Gu Milmil stared at me silently.
Soo-oh hugged me from behind and gave Gu Milmil a stern look.
Sitting between them, I first brought up the topic she would most likely want to know about.
“Miss Gu Milmil. If you hope for him to return to his original form, give up. That’s not possible.”
At my words, Gu Milmil frowned.
“Why? If it’s about giving you, can’t you just take it back?”
Of course, maybe that would work?
I don’t know what would happen since I’ve never actually taken it back.
But I have no intention of taking it back.
How could I after making him a harvester?
But if I explained this straightforwardly, I’d get stabbed.
So I’ll only explain the facts while shifting the blame.
“This is a contract, Miss Gu Milmil. In what situation did he make a contract with me? If he hadn’t made the contract then, have you imagined what would have happened?”
At my words, Gu Milmil fell into thought.
Then, as if realizing something, her expression slowly hardened.
That’s right.
The day Oh Myeongseong made the contract.
In Aksa Gorge, they were dying at the hands of Yoo Joyeong, the unified leader of a group of five swordsmen.
Especially Gu Milmil was in great danger, and Oh Myeongseong got severely injured while trying to save her.
In a situation where their defeat was obvious, Oh Myeongseong made a contract with me to survive.
He was on the verge of death and desperately grasped at straws by speaking to the power inside him, but it was enough for me to make contact.
So I instantly healed all his wounds and killed Yoo Joyeong. But after surviving there, Oh Myeongseong became known as the killer of a sect leader.
He went to a place full of monks to somehow change the situation, but he was branded as a demon head at the entrance and began a long escape.
So, what if Oh Myeongseong hadn’t made the contract?
There’s a high chance both would have died in Aksa Gorge. With luck, Gu Milmil might have survived, but she knows that would have been difficult.
“You made the choice.”
Soo-oh also made the contract to survive, and it’s the same for Heavenly Demon.
It’s all just the result of the contract. All lights that have despaired to the bottom are like that.
When there’s nothing they can do with their own power, when their body no longer moves, when there’s really nothing left but death.
Yet I make contracts with those who don’t want to die.
People who simply accept and resign themselves to death surprisingly don’t despair enough to reach where I am.
When people have the will but no way up no matter what they do, they fall to the depths of despair.
“So you’re saying we can never return to how we were?”
“Yes. It’s uncertain if it’s even possible to begin with.”
I don’t know about myself either. I don’t even know why people get stronger when I’m pushed into them. I have vague guesses, but nothing has been clearly revealed yet.
“Do you want to go back? Do you want to go back to before the contract and pretend it never happened?”
Feeling that jabbing too much might raise hostility too high, I emphasized the moment they chose.
Then Gu Milmil fell silent.
She knows it too.
Hehe.
“Those who know already know, Gu Milmil. Once I’ve been pushed into someone, I can’t be pushed in again. It means it’s impossible to make the contract again in a situation where you’ve suffered great injuries.”
Please die quietly and give up your warmth then.
It’s better not to say such things.
Gu Milmil pointed at Soo-oh clinging to my side.
“So did that child make a contract with you too?”
“She was on the verge of death.”
At that time, Heavenly Demon was still an enemy, and I didn’t know what would happen if she found out about meeting you. There was a high chance of being killed if it was discovered that I removed the insects from her body.
So I hurriedly made a contract to erase those traces. And because of that experience, there’s a high chance Heavenly Demon became a harvester.
At least she directly saw the wounds healing.
Though I didn’t expect her to become a woman.
“Back then, there, you made a contract with Heavenly Demon.”
Ah.
You must have seen Heavenly Demon revive and kill Gu Seongyong then.
“Yes. Heavenly Demon was the one who called me to this world.”
“Called you to this world?”
Gu Milmil asked with a puzzled expression, and Soo-oh also looked up at me slightly with a questioning expression.
Heavenly Demon didn’t talk about that much.
Ah. Right.
There’s a way to prevent them from questioning my power too much here.
“It seems the contract with Eunjae remained. Originally, I’m a cold sea quietly stagnant down below.”
Gu Milmil likely knows Eunjae’s name. However, this person has never been to Eunjae’s dwelling that Gu Seongyong and Heavenly Demon entered.
At least as far as Gu Seongyong and Heavenly Demon know.
Power that existed in the past, though not verified, gives the illusion that it’s somehow okay. That’s why old customs don’t easily disappear.
Because it’s been done since ancient times, people trust it mindlessly.
Not knowing the reality, they trust based only on past facts.
“Martial God…!”
As expected, she’s surprised. And I can tell just from her expression that she understood with that. Despite nothing actually being revealed.
“Martial God had the same hair color as you too. Don’t tell me he became a Martial God because he made a contract with you?”
Ah, I need to be clear about this.
I shook my head.
“No. He rose to the position of Martial God purely because he did well. Even if I give myself, most people die after wielding power and getting hit by greater power.”
