[Aaron Side Story Episode 41]
5. The light of the heart (3)
* * *
Aaron concentrated his mind.
He is standing in the middle of the gymnasium.
More than ten scarecrows were installed nearby.
"…"
Ugh!
The shadow Aaron steps on shakes.
The silver spear he was holding faded leaving an afterimage.
[San(散)]
[Dark young mancheon(黑影萬天)]
Papa papak!
Dozens of black spirits from Aaron's shadow pierced the scarecrow at the same time.
In the middle of the scarecrow there was a hole large enough to be seen.
"Whoa."
Aaron sighed.
Another handful of anima was sucked out from the skill training I just had.
I saved it because I cherished it as much as possible.
hundreds of years.
No, it explodes the anima accumulated over thousands of years with a single fight.
Karma was like the light of a supernova that burns when a star that has lived for billions of years dies out.
It burns bright enough to light up the entire galaxy, but nothing remains after that.
'It's strong, but that much harder to handle.'
A power that cannot be awakened without absolute determination.
Even cultivating karma consumes karma.
'I think I understand.'
After the boy first realized karma.
Many challengers said they had come here to imitate the boy.
Where have they all gone now?
Become a specter before awakening to karma.
Even if you wake up, you can't handle it and become a ghost.
The boy himself was the only one who overcame and endured the reaction of karma to the end.
The boy concluded that the reason was 'because I don't have a heart'.
'I won't lose.'
Aaron looked to the side.
A red shadow stood there.
Know.
The fact that that is a delusion that only you can see.
'I have to jump over it.'
It completely swallows karma while possessing a human mind.
Only then will the boy be able to safely retire.
Aaron made up his mind.
* * *
This time is different.
The boy said that even immortal feelings cool down over time.
The human mind is finite.
Aaron wanted to deny it.
Some things change, but some things don't.
I wanted to prove it to my master.
The source of Aaron's karma is the pure dream of becoming stronger.
Here's another dream I've been working on with my heart.
'I don't want to abandon humans.'
Even if the origin of a dream is pure desire, Aaron, who handles it, has a human heart that wants to protect precious things.
wanted to keep
I wanted to give happiness that won't be broken in any hardship.
I wanted to have the power to laugh at the slightest tragedies.
It's not the strength I gained by giving up on Nina, my older brother, and my colleagues.
It was the power I got for them.
So deny
Aaron denied 'purity'.
* * *
Countless years have passed.
The boy said to Aaron at the gymnasium.
"Go there."
Aaron stopped stabbing the spear.
"What are you talking about, Master?"
"Building karma. just do that That looks good enough."
"Master, I am still weak. To succeed Master…"
"Do you want to die?"
Aaron's eyes widened at the boy's threat.
It wasn't a joke.
"If you accumulate any more karma, the shadow will consume you."
Aaron looked to the side.
The red shadow appeared larger.
"This is your limit. The more greedy you become, the more dangerous it becomes."
"But…"
I wasn't strong enough yet.
This much can't protect everyone.
"How strong do you want to be? This should be enough. Even if you go out right away, there will be few people who will scare you. You don't want to become as strong as Gion, do you?"
"…"
"Hey, are you sure it's real?"
"Shouldn't Master be able to retire in peace only when I become that strong?"
The boy opened his mouth in embarrassment.
"You want to retire me?"
"I want to give Master a rest."
"So you want to be strong enough to retire me?"
"yes."
"What's up?"
The boy clicked his tongue.
and said softly
"Who said?"
"yes?"
"Who blew the wind on you?"
"That's…"
"It's obvious without looking at it. It must be Yunet. I suddenly wanted to do all the dishes I hadn't done before and behave grossly. Whew."
"Master said it was dangerous."
"Am I in danger?"
"I heard that if we don't get out of here quickly, there is no guarantee of the future. Or is he wrong?"
The boy opened his mouth.
"So, since you don't know what lies ahead, do you devote yourself to training to the point where you can't even predict what lies ahead?"
"That's…"
"How come you have all these hogu? The guy who did business."
The boy clicked his tongue.
"You fool, do you think I don't even know that much? If you really want to quit, you'll come out here on your own. So you're still alive and well Don't you know?"
"if."
Aaron also responded.
"Why are you here? This is not a place where people live. I'm training because I lack strength, but isn't Master enough? Even if you hang out with your colleagues outside…"
"It's not a place where people live."
"…"
"So that's why you're here."
"That doesn't make sense."
"Where people live. Where monsters live monsters. If you just have to share it, it fits the world's logic."
