Chapter 119

At my words, the King of Wanderers smiled faintly.

“Long time no see? We saw each other last time too.”

“We only passed by each other then.”

Up to now, I had seen the King of Wanderers exactly twice.

The first time was when Han Suyeong and I took down the inhuman species Song Minwoo. The second was when we defeated the Catastrophe of the Flood. And this was the third time.

The King of Wanderers slowly removed her mask.

For a moment, we looked straight at each other. As expected, the face was still the same. No matter how many times I looked, she only seemed to be in her late thirties. My mother and I didn't resemble each other at all. When I was little, people often asked if she was my older cousin.

“When did you get out?”

“A while ago.”

Which meant it was back when Father was still alive.

“Were you living in Seoul?”

“I came to meet someone I know for a bit.”

“Ah, so you just happened to get trapped in the Seoul Dome...?”

“That's right.”

“You were already released, so why did you put the prison uniform back on?”

“Who knows. Maybe because I wanted to atone?”

“...Atone? You?”

“All humans are prisoners. Everyone has a prison of their own.”

I stared at my mother in silence. That shameless tone. She really hadn't changed at all.

“Couldn't you at least say thank you? You would've been in trouble without me.”

...She had definitely helped. My mother had led her forces and dealt with the catastrophe in the north. Even if it had been a comparatively weak catastrophe, it was still an impressive feat. I had trusted that she would handle it properly too. I knew my mother as well as I hated her.

“We've met again after so long, and you aren't even pretending to be happy to see me.”

“Do you really want that?”

“A little.”

[The Exclusive Skill Lie Detection Lv.1 has activated!]

[You have confirmed that the statement is a lie.]

How ridiculous. Even though I already knew it was a lie, I still felt the need to confirm it.

“It's impressive that you survived through all that. Your survival instincts must be remarkable.”

“It was thanks to the story you told me.”

“...So it was like that after all.”

“You're probably the only one who would come all the way to prison to see his mother and spend the whole time talking about the novel he read.”

She was right. Throughout all the visiting hours I was given in prison, I had never once had a proper conversation with my mother. The entire time, I had only gone on and on about TWSA, and when even that started to bore me, I stopped visiting altogether.

“There was nothing else for us to talk about.”

“As if that could be true.”

“That novel was my whole world.”

For a brief moment, afterimages of the past surfaced and disappeared.

If not for TWSA, if not for the author who had stubbornly kept serializing that story, I probably wouldn't have existed in this world right now. For the teenage Kim Dokja, who had neither a mother nor a father, that story had been the only comfort.

“A mere third-rate fantasy novel...”

“It helped you survive, so I think you should be grateful to that third-rate novel.”

For a while, we said nothing and just glared at each other.

[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband is looking at you with gleaming interest.]

[The Constellation Secretive Plotter is looking at you with an odd gaze.]

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire is looking at you with sorrowful eyes.]

I was the one who broke the silence first.

“What attribute did you get? I bet it's an attribute related to the story I told you.”

“Do I have to tell you?”

“If you still think of me as your son.”

“So I suppose I should wonder whether you still think of me as your mother.”

“A little.”

[The character Lee Sukyeong has activated Lie Detection Lv.1!]

[Lee Sukyeong has confirmed that the statement is a lie.]

Damn it. She even had that skill already. She really was my mother.

A faint grief settled over my mother's face. Whether it was acting or not, there was no way for me to tell now.

“Do you still resent me?”

“I'm not here to talk about that.”

“Your father was a bad person.”

“I know.”

There are definitely “bad people” in this world. One kind beats his wife, squanders the family's money on illegal gambling, and threatens the family's livelihood.

So Father was a bad person. I knew it, Mother knew it, and Korean law said so too. But.

“Just because Father was a bad person doesn't make what you did right.”

“There are times when something has to be sacrificed for a better life.”

“There is no such ‘law’ in Korea. The only law we have says that anyone who commits murder has to go to prison, no matter the reason.”

“You really are good with words. Must be because you've read nothing but novels.”

“To me, reality always felt more like a novel. Because of you.”

At this point, this was no longer an ordinary conversation between mother and son. Probably that was why I hadn't wanted to talk in the first place. Because I knew exactly what kind of shape the conversation would take. Because we both knew far too well what wounds we could inflict on each other.

