Return of the Shattered Constellation

Chapter 325: Star, Gaia’s Curse (7)

With a frown, <Deus Ex Machina> shouted, “And I haven’t given my blessing to you and my baby sister yet!”

Just like that, <Deus Ex Machina> basically acknowledged his relationship with Cha Ye-Eun by calling her his baby sister.

“Wanna know something, though?” Chang-Sun asked.

“What?” <Deus Ex Machina> replied.

“Even if you say that, I’m still Ye-Eun’s boyfriend, hyung-nim.”

“…I’m going to kill you,” <Deus Ex Machina> said.

“I’m still inadequate in many ways, so I hope I can continue to ask you for guidance in the future, hyung-nim,” Chang-Sun said.

“Hey!” <Deus Ex Machina> screamed, scratching his arms furiously as goosebumps spread all over them. Gnashing his teeth, he glared at Chang-Sun, conflicted about whether to punch him or not.

“Ah, please don’t think about using force to bend me to your will, because if you do, I’m going to go to Ye-Eun right away,” Chang-Sun continued casually.

“…You little bastard,” <Deus Ex Machina> cursed.

“Then hyung-nim’s lovely and adorable baby sister will hate her oppa… Ah, how heartbreaking,” Chang-Sun said, although his voice was very monotonous for someone who said he was heartbroken.

<Deus Ex Machina> gnashed his teeth so fiercely that it looked as if he would rip Chang-Sun apart with his teeth, but he could not bring himself to actually hit Chang-Sun. Perhaps it was because he was worried about really being hated by Ye-Eun.

“Ah, shit! I should have never brought a bastard like you into this fucking place! Hey! Faust! Can’t you just take him and go?!” <Deus Ex Machina> exclaimed, taking out his anger on the innocent Mephistopheles, who was quietly reading a book in a corner.

“I don’t want to get involved in this matter,” Mephistopheles replied, quietly waving his hand from side to side, not even looking up from his book as if he was feeling too lazy to answer properly.

The sound of <Deus Ex Machina> gnashing his teeth grew louder to the point that it seemed almost as if all his teeth would chip away.

‘It feels refreshing now,’ Chang-Sun thought. He finally grinned, feeling as if he had taken out an aching tooth.

However, he soon brought up the question again with a more serious tone. “So you do feel really guilty about Ye-Eun?”

Still frowning, <Deus Ex Machina> swiftly looked away with his arms crossed. It was obvious that he did not want to answer, but before long, he let out a very long sigh. Scratching the back of his head, he started talking.

“Ah, shit. I really hate telling this to other people,” <Deus Ex Machina> said, looking at Chang-Sun gloomily as he continued, “Yeah, what you’re thinking is right. I have the Divine Name of <Deus Ex Machina>. However, in terms of blood, I’m the son of the beings known as Saturn and Ops, and I’m also an older brother to Ye-Eun.”

It sounded as if <Deus Ex Machina> was lamenting or making a confession.

“But at the same time, I’m no longer their son, because I surpassed the restrictions of the law of causality by becoming an Emperor, so my original ties to everyone I knew were naturally severed.”

Becoming an Emperor meant that one had transcended their Worldline and become a fully self-contained being. In other words, all the causal links that defined that person disappeared, because an Emperor was beyond time and space. They stayed the same all throughout, from the beginning of time to the present, and even into the distant future.

“Of course, some people still remember me in the Original Worldline… but it’s different in other Worldlines,” <Deus Ex Machina> continued.

Chang-Sun nodded quietly. Before entering the ‘Changgong Library’, his perspective had been limited to Worldline #801 and #802—no, it was more accurate to say that it was limited to Earth and Arcadia. As he had started to accumulate gnosis in earnest, he could understand what <Deus Ex Machina> was trying to say.

“Just as there are an infinite number of Worldlines… there are myriad versions of Cha Ye-Eun,” Chang-Sun concluded.

The many parallel universes in the multiverse meant that there was an Ithaca and a Ye-Eun in every Worldline. Perhaps…

‘...there is another me,’ Chang-Sun thought.

He wondered for a moment. Was another ‘him’ living as a fiend, like himself? Or was he living as an ordinary professional gamer, because everything had worked out well? Were they suffering from their countless past reincarnations’ challenges?

