Chapter 579 – Memory Journey (3)
—
– Miro
Creak!
Rustle, rustle…
The sound of a presence sneaking around quietly.
Is Songi sneaking out of the bedroom without me?
“…”
I cautiously lifted myself from the blanket and slipped out of bed.
Peeking through the slightly open door, I spotted Songi zipping by in the distance.
That way leads to the room of “another comrade.”
“…”
I know Songi wouldn’t do something like that, but I couldn’t help but follow, my curiosity getting the better of me.
– Creak!
Just as I thought, Songi was entering Kain’s room…
Could they just be discussing the travel plans?
…Without me, of course?
Maybe they were chatting about the Management Bureau or some big plan that spells doom, right?
…Just without me?
I started getting weird thoughts.
I mean, I could just head back and catch some Z’s, but sleeping didn’t seem like an option.
Eventually, I couldn’t resist and crept closer to the door, noticing the tiny crack.
This isn’t snooping, right?
It’s just that Songi left the door ajar, that’s all!
Let’s just peek in and see what those two are up to.
…
“Ah!”
“Gyaah!”
My heart nearly leaped out of my chest from the shock!
In that split second, everything around me felt dizzying.
*
User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 115
Current Location: 9, Jangcheon-gil, Suncheon, Jeollanam-do
Sage’s Advice: 0
—
– Han Kain
Just as the dark blue mist started emitting from Miro, both Songi and I shouted in unison.
“Is it out? It really worked, right?”
“Looks like we succeeded!”
Phew! What a relief!
But do we really have to put on a show like this every time we call the Creepy Miro?
“Wow… that’s fascinating!”
The mist coiling around the half-conscious Miro felt alive and wriggling.
Soon, a ghastly aura consolidated and engulfed Miro.
After about three seconds, the glazed look in Miro’s eyes regained their sharpness.
“… You guys, what are you—Ah! It was an illusion!”
That was my first encounter with Creepy Miro.
*
Looking back, it’s been an eternity since we recognized Miro as a being.
After the two agents punished us in Room 102, it felt like months passed before Ahri truly approached us.
As far as I remember, it was a day when Seungyub was enchanted by a strange butterfly.
That day, Ahri and I shared our first genuine conversation in Seungyub’s mental space.
Anyway, my first impression of Miro wasn’t great at all.
Even Ahri, who wanted to save Miro, couldn’t deny there was something off about her personality.
Then there was the intense story from my brother Sanghyun that made my worries skyrocket.
Still, we couldn’t bear to lose Ahri, so we agreed to Miro’s revival.
…
The revived Miro was a far cry from the sinister being I once dreaded; she was closer to a pure girl.
I began to doubt how the Management Bureau raised a child like her.
Of course, she still carried shadows of a “Midnight Miro,” but it didn’t obscure her purity.
Fast forward to the present, and here comes the Creepy Miro.
She embodies all that time spent at the Deep Sea Hotel or as the Midnight Miro, arriving at this final form.
Creepy Miro had lost much.
Being more like a demon or spirit than a living being, summoning her had become a necessity.
Although still frighteningly powerful, she had dramatically weakened compared to her former self when she wielded the Blessing of Justice and three relics.
Most significantly, they say she permanently lost the Blessing of Justice.
And so, although she had become a shadow of her former power…
She achieved the most crucial objective.
Ultimately, she succeeded in escaping reality, free from the constraints of time.
No matter what, so long as we don’t stack her up against her prime, she remains an immensely powerful being.
*
After attentively listening to Songi and my explanation for what felt like an eternity, Miro finally responded.
“There are three questions: First, what did I see in the past, and what was my specific purpose? Second, the details about regressors, and lastly, advice for the future?”
“That’s right.”
“…”
She fell into silence for a moment, then looked at me with a strange glint in her eyes.
“You think I’ll give you honest answers, huh?”
“I think so.”
“Why?”
From here on out, I needed to cut the unnecessary mind games and persuade her for collaboration.
And I had a solid reason for it.
“First, you’re partially subordinate to the little Miro right now. She’s my comrade. So, for your own sake, it makes sense to cooperate.”
“Say more.”
Her mouth curved a little.
Her expression was less serious and appeared more playful.
