Chapter 55
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Ruler II
Shin Noah
3
I mentioned it once in a previous episode. All guild masters across the nation readily accepted the AI Judge, with only Dang Seo-rin as the exception.
"Ah, really—."
Now I wish to speak of the reason why.
Because in a certain sense, regarding this matter alone, I too was not free from responsibility.
Therefore, this could be called a record of two accomplices—Dang Seo-rin and myself.
"Failed again. Again."
The starting point was the 6th round.
Dang Seo-rin, having set aside her conical hat (an extremely rare occurrence), was tearing at her hair with one hand.
Like a novelist whose writing had hit a wall, or a lyricist dissatisfied with the combination of words.
In truth, this description was not metaphorical but close to reality. Dang Seo-rin was gripping a quill pen (genuinely handcrafted by shaving a goose feather) and creating magic.
"It's taking longer this time. What kind of magic are you trying to make?"
"Equivalent Exchange."
Dang Seo-rin pouted.
"I'm trying to create a magic that exchanges two different objects or phenomena one-to-one."
"...I can't quite grasp where you'd use such a magic."
"Hah? You shouldn't judge magic by practicality. You have to chase romance first and make something cool."
"Truly a statement befitting the Guild Master."
As I said before, Dang Seo-rin's ability was Verse Chanting. In other words, 'magic achieved through song.'
Put differently, for her to activate magic, she absolutely had to sing, and naturally, songs had lyrics.
In short... for Dang Seo-rin, developing magic was no different from 'creating song lyrics.'
I haven't acquired magical ability myself so I wouldn't know, but according to Dang Seo-rin herself, "When appropriate lyrics are completed, it feels like the gears in my head clicking into place—clack!" and the magic activates, or so she says.
So in fact, the 'Regeneration Magic' that was practically Dang Seo-rin's trademark, if you actually listened to the song, was composed of roughly these kinds of lyrics:
Roll, roll
Bottom of the abyss, apex of ether
Let all things spin and swirl
Apex of ether, bottom of the abyss
O fire wheel that breathes eternally
For reference, the language was entirely Latin.
Does Dang Seo-rin know Latin? No, there was a Latin major among the Samcheon World guild members, and she used that person as a translation shuttle. That guild member was promoted to the executive team solely for knowing Latin.
I hope by now you deeply realize how serious Dang Seo-rin is about witch cosplay. I'm telling you, this person's entire life is just being an enthusiast.
Thanks to Dang Seo-rin's bullshit philosophy that "Latin is a superior poetic language" and "choruses absolutely must be sung in Latin no matter what," every time a large-scale Verse Chanting was activated like in the Ten Clans subjugation battle, we could hear a majestic Latin chorus loud enough to blanket the sky.
Honestly, it was cool.
Well, it must have been cool since she rose to become the Korean Peninsula's greatest output idol. Anyway.
"Where exactly did you hit a wall?"
"Hmm— I feel like I'm lacking a bit of intuition? For example, Vice Guild Master. If someone offered you factory-made potato chips in exchange for six cartons of milk, what would you do?"
"That's a fine trade."
"Right? That's exactly the 'equivalent exchange' I'm thinking of. The problem is it gets vague when you exclude food and drink."
Dang Seo-rin chewed on the tip of the feather.
"For instance...... let's say someone proposed to eliminate all monsters from this world for you. But in exchange, you'd have to stay imprisoned for 1000 years."
"Hmm."
"For reference, solitary confinement. Meals come regularly but you can't talk with the guards. You can access books and dramas but absolutely no communication with other people."
If I heard the same proposal right now, I would have accepted immediately, thinking 'What a complete bargain.'
However, at that time, I was merely a regressor in my 6th round. I hadn't even lived 100 years, and even those less than 100 years felt incredibly arduous.
"How about it? Would you take it?"
"...It's ambiguous. I don't really know."
"Exactly. 'I don't really know' is the honest answer."
Her Excellency the Grand Witch smiled with satisfaction.
"That's because we don't have accurate intuition about 1000 years, and we can't have it? Simply put, even if you hear someone tell you to live for 1000 years, you can't really grasp how much time that actually is. Whether it's 1000 years, 900 years, or 1100 years, they all feel vaguely the same."
"Hmm."
Dang Seo-rin was right.
In truth, in our relationship, Dang Seo-rin was almost always the one who was right.
The fact that I would accept the proposal now was also only established because I finally had accurate intuition about 1000 years.
"It's not just 1000 years—my life experience itself is too limited."
"Hmmm."
"...Fine. I know what you're trying to say. What I mean is, even if I've experienced various things compared to others, it still wasn't enough time to cast a grand magic like [Equivalent Exchange]. Satisfied?"
"Who could possibly accumulate such experience? Life is not infinite, and lifespan is limited."
"...True."
Dang Seo-rin rose from the wooden chair and suddenly began to sing. It was a song I'd never heard before.
In truth, Dang Seo-rin very frequently, habitually—and improvisationally at that—hummed songs. At such times, channeling a music critic to appreciate them was also part of the Vice Guild Master's unofficial duties.
I clapped my hands. Dang Seo-rin, having finished her solo concert, elegantly picked up her conical hat and bowed.
"Was that the Equivalent Exchange magic just now?"
"Yeah. Though the magic didn't activate. How was it?"
"It was good."
"Good."
Dang Seo-rin beamed.
And that was the end of it.
Sometimes Dang Seo-rin agonized with the creator's anguish over how to create the Equivalent Exchange magic—in other words, what lyrics to write for the magic to activate. But Dang Seo-rin never completed Equivalent Exchange.
Because she died to the Ten Clans before that.
The same was true for the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th rounds.
In every round, Dang Seo-rin became fixated on the magic called Equivalent Exchange, and in every round, she failed to complete her bucket list.
