WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ The World After the Fall ◈
Chapter 204: Episode 27. Mad God (6)
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It was a story from long ago.
An age with no words for “I” or “you,” and therefore no conflict or competition. An age in which there was not even such a thing as “existence.”
The beginning of time, when all gods and souls lived naked within a single Worldview.
One day, the concept of “Clothes” appeared in the world.
No one knew who first invented Clothes, or who first wore them.
All that was known was that Clothes appeared in the world, and the world called them Clothes.
“What are Clothes?”
According to a dictionary published in a small country of World 294, the definition of clothes was as follows.
“An item made from cloth or similar material and worn to cover or protect the body.”
Long ago, the 《Abyss》 also possessed a concept of clothes basically similar to that of World 294.
Yet a few Ancient Gods knew that Clothes were not such a simple concept. They understood that wearing Clothes was not simply about protecting the body.
According to ancient records, some gods of that era made the following claim.
“All ‘existence’ began with Clothes.”
Of course, that statement had a flaw. Concepts such as “life” and “soul” had existed even before Clothes were created.
Yet “existence,” as used here, was not synonymous with “life” or “soul.”
“Existence is one who can explain ‘I’ as ‘I.’”
Making Clothes and wearing them.
Protecting oneself from the world, and distinguishing oneself from it.
It meant finally recognizing oneself as a complete individual, separate from the world.
Only then did Clothes appear in the world, and every soul began to call itself “I.”
* * *
“I do not understand what any of you are suddenly talking about. The clothes I know are just things you put on and take off.”
Runald muttered in confusion as he listened to La-Hamad’s story.
It was only natural. They had clearly been talking about Gestalt, yet suddenly they were throwing around grand ideas like Clothes, existence, and the world.
Karavan stepped in to save the conversation.
“I’ll explain it simply.”
“You, Karavan-nim?”
Karavan cleared his throat at Runald’s suspicious look and began.
“Tell me what I look like right now.”
“A naked... pervert?”
Karavan’s lips twitched. Then he shook the scrubbing mitt clenched in his hand.
“You know what this is, right?”
“A scrubbing mitt.”
“You could say this mitt is a kind of clothing too, couldn’t you?”
“I suppose?”
When Runald nodded, Karavan put the mitts on both hands.
“What do I look like now?”
Runald wore an odd expression as he looked at Karavan, naked except for scrubbing mitts on both hands.
Karavan added with a serious face, “Don’t think about it too hard.”
“A bath scrubber?”
“Right, exactly.”
“What do you mean, exactly?”
“When you wear scrubbing mitts, you look like a bath scrubber. That is what the Longevity Clan is talking about.”
Runald immediately understood what that meant.
Someone wearing scrubbing mitts looked like a bath scrubber. Someone dressed like a beggar looked like a beggar. Depending on what Clothes a soul wore, it could be perceived as an entirely different existence.
It was not that difficult a concept. If anything, it was simple.
“Does that mean what we wear defines what kind of person we are?”
“Oh, you catch on fast.”
Karavan smiled as if he were proud.
Runald, though, still looked dissatisfied.
“That sounds like weak logic. There could be a prince dressed like a beggar, or a beggar wearing a suit.”
“Uh, well...”
Karavan trailed off with an awkward expression.
Runald continued.
“Likewise, there can be a naked pervert or a pervert wearing only scrubbing mitts. Yet in either case, this person’s true nature is still that of a ‘pervert.’”
A few Longevity Clan members let out Ouroboros-like laughter at Runald’s comparison.
Karavan glared, about to object, but Runald quickly settled the matter.
“Anyway, if that is how it works, then the claim that Clothes define existence is completely wrong, isn’t it?”
Karavan had hoped to brush past it, but Runald was smarter than expected.
More than that, Karavan did not fully understand Clothes either.
Runald continued.
“Also, if we follow that logic, then what are we naked people? Are we not any kind of ‘existence’ at all?”
“That is not what it means.”
Jaehwan answered the question.
Runald turned to him.
“Then what does it mean?”
“We are not naked right now.”
“What?”
“All existences wear Clothes.”
“But we are not wearing anything...”
Runald’s pupils shook. Judging by his slightly parted lips, he seemed to be starting to realize something.
Just as Jaehwan was about to speak again, Runald hurriedly interrupted him.
“W-Wait. I think I understand something.”
Runald tried several times to put his realization into words. Yet nothing came to him.
The realization itself was clear, but Runald’s vocabulary was too crude to explain its full scope.
So Runald decided to return step by step to where this topic had begun.
Why had they suddenly started talking about Clothes?
The memory immediately returned.
Right. They had been talking about the Longevity Clan and Gestalt.
“You are the ‘Clothes’ shed by Gestalt, one of the Ancient Three Gods.”
Everything had begun with Jaehwan’s words.
Then the clue had to be in those words as well.
Runald began to think hard, trying to find the answer himself.
Watching him, Karavan glanced at La-Hamad and said, “Why don’t you continue your story first? What was it about Clothes again?”
* * *
Clothes were existence.
Clothes were the self.
Clothes were...
The word “Clothes” could be explained in countless ways.
The gods did not particularly care to define exactly what Clothes meant. What interested them was not the concept of Clothes itself, but the events that came with their appearance.
