Chapter 70: Regarding the Ω-Society and Linshua
Chapter 70: Regarding the Ω-Society and Linshua
Two children stand atop the Great Barrier.
One boy, one girl.
At a glance, it might look as if two children are sightseeing on The Wall, but the reality is vastly different.
The boy’s translucent body floats about a centimeter off the ground, while the girl, her long black hair fluttering in the wind, sits on the edge of the barrier, kicking her legs like a restless child.
Aside from the boy’s translucence, it would seem a heartwarming sight of children passing the time to stave off boredom.
A daughter waiting for her parents, swinging her legs in anticipation.
However, if one were to call her name and she turned her head, they would realize at once that something was wrong.
Could a being so similar to a human feel this repulsive?
The nose, mouth, ears, skin, the shape of the face—everything is human. Even her pale skin falls within an understandable range if one simply considers it a particular complexion.
But the eyes set in her face ruin the impression. Purple eyes, containing countless luminous bodies like stars shining in the night sky.
Those purple eyes rotate madly within the cavities of her eyelids, which are stretched to their limit. They look less like eyeballs and more like purple orbs. It is a movement that would be impossible if they were attached to muscles or optic nerves.
The purple orbs, spinning in every direction at an unnervingly high speed, create eerie lines with the white luminous bodies contained within them.
She moved her head and spoke to the boy.
“Is Papa here?”
“Yes. He just finished making contact.”
“Papa’s here. Good!”
She stood up, brushed the dust off her skirt with both hands, and stopped the rotation of her eyes.
The eerie atmosphere surrounding her vanished, and the aura of a Young Girl fitting her appearance began to emanate from her.
The only things that had changed were that she narrowed her eyelids and stopped the rotation of her eyeballs.
“I want to talk to Papa too. I wish I had telepathy.”
As she spoke, she walked along the wide barrier and thought to herself.
Humans are so inconvenient. Why do they have to be close and speak out loud to communicate their thoughts?
Emotions don't translate well, and they can't even see the beautiful world right in front of them.
Is it because Papa isn't human anymore? He seemed to feel things similarly, though.
Her unfiltered inner thoughts radiated into the surroundings.
Perhaps because she was young, the waves of her unlatched emotions made the nearby Mutants cower.
“Linshua-nim. You mustn't let your inner thoughts leak out like that.”
“I can’t even think what I want? I hate that!”
“Does it not trouble those around you?”
“Che. Papa never said anything like that. Papa radiates his thoughts all the time too.”
Linshua. As the head of a certain Society, she spoke with a distorted pout.
It was a sulky expression perfectly suited to her age.
The translucent boy spoke with a troubled look.
“I will try to arrange a meeting with Lee Ha-ram.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Since he will likely be staying on our side, there should be time to arrange a meeting.”
“I don’t want to meet him in secret, though.”
“Please endure it just a little longer. If the Management Bureau recognizes the rights of Mutants and forms an alliance with us…”
Are we not working this hard for his sake?
We would also prefer to do this peacefully if possible… but if blood must be shed…
His additional sentences were fired toward Linshua.
An additional method of communication used among Mutants. The Internal Language.
While not a trait shared by all Mutants, it is the most basic form of dialogue required for communication in the Otherworld, where the laws of physics break down.
Since there are many cases where there is no medium to transmit sound, most possess this low-tier telepathy as a racial trait.
However, perhaps because Linshua was raised by humans, she tended to leave the latch of her Internal Language open even though she was old enough to control it.
“Yeah. I want to live with Papa again soon.”
Surely, they would be able to live together again someday.
Linshua thought so as she gazed at the Black Tower.
She began to think about the Management Bureau.
To her, they were a group of villains who had killed her biological parents and taken her Papa away.
Thanks to the education she received after joining The Society, she knew they weren't purely a group of villains, but they were still the organization that prevented her from seeing both her physical and spiritual parents.
They were the villains who kept her from her Papa.
“…Linshua-nim. The Management Bureau is not an object to be destroyed.”
“Huh? Was it not latched?”
