Bailonz Street 13

Liam caught the sword with a startled expression, while the Black King hastily stretched out his arm. He seemed to have realized what I was thinking.

Black thorns pierced through the spot where I had been standing mere seconds ago.

“You should have moved faster.”

“Jane!”

As the crushing pressure suddenly lifted, I saw Liam crying out and running towards me.

I’m sorry. I keep showing you scenes like this.

My body falls, cutting through the cold, damp night air. Down… down.

His voice grows more distant. Liam leans over the stone railing, futilely reaching out his arm—an arm now too far away to catch me.

‘He’s crying.’

I truly am the worst lover. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve made Liam cry. People usually promise things like ‘I’ll never make you cry’ or ‘I’ll never cause you pain’, but I’ve made Liam’s hands bloody and drawn tears of blood from his eyes. Why do you love such a woman? All I do is give you reasons to apologize.

‘This is the worst.’

Splash.

With that thought, I hit the ice-cold surface of the Thames. I never knew being hit by water could hurt so much. Water fills my ears, making them feel stuffed, and bubbles surge around me. Through my blurring vision, I can see fireworks exploding above.

The Thames in midwinter wasn’t as cold as I’d expected.

* * *

Jane Osmond is smiling.

Liam had never seen someone so radiant. He always thought so. Jane would always say she looked ordinary, but to Liam Moore’s eyes, she was always the most radiant person in the world. That was true now, and would always be true.

That radiant person was smiling with utter relief, as if she had fulfilled a lifelong wish. Her navy blue skirt flutters in the river wind as she leans against the stone railing. Just like that.

Liam Moore couldn’t understand Jane’s words. Though his head comprehended them, his heart refused to accept them.

“Jane!”

His mind suddenly stops working. As his mind freezes, so does his body. Liam, paralyzed by shock, finally manages to sprint forward. He doesn’t care about the crushing force or anything else. All he can see is Jane, who has thrown herself over.

A voice snickers in his ear.

‘You’re too late.’

He tries to grab her, but nothing remains in his grasp. Everything slips through like sand.

Why? Why do I always lose you like this? Am I too slow to follow you?

It was the Greenwich people who stopped Liam as he seemed about to throw himself after Jane.

“Lord Moore! You must calm yourself!”

Those words grated on Liam Moore’s nerves.

“Calm? Did you say calm?”

“You’re too agitated right now. At this rate…”

“At this rate. What?”

They clamp their mouths shut at his terrifyingly low voice. He wants to snap at them—how could anyone remain composed after watching their loved one jump before their eyes? While Liam Moore feels pain like poison gathering in his heart, these people tell him to prioritize the world. It’s typical Greenwich weighing of priorities.

“Go on. Tell me. You seem quite capable of explaining yourselves.”

“That being is still here!”

Ah, yes. That precious god of deception. Liam Moore muttered cynically as he looked at the sword Jane had left behind. It had been blunt at first but was gradually taking on a proper sword form. He found it amusing that he had reflexively caught it when she threw it. What thoughts had Jane had when she gave this to him?

Though the King was on the verge of being recalled due to the destruction of the catalyst, he remained composed. The means to reach other worlds had vanished, and the gates were closing. For all his grand schemes, he had gained nothing. Yet he wore a satisfied expression. That irritated Liam Moore.

How many people had been sacrificed because of this being’s twisted desires?

Just because he was bitter about a world where he didn’t exist. For something so trivial. To drag Jane from that peaceful world, drop her here, and now drive her to embrace death.

“William Moore, what do you plan to do?”

“…Your plan has failed.”

The King laughed.

“I know. It’s a failure. I seem to have underestimated humans. I thought they were weak and only concerned with their own interests, but to think they would sacrifice their lives to save others.”

“The rifts are closing too.”

“Ah, such a waste of magical power. I had planned to use not only my true form’s power but to sacrifice all of London. I didn’t expect all the altars to be destroyed.”

