The Nebula’s Civilization

Fortunately, Jang-Wan stood up first and said, "What are you doing? Lakrak! Stop her!"

Lakrak, who had been dozing off, yawned and woke up. Looking around without knowing who had called him, Lakrak noticed Hegemonia.

"Oh, Hegemonia. What brings you here?"

Hegemonia also stopped and looked at Lakrak. He looked happy to meet a kindred spirit.

"What are you doing here? Let's go out with guns. I was about to have a match with Nebula."

"Another game?"

"Listen, according to Nebula..."

Hegemonia briefly explained their disagreement about squad tactics in mountainous terrain. To those who were familiar with the topic, it could have been a discussion that could dramatically change the doctrine of firearms combat, but to most in the temporary courtroom, it seemed very out of place.

Lakrak partly agreed with Hegemonia, but also replied that it was impossible to know without directly comparing tactics.

Lakrak rubbed his eyes and said, "Is Salkait coming?"

"Of course."

"Who else?"

"Redin and Alma..."

"Just squad combat?"

"Oh, shall we settle things today?"

The tip of Lakrak's tail wagged lightly. At the sight of his visible excitement, Jang-Wan glared at Lakrak as if to burn him with her gaze.

Lakrak sneakily averted his gaze to the sky and then said, "However, it's difficult right now. This is also part of the job. Becoming a Constellation brings a lot of tiresome tasks."

"...Well, yeah. I understand. We haven’t been able to find Nebula anyway."

"Come to think of it, I think he mentioned something about needing to check something in the library."

"Oh, did he?"

Hegemonia checked her system window. Although the Sanctuary showed that Nebula was not found, Constellations were able to choose not to disclose their location if they wished. In such cases, a game of hide and seek played out. It was inconvenient, but Constellations had become used to this. In very urgent situations, the Sanctuary would contact them first anyway.

Hegemonia said, "Alright. I'll call you when I find Nebula. Wrap this up quickly and finish."

"Understood."

Jang-Wan shouted, "What do you mean 'understood'?"

Lakrak waved his hand cheerfully at Jang-Wan to dismiss her question, and Hegemonia left.

Then, not so far away, Hegemonia got into a quarrel with Crampus in the spectator seats, and Crampus, fuming, followed Hegemonia. To Aldin, it seemed like Hegemonia intentionally picked a fight to balance the numbers in case Nebula wasn’t coming. Aldin considered Hegemonia someone to be kept at a distance.

In the midst of the chaos, Lakrak hit the podium again. "Hm, what were we talking about?"

Jang-Wan gripped her forehead. "Why don’t you just stay out of this."

"That's a bit..."

"Were you sleeping?"

Lakrak lowered his head slightly and his shoulders shook up and down. He seemed to have found Jang-Wan's words funny.

Jang-Wan and Damien, having the duty to carry out the trial amid the chaos, exchanged glances and established a mutual understanding. Ignoring the rest, they continued their conversation.

"Anyway..." Damien continued, "There’s not even much more to say about this game Aldin called us to. It was a kind of deception. Aldin left out the existence of the continent hidden by Dragons, the existence of evil gods, the second moon, and the existence of the old gods. We didn't have a fair game."

Jang-Wan slightly furrowed her brows and then said, "Aldin had her own game."

"That doesn't justify absolution."

"But she tried to break the cycle with the old gods."

"Then why didn't she take the opportunity to break it when it came? If it weren't for Nebula, we would have died as mortals." Damien picked up her cage. Then she raised it to eye level with Aldin. "Answer me, Aldin. I'm genuinely curious. I know you chose us from Earth with your meticulous plan to bring us here. Nebula said you planned all this to escape from the old gods. But if that was really the case..." Damien lifted the cage even higher. "Why didn't you stop?"

Aldin answered, "I just changed my mind."

"Pardon?"

"After the ancient war ended, it has been 40,000 years. Initially, I thought there would be an opportunity to escape from the other old gods, so I planned to escape. But despite my arrangements, you seemed to be failing. So, I changed my mind. As long as Bifnen was alive, the era of the old gods would continue. I thought it was better to give up on you...and wait for the next opportunity. That's all."

Damien nodded as if she had expected it.

On the other hand, Jang-Wan seemed somewhat bewildered. "No, Aldin. You shouldn't say that. We agreed not to say that."

Jang-Wan grabbed Aldin's sleeve, but Aldin didn’t turn to look at Jang-Wan.

Damien stated, "So, you were an opportunist after all."

"Yes."

This wasn't the truth. The truth was more complex and personal. Aldin didn't stop because she felt like she was still in a game. It was indeed an unfair game. However, the opponent in this game was her favorite player. A player who could easily overcome a bit of unfairness with skill. It wasn't just hope, it really was so. Player Nebula had won against players who used map hacks, increased production speed, or resource cheats in ranked games. Against such an opponent, a player with Aldin's capabilities couldn't help but give their best. Even if it was an unfair game, giving it one’s all was a form of respect for the opponent.

‘...No, this too is an excuse.’

Aldin faced the more precise truth within herself. She wanted to beat Sung-Woon. When she climbed the ladder to the Sky Castle with a broken wrist in the museum, Aldin had forgotten what consequences the end of the game would bring. She wanted to win, by any means necessary, even if it was dirty. She would never have made such a choice if she were in her right mind.

If Aldin had won, she would have led a life of regret and reflection, just as she had done with the Returner. Aldin considered it the symptom of her disease. She was broken in a way different from the other old gods.

