Chapter 398 |
The Bereaved VI
Why was Go Yuri here? It was a question that not even I could answer, and neither could the fairies acting as the server administrators for this 'dream' world.
"Hoek, we apologize, Comrade Secretary-General."
"We were only trying to recreate the past as closely as we could, using Codename Yo-hwa's data and the settings you provided...!"
"But we can change the data and erase her existence, right? Should we activate your inherited authority, 'Existence Erasure,' Comrade Secretary-General?"
I just shook my head.
"No, there's no need for that. In fact, you must never do that. Our goal isn't to warp Yo-hwa's past, but to restore it to be as historically accurate as possible. We might have to tolerate minor distortions if they're unavoidable, but we must not intentionally corrupt the timeline. Remember that."
"Hoek, we understand."
The fairies saluted in unison.
"..."
"The fervent support of the people. With this, our Red Empire can endure for another two hundred years."
I confiscated their sausages.
The fairies burst into tears, wailing "Hoe-eeeng," but I paid them no mind and began to carefully explore the mansion.
'The tutorial fairies are ultimately outsiders, so it's no surprise they know nothing about Go Yuri.'
'That means my only option is to ask the insiders, the members of this cult.'
More importantly, in this world, I was the cult's most treasured child, one of the successors handpicked to become a god for the next generation. My young age placed many restrictions on my actions, but something as simple as contacting the members to gather information should have been easy.
However.
– Shh, Young Miss.
– You mustn't talk about that woman.
Even the shadow-like cult members, who wandered the grand mansion like phantoms, offered contradictory statements about Go Yuri.
– Oh dear. This will surely sadden you, Young Miss...
– She is someone cherished by our Leader.
– Pardon? What are you saying, Young Miss? No such person exists here in the Holy Temple.
– Young Miss... you ask such a strange question.
– She is your new stepmother, isn't she?
"..."
The testimonies were all over the place.
One member said Go Yuri was the leader's lover. Another denied her existence entirely. Someone else claimed she was the woman the leader remarried after his wife's death.
It wasn't a case of one of them lying through their teeth, as I certainly have the sharp judgment needed to tell an act from the truth.
Every single one of them was being sincere.
It was as if...
'...as if even the information surrounding Go Yuri had become tangled in a mess of spacetime.'
I was completely disoriented.
A typical void was already an abyss beyond human comprehension, but with Go Yuri now in the mix, it was driving me to the brink of insanity.
I decided to visit my younger sister, who was the only person in this dream-like void, or rather the second if you included me, to have retained her 'identity'.
"Yo-hwa."
"Hmph. I hate you, unni. I hate you. Go away."
"Here's some chocolate ice cream."
"I love you, unni. Please live forever."
I casually posed a question to my dear sister, the great philosopher Madam Yo-hwa, who had just placed a scoop of chocolate ice cream right on the line between life and death.
"That very pretty unni who's always with Father," I began.
"Hmm? You mean Teacher?"
"..."
A shiver went down my spine.
'Teacher'.
So this is where that title originated.
"...My apologies, Yo-hwa. Your unni has had a lot on her mind lately, and my memory is a bit hazy. Could you remind me what we've been studying with our... 'Teacher', and since when?"
"The scriptures. The Tao Te Ching," Yo-hwa answered with a bright smile.
"I like Teacher. She explains the scriptures in a way that's much easier to understand than the other adults, and she never gets mad."
"Really...?"
"Yup. But you're acting strange, unni. You like Teacher a whole lot too, don't you? So why are you asking me this all of a sudden? ...Gasp. Oh, I get it. You're trying to drive a ledge between me and Teacher, aren't you? Aren't you?"
"The expression is 'drive a wedge,' not whatever you just said."
"It's the same thing. You're silly, unni."
"It seems my little Yo-hwa holds some very different opinions from the National Language Institute."
"Huh? The Na-National... what now?"
"They're the absolute arbiters of the Korean language, the ones who decide we should use awkward official terms instead of the words everyone actually uses."
"Eh. I-I don't get it..."
Yo-hwa's lip quivered and her eyebrows drooped.
'Ah. How cute.'
Without thinking, my hand reached out and started patting Yo-hwa's adorable head.
"Ungh..."
Yo-hwa narrowed her eyes. Her gaze flickered between my face and her own hand (equipped with chocolate ice cream).
Then, with a look that said, 'Ah, whatever,' she cheerfully resumed eating her ice cream quietly permitting my head-patting attack.
'So cute.'
HowcouldmylittlesisterbesoadorableandlovableandnaiveandfoolisheventhoughshewasbornfromthesamebloodlinewiththesameDNAhowisitthatachildlikethiscouldbebornfromafatherlikethatthefactitselfisatrulyamiracleandablessingandIwishshewouldnevergrowupandstayjustlikethisandworshipandadoremethisunniforever.
'—Wait.'
