Chapter 14
Chapter 14
------------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Logic
------------------------------------------------------------------
The cabin inside was comfortably warm, just as always.
I knew that if I stepped outside, soft sunlight would be blanketing the fields.
It's always like that here.
The sun never sets, forever frozen in that perpetual morning-like time.
When I'm hungry, I eat. When I'm sleepy, I sleep. And when I wake up, the same morning light greets me again.
I was sprawled face-down on the bed, tapping my fingers idly on the floor.
The scene from moments ago kept replaying in my head without end.
The Management Bureau agent.
The moment he fell under my spell, turned into a corpse, and vanished completely.
A dull ache tugged at one corner of my chest.
Is this what they call guilt?
A tangle of subtle emotions lingered in my mind.
Then, suddenly, the air inside the cabin rippled ever so slightly.
The texture of the air against my skin shifted just a fraction.
The breeze was warning me of an intruder's presence.
I didn't turn my head, just rolled my eyes.
"You're here?"
[Yes.]
I rolled over and slid off the bed.
The feel of my bare feet hitting the floor brought a solid sense of reality with a thud.
Turning around, there stood Eemo.
The Nameless Entity.
"Come to see me?"
[Yes. You seemed different from usual, Saetbit-nim.]
"How so?"
[Your mind appears a bit complicated.]
Eemo was always like this.
Not so much reading my attitude or expressions like a person would, but sensing the traces I emitted, like tuning into a frequency.
I ruffled my hair once and pressed down on the shaking laurel wreath to hold it in place.
[Saetbit-nim's emotional state subtly influences this entire world. By following those changes, I can reach you.]
Just hearing the explanation sent a chill down my spine.
"That's kinda creepy...."
[You don't like the way I find you?]
"No, I mean.... I'm grateful for it, but hearing it described like that feels off."
A few of Eemo's tentacles drooped limply near my shoulders.
Her face remained doll-like and composed, but the atmosphere felt a touch more subdued.
In truth, it felt like her heart was shattering.
[...What happened?]
"Hm...."
It was something I'd have to tell her eventually anyway.
Better to get it out now.
"A Management Bureau agent came by."
Eemo's gaze flickered ever so slightly.
Her expression stayed the same, but the focus of her eyes shifted subtly.
[Management... Bureau agent.]
The pronunciation felt awkward.
Like she was forcing herself to mimic my words.
[What sort of being is that?]
"Oh, you don't know about them?"
I perched on the chair beside the bed.
One hand on my knee, the other fiddling with the laurel wreath's strap.
"The Management Bureau is an organization that operates in my hometown."
[Saetbit-nim's hometown.]
"Yeah."
Eemo whispered it back, repeating what I'd said before about my home.
[A place where countless humans live in all sorts of ways...]
"Right. The ones working there are the Management Bureau."
I continued.
"Roughly speaking, they investigate anomalies, seal them, hide them, and sometimes eliminate them. That's their job..."
I paused for a moment and looked straight at Eemo.
"The Management Bureau also protects anomalies from humans."
One of Eemo's tentacles tilted slowly, like a nodding head.
[A human group that protects anomalies from humans.]
"Not exactly protection, but more like a buffer that keeps total disaster from turning into absolute hell."
[Then, I could do that role.]
Eemo jumped straight to that conclusion.
[I can handle dealing with humans who don't meet Saetbit-nim's standards. Then the Management Bureau wouldn't be necessary, would it?]
"..."
I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.
"If the Management Bureau vanished, it would throw all of human society into chaos."
[Why is that a problem?]
The question was so pure that it made me, the one answering, feel more exhausted.
"For starters, if society flips upside down, the infrastructure collapses."
[Infrastructure.]
"Yeah. Electricity, communications, transportation, healthcare, food distribution—all that stuff. Because it's stable, if I go back there, I can lounge comfortably, wander around sightseeing sometimes, and easily get any info I need."
[Then, I can create it instead.]
Eemo said it very matter-of-factly.
[I can analyze the infrastructure elements Saetbit-nim needs and design a new structure. I could even make it more efficient.]
"...That's not something you can just say so easily."
[It wouldn't be difficult for me.]
Her tone was serious, no hint of bravado.
She genuinely believed she could do it.
