Chapter 345

I'd called it a trial and made it sound like a big deal, but honestly the World Tree's final trial itself wasn't all that difficult.

Because it wasn't a case of the person taking the trial having to do anything — the World Tree simply looked them over, weighed them, and reached its own conclusion. That was all it amounted to.

Even in the original, what made this trial hard was the extremely long, headache-riddled process of getting to take it in the first place; the trial itself wasn't especially hard.

The Lee Ye-eun of now would clear it with plenty to spare.

The problem was me, not her.

To begin with, I'd never once thought I'd be allowed to take the World Tree's trial.

And no wonder — the way I'd come by the World Tree's Branch was through what amounted to a loophole.

There was no way someone unqualified could take the World Tree's trial.

Just as I'd been told through notification windows any number of times, the World Tree had long since figured out that I hadn't inherited its power legitimately — to the point where, back when I'd absorbed another world's version of me inside Margo's dungeon, it had branded me with a curse and even added to my karma value on the grounds that I'd committed kin-slaughter.

When I'd taken Sbeungali down, the World Tree had eventually lifted the curse and forgiven me, sure — but being forgiven and being acknowledged as qualified for the trial were entirely different things.

"Ha, well now."

I opened my eyes at the voice by my ear, and there, right beside me, was Sbeungali's face.

What a thing to greet me the moment I opened my eyes — my face pulled into a scowl before I could stop it, and, unbothered by my reaction, he muttered:

"As you well know, this body of mine also took in the World Tree's Branch at one point, didn't it? That's why I seem to be able to show myself like this."

With a click louder than usual, he went on.

"On top of which, since we're inside your head, it makes this kind of thing all the more possible. This sort of business is my specialty, after all."

"What about Minerva?"

"…This Minerva is here."

She emerged sluggishly from within a shadow, and she'd shrunk in size — the way I'd once shrunk after drinking Evangelline's potion and been turned young again.

"This Minerva cannot tell what it is. From the moment I set foot in this space, the strength I could call upon has waned."

She shook her head as if she couldn't make sense of it.

"Whether it is, as Sbeungali says, because we are inside your mindscape, or whether the World Tree is the cause — this Minerva cannot say… but merely holding physical form like this is bleeding my strength at a rate I have never known. Such a sensation is a first for me…."

"Then don't push yourself, Minerva. We didn't come here to fight, and there's nothing dangerous going on."

"Even so…."

Minerva hesitated a moment, then, seeming to make up her mind, looked at Sbeungali and spoke.

"Should it come to it, offer up that body of yours if you must to keep him safe, Sbeungali."

"…Look, are you under the impression we're going into some kind of battle right now?"

At Sbeungali's incredulous shot-back, she frowned.

"That is precisely why this Minerva said should it come to it."

With that, she gave me one worried look, said "Call this Minerva's name any time you have need of me," and slipped back into the shadow.

Only after I'd told her not to worry could I finally take a proper look at my surroundings.

No — there was nothing to look at, really.

Because there was, quite literally, nothing around me.

"The World Tree's trial, hmm."

Sbeungali muttered it in a voice that carried an inner note of anticipation.

"What on earth is going to turn up, I wonder. Say, Yu Ji-hyeok — do you happen to know anything about this?"

"…Not really."

The World Tree's final trial.

What I knew about it amounted to this: the World Tree evaluated whoever came to take the trial, and then reached its own conclusion.

And, over the course of the trial, in the original, Lee Ye-eun saw the events of her past flash before her eyes like a rush of images.

Inside it, she went over memories she'd forgotten — of her late parents, of a promise made with a precious friend, of the companions she'd had and the countless enemies she'd stood against.

Through all of that, she seriously reflected on what it meant, in her essence and by her qualification, to be the head who led the clan, and one of the World Tree clan in her own right — and she arrived at her own answers.

At the end, she woke with every hesitation and every question she'd kept bottled up — the ones she'd never been able to tell anyone — finally settled, and realized somewhere along the way that she'd already passed the trial…. That was what happened in the original story.

