Intermission, and the Star Cluster - (End)
Crunch!
Yoo Iseul ground her teeth. She glared at the Director as if she could chew him up and swallow him whole, then continued.
"...Explain it in detail."
[The 'Princess', a character in the play, becomes a 'Fervent Follower of the Creator of Boundaries' after swearing her love to the 'Knight'.]
[However, Lee Jia is not her.]
[Lee Jia is a Fervent Follower of the Shining Stars.]
[During the intermission.]
[If the Sanctum summoning is dispelled.]
[Lee Jia becomes...]
[A being who is both a 'Fervent Follower of the Creator of Boundaries' and a 'Fervent Follower of the Shining Stars'.]
[...]
[Serving two Great Ones is a mortal sin that far exceeds the category of blasphemy.]
[The moment the Sanctum summoning is dispelled.]
[Lee Jia will be extinguished...]
"Bullshit! The 'Princess' is a character in a play, and Lee Jia is a real existence! If the Sanctum summoning is dispelled, the play vanishes. Therefore, what the 'Princess' experienced never happened! Why? Because it was just a simple performance!"
[Wrong.]
[I thought you already knew.]
[The play is.]
[Both a boundary and a dream.]
[And the boundary is.]
[The true world.]
[That something which occurred in the true world could cease to have happened.]
[You, too.]
[Must understand that.]
"You, you son of a..."
Yoo Iseul couldn't answer the Director. Because, just as he said, she understood the situation to some extent. Lee Jia had bled. To dismiss this as a mere 'performance' or an event that occurred within the play... it didn't make sense.
The tension in Yoo Iseul's hand loosened. The Director continued.
[...However.]
[If the play proceeds to the end.]
[Lee Jia will completely step down from her position as a 'Fervent Follower of the Shining Stars' and become a 'Fervent Follower of the Creator of Boundaries'.]
[Even if.]
[The ego of 'Lee Jia' returns, not the ego of the 'Princess'.]
[The result is the same.]
"That kind of content isn't in the 'Rules of the Play'."
[It is not the Rules of the Play.]
[This is.]
[My rules.]
[The power of me,]
[A 'Fervent Follower of the Creator of Boundaries' and the Director.]
[Perhaps, even during the intermission.]
[Lee Jia's.]
[Two egos will clash.]
...She understood. There were two major things to be careful of in a Fervent Follower's Sanctum. One was the ability of the Sanctum itself. The other was the ability of the Fervent Follower who owned the Sanctum. It seemed the 'Director', a Fervent Follower, possessed the ability to overwrite the ego of a character onto a real person. Thinking about how that was possible... there was only one conclusion.
Simply put, it meant the power of the 'Creator of Boundaries' was stronger than that of the 'Shining Stars'. She had thought the 'Shining Stars' was an overwhelming existence even among the Great Ones, but it seemed that wasn't the case.
"Why do the 'bugs' you speak of die?"
[When the act ends.]
[By the two Fervent Followers.]
[The boundary will expand infinitely.]
[Ultimately, this blue planet.]
[Will become a 'Boundary'.]
[That is.]
[The goal of the Great One.]
"..."
[In the first place.]
[The bugs are losing Lee Jia, their savior.]
[So even if this blue planet does not become a 'Boundary'.]
[Destruction is certain.]
To summarize the former, that giant eyeball monster would swallow the Earth. The latter meant, 'Without Lee Jia, you're all dead.' Yoo Iseul neither affirmed nor denied it.
[It seems you are convinced.]
[Now, choose.]
[Soon.]
[It will be the intermission.]
"I..."
Yoo Iseul agonized. Over whether to save humanity or to save Lee Jia. Yoo Iseul's agony didn't even take a second. Yoo Iseul chose neither. She made a different choice, but she answered the Director by saying, "I will save Lee Jia." And then, Yoo Iseul added one thing to the Director.
"You said it. The boundary expands infinitely by two Fervent Followers."
[That is correct.]
"Wrong."
At Yoo Iseul's following words, the Director felt a certain 'emotion'.
"It's not two, it's one."
A strange emotion felt for the first time in hundreds of years. Thousands of years. Or perhaps tens of thousands of years. What this emotion was, only the Director would know.
"The play must go to the end. Absolutely."
Has that sister finally lost her mind? ...No, wait, how could that be? She's someone for whom it's impossible to lose her mind. That means there's a reason she said the play must continue to the end. I asked Yoo Iseul for the reason. But she didn't answer clearly.
"Just... as always, just do as I say."
Right. Yoo Iseul is an excellent Awakened and the person who cherishes me most in the world. If I just do as she says, I'll be able to finish this incident without any trouble. But why is it? The reason I can see a resolute will in her expression. There is no doubt. There is no fear. Only, she was wearing a resolute expression.
I wanted to ask her for the reason again, but because of a gaze felt from somewhere, my body stiffened immediately. Suddenly, I looked up at the sky. There, in it.
Ah.
"...God."
God was there. Thump, I knelt. I felt as if my entire head was being dyed pure white. To think I would witness 'God' with my own eyes. An overwhelming emotion that couldn't be described in words dominated my head.
"...You aren't receiving the price of blasphemy. Damn it, this seems very different from my plan."
[Did I not tell you? That the two egos would clash. It seems one ego has been swallowed.]
I heard a conversation from the side. One was obviously Yoo Iseul, and the other was a 'Fervent Follower' who wouldn't be enough even if I tore him to death, but that's not important right now, is it? While kneeling, I closed my eyes and began to fold my hands and offer prayers to the sky. While I was absorbed in prayer, the two continued their conversation.
