Chapter 604 – The Stolen World (19)
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User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 229
Current Location: Central 3rd Road, Jungdong, Bucheon City, Gyeonggi-do
Sage’s Advice: 3
—
– Han Kain
— Flap!
I spread the canvas of my dream kingdom and prayed.
“Please, work!”
Three days ago, my dream kingdom had taken a beating from the slate’s attack. It’s a wonder it even survived this long.
It was still covered in dark lines, a sign of distress—definitely not normal. However, it seemed like there were fewer lines than three days back.
Good enough, right?
The reason I wanted to force the use of the dream kingdom was twofold.
First, I wanted to discuss things with my companions without Adia snooping around.
Second, I needed to check on my comrades still stuck at the Delight Hotel.
Just yesterday, there was a fierce clash between the Moon Demon, the former Wisdom, and the Raiders over the skies of Seoul. The after-effects of that battle were so severe, it felt like the ground itself had split open as if marking a disastrous day in human history.
At least several million must have perished that day.
Seoul had transformed into a massive graveyard.
It’s a bizarre situation, but rather than being a tragedy, the deaths of Seoul’s citizens seemed almost comical. After all, the souls of the dead wouldn’t be devoured by the Moon, which meant this world was safer than the afterlife right now.
Fortunately, all my comrades who remained at the Delight Hotel were alive, but I had no way of knowing their conditions. Communication lines had vanished post-clash.
“…”
Advice: 3 -> 2
‘Can I really use the dream kingdom now?’
Simple conferencing might be possible, but nothing beyond that. Exercise caution.
So, I can’t move about but can at least meet and chat in this dream? Sounds good enough.
I closed my eyes and settled my consciousness.
*
The first thing I realized was that my comrades at the Delight Hotel were awake.
For the dream kingdom to be utilized, both the user and the target must be dreaming. Since Mooksung Grandpa, Elena, and Miro were all awake, there was no way to access them.
Reluctantly, I moved on to Ari’s dream next.
Ari was floating in a bizarre landscape filled with pulsing meat and murky bubbles, almost like she was exploring some animal’s insides.
I strained to reach her, grabbed a bubble, and shook it vigorously until her blurry eyes cleared up.
“Ah?”
“Why does your dream look like hell?”
“My dreams are often like this. But hasn’t the dream kingdom broken down?”
“It’s still operational, but we need to move quickly.”
Next, I entered Jinchul Hyung’s dream.
He was anxiously searching through an old hospital, hearing the anguished screams of the patients—
“No way, even your dream is messed up?”
“Guess I’ve seen a lot while working as an agent.”
“Is a nightmare pretty much a daily job for you in the Bureau?”
“Well, you could say it’s our version of welfare?”
“… Just kidding.”
Totally not funny. Anyway, I smacked Jinchul on the back of the head and dragged him along.
“Ugh! Huh? Am I in the dream kingdom?”
“Yup.”
Finally, Eunsol was sitting in a pristine office, sipping coffee like she was waiting for me.
“Okay, everyone sit here. Let’s chat.”
It felt as if she knew I would come.
“You knew I’d be here?”
“I figured you’d use the dream kingdom sooner or later.”
Eunsol looked equally frustrated by our inability to speak freely.
“Want to sip on a coffee? Even if it’s just dream coffee.”
After catching my breath, our secret meeting commenced.
“Let’s start off with the weird points I noticed from Adia’s explanation.”
Oddly enough, Jinchul was the one to speak first.
“According to her, the rebels permanently destroyed the souls of the first Ark’s royalty?”
“True.”
“Permanently destroyed means their souls were annihilated, right?”
Everyone nodded, and Jinchul looked at me as if asking for understanding.
“So how on earth is Kain still alive?”
“…”
“Doesn’t he deserve soul destruction for liberating the royal?”
Eunsol scratched her cheek and glanced at Ari.
“Do you know something?”
