Chapter 378
Chapter 378
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Travel Preparations (1)
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The two of them simply listened.
I mean, how curious must they have been?
Unlike their time, which had stopped long ago, my time had flowed all the way to now.
The story I didn't know where to begin had become one I didn't know where to end.
I wanted to tell them everything.
"Father passed away like that, and I fell out of favor with my superior, so I quit...."
How a seventeen-year-old soldier boy filled with poison had risen to become a legendary special forces ace.
"Mother, that time... if only I'd listened to you...."
The straggler who had miraculously reunited with his mother lost her again and shared how he'd lived on.
"BDSM? HIV? Son, I... I understand it all...."
"No! The name might be misleading, but they're really good guys! We met at...."
I even told them about the weird guys who looked just like me.
"....A woman?"
"You're seeing a woman?"
"Yes. Her name's Dana.... She's a... proper lady...."
Wah!
"Honey! Our professor stayed up all night because he couldn't even suggest that young kid see a urologist, and now he's found a daughter-in-law!"
"I thought that boy who couldn't even hold a girl's hand until seventeen would end our family line!"
"That's what you were worried about?"
"You punk, is that something to say!"
"It's in the highlight top 5 of his life-flashing-before-his-eyes moments."
"Ever since he was little, he'd run away from girls like an Olympic sprinter."
I'd told them about Dana thinking they'd be happy, but their faces turned like they were about to achieve enlightenment any second.
Living long enough, good days do come. I told them it felt like a pretty good day now, and they looked so happy. Truly, that happy?
Wanting to see those faces more, I chattered away excitedly. Once I'd exhausted stories about Cynthia, Dean Young, the 47th District chat room friends, and so on, our footsteps naturally turned toward the banquet hall, where the bonds of this world gathered.
To see even one more piece of that happy smile, not just the ties from outside, but even the ones here in GG.
"If they're the Saint's parents..."
"The Holy Mother and Holy Father?"
"Bring the bishop! H-how are we supposed to seat them...."
"Please sit on us! It's plate mail warmed by our body heat!"
We ran into the church folks on the way to the banquet hall.
"....Son?"
"I didn't make it this way."
"The Saint is our lighthouse and guiding star!"
"Ratura! Praise be!"
"....That's what they say?"
"You little sh—"
Mother, having read the 'Professor Saint Chronicle' that Gregorius brought, looked at me with even deeper worry in her eyes.
"Heh heh heh. So you're the professor's birth father and mother?"
"Gruk. Weird. They don't seem crazy, but the result is the professor."
"Seeing that guy in action, you could say he has a black magic birth secret without exaggeration...."
In the banquet hall, I introduced them to my comrades.
Gourmet delights and fine liquors gathered from all of 3rd World.
My travelogue, mostly full of trash talk, was the perfect accompaniment for the two of them. To Ottoman's stories flowing like clear mountain streams, they laughed, got drunk, and beamed with happiness.
It went beyond mere stories—it was proof that their son had perfectly stood on his own after overcoming the countless pains that came before.
They listened to the endlessly fascinating tales, again and again.
Amid the faint waltz music, a thoroughly drunk mother dragged her equally drunk father into the crowd of dancers.
Quietly flowing music and dimmed lights.
Mother, father, me, and everyone gathered here in happiness.
"All people...."
Watching people pair off one by one and head to the floor, it was inevitable to feel someone's empty seat.
An empty seat. From dead comrades to the Turan castle gate captain, but just one spot truly vacant.
The tickle near my collarbone—is it just my imagination? Or some other reason?
"Ottoman."
"Yeah."
In the hall, my parents were awkwardly stepping with bright smiles.
I etched that sight deep into my eyes.
"You said earlier. At least for this moment, we can meet everyone we want to meet. If that person ever played GG, their data soul exists here."
"That's right. As everyone gathered here moves to the next world, anyone who made up our world should be somewhere around here."
"Yeah, I figured."
