Chapter ANOTHER―XIX. SUN
The moment Lee Jun returned to the real world, he lunged for his desk drawer.
"My notebook... where's my notebook... come on..."
A tiny silhouette appeared beside him, looking visibly flustered.
"Wh-what was that just now?!"
"What was what?"
"Those dolls! They slipped straight inside without giving me so much as a chance to block them!"
Because Silhouette resided within Lee Jun, she could shield his mind from a certain degree of outside interference — mind-control attacks, mind reading, telepathy, that sort of thing.
"Right, you know that well enough."
"And this time you couldn't block any of it, that's the point?"
"Th-that's right."
He knew perfectly well how exceptional her ability was. But Silhouette was currently tucked away inside Lee Jun, and that inevitably reduced her to a fraction of her usual strength.
"At that level, there's no blocking it."
"Tha·t's· my· whole· point! What even was that!"
Apparently she still hadn't finished digesting Lee Jun's memories. No — it had been less than two weeks, so fair enough.
...What a chore.
"Siara. Timothy."
No. 19, the Sun. No. 18, the Moon. Together with No. 17, Jeanne, the three of them were triplets.
"Triplets...?"
"Yeah. A very peculiar relationship, magically speaking."
In magic and sorcery, twins occupy a mysterious position. A pair of twins is recognized as a single identical existence — two, yet one. At least where magic and the arcane arts are concerned. And so, while both twins live, each can only wield half of their power; only when one of them disappears does the other become whole.
So what about triplets?
"Triplets are the complete opposite."
"I see."
The number three has symbolized completeness in both East and West. The Christian Holy Trinity represents three divine persons — the Son, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. In yin-yang theory, three signifies perfect harmony, and in polytheistic Hindu mythology, the three supreme deities are revered as the highest order of gods. Greek myth gave us the three Fates, the Moirai, and in Norse legend the three Norns — Verdandi, Urd, and Skuld — dwell at Yggdrasil's third root. Across every religion, folk belief, and mythology, three is treated as the symbol of perfection.
"I used to write all of that off as superstition, but... now that we know most of those myths actually existed, I can't exactly dismiss it in a world like this."
"There's no such thing as superstition. Just look at me."
"...And what exactly are you?"
"Anyway. What comes next?"
......
So did these triplets symbolize completeness? The answer was... yes, and at the same time, no.
"Triplets can only fulfill their proper share when all three are together."
If even one of them was lost, that completeness shattered. And so a set of triplets could only become "one" by remaining three. Where twins had to lose one to be made whole, the very existence of triplets wavered the moment any one of them vanished.
"Is that all it means?"
"...You, whose very existence is a walking fantasy — shouldn't you at least know this stuff?"
"Hmph, when I was born, magic wasn't even a concept."
"The place you came from... was a Gate that old?"
Right, then. For the benefit of our magic-illiterate Ms. Hidden Piece, let me elaborate a little further.
"Now then, suppose triplets are born somewhere in the world. One of them is a born magical prodigy, and the other two are not. For that prodigy to achieve true greatness, what should they do?"
Only one talented sibling out of the three. For twins in this situation, the correct answer is to kill the other one. The origin split between two would then merge back into one, restoring magical wholeness.
But triplets were different.
"If triplets find themselves in this position, they need the other two to learn magic as well — even if it's dreadfully inefficient for them."
Raising the sum of the three siblings' magical talent. That was the only better path.
"Now let's complicate things further. One is a prodigy, one has passable talent... and the last one is a magical cripple."
Suppose one of the three simply could not learn magic at all. Admittedly, since triplets are beings whose very existence carries magical meaning, the odds of such a case occurring anywhere in the world were slim to none.
Even so, let's suppose.
"Hmm... does the talented one's talent degrade too?"
"No."
In that case —
"None of the three can use magic. Not one."
"Huh? Really?"
"Yeah."
And what magical change would have to befall such triplets for them to use magic again? That question was the logical puzzle that had gone unsolved in the magical community for ages — the Triplets Paradox.
"Of course, with no actual specimen ever existing, it remained a purely theoretical problem. Magic-crippled triplets have never been discovered in any dimension, ever."
Triplets were magically special beings. And they were born with a congenital inability to use magic? Then the odds of them dying shortly after birth hovered near one hundred percent.
"Oh. I see."
Silhouette nodded, genuinely impressed by the new knowledge. Then she added:
"But you can't use magic either. Why do you know all this so well?"
"...Hey."
Since when does being unable to use magic disqualify me from studying it?
Was I not perfectly entitled to hit the books?
"Studying it would be pointless anyway."
......
A filthy world that refuses to value a man's effort.
"...I didn't want to study it either. But clearing the Gate meant infiltrating a magic school. You do what you have to do."
Anyway.
Back to the matter at hand.
"And — the paradox I mentioned isn't impossible to prove forever. It's difficult, but the possibility exists."
"How? You just said no such triplets were ever found."
"The academic world simply hasn't discovered one yet. There's no such thing as a perfect 100% probability of anything existing."
Zero percent and one hundred percent do not exist. It is impossible to collect every sample from this world's past, present, and future. The only being who could declare anything 100% with certainty would be one capable of observing every point in time — in other words... a god.
But proving that something is not 100%? Surprisingly easy. All it takes is finding a single counterexample. One is enough.
"And that one counterexample is the Bernadotte triplets."
"What? Seriously?"
"Yeah."
Jeanne, Siara, Timothy. And among them —
"Siara is the magical cripple."
