Epilogue: The Ending I Wanted
To save Yeon Haneul.
Do Gyeonu, Yeon Bada, and Nam Yuri had suddenly crossed over to the outside of the world.
Because of that, Kang Hanbyeol and his companions could not help but worry about them.
‘They’ll be all right. They’ll be safe. I’m sure….’
There would be no problem.
They would return soon, unharmed.
Believing that, soothing their anxiety.
Lisa and the rest of Kang Hanbyeol’s group waited for the four of them while focusing on what they had to do.
They subdued the villains who still refused to give up resisting, even though the tide had already turned.
They also struck down the monsters being born from the rifts, as well as the strange beings crossing over from outside the world.
Then, all of a sudden.
“Kyaaaah! N-no…!”
“Ah… So that’s how it is.”
An anomaly appeared in the Witch of the Snowfield and the Crocodile Strongman.
Their bodies had begun to turn into particles of mana, their very existence crumbling away.
What it meant was obvious.
“N-no…. That can’t be…. I don’t want to die like this, like this! No….”
“We… lost….”
Fallen Heaven had breathed his last.
He had been completely annihilated.
Otherwise, there was no reason the two of the Six Demons, who had offered their souls to Fallen Heaven in exchange for power, would meet their end like this.
Clang!
“Damn it….”
The all-out war was over.
It was the hunters’ victory. Humanity’s victory.
The Villain Alliance, which had been fighting desperately until just moments ago, realized the situation and lost their will to fight.
One by one, they threw away their weapons or hurriedly turned their backs and fled.
The hunters did not leave them be and immediately moved to subdue them.
“….”
Meanwhile, Kang Hanbyeol and his companions, who did not join the flow, kept their eyes fixed on the outside of the world.
If Fallen Heaven was dead, that meant….
Sure enough, a little while later.
“Ah!”
From outside the world.
At last, the ones they had been waiting for returned.
Kang Hanbyeol and his companions could not help but rejoice at their return.
And so they ran to welcome them.
“Gyeonu! Haneul!”
“Yuru Yuri! Everyone made it back saf… Huh? Where’s Bada? Where is she? Why can’t I see her?”
“Ah, about that…. Bada….”
Just as they were about to pour out everything they had wanted to say, Kang Hanbyeol and his companions belatedly realized Yeon Bada was absent and fell into confusion.
With a bitter smile, Yeon Haneul briefly explained the reason.
Only then did their friends understand, though they could not help but feel sorrow.
However.
Crack!
“….”
This was no time to be disheartened.
Though they had won the all-out war, the world was still ending.
The rifts continued to widen, and the world broke apart like shattered fragments.
Do Gyeonu’s group, as well as everyone else, looked up at the crumbling world with hardened faces.
It was at that very moment.
────!!!
Before Lisa’s eyes.
A beam of light, flashing platinum, suddenly fell.
Those who caught that light in their eyes could not help but be struck speechless.
“….”
Lisa was no different.
As if entranced, she stared at the pillar of light.
Soon, as though drawn by something, she reached her hand into that radiant glow.
“Ah….”
The moment she grasped it, she knew.
This was….
Her surprise lasted only a moment.
“….”
With a relatively calm heart, Lisa drew out what she held in her hand.
A six-ringed staff (六環杖), adorned with gemstones of every color, revealed itself.
The World Tree’s divine artifact from the Grace Empire, the “Divine Staff – Endless Platina.”
‘I can do it.’
As the people who recognized the six-ringed staff widened their eyes.
Lisa aimed the Divine Staff toward the world breaking apart.
At that moment, the Divine Staff emitted light, and her Gift responded.
〈Gift: Platinum Grace〉
The power to handle time and space—in other words, dimensions—swelled in strength all at once.
A light so dazzling it was blinding, so sacred it was holy, spread throughout the world.
And thus, the world was restored.
* * *
With this, the all-out war episode had been completely cleared.
