Kondo looked at God with tears streaming down the exposed half of his face. He wanted to say something, but his tears simply wouldn't stop. They choked his voice, preventing the words from coming out properly.
God stood where he was, silently watching him. Looking at Kondo, even He knew that this was not the right place for such a conversation.
"Alright, let's talk somewhere else."
God snapped His fingers.
The world suddenly flipped upside down.
Kondo blinked, and the moment his eyelids closed and opened again, he found himself somewhere completely different—a place where peace stretched endlessly in every direction.
Before him lay a calm ocean. Gentle waves slowly rolled toward the shore, while the setting sun cast a warm, soothing glow over everything. The sand beneath his feet felt unbelievably soft.
Kondo looked at the scenery before him, then lowered his gaze to his hands and body.
His body had returned to normal.
There were no black flames.
He was completely normal again.
Kondo stood up and stared at the setting sun with sorrow-filled eyes.
As he gazed at the sinking sun, memories of Lawine surfaced in his mind.
Slowly, he turned his head to the left.
There, he saw a table with two cups of tea placed on it. Beside the table stood a large umbrella, and sitting in one of the chairs was a child who looked exactly like him.
The boy, who looked like Kondo's duplicate, picked up a cup of tea and gestured toward the empty chair across from him with the cup, inviting Kondo to sit before casually taking a sip.
Kondo began walking.
One step.
Two.
Three.
Four.
He pulled back the chair and sat down.
Kondo stared at the cup of tea before him with tear-filled eyes. Tears dripped into the tea as he asked,
"Are you really God?"
God took a sip of tea and looked at him.
"Yes, I am God."
Kondo's face was still filled with sadness. God continued looking at him.
"Looks like I'll have to show you some proof."
Kondo raised his gaze and looked at God.
"Why are you disguised as me? Show me your real form."
God smiled faintly.
"Disguise? Which form should I take? Every form is mine. I am the ugliest man, and I am also the most beautiful man. Every form is mine."
Kondo looked upward.
The moment he did, he froze.
A gigantic black hole hung high in the sky.
Kondo immediately turned back toward God with widened eyes.
"Is that... a black hole?"
God replied in an innocent voice,
"A black hole? Where?"
Kondo pointed upward.
But when he looked again, there was nothing there except a clear blue sky.
He was stunned.
It had been there just a moment ago.
Where had it gone?
Then he noticed something.
Small clouds were drifting past him.
Kondo looked around.
Then he looked down.
His heart trembled.
They were sitting in the middle of the sky.
Below them was nothing but clouds floating through the air.
Fear gripped him.
His heart began beating faster.
"Where did we suddenly come?"
Suddenly, the table and chairs vanished.
Both of them began falling.
Kondo plummeted through the sky, cutting through the wind as he rapidly descended toward the ground.
Before panic could fully take hold, he shouted,
"Hey, stop all this!"
However, the moment he blinked, he found himself sitting in a stadium.
Instinctively, he flailed in his seat as though he were still falling from the sky. Only then did he realize that he was no longer in the air.
He was inside a stadium.
But the sight before him left him speechless.
A baseball game was taking place in the center of the stadium.
However, that wasn't what shocked him.
The players were.
Every single player looked exactly like him.
Not only that, every spectator in the stadium also looked exactly like Kondo.
Thousands upon thousands of Kondos filled the stands, cheering as they watched the game.
Kondo covered his ears with both hands and quietly muttered,
"Stop..."
Then he shouted,
"Please stop!"
Kondo closed his eyes.
Instantly, silence descended upon everything.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself sitting exactly where he had been before.
The same cup of tea.
The same ocean.
The same beach.
The same sunset.
The same table.
And the same God, wearing Kondo's appearance, calmly drinking tea.
God took another sip as Kondo looked at Him with sorrowful eyes.
God spoke.
"Don't blame me, as if I was the one who did this to you."
Kondo raised his voice.
"Why shouldn't I? Why shouldn't I?! You could've stopped all of this, couldn't you?! If you weren't going to do anything, then why did you save me?! Why didn't you just let me die?! What am I even supposed to do now in a world where everyone I cared about has left me behind?!"
Tears flowed endlessly from Kondo's eyes.
"Tell me, what am I supposed to do now? If my fate only has pain written in it, then I don't want to live anymore. I don't want to drag the people close to me into this pain. If my family died because of me, then... I wish I had never been born."
God listened silently as Kondo spoke.
With a casual snap of his fingers, Kondo suddenly froze.
The words he had been desperately trying to force out became lodged in his throat.
His voice was gone.
Confusion instantly spread across his tear-stained face. Frantically, Kondo raised both hands and touched his lips—
Only for terror to consume him.
