Pick Me Up Infinite Gacha! Novel - Chapter 309
Pick me Up – Chapter 309 – Epilogue 2: Niflheim
Aaron looked down from the iron railing.
In the vast plaza of the Taonier Lobby, people gathered in small groups, entering various dimensional portals.
‘They said it was a dissolution ceremony.’
Aaron’s hand tightened on the railing.
Fifteen days ago, the news that the Mobius headquarters had fallen reached all the servers.
Then, the destroyed world was restored as if by a miracle.
On this floor alone, there were at least hundreds of heroes gathered.
The same was happening in other Lobbies.
Guided by Mobius employees, the heroes were returning to their homes.
They only had to enter those dimensional portals to return to their homelands.
Of course, the heroes would lose their memories of the Lobby, and although fragments would still remain in the restored world, the situation would not be remotely comparable to before, when the walls were constantly breached by endless invaders.
“Are you not planning to return?” asked a voice.
Aaron turned to the boy beside him.
A boy with violet eyes, dressed in a black T-shirt, jeans, and a cap. He carried a long spear on his back.
A member of the 13th floor of Niflheim and Aaron’s master, his name was Muden Nidelk.
A week after the fall of the Mobius headquarters, Muden had volunteered as a supervisor, staying in Taonier with Aaron.
“You mentioned you had a sister. What was her name? Nana?”
“Nina.”
“Ah, yes, Nina. Sorry, my memory hasn’t been great lately.”
Muden scratched his cheek and laughed.
“You did a good job. Everything seems to have been resolved somehow. Anyway, aren’t you planning to return home? Your sister must be eagerly waiting for you.”
Aaron did not respond to his master’s words.
Conflicting emotions swirled in his heart.
“Kid.”
“Yes.”
“Do you regret being under my tutelage?”
“What do you mean, master?”
“After all the effort rolling on the ground, you never managed to wield your spear properly.”
Aaron remained silent.
It would be a lie to say he never wondered if he had been too slow.
‘Was I… too slow?’
He had embarked on his journey to help his brother, but he didn’t make it in time.
When he returned to Taonier, everything was already over.
“My brother left no word for me.”
If he had returned faster, if he had been with his brother.
If he had earned his trust.
Maybe all of this wouldn’t have happened.
“No answer. It must be the right answer.”
“No, master. It’s my fault. I learned slowly. You did the best you could. If I had worked harder, if I hadn’t been lazy, I might have stopped my brother.”
“How could you stop someone who wanted to leave? Hit him on the head with your spear?”
Muden shrugged.
“Well, if it weren’t for him, we’d be dead. It’s a touching sacrifice. Like it or not, thanks to the master, we all saved our lives.”
Aaron sighed.
‘Even so…’
He knew from Yurnet the situation his brother was in.
In a distorted dimension, beginning an endless fight against the fragments.
‘I was insufficient.’
Aaron clenched his fist.
To reach the desired strength, he needed countless years and efforts.
He couldn’t even list them.
Finally, Aaron had managed to awaken his ‘karma’, but the person he was supposed to protect was no longer there.
‘If I had been faster.’
He couldn’t afford to sleep, eat, or even breathe.
If he had reached that level faster.
‘I’m sorry.’
He was given the opportunity to become strong, but due to his insufficiency, he betrayed that trust.
Endless regret gnawed at his heart.
“Why are you so downcast? It’s unpleasant to see.”
“But…”
“It’s not a good habit, right? Blaming yourself all the time. Live with your shoulders up. In all of Mobius, the people who can face you with a spear can be counted on one hand, including me.”
“Strength no longer has meaning. My brother is gone, and Taonier has returned. The tip of my spear has lost its purpose.”
“It has no meaning, you say…”
Muden repeated Aaron’s words and smiled.
“It’s true. You’re right. The game is over, the mission is over. I don’t know if we’ll ever have the chance to wield our weapons again. Even Niflheim has gotten what it wanted.”
Aaron knew what Muden was referring to.
Bifrost, the dark sword abandoned by Loki. With its power, Niflheim could maintain the Lobby for at least a few hundred more years. Compared to others, whose connection with the master had been cut and who were disappearing, their situation was much better. They were being forced to return to their worlds.
“If you’re going to return, do it soon. This will disappear soon. Opening a closed portal is a nightmare.”
“I…”
“What keeps you here?”
Muden looked him in the eyes.
The boy’s violet eyes shone with an indecipherable emotion.
“Seeing the end was your decision. I didn’t stop you. If it was your choice, accept the result.”
“……”
“The Han Israt you knew is already dead. Now the master is a specter on the border. It was his choice. He left without even talking to us.”
Aaron lowered his head.
His master’s words seemed harsh, but they were not wrong.
“Tell me, kid. What keeps you here?”
“It’s… unfair.”
“Unfair?”
Aaron murmured.
“Doesn’t it seem like only my brother is required to sacrifice?”
It was unfair.
That was Aaron’s true feeling.
With a single sacrifice, many people were saved.
But what about that single sacrifice?
“No one forced him. He decided to do it. Even when offered to return to Earth, he himself rejected it.”
“……”
“It was what the master wanted. He will have no regrets. Although, in that state, he couldn’t have them.”