Our role was over.
So we could rest easy and leave the aftermath to others, but….
There was still something I had to do.
‘I have to go see the World Tree.’
Why had the “Divine Sword – Endless Hearts” been sleeping inside my body?
And….
How had I reincarnated?
In order to find those answers.
“You guys go back first. I’m going to go somewhere for a bit.”
I headed straight for the World Tree without hesitation.
Somehow, I felt the answers I was looking for would be there.
As if affirming that intuition of mine.
“Welcome, Student Do Gyeonu.”
“….”
Odelia, the guardian of the World Tree in Academy City, was waiting for me.
She greeted me with a courteous manner.
“I’ll guide you to the shrine. Please follow me.”
“…Yes.”
Without any detailed explanation.
Odelia abruptly led the way.
I did not bother to press her and quietly followed.
Before long, we arrived at the shrine.
“Please go in. I’ll be outside.”
Odelia opened the shrine door.
Leaving her smiling behind me, I stepped inside.
“….”
As the shrine door closed.
I looked around.
Soon, my gaze came to rest on the trunk of the World Tree.
From a hollow carved into the trunk, where something seemed to have once been stored, a mysterious energy flowed out.
‘…So that’s how it is.’
I instinctively knew what I had to do.
I took the Divine Sword out from within my body and returned it to where it originally belonged.
Immediately afterward, the Divine Sword responded.
Platinum light burst from the Divine Sword, dyeing my vision for an instant.
Then, when the force of the light weakened and I opened the eyes I had closed.
“Now I can finally speak.”
“….”
“You did well to make it this far.”
Before my eyes stood Kang Hanbyeol, made of platinum particles of light, whom I had once seen before.
No, it was not Kang Hanbyeol.
What left my mouth now was not a guess, but a certainty.
“World Tree.”
“Yes, that is correct.”
The World Tree affirmed it.
* * *
Where should I begin?
Starting off like that, the World Tree soon began its story.
“Everything exists within the cycle. Just as life dies, returns to nature, and is born again as a new existence, all things in the world are bound by the law of turning and returning.”
That was truth itself.
The world was no exception.
When it prospered, it declined; when it flourished, it withered, endlessly cycling.
However.
“There are beings who threaten that cycle. They forcibly devour worlds and try to manipulate them as they please. You too have already experienced it—the world being toyed with like a plaything by them.”
“You mean the Gates.”
“Yes. Those who invade worlds like that and try to create Gates are….”
“The Red Eyes, right?”
“That is so.”
The World Tree, in the form of Kang Hanbyeol, nodded.
He continued.
“I cannot say its name. No, even I do not know it precisely. It is a being of such an unfathomably high order that the likes of you and I could never withstand it. Even so, if I were to name it in softened terms to help your understanding….”
“….”
“It is an indescribable malice that defies the truth spanning the vast, immeasurable universe. Therefore, by its very existence, it is infinity and, at the same time, the end. And to our world, ironically, it is fate, apocalypse, and the executor of the world.”
That was why “we” crossed over from another world to this one, fleeing from it.
At the cost of a considerable amount of power, as well as the sacrifice of Veronica Grace and those who followed her, in order to cross dimensions.
No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say we ran away.
The World Tree spoke self-mockingly.
“However, the world we fled to was not safe either. This place, too, had become its target. Thus, this world and ‘we’ fused into what we are now, in an attempt to oppose it. The being born from that process was an apostle who could draw out the power of divine artifacts, could wield any weapon, possessed the Gift called Resonance Hands, and acted as the agent of our will.”
“You mean Hanbyeol.”
“That is correct. He is the apostle of this era. And….”
“….”
“The apostle from a little over fifty years ago was a human named So Hyeseong.”
So Hyeseong.
When I heard that name from the World Tree, I could not help but flinch.
Because So Hyeyul’s deceased younger brother had been named So Hyeseong.
And he was….
