Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: Riposter VII: Shin Noah
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11
—How should I set down the diary of that day’s battle?
I thought I’d handled this chapter quite well up until now.
But as I reflect on the moment I felled a deity-class aberration for the first time in my life, I suddenly feel the difficulty of narration anew.
I always wish only to be truthful to you all. If I should stammer out a poem, it’s not to show off some parlor trick before you, but simply because there exists a night sky that can only be expressed in verse.
Starlight poured down.
Those stars weren’t light but possessed the viscosity of water. Shhhhaaaa—the red starlight cascaded, emitting the roar of a waterfall.
Like a tsunami crashing suddenly onto the beach, the light made of water surged toward us with the force to drown us.
Cheon Yo-hwa whipped her head toward me in alarm. We were still holding hands.
“Uncle! Give me an order!”
“Do not dissolve into the surroundings under any circumstances. That aberration will likely test and experiment on you relentlessly, trying to mold you into a specific object, a lab rat. All sorts of illusions and phantasmagoria will swallow your life like a tidal wave. Don’t let yourself be colored by them—fix yourself in place.”
“Yes!”
Shhhhaaa. The red watery light rose to our waists in an instant. I calmly, steadily glared at ‘Avici’.
The distance between us and Avici was a mere 10 meters—or 100 meters. It wouldn’t have been impossible for it to be 4,444 meters.
It was the distance between this shore and the other shore. Avici was the interminable, the infinite. From that extreme horizon, the aberration’s innocent laughter echoed.
Kyahahahahaha hahaha ha ha—
If we measured like ancient India, calling 13 km a yojana, then it was one yojana—and also twenty thousand yojanas.
Buddhism teaches that the hells of sentient beings unfold at a depth of twenty thousand yojanas beneath the earth. In other words, hell lies 260,000 km underground.
The Earth’s diameter is 12,700 km. The distance from Earth to the Moon is 385,000 km.
Since ancient times, the Moon has been the nearest otherworld to the surface.
Hell was positioned precisely at a distance sufficient to cross this world with room to spare, yet woefully short to reach another.
Ka ha ha ha ha ka ka ka ka—
The midpoint between this shore and the other. A realm of sentient beings who can no longer linger in this world nor muster the strength to reach another.
Thus, in the territory of samsara where the wheel of rebirth merely spins idly in place, nothing but the laughter mocking humans screeched endlessly, grating like rusty hinges.
That was the aberration’s derision, alienating humans from the world.
“Yo-hwa. Inside that aberration’s domain, time and space can deceive you as much as they please. But the fact that ‘they are deceiving you’ remains unchanged.”
“……”
I gripped Cheon Yo-hwa’s hand a little tighter. The distance between us was now the smallest unit of distance known to humanity.
“…Yes.”
“The primary culprit—the figure, the being—making the most of mocking you upfront. That’s the nail holding the illusion in place. Understand? Everything else will seem normal, but there’ll be something uniquely abnormal. Pull out that nail and discard it, and the phantasm will vanish.”
“Ah! Oh, I totally get it! It’s that scene you see in comics all the time. Okay. Uncle, just leave it to m—.”
Blink.
Light welled up to my chin, and my whole body submerged in water. The moment the sensation of our clasped hands seemed to fade, swallowed by the water’s undulations.
Clunk, a sound rang out. Like an elevator plummeting, or the rumble of decrepit wheels rolling.
Perhaps it was the sound of time.
The world before my eyes transformed.
12
Blink.
“—Undertaker. Undertaker, what’s wrong?”
The smell of summer wafted in. The leaves, soaked by a recent downpour, steeped their woody scent thick as brewed green tea.
It was a cedar forest. The cedars stretched roots in all directions, and atop those stiff legs, hydrangea petals in vibrant blue squatted before stretching out languidly.
Amid the stretches of grown trees in green and young petals in blue, a single rusty railway snaked playfully like a serpent.
“Seriously. Ugh. Be careful. The path’s already bumpy enough—if you get distracted like that, you’ll bite your tongue.”
A witch’s hat perched upside down on Dang Seo-rin’s head as she grumbled from the miniature train mounted on the tracks. It was a three-car mini steam locomotive, the kind you’d see at an amusement park.
“……”
“Ah—ah—the tracks are cut again. Even if the world’s gone to hell, isn’t this too sloppy for Korail’s staff?”
Huffing, Dang Seo-rin hopped down from the engine car.