“No. I couldn’t hear everything, but I could tell you were displeased. As I have told you many times, Earth is only able to survive because the Management Bureau exists. This is a very rare case. Considering the countless worlds that collapsed during the first attack… Our goal in this incident is to infiltrate the Bureau’s system. We have no intention of destroying the Bureau itself…”
Had her hatred for the Bureau leaked out?
The translucent boy lectured Linshua with passionate sweat. It was a lecture Linshua had heard over and over again.
“I know! I’m not going to break everything either! I’ve heard it so many times, I get it!”
“I am glad to hear that, but…”
I know.
Linshua began to think deeply, latching her mind so others couldn't hear.
It was a justifiable act for Papa to kill her parents. As long as they were invading Mutants, it was natural to put their lives on the line.
Even so, Papa had tried to exile her parents. So as not to take their lives.
The reason her biological parents died at Papa’s hands was that they couldn't cut her away.
There is no reason for Papa to suffer because of that.
No reason for him to always keep it in his heart and feel tormented.
Nor for the feeling of sadness I see every time he looks at me.
Because I already know everything.
The reason my parents failed was their obsession with the three of us living together somehow. Because they clung to such an ambiguous thing, both Papa and my parents ended up suffering.
“It would have been better if they had just left me to Papa and gone back. What would have happened then? What do you think?”
“Pardon? What are you talking about?”
“Huh? Nothing.”
Linshua, who had been staring into the void, turned her eyes away from the Bureau’s Black Tower and looked at the land beyond The Wall, eroded by power.
“Hoooooooh.”
She took a deep breath.
The immense power floating in the air was sucked into her body.
Clink. Clink.
Black fragments poured from her hands.
Seeds. No, it would be a sin to call them that. Seeds refer to crystals of power that have already been corrupted.
Crystals of pure power poured from her hands.
“Refreshing! This is why people seek out The Sea!”
I don’t think that’s quite right…
The boy, who was picking up the fallen crystals, looked at Linshua with a dazed expression and fired his Internal Language.
“Seini. Your latch is open.”
“It was intentional. Intentional.”
“Intentional?”
“It’s for when it’s awkward to say out loud, but you still want to speak. Though Chief of Staff Al’shel seems to speak directly out loud, perhaps because he’s grown so accustomed to this world.”
Hearing Seini’s words, Linshua asked back with a look of confusion.
“I don’t really get it.”
“Isn’t Lee Ha-ram the same? Since he always walks around with his latch open, there are times when his outer self and inner self don’t match…”
“Huh? No. Papa was always the same.”
“Pardon? That can’t be.”
“It’s because you old men have bad hearing.”
“…I wonder where you learned such words. As your educator, I would very much like to know.”
“It’s a secret!”
The Octopus Uncle told me.
Linshua said that to Seini with a mischievous expression.
“…You use it well. That is how you should use it.”
As they passed the time conversing like that.
“He has come out.”
The gates of the Management Bureau opened, and Lee Ha-ram’s party appeared.
Then, Lee Ha-ram’s party began to walk toward the building belonging to The Society’s volunteer organization.
“It seems he is headed straight to our side.”
“Then I’ll go see Papa for a bit!”
“You mustn't be caught! From a distance!”
“I know!”
As soon as she was granted freedom of movement, Linshua dashed along the Great Barrier, chasing after her father.
The escort Mutants assigned to protect her began to run after her as well.
Mutants filled with the resolve to become her shield in case of an emergency.
Even though she was only watching her Papa from afar, Linshua grinned so wide her mouth seemed to tear.
Though no sound came out, her joy unlatched and was transmitted to the surrounding Mutants.
As if responding to that emotion, the escort Mutants following behind Linshua strengthened their resolve even further.
The resolve to protect this world and save both Mutants and humans.
So that Linshua, the head of The Society, could one day return proudly to her parent’s arms.
The Mutants steeled their hearts once more and turned their heads.
Toward the being in the distance. Lee Ha-ram.
A small existence, whom humans call a Young Girl, far removed from combat, was slowly moving his feet.
Step by step.
