By Zephyria 
With the last call, the reality in my dream, which resembled 21st-century Seoul, began to shatter into pieces. Shining fragments flew back and forth between him and me. I watched the past reality crumble without blinking an eye.
It wasn’t just the background that collapsed. Fragments of light fell like shedding skin from the surface of my skin. The clothes I was wearing also changed from a work shirt to a splendid Western-style ceremonial dress. The bright-colored, ornate attire with scattered sapphire sequins was the final version of the National Wedding Ceremony outfit that had been completed a few days ago. I rolled up my sleeve and checked my forearm. The burn scar had disappeared without a trace. The dry back of the hand and slender fingers stroking it were not those of ‘Lee Young-won,’ which were full of small scars.
Just as the man sitting across from me no longer looked like CEO Kim but like ‘Allen.’
It wasn’t as shocking as I thought. It would be a lie to say I was okay, but it wasn’t as surprising as the fact that the System I had grown attached to and relied on was Allen. It was a shock I could handle.
However, there was one thing. Haa… I was furious that even my first love from my past life, whom I had cherished, was that damn guy.
The chairs he and I were sitting on had become ornate thrones that could be found in the Imperial Castle. The place where only two chairs faced each other had no floor or ceiling. It was just black and dark. The only thing shining in this place was one inhuman man with a breathtakingly beautiful form.
I stared blankly at him. I wished I could just be blinded by his light.
“…Did you come to collect the price for saving Nicole?”
I was prepared for it. While looking at Allen, who was just sleeping as if he was asleep and not waking up, I had a hunch. The ‘Allen’ who had lost consciousness was just a doll he was using, not his real self.
If so, that’s fine. Nicole was saved. It’s true that if you’re born, you’ll die someday, but at least I didn’t want him to die because of me, for my sake. Since that wish had been fulfilled, I didn’t intend to resist. Even if these few happy days were my last rest and peace.
My heart calmed down. I braced myself.
“This place where we are now. What do you think of it?”
But he suddenly gave an irrelevant answer. I didn’t know his intention, but I decided to play along.
While sitting on the chair, I looked around and answered that it wasn’t good. That was the truth. It was just a dark ruin.
“That’s too much. It’s not that bad if you actually live here.”
What is he trying to do? Is he going to trap me here? Like that habit he always says, ‘forever’?
“Oh… no. I told you it was the last time. I always went down to meet you, so I wanted to invite you to where I stay for once.”
The place where Allen stays… Of course, he’s talking about the place where he resides as his true form, as God, right? It was unexpected. I always thought it would be some great, fertile paradise flowing with milk and honey, since he never came to see me even when I was begging and pleading so desperately.
“There is a similar place. Some call it the Divine Realm or the Celestial Realm. However, there are no ‘Gods’ like me among the beings who reside there.”
“…Can you read my thoughts?”
“Because your subconscious is connected. If it’s now, you might be able to read my thoughts too, but no. It would be too much for your tattered soul. Don’t worry about it. It’s the last time anyway.”
“Why do you keep saying ‘last time’ since a while ago?”
Of course, if it’s the last time that ends with my victory, I welcome it. How desperately I have wished for an ending where I can escape from his tiresome and terrible obsession and be free.
“Congratulations.”
His brutally beautiful face smiles like CEO Kim, which made my heart flutter. Because of that, I couldn’t hear the one word he uttered properly. He kindly repeated it slowly, as if to remind me, that he congratulated me.
“I used the Lord Function, which I had left as a last resort, with ‘Allen’s’ body. Thanks to that. That body, which was once yours and which I had controlled for a long time, has now completely gone beyond the human realm. Maybe it won’t even be able to maintain its form for long.”
“…So, what you’re saying is.”
“That’s why I said congratulations. Even if you strangle me to death with that hand now, your soul won’t be corrupted. It’s your victory.”
I couldn’t believe it at all. I was just dazed.
“The distant eternity with you has now become a dream that can never be realized. So, can’t you allow me… at least a last memory?”
Even though I hate you, we have quite a long relationship. Enough to leave a meaningful farewell. His voice continued leisurely. That’s why it felt even more unreal.
“I think I loved you. From the moment I looked down on you as just a human. It may have been the wrong way. But that’s how it was.”
It was a moment more dreamlike than a dream. It was like that in that it felt unreal, and it was like that in that a long-held desire had been fulfilled.
“So, I wanted to say my last goodbye in the form that you would be most happy to see.”
