THIFSGSTW CH 56

Chapter 56: I’ll find it eventually

I knelt on the ground, placing my hands over my chest and slowly regulating my breath.

I stayed like that for a while, quietly waiting until I calmed down.

‘Alright. I feel a little better now.’

After all, people need to take a moment to think things through. When you step back, nothing in this world is truly overwhelming. The farther you distance yourself, the smaller things seem.

I needed to pull myself together. Raising an arm, I wiped my eyes. My vision cleared.

I jumped to my feet. As I rummaged through my belongings, my fingers brushed against the stiff edges of magic-infused paper. I selected two spells that I needed right now and pulled them out.

Riiip.

Tearing the papers all at once, a sharp sound echoed through the violet dawn air.

The surroundings brightened. At the same time, my body slowly began to float. The spells I had just torn contained light magic and levitation magic.

A soft breeze swirled around me. My view gradually rose, revealing the structure of this place bit by bit.

“I decide where I go.”

I spoke as clearly and firmly as possible. There was no voice ringing in my head anymore. I clenched my teeth.

‘I have to go to the temple.’

The answer was there. Sacrifice, offering… I knew nothing about those things. I remembered nothing. That’s why I had to go. I had to find out.

Worrying now was meaningless. There was nothing I could figure out at this moment.

‘I need to focus on what I can do now.’

I had to deal with what was in front of me first. The reason I was brought here must have been to see that scene. I didn’t want to stay here any longer. I wanted to get out.

As my body drifted upward, the cold wind brushed against my cheek. My mind gradually settled. Now that I was high enough to see everything below like tiny specks, I could finally grasp the situation clearly.

‘It’s a maze.’

I had suspected as much. The paths twisted and turned chaotically, stretching far into the distance with no end in sight.

‘Is that the center?’

A thick cluster of green vines rose higher than the other walls, forming a cylindrical shape. It wasn’t far from where I was.

I moved toward it and sat down on top of it.

The vines beneath my palm were slightly damp. Perhaps it was because of the early morning dew. The cool sensation against my fingertips made everything feel more real.

As I regulated my breathing, trying to figure out how to escape—

Ding!

A crisp chime rang in my ears. My body flinched involuntarily.

<Required! Quest> ‘Raen- Please Don’t Doubt!’ Ⅴ Failed!

Penalty ‘Random Hemoptysis^[1]’ will last for 3 months.

A new quest window appeared before me.

<Quest> ‘Raen- Please Don’t Doubt’

Accept / Decline

The text was hastily sribbled, as if written in a rush. I stared at it for a moment before leaning back. Beyond the glowing blue system window, the vast violet night sky stretched overhead.

‘Since when did they start giving me choices?’

It was ridiculous. As if they had ever considered my opinion when starting these quests. And yet, now they were pretending to let me decide with an Accept and Decline option neatly displayed.

No, this wasn’t really a choice. It felt more like a formality. As if they already knew I would refuse.

As if they were saying. You’ve been through enough to know the pattern. You’re bound to fail anyway and only suffer penalties. So why not just quit here? We already know what you’ll choose.

Because the path had already been decided. They were coaxing me to give up, disguising it as kindness.

“I will accept it.”

I spoke firmly. Yet, the notification that the quest had been accepted did not appear.

The status window before me remained unchanged. It was as if it wouldn’t disappear until I provided the predetermined answer.

I refused to accept that. he path I walked was mine to decide, and I was the one who would determine where to go. I spat out defiantly.

“I’ll do whatever I can. So just accept it.”

The moment I finished speaking, the system window flickered. Light scattered erratically, as if an error had occurred. Letters glitched across the screen.

<Quest> ‘Raen- Please Don’t Doubt’

Success:

Failure:

Time Limit:

The quest window shimmered like broken glass, specks of light scattering from its edges. Apart from the title, everything else was blank. As if they had never even intended to fill in the details from the beginning.

Then, just as suddenly, the window disappeared without a trace, not even leaving behind an afterimage. In the darkness left behind, the cold morning sky unfolded once more.

‘Did it even get accepted properly?’

I couldn’t even be sure of that. I whispered, “Quest window,” but nothing appeared. I shut my eyes tightly. I needed to sort out my thoughts.

‘If the scene I saw was truly from my childhood, then I was a sacrifice.’

A sacrifice offered to a god. My fingers trembled for a brief moment at the thought. But now wasn’t the time for that. I clenched my fists and steadied myself.

‘I was a sacrifice, but I was not the one who made the sacrifice.’

What did that mean? If I wasn’t the one sacrificing, then what was the point of being a sacrifice? I didn’t have an answer yet. I had to move on.

‘The blue light.’

That must be divine power. And if it was absorbed, then that meant there could still be divine power within me. When I thought of ‘blue light,’ only one thing came to mind.

‘The system.’

