Chapter 131
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Eschatologist III
Shin Noah
"Don't worry too much, Guild Master."
Go Yori wore a wistful smile. As if she were the one worried about me.
"As you know, this place is the Well of Dreams that descended through you, Guild Master. I am merely a character in a dream within a dream. I'm a being with absolutely no connection to my real self."
"...So you're saying you're a simple illusion?"
"Yes. Hmm. If I had to express it, wouldn't you say it's a manifestation of your fears and avoidances, Guild Master? Of course, it's very sad that your unconscious terror happened to take my form......"
Go Yori lowered the corners of her eyes as if in sorrow, but I couldn't let my guard down.
Imagine if Godzilla wagged its tail asking to be petted. Even a light novel protagonist equipped with an internal protocol of 'pet → capture opponent' would surely suspect the magical power contained in their own palm.
"On the contrary, it wouldn't make sense if I weren't an illusion. No matter how much of a mysterious existence I might be from your perspective, Guild Master, things like sitting on clouds or being 600 meters underground wouldn't actually happen, would they?"
"......"
"It's all an illusion created by your fears, Guild Master. Starting with the fact that I call you 'Guild Master' right now—it's strange. Because I......"
"...It's because you've never accepted me as Guild Master. That title only holds true within my memories."
"Yes! That's exactly it."
What should I have done?
Trusting Go Yori was out of the question. I'd sooner believe that the UFO that fell into the East Sea was actually a goodwill ambassador from an alien civilization.
But it was also true that I couldn't flee from here.
I had to wait for the tutorial fairies to come rescue me, or find a way to escape on my own.
Until then, whether I liked it or not, Go Yori would surely be hot on my heels.
"More than anything, I can be your guide here, Guild Master."
"A guide? That sounds quite welcome. The guide I hired was just assassinated by someone, you see."
"Ahaha. I'm sorry. But wouldn't a local guide be more trustworthy than some outsider?"
Go Yori put her hands behind her back and leaned her face forward.
"Dream demons are ultimately nothing more than a bridge connecting dreams to reality. Hmm. It's hard to call them 'a race completely of this side,' perhaps? But I, having been manifested from your unconscious, Guild Master, have existed only here all along."
"......"
"I know almost everything about what events are occurring here. Guild Master. You've come to explore the nightmares, haven't you? I'm confident I can guide you far better than some mere dream demon."
A brief silence.
"...There are conditions."
"Yes. Please tell me whatever they are."
"Don't try to win my favor unnecessarily. Don't approach too closely either. And don't kill dream demons without warning like you did earlier. If these conditions aren't met, I'll escape by any means necessary at any time."
What would happen if I ended my own life within a dream?
It was something I'd have to try to know, but the fact that it was a method of death I wasn't familiar with made it worth attempting.
Go Yori smiled a somewhat complicated smile.
"I understand, Guild Master. I'll try my best too. But......"
"But?"
"Hmm. It's nothing. This is a dangerous place, so we need to get out quickly."
Go Yori turned around. *Tobeok.* The light footsteps of her loafer shoes echoed through the concourse.
"Please follow me. I'll show you the nightmare's 'plural'."
4
The moment we exited Busan Station, the landscape that unfolded before my eyes was void.
I suppose I'll take this opportunity to remind you all about the terror of the void.
In our reality—that is, before the apocalyptic era arrived—'space-time' was always organized. When you looked left, you saw left. When you stepped right, you headed right.
The void is not like that.
There, conventional space-time and physical laws meant nothing.
Especially in the deep Great Void.
"......!"
The moment I set foot outside Busan Station, my mind became hazy.
About 200 meters away, a yellow traffic light stood. It particularly caught my attention, and in that very instant, the traffic light was 'right in front of my nose.'
Blink, blink, blink-
The yellow light of the traffic light flashed fiercely before my eyes. When I closed my eyelids for a moment and opened them, the traffic light had vanished without a trace.
"......"
*Waaaaaah!*
From somewhere, the sound of children crying could be heard. When I turned my head, it was simply a grassy field. Each time the grass swayed in the wind, it cried using a baby's vocal organs—waaaah, eeeeeng.
"There, there."
*Pluck.* An old woman crouched in a flower bed and picked an azalea bud. *Waaaaaah!* Red blood gushed out as the crying burst forth. The old woman stroked the azalea petals as if soothing a newborn baby, and her fingernails were stained with bright red flower dye.
