Even within my mind, my sister was like a king of beasts. Even though she had nothing to do, she bustlingly paced around me, chattering as if singing. Except for possessing intelligence and occasionally muttering to herself, she was exactly a beast brimming with curiosity.
Perhaps that very thing might be the essence of humanity.
"I am special."
I replied to my sister's words.
"Are you boasting?"
"No! I'm stating a fact!"
"It sounds even more like boasting."
"But it's still a fact. I am a king. The king of beasts representing all humans. Like the king of dogs, the king of wolves, the king of cats, the king of sheep, the king of tigers. I must encompass and represent all beasts."
Calling oneself the king of beasts makes one a conceptual existence. It lives on embracing the trite representation corresponding to that 'beast'.
Aji, even as the king of dogs, lives with humans instead of ruling over dogs. Because that is what a dog is. Sangun settles down on a mountain, claims it as its territory, and drives out all other tigers. Because that is what a tiger is.
Even as the king of beasts, one is not necessarily generous to beasts. Because it is ultimately nothing more than a representation. Unless it is a social beast, it is not always kind to its own kind.
However, humanity has surpassed a simple social beast.
"But, ordinary humans consider me special. Everyone does."
"That's because humans pointlessly know too much. Moreover, you went looking for places you normally wouldn't go, sister. Even places like snowy mountains, dense jungles, or deserts."
"Yeah. Thanks to that, everyone knows me. And they desire something from me. As if that has become the fundamental attribute of humanity."
As the majority of humans began to believe in and follow the king, the king, who should have been a representation, turned into a ruler.
"That is why I need an ordinary yardstick. A weak, soft, easily bent and stretched yardstick."
"Not a strong and sturdy one?"
"Humans are weak and soft. When the harsh world puts on a stern face and stares at me, I must quickly change my expression and bow down. That is what it means to be human. Other beasts also submit to nature, but it's rare to find a beast that changes as quickly as humans."
Singing her words, my sister soon looked at me and spoke.
"That is you. The ordinary me, you."
"So I ended up like this because of you, sister."
"It's not because of me! It was inevitable, like the sun falling and the moon waxing. I've become unable to represent humans! No, a king with power inevitably breaks away from being the king of humans!"
My sister, bouncing around in indignation, truly looked like she felt wronged. I tried to summarize what she told me as simply as possible.
"So you're saying that some King of Beasts Committee out there somewhere judged that while you are the king of humans, you can no longer represent humans. So they decided to leave you as is and create a new king of humans as a representation? Hmm, no, if so, there would be two kings of humans... In a word, they're going to make a crown for the king of humans to wear?"
"The crown of humanity! Good analogy. Since there is one king, there is one crown!"
"It's not a good analogy for me? The king is human, but the crown is a tool. Won't you consider my position, suddenly ending up on someone's head?"
"You won't go on my head! I mean, if you don't feel like it!"
"Sounds like you're saying I can go up if I want to."
"If you go up, we'll bother each other, so I want you to stand near my shoulder! To whisper in my ear, it's better to be close to my head!"
"What do you have to whisper?"
My sister smiled softly and stared intently into my eyes. Her ash-gray pupils, which seemed like a mix of black and white, read my past memories. Out of those countless adventures and incidents, my sister asked all the questions I had faced once again.
"Is it okay to confine, watch over, and oppress everyone? After putting them in strictly cut square boxes and stacking them high to build a golden pagoda, can you praise the majesty and intricacy of that golden pagoda?"
From the story of the Military Nation.
"In a world where one person creates all things? What about the land where those who cannot be created so are discarded or pushed away? If, even while resenting it, they have no choice but to accept and consume those creations?"
Passing through the Allied Nations.
"A world where blood is bound and no one can rebel? A kingdom stiffened like a corpse?"
After passing the Principality.
"Is it okay to eat the meat fruit? Is it okay for people to be born from it? If not, how far is it okay to go to stop it?"
Finally, I arrived here. To this place where all kinds of questions and choices intersect endlessly.
My sister placed her hand on my shoulder, looked deeper, and drew out my true feelings.
"You've reached a conclusion. You've already decided what you like and dislike. So you lent your strength to the side you were rooting for."
"I cheered for everyone's wishes."
"Doing that already means you granted someone's wish."
...Right. It would be a lie if I said my heart didn't lean to one side. Even if I gave everyone a chance, the side I stood on was clear.
Even if I respected everyone's wishes, there was a wish I was more drawn to. A more honest and primal wish, one that uses order purely as a tool. Rather than a wish that further solidifies an order that will eventually crumble, I liked a wish that, like a flickering candle, illuminated someone's path ahead.
But to my sister, even such concepts of good and bad didn't exist. Because she had become the figure of the king that people desired.
"But now you don't need to move by riding the wind. Because I will listen to your wish."
My sister smiled a reliable smile and reached out her hand to me.
***
A chicken emerges into the world by breaking the shell of an egg. All living beings have such a sad and nostalgic sacrifice. At the sacred moment when an individual writes history, there is a shell that blesses its birth by being destroyed.
The tree of origin, which was a Demon God, was the same. The tree of the Demon God, which bloomed from the remains of the blessed ginkgo tree, grew from a single giant seed.
The seed chamber. The most secret and fundamental domain whose existence no one knew except Nevida.
"Haa. Haa. I somehow managed to get Cheon-ang back, but..."
Shei, holding Cheon-ang, looked at the center of the seed chamber with a troubled expression. There, one of Shei's two weapons, Ji-zan, was embedded.
