Chapter Text
The evening sunlight bathed the grand city, its golden rays illuminating the marble statue in the center of the square, making it appear as though it were alive… yet lifeless. Baek Yuseol stood motionless, his eyes trembling, tears welling up, blurring his vision. The cold creeping up from his chest wasn’t caused by the chill in the air, but by the emptiness gnawing at his heart, stinging with pain.
He gazed at Ma Yuseong’s face on the statue… that gentle smile unchanged. But everything had changed forever. The person who used to stand here, the one who once called his name with warmth, the one who held him close… was gone.
“Why did you have to do this…?” His voice was faint, sharp like a blade cutting through the air. Baek Yuseol reached out to touch the statue’s fingertips—cold… just like his heart now.
Ma Yuseong… the man who had told him he loved him over and over, the one who said it every time their eyes met, the one who smiled no matter how much pain he felt… was gone. He had left, sacrificing himself for millions, giving everyone a chance to open their eyes again, letting the world continue to spin… but he was no longer there.
“You weren’t like this. You were more selfless than this, weren’t you…?” Baek Yuseol’s voice cracked, blending with the wind. His breath was heavy, and tears fell silently onto the concrete below, one drop at a time.
He was too late… just one day, one single day too late. If only he had been quicker… just one day. He might have held Ma Yuseong again, might have looked into his eyes once more, might have had a chance to say the words “I love you” that he never spoke… but now those words were nothing more than a breath lost to the wind.
“If I had told you I loved you then… would you still be here?” A question that could never be answered.
Baek Yuseol collapsed to his knees in front of the statue, his heart heavy as though a massive stone weighed it down. The wind swept by again, carrying dry leaves, but he remained rooted in place… sitting there, staring at a face that could no longer breathe.
He leaned his back against the cold statue, the hard stone feeling no different than his heart right now… cold and empty. His hands trembled, clenched tight before something caught his attention, making him stop and listen.
Magic… a power he knew so well.
For the first time in a thousand years, he felt it… Ma Yuseong’s power. It lingered in the wind around him, infiltrating every particle of air. And then, a voice, soft but clear, echoed.
[To Baek Yuseol, the God of the Sky]
That warm voice he had heard every morning, the voice that had comforted him on his weakest days… now rang out again. Baek Yuseol felt as if he had been struck in the chest, the force making his knees buckle as all strength left him.
He sank to the ground, gritting his teeth to stifle the flood of emotions, but nothing could stop the tears that streamed down.
[Goodbye, forever… you said that, didn’t you?]
[Your words still echo in my head. No matter how hard I try to forget, it’s like someone has etched them into my heart, over and over again, every word so clear it’s almost like I can’t breathe.]
The voice was trembling, yet still carried tenderness… as though comforting him once again. But the more he listened, the more the pain grew, the more the longing hurt…
[I had always thought I would die after you left because life without you… would be too empty to bear.]
[But in the end, I couldn’t, because you loved this world so much… I couldn’t leave it behind. How could I leave a world that still held your smile, when you were more beautiful smiling than you were with tears?]
Baek Yuseol’s tears fell like rain… He raised a hand to cover his face, but he couldn’t stop the deep pain that reached his heart. Every word Ma Yuseong had spoken felt like a wound etched into his soul.
“Why… why like this?” His voice was barely a whisper, trembling with a feeling too overwhelming to bear. His heart felt as if it was being squeezed, unable to breathe.
He was the one who had made Ma Yuseong endure pain, the one who had left without looking back… the one who had made their love feel like a living hell. So why… why did he still love him?
“Yuseong… you…” The name he had held inside for so long was finally spoken, along with the guilt that cut deep, beyond repair.
[I am not great, nor a perfect ruler. I am just a king trying to keep my land from falling apart. And if my death is the bridge that will make all the races look up and see each other again… I will gladly do it, even if it costs me my life.]
The voice was soft… but firm, like thunder rolling in the distance. Baek Yuseol stood there, eyes wide, tears falling quietly without a single word spoken. His hands trembled so violently that he had to raise them to cover his mouth… for fear that the pain in his chest would burst out and overwhelm him.
Ma Yuseong’s last words… still so gentle.
[For me… you are the most beautiful light, like the sun that shines above the horizon, so bright I have to close my eyes. And like a god from the heavens, so high I can never reach you.]
Those words were like a blinding light… dazzling but painful. It felt as though someone was squeezing his heart until it ached. The tears he tried to hold back flowed freely.
‘Yes… it’s always been there… every time you said you loved me, I loved you back in my heart…’
The echo in his mind rang loud. It was something he never spoke aloud… but he heard it every time Ma Yuseong said “I love you”… he silently returned the words in his heart, again and again… but it had never reached him.
[I know you must have gotten annoyed… that I kept repeating this. But don’t worry, this will be the last time. You won’t hear these words again.]
‘No… I never minded. I loved hearing it every time… I just…’
Just didn’t have the courage to say it… Just let it slip away… Baek Yuseol clutched his chest, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it might burst. The tears weren’t just sorrow, but love that had never been spoken.
[I love you… forever. No matter how much time passes, even if I become nothing but a small memory in your life… I will always love you.]
The voice was like the last breeze that passed through… soft, but resonating deep within his heart. Baek Yuseol slowly crumbled to the ground, his fingers lightly brushing the base of the statue as if trying to grasp at the last remnants of warmth that still lingered.
“Yuseong… come back and say it to me yourself… please…” His voice cracked… soft, but full of pleading. His sobs echoed in the empty space.
[Goodbye… my heart, from Ma Yuseong, the King of the Earth.]
The voice faded away… leaving only the wind. But the feelings remained… painful and deep, never to be forgotten.
No one knew when it all began… not even Baek Yuseol remembered when he started his journey. All he knew was that, since that day… the sky had never been peaceful again.
The once bright sky was now filled with dark clouds, and the rain never ceased. It felt as though the heavens were crying… crying every day without pause. Even though he was a great god, his power couldn’t turn back time. Only the god of fate could take him back, back to that day… the day the man who was his heart stood there.
Ma Yuseong…
Baek Yuseol gazed at the sky over and over again. His eyes, filled with longing, revealed every feeling he had buried deep inside… love, longing, and sorrow.
“Take me back…”
The plea escaped his lips amidst the cold wind. He prayed to the stars once more, crying out to the sky in desperation. No matter what it took… even if it meant going back without his former power… he just wanted to see Ma Yuseong again… that would be enough.
But what answered him was not the voice of heaven…