I Became a Slave to a Mythical Shepherd

Episode 22. olympus (1)

I’ve heard of lily suicides.

It was one of the most beautiful and extravagant methods of suicide, and it was one of the things that were floating around on social media accounts suffering from depression.

it’s bullsh*t

suffocate

The fragrance of flowers used for funerals vibrates the whole brain,

The agony of not being able to breathe will hit your nose, mouth and lungs, hotter than red pepper powder.

Within 3 minutes, it could be short-lived due to passing out.

But it will be very painful.

…

…

like me now

“Kuh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh!”

Just like when I faced Hephaestus the other day, I breathed in the bitter air and could barely concentrate on the sensation of breathing.

The tingling sensation all over my body ached as if I had been stung by a bee.

It’s like being hit with tear gas in the eyes, and it’s like having red pepper powder water sprayed in the nose. My whole body burns as if an incendiary bomb had been planted in my intestines.

No, it’s too insignificant. These are trivial metaphors.

No one can understand this pain.

“Quaaa!!!”

…I see something blurry.

colorful table.

dinner served on it.

A palace in the sky, beyond the pillars you can see the blue world and the sea of clouds.

Stars float through the ceiling, as if he had no interest in human suffering.

And people?

A long sofa and people lying naked and languid on it, people nervously wandering around arguing, and people who stand by and look at it all as if it’s interesting…

And, and…

[Calm down.]

“He, Hepa, Lord Hephaestus.”

The only God who comes to me.

The young man who had brought me before I knew it rose into the air on winged shoes.

He hugged me as I struggled in pain and carefully stroked my head and chest.

[The pain will slowly go away from you. slowly···.”

It was as it was said.

The pain of each oxygen molecule in the air scratching your lungs gradually eases. The bitterness in my chest that used to breathe like sand gradually fades.

As you breathe in, the heat gradually dissipates. Beyond the blurry vision covered with tears and snot, it gradually becomes clearer.

The scenery that had just been approaching like a whisper comes into view clearly.

It is literally the court of heaven.

I dare not even describe what the pillars and floor are made of. All I can say is that it looks like marble from a distance and shines like platinum from up close.

Likewise, strange substances that seemed to have been made by kneading only the properties of various substances on the earth filled the place.

A fountain in which glass becomes liquid and flows. The drops that occasionally popped up became glass drops as soon as they left the fountain and shattered with a clear bell sound.

A full body statue made of gold. However, the statues showed off their selves as if they were going to show the viewer which composition was the most beautiful by changing their posture from time to time.

Rare birds, which seemed to have been gathered from all over the world, were trapped in something that looked like soap bubbles or silver bells, and floated and chirped.

The wild beasts growled as well, shackled in fetters that seemed to be made of something halfway between lead and mercury.

So, I couldn’t understand the sight of this place at all.

And those who stood proudly here, as if they were rightful residents… all looked at me and Hephaestus.

[I was expecting it.]

A man throws his glass roughly and walks near me with a mischievous look on his face.

[Didn’t he say he was the most beautiful boy? Hephaestus, isn’t it different from what you’ve heard? My eyes are swollen and look like deep sea fish. I don’t know if I have beauty or not.]

“…Have you ever thought how much pain an ordinary human being would feel after coming here?”

[no.]

The man grabs my chin and forcibly raises my upper body. Then, like when choosing an animal, I opened my mouth to check every corner of my mouth and then put it down.

My chin was burning.

[War doesn’t care about such trivial things. Shouldn’t this guy’s eyes be properly judged? Everyone’s precious time was wasted because of your stubbornness.]

Referee?

The handsome, muscular man glared at me with a nonchalant, cruel smile.

I made eye contact with him.

Beyond the eyes, a storm red like blood.

Did I say ‘War’ didn’t care about that?

I know who the author is.

I turned my head.

A woman pushed the man lightly away from me, as if feeling repulsive at the man’s rough hand.

“What are you doing? Is your child sick?”

However, there is no hatred in the words of a woman who is angry with a man, and there is no anger in the face of a man who receives a woman’s words, incongruous with that vivid arrogance.

As if to symbolize the relationship between the two, there is a brief exchange of glances.

[Hey.]

Again, a voice filled with authority descended upon me.

But somehow… instead of pain, I felt some kind of warmth and comfort… that kind of thing…

red lips.

The sun, the moon and all the celestial bodies in the world lost their light, and it was as if only that woman’s red lips would shine and remain in the world.

I know this woman too.

[stop.]

– Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwak!!

What separated me from that enchanting light was a single ray, a straight line.

More precisely, it was the trajectory of a straight line drawn by a certain linear object.

When I came to my senses, the spear was stuck right between me and the woman, and when I looked in the direction the spear flew, a woman wearing a helmet was looking down at me.

Without a single gesture,

Like a marble statue boasting infinite majesty.

[It’s vulgar. Our competition for excellence must not be marred by such shallow temptations.]

[under! I don’t know how fair you’ll come out.]

The red-lipped woman raised her eyebrows and stepped back, and the helmeted woman approached and pulled out a spear from the floor and spoke to me.

[You qualified as the most beautiful person on earth.]

I know this story too.

I looked around.

A gentle person who quietly stretches out his hand at the fireside as if talking to the flame.

A warrior with a trident, with colorful hair like a horse’s mane, constantly waving and waving.

A queen whose exhalation and inhalation alone makes the trees and grass dance around her.

The sun and moon whispering to each other and giving me interesting looks.

A young man who escapes from my side at some point, floats lightly in the air, and takes a break from this mess.

Two people sitting on a throne higher than all of them.

They look at me with interest.

[It’s stupid… To drag such a long time on this prank.]

