Extra Nobody

The dream ends with a bright flash. Chae Nayun returns to her body without any strings attached, yet she cannot find it in herself to be happy. She learns of the Transcendent Plane and experiences firsthand a method to traverse such a place. Still, none of that consoles her of the fact that she is tricked.

“Why are you crying?”

Sitting atop her is Kim Hajin.

“And where is your right arm?”

Chae Nayun keeps her thoughts to her own.

“Please stop crying.”

Hajin’s right arm is no longer in his shoulder, instead, it has become a bloody stump, drenched with red. The missing right arm is eye-catching but not as much as the river of tears that pours from Hajin’s cheeks.

Nayun stares at the Desert Eagle pointing at her forehead.

“Hajin?” She asks.

Hajin realizes the light in Nayun’s eyes, and through his [Observation and Reading], he realizes that it is the Chae Nayun he knows. “Nayun?”

Bafflement assaults Nayun’s mind. “Eh?” Only now did she realize she has no clothes on her. This turns her ears red with shame. “Where is my clothes?”

Nayun is bothered by the lack of clothes, but Hajin seems to be not bothered by it. No. To be more precise, Hajin doesn’t even care or feel shame at seeing Nayun naked. But Hajin at least has decency as he drapes his [Black Coat] over Nayun.

“…”

Nayun appreciates the gesture, but she is more worried about Hajin’s state of mind as he just continues to cry. She never imagines that the menace who makes the world tremble in the future has such a weak side to him.

In the past life, never has Nayun seen Hajin cry despite falling to his lowest, as such, the current situation makes her feel sad. It is not only Chae Nayun who is vulnerable to these emotions of hurt.

She knows that, and because of this, that is why she is not imposing her hurt as leverage to make others do her bidding.

“I… am sorry… Nayun… I am sorry…” Hajin hugs her with his only remaining arm. He places his chin on Nayun’s shoulder. “I am sorry…” He repeatedly tells her.

“What happened?” Nayun dreads the truth behind Hajin’s actions.

***

Kim Suho chases Seungyeon around Cube. “What the hell is that?” He still cannot turn his head around on how does Nayun-Seungyeon so easily immobilize Hajin at that time. "It appears that Seungyeon said something to Hajin which made him stop... But what is it?"

Suho has his own suspicions on Kim Hajin, as he really doesn’t know him, but it is in his character to believe people first, before doubting them. Moreover, Nayun is covering for the guy, thus he trusts that Hajin’s abilities are not to be trifled with.

In the consecutive events of them fighting the Djinns, and now a Devil, Suho has come to understand that Hajin is not an average cadet.

“You are not going anywhere!” Suho unleashes his magic power and uses it rather creatively to create footholds of magic power sharing roots with his own swordsmanship. “Hah!” He spiritedly shouts as he double and triple jumps in the air while leaving glittering flashes with each step.

Seungyeon who is now outside Nayun resists the hurt of Suho’s sword cutting her very being.

***

Dozens of minutes ago.

Kum Seungyeon.

She has a life all before this. Even the life before this iteration counts as her own. That is why she feels so wronged by Kim Hajin. It feels unfair. What kind of God cares so little about his creation?

To be frank, Seungyeon has been a real catholic even from the past iteration, she is the same now. Maybe that is why she is so easily acceptant of the existence of Devils.

She only has little time to use Nayun’s body as Lillith allows her. Thus, Seungyeon must achieve her purpose before her own time is up. The Bleeding of Time is a very unique phenomenon that can only occur from chance.

She doesn’t know why it has to be her.

The truth is she is not even sure if she is being manipulated or not. But she so much wants to inflict that indelible wound on the so-called God of this world that she doesn't even care. Maybe this is why she is going at this extra length just to do this.

~Bang!

Kim Hajin’s Desert Eagle transformed into a Sniper Rifle is packing quite a punch. Even with Nayun’s vast amount of magic power, Seungyeon cannot completely defend against them.

Seungyeon can feel the caged Chae Nayun from within her starting to get loose. It will only take a few more minutes, and Nayun will be back in her own body, thus disallowing Seungyeon control over it.

~Swoosh!

Bright energy sword almost cuts Seungyeon in half if not for Nayun’s animalistic senses being at her disposal. Kim Suho follows on Nayun-Seungyeon with untiring speed. Seungyeon’s impression of Suho is getting just worse and worse.

“Are you a zombie? No, an undead?

~Bang! ~Bang!

Consecutive firing from Hajin’s sniper rifle resounds in the surroundings.

Seungyeon blocks the two bullets precisely aiming at the same spot with Nayun's robust magic power. She is able to block the bullets entirely but at the cost of losing her barrier of magic power for a short second.

Suho is already biting on that one opportunity, and slashing for Nayun-Seungyeon’s neck. The Hero’s cruelty is unprecedented as it is something that Seungyeon will be unable to imagine in this life and the past life.

A nasty smile emerges from her face. The spell she has been charging since possessing Nayun is finally complete. Seungyeon’s gaze locks on Hajin.

