I'll Sleep Just Holding Hands (3)
I'll Sleep Just Holding Hands (3)
The facility was about the size of a soccer field.
The dome covering the ceiling was densely packed with magic formulas, and there were very few presences detectable inside.
At the very least, none of my knowledge let me deduce what this building was for.
With a faint sense of anticipation, I followed Baek A-rin.
Inside the facility, a rectangular bed sat there all by itself.
"?"
The interior was beyond anything I'd imagined. I had no idea what to make of it.
After my mind went blank for a moment, I kept my cool and examined the surroundings again.
Strictly speaking, the bed wasn't the only thing there.
Next to the bed were a small wooden storage chest and a little refrigerator.
And that was it.
"This way, right this way."
Just as I was about to observe the inside of the storage chest, Baek A-rin took my hand and moved.
Her destination was the bed in the center.
The bed was enormous.
The standard bed in the dorm was already far too big for my frame, but this bed looked easily more than four times as large.
With a bit of exaggeration, it was a colossal bed big enough that you could line up ten Lee Ha-yuls and still have room to spare.
I cocked my head and gave Baek A-rin's arm a little shake.
[What is this?]
[What's with the bed?]
[What is this facility for?]
The Confession Necklace rattled out words in a rush. Baek A-rin, who had glanced at the chattering necklace, shrugged her shoulders.
"You'll find out soon enough. Because..."
By then, we were already right in front of the bed.
"You're about to experience it firsthand... here you go."
[Huh?]
Baek A-rin pulled on our joined hands and gave me a light shove toward the bed.
It wasn't like she threw me. Just a moderate push.
There wasn't a trace of hostility in the act.
I'd let my guard down too, so I toppled over without any resistance.
My shins caught the edge of the bed, my knees bent, and I flopped down onto it.
"That's it. Scoot in a little more."
[???]
The plush softness of the bed registered vividly against my back. Before I could even react, my shoulder was nudged again, and I ended up sprawled flat on my back.
"Hup..."
Just like that, I was lying on the gigantic bed.
After pushing me down, Baek A-rin took off the blue jacket she had on, tossed it casually over the nearby storage chest, and then flopped down beside me.
"Whoa, it's wonderfully soft. They brought in the high-end stuff... You're not uncomfortable, are you?"
[No]
[I'm... okay]
"Here. Have some water."
[Thank you]
There was a little distance between us.
Baek A-rin, who had been checking the state of the bed, asked how I was, and I gave a dazed nod.
Then, after fidgeting with the water bottle I'd been handed for a moment, I opened the cap and took a small sip.
"......"
I swallowed and took a moment to think.
I hadn't yet interpreted the mass of formulas inscribed on the ceiling, so they remained a mystery, but now that things had come to this, various thoughts naturally bubbled up.
Some of them were so outrageous I could never tell another soul.
A massive, yet otherwise empty secret room with a bed just sitting there...
The setting practically encouraged that kind of imagining.
It was a thought I could absolutely never say out loud.
It was also a ludicrous delusion that got shot down the instant it formed.
Because Baek A-rin had no reason to act that way.
I don't really know anything definitive about Baek A-rin as a person, but common sense says as much.
We hadn't even known each other that long. A person's true heart is something you can fail to grasp even after a solid year or two.
It was a stupid thought. Even reflecting on it now, it was so incredibly dumb that my face was practically burning.
To hide my face, I buried it deep into the pillow right in front of me.
'S-so soft...'
I froze for an instant from the unexpected plushness.
Now that I thought about it, the softness of the bed cradling my body was extraordinary. Baek A-rin hadn't commented on it being high-end for no reason.
"If you're tired, you can just lie there like that. Just lie comfortably and keep your ears open~"
[Huh?]
Baek A-rin, who had glanced over at my behavior, let out a soft laugh and then tapped at her smartwatch.
Keep my ears open? What did she mean by that?
I was tilting my head when it happened.
- Wooooong...
I flinched.
There was no audible sound. The activation itself was silent.
The round ceiling.
Inside it, the massive array of embedded magic formulas filled with mana and began to activate.
I hadn't deliberately tried to interpret them, but once they started up like this, I had no choice but to do so.
There were no formulas for attack. And almost none for defense, either.
Formulas for security, and for maintenance, were also extremely scarce.
The types of formulas broadly fell into two categories...
The very moment I began to decipher them.
- Thump!
"......!"
A deep, weighty sound sent a reverberating hum through the space around us.
It was a massive, stimulating vibration, as if the sound was bouncing off every surface and amplifying.
It was intense enough to make me wonder if the sound itself was physically drumming against my eardrums.
But it didn't hurt my ears.
That was the effect of the magic formulas.
'...Just now?'
It wasn't a sound I heard often, but I had heard it several times before.
I didn't know its exact term.
But I knew the sound came from a musical instrument.
- Thump! Thump! Thump!
The sounds beating against my eardrums in succession felt like the herald of a performance about to begin.
- ♪...
And then, as if affirming that, the notes of various instruments began to emerge one by one.
All kinds of sounds filled my ears. It felt like a multitude of instruments were tickling my ears and tapping away at my eardrums.