“Yes, and I…!” <Deus Ex Machina> trailed off, biting his lower lip.

Chang-Sun focused on the present. He said, “You can’t save Ye-Eun in every one of the Worldlines—no, you probably can’t. <Deus Ex Machina> mediates the law of causality in all Worldlines, so you wouldn’t be able to interfere easily even for someone personally close to you. If you did, it would be impossible to maintain the numerous Worldlines the way you do now. Am I guessing correctly?”

“…Yeah, yeah, you’re great,” <Deus Ex Machina> said sulkily.

However, he was not angry at Chang-Sun; the anger, regret, and self-deprecation in his eyes were directed at himself. <Deus Ex Machina> carried a very heavy responsibility, and thus, was restricted by many duties. As he was in such a high-ranking position, he could not easily take action. That fact had been suffocating him for quite some time. He was forced to powerlessly watch his sister suffering in numerous Worldlines, so what good did his omnipotent power do?

“I’m powerless,” <Deus Ex Machina> blurted out. His voice was feeble as he continued, “So I envy you.”

‘At least you don’t have to sit on your hands like me. You’re able to move around and search for a way to cure my sister.’

Chang-Sun could guess what <Deus Ex Machina> had held back from saying. A faint smile spread across his face as he said, “You’ve been acting like an old man. You’re a bit too inflexible.”

“…What?” <Deus Ex Machina> exclaimed in surprise.

“Who cares about duties and responsibilities?” Chang-Sun replied, slicking back his hair. “My people come first.”

“But…!”

“Yes, I understand your frustration, Machina. If you make moves based on your personal interest, everything will end, but…”

“…?”

“...So what? Everyone is responsible for their own life,” Chang-Sun said with a shrug.

“…!”

“Do what you want. When you let obligations and responsibilities get the better of you, there won’t be a ‘you’ left anymore.”

<Deus Ex Machina> pursed his lips, and Chang-Sun watched him quietly, letting silence fall across the whole library. After a long time, <Deus Ex Machina> finished organizing his thoughts and slowly looked up. His eyes had been filled with bitterness up until a moment prior, but he was now looking at Chang-Sun with the same disapproving gaze as when Chang-Sun had first returned to the ‘Changgong Library’.

“Hey, how old are you?! You’re just a baby now, but you keep talking back to this very old man. Damn, youngsters nowadays don’t have respect for their seniors. No respect. When I was your age, if a senior was talking, I never even dared to look at their shadow, okay? Youngsters really need manners,” <Deus Ex Machina> grumbled, turning in the opposite direction. In a barely audible voice, he muttered, “…Start with the Nereid Stone.”

Paah…!

After that, <Deus Ex Machina> disappeared completely, and Chang-Sun sensed that the golden machine eyes that had been monitoring him until now were gone too. Chang-Sun realized that the Nereid Stone was the answer given by <Deus Ex Machina> to the question he had tried to ask.

The third and final requirement to cure Ye-Eun was to find the Mother Terra Celestial’s remains. It was known that <Deus Ex Machina> and several other beings had sealed the Mother Celestial by force due to the threat she possessed, so her remains or relics had to be present somewhere. Only with those remains would Chang-Sun be able to ‘understand’ the Mother Terra Celestial and find out the exact mechanism of [Gaia’s Curse]. It seemed the Nereid Stone was one of those remains.

Thinking about what he had been told, Chang-Sun quickly went through the other books.

‘…Got it.’

After a long search, Chang-Sun finally got what he had come here for.

Nereid Stone: Nereid symbolizes anger.[1] This stone is the petrified form of several alien creatures, born from the Mother Terra Celestial’s fury after she was abandoned by her children.

As it turned out, the Nereid Stone was located in a place Chang-Sun was very familiar with.

‘Bel-Marduk’s divine ground.’

It was the residence of ‘Taurus’, the leader of the Zodiacs.

* * *

As Chang-Sun had successfully found all the information he needed, it was time for him to take action again.

[You have successfully acquired all the information you need!]

[You have learned about a part of the world.]

[Calculating the amount of accumulated gnosis.]