Ottoman spoke as if he knew what I was asking.
After one last look at my parents, I stood from my seat.
"....I'm going."
"Yeah. In another world, as someone other than Ottoman, let's meet again."
To Ottoman's quiet farewell, the professor bowed deeply in response.
"You're going."
"Gruk. Professor's going."
"You swore to escort him, and now you're sending him off alone again."
I exchanged goodbyes with my comrades passing one by one.
The world tree followed Gedroits's old game tradition.
The hero defeats the demon king.
Returns to the city for a welcome festival.
And as the sun sets on that happy time, the long staff roll ends—
The curtain falls. The screen goes black, and when the next light comes, a new game begins.
"Night...."
I stepped out, gazing at the full moon shining through the window.
The itch at my collarbone pulled faintly like mist toward the tattoo's direction.
From this place where everyone reveled, toward one person who couldn't enjoy it alone.
Toward the final stage of the extra stage.
****
Ding ding—
Ding ding—
The waltz faded bit by bit.
Passing the dancing floor.
Crossing the brightly lit banquet hall.
To a clearing in the garden, hidden by trees and bushes.
To a place where faint moonlight seeped in.
Toward the soft shadow hiding within.
"If it's not too rude, may I request a dance?"
The man extended his hand.
From the shadow, soft fingers stroked his thick hand back.
"....Are you oblivious? Or just too greedy."
"Maybe it's consideration?"
"...."
"Please. I won't get too close, as you fear."
Rakshasa hesitated, and the man persisted.
'Ah, those eyes.'
Endlessly deep and upright.
Isn't it foul play for a woman resolved in her determination?
Hot hands. Rough touch sufficient to warm a woman in the cool night air.
Clack. Clack....
The woman hidden in the shadow stepped out into the moonlight following that touch.
A clearing where faint waltz drifted.
A black dress sparkling like the night sky.
Conflicted eyes. Approaching footsteps.
A woman hidden while all enjoyed.
The man's hand wrapped her waist,
Her satin-like hair leaned against his chest.
To the faint waltz, their private ball began.
"It was foul play."
Her small lips moved.
"You knew a kind man, with a heart broad enough for the whole world, couldn't push away a dying woman's heart."
"Hard to refuse."
Prim voice and low rumbling laugh.
"Even with foul play, I wanted to reach it. That warmth. To have a moment's memory that lingers eternally like a brand."
"Oh my. A scary woman."
When one laughs, the tremor reaches the other body.
The embraced form conveys emotion and words, untold stories.
Pain of loss.
Wall between living and dead.
Why hide her presence.
Why seek her out, to face this final moment together.
'It's the end.'
Cold words awaited or tender ones—all meaningless.
Isn't everything in this moment's dance?
Once today ends, it's over.
Rakshasa's life and memories vanish, continuing as someone else in 4th World.
He came so she wouldn't spend that instant alone.
Without whispering love or scattering farewells.
Just this moment.
This time, purely.
.
.
.
.
So, as the half meant to be his other side, she understood.
Fingertips embracing his neck stroked the collarbone.
"Anaya."
"It's time to take back that name."
The released shamanic tattoo scattered into the moonlight.
Ding ding—
Ding ding—
Dancing away. Singing away.
As the waltz ended in the moonlight at dawn's edge, the woman danced alone.
Instead of joining Rakshasa's final dance,
The man stayed in the shadows, watching her.
In the pale moonlight, the black dress and black hair fluttered.
Waltz's end.
The woman curtsied with her dress hem,
The man politely placed hand to chest in reply.
The sun rose, signaling the festival day's end.
-Ding!
[Data soul transfer begins.]
Even the final time in the extra stage.
The festival city. The castle emptied for us alone. The grand banquet hall and all those people.
-Drop.
Gone in an instant, like cut film. Only the dragon and admins remained. Back to the white space with the vending machine and armchair.
Like turning off a finished game. Like snuffing a match with a blow, in a moment.