Also Kang Hanbyeol’s past life.
In other words, the World Tree had intervened in the relationship between So Hyeseong and Kang Hanbyeol.
As if saying my guess was correct, the World Tree nodded once more.
“The enemy that seeks to destroy this world finds us, the World Tree, to be the greatest obstacle. That is why it is constantly watching for a chance to eliminate us and those who carry our power—especially the apostle. That is why you have faced countless triggers of destruction until now. Because the World Tree was in Academy City, and because that child, Kang Hanbyeol, was by your side.”
That was also why So Hyeseong died.
Avoiding our interference, it killed that child before he could even realize the destiny of having been born as an apostle.
Because of that.
“Having suddenly lost our apostle, we had no choice but to become vulnerable to its invasion until we could gather enough strength to designate the next apostle. And during that time, it secretly approached Fallen Heaven without our knowledge. No, perhaps I should say Fallen Heaven approached it.”
“So what Fallen Heaven has done all this time was influenced by it as well. I’d vaguely suspected as much, but….”
“That is correct. In that sense… while we were unable to help properly, the generation above you held out well. Thanks to them, we were able to select the next apostle.”
“And that apostle is So Hyeseong… no, the reincarnation of the chairwoman’s younger brother, Kang Hanbyeol?”
“That is right.”
“Is an apostle still an apostle even after reincarnating? Then was the chairwoman’s younger brother’s past life also….”
“No. However… we had originally placed great expectations on So Hyeseong. The potential that child possessed was that extraordinary. That is why we did not return him to nature, but reincarnated him….”
This time, too, it did not remain still.
As expected, it interfered.
The World Tree let out a sigh.
“Taking advantage of the moment my power had weakened, it harmed Kang Hanbyeol. Because of that, that child lost his family at a young age and had no choice but to lose one of his arms.”
“….”
“Fortunately, that child met the Fighting Demon and was able to overcome despair….”
Even so.
His lost arm did not return.
The Gift bestowed upon that child could no longer be fully brought out.
We had no choice but to worry about the future.
That was why.
“We agonized over it. Whether that child could truly do well, what kind of future that child would create, and above all, how we could move toward the best possible future.”
“….”
“We calculated countless futures in order to learn that. And the future we derived from doing so was….”
The world after the first-round regression ending.
The world where Kang Hanbyeol, after conquering the Temple of Time, was sent back in time by So Hyeyul and lived through a second round….
Only then.
“That child was able to obtain an opportunity in the Temple of Time that increased the efficiency of his growth and oppose Fallen Heaven. We were able to look ahead to the future beyond that. However….”
“….”
“The crisis of destruction caused by it still lurked in the future that unfolded afterward.”
The World Tree smiled bitterly.
Then he asked me.
“Do you remember the game’s true ending?”
“Yeah, of course.”
According to the game’s progression.
After clearing the all-out war episode, Kang Hanbyeol and his companions finish their graduation ceremony and each go out into the world.
Without forgetting their friendship and memories of one another, cherishing the feelings they held for each other.
And.
‘I don’t know the exact timing, but… someday, the world ends. In a future that might be near, or might be far….’
The reason is unknown.
All that can be known is….
No matter what the future is like, Kang Hanbyeol and his companions at least die happily, without regrets.
That was why it was classified as a happy ending.
More precisely, because all the stories had been cleared and it had reached a happy ending, it was called the true happy ending.
It was an ending that left me feeling truly refreshed, yet uneasy.
“Regrettably, that ending was indeed the best possible future. Even so….”
“….”
“We wanted to search for a better future. But with Kang Hanbyeol alone, even with Lisa Grace added to him, nothing changed. That is why….”
By this point.
There was no way I had not realized it.
I cut off what would come next.
“You decided to bring me in.”
“That is correct.”
The World Tree firmly affirmed it.
“Why me?”
I Became the Childhood Friend of the Mid-Boss