“Master. Even if you are my master, I cannot tolerate you insulting my brother…”
“Are you saying you won’t tolerate this?”
Aaron closed his mouth.
“Alright.”
Muden leaned against the railing.
A deep sigh escaped the boy’s lips.
“If we had talked more with the master, if there had been more trust, maybe there would have been a different result. But we told him to go to Earth without giving him explanations. It’s natural that the master abandoned us. We were only master and heroes in appearance; the relationship was superficial.”
Muden’s eyes narrowed.
“You said it was unfair. The world that forced the master to sacrifice, our own insufficiency, all of that… is unfair?”
Muden looked at him.
The boy’s tired eyes emitted a terrifying glow.
‘Unfair.’
Aaron decided to accept it.
“Yes.”
“We had no talent. So we fought for our lives. If we lived the same amount of time, we would never reach him. We abandoned happiness and human life. Do you remember all those years of sweat and tears?”
Thousands of days and nights.
Aaron had wielded the spear until his hands blistered, his shoulders collapsed, and all his muscles tore.
Without missing a single day, without resting a moment.
Even so, even so… he was too slow.
He devoted himself so much he almost forgot himself, but the world never rewarded him.
‘Unfair.’
It was, to the point of crying.
It was, to the point of cursing the sky.
“Aaron.”
The master looked at Aaron.
With a warmth he had never shown before.
“Why do we wield our spears every day…?”
“……”
“I regretted it every night. Why was I wasting my blood and sweat on this? I saw no results. After so much effort, this was the most I could achieve. But if Lidygion had done the same, he would have become the strongest in the universe.”
Muden drew the spear from his back.
The gray blade glowed under the light.
The weapon was called Ruin. One of the five sacred weapons, a gray spear created with the power of chaos.
“Even so, every morning I took up the spear again. Because it was unfair. Because I wanted revenge on this world. I wanted to prove I could do it. That this was not over.”
“……Master.”
“Take it.”
Aaron caught the object his master threw at him.
The weight ran through his shoulder.
It was Muden’s spear.
“How could I…?”
“You’ve surpassed me. A weapon must be in the hands of the deserving.”
“I am content with my iron spear.”
“No. In the next fight, the weapon will be important too. I don’t think I’ll be in that battle.”
“What are you talking about? The fight is over…”
“Didn’t you say you didn’t want it to end?”
Muden said.
“Then don’t let it end.”
“……”
“When someone tells you to give up, don’t. When they say you can’t, don’t stop. If you can’t, keep going until you can. If you fail, keep going until you succeed. True strength comes from that. Those things create miracles.”
Muden looked at his pupil with a blank expression.
“I’m too old. You have to save the master in my place.”
“I don’t understand…”
Ding.
Muden threw something he had in his hand.
Aaron caught it without thinking.
It was a small purple iron badge.
In the center of the badge was engraved the emblem of Niflheim.
“Aaron Delcut.”
“Master!”
“Now the 13th floor of Niflheim, the name of Nidelk, is yours. I’ve already told the others, so they’ll understand when they see that badge.”
Muden turned around.
A desperate Aaron placed his hand on his shoulder.
“Master, I…”
“Don’t touch me. I’m going on vacation. Relaxing on the Emerald Beach, dancing hula with pretty girls, and drinking martinis.”
Aaron’s eyes widened.
Under the cap, wrinkles had formed around Muden’s lips.
‘In a moment… he’s aged…’
“I’ve lived long enough. I don’t even remember things anymore. So do it for me. It’s the last favor of an old master.”
“……”
Muden walked away without hesitation.
Down the hallway.
Aaron ran after his master.
“Master, this is sudden! Leaving like this is too much! Tell me something more!”
“Don’t follow me. Don’t bother.”
Muden pushed Aaron’s hand away.
He no longer sounded like a child.
“I need you, master. To save my brother, come with me…”
“I am here.”
The wrinkled hand gripped Aaron’s spear.
“I’ve put all my years, my revenge, my resentments, everything into this spear.”
Wooo.
As if responding to Muden’s words, the spear emitted a faint glow.
Muden left a bewildered Aaron and let go of the spear.
Then he disappeared down the hallway.
“Master.”
Aaron looked at the spear in his hands.
A plain metal spear and the Niflheim badge.
It was the legacy Muden had left him.
‘If you don’t want it to end…’
It must not end.
Muden’s voice echoed in his ears.
“I swear by my life. After this battle, I will find you, master.”
Aaron bowed deeply to where Muden had disappeared.
Then he stood up and firmly held the spear, Ruin.
“Was this what you planned from the beginning?”
Aaron murmured as he looked at the black cape on the railing.
It was a special Niflheim cape, made to his measure.
Muden must have left it there.
Aaron put it on.
“Nidelk.”
The name by which he would be known.
Aaron Nidelk.
He would be the hero of Niflheim and continue fighting.
Aaron began to walk in the opposite direction from Muden.
At the end of the hallway was the hangar where the aircraft was parked.
Muden’s companions had already returned to Niflheim.
He had to meet them first.
“……”
Before leaving the hallway, Aaron looked back one last time.
The heroes he had shared life and death with were returning to their homes.
His sister might be waiting for him.
“Forgive your useless brother.”
Aaron put on the hood and left the hallway.