The End of Vacation #7
The End of Vacation #7
"Haa... I think it's real. No way there'd be a lab like this otherwise..."
Si-hoo, chin resting on my shoulder, was trembling. I could feel it.
Si-hoo's mom talking about a daughter in the past tense, plus the lab. Put those two together and you can't come up with anything good.
And right now, we'd just found a likely lab through a search.
"What do I do, Geun-cheol? I'm getting more and more scared. How can this be..."
"Si-hoo, I'm about to pass out from fear."
"Huh?"
"This secret is way too big for me! And it's a seriously dark secret! Aaaah!"
I shot up on the spot and started pacing the living room, radiating pure terror!
"What the hell is going on! I'm so scared!"
"No, no! Geun-cheol! Calm down! What am I supposed to do if you're like this!"
"Si-hoo, save me, please!"
"Fine, fine! I'll save you, so calm down!"
And then Si-hoo actually moved to snap me out of it. Si-hoo's mental state is extremely unstable. Still, if I showed that I was afraid, Si-hoo would react.
Kind of like how chewing out Mun Min raises the party's morale.
"I can't calm down! I just found out a massive secret! Aaaaaaah!"
Right as I screamed and started flailing!
"Noooo! Geun-cheol! Snap out of iiiit!"
Si-hoo grabbed me from behind and shook me like crazy! A weird sensation pressed into my back. The feel of a chest concealed by bandages.
"Hey. Hey. I'm fine now, relax."
"Wh... what?"
"You seemed like you were about to lose it again, so I was messing with you a little."
"That was messing with me? I was in a full-on panic just now!"
"You still don't know me?"
"Ah."
Si-hoo nodded, like a lightbulb just went on.
"Haah, seriously. That's so you, Geun-cheol."
Si-hoo was completely dumbfounded.
"Si-hoo, I know you're unstable. Right now, the second you let your guard down, negative thoughts grab you and you get swallowed by fear. Because you found out way too big a secret."
"That's... true."
Si-hoo answered gravely.
"My body doesn't feel like my body. I keep getting scared no matter how much I try to pull myself together. My older sisters really did..."
"Whatever happened, right now we don't know. So don't worry about it for now. Si-hoo. I'm here, right? Fucking lean on me. Yeah?"
"You, Geun-cheol..."
Si-hoo looked at me.
"You've gotta get stronger. Si-hoo. You have to get stronger."
"...Right."
Si-hoo looked determined.
"In the end, I need to build up my strength. Otherwise, one day I'll..."
"Don't think about that."
"At the very least, I'll need to be strong enough to beat the Sovereign Commander."
Strong enough to beat the Sovereign Commander.
That basically means becoming the strongest person in the Republic of Korea.
"Look at this bastard. Check out the ambition. A real man."
"What real man? The situation just is what it is, so I said it!"
"Heheh, well, sure. But Si-hoo, to do that, yeah? You're gonna need insane training."
Maybe you'll need something like an awakening. But what matters most is a clear will to become stronger, and fear.
With this incident.
Si-hoo might grow into the person from my memory. The Si-hoo I remember was strong, and had already abandoned the male disguise.
If so, that probably means the Sovereign Commander was neutralized. Did Si-hoo take him down? I can infer that much. But if that still wasn't enough to stop the apocalypse... then Si-hoo has to get even stronger.
I'm not totally sure, but maybe the moment Si-hoo truly decided to get stronger—specifically because I kept digging obsessively into Si-hoo's secret—got moved up.
"Anyway, Si-hoo. This stays a secret between just us two. If word gets out, it could mean serious trouble."
"Yeah. Right. We'll keep it a secret. Ah, so, Geun-cheol, what's the best move going forward?"
"For now, it stays just between us. Let's think about what to do. And if the chance comes, paying a visit to the place that was supposedly that lab wouldn't be a bad idea."
Si-hoo nodded at my words.
"The lab... going to take a look wouldn't be bad."
"We'll get through this together, Si-hoo."
"Geun-cheol."
"Mm?"
"Thank you."
"Ugh, what's with this cringey stuff. Hey. You're my friend. Shit, thanking me for something totally obvious."
If a guy like Mun Min got wrapped up in something like this, I'd run without looking back. But Si-hoo is my real friend.
I'll never run.
"Heheh, anyway, thank you. Solving this together... honestly, right now there's nothing I'm more grateful for. I thought you were a total idiot. You're actually dependable."
"Idiot, my ass. More importantly, be careful from now on."
"About what?"
"If those bandages come loose somewhere, that could be a huge problem."
"Yeah... no, how did it loop back to my chest again!"
"Had to bring it up at least once."
Si-hoo did have a subtly defenseless side.
"Alright."
I decided.
If it's Si-hoo, it'll be fine. And we'd just shared a serious secret, hadn't we? It's okay to talk more with Si-hoo.
"Si-hoo. Actually, by the way. Have you ever seen something like this?"
"Huh?"
—Thunk.
I took out the Fragment and placed it on the desk.
"This? It's kind of mysterious... No, Geun-cheol. This isn't from Earth."
Instantly, Si-hoo's eyes sharpened.
"You're spot on. It's that. Something I grabbed in the Otherworld."
VP took the first one, but well... I guess glossing over it is fine.
"The Otherworld? Geun-cheol, explain, now. What is this? Spoils of war?"
"Something kinda special. Don't think I'm crazy, just listen. This is sharing another secret too."
