Bailonz Street 13

Episode 143. The End (2)

Only then did I understand how I came to be here. This is what he was explaining.

Making it easily accessible to people, then snatching up whoever takes the bait. My getting caught in their call was a convenient coincidence.

“Am I the unlucky fish then?”

He smiled brightly.

“No. How could the key that will guide us there be unlucky?”

I see. So that’s why he had been so obsessed with me. Because I came through that gap. Because I was the only key to our world.

Everything fell into place. Why he was so fixated on my soul. Why he put so much effort into trying to break my mind.

Whether this place became real because I recognized it, or whether it was truly an existing world, whether the 21st century would come here too – none of that mattered anymore.

Perhaps I needed to die here. That was my first thought.

‘What chaos would unfold if beings like the king crossed over to my world?’

It certainly wouldn’t be positive.

Perhaps I needed to die here to prevent them from crossing over. Since they could only exist while I existed.

So my coming here was pointless from the start. Whether I came or not made no difference to him.

The end would come either way.

“You were planning to destroy this place no matter what I did.”

Simply because I existed here.

The king shook his head. His black hair scattered in the air as if underwater.

“We’re giving it a new birth.”

“And you won’t leave my world alone either.”

He bent over laughing. A gentle gaze fell upon me. Eyes as if looking at something utterly lovable. If Liam Moore had looked at me that way, I would have been happy. But having such a look from the one who had dragged me here and tortured me repeatedly only sent chills down my spine.

“Wouldn’t it be honored to become a slightly better place?”

It’s chilling.

He’s mad. I knew he was insane, but he’s truly mad. I never imagined he would think like this!

This is what his words meant:

He would merge our world with this London.

The difference between the 21st and 19th centuries. The 19th century of my world would become the 19th century overlaid with Misty London. And that would continue forever.

“That’s not an honor.”

“It’s just adding a few things.”

“You can’t call completely changing everything merely ‘adding.'”

He grabbed my wrist forcefully. His grip was tremendous. It would probably leave dark bruises where he held me. I tried pulling my wrist this way and that to break free, but he showed no signs of letting go.

‘What kind of strength is this?’

Should I kick him? Or should I attack now? While my mind was racing with these thoughts.

Thump. Making my resistance futile, he suddenly released my hand. Then he murmured warningly.

“Don’t think about interfering.”

I rubbed my aching wrist. The spot where he’d grabbed me was already turning from red to bluish with bruising.

He’d meant to break it. He truly was someone who could do that and more. Yet he tells me not to interfere?

‘What nonsense.’

Causing the apocalypse just to become real – how could such madness exist?

I intended to put all my effort into disrupting his plans. The Black King probably guessed that I wouldn’t stay idle.

The world was already crumbling. The sky split open, revealing the black void beyond.

Now he would connect the two worlds through that gap. Invasion and corruption simultaneously.

‘But how? How does he intend to seal the worlds together?’

What power could do that?

Even if he was a god, even if his rank was high, he couldn’t match the weight of worlds. That was an obvious truth.

Then he’d need power. He’d want to borrow even a cat’s paw. But where would he borrow power from? Who would help destroy their own world?

Only then did I recall something I’d missed. It was strange I hadn’t noticed until now. My head throbbed automatically.

‘How could I be so stupid.’

Even if I was ignorant and amateur about such things, I should have noticed earlier. It had been happening right before my eyes, yet I failed to see it despite having eyes wide open.

I bit my lip hard and pressed my forehead.

The altar. The altars.

There had always been one in places where he stayed. Old Paradise, the house in Devil’s Ground, and the cemetery where I was imprisoned.

The king had always been preparing mysterious rituals. Along with the countless people he’d captured.

How frustrating that I hadn’t quickly realized what it all meant!

“Then, all the power you’ve been extracting and the altar sacrifices… were for this?”

“Of course. Since there are limits to my power, shouldn’t I move efficiently?”

When I was too dumbfounded to speak further, he smiled gently.

“Though you interfered at every turn, now that you’re in my grasp, I won’t scold you too harshly.”

With a rumble, dust rose and a building in the distance collapsed completely. It was like an earthquake. The Thames surged and swallowed a bridge, and for a moment I felt I saw something massive in those rising waters.

Red magma showed through the cracked earth. Screams rang out. Horrible monsters still flew through the sky. The king watched all of this with utterly loving eyes.

“I’ll remove everything that might leave regrets. I can grant that much mercy.”

“What-“

He was like a conductor playing with all of this. Everything changed chaotically according to his movements. He waved his hand gently toward the river.

“Stop! What are you trying to do!”

The overflowing Thames began pouring into the streets, further and further inward. An enormous amount of river water swept away people who couldn’t escape in time, zombies, and debris covering the streets, leaving no trace.

The river water stretched endlessly in one direction, as if possessed by will. And that direction was somewhere I knew all too well.

‘Bailonz Street.’

The river water overturned Bailonz Street. All the way to where our house was. I saw Number 13 Bailonz Street completely collapse under the force of the rushing water. The place where Liam and I had lived vanished without a trace.

But there was no sound. Because the collapsed debris was sucked into the Thames…

Only after swallowing Number 13 Bailonz Street did the river water recede.

As I stared blankly at that sight, the king burst into loud laughter. My stomach turned at the fact that this was mere entertainment to him. His booming laughter rang out as if it would split my ears. I wanted to cover my ears right then. Murderous intent toward him surged.

“If you were going to do everything as you pleased, there was no need to call me here.”n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

I said, suppressing my rage.

The king’s hand reached toward my ear and took the device Liam Moore had given me.

“Well. True.”

“Then…!”

“Now that we’ve heard enough, shall we move on to the business portion?”

Crack.

Even the metal turned to powder in his grip. I stared with a hollow expression at the crushed earring. The king lightly dusted off his hands, and the crushed pieces flew away with the wind. I wouldn’t be able to find them. My means of contact with Liam Moore was gone.

“…It won’t be such a bad story. Your daily life won’t change. You’ll meet an ordinary 21st century. Just that our living space will expand, and there will be more things living in the dark places.”

He consoled me in quite a gentle tone. It wasn’t even a matter of causing harm then offering a cure – his consolation was simply detestable.

“Those things will keep harming people.”

“They’re not related to you anyway, are they?”

He asked if it wasn’t enough to just protect what was precious to me.

Perhaps he was right. I was selfish, and if the people I knew weren’t hurt, I could probably overlook such things.

But this was different. How could I not care when people I didn’t know would surely die in places I didn’t know because of my choice?

I muttered like a sigh:

“How could I look away?”

Therefore, I didn’t have many options left.

The Black King muttered as if thoroughly disgusted:

“Humans. Always meddling presumptuously in affairs that aren’t their business…”

Those words referred to me while simultaneously referring to everyone else.

I see what caught his gaze.

There were people desperately trying to resist. Light flashed, and each time, the monsters flying in the sky fell downward with terrible screams. It must be Greenwich. Liam must have started acting somewhere too, now that he’d heard the plan to merge the worlds.

Streams of light that began in eastern London started rising one by one from various places, beginning to cover this massive city. They tangled together to form an enormous net of light.

Slowly, but very surely.