Dang Seo-rin stretched along the surrounding cedars and hydrangeas with an “Uuuuwaaaah—.”
Well, it had been four hours since we boarded the train. I could sit still for forty without issue, but for a frail mage like Dang Seo-rin, her whole body must have been stiff and sore.
“…You understand them. Korail staff are all unemployed now too. The world’s too harsh to demand passion pay.”
“These days’ young folks just lack grit, grit. Ugh. I’ll fix the tracks, so you check the wheels. The train’s been rattling suspiciously for a while.”
“Got it. Leave it to me.”
“Yeah.”
I grabbed tools from the cargo car and inspected the wheels of our steam locomotive… the ‘Hogwarts Express’.
Please don’t nitpick the name. In this journey—this insane plan to circumnavigate the globe in a miniature train—my authority held little sway.
The planner of this trip, who’d loved Harry Potter so much in childhood that she wore a witch’s hat year-round, whistled and swung her wand.
“Separate—Restore.”
Two short verses flowed simply from Dang Seo-rin’s lips.
Clank—clunk, clank—
The tracks we’d just passed floated up, severed, drifting in the air. Then they moved on their own to the broken section ahead.
Click!
The severed track restored itself in an instant. Of course, that severed the rear tracks, but so what? What problem could there be?
It’s hard to imagine anyone else in this mad world attempting such a mad journey besides us lunatics.
“All set—the wheels okay? Breakdown?”
“No, just some bolts loosened a bit. I’ve tightened them with all my strength, so they’ll be fine for a while.”
“Good. Then let’s roll out again!”
Clunk.
The express train lurched forward. The engine car blared a puuuuuh—horn and spewed steam fiercely.
For the record, that steam wasn’t from burning real coal. Just a ‘phantom magic’ Dang Seo-rin had cast.
And it wasn’t just the steam. Our express train brimmed with ‘steam locomotive-exclusive phantom magic’ that Dang Seo-rin had meticulously designed over thirty days, alive in every detail.
In this deranged world, we were a bit madder than most—and among us, Dang Seo-rin was peerlessly mad. Fine proof.
“We’re about to cross into North Korean territory.”
Dang Seo-rin unfolded the map.
A map worn from handling. Scribbled over in red, yellow, and other sign pens. It trembled like an autumn leaf with the tracks’ jolts.
“From North Korea to Tumangang Station, then over to Hasan Station, and after that, Russia. From there, we ride straight across the Trans-Siberian Railway.”
“……”
“Ahh, I’ve always had riding the Trans-Siberian on my bucket list!”
Clunk, clunk.
“To think I’d only get to travel after the world ended. Life’s so mysterious. Anyway, after Moscow, Belarus, Poland, Germany…”
“Yeah.”
“Hm?”
I murmured softly.
“Yeah, this is my dream.”
“……”
“Someday traveling the world with you, Dang Seo-rin. In a train customized to your tastes, as bizarre as can be.”
“……? What’s this all of a sudden?”
Dang Seo-rin tilted her head, map in hand.
“We’re doing it right now.”
The cedar forest swayed in the wind. I looked up at the sky. Wispy steam rose along the clouds’ contours.
“One car’s yours, Dang Seo-rin. Logically, you wouldn’t yield the first to anyone. It’s your room too—like a caravan camper, decked out however you like. Skulls, crystal balls, wands, brooms… You might even raise an owl.”
“……”
“Car two’s mine. Starts neat and tidy, but as days pass, your stuff sneaks in somehow, encroaching on my territory. You hoard knickknacks, so one car’s not enough.”
Clunk. Clunk.
“Car three’s the dining and lounge area. Four’s storage. I’ve got my magic trunk anyway, so space is plenty. When tracks break, you mend them with magic and song. Aberrations attack, I repel them. Like that. We can go anywhere, forever.”
“……”
“But not yet.”
Clunk.
“Dang Seo-rin. That night after we felled the Ten Tribes, I first revealed I was a regressor, and you died. I swore then. I’d restore this world exactly as it was, then travel with you.”
“…When do you think we can leave?”
“Sorry. Honestly, still far off.”
I let out a small chuckle.
“But… I always remember. Dang Seo-rin. And you need to get stronger too.”
“Me? Why?”
“Because we’ll cross the Atlantic and Pacific by train too. Freeze the seawater in real time with your magic to make ice railways. Even if we reach a beach with a lonely pole on the sand, our journey won’t end.”
