bastard became the owner of this world—
{An ideal world without any regret...... all my children will enjoy happiness there.}
it seemed the rules of this world—
would change, at least a little.
{That previous child lacked the qualification, but you do not. You are a lawful hero—born on this land, and one who formed your order by your own power.}
“.......”
{If you become my eldest and lead my children, and help me take this world into my hands, then I can deny all history on this land and paint over it with the history you desire. That will become reality.}
A hand soaked in Matron’s blood tears
lowered toward me.
{It is not too late even now. Take my hand, my child.}
If I took that hand—
and joined power with that bastard to seize this world—
then a world with no regret would truly arrive.
{Together with me, let us set right everything from the past.}
If that was true......
No, it probably was true.
It was a very tempting proposal.
But.
“Sorry. I’m rejecting it.”
{......Why?}
At my refusal,
Matron spoke in a voice that sounded aggrieved.
{Could it be that you are enraged at me for bringing that unqualified one in as my child?}
“Huh?”
{You seem furious about that, but there is something you do not know. In truth.......}
“No. I know.”
Sure.
Using an unqualified person like Jang Youngwoong to exert influence on this land—
that was a pretty infuriating part.
So I’d snapped at them earlier, too, but—
‘In the end, that bastard’s divine name is Matron of Regretful Ones.’
Just like that name.
A being that embraces those who carry deep regret.
“No matter what, that was something that bastard wanted, right?”
A being that uses someone with deep regret.
A being that deceives them.
It probably wasn’t that kind of existence.
{......Though I did hide a few secrets from that child, it was for that child’s sake.}
The reason Matron could even find Jang Youngwoong—
the reason Matron could grant them power—
was, in the end, because Jang Youngwoong carried regret that was simply too enormous.
{Even if I had revealed every secret, nothing would have changed.}
Just as they said.
Even if Matron told him in advance that everything Matron showed was nothing but an illusion.
Even if Matron told him that if he accepted Matron’s power, he would someday reach ruin.
Even if he knew all of that beforehand—
{Those with regret that deep...... in the end, they choose to become my child. Because they believe it is better than dying while holding regret.}
Jang Youngwoong would have accepted Matron’s power—
and chosen the path toward ruin.
{I merely...... hid a truth that would only make that child suffer even if they knew it, because I wanted that child to be even a little more comfortable.}
Matron simply—
shared their power with someone who carried regret deep enough to catch their eye,
and used that person to expand their influence on this land.
If they succeeded in expanding that influence and seized this land,
then on that land, Jang Youngwoong could cast off all regret and enjoy happiness.
“It’s true it annoys me a bit...... but it’s not enough to reject your proposal.”
{If you know that, then why?}
“What do you think.”
Even so.
The reason I reject Matron’s proposal was simple.
“Because it’s not a good deal.”
{......?}
You’ll erase everything I ever regretted.
Sure, it sounds good when you say it.
But.
“I regretted it, but.......”
The reason I ultimately couldn’t just shake those regrets off—
was because they weren’t light enough to shake off that easily.
“Those things weren’t meaningless to me.”
They weren’t things I could casually erase like this—like it was nothing.
“And besides.”
Not long ago,
I remembered the scenes Mirinae showed me in that white space.
“All you talk about is the past.”
{......?}
“The soldiers attacking us, and the power you’ve been using until now, too.”
In a world ruled by the god of [Death], death was everywhere.
In a world ruled by the god of [Vegetation], it was filled with trees so massive no other life could survive.
And that bastard’s divine name was Matron of Regretful Ones.
In that divine name, there wasn’t a single word that wasn’t tied to the past.
“The world you rule...... will have nothing but the past, won’t it?”
Just like Jang Youngwoong’s child couldn’t grow older.
Just like the awakened people that bastard created couldn’t grow.
“A world that can’t move forward, because it spends all day obsessing over past regret...... right? Am I wrong?”
{......Perhaps that is so.}
Matron’s power was a power that stayed in the past.
It was far from a power that moved forward.
{But, my child. Children who carry much regret...... sometimes, even if they must give up moving forward, they still wish to correct the wrongs of the past.}
“Sure. Some bastards are like that.”
{That world will become a space worthy of being called a paradise—for the children who follow me.}
At some point,
they had changed into the form of a gentle woman, just like when they first revealed themselves, and spoke.
{I can see all regret within you.}
“.......”
{Even if it may not be as much as my other children, you too carry much regret within. And yet, despite carrying so much regret.......}
Matron,
in a voice that had sunk slightly, said—
{You say moving forward is more important?}
“Sorry, but I’m already overwhelmed just surviving day by day.”
If an external existence was going to offer me a contract,
it couldn’t be this kind of power.
“What I need is power that can cut through this dogshit world and keep advancing.”
{.......}
“To me, your power doesn’t meet the bar.”
With better terms, I might still hesitate.
There’s no way I’d accept a proposal like that.
{......I see.}
Then Matron spoke with a faint sigh.
{I believed you had the qualification to become my child.}
“Is that so? Too bad.”
{Yes. It seems that was my misunderstanding.}
The giant woman who had been covering the sky.
That figure began to change.
{Those who refuse to be bound by the past have no qualification to become my child.}
The woman’s form blurred,
and the black cracks that had been covering the sky began to grow larger and larger.
{Despite carrying so many regrets, you intend to look only forward.}
Soon.
Those black cracks filled all of Seoul.
{My child. That road will be filled with nothing but pain.}
“.......”
{And even so, you still wish to go down that road?}
At those words,
I shrugged and answered lightly.
“Well, military life’s always kind of like that.”
Military life is—
nothing easy, and naturally full of pain.
{Yes....... If you choose to carry that pain yourself, then there is no reason for me to stop you.}
The giant woman’s blurred form drifted farther from this world as they spoke.
{For now, do as you wish, my child.}
With those words.
The woman’s figure vanished completely—
{And on the day you come to regret your choice with your own heart.}
and the black cracks that had been covering the sky filled the entire city.
{I will come for you again.}
The city of illusion,
painted over reality by an external existence—
CRRRAAACK.......
began to collapse.
