Etranger

“Hmm. I’m so scared I don’t know what to do. It’s like how I felt when I first arrived in this place,” Biyeon sarcastically remarked.

“Well, you both have enjoyed a pretty good time here the last two years, right?” Dam dryly replied.

“Yeah… I’m so grateful.”

“So, what are you both going to do now?”

“What would happen if we decided to just end our lives right now?”

“Nothing changes. We’ll recycle your bodies, which will probably be a little cumbersome and take a bit of time, but that’s about it. Would there really be a difference between having two worthless beings alive or dead?”

“What if we just destroy the tracking and communication system that you’ve installed in our bodies?” Biyeon asked.

Dam gave a smile before stating, “It’ll be all for naught. Did you perhaps learn how to get rid of all the particles that have spread into every orifice of your body? The system we put in place will stay in your body forever. It’s the same for me and what’s in my body. It won’t disappear unless you incinerate your entire body.”

“Then, does that put you and me in the same boat?” Biyeon asked with a tired expression.

“Yes. We’re also constantly monitoring your body as well,” Sil, the female sage, answered.

“Wow… hearing it out loud is making me feel even more disgusted. Then am I able to directly communicate with other dragons or other sages?” Biyeon asked in a serious tone.

“No, you can’t communicate directly,” Dam dryly replied. For a moment, the two sages’ eyes brightly lit up. As if in passing, Biyeon continued her line of thought, “Then, that means that not all the sages have access to the information of my body?”

“No, everyone probably knows. We promised that all information pertaining to you would be shared openly. You can think of it as everyone knowing about the condition of your body in real-time,” Sil answered with a smirk. Biyeon couldn’t help but frown at Sil’s response.

Her facial expression reflected her thought of ‘Are sages really this dumb?’ After looking at San’s expression briefly, Biyeon turned the conversation over to another topic.

“But, why the sudden rush? I thought you guys lived for ten thousand years?”

“Something urgent came up.”

“That the Creator will come within a hundred years?”

“Did you know already? Something similar.”

“Why are you guys against him? Didn’t he make all of you? Were you children that weren’t loved by him?”

“There’s no reason for us to discuss these matters with you. We’re making and training a strong army and will soon change this world. This has always been our longstanding goal and calling.”

“Do dragons… really have such a dire reason to pursue such an objective?”

“We decided to transform ourselves. The Creator will not approve of our change. Let’s just say that all our preparations are for that eventual clash of opinions.”

“What does that have to do with changing human society?”

“The Creator’s power originates from humans.”

“Then, are you planning on extinguishing the entire human race?”

“No. If humans disappear, the entire world will no longer exist. We’re just going to erase the name that the Creator had given to humans and implement the name that we want. Does it make sense if I say that we’re planning on evolving humans?”

Biyeon’s eyes grew wide. This was an entirely new explanation. She already knew that the power of gods originated from the ‘faith’ of their believers. However, the sages were also stating that the Creator’s power originated from humans. Did Satan want a new humanity? A new order? Biyeon’s mind, which had been revolving non-stop under the acceleration state, was processing all this information as quickly as possible. Slowly, the fragmented pieces seemed to be falling into place.

The humans were a critical component of the Original Beings’ final confrontation with the Creator. Gods relied on human ‘faith’, the Original Beings and magic dragons relied on ‘evolved humans’, the sages and dragons relied on ‘limiting and balancing’ human influence, and the Creator relied on the ‘existence’ of humans.

San’s initial guess seemed to be spot on. Humans possessed the only code, and the Creator probably… if Biyeon’s thoughts were correct… was a human. Or could the Creator possibly be the final, complete form of a human, one that has achieved full acceleration?

The world that they lived in was the Creator’s world. The Creator probably did not want anything to pollute his world.

Then, what was the purpose of summoning San and Biyeon into this world? If the Creator was the one who summoned them, what did he want from them? However, why did they fall into the Master’s hands? Apollo had stated that the Master might be Satan, but Biyeon thought differently. She still needed to confirm a few details, but…

What was the main purpose and goal of the Creator’s archenemy, Satan? Biyeon recalled the conversation she had with Apollo. Apollo referred to Satan as the ‘First Human’, the ‘One Who Names’, and the ‘Mother of all gods.’

Therefore, Biyeon thought Satan must also be a human. In other words, he would be on the same plane as Adam, the ‘first named human’ in the Christian origin story of humankind.

However, Satan was a female figure. Did that mean that this world revolved around ‘Eve’s words’ rather than their own world’s ‘Adam’s words’? Biyeon wondered why she was thinking about Adam and Eve all of a sudden.

Slowly, long-held beliefs and existing constructs were being broken down inside Biyeon’s mind. The ‘dogma’ of years past was slowly being torn down.

‘Why did we think that the first human was a male?’

She recalled a scientific magazine that she had read in passing many years ago. The images and concepts of an article passed through her mind like a film passing through a movie projector.

The first signs of life had no gender. Genes were created. All procreation happened through one platform. Later, there was a differentiation of sexes, leading to the process of sex as a means of procreating. From there, diverse evolutionary paths took place with their own diverse life support systems. The powerhouse of cells, the mitochondria, became specialized for each species… and then… the mother of humanity, ‘Africa’s Lucy’! This was the logical explanation espoused in that scientific magazine. All of a sudden, Biyeon felt her head splitting. She asked herself where she was.

