The Hero Returns

"Which side are you on?"

The voice repeating itself came from right next to Su-hyeun.

He was jolted wide awake, and when he turned his head, Osiris was sitting right next to him.

"What's wrong? Why are you so taken aback like this?" Osiris lightly patted Su-hyeun's shoulder as if to say, "What's gotten into you?"

Su-hyeun flinched, thinking that he was being attacked. However, that state didn't last for long as he sensed that something was not quite right here.

"Is this an illusion?" he thought.

They were currently inside a fairly spacious living room. A vigorous fire burned inside an old-style fireplace while the sun had set outside to herald the night.

This place was completely different from the space he was in a moment ago.

The Dark World possessed several functionalities. You could submerge someone trapped inside the space in pure darkness and kill them or show them various illusions.

This was an illusion, and the "Osiris" before his eyes was not the real deal.

By realizing this fact, Su-hyeun met all the requisite conditions needed to break out of the illusion.

However, he pondered, "Even then, something about this is a bit..."

The "Osiris" before him didn't come across as a stranger.

This version felt quite a lot different from the "real" Osiris. Not only did "he" seem a bit younger, but the light in his eyes was not the same as well.

As a matter of fact, he seemed so much more innocent and pure.

Not only did Osiris lack sharpness, but he seemed softer and kinder, too. His expression when he asked that question seemed pure. That face came across as an utterly beautiful sculpture, although it belonged to a man, so much so that it could make one mistakenly think that Osiris was sparkling brightly right now.

"What did you say?"

"I said, which side are you on?" Osiris repeated his question.

That was right. That was what he asked, didn't he?

Not just this Osiris, but even Osiris who materialized the Dark World had also asked that question.

However, what did they mean by which side was he on?

Su-hyeun's head began aching. The pain was coming from somewhere quite deep.

He had no choice but to ask for that question to be repeated.

Osiris sighed at Su-hyeun's request for an in-depth explanation, "Fine. Listen well. In this world, there are only good and evil. Those two. So, when push comes to shove, and you can only make one choice between the universe ending or letting it continue forever, which side will you choose and fight for?"

Su-hyeun made a flabbergasted face at that question.

Did that even qualify as a question, anyway?

The answer was obviously'”

"A universe like this? It's better for it to be destroyed."

A completely different answer to what he was thinking about jumped out of his mouth.

Su-hyeun frowned deeply while thinking about the reason. His lips moved on their own and made that reply, but this wasn't what he wanted to say.

He turned his head and stared at the nearest window. The darkness of the night on the other side of the glass met with the flames burning in the fireplace, turning the window into a mirror.

Su-hyeun got to see his current face through it.

"Who is this?" he thought.

The man in the reflection had red hair, a stark contrast with Osiris's green locks.

His eyes were black, and unlike Osiris, his face was rather angular and sharp. There was unmistakable venom in his eyes, his expression seemingly angry about something.

Osiris made a face that said, "I knew it," at Su-hyeun's reply. "Set, I think you should take it easy for a bit longer."

He then got up from his chair.

However, Su-hyeun couldn't get up. He wanted to stop Osiris and ask for more, but the Dark World denied it.

Would it be better to shatter the illusion at this point? He pondered this, but his heart didn't want to, unlike his head.

He was pretty familiar with this moment'”this event.

"I know you're having a tough time, but I'd like you not to hate the world to this degree."

Shu-wuwu...

Osiris left behind those words and vanished from the spot.

An opaque green barrier was cast around the house Su-hyeun was in. It was the same type of "wall" placed outside Odin's temple, designed to prevent whatever trapped inside from escaping.

"Hah..."

Creak'”

When he buried himself even deeper into the rocking chair, it let out creaks and groans while rocking back and forth.

No firewood was inside the fireplace, yet the fire burned so well. What Osiris said just now continued to circle in his mind.

"He'd like me not to hate the world?"

