The World I Was Supporting Was Real

Chapter 34

Episode 34. Until We Meet Again

“……!”

“Lord, Count!!”

Thud.

It was Rayfield, who collapsed right there.

What does it mean to be annihilated?

It means to disappear― to become nothing.

For instance, when a person with a body gets injured, they recognize their existence through pain.

When blood flows, the dazed mind and pain fiercely proclaim that it exists here and now.

To be able to die- that is the greatest proof of existence.

Even in the inevitable death at the end of pain, as long as someone remembers that person existed here, their soul becomes immortal, as if death is a privilege only for those who exist.

However, Rayfield did not die. No, he could not die. Because the soul contained in the vessel called the body had been annihilated.

So this is not a corpse. It is not a corpse that can be evidence that something once existed and met its end.

This is a shell. Just a vessel. Something that looks like a human body but contains nothing.

By seeing that shell powerlessly rolling on the ground… everyone, even non-believers, cannot help but recognize it.

The existence of God—the true meaning of what God does not want.

To be deprived of even the right to die!

Eirene, staring blankly at all this spectacle… slowly looked at the back of Igeon, who was standing tall in front of everyone.

‘……!!’

Others may not know.

But Eirene, chosen by God, could know.

―Believe in God.

All of this was possible because she believed.

By simply ‘believing’ in Igeon… she realized that this unbelievable thing had happened.

“This, this can’t be…!! Lord Count…! Please, come to your senses…!”

At that moment.

The soldier was engulfed in a fear as if he had been hit on the head with a hammer.

The Count’s name… he couldn’t remember.

Instead, his mind was filled with an unknown voice. The voice of God.

Thump.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump…

Igeon lifted his head and looked at the soldier closest to him.

“Hiik……!!”

The terrified soldier instinctively realizes.

He doesn’t know what the word ‘ddyu’ means. A creature cannot fathom the mind of a god.

The moment one perceives it, they go mad. The moment a being, who is not chosen by the god’s love like Saint Erin, understands the mind of a god… … they are crushed by the weight of an incomprehensible truth and inevitably become insane.

So, it’s natural not to know what it is.

But there is one thing that can be known.

The moment that man’s, no, that god’s mouth utters the word ‘ddya’… … !!

“R-Run away!!”

“aaah!!!”

The soldiers threw down their weapons and started to flee.

Lee Geon, who raised his hand high into the sky with his eyes gleaming, slowly watched the scene… … then, only after the soldiers disappeared from sight, did he slowly lower his hand.

And then―

With a thud.

He collapses on the spot.

“……Lee Geon!!!”

Eirene quickly ran to the fallen Lee Geon.

His face… … had turned pale.

“Lee Geon, Lee Geon…! Get a hold of yourself…!!”

“Eirene…….”

Lee Geon looked at Eirene and once again gave a charming smile.

A smile that seemed like it would shatter if the wind blew.

“I… deceived you, Eirene.”

“What……?”

“Just as you deceived me… I also, deceived you.”

“I am not Lee Geon…… This is not to say that I used a pseudonym. I am―”

―I am not human.

“……!!!!!”

A god (神).

I am a god.

“To be precise, a vessel made in the likeness of a god….”

“Sharing the image of God, but never able to become a true God… A fragment created for the purpose of God…”

Eirene, who never believed without clear evidence, did not think about such things now.

She listened to Egeon’s words.

“God loves you, Lady Eirene…”

“What…?”

Before she could even mention that only saints receive God’s love.

[My motto is… What is mine is mine, what is yours is mine]

“Yours, mine… Everything belongs to God… That is God’s will. And with God’s power, nothing is impossible…”

His answer, as if reading her mind, added evidence to his claim of being God.

“Because He loves you, He wishes for you not to go astray… If you spend time here unable to trust anyone… you will suffer.”

“In the end, Lady Eirene, you will become a hated sacrifice… Falling to unite everyone through your sacrifice.”

As a fragment of God synchronized with Him, Egeon knew.

The catastrophe she would face in the circular auditorium―― her end.

The fate she would meet if the emperor continued to clash with the religious sect.

Egeon slowly placed his hand on Eirene’s.

And then-

“!!!”

A vision of an unvisited future entered Eirene’s mind.

The future she would face as a deposed empress.

After a completely new political system different from the previous autocracy was established, she saw herself engulfed in the flames of karma, atoning for all the sins of the old era in her final moments.

Was this what Rayfield meant when he said it was necessary for the new era?

