Chapter 401 |
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The Bereaved IX
“Unni, didcha know...”
“Use formal speech.”
“You know.”
“Yes. What is it?”
“I think, I might be in love.”
“That’s why you should make a habit of using formal speech, you’ll get an earful from Father if he finds out... Excuse me? What did you just say?”
“I’ve fallen in love.”
“Oh. Um. I see. Right...”
“Unni, your eyes suddenly look scary.”
“My eyes are your eyes. If I look scary to you, it must be because of your own desire to see something frightening. So, who is it?”
“Teacher.”
“Ah. Your old teacher? Hmm. I don’t think our family would approve of a same-sex relationship, but don’t you worry, little sister! After I send Father on an amazing, all-expenses-paid trip, I’ll completely overhaul these damn family traditions and――”
“No. My current tutor.”
“...”
“Hey, now. Don’t look at me like that. If you glare any harder, you might actually kill someone. Come on, unni. This is your lovely sister’s first love, her first romance. You’re going to help me, right?”
Indeed.
So, my younger sister has fallen in love with the future ‘me’, and I am supposed to personally provide every form of support to make that love come true?
“Hmm...”
This is just not right.
Long ago, a man in ancient Greece who got his kicks from starting flame wars with people, and was finally branded a community troll and sentenced to death, was fond of using this phrase.
"Know thyself."
I, too, have recently taken this wise saying to heart.
A person who does not know their own nature, who pretends to be knowledgeable about the world but is ignorant about themselves, is a truly sad existence.
In that spirit, I will say this.
“What a thieving bitch.”
“Excuse me? Miss Cheon-hwa?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Hehe. I was just thinking deeply about someone and a monologue slipped out by accident!”
“Ah. I see, is that so? Well. I’m used to it, as I have an acquaintance who is particularly prone to talking to himself.”
“Oh my. Is that right?”
“Yes. It’s someone you know as well, Miss Cheon-hwa. The one who taught you and your sister before...”
“Ah. You mean our first Teacher. You two must be close?”
“Haha, close, you say. Well! We are certainly on familiar terms.”
“A one-of-a-kind thieving bitch.”
“Pardon?”
“Ah, I’m sorry. My Habitual Convulsive Monologue Syndrome seems to have burst through my lips again.”
“...”
“What is it? What are you looking at? Ah. I suppose this is your first time seeing the daughter of a man who runs a religious order from a multi-thousand-pyeong mansion on the most sought-after mountainside in Sejong City. I can see how you’d find it fascinating.”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
■■■ before my eyes, no.
Let’s just call him the ‘Undertaker’ to make things simpler.
This Undertaker is, in short, the me of the past. The first-cycle regressor.
If you were to ask what makes a first-cycle regressor different from a normal person... that’s just it.
There is no difference.
A regressor who has never regressed! What is that!
It’s a step beyond a fish-shaped bun without the fish, it’s a fish-shaped bun without the bun!
It would just fall apart in your hand! The red bean paste!
You can’t even eat it!
Food that cannot be eaten. We have agreed to call such things food waste.
“This piece of trash.”
“...?!”
The first-turn Undertaker flinched at my low mutter. Oh? What’s this? Are you succumbing to such a faint amount of killing intent?
Ah, how pathetic, the me of the past.
But of course! How could a young, pipsqueak, amateur, piece of trash who is far from his 100th cycle, let alone his 1,000th, possibly withstand my pressure!
“W-well then. Miss Cheon-hwa. Shall we end the break here and move on to the next chapter...”
“Do you have a retirement plan?”
“Excuse me?”
“Do you have a way to stably manage your assets to keep up with inflation?”
“Uh, um... Pardon?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Of course, you don’t even have any seed money yet. We sisters are so privileged that I failed to be considerate. Let me rephrase the question. By when, how much, and by what means do you plan to secure your seed money?”
“...”
“Surely, you don’t mean to say you have no plan at all?”
“Heek!”
“I see. You plan to trust in your youthful vigor and fighting spirit and just roll with the punches. I don’t dislike such a youthful approach, but that lack of a plan is precisely why you’ve been rolling for over ten thousand years! Did you know that?!”
“I’m not sure what you mean but I apologize!”
“You’re not even sure, and yet you dared to seduce my little sister?!”
“N-no. That’s not it. I have absolutely no intention of doing such a thing. In the first place, even if Miss Yo-hwa were to harbor such feelings, I fully intend to refuse her...”
