Yu-hyun silently lifted the glass in front of him and took a sip of the drink.
He didn’t know what it was made of, but as soon as it touched his tongue, a refreshing sensation spread from his mouth to his whole body.
Thanks to that, he was able to keep his sanity even after witnessing a shocking existence.
Or maybe.
‘I had anticipated this situation from the beginning.’
Even so, it was hard to accept that the young-looking boy was one of the original Tellers and one of the four Kings of Stories.
But appearance didn’t matter.
That wasn’t his real form anyway. J
ust like the Divine Spirits created their own avatars, the blond boy’s appearance was also just a part of Oelo.
“You don’t seem surprised. I thought you would freak out.”
“I expected this to happen soday.”
“Of course, you’re not an ordinary Teller. Well. You have a fragnt of Codex, so it’s natural, right?”
“Codex? Is that the real na of the Book of Genesis?”
“Yes. Is this the first ti you’ve heard the na?”
“Yes, it is.”
He had almost heard a trace of that na before, but this was the first ti he heard the complete na.
He didn’t expect to hear it so casually.
“So why did you want to see , Oelo?”
“Look at this guy. Honestly, I was watching you with interest, but you were the one who sent a signal to et first. I just responded to that.”
“You must have responded because you needed sothing from .”
“You’re sharp. But you’re not wrong. That’s right. Just as you want sothing from , I also want sothing from you. That’s why I said it’s a deal. A deal between you and only.”
A deal with Oelo, who was equal to Chairman Lotfiout.
Yu-hyun objectively assessed the situation and inwardly clicked his tongue.
He had never seen the chairman’s face, but he was sure he was a huge being that would make him breathless.
It was a dream that Yu-hyun of the past couldn’t even dream of, to make a deal with Oelo, who was called a brother of the chairman.
“What do you want?”
“Wait a minute. Before I tell you, I want to know what you want first.”
“Really? What if I just listen and shut my mouth?”
“Is that what you want?”
For a mont, Oelo’s eyes glowed eerily.
As he faced them, Yu-hyun felt more pressure than when he faced Chulapantaka.
He felt like he had seen his true form beyond the small boy.
In the abyssal space of the universe, sothing huge and indescribable looked down at him.
Yu-hyun quickly shook his head.
“Do you think I’m crazy enough to betray soone who is equal to the chairman?”
“That’s right. You’re that kind of guy. You always show unexpected sides of yourself, but in this aspect, you stick to your standards strictly. That’s why I’ve been keeping an eye on your story. By the way, since we’re on the topic, do you know how much I’ve sponsored you?”
“Uh, I don’t know?”
“Look at this. Oh man. I’m such a sucker. How much? More than 500 thousand points. Of course, so of that went to Lotfiout’s son as commission, but you must have gotten a lot too.”
“Considering your wealth, Oelo, that’s nothing, right? Besides, how did you get the sa authority as the Divine Spirits?”
“That’s because I’m special. I’m freer than anyone else and can go anywhere.”
That’s why he was called the King of Freedom.
Oelo didn’t belong anywhere and didn’t make any organization with his own hands.
This small factory was also just for fun and hobby, not his real purpose.
“I mostly look for cool and interesting stories to move around. If I had to choose a preference, I guess I’m similar to Damcheon. But while Damcheon is sowhat selective about stories, I accept all genres well.”
“Is that so.”
“I used to enjoy watching the stories that were called Hall of Fa. But these days they’re not like that at all. The lineage is broken. The Divine Spirits are the sa. What’s with this cider? They always talk about cider. If they’re a little frustrated or bored, they talk about sweet potatoes. Cider-pass kids.”
“That’s proof that the world has changed.”
“The world is always changing. I just don’t like the way those bastards act as if they are right in the midst of that change. This story is a bit far-fetched, isn’t it?”
Oelo smirked mischievously, resting his chin on one hand.
“What you want is information about the Codex, right?”
Yu-hyun nodded.
That was the only reason he ca to see Oelo.