"…don't be ridiculous."
Aaron gritted it.
"They were worried about Master. But to be trapped in such a dangerous place without knowing why. I don't understand."
"…."
"If the reason you are not leaving is because of the successor, I will be there."
"you?"
"yes."
"How do you mean?"
"I will be strong. more than now. So that Master can safely leave this place."
said Aaron.
"If the reason you don't leave is because you don't have a heart for Master. So if you gave up on yourself to hang out with them. I… I will destroy your useless prejudice."
The boy was silent.
"I heard from a colleague. You didn't do that before. However, I heard that one day, he shut himself up here and stopped coming out."
It wasn't like that before.
In other words, the boy was functioning properly as a member of the first party.
Then, at some point, that changed.
The boy shut himself up in Luanan all day, and his face was not reflected in Niflheim.
The only ones who know about the boy's existence are a few old heroes and his friends from the first party.
The appearance of the boy is only a small part of the fight.
In the rest of the moments, he spends near eternity alone in this vast space where no one visits and no one visits.
"There is no need for that, is it?"
Karma is built in solitude.
But there is no reason to spend all your time in solitude.
If you judge that you have accumulated enough strength, you can leave this place and live a normal life.
Rather, it should be.
We need to refill our shattered hearts and relationships.
That way you don't lose yourself.
I knew it even if the boy didn't tell me.
Although there is no limit to accumulating karma, there is a limit to the human mind.
If you go beyond the tolerance, your heart will start to crack.
It was for that reason that the boy stopped Aaron today.
then.
If you fill up up to the allowance, you can leave here from then on.
The boy's karma has already been filled.
Still don't go out
He continues to remain silent here and distorts his mind.
"I don't know why Master became a wolf."
Aaron didn't even know why he was once obsessed with power.
I didn't know why he was obsessed with becoming stronger when he knew he wasn't good enough.
I was giving myself over to an urge for no reason.
It was the boy who cured that urge.
"I only know a few things."
Aaron doesn't know.
I didn't know what had happened to the boy.
"Master is suffering from a mental illness. And leaving the disease of the heart alone will not change anything. It needs to be treated urgently."
Aaron continued.
"If you leave it as if it doesn't matter, your heart will die."
"Didn't I say I don't have a heart?"
"How can you get sick if you don't have a heart?"
"You're very good at talking back."
The boy's eyes became transparent.
It must be looking at the past somewhere.
"So what kind of medicine is the heart doctor thinking of prescribing for me?"
"It's the same drug that treated me."
"what is that."
"To forgive yourself."
Aaron said earnestly.
"This is what Master said."
"…"
The boy closed his eyes.
yet.
"Puha!"
I laughed out loud.
"Puhahahaha! I got this, I got it! forgive yourself? oh did i say that? driving me crazy. I will turn around!"
Aaron didn't laugh.
"Oh yeah. It was. Everyone who comes here says they have a mental illness. But that includes me too. This is ridiculous."
"Master."
"It's okay, it's okay. Don't worry too much. My condition is not as serious as you worry. I had no intention of dying here."
"Is it true?"
"Yes, it is true."
said the boy, laughing.
"If you leave here, I will leave too. I'm tired of playing alone. You should enjoy living in your later years."
"…."
"What are you looking at with such suspicious eyes? It's true. There is no such thing as a tragic past or a great event that you think of. I just did it because I was comfortable being alone."
"So, have you changed your mind now?"
"It was originally changed dude."
bean!
The boy tapped Aaron on the head.
It didn't hurt at all.
"Aaron."
"yes?"
"You're the serious, boring type."
"What are you talking about?"
"Hey, let me ask. Have you ever killed anyone on a mission?"
"Why did that happen all of a sudden…"
"Yes? doesn't exist?"
"…there is."
"You couldn't sleep alone that night, sobbing and weeping, didn't you?"
"It is not. It didn't suck!"
"Well, you must have thought something like this! Wasn't there a family of people I killed? What about friends? what about those people? Could I have done something outrageous?"
"No, not that far…!"
"Puhahaha! Others brushed it off, and when I had a good night's sleep, I couldn't sleep alone, and I was lying in bed and groaning!"
"Oh no!"
Aaron wept.
Of course, killing people wasn't easy.
but it was overcome.
"If someone like you appeared as the main character in a novel, I would be cursed at, dude! He said, "Where would such an idiot be?"
"…Ugh."
"I give advice as a senior in life dude. Living like that is exhausting. Live like your brother."