The magical cripple in the example Lee Jun had just laid out was No. 18, Ciara d'Arc Bernadotte.
Which meant the one born with innate magical talent was —
"That's Jeanne?"
"No."
No. 19, the Sun.
Thimotée Arc Bernadotte.
Or as Arcana called him — Timothy.
That was the guy.
We were always together.
From inside our mother's womb, all the way to the day we were born.
The thought of being apart was one we never even entertained.
Until I died.
Beep— beep— beep—
"...snap... wake...!"
The first of the three of us to die was me.
Thimotée Arc Bernadotte. The name I'd given my comrades in easier pronunciation was Timothy Arc Bernadotte. Nicknames: Tim, or Timmy.
"...Bro...!"
Siara's voice reached me.
Johanna, as ever, said nothing at all.
"Hkk...!"
Blood came flooding up out of my mouth. Through my blurring vision, I searched for Siara — and then gently stroked the head of my weeping little sister. She clutched my hand as the tears poured down.
"I'll never say another word about what you wear, ever...! So please...!"
"Haha... that's a strange thing to hear from someone... on their deathbed..."
"Stop... saying you're dying..."
Beep— beep— beep— beep—
The machine kept shriking its obnoxious wail without pause. Even the life-support unit Armea had rigged up as a stopgap seemed to have run out of options.
"Armea...! Something's... something's wrong with this, the sound keeps—"
"...Siara. It's—"
"Don't you dare say it!"
Siara's cry tore out of her like a wail. Her trembling traveled down our joined hands and into mine.
Ah. So Siara was frightened too. Of losing family. I was afraid as well. Death is the end of everything, after all. And... there is no one here... I would ever see again.
But the eldest is always the one who looks after the younger ones. So I could not let these two see my fear — even if I was a mere one minute older than Siara, and seven minutes older than Johanna.
My fate had been sealed in that sliver of time. And... I never once resented that order. I swear it — not a single time.
And so, I spoke with all the composure I could muster.
"Siara... fix that habit... of snapping at... people..."
My voice shook with pain, but I played it as naturally as I could, coaxing her gently. All that effort, and my sister only wept harder.
As I racked what remained of my mind for a way to comfort her, someone took Siara by the shoulders.
"Big Sister, stop crying. Right after a battle, you could get dehydrated."
"Johanna..."
A child born with emotions so faint she might as well have been a plant. The one I worried about most, in the end... was this girl.
But... everyone will take good care of them. I learned it here, in this place: family is not only the ones you were born alongside. There had only ever been the three of us... and then every member of Arcana became our family.
With that faith to hold onto, I could close my eyes a little more at peace.
Even as I thought it, Johanna stepped closer and spoke, unhurried.
"Are you going to die, Brother?"
A very Johanna-like question, I suppose. She had always shown us the exact same face... so this unwavering response was, strangely, a comfort.
"Yes... I expect... I am."
"Then... I will never see you again."
"I'm afraid... that's right."
Speaking was getting harder by the moment. My body already knew this was the end. Ah... still... I would have liked to finish this conversation with our youngest before I went.
And then — perhaps she noticed my strength was nearly spent — Johanna ran her fingers over my cooling hand and said:
"You're always so noisy, and the smallest of the three of us, and you keep stealing our clothes to wear... but I think it would feel empty without you."
"Johan...na...?"
"So I will not let you simply disappear."
With those words, Johanna drew something out of her Pocket.
A doll.
A brown teddy bear — the same color as my hair.
"It will be a little cramped in there... but please bear with it."
Perhaps my brain was starved of blood. I couldn't make sense of what she was saying.
And without ever understanding the meaning of those words,
I closed my eyes.
Forever...
Or so I believed.
And after that — I, who had believed there was no "after" — opened my eyes once more.
Inside the doll.
"Brother."
"Hmm?"
"What are you going to do first when we arrive?"
"Well... first we have to go find Hyung. We need to bring Johanna to him properly, so she doesn't get lost."
"Mm... yes... I suppose that's right?"
"What? Are you excited?"
"Ex-cited? Excited about what! Why would I be excited to look at that human's face?!"
"You used to dote on Hyung more than any of us, you know."
"That was just...! It was just..."
"Hahaha, I'm looking forward to it too. It's been nearly a year since I saw him in person."
A pink rabbit doll, and a brown teddy bear doll. The two of them sat side by side in a single seat, bickering away — while in the seat next to theirs, a girl with long braids of orange hair slept soundly.
Outside the window stretched a boundless sky, and the sun burned hot and fierce within it.
There had been a time when I believed I would never lay eyes on that sun again.
"I really am... looking forward to it."
The teddy bear murmured it quietly, a faint smile on his stitched face.
Overheard in passing, it might have sounded wistful — but being, well, a doll, the sentiment came across considerably watered down.
Before long, clouds gathered thick across the sky outside the window, and then endlessly small buildings began to come into view. They were descending.
"Ah, looks like we're here."
The rabbit doll beside him spoke up. The teddy bear was thinking the same thing.
We'll be landing soon.
With that thought, he carefully roused the girl still lost in dreamland.
"Johanna."
"Mmm... Brother...?"
"We're in Korea. Time to wake up now."
"Yes..."
The youngest still couldn't quite drag herself out of her dreams and did nothing but rub her eyes. The two dolls gazed at her fondly.
'...…'
"By the way... when exactly did we tell Hyung we'd be arriving?"
"Uh... we didn't?"
Hmm.
Hahaha. We forgot.