The Hero Returns

Yun Hui-yeon slept for a long time.

Su-hyeun didn't try to wake her up, though. It must've been a restful slumber for her, something she hadn't enjoyed in a while because her expression looked relaxed, and she seemed comfortable.

Su-hyeun glanced at the corner of some bookshelf found inside her private lab. A small bag of medicine rested there.

"She never took something as simple as cold medication in the past, yet now..."

He walked up to the medicine bag.

The pills inside came from her psychologist. She did look so much more wane and exhausted compared to before his regression, and as it turned out, things must've been very difficult for her.

"Was it because of that dream?"

Su-hyeun put the medicine back where he found it.

Sometime later, Yun Hui-yeon opened her eyes. "Mm..."

As soon as she woke up, she turned her gaze over to the wall clock out of pure habit. After confirming what time it was, she jumped up in surprise, "Ah, it's already'”!"

"But you were sleeping so soundly."

Yun Hui-yeon didn't admonish Su-hyeun for not waking her up. For her to do that would be uncalled for as he had given her a lot already. She had received enough help from him by now.

Most importantly, she got to enjoy deep, restful sleep'”so restful, in fact, that she couldn't recall the last time she had such a relaxing sleep.

"And you were talking in your sleep, ma'am."

"I'm sorry?"

"Who is... Sung-in?"

When she heard Su-hyeun's question, Yun Hui-yeon began recalling her dream.

It sounded like he had heard her talking in her sleep. After mulling over her answer for a while, Yun Hui-yeon smiled softly, "He's my son."

"You have a son?"

"I had. But I suffered a miscarriage in the end."

Of course, a miscarriage didn't happen in the original timeline.

Until now, Su-hyeun believed his previous life'”the one before the regression or the existence of Kim Sung-in'”had been cut off from the world and erased completely.

Not even once did he think about the possibility of a miscarriage.

"I had already thought up of a name, too'¦ Kim Sung-in. Meaning, I prayed he'd grow up into a fine adult. But then, he didn't even get to see daylight."

"Is that why he appears in your dreams?"

"Since the day I first saw you, Mister Su-hyeun," Yun Hui-yeon smiled bitterly. "I'm not blaming you. But it is true. He shows up in my dream every night. Even though I know, I shouldn't..."

"What do you mean, you shouldn't?"

"I don't... know how to love, you see."

As she dreamed, she wallowed in regret.

"I would have raised my son not as a simple child but as an excellent student. I thought that doing so was for my son's sake. If he grew up into someone who exceeded his potential, then he would be even happier than I could imagine. I believed that doing so would be the best for him."

"It's all just a dream, ma'am."

"Sometimes..." She covered her face with both of her hands. "I thought that it was actually for the best that I didn't get to have him. If I did, I would have raised him that way."

"Why do you think so?"

"I believed that if you persevere, you'd be rewarded with happiness eventually, that you'd be recognized for your hard work someday. And that's why I taught Sung-in to live that way, too." She was already thinking of her life in the dream as her real life. "It was all for his sake... that it was for his happiness in life, yet..."

"It wasn't?"

"It wasn't." Her voice took on the traces of tearful emotions. "I was so wrong..."

For a long while afterward, she didn't say anything else.

As the silence continued, Su-hyeun's hearing caught her whispering to herself.

"I'm sorry," she said.

Su-hyeun wanted to know what was in her heart. He wanted to know what she thought about him right at this moment.

"I'm so sorry, Sung-in."

She was filled with regret and sorrow, and she had been living in this sad state until now.

"I'm alright."

That just came out of Su-hyeun's mouth.

Even though he was the one that said it, Su-hyeun became flustered with himself. In response, the sobbing Yun Hui-yeon instantly raised her head. She was flustered as well.

"What did you say?"

"I'”I," Su-hyeun hesitated slightly before finally finishing what he meant to say, "I'm alright, mom."

Yun Hui-yeon stared back at him in a daze before fat teardrops trickled down her cheeks again. For a brief moment just then, Su-hyeun had become her son once more.

