Chapter 405 - Side Story Chapter 25 - Hochi (4)
Hochi (4)
A pearl was placed on a flat stone.
Pearls are auspicious gems.
Unlike other jewels, the pearl conceived by life itself contains birth and death.
It was a smooth pearl with no blemishes.
Kirikiri struck the pearl with a stone.
If you hit it by mistake, it will bounce off and roll away.
But Kirikiri smashed the pearls very neatly.
“Unggg.......”
Kirikiri groaned as she looked into the remnants of the broken pearl.
This fortune-telling wasn’t good either.
It was a fortune telling, but no matter how much she looked at it, there was no room for interpretation.
Suddenly, Kirikiri wondered if he had ever paid so much attention to fortune telling.
There wasn’t.
Before and after becoming a god.
It was a sensible thing to do.
The start was also because of the challenger.
The challenger, Lee Ho-jae, went to the God of Order of his own volition.
She could hardly have predicted the outcome.
The God of Order was already beyond Kikiri’s prediction range.
Only the great God of Slowness could guess what kind of will the machine god, who had power that had come close to the level of a transcendental god, will realize.
Lee Ho-jae was also a challenger that was difficult to predict.
He was a human being who had become a god alone since a little over ten years now.
She couldn’t guess the outcome.
But she couldn’t just sit back and wait.
The glimpses of the future she could view were regretful.
The God of Remorse existed as proof.
But like everyone else, Kirikiri couldn’t overcome her anxiety and curiosity about the future.
Kirikiri was confident.
She knew how to use fortune-telling in a very positive way.
As soon as a positive prediction comes out.
As soon as a negative prediction comes out.
She tried to pull it in her favor.
Fortune-telling was the direction of the trend, the shadow of causation.
When that figure comes to reality, it can be changed as much as you want.
She was well aware that her own efforts and actions could shape the future to some extent.
Kirikiri looked down at the fortune telling with confidence.
And as soon as she checked the fortune-telling, her confidence was gone.
There was no scar like this.
There is an end but no beginning.
She repeated the fortune telling over and over again, but the result was the same over and over again.
In an adventure, the end means a new beginning.
There is no eternal end.
Even if you come back after an adventure and settle down.
That peaceful and comfortable life will also be the beginning of another adventure.
But the fortune telling was telling that...
There will be no more new beginnings.
As the long adventure is over, the true end will come.
Kirikiri released her own ear that she had been holding on to unconsciously.
As soon as it was released from her hand, her ears pricked up towards the sky.
Her ears were stiff enough to feel the heat.
‘Am I going to die?’
The end of the fortune telling was reminiscent of the end of her life.
The end of all adventures.
The extinction of the grand universe was executed through the destruction of the minor universes.
Death.
Kirikiri thought.
What her own death meant.
Even though she already wanted to die, she became a being who could not die.
That she is facing her death.
“Hooojae is losing.”
In the end, the God of Order achieves complete transcendence.
The world comes to an end like that.
“Ahhh...”
Kirikiri moaned.
She too had to destroy the world.
Even so, it should have weakened the God of Order.
That doesn’t guarantee victory, but the win rate would have been a little higher.
“What to do...”
Kirikiri did not have a powerful card that could reverse the direction of that fortune telling.
She had no way to induce a variable in the confrontation between the God of Order and the challenger.
That was then.
A portal appeared in the middle of the field.
Three people were summoned above the portal.
Hochi and Yong-yong and the lava giant on the 61st floor.
Kirikiri’s eyes widened at the unexpected appearance of the characters.
“Huing?”
* * *
“Wow!”
it was Yong-yong.
Yong-yong was holding Kirikiri’s hand and spinning round and round.
Kirikiri was still buzzing as if she didn’t understand what was going on, and was being dragged around by Yong-yong’s hand.
Seeing that, Hochi thought it was a strange thing.
Yong-yong seems to like Kirikiri.
He probably remembers that she was from the first time he saw her.
Rather than having a strong affinity, it was closer to what young children would see as a kindergarten teacher or host of a children’s entertainment program.
Is it because it’s a rabbit?
It seems to be so.
Hochi strongly affirmed his thoughts.
Kirikiri hugged Yong-yong from behind, who was turning endlessly.
When Hochi is hugging him, Yong-yong fits snugly in his arms, but his legs tremble a lot because of the small difference in height between him and Kirikiri.
It looked like a little one was holding her little brother.
Kirikiri approached while hugging Yongyong.
She asked Hochi.
“What’s going on here?”
Hochi felt annoyed.
How should he explain it?
Is it right to be honest?
Should he deceive Kirikiri?
What if Kirikiri won’t let them pass?
In an instant, all sorts of thoughts filled his mind.
Hochi turned his head for help and looked at the Old Man.
Old Man did a great job.
He just ignored Hochi’s gaze and looked into the distance.
What bothered him was the firm refusal.
Hochi felt sad inside.
In the midst of this, Kirikiri’s round eyes were urging Hochi for an answer.
“This is pretty, right!”
Yong-yong, held by Kirikiri, pointed to his clothes and said.
“Uh... uh... huh.”
Kirikiri’s answer was unconvincing.
The military look is not to Kirikiri’s taste.
“What are you doing here?”
Kirikiri immediately asked the question again.
Hochi was forced to confess.
“Are you on your way to find Hooojae ?”
“Yes. You’re okay, right?”
Kirikiri’s round eyes widened.
“It’s not okay! No way!”
* * *
“If you persist, I will punish you!”
Kirikiri put her hands on her waist and shouted.
