There were no signs of what was to come. To say Eve's reckless destruction of the flowers and plants she created herself was a symptom would be an understatement. At that time, Eve, at least, did not consume her creations to obliterate them.
Kang Sihyun could not help but be taken aback by Eve's sudden and unprecedented behavior.
Like something wicked had possessed her, the woman, with eyes rolled back in madness, devoured everything the deity had created, regardless of whether it was plant or animal. Eve even swallowed space itself.
Sihyun stiffened at this ferocious spectacle, and it was only later that the deity raised a hand to calm the woman down.
The deity spoke an unknown language, covering Eve's eyes and repeatedly murmuring reassurances. This went on for a long time, until the sun had risen and set about twenty times.
Eve fell into a deep sleep on the thirtieth night after her rampage began.
Sihyun, watching the woman now silent and eyes closed, looked up at the deity with unease. Everything had become strange. The sudden change in Eve, and the deity, who, faced with all this, only sighed.
Sihyun remembered something the deity once said to him.
"I sometimes foresee the future. Only for the things I've created, I can see their future. To be precise, I read the fates of the things I've created."
That soft voice now overlapped with the sighs of the present. Sihyun, disbelieving, hesitantly took a step towards the deity.
"...Did you know?"
"......"
"That something like this would happen?"
After his cautiously spoken words, the deity remained silent. Sihyun stood there, waiting endlessly for an answer. Night turned into day, and time brought night again. When no answer came even after two days, Sihyun realized the deity would not speak to him.
Yet, sometimes silence can affirm.
Through the deity's silence, Sihyun understood that the deity had foreseen the current situation.
Then why not prevent it?
If the future had been seen, it could have been stopped.
Turning away from the deity, Sihyun looked out at the ruined world with heavy eyes. The creations were almost all destroyed or distorted. It was no longer the beautiful, peaceful world he knew. Suppressing the urge to question further, Sihyun headed towards Eve's garden.
He replanted the uprooted flowers and covered the disturbed soil. Silently, he focused solely on restoring the world to its original state. That was all Sihyun, devoid of the power of creation, could do.
Eve would rage dozens more times. Up to her fifth outburst, covering her eyes could calm her, but by the sixth, the deity could no longer easily subdue her.
Eve began to lose her human form. When Eve appeared to sleep again, or rather, appeared to be asleep, Sihyun could overhear a conversation between Eve and the deity.
"...Isn't it time to stop?"
"I always feel empty, Father."
"......"
"No matter how much I create, no matter how I fill the world with beautiful things, I always feel empty. So, I consumed what you made, what I created. It seemed to dispel the emptiness. ...I think I've become strange."
The woman's voice, calm at first, began to quiver. As the conversation with the deity grew longer, Eve spoke with increasing distress, eventually breaking into tears. Expressing her fear of herself, the deity could only hold her tightly.
It's all my fault.
Hearing the deity's voice faintly, Sihyun bit his lip and fled toward Eve's garden.
The deity was not at fault.
Sihyun knew this all too well, and it only deepened his sorrow.
Eve raged for the thirtieth time. Eventually, the deity had to imprison Eve. After confining the primal human, the deity began to breathe life back into the chaotic world. Everywhere that had been dark and scorched brightened. Feeling a strange sense of déjà vu on the revitalized earth, Sihyun often visited Eve.
When Sihyun visited, Eve frequently begged to be let out. Instead of abandoning the deity, Sihyun chose to be her companion, comforting her. By then, Eve's appearance was hardly that of a woman anymore.
Her limbs had vanished, her skin melted away to darkness. The only way to recognize this black mass as Eve was by spotting the red eyes within.
Sihyun sometimes felt a chilling dread looking at the transformed Eve but never showed it. After a few attempts to persuade Sihyun, Eve, realizing he would not listen, changed the subject.
"I've come to want to consume everything Father made, Adam."
"Why do you do that? You weren't like this at the beginning."
"Maybe I was, from the start."
"...What?"
"I like beautiful things. Since Father
made them, they're mostly beautiful, and I liked them. But I've realized now, I'm not satisfied just looking at them; I need to make them mine to be content."
Eve's voice was chillingly fanatical. Hearing this starkly different tone, Sihyun instinctively realized.
There's no going back.
To the times when the three of them walked the earth, laughing together.
To the times when they rode on the backs of birds, looking down at the land from the sky, chatting.
To the most peaceful, joyous times.
Sihyun clenched his mouth shut upon this realization.
He sometimes felt jealous of Eve, sometimes inferior, but not once did he wish her harm or death.
After all, she was the sister the deity had given him.
And knowing the kindness she had shown him, he could not bring himself to hate her.
"...That's a wrong way of thinking, Eve."
"Then perhaps I was a mistake from the beginning."
Eve responded in a low voice. Sihyun, seeing her changed form, daily suppressed his sorrow and came to pity another being for the first time.
The being who, having directly created Eve, was suffering the most.
