Chapter 578: Chapter 578:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: AgRoseCrystal

Chapter 578

‘No, I didn’t intend to do this…’

He had just erased the name because he didn’t want to see the dragon’s mischief, but now he was panicking and carving the dragon’s name back into the stone.

As if by magic, the dragon that had disappeared a moment ago reappeared and resumed its pranks.

The past records were also restored. It seemed that no one in the world knew that the dragon had vanished for a while.

‘…What is going on?’

The stone, which had gained a lot of knowledge and indirect experience through sound, began to investigate the situation.

From small creatures like insects to large ones like monsters.

He erased and carved their names again, interfered with their actions and decisions, and inserted sentences like to see how the world reacted.

/Rain!/

/Mommy! It’s raining!/

…He didn’t expect it to actually rain.

The stone realized that his body, his hobby, and his records were no longer ordinary, as he heard the voices from the desert.

Over a long period of time,

The records themselves had gained power.

‘Is this okay?’

‘Of course not.’

He heard a reply to his usual muttering. The stone, which had turned into a rock, looked ahead.

There was a round light floating. It was not the original, but a clone. He didn’t need to ask for its identity. The stone recalled the record in an instant from the countless sentences engraved on him.

‘You’re a god.’

‘Yes, I am. I am the god of truth. Nice to meet you. Record Stone.’

‘Record Stone? Are you talking about me?’

‘Yes. That’s what we call you.’

Not bad.

The stone, or the Record Stone, smiled faintly.

‘But what’s the matter?’

‘Do you know that the world has been chaotic for the past few years?’

‘Um…’

The Record Stone rolled his eyes. He didn’t have eyes, though.

Well. He had changed the world’s records so much for his experiments, but the other beings might not know, but the gods must have noticed something strange.

‘…But I made sure there was no harm…’

He always restored the erased names, made the decisions of the living beings lead to good results, and tried to make the changes in the weather and such as positive as possible.

‘That’s true, but there are beings who have noticed your movements, albeit faintly.’

The god of truth said, and the Record Stone searched his records.

Three. The Great Sage, the High Elf King, and the Dragon Lord. But they didn’t seem to know for sure what the cause was.

The Record Stone answered.

‘I get what you mean. I’ll be careful from now on.’

‘That’s one thing, but how about leaving the middle realm now?’

‘Huh?’

‘We are worried. About the records of the world that will disappear when you are destroyed by another being.’

Oh…

That’s true.

He had the power to stop the rain, wind, and erosion of time, but since he was basically a stone, he couldn’t help but be vulnerable to strong attacks.

Of course, this huge rock wouldn’t be destroyed in one go, but the sentences engraved on the outside would surely be erased. Then the history of the world would change accordingly… No, wait.

‘But would that happen even if I didn’t erase it?’

‘…Shall I erase it and see?’

The polite god of truth sparkled his eyes.

Even for him, who knew the truth of the world, this ‘Record Stone’ was a curious being. He wanted to join the experiment willingly.

If the gods in the heavens knew, they would have slapped their foreheads. They should have sent someone else!

‘Okay. Erase this. The serial killer who appeared in the capital.’

‘Oh. Maybe the people who died will come back to life.’

The god of truth erased the name that was shining on the surface of the Record Stone. And he listened to the sound of the world.

/He’s gone?!/

/Did he escape?! Report to the captain right away!/

‘Um. Only the serial killer disappeared.’

‘I see. When you erase it, all the past records are erased, but when another being erases the record, only the current record is erased.’

The god of truth nodded his head, while the Record Stone carved the serial killer’s name again.

/That bastard is gone?! You should have kept an eye on him…! …Hey?/

/…What?/

The sound of the guard captain and the soldiers who ran in and saw the serial killer in the prison cell sighing in relief was heard.

‘It’s still dangerous, though.’

He could destroy the middle realm with just the destruction of the Record Stone. And there were beings in this world who could easily destroy a huge rock.

‘There’s heaven and hell.’

‘Do you have records of those places too?’

‘No, the wind doesn’t reach there. I just read them for fun when they invaded the middle realm.’

He learned the identity of the god of truth through the temples in the middle realm.

The Record Stone, who had been thinking quietly for a while, looked at the sky.

‘I’m getting bored of the middle realm stories too.’

Along with the words of the Record Stone, glittering letters began to be engraved on the smooth surface of the rock.

It was a short sentence that overturned the existence itself.

***

This was the life of the [Record Stone], who had the highest ability.

At first, he had just collected the sounds of the world using the wind to get rid of his frustration and boredom, but at some point he became immersed in the stories of the living beings, and eventually reading the stories became the goal of his life.

“But he regretted becoming a god for nothing.”