“Hah? You dare refuse my sister’s confession?!”
“...Please spare me.”
This is getting nowhere!
Even as I looked down at the Undertaker, who had gotten up from his chair only to prostrate himself flat on the floor, my anger hadn’t subsided, and I continued to fume.
How could a person be so unmanly!
...That’s me!
That thing grew up to become me!
So this is how Archer felt!
“Um, Miss.”
“Yes...?”
“Might a humble person such as myself be so bold as to ask why you are prostrated right next to me?”
“Please be quiet.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Well. It wasn’t a total loss.
‘The fact that the Undertaker of this period knew Go Yuri. No, it seems certain that they were more than just simple acquaintances, they were likely cooperating closely... That much is clear.’
I had already inferred as much during the summer I spent with the middle-school-aged Yu Ji-won.
‘I’m sure of it.’
It was extremely valuable information.
However, the question of where this information could have possibly originated from still remained.
‘This is Yo-hwa’s dream. But there’s no way Yo-hwa would remember this.’
‘Even if the tutorial fairies did their best, they couldn’t have restored the details about Go Yuri and the Undertaker.’
‘If that’s the case...’
Is this Go Yuri’s dream?
‘It’s more plausible to think that from the depths of the unconscious world, Go Yuri’s data has flowed backward like a sewer in the rainy season.’
It was bizarre.
I had only entered this dream of the past to fill the □ in Yo-hwa, the hole that had been bored open in my sister’s heart.
‘Somehow... Yo-hwa’s □ is connected to Go Yuri’s unconscious world? Why?’
A complete mystery.
Just how much of this dreamscape I’m looking at now is truth, and from what point is it contaminated data?
“That’s a question to be answered from now on.”
“...”
“Ah, were you complying with my request to be quiet? Well done! You may now faithfully answer my questions.”
“Understood.”
As I stood up, the Undertaker followed suit, and we sat facing each other across the desk.
Clap, clap!
I clapped my hands, and the lights in the study turned off.
They’re sound-activated. Undertaker jumped in surprise, as if encountering a marvel of the new generation. Every one of his reactions screamed that he came from nothing.
“Let me say this in advance, Sunbae.”
“Sunbae?”
“Ah. The title of ‘Teacher’ is already mortgaged to one person. Yo-hwa doesn’t seem to care about such naming and calling conventions, but it’s a very important matter to me.”
“...”
“It’s a given that I’ll get into Seoul National University anyway. So I’ll call you sunbae in advance. That’s alright, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Then, my first question. What exactly is your relationship with our sisters’ ‘Teacher’?”
Undertaker’s expression hardened.
He’s so naive. I can practically hear the gears turning in his head as he tries to figure out how to speak to avoid my suspicion and earn my trust.
“For your reference, I very, very much dislike lies. Enough to jeopardize the tutoring fee that was promised to you, Sunbae.”
“...The money doesn’t matter.”
“The ones who say money doesn’t matter are always the most shackled by it.”
I opened my fan to cover my mouth. A little attack here should be enough to make him reveal an opening.
“I heard the news. That you have a child you hold very dear.”
“Pardon?”
“Where was it? Ah, it was in Seoul. Some village... Ahaha. I’ve forgotten the name.”
Then, casually.
I took a magazine from the bookshelf and opened it.
In that magazine was a photo of a very beautiful girl, a picture of a lookbook model.
“...!”
Suddenly, Undertaker’s eyes widened.
“You, this. Ji-won... How.”
“I’m a fan, you see. Of this person.”
“...”
Now his face was finally worth looking at.
“She lives while supporting her grandmother all by herself. How admirable. But there’s a limit to how much she can earn just from modeling. She must be desperate for someone’s income.”
“...What do you want from me?”
“The truth. Information.”
Thump. I closed the magazine.
“I’ll ask again, Sunbae. The teacher who was responsible for our childhood. The one who helped us breathe in this hellish mansion. What is your relationship with our ‘Teacher’?”
A long silence followed.
“...You won’t believe me even if I tell you.”
“The truth is decided by the powerful.”
Undertaker took a small breath.
A moment later, his eyes, now filled with resolve, looked straight at me. Hmm. This has a bit of spirit, it’s not so bad...
“The world is going to end.”
Blink.
“What?”
“You can think of it as a prophecy. But I consider this to be a confirmed future. It’s information given to me by none other than the ‘Teacher’ you mentioned.”
“...”
“I see it’s still hard for you to believe.”