"......"
I steadied my breathing.
The traffic light's blinking, the crying of the flower-babies, the old woman's caressing—in the midst of a ritual that would echo eternally, I focused only on the path I walked straight ahead.
Beside me, Go Yori blinked her eyes.
"Wow. That's amazing. You're really maintaining your self-awareness continuously. How do you do that?"
"...Thanks to my own know-how. More importantly, where is the nightmare?"
"Ah. Right over there."
Go Yori pointed with her finger.
*I hesitated.*
Naturally turning my gaze, I had no choice but to hold my breath.
"What is that......?"
There, a landscape both familiar and unfamiliar unfolded.
The part familiar to me was, first, the architecture. The National Road Management Bureau Headquarters. That building, practically a landmark of Busan, stood tall like the Tower of Babel.
During the round when Busan fell into becoming a 'Utopia,' I had watched fireworks together with Dang Seo-rin from that rooftop terrace.
"Ah——ah——ah——."
Now, even within the dream, Dang Seo-rin was there.
However, not on the terrace, but hanging from the spire.
As if subjected to crucifixion, large nails were driven through Dang Seo-rin's wrists and the tops of her feet. As if a truly cruel witch trial had been inflicted upon her, who called herself a witch. Dang Seo-rin bled from her limbs yet did not stop singing.
The blood drained from my limbs as well.
But the horrific sight did not end there.
"——Ah——ah——."
Right below Dang Seo-rin, another person was nailed in crucifixion.
It was Sim Ah-ryeon.
Using the singing method she learned from Dang Seo-rin, in Latin, Sim Ah-ryeon followed her teacher with the refrain.
The two people's faces held no expression. The double a cappella woven by the witch and the saint endlessly vibrated the city's night sky, the entire universe.
"That is, what on earth......"
"You actually know, don't you?"
Go Yori spoke.
"It's a perpetual motion machine. 'The Great Witch' sings while burning her own lifespan. It's an ability that must eventually reach an end someday, but if 'The Northern Saint' joins in, the story changes."
"......"
"Even if the Great Witch's lifespan runs out, the Northern Saint can refill it. Then it's virtually no different from creating dream fuel that never runs out."
"......"
"The Great Witch, each time she moves her lips, dies, revives, dies again, and continues singing merely for the peace of the world. That is what that nightmare is."
I immediately swung my sword.
The Tower of Babel collapsed. The song of Dang Seo-rin and Sim Ah-ryeon also faded, caught in the sound of the tower's destruction.
Whether it was just my imagination or not, Dang Seo-rin and Sim Ah-ryeon seemed to look at me and leave behind a short final syllable—'Ah.' Even that final syllable was submerged in the dust cloud and vanished.
My heart pounded.
However, the nightmare did not end.
"...You can't kill a dream, Guild Master."
Go Yori spoke as if troubled.
"As I told you, the nightmares here are merely manifestations of your fears, Guild Master. You're a wise person, so haven't you imagined it at least once? If those two were to fall simultaneously and their abilities intertwined, perhaps an eternally peaceful utopia might be constructed—that kind of imagination."
"...What a distasteful hobby. I would never choose such an option."
"Yes. And this place can be called the trash heap of possibilities that you, Guild Master, did not choose."
"......"
"Worlds after bad endings. Or the ends of parallel worlds. Or fragments of possible worlds. Or simple nightmares. Bad taste."
*Tobeok.* Go Yori moved her feet.
Then the surrounding landscape transformed completely.
Sejong City had turned into a pure white sand desert, and in its center, Cheon Yo-hwa and Lee Ha-yul sat facing each other.
Even from an infinitely far distance, the conversation the two children were having could somehow be heard clearly.
"...But Teacher sometimes brings up Chu Han Zhi and Water Margin comparisons out of nowhere. Shouldn't knowledge related to that be inserted into 'Teacher' too?"
"Denial. Pursuing a perfect older brother rather than the older brother as he is is preferable."
"Wooow... Ha-yul, I feel like our tastes match but also don't match at all."
"Agreement. I don't understand why you follow such outdated trends as realism."
"What are you saying, doll otaku."
*Whisper, whisper.*
The two chatted. On the surface, it should have been a heartwarming scene, but my mouth went dry instead.
*Creeeak—*
There was something between Cheon Yo-hwa and Lee Ha-yul. 'Me.'
