The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 121



The Order of the 120th Scenario

One of 38 bad endings.

The Reverse World.

A bad ending brought about when the Reverse World and reality merge through a medium called Grantoni.

When a bad ending, the Reverse World, is triggered, a transcendent being, like an Archfiend, but exclusive to the Reverse World, appears.

The Grotesque One.

An existence from the Reverse World, distinct from the Archfiends of the real world.

To classify it precisely, it was a transcendent being killed in the real world, before any Archfiend manifested.

‘If you’re dead, you should just accept it and vanish.’

The Grotesque One stubbornly, grabbed onto the tail end of its long life and secured itself within the Reverse World.

And it was still, even now, ceaselessly preparing to push its way into reality.

Thus, the bad ending, the Reverse World, isn’t formed from Grantoni alone.

The Grotesque One, from a time further back than one might imagine, had prepared many elements, readying itself to advance from the Reverse World into reality.

‘The reason I couldn’t do anything about the Grotesque One immediately, was that very reason.’

The Grotesque One only exists in the Reverse World.

So, no matter what, it’s not as dangerous as an Archfiend.

And that was precisely why, there was no way to deal with the Grotesque One once it had settled in the Reverse World.

The Reverse World was like the Grotesque One’s front yard.

Stepping foot in there would only lead to being killed by it.

Thus, in the original scenario, Lucas is unable to do anything to the Grotesque One.

Act 4, Scene 5, The Tragedy Unravels.

In Act 4, Scene 5, after rescuing Grantoni, Lucas completely seals the Reverse World.

With that, the Grotesque One’s plans are completely foiled.

All of Grantoni’s eccentricities at the Academy afterwards disappear.

Only, sometimes, it is described that Grantoni is seen looking at the stars on the roof of the specialized department.

‘The Reverse World was everything to Grantoni.’

Grantoni’s friend and unforgettable first love.

The one destined to become the world’s greatest Soul Weaver.

‘Musica.’

Furthermore, one more modifier is attached to her name.

The six great hero reincarnates, to be properly illuminated in Act 5.

The Soul Guardian.

Aquiline.

Musica was the reincarnation of Aquiline.

However, Musica herself did not know she was the reincarnation of Aquiline.

Unlike the Saintess, Akrede, she had crossed the River of Oblivion without a blessing.

Instead, she was overflowing with talent.

Even without her memories, she possessed talent overflowing enough to thrive as the world’s foremost soul mage.

But because of this, her existence fell under the gaze of the Abomination.

To the Abomination, she was a fruit sweeter than anything in the world.

With her power, he could build the foundations to escape the Otherworld.

But she was the possessor of a steadfast soul.

Her spirit was too firm for the Abomination to coax.

And so, the Abomination changed his target.

One who shared a master, of the same school as her.

Vinesha.

He decided to use her.

The day Vinesha dabbled in the Otherworld.

The Abomination delved into her innate lack of affection and detonated it.

And the tragedy was completed.

Vinesha, swayed by the Abomination, ended up offering Musica to the Otherworld.

Moreover, as payment for pulling the Abomination into the real world, she fell into a rampage.

In the moment of her death’s imminence, caused by the rampage.

Her master burned his own soul to shield Vinesha.

However, he too faced death as the price.

A lack of affection.

Too much had been broken to be explained by just that.

Certainly, Vinesha’s lack of affection was excessive.

But it wasn’t to the point of madness that would cause the death of her fellow student and master.

But because of that incident, Vinesha was completely broken.

The aftermath of being played by the Gwejon had left her memory fractured, emotional defects amplified to a fever pitch.

She’d used the shroud’s bandages to try and still the surging emotions, but even that proved futile.

Her brain and feelings, already melted and mangled by the Gwejon, were beyond repair.

Ultimately, she forgot her master, her fellow disciples.

Just a gnawing need for unfulfilled affection, a plunge into the abyss’s maw.

‘Her obsession with Jerion, the transcendent sage’s magic, it might’ve been…’

Within the shattered shards of her memory,

a hazy hope to revive her master, to reclaim Musika, maybe that was it.

That’s the bad ending, the whole story of the otherworld.

I stood still within the empty classroom.

On the floor, lay the pendant, passed from her master’s hand, through Vinesha, reaching Grantoni.

The pendant I’d given him the day we made our deal.

I picked it up, opened the lid.

Inside, an old photograph was nestled.

Vinesha, Musika, Grantoni.

And even their master.

A picture capturing their happiest times.

Every single person in this photo, their lives utterly destroyed by the Gwejon.

I clenched the pendant tight.

‘Grantoni doesn’t know everything about Vinesha’s actions.’

On the day of the tragedy, Grantoni had returned home late, with their master.

By then, Vinesha had already offered Musika to the Gwejon.

Caught in the maelstrom of Vinesha’s rampaging power, Grantoni had half his face torn away.

Because of that shock, his memory of that day remained fractured.