As her intuition suggested, she was destined to fade into history with the old era.

And the only reason she could avoid it—God’s interest and love.

She finally realized.

The Egeon before her embodied God’s interest and love for Eirene.

“And, at the very last moment… Lady Eirene, you trusted me.”

―Lady Eirene, who could trust no one, trusted God.

“At that moment, because God’s will was fulfilled, I could borrow His power.”

If she were to be taken by Rayfield, Eirene would undoubtedly face a harsh fate.

Knowing this well, she could not speak carelessly.

God’s will – Because Eirene had faith in God, Igeon, a fragment of God, was able to use God’s power, but―

“―In the end, it’s just a fragment of God, so it’s impossible to fully absorb the power. So… maybe, this is the last.”

As he said this would be the last moment… red blood flowed from his mouth.

The price for a mere fragment daring to wield God’s power.

Eirene did not respond with words like ‘What are you talking about?’ or ‘Don’t say such nonsense.’

Instead, she caressed Igeon’s blood-stained face.

“…Igeon.”

“Eirene…?”

“Fragment of God or whatever… Honestly, I don’t really understand. It’s not that I think you’re lying to me or anything like that… Even now, I don’t really understand God’s will. Starting from why it’s so important to expose a woman’s chest, there are still so many things I can’t understand.”

Still.

“The fact that you are here now… And that you believed in me and saved me, isn’t that a clear truth? So…”

That you are Igeon. The person who believed in me, who deceived myself.

“Even if you are just a fragment, you are very precious to me…”

Drip, drip.

Eirene’s tears fell on Igeon’s face.

The eyes that once shone brightly were now dimming. The fire of life, the proof of existence, was fading away.

“Do you… love me?”

Igeon nodded slowly.

“…God loves you, Eirene.”

“Is God’s will your will?”

“Yes… Everything I say is God’s word…”

Everything, including the words that were well-cooked.

The words that God gave to Eirene.

“In that case…”

With a hug.

Eirene embraced the fallen Igeon, who was bent over.

“I love you too.”

“If you are God… I will gladly love God as well.”

The one who first told me it was okay to trust someone.

The one who first taught me what it means for my heart to race,

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The one who taught me everything about what it means to be born a woman and to love…

“I will believe in God. And I will… love God with all my being.”

Upon hearing those words, Igeon slowly lifted the corners of his mouth.

Then, he raised his hand… and wiped away the tears from Eirene’s eyes.

“Eirene… thank you. For loving me.”

“Thank you for believing in me, in God. This is not a farewell… It is merely a preparatory stage for the future that will surely come. A moment when you and I, Eirene, can live together peacefully…”

―Someday.

When the moment comes that God manifests in this world… we will meet again.

“…!!!”

With those words, thud.

Igeon’s hand fell to the ground.

The short life of the fragment of God, who had fulfilled his role, came to an end.

“…Ah… Ah… Ahhh…!!!”

Surely.

I knew that Igeon’s words were not lies.

I knew that this was not the true death or end of God—Igeon, but merely the disappearance of a fragment of God.

Even so, the fragment of Igeon, who had extended a warm hand to me, clearly existed here.

As proof… even in the painful situation where he was bleeding red and gasping for breath, he struggled to fulfill his role.

As a creature, Eirene could not help but weep. Even if it was a brief moment, it was undoubtedly a farewell.

“Igeon… Igeon…!!!”

And so, holding the fallen Igeon in her arms, she cried and cried for a long time.

Though tears were flowing, her heart was no longer empty.

She now knew that it was because Igeon’s love, the pure truth of God, had filled her heart…

How many minutes had passed?

Exhausted from crying, Eirene slowly stood up and looked back towards the monastery.

‘…?’

It was a feeling of being drawn.

As if something absolute was calling her.

Unconsciously, she slowly stepped into the monastery.

Passing through the dark corridors of the monastery, she arrived at the grand chapel where she and Igeon used to clean together… and what came into view was…

“……!!!”

Only then.

Only then does everything become clear.

What Egeon had said. Why her heart was overflowing.

Why such a thing had happened. Why she could trust someone.

What came into view was the portrait of God hanging on the wall.

A portrait depicting the face of the one true God, Igogodon.

The very portrait before which Egeon had prayed.

Eirene stared at the portrait as if her soul had been stolen.

The portrait was glowing. As if it were the only thing in this world that could emit light on its own.

And the sight of the portrait that came into her view, believing in Egeon and God――

* * *