The Deliberation (1)

We took the service elevator, stepped off on the fifty-second floor, and followed the staff member who had come to guide us into a room called Deliberation Room No. 1.

The place had the air of a high-end reception parlor. Bright sunlight poured in through the windows, washing the heavy atmosphere of the conference room until it shone.

Five men and women, from home and abroad, were already waiting inside, seated along a sofa stretched out in a long straight line. Behind the sofa, Kang Woohyuk and Choi Soohan stood quietly. When we came in—when they saw me, to be precise—they dipped their ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠heads in a small bow, apology written across their faces.

The five deliberation committee members rose as we entered. The man standing at the center inclined his head and offered a greeting.

"Welcome, Deputy Minister Kim Hakjun, Boss Yoo Hwayeon of Time River, and your party. ...And Mr. Jung Seoha."

The man in the center was in his early fifties, neat and clean-cut, and the Phase Power he carried took the shape of a streamlined Möbius band. A special-type ability user, then. A streamlined pattern—what kind of ability was that? His Phase Power sat at 220,000. D-Class. Was he the highest one here?

The two men in their forties on the left were ordinary people, both of them white. Of the two women in their thirties on the right, only one was an ability user. She, too, was D-Class, at 200,000—recovery type.

"A pleasure. Committee Member Cha Uicheol of the Central Deliberation Committee."

Central Deliberation Committee? Deputy Minister Kim Hakjun returned the greeting with a slight bow offered to the man in the center alone. Hwayeon just stood there in silence... no. She was glaring at Choi Soohan and Kang Woohyuk, standing behind the committee, with a look in her eyes that could have killed. Franc was glaring at Deputy Director Kang Woohyuk and Choi Soohan as well. Fresh anger seemed to be surging up in her all over again.

I wasn't feeling particularly generous myself. I turned my face from the two of them and, at noona's gesture, took my place on Deputy Minister Kim Hakjun's right, with Hwayeon standing beside me. Lee Hyeryeong stood to the Deputy Minister's left, and the other seven formed a line behind the sofa.

"Shall we sit, then."

We sat facing the committee across a long, low table set between us, and for a moment we studied one another without a word. The one who broke the silence was Cha Uicheol, the man introduced as the Central Deliberation Committee member.

"First, allow me to say that I regret meeting such distinguished figures of Korea under such unfortunate circumstances. Personally, I had hoped to make the acquaintance of Mr. Jung Seoha—who may fairly be called the future of Korea's detection-type ability users—on a happier occasion, and to come to know him that way. That our first meeting should take this form is a regret I find difficult to set aside."

I gave a stiff nod, careful not to dip my head so far that it looked arrogant, and Deputy Minister Kim Hakjun spoke in my place.

"Regrettable beyond words. Had the staff of the Management Department properly guided young Mr. Jung Seoha so that he might follow the normal guidelines, none of this would have happened."

It had been agreed beforehand that I would say only what needed saying, and that Deputy Minister Kim Hakjun would lead, and carry, most of the talk. He was, I'd been told, a max-level talker trusted by that lady—a man with an unrivaled tongue who had never once lost a war of words. Better to keep my mouth clamped shut than run it for no reason and hand them a weakness. I did plenty of trolling in games. That was enough.

Cha Uicheol met the Deputy Minister's opening slash with a manufactured smile.

"Dress a thing up in fine words all you like. The contents do not change."

"The starting point is already fixed. What quibbling in the middle could possibly change where this began? My only concern is that this incident might leave young Mr. Jung Seoha with a poor impression of the World Phase Ability User Association."

"I see..."

At the Deputy Minister's words—a dagger slipped neatly across the table—Cha Uicheol's manufactured smile went stiff. Perhaps because he felt his side had come off the worse in the exchange, the woman seated to his right opened her mouth.

