Butterfly (1)

The boat cut slowly through the starlit waves.

“No more monsters showing up. Guess the aggro’s all cleared?”

“Baek-ho, what is aggro?”

“Ugh, how many times do I have to explain before you remember?”

“……”

The calm on the boat made it hard to believe we’d been fighting for our lives just moments ago.

“I’m glad you’re safe, Baron.”

“Yeah. You too.”

After recharging his MP, the GM came over to ask how I was doing and tried to start a conversation, but Rek Aures interrupted with a loud laugh.

“Hahaha! I knew you’d get back on your feet! There’s no way an Immortal Giant would die in a place like this!”

“Immortal Giant…?”

“Ah! That’s the new title I just made up for you! Isn’t it great? Really suits you, doesn’t it?”

“He’s just talking nonsense again. Why are you taking him seriously? Just ignore him.”

The GM gave an awkward nod at Baek-ho’s words, and Aures hung his head, looking a little hurt.

Of course, it didn’t last long.

“Heavens! Why did I join this team?! There’s nowhere else that treats warriors like they do here!”

Aures threw another fit, as if bowing his head had merely been a build-up to it. Soon the deck was noisy again.

The archer at the front of the boat, keeping a close eye on the surroundings, suddenly changed the subject.

“Anyway, looks like there are two this time.”

I didn’t need to ask what he meant by “two people. Priestess Jayna and Ruin Scholar. The two had fallen asleep due to the field effect.

“Baekho, are we continuing the search as planned?”

“Well… no idea. Ask the baron over there—our new, super cool leader.”

“Leader… what does that mean?”

“Forget it, just ask the Baron.”

“Come to think of it, Baekho spouts nonsense more often than Aures does.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“…Nothing.”

The archer, who had been complaining about Lee Baek-ho’s nonsense, quickly changed the subject and came over to me.

“So what will you do, Baron? Are we continuing the search of Dreaming Waterfalls as planned?”

Hmm…

It was something I’d been thinking about.

Alright, I’ve decided.

“We’ll postpone Dreaming Waterfalls for now and search Dragonbone Mountain first.”

“Dragonbone Mountain, huh…”

The archer thought for a moment, then nodded.

“Not a bad choice. The ship has already come near the Dragonbone Mountain area anyway.”

“Besides, with the Draizen showing up near the falls, a proper search would be difficult. It makes more sense to explore Dragonbone Mountain first and then return once things have calmed down.”

I gave Baekho a look that said if you’ve got any objections, speak now,’ but he only shrugged, as if to tell me that I could do what I wanted.

‘Acting cool for nothing’

If he’d wanted to do something else, he wouldn’t have hesitated to oppose my decision.

Anyway, once the destination was set, things went smoothly.

We steered towards Dragonbone Mountain, and since we were moving slowly, no monsters appeared nearby.

But…

“…Huh?”

There were some close calls in the middle of the trip.

“Except for you, everyone has fallen asleep.” Ruin Scholar noted

Aside from the two of us, the rest of the party was asleep because of the field effect.

What is the probability of this?

I couldn’t help but feel uneasy. It was unusual for more than half of the party to fall asleep at once in the Dreaming Waterfalls.

Was this… an omen of misfortune?

Staying alert, I carefully guided the boat forward.

“……”

Ah, this is so awkward.

“……”

The silence was so suffocating I almost wished a monster would pop out just to break it.

Eventually, I spoke first.

“Hey.”

When I called his name, the Ruin Scholar turned around. I wondered if he should at least say something instead of just staring, but knowing him, if he were that considerate, we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.

I decided to just ask what I’d been curious about anyway.

“What exactly is fate?”

“That’s quite a broad question.”

“You once said Erwin had the most fate after me. What did you mean by that?”

“Now she’s lost most of her light from being near you.”

When I asked again, the old man looked down at the starlit waves below the railing.

‘There are many kinds of power in this world: magic, divine power and mana. But beyond those, emotions such as anger and love can also serve as sources of power and thus be called ‘resources’.”

“…So?”

“Fate is hard to define precisely, but I believe it’s one of those powers. A force that wears down the more you use it.”

“It wears down?”

He nodded.

‘Fate isn’t infinite. Most people only have three or four chances in their lifetime, and these can decrease depending on their choices.”

I listened quietly, but it sounded like one of those pseudo-religious seminars.

“Hold on, I think you’re going off topic here.”

“You’re the one who asked what fate was.”

“I just wanted to know what you meant when you said that to Erwin.”

When I brought the conversation back to the main point, Ruin Scholar finally answered the question that had been bothering me.

“Erwin Fornacci di Tercia, was it…”

“Yeah, what did you mean by what you s
aid to her?”

