Chapter 92
Chapter 92
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: Answerer VI: Shin Noah 10
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Baekhwa Girls' High School.
More precisely, there were plenty of signs that the "school ghost stories" had turned the place into an avici hell nest.
The school's landscape was decisive evidence.
Back in the 89th round, when my consciousness briefly touched the Fairy Lord and glimpsed it, the avici hell looked just like this.
[The school was an abandoned wooden building. The name Baekhwa—Hundred Tales—rumbled.]
[The sky was blood-red. Shattered glass windows were scratched by birch trees' white flesh, poking their heads into the school's hallway from outside. The school was impaled through its body by white stakes, torn to shreds.]
No matter how you looked at it, it was identical to a school ghost story.
Of course, there were differences.
Like the school name.
Originally, Baekhwa Girls' High's Baekhwa (白花) meant white flowers. 白 and 百 looked similar in form, but the hanja were clearly different.
As I emphasized beforehand, however, language play—"toying with words in the world"—was the basis of spells.
My reasoning went like this.
In Baekhwa, the 白 meaning "white" was embodied by the white-fleshed trees, the birches.
Whether old or new school building, walking the hallways here, white birches jutted out through broken windows everywhere.
They perfectly embodied the concept of "white."
Transformed into birches, the empty space of 白 was infiltrated by its homophone 百.
A simple pun.
Then what about the 화 (花) in Baekhwa?
That was simple too. Even after subjugating 99 anomalies, exactly two things in Baekhwa Girls' High hadn't returned to normal.
Birch trees rising like prison bars. And crimson spider lilies blooming wildly in all directions.
These bright red spider lilies had stolen the 화 (花).
Reality had its words stolen by the anomaly, "white flowers" twisted into "red flowers," and the world conquered by the void.
Thus, no matter how many anomalies were subjugated, the name "Baekhwa" itself... the anomaly's final spell remained intact.
"This is my interpretation."
"Whoooaaa... I-I never thought of that. The other buildings all returned to normal like before, so I wondered why only the birches and spider lilies stayed pristine..."
Step. Step.
We walked through the empty hospital. The ceiling, pillars, floor—all bleached pure white, stretching endlessly.
Where I was. What time it was now.
Unable to fix any coordinates, my blurring consciousness outline was held steady by conversation with Cheon Yo-hwa and me.
"Walking more just repeats the same hallway. Is there no exit...?"
"Hang in there a bit longer."
This was why a duo mattered. Even if Cheon Yo-hwa's combat power was far below mine, in the void, two were vastly better than one.
Because the basic unit forming the world of humans wasn't atoms, but "other and I"—a pair.
"Mmm. Oh, right! Uncle. So how do we get rid of the birches and spider lilies? Just cut them all down?"
"Tried it. They grew back."
"Eek..."
"They're only trees and flowers on the surface—their true nature is anomalies. Most anomalies can be subjugated by force, but many resist physical power. Those require hitting their weak points precisely."
"Weak point..."
In fact, that's why, when holding funerals for victims, we used school desks as kindling instead of birches.
Burning an anomaly's body for cremation. How ominous. The toxic fumes from the smoke were far less harmful.
"Hmm. But by that logic... isn't the 'Baekhwa' anomaly's weak point a total mystery? It doesn't move like other ghosts, and we don't even know its identity. Oh, maybe it's hidden on basement level 4?"
"Close enough."
Step. Following my footsteps came lighter ones: step.
As cautioned upon entry, Cheon Yo-hwa matched my steps exactly.
"Stop here."
"Ah, got it."
"You can take 10 free steps forward. If you're uncomfortable, find a comfy position now. Make sure it's exactly 10."
"...? What's that mean?"
"Ten more steps from here makes exactly the 4,444th step."
"..."
I opened the trunk bag. Pulled out candles one by one, lining them around us.
Soon, exactly 100 candles stood in the hallway like a birch grove. I sat in the center, seating Cheon Yo-hwa opposite me.
Snap—
Flicking my fingers, a hundred candles ignited with whooshes. Aura control.
"Uncle, this is..."
"Yo-hwa. We're about to perform a ritual."
"..."
"Got your ten steps?"
"Yes."
"You asked about the birches' and spider lilies' weak point earlier? This ritual we're focusing on now will become it. It's simple. Ever told ghost stories with friends on a summer trip?"
"Yes, have."
"Good. Just like that. All the ghosts we've exorcised so far, plus those other students beat—all 99 anomalies. We'll take turns telling about them, you and me."
"..."
"You start."
"Ah, okay. Um. So, a ghost I saw myself. Walking on the 4th floor recently, I heard thump-thump-thump from far away. Faintly..."
Quietly.
The ghost story flowed in a low voice. Flicker, flicker. The hundred candle flames swayed, the white hospital hallway lights hummed.
Between earth's red fire and ceiling's white light, Cheon Yo-hwa stared blankly at me.
"...That's the end of my story."
"Good."
Snap.
My finger snap extinguished one candle. Thin gray smoke rose toward the ceiling.
"Ah..."
"My turn now. A firsthand tale: In Baekhwa Girls' High boys' bathroom, stall 3 houses Hanako. Spin in that toilet 13 times and..."
One. Two. Three. Four.
Candles winked out one by one. Each time, thin smoke rose heavenward, charred wicks reeking black. Cheon Yo-hwa's shoulders twitched.
Flicker—
She noticed the anomaly around the 40th flame dying.
"...Uncle, the hallway lights."
"I know. Don't worry."
The hospital hallway lights were going out.
Far off. From the end, one by one. One meter at a time.
Basement level 4 hell had no exit, no windows. The endlessly looping hospital hallway would become pitch black once lights died.
"Keep going. Your turn."
"...Yes."
Flicker.
