Chapter 288

Despite the boisterous atmosphere in the cafe terrace of the Fence Hotel’s main branch in Beverly Hills, Seong-Hwi was in deep thought with a serious expression.

My wounds have all closed, and the rebound from the overclocking has ended. All that remains is to open stat cubes, he thought.

He placed his hand over the back of Bulgasal, snoring inside his hoodie pocket.

Come to think of it... I have to assess the exact extent of my psyche’s corruption.

He recalled what Bafor had said to him.

“Are you seriously unable to understand? Why have you... become like this?”

“This world isn’t a chessboard, and we aren’t chess pieces. Your plan is devoid of heart.”

“Huuu, must I calculate the costs and benefits so thoroughly for you to understand?”

As Bafor had mentioned, he had changed. It was only natural, considering he had borrowed ten destinies so far. And he would change even more since he planned to borrow even more destinies.

My nightmares are both a penalty and the only way for me to assess my psyche’s corruption. I should spend my nights away from Bulgasal for the time being, he thought, knowing it would sadden Bulgasal.

He then shifted his thoughts to his skill, Borrowing Destiny.

What can I do... to borrow an eight-card destiny?

He had tried many times to borrow an eight-card destiny, but failed every single time. He realized he needed a different method. The problem was that it was a realm of absolute unknown for him.

I was able to borrow up to seven-card destinies using only Destiny Force, mana, and my D Weapon. I need something more... but what?

Seong-Hwi started by organizing the destinies he had borrowed thus far. His three-card destinies were William and Iljimae. His four-card destinies were the Unabomber and Richard Ramirez.

His five-card destinies were Chok Chun-Gyong and Don Quixote. His six-card destinies were Alexander the Great and Orpheus. His seven-card destinies were Longinus and Siegfried. The more cards that the borrowed destiny required, the thicker the history that they had written was.

Then what is an eight-card destiny? The destiny of those who had written histories far denser than any of the destinies I have borrowed thus far. In other words, they need to be mythological beings.

Myths were records closest to the root of humanity. Two of his borrowed destinies were related to mythology.

Orpheus and Longinus. That’s the reason why their destinies are of a higher tier.

Realistically speaking, if excluding its versatility, the abilities of Orpheus, a six-card destiny, weren’t better than those of Chok Chun-Gyong, a five-star destiny. However, Orpheus’s history contained Tartarus, a mythological area that symbolized the deep, dark abyss.

The same could be said for Longinus, who had been nothing more than an ordinary Roman centurion. As a person, he couldn’t compare to Siegfried, a fellow seven-card destiny, who had amassed a heroic history. However, Longinus was related to mythology—he had confirmed the death of God. That alone required his destiny to be equivalent to that of Siegfried.

I’m sure that eight-card destinies and above will involve borrowing the destinies of deities.

Hence, he had used the full power of his mana, Destiny Force, and D Weapon to borrow a deity’s destiny, but he had failed, even in his overclocked state. Hence, only one method remained.

I need to add... the power of my star. Borrowing the destinies of those who have written myths requires a corresponding amount of causality.

The rules established on a D Weapon were based on equivalent exchange. The borrowing of an eight-card destiny had continued to fail because the weight on each side of the scale had not matched. Seong-Hwi did not hesitate once he came to a judgment.

I re-establish my rule. I add causality to the restriction of Borrowing Destiny.

[Rule conversion complete.]

...

[Tarot Deck of Destiny (Destiny Weapon)

Rank: S(10)

Description: A deck of 88 tarot cards. The symbols on each card can be embodied through mana and Destiny Force. The destinies of Earth’s figures can be borrowed to use their abilities in exchange for mana, Destiny Force, and causality.

Unique Skills: Symbol Embodiment, Borrowing Destiny]

His D Weapon’s rule changed. He wanted to attempt borrowing an eight-card destiny right now, but now that he had realized the extent of his psyche’s corruption, he couldn’t just borrow any destiny.

I should attempt it based on the situation. If it is possible, my combat prowess could skyrocket!

