The World After the Fall

[This is impossible…!!]

With Mulack's shout of disbelief, Jaehwan saw his hand unleashing countless stabs that swept through the space.

What was it like to live for 100 million years? Jaehwan never even thought about that long of a time period. He couldn't even clearly think of the 1 million and 800 thousand years that he had to face. But a man who lived for 100 million years and stabbed for all that time? And that man was a part of his 'clothes'?

[HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!]

A storm of stabs exploded all parts of Panopticon. Jaehwan couldn't follow his own hand moving about to attack. It was not a matter of speed. An attack that relied on speed had no way to penetrate through the power of the 'Fall of time'. It was a proven fact from the near 2 million years that Jaehwan had lived. 'speed' was the cost of distance divided by time and thus it was under the control of time.

But this stab was not influenced by time at all.

Jaehwan couldn't understand how that could possibly work. Maybe it was outside physics that enabled it to perform like this. Maybe this stab that his right hand was unleashing was not physical but instead more like an ideology.

[HAHAHAHAHA! DIE! DIE! DIE!]

Mulack's expression became grim as he saw space he created being scrapped.

'It's painful.'

Jaehwan felt that it was also becoming hard to endure. It wasn't because of his right hand eating away at his spirit. He was actually suffering from mental pain.

'This one…'

One man's memory was entering his head.

-Let's do it. I can do this.

It was the memory of a man who had stabbed for 100 million years.

-Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab.

A man who looked just like Jaehwan was named 3751. But the name didn't have much meaning to it.

The 3751th Jaehwan. His interest was only in stabbing. After he took control of the spirit body, he stabbed the entire time. He loved stabbing so much that he stabbed for hundreds and millions of years and still loved doing it. It was certain that he loved stabs and was better at it than any of the other 'clothes' that Jaehwan had.

It was as if a 'stab' had been taken out from man Jaehwan. That was 3751.

3751 kept on stabbing. He stabbed straight and stabbed in weird ways. He stabbed slow, and he sometimes stabbed fast. He stabbed all over the place, while sometimes he stabbed one point.

He stabbed all kinds of stabs in the world. That was 3751's sword move.

Of course, 3751 sometimes took time to think. A human needed to do other things than stabbing sometimes.

Why? Why did he keep stabbing? Why did he repeat this senseless act? For what? For whom?

3751 looked into the darkness and sometimes looked at scribbles left by his former 'clothes' and asked questions.

-Who am 'I'?

It was the question asked by many 'clothes' throughout the 10 billion years and a question that was never answered. Some 'clothes' succeeded in answering the question and were able to survive.

-I am the act of living itself.

3751 one of those 'clothes'. But this question led to another question.

-Then why am I doing this 'act'?

The additional question was answered differently depending on the personality of the 'clothes'.

There was an answer that said 'for justice' like the hero of a legend while there was an answer like 'for honesty'. There was also an answer that said, 'I don't like having something up there,' or an answer that said, 'The original wants it.' There was also an answer that said, 'I just want to get out,' and there were other answers that were extremely philosophical.

But most clothes could not get to the answer and died. And at the end of all the answers, the one remaining answer was this:

'I don't know. It's just like that?'

That was the answer that 3751 reached. So, he 'just' stabbed repeatedly. He had no desire to be saved and no desire to die. He just stabbed and stabbed. That was the only way he could prove himself. He just kept on stabbing.

-Uh…ah… uhhh….

And with that process, he made it through the countless years.

-HAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

And he was always mad.

-I WILL KILL ALL! KILL YOU ALL!

He was always mesmerized by his own consciousness.

-HAHA… HAHAHAHA!! HA.. H….. hngh..

And every day, when the day was over, he cried. He cried and cried. It was after his stab had overcome the 'space' that he stopped crying. It was probably after 50 million years.

His stab shined and the darkness was ripped apart.

It wasn't complete, but it was enough to be called a scratch. 3751 was overjoyed. He shook his body and cried for the last time. The scratch was proof that his effort was not in vain. His way was not wrong. This small trace was going to prove his existence.

He finally knew who he was.

It was then that his stab changed. He still stabbed and stabbed, but something important has changed. As he stabbed through the days, his heart became filled with something warm.

He was happy that the 'stab' existed in this world, and he was happy that there was something he could stab. He was happy to stab.

It was a stab of thankfulness.

And 3751 then realized the infinite circle of truth. Within it, he felt the giant power of fate. He understood the universe through his stab. So the universe had started from the stab. The beginning when everything collided together was also the result of something 'stabbing' something else. He finally understood it all.

Then, 3751 saw a giant explosion.

The giant explosion held every truth of the universe. 3751 felt a giant universe exploding inside him, and he felt his world that living through the Fall. It was the Big Bang of the conscious.

'I see. So this memory was…'

Jaehwan realized the Big Bang that 3751 experienced was the moment of 'Transcension' that Mulack spoke of. It was also the moment that Jaehwan almost experienced. 3751 had also experienced this.

It was the ultimate stage of being able to control time and space.

It was the ultimate step beyond the [Proof] stage. That was 'Transcendence'. A question then filled Jaehwan's mind. He looked down at his right hand that was still stabbing madly and asked,

'Why did you not escape the 'Fall of time' then?'