That was the only possibility. But if it was truly divine power, then why was it manifesting like this? Divine power was sacred. It wasn’t supposed to appear in such a playful, game-like form.

So I couldn’t be certain. There was a connection, but I had to be careful.

‘Why can’t I remember?’

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t recall anything from that time. It was as if an entire period had been cut away, leaving nothing behind. Maybe that’s what “You’ll understand when the time comes” really meant. That I would remember when I was meant to.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

For now, I needed to go to the temple and offer a sincere prayer, listening for the voice of the gods. The only place I could hear the voice of the gods would be in the temple, where they were worshipped.

Now I had a sense of what I needed to do. Everything was coming together.

Since I didn’t know the proper way to communicate with a god, I had to ask my teacher. Though I doubted it would be difficult. After all, I had heard the god’s voice before.

Until one reaches adulthood, formal prayers are not offered in the temple. Still, it is normal to learn the procedures for communicating to God. However, unlike the other children, I never received a standard education at the temple.

The priests paid me no attention, not even the slightest bit. And my teacher was far too busy to teach me in detail.

‘…Teacher.’

Did Teacher know that I was a sacrifice? No. He must have known. Then… all the looks he had given me… were they nothing more than pity?

At that thought, all the strength drained from my body. It felt as if my will had suddenly evaporated. As if nothing mattered anymore. Like my blood was seeping out, leaving only an empty shell behind.

felt nothing. My mind was blank. A vague sense of emptiness crept in. All the time I had endured there felt meaningless.

Darkness filled my vision. But of course, my eyes were closed. Yet, would opening them change anything? I wasn’t sure. If nothing would change,then maybe it was better to just stay like this…

Clap!

At that moment, I heard a small sound of clap from above. I opened my eyes wide.

A bright yellow light was slowly descending from the violet sky, resembling falling stars.

‘Who is it?’

Within the light, I could see the silhouette of someone swaying. The light approached me directly. Soon, I felt a presence gently landing beside me.

The light dimmed slightly. I felt a hand softly brush my hair away from my face. A voice, as soft as melting snow, whispered in my ear.

“Yihan-ah.”

Park Yul was looking down at me, his eyes gently curved into a smile.

“There you are. I’ve been looking for you for a long time.”

“…How did you find me?”

“There’s nowhere I can’t go.”

That wasn’t much of an answer. How did he find me? I gazed up at him in silence. Park Yul reached out and lightly brushed the corner of my eye.

“Your eyes are swollen again.”

“…Maybe because it’s early morning.”

Park Yul placed his hand softly over my eyes. Warm darkness filled my vision. His gentle voice continued.

“Are you sleepy?”

“No.”

“Then… were you scared, being alone?”

“That’s not it either. It’s just…”

I trailed off. I had nothing else to say. I kept my mouth shut. Park Yul slowly moved his hand from my eyes to gently pat my forehead.

“Did you know I would come this time?”

“…….”

I thought I heard a faint whisper, almost like a murmured thought to himself. “I wonder when Yi-han will be the one to say he was waiting for me first.”

The rhythmic touch against my forehead felt steady—like a calm, quiet heartbeat.

The hollow feeling in my body gradually filled with warmth.

“…Thank you for coming.”

“Of course. I was worried you might be in danger. I’m glad you’re safe.”

Park Yul reached out, brushing his hand over my body where I lay. Gently, he began clearing away the blue flower petals that had settled on my clothes.

“…Did it take long to find me?”

Thinking about it, it was already dawn. Time had flown by. For me, it felt like I had just closed my eyes for a moment, but it couldn’t have been the same for Park Yul. He hadn’t spent the whole day searching, had he?

“Looking always feels long.”

Yul took both of my hands in his and softly pulled me up into a sitting position.

“But if you find what you were looking for in the end… then none of that really matters, does it?”

He met my gaze and smiled. A single blue flower petal drifted down, settling atop his golden hair.

I reached out. Park Yul’s eyes followed my hand asI grasped the flower that was gently swaying on his golden hair, which seemed to shine even in the darkness.

The flower in my palm felt rough against my skin, scratchier than I expected. Nothing had changed, yet… somehow, it felt different. I curled my fingers around it tightly.

“Yul Hyung, you once said you’d wait until I was ready to speak first.”

“Yes.”

“So is that why… you’re not asking me anything now? About why I’m here, or anything like that?”

“You didn’t ask me how I found you, either.”

His response came easily, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. But I had a reason for not questioning him further.

“…Because you came to me. That’s enough.”

I no longer had to be here alone. That was more than enough. I was curious about how he had found me. But if Park Yul didn’t say, I had no intention of pressing him for an answer.

“…But hyung, isn’t it different for you?”

You don’t have to keep finding me, even without asking me anything. 

That was what I had meant to say. But before I could, the words caught in my throat. Park Yul’s soft green eyes simply gazed at me in silence.