“And after you take over? What happens after that?” Biyeon asked while trying to deaden the sharpness in her eyes. She had asked the question while putting her head down and fiddling with her hands.

Dam responded with an aloof air and a sense of comfort, which stemmed from a sense of being superior to the other party. It seemed that these wise sages were enjoying their conversations with these daring yet intelligent human beings. 

“Once the sages evolve and the council is organized, we’ll start our operations of overtaking and ruling over humans. I know that you guys have tried hard to reform the Empire and the inner court, but all that will be for naught. The emperor and his court will naturally fall into our hands and control. A new humankind will begin.”

“Is there something special about this emperor and his court? Why would you need them? Couldn’t sages and the Fallen (including the Original Beings) take care of all this by yourselves?”

“Well- let’s just say that there’s a reason,” Dam said as his eyes momentarily widened before quickly settling down.

San peeked at Biyeon. Biyeon nodded her head once.

“If you have nothing more to say, get the fuck out of here.”

“Are you not going to answer our ultimatum?”

“If you were me, would you answer? Fucker,” San said with a smile.

Dam smirked and started moving his muscular body to get up.

“We’ll be sending people once a month. You better prepare yourselves well if you hope to survive.”

“Oh, not every day?”

“We’ll need time to analyze the results of each battle. It’s not as simple as you think.”

“And the location?”

“It’ll be different each time.”

“What if we don’t show up at the designated location and just run away?”

“Then the human species that you care so much for may suffer a bit.”

“You guys truly are pieces of shit. I’m so scared.”

“One of the gods said that that line would help rile you guys up.”

“Fuck you…”

Sil followed Dam’s lead and also got up from her seat. She turned to Biyeon with a smirk on her face.

“Aren’t you interested in whose kid this is?”

“Not really…”

“Hmm… I’m pretty sure you already know, right? Doesn’t the child resemble both of you?”

“All people look alike. Genes constitute 99% of one’s phenotype. If you’re done, leave.”

Sil frowned. She didn’t expect such a cold reaction from Biyeon.

“The child came out from my belly through your egg and San’s sperm. You’re really not interested? Aren’t humans very close to their offspring? You’re a terrible mother.”

Biyeon smiled in response.

“Mother? You’re really spewing out whatever nonsense that comes to your mind now, right bitch? If it came out of my belly, then it’s my child. Why should I be interested in someone else’s child? I don’t have such a weird hobby like you.”

“If I kill this child, you wouldn’t be affected?”

“You can do whatever you want. Why should I be interested? However, you probably made it for some reason, wouldn’t it be a waste if you kill it now? Wait, did you create it to use as a hostage? Dang… the way you guys think…”

Sil tilted her head. Her sensitive senses could tell that Biyeon wasn’t spewing out nonsense or falsehoods. Biyeon’s voice and actions did not waver in the slightest. Sil and Siluone did not expect this type of reaction at all.

A corner of Biyeon’s mouth rose up. She was clearly laughing at Sil. Biyeon spoke coldly, “I heard that a human body is made up of over sixty billion cells. All of my cells are important. However, no matter how important, some need to be thrown away. One week every month, I flush out those cells, quite painfully in fact. However, not once did I think that my body was doing something wasteful. So, why should I care about the thing that was created from what I threw away?”

“…”

“You still don’t understand humans. If you’re going to act like a human, not just look like one, go practice some more. Whether you choose to let it live or kill it is your decision… now, leave. I don’t want to look at your snake-like face anymore.”

Sil stared at Biyeon before looking down at the child that was against her chest. The young child was looking around and cocked its head to look up at Sil’s face.

Biyeon narrowed her eyes.

Snap! Crack!

Within the room, the sound of a screaming baby echoed. Sil had twisted the child’s arm to the point that its arm bones were jutting out of its skin. Sil observed San and Biyeon’s reaction while continuing to twist the child’s arms. However…

“Really… you’re such a weird bitch. Why are you causing such a commotion? You really want to fight to the end right now?” San roared out. Sil thought for a moment before shaking her head.

“This child’s name is Hon. I came to tell you that. You should remember it.”

The two sages quickly left afterwards. Sil left with a tilted head while Dam left with his hands comfortably behind his back. The child was so in shock and fright that it couldn’t even muster a cry, just whimpering constantly in pain…

It was the official announcement of the start of a new game.

***

Like always, San and Biyeon prepared.

Quietly, in deathly silence, the two focused on preparing what they planned to do. Inside the room, a candle was slowly dripping its wax. Every once in a while, in the silence, they could hear the wax hitting the top mantle of their fireplace.

“It was pretty…” San said as he flipped a page.

“Very pretty,” Biyeon dryly replied while staring at a map.

Their minds, preoccupied with other thoughts that they had no other choice but to think about, were calculatedly cold.

However, within the deepest recesses of their hearts, a flashy red-colored abyss, much like an ocean, was slowly raising itself up like an incoming tide. With narrowed, sharpened eyes, they sat…