The World After the Fall

Jaehwan remembered the last battle that happened a year ago.

As the power waned and the unique world [Sea of Blood, Mountain of Corpses] perished, Myad fell to the ground. The Machina creaked as almost every part except the cockpit was destroyed, facing the sky.

-A General called Sameng Garam spoke of you before. To look for you when I got to reached the [Depth].

Jaehwan had been thinking while he was fighting Myad. If only he had come to [Depth] earlier. If only they met a few hundred years earlier, things could have turned out differently. Myad would have never needed to betray his own dream, and felt despair at his hopelessness. But it was all too late now.

-Sameng Garam… yes, I remember that name.

Myad seemed to recognize the name. It was before he gave up on defeating [Big Brother] when he met a General with such a name. A General and an Adapter who was suspicious of the System... to think of how many people there were in the world with all those differences.

Myad felt his power waning as he stared into the quiet night sky. There was the sky of Jaehwan's dark world. He reached out for the sky; it was the sky that he had always wanted to reach, but he never could. In that place he sought, there was now a giant eye. The giant eye that Jaehwan always looked up at. Myad laughed.

-127 times.

-What?

-127 times… I've tried that many times against that sky.

Jaehwan felt the depths of despair deep within that number. This man did not give up easily. He tried so hard to reach the sky, and then tried again. He did everything he could in his power as a human being, but it did not work.

There was just no being that could defeat the System.

Myad looked at Jaehwan. It was a complicated look — it contained sympathy, pity, envy, and longing. It also contained all those long years he spent in his eyes.

-Once in a thousand days, there is a moment when the 'star' blanks. I guess in your case, it will close its lids since it's an 'eye'. It's a short moment, but it might be enough time for you to climb up to the sky.

Jaehwan realized what Myad was talking about. The story went on for a while and Jaehwan focused as best as he could to get every word Myad was trying to say.

-I can only say one thing. Be careful of 'time'. The biggest enemy a being can have is 'time'.

He was a man who had challenged [Big Brother] alone for thousands of years. Jaehwan wasn't sure what Myad thought in his last moments as he closed his eyes with those last words.

A cold winter wind blew. The winter started within [Depth] a year ago. According to the Gods who had a fortune telling-type [Setting], this winter was a temporary weather shift that happened because of the clash between powerful world powers.

"And that 'temporary' weather shift is going on after a year. I think those fortune telling Gods aren't very popular these days," Yoonhwan commented as he looked out at the thick snow falling into the region of [Musfelheim], the 3rd site. The snow, however, melted right away as it touched the ground because of the hea.

"Seoyul has still not recovered. But if you can use your skill from the [Eye of Geshtalt]…"

"I can't make everyone my Follower."

Yoonhwan smiled at the cold answer and asked, "Why? Because your world isn't happy?"

"No, a person has to stand on their own."

"Haha. Not everyone is like you."

Jaehwan did not respond. Instead, he just looked up at the sky. It was enough of an answer. Yoonhwan felt a pang of sadness in his heart. He looked around and saw Runald and Sirwen standing a distance away. They too had the same look as Yoonhwan. They looked at each other, and Yoonhwan realized it was up to him to say 'those words'.

"You saw, felt, and learned enough all this time that you can't do it alone. And still… are you trying to do it alone?"

Jaehwan did not answer. Yoonhwan thought that maybe it was because of him that made Jaehwan turn out this way. Jaehwan wasn't like this when they were in the Tower of Nightmares. He was brighter and eager to discuss his opinions with people. But as those people disappeared, Jaehwan talked less and less. He lost a lot of things such a long time ago.

Yoonhwan did not know what kind of life Jaehwan lived after he fell from the 98th floor. He did not know how much he had lost since then and how much despair he felt. He did not even know a glimpse of Jaehwan's pain. However, there was one thing Yoonhwan knew.

'After all that changed, you are still the Jaehwan I know.'

His personality had changed and he became very quiet, but something did not change. It was the core character of Jaehwan as a person.

"You are leaving today?"

Jaehwan nodded without turning to him. The giant eye in the sky was almost closing its eyelids. It even seemed like it was going to fall asleep. Yoonhwan smiled bitterly.

"I am still looking at your back again."

"…"

"I know. I know it's not a place I can go to, even if I want to. I can only hope for the best for you from here."

"That is more than enough."

"I know that too. But not everyone will think like me."

"What do you mean?"

"People are afraid. Afraid of what you are trying to do."

"They don't understand what I'm trying to do."

"Yes, they don't, that's why they are afraid. It's what you don't understand that makes you terrified."

Jaehwan realized what Yoonhwan was trying to say.

"But they all still think dearly of you. They just have a different way of treating someone they value. So, don't blame them, Jaehwan."

And as Yoonhwan finished talking, people began to appear over the horizon. It was the members of the Council. With Yoo Surha as the leader, Chunghuh, Karlton, and the other members began to appear. It seemed that the guards of the Council also came. There was enough world power gathered to fill the plains. Yoonhwan spoke as he felt their hostility.

"It doesn't seem like they're here to say goodbye."

"…I see."

The members of the Council surrounded Jaehwan as they closed in. Surha was the first to speak.

"Jaehwan. You can't go."