I snapped back to reality with a jolt.
'This is bad. I've been so focused on acting as Cheon-hwa, empathizing with her so much, that my own way of thinking is starting to become identical to hers.'
A chill crept over me.
The void, as expected. It was a treacherous place where even a seasoned expert like myself could lose their identity in a single, careless moment.
Well, of course, I still had my final failsafe, the [Complete Memory] ability, holding strong. Even if I were to completely lose my sense of self, as long as my vast memories as the Undertaker remained, I would always be able to find my way back.
Complete Memory really is an overpowered cheat, isn't it. I'm quite jealous that my predecessor got to enjoy such a great skill all by himself.
"Unni," Yo-hwa said, "there's something strange about this ice cream."
"Oh? What's that?"
"Well, the outside is chocolate, which I like, but the inside is green. And it tastes like toothpaste. Are you sure this is real chocolate ice cream?"
"Of course it is. All the really fancy chocolate ice creams are green on the inside these days. It's proof that they use organic, all-natural chocolate. That slightly cool, fresh taste just means it's extra healthy for you."
"Wow, really?"
"I heard that only the most refined ladies can appreciate the profound depth of such a luxurious sweetness. Haa, to be honest, it's still a little overwhelming for me. What about you, my dear Yo-hwa?"
"It's... it's super delicious!"
"Is that right? Well then, from now on, you should only eat this kind of chocolate ice cream."
"Ack."
Just as I was busy cementing this precious memory of our warm, sisterly affection...
Knock. Knock. Knock.
A sound came from the door.
I shot my sister a look, and she hurriedly swallowed the rest of the ice cream, destroying the evidence.
In this cult-like household, the family customs were so strict that we weren't even allowed to have dessert without permission.
"Who is it?" I called out, buying my sister a few more seconds.
But when I heard the voice that replied from the other side of the door, my heart gave a small jolt.
"It is I, Young Misses."
It was the voice of Go Yuri.
"Class is about to begin. Miss Cheon-hwa, Miss Yo-hwa, would it be alright if I came in?"
"..."
I didn't have to think for long.
"Oh, please, come in, Teacher."
After all, hadn't my sister just testified to this very fact? That I, 'Cheon-hwa', was very fond of my private tutor.
So, no matter how unsettling I personally found Go Yuri to be... I couldn't afford to act in a way that contradicted the established rules of this reality.
If the anomalies here detected that I was an entity even slightly out of place in this Void, they would immediately move to eliminate the foreign intruder.
'If my goal were simply to eliminate them, that wouldn't be an issue.'
But my objective in this void wasn't extermination or eradication.
It was restoration of the past, and nothing else.
My task was akin to using a specialized recovery program to restore files that had been moved to the trash and permanently deleted from a computer long ago.
Therefore, my reaction as 'Cheon-hwa' the moment the door creaked open was already set in stone.
"Yay. It's Teacher."
"Haha."
Go Yuri offered a gentle smile in response to my broad, perhaps overly enthusiastic, welcome.
"Have you been well, Miss Cheon-hwa?"
"Yes. Wow, Teacher, how do you manage to look prettier every time I see you? And you smell so wonderful. I'm envious, Teacher."
"Thank you for the kind words. But you are the beautiful one, Miss Cheon-hwa. My appearance is just the result of some effort, whereas you, once you're a bit older, will surely cause people to marvel at your beauty wherever you go."
Go Yuri tilted her head, her gaze drifting past my shoulder.
"And how are you, Miss Yo-hwa?"
"Ah, y-yes. Hello, Teacher."
"Oh, my."
Go Yuri walked over and stopped directly in front of Yo-hwa. Hiccup. Yo-hwa was clearly tense.
A white handkerchief emerged smoothly from Go Yuri's pocket. An apple fragrance, seemingly woven into the fabric, instantly permeated the room.
Twirl. Press.
With a quiet grace, Go Yuri knelt down and gently wiped the corners of Yo-hwa's mouth. There had been a faint trace of chocolate on her lips.
"Ah, ahh, uhh..."
Smile.
Yo-hwa stammered, flustered, but Go Yuri simply put her handkerchief away and turned back to me, her expression giving no indication that she had seen anything unusual.
"Shall we continue our lesson on the scriptures from where we left off, my young ladies?"
"Yes, yes."
As I heard Yo-hwa's enthusiastic reply and offered a cheerful one of my own, a corner of my mind became chillingly clear.
I had sensed it faintly when we passed in the corridor earlier, but now I was absolutely sure.
"..."
Go Yuri.
She didn't recognize 'me'.
Let's rewind a bit, to a time not so long ago.
This was before I transformed into the young lady of a distinguished family, before I even entered Yo-hwa's dream.
It concerns a strange phenomenon that began occurring sometime after the 1,000th cycle.
"Hyung-nim."
"Oh? What's up, Seo Gyu? It's rare for you to seek me out."
