Chapter 590 – The Stolen World (5)
—
– Miro
At the beach, how did the grains of sand come to be?
According to what I learned in school, they were originally massive rocks and stones.
With forces of waves battering them for thousands of years, or even millions, they eventually shattered and ground down to create vast sandy beaches.
Now, waves of information keep pounding against me.
An unending, eternal storm of knowledge rages on, not a single moment of pause.
Here, the weak human mind feels like soft clay.
In just a few months, it would turn into shattered grains of sand, let alone after eons.
…
Suddenly, I felt a solid wall protecting me.
Unlike the precarious contents called ‘Miro,’ the vessel containing me was far sturdier than stone.
It was like a flame that never dies in the depths of the ocean, or ice that won’t melt in lava.
An immutable force is guarding me!
— Whoosh!
I felt my vision brighten.
*
“… Ah?”
I woke up in what looked like an empty classroom.
Honestly, I’m not a fan of school… as I looked around, I sensed someone behind me.
“Who are you?”
Turning around, I saw an attractive girl with flowing black hair down to her waist.
She appeared to be about 16 or 17, but something felt familiar—
“Y-ye Ji!”
Isn’t that the girl from the glass capsule?
She looked like she was around 12 years old earlier, so I barely recognized her.
She replied, a slight smile on her face.
“Ye Ji? Do you know my blessing? Hmm… maybe, maybe not. By the way, my name isn’t Ye Ji. I’m known as ○■☆.”
“…”
I could only catch the name part.
Seeing my flustered expression, the girl looked slightly taken aback.
“Wanna tell me your name this time?”
“It’s M-Miro! Miro!”
Her response came with a peculiar bitter smile.
“I can’t hear that.”
“Huh? My name is—”
“No, it’s fine. Just call me Ye Ji. What’s your blessing?”
“… Immutable.”
“I’ll call you Immutable then. Wait here for a sec.”
Soon, Ye Ji stepped out of the classroom and shouted loudly.
“Don’t come in!”
Is there someone else in here?
As soon as Ye Ji returned, I asked.
“Is there someone else besides us?”
“Of course! There are others here.”
“Where are—”
“Enough. Immutable, this is for you, so don’t be too curious.”
“…?”
“Is there a reason? What do you want to see me for?”
I don’t really know what’s going on, but it’s true that I came to see Ye Ji.
“I have a question…”
“What’s the question?”
“You said you would already know it?!”
Ye Ji tilted her head.
“The one asking the question isn’t you, right? Someone else sent you here?”
“Yeah.”
“Did they say I’d know what question it is?”
“Uh-huh.”
From the Dominator, I had received the following:
“… What should I ask?”
“I think she’ll answer on her own. We’ve asked countless questions already.”
Hearing about the Dominator made Ye Ji chuckle.
“So the Dominator is someone who escaped from school, huh? Guess they know very little about me. Of course, considering they send a coward to ask for them…”
School?
“School? Hmm, that Dominator is a Silent One too.”
“A Silent One? What’s that?”
“You don’t know about the Silent Ones?”
“Uhhh…?”
“The heads of the Administration Bureau!”
“The Administration Bureau? What’s that?”
“Well… they are the protectors who maintain this looping world? That’s putting it mildly—”
“Whoa!”
“Ye Ji?”
“Suddenly! Don’t drop bombshells like that casually! What did you say? A world that loops? A secret organization controlling it?!”
“…”
That’s strange.
According to the Dominator, Ye Ji must have been around in reality for a long time…
Why doesn’t she know about the loop or the Administration Bureau?
I had heard that even Han Kain knew of the Bureau’s existence before entering the hotel.
Could she be from a time even before Kain?
When the Bureau completely hid their existence from ordinary folks?
“Ah! I feel like I’m going insane. Anyway, you said you’d answer, so let’s talk about me!”
Talking about Ye Ji herself.
“I don’t think I’m that good of a student here. I keep trying to see things beyond my capabilities.”
“What do you mean?”
“My blessing, Ye Ji, is a very dangerous power. Depending on how it’s used, I could become all-knowing, but…”
“But?”
“Not even my sponsor can handle all that knowledge.”
“…”
“My sponsor advised me many times. Too much can be worse than not enough, stay within what you can handle.”
“Shouldn’t you listen to that?”
“I was going to. Until a moment ago, before talking with you.”
“Uh?”
Ye Ji appeared somewhat dazed as she reached her hand into the air.
Just from that gesture, I sensed it vaguely.
Ye Ji is about to step into dangerous territory!
“It’s impossible now. How can I stop? Just one more step, and all the secrets of the world are mine!”
“No—”
“Now that I hear you, I feel like I’m going crazy. The world loops? There’s a secret organization managing it? You want me to stay still while hearing such amazing things?”