“You know why I came here, don't you?”

“Who knows.”

“We can both tell when someone's lying, so let's stop playing dumb.”

My mother smiled faintly.

“You know that old lady, Prisoner No. 406? Lend her to me.”

“...Wouldn't it be better to take the Incarnation whose Patron constellation is Jeon Woochi? I have quite a few useful Incarnations.”

“The Incarnation whose Patron constellation is Jeon Woochi is one of your subordinates. And that old lady will be more helpful.”

My mother looked at me for a moment, then nodded.

“Certainly, considering who your opponent is, that might be true. But how did you know No. 406's Patron constellation?”

“I can't tell you.”

“You have a skill that lets you see Patron constellations, don't you?”

As expected, there was nothing I could say in front of my mother.

“Are you going to lend her to me or not?”

“I will. But in return.”

I was a little afraid of what would come next. If it was my mother, she would propose a deal I never could have imagined. Wearing that faint smile, she continued.

“Next time, introduce your friends to me.”

For a moment, I was too stunned to find my next words.

Damn it, she had landed a perfect blow. There was no one in the world better than my mother at turning a bad person into an even worse one.

“Dokja. Look at reality properly. Even if fiction has become reality, you must never start thinking of fiction as reality.”

[The Fourth Wall is shaking violently.]

It was only a few words, but it felt like the whole world was trembling. I understood with perfect clarity. To me, this person was the one who most powerfully reminded me of the “reality” I hated.

“Do you understand?”

[The Stigma Self-Justification Lv.1 has activated.]

I hated it. That attitude of trying to act like my mother now, after all this time. We had already crossed far too many rivers to turn everything back.

[The Fourth Wall's trembling is subsiding.]

I couldn't endure it any longer, so I shot to my feet and said,

“That's right. I do think of fiction like reality. Why? Because that's how I've lived my whole life.”

“......”

“You might think that's pathetic. But remember this much. At the very least, I don't sell reality off as if it were fiction the way you did.”

With those words, I pushed aside the tent flap and stepped outside. The chilly air slipped into my coat collar. I was fastening the buttons and looking ahead when I saw Yu Sangah standing there with her eyes wide.

“I'm sorry... Dokja-ssi, you were gone for so long, so...”

This was awkward. No, more than awkward... somehow, it was embarrassing.

“...Did you hear?”

Yu Sangah lowered her head deeply, looking apologetic. All I could see was the small crown of her head. I let out a sigh.

“Shall we take a walk?”

We walked side by side along the platform at Yongsan Station. Earlier, it had definitely been a cold wind, but at some point the temperature had changed, and the feel of the breeze brushing my cheek had become different. She couldn't possibly have had time to wash her hair, yet Yu Sangah's loose hair still carried a pleasant scent.

“How's your hangover?”

“I'm okay. But I heard you carried me here. I'm sorry. I just caused trouble for you again.”

“You were taking care of me. That's why.”

We fell silent for a moment.

“You think it's strange, don't you? Why a mother and son would talk to each other like that.”

“It isn't.”

As if. She looked like she thought it was the strangest thing in the world.

“Do you want to know?”

Yu Sangah's eyes wavered for an instant.

“...If it isn't too rude.”

I smiled faintly. Yes, it was about time I told someone. I paused to choose my words, let out one breath into the empty air, then opened my mouth in an exaggeratedly solemn voice.

“My mother killed my father.”

Strangely enough, my own words sounded ridiculous. Even though I was the one saying them, it felt like I was telling someone else's story.

“She went to prison for that.”

I went on.

“My father... it might sound a bit strange to say this, but honestly, he was someone who deserved to die. Domestic violence, gambling, cosigning debts... we lived getting beaten every day. There wasn't a day our bruises had time to fade. Then one day, my mother made up her mind, and it happened.”

“Ah...”

“I thought it was a pretty well-known story around the company. I guess you didn't know, Yu Sangah-ssi?”

Yu Sangah didn't answer. She had probably realized too late that she had touched a wound she never should have touched.

“It feels even stranger now, doesn't it? Legally, she was clearly in the wrong, but you probably still can't understand, emotionally, why I hate a mother like that.”

“No! It's not that! I may not be able to understand completely because I'm not you, Dokja-ssi, but...”

“Honestly, you think I should forgive her, don't you?”