Like a strict teacher.
But Yong-yong was no ordinary student.
Yong-yong did not break his stubbornness.
He told Kirikiri, who had declared that she would not even open the way, that he would find a way to find Lee Ho-jae right on the 61st floor.
Even if the system collapses.
“Impossible! Huh!”
“It’s possible. All I have to do is follow Dad’s way of connecting the passage to Earth.”
Yong-yong countered that it was impossible.
Kirikiri pondered for a moment after hearing Yong-yong’s words.
She soon came to the conclusion that if it was Yong-yong, it was really possible.
“Aaaah! Why the hell are you doing this to me!”
Kirikiri was clamoring with all her might.
Yong-yong was strong.
Watching Kirikiri’s stubbornness, his expression didn’t change.
“Hey, you can’t just go.”
Kirikiri changed her attitude right away.
Instead of urging harshly, she began to ask Yong-yong.
“No.”
As expected, Yong-yong was adamant.
Suddenly, the conversation between the two became the other way around.
“If you don’t go, I’ll give you the macaron I saved.”
Kirikiri took out a macaron set from somewhere.
It was a macaron set box divided into 4×4 compartments, but only three of the 16 macarons remained.
Were you giving away leftovers?
Hochi felt embarrassed.
Even that macaron set looked somehow familiar.
No, he thinks Lee Ho-jae bought it a while ago.
“This is delicious.”
I’m not going to eat it
I don’t need it.
Besides, that would have been absolutely disgusting.
The color is also a bit weird.
There is also white mold.
She was trying to save it, but it must have been that she hadn’t eaten it for too long.
So, ten years after he bought it, she still has three of those macarons left.
And if it’s spoiled, throw it away.
Don’t keep it like a souvenir.
The nagging reached the tip of Hochi’s tongue.
Recently, since he was in charge of pointing out things in the church, it was Hochi that was used to pointing out things to others.
“Hey, it’s delicious.”
Hochi ignored it.
Yong-yong was not interested in macarons either.
Kirikiri tried to persuade him in other ways.
“If you go, everyone will die.”
“No, they won’t die.”
Kirikiri clasped her head in response to Yong-yong’s resolute sword-like answer.
It felt like a headache.
Of course, it was only a feeling.
“Well, everyone ignores me.”
“Wouldn’t that be okay. Our Yong-yong is a god.”
said Hochi.
Hochi thinks if it’s Yong-yong, it would be helpful for Lee Ho-jae as well.
“...do you mean that you know what the God of Order is like?”
The God of Order was originally a god of machines created to counter and restrain the gods.
Because of its overly superior performance, he has acquired a self and is approaching transcendence.
“If you go inside, divinity will become meaningless. You may lose your divinity altogether. The God of Order is such a god.”
Hochi had to try hard not to turn his eyes to the old man standing next to him.
In fact, there was a case right next to them about the loss of divinity.
God loses their divinity.
It was a loss worse than death.
However, Yong-yong did not succumb to Kirikiri’s warning.
“It’s okay. I’m strong even without it. Without it, I’m the strongest.”
Kirikiri made a tired expression without realizing it.
She also explained to Lee Ho-jae about the power of the God of Order.
At that time, Lee Ho-jae said that he could do it, and he went in at will.
The same answer came back from Yong-yong.
This family doesn’t make sense at all.
She felt like her clothes were about to burst out of frustration.
Hochi was bothered in his own way.
Yong-yong’s last words, that he is the strongest, caught his mind.
That wasn’t true.
Without divinity, Lee Ho-jae was the strongest.
Hochi, who had watched Lee Ho-jae and Yong-yong’s matches many times, knew best.
Yong-yong would have known that too.
Nevertheless, the reason Yong-yong is so optimistic is not that he really thinks he is stronger than Lee Ho-jae.
Because Lee Ho-jae taught him that way.
He has the mindset that he always thinks he is the strongest.
When Hochi was again thinking about Yong-yong’s education, Kirikiri pointed out Hochi and tried to persuade Yong-yong.
“If you don’t know, other people will be in danger.”
“I am fine.”
The Old Man next to him spoke first.
“I have already lost my divinity. Even if my divinity is lost again, it has nothing to do with me. And it doesn’t matter if it’s dangerous. This is a body that is already dying due to the collapse of my divinity.”
Kirikiri moved his gaze to Hochi without strength, as if she had no energy to speak anymore.
What is he going to do?
“Uncle is fine.”
“Why?”
“Uncle has no cause and effect.”
Kirikiri was silent for a moment after hearing Yong-yong’s answer.
So was Hochi.
There was no cause and effect, a story he had heard once before, but he couldn’t understand why it suddenly appeared again.
“You mean you know what causality means?”
Yong-yong nodded his head.
“I know what you’re saying...”
Kirikiri muttered to herself like that, and then went silent.
She stood blankly without saying a word.
Standing tall like a stone statue.
Yong-yong was also silent.
Hochi wondered if Yong-yong and Kirikiri were talking telepathically, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
Both are just silent.
It was an awkward silence.
It had suddenly become so quiet that he was concerned about the sound of his own breathing.
Hochi looked up.
He said nothing, looking at Yong-yong and Kirikiri, who didn’t show any movement, alternately.
Kirikiri, who stood like that for a while, spoke up first.
It was a completely unexpected sentence.
“Okay, I’ll let you in. If you pass my exam first.”
After finishing her words, Kirikiri suddenly waved her hand.
In her hand was a gleaming golden blade.
The blade was pointed straight at Hochi.