Chapter 755 – Room 302, The Curse Room – ‘Brave New World’ (25)
—
– Kim Sanghyun
In the evening, Eunsol joined us.
As she got into the car, her face was lit up with a triumphant smile, suggesting she had achieved quite a bit.
It seemed like Mooksung had shot at the agent watching me, and Eunsol had swooped in to lend a hand, which earned her the status of a hero.
At that moment, it felt like she was just forcing her ability into action, but hey, as long as it worked, who cares?
As soon as I hopped in the car, keywords popped up.
“Salvation Faction, Pure Faction.”
“What?”
“They’ve classified themselves into those factions.”
“… So the Salvation Faction worships the Son of Dawn?”
“Exactly. The Pure Faction opposes that, striving for the purity of humanity.”
Salvation Faction, Pure Faction.
“They say in the past, the rift between the two groups wasn’t that deep.”
“Thinking back, that seems about right.”
Reflecting on the memories of the first wish made me recall that I allied with the Bureau to summon the Son of Dawn to earth. Back then, the Bureau had shown me a beautiful new world the same day I asked.
The pioneer of the ‘Salvation Faction’ could show me a brilliant new world under the control of the ‘Pure Faction’ back then.
This meant the two factions hadn’t been deeply conflicted at that time.
“The split got serious starting from this loop. Ah, but I don’t think the staff really understands the concept of loops, so that’s just my guess.”
“Why did they split in this loop?”
The next part was intriguing and very convincing.
“Because the Son of Dawn started to taint the world.”
“What do you mean—ah.”
Mooksung seemed to have just realized it and gaped.
“Let’s organize the timeline. The round where you made the first wish is A1, and now in Room 302 is A2. At A1, the conflict between the Salvation Faction and Pure Faction wasn’t significant. Why?”
“Because—”
“… The Son of Dawn didn’t have much of an impact back then.”
“Correct. At that time, there was just an illusion that a great being would protect everyone.”
At the time of my first wish, A1, the perception of the Son of Dawn was overwhelmingly positive.
So, the Pure Faction wasn’t that strong, and the Salvation Faction even launched a spaceship to bring the Son of Dawn down.
“At the end of A1, you messed up the ritual. Thanks to that, the Son of Dawn began to influence the world inconsistently, leading to our current situation.”
“You mean the universal problem of anger management?”
“They say it wasn’t as severe as it is now. It suddenly got worse in the 21st century.”
“Hmm…”
“As a result, many in the Bureau started thinking, ‘The arrival of the Son of Dawn might signal the start of hell.’”
“Got it.”
At the end of A1, the great being’s ritual failed because of me.
The Son of Dawn began to imperfectly distort the entire world, making skepticism grow within the Bureau.
“This is how the Salvation Faction views the current situation: it’s a problem stemming from the incomplete ritual. If we summon the Son of Dawn completely, it should fix everything.”
“Well, they’re not entirely wrong. If we summon him fully, a new creation begins.”
“The Pure Faction thinks: Open your eyes and see the state of the world. You want to fully awaken something that has already caused chaos even just half awake?”
“Haha! That’s true as well!”
“And that’s how the two factions split apart.”
Now I felt like I was beginning to see the grand scheme within Room 302.
It was surprising, but I wished I had the same ability to shake people’s minds as my other companions.
If I had a power like nobless oblige, I could have obtained this information during the first attempt.
…
There’s no point in envying what I don’t have.
Focusing on what I do have and using it to my advantage should be my priority.
“The next point is critical. Apparently, about 40 years ago, the two factions clashed significantly.”
“And?”
“They say the Pure Faction stole a very valuable item.”
“A valuable item?”
“They call it the Feather of Twilight.”
“The Feather of Twilight? What exactly is that?”
“No idea.”
“What?”
“The staff member your grandfather shot was probably not the bottom rung, but he surely wasn’t high up either. What I said is about the full extent of the information he had.”
“Understood. After all, mid-management often doesn’t know much, even if they are agents.”
The Feather of Twilight.
Mooksung and I fell silent momentarily as we tried to interpret this new information.
