#1 Living in another world 3

Grim thought that if he came close to death, he might finally understand the meaning of sadness. But even in the face of death, he remained just as lost as before. 

In the end, even as he died, he still did not comprehend what sadness truly was. 

"Does feeling sadness make a person complete?" 

"You could say that," the girl replied gently. "After all, being able to feel sadness means that person has a well-balanced emotional state." 

"But sadness isn't the only emotion humans have, is it?" 

Sadness was just one part of the vast spectrum of human emotions. Joy, love—these, too, were feelings that defined what it meant to be human. 

"Can you give me an example?" she asked. 

"What about happiness?" Grim offered. "Isn't that also a human emotion?" 

"It is," she acknowledged. "Then tell me—have you ever felt happiness?" 

Grim fell silent. 

He already knew the answer. 

And so did she. 

Throughout his life, he had been a supreme general, the mastermind behind countless war strategies. No matter how flawlessly his plans unfolded, no matter how great his achievements, not once had he ever felt happiness. 

"Then what about love?" she asked. "Have you ever felt it?" 

The answer was obvious. 

No. 

No matter how much his parents had cared for him, that love had never truly reached him. 

"You've never felt any of these emotions, have you?" 

Grim exhaled, his expression unreadable. 

"It's true. I've never felt any of them. But does experiencing these emotions really make a person complete?" 

"For humans, perhaps," she said with a faint smile. 

"And who decides whether a person is complete or not?" 

"No one decides," she replied. "It's merely how we perceive it." 

"We"?

Grim narrowed his eyes slightly. 

"My apologies if my question is impolite," he said. "But… who exactly are you?" 

"Hmm…" She tapped a finger against her lips playfully, as if considering how best to answer. Then, with a small, knowing smile, she said, "For now, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Pandora. From your human perspective, beings like me are what you would call gods… or goddesses." 

Grim studied her carefully. 

Pandora. 

A goddess. 

But she was not just any goddess. 

She was the embodiment of misfortune—of evil, disease, and suffering. These were the very things that had plagued humanity since time immemorial. 

Yet, despite this, Pandora was not a being of pure misfortune. 

Thousands of years ago, the gods had deemed humanity unworthy. They saw humans as a mistake—a flawed creation unworthy of their care. 

And so, they abandoned them, casting all forms of misfortune upon them. 

Yet among those gods, there was one who disagreed. 

Pandora. 

She alone had shown compassion toward humans. 

In the end, the gods relinquished all matters concerning humanity to her, bestowing upon her both the burden of misfortune and the weight of hope. 

For eons, Pandora had listened to the prayers of mortals. 

Yet, among the countless voices that reached her, most were cries born from suffering, despair, and hatred. 

Few prayed for goodness. 

At first, she granted those rare, sincere wishes. 

But as time passed, humanity began to forget kindness. They turned on one another, betraying, killing, and destroying for their own selfish gain. 

Eventually, Pandora lost hope in them. 

From that moment on, she ceased answering their prayers. 

She withdrew to her domain—a place at the boundary between heaven, the underworld, and the mortal realm. 

From her home, she watched over humans who, like Grim, were born incomplete. 

To the gods, humans were incapable of attaining divine perfection. 

But within their own limitations, they had their own form of completeness. 

A human born with a whole and functioning body could be considered *half* complete. The other half depended on their emotions—on whether they possessed the full spectrum of human feelings. 

A person with a perfect body but an incomplete soul could not be called whole. 

And likewise, a person with complete emotions but a broken body was also considered incomplete. 

"Pandora…" Grim repeated the name, testing how it felt on his tongue. "I've never heard of you." 

His voice was calm, unshaken by her revelation. 

From his perspective, if she knew so much about him, then it wasn't far-fetched to believe that she was a goddess. 

Besides, no human could survive in a place like this. 

A realm devoid of oxygen, where life could not exist. 

Even now, Grim seemed to be breathing normally, but in truth, no air entered his lungs. 

His body was not a living one. 

It was a corpse. 

His organs, though seemingly intact, had ceased to function long ago. 

"It's not surprising that you don't know me," Pandora said with a soft chuckle. "I am a goddess long forgotten. After all, humans have started to abandon us. Instead, they now worship other humans—mortals who have received mere fragments of our blessings." 

"You keep saying *us*," Grim noted. "Does that mean there are other gods besides you?" 

"Of course," she replied. "But they reside in heaven." 

"Do all gods live there?" 

"Not all," Pandora said. "Just like me, some gods choose to live outside of heaven." 

Some, like Pandora, resided at the crossroads of the three realms. Others preferred the underworld. 

And then there were those who chose to live among humans. 

These gods were different. They despised boredom, and so they mingled with mortals, observing them, testing them—sometimes for entertainment, sometimes out of genuine curiosity. 

Because despite their divinity, gods, too, had emotions. 

They could feel anger, joy, sorrow… and yes, even boredom. 

The difference was that their existence was simply far beyond human comprehension. 

"I see," Grim murmured. 

He then looked at Pandora with a steady gaze. 

"In that case… may I ask you something, Goddess Pandora?" 

She smiled, tilting her head slightly. 

"What is it you wish to know?" 

"Will I be staying here forever?" 

If the answer was yes, then that was fine with him. 

This place suited him. 

Here, he could finally be at peace. 

"No," Pandora said gently. "You won't be staying here forever." 

"This is the boundary of the three realms. It is not a place meant for humans like you. If you remain here too long, you will disappear completely… and you will never be able to reincarnate." 

Grim considered her words. 

Then, with a small shrug, he said, 

"That doesn't matter. Even if I can never reincarnate, it wouldn't change anything."