Chapter 96
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The One Who Answers Ⅹ
Shin Noah
19
Cheon Yo-hwa's ghost collection progressed quickly. By the time summer vacation ended, the encyclopedia collection rate was already approaching 80%.
Victory was already certain.
The only problem, if there was one, was that every time a ghost was imprisoned in an hourglass (a substitute for a monster ball), the world went slightly insane.
"Huh? The world is shrinking?"
"That's right. It'll be faster if you see it directly."
I loaded Cheon Yo-hwa onto the flying boat and took off.
A Savoia S-21, rear-seat modified version. It was a flying boat modified from the seaplane the Red Pig rode. Originally a strange entity wandering Japan, I'd bring it out whenever I was bored.
"Wow, double wings! That's so cool!"
"You know a thing or two."
"Hehe. Yep! My mom taught me that whenever someone looks really proud introducing something that's actually pretty lame, I should always praise it like crazy!"
"……?"
The flying boat soared and crossed Jeju Island to reach the East China Sea. Cheon Yo-hwa, who had been chattering noisily, went "Eh?" and pointed at the horizon.
"Mister! What is that?"
Where her finger pointed, a massive wall of fog had been erected.
Dense fog so thick it seemed like it should appear in the movie The Mist. It completely covered the horizon, blanketing everything beyond the sea and sky.
"That's the world's boundary line."
"B-boundary line?"
"I only realized it recently. My guess is that every time you seize control of a ghost from Mugan, the size of the world itself shrinks a little."
"Heeeek……."
"Let's get closer."
Tr-r-ring! The engine hiccuped.
My flying boat approached the 'fog wall.'
"Wow. I really can't see anything……."
"I've already tested it, but you can't enter inside that fog. It feels like being blocked by an invisible wall. A few days ago I could go further, but after you sealed one more ghost, the range shrank to here."
"Whoa. But then how does trade work? You order overseas delivery often, but it was quiet on the news."
"That's the interesting part. Look."
Srrrk-
From beyond the fog, a massive ship's bow emerged. A container cargo ship. It was sliding out from the route beyond the fog wall as if it were the most natural thing.
"Eeeeh?"
"See? Everything else in this world aside from the two of us, all objects and living things are operating without any issues. It's only being formed within the 'world inside the fog wall.'"
"Uhh, it's a little confusing……. So, you mean, actually only the world inside the fog wall exists, but it's set up to look like everything outside the fog wall is working normally too?"
"Probably."
The flying boat flew alongside the fog wall.
"This world is similar to the illusion Mugan created, you see."
The Hundred Flower (百話) ghosts that Cheon Yo-hwa was sealing were not simply individual strange entities. They were all fragments of Mugan.
Taking them from Mugan meant taking 'parts of its existence.'
"If comparing to humans, it's like stealing memories, and if comparing to computers, it's essentially taking data. My interpretation is that Mugan's resources needed to create this world and this illusion are becoming increasingly insufficient. Now the world is left with only the area around the Korean Peninsula."
"I see……."
"It also proves that everything in this world is merely shadows that mimic and imitate existence."
"……."
Cheon Yo-hwa's words became drastically fewer. Well, when people see this kind of massive supernatural phenomenon, they tend to be overwhelmed.
"…Let's go back, mister. It's cold."
"Wait a moment. There's still one more thing I want to show you. You'll regret it if you don't see this."
"……?"
"Now."
I pointed at the sky.
The sun was setting. The sun descending to the west, probably not really existing in the universe, merely an illusory sphere visible only in this narrow world. The moment that false sun was about to cross beyond the fog wall—— the fog clouds blocking the sky and sea were instantly dyed in sunset colors, turning completely red.
A short gasp flowed from the rear seat.
"…It's pretty."
The sunset, having made the entire world's boundary line its mirror instead of a few clouds that wouldn't drift anywhere in the sky, was magnificent. The fog wall greedily drank up all the blood the sun shed as it died.
The entire western part of the world was sunset.
