translation by mourningmoor
This was the first time I was hearing this story.
“It was the day Jess was born. They say an enormous light fell from the sky that day.”
There was no record of such an event in the Magical Tower’s library. A light falling from the sky?
“It was so fascinating that I couldn’t go back to sleep.”
The Demon King’s eyes momentarily grew distant before darkening again.
“Anyway, that old man is neither my benefactor nor anything else. In fact, it was Jess who woke me up.”
It was an absurd story. Completely different from what I had known until now.
The fact that he wasn’t sealed but had fallen asleep on his own was laughable, but the idea that he had awakened much earlier than the known timeline was even more ridiculous.
So, when Bartholomeus and the Demon King’s followers were terrorizing the continent to awaken the Demon King, he had already…
“…been awake?”
The Demon King smirked and nodded.
“Then why didn’t you show up sooner?”
“It was fun. Mixing among humans, trying this and that. Watching the corrupt nature of humanity.”
His once human-like smile twisted into something sinister, and a mischievous glint appeared in his eyes.
“I also wanted to see how a shining mage would change Armania.”
At times like this, he looked exactly like a mischievous child.
As if it were all just harmless fun, he even lightly packaged his evilness.
“As I did that, I naturally got caught and ended up building a bit of a following. That’s how it went.”
“Is that something to be proud of? Do you know how chaotic the continent became because of you? How many people died?”
For a moment, the Demon King’s expression turned cold.
Then, he finally spoke up.
“That’s not my fault, though. I merely existed.”
He wasn’t wrong.
From what I knew, the Demon King had never directly done anything.
It was the humans who followed him that had thrown the world into chaos.
They imposed their own framework on the Demon King and used it as an excuse to commit atrocities. They killed those they disliked in the Demon King’s name and took what they desired in his name.
In truth, it was the humans who were evil.
As my thoughts reached that point, I felt a pang of unease.
When I was the Grand Mage of Armania, I judged absolute good and evil based on that world’s standards. So, of course, the Demon King was ‘evil.’
But now, having been immersed in this world, even I find the line between good and evil blurring.
Every human was both good and evil.
At times, they seemed to strive for absolute good, but at other times, they were so evil that even the Demon King seemed more just.
Yes, in fact, the Demon King living as Yoo Noah was more just.
“So, what’s the story you want to tell?”
I felt like I could at least listen to what he had to say.
At that, the Demon King smiled contentedly and picked up another piece of sushi.
“Let’s eat quickly and then deal with this body.”
Meaning, he wanted to return to Yoo Noah’s form as soon as possible.
“This body doesn’t suit me at all.”
Right. That’s better.
I also found it awkward and unpleasant to see the bear-like Gyuhyung as the Demon King.
I nodded and silently continued eating the sushi.
* * *
I took Kim Chanyeong with me and met Yoo Noah again.
I thought it would be good to have at least one person aware of what was going on, just in case.
Kim Chanyeong listened to our conversation with a serious expression.
He knew Yoo Noah was a strange being, but the fact that he was from another world must have been a shock. Still, he remained composed and stayed by my side.
“Why does Bartholomeus want my magical power restored?”
“To fulfill the prophecy, of course.”
“Prophecy?”
The word “prophecy” made me frown involuntarily.
I knew there was a prophecy passed down in Armania. Everyone talked about prophecies all the time.
But I had heard that the prophecy was nullified before I was born, and all records of it were burned.
So, now he’s trying to fulfill that prophecy?
“What exactly is this prophecy?”
“The salvation epic of the Armanian continent?”
“There’s something like that?”
This was the first I was hearing of it. A salvation epic?
The period after I entered Parapara was the dark age of Armania. It was because the Grand Mage had disappeared. After that, the endless continental wars claimed countless lives. The group that suffered the most was the mages.
Because mages were always at the forefront of every war.
If there was a prophecy to save the blood-soaked continent, why was it nullified?
“I thought it was nullified?”
“It wasn’t nullified; it was hidden. Bartholomeus, as the Grand Mage, didn’t want the prophecy to become widely known.”
Despite his casual tone, Yoo Noah smiled awkwardly.
“What was it about?”
“‘The power that cannot be contained’ will be the key to open the door, and ‘the one who darkens half the world’ will lose his way.”
What kind of prophecy is this…?
“But it’s already been fulfilled, hasn’t it?”
I opened the door, and the Demon King lost his way. He can’t return.