The King explained, laughing, that if he could create a gap by sacrificing one city, infiltration would be possible anywhere. It wouldn’t take much power to completely change that world.

“Wouldn’t it have been easier to just die?”

Liam frowned at this suggestion.

“Rather than living with a sound mind, in this chaotic world, going mad or dying would be a blessing.”

“Nonsense.”

Despite Liam’s rebuke, the King continued speaking.

“I’ve been watching since you first volunteered as a guardian and started disturbing the boundaries. I’ve watched you for a very long time. Whose voice do you think you’ve been hearing?”

“I’m not interested.”

But Liam had somewhat figured it out. More precisely, he realized it the moment he faced this being. The voices that had circled around him since childhood, hoping he would quickly go mad, fell silent before the King. The only thing they had said to Liam was ‘Show respect!’

“All magic has its origins.”

“Shut up.”

“If you had died before meeting Jane Osmond, that poor, lovely Jane Osmond wouldn’t have needed to die multiple times for your sake. She wouldn’t have been involved in any of this.”n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

“Be quiet.”

Black blood showed between the King’s teeth when he laughed.

Though the sight would have made an ordinary person faint immediately, Liam Moore’s strong mind prevented him from easily losing consciousness. Even now, as the moment of Jane’s jump kept replaying before his eyes. Even as he easily ignored his desire to just lose consciousness.

The King spoke in a generous tone, as if understanding such feelings.

“Either way. It was fun.”

“Fun, you say.”

“Yes. It was fun.”

He didn’t want to listen to any more of this nonsense. Liam Moore stepped forward, holding the sword.

The ominous, dark man stood with his arms spread, waiting for Liam Moore’s next action. To an outsider, it might have looked like a pious gesture that would make Liam Moore appear to be the ultimate heretic. To Liam, it felt even more blasphemous.

“It was quite entertaining to watch you drag Jane Osmond into this hell. There won’t be another amusement quite like it.”

He mocked that Liam’s very existence was practically hell itself. What was more unpleasant was that Liam partly agreed with those words. The thought that he, that his existence had broken Jane Osmond, would never leave him. That’s the nature of guilt.

Jane Osmond’s sword pierced through the King’s heart. The King cackled. The sound grated like nails on a chalkboard. His convulsive laughter split the night sky, continuing to echo endlessly. Then he opened his chest where the sword had pierced.

The place where his heart should have been was empty.

Killing him wouldn’t kill him, and driving him away wouldn’t drive him away.

Someday he would set foot on this land again in another manifestation. It had been that way since civilization first began.

But for now, they could call it a ‘victory’ just for having avoided the immediate crisis. Even if it was a victory that left only wounds.

“It was very entertaining.”

As if to say a god could never truly die, leaving only mockery behind.

The King turned to dust and disappeared, like volcanic ash or fallout, black particles carried away by the wind.

* * *

When my body no longer hurt, I slowly opened my eyes.

I saw a blue sky. I could feel sunlight shining on the water’s surface. Waves rippled gently above my head. It was too far to swim up. My body continued to sink.

‘What is this?’

It was too clean to be the Thames, and the sky was too clear to be London’s. Most decisively, when I opened my mouth, gasping for air, the water that entered was very salty. That’s when I realized I hadn’t fallen into the Thames, but into the sea.

Is this a dream? Or the flashbacks people see before death?

Just as I thought I must really be dead, I tried to speak. Being underwater, only bubbles emerged from my mouth.

Tilting my head slightly to look down, I saw a bluish-green, hazy sea. It seemed impossible to see the bottom. I couldn’t even guess how deep it was. It wasn’t a dark sea, it was more like… how should I describe it?

‘Like Jeju Island.’

It feels like the sea around Jeju Island. I can see coral and fish too. I had the distinct feeling that I had seen this scenery somewhere before. I barely remembered that it was when I was very young.

Someone supported my back. Then they began pushing me strongly toward the surface.

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