I Became an Academy Genius Swordsman

Episode 69. Illusion (3)

Episode 69

One

Garam Shin stood up.

I limped as if I sprained my leg when I fell, but that doesn’t matter.

She touched Lee Si-woo’s hand.

It doesn’t move at all.

“According to the manual… .”

She recalled the knowledge she had learned during her healer practice.

The body of a combat hero is harder than most steel. Their bodies cannot be harmed with pure physical force that is not imbued with magic or energy. When both civilians and heroes are in an emergency, prioritizing the common people reflects the Awoken’s physical characteristics… …

“no… .”

She shook her head. The manual is not absolute. This man is clearly out of his mind. It is a very natural result if it is covered by piles of stones like a mountain.

And the cause is as clear as the effect.

He tried to save himself, but was crushed in his place.

“why… … ?”

she couldn’t understand Born with the temperament of utter indifference? no. Even from the perspective of the third person, Lee Si-woo’s actions could not be understood. It is impossible to lay down one’s life for others.

But, eventually, you end up questioning yourself. The act of dedicating oneself for someone already has a word defined in the dictionary.

sacrifice.

If so, why did he sacrifice himself? Sacrifices usually have a purpose. The value of that purpose determines what can be sacrificed… … .

“no.”

No.

Nothing you can get from others will be worth more than your own life. Concerns are back to square one.

Why was Lee Si-woo taken on his behalf?

Suddenly, rumors about him surfaced.

In the first monster battle, when everyone was frightened and helpless, he alone took up his sword and faced the monster.

At the border of the monster, he did not hesitate to stand in the vanguard and kill the monster and jump into the line of fire.

He has no frustration, no despair, no fear. His heart is made of steel.

He is an unbreakable sword.

He is a man born with the qualities of a hero.

“hero… .”

Garam muttered quietly.

The hero she saw was different from the image commonly portrayed in society.

Like the idols of the citizens, they basically had ‘depression’, ‘self-destruction’ and ‘anxiety’. The case of the soldiers at the monster boundary was even worse.

For her, the hero was not much different from the patient. Because of this, there was no fantasy about the hero. I thought that heroes praised by the public exist only in movies.

But, if he really has the qualities of a hero.

If you saved yourself with only ‘good faith’ without any purpose.

“Integrity is… … Is it like this?”

She held Siu’s hand tightly with both hands.

And I used the most powerful healer I could use. Although it devours mana horribly… .

“Angel’s Breath.”

A golden halo wrapped around her hand. A rescue request has already been made with a smart band. Even if it’s not that, the instructors must be working hard.

Now, the best Garam can do is pray that Siwoo Lee is not dead and heal him.

“… … .”

My head is dizzy.

Have you ever done heels for so long?

She looked at Siu’s hand.

It is a rough hand with a lot of calluses. The sight of him swinging his sword to the point of bleeding is clearly visible. Are you a hard worker? It will. Hard work is also one of the qualities of a hero.

‘There are rumors that he has a bad personality.’

That sounds like a false rumor. I was kind to myself.

Was it because I was holding his hand, or was it because he sacrificed on his behalf? The few scenes I had with him came to mind.

Things like the text he gave, the necklace he gave, the meal, the bright smile.

“What did I mean to you?”

Suddenly, I try to murmur emptyly.

Probably from the same nursery school. Between us who might be quite close.

He wondered if that relationship had played a big part in saving him.

And the curiosity grew quickly.

Garam was perplexed. This was the first time ever.

The curiosity grew and grew, and the form changed a little.

‘I hope that relationship played a big role in saving me.’

It was the first greed she had after becoming self-conscious.

The feeling of impatientness and hopelessness was foreign to her.

However, she soon accepted it. Greed was unfamiliar, but also familiar. Among the emotions others have for themselves, greed was also common.

It was just strange that he had feelings of greed for others.

I squeezed his hand tightly.

“Rather than the qualities of a hero… .”

I wished it was a little more personal.

When I was taken away by my neighbor’s older brother, when I was kidnapped by a taxi driver, when a homeless man followed me on my way to school. I thought it would be nice if someone would appear to protect me.

Like a hero, like a prince.

The person closest to it is now in front of me.

2

When I opened my eyes, it was a pitch black space.

It was a space without a single light, but I could see my body. It was translucent, or it looked like it had lost its color, that’s what the body in its spiritual state was like.

Siu looked around.

All miscellaneous things that had been placed on top of the hieroglyphs had disappeared, and only the ‘wall carvings’ and ‘wooden dolls’ were floating around him. Unlike Siwoo’s body, the color was dark and it was in its original state.

Except for those two, the others were unable to overcome the negative energy of the underworld and were broken.

This is the underworld, a crossing of the dead and a world made up of negative energy.

Byeokjomok is an object that defeats ghosts, the incarnation of Yin Qi, and wooden dolls are made of screaming wood that calls out ghosts.

Soon a pair of blue lights appeared in front of them.

It looks like a wisp of fire, but that is snow. The owner is Yeomramasa, that is, King Yeomra.

‘What happens to the world of the living and the dead?’

It’s not a sound, it’s a voice that’s directly embedded in your head. It was the first language I had heard, but I understood it.

Siwoo recalled the lines in the game and continued.

‘I got on the wrong boat.’

‘Are you lying to me?’

‘It’s real.’

He held out the previous quest reward, ‘Unknown Pass’.

The pass flew by itself and was placed in the middle of the demon fire.

