### Chapter 508 – Room 207, The Gate Room – The Third Trial ‘Miskatonic University’ (10)
—
Once upon a time…
Not a story from 100 or 200 years ago, but at least thousands of years back.
A memory that hardly anyone remembers anymore, possibly more precious to someone.
…
At some point, I dug so deep into my memories that I couldn’t tell if I was ‘Ari’ or ‘Yumi’ anymore.
*
In a deep forest where a refreshing breeze flowed, warm sunlight seeped through the old trees.
Amidst the tranquility, a voice broke the silence.
“Hiya! Yip!”
A sharp metallic blade glimmered! and with a single swipe, a tree split apart.
“Whoa! Success! Yay, I did it! Yumi, I finally succeeded!”
“… Good job.”
Seungyub beamed with joy in front of the split wood.
Well, it’s not bad progress…
But the “martial arts” he practiced daily had plenty of weaknesses as a master of magic.
To wield meaningful power akin to hotel-level combat, it would take 5 to 10 years, and even for a lengthy training period, the ceiling felt quite low.
In the end, all that hard work might just mean he got a bit stronger and quicker, right?
So I bluntly said, “I think it’s a waste of time.”
Soon, the boy’s happy expression turned awkward.
“You know it now, right? We have a long time ahead of us. At least 3000 years or more until the next comrade arrives.”
“That’s quite a stretch. I heard it took hundreds of years for the teacher and Kain-hyung in Room 203 to send time. Yumi, you might be fine because you’re a witch, but—”
“That’s a misconception. Even for me, 3000 years is absurd. If I can withstand that long without any issues, then I’m no longer human but a transcendent being.”
“Uh, right.”
“I’m planning hibernation to withstand the long duration. So you don’t need to worry about that; let’s get back to the original topic.”
Upon hearing “original topic,” the boy shook his head dramatically.
“Are you really going to waste your long time on punching?”
“It’s not just punching; it’s martial arts! The incredible Master Ijasung taught…”
“Still primitive, though. Instead of that, you should learn magic from me.”
“…”
“Learning magic to manipulate your body will give you explosive strength or agility. So…”
“You can split the sky, right?”
“…”
“Split the sky and reveal the hidden prisoners beyond the veil?”
Room 205, where the best swordsman, Ijasung, who seemed more ‘protagonist’ than any hotel party.
The last sword he displayed right before his death must have left a significant impact on Seungyub.
“And magic, magic!”
“Magic?”
Suddenly, the boy, who had been stammering, blushed slightly.
“You can just use it for me, Yumi! Moving forward, um, continuously…”
“…”
After that day, we never had such conversations again.
I didn’t have the confidence to persuade him, and he made a reasonable point in his own way.
*
So, Seungyub was saying he had mastered only martial arts without touching magic.
*
Time flowed like the wind.
I established the Temple of Horus for a distant future, becoming the new center for Egypt, which had lost its Pharaoh and fallen into chaos.
In the process, I unexpectedly realized that I had quite the craving for power.
Building a temple, being praised as the goddess’s daughter by the commoners, and smartly placing some decent yet cowardly humans as Pharaoh to rule Egypt turned out to be oddly fun.
Whose influence could this side of me be?
Now, I was a blend of the witch (Arima) from Room 107 and the saint (Aurelia) from Room 104.
Since Arima had built a gloomy mansion and lived alone, my ambition for power likely stemmed from the saint’s influence as the leader of a cult.
At first, I worried that Seungyub and I might vie for power.
When it was just the two of us left, I could toy with him, but he had companions near the realm of the gods, so I was worried about future repercussions.
…
As time passed, I realized that concern was utterly useless.
He was a million light-years away from any desire for power.
On the contrary, he often apologized for having left all the ‘annoying’ tasks like running the organization or ruling Egypt to me.
At that moment, I realized—
Our combination wasn’t so bad after all.
*
Took me this long to figure it out?
Yumi can be a bit slow on the uptake, huh?
*
The real issue concerning Seungyub was something else.
In the initial years, while he had been enjoying mastering martial arts, he eventually fell into a severe depression.
