Chapter 289

When the Observatory of Star’s Dream could no longer be used,


When the Lord no longer allowed me that miracle,


I thought it was because I had abandoned hope.


Because I had given up on the hope that I could defeat the Primal Demon King,


I believed it was a punishment for that.


But that wasn’t the case.


My assumption was wrong from the start.

Hope is living while drawing the sun in the darkness.


But if that sun betrays hope,


What should we believe in as a symbol of hope from now on?


Perhaps that’s why I fell into despair in the past.

I thought tomorrow’s sun would rise,


I believed that as long as the sun existed, so did hope.


But it wasn’t the Demon King who plunged me into despair.


It was like that from the beginning.

What I saw when I looked too far into the future—


It was a hell of fire covering the sky.


It wasn’t something humans caused or could cause.


And it wasn’t something that could be stopped.

It wasn’t because I couldn’t defeat Demon King Grimudo,


No matter what means I used, I couldn’t oppose him.


What I glimpsed in the fight with him wasn’t the near future.

It wasn’t too close,


But it wasn’t too far either.


It was the wrath of the sun, coming sooner than expected.


In the future I saw, no one could stand against the enraged sun.

When the world was covered in scorching light, nothing could withstand its brilliance.


The continents burned like furnaces, the seas boiled. Eventually, the very ground we lived on turned to charcoal and vanished.


That was the future I glimpsed.


And perhaps, the catastrophe that is still approaching even now.


It was the true, destined end of this world.

-Now I remember. What you saw that day. And why He took away your memories and miracles. You looked too far into the future and abandoned hope. Abandoning hope is no different from abandoning the Lord.

An angel, a pure entity without eyes, nose, or mouth.


The faceless angel, whom I’ve known for a long time, rebuked me and spoke thus.

-Even if you abandoned Him, He did not abandon you. Rather, He subtly hinted. Why one must not lose hope and fall into despair. You’ve already realized the answer without me needing to ask. You’ve seen how the hope left by someone in the past now shines.

‘But I don’t think that’s something to blame me for. Who wouldn’t be disheartened after seeing such a sight?’

I couldn’t speak, so I muttered it in my mind. Of course, hope keeps a positive mindset in difficult situations and helps imagine a better future. It can aid in solving problems, but it’s never a universal golden key.

Hope can be the first step and an important driving force for change, but it alone cannot calm the sun’s wrath.

-So, did the Lord blame you? Originally, life is so fragile that it barely emerges when all conditions are met, lives its era, and vanishes. The sprout of intelligence is rare and precious among them. It’s hard to appear but disappears in an instant, easily shattered. That’s why…

But it seems He heard my inner mutterings. He paused for a moment, looked toward the sky, and then turned back to me.

-That’s why we exist. To ensure the faint spark of intelligence doesn’t flicker and disappear. We angels do not directly intervene in the world. We merely adjust possibilities, encourage intelligence to awaken, and block the possibility of destruction in advance.

-If even one person holds hope and is optimistic about the future, we do not abandon that world. Originally, the crisis of the sun that would befall your world was something I had to resolve. You should have overcome the crisis without even knowing what was happening in the heavens.

-I would have acted so that you humans wouldn’t even know you were living within a miracle. But I didn’t. Why do you think that is? Because this has already become your task.

Though I couldn’t see eyes, a nose, or even a mouth,


I could clearly feel that He was smiling.

‘But how could I possibly deal with the sun?’

-Do not limit your own potential. Do you know why you couldn’t be resurrected and remain as a soul? It’s because you’ve already become a pure spiritual being. Even I couldn’t find a way to return your soul to a body, so I had to leave it as it is.

‘But I truly don’t have the ability. If I had the power to deal with the sun, the adventures I’ve had until now wouldn’t have existed.’

I was just bewildered. Without even needing to check, I knew I was already dead. My body had disappeared somewhere, and only my soul remained in this cold cave.

Even in life, I didn’t have such power, and I didn’t think it would suddenly appear after death. If I could have done that, there would have been no reason to go through all these adventures to stop the cycle.

The Primal Body. That massive lifeform that is the Arctic itself is a wonder of the earth, something transcendent. But if you place that enormous lifeform before the sun, it’s…

I haven’t done the calculations, but wouldn’t it be no different from a person standing before the Primal Body?


That blazing, massive celestial sphere isn’t something humans can deal with. Even if you poured everything from the continent, it wouldn’t make a difference. This isn’t even a deep thought.