Then would I go through something similar to her?

I was in the middle of thinking that when —

"Hey, what the hell are you doing standing around here by yourself?"

Ahn Do-hoon, who'd popped up out of nowhere, was frowning at me.

Ahn Do-hoon? Out of the blue?

I was staring at him, wondering what on earth was going on, when someone else appeared beside him.

Han Su-yeong.

She shoved Ahn Do-hoon aside without any subtlety and held her hand out to me.

"Everyone else is waiting. Come on, let's go."

"Already? What, so Hyun-woo's there too?"

At Ahn Do-hoon's question, Han Su-yeong looked at him warily.

"…I don't know. And what's with you suddenly asking about Hyun-woo?"

"What do you mean, what's with — well, obviously… hey, hold on. Don't tell me you're on about that weird rumor too?"

"…I don't know. How would I know?"

"Oh come on — are you serious!"

Han Su-yeong and Ahn Do-hoon were carrying on a pretty easy back-and-forth.

In the middle of it, Ahn Do-hoon was ranting — it wasn't fair, no way a rumor like that could be true, and just a few days ago he'd even had a girlfriend — while Han Su-yeong, looking like she couldn't care less, just kept her hand held out toward me.

…No. She wasn't Han Su-yeong.

To be precise, she was Han Su-yeong — but she wasn't the Han Su-yeong I knew.

There were no earrings in her ears.

What in the world was this.

Before I could stop it, I found myself muttering to no one in particular.

"…What is this — some kind of piece of the trial? An illusion?"

"No, it's not that."

Right then, a voice came from behind me.

Lee Ye-eun's voice.

No — similar, but not Lee Ye-eun's voice.

"You seem to have been through more than enough of that sort of thing already — no need for me to do it, and no wish to. Besides, you aren't one of my darling children, are you? Why on earth should I extend you the courtesy of arranging a trial for you?"

Standing there was a woman who looked exactly like Lee Ye-eun and yet was nothing like her.

I knew who she was.

Yes — that woman had to be….

"The World Tree's first shrine maiden…."

"Hm? What's this? Don't tell me you've laid eyes on this darling girl somewhere before?"

She tilted her head, watching me.

Right then, Sbeungali quietly edged back and ducked behind me, whispering:

"…This is a nightmare. It's the World Tree. To think it holds power on that scale — no wonder they say it's connected to countless worlds. That wasn't just talk."

"Come now, I'm asking you. Where in the world did you meet this darling girl?"

Her question carried a subtle pressure behind it, and my legs almost went out from under me before I could stop them.

Weight like this — I hadn't felt it since the first time I'd met Minerva.

Don't tell me the World Tree's on the same tier as Minerva — I was breaking into a cold sweat over that thought when Sbeungali whispered again.

"…Strictly speaking, aren't you a subordinate of the World Tree by virtue of holding its Branch? And World Trees are a lineage bound to unconditional obedience to any higher-ranking World Tree. That's why the pressure hits you this hard."

On the same tier as Minerva — if there'd been another monster like that out there, would there be any world left standing at all? At his words I gave a slow nod and opened my mouth.

"Do you know of the Seven Calamity of countless names?"

"Moktirunsha? Is that who you mean?"

Moktirunsha?

Thrown by an unfamiliar name, I was floundering when Sbeungali chimed in again.

"It's a name that Milited bastard went by at one point. Same Milited you know."

"…Yes, that's the one."

"What of that Seven Calamity."

"That Seven Calamity had a power that let it summon copies of beings whose blood it had drunk. While I was fighting it, among the copies it called up… there was the World Tree's first shrine maiden. That's how I came to recognize your face."

I'd expected her to get angry or lose her temper after hearing that, but against all expectation, she only nodded.

"I see."

"…Then — may I ask you one thing?"

She glanced at me once and nodded.

"You may."

"Why on earth are you laying the trial on me too?"

I said it and looked around.

Standing around me were people I knew.

