Chapter 9

〈 9화 〉 Fool’s Box

*

끼이익.

As I pushed open the large, old door, the creaking hinges emitted a scream-like noise, carving a foreboding tension into my skin.

Beyond that door lay an abnormally vast and desolate White Otherworld that seemed to bleach away my blurry vision.

Not cold, not soft, stepping onto a boundless snowy field where not even a footprint could be left felt like an unsettling sensation that I could never truly grow accustomed to, no matter how much time passed.

“U-Um, Saintess… I’m here…”

I cupped my hands to amplify my lackluster voice, but since the original sound was insignificant, the echo I tried to create ended up feeble and thin.

It was understandable.

From now on, I had to deal with someone capable of turning a human who defies their temperament into a soulless doll, and they were a person whose minimal humanity for self-restraint was still not ripe enough.

Walking willingly into the lair of such a dangerous individual felt like a fool looking for dynamite while using a burning fuse as a guide.

The real fool who lit the dynamite was probably over on that far shore, dazed and doing breathing exercises, but why did it have to be me, the innocent one, carrying the heavy responsibility of a risky explosion disassembly show?

That perfectly valid doubt only deepened my already heavy steps, but perhaps thanks to the fleeting comfort that I might be able to eat a thick slice of meat before I die, my legs still had some strength left.

와락!

Just then, as I was lost in pointless thoughts, an unexpected shock tilted my body.

“Uh?”

Like a bolt shot from a crossbow being fired, right after I let out my voice, an unnamed projectile, too soft and delicate to be meant to hurt someone, slammed into my lower abdomen.

No, it was someone.

“U-Uh, Saintess!?”

Unlike my awkwardly plumped backside hitting the ground due to the unexpected attack, the tiny hand of the Saintess, tightly hugging my waist like a vine, constricted around me.

Used to her oblivious gaze fixed on the broken TV screen from a distance at the doorway, I found myself dumbfounded when faced with this sudden hit.

파들파들, like a family member meeting after years of separation, a soft murmuring of a heart-wrenching sound seeped into my body, indicating that something concerning was happening.

“흐, 흐으… 끅, 끄으, 우으읏… 끅, 흐읏…”

“Saintess…! Are you alright…?”

I doubted my eyes and ears.

Though she occasionally showcased her emotions, it was rare for the otherwise stoic Saintess to display such profound sorrow.

But this was entirely different; her contorted face and teardrops of raw emotion that fell from her eyes were revealing a side to the Saintess I had never seen before.

“흐, 흐아아… 아, 아아… 흐아, 흐아아아아앙─!”

“으아아! Don’t cry! Saintess! 자, 뚝! 뚜욱!”

Before the shock piercing through my head had faded, a heartbreaking echo filled the quiet White Otherworld.

쾅.

The noise shook my thoughts so violently that I didn’t even notice the large door behind me had closed tight.

◈◈◈

A long time passed. It was truly a long time before the Saintess stopped her crying.

Though saying ‘stopped’ might not be quite right.

It would be more fitting to say she cried and cried until collapsing from exhaustion; her lament, which resembled a scream, was laced with unsettling thoughts I could sense even from afar.

“하아…”

It felt like a storm had just passed.

Anyone who’s seen a disaster movie where the trapped protagonists rejoice at the rain that falls from the sky would understand exactly how I felt right now.

All initial resolutions and purposes had long since faded. What lingered was only the faint relief of having successfully calmed the Saintess, despite being utterly shocked by the unexpected events.

새근새근.

While seeing the Saintess peacefully sleep in my arms after throwing a fit earlier, I couldn’t shake off the reasonable doubt that perhaps the chaos was merely a daydream.

But the red traces around her eyes and the faint ringing in my ears constantly reminded me that everything was indeed real, making it virtually impossible to look away from the situation at hand.

“So now what…?”

The only person grasping the crux of the incident was sleeping, making our already fraught journey even more unclear.

However, I couldn’t bear the thought of waking the sleeping Saintess again.

The saying that children look cutest while sleeping subtly expresses that they can be a bit annoying when awake, and this lesson became apparent to me through this incident.

Moreover, even if I woke the Saintess, it would be a stretch to expect her to articulate the circumstances behind the events accurately, given her not-so-great communication skills.

Caught in a bind, I stayed still, serving as the human bed for the Saintess for quite a while.

“If only I could find out what happened between us…”

At that moment, I felt my silent mumble escape into the air, seeking resolution to my mounting frustration.

쿵.

Suddenly, like a video that had been on pause for ten seconds fast-forwarding.

Without any prelude or omen, as if it had always been there, an artificial figure appeared right in front of me, reviving my drooping self-awareness completely.

“Uh…?”

A small brown tube television with legs.

This familiar cube, which the Saintess had been gazing at all day as if to pierce through it, had inexplicably materialized right in front of me.

Why was there a ‘TV’ in this world?

As the thick fog began to clear, a reasonable doubt slowly took shape in my mind.

That being said, it was as if someone had deliberately excluded ‘that’ from my thought process.

Just as it felt entirely unnatural, something out of place in a world centered around magic and supernatural abilities, ‘that’ was suddenly as natural as breathing as if someone had imprinted that idea into my brain.

Like when someone wakes up from total anesthesia and gradually regains their senses to feel a subtle dissonance, I cradled my head, plagued by a dull headache as my mental puzzle pieces clicked back into shape.

[Curious?]

The sharp green letters that popped up on the screen, always crackling, felt as if they were speaking directly to me, prompting me to rub my eyes to check if there was an issue with my vision.

[Are you curious?]

Fortunately, my vision seemed to be fine. But now I needed to worry about whether there was something wrong with my brain, so the heavy weight on my chest still lingered.

“…Who are you?”

It was the birth of a foolish human talking to the fool’s box.

However, I believed there was no other way to solve the flood of questions springing forth from my mind, so I saw this as my last resort.

After all, no one was watching, and I’d be at a loss anyway; it was just an impulsive question thrown out.

[Me?]

And the return response. The thought that flashed through my mind thereafter wasn’t a relief that I hadn’t gone mad, but rather a dark fear that communicated with an unknown entity.

[God.]

Ah, no.

I’m just going crazy. Phew, what a relief.

*