He needed to know what this Codex was.
“I guess so. You must be curious if you’ve already collected more than ten fragnts. I chose you because you had the most fragnts among them.”
“What is the Codex, the Book of Genesis?”
“It’s the source of this world. The beginning and the end of all stories.”
“That’s a very taphysical expression.”
Oelo laughed out loud at that.
“Yeah. Right. It might sound like that. But I can’t explain it any easier than that. It’s a fact that it’s the source of all worlds. Well, if I had to say it, the Codex could be seen as the universe itself.”
The universe is a book.
The book was made up of small letters, or typefaces.
The fact that the text was the foundation of the world was also because of the influence of the Codex.
“Who made the Codex?”
“Logos.”
“Who is Logos?”
“Our omnipotent father who existed before the universe was born. Yeah. From your point of view, he’s literally ‘God’.”
“Omnipotent?”
Yu-hyun frowned at that word, thinking it was strange, and Oelo shrugged.
“Well. If our father knew everything and could do everything, it wouldn’t have turned out like this. Forget about omnipotence. But it’s still true that he was close to it. He’s much more superior than those Divine Spirits you worship so much.”
“…I see. And since you called him father… are you and our chairman also perhaps.”
“Yeah. Logos, our father created us. Lotfiut, Damcheon, Catharsis, and . We were called the Tellers of Origin, and we were created by our father himself. We were made to help his work.”
“…”
The story of the origin of the Teller flowed out as if it was nothing.
Oelo said that it wasn’t sothing that had to be hidden.
He didn’t tell anyone.
He just said that Yu-hyun had the right to hear it.
Logos, the owner of the Codex.
He was the origin of the Teller, and he created all stories and kings of stories.
“He made four kings of stories. That’s amazing…”
“I can understand why you’re surprised. But you seem to have a little misunderstanding. My brothers are not four.”
“What?”
“The world doesn’t know, but we have a fifth one.”
“What on earth is that…”
A fifth one? The Tellers of Origin were not four?
“Have you ever wondered why the Codex was torn apart and shattered?”
“…I heard there was so kind of incident.”
“You don’t know what it is exactly, do you? The Codex is the foundation of this world. But it was torn apart and scattered all over the universe. You have a fragnt, but it wasn’t supposed to be a fragnt in the first place.”
“Is that incident related to the fifth one?”
Oelo nodded.
“Originally, we five had different purposes, so we were made by our father’s hand. Our father recorded various stories in the Book of Genesis. That’s the foundation of the world. But doing everything by yourself is inefficient, isn’t it?”
So we were born, Oelo said.
“We five brothers were made to inherit our father’s will. We gathered various stories from the world and sent them to the Codex.”
“I see…”
“But not everyone did the sa thing. We don’t need to rank our birth order, but the fifth one, who was called the youngest, received our father’s favor more than anyone else among us. He had to. When and the rest of us scraped up stories, he sorted them out and put them in the Codex. If that’s not favoritism, what is?”
“So he could manipulate the Codex more freely than anyone else.”
“Yes. And if he wanted, he could make the Codex in any way he liked.”
Lava flared up inside Oelo’s eyes.
It was not a glare at Yu-hyun, but a fierce rage towards the traitor who could no longer be found anywhere.
“He received father’s favor, but he tore up the book that father created. He ripped the Codex to shreds and scattered it across the mixed world.”
“Why, exactly…?”
“I don’t know why. Neither do the other three, except . Why he did that. But the result is that the Codex was broken and scattered everywhere. And he ran away, as if he knew this would happen.”
“Who is the fifth one?”
“Praytion.”
Oelo calmly uttered that na.
“He is a Teller of the Beginning like , and an unforgivable sinner who tore up the Book of the Beginning. If we all had the title of king, he should also be called this.”
The Betrayal King Praytion.
That was another truth that was not revealed to the world.
Yu-hyun listened quietly to his words.
It was not a complicated story.
What the Book of the Beginning was, who the Creator who made it was, and who betrayed him.
It was a simple story.