After a moment’s thought, Ari finally spoke up.
“Dissolution of the soul. That’s the worst punishment the Bureau can hand out.”
“Annihilation of the soul?”
“Just so you know, dissolution isn’t an easy task for the Bureau either. Finding a tool to immediately destroy a soul is exceedingly rare.”
“Are there any such tools?”
“Notable examples include the spear of mortality.”
That cursed spear, now a horror story intertwined with the Dream Hotel’s maze, could shatter a Returner’s soul with just a good stab.
Eunsol nodded.
“Unless the heritage is an extremely aggressive relic, soul destruction isn’t easy.”
“It’s tough, and there might be limitations on its frequency. That’s why seals are used more often than dissolution. This is a common tactic.”
Suddenly, an ‘alive camera’ popped out of Ari’s arms.
“Click, and in many cases, problems solved!”
No wonder Ari struggled for a camera in Room 207.
“Or they might trap you in a near-escape-proof other realm.”
“Are you saying the weapons for dissolution are insufficient to use on Kain?”
“One possibility. Yet, the chance of this being the case is slim.”
“Eh?”
After blabbing, now you say the probability is low?
“No matter how rare the weapon is, it must be used. When else would you take the opportunity on a traitor marked in human history?”
“…”
“Even if one method of dissolution was left, I bet they’d throw it at Kain.”
“Umm….”
I felt a strange unease.
“Especially if they executed many royalty? They must have had multiple methods on hand. So, of course, the researcher would have annihilated their soul.”
“Then how is Kain still intact?”
“Why do you think he’s intact?”
“Eh?”
Both Ari and Jinchul widened their eyes.
In that moment, a thought struck me.
Before arriving at the hotel, I had been like Sanghyun and Mama that I met in the U.S.— a “flawed Returner.”
Thanks to that, all my past memories were jumbled together, and I mistook several lifetimes for one.
Was this really how it was?
Could a flawed Returner ascend to a high ranking within the Bureau?
Ari’s expression was determined as she spoke.
“I believe the researcher had contingencies in place to protect herself after liberating the royalty.”
Considering that liberating a royal would likely result in punishment from the Bureau, that’s a fair assumption.
“I have no idea what those contingencies were, but they were effective enough to keep the Bureau from dissolving her soul. But she must have suffered great damage.”
“… As in, her soul degraded? She became a flawed Returner and couldn’t maintain her self?”
“Exactly. How’s that? Sounds plausible, right?”
It’s a compelling tale.
Sadly, with no way to verify, it would be best to leave it here.
“Let’s move on to the next topic. I actually gathered everyone to discuss this.”
All eyes turned toward me.
“Plans moving forward! You all remember when Owl gave that cryptic advice a while back.”
Ari jumped in promptly.
“Be glad the foe isn’t alone. If they were, winning wouldn’t be possible. If there are many, we can find openings.”
“Spot on. What does this imply? It means we should actively exploit a three-way conflict rather than a binary one.”
Eunsol’s eyes sparkled as she said,
“A three-way conflict… if we take the conventional route, the two relatively weaker forces team up to block the strongest enemy?”
Jinchul nodded.
“Let’s beat down the big bad first?”
“Don’t use such crude words.”
“… Isn’t that the same thing?”
I opened my mouth again.
“Let’s carefully compare our three factions. First up, the Management Bureau. Comparing it with other factions, both strength and strategy are severely lacking.”
One person noticeably flinched.
It might’ve felt uncomfortable for Ari, who’s been embedded in the Bureau her entire life, but to move forward, she must accept the truth.
Eunsol nodded.
“Lacking in both information and strength… they’re the weakest faction.”
“Next is the Raiders. They hold more information than the Bureau and can threaten the Moon if they all combine.”
“Hmmm…”
“But here’s the thought: do Raiders actually get along?”
Ari nodded, indicating she shared the same skepticism.
“Not a chance. They just wander together because they have a common enemy.”
