Chapter 85 - Episode 12. Path of the Abyss (6)
Chapter 85: Episode 12. Path of the Abyss (6)
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Sirwen drew in a breath without realizing it.
[That world...]
The young mother hesitated as little Jaehwan threw a tantrum.
How should she tell him?
How could she explain it without hurting him?
In the end, she said this.
[Of course, the Little Prince is still there.]
[How? He died, didn't he?]
[Well... The Little Prince didn't actually die.]
It was a story that did not exist.
An adult's lie for a child.
[He is still living on Earth.]
The young mother told him that the Little Prince had not died and was still living in this world.
That he was still fighting to save Earth.
It was an obviously fabricated story, one without plausibility or realism.
Little Jaehwan listened intently, as if he did not want to miss a single word from the voice on the screen. Or as if he truly believed the story.
At that moment, little Jaehwan truly looked like a little boy.
Sirwen understood.
This story was what sustained him.
She remembered Jaehwan as he opened Creation.
A world born defiantly against the System's oppression. It had yet to gain convincing 「Plausibility」, a detailed 「Worldview」, or first 「Setting」, yet it was a world that would never compromise or submit.
The World After the Fall had been born in that very moment.
Then a thought suddenly struck Sirwen, and her heart sank.
But why was this memory white?
Why was a memory like this considered unimportant?
What was this man forgetting in order to keep living?
Just then, static crackled from the Wi-Fi receiver they had set against the underpass wall.
Little Jaehwan's expression changed at once.
"Found it."
"Hm?"
"The passage you'll use to leave."
Jaehwan, wearing the face of the Little Prince, stood there.
* * *
A circular passage rippled high in the sky.
The memory passage, the only escape route to the outside, had opened near the rooftop of a skyscraper. Multiple people stared at the hole, clicking their tongues as they spoke.
"Those civil servants aren't doing their jobs."
"They need to seal it already."
Little Jaehwan and Sirwen hid deep in an alley as they looked up at the sky together.
"That's a 「Dog Hole」."
"A Dog Hole?"
She thought the name was bizarre, but on second thought, it fit.
Only dogs and children went through Dog Holes. Adults did not use them. They sealed them instead.
When she had first entered 《Uncanny》, she had felt horrified. Now that she had hope of leaving, she somehow felt reluctant. Sirwen herself could not understand why.
"I wish we had more time."
"Why?"
"You'll be lonely when I leave."
"I don't need you."
It was only something a little boy said, yet it somehow hurt.
Sirwen refused to give up.
"You were happy to meet me, right?"
Little Jaehwan did not answer. Yet he did not deny it either.
Sirwen liked that silence. She knew it was the fullest expression this little boy could show.
"I'm glad you're a child."
"What? Why?"
"Just because, brat."
Jaehwan looked at her with bored eyes, then pointed at the Dog Hole.
"We have to climb that building. Its position is awkward, so the only way to reach it is from the rooftop."
They avoided people's eyes and hurried up the stairs of the skyscraper.
Once a Dog Hole appeared, it did not take long to disappear.
Footsteps thundered up the stairwell.
Sirwen panted as she spoke.
"You're awfully fast for a kid."
"I'm not a kid."
"How old are you?"
"I forgot. Things like my age."
What an insolent little brat.
A question suddenly came to Sirwen.
"How old do you think I look?"
"You look about two thousand years old."
She was furious, but it was true, so she could not argue.
"Do people outside all live that long?"
"...Not everyone does."
"But everyone becomes an adult eventually, right?"
Sirwen could not answer.
She wanted to tell him no.
That not everyone became an adult.
[CAUTION!!]
Adults who had spotted her appeared all over the building.
Adults with blackened eyes rushed at Sirwen and little Jaehwan. It was like watching a horde of zombies.
Crack!
Brains and clots of blood burst out.
The kid was not just fast. He was strong too.
Crack!
After hearing it so many times, the sound had even become cheerful.
Sirwen wanted to ask him.
Weren't those things scary?
She already knew what little Jaehwan would say, though.
That he was not scared.
Or perhaps he would say this.
They're numbers.
They don't exist.
They're only an agreed-upon truth.
"Hurry and go back."
They had reached the rooftop.
Between their ragged breaths, she could see the clear sky.
"That's the passage you need to leave through."
The Dog Hole hovered beyond the rooftop railing. It was shrinking rapidly, but it was close enough that she could jump into it if she leaped hard from the railing.
[Exclude them!]
The adults surged through the rooftop door at a terrifying speed.
Crack!
The sound of a stainless steel pipe striking something rang out.
Little Jaehwan spoke.
"There's one last thing I'm curious about."
"Hm?"
"Does the me over there have friends?"
