Chapter 3: I Live Alone (2)
At first, he also put in his efforts. He had thought that he needs to prepare for whatever he could since he didn't know when humanity would come back.
"Vale Tudo and spearmanship are still sloppy. Actually, it's better for me!"
[You are such a strange human....!]
Even while receiving Lita's strange gazes, Yu IlHan immersed himself again in training. Lita provided all 3 meals for him anyway so he only needed to think about the martial arts that he needed to learn.
And like that, 5 years passed and then 10. It was the moment after 20 years had passed since he was left out.
Now, his punches and kicks flowed with a fighting spirit that can even kill a bear, much less a human, and the wooden spear he extended powerfully not only pierced the sandbag but shredded it. Yu IlHan himself thought that he had no talent in regards to martial arts, but growing up like this in just 15 years was amazing. Of course, it was also because Rita, who was a great fighting partner, was there for him.
"I'm turning 40 soon. How is it? Do I look more mature?"
[The only thing you did was punching and stabbing with the spear. Do you think you earned anything other than enlightenment in martial arts? Did you see anyone acting their age after coming out from training in the mountains?]
"You think so too? My mom won't tell me I'm pretending to be mature, right?"
[Don't worry about it and keep training.]
From this point, Lita, who came once a week, came once in 3 days. It was because she was worried that Yu IlHan might go crazy after being alone in the huge prison known as Earth for no less than 20 years.
Whether it was due to her worry and interest or due to his innate personality, Yu IlHan endured well.
He endured for 20... Then 30 years.
[Just how much did it deviate!]
While looking at such Yu IlHan, it was instead Lita who was nervous to the point of shouting. However, Lita's position wasn't actually that high so she wasn't in a position to ask God directly, and she didn't have the right to reverse the time axis so she could only restlessly watch Yu IlHan training his body quietly, day by day.
"Lita."
One day, Yu IlHan said with a lowered voice.
"I can't remember my mother's face."
[...I'm sorry.]
"Even when I look at the picture, it feels unfamiliar. Was this person really my family? Wasn't I living here alone in the first place? Everything was my delusion and it is a lie that Lita made in order to console me..."
[Don't say such things!]
"Yeah, it was a joke. It might be good if it was actually like that though."
He sighed and took back the spear. It was the time after 50 years of being left behind.
"I'm board up. I want to do something else."
[I'm sorry to say this now but... It's not known when the Great Cataclysm will occur. You cannot neglect your martial arts.]
"I know."
Now that they had shared several decades together, racial matters such as being an angel or being a human didn't really matter. The important thing to Yu IlHan was a person to look after him and a person who would listen to him. And Lita took that place so he followed Lita. That was enough.
Yu IlHan was also the only human that Lita came into contact with for several tens of years, so she began to harbour feelings of more than just pity and compassion for the human known as Yu IlHan. Of course, she didn't say it out loud.
The two's strange relationship which occurred due to God's error was progressing in a truly marvellous direction.
"I'll read some books."
[That's a good idea.]
Martial arts would become important after the Great Cataclysm occurs, but reading helps widening one's reasoning and to build the foundation for one's actions. It would help but it wouldn't harm.
Yu IlHan, who acted too fast that it may seem excessive after setting his mind on something, shut himself inside the college library straight away. As he promised with Rita, he trained Vale Tudo and spearmanship for 3 hours a day, but he invested the rest of the time solely in reading.
Even the most well-preserved books would change colours after several tens of years passed, but 'thanks to the 'stopped time', objects didn't get affected by time. It was a good thing for Yu IlHan.
His preferences leaned towards contemporary novels, but he got fed up after reading those for about 5 years and he moved onto others. While thinking that his ordinary college life might continue after the Great Cataclysm occurs, he first studied books related to his major which was management, and when he was also about to get fed up with it, he considered plural majors and read psychology or other humanities-related books.
Unlike martial arts where the progress becomes less noticeable after a certain point, reading piles up knowledge. Yu IlHan, who was now hooked to that spread his interests to other books inside the library. Common knowledge, history, geography, classics, physics, chemistry, the arts, he read every single book existing in the library.
After a few years passed, the books inside the libraries were insufficient. There was no one guarding bookstores anyway, so Yu IlHan started conquering the book stores within his walking range in search of books that weren't in the library.
However, even this had a limit. In his 67th year of being left behind (Of course, Yu Ilhan no longer counted time), he made a big decision.
"Let's learn another language."
[Then let's just change locations. I can deliver your meals wherever it is.]
"Where is that food coming from anyway?"
[Secret.]
While pondering whether to cross the seas or not, he moved locations to China, the closest country. While driving any car to drive until he was out of fuel when he found a working petrol station, he would refuel, and if not, he would just switch cars.
License? There was only Yu IlHan in this world so it was okay as long as the car he drove didn't fall off a cliff or explode after crashing.
Even while moving, he studied Chinese in his spare time. The language studies made him sick after studying even a little became doable due to reading books for several tens of years.
And the China he arrived at somehow was too wide. And there were, of course, many texts.
"Maybe it's a mistake to set China as the first stop."
Yu IlHan screamed in joy at the fact that there was so much new knowledge. 'Humanity will definitely come back before I get to know all the knowledge of China'. And with that fact, he even felt sorry for that.
However, that was his misunderstanding. Even after adventuring all of the wide lands of China, and studied every book in China, humanity still didn't come back. Yu IlHan no longer asked Lita how much time passed and Lita also didn't speak of it.