That’s why even if I send memories, they can’t build the foundation to call me.
It’s not that there are no wise people, but such people soon become satisfied with their position and live their lives.
Still, since I started pushing myself in to make harvesters instead of making them explode, I’ve watched hundreds of people.
But almost no one died satisfied, saying they lived a happy life.
Few died of old age.
They’re killed during their lives for some reason.
So I know I was right. If I give power without asking for any particular price, they head towards ruin on their own without me saying anything.
Not only in faded man’s memories, but in the writings left by occasional intellectuals of the world, there are similar sayings.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Yes. It means great power eventually becomes great evil.
Of course, not everyone becomes like that.
The most extreme counterexample I know is Tis.
He reversed that and died properly of old age.
There are certainly exceptions. But those are like defective products.
And even those defective products gave a lot of warmth. Because sometimes there are enemies that can’t be stopped unless you die.
Humans are creatures that live more emotionally than rationally, and even if the other person is righteous and good, many people hate them if they killed someone within their fence.
Even if anyone can see that the person who died deserved to die.
It’s not rational or reasonable from a mechanical perspective.
“I just give myself. Everything gained afterwards is their own.”
It’s a preventive measure saying don’t call me bad.
“Choseol. Then, what do you gain?”
Gu Milmil pointed out a good point.
That’s right. A contract means exchanging something important with each other.
Because there’s benefit.
“The end. I contract to take everything they’ve achieved until then after they die.”
In reality, I only take warmth, but I wrote the contract that way.
Then people drew out the concept of the god of death here.
And I used that.
It even worked well, with everyone becoming harvesters.
Wow, I was really happy then.
I thought the whole world was flowing according to my will.
But who would have known the glass bottle couldn’t withstand that and would break?
“How cruel. You’ll take everything they’ve achieved until then? It means all life after contracting with you is yours.”
That’s true.
Because I’m always watching after that.
“So did I do something wrong?”
I didn’t do anything wrong. I desire warmth, and they need power to change reality. It’s a fair trade.
Though it’s frankly a fraudulent contract.
At least in countries where human rights are in the constitution.
But not here.
“Or are you going to say it’s wrong to desire power to break through immediate danger even if it means mortgaging the future?”
For someone who received those benefits?
I slipped in some criticism too. Then, she should understand. This is a question criticizing her for applying double standards after getting everything she could gain.
An ordinary person would brazenly push forward here.
They would criticize, saying it wasn’t what they wanted. I’m me, and you’re you.
But unfortunately, good people find it difficult to do that. Therefore, when checking the final settlement results, they often gain much greater benefits than those who act selfishly.
But that’s not easily visible, is it?
Foolish people can’t even calculate that.
“What do you do at the end?”
And wise people ask again. To know what they don’t know.
“When they die, I take the warmth people have. That’s all.”
Since we’re connected anyway, I don’t really need to go find them.
I know the contract passes to their children, but I have no intention of mentioning that separately.
I told the truth, but I never said I’d tell all the facts, right?
I know because I’m not smart enough to remember everything and lay out the board.
If I forcefully stuff it in, it will surely go wrong somewhere.
Rules exert powerful effects when followed.
Gu Milmil stares at me.
“In the end, all I found out is that this contract can’t be reversed.”
Then Soo-oh gently tugged on my clothes. Wondering what it was, I met her gaze, and Soo-oh asked hesitantly.
“Then, does Choseol want to go back to where Choseol was?”
“No.”
Ah, this answer came out surprisingly quickly.
“There’s nothing there. I’d rather stay here.”
I said that while patting Soo-oh’s back. I wonder if I spoke too early. But if I had spoken when she was a bit more rebellious, it feels like it would have cracked her heart greatly.
Feeling it would be too shocking if I spoke too late, I told her while we weren’t too close yet.
Maybe we’ve become quite close.
Enough for her to proudly call me family.
Phew.
This is my mistake too.
I turned my gaze back to Gu Milmil. It’s not polite to drift to another topic while talking to someone.
Gu Milmil looked at me and Soo-oh, then smiled strangely.
“I see, I think I understand about you two.”
Gu Milmil said it would be rude to stay too long and got up. As I was seeing her off, something suddenly occurred to me and I impulsively threw out some words.
“Miss Gu Milmil.”
“What is it?”
“I want to remove the insects inside the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult people.”
Humans who aren’t free have difficulty causing big events. That means warmth decreases too.
“Me too. But let’s talk about that a bit more slowly. Night is falling, isn’t it?”
I can faintly sense goodwill from her tone.
I know she dislikes the insects inside people’s bodies from how she carries medicine that can remove insects from the body. Even though a year has passed, I remember her words from then about disliking insects.
I adjusted what could be called favorability in the faded memories.
After greeting Gu Milmil as she left, I approached Soo-oh.
“Let’s eat dinner now.”
“Okay.”
I headed to the kitchen together with Soo-oh, who nodded obediently.
And so. Another day passes.