With the light, airy steps of a child enjoying an amusement park, his white coat and dress fluttering. Yet those footsteps were anything but light. The power attempting to devour everything screamed and fled in all directions wherever his footprints touched, and The Whisperers who had failed to ascend and could not reach the sky vanished as if they were looking at something terrifying. A being who scatters such power. Because he possesses pure power and is not deluded by the Story, he pierces the essence and leaves Geuk’s plans adrift.
From his latch, which he has no intention of closing, conflicting emotions pour out.
Endless resentment toward the world, and an endless sense of justice to protect the world.
What cuts through those conflicting emotions is his affection for a certain few.
Even though he pours out such emotions violently without hiding them, his exterior radiates no emotion at all.
A Hero walking with a blank, emotionless expression, as if nothing were wrong.
Such a mad, unstable existence was reflected in the eyes of the Mutants.
“…Can that monster really be trusted?”
A Mutant wrapped in black tights asked the others.
A Mutant who had felt his actions were wrong, escaped the Story by his own strength, wandered the world, and eventually joined The Society.
“Hmm? Have you never seen him? How long has it been since you joined The Society?”
“It’s been five years now.”
“Then it’s natural you wouldn’t know. Trust him. He is a man worth it.”
The veteran Mutants who had lived a long time simply laughed at the newcomer’s strange expression.
Well. You wouldn't know just by looking at him now.
I agree.
That there was a time when that man was the very embodiment of the word justice.
The man who handed over all the wealth he had gathered for them and erased all information regarding The Society from the Management Bureau’s database.
A human who uses the Internal Language despite not being a being of the Otherworld.
There were such reasons why The Society, which trusted no one, trusted him. Though one couldn't imagine it just by looking at him now.
“Still, I think I see why the executives still trust him.”
“Isn’t that level of distortion common? Chief of Staff Al’shel has been crazy for a long time.”
He’s twisted like that now, but isn’t half of him still the same as the old days?
The image of Lee Ha-ram they saw.
Still. Half of him remains.
The Mutants thought so.
After running for about twenty minutes.
Linshua and the Mutants stopped their fast-moving legs.
“Is it there?”
“That is correct, Linshua-nim.”
“Okay!”
Linshua sat on the edge of the barrier with a joyful expression. Her eyes wide, she watched Lee Ha-ram’s party moving toward The Society’s volunteer organization building.
“I want to see him from a bit closer.”
“Lin…”
“I know. If I go any closer, I’ll be caught.”
A slight shadow fell over Linshua’s face, but she didn't stop smiling.
Seini said he’d arrange a meeting! We’ll meet soon. We’ll eat, go for walks together! And pick up black stones too!
Linshua was beaming with such delight, but then.
“…Who is that?”
Who is that woman?
Suddenly, her face turned grim.
At the end of her gaze, she saw a blonde woman meeting Lee Ha-ram.
A woman about a head taller than Lee Ha-ram. The woman, who looked to be about twenty, wore gloves and a strange dress with two large iron rods dragging on the ground.
“I asked who that is.”
“…She is a former colleague of Lee Ha-ram.”
“You know that’s not what I’m asking! Why is he like that!”
Linshua struck the barrier.
Crrrack.
Cracks appeared in the Great Barrier, which was said to be impervious to normal damage.
The Mutants turned pale at the sight of the broken barrier, but Linshua waved her hand as if this were nothing, repairing the cracks etched into The Wall.
“Why. Why is Papa radiating those kinds of emotions toward her? Why?”
That’s mine!
To be precise, Linshua understood that the emotion was different.
She simply hated that her usually stoic Papa was radiating positive joy.
That was why she was showing such emotion…
“…How long are you going to keep watching?”
“Pardon? What are you…”
“I wasn't talking to you guys.”
….
She turned her face toward the empty void.
Her purple eyes spun.
The starlight within her rapidly rotating eyeballs formed a perfect circle.
Then, she reached out her hand.
Toward the empty space.
Toward the place where I am.
【“Disappear. Narrator.”】
Screeeech.
【Beep.】