None of the powerful magics I’ve seen so far could touch the sun. No one has tried, and it’s not something you can even attempt, nor is it something you’d need to try to know the outcome.


Even if you brought the Black Steel, the symbol of the Primal Demon King, it wouldn’t be enough. Even if that steel could consume everything on earth, could it really consume the sun?

Perhaps, if it were the Thorn imbued with the power of the Ancient God, it might be possible. But the Thorn had already lost most of its cold energy after being embedded in the core. It didn’t have enough cold energy to affect the sun from the start.

Even if that much power remained and somehow managed to reach the sun to throw the Thorn, if the sun were to cool down, it wouldn’t be better than it boiling over. No, it might be worse. At least in the former case, you could burn painlessly in the sun’s wrath. Even if there was pain, it wouldn’t last long.

-The beings of this world and the afterlife are different. Those who transcend the cycle of life and death are different from those who don’t. That sun may seem incomparable to you, but it’s destined to burn for an era and then cool into a small white mass. A star is ultimately just that.

-Don’t be too afraid of the powerful beings in this world. Open your eyes. And look at the one beyond. How great he was in the world of the living. He held the power of life and death over countless beings, capable of doing anything he desired. But death strips away all pretenses. In the world after death, he’s just a pitiful wraith.

A deep, dark abyss where no light reaches.


But I could see that distant height.

It was the first time.


Seeing him so diminished.


The grandeur he had in life didn’t follow him into death.

That Demon King who seemed so large,


That massive Grimudo,


The one who cast a shadow over me and my party.


Now, he looked so small.

No matter how far he went, I felt like I could grab him now. No matter the distance, I could cross it and capture him.


The image of the Manticore flashed through my mind. Now, I could settle the grudge. Now that he had fallen so low.

The grudge for the neighbors of Pumpkin Vine Village,


And for the parents of Yurinel and me.

The grudge of Parnell, who became a fallen royal after the kingdom was destroyed by the monsters he lent.


The grudge of Lucia, whose family fell because of that Demon King. Now, I could make him pay.

The grudge of Citadel, which suffered greatly from the volcanic eruption caused by the Phoenix.


The grudge of those injured or killed by Modrig, the Death God he created.


Yes, I could make him pay for all of it. Just reach out, grab him, and exert force.


It felt like I could crush him.

-Apostle, in your current state, you could crush him with one hand. But you didn’t. Why is that? Have you forgiven the grudges you once held?

If my heart didn’t stir, it would be a lie.


But I couldn’t do it. In the end, I couldn’t deceive myself.


Instead of reaching out to grab him, I just watched his retreating figure. In the end, I couldn’t forgive him until the last moment, but I didn’t want to punish him this way.

Above all, I saw.


Him retrieving my body from this deep place and carrying it away.

‘The Lord hasn’t taken his life yet. Surely, He’s giving him a chance to atone for his sins. He still has a chance for repentance.’

-You could have ended him. But you didn’t. You made a noble choice. You did well.

I don’t know what expression I was making,


But the angel just patted my shoulder.

-Anyone with power would want to repay the grudges they’ve suffered. That’s natural. Anyone would do the same. But those chosen as Apostles must not do so. They must not interfere with the world according to their own will.

-The Lord, who watches over the world, has given free will to all for His wise reasons. So we must simply watch as humans walk their paths. Even if they bring destruction upon themselves, they must bear the responsibility for their choices and learn.

So I asked.

‘Then, in such cases, should we just let the world be destroyed?’

-We do mitigate their suffering and calamities to some extent, reducing them to a bearable level. We try to avoid destruction as much as possible. Judgment isn’t our role, nor should it be. We are merely shepherds tending to the flock of life.

And He answered.

-But in cases like now, where destruction is brought about by events unrelated to your choices, we make exceptions to ensure the world continues safely. You should hurry. Though there’s still much time left in this world, you don’t have much time left.

‘From the way you’re speaking, I guess I can’t come back to life, can I?’


-That’s right.

He spoke so firmly that it made me a little sad. I knew my life was running out, but I didn’t expect it to come so quickly.

-You cannot be revived, and in fact, you can no longer remain in this world. Right now, I’m forcibly holding back your ascension, but it won’t last long. At most, three days, so you should move quickly. There’s much for you to settle.

But that day has already come, and there’s no point in dwelling on it.


All I can do is use the little time I have left to do what I can.