She probably had no idea of Su-hyeun's reasoning for saying "mom," not "mother."

At this moment, Su-hyeun was no longer afraid of Yun Hui-yeon.

The word "mom" no longer terrified him like it used to.

* * *

Yun Hui-yeon cried for a while before falling asleep again.

Su-hyeun left behind his phone number on a memo pad and then left her lab.

The dawn air just before the sunrise was chilly. As Su-hyeun's breath escaped his lips, he stuffed his hands inside his pockets.

"That was really moving. Do you know that?"

Brahma's voice suddenly came to him.

It suddenly dawned on Su-hyeun that he had forgotten all about something important: A spectator watched his interaction with Yun Hui-yeon.

"Don't be embarrassed. Didn't I say it already? It doesn't matter whether it's you or me; we are one and the same."

"I told you, I don't think that way," Su-hyeun snapped back while feeling his face burning up.

Brahma quickly clarified what he was trying to say, "What I'm saying here is, since she's your mother, she's mine, too."

"Say what?" While thinking to himself, "Could it be," Su-hyeun quickly asked Brahma, "Have you come to a decision?"

"Yeah."

"But you've seen only a tiny portion of the universe."

"That small portion was everything to someone, wasn't it?"

Su-hyeun's eyes grew wider at that reply.

"He's really the same as me, isn't he?" he thought.

Brahma's mindset was very similar to Su-hyeun's.

At first, Su-hyeun felt that their personalities were just too different. He didn't get the feeling of familiarity or similarity from Brahma while the Primordial God spoke and expressed himself like a mischievous little kid.

But seeing how they came to the same conclusion after witnessing the same thing, they certainly had similar aspects.

"I guess that means there's no need to take a long way, then."

Brahma's decision seemed like a spur-of-the-moment thing, but it wasn't bad for Su-hyeun, overall.

If the two of them were the same existences as alluded by Brahma, then this decision was an inevitable one, too.

"In that case, why don't you tell me the truth already? Stop hiding everything from me."

"It will happen soon, anyway. I'm sure 'it' will find out soon enough."

Brahma's ball of light floated above Su-hyeun's head.

Su-hyeun sensed that the Primordial God's gaze was directed at the sky above.

"He will soon be here, you see," Brahma said.

"Who are you talking about?"

"My parent, the one who created me."

When Su-hyeun heard that, he muttered softly simultaneously with Brahma, "Vishnu."

"Vishnu..."

Brahma's role was to create universes and, at the same time, plan for the next one.

Shiva would start acting the moment he didn't see the worth of the planned universe, eventually leading it to its demise.

These two beings repeated this cycle in a perpetual loop. A new universe would always be born at the end of each cycle.

But now, a player decided to join.

"Why is Vishnu suddenly making an entrance?"

"Because he's probably the same as me."

"The same as you? What do you mean?"

"We are not machines, after all. His thoughts must've changed after such a long time has passed him by, just like how I chose to divide you and me."

"Vishnu changed his mind. Is that what you're saying?"

"Yup. Father thinks that universes are no longer necessary. I can sense it."

The one who planned for the universes through Brahma was, technically speaking, Vishnu. He created both Brahma and Shiva, after all.

However, now, Vishnu didn't want to see any more universes.

"And so, he's directly getting involved in the destruction."

"Vishnu is the One Overlord, isn't he?"

"It's good that you're so quick on the uptake."

"Not figuring it out by now will be stranger, you know."

Shiva was one of the Three Destroyers.

Only one other existence could be considered above him at this stage. However, Su-hyeun had thought that it was weird for Vishnu to be seen as a Predator, the enemy of the universe. However, if his purpose was the complete and utter destruction of the universe, the inclusion made sense.

Vishnu no longer wanted to see not just this universe but also the birth of the next one.

"How long has it been since Vishnu started getting involved?"

"Around a few tens of thousands of years?"

"That long, huh?"

The two of them held a very different concept of time, it seemed. Unlike Brahma, who scoffed at the idea of billions of years passing by, Su-hyeun found every day quite precious.

