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Chapter 94 – The Pursuer VIII
Chapter 94 – The Pursuer VIII
[Proofreader – Gun]
Chapter 94
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The Pursuer VIII
14
Step.
The next footprint was a wanderer’s.
Setting up a workshop where one leg is laid, leaving people no choice but to come and go on an isolated island. I, too, worked as an assistant.
In the wandering life, he didn’t ask for much.
Sunlight. Water. A patch of land. Sand on the beach. Leaves, a little more. Flowers, a bit less.
A hammer. Injuries within a volume that one could bear and tolerate. Warm coffee, regardless of the type of beans.
He longed for summer, autumn, winter, and spring. He wished for raindrops falling on the stone pavement of a garden to wake him up rather than the sound of human footsteps.
If he were to die someday, he hoped for an old autumn wind to sky-bury him rather than a conventional funeral or cremation.
Unlike Tang Seorin, who wanted to leave for anywhere, he, in his wandering, did not wish for visitors from anywhere.
Thus, in his wandering life, he would be the one who desired the most.
“Assistant…”
“Yes?”
“Pack up for a brief business trip. Hm. There are so many old folks stuck on the shores who can’t even come to the island….”
“Oh, yes. I understand.”
As winter ended and the last snow melted, he set out on a departure from his wandering. The bridge had not been repaired for a long time, and the railings were crumbling in places.
Shake. The sea playfully breathed out.
“Be careful, workshop owner. The bridge suffered a lot this winter with heavy snow. We’ll need to fix it when we return.”
“……”
“Workshop owner?”
Walking ahead on the bridge, I turned back, but Noh Doha’s palm gently touched my back.
It was a pressure that could be ignored if one wanted to.
I didn’t ignore it.
I stopped in the same posture as I was about to turn around.
“Workshop owner?”
“I don’t hang on……”
“Yes?”
“Assistant. I don’t need anything ideal. Ideal place. Ideal life. Ideal ending. Hm. Living every day with part of it pledged to such things is not how I accept the world….”
“……”
“I am not someone who takes pride in denying reality. I graduated from that hobby at twelve. Assistant. As you may know, I really, really hate owing someone something….”
Tap.
Noh Doha lightly pushed my back.
That, too, was a gesture that could be ignored if one wanted to.
I didn’t ignore it.
The railings, already weakened, creaked under my weight and collapsed.
Just before falling from the bridge, I looked up at Noh Doha. The shade of the sun obscured his face.
Only a shadow-like smile was drawn.
“Get lost….”
Noh Doha’s face quickly disappeared.
Splash—
Hearing the sound of water splashing, all I could think about was
From the island to the mainland. On the way from Pi’an to the car.
It was really a Noh Doha-like murder.
Blink. Clatter.
The wheel of time moved.
Two steps forward.
15
Step.
The next footprint was the Saintess.
“……”
“……”
Surprisingly, the two of us were sitting on the silver moon. Sitting facing each other on chairs carved from stone, with a table between us.
The world held its breath.
The Earth on the other side of the universe had stopped, and the sun, which illuminated such an Earth from the back, did not move either.
White world.
End point of time. No, pause.
As an awakened being, bearing the name of Saintess, yet as a strange being again, the existence opened its lips, holding the title of ‘Executor’.
“Doctor Jang.”
Titanic, no.
Perhaps another exclusion-grade anomaly.
As an awakened being, she bore the name of Saintess, but as an anomaly, she was destined to be called ‘Executor’.
“You already know, but Doctor Jang can face such an ending at any time.”
“…Eternal rest?”
“Yes. It’s not like the vacations Doctor Jang occasionally spends as a joke… It’s truly letting go of breath, hence rest. The world has stopped, and people no longer move. No sins are committed. No misfortunes or unhappiness.”
Like singing a little song, the Saintess added telepathy to her voice, in other words, the premonition of the constellation.
[Naturally, also a return.]
“…….”
“All existence floats like inanimate objects, fleeting through eternal and transient moments as mere specks of dust. If this world were to stop at any moment, would there be any reason it shouldn’t be today?”
“Madam Saintess, you already know that you cannot persuade me.”
“…….”
The Saintess sipped her coffee.
It was a convenience store product, indistinguishable from those laden with sugar and cream. As a barista, all I could do was pour from a Maxim coffee bag, stir it vigorously, and yet the Saintess judged that the coffee I stirred had a ‘different taste’.
Does the Saintess really know that I secretly add half a spoon of cinnamon?
“Why do you believe that someday we can escape from eternity?”
“Of course.”
“Do you know? Emmett Schopenhauer gave up everything in the 23rd turn and fled to a world composed only of lovers and two people, which is actually normal.”
“…….”
“Even 23 turns were already a long time and enough suffering. Doctor, you are too strong in hope.”
The Saintess’s voice echoed.
“This world is hell.”
There was no room in the universe to accept human breathing sounds, so the voice and breath were entirely the Saintess’s transparent and colorless aura that produced a groan.
That was the only noise in this universe.
Therefore, it was the only scream in the universe.
“No one takes responsibility even though the world is hell. Efforts to change it are either absent or too slow.”
[If you can’t roll back time, you have to stop.]
“Why is there a torture room in a corner of the world? Have you ever seen a child under the age of ten die?”
[Since childhood, the child was sold to the “factory” and was tortured and died on his 10th birthday.]
“Why do miners born in rock and swamp mines die in a narrow gap without knowing that there is a wider world?”
[Why do humans consider it fortunate to be happier than themselves, rather than fortunate that there are less fortunate people?]