He lightly tapped his chin with his finger. In an instant, the breathtakingly beautiful form of God changed into that of CEO Kim, who was handsome but could be called an ordinary human compared to his current appearance.
“I have one more thing I lied to you about, so I guess I have one more thing to be sorry about? But I’m not particularly sorry. Because I don’t regret hovering around you in this form. Your clumsy appearance, in which you were fluttered by me, was also quite lovely. Maybe if a little more time had passed, I would have wanted to give up on driving you into your last life as ‘Noah Hamilton’.”
It was a meaningless assumption. After all, he was the one who threw me into the mire and forced me to repeat despair over and over again. I was angry now. At the fact that what I had given my heart to was ultimately a cruel deceiver.
“You thought I would be happy to see that form? Did you really think I was in love… or something?”
My voice trembled involuntarily. Childish spite welled up from deep inside. It wouldn’t matter anyway, but I absolutely didn’t want to admit that I had given my heart to him even as ‘Lee Young-won.’
“Is that so… I thought you would be happy. Well, then, how about this form? Or this form?”
As he said, mocking me, his appearance changed incessantly every time he blinked. The images that were imprinted on my retina in segmented frames became a musician holding a pipa, then a neat gentleman in a suit, then a young boy who had not yet reached puberty… It was very chaotic. Enough to completely distract me.
In fact, I remember the memories of living as Lee Young-won quite clearly, but the past lives I experienced before that were almost faint… Among those faint memories, he carefully selected only the images that I could never forget and showed them to me in turn.
As he continued to change, he finally became an old gentleman with a neatly trimmed white beard.
I couldn’t bear it and… ugh, let out a resentful groan.
“Will you be happy to see this form? Huh? Baby.”
That was the face and voice of the only blood relative that ‘Noah Hamilton’ of my last life had. The sensation of his calloused, rough palm stroking my forehead was vivid. Even the warm body temperature that always stayed by my side when there was thunder or I had bad dreams.
“Grandpa too… were you even Grandpa?”
“Haha. Of course. Who else but me could have taken care of you so diligently when you were young?”
With a cheerful laugh, he returned to his original form.
I don’t know how to describe this feeling right now. All the relationships that I had considered precious in the various lives I had gone through while reincarnating were all… all him. Even the System before the truth was revealed was like that.
“So… you kept watching me?”
“It’s disappointing to call it watching. I was watching over you, with affection.”
“Don’t talk nonsense!”
If it’s affection, it can’t be. If it’s affection… it can’t be… no.
I was breathless. The simmering heat welled up and surged over my Adam’s apple.
“When I was begging and pleading so much, you didn’t even look back once, why? Why, why do you mess things up like this and then…!”
I jumped up and walked towards him without thinking. He was still sitting on the ornate throne, just watching what I was doing. I dared to grab the God’s collar and shake him like crazy, venting my anger. I couldn’t just grab his collar and shake him, so I hit his chest and shoulders at random with my clenched fists, but he just took it.
“What’s the reason for doing this now, why, why do you even tell me? If I knew you were CEO Kim, if I knew you were Grandpa… do you think I would change my mind?”
“I know you won’t. And I told you, Noah. Even if you want to turn back now, you can’t. It’s really over.”
“Who wants to turn back? The thought of having to be with you forever is terrible! I feel like I’m going to suffocate!”
“…Yeah, I guess so.”
I didn’t want to cry. I gritted my teeth. Through my narrowly narrowed vision. He was still smiling leisurely.
“You shouldn’t just feel like you’re going to die, you should want to kill me, Noah.”
“You, you’re really, ugh…”
“It’s too bad you can’t even call me a son of a bitch even at times like this.”
A large hand slowly covered the back of my hand that was grabbing his collar. I took the strength out of my hand as if I were under a spell. He pulled my hand to his lips and reverently kissed each finger without missing a single one.
You bad bastard. You’re wrong until the end. You’re a God, but you don’t know anything. The appearance that I would be most happy to see, the appearance that I loved the most, was not CEO Kim or anything like that…
“Be free, my Young-won.”
“……”
I stopped thinking. I didn’t want to think anymore. He, who had dominated my subconscious, paused for a moment and then squeezed my hand tightly once without showing any expression.
“…Please, be happy. My rest.”
I swear it was the most carefree farewell in the world.
++eri Add. Allen’s last lines… I couldn’t change the font because it was Allen as a pure ‘personality’ who came to love ‘Noah’. It’s not a mistake (firmly)