The portal train had departed towards the future, leaving him behind in a distant past.
At least 3000 years until the next comrade arrives.
Feeling the overwhelming weight of time too late, Seungyub gradually found it hard to endure.
Sometimes, he trained like a crazed person for a month, and at other times, he risked his life dealing with beasts at the request of the Memphites.
He couldn’t care less if he died.
Or rather, he wanted to die while fighting adequately.
That was an unsettling period.
I worried he might really say, “Yumi, please kill me.”
Well, if he asked to be killed, I wouldn’t really mind doing it.
After all, within Room 207, my existence could continue independent of the Soul Vessel.
However, I couldn’t predict how the demigods arriving in the future would perceive my act of killing Seungyub.
Fortunately, just before it got to that point, the ‘hibernation nest’ was completed.
*
Yumi killing Seungyub?
In this situation, it would be a kind of euthanasia, right?
I doubt we’d make a fuss about it either…
This guy seems to be more afraid of us than I thought.
*
The initial inspiration for the hibernation nest was ‘winter sleep’.
Knowing this, do you realize that humans can also hibernate?
Of course, it’s not like some animals specialized for hibernation can drop their body temperature to 5 degrees or lower their breathing rate to below 5% and still survive.
But, as with bears, humans can also slow down their metabolism significantly while practically ceasing movement, hence the initial hibernation nest was based on that.
At first, I couldn’t sleep for hundreds of years at once; the longest I could manage was about 1 to 2 years.
Even this was a significant comfort for Seungyub.
“Wow! Yumi, can you believe it’s already been 82 years?”
“…”
“Let’s roughly round it up to 100 years. If we manage to hold out this way thirty more times, Eunsol and Elena will arrive!”
“Thank goodness.”
“Thank you!”
“…”
“If it weren’t for you, I might have… well, I don’t know… maybe committed suicide.”
Seungyub had shown a somewhat dependent attitude toward me for quite some time, but it wasn’t all that bad.
While I could survive within the Gate Room without the Soul Vessel, I needed it to go ‘outside’.
So, having a friendly relationship with Seungyub, the owner of the Soul Vessel, was essential for my survival.
“It’s okay. You know I’ll have to stay awake for about three months, right? I’ve set up some tasks that you can handle during this time.”
“Haha! So, you’re saying there’s stuff for me, the apprentice of the greatest martial artist, to do?”
“… Yeah.”
“You’re way too poker-faced. That was a joke.”
“Yeah.”
Everything has its end.
Even my insatiable thirst for power, which once felt eternal, had its limits.
It became emptier and more tiring.
Amidst the passage of time, my affection for the kingdom crumbling into nothingness and even my greed for power began to fade.
I hadn’t deeply intervened in the power struggles happening in Memphis for quite some time.
For a while now, I had left the operations of the Horus Church to the successors.
For some time now, Egypt started slipping from my grasp.
*
A memory from about 400 years after the beginning of the trials.
Snow fell from the sky, covering Memphis in a white blanket.
Far future Koreans might wonder what’s so special about snow coming every winter, but in Egypt, it may happen once in a century, if at all.
This caused the nobles of Memphis to stir in panic, certain that it was an ill omen, and the priests were busy trying to reassure the people.
After a brief sigh over the foolishness of seeking the gods over mere weather phenomena, an intelligence report arrived in that gap.
“…”
“High Priest! Everything I say is true! Quenat is—”
“I understand. It seems I must enlighten the ignorant.”
“O great Horus!”
The Pharaoh was supposedly preparing to eliminate me.
The foolishness of mortals who didn’t know their place was amusing.
I could replace a Pharaoh anytime if I wanted, but more than that, I was curious.
So what exactly had the mortals prepared?
Did they gather about a thousand elite guards?
No, no way.
A mortal, ambitious enough to challenge Horus’s High Priest, couldn’t possibly prepare just that level, could they?
Perhaps they managed to obtain some bizarre chaos entity from somewhere.
I was quite excited after such a long time.
That evening, Seungyub woke up after 32 years.
*
“Hiya! Yip!”
With a whoosh, a snowball flew through the air and struck my shoulder.