"How do you do. It is an honor to meet Deputy Minister Kim Hakjun of the Anomalous Ability Office, godfather of Korea's ability-user society, and Ms. Yoo Hwayeon, Boss of Time River. I am Deputy Director Jo Mirin, head of the External Operations Team at the Korean Branch. Beside me is Committee Member Han Yeowool, a recovery-type ability user and a deliberation committee member of the Korean Branch."

Deputy Director Jo Mirin wore a women's suit, her long, brown-dyed hair falling to the small of her back. Han Yeowool wore a black pantsuit, her hair cut in a round mushroom bob. Maybe it was only my mood, but both of them felt a little fierce. Once the introduction had gone out, Han Yeowool bowed her head toward us—toward Deputy Minister Kim Hakjun, to be precise.

"And the two gentlemen to Committee Member Cha Uicheol's right are Committee Member Richard McCollyn and Committee Member Gerolt Hansen, come from the headquarters of the World Phase Ability User Association."

Huh, the right? Oh. Right from her point of view. The man called Richard was in his forties, dark blond, with an aquiline nose. Gerolt, also in his forties, was marked by hair of pure white. Introduced in their stead, the two of them bowed their heads in silent greeting. They dipped those heads in time with Jo Mirin's words. So they understood some Korean. Curious.

"And the two in the back are parties to this incident: Deputy Director Kang Woohyuk and Assistant Manager Choi Soohan of the Survivor Protection and Management Department."

The two of them bobbed their heads as well. Choi Soohan had been wearing a death's-door face since the moment we walked in, the look of someone whose every thought was this is all my fault. Hard not to conclude she was the root of the whole mess. Our eyes met for an instant, so I sent her a look that said you incompetent idiot! She flinched and jerked her gaze away. And sure enough, Choi Soohan's petals were slicking over, growing wet.

Hopeless. I really couldn't deal with her. A moment ago she'd looked bone-dry, parched to the point of cracking, and in a flash she was soaked through.

Committee Member Cha Uicheol of the Central Deliberation Committee... the title was long. I'd just use his name in my head. These people had gathered to interrogate me. I didn't owe them their ranks on top of that.

Once the introductions had wound to a close, I could feel the five committee members—I having been introduced last—raking me over with glittering eyes. Eyes trying to pierce how much of my rumored ability was actually true.

Cha Uicheol held that sharp look and opened his mouth.

"There is one thing we must establish before we go any further. It is a known fact that Mr. Jung Seoha, a minor, entered the Phase World. Do you acknowledge this?"

"An unfortunate accident, one that could have been prevented before it ever happened."

When Deputy Minister Kim Hakjun answered in my place, Cha Uicheol seemed to realize whom he would have to deal with if he wanted what he was after.

"...Then I would like to deliberate with Mr. Jung Seoha regarding that matter. Would that be acceptable?"

Meeting the Deputy Minister's intense gaze with an equally keen one, Cha Uicheol turned the arrowhead toward me. Nothing about it that wouldn't be fine.

"Yes. I have a feeling this is going to be a rather long story."

"That is quite all right. We have plenty of time."

Whether he was performing ease, or truly had it to spare... Then, right on schedule, Hwayeon drew a sheaf of documents from her briefcase and passed them to the committee members.

"These are the circumstantial materials we prepared. CCTV footage recorded from multiple angles, the movements at the time, the conversations, and so on. We commissioned an analysis from a firm whose credibility is recognized by the Ability User Association, and the result confirms that none of it has been manipulated in any way."

Of course, every important conversation concerning my ability had been left out. Once I confirmed the committee members were scanning the papers, I spoke.

"After I returned from my second entry, I heard it from Boss Yoo Hwayeon. The ways into the Phase World are to wish for it strongly yourself, or to recall an intense memory of what you went through there—and then you enter again. And once you've come out, re-entry is impossible for a minimum of five days. I heard that, too."

At my words, Cha Uicheol set the documents down and stared at me in silence. In his place, Han Yeowool—the one with the hairstyle that looked like a mushroom cap—put the question.