“Raiders can easily fall into infighting.”
They aren’t a team, and they can’t function as a cohesive unit.
They merely banded together temporarily to face a shared enemy.
This is a vital weakness of the Raider faction.
“The last one is the Moon. The oldest presence, with loads of information and tremendous power. Also, zero risk of infighting.”
Thus, it’s no surprise the Moon would win out in the end.
Eunsol wore a worried expression.
“But the Moon has no weaknesses, does it?”
“Which is why we need to move to the next story.”
“Next story?”
“I have to say this may not sit well with Ari.”
“Just spit it out.”
“My honest opinion.”
“Just say it.”
“I think if the Bureau were to win, at least status quo could be maintained.”
“Absolutely.”
“If the Raiders won, it wouldn’t be that dire of an outcome.”
“…”
Ari fell silent.
Meanwhile, Eunsol and Jinchul agreed and nodded slightly.
“The Raiders, if we think about their identity, are essentially a similar kind of group from other loops.”
“…”
“If they win, then just one Raider among them will rebuild civilization in the next world.”
“…”
“It’s hardly a grand tragedy. It’s just another group doing what the Bureau did ages ago.”
For Ari, who had been a part of the Bureau, this could be a painful statement.
But for those who had suffered in a reality with no family or context, it hardly made a difference whether the Bureau or Raiders won.
The one force that shouldn’t win is clear.
“The Moon cannot win.”
Ari murmured softly, having been quiet for a while.
“A group seated on a chair, another attempting to steal that chair. And…”
“Another willing to break the chair.”
As long as someone’s still sitting in the chair, it’s relatively okay.
If someone else wants to take it from them, that’s manageable, too.
But breaking the chair entirely? That’s a no-go.
“… Alright, I see what you’re saying, Kain.”
While speaking, I turned to everyone else.
“In a three-party structure, the Moon stands the strongest and weakest. They’re the one faction we absolutely cannot let win.”
At this point, I figured my allies would catch on to what I was driving at.
I solemnly declared to everyone.
“From now on, we must unite against all other factions and find a way to topple the Moon.”
The target is set.
Now, we just need to figure out how!
*
When the meeting wrapped up, it naturally turned to discussions about our comrades at the Delight Hotel.
“Is Elena, Miro, and the Grandpa okay?”
I gestured toward them, indicating their absence from our dream.
“According to the status window, all three are alive. You can tell there’s no dream, right?”
“What does that mean?”
“It means they’re all awake.”
They were all awake.
A simple yet strange predicament.
“At this hour? They’re all awake?”
It’s around 3-4 AM.
“That’s the odd part.”
Ari furrowed her brow slightly.
“I didn’t expect the connection to Delight to be severed this thoroughly. Even the phone lines are down…”
Jinchul chimed in with confusion.
“Isn’t it natural for phone lines to go down with all the destruction in Seoul? There’s no way the cell towers have survived.”
That’s a reasonable thought, but the phone Ari holds doesn’t follow conventional logic.
“This phone originally belonged to the living potato.”
“Living potato?”
“Oh, Basilio. When he escaped the Ark, he lost his head and became mashed potato.”
“… Are you hinting it’s the phone of the Silent One?”
“Exactly.”
Ari— or rather, Basilio’s phone— could communicate with Grandpa from inside the Ark, which means it shouldn’t need to depend on regular cell towers. Regardless of Seoul’s fate, it should still be functional, shouldn’t it?
“Something might have happened with the Delight folks then…”
“How about using the advice again?”
“Hmmm… Using two tonight will make tomorrow uneasy. But, I think I will.”
Advice: 2 -> 1
‘Are the comrades at Delight okay?’
The response was something I truly didn’t expect.
‘Your companion’s empty wish is being fulfilled.’
“Ah?”
I stared blankly at Eunsol.
She tilted her head in confusion.
“What’s up, Kain? Why do you look like that?”
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