The World after the Fall

….

6981.

9612

11471.

12753

17831.

.

.

54121.

59812

61010.

63123.

….

Those were the names that were only called by numbers. 10 billion years worth of memories that these names had came rushing through Jaehwan’s head.

[W-what is this…!]

Mulack shouted in disbelief. When Jaehwan came back to his senses, there was an indescribable disaster. But of course, that disaster was happening within Jaehwan’s spirit also.

[Hey! That’s my left leg! I got here first!]

[Lemme take the right then.]

[I’m taking the right!]

[Get off. Just go there… uh. By the nipple.]

[You wanna die?!]

[HUH? Come get it!]

Jaehwan looked down at his right foot trying to pinch on his nipple dumbfoundedly. From his pinky toe to the top of his head, something was within him. As he looked down, he saw his nipple squirming as it started talking.

[What are you looking at?! I’ll pick your eyeballs out!]

A kick came from his left leg with a complicated [Setting] and his right hand unleashed fascinating [Magic]. His left eye unleashed an energy beam that exceeded the power of Machina’s beam and the right eye was spinning more fiercely than the Eye of Geshtalt, thus expanding the world. And even in his armpit, there was enough world power to compress the entire space coming out from it.

[Nnngh…. Aaaargh….. GAAAARGH!]

Jaehwan saw Mulack swinging aimlessly in the air in disbelief. An attack that the Big Brothers could not defend with their arsenal was pressing down on him.

There was the Jaehwan who had studied [Settings] for 200 million years and another Jaehwan who had kicked for 400 million years. In addition, there was also a Jaehwan who studied Machina for all those years, and a Jaehwan who studied the Eye of Geshtalt. They were all Jaehwan with their separate specialties in their Transcendence.

[Who else is there? Is there still someone who hasn’t taken control yet?]

[F*ck. I need still need to find a space!]

There was another Transcended one. The 63123th Jaehwan. He was the one who trained the [Naked] setting throughout all his time.

[You took control down to the armpit hairs! Where can I get in?!]

In his shout of frustration, 8741 cackled.

[Don’t worry. We left a space for you.]

[Huh? Where is it?]

Jaehwan then felt powerful energy coming from his genital area.

[Isn’t it a fitting place for you?]

[Y-you assh*les!]

Jaehwan became dumbfounded as he looked down on his genital shining brilliantly in gold. These fools… was this really necessary? Transcended ones each had their own comments.

[Just stay there alright?]

[Kek, you look good there.]

But it seemed like 63123 was actually happy to be there. Jaehwan felt his genital squirming awkwardly.

‘Dammit.’

Jaehwan gave up on everything and wondered why it was up to him to take all the shame and gave up on his thoughts.

[HAHAHA! I’ll blast you all to the end of the universe! This is the power of true [Naked]!!]

The cannon that was fired wielded the [Naked] Setting. Golden world power shot out toward Mulack and all of Panopticon. A golden storm swept through the entire time and space.

[T-this is vulgar! How dare you make such attack…!]

[Vulgar? Oh, so are you starting the ‘mediocre language’ battle now?]

[SHUT UP!]

[Master] Craftsmen were coming back to their senses inside the tank, trying to come out of them. The tanks were all destroyed, including all the screens. 63123 burst into hearty laughter.

[N-NO!!!!]

Mulack paled in disbelief like a rich merchant who had lost all his cargo in the sea.

[Why are you doing this! You are all Transcended ones! Why are you clinging onto a “being’s” pointless purpose?!]

At that moment, Jaehwan’s attack stopped. Mulack’s words had stopped the Transcended ones from moving. Why were they doing this? They weren’t human anymore. They weren’t even beings now.

[You have no reason to help him! You have no purpose! Then why…!]

Purpose? Reason? They forgot it all. They had forgotten every word that held such meaning. Then why were they helping Jaehwan? Why were they helping the original’s purpose?

Was it because the original was their master? No. They never listened to the original one’s orders.

Was it because they would die too when the original died? No. They had long forgotten the fear of death. Even then, they were helping Jaehwan instinctively.

But why?

Jaehwan then felt like every part of his body was looking at himself. It felt like the 16 Transcended ones were looking straight at him. Jaehwan wasn’t sure what it meant, but he felt a faint feeling. It was something close to Transcended sadness.

All the Transcended ones were not beings. However, these beings weren’t actually ‘beings’ in the first place. They were just Jaehwan’s ‘clothes’ to begin with. They were never ‘beings’.

[Don’t think like that.]

[You never considered us only as ‘clothes.’]

[You always asked us for advice.]

[You always asked us to help.]

[And we helped you on our terms. Our will.]

Jaehwan tried to shake his head, but his neck didn’t move. There was another Jaehwan on his neck also.

[We met friends because of you.]

[We received memories because of you.]

[We were brought to life because of you.]

[That’s why we became you.]

He felt like crying, but Jaehwan couldn’t cry. There were other Jaehwans in both his eyes. They kept on talking.

[We are you.]

[We transcended.]

[We lost our purpose.]

[We lost our feelings.]

[We are no longer human.]

[We abandoned our justice.]

[But we are still you.]

The 16 Jaehwans then turned at once. They turned directly to where Mulack was.

[You asked why are we helping him?]

Mulack was terrified as he backed away. There was enough pressure to reinstate the feeling of ‘fear’ into a Transcended one. The sixteen Jaehwans made such a thing possible.

[That is because we are Jaehwan.]

The sound of a drum came from somewhere and something melted away within the spirit. They were always Jaehwan. He cried soundlessly. Yes, this was the reason. This reason was truly fitting for Jaehwan himself. The Jaehwans then spoke in unison.

[That is the only thing that makes us a ‘being’.]