The sound was incredibly stimulating and vast.
The only things in this space were the bed, the storage chest, and the refrigerator.
Perhaps because of that, the sounds of the various instruments could spread effortlessly throughout the wide-open space.
"......"
I absently rubbed my ears.
Ever since my senses had been amplified, I'd often be startled by sudden loud noises.
I knew how to keep my senses sharp, but handling them was my own burden to bear.
Even with normal hearing, there are loud and stimulating sounds.
When my amplified hearing picked up those sounds, the pain was like the inside of my skull was pounding.
That wasn't the case now.
The series of stimulating, weighty sounds filled my ears, drummed against my eardrums, and transmitted into my head, but it wasn't the least bit uncomfortable.
'Magic.'
One of the two types of formulas embedded in the ceiling.
It was a type of magic that intricately interfered with sound... something I'd never properly studied.
'Ah.'
It was only then that I realized.
A wide but empty space.
A bed sitting all alone.
Magic that finely manipulates sound.
'So this is a facility for that.'
This place was a concert hall.
A space designed to appreciate sound magically embedded into the structure. A facility designed and built from the beginning for exactly this purpose.
- Tap tap
It was then.
Baek A-rin, who had been appreciating the music just like me, suddenly tapped my shoulder.
I'd been listening in a daze. When I turned my head, wondering what she wanted, Baek A-rin giggled and spoke.
"I told you it'd be fine, didn't I?"
Her voice came through clearly even amid all the diverse sounds.
Her tone suggested she already assumed I was enjoying myself.
I didn't feel particularly contrary about it. Because I genuinely liked the music that was reaching my ears.
When I gave a dazed nod, Baek A-rin smiled in satisfaction as if she had expected as much, and with a gesture, she brought up a hologram.
"Ha-yul, your detection ability gathers information within a set range. You can't collect any information outside that range... Correct?"
It was something I'd explained before.
Baek A-rin manipulated the hologram.
"I'm not sure if you'll like this one, though."
- Wooooong...
I sensed mana moving in the ceiling.
The other half of the formulas, which hadn't been active yet, began to operate.
Mana filled a rather complex type of formula, and the spell manifested.
"......"
The ceiling had been painted entirely black.
It was a color reminiscent of a pitch-black cosmos devoid of a single speck of starlight.
- Twinkle
Within that color, light suddenly emerged.
There were vivid yellow lights, faint blue lights, and glittering red lights.
But the most numerous were simply blue and white lights.
Countless white lights abruptly etched themselves across the black ceiling.
At first one or two... then ten... soon they exceeded a hundred, then abruptly a thousand.
A feast of light aptly described as countless filled the jet-black ceiling.
So many that in one spot, the tiniest pinpricks of light clustered together and seemed to form a river of white.
Lights dotted the black space like little points, shining down from above.
'The sky.'
The magic had manifested, and the ceiling had recreated the cosmos unfolding in a night sky.
.
.
.
My mind went blank for a while.
My ears still held the sounds of all those beautiful instruments, and the ceiling displayed a star-filled night sky, revealing the universe.
'The sky.'
A place I couldn't capture after my eyes closed.
Spatial perception... I could not encompass a range vast enough to hold the full sky.
The Authority of Observation I'd awakened could probably do it if I tried.
Rather than just pulling in the sky's information, I might even be able to shift it to a truly vision-like viewpoint.
It'd be impossible for now, but someday, maybe.
Yet before I could even attempt that, the universe was unfolding inside my head.
"How is it?"
My hand tickled. When I turned my observation to see what it was, I found slender fingers tickling my palm.
Lying on her side facing me, Baek A-rin looked my way and asked.
Her neatly tied-up hair was now spread across the bed, drinking in the simulated starlight pouring down from the ceiling.
"I put a lot of effort into finding and reserving this facility... Do you like it?"
'......'
I thought about it for a moment.
The universe wasn't captured on my retinas.
This was not a sky seen with my eyes.
I wanted to see the sky with my own eyes, directly.
Information brought in through observation was bound to be insufficient.
The necklace clattered.
[I like it]
If I had come to this facility alone, I wouldn't have liked it.
As soon as I realized that, I felt firsthand how childish my personality could be.
Patting my own head did nothing for me.
But when someone who cherished me stroked my head, it made my heart warm and brought a soft smile to my face.
With my sense of taste paralyzed, forcing down food alone was unpleasant.
Yet when someone who treated me dearly put food into my mouth, I liked it even though it had no flavor.
Sometimes, burying myself in the embrace of a giant teddy bear and pulling the blanket over my head didn't yield much satisfaction.
But being held in the arms of someone who liked me was so happy and cozy that nothing could compare.
'Does Baek A-rin...'
Does she cherish me?
Does she treat me dearly?
Does she like me?
I turned my observation deeper and projected what lay beyond Baek A-rin's mask.
The same expressionless face I had always sensed.
A cold face that held not a single emotion.
'I don't know.'
The Baek A-rin of the 1st Iteration was a strong, reliable person who stayed by the player's side right up until they were killed.