To think that none other than Osiris said those words. The one who wanted to destroy the universe and bring down Yggdrasil in the process actually said that.

"So that's what you were like in the past?"

This Osiris was utterly different from the one Su-hyeun knew.

The inside of his mind became even more complicated.

If this were any other time, he would think of all this as nothing but an illusion and brush it aside with a mocking chuckle.

However, he couldn't do that this time.

"Set. Set, was it?"

He could recall that name. He could not not know it, after all.

"I did live a past life with a name like that, didn't I?"

That person was from Su-hyeun's very first life.

* * *

Su-hyeun stepped outside the house.

His thoughts remained complicated. It certainly had been a long time since he felt this tired, his head aching from simply thinking too much.

Without a doubt, that man, Set, was from his past life.

Set hated the world and wished for it to end. He held the same belief as Cheon Mu-jin and thus belonged to the side of perfect "evil."

As such, Su-hyeun didn't feel much disharmony at this revelation. He had already experienced multiple past lives similar to that one before and could recall all the associated memories, after all.

That didn't mean he could remember all of his past lives, however. The older the memories were, the slower and harder it was for him to recall them. Unsurprisingly, he only got to recall Set's life quite belatedly.

No, wait'”maybe he would've never remembered it if it weren't for Osiris.

There was only one reason he remembered it sooner than the "schedule" dictated: because Osiris deliberately jolted Su-hyeun's memories awake.

"But so what? What were you planning to do with this?" Su-hyeun asked while raising his head.

After materializing this Dark World, Osiris should most likely be watching the proceedings somewhere. Meaning he should be able to hear what Su-hyeun was saying right now.

"Because I used to think this way, are you trying to change my mind with it?"

His accusatory question caused the surrounding scenery to waver and distort.

The "wallpapers" turned into blank papers before new images were painted on them. The new images were also from Set's memories.

Drip, drip'”

Su-hyeun was holding a blade in hand.

Blood dripped from the blade's edge to pool on the floor. He couldn't tell whose blood this was.

The numerous corpses around him made it impossible to do so.

"This is also from my memories."

This scene eerily reminded him of Cheon Mu-jin's memories. That man also bathed Murim in blood and, with the company of devil-like villains, slaughtered countless people.

The current scene was the result of Set's actions. In other words, Su-hyeun himself.

Crunch'”!

"Keuhk..."

Right at that moment, Osiris descended from above and stomped Su-hyeun down to the ground.

One of his arms was grabbed and twisted while the stomping foot pressed down even harder to make sure Su-hyeun couldn't move. He didn't try to escape, however, and simply waited for Osiris to say something.

You've done it again, Set.

"You've done it again, Set!"

As expected.

Su-hyeun could recall every word he said now.

Even the retort "Su-hyeun" had made afterward, too. "After I did all this... Can you still 'understand' me?"

Osiris faltered for a moment when Su-hyeun said that.

A warm drop of liquid fell on top of Su-hyeun's head. It was Osiris's tear.

Among the victims cut down, ripped apart, and slaughtered by Set's blade'”among all these people Set had murdered'”were the members of Osiris's family.

Set had murdered every single one of them with his own hands.

"That's right." Despite that, Osiris replied, "I do understand where you're coming from, Set."

"..."

"Because in the world you speak of, my family and I would also be a part of it," Osiris said those words as he plopped down on the ground.

He did say he understood, but that was only because he was trying very hard to understand. Honestly speaking, he was greatly affected by the deaths of his loved ones.

Su-hyeun, or Set in this case, stared at Osiris on the ground.

He remembered it now.

He remembered his emotions while witnessing his oldest friend wail in grief and sorrow.

* * *

Step, step'”

Su-hyeun turned around and walked away from Osiris.

He was trying to get away from here. It felt like he might end up doing something terrible if he remained.

When he closed his eyes, the scenes from moments ago quickly filled up his mind.

"I was trying to kill him."

Squeeze...

He gripped the sword in his hand even tighter.