"Not spending your final time with parents you parted from? Unexpected."
"For them, time holds no meaning."
The dragon's question was pointless.
No matter how much time given, how many stories shared, the regret would be the same. So I sent them off like an ordinary day's end. Hadn't we said enough goodbyes in life?
Mother and father. Their final moments with happy faces were enough.
I'd shaken off lingering attachments here, finished the final parting with Rakshasa.
Now, one thing left.
Closing my eyes brought a black space with shallow water.
-Plop!
Throwing myself onto the worn sofa kicked up dusty clouds. This place's owner was already striding far ahead.
'Going?'
[Of course. Stick around here and they'll drag your shell in as baggage—you wanna be stuck forever getting cursed?]
Hyde strode off without looking back.
It hit me: this was the first time he'd leave my body since birth.
A two-year-old soul with twenty-five years of experience and knowledge.
His first solo stage self-admittedly hell. Who'd he take after for such a rough fate?
.
.
.
.
'Hey.'
Watching him flee without reply, a sigh escaped naturally.
'I should've taught him to lie.'
Acting so obviously—how's he gonna survive this harsh world?
I took a deep breath and bellowed toward Hyde's shrinking dot-like back.
'It might take a long time!!'
Time—
Time—
Time—....
Echoing in the black cavern.
And.
Splash—
Hyde's steps halted.
'It wasn't a thoughtless choice. Admins are the world's best AIs. A world they unanimously call impossible. Not high chance of failure—it's made so failure's inevitable.'
[....]
'So I'll proceed as slow as possible. Suspect every passing Anak, every ant pup— if even a speck of danger, scrap the ten-day or year-long plans, bail, and restart from scratch.'
[....So what.]
'Shivering like a rabbit or fawn, I'll go find you.'
He'd be reborn as someone in 4th World. Forgetting two years' memories, this moment's too—struggling as an NPC in an answerless world.
I felt his toes on the precarious edge.
The personality closer than anyone these two years.
Shared all my memories, emotions; always judged at life's brink together.
A being near part of my life, now separating.
Splash.
Hyde on the boundary slowly turned.
Body mimicking my outer form.
Trembling shoulders and fingertips.
Face twisted in fear, eyes welling.
[Can you... do it alone?]
'Don't cry with that face. Scary.'
The monster shaped like my real self scrubbed that unwanted face and turned.
'See you there.'
[....Yeah.]
'Be useful in the meantime. Not embarrassing to call you my other self wherever.'
....Crunch!
At that, Hyde clenched a trembling fist.
And, in a flow invisible to the professor. Like a river of countless data souls, he took his final step into the stream.
Tick—
Like a thin thread snapping, the two personalities born from one body separated.
'....Go on ahead and wait, Hyde.'
The monologue circled the worn sofa unheard.
Having the one who always read and shared my mind gone was quite lonely.
More than expected.
****
[....Same here, shell.]
Vast current.
Caught in the flow of countless data souls, Hyde bitterly smiled recalling the professor's final emotion.
Scary.
Personality always with him since birth. Father, friend, mentor, brother—'Professor Park's' consciousness gone.
No one to share thoughts and feelings just by thinking—more frightening and lonely than imagined.
[Ordinary people endure this their whole lives....]
Humans live harsher lives than thought.
That's why they flock in groups. No one to share souls with, like you and me. Lonely.
Hyde felt his memories decomposing, converging to a point.
Memories inherited from professor.
Two years together.
All emotions, thoughts, personality—unraveling strand by strand into the flow.
In fading thoughts and blurring consciousness, a new one bloomed.
Pretty lonely. Probably will be ongoing.
Don't want to stay like this long.
Professor will take long to reach me.
If that far, rugged path. If that long for him to arrive.
Then.
[....Maybe I go find him first.]
Hyde's consciousness, swept in the vast flow, cherished that thought.
Like an egg.
Even reborn in another world as someone not Hyde.
Hoping this one hatches from within.
Vanished.
****