# Side Ep. The Correct Approach
Once upon a time, Ivan gave a brief orientation to the three transmigrators to explain the world setting. It was a completely unbiased account of how primitive the world was, how terribly tasteless the food generally was, and about people who didn't possess even a grain of common sense.
Naturally, anyone who had lived in the civilized society of the 21st century understood cultural relativity. Therefore, much to Ivan's disappointment, the transmigrators let most of his explanation go in one ear and out the other.
What they showed interest in were the "Hero Party" and the "Demon Race." Considering this world was a game transmigration, wasn't it natural to focus on the adversaries?
"Three of them died? So four remain?"
"Hmm."
"And each of the Seven Dragon Lords was in charge of one of the seven deadly sins in Christianity, right?"
"That could be said, yes."
At Ivan's words, Yu-jin stroked his chin thoughtfully. He stared intently at the words Ivan had written on the blackboard.
Tumor of the Great Mountain – Lord of Wrath.
Aviditas of the Four Dragons – Lord of Greed.
Pernichi of Harm – Lord of Envy.
So those three were dead... Two were killed by the hero, and one was killed by Ivan. That meant four remained.
Tanasimor the Ruler – Lord of Pride.
Lamerix of the Veil – Lord of Lust.
Olega of the Great Rift – Lord of Sloth.
Nekinon of Gold – Lord of Avarice.
Something seemed to be dawning on him... As Yu-jin tapped the table with a furrowed brow, Oswald suddenly spoke up.
"If you exclude just those three from the seven deadly sins, what remains are the five desires."
"Hmm...?"
"Excluding wrath, greed, and envy, you have pride, lust, sloth, and avarice. Aren't those four included in the five desires?"
"Five desires?"
"Isn't it strange that they specifically chose the seven deadly sins as a motif? There's not even Catholicism here."
"Wouldn't it be convergent evolution?"
"Yes, exactly. Assuming humans developed normal religions, these are pretty much all the desires humans should be wary of. But that was the same on Earth too."
Oswald strode to the blackboard and began writing.
"I mean, it was the same even before East-West cultural exchange happened on Earth. The desires humans should be wary of, like the seven deadly sins or the five desires and seven emotions."
Appetite, desire for fame, lust, desire for sleep, desire for wealth.
"From a Buddhist perspective, those would be the five. From a Christian perspective, they would be those seven... And the ones that overlap between the two are these."
Pride, desire for fame.
Lust, sexual desire.
Sloth, desire for sleep.
Avarice, desire for wealth.
"There's no appetite, and in the case of wrath and envy, they're not considered part of the five desires in Buddhism. And while greed could arguably be related to appetite... it's ambiguous, isn't it?"
"What are you trying to say?"
"The curse you receive for killing the Seven Dragon Lords seems too Buddhist."
Oswald returned to his seat and looked at Ivan.
"The desires of the five desires are attachments to the five senses. Visual, olfactory, auditory, gustatory, and tactile... When attachment to these manifests as desire, emotions arise... And when one becomes free from these attachments, you all know what happens, right?"
"...?"
"You don't know? Really? Aren't these people Korean?"
As Oswald laughed dejectedly, Yu-ri raised her hand excitedly and exclaimed.
"Enlightenment...?"
"Correct. Nirvana. And coincidentally, when you kill a Dragon Lord, the person loses 'that concept.' This is a concept that doesn't exist in Christianity. Even if the seven deadly sins are described as demonic vices, from a Christian perspective, even demons are agents of God. They're dispatched to test faith."
After watching Oswald cautiously, Yu-jin carefully asked.
"Does that mean the Seven Dragon Lords are agents of the gods of this world...?"
"No. The fact that killing a Dragon Lord makes you lose that concept means it's not a Christian system. So it might be good to interpret this through Buddhist principles."
"Then...?"
"If you become free from attachment to one of the five senses each time you kill one, what happens if one person kills all of them?"
Oswald stared directly at Ivan and said.
"This game, this system... It's trying to make the 'protagonist' a god."
The death of Aviditas was an assassination. Krasilov, not wanting to provoke other demon races, carried out the operation as discreetly as possible, and even after its success, it wasn't widely known.
At that time, Alexandr attempted to assassinate a Dragon Lord with the intention of disposing of the Annihilation Squad. Most didn't even make it to the royal palace before perishing, but Ivan succeeded and even returned alive.