"You're saying that before then, you didn't know the method of entry?"

"Yes. Right after I returned from my first entry, I met the two people standing back there, but until we reached the examination room in the Ability User Association building, all we talked about was trivial small talk. Even during the examination, I never heard the things other ability users are supposed to be told. After that I was hospitalized for nine days, and on the ninth day the two of them came to see me again, but all I received then was the Certifier and the certificate of authentication. I met Ms. Choi Soohan again on Monday afternoon, but even then it was only talk related to the Energy Eater. I never heard a word about entering or leaving the Phase World."

When I added that I could recite, word for word, every conversation I'd had with the two of them if they wanted, they stared at me in surprise. A full month had passed. Their faces asked whether I really still remembered all of that.

"You're saying you remember the entire conversation?"

"Yes."

"...During the two days Mr. Jung Seoha was inside the Phase World, we were able to compile a transcript from the testimony of Deputy Director Kang Woohyuk and Ms. Choi Soohan, with the help of the Association staff's protection and the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠situation recorders. You do understand that if the contents differ, the circumstances may turn against you? Perjury is a serious matter."

An answer with the intent baked in: better not to say it at all. Something about it felt off. It was like those times noona tried to steamroll me with sheer verbal force, just to paper over a mistake of her own...

I sensed Deputy Minister Kim Hakjun about to cut in, so I moved first.

"I know."

"Then let me ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠confirm a few things. Right after your return from the Phase World, you were said to be holding a No-Head Mantis's foreleg and the horn of an aberrant of unknown identity. When Ms. Choi Soohan first spoke to you then, what did she say? Please answer."

I answered without a second's hesitation.

Han Yeowool's face went blank. The other four, and of course Deputy Minister Kim Hakjun and Hwayeon, picked up the files lying in front of them, flipped through the pages, and checked the transcript.

"Oh..."

"Hmm."

The next question came, unsteady.

"Th-then, do you remember the very first conversation you had inside the elevator of the Association building?"

"Th-that's enough."

Deputy Director Jo Mirin, flustered, moved to stop me as I spoke without a break. In that moment I caught a flicker of disappointment crossing her face, and inwardly I crowed. So they had been waiting for me to slip after all. Slip, and they'd seize it as a weakness. Put the other way around, by letting them see that my memory was beyond anything they'd imagined, I had raised the credibility of every word I spoke.

Gerolt Hansen opened his mouth for the first time. His Korean was perfect, without a trace of accent. He looked every inch a Westerner, but hearing only his voice, you would have taken him for a Korean.

"It matches, one hundred percent, the content recorded by the conversation-collection devices attached to Deputy Director Kang Woohyuk and Assistant Manager Choi Soohan. A remarkable memory. Have you perhaps acquired an ability of perfect recall?"

No comment. I didn't answer, and under the table Deputy Minister Kim Hakjun gave my knee a few approving pats, as if to say well done. An amazing memory, sure. The only problem was that if I didn't bother paying attention, the memory didn't bother paying attention either, and wouldn't bring a thing up for me!

Deputy Minister Kim Hakjun looked at Cha Uicheol and opened his mouth again. Time, it seemed, to begin the offensive as planned.

"To possess a memory that astonishing, an excellent ability, and outstanding qualities—and yet, because the proper procedures were never followed, a boy who might have become a pillar of the nation was dropped into a situation where he could have lost his life. It is enough to draw a sigh. And the Association's handling of matters immediately afterward leaves me wondering whether this country's precious ability-user strength can truly be entrusted to you."

"Ahem..."

The blow seemed to have landed on bone. Cha Uicheol's face hardened.

"However, it is also true that a number of questions remain. Entry into the Phase World is, above all, something that requires the person themselves to wish for it strongly..."

