EP.124 History of Tantalus
Jiseon, who had quieted me down, looked at everyone and asked.
"Do you know how Tantalus came to be?"
Ah, a past exam question. I promptly stepped forward.
"I just reviewed this! Tyr, tell them!"
"Of course I know. Wasn't it because of the Hegemon's massacre? As for how it came to be, though the theories are divided, the main one must be that the Earth Mother Goddess was enraged."
Having answered, Tyr looked at me as if expecting praise.
However, Jiseon shook her head, so the praise would have to wait.
"No! Not the Bottomless Abyss, I mean Tantalus."
"Tantalus? Do you mean the building we are standing on?"
"That is correct."
"...I do not know that. They said they would guide me, so I let them, and when I opened my eyes, I was here."
Naturally, no one knew. Tantalus was built over the Bottomless Abyss, but its history was not very long. Also, the people here couldn't exactly be called rich in common sense, even as a lie.
Jiseon, the only being in this space who knew the answer, opened her mouth.
"After the land became desolate due to the Bottomless Abyss, the people, realizing that the Earth Mother Goddess was a stern god who could feel wrath, began to fear her. Furthermore, as imposters pretending to be the Burier roamed everywhere, people gradually shunned the Church of the Earth Mother Goddess.
To rebuild the church's power, we had to appease the Earth Mother Goddess's wrath and reverse the Bottomless Abyss. Thus, I made a deal with the Military Nation."
After the Military Nation succeeded in their coup.
To punish criminals and stabilize public sentiment at the same time, they planned a large-scale civil engineering project.
However, the Military Nation lacked the know-how to undertake such a massive project. At this rate, it was clear that a live burial under the name of construction would be perpetrated.
Even so, they couldn't afford to kill that many lives. There was the precedent of the Hegemon, and it was a loss of human resources in itself.
The Military Nation, which prized efficiency over loyalty, made the easiest yet most difficult decision.
They gathered the followers of the Earth Mother Goddess who had been scattered without a focal point.
"The deal was that if we helped with the Military Nation's construction, they would create a 'lid' to cover the Bottomless Abyss."
At present, where the vast majority of the population believed in the Celestial God and the Holy Saintess, colluding with the Church of the Earth Mother Goddess was an act that went against not only public sentiment but also other nations.
Of course, the Military Nation was not a country that cared about such trivial things.
However, that didn't mean the persecuted followers of the Earth Mother Goddess would blindly follow the Military Nation. Not without sufficient bait.
"Eradicating the Bottomless Abyss was everyone's long-cherished desire. To bury the karma of the Burier, believers scattered all over the world gathered. They believed in me and followed."
And now, the truth of what bait the Military Nation used to gather the followers of the Earth Mother Goddess was revealed.
"So originally, Tantalus was meant to cover the Bottomless Abyss like a lid?"
"That is correct. Originally, Tantalus was made as a lid to cover the Bottomless Abyss and hide the Earth Mother Goddess's wrath. Like putting a lid on a boiling pot, I thought that if we covered it, the wrath would calm down... amusingly, that is what I believed."
Well, if there's a hole that's hard to fill, the first thought is to cover it up. It's an ordinary idea anyone could have.
It's just that the hole was so enormously big that no one dared to attempt it.
Even the same idea has different viability depending on the scale. The Bottomless Abyss was too big and deep, and thus, until now, no one had ever thought of overturning the ground over the Bottomless Abyss.
They neither had the capacity nor the technology to create a lid of that scale.
...Except for Jiseon right before my eyes.
Jiseon calmly continued her explanation.
"During the Military Nation's massive construction project that spanned five years, we all worked until our bones turned to dust, and many brothers and sisters collapsed. Nevertheless, for our lifelong desire, everyone joined forces. Brothers, sisters, sons and daughters. All united to continue the grueling labor. After finishing the promised work like that, we demanded it from the Military Nation, and the Military Nation kept its promise."
She said they created a structure even larger than the diameter of the Bottomless Abyss with blessed concrete.
Despite being the very person who achieved this tremendous feat, Jiseon explained it as dryly as if reading a book.