Eunsol was eagerly shaking a note she had written up to this point, likely for the sake of the observer colleagues.
After a slight pause, I realized something very crucial.
“Hey, remember the question Ari asked during the meeting outside?”
Eunsol immediately replied, seeming to have had similar thoughts.
“Ari asked what the collapse of the Brave New World has to do with the Son of Dawn’s arrival.”
During the first attempt, Seungyub’s destructive actions caused the Brave New World to collapse.
Not long after, the Son of Dawn arrived, marking the beginning of the post-apocalyptic world.
Why did the collapse of the Brave New World lead to the arrival of the Son of Dawn?
We discovered the answer to this question now.
“Initially, the Salvation Faction wanted to summon the Son of Dawn through a magical ritual. I halted that attempt; therefore, the Salvation Faction created an alternate method to summon the Son of Dawn. That’s the Feather of Twilight.”
“The Pure Faction stole the Feather of Twilight and… hid it in the Brave New World.”
The Feather of Twilight, another means of summoning the Son of Dawn.
The Pure Faction had taken it and hidden it in the Brave New World.
Why hide it specifically in the Brave New World?
Because the Brave New World is a place that even the great beings, including the Son of Dawn, cannot easily destroy.
It’s a stronghold that even the Demon King cannot break; so, it’s only natural to hide precious items there, right?
“Wow… Lots of questions were answered in a short time. Eunsol, you really did well.”
“Haha!”
I could hear the sense of accomplishment in Eunsol’s laughter.
Suddenly, I realized Mooksung had been unusually quiet.
“Agent?”
“… I think I just realized something too.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know who has the Feather of Twilight.”
“Eh? What does that mean—”
Suddenly, I too came to understand what Mooksung was trying to say.
The Brave New World, according to the information Ari discovered, was an endlessly repeating movie.
It’s a bizarre phenomenon where unimaginable demons act as the audience.
In that movie, there’s a girl who first realized the world’s strangeness.
Post-catastrophe, she reincarnates as an eight-winged angel because she made the greatest contributions.
“… Yu Soyun.”
—
– Kim Ahri
Around lunchtime, I was just idly wiggling my fingers while observing the situation.
At some point, I had been using a totally forgettable character; if I didn’t, the dense kids kept confessing like crazy.
“Hey, hey! Seungyub, use Q in the bushes.”
“… Why would I use a skill there—”
I seriously don’t get it.
Seungyub threw his textbook into the trash, and even when a paper airplane hit his head, he seemed surprisingly chill.
But why does he turn beet red when playing a game like that?
“Ah~ it’s so frustrating. You need to catch that blue guy behind you.”
“W-we’re not at the right moment to catch him.”
“Seriously?! You missed again. Are you playing some kind of mind game? Pretending to be a total noob on purpose?”
“…”
Please… Just stop!
Clearly, you have no clue about Wild Rift!
“Whoa, whoa? The red one! Catch the red one!”
“Th-that’s our ally—”
“Wow… you missed again. Dude, maybe you should try another game? Ah, I guess you just started playing then? If that’s the case, I’ll let that slide!”
“…”
“Oh? Your games played… 3,200 games? But your rank is…”
I wanted to disappear.
I was a professional Korean Editor, and here I was observing the primordial human version of Seungyub!
1. First, the primordial human is more impressive than I thought.
The primordial human represents the ridiculous middle school version of Seungyub perfectly while being weak to gaming addiction!
As a result, I felt that Seungyub as he is now is completely different from his past.
He’s not particularly sharp or deep in thought, but his confidence and aura are definitely different.
If it were the current Seungyub, he could surely dominate middle school kids merely with his presence, even without getting physical.
… Though he probably would throw a punch too; he has that kind of personality.
2. Is it really possible to realize the first wish this way?
No matter how you slice it, the current Seungyub is hardly recognizable as the true Seungyub.
The real personality is still dormant, with the virtual personality experiencing things on his behalf.
Can he realize the first wish like this?
I have no clue.
Other companions have questioned this too, but the hotel hasn’t offered any answers.
