## Chapter 239 – Roots, Stems, Branches, Leaves, Fruit, Flowers, Back to Roots
The needle pierces my flesh, injecting an unidentified liquid into my bloodstream.
The liquid, now circulating with my blood, courses through my veins, spreading throughout my body.
As the heat reaches my fingertips, toes, heart, and brain, my vision blurs as if cells are dying.
But conversely, my mind becomes increasingly clear. A refreshing coolness tickles my skin,
and I begin to feel an invigorating sensation, like waking up refreshed, showering, and greeting the morning breeze.
“No…! No…! I’ve come this far, how could I have come this far!!”
Kinn, spewing out centuries of accumulated dreams and evils in a near-shriek, rushes toward me,
but his movements appear slow. Very slow.
“…..”
As I stomp my foot, the ground, deeply infused with blue, begins to writhe.
“This is…! Ugh?!”
Kinn, startled, glances at the ground and, realizing something, braces himself.
The moment Kinn envelops himself in a transparent barrier, countless tree spears erupt.
The spears, sharpened to a terrifying point, fail to penetrate Kinn’s barrier but lift him into the air.
…I’ve used blue before to grow roots of this magnitude,
but unlike then, when I felt drained afterward, my entire body is now overflowing with vitality.
The wounds and fatigue inflicted by Kinn have completely healed, and the bleeding has stopped.
“…Good.”
The previous attack didn’t break through Kinn’s prison because I cautiously controlled my power.
Then, what would happen if I unleashed an all-out attack without restraint?
I spread my legs wide, brace my core, lift my head, and gaze at Kinn floating in the air.
Then, I sprout sturdy roots behind my feet to anchor my shoulders and raise my hand.
I aim my right index finger at Kinn in the air, gathering green energy at its tip.
The tingling sensation coursing through my veins creates a shimmering orb at my fingertip.
Enough power to burn my arm to a crisp like before is gathered, but my arm remains unharmed.
No, I can gather even more here. More, more, more, more. The light orb grows larger.
“…!!”
Kinn realizes another powerful attack is coming from the intense light emanating from the orb,
but floating in the air, he is defenseless, unable to dodge or hide.
He simply gathers both hands, reinforcing the barrier surrounding him.
I fire the orb, now the size of a soccer ball, at him.
Inside the lab, a beam of light is unleashed, filling the entire sky.
Kinn is engulfed in the light and disappears, and the leaves of the trees sprouting above the flower field catch fire.
“Fire, it’s fire! The trees are on fire!”
“Put it out quickly! What are you doing?! If we leave it, the King will surely…!!”
Even at this moment, the people in this lab are fussing over extinguishing the fire on the trees.
Let those guys take care of the fire; I need to deal with that bastard first.
A blackened shadow falls from the sky where the light has disappeared.
He crashes to the ground with black, acrid smoke, then rises, steadying himself with a trembling hand.
“Haa…! Haa…! Haa! What is it, what is it!! How did you get that drug…!
No, it’s definitely the same drug, but what is this difference!! How do you have such power…!”
His prison is crumbling, breaking apart. He couldn’t block it after all.
Kinn’s skin is charred black, and red burns are visible all over his body,
likely from the light seeping through the cracks in his barrier.
“…I don’t know either? You don’t know, do you?”
“…Ugh!! Uaaaaa!! Stop that man immediately!! That’s an order!!”
Kinn, letting out a shriek I’ve never heard before, turns his head and shouts at the people putting out the fire.
“Stop him now…! Now, show me your loyalty…!”
“S-Stop him…? How can we stop ‘that’…? How are we supposed to stop him…”
“…What?”
Despite Kinn’s furious command, none of his subordinates move.
They are indeed consumed by fear, but the object of their fear is not Kinn.
Everyone hesitates and steps back, and someone dares to talk back to Kinn’s order—
“…That’s right, how are we supposed to stop that, that monster?!”
“How can we do what even you can’t do!”
“Don’t be ridiculous!! We don’t want to die either!!”
When a greater fear than the one they were already feeling appears, the humans gain courage.
It’s a ridiculous situation. Kinn, now being ganged up on, stares blankly at them.
“F-From the beginning, it was all nonsense…! King, my ass, you crazy bastard…!”
“Get lost!! You killed my wife! Get lost, monster!!”
