Becoming a Shadow in the New World

But New didn't care about anything else. He left as if he had been granted a pardon, and during the entire process of leaving, he didn't dare to raise his head to look at Gamma's condition.

After closing the creaking door, New dared to look up at it. His eyes, filled with questions about what was wrong with Gamma, seemed to be looking at Gamma through the door. He pressed himself against the door, ready to rush in and save Gamma should it show signs of suicide like Alpha.

"Snapped!"

After closing the door, Gamma dropped the cup he was holding, making a sound.

Gamma ignored the cup shattered on the ground, looked up, and saw that the calm and gentle eyes that had been in front of New were now filled with despair.

"Just when I was finally about to meet Lord Shadow's idea, Shadow Garden is already starting to fall apart?"

The voice, spoken lightly, contained Gamma's heart-wrenching sorrow.

"Ha, what right do I have to talk about them? Aren't I also thinking about leaving Shadow Garden after nurturing Newt?"

A self-deprecating chuckle escaped her lips, followed by soft words that were barely audible to Niu outside.

The young woman and the mature woman curled up together, burying their heads in their knees, doing a thing that only a child would do.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"bump!"

The glasses clinked together.

Chapter 51 Li Zevheim

"Gurgle gurgle... Ah!"

Sid gulped down the beer in his glass and let out a long sigh of relief.

"Uncle Li Zeweim, it's really fun chatting with you!"

As he felt the act of drinking exert a psychological suggestion on his body, deceiving his brain and creating a state of intoxication, Sid couldn't help but sigh.

"Not at all, little brother Sid, chatting with you is super, super, super fun."

Sitting next to Sid, a middle-aged man with silver hair, probably in his forties, responded to Sid and then raised his glass of wine again.

Seeing the uncle next door start drinking, Sid also raised his glass and clinked it with him.

Originally, he was just there for acting training as a lowly office worker, to avoid being forced to drink alcohol in the future without knowing how to act drunk. However, he discovered that alcohol couldn't get him drunk, but his brain seemed to have been tricked, automatically simulating being drunk.

In the end, I inexplicably got into a great chat with the uncle next door. I have to say, he's a really good drinking buddy. I won't ask him for drinks next time, after all, it's just a training exercise for extras.

"Uncle, where were we?"

"It seems like you've encountered a demon."

The middle-aged man scratched his head and said uncertainly.

Sid, as if provoked, slammed his hands on the table.

"Yes, uncle, let me tell you, none of the demons I've encountered are decent demons. Every single one of them should be thrown into heaven and sunbathed in myths and legends."

"That's right. The demons of today are not like demons at all. They even talk about justice. It's disgusting."

When the demons were mentioned, Li Zevim's face lit up with interest. He put down his wine glass and began to complain.

"Uh... Uncle, are you one of those whose imagined image of a demon was shattered by those new-age demons?"

Noticing the change in Li Zevim's expression, Sid suspected that the man in front of him was also a victim of the new era of evil, just like him.

"Probably, little Sid. You seem to have some unique insights into demons."

After giving a vague reply, Li Zeweim asked Sid in return.

"I wouldn't call it insightful, but I'm just a little disappointed that the propaganda about demons doesn't match the reality, and that they don't look like demons at all."

Sid sighed.

He had encountered two kinds of demons, and both of them struck his heart hard.

The first type is those who came into contact before the world merged, namely Alpha and the others in a demon-possessed state.

The second type is the group we met today, Rias and the others, who are also true demons.

Alpha and the others were smeared by rumors; they are not real demons.

Rias and the others are genuine demons, not the demons he imagined.

The demon he imagined should be a villain with a pair of jet-black bat wings on its back, exuding an aura of malice, and constantly thinking about trading with humans for souls or plotting to destroy the world.

Instead of acting like a protagonist, being united and friendly, doing odd jobs at the Yorozuya, and trying to escape their fate.

"So, little brother Sid, what kind of demon do you imagine?"

Li Zevim became curious about what the demon described by Sid should look like.

"The demons I imagine are of course evil, monsters, and beasts..."

"The evil path, the crooked path, the wicked path..."

Li Zevim interrupted Sid, but Sid wasn't angry at being interrupted. Instead, his eyes lit up with surprise as he looked at Li Zevim and continued speaking.

"Magic way!"

"Ghost!"

"sinister!"

"Little brother Sid, you know so much!"

"Uncle, you're not bad either."

After the two of them took turns reciting a series of clearly derogatory adjectives, they let out an excited roar and clinked their glasses together again.

"Uncle, don't just talk about me, tell me about yourself too. When I first met you, you were drinking alone in silence. Tell me what's bothering you, and I'll give you some advice."

After finishing his beer in one gulp, Sid recalled how Uncle Li Zewim looked when he first met him, clearly deep in thought, and casually brought it up.

"Ah...that works too."

After thinking for a few seconds, Li Zeweim decided it wasn't a big deal and blurted it out.

“Little brother Sid, I was a very boring person more than a year ago because I had no idea what I was supposed to do and just repeated the same day over and over again.”

The man had resigned himself to living this kind of life forever, like a walking corpse awaiting his death, when something truly extraordinary happened and ignited his dream.

At this point, Uncle Li Zeweim started gesturing wildly.

"Before finding this childish yet incredibly wonderful dream, I was living a dull and meaningless life. So, after finding this dream, I immediately took action, but..."

Li Zevheim stopped his haphazard waving and a look of frustration appeared on his face.

"But after a year of preparation, when everything was ready, I suddenly remembered something incredibly annoying, and that is..."

His flippant tone carried a hint of anger and disgust.

"The dream that the uncle wants to realize actually requires him to work together with someone he hates to have any chance of succeeding, and even then, it has to be achieved using methods that the uncle hates. It's infuriating!"

The uncle wasn't afraid of the difficulties of this dream, but the thought that it would have to be achieved through the method he hated most made him extremely angry.

The wine glass was slammed heavily on the table, making a loud noise.

"If you ask me to give up the plan and go back to that state of just sitting there in a daze every day, not knowing what to do, I'd rather die."

He sighed, exuding an aura of dejection.

"So now the uncle doesn't know what to do to realize this dream. The thought of having to work with the people he hates makes him want to die. Even if he gives up on going back to the past, he still wants to die."

Seeing the dejected look on the middle-aged man he had just met, with his eyes filled with confusion, Sid felt that Li Zevim looked familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.

Where have you seen it?

He frowned as he pondered the question, his gaze inadvertently sweeping over his own reflection in the wine glass.

A sudden realization struck him; he remembered that this was exactly how he looked in his past life when no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't access magic.

Remembering his past life, and putting himself in others' shoes, Sid suddenly became active.

He put his hand on Li Zeweim's shoulder, pulled him up, and faced Li Zeweim, shouting excitedly.

"Uncle, is your dream really that cheap?"

"Eh?"

Sid's sudden action left Li Zevim a little bewildered.

"Think about it, uncle, are you afraid of dying?"

"How could an old man be afraid of dying!"

Although somewhat bewildered, Li Zewim still gave a negative answer under the guise of provocation.

"That's right, uncle. You're not even afraid of death, so what are you afraid of?"

If you have your own dreams and are willing to take action to achieve them, then don't worry about anything else, just go for it!

When you encounter difficulties, try to find solutions. There are so many ways to solve problems in this world, how can you really be blocked by one problem?

Even if there really is only one way, can't you create a new one yourself?

Show me all your willpower and crush everything that stands in your way. Don't say you can't do it.

Only when the coffin is nailed shut can you say you've done your best.