His lips were gone.
No... not just his lips.
His entire mouth had vanished, as though it had never existed in the first place.
For a brief moment, Kondo's mind went completely blank.
Then panic exploded within him.
He slammed both hands onto the table and stumbled to his feet, desperately trying to scream despite being unable to make a sound.
God calmly watched his reaction.
"What happened?"
"My mouth!"
Kondo instinctively shouted.
The moment the words escaped him, he froze.
His voice...
It had returned.
His mouth was back.
Kondo hurriedly touched his face again and again, as if to make sure it was truly there.
Seeing this, God let out a small laugh.
"You really are an idiot."
Kondo glared at him, still shaken.
God's expression remained calm.
"What do you think? That I gave you all of this?"
Kondo stared blankly.
He couldn't understand what God meant.
God slowly set down his teacup.
"What do pain, suffering, happiness, and all the emotions you carry within you have to do with me? Do you truly believe I am the one who gave you those things?
Tell me, if a man violates a little girl... if a doctor performs cruel experiments on children for his own amusement... if someone kills the weak simply to flaunt their power... if a king conquers another kingdom and enslaves its people... or if a child is born with an incurable illness..."
God's voice remained eerily calm.
Kondo listened in silence, his brows gradually knitting together.
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
God looked directly into Kondo's eyes.
"You tell me. In everything I just said... where do I stand?"
Kondo couldn't answer.
His lips parted, yet no words came out.
Seeing that, God continued.
"Then listen.
For the girl who was violated, I am the hope that justice still exists.
For the children praying to escape the doctor's cruelty, I exist within those prayers.
When the weak can no longer protect themselves and desperately wish for someone to save them, I become that hero in their hearts.
For those living in chains, yearning for freedom, I am their hope.
For parents watching their child slowly slip away, unable to do anything... I am the final light they cling to."
God slowly raised his gaze toward the horizon.
"I exist everywhere.
Within these atoms.
Within monsters.
Within the insects crawling beneath your feet.
I see everything."
A brief silence followed.
"But I do nothing."
Kondo abruptly stood up.
"So you're saying you just watch?" he shouted. "You watch their suffering, just like you watched what happened to me! Does your existence even have any meaning? What exactly are you?!"
God smiled.
"My existence? Tell me, have you ever wondered why humans are different from the other races?"
Kondo thought for a moment.
"Intelligence."
God shook his head.
"No. Everyone possesses intelligence. What truly separates humans is awareness. That awareness is what makes them unique."
Kondo slowly sat back down.
God continued,
"We all live within one possibility among countless possibilities—a world where joy and suffering coexist. Tell me, do you think watching all of this brings me happiness? Or sorrow?"
Silence spread between them.
After a long pause, God spoke again.
"I feel nothing."
"Because I existed before time, and I shall remain even after time itself ends."
He looked directly into Kondo's eyes.
"What do you think remains after this body dies?"
"The soul," Kondo answered.
"Correct," God said. "But what is a soul?"
Kondo looked at him in confusion.
God continued.
"A soul is consciousness. But where does that consciousness go after death? What happens afterward? Heaven? Hell? Or nothingness?"
Kondo narrowed his eyes in frustration.
"Please stop. Don't lecture me like some philosopher. I don't want to see beyond life and death, and I don't want to know. If you're saying that life and death are already decided, then nothing I do will change anything."
God looked at him.
"Who said everything is already written?"
The anger in Kondo's eyes instantly disappeared.
In its place, a small glimmer of hope appeared.
Kondo looked at him in shock.
"Can you change it for me?"
God chuckled softly.
"See? That hope within your eyes— that is me."
Kondo stared at him with wide eyes.
"So you're saying... you are that final hope?"
Lowering his head onto the table, Kondo clasped his hands together.
"Then please... live up to that final hope and grant my wish."
God stared at him for a few moments.
Then his gaze sharpened.
"Why? Why should I? What would I gain from it? And what would truly change? What exactly would you even do if you returned?"
Suddenly, another voice echoed across the beach.
"How amusing. Give me a single chance and watch how much I can change."
Kondo immediately looked around.
Where had that voice come from?
God calmly lifted his teacup.
"What are you looking around for? That voice came from within you."
Kondo frowned.
"From inside me? But how?"
At that moment, a third chair suddenly appeared.
Countless particles began gathering above it, slowly forming the shape of a person.
Kondo's eyes widened.
The one sitting before him looked exactly like him.
But there were differences.
A smirk rested upon his face.
And his eyes—
His irises were completely black, while his pupils were pure white.
The figure looked at Kondo and spoke in a raspy, chaotic, mocking voice.
"Yo, we meet again, King."