Now emboldened, they even start picking up stones and throwing them at Kinn.
Of course, the stones are blocked by Kinn’s crumbling barrier and fall to the ground…
“…You’re nothing but stupid monkeys…!”
Kinn’s expression, filled with the greatest anger I’ve ever seen from him, twists fiercely.
“Die…?”
“I praised you for being wise, and you became arrogant, staring at a tree you can’t even climb…!”
Kinn instantly appears in front of the man about to throw another stone and seizes his wrist.
Then, before he can say anything, Kinn rips his hand off.
The severed arm and splattered blood shower the white flower field and the people wearing gowns—
“Ugh, uaaaaa!!”
It instantly turns into a scene of chaos. Some humans turn and flee,
while others collapse, their legs giving out, and beg for their lives.
Kinn, looking down at them, issues a brief command in a calm but chilling voice.
“Go stop him if you don’t want to die.”
“H-Hic…! B-But… Ah…?”
“Kyaaaaak!!”
Kinn grabs the head of a woman who hesitated, crying at his command, and crushes it like a tomato.
Another female researcher standing next to her screams and weeps.
“Didn’t you hear me? I said go stop him. If you run away, I’ll chase you to the ends of the earth and kill you horribly.”
“Hiii… P-Please save me… Pleeease…”
I don’t know who they’re begging, but Kinn’s threat is very effective.
Humans with faces covered in tears and blood rush clumsily toward me.
“Please don’t kill me, please save me!”
“I, I have a daughter, I have a daughter…! Save me…!”
Kinn appears among the people who are not attacking me but clinging to me and begging for their lives.
His face contorts as if the burns on his skin are stinging him with every movement, and he cuts through the flower field.
“Iria, Iria! Hurry and say you’ll be my consort…! I’ll give you this flower…!”
He approaches Iria’s vacant body and offers her a flower.
To make her his consort according to the flower’s ritual, to become king. But—
“…Come on, hurry…!”
Someone brushes away Kinn’s hand as he tries to pluck a bloodstained flower and adorn Iria’s head with it.
“…I refuse, my consort will not be someone like you, Kinn.”
“…What…”
Iria’s body, speaking in a subdued voice, coldly refuses and glares at him with empty eyes.
Light has returned to her eyes, and her voice carries a clear sense of animosity.
“Y-You… How are you here…!”
Kinn realizes it too. The one standing before him now is the real Iria, complete with both soul and body.
“…Your plan was to take a body that was empty, unable to act or think on its own, as your consort, right?
Because you knew that if Iria’s soul returned to her body, she would never choose you.”
“Since… When…”
“From the beginning. I waited until you dug up Iria’s body and aimed for that moment.
First, I safely evacuated Iria from the crashing plane, and then I fought you to draw attention.”
Kinn turns to look at me with an expression filled with anger, despair, annoyance, frustration, and impatience.
“…It will never go the way you want it to. Kinn, there’s no place for us in this world anymore.
This world is now flowing peacefully and quietly. The world Hir and everyone wanted…”
Kinn, grinding his teeth as he looks back at Iria, who is still trying to persuade him, shouts.
“Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut uuuup!! Yes, a world everyone but me wanted…! I hate it..!
I will change it. I will become king and change the essence of this world! You hate me? Then…”
Kinn raises his hand toward Iria.
“I’ll make you want me even if I have to force you to…! Ugh?!”
Kinn swings his fist at Iria, but his fist never reaches her.
Kinn is sent flying, spraying blood along with a flash of silver, and lands on the flower field.
Iria, adorned with silver gems, stands tall and looks down at Kinn.
“…This is my power. The power you gave me…”
The power of Iria as a creator, as Theresa explained.
The power to contain strength within her body and return the received power as it is.
Kinn could never touch Iria, who fully possesses the body and mind of a creator in this place,
Iria, who fully possesses her original power.
As if denying that fact, Kinn staggers to his feet and then slams his head against the ground.
“Why, why, why, why… Why didn’t either of you acknowledge me…
You’re too soft. You’re fools who don’t even know the right way to use such great power…
And you two were originally human beings… But why, why am I losing to you…!!”
Kinn, alternating between looking at Iria and me, shouts and slowly walks toward me.
“It’s all your fault. Everything started to go wrong for me after you appeared.
Your red, more irritating than Hir’s gold…! You ruined everything for me!!”