Some of them I didn't recognize, and there were also several I couldn't help wondering about — why they weren't here.

At my question, the World Tree stared at me steadily.

A long while passed before she spoke.

"…Ah, I see. It wasn't you."

"Pardon?"

"No — I'm sorry. I was mistaken. Hmm, this shouldn't be happening yet…."

The World Tree tilted her head as if perplexed.

"But how curious — you've met nearly all the qualifications too. And on top of that… no wonder I mistook you. How could I not have."

"I'm sorry, but what on earth are you talking about right now?"

"A matter you don't need to know."

She drew that line firmly, then tilted her head again a moment later and spoke to me.

"But a matter that concerns you all the same. Hmm, come to think of it, there was never any such promise to begin with…."

She was muttering something to herself, and then, all at once, she gave a small hop from where she stood and came straight at me.

I tried to back away on reflex, but by then a branch of the World Tree had come up through the ground and locked around my ankle, and I couldn't.

Not content with clamping onto my ankle, it started dragging my body down into the ground, little by little.

"Don't struggle for nothing. It'll only hurt."

She said it with a flat, expressionless face.

I looked around in a panic, but there was no one there.

"It'll hurt whether you struggle or not, though."

"…Hyeok! Ji-hyeok!"

A hand smacked me smartly across the cheek and my eyes flew open.

Lee Ye-eun was looking down at me with worry in her eyes.

"You're awake! You wouldn't come around no matter how many times I called — you have no idea how worried I was."

"…How long were we out?"

"I checked — it hasn't even been five minutes since we came in here."

Lee Ye-eun said it and let out a small breath.

Even in the daze I was in, I could feel it — a pure, clean energy radiating from her.

"You saw old memories?"

She looked startled at the question, then quickly nodded.

"Did you happen to see her too — the World Tree's first shrine maiden, the one we saw back then?"

"Uh… yeah."

She nodded once more.

"She was incredibly kind, and treated me so well — honestly, it caught me off guard a bit."

"…Really?"

She wasn't remotely like that with me.

Pressing a hand to my throbbing head, I looked up at her.

"So — how'd it go?"

Without a word, Lee Ye-eun opened her hand and held it out to me.

A branch of the World Tree grew out from her palm, and an energy she couldn't even have hoped for at her old level began to gather there in an instant.

Success.

She'd passed the trial superbly, and her qualification had been acknowledged.

Right after, notification windows appeared one after another, as if to confirm her success.

System

Lee Ye-eun's awakening condition has been fulfilled!

Awakening condition — See to it that Lee Ye-eun passes the World Tree's final trial.

You have now fulfilled the awakening conditions of 4 people in total.

As a reward, the special skill 'World Tree's Guardianship' is generated!

You have passed the World Tree's final trial!

The World Tree's Branch comes to grasp the last of its hidden power!

The World Tree's Branch has acquired its fourth ability, 'Origin.'

Origin — what kind of ability could that be, exactly.

I was about to pull up my status window to look over the newly acquired abilities when —

System

You have satisfied the awakening conditions of more than half of the playable characters.

"…What?"

System

As the condition has been met, a hidden quest is forcibly initiated.

We wish you the best of fortune.

Another notification window had appeared.

"…Damn."

On the frozen land, in the middle of a savage, driving blizzard, a man quietly lifted his head.

Where his face should have been, there was nothing.

He borrowed the form and voice of the nearest being on the spot, and the man who saw it quietly opened his mouth.

"Something the matter?"

"…No, it's nothing."

Ahriman looked at the high fire spirit that had lent it form and voice — the one most people knew as the Smith of Yado.

"Let's pick up the pace a little."

"There's no need for that."

The Smith of Yado said it and quietly let out a breath.

"I've set the seal to collapse before long, so there's no need to hurry — none at all."

The instant he finished speaking, a horrible sound tore through the blizzard and rang out.

Ahriman quietly turned its head toward where the sound had come from, and the Smith of Yado only gave a small smile and breathed out a flame.

Juno's seal had begun to collapse.