Chapter 1232 – #288_Fable(6)
#1226
1.
Looking at the suspicious space and the stairs rising high into the sky, I recall the memory from a little while ago.
The sensation of becoming free from all rules and heading towards transcendence.
Although I slipped and fell after being hit hard on the head by Erelim, my mind remembers that sensation.
The 25th level.
A realm where one doesn’t simply modify the laws of the world, but becomes the law itself.
The first time is always the hardest.
Once obtained, enlightenment doesn’t easily disappear.
If I follow these crooked stairs before me, I will soon be able to look down upon the world from a similar height.
The sense of omnipotence and freedom I gained the moment I broke free from the shackles was as sweet as a drug.
I could become anything, and no shackle or restraint could bind that freedom.
However.
“I don’t need this.”
I turned away from that path.
With a gesture, the scattered stairs collapsed with a rumbling crash.
There is a slight lingering regret.
It’s like burning all the papers with the winning lottery numbers for the future.
The lingering attachment that I will never again taste that freedom and omnipotence tries to maintain the shape of the stairs until the very end.
But I didn’t even glance at it.
Because I already know the price of choosing this path.
A path where I would even forget the faces of my beloved lover and family.
A path where I would burn everything for the sake of magical transcendence.
A path where I would be swallowed by chaos that imitates freedom, not true freedom.
For some, this path might be a shortcut they desperately want to obtain, but not for me.
To go up, I stretched my foot towards a new staircase.
The first step is precarious.
The stairs, hastily created the moment I step on them, look like they will collapse at any moment.
If I fall, I will be swallowed by the abyss gaping below.
“That’s a reckless thing to do.”
“If you’re not going to help, just watch.”
“……”
Erelim, who had been watching me without taking any action, as if to see how great I would be after talking so impudently, spoke to me.
However, it’s hard to interpret that as a friendly signal.
If I fail to show something and fall into the abyss, she will turn her back on me without helping.
She was also standing on another staircase that stretched parallel to mine.
The stairs that seemed to connect to the distant sky were different in their completeness and stability from the ones I was just creating.
The two of us climbed the stairs side by side in the same direction.
Paths that were parallel, where no one could help each other, and that could never meet.
“…Hoo….”
I climb and climb.
Precarious stairs with each step.
A path towards transcendence.
I didn’t think it would be easy, but the situation I faced was more precarious than expected.
Is it really possible to reach even the 24th level without breaking free from the shackles? A doubt arises.
Of course, it is.
Because I’m tearing up the answer sheet I’ve already seen and trying to pioneer a completely different new route.
Honestly, I have a grasp of the ‘system’.
The problem is that I can’t even access that system unless I reach the 25th level.
Then.
The scenery before my eyes changes.
The sound of a leisurely piano and the sunlight on my skin reach my ears.
It’s too vivid to be an illusion, unfolding before my eyes.
One day, sunlight streamed evenly into the room through the off-white curtains.
It was in the music room of the Gemena Count’s estate, where two grand pianos were placed facing each other.
It was a holiday, and the weather was mild.
Odile and Odette grabbed my wrists and dragged me into the music room.
Odette was lying on the sofa, tapping the leaves of a potted plant on the windowsill, enjoying a lazy afternoon rest, while Odile was humming a tune and playing the piano.
“Hmm, umm~ um~ ummummumm~”
A pleasant, melodious hum.
Odile closed her eyes and nodded her head, yet skillfully played on the black and white keys, creating a harmonious melody.
Freely changing scales and arpeggios.
A rhythm that sometimes bounced and sometimes flowed like water, as if playing with the notes.
Richly expanding harmonies and unpredictable variations.
It was so amazing to see a piano solo reminiscent of a New York cafe BGM coming out of those tiny hands, so I sat and watched.
The flowing performance suddenly stopped.
Odile, who had opened her eyes and met my gaze, was giving me a sly smile.
“Assistant? Why are you staring like that? Did you suddenly want to see the noble young lady Odile playing the piano completely naked? But that’s a problem. This is a music room, so it’s wide open. If the master sees, you’ll be in trouble, you know?”
“No. I just liked the music.”
“Is naked Odile’s piano performance not good?”
“Hmm, can I sneak in at night and see what happens?”
At my nonchalant teasing, Odile’s eyes widened, and she said, ‘You’ve grown up a lot, Assistant,’ and giggled, and I laughed along with her.
“Was that jazz you just played?”
“Yeah, I’m a classical type, but when the weather is nice like this, jazz isn’t bad either.”
“Sister, sister, lying is bad. You should say that you became a classical type because you were competitive since you were worse at playing than Odette.”
