This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 636

The sound rang out amid the intense battle.

A cheerful noise, which was entirely out of place in the current situation, captured the attention of those around, drawing all their gazes towards its source.

Despite everyone knowing how dangerous it was to get distracted during an ongoing fight, somehow, that was exactly what had happened.

It couldn’t be helped.

The sound was too jarring.

However, only ‘people’ turned their eyes towards the source of the sound, leading to observable movements laced with confusion springing up here and there.

A single butterfly, its wings and body colored a vibrant blue, flitted through the crowd during that chaotic moment.

An equally jarring scene as the sound just heard.

Yet, few noticed it.

Perhaps only Yoonseo did.

Looking at the striking blue butterfly that had somehow caught her attention, she thought, whoever created that, it sure stands out.

A butterfly dyed entirely blue from head to toe.

And not just any blue, but a fluorescent kind.

Wouldn’t it be weird if it went unnoticed?

Strangely, everyone acted as if they didn’t see the butterfly at all.

Could it be that a lapse in focus could threaten their lives?

No, it seemed more like…

The butterfly flew.

The blue butterfly’s wings fluttered.

Wait, is that really blue? Not red?

Huh? Why did I think that was blue?

It was obviously purple.

The butterfly flapped its wings.

Purple powder cascaded from the butterfly’s wings, adorning the air.

The butterflies flapped their wings.

Everything visible was soon covered in purple wings.

Thousands, tens of thousands of butterflies enveloped the surroundings.

Rather than marvelous, it felt grotesque.

And amid that incredibly strange scene stood a blonde woman, who appeared dangerously familiar now.

With butterflies swarming all around, she alone maintained her original appearance as she flitted her red lips.

Reflexively, I squinted my eyes.

It seemed she wanted to convey something, but perhaps due to how far apart we were, her voice didn’t reach me.

So, I could only rely on lip reading.

‘…Is it time to wake up?’

Time to wake up?

What kind of random nonsense is that?

Just hearing those words makes it sound like this situation is a dream or something.

But it couldn’t be.

The pain from the wounds sustained during the battle was too vivid to be a dream.

So it couldn’t be a dream…

<CRACK!>

“…Huh?”

Where did all those butterflies go?

Just a moment ago, they were everywhere I looked…

It wasn’t just the butterflies that had disappeared.

The higher entities that had been tormenting us also vanished from sight.

It was as if the scene I had just faced was indeed a dream.

“Whoah…?!”

A sound like choking surged into my ears amidst those swirling thoughts.

As I glanced towards the source of that sound, a figure squatting on the ground with their hands on their belly naturally came into view.

And the reactions of those around her were simple.

“What, what’s wrong?”

“Why are you suddenly doing that…?”

They appeared bewildered, completely at a loss for what was happening, and that was the entirety of the responses from the people around.

“The, my belly…”

“Your belly?”

They still seemed unable to understand.

“You must have been really tense.”

A voice that pretended to be worried yet sounded sarcastic.

“But seriously, how embarrassing is that? There are so many people watching.”

Even someone was openly mocking her.

With various reactions flying in from every direction, the girl who had her hands on her belly and was feeling around it seemed to finally regain her senses.

“No, there was definitely a hole here…”

“A hole? It looks perfectly fine to me?”

“Did you have a dream or something?”

“A dream? What are you even talking about? I was standing there just fine a moment ago.”

“Then maybe it was hallucination.”

“Hallucination…?”

“She’s an upper entity. It’s natural that she would have some special abilities.”

Listening to it, it seemed like everyone was starting to find sense in the logic.

Uneasily, the atmosphere shifted towards the idea that the other party could possess hallucination-related powers, so we should proceed with caution.

Thus, I inevitably began to ponder.

‘Hallucination? All of that was…?’

It couldn’t be.

The sensations that had dominated my body until just a moment ago were still vivid, but if all of that was mere illusion…

How could that be logically possible?

While the emotions were adamantly insisting on one side, the rational side held equally strong arguments.

If all of that wasn’t an illusion, then what on earth was the situation unfolding before my eyes?

That one short yet powerful question rendered me speechless.

Caught in that inner conflict between rationality and emotion, I was jolted back to reality by a gaze I suddenly sensed.

As I turned to seek out the source of that gaze, I found Miss Almighty looking right at me.

The moment I thought we locked eyes, she quickly gestured as if to say “be quiet,” which struck me like lightning.

I instinctively realized.

It was her.

Yes, that woman had definitely done something.

What that something was I couldn’t tell, but one thing I was sure of.

‘…Could it be?’

Had she reversed time?

Even if it were possible for an individual to do such a thing…

Yet, who knows?

While we were still trying to prove ourselves, she was on a level that overshadowed the world’s heroes, with her talents remaining largely undisclosed.

The only known factor being her abilities outclassing the average person’s imagination?

With that level of talent, wouldn’t turning back time for a moment be within the realm of possibility?

Was the bizarre phenomenon I just experienced that couldn’t be explained by common sense?

In a moment, such absurd thoughts filled my head, but I quickly shook my head in rejection.

If she truly reversed time, it was odd that only I remembered that fact.

Plus, in that vision—whether real or illusory—where ‘the girl’ plunged into the ground, clutching her belly, it seemed extremely unusual.

If time were indeed reversed, that event shouldn’t have happened at all, and yet, her reaction moments ago was undeniably one that suggested she remembered it, even if only instinctively.

As I wrestled with a continuous stream of questions, a voice suddenly broke the silence.

“Hmm…?”

The ‘girl’ hovering in the distance tilted her head, as if sensing something strange.

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【Baeksulhwa’s Perspective】

In the end… it really comes down to this.

Perhaps I had anticipated it when I first answered the phone call from my sister.

That it would eventually lead to this.

After all, Dogun always put Yoonseo first.

Even during our three years of remaining distant from each other, that fact hadn’t changed.

Of course, Dogun tried his best to treat us all fairly.

However… similar to how there are things you can only understand from the receiving end, there were aspects Dogun remained completely oblivious to.

That was the fact that whenever everyone was together, his gaze was always on Yoonseo.

When I first became aware of this…

I thought it was justifiable.

After all, they had shared many years together.

Perhaps it was a habit that had formed over time.

I tried hard to understand this for all this time, but now that the result has turned out this way, it made my insides simmer with discontent.

I was infuriated.

Facing Dogun, and despite having built up my resolve, I found myself unable to say anything, and that was what frustrated me the most.

Hence,

When Dogun said he wished for me to turn back, it was because I could muster no words in response to that request.