If he hadn't requested retirement through a death certificate, Elizabeta would have proclaimed his achievements to the whole world. But he didn't. Ivan threw away the honor he should have received and went into seclusion.
But not anymore.
Now he had vanquished a Dragon Lord before everyone's eyes, in front of countless gazes.
"Waaaaaaaaah—!!!"
The entire land surrounding what had now become the wasteland of Ovidis resounded. Bellacriad, Krasilov, and even the dwarves shouted until their throats were raw.
It was a festival of cheers and shouts. All the troops present, combining the forces of three countries, numbering over forty thousand, were simultaneously erupting in cheers.
The sound of their stomping feet was enough to shake the mountains and valleys. Occasionally, dwarves caught up in the frenzy would even fire celebratory shots while sobbing. Their mixed-blood kin had killed a Dragon Lord... (He's not kin.)
They trembled, sobbed, and wailed as they shouted. After the hero disappeared, and after the Hero Party disbanded, it was an anxiety that everyone felt but dared not voice aloud, and now it was gone.
The god had disappeared. Divine power had vanished from the world. The entire south was engulfed in war, and three of the Seven Dragon Lords were still alive.
If even one of them began an invasion, if just one sincerely tried to trample civilization, who could stop them? Just one Dragon Lord had burned the Six Southern Nations. What about three?
Such despair was dispelled before their eyes. Throughout the long history of civilization, only the Hero Party had ever killed a Dragon Lord, so they were now witnessing the hero of a new era.
Cutting through despair, the hero had descended with hope.
"Mister."
Ivan came to his senses at the sound of Isabelle's voice, still in his arms. Most of his internal injuries had already been healed.
The divine power that Lamerix had left in his final moment had permeated his entire body. It would naturally evaporate soon, but even just that was more than enough to completely heal his near-death state.
Ivan was about to separate from Isabelle's body but stopped. No, he was stopped.
"Wait a moment."
Isabelle was holding Ivan's arm firmly with her back turned. She gripped it so tightly that her hand was pale and trembling.
"So this is what it was..."
It was a voice so small that even superhuman hearing could barely catch it. Isabelle's tear-soaked voice continued from below his chest.
"This, this is what it was. This..."
"Isabelle."
"How, this..."
Isabelle sniffled for a long time. Ivan silently waited for Isabelle who was fidgeting in his arms. After some time passed, with the cheers around them still not subsiding, Isabelle raised her head.
"Your father, and you... This is what you've been enduring."
"..."
"I knew. Of course, since King Einarr told me, but... But."
"It's alright."
Ivan nodded silently as he looked down at Isabelle's gray eyes. Split in half, I see. Like Elfihera.
She looked up at Ivan's gray eyes and wept sadly.
"How much can you see?"
"If it's shapes, most of them..."
"It will take time to adapt. I'll need to add auditory response training to the curriculum. If you become proficient enough, your skills won't deteriorate."
"What about you? How much... Since I killed it directly, you're probably, probably okay, right?"
"Yes. Fortunately."
At Ivan's words, Isabelle finally smiled brightly and nodded.
"But I said I'd share the burden with you! Yes, this is good. Really."
"Thank you."
"Hehe..."
Isabelle grinned as she fiddled with Ivan's forearm. She was still firmly gripping him.
Ivan looked down at her, then suddenly turned his head to look at the people cheering for him.
"Waaaaaaaaah—!!!"
The cheers grew even louder. As he scanned each of their faces one by one, Ivan suddenly felt dizzy and tightly closed his eyes.
He had lied.
"What does it mean to be free from the five senses?"
In response to Yu-jin's question, Oswald shook his head.
"You'd have to experience it to know. This is just a theory."
Could they all survive to kill the Dragon Lords? When he couldn't even be sure of that, there was no need to worry about what would happen when they killed a Dragon Lord.
But now, Ivan understood his words. After all, he had empirically proven it.
After killing Senasgeor of Gluttony, he lost his sense of taste. To be precise, he didn't forget taste. He could still perceive taste.
The problem was that it was just an objective fact of taste.
Salt is salty, sugar is sweet, lemons are sour. There's no problem in "understanding" that. However, preferences disappeared.