And in less than 5 minutes, the sun completely sank beyond the fog wall. The sunset also disappeared.
The lingering feelings of those who witnessed the sun's quiet suicide remained long like contrails.
"…Why does a sunset like that form? The fog wall isn't real fog, it should just be an object."
"Well. I don't know either. Even in this world where everything is mere illusion, that sunset over the fog wall is especially illusory. But isn't it beautiful?"
"…Yes, very much so."
"A single illusion is nothing more than a foolish dream. But we humans are somehow made to feel that dreaming an illusion within an illusion is beautiful."
"……."
The engine sounded. Throughout the return to Baekhwa Girls' High, Cheon Yo-hwa was quiet as if lingering on my words.
She only spoke one thing when returning to the dormitory.
"…Thank you, mister. I think I know which ghost I need to catch last."
It was summer.
Cicadas fell dead from every tree. Anonymous birds and insects picked at the carcasses rolling on the ground. In the season when late summer slowly chanted death, the entire world was a locked-room murder scene.
It was autumn.
Over the corpses that died in summer, maple trees laid down their reddened palms. Every place in the world was a magnificent burial of the living. We promised to call that red cemetery autumn.
And then.
"Delivery is here~"
I went all the way to the main gate of Baekhwa Girls' High to receive the plastic bag of delivered food.
The delivery driver, who must have set his own daily wage and price for today, adjusted his sky-blue helmet and mounted his motorcycle.
Vrrrr-
The engine roared and the motorcycle slid onto the road outside the school gate. And then disappeared.
Beyond the fog wall.
"……."
Now the world was the size of a school wall.
Wherever I looked, the sky was wrapped in white fog clouds. In the morning, cars driven by teachers slid out from the fog wall, and in the evening, the same cars disappeared to the other side of the fog.
After another day passed, the distance from this side to that side, from inside the car to the far shore, was merely the size of the school playground.
The end of space. The held breath of time. Over there, where there should be nothing. Existences were flailing on the water's surface where all creation emerged and sank without sound.
Wait, the water droplets that bounced up from a child's hand play were the weight of existence. In each splash of water, the world's sunset dwelled.
I stood blankly by the student council room window for a while, looking at the white glass barrier blocking me from the far shore.
"How many are left now?"
"Two."
It was winter.
Snow fell for the first time. This world was created in summer, so that snow was the first snow.
Tap, a snowflake touched the window. The quietest knock. When I looked out the window, everything right before my eyes was already white snow fog.
The world's area was a 10-pyeong studio apartment.
The universe's size had shrunk to a student council room where two people barely breathed.
-…….
-Goooong… goooong… goooong…….
-Ooh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
Rattle. Rattle. Occasionally, the sounds of ghosts struggling echoed faintly from the shelf. The remaining area of the world covered by fog was imprisoned by the glass walls of 98 hourglasses.
The last remaining ghost.
Cheon Yo-hwa stared at it quietly.
"You must obey me."
-Sorry, but that kind of brainwashing doesn't work on me.
A voice identical to Cheon Yo-hwa's.
The voice flowed from the full-length mirror across from her. In the mirror sat a being with the same hairstyle as Cheon Yo-hwa, wearing the same uniform, sitting properly in a chair.
-You know. No matter how much you try to brainwash me, in the end it just becomes telling yourself to obey yourself, right?
Doppelgänger.
A strange entity that can only live as someone's shadow. That was the fragment of Mugan that Cheon Yo-hwa had left for last.
"Why is it you? You're a ghost trapped in a mirror. I'm outside. You can't wander around but I'm free."
-Aha. So people these days call being stuck in a 10-pyeong world freedom? Sorry. I'm stupid. I didn't know prisons are the freest places on Earth.
"Are you dumb? If there's a 10-pyeong room in prison, that's a super luxury hotel."
-Ah, I see. Must be nice staying in a 5-star hotel. I'm really jealous.
"I hate you."
-I hate you too. We really are the same.
Cheon Yo-hwa sighed. Is this the right timing to interject?