That sword had been pointing at Osiris as he sobbed on the ground just now.

For a moment there, "Set" hesitated.

That was his last chance.

Osiris was always better than Set in every way. Not even once had Set bested Osiris in anything, and the latter had no choice but to imprison the former who grew to resent the world.

This incident was the first thing Set had done after breaking through the seal meant to trap him.

And then, Set was that close to killing Osiris, who was trying to forgive his former friend for murdering his family.

"Dammit," Su-hyeun rubbed his face with his empty hand.

Whether it was the current Su-hyeun or Set from the past, him trying to kill Osiris remained the same.

They were the same people, and what they wanted to do wasn't that different, either.

The real difference here, however, was the reason behind the action. Su-hyeun suddenly felt disgusted and greatly disappointed at himself.

"Same as back then, is that it?"

Out of all the past lives Su-hyeun could recall, Cheon Mu-jin was the worst villain of them all. He, too, greatly resented the world.

This emotion felt the same as when Su-hyeun remembered the lives of all those villains. Whenever he started wondering about living through those kinds of past lives, he would tell himself this over and over again: that the current him was Su-hyeun, not those bastards.

"So what?" Su-hyeun raised his head again and asked, "I used to be someone like that, so I shouldn't interfere with whatever you want to do now? Is that it?"

Technically speaking, what Osiris was doing right now was quite similar to what Set desired to do in the past.

Set hated the world and wished to destroy it.

The current Osiris was doing all this for the sake of destroying the universe. For this purpose, he began following Shiva and took over many hells as his own.

He became a Predator and even reached the lofty position of one of the Three Destroyers.

The surrounding scenery changed once more. This time, it reflected something even more ancient.

A young girl no more than six, maybe seven years old, was bleeding profusely in Su-hyeun's arms.

"Ah..."

He remembered it now.

He remembered why he, Set, hated the world so much.

He was urgently looking around before crying out, "Please! Anyone, please save my daughter!"

Su-hyeun was also crying out those words.

Many people walked past him, but no one bothered to stop and help.

Time more precious than gold continued to tick by one second, one minute. It was moving too fast. Meanwhile, Set's daughter in Su-hyeun's arms grew colder and colder.

Goddammit!

Even knowing that this was an illusion, an expletive leaped out of his mouth all on its own.

He couldn't even think about breaking out of this illusion. He didn't care whether this was real or not; he just wanted someone, anyone, to come and help his daughter.

Clack, clack'”

A high and mighty noble rode past him in a carriage. Someone like that should have been able to help his daughter. A capable magician should be accompanying such a noble, after all.

"You dare! How dare a lowborn such as yourself block the path of a noble personage!"

Set had heard those very same words way too many times, making him feel sick to his stomach.

Rage boiled within his heart almost instantly.

That was the first time he felt the urge to kill another human being. He wanted to rip those bastards apart right at that moment, but the time needed to do that was just too precious.

Someone was bound to help him, whether a magician or a healer. That was what he thought, but...

"Why hasn't anyone...?"

"Why hasn't anyone...?"

No one helped him.

In the end, his daughter died.

He remained still in the same spot, not knowing what to do. He just sat there, dazed and lost.

The passersby stared at Set oddly.

"It's this bastard again?"

Someone suddenly addressed him, so Set turned his head. It was the servant of the noble who said Set was a lowborn earlier.

Smack'”!

Plop'”

Normally, he wouldn't have budged from a measly little kick like this one. Yet, he still fell to his side. He had no energy left in his body. He didn't want to rouse up any strength anymore.

"Didn't I tell you to get out of the way already?!" the noble's servant yelled angrily and began moving again.

"Dirty trash."

Ptooi'”

The noble riding on the carriage spat out of the window.

Grit'”

The murderous anger bubbling in Set's heart exploded, and right there and then, he lost it.

And then...

Slice'”

Along with the carriage, he sliced apart not just the noble but also the servant in one fell swoop.