“P-Please don’t—”
“Maybe there’s a version of me at the end of this path who has completely lost it. But, it can’t be helped. I’ll never be a coward afraid of the consequences in the future!”
— Boom!
The sound of thunder announced the conclusion of our current conversation.
It was also the sorrowful cry of my sponsor upon realizing the participant’s doom was sealed.
…
Returning to the whirlwind filled with endless information, I vaguely realized what was happening now.
I met Ye Ji when the hotel was called “School,” and we faced the trials together.
The reason Ye Ji didn’t know about the Bureau’s questions or anything in reality is simple.
Because at this point, she hasn’t even escaped the second floor!
Also, it seems I triggered her curiosity, leading her to this path of madness against her sponsor’s warnings!
After pursuing the extreme, I now meet Ye Ji, who has become the mad goddess—because of my past meeting?!
I can’t comprehend it.
I also understood that I shouldn’t.
*
The next place I woke up in was a cave-like area filled with strange machines and black wires.
I had barely taken a couple of steps when I sensed someone nearby.
“Long time no see.”
“… Ye Ji?”
“Yeah. Do I look different?”
Now appearing to be in her late 20s or 30s.
If not for the similar situation, I might have thought this was a different person entirely.
“I-I finally get the situation!”
“Situation?”
“Right now, several versions of you are appearing in front of me over different time periods, right? First, the past you and—”
“That’s just a matter of perspective.”
“What?”
“Immutable, while it seems to you like many versions of me are appearing in front of you, from my perspective, I’m watching you suddenly materialize like a ghost!”
“…”
“You must have found it frustrating back then. You were told to get answers to the questions? Yet I don’t even know what the questions are.”
“Do you know what the questions are now?”
“I do. The Bureau is simply curious about how to delay the moon’s awakening.”
What we learned after entering reality.
The moon dwells underground on Earth, akin to a demon king.
If likened to a cursed room, the moon corresponds to the prisoner in reality.
The knowledge the Administration Bureau seeks from Ye Ji is the method to delay the moon’s awakening!
“When the Bureau senses the signs of the moon’s demonic awakening, they create arks to escape to the next loop. But the Bureau learned one frightening truth.”
“What’s that?”
“The moon’s awakening is getting closer.”
“Huh?”
“In ancient loops, it was said to occur after the 25th century. But as time passed, it kept accelerating, and now it’s in your era, the 21st century.”
“…”
“What if it speeds up even more?”
“T-Then…”
“That becomes the Bureau’s worst bad ending. They escape via the ark but arrive at a time when the moon’s demon is already awakened.”
“…”
“The ark arrives right in front of the prisoner. As it lands, crunch! The history of the Bureau ends there.”
I was left breathless.
“Do you know how to delay the moon’s awakening?”
Ye Ji bore an expression of hollow emptiness.
“… One.”
“One?”
“Maybe, if you go further back to the primordial era, but at the point you’ve arrived, it’s already too late. There’s no way.”
“Uh—”
“Two.”
“Two?”
“Instead of the Bureau, it’s more like advice to you all. Just let the world go to ruin.”
“What do you—”
“See what happens after everything fails. There might be some answers there…”
“What do you mean ‘might be’? Don’t you know any more details?”
At that moment, Ye Ji laughed bitterly.
“Sorry. I also don’t know the answers. Because…”
“Because what?”
“This is the realm where the bad ending was finalized due to the inability to find the answer.”
What—
As Ye Ji smiled mischievously while operating the wall’s machines, a push sound was followed by strange sounds echoing from every direction along with the mechanical noise.
“Is that… crying? Sounds like—”
“An infant’s cries.”
“An infant?”
“The last survivor, perhaps…”
The last survivor?
At that moment, the cave’s ceiling opened up.
Ah…!
I saw it.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
One beam of light piercing the dark sky, the crimson moon shone down.
This place is a world of complete silence.
A void where traces of suffering, sorrow, or despair have been erased.
As I knelt beneath the overwhelming pressure of the moon’s presence, Ye Ji whispered.
“I’m waiting for the last touch here.”
“… Touch?”
“The last mercy of the one who cries for the three thousand worlds.”
The one who cries for the three thousand worlds?
“We’ll soon be gathered by their hand. Before that, you might want to leave this spot.”
— Rumbling!
In the last moment, I saw a gigantic hand reaching out from beyond the empty sky.
I saw Ye Ji, kneeling and crying as she looked at that hand.
In the worst of worst situations—even when all humanity’s attempts fail, there seems to be a last chance.
…
Once again, as the sound of the sky resonated, my consciousness blurred.
Yet, one more journey remains.
*
“… ”
I woke up in front of a familiar glass capsule.
Before my eyes was a dazed-looking 12-year-old girl.
Have I arrived back in the ‘present’ again?
“Miro.”
Ye Ji now knows my name.
“I’ll tell you the third story. It’s about your crush.”
“…”
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