“Secondly, we aim to establish a relationship with the Management Bureau and, furthermore, to prevent absurd disasters in reality. Your purpose might be similar, no?”
“… Yeah, that’s true.”
That second reason seemed to land better.
Still, it didn’t seem enough.
I was wondering how to sway her when—
“Pfft!”
Suddenly, Miro laughed.
“Okay, okay. I wasn’t planning to say anything, but whatever.”
“Wait, you’re actually going to tell me?”
“I trust you guys now.”
“…!”
That definitely didn’t feel like a joke, and I was genuinely surprised by this response!
What? Trust whom? Miro trusts us?
Could it be that this woman even has the concept of “trusting others” in her head?
Songi was also stunned, her mouth half-open.
“D-don’t drop a bombshell like that out of nowhere!”
“Why’re you so surprised?”
“You, you were the one who brainwashed your parents into sacrificing them for the Management Bureau right after you learned to talk at five!”
Now, it was Miro’s turn to look baffled.
“… What are you saying? You know my past and still don’t get it?”
Well, that’s true.
The Creepy Miro’s childhood is, after all, a direct connection to the Miro who just screamed and collapsed earlier.
Soon, an oddly sentimental expression crossed Miro’s face.
“Ahri…”
“Ahri?”
“My precious daughter. The most perfect creation. My everything…”
Her voice trembled with a sorrowful weight, leaving both Songi and me taken aback.
Was she always like this?
Perhaps the “Creepy Miro” could have altered her personality.
Spirit-like beings tend to be fixated on their old stubbornness and resentments.
“I see you feeling sentimental now.”
“…”
“You’re not wrong, but I know more about Ahri than anyone else in this world.”
Spending time with Ahri was something we’d done extensively.
But could we know her better than the “creator”?
“The essence of that child is the same as mine.”
Just like that, Songi interjected.
“Frankly, their personalities are completely different!”
“I’ve polished my character flaws a lot. In some sense, she’s who I wanted to be.”
Miro wanted to be someone else, another version of herself—Ahri.
“That child has finally gone farther than me.”
“…”
Miro successfully broke through the second floor of the hotel, escaping.
Unlike Miro, who became the highest echelon of the Management Bureau, the Silent One.
“A person resembling me. She retained my strengths while shedding my weaknesses. Someone I love and who loves me in return.”
“…”
“And a person who has ventured farther than I did. That’s Ahri.”
“…”
“That’s why I trust Ahri’s judgment. I believe her decisions are more accurate than mine.”
I began to grasp what Miro was driving at.
“That’s why Ahri risked her life to find you. So I believe you also have the right to know.”
This aligns with Miro’s previous statements about “being worthy to know the secrets.”
It means she now believes we also have the right.
It doesn’t mean she’s removed her sense of superiority, but she believes that the hotel party members have also been chosen.
Could it be the reason for it?
Miro shared information she likely would never have before.
“Something I experienced in my past that I’ll sum up without the excessive backgrounds. It’s all just the past. To keep it short, I learned that many who are Silent Ones are not human.”
This far, I had my speculation.
“If I’m going to be exact, just because a lot are non-human means some might be human, right?”
“Maybe.”
“Then, you can’t exactly label them all betrayers—”
“You’re sounding just like a regular person.”
“…”
Let’s think of Miro as an agent.
If there’s mold on a part of the bread, just cutting that part off is a regular human mindset.
If there’s a visible moldy part, the Management Bureau mindset believes the infection has likely spread, undetected.
So agents might as well be slicing off that bread in half.
If we apply that same rationale to the top of the management bureau, then they ought to chop it all off the second there’s any sign of corruption.
For Miro, this is her idea of a “consistent stance”.
Having reached this understanding, I could mildly understand her prior excessively secretive attitude.
I mean, who could you trust while pointing a knife at the Management Bureau’s top brass?
“So that was your motivation for volunteering for the hotel infiltration mission? To stand up against the Silent Ones with the power you gained from the hotel?”
“It was something like that. Though I failed.”
And that wrapped up the first question and its answer.
“… So that’s just the past, huh?”
Is that not the end?
“Now, I can’t help but wonder, why didn’t Ahri warn you?”
“Huh?”
“Ahri knew all the Management Bureau’s secrets. She knew considerably more truths than I do now. If the Silent Ones fell, Ahri undoubtedly must have known.”
