Chapter 148: The Prologue (1)

In the Great Library of All Life, the bookshelves’ shadows overlapped, forming a complex web.The Constellation Murderer’s voice echoed throughout this web.

“I don’t know. It’s difficult to fathom. Have I killed that many people? That many lives have been lost because of me? It’s impossible to take responsibility for one death, let alone for all those people living in so many different worlds...”

The Constellation Murderer took out an old diary with fumbling hands. Just as Kim Yul left behind a trace of him in the form of the Constellation Murderer, there were traces of the Constellation Murderer in the diary he kept on him at all times.

“The Goddess of Protection. The Elder in Deep Seclusion.The Blind Follower.”

Those were the Constellations that the Constellation Murderer had killed. He quietly recited their names, which had straight horizontal lines drawn over. The words turned red.

“The Exuviated Serpent of the Seven Noises. The Minstrel Stork of the Universe. The Dawn-Dying Witch. The Immortal-Dreaming Lion. The Corpse-Decaying Flower. The New Moon that Swallowed the Old. The Yellow Dragon of the Great Lake...”

He listed out names on a seemingly endless list. After calling out the hundreds of Constellations one by one, he slowly looked up at me.

“I don’t know. I can’t. However, when I became Kim Yul, I felt his anger and how much he cursed the world. I sympathized and agreed with him. He wanted revenge on those who had done all of those horrible things to him.”

He stayed silent for a moment before he added, “I see. I also deserve the revenge of the worlds I affected.”

He closed the diary.

“Even if I end my life, that isn’t good enough of an apology. Those worlds only want me to suffer for eternity, but simply suffering doesn’t mean anything... How can I suffer to seek forgiveness for the lives that have already perished?”

I nodded and called out, “Mr. Librarian.”

As if waiting for me to call him over, the Indoor Librarian peeked out from a bookshelf, his cheeks flushed red. “Welcome back! Unlike the previous apocalyptic books, I wasn’t able to watch you directly. I’ve just finished reading the newly added entry to

The Story of the City of Ascension: Side Story.

It was truly...”

“Just come here, please.”

The Indoor Librarian came flying meekly. “You are becoming stricter toward me with every passing day, Death King... Well, here I am. What do you want me to do? If you want—”

“Please hand me

The Epic of Lefanta Aegim.

”

“

Ah...

I did say you can have them if you want them, but do you know that all the books in my possession are my relics? Across the universe, only I can create these books. It’s quite a predicament if you ask for these books like they are your milk cartons in your fridge. ... Though I’ll give this one to you without any problems,” the Indoor Librarian said, handing me the book.

“Constellation Murderer,” I said, turning in his direction.

“Yes.”

“This book tells your story. How you first fell into this world, met the Goddess of Protection, became Lefanta Aegim, and then the Constellation Murderer. Your entire life is recorded in this. You have lost your memories, but the process isn’t irreversible. Retrieve them.”

Silence fell in the library. The Constellation Murderer stared at

The Epic of Lefanta Aegim

without saying a word before looking up at the two of us. Although the Constellation Murderer didn’t understand, the Indoor Librarian immediately did.

“By ‘retrieve them,’ you mean...” the Constellation Murderer trailed off.

“Yes, retrieve them in the same manner you recall your past as Kim Yul.”

“From the beginning?”

“From the beginning.”

“I’ve been living for hundreds of years. You’re asking me to start from the very beginning?”

“What you did, what you thought, what worlds you destroyed, and what kinds of lives the people in that world lived—remembering these is the first step in everything. ‘Don’t forget’ is what Kim Yul put his life on the line to say. You’ll have to do the same.”

The silence lasted for a long time.

“I understand. I conclude that you are correct.”

The Constellation Murderer received

The Epic of Lefanta Aegim

from me. To do that, he had to put his diary away. Instead of a diary filled with random entries, he held the book that described his life from beginning to end and muttered, “I see. Just repeating your life can turn the world into hell. Does everyone carry their own hell with them wherever they go?”

He turned his head to where the orphanage director was sitting. “Class President.”

It took a few seconds for the director to reply. “Yes, Mr. Kim Yul?”

The Constellation Murderer also took his time responding. One of them had endured decades of suffering, while the other had withstood hundreds of years. The silence, heavy with their suffering, enveloped the entire library.

“Kim Yul wanted to forgive you,” the Constellation Murderer said. “And I agree with him. I want you to be forgiven.”

The director closed his mouth and eyes, but he wasn’t aware he had done just that. He zoned out long ago, too overwhelmed. Only thing he could do was groan, as if wanting to say something. He could say “Thank you,” but what he probably wanted to say was “I’m sorry.” However, he held back his every word. What he couldn’t hold back escaped his throat in the form of groans.

“I...”

The groans weren’t random words, but fragmented sentences. Somehow, I was able to put the fragments together, like how they were supposed to be.

“If only I...”