“Good lord. You’re insane? How much mana do you think freezing an ocean in real time takes?”
“Listen. And get this… not just crossing the sea—we’ll follow the Titanic’s route!”
“Good lord. You’re insane? What a brilliant idea.”
We both chuckled softly.
“…I see. You have [Perfect Memory Ability], Undertaker. So no matter the illusion, you won’t lose your bearings.”
“Yeah.”
Dang Seo-rin looked up at the sky.
“Ah—ah—so that travel promise from centuries ago gets postponed again?”
Legs dangling outside the train, she sighed from her mouth like the engine venting steam.
“A few centuries? It’s nearly a millennium already. Seriously, what friend sets a travel date a thousand years out and postpones it again?”
“Sorry. Mostly Old Man Show’s fault.”
“Pfft. No—ahahaha! Right? That old geezer’s fault. You’re the supporter, but the dealer ditched solo, yeah.”
Dang Seo-rin laughed for a good while.
Then she looked my way.
“I’m probably just the aberration’s illusion. An AI mimicking Dang Seo-rin closest to your memories. So why treat me like a friend still?”
“Don’t be silly. Life is but a dream. No need to dismiss dreaming another dream within it as delusion. If anything, I’m grateful you chase me through any dream.”
“……”
My companion fell silent for a long time.
Then she smiled at me.
“…Looking forward to the trip. Heart’s racing.”
“Me too.”
“I’ll wait. Even a millennium from now.”
Clunk—
The cartwheel turned.
13
What imprints in childhood leaves traces for life. Like magic and mages for Dang Seo-rin.
Then the first shape a person sees upon birth is the circle, the circle.
The pupil of the eye.
Mother’s and father’s eyes. Someone’s eyes. Black islands rising from a vast white sea.
Those islands weren’t solitary but twin islands in pairs.
To humans, the perfect shape is the circle, and the circle is always the archetype.
The human archetype gazed at me.
“—Hah! U-Uncle?”
“Yeah. I’m listening.”
“Just now……. Whoa, it’s real. Exactly……. No way. I just spent over five years from elementary school enrollment! Wow, really……. Wooow.”
“Took quite a while.”
“Sudden—chills. A real aberration like this exists. How…….”
I smiled.
“Who was the illusion’s nail?”
“Ah—um, my mother. She passed when I was in fifth grade. My family’s all cult weirdos. Mom was the only normal one.”
“Yeah.”
Squeeze.
Looking around, colors by the thousands, the tens of thousands swirled in a galaxy. School, hospital, prison, theater, screen, cityscapes flashed ceaselessly.
Ka ha ha ha ka ka ka—
The aberration jeered.
But the universe had certainly shrunk a bit more than before.
The void of matter was the capacity for heart.
“You swam out well. But it’s not over. Until we reach the aberration’s core, every step will invite more illusions.”
“……”
“Illusions, or another life entire. Call them routes if you like.”
“Routes…….”
“It inserts an ‘existence to replace’ your time, your life, your being. Thus stealing your place. Like hijacking Baekhwa the white flower to make Baekhwa the hundred tales.”
“…If I can’t swim out of the route.”
“In this reality, you vanish, and something else walks as ‘Cheon Yo-hwa’.”
“……”
Cheon Yo-hwa nodded.
“…I hate that. Yeah. Hate it.”
“Coincidence. Me too.”
“But still……. That aberration looks so far. Though somehow, it feels closer than before.”
Cheon Yo-hwa glared at Avici.
“How many more……. I mean, how many routes to swim? Honestly, five years in elementary and just snapping out—still dazed.”
“Distance means nothing in such a void. Only the aberration’s self-rule, its law of being. And in this case…….”
Step.
I took Cheon Yo-hwa’s hand and stepped forward. The world now bore two footprints, twin black islands imprinted.
“Three more steps.”
Four.
A spell to return the aberration embodied as death (死) to the reality of four steps (四). The攻略.
A rite of death, thus I named it a funeral.
I was one undertaker.
“Let’s go, Yo-hwa. It’s fine. Humans can do anything if just two hold hands without letting go.”
“…Yes! Uncle, the national finals were way, way harder! Bring it on!”
Blink. Clunk.
The human archetype blinked, the cosmic archetype wheeled.
The cartwheel of time turned.
From the other shore to this one.
Three steps forward.