The hallway darkness breathed, closing in. From both sides. Like footsteps chasing ours, their breaths neared an inch with each of ours.
"A story I heard from a friend: Crash, a ghost with no torso, just guts hanging from a head..."
Flicker. Flicker. Flicker. Flicker—.
We sped up the tales. The darkness footsteps quickened too. Lights dying made Cheon Yo-hwa flinch.
"My story... ends, like this."
Soon, it grew chilling.
The hospital hallway, endlessly repeating before the ritual, now spanned barely a tatami mat wide.
"..."
"..."
Flicker—
One light left illuminating the hallway.
Candles too: 99 devoured by darkness, only one groaning on stubbornly.
"Good. My turn now..."
"Uncle."
Cheon Yo-hwa suddenly spoke.
"You're not really our school guard, are you?"
"..."
"It felt off. Living in the dorm, I know most guards' faces. Yours was new. First meeting, you wore uniform, held flashlight, so I thought new hire... But asked other kids secretly—no one knew you. Yet you kept helping us..."
I pondered briefly, then nodded.
"Yeah. I'm not."
Basement level 4 wasn't school anyway. Hospital form. No need to keep "school guard" roleplay.
"As I thought. Then... why help us?"
"To subjugate the void settled here. The school ghost stories. Avici hell."
"Avici hell..."
"But my identity—I'll explain tomorrow-ish. For now, focus on subjugating the anomaly driving you to death. Trust me?"
"..."
Cheon Yo-hwa's orange ponytail bobbed like a candle flame.
"Yes. Of course."
"Good. Then time for the final tale. Japanese ghost story—heard of 'Hundred Tales'?"
"'Hundred Tales'?"
Hundred Tales.
Known in Japanese as Hyakumonogatari (百物語), a horror folktale.
"The way to summon this ghost is simple. Gather people, light 100 candles, take turns spilling ghost stories one by one into the flame and smoke."
"..."
"Yeah. Like us now."
The last candle flickered.
"Folktale says when all 100 candles die, the final storyteller—the 100th—dies."
"Dies..."
"Or a ghost appears. We're already in basement level 4 underworld. Can't die again in the underworld, so ghost must appear."
"..."
"But here's the fun part. Original tale's end-ghost is Aoonidon (青行燈)—'blue lantern.' Light a blue lantern to summon."
Flicker.
I pressed the flashlight button. Blue LED swept the darkness—whoosh.
"But the ghost descending here isn't Aoonidon."
"Then what...?"
"This school's name is Baekhwa. White flowers. But I said earlier: school ghost stories stole Baekhwa (白花)'s characters."
I pulled out a brush pen, wrote on the hallway's white floor.
"Void is empty space. Steals world's original spots, makes gaps, imprints itself. The characters replacing stolen Baekhwa are..."
百話.
A hundred (百) tales (話).
"..."
"Hanja usage varies by country. Japan expresses 'tale' with two characters: monogatari (物語)."
I twirled the brush.
"For example, Arabian Nights' Thousand and One Nights is translated in Japan as Senya Ichiya Monogatari (千夜一夜物語). In Korea, simply Cheonil Yahwa. So Japan's 'monogatari' two characters correspond to Korea's single 話."
"Then... 'Hundred Tales' folktale in Korean usage is..."
"Baekhwa (百話)."
Exactly.
The anomaly devouring Baekhwa Girls' High School.
The true name of what we'd called "school ghost stories."
The other identity of the outsider god-class anomaly I once called Avici.
"Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (百鬼夜行), harboring 99 as underlings. The boss encompassing them, the whole. Stole this school's original name, encroaching part of the world. Baekhwa (百話) is this hell's final ghost."
Snap—
The candle died.
Lights went out.
Darkness chuckled. Bottomless smoky scent wafted from darkness's endless maw perfume.
Flicker—
In darkness, something moved instantaneous. Universe originally darkness, its native hue before time-space enacted.
The hundred extinguished candles sprouted instantly into white forest. Birch forest.
Fire lit the trees' white flesh, flames blooming into spider lilies. Crimson inferno turned fairy faces, hundred fairies cackling. Laughter like this:
話 blooms into 花, 花 burns into 火. Burn, burn. All things equally distant. Thus how can hundred tales not become hundred flowers, hundred flames...
Coordinates. Time. Space distorted, existence warped.
"Uncl—."
"It's fine."
Grab. I seized Cheon Yo-hwa's hand back.
"I'm here."
"..."
Cheon Yo-hwa gripped mine tight.
Coordinates fixed.
That instant, universe's multicolored flames halted, fairies silenced laughter. Milky Way flowed. Hundred, thousand, myriad, billions, galaxy eyes stared at us unison.
Thus I called "it"s name.
"Avici."
All creation convulsed.
-Unexpected contact.
-Possibility uncalculated before.
-Avici.
-Avici Hell.
-Correct name.
-Incorrect name.
-This too, one random variable.
Colors breathed. Starlight whirled.
-What are you?
-Overly massive variable.
-How did you perceive our existence? Grasp our identity? Pinpoint our location?
The detached god viewing this world as giant lab, thus deploying fairy terminals as tutorial test site, questioned.
I raised my head.
"You okay, Yo-hwa?"
"...Yes. Dizzy a bit, but surprisingly fine. No, actually..."
Cheon Yo-hwa released interlocked fingers, bent at waist. Snap—her black-red basketball shoes' laces taut.
"Condition's peak. Could sprint full speed 40 minutes now. Anyway, that weird Milky Way's the mastermind killing our school kids. Gonna smash it."
"Nice. Then watch this ex-school guard's combat prowess."
Boss fight.
Outsider god-class threat.
Avici (無間).
Combat begins.
Infinite Regressor Telling Tales