All food, no matter what he ate, evoked the same "emotion." Whether the food was salty, sweet, sour, or spicy, it evoked only one emotion. The feeling of chewing and swallowing sand. The pleasure had disappeared from the entire act of consuming food.
Pleasure is attachment. Attachment to sensations brings desire. In the sense that it's the process of removing that, Oswald's theory had been proven.
And as for lust...
Lust is visual. It's the emotion of sight. Not just referring to sexual desire, in Buddhist theory, lust is expressed as all kinds of emotions felt when seeing light.
So now Ivan could see colors and shapes, could "understand" them.
But he couldn't feel emotions. The only thing he felt was the level of appreciation one might have looking at an inorganic still life. So now, there was no difference to him between gray and a colorful bouquet of flowers.
And it would be the same for Isabelle. She would have received exactly the same curse, split between them. He already knew about such cases through Elfihera.
Therefore, Ivan felt regret for this young child. In the last, final moment, he should have moved instead of her. Even if he had to push her away, he should have borne it alone.
This wasn't so much out of altruism as it was based on rationality. Having already received the curse twice, there was no hope of salvation for him.
Maximillian must have acted from the same sentiment. He now understood the old hero's heart. Others didn't need to receive such a curse. If there was already a cursed body, it was rational for that person to bear all the curses.
"Mister."
Noticing Ivan's gaze, Isabelle looked up at him with a smiling face, as if she knew what that taciturn man was thinking.
"I'm fine."
"Isabelle."
"I'm starting to get used to it now. Yes. I'm okay. Better than I thought. It doesn't feel like the worst?"
Isabelle muttered, nodding to herself. She soon said cheerfully.
"Since it was the god of lust, I thought everything would completely disappear when we killed it, but I guess it wasn't that kind?"
"Rest. It's okay..."
"No, really. Want me to prove it?"
Prove it? As Ivan hesitated at those words, Isabelle chuckled and firmly grabbed Ivan's cheek. Is she trying to confirm the shape by touching it directly? While he was thinking that, Isabelle's expression hardened.
With a very serious face, she whispered softly.
"I really can't give this up. Mm-hmm."
"...?"
Before Ivan could respond, Isabelle strongly pulled his neck down. It was a movement that even used neural acceleration, and although he tried to resist reflexively, the distance was too close.
In close combat between superhumans, the first strike is more important than anything. The one who initiates neural acceleration before the opponent has an overwhelming advantage in preemptive attacks.
Therefore, a superhuman must always be trained to respond to sudden attacks. Even if a comrade who killed a Dragon Lord with you pulls your neck...
-Rustle.
Seeing Isabelle's approaching face, Ivan's train of thought stopped.
The scent that wafted over was not one covered with perfume, but the scent of someone who had thrown their whole body into fierce battle. Yet it wasn't unpleasant at all. Rather, Ivan felt comfort in that scent reminiscent of iron and gunpowder, hinting at war.
The sensation on his lips was familiar. Surprisingly for Kim Seon-woo, Ivan had already experienced this sensation before. And a trained agent never gets flustered by the same thing twice...
Like a man with vast experience, Ivan quietly closed his eyes in this situation.
...He felt nothing.
After a long while, Isabelle, who had pulled her lips away, was looking up at Ivan with slightly wet eyes. The cheers that had filled the surroundings had already quieted down.
In the subtle silence created by tens of thousands of people, Isabelle laughed brightly and said.
"See? It doesn't affect you at all, right?"
"...Yeah."
Hmm.
However she interpreted Ivan's silence, she laughed heartily and patted his chest.
Only then did Ivan feel like he was truly seeing Isabelle's face. Not as an object like a sculpture, but as Isabelle herself.
Ah, I see.
Ivan nodded and thought.
So this was the "correct approach." And then.
Not bearing the curse of the Dragon Lord alone, but sharing it. And, to add a comment...
Overcoming it. Yes, overcoming. Ivan thought as he looked into the hero's eyes. Not kneeling. Not giving up in the face of the curse. Overcoming and conquering.
Not becoming "free" from desire, but "overcoming" the absence of desire and moving forward...
"What—!?!"
In the distance, Elizabeta was galloping towards them on horseback.
"Are you smiling—!! Vanka—!!!"
Only upon hearing her words did Ivan realize he was smiling.