Seong-Hwi’s heart was pounding already from the thought of borrowing a deity’s destiny. He brought his hand toward his waist to quell his exhilaration, but he couldn’t find the familiar grip of his Titanic Tide Kris because it had broken during his battle against Haema Sanguis.

I should get a new dagger soon. It’s been a while since I’ve gone to see Muka.

It wouldn’t be long since the Capital and Ferrum would become one city once Pangaea was activated. Because of that, everyone besides the Vindicta Resistance had returned to their territories and were waiting for Pangaea’s activation.

It’s a relief that Together is being made, but I’m worried about Grandis’s request. What is he going to demand I do?

Seong-Hwi frowned as his thought process accelerated. Just then, something halted his thoughts.

“Hey! Can you hear me? Wipe that frown off your face! We’re celebrating! Ouch! Your head is so hard!”

He looked up once he felt a tickle on his forehead and saw Jurie glaring at him as she rubbed her finger.

***

“Congratulations on your rebirth, Gramps! Wooooo!” Jurie shouted as she jumped and clapped.

Gerard D’Armont blew out the candles on the giant strawberry cake. “Ahem. Thank you very much, my lady.”

Unlike before, he was standing tall under the bright sun over the cafe terrace.

“Whistle!”

“Congratulations, Gerard D’Armont!”

“Friend Gramps! Friend Gramps! Can I eat the cake now?”

“Whoa! First Knight, there’s a talking rabbit!”

“Haha, there’s a talking cat, too, Echo.”

“Grrr, are you talking about me, damn baldy? I’m a tiger!”

The cafe terrace was boisterous. Jurie, Gerard, the duo of Thumper and Leo, who had returned from Carrot, Lina, who had been dragged out of her laboratory, and Kim Seo-Yeon and Charles Dullin, who had returned from Fox Village, were all acquainted.

New additions were Echo and Gilder of the Vindicta Resistance, and Hector Jameson, Park Tae-Jin, Tingrinus, and Wang Chen, the team Seong-Hwi had been with at Lunatic.

“Alright, attention, please! Thank you all for coming to Gramps’s celebration party! Bless you all!” Jurie shouted with a bright smile to everyone gathered.

Her cheerful energy was excellent for grabbing people’s attention.

“Now, let us move on to the cake-cutting ceremony. Gramps!” Jurie said as she handed Gerard a break knife.

Gerard grabbed the knife and glanced at Wang Chen, who was sipping on wine at a corner of the room. “Wang Chen. Lady Jurie made this cake herself. I will allow you to cut it with me. You’ve become a Daywalker, too, after all.”

Although Jurie had prepared this party for Gerard’s rebirth into a Daywalker, Gerard had made the difficult decision to propose that they share the celebration. However, Wang Chen glanced at the cake and turned away with a curt expression.

“Forget it. You can cut to your heart’s content. A cake-cutting ceremony? How ridiculous,” he remarked.

“Bastard! How dare you mock the cake that Lady Jurie has prepared? This is the problem with a half-baked Daywalker who doesn’t know the struggles of Porphyria! I shall use this knife to tune your rotten attitude—”

“Gramps? What are you going to do with that knife?” Jurie asked, looking up at Gerard as if scolding him, once the veins in Gerard’s arm holding the bread knife started to wriggle.

“Ahem. Cut the cake, of course,” Gerard said as he averted his gaze from Jurie and cut the cake.

“I’m gonna eat now, Friend Gramps!” the drooling Thumper shouted as he jumped up to the table and nibbled on the largest slice of cake with his buck teeth. “Nom, nom! Wooooow! Delicious! This is as yummy as vanilla ice cream, Friend Jurie!”

“Echo’s curious, too!” Echo shouted as she flew toward the cake, intrigued by Thumper’s reaction. She scooped some whipped cream with her hand and ate it. “Mmm?!”

Her golden eyes widened, then she flew toward the cake Thumper was eating.

“I’ve never tasted something so good!” she shouted.

“This is mine, fairy friend!”

“It’s so sweet!”

“Ahhhhh! Slow down, fairy friend!!!”

Echo and Thumper ate their slice of cake as if it were a competition. Tigrinus, who had been lurking around the cake as he licked his lips, successfully managed to take a small swipe of the whipped cream with the end of his tail.