“Hajin, run!” Suho quickly realizes the danger.

With a single-minded purpose, Seungyeon comes running to Hajin. As her path has become easily predictable, Suho takes it as an opportunity to cut Seungyeon down. Seungyeon feels her very soul being cut, and the Devil’s Seed has taken quite a damage, but she persists from the hurt.

Kim Suho is flung with tremendous force, creating distance from Seungyeon.

~Bang! ~Bang! ~Bang!

Kim Hajin grits his teeth and fires consecutively from his Sniper Rifle while ignoring the painful recoil.

Seungyeon’s armor-like flesh on Nayun is almost gone, but she manages to reach it. Her face closes into Hajin. To make sure that Hajin will not be able to retaliate and go anywhere, Seungyeon summons a sword of magic power of her own and cuts off Hajin’s arm wielding the gun.

~Cut…

It is a clean slice as Hajin lets go of the Sniper Rifle. As the Sniper Rifle drops, it returns to being a Desert Eagle. Seungyeon sees Hajin’s face contort in pain, but this is not what she is looking for. As Nayun’s face gets closer to Hajin, the more thrilled Seungyeon becomes.

A kiss is a very powerful medium to the Devil of Lust.

To transmit a curse, and use a spell on behalf of Lilith’s Authority, there is no better method than a kiss. It is easy, and flexible in that it is easily accessible and can be used in various situations.

For Seungyeon, this kiss is the only method she can think of to connect Nayun and Hajin. Of course, this is not something as so romantic as that kind of connection. Seungyeon using Nayun’s lips kisses Hajin. It is just a light peck on the lips, lacking any lust to it.

Just that… a touching of the skin.

***

When Kim Hajin realizes that Seungyeon is kissing him, the immediate thought that runs to his mind is to protect himself as this kiss should have a purpose. It might be a specific offensive ability of the foe.

That is why Hajin immediately acts on it. He bites off the pill hiding within the gums of his mouth. It is a last resort that will drastically increase his own attributes in a short period of time.

Strength wells in his muscles as with a single move, he pins Seungyeon down, by dragging her to the ground with a single push. Hajin sits atop her, while he retrieves his Desert Eagle which has a summon function to it.

He points the gun at Seungyeon only for his heart to skip a beat. The kiss is finally in effect.

A flood of memories worm onto Hajin’s mind. They are Nayun’s memories of a future past from the past timeline before her regression. All of the hurt that Nayun experiences dwells in Hajin for a microsecond. The mind is a very complicated thing, and so are the memories that come with it.

Memories are not simply a length of information that others can read through as if they are words from a book. Memories have emotions, conscience, and even will to their own, everything about it is now making a storm on Hajin’s mind. This includes Chae Nayun's trauma.

Chae Nayun is lusting over the past, and cannot let go of it, thus bringing her to the drastic decision of choosing to turn back time. Is Nayun wrong? Is it her mistake?

No. Kim Hajin realizes the cruelty of his own choice from the past timeline.

Seungyeon still using Nayun’s face hysterically laughs at the sight of crying Kim Hajin. “Do you get it now? It is all your fault! It is because you became greedy! You chose to stay, and that has been the beginning of it! If you chose to go home, then Chae Nayun wouldn’t even entertain the thought of regressing! If you chose to go home, there will be no bleeding of time, and I would remain ignorant of all the hurt I have to go through! Even if Nayun doesn’t choose to regress, the results will be all the same— it is your fault! If you chose to go home, then the past iteration’s story could have continued! YOU are the epilogue that ended it all! If you chose to go home, Nayun would have worked harder to crack on the Devil’s invasion, and would have tried her hardest and should have found a way to resurrect and return her big brother from becoming a completed Devil! If you chose to go home, then Kim Suho would have fulfilled his role as the Returnee Hero and returned to Akatrina to help Jin Sahyuk to return the place to its rightful origin! If not because of you, then the story would have not indefinitely ended! You delude yourself into thinking that you are inside a novel, but you are not! If only you chose to make the sacrifice!”

There is madness in her cry.

While she is simply reciting something out of a script, her every word hits home to Hajin.

Seungyeon feels the Devil’s Seed inside her to be bleeding because of Suho’s strike. “This is enough. I have finally wounded God, and this wound will only become bigger from now on.” Seungyeon decisively let go of her control of Nayun’s body.

Alfir Yep, it is all Hajin's fault. I know it is debatable, but I feel like TNE's ending is more of a false ending. The story did not end completely as the readers demand after all. It is hurried. I bet a lot of readers agree with me on this one. The Transcendent Plane remains unexplored. The 'Returnee Hero' part did not even happen, except for Jin Sahyuk replacing Kim Suho in the epilogue from the original TNE. Also, Baal is still alive, while he is sealed with Bell, he is still considerably pretty much alive. If you think about it, the novel has not ended yet despite the Author claiming so. I firmly believe that TNE is an unfinished novel. This is one of my motivations for writing this fanfic. That is all for my rants today.