"After completing the lid like that, one of the Six Generals, the Demon General, personally moved it to the Bottomless Abyss and covered it. A dizzying void that made one's legs go weak just looking at it. The moment it was immediately hidden by the lid, we, who thought we had achieved our lifelong desire, shed tears of joy. It felt like we had finally corrected the mistake committed in the distant past and put everything back in its place..."
It felt like it, but her words ended there with a choked throat.
I know what happened after that.
I read it from a certain resistance technician.
"The moment you stepped on it, the land sank into the Bottomless Abyss. Because the curse of the Bottomless Abyss couldn't be hidden by a mere lid."
"...It seems you heard it from someone. Well, it wasn't a secret at that time anyway."
Recalling the few devastating failures in her life, Jiseon affirmed weakly.
"...That is correct. The moment I took my first step, it sank by that much. The despair then, as if the ground was giving way beneath my feet."
Once the difficult part was passed, words flowed smoothly from Jiseon's mouth.
"How great that disappointment, that despair must have been. How sorry and apologetic I was that our five years of labor went unrewarded. I had nothing to say to my colleagues who believed in me and followed me..."
With sunken emotions, the one who led the persecuted felt a great responsibility for that failure.
Her parched voice was low and dark, like settled dust.
"Everyone was deeply disappointed and scattered in all directions, and I remained alone, repeating the terrible failure. However, the next view only reveals itself when you reach a steep cliff. As I stared at the Bottomless Abyss for a while, I realized. What we covered was not a lid, but land, and that land was the key to reaching the source of the Bottomless Abyss."
The concrete structure that was supposed to fall under the Bottomless Abyss and infinitely descend in the void space.
Strangely enough, it didn't sink unless someone stepped on it. Unlike other ordinary objects, it didn't fall.
However, since land that couldn't be stepped on had no meaning, no one considered that fact important.
Except for Jiseon, who harbored a lingering attachment to her failure.
"To reach the bottom of the Bottomless Abyss, humans had to step on this land and live."
A space that was meaningless because it was infinite.
To have meaning within it, humans had to step on it and build history. The more they were born, grew, and died, living on that land, the closer Tantalus got to the source of the Bottomless Abyss.
That was why Jiseon needed people to stay in Tantalus.
"I intended to bear the responsibility for the failure and stay alone in the Bottomless Abyss to reach its source. Until this land reaches down below, or until this flesh sleeps and is buried. Continuously."
"But isn't that too uncertain?"
I asked the question slightly tactfully, drawing out Jiseon's answer.
"The Military Nation said so too. They said it was too uncertain, and instead of wasting such a precious ability, they proposed making this place a prison for the Military Nation. Since there were many prisoners who deserved to die, they would make it a hell to imprison them. If so, their lives would also serve as a contribution."
"Ah, so that's why the Military Nation kept driving people into this place."
Jiseon nodded bitterly.
"To put the Military Nation's prisoners into the Earth Mother Goddess's hell. In a way, it's truly... a sacrilegious act. I followed that proposal. Purely out of my own greed, I pushed the prisoners into the Earth Mother Goddess's prison instead of a human prison..."
The Earth Mother Goddess created the Bottomless Abyss. That place became a literal hell, punishing those who were sacrilegious to the Earth Mother Goddess.
Thus far, people had considered Tantalus simply as a prison. Hell and prison, the nuance is quite similar, isn't it?
Here is the surprising fact.
Tantalus, created by humans, was actually not a prison.
To reach the source of the Bottomless Abyss, the structure made to deceive as land was exactly Tantalus.
It was a human deception toward a god.
"Then, the one who created this Tantalus is you, Jiseon?"
"Strictly speaking, the Military Nation designed it to utilize this land. I merely proposed it to the Military Nation."
"That's the first time I've heard that. I thought the Military Nation was a crazy country to build a prison over the Bottomless Abyss."
I thought the tech tree was weird, and it turned out to be the price for a promise. Well, even if you have nothing better to do, you don't build a prison underground, no sir.