"Infrastructure isn't all there is."
I gestured vaguely in the air with my hand.
"Human society has all these relationships people build among themselves. Who likes who, hates who, admires who, resents who... A lot of events revolve around that."
[Social relationships.]
"If those completely break down, humanity as a species would change in ways it's not now. And that process wouldn't be pretty to watch."
[For social relationships, don't you have us?]
Eemo said earnestly.
[You have Setang-nim, and me. If needed, we could design a new network centered around Saetbit-nim.]
"That's...."
I started to choose my words, then shut my mouth.
It was clearly sophistry.
The idea of tearing down everything humanity had built and rebuilding it around me was dangerous, inefficient, and fundamentally wrong.
But when I tried to refute it, I had to pick it apart point by point.
Eemo's attitude was utterly consistent.
If I wanted it gone, she'd erase it all. If I wanted it new, she'd remake it all.
It was an absurd obsession mixed with loyalty toward me, but because it came out so purely, arguing against it was exhausting.
I rubbed my forehead.
"Hm... If we actually did that, wouldn't there be too many variables exploding that even you couldn't handle?"
[I can handle those variables too.]
"That's exactly the..."
My rebuttals kept dying on my tongue.
Eemo was sincere, and capable.
That made it worse.
From a human perspective, it was utter madness. From an outer god's view, it might even be a reasonably efficient alternative.
To bridge that gap, I'd have to drag out sociology, human psychology, history, culture—the whole lot.
Just imagining it gave me a headache.
"...Ah, seriously."
I leaned my head back against the chair and stared at the ceiling.
"...Refuting all this would take way too much effort on my part..."
[If it's causing you distress, Saetbit-nim, I'll stop the debate.]
"Haa..."
Eemo stood still, watching me.
Her tentacles curled up neatly, forming shapes like the hem of a doll's skirt.
She showed no intent to oppose or deceive me.
If anything, that made it more burdensome.
If things stayed like this, no matter how elaborate my logic, Eemo's judgment would boil down to one thing.
Whether I liked it or not.
So in the end, I cut off my own rambling words.
"And talking to you like this, I realize explaining this stuff out loud takes way longer than I thought."
[You explained it to me, Saetbit-nim. I tried to understand.]
"Results?"
[Partial understanding.]
Eemo spoke with a hint of embarrassment, but in her usual even tone.
"So, what's your conclusion from what you understood?"
[Eliminating the Management Bureau would make you uncomfortable, Saetbit-nim.]
"...Yeah, that's true enough."
[Yes.]
Eemo ended it with the tiniest nod.
[If you don't want it, I won't touch the Management Bureau.]
Those words were so simple and absolute.
I blanked out for a moment.
All the lengthy explanations I'd laid out before felt futile, scattering emptily in my mind.
So, I just said it.
"Then let me put it this way."
[Yes.]
"If you eliminate the Management Bureau, I'll hate it."
Eemo's eyes widened by the tiniest fraction.
A flicker of surprise, restrained out of consideration for me.
[Ah.]
A short exclamation escaped.
[Is that so.]
"Yeah. A world without the Management Bureau completely? I wouldn't like that."
The answer came instantly.
[If it's something you dislike, Saetbit-nim, I'll exclude eliminating the Management Bureau.]
Eemo's expression truly shifted to one of acceptance.
Her eyes softened just a bit, the corners of her mouth relaxing subtly.
Hard to describe precisely, but that's how it felt.
Watching that, I naturally made a dumbfounded face.
The corners of my mouth drooped weakly, my eyebrows arching on their own.
"And that's it?"
[You said you dislike it.]
"No, what about all those long explanations I gave before?"
[I couldn't fully understand from those explanations.]
Eemo answered honestly.
[I got a little, but fully accepting it would take time.]
"But one line of 'I hate it' and you get it right away?"
[Yes. Because it's something you dislike...]
I was at a loss for words for a moment.
From now on, maybe it's faster and more effective to just bulldoze with a single line like 'I hate it' instead of long logical persuasions?
A clear will and emotion over complicated logic and explanations.
I realized all too clearly in that moment how convenient it was to put that weapon at the forefront.
It was the moment a dangerous ideology bloomed in Han Saetbit's heart.