By the time Vinesha left, cackling like a madwoman, their master was already dead.

Grantoni, barely regaining consciousness, had clutched his master’s body and hastily summoned her from the otherworld.

But to save Vinesha, she’d exhausted her soul’s strength.

Leaving her capable of only the simplest expressions.

A proper conversation, now impossible.

Grantoni, left stranded, having lost both his first love and his master.

There wasn’t much he could do.

Granthony, that very day, chased Vinessha from the phantom kingdom, all the way to the Empire.

“Vinessha, noona!”

“Huh?”

But Vinessha, her memories shattered, didn’t recognize Granthony at all.

“Who are you?”

That fact ignited an unbearable rage in Granthony.

Granthony had lost Mushika, lost his master.

And yet, Vinessha was living as she pleased, her memories wiped clean.

Granthony’s eyes fell upon the pendant she wore.

It was the pendant his master had placed around her neck at the very end.

A pendant he had given in hopes she wouldn’t lose all her memories.

His master’s final keepsake.

“…You don’t deserve to have that.”

Granthony cried out, raw with bitterness.

“That… that belongs to my master. Give it back!”

And so, he attacked, aiming to seize the pendant from her, but Vinessha was strong.

Granthony was completely and utterly beaten by Vinessha.

“What is it you keep asking for? This is mine. Mine that I absolutely cannot give away.”

Vinessha was determined never to let the pendant be taken.

Eventually defeated by Vinessha, Granthony trudged away from her.

After that, seeking to study in order to bring Mushika back from the otherworld, he entered the Jerion Academy.

‘Later, Vinessha’s memories would slowly degrade further.’

Memories and emotions are inherently prone to fading.

In that situation, the core of her memories had been shattered.

So no matter how precious something was, it was eventually forgotten, little by little.

The day she was working as an assistant professor at the academy, she threw away the pendant.

And it was Lucas who ended up picking up that very pendant.

Lucas searches for Vinessha to return the pendant.

And in that process, he comes to learn that Vinessha is trying to steal Jerion’s magic and is a mystic.

The day she lost to Lucas at the Academy.

Vinesha, in a fit, flung the pendant at him.

She no longer knew how precious it was to her.

Only, the tears that streamed from her hollowed eyes as she stared at the shattered pendant, that she remembered clearly.

‘That’s why I purposefully stole it before it could be discarded.’

Even I couldn’t know when Vinesha would throw the pendant away.

The world’s canon had already twisted.

If she were to discard the pendant somewhere I wouldn’t know, it would be more than troublesome.

And so, I’d purposefully stolen her pendant, delivered it to Grantoni.

But this pendant has been discarded here once again.

How Grantoni crossed into the flip-side world, I don’t know.

I couldn’t fathom where in my actions to return the world to its canon, I’d caused the butterfly effect.

One thing was certain, the only reason Grantoni would cross to the flip-side world was this:

‘To retrieve Musika.’

I gripped the pendant tight.

Steering this world towards its canon.

That was, surely, my stubbornness, my obsession.

The only way I know to save the world is the canon, so somehow, I pushed it towards it.

But, the day I saved Nia, the day I brought Nikata back to life.

I made a firm resolution.

I will guide this world towards its happiest ending.

And that thought hasn’t changed, not even now.

Grantoni and Vinesha.

A tragedy tangled like a thread.

I have decided to unravel it.

‘Skip Act 4 Scene 4, the Autumn Demon Palace, and conclude the scenario starting at Act 4 Scene 5.’

Act 4 Scene 5.

The tangled thread of tragedy.

To conclude the scenario correctly, I will go to the flip-side world.

And what to do first, for that, is decided.

‘Run!’

Clutching the pendant, I ran, a mad dash at full speed.

From the moment Grantoni crossed into the Reverse World, time was of the essence.

No matter Grantoni’s unique trait as a ‘Reverse World Being.’

The longer Grantoni was exposed to the Reverse World, the more dangerous it became.

Worse still, the Bad Ending Reverse World is where the aberrant entity that swallowed Grantoni and Musica fully manifests.

If it absorbed the traits of Grantoni and Musica, even an aberrant entity could manifest.

A world where the Reverse World and the real world completely merge.

The worst possible world, where life and death become entangled, would come.

That, at all costs, I had to stop.

It was when I burst out of the Magic Academy building.

A flash of blue hair fluttered before my eyes.

Seeing it, I didn’t hesitate, snatching her wrist with a firm *snap*.

The eyes of the one who belatedly noticed me widened.

An unyielding blue flame.

It was Eve.

And just as her eyes were about to narrow into a frown.

“Eve, a life hangs in the balance. Can you help?”

Upon hearing my words, her expression changed instantly.

Her face, just moments ago about to scowl, now wore the imposing demeanor of an epilogue’s protagonist.

“What needs doing?”

Her first response was always the same.

That’s why I trust her.

The Reverse World Grantoni rescue team.

One member for now.