Chapter 85
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Who Is the Real One?
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1. Garam University Student, Kang Se-hyung's Perspective
Disasters always strike suddenly.
Until yesterday evening, everything had been perfectly fine.
The campus was as quiet as ever, and with it being the weekend, many students had headed back to their hometowns.
I lived in the dorms, so I rarely went home. No, that was just an excuse. I didn't want to go back.
I couldn't stand seeing my father constantly comparing me to my sister.
So, aside from holidays, there was no reason to go back. And it was hard to anyway.
I just replied occasionally when my sister reached out first, but since coming to college, I'd naturally drifted away from my family.
Even my sister, who at least kept in touch, had taken on some important role, so even her texts had become infrequent.
After cutting off from her, I barely contacted home at all.
I should have messaged more often.
I shouldn't have snapped at Dad.
I miss Mom's voice saying she wanted to see me.
I should have listened to my sister.
What would she have done in a situation like this?
Would she have made a stupid judgment like me? Or handled it coolly and perfectly?
My proud yet hated sister, who had hogged all of Dad's attention and love, wouldn't have sat here frozen, right?
She wouldn't have done something idiotic like mistaking her roommate for a monster and killing him.
No use regretting it now. Too late.
I looked down at my blood-soaked hands.
Drenched. Of course, it wasn't my blood.
I want to go back to yesterday, when we were chattering about grabbing drinks for the weekend.
I killed my roommate with my own hands. He was my friend. We hung out all the time.
I'm going insane. Where did I go wrong? Why wasn't he the monster? He was definitely a fake.
Why did he bleed out and die? Why?
Why? Why? Why?
[Mental strength decreases by 10.]
[Abnormal status! You fall into 'Mental Breakdown'.]
My vision spun.
The world suddenly seemed dyed black, turning grayscale.
No hope in sight. Can I really escape this?
No way out. Trapped in the lab building.
Crazed people screaming from all sides that they're the real ones, and 'fakes pretending to be real' hidden among them attacking humans.
The veterinary grad students released beasts.
I don't know what's what anymore. I don't understand anything.
Am I real? Or a fake who thinks it's real?
"Se-hyung-ah. Hey, Kang Se-hyung. Get it together, man. If you break down, we're both dead. We have to hold out till the end. You can do it, right?"
"Hyeong-woo hyung... I-I can't... They're people... Those things... Not monsters... People... Who's the real monster? Who's the real person? I don't know anything anymore."
"I know too! That those bastards are people. But are we just gonna sit here? You're not the type to crumble here. If we stay like this, we're all dead. We have to endure. If we hold out till the end, someone's sure to come rescue us. Your sister is strong, right? We need to keep our will strong."
"But..."
"No choice. Whether real or fake, you had no way to tell. So stop crying and stand up. We need to find intact people. Rescue survivors."
"...I..."
My body changed.
No. Someone swapped, someone stayed the same, others multiplied.
Pure 'chaos' with no discernible pattern.
Everything mixed and tangled. Can't even grasp what the anomaly is.
I don't even know if I'm really Kang Se-hyung.
Maybe I'm a fake wearing Kang Se-hyung's skin.
I don't know what's real. Someone, tell me the answer. If anyone's watching me, please.
"The answer's already been given, Se-hyung-ah. Run."
My friend whispers.
Run away.
Released beasts are tearing into people.
Things wearing human skins are screaming they're real.
Have to run. The demonic energy will reach here soon.
"Hyeong-woo hyung... Sorry... Sorry, hyung. Leaving you behind... Sorry..."
I apologized to the dead Hyeong-woo.
Hyeong-woo was my roommate.
The friend I killed with my own hands.
I ended up killing Hyeong-woo who kept yelling he was real.
Hyeong-woo trusted me. But I couldn't trust him.
The hallucination fades.
The friend who urged me to have will and gave me courage turns back into a cold corpse.
Have to run. Have to survive. I want to live. Don't want to die.
"Look over there! That guy! He killed someone!"
"Monster bastard! We have to kill him first before he gets others!"
The crazed people chase me to catch me.
Are they real humans? No, am I the real human?
Don't know. All that's left in my head is the desire to live, screaming at me to run.
Can't attack them recklessly. I'd commit another murder.
Anyone...
Please help me.
2. Fixer's Perspective.
Yu So-young, the national judo team candidate who possesses Nam Yu-ha's memories.
"Oh my god. Is that really you, Yu-ha?"
"Yes! It's really me! I'm going crazy too. Somehow, I ended up in this university student's body."
Yu-ha was originally a tiny high school girl.
Now she's returned as a tall, sturdy woman about my height.
Fighting her without cheats, I might actually lose for real?
"Where's the Five Flower Bell Spirit? I don't see her."
