Chapter: 638 – The Path for Everyone (3) Fin
—
– Eidia
“Please say it one more time. Just for me to believe!”
Seeing my firm resolve, Han Kain studied me with a puzzled expression for a moment.
“… First, it’s either me or you as the candidate.”
“Because of the crown.”
To control the Moon, the crown is necessary, and the only ones who can wear it are royalty, specifically the Reborn of the First Civilization.
There are exactly two individuals in this realm—Han Kain fused with the prince, and me.
That part was easy to accept.
“Second, Eidia, you possess a great potential, even if you don’t know it.”
Now, that was a bit absurd.
“You have the ability to care for humanity and endure all hardships and adversities for thousands of years.”
“Did you experience my potential during your time in Room 207?”
“Exactly.”
No matter how many times I heard it, it felt bizarre.
I’m right here, yet the fact that there’s ‘another me’ in the cursed room is just too odd.
But I suppose that’s to be expected in such a peculiar hotel.
Even if the ‘Eidia’ from Room 207 is impressive, what does that have to do with the ‘me’ outside?
“It might sound odd, but this Eidia and that Eidia are—”
“Very similar?”
“That’s right.”
“For someone who hasn’t experienced it, this is still hard to accept… But I’ll take your word for it. You mentioned yesterday, didn’t you?”
“…”
“The Eidia in Room 207 started rampaging at some point.”
“Ah, I probably shouldn’t have mentioned that.”
“Excuse me?”
“Never mind.”
“…”
For a moment, I was too dumbfounded to speak, and Han Kain chuckled playfully.
“What’s wrong? Keep asking.”
“… The great ‘me’ you saw ultimately crumbled over the long span of time. It’s not strange. Humans have limits—”
“You’re not human, you’re a reptilian, right? Or a mineral?”
“… With enough time flowing in millennia, even minerals start to crumble.”
“True.”
“A few days ago, the former wisdom told you. If the one who wears the crown is consumed by madness, no one can stop it.”
“Who watches the watchers? That’s the real question.”
“Who’s supposed to watch over me, crowned one?”
“One, the spoils taken from the Plunderers.”
The entity that watches over the world is the Administration.
And the one who oversees the Administration is the Silent One.
Then who keeps an eye on the Silent One?
The answer lies in the Tablet of Silence.
It wasn’t something that just happened; it was created by logical necessity.
This means that the Plunderers must also have their own items corresponding to the Tablet of Silence.
“‘Unfaltering Oath,’ ‘Will of Protection,’ ‘Eternal Seal’—”
“Okay, okay, I already know because we saw it together.”
“About eight of those were intact. I swear on all of them.”
“…”
“You can figure out the specifics of the oath. If you stray from the path for humanity, you’ll be punished?”
“… The specifics of the oath aren’t the issue.”
“Then?”
“Can those things really punish me? Mere items like tablets can take down the ‘me’ after I’ve worn the crown?”
“It’s possible now. Because you—”
“Even if I wear the crown, I won’t become as strong as the prince or you?”
“Exactly. Furthermore, the contradictions could also serve as your overseers.”
“…”
Contradiction.
A profound spirit formed naturally from the Moon, where countless souls gather.
Born as a god from the beginning, depending on one’s perspective, the contradiction may very well be the true self of the Moon.
“Eidia, I assure you, once you obtain the crown, you won’t care about falling from grace or any other concerns.”
“…”
“You’ll be too busy trying to tune the contradiction.”
Just wearing the crown doesn’t make everyone equally powerful.
Just look at the prince and Han Kain.
The prince could utilize only a tiny fraction of the Moon’s endless power while alive.
He wasted most of his strength suppressing the contradictions because he lacked sufficient enlightenment.
In contrast, the man before me didn’t seem to have any trouble controlling the contradictions.
What about me?
I’m nowhere near as capable as him, and even compared to the prince, I would fall far short.
According to his assertions, I would end up using almost all my power to suppress the contradictions.
“Do you understand?”
“…”
The three reasons Han Kain provided.
First, only he or I can wear the crown.
Second, according to Han Kain’s findings in Room 207, I have enough potential.
Third, compared to Han Kain and the late prince, my awakening lacks substance. Thus, similar tablets and contradictions could restrain me.
Each of these points sounds plausible.
However, just like the cunning speaker often does, the most critical parts were missing.
“And you?”
“Hmm?”
“Why can’t you?”
“Look at the third point. The similar tablets and contradictions can restrain you, but they can’t restrain me—”
“Let’s stop here. I may not possess wisdom, but I have plenty of experience. Those three reasons are not lies and are based on logic; however, the conclusion is already predetermined, right?”