[It seems there was no need to wait until the act ended.]
"..."
[Yoo Iseul. Your choice has become meaningless. Therefore, you have lost your role, and since you have lost your role... there is also no reason for you to be alive.]
"...What happens to Lee Jia now?"
[As a Fervent Follower of the Creator of Boundaries, she will receive the grace to serve the will of God.]
"That's, at least, a relief..."
"Oh, damn! Sister, how many times have I told you not to interrupt while I'm praying! You're really fucking noisy!"
I shouted at Yoo Iseul. I'm disappointed, Sister Iseul. I don't know about other times, but didn't I tell you not to interrupt during prayer? When I shouted, both Yoo Iseul and the Director wore expressions close to astonishment. ...Why are they like that?
Yoo Iseul asked me, "Lee Jia, you, your ego..."
"Ego what. I told you it's back, didn't I? You know that the ego returns during the intermission."
"B-but why are you praying... is that prayer to that giant eye correct?"
"Yes?"
Giant eye...? What on earth is a giant eye? At Yoo Iseul's question, I looked up at the sky again. Then, just as Yoo Iseul said, I was able to discover a giant eye. Wow. Has this sister lost her mind after losing her abilities?
"Why would I offer prayers to a fucking eye that looks like that? I hadn't even noticed that thing was there in the first place, but I've only ruined my eyes because of you, Sister."
"Huh."
At my words, Yoo Iseul laughed as if it were funny, and the Fervent Follower was astonished.
[W-what...! It is blasphemy! You, you just now, committed an irreversible blasphemy!]
"What blasphemy is it if I say I'll offer prayers to the God I believe in, you idiot. Do you think the Shining Stars is a joke?"
[Sh-Shining Stars...? Just now, you offered prayers to the Great One, the Creator of Boundaries...! You mean it is not the Shining Stars!]
"Oh, damn... that fucking-looking eyeball was a Great One?"
When I answered, the Fervent Follower went beyond astonishment and had a seizure, and Yoo Iseul nodded and said, "It seems so. Those called Great Ones, when you see them in reality, they really are fucking-looking guys. Does the Shining Stars look like that too?"
"There's no way!"
"You. You just offered prayers to the sky. If it's not that giant eye, then what on earth were you looking at when you offered prayers?"
"...Can't you see it?"
"I can't. What do you see?"
"Look carefully, Sister."
At my words, Yoo Iseul looked up at the sky again. And a few seconds later, words I'd never heard in my life popped out of Yoo Iseul's mouth.
"...It's beautiful."
"Right?"
It couldn't be anything but beautiful. Look at the countless clusters of stars embroidering that sky. Thousands? Hundreds of millions? Trillions? Well, would counting the numbers have any meaning? Could I describe the Shining Stars in numbers? Of course, that cluster of stars wouldn't be the main body of the Shining Stars. Still, well... it's beautiful, isn't it? It's not for nothing that my believers call the Shining Stars 'Star-Cluster Big Sister'.
[Wh-when on earth...?]
Before long, the star cluster began to move. The sight of the star clusters filling the sky moving in unison was so beautiful that I watched the movement of the star clusters with bated breath, forgetting even to blink. And. The star clusters began to stick to that giant eye one by one, and soon, the giant eye could no longer be confirmed with the naked eye.
Crack-crack-crack!
That was when it happened. Cracks appeared on the stage floor. The stage began to collapse.
[Th-th-th-this is... this is, this is... this is nonsense!]
[No matter how much it is the Shining Stars!]
[No!]
[Even if it were the Father...! ]
Bang!
The moment he mentioned the word 'Father', the Director's limbs exploded.
[Within this boundary, one should not be able to oppose the 'Creator of Boundaries'!]
[How, how...! ]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[However.]
[Nevertheless.]
[The play has not ended yet.]
[This theater is my Sanctum.]
[My sp...]
"Your space. I get it, but I'm planning to dispel the summoning now. What was the incantation... that... uh... what was it, Sister? I forgot..."
"...Are you serious?"
"I'm serious."
"Sigh... The play is not reality. It is not a lie. The play is a boundary and a dream, and the boundary is the true world."
"Ah, that's it. Right. Let's see, the play is not reality. It is not a lie. The play is a boundary and..."
[Do you think I will just let you!]
[It's an NG!]
[NG!]
[Not understanding that even the intermission time,]
[Is part of the play!]
[It is your defeat!]
Are those guys called Fervent Followers... is it a rule that they act all cool usually, but when they're cornered, they reveal their emotions and show a human side? The highly excited Director shouted the word 'NG' repeatedly. However. Nothing happened.
[Why...]
[This is my Sanctum, my space...]
[Why...]
[...]
[Lee Jia.]
[When did you summon the Sanctum...!]
[And,]
[Why, why on earth...]
[Did I not perceive your Sanctum...!]
How should I know that? No, in the first place, I didn't summon a Sanctum, you idiot. I finished chanting the incantation.
"...and a dream, and the boundary is the true world."
And. The Sanctum summoning was dispelled. Crunch-crunch. As Yoo Iseul loosened her bunched muscles, a grotesque sound echoed.
[Teach me...]
"Teach me...!"
"Lee Jia."
"Your Sanctum, what on earth..."
The Director could no longer continue. Because Yoo Iseul had cut his throat.