"What are you thinking about?" Brahma asked when Su-hyeun kept quiet for a while.

"There."

"Eh?"

"He's there."

Su-hyeun recalled the Tower. He had been delaying challenging the subsequent trial.

The trials were a path laid out by Master Subhuti, and while Su-hyeun was restoring the Tower's system, he ended up hearing a familiar-sounding voice.

This also happened when his eyes of clairvoyance activated on their own.

At first, he was curious about the identity behind the voice, but now, he knew.

"It's been Vishnu all along," he realized.

That creature knew all about Su-hyeun's existence. He even knew that they would encounter each other someday.

"Just how far ahead could Master Subhuti's Foresight see?"

Su-hyeun felt his curiosity regarding the person called Subhuti grow even stronger.

For how long had Subhuti been aware of Vishnu's existence? Did the other Five Godly Sages also know about him?

Master Subhuti was preparing for the eventuality of facing off against the calamity called Vishnu.

"Dammit."

Su-hyeun scratched his head in irritation.

There wasn't much time remaining.

Vishnu being aware of Su-hyeun could only mean that the One Overlord was practically right around the corner.

"How long do I have left, in that case?" he thought.

A few years? If not, a few months? A few days even?

Maybe, it could be right this moment for all he knew. How Vishnu would interfere and how he would destroy the universe all depended on his whims.

"Looks like you're getting anxious there."

"How can you speak as if it doesn't concern you?"

"Well, sure. I guess it does concern me now."

Brahma's calm tone began irritating Su-hyeun somewhat.

Brahma did say he came to a decision and all that, but unlike Su-hyeun, the Primordial God had already witnessed the destruction of countless universes. He didn't feel the urgency from the impending situation at all.

"That's why I'll help you," Brahma told him.

Su-hyeun was puzzled about this, "But how?"

There was no doubting Brahma's true power, but his power was limited to the power of creation. That was it. As far as combat was concerned, Brahma was not that different from a regular person.

"As you may have suspected, I can't fight at all. I've never even gotten into a fight before, too."

"Okay, what then?"

"What I can do, though, is develop and nurture things."

Brahma's ball of light circled Su-hyeun before entering the latter's chest.

Su-hyeun wondered what this was all about, but Brahma wouldn't try to harm him in any case. That was why he didn't resist and accepted the ball of light.

The light directly headed to Su-hyeun's heart next.

Hiss'”

More specifically, it was where the seed of the World Tree had been planted.

Throb'”

"Euph..."

The intense pain shooting out from his heart caused him to clench his teeth.

The intensity of this pain was unbelievable. The seed that remained docile until now suddenly began sprouting its roots.

Brahma was responsible for this.

"What are you'”? Son of a..."

"Don't worry. You won't lose to something like a World Tree, after all."

Brahma had created World Trees, and Su-hyeun was one-half of Brahma. It would have been really dangerous for him if this had happened back when he was still a regular human.

However, now that he possessed various qualifications of godhood and divinity, there was simply no way that a World Tree sapling would be able to devour him.

As such, the World Tree's seed had to remain as a seed inside Su-hyeun's body'”never to grow any bigger'”because he had been actively suppressing it all this time.

"Allow it to grow bigger, then make it your own. That's what this seed was meant for from the beginning."

"What are you even talking about'”?" Su-hyeun's eyes grew wider.

It was right at that moment that he recalled how he acquired the World Tree's seed.

"Luslec..."

That man was definitely Brahma's Apostle, and didn't Brahma say that back when he divided himself into two, he wished to see for himself and decide the fate of the universe he created?

What if, after making that call, he also thought about the possibility of fighting against Shiva?

"Was this all a preparation for that possibility?" Su-hyeun thought.

Planting a World Tree's seed inside Su-hyeun's body and then cultivating that seed through Godhood of Creation and turning it into the power strong enough to fight against Shiva...

"All this was prepared for you."

Indeed, all of these were prepared for this very moment.

"Because you must stand in my stead to stop my brother and father."