Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Fading Memories
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"Squad Leader, what's wrong?"
"The Headquarters Chief has his sights set on wiping out the Tale Shop, but honestly, I'm not so sure."
Se-jin rose from her chair.
"Something about it just feels off. It doesn't seem right to get rid of the shop like that."
Se-jin had come to utterly despise Tales after the tragedy in her past, so it was only natural for her to sense something amiss in her own reluctance to eliminate the Merchant.
"The Chief won't budge on his stance to crush the shop. He's been through a lot himself."
"Yeah, probably."
Do-hyun nodded in agreement.
"But relying solely on your gut feeling carries too much risk, Squad Leader. Sure, the Merchant's info somehow vanished from circulation, and he's never shown any malice toward humans. Still, it's a Tale."
From their perspective, the Merchant was a Tale no matter how you sliced it.
No one could predict what trusting a Tale might lead to.
"No, you're right in a way. But just think about it?"
"Squad Leader, even so—"
"Hey?"
It was Tae-jun who cut into their argument.
"Could you maybe explain why you're reacting so sensitively to the shop?"
"Oh, right, Tae-jun, you wouldn't know."
Se-jin explained the secret connection between the Merchant and the Bureau.
"Wait, then the Bureau set up my last encounter with the Merchant—!"
"What?"
"Uh, nothing."
As Tae-jun made an awkward face, Do-hyun turned to him.
"What do you think, Tae-jun?"
"Well... my take lines up with the Squad Leader's, for what it's worth. As a victim of the shop myself, there were parts that never quite sat right with me."
Tae-jun, who had pondered the shop plenty even on normal days, naturally sided with Se-jin.
"And from what you've said, it sounds like the Merchant has stepped outside the shop before. To me, that proves he's got something special going on."
"That just makes me think we need to take him out right now. But if both of you feel that way... fine. We'll keep it from the Chief for now."
Do-hyun couldn't shake his deep suspicions about the Merchant, but he trusted his teammates even more.
"So we're keeping this between us?"
"No, let's bring in one more person."
Not long after Se-jin made the call, the elevator dinged, and someone stepped out.
"Y-You called me here and all, but... what's going on?"
It was Chief Researcher Moon Woo-seok.
"I don't know what it is, but as you know, I'm the researcher who invented masterpieces like Momentary Dream and the Carpenter's Gloves. Everyone wants a piece of me. I'm the 'Chief Researcher,' after all. Please make it quick."
History had tweaked his personality to make him a bit more obnoxious, but he knew about the shop and the Bureau's ties—and he was a valuable teammate, to boot.
Plus, even before the shift, he'd been more capable than you'd expect.
"Woo-seok."
"Yes?"
"Tear off one sheet of this tissue."
Woo-seok did so without a second thought.
"Wha? Wh-wh-what! What the—?!"
His action was casual, but the truth weighed heavy.
"Nooo, my invention! I made it! My brilliant knowledge..."
Tears welled up in Woo-seok's eyes.
"You okay now, Woo-seok?"
"Yeah..."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Ahh... I get the picture now."
It took about twenty minutes for Woo-seok to fully regain his composure.
"To think Momentary Dream wasn't my creation..."
The aftereffects hadn't fully faded.
"So we're not handing that fluff over to the Chief?"
"I'd like to hold off, yeah."
"Works for me."
"That damn Chief bastard..."
Memories of the revived Chief were enough to draw curses from Woo-seok's lips.
The man had stolen his tears, after all.
"What's the plan now?"
"Hard to say for sure, but pretty much all info on the Tale Shop is probably gone by now."
Tae-jun nodded.
"Yeah, that's my read too."
"Hunting for intel won't cut it anymore, then. No matter what, we need to track down the Tale Shop first."
Se-jin rummaged for the business card she always kept on her desk.
"Argh!"
"Squad Leader?"
Se-jin swept everything off her desk—the computer, the papers, all of it.
"History changed, and the business card's gone too."
"Wait, but stuff like Momentary Dream and the candy are still around."
Woo-seok pondered.
"Those could latch onto new narratives. Like, say, me inventing them outright."
"But a business card like that?"
Se-jin caught Woo-seok's drift and let out an exclamation.
"No story could possibly fit it!"
Woo-seok's smug pride in his intellect lasted only a moment.
"But whether we figured it out or not, the card's gone all the same."
"..."
As collective anguish crushed their shared intellect, a similar wave of torment churned within the Tale Shop itself.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ My name is Shin Jin-seong?
No, Shin Jin-seong is the protagonist's name.
But I wrote Shin Jin-seong on the contract.
I couldn't make sense of it, but somehow, I'd been oblivious to this—right up to the moment I signed it.
As if a massive fog shrouded part of my vision and memory.
What was my real name to begin with?
Lately, I've only been called by one name.
Merchant.
Right, Merchant.
That's my name.
"Damn it, that can't be!"
Merchant!
What's wrong with you? Did you eat something bad at the Label Library?
"Uh, huh?"
My head throbs.
Incomprehensible info stabs into my skull like a blade.
My body feels heavy.
A thick migraine seems to transmute the pain into leaden weight, spreading through my whole frame.
"Who... am I, exactly?"
I'm a veteran gamer with ten thousand hours in this game.
The title was [Became a Merchant in Tales of Terror] or something.
No, it was different.
I can't recall clearly.
Ever since I got here, my memories haven't been intact. Must be tied to that.
So maybe I got it backward—my name's Shin Jin-seong, and I mixed it up with the protagonist's?
That seems more likely.
I never memorized game lore perfectly, and side characters' names stick better than the lead's anyway.
So... forgetting the protagonist's name? Totally plausible.
No way. Makes a mockery of my gamer cred.
"Shop... who am I?"
You are the Merchant.
A merchant who sells goods and sources new stock.
"Be more specific."
I have no idea what answer you're after.
I'm the Shop... just as you're the Merchant.
Normal me would've accepted that and moved on, but now even simple logic fails me.
Of course I'd spiral into confusion.
My sense of self unravels, dragging everything else into doubt.
Why couldn't the Shop remember its past? What was that core?
Is any of this about me?
Merchant.
"Don't call me Merchant!"
My breathing grows ragged.
"I'm Shin Jin-seong..."
Shin Jin-seong?
Is that your name?
"No, sorry. I got too worked up. Forget it."
Forcing calm doesn't kill the agitation.
"Hoo..."
Just settle down a bit.
Excitement breeds bad calls.
Is Shin Jin-seong really my name?
Whether it's mine or the protagonist's, it's familiar either way.
So right now, no way to tell them apart.
Merchant, I don't know if the past week's blank slate rattled you, but you need to prep for the Factory Owner deal.
"No, if my hunch is right, the Factory Owner won't show."
What do you mean?
If everyone's forgotten me, that includes the Factory Owner.
I figured sustaining that deal would be tricky anyway, so maybe this works out.
"The Tale Shop's been erased from memory."
Even more baffling.
I should explain the details to the Shop, but my head hurts too much for that now.
Normally, I'd sleep off the headache, but I'm not chill enough to crash in this state.
I need to sort out my murky past properly.
Can you realize you've forgotten something people have forgotten?
If you blank on a phone number, you might notice later when swapping contacts.
But if you forget you even had a phone?
You wouldn't even know to miss the number.
I'd chalked it up to time blurring things naturally, but now it's clear.
I've lost more than that.
I need to recover the fine details of my past.
Should I have used that tissue myself?
It's gone from my hands now, so other options it is.
"..."
Wait, do I have to?
They couldn't have burned through all that tissue already.
I don't want to steal, but cops would let a single sheet slide.
Time to loot that blue tissue.