[Keep your dignity in front of mortals.]

[Father, may I look over the boy for a moment? Since this is the child I brought, I want to check it.]

The one called father, the one seated on the throne, reluctantly nodded, and the young man put on winged shoes and slowly landed next to me, as if walking down a stairway in the air.

The wings that had been shaking a little before his heels stopped fluttering and landed quietly.

The snakes coiled around his staff stare at me, their tongues wriggling among themselves and whispering something.

The young man smiled and brought the staff close to me, and before I had time to do anything, the snake jumped on my shoulder and burrowed into the hem of my dress.

“Ah, yup…”

[Shh, don’t be rude in front of the gods. Don’t you know what will happen if you disrespect me?]

When I tried to scream, the young man quietly covered my mouth. I could hear the snakes whispering as they ran down my back and chest.

“You are a beautiful boy.”

“There is no blemish on your body.”

“Indeed, he is fit for a judge.”

The two snakes split from my pelvis and descended down my thighs and calves, then returned to their places as Hermes lowered his wand to the floor.

[Mother, you are flawless!]

The young man shouted mischievously and looked at me. At least it was less rude and less rough than the previous ‘war’. I don’t know how much better it is to release a snake on one’s body than to snatch a person out of the blue.

“I have heard a lot about you. I did everything I could to get you. . . I’m sorry.”

He whispered to me in a human voice.

A young man with a staff entwined with snakes and wings, and wearing similarly winged shoes. I know this one too well. If you don’t know, you can call me an idiot.

“Oh, I heard that archery isn’t good enough yet.”

… Archery? I wanted to ask how he knew that, but the next moment he spurred into the air and flew back into the air where he was.

Before I could protest anything, a woman’s voice came from the throne.

[You have been chosen to end the long-standing dispute between the three of us, the three goddesses.]

The woman sitting on the throne on the left speaks.

As if she were the queen of all things, a great person who wore a veil of self-confidence, not arrogance, and natural charisma, not a desire to show off.

I… I… I know that ‘goddess’ too.

I know all of them, all of them.

[Yes, the terminator of this painful and head-scratching dispute.]

The ‘King’ sitting on the throne on the right continues to speak.

[The three goddesses await your choice.]

“Stand, stand, if it’s a choice…”

As I muttered, the king snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, I feel a heavy weight in my right hand.

I know. I know all this.

I raised my right hand.

golden apple.

The phrase written on it is…

– To the most beautiful goddess.

[Before you were born, a human and a fairy (Νύμφη) were married. Hera, my wife, approved and blessed the marriage.]

I could easily understand the words of the king, Zeus.

If she were a fairy, she would surely be referring to Thetis, the daughter of Nereus, the god of water and the sea.

Thetis had been prophesied that her son would become a greater hero than his father, so the gods fearing him ordered the insignificant mortal Peleus to marry Thetis.

And the things left behind by the goddess of discord, Eris, who was not invited to the wedding,

This golden apple.

[Marriage is a sacred thing, but it is unjust, for from it a strife grows between the great gods and many suffer. The time is coming to put an end to all this discord, strife and suffering.]

It is a scene that cannot but be laughed at. But I couldn’t laugh at all.

The gods had been strife for so long that in the end no one dared to settle it.

So, didn’t they come up with a simple solution so that no one would be held accountable? It was a realization that I hadn’t thought of while reading mythology in the past.

How can a mere human decide which god is superior?

I will now dabble in a conflict that none of the gods wished to touch, and I will destroy it in return.

The owner of the golden apple is determined by my hand, and depending on my movements, some gods will be delighted and some will be furious.

The joy and rage call for war.

It was such a long and devastating war that there are only epics about it.

[Choose, Son of Priam, Prince of Troy.]

Ilias (Ίλιάς).

I knew everyone in this place, the meaning of all these scenes. I knew the story before and after that, and I knew how important this was in terms of cultural history.

And above all,

now i knew me

I knew my name, a name I had never been able to say until now, as if my tongue and mouth were shackled.

I raised my voice cautiously, just in case the sounds coming out of my mouth would collapse into a cacophony I couldn’t understand.

“Pa, par…”

One phoneme, one by one…

“lease···.”

Paris.

Son of Priam.

Prince of Troy.

Helen’s lover.

The one who destroys Troy.

[Make your choice.]

The one whose eyes burned like fire, Ares speaks.

[Choose. And put an end to this annoying dispute.]

Muttered Poseidon, whose hair was waving like waves.

[Which one should I choose? Can we not see this anymore?]

[That doesn’t matter. For that poor soul, the disaster that has come before him must be more important.]

Brother and sister whisper in each other’s ears. Sun and Moon, Apollo and Artemis.

Those whom I have regarded as things in novels and stories press me down with their gazes.

…I can’t stand it.

[father.]

Hephaestus, who had been standing by my side, got up and stood in front of me. His tall stature shielded me from the eyes of the gods.

[The child is in pain.]

[···so?]

[A person who is immersed in pain cannot discuss beauty. You should give your child a break to rest.]

Zeus looked at me and Hephaestus alternately with cold eyes.

[I heard you accepted me as a disciple… did you like it?]

A mocking voice.

[good night.]

As Zeus beckons, a boy appears from behind his throne and pours him a cup.

[Ganymede, prepare.]

The boy knelt down and murmured something between prayers and incantations.

As the cups and food were set in front of the gods, the three goddesses who were involved raised the cups with dismayed expressions.

[Let’s wait.]

With those words, Zeus lightly rolled his feet on the floor.

“This is…”

“It is a safe place. Don’t worry.”

The next moment, Hephaestus and I were in an unfamiliar place.