949 Episode 56 Myth (1)

—The last survivor of the Namgung family, Namgung Myung

When Apollo opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the vast sky.

A vast universe with no end in sight. An eternal void where any story could be written, yet where even a story written could never be complete.

The Constellation, staring into that terrible void, howled in Fear and began to fill its surroundings with its own stories.

Later, he heard that he was born on a forgotten island floating on a 'Time Fault'.

A radiant lightning strike lifted the island, hidden within the Time Fault, above the surface of the scenario. Because of this history, the island was named 'Delos'.

There, the woman gave birth to the child of the 'Thunderbolt'. A brilliant ray of light filled the entire Time Fault. His name was chosen based on that ray.

A Constellation born on the Isle of the Void.

The legend of his birth protected him in the lonely world of scenarios.

The son of a Mythical Constellation. Chosen as a Constellation from birth—a being destined to become one of the Twelve Gods of the lofty <Olympus> from the moment of his birth.

He was none other than Apollo, the 'Almighty Sun'.

He opened his eyes, his soul fixed on his incarnation body, and heard a story from a distant and ancient time.

As Apollo pondered the story, someone spoke to him.

The story of Apollo, one of his brothers born before him, revealed who he was.

When Apollo recognized him, Hermes stroked him lovingly and whispered.

When he opened his eyes again, Apollo realized his incarnation body had been destroyed.

The last memory that came to mind was the sword light engulfing him. And the dazzling gleam of the incarnation's eyes.

'Did I get hit by that thing?'

Apollo bit his lip, concentrating on his story.

His origin story was restoring his incarnation body. He briefly regained consciousness, but the story remained intact. It was only natural. He was one of the Twelve Gods of the Nebula Olympus.

Even if he dies here, his story will not disappear.

All his stories are stored in Olympus's 'big data', so as long as Olympus remains intact—and as long as its leader, the 'Seat of Lightning', remains intact—he can be resurrected.

There were already thirteen Apollos born before him.

All the Apollos, each dedicated to the greater glory of the Nebula Olympus and their father, the 'Seat of Lightning', built stories in their respective realms, and died after fulfilling their missions.

Some Apollos were revered as sun gods.

Worshipped for 'prophecy' and 'poetry'.

He also achieved fame for his art and intellect.

He was once a renowned figure, the brother of Artemis.

All of these were his own history. But at the same time, they weren't his history. They were the stories of other Apollos of the past—the first, second, third—up to thirteen generations.

Hermes, the 'Master of the Heavenly Path'—who had inherited his own story for the seventh generation—advised him with pity.

Over the course of fourteen generations, Apollo accumulated a vast number of stories. However, having many legends didn't necessarily mean a Constellation was strong.

Unnecessarily bloated legends sometimes threatened the Constellation.

The 'Tale of the Bow' ignored him, the 'Tale of Prophecy and Poetry' favored Hermes, and the 'Tale of Music and Reason' ignored him.

Only the 'Tale of the Sun' protected him, but that wasn't enough.

Amidst the evaluations of the other twelve Constellations, Apollo silently carried out his scenarios. He sometimes followed the orders of the 'Seat of Lightning', and like the other Constellations, he also had incarnations. However, due to his lack of discernment in identifying incarnations, the incarnations he chose all died before even making it to the scenario stage.

As his failures continued, Apollo became more and more intimidated. His actions became more timid, and he participated less frequently in higher-level scenarios.

Despite being criticized as the 'Incompetent 14th', he never gave up on finding his own incarnation.

Then, by chance, he discovered the incarnation Daphne, the one the 'River God' had been interested in. Apollo, enamored with Daphne, continued to court her.

But Daphne rejected Apollo, and even hated him so much that she requested a 'deus ex machina' from the 'River God', becoming a laurel tree and breaking free from her contract with him.

"You damn stalker. I'd rather be a tree than have someone like you as my sponsor."

After that, a story arose for him.

Perhaps it was then that he began to hate trees. But who would have thought he would suffer such a miserable fate within a tree?

'Damn tree.'

Apollo, barely regaining his strength, took a deep breath and gazed at the battlefield.

More than half of the Five Hundred Generals were already incapacitated.

A man, covered in blood, roamed freely among the Constellations.

Apollo belatedly remembered his nickname.

The incarnation of the Korean Peninsula, called 'Supreme King' by the Constellations of the <Star Stream>.

