Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Encounter with the Unknown - 2
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The Anomalous Phenomenon was a pillar of darkness even blacker than black.
It had such an unpleasant appearance that you could instinctively feel certain disaster would strike if you touched it.
The pillar of darkness featured black spheres that resembled eyes, and since one of them was positioned about 300 meters above the ground, it seemed that was the source pulling in the gravity.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ The Anomalous Phenomenon has requested conversation with you. Honestly, I wasn't even sure if this unidentified black pillar was the Anomalous Phenomenon or not.
If it was an Anomalous Phenomenon, the term 'Anomalous Phenomenon' had to appear at the end of the wiki entry.
But this entry's title and contents...
"...Ugh."
Setting aside whether this unidentified something—this pillar—was an Anomalous Phenomenon or not...
The wiki entry's contents were utterly, hopelessly wrong.
To use a game analogy, it was like some random player, not even an admin, directly manipulating the in-game system.
Using a restaurant analogy, it was like a customer who came to eat barging into the kitchen to cook themselves.
It desires conversation with you.
It was a simple request, but the process of that request was profoundly abnormal.
Having seen the wiki entry's contents, I wore a grave expression as I pondered for a moment.
Yoo Euisul didn't rush me.
This was an urgent situation where we couldn't predict what other variables this black pillar might unleash.
But now that I'd confirmed the information with my ability, it was no longer a variable.
So, Yoo Euisul probably figured that if this Anomalous Phenomenon was dangerous, I'd have warned her already.
Man, even in a situation like this, she's so cool-headed.
...Psycho.
Thanks to Yoo Euisul, my head cleared up.
Pondering alone wouldn't solve anything.
I shared the wiki contents with Yoo Euisul.
Her reaction was...
"What the hell is that?"
"Right?"
Not much different from mine.
If anything, she seemed even more flustered than I was.
"An Anomalous Phenomenon trying to talk to a human? I've never heard of such a thing. There's no precedent at all..."
"Not a human—a Fervent Devotee."
"...Yeah, Fervent Devotee. Same difference. So, what the hell is going on? You said the wiki never lies, right? This doesn't add up."
"..."
She had a point.
The wiki never lies.
This wasn't just my personal opinion—it was an absolute promise decreed in the name of the god Reflecting Myriad Stars.
This Anomalous Phenomenon's entry was blatantly lying to me right now.
Fine, attempting conversation with me made sense, but where the hell did all the black hole info go?
The absence of black hole details was a lie in itself.
But I trusted the wiki.
As the Archivist of the Omnia Archive,
and as a Fervent Devotee of Reflecting Myriad Stars, it would be ridiculous if I didn't.
In this case, rather than the wiki lying,
it was more comforting to think this Anomalous Phenomenon had vandalized the wiki.
Vandalism.
The term originally meant damaging cultural artifacts or property, but on internet wikis, it referred to 'page vandalism.'
Unlike the Omnia Archive wiki, regular wikis inevitably included the subjective opinions of their authors.
When subjective views clashed, arguments were inevitable.
If a page had too much subjective opinion, someone who disliked it might vandalize it.
...But that only applied to internet wikis.
The Omnia Archive wiki could only be edited by its Archivists to begin with.
This unidentified black hole had vandalized the page on its own without editing rights.
In the broadest sense, that was...
...a form of blasphemy.
It had interfered with my abilities as the Archivist of the Omnia Archive and Fervent Devotee of Reflecting Myriad Stars.
Blasphemy, plain and simple.
Yoo Euisul didn't seem to have any good ideas either, so she asked me,
"What are you gonna do?"
"What should I do?"
"This is your call, not mine. The Anomalous Phenomenon specifically named you, not me."
"...I'll try praying first."
"For real? In this situation?"
"I'm serious."
This wasn't something I could resolve on my own.
Soon after, I
knelt on the ground and offered a prayer to the god.
Lord Reflecting Myriad Stars.
Please grant this humble servant a clear answer.
What the hell should I do?
"Does praying like that actually get you a response?"
"Something like a response does come."
Prayer isn't one-way communication—it's mutual.
Whenever I perform any action linked to the 'divine,' Reflecting Myriad Stars always reacts accordingly.
However.
The god neither affirmed nor denied.
No matter how long I waited, no reaction came from Reflecting Myriad Stars.
This could only mean
one thing: I had to handle it myself.
Sitting around wouldn't solve anything.
I said to Yoo Euisul,
"Euisul, I have a favor to ask."
"Shoot."
"Let me talk to it alone."
This Anomalous Phenomenon
had specifically requested conversation with me, a 'Fervent Devotee.'
If Yoo Euisul, a mere 'human' unlike me, joined in... it might activate the black hole ability again.
Even I thought it was a perfectly reasonable and logical solution, so surely Yoo Euisul, with her cool-headed personality, would fully agree...
"No."
...She didn't.
"Why?"
"It's dangerous."
"Wouldn't trying to talk to it together with you be even more dangerous?"
"Can you completely trust that wiki info?"
"Of course. The wiki doesn't lie."
"It already did. Lie."
"That's not a lie—it's vandalism..."
"Who knows if the info changes in real-time mid-conversation. What if I go up there and it suddenly starts pulling gravity again?"
"I'd die, what else? But I won't."
"How can you be so sure?"
"First off, like I said, the wiki doesn't lie. So this Anomalous Phenomenon really wants to talk to me. At least for now. Second, if it were dangerous, Reflecting Myriad Stars would've stopped me already."