The Baek A-rin of the 8th Iteration was a traitor who stabbed the player in the back during a critical moment while engaged in battle with the Tower Master of Bitter Cold.
She's a character who hides secrets that even the original work never uncovered.
It was a mystery.
I couldn't be sure of anything. My mind is too dull, and my experience facing people is so shallow that it was hard to even hazard a guess.
"I'm glad you like it."
Baek A-rin smiled brightly.
Inside, her face was nothing but cold, yet with her mask, she was wearing a smile of relief and satisfaction.
That fact was terribly confusing.
Why was her real face so cold while her mask smiled so warmly?
Why did she betray the player in the 8th Iteration, but stay loyal to the end in the 1st Iteration?
Would she stab me in the back later in reality, too?
Was the reason she treated me so well now nothing more than an act to lower my guard...?
And also.
Why were the emotions I faintly sensed so pale, and what on earth was it that she seemed to long for so desperately?
'I don't know.'
Questions and confusion.
'But still...'
I squeezed the hand I was holding. It was endlessly cool... but it was a soft, familiar sensation by now.
So far, Baek A-rin had consistently acted in ways that were considerate toward me.
Even if there might be a self-serving motive behind it, I hoped there was at least a little bit of genuine feeling for me in her heart.
'I hope you don't betray me.'
If someone who went to these lengths for me, even selfishly, were to stab me in the back... my heart would be torn apart so badly I don't even want to imagine it.
If she wanted something, I'd do my absolute best to grant it, so I wished she wouldn't betray me.
"I've already reserved the room until tomorrow. If you get sleepy while listening, you can just fall asleep right there."
After saying that, Baek A-rin paused. Then she smirked, pulling up the corner of her mouth.
"Don't worry. I really will just hold your hand and sleep."
Then with a playful smile, she waved our joined hands.
'...If I'm sleepy, sleep...'
The moment I heard that implication, like Pavlov's dog, drowsiness really did wash over me.
The soft bed and the blanket that had at some point been pulled up to my chin urged me to sleep.
The music filling my ears came to me like a lullaby.
Beside me lay Baek A-rin.
Bringing up the intel from the 8th Iteration should have kept me on edge... but I had confidence that at least within Siyoram, we were absolutely safe, so she didn't feel threatening.
It was also partly because my wariness toward Baek A-rin herself had faded a great deal.
My body grew heavy, and my consciousness gradually drifted away.
"Huh... huh? Are you really sleeping?"
My hand felt idle. Instead of clutching at the thing flickering at the edge of my senses, I let my consciousness go.
My awareness sank.
I did not have a nightmare.
* * *
"...He really fell asleep."
Almost the moment he was told he could sleep, his breathing evened out and he was off to dreamland.
Baek A-rin, lying on the bed, blinked and turned her head.
Then, she had a clear view of Lee Ha-yul's face, fast asleep.
His face looked so innocent and artless.
On a whim, as she was about to poke his cheek with her finger, her hand was grabbed tight.
When she looked down, she saw her own hand clutched firmly in Lee Ha-yul's grip.
Far from wariness, he was clinging to her as if telling her not to go.
His guard was crumbling faster than expected, enough to make her tilt her head.
Hadn't he been clearly afraid of her in the beginning?
Over time, that feeling had eased considerably, but the fundamental sense of rejection Lee Ha-yul held for Baek A-rin still seemed present.
Because of that, she'd thought breaking down his guard would be incredibly difficult...
'Ah, right.'
The memory of Lee Ha-yul's reaction when he first took in this bed suddenly came to mind.
The face that had tilted with suspicion and bewilderment, then at some point flinched hard and turned as red as a tomato.
His reaction had been so blatant and innocent that she could instantly tell what he'd been thinking.
With an odd expression, Baek A-rin opened the storage chest beside her and reached inside.
She grabbed a random box and held it up to him.
"It is meant for that use, too, you know."
The identity of the box was a standard-issue contraceptive.
It wasn't as if no one had ever used this place for that sort of purpose.
* * *
[Player Correction System: Affection]
Lee Ha-yul → Baek A-rin
●●●●●●○○○○ (63▷68/100)
｢Affection｣ ｢Doubt｣ ｢Confusion｣
...
[Conditions for lifting the ｢Curse of Silence｣ have not been met]
[Conditions for lifting the ｢Curse of Solitude｣ have not been met]
...
[Savior Correction System: Evil Annihilation Progress]
[The System expresses intense rejection toward Bitter Cold!]
...
[Reading the Savior's emotions]
[Player Correction System: Measurement]
▶Mindscape State
｢Salvation｣: Save those in danger.
...
[Player Correction System: Affection]
Lee Ha-yul → Baek A-rin
●●●●●●○○○○ (68/100)
｢Affection｣ ｢Doubt｣ ｢Confusion｣
...
[Harmonizing with System...]
[Savior Correction System: Pioneering Progress]
[Linking with Main Quest ｢Tower of Bitter Cold｣...]
[Generating Quest ｢Baek A-rin｣]
...
[Savior Correction System: Salvation Progress]
[When the Savior performs an act of salvation, the System will assist the Savior with all its power]