His slow steps gradually quicken, and Kinn rushes at me with his last bit of malice.
The people surrounding me scream and flee at the sight of his monstrous appearance,
and he and I collide in an instant. Kinn’s immense power presses down on my shoulders. He has already lost his reason.
“It’s all your fault! It’s all your fault!!”
“So what the fuck do you want me to do.”
I slam my fist into Kinn’s face, imbued with golden light, and he falls backward.
I pull him back with blue vines, knock him down again, and then climb on top of him.
“You know what? I wouldn’t have come this far either if you guys hadn’t bothered me first.”
If Kinn hadn’t come to the university,
“Keugh?!”
If you hadn’t bothered me in Busan,
“Keheok…!”
If you hadn’t chased after Sister Iran and caused a ruckus in the streets,
“Eugh…?!”
No, if you hadn’t shown up at the university that day,
“Would I have even noticed your existence?”
“……..”
Kinn doesn’t move. He’s twitching slightly and breathing, but that’s all.
He probably can’t even hear my voice anymore. Kinn’s appearance is that wretched.
His face is mangled and bloody, and his cheekbones are broken.
“…I, Chanu…”
Kinn is muttering, barely holding onto his fading consciousness, and
“…Cha, Chanu…”
Iria is calling my name with a worried voice and approaching me.
Whether it’s fortunate or not, Kinn’s face is covered by flowers, so she won’t be able to see it from where she’s standing.
“…There’s no meaning anymore, let’s end this.”
I stand up and take out a long spear made of blue power roots.
Then, I gather red and gold at the tip of the spear and bring it to Kinn’s heart.
He no longer has the strength to maintain his barrier, so it will be easy to pierce him.
“………”
Kinn is looking at the tip of the spear without saying anything, but he doesn’t move a finger.
“…Looks like you’re the one who has to say hello to Hir in the afterlife.”
With those words, I raise the spear high and try to pierce his heart in one swift motion,
“Wait!”
Iria shouts. She presses her lower lip tightly and approaches me.
She places her hand on the spear I made and says in a voice that sounds like she’s about to cry.
“…Let me do it.”
“……”
A moment of silence. I make eye contact with Iria for a moment, then release my grip on the spear,
and hand it over to her. Iria takes my place and breathes, not surprised.
“…I won’t think you’re pitiful. It’s all your fault coming back to you.
But I have to make this ending. Because I have to… Because it’s right…”
Iria’s voice begins to tremble as she raises the spear high.
Her hand also begins to tremble, and the tip of the spear wavers.
“…..”
I approach her and stand behind her. When I grab the spear she’s holding,
Iria, who isn’t surprised, turns around and looks at me with tears welling up in her eyes.
“Let’s do it together.”
“…..”
Iria nods and regains her composure.
I press down firmly on Iria’s trembling hand to stop it from shaking,
and once again, I place the tip of the spear against Kinn’s heart—
“……..Cough…”
And then I press down, piercing his heart. I quietly watch the scene,
and the light in Kinn’s eyes, who was coughing up blood with a short cough, gradually fades.
Finally, it’s all over.
“…..”
“…..”
Are they aware of this situation?
A bird sitting on a giant tree is singing, chirping.
The sunlight of the day, the leaves blocking it, the yellow sunlight falling, tinged with the color of the leaves.
The petals swaying in the gentle breeze and the slightly burnt trees dropping sparkling leaves.
In the middle of it all are Iria and I, and a single wooden spear.
After that, Iria didn’t say anything and was just looking down at Kinn.
I took my place and sat down to keep the promise I made with Chaeyoon before coming here for the last time.
And I pluck a beautifully blooming flower and weave and weave the stems together.
I roll it into a circle, cut off the stems in between, and cut off the protruding stems to make a flower ring.
I take it and approach Iria.
“Iria.”
“…Yeah…”
I grab Iria’s hand, who answers without turning around.
And as I slip the flower ring I painstakingly made onto her finger…
“…I kept my promise with this. You can be happy now.”
“…….”
She finally can’t hold back her tears and falls onto the flower field with me in her arms.
…Ah, but how do I get home now? The plane I came on crashed.
“….Thank you…. I love you….”
“…….”
Let’s think about that later. It’s okay now.
Somehow, we’ll all get back. Us too, the world too.