[Assessment: S+]

[Congratulations! Your Divine Class has increased in proportion to the level of your accumulated gnosis.]

…

[You are writing a new Myth.]

[Your soul has achieved outstanding development.]

[You have surpassed the Divine Ranks of Fiendishness and Cataclysm and successfully reached the conceptual level.]

[You are able to observe a small part of the universe beyond Worldline #801, where you belong.]

…

[You have acquired the right to join <Eros> or <Nyx>. Once you choose a faction, you will be able to acquire the necessary support.]

[Your ‘Changgong Library’ clearance has been revoked by the librarian.]

The moment Chang-Sun concluded that he no longer had anything to search for in the ‘Changgong Library’, he was able to check all the messages he had been holding off from receiving.

『Hahaha… I finally… I finally have somewhere to start from…』

Odin spoke almost inaudibly, laughing in the corner of Chang-Sun’s consciousness, but the voice disappeared quickly.

Instead of listening to his voice, Chang-Sun paid more attention to the black pearl bracelet that had appeared around his wrist, which resembled a rosary. Minuscule cogwheels spun inside each pearl, which suggested that every one of them was a distinct machine.

“This is…?” Chang-Sun asked, looking at <Deus Ex Machina>

“I’m giving you this so you won’t get beat up somewhere,” <Deus Ex Machina> answered, scoffing with his arms crossed.

Judging from the slightly reddened bridge of his nose, it seemed that <Deus Ex Machina> was embarrassed. Was he the kind of person famously referred to as a ‘tsundere’? Chang-Sun had only heard about such a thing in passing.

[Machina’s Clockwork]

A machine that holds part of the clearance of ‘Deus Ex Machina’. The device allows unlimited access to any connected machines regardless of their existing security protocols, and these machines can be used to interpret the world. A significant price will be paid upon each activation.

‧ Type: Bracelet. Defense equipment.

‧ Rank: Unmeasurable.

‧ Effect: Machine Subordination. Causality Manipulation.

“…!” Chang-Sun was certain that this bracelet was the most valuable treasure he had acquired in the ‘Changgong Library’.

According to the description, Chang-Sun would be able to control all machines. In a scientifically advanced civilization with many high-technology machines, it was likely that nothing would be able to defy the bracelet, but the part that caught Chang-Sun’s attention the most was about how he would be able to interpret the world through it.

‘I’ll be able to get all the information I want in times of need,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Just as Chang-Sun had gone through books in the ‘Changgong Library’ to find information about [Gaia’s Curse], he would be able to do such a thing again with [Machina’s Clockwork]. Of course, it would not be the same as having a Grade 1 clearance, and Chang-Sun would have to pay a ‘price’. Nevertheless, it was safe to say that he had acquired a cheat key.

“Don’t ever break my baby sister’s heart. If you do, I’ll shove your head into a gutter even if I have to scour the entire universe,” <Deus Ex Machina> warned Chang-Sun.

Chang-Sun could not help but chuckle quietly. It seemed that his remark about how one’s people came first had worked on <Deus Ex Machina>.

“Why are you laughing, you punk?” <Deus Ex Machina> continued. From his perspective, after all, Chang-Sun was a bad guy who had taken away his baby sister.

“Thank you for everything,” Chang-Sun said with a bow.

<Deus Ex Machina> waved his hand, not wanting to bother speaking any further, and turned away.

Bowing more deeply for a moment, Chang-Sun looked up at the ceiling and said, “Sign off.”

[The connection to the ‘Changgong Library’ has been terminated.]

[Logging out.]

Paah!

A pool of light spread around Chang-Sun, and he soon disappeared, the library turning silent again.

Glancing at where Chang-Sun had been, <Deus Ex Machina> grumbled, “I’ll finally be able to get some work done. It was too noisy… What are you talking about?! What do you mean I’m sad?! I used to coop myself up in a small room for years and worked on my own…!”

No one was around, but <Deus Ex Machina> looked in a certain direction and yelled at the top of his lungs. His shadow danced as if it were teasing him.

1. The term ‘Nereid’ commonly refers to ordinary sea nymphs, but there is one Nereid named Psamathe. When her son is killed by his half-brothers, Psamathe sends them a giant wolf. ☜