‘… It’s a shame that the wooden plaque given to the boatman of the three provinces falls into the hands of the living.’

The goblin fire flickers.

‘Can I go back?’

‘If you set foot in the world of the dead, that is also natural law, and as a person who follows the natural law, you cannot do anything that goes against the natural law. However, since you got here by going against the natural order, it is right to correct the natural order.’

It’s hard to say, but it means that I will send it back in the end.

‘I will open the door to life. However, it takes time.’

‘What if it’s time?’

‘It’s enough time for this candle to melt.’

The candle that was born out of the air was ignited by a goblin fire. It came to Siwoo in a brass candlestick.

At the same time, the dark space began to dissipate.

‘When that candle burns out, there will be life gates here.’

After that, the dark space and King Yeomra disappeared.

The real underworld has appeared.

A gray sky full of overcast clouds.

There was no living thing on the earth that was comparable to him, it was just a road that stretched back and forth.

There were red rivers and green rivers on both sides of the boulevard.

And all sorts of ghosts with dim lower bodies, no, as if to inform the fact that it is the underworld. The dead were walking.

3

All the dead were walking only forward. The end of the 30-meter-wide street was invisible, but the dead continued to walk.

Siu walked after them.

Some of the dead looked back at Siwoo, as if they felt a foreign energy, but each time they lifted up the wall.

Byeokjomok is an item containing the energy of the extreme yang, and to a ghost with the extreme negative, it is as scary as King Yeomra. Ayeek-! The ghosts slowly moved away, leaving behind a sound.

Possibly, if you hit it with a wooden stick, the dead with weak energy may perish on the spot. However, Siu didn’t have to do that.

Most of these people lived ordinary lives and died ordinary people. To annihilate them is like killing an innocent person.

Each of the dead had a different appearance, but most looked like they were in their 20s or early 30s. It is not that he died young, but he comes to the underworld with the image of the time he remembered most intensely right before his death.

Siu moved quickly.

The wooden doll was kept in the bosom so that it would not fall.

The candle is burning slowly, but I can’t relax.

The reason why there is no penalty for the Hidden Quest, ‘Finding Kujamu’s Memory’ is that being in the underworld itself is a penalty.

The official name of this gray road where the dead walk is ‘The Road of Oblivion’.

The dead quickly forget the memories of their previous lives as they walk here. I walk this place until I forget all the regrets, emotions, and relationships I left behind in my life.

People who die suddenly in an accident or who have too much aspirations for life sometimes deny death and go against this path, but then they only lose their memories of their previous life more quickly.

This path of oblivion is the same even for the living. It’s just that the speed of oblivion is slow, and in the end everything is forgotten.

By the time this candle burns out, Siwoo will have forgotten quite a few things.

You can forget the name, you can forget that this world was a game. You may forget what you came here for, and worst of all, you will forget that you have to go back.

We must remember that oblivion can never be stopped, and that it will return.

In the game, if you periodically hit the left and right arrow keys, the character will say ‘Oh, yes. I came here to do a quest!’

Instead of Nanta using the left and right arrow keys, Siwoo drew an arrow pointing backwards on the floor. If you go against the straight road, you will see the gate of life.

“hmm… … .”

I wrote the word ‘生’ next to the arrow because it seemed to be lacking something.

“I wonder if you can recognize Chinese characters.”

After I erased it, I wrote ‘escape’.

“no.”

Something didn’t like it.

After much thought, Siwoo’s words were, ‘Just go, damn it. Don’t think!’

And screamed at the floor.

“Aww! If you see this, you should follow the arrow!!”

At this level, if you look at the arrow, you will go retrograde and go to the gate of life.

Siwoo kept walking, deciding to leave arrows and messages at certain distances.

“Cheoljin-ah, where are you?”

The reason I came here is to save Cheonilmun by advancing Kim Cheoljin. Although it’s awkward to say that you’re saving someone who entered the underworld on your own feet, it’s half-true, because if Kim Cheol-jin is trapped here, Cheonilmun’s power will fall into abyss.

Of course, it is also correct to aim for a sticky kite by taking him out. In fact, the latter is more sincere than the former.

So we need to find him even faster. Before it becomes a completely blank slate, you have to ‘imprint’ the fact that you saved it and let it escape.

It was when the candle melted about 1/10th of it.

I found a dead man standing still.

He is a child who comes to his knees. There is no one who strongly yearns for the time when he was 3 years old that he can’t even remember. It must have been a child who died early for some reason.

And there was someone beckoning to the child. No, it won’t be a person.

On the red river on the left side of the boulevard, a boatman in a hat was gesturing with his bony arm.

The child looked at the boatman and tilted his head, then toddled to him. The boatman put the child in the boat and rowed away.

That child will be reincarnated.

If you cross the red river, you can be reincarnated. Conversely, the green river on the right is the river of annihilation. Only when the soul is erased will it return to nothingness.

The dead do not see that river.

It is because they walk endlessly on the road of oblivion, immersed in lingering feelings and memories of their previous lives.

When you forget everything and have no memory to look back, then you see the river on both sides.

and to choose

Based on the very vague feelings left after the memories are gone.

will you live again?

Or will it just perish?

I see a child leaning on a ferry and watching his face reflected in the red river.

A smile naturally came out of harmless laughter, but Siwoo hurriedly made fun of his steps.

It’s because I couldn’t remember my own face all of a sudden.