"Like your brother?"
"I mean, live with the mindset that it's none of my business. What does it matter? Whether they have a family or not."
Aaron remembered his older brother.
one israat.
He was cool and rational in everything.
Feelings after killing someone were meaningless hesitations and hindrances to him.
So he didn't care about that.
I didn't tremble in useless 'gungsang'.
Aaron thought of Jenna.
Jenna Shirai.
So was the girl.
Although he cared for his colleagues, he knew how to sort out unnecessary emotions by strictly separating others and colleagues.
was a smart kid
In fact, all the combatants in the waiting room were like that.
Feelings of shame after a murder or sympathy for the dead were luxuries and wastes for them.
Kill them because they get in the way.
Their situation is not my business.
'How about me?'
Aaron thought.
Would he have done the same?
"About one."
At Aaron's words, the boy turned around.
"Wouldn't it be okay if there was at least one fool like that in the world?"
"hmm?"
"It's not my business. I'm not interested in your circumstances. If you block it, it kills you. Deal with it if it gets in the way. If we live this way, the world will become clearer. There may be no need to worry."
"Ohh. So you killed him in the end? those people."
"yes. killed."
Aaron hesitated at first, but didn't after that.
He killed the humans who stood in the way of his older brother and colleagues.
"But deep down I felt sorry for them."
"Do you know what they call it?"
"I know. hypocrisy."
Unfortunately, he eventually kills him.
If it boils down to one thing anyway, what is the difference?
'If only I thought like my older brother.'
I wouldn't have suffered any pain when I killed them.
Everything becomes clear.
The world is clearly divided into black and white.
What works for me and what doesn't.
You can judge good and evil by your own standards.
But not Aaron.
"Your way of thinking means that you live in a tired world."
The world today is not peaceful.
The infinite world has turned into a tower, and heroes and monsters are fighting blood even at this moment.
What is the use of morality in these troubled times?
What is the value of sympathy, mercy, and love?
Although the whole world cries out for the Goddess of Mercy, she does not appear.
On the other hand, the goddess of innocence shows up wherever she goes, inciting resentment.
You said that your pure desire is more important than this universe.
They are urging everyone to throw out for the sake of one.
"I guess so."
live tired
You suffer from wounds that you don't have to deal with.
"I know it's stupid."
In a difficult world, innocence laughs at mercy.
Despise, ridicule, and despise.
A pup like a goose.
On a subject that can't even take care of itself.
stupid hypocrite.
"Isn't it okay to be an idiot?"
"What are you okay with?"
"This is the path I chose. Even if others laugh at me, I don't laugh at myself. That is all it takes."
"under?"
"My path is what I have chosen for myself. No matter how insignificant and ridiculous it may seem, I just walk that path. And…"
Aaron smiled.
"Wouldn't life be so dreary if there were no idiots and only geniuses?"
"I see."
the boy laughed
"There is no one who cheats, and if there are only cheaters, there will be no fun in the world. That's why."
"yes."
"Don't worry about me."
The boy's words continued.
"Your weakness is that you inflate unnecessary worries. I buy and do the heartache that I don't have to do. Got it?"
"Then…"
"I have no intention of making you succeed me. I have no intention of staying here until I die. When you're strong enough, I'll come out with you on my own."
"Are you serious?"
"okay. Shall I write you a contract?"
"Then prepare the paper…"
"Hey, can't you tell a joke?"
"I'm kidding too."
"What? anyway. If your sky-like master tells you to believe, just believe. When you're strong enough, I'll come out with you. okay?"
"How strong can I be?"
"Until the shadow beside you disappears."
Aaron opened his eyes wide.
"Did you think you didn't know? How many times have I raised a disciple?"
"…"
"Take care of your mind. It's not that you're being dragged by karma, you're dragging karma. You can't get out of here unless that's clear. You never know when you'll become a ghost."
"Then the reason Master doesn't leave here is…"
Does that mean it's because of himself?
Aaron is still unable to properly control his powers.
It meant that if Aaron made the karma his own, he could go out with his teacher.
"So your worries were of no use."
"okay. Fortunately, the."
"It ends here. Take control from now on."
Aaron looked to the side.
A huge red shadow was facing Aaron.
The moment Aaron is swallowed up by the red shadow, he becomes a ghost.
'Do I have to compete with that guy?'
who will survive in the end
Is it a pure dream to become stronger?
Could it be Aaron's human heart?
Aaron can't get out of here if he can't come to an end.
This was the final test.