Even within <Olympus>, there were attempts to recruit him. Even the noble Master of the Skywalk didn't stop courting him, trying to lure him into the gates.

When he first heard the rumors, he thought the theories were exaggerated. He assumed they were just stories made up by zealots who loved to rave about the incarnations.

However, the moment he witnessed Yoo Joonghyuk's actual battle, Apollo forgot his own situation and was lost in a fleeting moment of emotion.

There is a story that captivates even the gods' aesthetic sense. The life of a mortal who overcame the jealousy and hatred of the Constellations and ultimately ascended to their throne. His story illuminated the battlefield.

A being who alone could become the 'protagonist' of a complete story. That man—Yoo Joonghyuk—existed.

That's why Apollo was jealous of him, hated him, and revered him all at the same time. Because he wanted to become like that man.

With the end of the world fast approaching, he was no longer the protagonist of a story.

Their most glorious days were past, and there were no two hundred left in this universe for Apollo to be the protagonist.

And yet, he remained a mortal sin.

He wanted a proper story, not just a half-assed one. A story of his own. A story where he was the protagonist. A record that could be retold in this <Star Stream> for eternity.

Reading Apollo's desires, his father, the Seat of Lightning, offered this advice.

These were the words of a great Constellation, already a myth.

From that day on, Apollo lived to become a myth.

He obtained fragments of the 'Oldest Dream'. He gathered Constellations of the same caliber.

To create a story that would never be forgotten, he revamped the destruction scenarios and nurtured the 'World Tree' that would survive the destruction.

Finally, his myth was on the verge of completion.

If only it hadn't been for the appearance of that damned incarnation.

Halla and Vidar, already writhing with their bodies destroyed, called out to him.

It was only one incarnation. To that one incarnation, all the Constellations approaching 'mythical caliber' were defeated.

At that moment, Apollo understood his role.

Apollo slowly bent down and grabbed Halla's head.

His right hand moved in an instant, ripping Halla's head off.

Vidar, seeing this, crawled away with a shocked expression. Apollo grabbed Vidar by the back of his head and, as expected, ripped off his head. Grabbing the heads of the two gods, Apollo's gaze revealed his artificial sun, half-shattered.

Apollo embedded the heads of two Narrative-grade Constellations into his artificial sun. Fueled by the new Contellations' stories, his artificial sun began to burn red.

His story began to be tainted with the criticism of the Constellations.

…

Apollo abandoned the history he had built. He abandoned the history of rewarding good and punishing evil, and he abandoned the reputation he had built as the god of light.

And so, all that remained for him was desire.

The Five Hundred Generals who witnessed Apollo's atrocities roared from all sides.

Apollo laughed.

His story was repeating itself.

The 'Fragment of the Oldest Dream' possessed by Halla and Vidar was being transferred to him.

The power to understand the essence of this world.

As his consciousness expanded, Apollo felt the presence of a thick 'wall'.

The wall where all the stories of this world were written.

He was being recorded on that wall.

A sense of overwhelming freedom began to dominate his entire being. Passing the boundary of the mythical level, his consciousness leaped high above the wall. Yoo Joonghyuk, noticing the change, was running towards him, but he paid him no mind.

Yoo Joonghyuk had already vanished from his sight. At that moment, he was gazing upon the highest point of the sky.

Now he felt he could call the name he had never dared to call.

At that moment, Apollo left his body and entered a completely different realm.

He had once heard a story. There was a place only the great 'Mythical Constellations'—those who had long perfected their narratives and reached their own conclusions—could reach.

Mythical Constellations sat at a large round table. Even the Constellations of the mythical order, those that created a world, were staring back at him.

The Island That Conceived.

The Spear That Demarcated the Seas.

The Master of December 25th.

The One Responsible For the Cycles of the Universe.

The Master of Abydos.

…

Apollo shuddered at their gaze and approached the round table. At its edge sat the Constellation he admired.

The great 'Seat of Lightning' turned to him.

This was the position of mythical-level he had longed for.

There was one empty seat at the round table. Apollo realized it was his seat and approached it.

It was only when he placed his hand on the back of his chair that Zeus spoke.

Since when had it been? All the Mythical-level Constellations had been glaring at him.

With a terrible pain, his soul began to be pushed out of the Round Table.

Apollo's lips twitched. But the Round Table wouldn't even allow him to speak.

'Why?'

At the last moment, Apollo saw a white-faced man taking the empty seat he had assumed was his.

'Why—'

It was a man he knew well.