However, we’ve got this far.
If there are choices A and B, and A is definitely a wrong answer, then even if B seems dubious, we have to choose it, right?
I can’t really argue against that.
Reflecting on the choices I made in the Curse Room, there were very few instances where I was completely sure it was the right answer.
In many cases, I just picked something because the others were wrong.
This time it was the same.
Since Seungyub tried alone and failed, we had to change the situation.
Furthermore, I thought about this.
During the first attempt, Seungyub partially regained his memories of the past.
This means the developments at that time weren’t completely off.
If there are issues from 1 to 10, numbers 5 and 6 might be correct, but numbers 7 and beyond went awry.
I have to figure out where the missteps are, and what the right developments look like.
“Ah, has this game only just started? Then I give it a pass!”
“…”
“Uh? Number of matches… 3,200? But the tier is…”
At this point, Seungyub’s face turned bright red.
The moment I thought he might slap Songyi, she seemed to know that and gently stroked her bracelet.
Then, all of a sudden.
“Enough with the trash talk. Just chill.”
A girl with a slightly annoyed voice spoke up.
Brown hair, big round eyes, and a delicate neck.
It was Yu Soyun.
She shot a sharp glance at Songyi.
“What are you doing here when it’s lunchtime? Not eating and just messing around here?”
“What do you mean? I was just checking on him because he was glued to his phone.”
Songyi pretended to be angry at Soyun’s provocation, but I could clearly see the act.
Her real thought was probably something like, ‘Oh my! Are you getting mad because I talked to Seungyub just now?’
I bet Songyi found this whole scenario amusing.
From enjoying the hotel cinema in Room 204, to forming an idol group in real life, and now this case.
Songyi has this knack for reveling in these cartoonish situations.
It seems she wants to become a protagonist in a story.
Her desire to be a protagonist is part of her character too.
“It’s not like I’m mad at you. You’re just fiddling with your phone in a corner while some kids are messing with Seungyub, okay?”
“Seriously? What’s it to you? Anyone seeing this would think you’re Seungyub’s girlfriend!”
“D-don’t say weird things!”
Wow… Just look at their conversation! Is this for real, like a childish drama?
Who’d have thought Songyi could come up with lines like that on the spot?
Anyone would think they’re both 16 at this point!
Still, Kain had a point, didn’t he?
Soyun has probably had a crush on Seungyub all along.
Honestly, Seungyub isn’t exactly the kind of character who could sweep girls off their feet…
In a world full of lies, he’s a true human in a realm of NPCs, and to top it off, he’s a boy who has confessed to her before.
Could these factors be stirring something in Soyun’s heart?
Anyways, if things unfold this way, how would the plot change?
What exactly has changed so far?
“Hey! Park Seungyub!”
“Uh? Why, what’s up?”
“I need to talk to you outside.”
“Uh? W-what? I’m not done with this round yet—”
“Hey!”
“Ah, okay! I’ll finish up right away.”
Soon, Soyun dragged Seungyub out of the classroom.
The rest of the kids headed to the cafeteria for lunch, leaving the classroom empty except for the two of us.
The last two remaining ‘middle schoolers’ looked at each other.
“So, any thoughts?”
“That was quite a performance.”
“Oh~ Where exactly?”
“The childish elementary school lines flowed so seamlessly, I was impressed. It felt like, without a single worry, you recited lines that sounded perfectly elementary.”
“… Are you comparing me to your mom?”
“Oh~ now that sounds a bit labyrinthine.”
“Well, why not call me ‘mom’ then?”
“…”
“…”
Is it just because we’re in a middle school setting?
I feel like I’m about to act childish too.
Before long, Songyi awkwardly changed the mood to serious.
“Ahem, Ahri. What do you think has changed exactly?”
“Well, Seungyub and Soyun’s first encounter has changed.”
“The situation changed to where someone is bullying Seungyub, and then Soyun comes in to save him. Right?”
“Exactly.”
With a vague expression, Songyi murmured.
“… The change in their first meeting may alter their relationship.”
“How exactly?”
“Well, we’ll see that from now on.”
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