Seo-jun turned the page of the last volume of the [Record Stone] and smiled softly.

‘Heaven is really boring!’

Maybe because they had infinite lifespans, the gods did not live as fierce lives as humans or the beings on the ground.

The stories of the gods did not interest the Record Stone, who had become the god of records.

His interest returned to the middle realm.

The middle realm, which had developed a lot while the Record Stone turned his attention to heaven, was, to put it simply, a steampunk place.

‘Wow! Steam engines! Airships!’

The middle realm is the best! It’s thrilling! Always new!

The Record Stone, who was reading the records that had piled up, was almost like a recluse.

“Well, he eventually died anyway, as the world stopped believing in gods…”

Every story has an end.

The Record Stone thought that this ending was good, although he was sorry that he couldn’t see more stories.

And Seo-jun read the story that was recorded that way.

As Seo-jun closed the last volume of the [Record Stone], a round bead popped out. It had a gray background like the color of the rock, with black patterns like letters engraved on it.

Seo-jun let the bead sink into his palms.

***

Monday morning.

When Korea was buzzing with the [Working Man! – Rest Area Restaurant Battle] that aired yesterday (it even made it to the SBC morning news), Seo-jun was sitting in front of his computer to apply for enlistment.

Seo-jun clasped his hands together as if praying, then spread them apart like opening a book. Then, a flat and wide stone plate appeared between his two palms, with the patterns that were engraved on his palms emitting light.

It was a part of the Record Stone.

[(Line) Fragment of the Record Stone – Highest Grade]

It is a part of the original Record Stone, the god of records.

You can modify the past and present of the world.

Now you just have to write on it.

Seo-jun pressed a ballpoint pen on the rock. As the pen slid over, the letters were engraved on the rock.

Seo-jun’s plan was simple.

“I just have to make them not recognize me.”

He wanted to make people not associate actor Lee Seo-jun and soldier Lee Seo-jun.

As if they were namesakes.

On paper, they would be the same, but the perception of the people who saw the paper would change and they would mistake them for namesakes.

“I’ll just erase it when I’m discharged.”

Then, just like when the dragon suddenly disappeared and no one cared, people would naturally realize that soldier Lee Seo-jun was actor Lee Seo-jun.

“They might be a little surprised…”

He smiled softly and applied for enlistment in mid-March, then activated his ability right away.

The line energy in his origin and body seeped into the patterns on his palms. It was a huge amount, as expected of a highest grade ability, but it was not unbearable.

[The world’s records engraved on the fragment of the Record Stone are modified.]

The sentence-engraved fragment of the Record Stone shone brightly and then disappeared. Seo-jun grinned.

***

Monday afternoon.

A restaurant near Korea National University of Arts.

“Wow. The hero of KNUA!”

His friends, who had arrived earlier, approached Seo-jun and shouted quietly but passionately, patting his back. Seo-jun laughed.

“It was amazing on the video.”

“Right! It was like watching a movie!”

Not only his friends, but the whole Korea National University of Arts was buzzing.

“Your image improved a lot because of this, after the plagiarism incident. The atmosphere in the film department also got better.”

Yang Ju-hee’s words brightened the faces of his friends.

“That’s good!”

“Right. They all looked gloomy when I met them in the elective classes.”

They said they were glad and sat down on the chairs, spreading the menus.

“Did you apply for enlistment?”

Seo-jun nodded at Han Jinho’s quiet question.

“There was a spot open on March 15th. So I did it.”

“Oh… That’s faster than I thought?”

“Right.”

“I never thought Seo-jun would be the first one to go among us.”

The friends nodded their heads at the same time.

“Hey, what are you doing on Christmas Eve? Let’s hang out together!”

The friends brightened up at Yang Ju-hee’s words.

It was almost Christmas. A festive holiday.

“What should we do?”

“There’s a game center that opened up nearby. It’s huge!”

“Wow! How about we split into teams and compete?”

Competition.

The friends’ eyes sparkled.

“Okay. How about a bet on drinks?”

“Lunch, you mean!”

Christmas before the final exams, which they completely forgot, Seo-jun and his friends chatted excitedly.

***

“Merry Christmas!!”

“Merry Christmas!!”

Bang! Bang!

Eun-su, who was in second grade of elementary school, and Subin, who was in fourth grade, smiled brightly and burst the crackers.

Bang! Bang!

In the middle of them was Seo-jun, who had safely passed the final exams and had a blast with his friends on Christmas Eve (he won).

Lee Min-jun and Seo Eun-hye, Kim Hee-sang and Choi Soohee, Seo Eun-chan and Kim Su-ryeon, who had gathered for a long time, also looked happy.

“Mom! Meat!”

“Me too!”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The Christmas party and dinner continued with a lot of noise.

