And If You Gaze Long into an Abyss, the Abyss Gazes Also into You
The bus stop where I'd met her. It wasn't far from here. We might run into each other again soon. No, the odds were high.
Running away forever isn't gonna cut it.
Of course, there were upsides too. She didn't know anything about me. The privilege of being a Maelmang Gallery admin. When it came to info, I had the overwhelming edge. She couldn't even pinpoint where I lived. She probably had no clue I was 'SiwooSiu' either.
So, no real reason to be scared.
...Should I say hi?
To decide, I needed more intel. From her attitude last time, she didn't seem outright hostile to humans. Probably no big issues.
Plus, I was curious. What did a cosmic lifeform even think about all day?
After some agonizing, I fired off a secret chat.
Welcome to the Stagnant Water forum^^
Perfect greeting, right? Just in case, I tacked on a friendly emoticon. Newbies to the board must feel uneasy. If I reached out first, she'd appreciate it. Then I could ease into the convo.
All that practice paid off.
Me, Lee Siwoo. Total social recluse, but I'd done plenty of online chit-chat. Roasting one space monster? Piece of cake.
...That's what I thought back then. Back when I was that naive.
"......"
The space monster came out swinging way harder than I'd expected. First question: ever killed anyone? Professor, you're moving too fast.
Maybe 'cause the topic was so heavy, I found myself typing seriously without thinking.
You're just pretending to be normal.
I licked my dry lips without realizing. This monster... for a cosmic entity, she was pretty sharp.
How the hell did a space monster know shit like that? Honestly, I had to admit I'd underestimated this woman.
That's when I started genuinely regretting this. This monster... she wasn't ordinary at all. Just one greeting, one reply. And she'd seen right through me.
Did living 15,000 years give you skills like that?
The chat went quiet as I paused. Then a reply popped up. Surprisingly cute.
Who knew a space monster could apologize? Her face from last time flashed in my mind. I glanced at the lemon candy and typed back.
A childish back-and-forth ensued for a bit. Average age over 7,000, and this is what we're doing?
I was tense 'cause she's a space monster, but her personality seems normal enough.
Or maybe it's just online. Plenty of people act different on the net vs. IRL. Me included.
Now that I think about it, I guess I was a little too blunt.
Nah, hard pass on that. No clue what a 15,000-year-old space monster really was, but probably Cthulhu-ish. Last thing I needed was her granting my wish by ending the world.
Ally acquired? Good enough. Time to change the subject.
Classic space monster confidence overflowing.
You talk as if you know me really well?
This girl... testing me now?
That kid who says his first words are about having killed someone.
I chuckled as I typed. My mood had been kinda gloomy, but the chat was lightening it up. Felt like we clicked on some weird level.
Not sure if bonding with a space monster is a good thing...
Was this another probe? The chat felt cautious now.
Still, felt a bit unfair. She wasn't even trying to hide it.
'Devour them all.' Metaphor? Or literal? With a space monster, probably the latter. Reminded me of those horror flicks. Not a pretty sight, but I wasn't naive enough to be horrified.
Me lecturing on murder was pretty funny anyway. I wasn't exactly spotless myself.
Wanna meet up sometime?
No, why would a woman use a nickname like that?