"The spirit settled in my body, so she's probably in my real body. I think just my soul got transferred separately."
Spirits are ethereal and need a host. Since she was possessing Nam Yu-ha's body, maybe her mind swapped and got separated from the Five Flower Bell Spirit.
"So right now, you're without the spirit. Can't use spirit medium arts... just a normal person?"
"But I know judo. On the way here, I took down several people babbling weird stuff. My body moved on its own."
"..."
An utterly bewildering situation.
Did minds swap? Souls? Or just memories transferred? Nothing clear.
But I clearly remember the skill notification from earlier.
'Subconscious Preservation activated, abnormal status lifted. Subconscious Preservation is a skill that triggers when distortion occurs in my ego or conceptual framework, or when common sense is altered.'
This means the mental abnormal status on me was nullified by Subconscious Preservation.
In short, my mind returned to normal, so did it snap back while trying to transfer to another body?
No. That's not it.
'I've been in this body the whole time. Not transferred and pulled back, but stayed put from start to finish. Something tried to overlay my mind, triggering the skill. That seems right.'
Subconscious Preservation restores to original state at the cost of mental strength if issues arise in consciousness, ego, concepts, or mind.
If I'd transferred to another's body, the skill wouldn't have triggered.
Body changed, but mind intact.
"Yu-ha. Maybe you're not actually Yu-ha."
"Huh? What do you mean, mister?"
"I mean, you might actually be the owner of that body, Yu So-young, with Yu-ha's memories..."
"M-Mister. Are you saying weird stuff like everyone else...? You're the mister I know, right? Lee Do-hyun the Fixer? Answer properly. I-I'm really good at judo now. Even if it's you, keep saying weird things and... I'll have to knock you out."
"...Fine, Yu-ha. Let's say you're Yu-ha."
"What? You mean I am Nam Yu-ha?"
"Yeah. You're Nam Yu-ha."
Her defenses spiked hard. Seems once memories overlay, she fully believes she's Nam Yu-ha. Shaking her self-identity triggers extreme reactions.
'This is an all-time nightmare anomaly.'
If it were just mimicking appearances or monsters in human skin, fine.
But scrambling human minds makes reversal a huge hassle.
"Alright, Yu-ha. Go ahead and use your new strength and skills to your heart's content."
"Great! This time, I'll protect you with judo, mister!"
If stabilizing means knocking out, might as well use her as is.
If she thinks she's Yu-ha, treat her as such.
A judo-pro Yu-ha should be useful. Probably... Or not? Who knows.
There should be an elevator nearby. Until I summon Eve, let's keep it like this. Can't leave her anyway.
"Ah! Fixer-nim!"
"...Huh?"
"It's me! Me! Ha-yeon! But who's that next to you?"
My mind reeled for a second.
Now Ha-yeon showed up.
A bearded grad student thinking he's Jeong Ha-yeon.
"You're Ha-yeon? Mister! That's a fake! A bearded old guy like that being Ha-yeon?!"
"Huh? What? And who are you? Who are you to call me fake?!"
"Because I'm Nam Yu-ha."
"What? Don't lie! Total lie! Fixer-nim! Fakes disguised as monsters thinking they're real are roaming around! We need to kill this fake monster bitch quick before she tricks you?!"
"You're the one dying! Come here! I'll kill you!"
"...."
Neither of you is real.
Judo national Yu-ha is oddly aggressive, and grad student Ha-yeon is oddly clingy.
"Hey. Both of you, calm down first. No need to fight here. We haven't figured out the anomaly's identity or how to counter it yet, so let's travel together for now."
"I can't trust someone mimicking my friend."
"Same here. How are you Yu-ha? Yu-ha's chest isn't as big as yours. Hers was smaller than mine."
"What? Jeong Ha-yeon, what the hell do you think about all day?!"
"Cut it out, both of you. Before I leave you behind."
At my warning, Yu-ha(?) and Ha-yeon(?) shut their mouths.
This is insane. The situation feels off.
They were ready to kill each other, both claiming to be real. If I hadn't stopped them, the judo national candidate would've killed the superintelligence ethics grad student for real.
'Not a simple memory swap. They strongly believe they're real, and are extremely aggressive toward others who don't get through to them.'
Good thing they can only use the original powers of their bodies.
If everyone could use spirit arts equally, this place would be a bloodbath already.
Spirit users and normals are clearly different, so if all normals started using spirit powers while killing each other as 'real', the campus floor would be soaked in blood by now.
Situation looks bad.
Hope everyone's safe. They're probably moving around without knowing who they are.
The silver lining...
'I set up safety measures for the kids right before crossing the main gate.'
The kids will be fine.
Because they'll protect them.