Those who wore Clothes and distinguished themselves from the world had appeared.
That meant this world was no longer “one.”
Those who called themselves “I” did not hesitate to express themselves through the newly invented emotions.
They said:
“I believe in you.”
“I trust you.”
“I love you.”
Belief. Trust. Love.
Words that only “existences” could use.
Once they became “I,” existences began to believe in, trust, or love specific gods according to their own will. As a result, preference came into being.
The appearance of preference suddenly put the gods to the test.
Gods chosen by souls gained stronger World Power.
Gods abandoned by souls naturally began walking the path toward extinction.
Extinction.
For gods who had enjoyed eternal life as a matter of course, the fear of extinction was threatening.
It was only natural that some gods built worlds of their own and declared independence. The gods struggled to make more existences believe in them, and competition was inevitable in the process.
More Followers. More World Power.
The gods could no longer coexist as they once had.
That was how the Holy War that had continued in the 《Abyss》 for hundreds of thousands of years began.
* * *
“You are saying the world ended up like this just because of Clothes?”
[That is right.]
Karavan laughed emptily at La-Hamad’s answer. Even to him, the history before 《Big Brother》 was unfamiliar. Ignis, one of the Seven Divine Thrones, had never told him stories like this.
“For the world to turn against itself for such a reason... What the hell were those Ancient Gods...”
[You cannot blame the gods. They had no choice but to make those decisions if they wished to survive.]
“That is true, but...”
[Once all gods came to possess different worlds, the concept of “diversity” was also born. That, too, had not existed before.]
“But because of that, war began, and souls started pointing swords at each other. Simply because they had different Worldviews.”
[That is also an undeniable fact.]
Karavan thought it was an extremely difficult question.
The world had changed with the creation of Clothes.
Every existence became an “I,” able to believe in and love someone. That was not entirely a bad thing.
At the same time, though, existences learned how to dislike and hate someone. They even became capable of killing someone.
All of it happened because of Clothes.
Karavan compared the worlds before and after the birth of Clothes.
Was it right for everyone to share one Worldview, while losing the “I” they possessed as existences?
Or was it right for everyone to possess different Worldviews, while living in a world where existences killed one another?
It was a grueling choice between two answers.
“It is right for everyone to have diverse Worldviews, while no one kills each other.”
It was Jaehwan who spoke.
“Right. I know that too. That is the obvious answer.”
Even as he said that, Karavan felt cold deep in his chest.
The truth was, he had not thought of that “obvious answer.”
Because it was an impossible answer.
Existences with different Worldviews were bound to become enemies.
There was no need to prove it with logic. The history of the 《Abyss》 had already proven it.
Nor was it a story limited to the Abyss.
In every world, differences inevitably brought discord. Wars continued because of the desire to make one another the same.
“Were there no gods who tried to stop the war?”
La-Hamad answered Jaehwan’s question.
[Of course there were. A god who realized the true meaning of Clothes and gained the power to rule this world through them. A god born human who rose to the divine throne by transcending their inborn Clothes. A god who gained a power beyond Clothes by removing them completely.]
Jaehwan had little trouble guessing who they were.
“So those were the Ancient Three Gods.”
The Ancient Three Gods.
Beings who rose from human souls to the positions of gods.
Gods who had been born through Clothes, and therefore were more sensitive to the concept of Clothes than any other god.
They could grow stronger than other gods through Clothes, and they were distinguished by their different answers to the same question.
“What are Clothes?”
Deus, one of the Ancient Three Gods, answered that question as follows.
“Clothes are fortresses.”
Deus was the first to realize that Clothes could become powerful protective gear that defended the self from other worlds.
Deus collected and analyzed countless Clothes. As a result, Deus created the “strongest Clothes,” which nothing could destroy.
That was the origin of Deus Ex Machina, one of the Three Divine Artifacts and later called the strongest Part.
Another of the Ancient Three Gods gave a different answer to the same question.
“Clothes are contagion.”
That was Catastrophe’s answer.
Catastrophe was the first to realize that existences were naturally influenced by one another and tended to wear similar Clothes.
Using that quality of Clothes, Catastrophe created an astonishing Part that forcibly increased the number of Followers. It was one of the Three Divine Artifacts, the Void Sword.
This incredible Part turned every existence touched by its blade into a Forgotten One. It had begun with that very idea.
Finally, there was a god who gave the strangest answer to the question, “What are Clothes?”
“Clothes are something to be taken off.”
That god was Gestalt, the “Naked God,” one of the Ancient Three Gods and creator of the 「Naked」 Setting.
Deus, who developed powerful Clothes and hid within a solid shell.
Catastrophe, who infected countless souls and expanded their world.
Gestalt, who wandered naked through the Abyss, belonging nowhere.
One day, the Ancient Three Gods, whom everyone unhesitatingly named as the strongest, answered the pleas of other gods begging them to end the tiresome war.
They gathered at the Site now known as the 《Great Forest》 and spoke.
How could they end this war?
The Ancient Three Gods each gave a different opinion on the shared question.
Deus claimed everyone should wear the Clothes Deus had made.
Gestalt claimed everyone should take off their Clothes.
Catastrophe claimed everyone should become Catastrophe’s Followers.
Their opinions split.
The gods each drew their weapons.
All of that had happened 210,000 years ago.
Footnotes:
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