The recoilless sword, Ji-zan, could only be lifted by the chosen one. Even if the opponent was the Demon God Nevida, unless Ji-zan permitted it, she could not grasp and wield its power. Because Ji-zan was a Demon God that contained the understanding of this land.
But what if it wasn't a human? What if the one holding it was a Demon God containing the laws of the world?
And what if that Demon God was also originally holding the earth together?
"Of all things, I didn't expect it to tie down Cheon-ang and Ji-zan with a small World Tree."
Ji-zan was entwined in the tree roots of a small sapling. The small World Tree was a sapling and a weapon crafted by Nevida from the remains of the World Tree.
A tree grasps the earth with its roots and communicates with the sky with its leaves. Accordingly, the small World Tree was binding Ji-zan with its roots and holding Cheon-ang with its leaves. Of course, since the clear sky could not be held, Shei was able to extract Cheon-ang by breaking it into small pieces. But Ji-zan, a relic of a Demon God, was not so easy.
"I'm not using Ji-zan's intrinsic power, but borrowing Ji-zan's power, so it's hard for me to break this binding... It can't be helped."
She would be detected by Nevida the moment she used her power, but she came prepared for that much. Shei grasped Cheon-ang and drew up her qi. The air that had been held by the tree found its master and flowed into Cheon-ang. A massive inhalation without an exhalation filled Shei and Cheon-ang.
"Heavenly Sword Qi..."
Wind overlaid Cheon-ang, forming a massive blade. Shei unleashed a destructive strike toward the small World Tree binding Ji-zan.
"...Dragon-Slaying Slash!"
Whoooosh. The sword made of wind made no sound. Because it had even taken away the air to transmit sound. A quiet slash stirred up a storm and swept over the small World Tree.
Breaking branches and fluttering leaves swirled. Shei, having withdrawn Cheon-ang, let out a deep breath and approached where the vortex was subsiding.
At that moment, the Heavenly Mirror reacted. Without a single inch of hesitation, Shei tilted her head back and leapt backward. Something violently snatched the space where Shei had disappeared from. It was a force that seemed like it could crush even rocks.
"Your reaction is faster than a cat's."
A voice that sounded regretful flowed from the branch that grabbed the empty air. After that, the branch twisted this way and that, then transformed like a human hand. The human arm, folding its fingers from the thumb to the pinky in turn, pulled its body out from inside the tree.
"Ugh! Nevida...!"
Nevida looked as if she had bloomed from the small World Tree. Nevida, who sprang from the tree, looked at Shei with still dry, emotionless eyes. Her gaze was mixed with weariness rather than bewilderment or distress.
"This is a life My Lord preserved. How could you not cherish it and come here again?"
"Hmph. Why do you ask when you already know?"
"To uphold the great cause the Heavenly Gods cry out for, your life might not be considered a waste. But is the heart of My Lord, who sought to save you, a waste?"
Nevida was reprimanding Shei. As if she genuinely did not want to kill her.
"Killing you goes against My Lord's will. Since that Lord is also a Lord who must receive my loyalty, I tried to avoid that choice as much as possible. However, you insist on even betraying My Lord's mercy."
Perhaps even now, this very moment might be the last chance Nevida was giving. If she gave up resistance and fled right now, at least Cheon-ang would remain intact. Nevida would not bother pursuing her.
Shei intuitively realized that fact. But instead of showing her back, she took a step forward and raised her head.
"I'm not betraying it. But that is exactly why I had to come."
"Exactly why?"
"You're going to harm Hughes!"
A gust of wind blew through the seed chamber, shaking Nevida's hair. It was impossible for wind to enter this narrow space, but Shei, holding Cheon-ang, was summoning the wind inside the seed chamber.
"Do you think I'm a fool? Hughes is the King of Humans. What you want to resurrect is also the King of Humans. For one to become whole, the other must disappear. And you will surely choose to sacrifice Hughes."
If forced to choose between the two, Nevida would choose the other king over Hughes. Because that was Nevida's wish, having endured for two thousand years.
"If you're going to do that. I must also be there. Because I am your opposition."
"Opposition, you say."
Shei spoke to Nevida with clear resolve.
"If there's going to be a King of Humans anyway, Hughes is better."
"...Better."
"Yes. Better a king who was with me now than a king who died who knows when in the distant past. Even if he lied, deceived, and hid things, Hughes acted directly. Even if he threw the situation into chaos, he found the best option there."
The King of Humans becomes the King of Sins. But that wasn't Hughes. And based on what she had seen of Hughes so far, he was far from being the King of Sins.
Then, isn't it possible that Hughes might not change into the King of Sins?
There is no basis for this. It's utterly irresponsible. The cowardly ability called regression might have robbed her of the fear of failure.
But Shei believed so.
"I'm the same as you. If the resurrection ritual of the King of Humans is underway, I don't know how it will end, but I will take Hughes's side. I will make Hughes my king!"
"..."
"So, how about it, Nevida? I am solely on Hughes's side! Then are you my ally, or my enemy?"
An answer was unnecessary. Nevida's king was only one from the very beginning.
A tiny child picked up from the forest. An innocent and cute girl who took the hand offered with a swagger and followed her all the way home. Nevida's friend, disciple, teacher, and king.
If the two cannot coexist, if she must definitely choose one.
She would choose that side without hesitation.
Because of that, she could not accept Shei.
Nevida raised her hand without a word, and brought it down resolutely.
Above Shei's head, lush branches fell down like a flyswatter.