“Even such a mean tendency is not my decision but something that was forced by the environment and the world around me.”
[Like.]
“Why should I allow the passage of time to continue so that such a world persists?”
“……”
[Proofreader – Gun]
“To think that the depths of hell lie just beneath 20,000 yojanas. It’s hard to believe.”
A breath drifted through the cosmos.
[Petals.]
The starlight of the throne flickered.
Pythagoras’ shadow Earth slipped out of harmony, causing a discordant note.
“Just beneath the surface of that planet lies nothing but hell.”
“……”
We fell silent.
It wasn’t because we had nothing to say to each other. It was because the words we could speak to each other were predetermined.
I knew the single phrase that could execute the executioner, the timekeeper, the Saintess. And like a murderer with a final conscience, I slowly wielded my blade.
“Please help me, Saintess.”
“……”
“I want to help others.”
“……”
Blood spilled into the cosmos.
According to Pythagorean tradition, the universe consists of ten celestial bodies, one of which is invisible to human eyes.
Shadow-Earth.
Always moving in sync with Earth, casting its light in the same direction, Shadow-Earth remained perpetually shrouded in darkness, like a perpetual eclipse.
As it orbited alongside the other nine celestial bodies, Shadow-Earth emitted a sound. Like a heartbeat. Like harmony. Thus, the Pythagoreans believed the universe was always filled with the songs of celestial bodies.
To them, the world was beautiful.
Yet humans have always been deaf to the universe’s song from birth. To us, that song became such an ordinary ‘background’ that humans never truly listened to the universe’s music.
Petals.
To the Saintess, what the eyelashes obscured was not only hell but also the beauty of this world—a fatal curse.
“Endless Hell…”
Always locked in shadow, turning their gaze in the direction where people averted their eyes, the shadow’s throne spoke.
“I arrived at Baekhwa Girls’ High School as the leader of 99 ghosts, known as a wanderer in the realm of the dead. In other words, Endless has fragmented their existence into 99 pieces.”
“……”
“My original ability was merely to halt the world. But as my power grew, I gained the ability to move freely in a stopped world. Similar to that… Cheon Yohwa’s ability could undoubtedly become stronger than it is now.”
“What do you mean?”
“She can imprint behavioral principles on humans, making them act like NPCs. That’s Cheon Yohwa’s awakening ability. However, perhaps… if this ability were developed, it might be possible for monsters, not just humans, to use the same power.”
“Ah.”
My eyes widened.
“You could manipulate monsters as you please! In this world! Isn’t that an incredibly powerful ability?”
“Yes. At least, it would be possible to manipulate monsters that appeared in Baekhwa Girls’ High School, or rather, the monsters that appeared in school ghost stories.”
The Saintess nodded.
“Cheon Yohwa is an apostle of Endless. You could interfere to some extent with the monsters led by Endless. As for why Cheon Yohwa was designated as Endless’s apsotle, Doctor Jang would know better than I.”
“Indeed…”
A strategy became apparent.
Yet the Saintess warned me.
“However, if Cheon Yohwa, who consumed Endless’s wanderings, were to become more powerful than she is now, she would become incomparable to anything else. She would become indistinguishable from the monsters, like how Doctor Jang sees her in his fantasies.”
“……”
“Just with Endless alone… as you suppress the monsters, monsters will increase around Doctor Jang. Eventually, without a doubt… Tang Seorin, Sim Aryeon, at some point. …It might be good to summarize this with the simple phrase of poisoning the poison, but in the end, we’ll just move the poison of the world to you. If Doctor Jang gives up…”
I held the Saintess’s hand.
“I know.”
The Saintess looked at me.
“Please drop me into hell like you.”
“……”
[Chaos -]
The circular shape of the universe, which had been stationary until now, jerked abruptly. The sun, Earth, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn moved clumsily, aligning in a straight line.
Grand Alignment. The most majestic constellation the universe could pronounce.
At its final line, a shadow stood.
“Yes.”
The shadow smiled before my eyes.
[To wherever.]
Blink, the life of a petal closed its eyes.
Clunk, the ten constellations played silent music.
Before long, we held hands and were reversed, descending from the moon’s glassy surface to the ground—towards hell.
Endless descent.
We held each other tightly.
The universe’s song was time.
Blink. Clunk—
The wheels of time turned.
From peace to despair. From the nearest otherworld to the farthest reality.
One step forward.
16
“—Sir! Sir!”
I contemplate why people are born with two eyes.
It’s because the world is always composed of two layers. Hell spread under that sunlight and beauty locked under shadows.
Blindness and direct gaze. Polar opposites. The gap.
Existence not as emptiness but between.
I slowly opened my eyes.
“Yohwa?”
“Yes, sir! Umm… So, are you really… sir? I mean, do you remember when we used to wander around school ghost stories?”
I looked around.
Ding-dong-ding-dong.
The bell rang. This wasn’t a school ghost story… it was Baekhwa Girls’ High School. The bell echoed not under a red sky but a blue one.
A perfectly normal school.
No eerie groves or fields of red flowers. Now it was lunchtime, and students gathered, crossing the field on the other side.
“…Yeah, I remember. We were taking steps to defeat Endless. Now we’re just one step away.”
“Oh, right! Um, but why are you and I having the same fantasy this time?”
“It seems like this is the fourth step.”
Step.
Cheon Yohwa’s and my footsteps overlapped.
With no room for monsters, emptiness, or the end, it was a peaceful world.
That was our final stop.
[Proofreader – Gun]