Sirwen could not answer easily.
Did he have anyone she could call a friend?
She recalled the Jaehwan she had watched over the past few weeks. The names of people who liked him.
Cheongheo, Cayman, Yulhen, Karlton...
The Ten Hall Masters and the residents of Gorgon.
Could they be called his friends?
It always seemed as though someone was by his side, but no one truly was.
Some revered him.
Some respected him.
Some worshipped him.
No one understood him.
He was too overwhelming, too strong.
It seemed like he had no need for their understanding.
But even a man like that was human.
Because he was human, he had come this far.
"You do. A lot of them."
Sirwen understood Jaehwan now.
He had been alone for a very long time.
"...Really?"
She could not see little Jaehwan's expression as he turned his back.
A lump rose in Sirwen's throat as she looked at him.
Though she knew it was impossible, she could not help thinking of a question. She had to ask it.
Without realizing it, she wrapped her arms tightly around little Jaehwan from behind.
"What are you doing?"
Little Jaehwan's steel pipe stopped for a moment.
"Will you come with me? Let's leave this place together."
"Together...?"
"Yes."
Sirwen was sorry.
Even if she did not know what she was sorry for, she wanted to say it. She wanted to apologize to this boy on behalf of everyone who should have apologized to him.
"Come with me."
She could not tell him there was a better world than this one.
Most worlds were like this planet.
The strong oppressed the weak, and the majority controlled the minority.
Everyone became an adult.
"No."
The child answered from within that world of adults.
"I have to stay here."
The courage to choose his own world.
His words pierced her so deeply that Sirwen felt as if the whole world had come crashing down. His eyes were so resolute, so unwavering.
Looking into them, Sirwen realized it.
Jaehwan's mother had been right.
That story was not a lie.
The Little Prince had not given up on this world yet.
The child told the adult who could not leave the world behind.
"Hurry and go."
Sirwen felt like she was about to cry.
Why did that small back look so large?
It was as if she were the child instead.
"Okay. I'm going."
Sirwen stepped forward without hesitation.
It was her job. What she had to do to protect this child.
The stainless steel pipe struck with the quick, cheerful rhythm of a waltz. Perhaps that was why this parting did not feel like a parting.
As she looked back at the little boy running toward his own world, Sirwen thought she would tell Jaehwan this child's story. When he became unbearably lonely, when he looked as though he could not endure any longer, she would tell him this child's story.
Goodbye, little prince.
Then her vision overturned.
* * *
Time slowed.
For a moment, the world seemed to warp. Then Sirwen found herself merging into the Memory Canal. Riding its current, she headed toward her own body.
I should give up on my godfather's memory.
It was a terrible shame, but she did not dare wander through that universe again. There was no guarantee that she would not fall into 《Uncanny》 once more. Besides, she had no idea how time passed between reality and 《Uncanny》.
Still, I gained something. I think I can make a good tower when I return.
She had not found Mulack's memory, but her standing as a Dream Demon had risen by a level.
I should join the expedition. I can hear the Godfather's story later.
She squeezed the red memory fragment in her hand.
Come to think of it, I never checked what this memory was.
It was the memory fragment that had fallen into 《Uncanny》 with her.
She had heard that red memories were urgent. Curiosity suddenly flaring up, she stroked the memory fragment.
Part of the memory flowed into Sirwen.
This is...?
To her surprise, the fragment contained a record of Mulack. It was a memory of someone Mulack had met just before entering the 《Abyss》.
The Calamity of Chaos, the Sole King.
...Sole King Catastrophe?
Sirwen silently read the memory.
+
[Information]
Name: Sole King Catastrophe.
Title: The first Awakened One. Calamity of Chaos. King of the Dead.
Estimated Combat Power: Impossible to measure.
Description: Sealed by the Strange Factory created by the 「Masters」 around the birth of Chaos.
Notable Characteristics: Descent of the Dead, Void Sword.
+
Why was this memory red?
She could not understand Jaehwan's true intentions.
It was true that they had to meet Catastrophe to enter the 《Abyss》, but they did not necessarily have to fight him. An Adapter of Lord-class or an Awakened One who had completed a Unique World already qualified to enter the 《Abyss》.
No, Catastrophe was not even an existence one could fight. No one in 《Chaos》 could stand against him, not even the Lords...
Wait, could it be?
Several of Jaehwan's actions that she had not understood overlapped at once, and her scattered suspicions became one.
The current accelerated until it became the speed of light.
She felt her consciousness shattering.
Oh no. I have to stop that.
Praying that she was not too late, Sirwen lost consciousness.
Yet Sirwen woke two weeks later.
By then, Jaehwan had already encountered Sole King Catastrophe.
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