"That's not logical—it's purely religious thinking."
"Yep, 'cause I'm a believer."
"It's not human thinking either. Fine, I get you're not human now. But from my perspective as an ordinary human, I just can't accept it."
No.
Why was someone who'd made such a cool judgment suddenly getting so emotional?
Did I say something wrong?
Even setting aside the religious angle, my reasoning was objectively sound.
The risk of me talking alone was far less than
talking together with Yoo Euisul—anyone could see that.
Anyway, Yoo Euisul showed no sign of budging,
so I started appealing to her emotions, just like she was doing.
"I know I don't seem reliable, but please trust me just this once."
"...It's not that."
"Huh?"
"A misunderstanding. It's not that you're unreliable..."
"Not that?"
"...I don't know. Shut up. Anyway, no. Don't get cocky—let's go up first."
With that, Yoo Euisul grabbed my collar and started dragging me along.
I resisted.
"Ah, no! I have to talk to it!"
"I'm ignoring you until we get up there."
"Ugh, come on! You crazy psycho bitch! Euisul! Lady Euisul! Professor Euisul! Big Sis Euisul!"
For a moment,
Yoo Euisul, who had been dragging me like a dog, came to an abrupt halt.
Then she said,
"Say that again."
"You crazy psycho bitch."
"You're dead. Not that—the stuff after."
"Euisul! Lady Euisul! Professor Euisul! Big Sis Euisul."
"Mm."
For some reason,
Yoo Euisul wore a pretty happy expression.
Who knew this woman could make a face like that?
Then Yoo Euisul said to me,
"Promise to call me that from now on, and I'll let you go."
"What? Professor Euisul?"
Drag drag drag.
"Ah, got it! I'll call you Big Sis Euisul! Happy now?"
"Yeah. Good. Now go. Don't die."
...What a weirdo.
I thought I'd figured Yoo Euisul out pretty well, but nope.
This woman
was so emotional she'd completely overturn her own judgment over something as trivial as being called 'big sis.'
And so,
Yoo Euisul vanished from my sight with surprising speed, almost anticlimactically.
She gives up fast.
Whew.
Haa.
Sniiiif.
Haaa.
Lord Reflecting Myriad Stars,
this is really safe, right?
"..."
No answer, so I'll take that as safe.
With that, I slowly approached the black pillar.
I reached out my hand, and
the black sphere 300 meters up sloooowly descended.
Soon, it was right in front of my eyes.
Its intent to converse was clear.
"Hey."
I cautiously addressed the black sphere.
"I'm a Fervent Devotee."
Then,
the black sphere
suddenly opened its eye.
⚙ TRANSMISSION ⚙ [I am a Fervent Devotee of the Distorted Constellation. I have just confirmed your willingness to converse. Before we engage in proper conversation, first reveal what being you follow.] Of course, this black sphere had no mouth—it was an eye. There was no organ that could be mistaken for a mouth anywhere.
But it definitely spoke.
The situation was abnormal, but at this point, that hardly mattered.
...Are you kidding me?
"You vandalized the wiki first, and now you're asking that? It's obvious. Only Fervent Devotees of Reflecting Myriad Stars write the wiki."
Even a clueless Devotee like me knew that much.
Anyway, this confirmed it.
This black pillar wasn't just a simple Anomalous Phenomenon.
It was another Fervent Devotee.
It didn't look biological at all, which was a bit disconcerting, but...
Still, it had an eye and could talk.
Good enough.
So.
"Answer."
[...]
"Answer me. Why did you mess with my wiki, why did you show up on Earth, and why request a conversation?"
[...]
"Done thinking? Time to answer."
[...]
"Uh... hey? Was I too rude? Ah, fine, I'll use polite speech from now on. So answer."
[...]
"Hey!"
And so,
14 minutes passed.
This seemed bad.
I couldn't call Yoo Euisul back now—what was I supposed to do?
As 15 minutes ticked by,
finally, the black sphere spoke again.
⚙ TRANSMISSION ⚙ [I see... A Fervent Devotee of the Great Being who governs knowledge, Reflecting Myriad Stars! This is an unexpected harvest. I do not know what 'wiki vandalism' means, but whatever it signifies, I apologize if it displeased you. I have so many questions for you, but the world does not grant us much time. The transmitter has nine Q&A exchanges remaining. Once they conclude, the transmitter will self-destruct. Do not worry for the safety of the planet you oversee. Let us begin the proper conversation. I thank you for graciously accepting my unreasonable request. Thus, you may ask me the first question.] "Fuck, what bullshit is this! Where'd you sell my answers?!"
No bullshit feast like this one.
My head was gonna explode. Breathe and talk, damn it.
Faced with the sudden wave of info flooding my brain, I spat out a curse first.
...Calm down.
Be a gentleman.
I politely laid out my questions one by one.
Once again, no immediate answer.
It apparently took a full 15 minutes for a response.
I gritted my teeth and waited.
After 15 minutes,
finally, a response came from the 'transmitter.'
⚙ TRANSMISSION ⚙ [Bullshit? A misunderstanding. I do not know what intellectual lifeform 'dog' refers to, but I am a Fervent Devotee like you, not of that species. You have yet to adapt to the transmitter's communication method. I grant you another chance to question. Eight Q&A exchanges remain.] Ah.
Now I got why this 'transmitter' communicated in such bullshit chunks.
If the message cut off midway, the conversation didn't transmit.
Please.
Tell me stuff like this from the start.