Aldin then saw the Light of Eternity and Life beside the cage Damien had put down, pulsating. She realized the conclusion of this trial.

'This...completes the plan.'

Jang-Wan turned Aldin around. Aldin's body, which had been relaxed, naturally turned. Then Jang-Wan slapped Aldin's cheek. Aldin’s head whipped to the side, but compared to the pain Aldin had endured before, it was too weak, leaving Aldin bewildered by this.

"Are you crazy?" Aldin saw Jang-Wan with tears gathered in her eyes. "Do you want to die?"

Aldin felt sorry for Jang-Wan. But just as Aldin wasn't Sung-Woon's Ji-Woo, she wasn’t Jang-Wan's Ji-Woo either. Aldin had long considered her life to be her own, yet that life had never been hers. It belonged to the system, or to Bifnen, and now, to Sung-Woon and the Sanctuary.

'It's a story that can't be explained anyway.'

The story of why Aldin didn't stop wasn’t only hard to explain, but even if understood, it wouldn't have led Aldin to the ending she truly desired. The idea that she had carefully selected players to participate in the game in order to escape from the old gods was only partially correct. Sung-Woon and the other players were under a misconception. What Aldin truly wanted was not freedom from the old gods, but eternal rest from them—in other words, death. Aldin wanted her life to be her own.

Damien said, "It seems we're almost at an end."

Jang-Wan criticized, "What do you mean? We could talk for days and nights on end about this."

The shrike said indifferently, "This isn't a real trial, Jang-Wan. There's no such trial."

"I…know that."

"How can there be a proper trial without laws? We just wanted to give Aldin a final chance to explain herself out of compassion, and she threw away that chance. Or perhaps, she just told the truth."

"Don't talk to me like I'm a fool."

"That's because you're making a fuss. I know your story. Aldin is not the person you think she is."

"...I know that."

"Then accept it."

The shrike picked up the glass orb projecting the Light of Eternity and Life. The orb resonated with a bright light.

"The Light of Eternity and Life has already reached a conclusion. The jury, our judge, has come to one conclusion. The trial is over."

Jang-Wan began to sob, then started crying.

Aldin felt pain in one area of her heart. Aldin had called Jang-Wan into the game to create a crisis for Nebula. She reasoned that if Nebula continued to win without any significant challenges, Nebula's Divinity level might not rise enough over time. It was for such a simple reason. She hadn’t anticipated this problem in her plan.

‘Why is she crying when she possesses power almost equivalent to a god?’

With the system's power, controlling emotions would be simple. Like reason, emotions were also physiological phenomena. If one didn’t want to cry, they could easily avoid it. If one didn’t want to feel sad, they didn’t have to. Yet Aldin herself had been no different from Jang-Wan in the past.

Lakrak checked various pieces of information through the system window. Aldin expected that among them, the wills of the jury present, the Sanctuary, and the Light of Eternity and Life would be there.

Lakrak cleared the system window and said, "Well, then..." He stood up and leaped on top of the podium. Sitting on the podium with his legs crossed, he placed his hands on his knees and looked down at everyone.

"I render the judgment," Lakrak announced. "The old god Aldin has accumulated numerous sins over tens of thousands of years under the commands of other old gods. Even though those were commands and she was conditioned to find it difficult to refuse them, the existence of those sins cannot be ignored. Furthermore..."

With a light tap, Lakrak's tail hit the platform. The audience, already focused on Lakrak, concentrated further.

"Despite hardening her heart during the 40,000 years of searching for players, Aldin went against her original intention at the last moment when she had the chance to stop her wrongdoing. This act, separate from merely judging the old god Aldin's sins, signifies the inherent instability of this being and the potential impact it could have on the future of the Hall of Myriad Stars. The judgment is not about vengeance, so we must consider whether this entity can coexist with us."

Jang-Wan bent over facing down at the platform, as if she didn't want to hear anything. Aldin hesitated several times before placing a hand on Jang-Wan's shoulder.

Now, Lakrak proceeded to pronounce the second judgment verbally. "Therefore, as per the will of the Light of Eternity and Life...the old god Aldin is punished with life."

Few understood the last sentence intuitively.

"What did you say?" Damien asked.

"Punished with life. Aldin will not die, but will live to serve Abartin and the Hall of Myriad Stars."

"Lakrak, but you just..."

"Look at Aldin's face."

Damien did so and understood Lakrak's judgment. Jang-Wan also looked at Aldin's face with red teary eyes, surprised by Lakrak’s words. Aldin's face was filled with despair.

"This is the will of the Light of Eternity and Life that read the truth, so the old god Aldin cannot escape through death, but must atone for her sins with good deeds until causality is sufficiently satisfied."

Aldin swayed and fell to the ground.

Jang-Wan’s shoulders began to shake, laughing. "It's okay, it's done."

Aldin felt a chill down her spine from Jang-Wan's laughter. It was a feeling of fear. But that wasn’t all. Another emotion followed.

Jang-Wan reached her hand out to Aldin, who had fallen, and said, "Get up, Aldin."

Aldin lifts her head.

Jang-Wan, still with tears in her eyes but also a bright smile, said, "Are you prepared for what's to come?"

Aldin shook her head and stammered, "No, I should have...my story should have...ended here..."

Without waiting for Aldin's full response, Jang-Wan helped Aldin stand.

"I'll teach you." The Constellation of Sacrifice, who won the game through repeated self-sacrifice, said to Aldin, "I'll teach you how to use that life."

Something began to swell inside Aldin's heart, having been emptied by fear.