“Grrr! My tail’s dirty now! I have to clean it! Slurp, slurp!”

“Tig... What are you doing?” Tae-Jin asked.

“Growl! I’m grooming myself, Tae-Jin. We tiger beastfolk hate being dirty.”

Tae-Jin, dumbfounded by Tigrinus’s shameless response, asked Leo, “What do you think about that, Leo?”

“Oh? Do you like cake, Tigrinus? A skilled patissier who works at the Fence Hotel made that cake. If you’d like some, I could ask—”

“Stop, Leo! What are you talking about? I made this cake myself, didn’t I?” Jurie interrupted Leo, giving him a death glare.

Gerard chuckled and said, “You don’t have a knack for these kinds of things, my lady. How did you drink coffee while I was away?”

“Don’t even get me started, Gerard. It was practically poison,” Lina remarked.

“Lina unnie!”

Seong-Hwi stared in silence at the boisterous atmosphere, the radiant sunlight, and the happy people in the cafe terrace. He felt like an outsider looking into someone’s house through the window. The scenery before him grew further and further as if he were being sucked into an endless cave. Senses of disconnection and isolation wrapped his entire body.

It was like this, even on Earth, he thought.

He had been forced to feel these sensations every sports day, talent show, or any school festival. The energy of the festivals took away the silence, his only friend. Once Seong-Hwi was left truly alone after even silence was taken away, he simply stared at the happy-looking people, sometimes desperately wishing they would become as unfortunate as he was.

Then do I wish misfortune on the people before me right now? he asked himself.

He couldn’t help but scoff because it couldn’t be further from the truth. Just then, Lina sat beside Seong-Hwi, realizing they were in the same faraway world.

“Huuu, Jurie dragged me out here despite knowing I’m busy. I wouldn’t have come if I didn’t need the Vitamin D,” she remarked as she sighed.

“Busy with what?” Seong-Hwi asked.

“Reinforcing Onie Yuki’s mannequins and revising Living as a Human in the Mirror World. Oh, and I can’t forget my research on the Architect Theory and the Primordial Copy hypothesis. Ahhh, why must there be only twenty-four hours in a day?”

Seong-Hwi noticed the thick dark circles under the sighing Lina’s eyes and asked, “Are you even sleeping?”

“Sleeping? What’s that? Is it edible?”

“You’ve evolved from a raccoon to a panda.”

“You’re saying the same thing as that kid. Your mental ages might be the same,” Lina said as she pointed at Charles.

The boy with silver hair and blue eyes was struggling to be freed from Seo-Yeon’s grasp.

“Stay still, Charles. How did you get so much stuff smeared around your mouth? It’s slovenly,” Seo-Yeon said.

“L-let me go! I am the great Kiss Dragon—”

“Ahem!”

“N-noona... I’ll wipe it myself...”

“They haven’t changed,” Seong-Hwi mumbled as he stared at the brother-sister duo.

Just then, Jurie sat beside Seong-Hwi’s other side and complained, “Che! Why can’t you all just believe I made the cake?”

“A lie can only be so believable, Jurie. That cake was just too good,” Lina said.

“Unnie! I could make a cake way better than that if I tried! Right, Seong-Hwi?” Jurie asked as she stared at Seong-Hwi, who simply shrugged. Jurie narrowed her blue eyes and said, “I suppose you don’t want to hear the special information I have for you.”

“I’ve always wanted to have a cake that you’ve made, Jurie. After all, I am certain that it would taste heavenly. Eating a cake like that might take even a bastard like me to heaven,” Seong-Hwi said robotically.

Jurie giggled with her mouth covered. “I’ll tell you later. We’re celebrating right now, aren’t we? I don’t want to tarnish this good mood.”

“Good mood, huh?” Seong-Hwi mumbled as he looked around the cafe terrace—the blinding scenery of the world that he was in.

“Whine! It’s all gone already!”

“Fairy friend! Fairy friend! Don’t worry! I have something yummier!”

“Really?”

“Yup! It’s called... Ta-dah! Ice cream!”