A doll shaped like an undertaker, a corpse of an undertaker, stood hunched between the two.
"Hmm—then let's leave out Chu Han Zhi and Water Margin and only input Three Kingdoms knowledge. If we remove even that, it'll be really hard to call you Teacher!"
"Agreement."
*Creeeak. Creeeak.*
Cheon Yo-hwa was inputting information into my corpse. Just like when turning a zombie into an AI judge.
And on the body of the 'Undertaker' created that way, on all four limbs and every muscle, Lee Ha-yul's puppet strings were connected.
The 'Undertaker' opened its mouth.
-You kids...... Really, what do you think of humans? I've said it many times. Yo-hwa. You need to look at humans a bit more warmly.
"Wow! He sounds like Teacher!"
-And Ha-yul. I told you not to play puppetry with living people whenever possible. No, you shouldn't do it with dead people either.
"Satisfied."
The two were amicable.
In a world that had degenerated into a white desert, only the two of them continued their puppet play forever.
That landscape looked incredibly distant.
"That's also one of the bad endings."
*Whisper.* Go Yori spoke beside me.
"Wugen was liberated and covered the entire world in void, but a small oasis was permitted only for Cheon Yo-hwa and the Puppeteer."
"......"
"Oh, please don't approach them even by any chance? They may look ordinary, but Cheon Yo-hwa and the Puppeteer there have already progressed to an extreme degree of corruption. They're bizarre existences capable of destroying the world single-handedly... Guild Master?"
I ignored Go Yori's words.
*Crunch.* My footprints were carved into the sand desert.
I had only taken one step, yet Cheon Yo-hwa and Lee Ha-yul's gazes instantly focused on me.
"......"
"......"
*Steadily. Fixedly.*
My disciples looked at me. I walked toward the two slowly, yet not slowly.
During that time, Cheon Yo-hwa and Lee Ha-yul became completely expressionless, as if they had never been chatting amicably.
I stood before the two.
Then I embraced them.
As strongly as possible. Preciously, so they wouldn't break.
"Yo-hwa."
"......"
"Ha-yul."
"......"
You can't be in a place like this. Children. Let's go home. Let's go......"
"......"
"......"
*Swish—*
The outlines of Yo-hwa and Ha-yul crumbled within my embrace. White sand became a sandstorm and scattered from my arms.
The desert itself was also swept away by the wind and went missing. I sat collapsed in the middle of an asphalt road with the ground cracked open.
"That's amazing......"
Go Yori murmured.
"Really, how can you maintain your self so firmly? Here, you can unleash your desires as you wish, Guild Master. No, it's a place where you have no choice but to unleash them."
"...It's nothing remarkable. I also put everything down and go on vacation sometimes."
"But that vacation is just one means to return to reality anyway, isn't it? Why, why don't you ever let yourself go completely? Even just once. Even if you let go like that, no one would be able to attack you, Guild Master."
If I could have answered that it was because my spirit was that strong, I might have felt a little better.
But that wasn't the correct answer.
For a person to become strong, my own reasons alone were always insufficient, and the existence of others was necessary.
The reason I could withstand strongly.
"—Ah."
It was paradoxically because there were always 'others who collapsed before me.'
"This is big trouble, Guild Master. That 'ending' is truly dangerous."
"......"
"It's one of the two most dangerous existences in this apocalyptic world. I recommend you hurry and avoid it. Probably, unlike Cheon Yo-hwa or the Puppeteer, it'll be impossible to easily conduct your funeral."
Even before Go Yori warned me, I also sensed something ominous.
'Something' was approaching this way.
My scalp prickled. The back of my neck, which always detected threats before my five senses, also had flesh rising fiercely.
I reinforced my vision with aura. From across the asphalt forest of collapsed buildings, it was walking toward me.
"Ha."
After confirming the opponent's appearance, I couldn't hide my hollow laugh even if I tried.
Indeed.
If this place is my nightmare and humanity's unconscious, and if, as Go Yori said, it's a gathering place of 'the worst bad endings,' then such an end should naturally exist here too.
"That damn old man who provides absolutely no help in real life......"
Emmet Schopenhauer.
My old comrade.
Awakened. Alias, Sword Star.
Corrupted. Alias, Sword Demon.
A swordsman born with the supreme martial talent of a heavenly martial body was approaching me, emitting energy 'completely incomparable to when he was in reality.'