“N-no.”
That’s――not it.
There was another reason for my shock.
‘The fact that the world will end, the me of this period, the first-cycle Undertaker, already knew about it?!’
That’s impossible!
‘Th-then why did he let Old Man Schopenhauer lose Lady Adele? The end of the world. If he knew that the White Night would come to Seoul... he could have evacuated her!’
‘If not that, then. Did he intend for it? Did he intentionally neglect her? Lady Adele’s death? Why?’
Undertaker’s voice flowed into my chaos-filled mind.
“Should I stop here?”
“...No. Please continue.”
“Understood.”
Undertaker spoke calmly.
“There are several causes for the world’s destruction, but among them, the primary cause is you two. Miss Cheon-hwa and Miss Yo-hwa.”
“Excuse me?”
“You two young ladies are confirmed to bring about the destruction of this world... To be more precise, you will summon the main culprits who will cause the destruction.”
“...”
The gods.
The Yang of the Taegeuk. The Infinite Void.
The Ying of the Taegeuk. The Mastermind.
“We call them the Outer Gods.”
Not just gods, but Outer Gods?
Did the me of this period... no. Did the team that Go Yuri and I formed officially adopt the term Outer God?
“The descent of the Outer Gods cannot be avoided.”
“...Excuse me, but couldn't we just be eliminated? You said we are the ones who will summon them.”
“Even if you young ladies do not summon them, the Outer Gods will descend one way or another. This is also confirmed information.”
“...”
“No, in fact, the situation would become worse. As you can see, you ladies are capable of rational conversation. But if other candidates are chosen as sacrifices for the Outer Gods―they become almost impossible to control.”
Hah, a hollow laugh escaped my lips.
‘The verification is complete?’
In other words, he has experienced regressions where people other than Cheon-hwa and Yo-hwa were chosen as the ‘Priestess of the Infinite Void’ and ‘Priestess of the Mastermind’.
He has lived through such cycles.
Which means...
‘This place right now... isn’t the [first cycle]?’
My head was spinning.
The sensation of the common sense I had believed in until now being shaken to its very core.
“Miss? Are you alright? Perhaps it would be best to end this story here.”
“No.”
I said firmly, pressing a hand to my forehead. I stared directly at the Undertaker’s face between my fingers.
“Please continue.”
“...I am sorry to say this, but your teacher’s appointment as a tutor in this mansion was also all part of a plan.”
“Aha. To gain our favor? To build up goodwill from a young age, so that you can manipulate us as you please when we later become the priestesses of the Outer Gods?”
“That is not it.”
Undertaker said.
“It was to save you.”
...?
“Originally, you two were destined to lose your sense of self the moment the Outer Gods descended. It’s only natural. You have been exposed to the brainwashing of a cult leader since the day you were born. Becoming the sacrifices for the Outer Gods is your only raison d'être, the only joy in your life.”
“What, are you talking about. Yo-hwa. And I have properly lived our own lives...”
“How was that possible?”
Undertaker’s eyes narrowed.
“You shouldn't have had any other choice. Your mother, who at least cared for you with love, passed away early. Your father treated you as nothing more and nothing less than living sacrifices. The cult members working in the mansion were all minions who agreed with the leader’s thoughts.”
“...”
“So what external factor could have possibly been introduced that allowed you to grow not as the successors and sacrifices of the cult, but as proper, individual personalities?”
“That’s...”
Go Yuri.
“Because of Teacher.”
“...”
“Is that not correct?”
Ah.
“Originally, the scripture reading class was such a critical time that the cult leader himself should have overseen it. It was the first task in raising his successors. Naturally.”
“But...”
“Yes. But your teacher intercepted that crucial time. Because your teacher worked incredibly hard to earn the complete and utter trust of the cult leader.”
“...”
“The person who recommended me to the cult leader as his successor was also your teacher.”
If that’s the case.
“In the interview for getting a perfect score on the CSAT... answering that I believed in Taoism was also deliberately done to make an impression on Father...”
“Correct.”
Undertaker nodded.
“Even the reporter who conducted that interview was someone your teacher arranged. It was thanks to knowing which newspaper the cult leader enjoyed reading.”
“...”
“Miss Cheon-hwa. You must become the sacrifice. Because...”
In the past. From this point on. Already.
“Only you, Miss, are the perfect candidate who can summon the Outer Gods and still maintain your own self, who can still remain human.”
――A regressor... had existed all along.
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