Yu Sangah couldn't continue. But it couldn't be helped. The wound had already split open. Around the time an awkward silence started to fill the space between us, I opened my mouth again.

“Do you happen to know a book called Memoirs of an Underground Murderer? It was even a bestseller once.”

A sudden shift to talking about a book. Yu Sangah must have thought the topic had changed, because she brightened slightly as she said,

“I think I've heard of it. It was a huge bestseller, wasn't it?”

“It's an essay written in prison by a woman who killed her abusive husband. Critics praised it to the skies back then. They said Korean essay literature had finally produced its own version of Notes from Underground. Of course, it was completely overrated.”

By the time she heard that much, Yu Sangah's expression had gone dark in an instant. She had realized it. The subject hadn't changed at all.

“That's right. My mother wrote it.”

Yu Sangah's lips parted slightly.

“I still remember it. Reporters swarming the front of our house. All those questions asking whether everything in that essay was true.”

“......”

“I remember every single thing my classmates said too. Asking whether my mom was making money by selling murder.”

“Dokja-ssi...”

“My relatives said it too. Asking what kind of face a murderer thought she had, showing up in the newspaper.”

Yu Sangah, who had been about to say something, closed her mouth.

“It was hard. Because of that. No, maybe for quite a long time.”

“......”

“Being the child of a murderer, I could endure that much. But having it turned into a story and sold off is a different kind of problem. Having my life changed into money by someone else... that's a completely different kind of problem.”

I looked up at the sky. It wasn't night yet, but I could feel more clearly than usual that the constellations were watching me. This too was probably becoming a story to them. But not a single Constellation supported me at this moment. Should I have considered that a relief? I didn't know.

“Do you still think I should forgive my mother?”

I wasn't looking for an answer. I hadn't said any of this because I wanted understanding in the first place. Maybe this was the ugliest form of violence I, twisted as I was, could inflict on Yu Sangah, who had grown up in a happy family. Putting my own unhappiness on display whenever I pleased and demanding an understanding that was impossible. Kind Yu Sangah would be sad precisely because she knew it was impossible to understand.

Alone, I laughed in a kind of inexplicable sense of victory.

“I'm sorry. Actually, it was all a joke.”

“What?”

“It was all a lie. You fell for it, didn't you? There's no way something that sounds that much like a novel could really happen, right? My mom and I are just an ordinary mother and son, and my dad just died in an accident when I was little...”

And then something small and soft wrapped itself around my hand. The touch was so warm and gentle that, for a moment, I forgot what I had been about to say.

For a moment. Just for a moment, our steps stopped.

Yu Sangah didn't look at me. Because of that, I didn't look at her either. Without looking at each other, we walked hand in hand. As if that alone was enough. And strangely enough, my heart gradually calmed down.

[The Fourth Wall is trembling faintly.]

Maybe it was because it was such an overwhelmingly real warmth.

“Dokja-ssi!”

From the entrance of the station, I heard my companions running toward us, and we reflexively let go of each other's hands. Jeong Huiwon asked,

“What, did you two kiss again?”

“K-kiss?”

“Just look at Yu Sangah-ssi's face turning red. You did, you totally did!”

If I hadn't known Yu Sangah a little better, it really was an expression I could've misunderstood.

“Please stop teasing her. Nothing happened.”

“Sure, sure.”

Jeong Huiwon looked back at me and continued.

“A weird old lady came looking for you. Did you call her over?”

An old woman supporting herself with a cane walked forward from behind the group.

“Heh heh, what use could this old body possibly be...”

Like the other Wanderers in my mother's group, the old woman was wearing a sky-blue prison uniform. Prisoner No. 406. As expected, she was fast when it came to getting things done.

“Are you Kim Dokja, young man?”

“Yes, that's me.”

“I've heard a lot about you from Sukyeong-ssi. I look forward to working with you.”

“I look forward to working with you as well.”

Sukyeong was my mother's name. I turned to the others and said,

“She is the person I called for. Let's go.”

We immediately left Yongsan Station and headed to the place where people were gathered. By then, the kings were already assembled there, including Yu Junghyeok's group.

Through the Great Hole, a pure white crystal was slowly descending from the sky. A crystal spilling dazzling light.

[Warp Crystal].

This was the item that would move us to the next Scenario area.