“…”
“The fundamental premise is this. You don’t wish to take on this task. Therefore, there needs to be someone to take your place, and that’s me.”
“…”
“Why don’t you wish to undertake this task? Now I think I can understand. You want—”
“To go to the Third Floor.”
“Just like the former wisdom.”
“…”
“Wearing the crown means committing to staying within reality as an eternal overseer. That way, you can’t go to the Third Floor.”
“True.”
He openly acknowledged this, as if he had no intention of hiding it.
He wants to go to the Third Floor.
Therefore, he needs someone to wear the crown on his behalf and remain in reality—and that’s Eidia.
“Why do you want to go to the Third Floor?”
“…”
“At first, I thought you dismissed reality like the former wisdom. But the more I thought about it, the more it seems that’s not the case.”
Feeling a sense of futility towards reality isn’t unique to hotel escapees or reincarnators.
However, there’s bound to be a difference in degree.
Not everyone sees the entirety of reality as a hollow dream as the former wisdom did.
Not everyone believes only the hotel is the true world.
“It’s unlikely that your memories of life would be long like the former wisdom’s.”
“Correct. Aleph’s memories also have many gaps, and I’ve forgotten most of my lives… Most of my memories are from the hotel.”
“Also, just because you’ve lived long doesn’t mean you think like the former wisdom.”
“Like you?”
“Like me.”
I might have lived long enough to be compared to the former wisdom, but I don’t think like him.
“Now that I think about it, that was a significant reason.”
“Yeah?”
“You, Eidia, don’t seem to desire to go to the Third Floor.”
“Honestly, I don’t have much interest. I find it more surprising that you’re willing to risk your life to go to the Third Floor.”
“…”
“Having already obtained eternal life, you could enjoy all the wealth and glory of the world.”
“…”
“Why on earth do you want to go to the Third Floor so badly?”
I was genuinely curious.
I could understand why the distant former wisdom desired the Third Floor.
He’d had enough time to tire of the futility of reality.
But why was someone as mentally vibrant as Han Kain willing to risk his life to ascend to the Third Floor?
While questioning, I didn’t expect an answer.
I thought he would likely divert the topic with another ambiguous, cryptic remark.
At that moment—Han Kain regarded me with clear eyes.
“Ah?”
“…”
“That’s insight, isn’t it?”
I had experienced this sensation multiple times in the past few days, but it never lost its chilling nature.
“Eidia.”
“Did you notice something? Should I tell you or not?”
“I’ll share a fact you usually forget.”
“Yeah?”
“Your true self is underground, and you, here, are a kind of clone.”
“…”
I was momentarily speechless from the sudden shock.
The more shocking thing was how naturally I accepted this statement.
It was something I’d known all along.
I usually purposely forget this to maintain my identity.
“Why the sudden revelation—”
The explanation started abruptly.
“The principle behind gathering human souls to create a sort of divine entity is something your civilization and the prince were born from.”
“Correct.”
“The reason for their research would have been different from today’s Ark. Their research papers contained no references to mirrors. It’s presumed the former ones weren’t trying to create a powerful weapon.”
“…”
I was slightly bewildered.
While the story itself was intriguing, I could not grasp how it related to the reason for going to the Third Floor.
“Regardless of the initial research goal, it ultimately became the Ark.”
“Correct.”
The original research goal could have been weapon development or turning royalty into gods.
In the end, however, they merged with the mirror I discovered and turned it into the Ark.
“What did they flee from?”
“…”
“This civilization reached a realm we cannot fathom now. They effortlessly gathered millions upon millions of souls without hesitation. What does that imply?”
“… It means their sense of human rights was utterly messed up, right?”
“Uh, well, that’s true.”
He seemed taken aback for the first time.
Perhaps he didn’t expect to discuss human rights in this context.
“It means the population was significant. There might have been over hundreds of billions.”
“…”
“They may have ruled over various stars.”
“Not various stars but multiple dimensions.”
“Uh?”
“The technology for creating additional dimensions had advanced to a point where they could fit about 400,000 people in a region slightly larger than an apartment. Living on the real Earth became a privilege for the elite in modern terms.”
“I didn’t know that. Anyway, what could such an incredible civilization have feared to build an Ark and flee?”
“… I have no idea. I ended up caught in the hotel before that.”
After a silence, Han Kain had a faraway look on his face as he shared a strange tale.
“The first Ark wasn’t built to reach the next loop.”
“Huh?”
“It was a failure; due to insufficient technology, they merely fell to the next loop.”