Only, its scale was far beyond his imagination.
“You told about Praytion, which ans you have sothing to ask of regarding him.”
“Of course. If not, I wouldn’t have told you this.”
“What do you want from ?”
“To find Praytion. And to collect all the torn fragnts.”
The answer he had expected to so extent ca back.
But why?
Why would a Teller of the Beginning ask him, who was nothing more than a Teller, for that?
Oelo smiled bitterly as he read the disbelief in Yu-hyun’s eyes.
“Yeah. It must feel strange to you. Why I don’t move myself when I know everything, and why I ask you for that.”
“To be honest, yes.”
“It’s because I can’t do that.”
“What?”
“The Codex is not sothing I can find if I try to. The torn fragnts can only be collected by the ones they choose. It’s that kind of book. The ones who can collect them, and who can find them, are ultimately you. You’ve already collected more than ten fragnts.”
“So you’re saying I’m perfect for this. But how do you plan to find that Praytion?”
“You don’t have to worry about that. He will show up to you on his own, even if you don’t try to find him.”
“What?”
“I don’t know what his exact purpose is, but Praytion, that bastard traitor, doesn’t want the Codex to have its original form. That’s why he tore it up and spread it across the universe. So naturally, as you collect more fragnts, he will also try to stop you.”
“…So maybe he’ll co after if I collect them all.”
“That’s right. That’s why I’m telling you this. You might be able to collect them all, and then that hidden traitor will appear. I’m waiting for that mont.”
He ant to use Yu-hyun for an undercover investigation.
“It won’t be bad for you either, right? You were going to collect all the fragnts anyway.”
“That’s what I thought. But now I know that if I collect them all, a transcendent Teller who existed from the beginning will co after to kill .”
“So you’ll stop?”
“I’m not sure. But let ask you one thing. If I collect all the fragnts, what will happen then?”
“The world will change.”
Yu-hyun frowned.
“I don’t like such abstract answers.”
“What can I do? I can’t be sure either. Even if you collect them all and the torn book is reunited, I don’t know what will happen. There was never such a case before.”
“So this is all unprecedented?”
“But, you can predict it. Maybe, all the laws of the world will change. Faster and more intensely than anything else. They say a new era is opening.”
“A new… era.”
Yu-hyun felt slightly uncomfortable with that word.
To him, a new era ant nothing but the end of the world that brought him despair.
Even if the earth changed now, the mories of that ti still remained like a nightmare and annoyed Yu-hyun.
“It’s not like a big bang will happen if you make it. Maybe, you could beco the owner of a new book. The owner of a book that can rewrite the foundation of this world.”
“…Isn’t Logos the owner anyway?”
Oelo smiled bitterly at Yu-hyun’s words.
“Father has been hiding in his own space since he lost the book. He must have lost interest in the world’s affairs because of the shock of betrayal. But he still created the Genesis Foundation to maintain the minimum work he used to do.”
“…Does the foundation replace the role of the Book of Genesis?”
“Yes. That’s why the three companies that showcase Sihwa send their stories to the foundation regularly. But that’s ultimately an incomplete thing. The original universe was made by the existence of Codex.”
“So you want to recover the fragnts?”
“Right.”
Yu-hyun stroked his chin at that word.
Oelo had taught him many truths he didn’t know.
He answered everything Yu-hyun asked kindly and without omission.
But Yu-hyun felt sothing was wrong.
There was sothing else, sothing he didn’t realize and missed.
‘What did I miss?’
Was Oelo lying? If so, could he verify it?
It didn’t stop there.
‘Yes.’
Yu-hyun recalled what Satan had said.
And he also rembered what Jin Cheongwoon had said.
Oelo’s words were certainly filled with the hidden truth of this world, but it was the truth that Oelo saw.
He had watched the fragnts scatter, so he must have known more about this situation than anyone else, but Yu-hyun felt strangely that he was lacking compared to Satan.
‘There’s sothing else.’
Sothing else related to Codex that Oelo didn’t know.
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