“Exactly what I said. She possessed the second-greatest amount of fate after you. That’s why I tried to eliminate her.”

“But you failed.”

“Yes. And the fairy I failed to kill that day has since become the powerful being now known as the Blood Spirit Queen.”

“And all that is the power of fate?”

“Correct. Ordinary people aren’t granted that much fate. Whether to become a chef or a scholar. The fate of ordinary people is just about that much. They can never become a king or a person who leaves their name in history.”

With that, Ruin Gramps took his eyes off below the railing and looked at me.

“Unlike you.”

“……?”

“With the scale of fate you possess, you can do anything, become anything. Even becoming the king of this city is not an impossible task for you.”

“……”

“Of course, this is assuming you can coexist with that fate that pulls you so intensely.”

“That fate?”

When I tilted my head and asked, Ruin Grandpa let out a hearty laugh.

“Heheh, don’t you know? That you are fated to open the Abyss Gate someday. No matter how grand your fate is, you cannot change the ‘Record’. Well, you’d know better since you experienced it yourself.”

Experienced it myself…

It seemed Ruin Gramps also knew about my trip to the era 20 years ago.

‘Well, he’s been almost inseparable from Lee Baek-ho for the past few years.’

Everyone, including Baekho, was still fast asleep—no sign of waking soon.

Which meant…

“Velvev Ruinzenes.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve heard my full name.”

“What are you and Baekho scheming?”

Honestly, I didn’t expect a real answer.

But—

“There’s no real scheme, per se.”

“Oh, come on. You think I don’t know you’re trying to use me for something?”

“Hmm… I can’t speak for Baekho’s intentions, but I have no plans to use you. I travel with him because our goals happen to align.”

“And what goal would that be?”

He could’ve easily stayed silent, yet his honest answer earned a sliver of my trust. He really didn’t seem to care much about me personally.

“To return to our original world without opening the Gate of the Abyss. Baekho calls it Plan B.”

“Ah…”

Lee Baek-ho had mentioned Plan B before.

But hearing this, it really seemed like Ruin Gramps had no interest in me and was only focused on Plan B.

“Returning without the Abyss Gate… is that really possible?”

He answered instantly.

“In theory, it’s possible.”

“In theory?”

“I haven’t tried it yet. There’s still much preparation to be done. That’s why I’m working with Baekho.”

“…I see.”

“Anyway, believe it or not, I truly have no hidden motive involving you—unless my own method fails, of course.”

“But since you’re with Baekho, don’t you know something about what he’s planning?”

“Who knows. I’m sure he has ideas, but I never asked. It’s not my business. Even if he asked for help, I’d refuse unless it benefits my goal.”

“Unless it benefits you, huh?”

“Exactly.”

It felt like that same push-and-pull you get in relationships. When he looked away, staring into the water and losing himself in thought, my curiosity about what he was thinking only grew.

Come to think of it, he is an evil spirit too.

More accurately, he was an evil spirit from the previous generation. They were from another world, not Earth, and had been brought here by some method outside the game. Because we were from different generations, I hadn’t had much personal interaction with them.

“Ruingenes, what was the world you lived in like?”

“The world I lived in……”

Ruin Gramps stared off into the distance, thinking over the question, before giving me an answer I hadn’t seen coming.

“I don’t remember. I was summoned to this world when I was very young.”

“…What?”

“I found a book in a dark cave and read it every day. The only things I properly remember now are those scenes.”

Was that why he’d looked like a child when I saw him in the community twenty years ago?

I couldn’t be sure, but he continued.

“One day, I woke up in the body of an adult. Using the knowledge from that book, I began to survive—and eventually reached this point.”

I’d never heard of that kind of possession before.

Usually, regardless of one’s original age, the body they entered was around twenty. But his case was the complete opposite.

Although I found his story fascinating, it raised another question.

“Then why are you so obsessed with going back?”

If his memories of the previous world were so faint, his longing for it should be equally faint.

So why this obsession with returning?

At my curious question, he smirked.

“Let me ask you instead—why are you so unwilling to go back?”

Well…

“…Because I like this world better?”

I might have skipped over many reasons, but that was the truth.

The world I once thought savage no longer seemed so.

No, instead, when I thought about the dream world based on the modern world, the same thought hit me again and again.

How could a world like that possibly exist?

“I’m the opposite.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t like this world. That’s why I want to go back.”

I couldn’t feel a trace of emotion in his eyes or his voice. What had happened to him?

“Ugh……”

“It seems they’re starting to wake up”

Tch. Just when I thought I could get a little more out of him!

“I’ll look after Bright. You keep an eye on Baek-ho.”

Talk about timing.

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