"That content was top secret, so it's no wonder you misunderstood."
Phew. Jiseon, whose throat seemed to be burning, gulped down a glass of water and said.
"The Military Nation pulled up this land and built a prison, and to pay the price, I threw myself into the Military Nation and worked. Alone, I participated in large and small construction projects for over 10 years. After that, I wandered the world to find a way to return the Bottomless Abyss to its original state."
And her voice gradually became excited. As the story got closer to the present, Jiseon's face brightened. It was the look of someone whose present is better than the past, and who expects the future to be even better.
"Then one day, news of a prison break reached my ears, and I came to inspect Tantalus again. And I was certain."
With her lifelong desire right before her eyes, Jiseon showed a volcano-like passion even from her gaunt body.
"That it has reached the source enough, and that we can now eradicate the Bottomless Abyss."
Stories with emotion have power. Now, no one dared to doubt Jiseon's words.
Because everyone understood that she had that much power, had put in the effort, and had found the way.
Now, the disappearance of the Bottomless Abyss became a fait accompli.
"Wait a minute! What happens to us if the Bottomless Abyss is eradicated? Do we disappear with it?"
Regarding that point, Jiseon stated definitively.
"No. What disappears is only the Bottomless Abyss. Therefore, this land will return to its original appearance, that is, the large pit where the Hegemon tried to bury 300,000 lives before the Bottomless Abyss was created."
"Hmm! If that's the case! Nothing wrong with that!"
As the satisfied immortal nodded largely, Callis asked urgently.
"How did the Military Nation react to the Brigadier General's visit?"
"Reaction? I do not know that. I merely informed them and came in."
Rather, Callis was relieved by the words that she didn't know well. If Jiseon had come in after notifying them without any prior warning, they would at least buy time before the Military Nation responded. The more sudden Jiseon's actions were, the higher Callis's chances of escape rose.
This time, I asked.
"Then, when will you eradicate the Bottomless Abyss?"
"There is the issue of my stamina, and I need to examine this land a bit as well. I intend to execute it the day after tomorrow."
A declaration that we could escape from this accursed Bottomless Abyss the day after tomorrow.
Hearing that, a joyful feeling sprang up within me without me realizing.
I had never thought I liked this damned world even once in my life, but thinking about basking in the sunlight above ground, I suddenly missed the surface intensely.
The cool wind brushing past my ears, the sunlight scolding my lazy body, and the scenery seen far in the distance.
I didn't think I was the type to enjoy seeing scenery, but perhaps those things I had been with my whole life were actually that desperately missed.
"Waaah! Escape!"
I clearly revealed my excited feelings.
"We're going outside anyway! It's all meaningless now! Jiseon! Please have everything here!"
Jiseon politely refused.
"Even if you give it to me, I am a small person, so there is a limit to how much I can hold inside. I am full, so how about you slowly eat the rest?"
"Ah! We're escaping the day after tomorrow, so we can't eat the remaining food in that short time! Let's make new food for tomorrow, tomorrow! I will throw away today's leftover food in the official Tantalus slop bucket!"
'To throw away the fruits of the earth in front of a follower of the Earth Mother Goddess...? Does he not know that's rude?'
Just as Jiseon slightly frowned, I called for the official Tantalus slop bucket.
Since ancient times, leftover rice belonged to the dog, and the Prime Minister's dog had a fine coat.
"Azi!"
"Woof? Me?"
Azi approached, tilting his head.
I placed a plate full of meat on the empty spot on the dining table. And like a gambler shouting all-in, I pushed it forward generously and said.
"Yes! Eat all of this today!"
"Woof! What's going on!"
Azi immediately sat on the chair, buried his head, and chewed. Having tasted the plain freshly cooked meat, Azi shouted joyfully.
"Tomorrow! Woof! The sun will rise from the west!"
"I don't know where you learned such a saying, but this food isn't from the sun, it's given by this person! Be grateful!"
"Woof-za! Thank you!"
"...Please eat a lot. King of Dogs."
Jiseon couldn't bring herself to scold the dog and just nodded.