If only I had been born into a richer family...

If only I’d had a little more power...

If only I had been a little smarter when I was young...

The director’s lips were pursed, the skin around his closed eyes wrinkled. Slowly, he got down from his chair and pressed his hands on the floor, his arms trembling as he bowed. Suddenly, he started screaming, startling me.

Ah. It’s what I have to prove.

The world was a chaos filled with animals and humans. Among them, some people screamed, isolated like islands. Their screams sometimes caught my attention.

I just wanted to prove that the screams were real and let everyone know of their existence. Leaving their existence as an unerasable scar on this universe was what I wanted.

There are people here.

It was my demonic heaven.

People live here.

The person who established the Demonic Heaven Arts and the first preacher of the doctrine of shadows had surely felt exactly like I did right now. They had been angry and sad after seeing starving, thirsty people. After witnessing the nine ways of life and death, they felt compelled to prove that what they had seen truly happened.

I shouldn’t forget.

I wanted to capture that image of the director in my Demonic Heaven, to forever ingrain it in my mind. That wasn’t all. The dance of the children who smiled at me in the Infernal Mansion. How Preta cried out to the sky while holding onto the bodies of a mother and a baby in the middle of the village. Teacher’s sword dance on a snowfield whose name was lost. And Raviel. Raviel...

I must not forget.

The first form of the Demonic Heaven Arts was about hunger.

From here on out, this should be my Demonic Heaven.

The children’s dance would be the first form, Preta’s scream the second, Teacher’s sword the third, Raviel’s sacrifice the fourth form, the director’s silence the fifth form.

I want to capture them.

Would I be able to? It was very difficult to capture hunger alone, but I was talking about a person’s life—no, the lives of many, actually.

Even if it means dedicating my life, I should prove that people lived and died, and how they perished. I’ll capture the noises made by animals and the screams of people. If people laugh, I’ll capture even the vibrations of that laughter.

My life had a purpose now, but now wasn’t the time for that. I still had work to finish here. A lot. I was far from the level of recreating the Demonic Heaven Arts’s forms. It would also require a tremendous amount of willpower and effort, but it still may not be enough.

Okay, let’s not rush. For now, I’ll do what I can.

I turned my head and looked at the Indoor Librarian, who was watching the Constellation Murderer and the director with ragged breaths.

“Mr. Librarian—no, Hamustra.”

He flinched, his shoulders trembling. “Y-You called me by my real name? You’re making me blush! Please refer to me using my title.”

“Please allow the Constellation Murderer to read

The Epic of Lefanta Aegim

whenever he wants. You don’t need to give him a quest every time. Please allow him to watch his world, just like you do with other worlds.”

“

Ah. Hmm. Hmm.

” The Indoor Librarian was deep in thought, breathing heavily. “In order to do that, I’ll have to share my ability... I think I should make him my apostle.

Hmm.

Some Constellations mass-select apostles without a second thought, but for me, it feels awkward and it’s not exactly my style...”

After all, his title was the Indoor Librarian. There was no way a man like him had subordinates or friends. He would rather have strange servants, like bookmark maids.

“Do you not want to?” I asked.

“It’s not that I don’t like it...”

“I took him in using my

Monster Legion Reincarnation

, but the other Constellation Murderers out there are also puppets from

Puppet Master’s Parade

. Is there any difference?”

The Indoor Librarian fidgeted with his hands. “

Hmm, um,

no there isn’t...”

“It’s your choice.”

“By choice, you mean...”

“So far, you’ve loved the story of the Constellation Murderer, but, to use your terms, the Constellation Murderer is now at a branching point. He has two routes ahead of him.”

“Two routes?”

I met the Indoor Librarian’s eyes. “Yes. Route 1 goes like this: the Constellation Murderer didn’t meet me. He stays on the fiftieth floor as usual. Once he accumulates a week’s worth of memories, he’ll go out to hunt Constellations.”

This was the puppet route where the Constellation Murderer used the

Puppet Master’s Parade

forever.

And the Constellation Murderer that had met me was here.

“Route 2: the Constellation Murderer knows and remembers Kim Yul. He’ll live on, slowly retracing Lefanta Aegim’s life, starting from Kim Yul.”

It wouldn’t be easy.

“He would read the book and walk the same path he has been walking for hundreds of years.”

It was going to be painful.

“But he has me and the director on this route. He doesn’t have to reach the end as soon as possible, but he can slowly take his time. It’s okay to take breaks along the way.”

By going down the second route, the Constellation Murderer’s life would become one and the same with Kim Yul.

“Choose the route you desire,” I told the Indoor Librarian.

The Indoor Librarian looked at the Constellation Murderer. His silence didn’t last long.

“Constellation Murderer. And the nurturer of the Death King.” He smiled and opened his arms toward them. “Are you interested in getting a job as a librarian?”

Today, someone’s epilogue ended, but what followed after was a prologue.