Watching him prepare to attack from the high ground of principle, I realized it in a flash. This man had skimmed the documents we'd handed over and moved right past them! That changed the conversation. Certain that cutting this line off would lock the flow in our favor, I carefully raised my hand and asked for the floor.

"May I offer just one point in my own defense?"

"Yes. Please do."

Cha Uicheol nodded, perhaps judging it a chance to reverse the tide, or a chance to find a fault to seize. I could feel Deputy Minister Kim Hakjun's eyes narrowing, just slightly, at my stepping forward against the plan. But I do pride myself on my read of a room, if nothing else. I was drilled for over ten years by that formidable noona, I'll have you know.

I cleared my throat and opened my mouth, slow and clear.

"According to Boss Yoo Hwayeon, the reason I entered on my second cycle was that the ceiling of the Boss's room brushed against one intense memory of mine."

"What memory?"

So I explained. Chased by an Imoogi, a Highest-Rank Variant, I had swum for days—day and night, through a pouring storm—across a distance of more than several hundred kilometers, in a lake of impossible size.

"A C-Calamity—a Highest-Rank Variant, an Imoogi? You're telling me you met one?!"

Richard's face said he could hardly believe it. Everyone else, Hwayeon excepted, reacted the same way.

"Surely the committee members are not thinking I obtained an ability like this by playing around and eating well?"

I was sure of it—survival theory said the situation a person was thrown into greatly raised the chance of awakening a different ability. I picked at that point, and the five faces turned awkward.

Richard asked again.

"Sure, you were twelve kilometers off, but a lake is freshwater, man. You factor in the special properties of the lightning an Imoogi's Phase Power throws, plus the conductivity, and there's no way you walk away from that fine. That's the kind of power that carbonizes three of those incredible A-Class in a single instant, YO."

"I notice you aren't picking at the fact that the Imoogi struck first. You aren't thinking I was stupid enough to charge a Highest-Rank Variant like that myself, are you?"

"Oh..."

"And I don't suppose you believe that Imoogi was the same individual that fought the Arc Angel, either. There are plenty of points you ought to be picking at first. Doubting that I survived means you don't believe my account. In that case, shouldn't you also decline to believe in my ability?"

"Ouch!"

Stung to the quick, Richard McCollyn looked at Cha Uicheol with a thoroughly wrecked expression.

I waited a moment, but no further questions came. If they wanted to drive me into a corner, they should have confirmed whether I'd met the Imoogi before my awakening or after. They didn't.

"So the main point I mean to make starts now."

And so I showed them. Mana Sieve.

The five committee members, along with Kang Woohyuk and Choi Soohan, witnessed the corona of blue light wrapping my irises and sucked in a sharp breath, eyes flying open. Kim Hakjun and Lee Hyeryeong, watching me and wondering what was happening, saw my eyes—and their mouths fell open.

"Th-that ability..."

Now!

"It seems you didn't look very carefully at the documents our Boss handed out... I even highlighted the important part, so you wouldn't skip over it..."

Watching the five put on faces of pure dismay—oh, no—I felt a fierce satisfaction. Hwayeon, expressionless, clenched her fist tight. Inside, she seemed quite pleased.

Well. I didn't know what might come of any of this, and I had no desire to explain my ability in detail. The Association claimed they would protect me, but looking at a situation like this, the Ability User Association didn't seem especially trustworthy either. Even so, I had concluded that to assert my innocence, there was one thing I inevitably had to reveal. That was Mana Sieve.

"What did you write about how I looked when Uncle Kang Woohyuk and Ms. Choi Soohan first saw me?"

"...It says you were in a state of extreme malnutrition, with almost all your body fat gone. Your weight is listed as forty-two kilograms."

"Is my weight from before entry in there, too?"

"...According to a measurement taken four months before entry, it was seventy-eight kilograms."

"Right before entry, it would have been over eighty. Nearly forty kilograms of flesh came off in fifteen days—more precisely, it started on the morning of the ninth day and dropped over six."