Great. Armania must have been saved, just as I wished.
At that, Yoo Noah narrowed his eyes slightly.
“You’re not thinking that just because Armania has been saved, it’s all over, are you?”
He knows me well. Why wouldn’t I?
I shrugged and gave a silent nod.
Yoo Noah stared at me intently and then finally burst out laughing.
“Is it because you’ve only lived for a little over 300 years that you’re this naive?”
“What?”
“Or maybe you just don’t know your own worth.”
My worth?
“Why do you think Bartholomeus was able to cross over to this world?”
Right, this is the most puzzling piece of the puzzle.
I had heard that only someone with ‘immeasurable 9th-circle’ power, like me, could open the door between worlds. But in reality, I was just the ‘key.’
So how did that old man, who lacked both the power and the key, open the door?
“On the day you entered Parapara, the land of mages, what was the first thing you did?”
At the sudden question, I frowned, and Yoo Noah waved his hand, urging me to answer quickly.
“I changed my clothes and, as an apprentice, cut my hair short… right?”
I had never cut my hair in my life before that.
I remember that by the time I was seven, my hair had grown quite long, and I used to braid it. I cut it when I entered Parapara.
Later, during my magical theory classes, I learned that a mage’s hair holds their power and should be treated with care.
“Don’t tell me that old man had my hair?”
“The hair of apprentices is stored in the Magical Tower’s vault. It seems the Grand Mage stole it.”
I felt a slight chill.
Why would he do something so perverse?
“To use it as a… key?”
“No. He didn’t think the door would open with just that.”
“Then?”
“He knew from the moment you were born that you were the child of the prophecy. I told you, didn’t I? A light came crashing down.”
Since Bartholomeus had hidden the prophecy to keep it for himself, it’s possible he didn’t miss the signs of my birth. Did he keep watching me like that?
Could it be related to the lives of my parents, who wandered from place to place, never settling down?
“He said he stole it to study your magical power. As the Mechanical Mage, he was very interested in science. But in reality… it seems he used it like a talisman. He was also drawn to its power.”
Thinking about it now, it’s even more horrifying. How could the Grand Mage of Armania, the highest authority in the Magical Tower, have such a petty thought…?
“So, what you’re saying is that Bartholomeus crossing over to this world wasn’t planned? It was just a coincidence because he had my hair?”
Yoo Noah nodded.
“Just a lock of a child’s hair opened the door between worlds, and it even drew in the basic mana here.”
“Wow. I knew I was amazing, but this is something else. Impressive.”
This is so absurd that I can’t even laugh.
“So, what does he want? The prophecy has been fulfilled, so it’s over, right?”
The prophecy has already been fulfilled.
With me and the Demon King, who disrupted Armania’s balance, gone, the continent must be filled with peace. There’s no reason for this.
“It’s because of the latter part of the prophecy. The prophecy mentions one more entity.”
“The latter part of the prophecy?”
“However, ‘the prepared stone’ will find them, and glory will shine at last.”
What is this? That vague latter part.
If it had ended with the first part, I would have thought it was about the continent’s peace, but with ‘however’ and ‘at last’?
“He thinks he’s the ‘prepared stone.’ There were a few more words between ‘at last’ and ‘glory will shine,’ but they’ve been erased, so it’s not clear. But he seems to have interpreted it as him achieving his dream by finding us.”
“He’s insane. Absolutely insane.”
No other word comes to mind besides ‘insane.’
Everyone warned that he was a mage obsessed with ‘machines’ that defied ‘magic,’ and they weren’t wrong.
“The important thing is that just your hair was enough to open the door. That means even a part of your body is enough.”
Bartholomeus’s goal became clear.
“So, he wants to open the door between worlds again?”
“Yes. He wants to combine the science of this world with the magic of that one.”
So, he needs me. Because I’m the key.
It’s not just a one-time thing of opening the door and leaving; he needs to create a permanent portal, which is why my magical power needs to be fully restored.
“Who said I’d play the role of the key for him?”
Trying to connect this world and that one is insane. It’s too dangerous. No, while that world might be fine, this one could become an apocalypse.
“I won’t give him a single strand of hair or a piece of my fingernail.”
At my words, Yoo Noah smiled faintly.
“You have too many weaknesses for that, Jess.”
“What?”
“That’s why I told you. Just think of me as your ally. Don’t get too attached to this world.”