“Ta-dah ice cream?!”

Once Thumper, ears twitching, pulled out vanilla ice cream from his yellow backpack, Echo flew toward it as if she were in a trance. Seong-Hwi turned in a different direction and saw Leo, Tae-Jin, Hector, Tigrinus, Gilder, and Wang Chen chatting.

“I am Le-Yeyo, a Maasai warrior. It is an honor to meet Tae-Jin’s comrades.”

“Haha, I met Leo at Forestis with Tig.”

“Ohhh, you were the ones who saved the fairies from Clan Dragon Teeth’s east commander, Agave, right? Thanks for that!” Gilder shouted as he extended his golden right hand to shake the hands of Leo, Tae-Jin, and Tigrinus in order.

“I mean, Seong-Hwi did all the work,” Leo remarked.

“Haha, Tig and I met up with them after that,” Tae-Jin said.

“Grrr, those playful fairies must be doing well,” Tigrinus said.

Tae-Jin turned to Hector and Wang Chen after shaking hands with Gilder. “That aside, Hector, Wang Chen. Come on! Join our party!”

“I’ll... think about it,” Hector said.

“I refuse. I want to raise my rank until I engrave the name of Clan Twelve Brothers into the heads of every resident of our soon-to-be city, Together,” Wang Chen said.

Seong-Hwi turned his head again and saw Seo-Yeon, Charles, and Gerard chatting.

“Congratulations, Mr. D’Armont.”

“Thank you very much, Seo-Yeon.”

“Congratulations, white-handed gibbon!”

“It appears... You need some manners beaten into you, boy.”

Seong-Hwi stared at everyone in the cafe terrace and repeatedly opened and closed his fists.

The sense of disconnection... is gone, he thought.

A sense of homesickness replaced it. The name of the place that had taught him the meaning of family surged from deep inside his heart.

“Calasanz,” he unconsciously mumbled.

“Huh? What did you say, Seong-Hwi?” Jurie asked.

“Oh... nothing.” Seong-Hwi evaded Jurie’s question and felt the power of his Destiny Force circulating throughout his entire body.

A sense of satisfaction filled his heart. It felt as if his deficiencies had been supplemented without even using Gluttony. He recalled what Bafor had said to him.

“There is no need to rush. You can take a rest. No, you have to. When was the last time you let everything go and just rested?”

Rest... huh? he thought.

He did not know what resting meant, but if there were such a thing, it would be something like this celebratory party. His boiling rage and anxious thoughts gradually subsided, and a mysterious power that let him enjoy this moment engulfed him like a smooth wave.

I can rest... for just a little bit.

His muscles softened once the tension was released. He slowly closed his eyes, and his skin absorbed the warmth of the sunlight.

“So, unnie, I—”

“Jurie, shhh!” Lina cut Jurie’s sentence short as she stared at Seong-Hwi.

Jurie also stared at Seong-Hwi.

“I didn’t know he could make this kind of face,” Lina remarked.

Seong-Hwi was resting on the chair with his eyes closed, smiling in genuine happiness.

“My!” Jurie expressed. She carefully got up from the chair and whispered to the people in the cafe terrace, “Umm, could you lower your voices a little, please?”

All the voices grew quieter, as if they were being sent to a different dimension. Seong-Hwi arrived at a place filled with warm sunlight. He wanted to be here forever; he did not want to wake up. Just then, a woman wearing a white gown appeared with the sunlight.

“My baby!”

The woman whose face Seong-Hwi couldn’t see hugged him. He felt the warmth of her embrace and the scent of primrose. The moment he had been waiting for all this time had arrived.

Ahhh, if only this moment lasted forever... Seong-Hwi thought as his consciousness sank from the surface.

He could hear only bits of what the woman in the white gown said.

“This time... for sure... you will... succeed...”

Everything faded to black.

***

For the first time since his return, Seong-Hwi was able to take a nap in the embrace of the warm sunlight.

***

A book printed in all capital letters is harder to read.

Jean Paul[1]

1. This quote probably isn’t written by Jean Paul since I couldn’t find it anywhere. ☜