If an ordinary person lost nearly forty kilograms in less than a week, it would be no surprise if they died of shock.

"While I was going through that, what lodged itself in my head was the sea of stars and the Milky Way, laid bare after the downpour stopped. Honestly, I wasn't in my right mind then, so I could endure it. But when I came back to reality and saw the ceiling of the Boss's room, that memory came flooding back."

"OH! You mean Boss Yoo Hwayeon's bedroom, YO? I heard that place is a no-men-allowed zone, MAN?"

What the hell is this guy?

I frowned, muttering inwardly about what kind of bullshit he was spouting, and the other committee members silently sent him looks of reproach. Watching the blond Yankee smile awkwardly under his colleagues' censure, I weighed how they would take the line I was considering, then opened my mouth.

"She's my boss, yes, but she's also my girlfriend. We were childhood friends. And she's my older sister's closest friend, too."

As of this morning, anyway.

At the unplanned remark, Hwayeon's face went scarlet. Red past red, threatening to tip over into blue. The others looked back and forth between noona, flushing like that, and my face, which stayed perfectly blank. At the sight of her covering that reddened face with both hands, the people in the room—excepting Choi Soohan and Deputy Director Kang Woohyuk—smiled awkwardly and nodded.

Cha Uicheol, who had been smiling faintly, like a middle-aged man hearing a teenage love story, quickly recovered his cold, clear gaze and turned it on my eyes. Wondering if he might have some unknown detection ability, I observed him closely with Spatial Perception. No TP was consumed, and he showed no other movement. He was, quite literally, just looking at me.

...But why is Choi Soohan glaring at Hwayeon? A moment ago she just looked deflated.

"So. What is the main point?"

"I know that every one of you on this committee has already concluded, in your hearts, that my entry into the Phase World was unlawful. But I want to emphasize that this was truly an accident only I, in all the world, could have caused."

"An accident...? Would that be this ability written here—the one called Mana Sieve?"

Gerolt Hansen, who had held to his silence, asked with a flash of the eyes why I was emphasizing it so. So, before them, I gathered Phase Power at my fingertip with Mana Sieve and let a single drop fall. Tok.

Everyone except me fixed their eyes on the blue droplet beading at my fingertip like dew, then falling free.

Just before it touched the table, the droplet of Phase Power scattered like a heat shimmer and vanished.

In order, as if each had realized one and the same fact, their expressions changed—Deputy Minister Kim Hakjun and Cha Uicheol at the same moment; then Gerolt, and a hair later Deputy Director Jo Mirin; and finally Han Yeowool and Richard, Choi Soohan and Deputy Director Kang Woohyuk, all at once.

"Just now, that—don't tell me..."

"Yes. It's Phase Power. Huh? Don't tell me you didn't see it before?"

I managed my expression so it wouldn't feel calculated, sent a look Choi Soohan's way, and asked with feigned innocence. Everyone's eyes turned to her.

"Ah? Uh, u-uhh?"

"I showed it when we caught the Energy Eater. It was a coincidence, but it was thanks to using this ability that we were able to capture ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Energy Eater without a scratch."

"So, that is to say... Phase Power, in that manner... Ah!"

The train of thought ran exactly where I had meant it to. Deputy Director Jo Mirin brought her palms together with a sharp clap.

"The control is still unstable, though."

"I... see. With an ability like that, certainly... an accidental entry into the Phase World could occur."

Cha Uicheol's expression darkened, just a little. A very, very little.

"Yes. My second entry was absolutely not a result in which my will was reflected. It's on page seventeen of the record, but when I entered, I was wearing a bathrobe and nothing but a single layer of underwear. If even a shred of my will had been reflected, would I have done something insane like entering in my underwear and a bathrobe?"

At Cha Uicheol's two-step retreat, Deputy Minister Kim Hakjun caught my knee under the table and gave it a pleased little pat.