Odette, who had suddenly appeared, wrapped her arm around my side as if to say, ‘Don’t leave me out.’
“Hmph, it’s just that I’m not particularly interested in such non-traditional music, you know? It’s only 200 years old, right?”
“I see. Assistant! I, who am better than my sister! Will show you my performance!”
“Okay, okay, let’s compromise that Odile is a genius of classical music, and Odette is a genius of jazz.”
While skillfully mediating the usual bickering, I felt a surprising emotion.
Seeing Odile, who would immediately start bickering if provoked, take a step back, it meant that Odette’s performance was actually better, didn’t it?
“Tan, ta-ra-ra-ra tan!”
Indeed, Odette’s skills were amazing.
Making sounds with her mouth (I later learned it was called scat), she performed the song Odile had just played with much more flamboyant technique and rich resonance.
To me, who improvised and added variations on the spot, it was nothing short of a superpower.
As I listened to the two sisters’ performances, a question suddenly arose.
It was also a time when I was studying various cultures while working on the charisma project under the guidance of my great mother-in-law.
“How do you do it?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, the jazz improvisation.”
“Oh, if you want to discuss jazz theory with us, it will be a pretty in-depth conversation, you know? Are you ready?”
“Of course, I’m ready.”
Seeing her eyes sparkling, it seemed like she was itching to talk about her favorite topic.
I didn’t plan to go this deep, but I smiled wryly and nodded.
Even though they were tomboyish young ladies, Odile and Odette had received Gehenna-style gifted education.
In addition, the Gemena Count’s family devoted a lot of time to music due to their characteristic of ‘singing magic’.
That’s why they explained it in a way that was very easy to understand.
“Jazz is free music, but it’s not music that occurs naturally. For example, if you just hit the piano randomly, it won’t be a good performance, right?”
“That’s right.”
“But we have learned information about pitch, harmony, and the movement of harmony, right? We’ve been playing the piano and various instruments since we were three years old. We’ve also learned things like harmony from the age of seven.”
“Hmm, strictly speaking, does that mean that the improvisation just now wasn’t a completely free performance?”
“You could say that.”
“Actually, jazz isn’t very free. There are very strict rules, and it must be done within those rules. The more you regulate those rules, the more free and diverse the performance becomes.”
Odette, who was back at the piano, started playing while keeping time with her mouth.
With a slight frown or a cute tilt of her body, she presented a performance that was similar but completely different.
It was really nice to listen to.
The reason why such a fantasy suddenly comes to mind is, well, because there is a hint in it.
Enlightenment is surprisingly not grand.
The act of looking at things you take for granted in a strange way.
The act of finding the answer from separate events that seem to have no connection.
All of that is enlightenment.
Odette continued her explanation.
“It’s a bit paradoxical, isn’t it?”
“Honestly, it’s hard to understand.”
“Hmm…. To put it simply, the rules in jazz are not for restriction or justification. Rather, they are devices for becoming free. Instead of just mechanically accepting them, you make these rules into a paradigm and move towards new creation.”
“If you can internalize this paradigm and center yourself, that’s what a free improvisation is.”
Unlike what Odile said, it wasn’t easy at all, and I didn’t even understand it at the time.
But now, I think I understand a little.
I heard a melody that shouldn’t be audible.
A beautiful melody that makes you want to hum along.
It is magic, it is enlightenment, and it is also a work of art that audializes my mind as I look at magic.
The internalized law is not a means for restriction but a means for freedom.
The most important thing is to center ‘myself’.
The rules established in that way are not uniform.
They are not limited or controlled as they are repeated.
Infinite possibilities unfold before my eyes.
Therefore, the stairs that are gradually piling up before my eyes are no longer precarious or shaky.
My steps, which were full of doubt and confusion, are now full of conviction as I head upwards.
“…You….”
Erelim’s eyes widened as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
She couldn’t believe that my steps, which had been so precarious just a moment ago, had changed so much in such a short time.
These steps are not just for Shin Siwoo.
It’s not some half-baked transcendence where I’m trapped in a terrible stubbornness, mistaking indulgence for freedom, and saying I have to break free from the shackles.
Then, what is Shin Siwoo’s magic?
What am I going to do this path for?
What is the signpost at the center of that magic?
The answer has been decided a long time ago.
For Malika. For my lovers. For people. For myself.
A path to protect them.
I wanted to show it to that stuffy Erelim Duke as well.
That the path is not just full of suffering.
That it’s not a path that can only be achieved in solitude.
“How is it? Can you see it?”
Isn’t magic this free?
“This is the answer I’ve found.”