“We’ll meet again on New Year’s, right?”

“We have to meet often before Seo-jun goes to the army, brother-in-law. Eun-su will be so sad if she can’t see Seo-jun.”

Seo Eun-chan, who was shivering at Lee Min-jun’s words, said. The adults laughed.

“I wonder how long they’ll play like that.”

“Right. They’ll be a little distant when they become middle school students, won’t they?”

“Subin?”

At Seo Eun-hye’s words, Kim Hee-sang shook his head and continued.

“Eun-hye, you don’t know. Subin brags about Seo-jun to my friends so much. Well, he doesn’t say Seo-jun, but cousin. Anyway, he likes him a lot.”

“Oh, now that I think about it, Subin cried a lot and was shocked when he heard that Seo-jun wasn’t his real cousin. He asked why dad and uncle Min-jun weren’t brothers.”

“Hahaha.”

The two kids who were playing with Seo-jun glanced at the adults and turned their heads back to Seo-jun, telling him stories about their friends and school.

“They’ve known each other since they were born, so it makes sense.”

“Eun-su likes Seo-jun a lot too. Last time…”

Stories from the past came out of the mouths of the parents.

Meanwhile, Seo-jun and the kids were also having a lively conversation.

“So, yeah. Dad said, you bastard! But I wasn’t joking!”

“I’ll tell uncle for you. Eun-su was not joking, she was researching.”

“Right! I was curious how the mouse moves!”

And, Seo Eun-su, who had smashed all the mice in the house, said. Seo-jun and Subin giggled.

Seo Eun-chan was closer to music and Kim Su-ryeon was in publicity, but their daughter Seo Eun-su was completely a science type. She seemed to be very curious about the mechanics of machines moving.

“I don’t understand. Seo-jun hyung.”

“Um. Me neither.”

The violinist Kim Subin, a perfect artist, and the actor Lee Seo-jun whispered.

He didn’t understand why she was curious about how machines worked, but he knew how to assemble them in the order they were disassembled, or rather, Seo-jun was helping Eun-su with that.

That’s how they had several robot vacuums, radios, and air purifiers that were disassembled and reassembled by Seo-jun and Eun-su. Of course, they only took them apart slightly, so they could all go back to their original state.

But this time, Eun-su had disassembled them by herself, because she couldn’t meet Seo-jun due to the filming of [Fire], and it seemed hard for her to reassemble them.

It looked like a prank to Seo Eun-chan’s eyes, and he scolded her harshly.

“I asked you to help me with the assembly! But you didn’t! I’ll get back at you, dad!”

She was still defiant even after being scolded, which was typical of Eun-su.

‘I think it’s a good opportunity to tell her.’

She seemed to be a great scientist in the making.

Seo-jun, who loved his younger sister, smiled warmly.

Subin also had a big problem.

“Professor Benjamin asked me if I wanted to come to the U.S.”

He was now in fourth grade of elementary school. In a few days, he would be in fifth grade.

Kim Hee-sang and Choi Soohee, as well as Professor Benjamin Morton and Jason Moore, who met through video calls, were wondering if he should start learning seriously.

“What do you want to do, Subin?”

“I… I like it here… But I also want to see the U.S.”

“How about going there for a few days?”

“Can I?”

Subin’s eyes widened at Seo-jun’s words. He smiled softly. He must have thought he had to stay there forever if he went to the U.S.

‘Well, there are some students who do that.’

The environment for learning instruments was definitely better abroad.

“Of course. You can go and see if you like it, and stay longer if you want, or just come back to Korea if you don’t. I know a good professor.”

A professor who was willing to support his talented student even if he changed his career.

He thought of Kwon Se-ah’s advisor. He was skilled, and more than anything, he prioritized the performers, so he would be a good teacher.

Of course, that was when Subin was in Korea.

After thinking for a while, Subin opened his mouth.

“Um. Then I’ll go to the U.S. for a while?”

“It’s winter vacation now, so you can go as a trip.”

“No. I’m going to play with Seo-jun hyung this winter. I can’t see him when he goes to the army!”

Subin’s words made Seo-jun’s eyes widen, and then he burst into laughter.

‘He’s the best, my brother!’

As Seo-jun ruffled Subin’s hair, Eun-su cut in.

“Seo-jun oppa, Subin oppa. What is the army?”

At Eun-su’s question, Subin shrugged his shoulders and explained diligently.

And a moment later.

When she heard that he couldn’t see Seo-jun for a year and four months, until next summer, Eun-su screamed and cried as if the sky was falling.

“Vacation! Seo-jun has a vacation! Eun-su!”

Seo Eun-chan and Kim Su-ryeon tried to calm Eun-su down, and a burst of laughter erupted.

***