He calmly moved to another country. It was because he felt that he might go crazy if he didn't get new stimulation, no matter what it was.
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, India, Mongolia... After learning every language in Asia, he read all the books, records and even internet logs of all those countries. As if he would die if he didn't read something, he read and read again.
Once, he forgot the iron rule of training martial arts for 3 hours a day and was close to getting beaten up by Lita.
[Are you really alright?]
"It's alright. Anyway."
He raised his head. The last page of the last book of the 7.5 million books inside the Russian Academy of sciences was revealing itself.
Even though it was 7.5 million books, there were many books that also existed in other libraries, and to Yu IlHan, who could now read any book in a short time regardless of thickness due to reading repeatedly for countless years, it wasn't that hard of a task.
"As expected, I can't understand technical books even after reading them."
Yu IlHan saw through the limits of this brain. It seemed that he wasn't a person who was fit for sciences. He only read because there was text, and just reading the book didn't make him a professional in that area.
"Now let's go to Europe."
[You're speaking in Finnish right now, you know?]
"Hyvää!" (Good)
[Okay, I guess, we're going to Finland.]
When he toured Europe, the middle east, and even Africa, his vocabulary became rich.
It was the 216th year after he was left behind.
"Now there's just Oceania and America left!"
Yu IlHan cheered like a middle schooler who just checked that there was little summer homework left. At his unchanging tension even though he had lived for over 200 years, Lita made a bitter smile and asked back.
[You do know that you have to go by boat, right?]
"It's alright. There are many boats without owners in this world!"
[That's called stealing.]
The power of time was truly amazing. It had made a clueless college student into an all-powerful adventurer. Of course, there was no need to say twice since one human was given more time than a human lifespan, but Yu IlHan kept moving without rest as if he would die the moment he stops.
Using all the knowledge of Geography, he set the sailing distance to the minimum, and he looked for a boat that could hold out for that distance. In the countless books he read until now, there were many specialized books related to ships, so there wasn't any difficulty finding a sturdy and fueled boat, and operating it.
"Lita, humanity didn't die out by any chance, right?"
[I said there was a deviation in the time axis. I was a fool for thinking it's just twice or three times. It seems that it's at least 10 times.]
"How exciting."
After he finished preparing for the voyage, Yu IlHan unhesitatingly left the land he was on. As long as Oceania and America waited for him, there was no time for leisure.
And several tens of years passed again.
"I finiiiiiiiiiiiiished!"
[I can't believe he actually did it.]
While looking at Yu Ilhan who was shouting and rolling around on top of the table inside Boston Public Library, known for being one of the biggest in America, Lita muttered with a fed-up voice.
Yu IlHan finally had conquered all the available books revealed to humanity. Even though she had watched the whole process with her own eyes, it was an unbelievable achievement.
After he left the library, sat down on a bench on the street and looked at the sky blankly for a while, Yu IlHan muttered while tilting his head.
"What do I do now?"
[Back to martial arts?]
"I've been doing that until now too."
He didn't only read books while touring around the world. He went to various ruins which remained in some parts of the world, he found traces of martial arts and he kept revising various shortcomings in Vale Tudo and spearmanship. The training was 3 hours at the minimum and sometimes it would go over 8 hours, and 12 hours.
His fighting arts and weapon arts which transformed to the point that he couldn't find the original style was developed into a practical and high-level technique to the point that Lita would have a hard time fighting him without mana.
This was something that was unachievable by someone who didn't have talent even if that person was given countless years. Lita of course didn't tell this to Yu IlHan. Since he would get ahead of himself when she did!
"Lita, other than martial arts or knowledge, is there something that might help after the Great Cataclysm occurs?"
The question that flew towards Rita, who was thinking about Yu IlHan's talent, was this. When she heard this, Lita could feel goosebumps.
[You...]
His question proved one thing.
Yu IlHan, who experienced more things than a human could experience in one lifetime, still didn't lose hope despite the time that had passed. To him, his life wasn't over. No, perhaps he might be thinking that it didn't start until now. All the things he did until now maybe just in preparation for the life after the Great Cataclysm.
It was a long time even for Lita, who was an angel, but a human who wouldn't live past 100 on average was treating the past years as prior preparation. Of course, he himself didn't know exactly how much time had passed, but that didn't make Lita any less surprised.
[You, how can you be like that?] As she was dumbfounded, Lita spat out the question she endured until now.
If Yu IlHan tried to boast for a bit, he might have answered with a fancier answer, but he, who lived while looking for new knowledge and experienced without being in contact with another human for countless years, only had candidness and honesty left. It might be considered that he regressed back into a child.
"You said I need to do it, so I do it. I can't practice mana so I need to do other things."
[...]
With Yu IlHan, who sighed while replying, in front of her, Lita lost her words to speak. The countless emotions and impulses mixed with each other and blew up to the point of bursting and bleached her mind pitch white.
Soon, she didn't know what expression to make and turned her head and spread her wings.
[I'm leaving!]
"Tell me what to do before going!"
[Think about it yourself!]
Lita disappeared from the place, and Yu IlHan was dumbfounded. After cool-headedly judging the situation, he muttered again while sighing.
"First, let's go back home."
This was a historic moment where an angel harboured more than just good intentions towards a human. And obviously, Yu IlHan didn't notice that.
Yu IlHan didn't know, but this was the 274th year after being left behind.
Humanity didn't return yet.
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