“…”
“And she must have warned you. The Management Bureau is the enemy, and you need to defend against them. To add to that, she would’ve provided you with info on how to counter them.”
“… She never said anything like that.”
“She must have perceived the Management Bureau as no threat. So now, I’m uncertain.”
Miro now trusts Ahri’s judgment over her own.
Because she was a being who was similar yet advanced farther than Miro did.
…
Many of the Silent Ones are not human.
Their goals are not aimed toward the prosperity of humankind.
Yet, Ahri didn’t see them as enemies.
I feel like I know something here, but it’s similar to a past situation I experienced in the cursed room…
But it just wouldn’t come to mind.
“The next question was about your memory, right? What immediately strikes me is…”
“Lay it on me.”
“An easy explanation: You’re a ‘clumsy regressor.’”
A clumsy regressor.
“How does a regressor withstand the loop? I don’t know the specifics myself; I can only guess that it has to do with the level of their soul. Anyway, if we say Agents are at 10 and regular folks at 1…”
“You’re saying that there are beings that fall somewhere between 3 and 4?”
“Uh? You already realized that?”
If Agents are 10, those ‘clumsy regressors’ are probably at 3 or 4.
I remember something Sanghyun said before.
He met a being known as “Mama” in reality, and she vaguely remembered the past of Sanghyun, which had already been erased.
“I was a clumsy regressor?”
“Thinking that way clears everything up, right? The discrepancies in your brother’s memories come from being different people each time. The name or appearance is probably a composite of the various ‘sibling experiences’ you had during the regression process.”
“…”
“The memories of dying as an agent in middle school and the memories of taking college entrance exams are all jumbled together because of this.”
“…”
“The shared trait of clumsy regressors is their lack of awareness of regression and their confusion between contradictory memories as part of one life.”
Just like the person Sanghyun met, “Mama.”
They, too, lacked awareness of their regression and didn’t realize the contradictions in their memories.
It made sense, and I was about to nod when—
Miro’s gaze sharpened.
“But while listening to your story, I’ve stumbled upon a ‘really strange point’.”
“What’s that?”
“Why don’t you have any recollection of college?”
“Huh?”
“That’s weird. If you were a clumsy regressor who lived numerous lives before arriving at the hotel, even if you died young in some of them, in others, you should have lived until old age, right?”
“…”
“But why is there no memory beyond the age of twenty? Just to clarify, I have almost no memories from childhood; that’s considered normal.”
“…”
“It’s like you’ve never had any life past twenty.”
This was the most chilling moment I had experienced since the talk with Miro.
While I found suspicion in existing memories, Miro found doubt in non-existent memories.
Perhaps this difference signifies the varying experiences with regression.
“The answer to the second question seems sufficient for now. The last question was how to move forward, right?”
“Right.”
“Simple. Let’s dig into the memories of your childhood first, and then focus on those surrounding your twenties.”
“…”
“If someone has been trying to kill you before you turned twenty, then as a ‘Han Kain’ nearing twenty, you must be seen as a high-risk proposition to your enemy. That means they’ll surely try [even crazier things] to kill you when you’re about nineteen.”
“…”
“They’ll create a commotion. Try to recall those memories. You said you’ve gained the power of insight, so put that power to good use.”
“…”
“Is that enough?”
“Thanks. I genuinely mean it.”
“I’m relieved. I was starting to find it unbearable too!”
Just as our conversation was drawing to a close, Creepy Miro transformed back into mist and returned to the realm of emptiness.
Regaining control of her body, the pure girl…
“Gyaah! I genuinely hate Kain~!”
Tears streaming down her face, she grabbed my neck and shook me!
W-wait, what just happened?!
“What did you do to Songi?”
“Kick! Ouch! You’re so cute!”
As Miro freaked out, she shook with excitement, and Songi chuckled at the scene!
Wasn’t the plan to catch Miro off-guard with horrible visions when she was relaxed?
What kind of visions did Songi show her?
“…”
With Miro sobbing while Songi calmed her down, I reflected on the shivers running through my body.
If someone had been trying to kill me repeatedly, if there was an enemy hell-bent on stopping me from reaching twenty…
That person is someone I MUST kill!
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