In terms of completion, at best around 10%.
We were not granted the long time needed to create the magic called Equivalent Exchange.
I couldn't know exactly what kind of death Dang Seo-rin met. I failed to protect her, but my only pride was that I always died slightly before our little witch.
And so came the long-awaited 10th round.
"I cannot walk the rail you travel together with you, but at least I will follow behind with the same stride as yours, matching the pace of my remaining lifespan."
"If we can't live together in life, we're companions in death, aren't we."
"Please take care of me from now on. Companion of my time."
Dang Seo-rin left her last words and died.
I couldn't prevent her death, but at least I could hold her funeral. I oversaw the mourning. Since just like me, Dang Seo-rin had no surviving family.
I don't want to describe Dang Seo-rin's funeral in detail right now. No, I can't even guarantee such a day will ever come.
But one certain fact is that Dang Seo-rin's laughter-laced last words left a deep mark on my heart.
After the 10th round ended, the 11th round.
"Ah, really—. Failed again. Again."
"It's taking longer this time. What kind of magic are you trying to make?"
"Equivalent Exchange."
I no longer spoke formally to Dang Seo-rin, and Dang Seo-rin started calling me not 'Vice Guild Master' but 'Undertaker,' but our relationship remained good.
"The name is magnificent. Is it a magic that exchanges two objects or phenomena?"
"Huh? Ah, yeah. That's right."
Dang Seo-rin blinked.
"How did you guess that? You figured it out surprisingly well."
Because I'm a regressor and because I was someone who once served you as my lord—I swallowed those words with difficulty.
It was none other than the person before me who asked me to keep the secret that I was a regressor until the very end. She had made that request.
Thinking back now—— Dang Seo-rin had a spine-chillingly cruel side.
Toward herself. And toward me.
For humans, sometimes how much cruelty they allow each other is the touchstone of a relationship.
"...Where exactly are you stuck? Judging by the feel, isn't the intention to exchange all creation a bit too grand?"
"Oh? Right, that's a valid point too. More precisely, it's the fundamental problem of lacking intuition about all things. Hmmm."
Dang Seo-rin closed one eye.
"Want me to listen? Sometimes hearing other people's opinions might help generate ideas."
You were someone who never revealed your magic creation process to anyone, because you believed "magic must always be secretive!", and when asked if that meant you intended to never cast any magic on me either, you just laughed vacantly saying "Huh? Does it work like that?"
As someone who remembered all of that, I couldn't refuse Dang Seo-rin's request.
"To be the first to hear the Alliance Master of Samcheon's unfinished song? There's no greater honor."
"Indeed. Think of it as an honor."
I listened.
"How was it?"
"I listened well. It's magnificent."
"That's obvious. What I want from you is feedback, feedback. These are lyrics with this meaning in Latin...... Is there anything that could be improved?"
"Hmm. Then how about changing the word 'object' here to 'starlight' or 'moonlight'?"
"Oh?"
"This part expresses all things in the world that are difficult to calculate value for, right? Then rather than a dry word like 'object,' I think it's better to more vividly reveal the meaning that it's difficult for human hands to grasp."
"Ah— so starlight, hmm. Ooh? Wait a minute. Then......?"
Dang Seo-rin, perhaps struck by inspiration, moved her quill rapidly across her notebook.
Of course, I had no talent as a creator, no eye as a critic, and naturally no aptitude as a magician.
I had simply recited the lyrics of the unfinished song that Dang Seo-rin had left incomplete in previous rounds.
"Done! Yeah! It's still far from complete, but it definitely feels like some progress has been made!"
"I'm glad I could help."
"Wow— thank you, Undertaker. Wait. Do you perhaps have witch talent? Want to join our guild after all? I'll parachute you straight into the executive team. Hmm?"
"Sorry, but the Samcheon World guild uniforms are a bit......"
"Hah? Want to die?"
And so began my, our 'Equivalent Exchange Magic Creation.'
Although the Ten Clans began to be subjugated starting from the 10th round, Dang Seo-rin poured nearly all her lifespan on the battlefield, so time to fully immerse in magic creation was always insufficient.
Even so, with each passing round, Dang Seo-rin got closer to completion—one word at a time, one sentence at a time.
"Here in the chorus, wouldn't 'judge' be a bit more truthful than 'exchange'? At least for you, Dang Seo-rin."
"Oh?"
My role was to deliver that unfinished work to 'the Dang Seo-rin of the next round."
"I think 'alchemy' carries more emotion than 'trade' here......"
"The insistence that Equivalent Exchange must be completed in a single chant could be unnecessary stubbornness. Try splitting the song into two separate activations."
"First regeneration, then a song about things whose value cannot be measured, and finally......"
11th round, 12th round, 13th round.
As time went on, the completion level of the Equivalent Exchange magic grew higher by the day.
Dang Seo-rin's expression, which had initially been half-resigned about how such grand magic could ever be completed, also grew distinctly brighter.
"Huh? Wait. Wait! If I do it like your suggestion...... Huh? Maybe, maybe I can really make it......?"
Honestly speaking.
Perhaps all of this was my small indulgence.
Even if I couldn't reveal to Dang Seo-rin that I was a regressor, I wanted at least 'a work we created together over time.'
I didn't particularly care what that work was. It just happened that Equivalent Exchange caught my eye.
I, the Undertaker, always had a soft side that made me scoff at myself. Toward myself, and toward you.
I wanted to believe that for humans, sometimes how much softness they could show each other was the touchstone of a relationship.
And again I say, Dang Seo-rin was right.
"——No way! I actually completed it!"
Finally, the 26th round.
"To think such grand magic with only 2 chants...... I really am a genius! And Undertaker! You seem a bit genius too!"
Dang Seo-rin completed Equivalent Exchange.