"Ah...!"
Si-hoo got tense.
"Tell me now!"
"Okay."
I explained the Fragment to Si-hoo.
After I got this, I started feeling something strange. Should I say information flowed into my head and memories surfaced? It feels like something extremely dangerous is coming to Earth.
"Whaaat?"
"When it comes, it might be as big a disaster as the Dimension War. Si-hoo. That's been weighing on my mind lately. That's why I've been so messed up. You know my condition's been absolute trash lately. That's why."
"D-don't tell me... Geun-cheol, you had strange information implanted by an otherworldly being..."
"Hey, hey! That's not it, man!"
Si-hoo reacted like she was seriously terrified, and it freaked me out too.
Ah, looking at it objectively, I guess that would look like a real possibility.
Like a story straight out of Lovecraft's collected works. Someone goes to some bizarre dimension and comes back babbling hideously ominous prophecies... That's what I just described, right?
"Then what is it! How come some guy who went to the Otherworld is suddenly spouting weird prophecies! This is a textbook brainwashing suspicion!"
"You hit the nail on the head! Hey, but it's not that!"
I calmly persuaded Si-hoo.
That the information definitely flowed in from the Fragment. That it was nothing else, just a conjecture that something immensely powerful is coming, and that these Otherworld Abduction Incidents are basically its precursor symptoms.
"Honestly, Geun-cheol. I'm reminded of that story about the prophet we heard when we caught those villains last time."
"Hey, man."
"Still. If it's you saying it, Geun-cheol, I'll believe you. So because of that weird cube thing, some fragmentary information was transmitted to you? Like how something incredibly dangerous is going to invade and cause a catastrophe on the scale of the Dimension War."
"Exactly!"
That was it!
"First, Geun-cheol, let's keep in mind the possibility that you were hit with a mental attack by an otherworldly monsterkin or monster. But if it's not that... a few things start to make sense. These Otherworld Abduction Incidents, the gates that appear without warning. Maybe it's all connected."
"And there's that new white monster species, right?"
"Ah... the one that isolated the dimension."
The one Si-hoo and I took down.
"It's definitely suspicious. No, but Geun-cheol, so much suspicious information flooded in all at once, I'm way too confused right now."
"You said it. The world must be about to end."
Signs of the times, man.
"I'm worried..."
Truth be told, as Si-hoo said, there is a possibility that an otherworldly entity planted weird information in me.
But it's not that.
Now that I think about it, it was only recently that slightly more concrete memories surfaced. Looking back, I've had those kinds of ominous dreams quite a lot.
By my estimation.
The odds are high that I've gone through a regression.
I came back from a ruined world for some reason. Did my memories get tangled up in the process? My perception of a normal Earth and all the game stuff is so vivid that I'm confused, so it does look like a tangle.
Just how did I regress, and what the hell are all the game-related things?
Thoughts like that gnaw at me.
"Anyway, Geun-cheol. I've made up my mind. No matter who my opponent is, I will never break. My mom is scared out of her mind too, and the Sovereign Commander... he's way too suspicious."
Willpower crystallized in Si-hoo's eyes.
Unlike just before when Si-hoo was consumed by fear, the eyes were unmistakably focused.
"To uncover that, there's no other way than to become stronger."
"See, you're mentally solid. That's exactly it, Si-hoo. Let's just do that."
"Yeah. So you've gotta pull your weight too, Geun-cheol. I'll protect you if it comes down to it, but unexpected situations happen."
"Got it. I'm counting on you. If I die, it's your fault."
"You tack on stuff you really didn't need to say."
Si-hoo stood up.
Just a little more.
If I can recall just a little more of my memories, I'll definitely be able to change a lot of things. It was completely unexpected, but today I managed to learn Si-hoo's resolve and draw out that fighting spirit.
Look at Si-hoo's eyes. They've become the eyes of a warrior.
If I can keep creating positive changes like this, things will surely work out.
"Good."
Let's get to the bottom of these memories.
No.
I have to.
* * *
Returning to the room, Lee Si-hoo felt a sense of calm settling in.
"..."
Up until the moment the terrifying truth came to light, Si-hoo's mind had been devoured by confusion and dread. But after talking with Geun-cheol and being comforted, the fear that had been pressing down on Si-hoo's chest was gone.
'Geun-cheol... he's an idiot, but a dependable guy.'
He's definitely weaker, but there's something about him that feels reassuring and solid.
If nothing else, his mental fortitude is tougher than mine. If it hadn't been for Geun-cheol today, my bad mental state would have had an even worse effect.
'I'm really glad I became friends with Geun-cheol.'
Lee Si-hoo lay on the bed and hugged a pillow.
"..."
Still, because of this incident, Geun-cheol might have been put in danger too. The Sovereign Commander is hiding an unthinkable secret. No, in the first place, am I really his biological child?
Whatever the truth is.
"I have to protect Geun-cheol."
I can do it.
If it's me.
"Haah."
Fighting spirit surged up.
The drive to become stronger bubbles up violently from deep inside. I always enjoyed training and building up my strength. Whenever I felt my combat skills improving and sensed my mana growing, I was happier than at any other time.
Especially at school, playing around and training with my friends was so enjoyable that every day was practically bliss.
But it's not enough.
At this rate, no matter how much time passes, I'll never become as strong as the Sovereign Commander.
Just enjoying it is no longer enough.
—Fwoosh.
The flames of resolve ignite.
'I have to get stronger.'