"I felt it was best I report this to you directly."
SG Net. The Library Society's Bulletin Board.
It was supposed to be an encyclopedic forum, a place for Awakeners to find and share strategies.
The constellation managing it, [The Librarian of the Great Library], was a completely fabricated persona, and the entire board was meant to be an artificial construct, but—
"It's this, Hyung. This post right here."
"Oh?"
"The person you warned me about so many times... the one you called the 'pink entity' or something. I think this information is about her."
For some time now, information that I myself had never seen or heard before had begun to flow backward, appearing on the [Library Society's Bulletin Board].
"What?"
"Look. Starting from this passage."
Most of it, no, 99.99% of it, was just useless drivel. It was mostly childish roleplaying about this marquess or that baron.
But among them all, one post.
There was a single post that was far too meaningful to be dismissed as a simple lie.
""At first glance, it may seem like an anomaly that brainwashes its target, but that is not the case. The brainwashing is merely a consequential result. In truth, 'it' works by reading the target's innermost thoughts and subconscious, then automatically articulating the very words that person most desires to hear.""
"..."
""Ability Name: Absolute Strategy. Auto-Hunt. Genuine communication with 'it' is virtually impossible. However, if you can consciously alter your own inner state, it is possible to adjust the parameters of the conversation.""
"..."
"It's a little different from your explanation, Hyung, but it's very similar, isn't it?"
This was a post containing information about Go Yuri.
Information that I couldn't have obtained no matter the cost, even if I had sacrificed dozens of regressions for it, was now available for free on the [Library Society's Bulletin Board] of all places.
"No, that's impossible."
Naturally, I denied it at first.
"Any posts on here that aren't written by us, but are automatically generated by some anomaly... they're all set to private, aren't they?"
"They are."
"That means only members of our Regression Alliance can read this post. So this entity secretly passed on information about Go Yuri for our benefit... It's impossible."
Seo Gyu blinked.
"Then what is this, Hyung?"
"It's just an anomaly imitating the infinite monkey theorem."
"The what?"
"The theory that if you give a monkey a typewriter and an infinite amount of time, it will eventually type out the complete works of Shakespeare."
"Ohh..."
"This is just a coincidence. A coincidence. Some random anomaly that took up residence on the board has been spouting nonsense for so long that it accidentally produced a post that resembles information about Go Yuri."
Swoosh.
I took the phone from Seo Gyu and scrolled to the bottom of the post.
"It's nothing more than an elaborate piece of fake ne—"
And then I saw them.
S U
The initials carved at the very end of the post.
"..."
A simple two-letter signature, left without any warning or preamble.
And I had just found it.
"..."
"Hyung? What's wrong?"
SU.
It was a last will and testament. A code.
A secret that, in this entire world, was known only to me.
If you don't recall, a long time ago, Oh Dok-seo and I had a conversation. She told me about the prologue of a novel he'd read before the Void's advent, [Omniscient Regressor's Viewpoint].
– That's him. The prologue. The fake protagonist.
– ORV, I mean, ORV. The [Omniscient Regressor's Viewpoint] I read before the void's arrival. The prologue has the exact same story.
Hearing Oh Dok-seo's words, the past me had asked.
– Then does that novel also say why his head suddenly exploded?
– Of course. He's a real prophet.
The Prophet.
The ill-fated fake protagonist who possessed the ability to glimpse the future of this world. Because of that power, he saw far too much, and his head exploded the very instant he awakened it.
There were six such prophets in the world, and every single one met the same fate.
One of them, the prophet who awakened in Japan known only as 'Y', also died instantly.
But right before his death, Y used the last of his strength to scrawl a dying message on the ground.
S U
Those were the prophet's final words.
His first and last prophecy.
And.
'...it's a secret I have never told another soul.'
In other words.
'This document... is authentic.'
I didn't know how or why. The cause was unknowable.
But somehow, an 'Undertaker' from a different regression had used a secret code that only the Undertaker could know to deliver this information about Go Yuri to me.
A message sent, perhaps, at the cost of his own memories.
"Seo Gyu. Delete this post."
"What? Oh, right."
"And don't you ever mention this to anyone. Don't even let on that you saw it. Understand?"
"...Yes, Hyung. I will."
That's right.
Since that day, I have been armed. I possessed a small weapon, a sliver of information as sharp as a dagger, that I could use against Go Yuri's [Perception Distortion] and [Brainwashing].
Even now, as I infiltrated Yo-hwa's dream.
Even now, as she appeared in this cult's mansion as the private 'teacher' of the twin sisters.
Even in this moment, as I watched Go Yuri read from the Tao Te Ching across the desk.
'I will not be played by you any longer.'
That dagger was in my hand.
Behind Cheon-hwa's bright, eye-crinkling smile, my own dark gaze remained steady.
'I will expose what you truly are, Go Yuri.'
Footnotes:
Comments 2