“…”
“Hiya!”
This time, it hit my thigh.
“No, Yumi. Is this not too boring?”
“… How old are you now?”
“Uh-oh! I, I look about 17 when I check the mirror.”
“That’s the hibernation nest’s power. Your real age.”
“… What matters is my unyielding childish heart.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
Just a moment ago, we were discussing the purge of the Pharaoh and the extermination of his bloodline, right?
Yet here he was, immersed in a snowball fight, despite being over 400 years old.
It was as if the atmosphere had shifted to a completely different genre.
What a twist, going from a historical, political thriller to comedy!
While I felt my head spinning, this guy was still living so carefree.
A mixture of irritation and jealousy bubbled within me.
“Yesterday, I got reports from the priests.”
“Eh? If it’s about Egypt—”
“Listen. You occasionally need to hear this.”
“Okay.”
The Pharaoh was plotting my purge.
From the intel I gathered, it seemed the Pharaoh had no special chaos entities and was planning with around 1800 elite guards.
It would be an easy suppression; I had every intention of killing not just the Pharaoh but his entire lineage as a warning—
“Enough, enough.”
“I haven’t even started on the important parts yet!”
“Yumi, you always listen to me, so let me talk today.”
“… Go ahead.”
Holding a snowball, the boy moved to a vantage point overlooking Memphis and pointed his hand towards the capital.
“Don’t get swept up in their tempo too much.”
“What do you mean?”
“Every time I wake up from hibernation, I notice. Yumi, the people around you change every time. Yesterday there was a small girl, and I wake up from hibernation and find an old woman in her sixties.”
“…”
“It’s too fast. For me, it’s just a nap, but for them, it’s a lifetime. So what I’m saying is…”
“…”
“Egypt, Memphis, the Order—aren’t they all somewhat futile? They’ll all vanish after I take a nap…”
“… So you’re saying we don’t need to immerse ourselves too much?”
“Are you going to live forever in the politics of Memphis? Purging every Pharaoh who doesn’t listen to you after 3000 years? Can you even endure that?”
“…”
“Can’t you just let it go? You’ve done enough already…”
For the first time, I realized.
Just as I had changed over 400 years, this boy had changed significantly too.
Pointing at the capital of ancient Egypt while proclaiming it ‘futile’, he was no longer the boy from before.
“Somewhere along the line, I’ve started to feel this way. It’s as if Egypt, or the entire world is fake.”
“…”
“Like a sandcastle that disappears after a nap. It’s all fake and empty. There’s no meaning to it.”
“…”
“There’s only one thing that holds meaning.”
“What’s that?”
Feeling a bit more vulnerable due to those nuanced sensations, perhaps?
His next words struck like a bomb.
“It’s you, Yumi.”
“Uh?”
“You seem to be the only genuine existence in this world. Everything else is just sand and bubbles; you’re the only real person.”
I was taken aback.
Though he had playfully confessed such things in the past, this moment felt a little different somehow.
Perhaps it was the change in my heart as the listener more than his words.
“Uh, uh, uh—”
“What do you think about that?”
Before I could answer, my soul cried out.
It’s true.
This stage, this entire world feels like an empty model garden, and only two genuine existences remain.
Within eternity, only the two of us remain unchanged.
Thus, in a sense, perhaps what happens in Egypt doesn’t matter at all.
— Fwoosh!
“…”
Taking advantage of my moment of distraction, Seungyub hurled another snowball.
This time, I refused to hold back.
“Hey!”
“Eh? Aah! My arm just suddenly got bigger! Yumi—”
“Here it comes! Snow Uppercut!”
“Hey, that’s cheating!”
“The greatest martial artist’s apprentice should be able to dodge this!”
With my ultimate move—the Snow Uppercut—I thought.
Maybe it was time for me to retire from being the High Priest.
Egypt originally belonged to the Pharaoh; returning it to him wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
Building a suitable guard afterward and going into hibernation with Seungyub sounded nice as well.
…
And again, a long time passed.
One day, the seeds sown by Horus returned to Egypt.
“Hello! Daughter of Horus, we meet again, right?”
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