"Would you like to have some coffee and take it easy?"
"Ah! Yes, mister… you made this yourself instead of ordering it? Whoa. Thank you."
"It's nothing. Just a small hobby of mine."
I had many hobbies, but the best among them was being a barista.
There couldn't be anything more rewarding than precisely capturing the other person's taste and bombing them with caffeine.
After several trials and errors, it was revealed that Cheon Yo-hwa's tongue had established a moderate path between the 'coffee should be bitter' faction and the 'coffee should be sweet' faction.
Espresso? Is this coffee? It's herbal medicine. Macchiato? It's sugar water.
Cheon Yo-hwa called for the grand unification of left and right wings and founded a new party.
Naturally, she was destined to receive criticism from both sides, but like people who always advocate for a third party, Cheon Yo-hwa was overflowing with groundless confidence. The party name was 'Double Espresso Cream Latte.'
Don't mix the cream, like ice cream. Slice chocolate thinly and place it gently on top. Chocolate should be between 70% and 90% cocoa. Since you mix in the cream yourself as you drink it, also provide a straw or spoon. There, complete.
"It's so goooood……."
Cheon Yo-hwa made the happiest expression.
"I didn't know having coffee made well would feel this fulfilling……. Mister, can't you make this for me every morning? These days, if I don't have the coffee you make, my head gets foggy around lunch."
"Thanks for the praise. But even though I want to, it's not easy."
"Why?"
"This place has civilization intact, so it was really easy to get beans, cream, and chocolate. Once we return to reality, I can only make it occasionally."
"Heeing. Now there's one more reason I don't want to return to reality……."
-Heeh. Is it that tasty? Can't I have a cup too, mister?
"Shut up."
Cheon Yo-hwa muttered.
The room's temperature dropped by a degree.
"Before I really kill you."
-…….
Rattle rattle rattle.
The 98 hourglasses on the shelf shook slightly. In the middle of the table, a stainless electric kettle shook as it boiled water.
Huuu. Cheon Yo-hwa blew her breath warmed by the coffee and quietly returned the room's temperature.
"Thank you, mister."
"Hm? Coffee is my hobby……"
"Not just the coffee. Just, everything."
"……."
"I know you have a lot of secrets. But one thing is certain. No matter what happened to our school, you definitely could have ignored it and left us alone."
A snowstorm raged.
"Sometimes I imagine what would have happened if you weren't there. Since I have time anyway. I have a lot of vague delusions."
"I see."
"I've been afraid of ghosts since I was young."
White snow emerged from the white fog and struck the white window. After striking, the snowflakes were swept by the wind and disappeared again beyond the fog. They became white and existed, became white and ceased to exist.
The whitening (白化) of existence.
"My father is like a cult leader. Mm, well, he was the leader itself."
"……."
"Did you know? My house is really big. There's even a facility like an underground church. Hundreds of people gather there every month and chant strange spells……. Mm. My family is the Yeongyang Cheon (千) clan. But my father told me I must use the surname as Cheon (天) meaning sky. Whether at home or at school, he said I absolutely must. Hahaha, strange, right?"
"……."
"Mister. You saw the strange talismans attached to our school, right?"
"Yes. I saw them."
"Our family runs this school too. The chairman is just some relative they brought in to sit there, but really it's my father's. Most of the kids who go here are from cult families."
"……."
"So one day, suddenly the sky turned completely red and ghosts appeared, I just, somehow accepted it. Ah- this is divine punishment after all."
Snowflakes clung to the window. Snow flowers bloomed and faded endlessly.
Existence was a white flower (白花).
"But, I couldn't just let the children die."
"……."
"This is probably my family's fault. As someone who half-ran away, I couldn't know how it ended up like this……. Still, I'm the student council president. They called me miss at the cult. So I have to take responsibility."
In the 10-pyeong room wrapped in the scent of white flowers, Cheon Yo-hwa's story flowed.
[Infinite Regressor But Telling Stories]