“What do you mean—”
“It was written in the materials Aleph saw. They discovered a ‘wrecked ship’ imbued with great technology. Inside were souls filled with terror…”
The initial destination wasn’t the next loop, but something far further.
They had fallen into the next loop simply due to a lack of technology.
It wasn’t an Ark but rather a wreckage.
…
…
…
*
In the room Han Kain left.
Sitting alone on a soft couch, I absentmindedly stroked the aquarium.
The reason why a great civilization built an Ark and fled.
Why Aleph, engulfed in madness, yearned to be a great one.
Why Han Kain wishes to go to the Third Floor.
“…”
It wasn’t that shocking of a story.
If you piece together information you already know, such a story seems conceivable.
At least, some parts are.
No one has probably imagined all of this comprehensively, or there are hardly any.
Rather than shocking, it felt despairing.
The gap between the gloomy fantasy and the realization of the world’s truth is vast.
I’d rather they had kept it hidden until the end…
“…”
An overwhelming sense of emptiness.
The prince, whom I had served my entire life, turned out to be a person with weakness.
Soon after, Han Kain rejected the crown and left.
So, now, who should I serve in this void?
Fortunately, there was an answer in Han Kain’s explanation.
This time, luckily, it was indeed a truly great being.
“I pray to the greatest one in the universe.”
“I cry for the one weeping for the three thousand worlds.”
“Even if we all fall into hell, may your dream someday come to fruition.”
“At the very end, I sincerely hope that paradise will be born.”
“…”
Through my prayer, I realized what I needed to do next.
Didn’t Han Kain say at the beginning?
“Your true self is underground, and you here are a kind of clone.”
If the clone is destroyed before synchronizing memories, the main body won’t know the conversation.
Let me record the knowledge I must know later separately.
…
“Done.”
Some truths are only necessary for a few to know.
It doesn’t mean that Eidia must be one of those few.
I decided to bestow ignorance as a paradise upon myself.
— Kwajik!
*
User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 255
Current Location: Seoul, Yeongdeungpo, Uisa-dang-daero
Sage’s Advice: 3
– Han Kain
— Shooosh!
Early in the morning, I returned to the surface as cold raindrops began to fall.
In a world where both the Plunderers and the Ark had vanished,
the sky was illuminated by a blue-hued moon.
I felt it had become subtly similar to the world I remembered.
As I stared blankly at the sky, my pocket began buzzing frantically.
“Songee’s calling.”
There are probably others nearby Songee.
I wanted to hear the voices of my companions right away, but…
Just a little more solitude, please.
“…”
The colorful events of a complex reality!
It feels like everything has finally come to an end.
There might still be something left, but at least my hands are free now.
I was happy but also felt a bit empty.
The image of the crown still lingered, and it seemed I could grasp the emperor’s diadem with just a reach.
This kind of regret will eventually be soothed by time.
“…”
I recalled the image of Eidia as shown through insight.
The Blessed Virgin, who always sought God, had found the final God—Buddha.
If I were to serve someone, wouldn’t it be better to serve the greatest being?
I hadn’t shared this with the Holy Mother, but it’s also one of my reasons for choosing her.
As a servant of the divine, she wouldn’t succumb to total corruption.
Well, just a thought.
“Phew…”
The reasoning behind the first civilization, Aleph, and even my own feelings of vastness.
A fish that had lived its life in an aquarium one day learned a fearful truth.
The first truth was that the world it lived in was an ‘aquarium,’ and…
The second truth is what lies outside the aquarium.
“…”
Feeling the pouring raindrops, I found myself kneeling involuntarily.
In this moment, I might have shared the same sentiment as the Holy Mother above.
I pray to the one who reigns above.
“I have lost all my parents amidst endless cycles.”
“The beings I believed to be my parents were nothing but illusory fantasies.”
“Thus, I am an orphan.
I am a person with parents who have vanished; in truth, I have always been without parents.
A result without a cause, a fruit unrooted.”
Yet, as I contemplated, I realized there were indeed parents.
There was someone who continuously molded my body, mind, and soul.
So,
“I shall call you for the first and last time: O Father in Heaven, the great one who weeps for the three thousand worlds.”
I took a deep breath and whispered toward the sky.
“I shall go to meet you.”
As I completed my prayer and rose, I realized something had appeared in my previously empty pocket.
It was a letter shining in golden light.
*
Dear valued customers, we have joyful news to share!
The construction of the passageway to the Third Floor of Hotel Pioneer has finally completed!
Are you in search of new adventures, new treasures—or perhaps true salvation?
The Third Floor awaits you!
We look forward to your arrival.
– Always honest and friendly, from the staff at Pioneer.
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