And so, as Eve remained imprisoned, time passed.
The first few years were peaceful for the first time in a long while. After spending a hundred nights in gloom, the deity regained his strength, cultivated the world anew, and created a new existence resembling the primeval Eve and Kang Sihyun.
Kang Sihyun knew what it was and looked at the deity.
“It resembles me…”
“Yes, but unlike you, it will not live forever.”
“Why?”
“…I’ve realized that an overly prolonged life actually harms the soul.”
“What will become of them, then?”
“They will age.”
“They will age?”
“As they grow older, they will gradually weaken and draw closer to death, meeting their end when the time is right. Dead souls will roam the world again until they are reborn in new bodies.”
That's the cycle.
The deity whispered, smiling faintly. Kang Sihyun observed the smile, which seemed both fulfilling and bitter, and nodded. He understood nothing, but feigned empathy, hoping it would lessen his father’s sorrow. His gesture worked; the deity smiled and stroked Kang Sihyun’s hair.
After creating the first group of humans, the deity frequently cared for them. He provided what they needed and observed how they lived. Kang Sihyun, who alternated between Eve and the deity, quickly became curious about the bustling humans and watched their lives alongside them.
The initial group of ten grew rapidly over a hundred years. Ten became a hundred, a hundred a thousand, and thousands grew into tens and hundreds of thousands. A single village divided into dozens, hundreds; cities and countries formed. As Kang Sihyun marvelled at this change, a forgotten being reappeared.
It was Eve, who had been imprisoned by the deity for eons.
As Eve broke free from her prison after countless attempts and reappeared, the world once again darkened. Night fell, and Eve began her rampage. In the decades Kang Sihyun did not seek Eve, new beings seemingly created by her appeared, aiding her.
Eve and her creations laid waste to the world.
They devoured tens of thousands of humans, puppeteered them, and razed villages and homes. A civilization built over a hundred years was destroyed. Kang Sihyun, in shock, clung to the deity, pleading for intervention. To save them from Eve’s destruction. However, the deity simply stood still, watching Eve.
“Father?”
Kang Sihyun looked up at him, and for the first time, saw his father's tears. Below the clear eyes, water mixed with hundreds of indescribable colors flowed.
“…You have chosen that path after all.”
The deity murmured as if sighing.
“I thought creating beings resembling you would prevent you from harming them.”
“…….”
“But it was all a misconception.”
The deity’s voice trembled thinly. The figure, always seeming as solid as a mountain, appeared infinitely fragile in that moment.
The deity quietly watched the destruction of the human world, then turned to Kang Sihyun. Suddenly massive, the deity loomed, the difference in height with Kang Sihyun now a factor of tens.
“Ah….”
As the deity bowed his head to look down, Kang Sihyun’s mouth moved slightly. The deity slowly bent down, his giant body folding as his eyes came close to Kang Sihyun. A hand larger than Kang Sihyun’s body reached out, a finger touching Kang Sihyun’s hair and cheek with a touch filled with sorrow and tenderness.
“Did you desire power?”
“…No, I’m okay.”
Though he had long desired it, Kang Sihyun spoke in denial, having witnessed Eve’s end with his own eyes. Yet, the deity, with a mournful smile, stroked Kang Sihyun’s cheek and spoke.
“Do not fear. You and Eve are different.”
“…Different?”
“Yes. Eve was born to create alongside me, but that’s not who you are.”
“……?”
Confusion swirled in his mind. He couldn’t grasp what the deity meant. Whether he was being told he was worthless, or to not concern himself with Eve because they were different beings. As he blinked, a warm touch reached Kang Sihyun’s shoulder.
The deity’s massive body shrank by half. Though still larger than Kang Sihyun, the sudden change in size was startling.
“Father?”
“I hoped this moment would never come.”
“…….”
“But it seems inevitable. Such is fate.”
As if reflecting on his own faults, the deity whispered, then closed his eyes.
“Adam, I bestow upon you power and the true word.”
“Father….”
These were the words Kang Sihyun had long awaited, yet they brought no joy. Seeing Kang Sihyun’s expression twist, the deity slowly uttered the true word.
“You are the one who ends chaos beside me.”
“…….”
“The protector, the savior. And thus, you shall be the first and last apostle.”
“……
.”
“Adam. That is your name.”
With those words, the deity opened his eyes to look at Kang Sihyun. As the deity’s stature diminished, immense power transferred into Kang Sihyun’s body. Brilliant radiance sprang forth from his pale skin. Kang Sihyun barely managed to open his trembling mouth to respond.
“Yes, Father….”
A faint voice accompanied by hot tears streamed down. It wasn’t out of joy or excitement. The deity’s emotions flowed directly from his hand upon Kang Sihyun’s head, forcing the tears.
The creator’s sorrow weighs heavily.
Are you grieving, Father?
Over the monster my sister has become.
Kang Sihyun swallowed his words, his expression twisted. His head, held up with effort, dropped.
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