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Khun stands before the supposed gate to the Outside—it is indeed hard to believe when he’s just standing under a pitch black sky towering endlessly above and under him with a mass of stones stacked in a tower as floor.
“Ah, this brings back memories.” the rabbit-like creature beside him grins, “Once, a long time ago, someone, too, asked me to take them to this exact place. That person was so desperate to find a way out that she was willing to build a tower made of stone this tall. ‘To reach the stars’, she said. Hard to believe that you of all people would be in her place. But at least now I don’t have to put up with the smell of a rotting dead body.”
The administrator’s gaze is usually beyond comprehensible to any residents of the Tower, as if they emit something that’s just far beyond what the usual minds can fathom. Yet at that moment, Khun somehow feels as if he could grasp bits and pieces of something he recognizes: genuine nostalgia.
“In all honesty, it’s beyond impressive.” Headon turns towards Khun. “How did you do it?”
“...I just decoded a pocket. That’s all.”
“A pocket that shouldn’t even be in your possession in the first place.” Headon chuckles.
“And if I’m correct,” Khun deadpans, “it isn’t any of your business.”
“...Correct. It isn’t.” Headon answers with the tone of a sinless creature. “Why are you doing this, anyway?”
“To chase after someone.”
“And the one you’re chasing after is a shark too big to remain in the sea.” Headon says plainly, “Wasn’t that why he even broke out of here in the first place? Because the Tower is just simply too small of a fish tank to contain a being like that.”
“...it doesn’t matter. I still want to go.” He clenches his fists, “Where will I end up if I enter that gate?”
Headon laughs, “I don’t know either.”
Khun decides not to ask any further.
With a wave of Headon’s staff, the world turns to black; the gate is opened.
***
There is one dirty secret that Khun had been exposed to—the Tower does not end. There is no “top” or “bottom”. There is nothing beyond the 134th floor. It just hollows and swells and extends into more and more layers; and the more you climb, the further you go, the more you will find yourself swallowed up in nothingness, and it’s only a matter of time before you descend further into the depths of hell, where you will pay for all the sins of your greed and pride—the thing that even got you there in the first place.
When Khun opens his eyes, another sky greets him.
It is not a sky of black however—instead, it’s a sky of rocks enveloping a nameless world of oblivion; and it reminds him of all the dirty secrets he discovered.
“You arrived sooner.” a voice startles Khun and he turns around.
Behind him, a man cloaked in a brown coat sits on a looming pile of rocks, towering before Khun. The white fabric hanging around his neck resembling a cravat reminds Khun of something that he can’t quite put his fingers on. Red eyes stare at Khun when he lifts up his head, and after seeing the way the red hair frames his face, Khun thinks he might be the most beautiful man he’s ever met—it’s like seeing an archangel’s descent before a lowly creature.
“Welcome to the world beneath the Tower.”
“Who are you?” Khun dares himself to ask.
“A messenger of God.” he answers, and Khun swears he feels the air around him tremble. He hops down from the pile of rocks. And in the blink of an eye, he’s walking towards Khun. “I have come to deliver a message to you, young man.
Find a river that goes out to water the garden, and follow it until you see it parts itself in four heads. Then, follow the second head where you shall see trees that are pleasant to the sight, a vast sky of shining stars, and the axis which your universe revolves upon.”
With a wave of his hand, the world turns black once again. Khun is slightly disappointed that he never got to properly observe that world of oblivion.
***
The star is more beautiful than anything Khun had ever hoped to see.
More beautiful than all those jewels he treasured so much as a child; he doesn’t even feel he’s worthy of seeing a sight like that.
The star is someone Khun has been chasing this whole time.
“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” he says, golden eyes twinkling like it has caught one of the stars in the sky. “I see why so many wish to escape the Tower just to see a sight like this now.”
And yet Khun doesn’t see the stars as something more beautiful than the one star sitting beside him right now.
“You know, this is actually your seventh time seeing this sight.”
“Seventh? What do you mean?” Khun raises an eyebrow.
“Six times in the past you’ve returned to this exact place just to see me, and I’ve always sent you back.” Bam says, a sorrowful smile on his face. “Yet you always find your way back to me no matter what. This time, you even arrived much sooner than last time.”
“Oh, that’s why that red haired guy said I arrived sooner?”
“Who?” Bam turns his head to look at Khun.
“I don’t know. He said he’s a ‘messenger of God’ or something, whatever the hell that means.” Khun explains.
“I see.” Bam nods a little. He obviously knows who Khun’s talking about, yet Khun decides not to ask any further.
“Why did you do that?” Khun asks instead, “Why send me back six times in the past?”
“Because I found out that you were never destined to follow me since the start.” Bam smiles; a bitter smile. “A minnow isn’t supposed to swim with a shark, nor follow it to the very end. You were never destined to be with me in the first place and be put through so many hardships. You were never written to be my ‘hero’ or anything like that. You were written merely as a ‘side character’. In fact, I already had a ‘heroine’ written for me—and yet you, Aguero, defied all of that.”
“That’s why?” Khun laughs, “You sent me back six times in a row because you think I shouldn’t go around defying fate, doing what I like, and following you here?”
“Not exactly.” Bam smiles at the sight of Khun laughing. “I did it because I think you shouldn’t go through any more of these hardships just to follow me around.”
“So what will you do now?” Khun asks, chuckling, “Will you send me back again?”
“If I do,” Bam looks at him, golden irises gleaming like pools of honey, “will you come back to me for the eighth time?”
“Yes.” Khun answers in conviction, as if it truly is the only thing he ever believes in his life. “I’ll always come back to you, be it the eighth or the nth time. I believe I’ve proven that to you seven times now.”
Bam laughs. “Then, no. Stay with me, Aguero.” A hand extends towards Khun, “Besides, the Outside world isn’t so bad.”
***