Chapter 16
Chapter 16
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Broken Ark
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘What is the core that constitutes my existence?'
I wrote and wrote. In a world without night or day, I kept writing to the sound of waves crashing in my ears, using it as my work song.
'Is it the soul or the body? The existence of a soul can't be scientifically proven without intervention from the entity itself. Therefore, I conclude it's the body.'
When I grew tired, I ate bread, milk, and cheese, then continued writing.
'But the body keeps growing. In that process, cells are replaced, and the cells making up my past body and future body will inevitably be different.'
I fainted several times.
'The important thing isn't the cells, but the memories stored in the brain. Accumulated past memories form the self that is me and define the current me.'
I instinctively realized when to sleep and how much.
'Dementia is terrifying because it makes you lose yourself. And the entity mentioned in Dial TV's prophecy kidnaps 99 humans, including me, through dreams, using the forgetfulness of dreams to make them lose themselves.'
Time passed like that.
'I know what that entity is, but in the game, the survival method against it involved choosing options. Back then, watching from outside, I easily picked the escape route based on prior experience. But this time, as an actual participant losing my memories, I can't use that.'
By the time a large callus had formed on the index finger of my right hand gripping the fountain pen, I realized I'd achieved my goal.
'Therefore, if I don't lose my memories, I can escape.'
I finished the last page and set down the fountain pen.
[Therefore, if I don't lose my memories, I can escape. With that thought, I set down the fountain pen and completed a means to preserve my memories through the Broken Ark.]
After checking the final paragraph, I closed the notebook. The ark's door hadn't opened yet, so there was still time left. I quietly gazed at the sea while eating the now-familiar bread, milk, and cheese.
"What kind of fish live in this sea?"
I tossed some bread toward the ocean. A swarm of fish greedily rushed to devour the crumbs that hit the surface.
"Hmm."
As the fish gathered, sharks appeared behind them and tore into them greedily.
"I was thinking of going for a swim."
As the sharks gathered, something even larger appeared—a whale-sized monstrosity covered in dozens of eyes that swallowed the sharks whole.
"Yeah, no."
I stared blankly at the horizon.
"Time for some rest."
They say blankly staring at nothing without thinking is the best way to relax.
"So, is this ocean-staring, water-staring?"
Or maybe wave-staring.
After what felt like a few days, the ark's door opened. Passing through it, the sea vanished, and I was back in the original warehouse.
"You're back. It's been a year."
"Has a year passed in reality too?"
"No, only ten minutes have gone by."
The warehouse now had a table I hadn't seen when entering, along with tea and various kinds of cake.
"A tea party. You kept your promise."
"You remembered. I thought you'd forgotten after a year."
"What I did inside was remember."
The trader and I shared tea and took a break from the outside world.
"I have one question."
"Ask away."
"What did you do in there?"
The trader seemed curious about how I'd emerged unscathed.
"I remembered my life. Every memory from the moment I was born until now."
From the moment I was born from my mother and let out my first cry, through 9,125 days until I turned twenty-five.
And the 285 days this year when the entities became real.
"I wrote down all 9,410 days here."
"I see. But was there enough time? A year seems too short."
"People don't remember their entire past. They only take in the impressive, distinctive memories, and those accumulate to form personality. So I only wrote the impressive ones."
"Is that so?"
"That's what I think, at least."
I replay past memories through the notebook in my head.
Then, I record the impressive parts in diary form in the notebook in my head.
"Now, I won't forget who I am."
This is the only absolute countermeasure to forgetfulness I could think of.
"I see. I was just curious."
The trader offered the teapot. I gladly refilled my cup and popped a piece of Battenberg cake into my mouth.
"Among my customers, some who need time occasionally enter the ark. But most of them didn't end well."
"What happened to them?"
"Once gripped by mania, six came out insane. Three threw themselves into the sea, and only one emerged intact."
This time, I split a scone, spread jam and cream on it, and ate it. It was so good I understood why the British love cream tea.
"Human customers always overestimate themselves, thinking it'll be fine. But the moment they lose track of time on that vast, empty ocean, anxiety and impatience drive them mad quickly."
I followed the trader's story while eating a cucumber sandwich next.
"Those without a goal have no choice."
The various options that appear before entering the ark in the game.
[1. Physical training for a year! Take lots of supplements!]
[2. Mental cultivation for a year! Take the Mental Cultivation Manual!]
[3. Learn various skills for a year! Take related books!]
[4. What training? Just rest for a year.]
Picking the first three options raises the corresponding stats, but selecting 4 leads to a bad ending.
[You fell into a vast, empty ocean with nothing. No day or night, meals just bread, milk, and cheese. After a week, you started talking to yourself. After a month, you went mad and ran around naked. Before half a year passed, you lost the will to live and threw yourself into the sea.]
"A goal, huh. Indeed, with a goal, you don't go mad."
"That's human nature. With a goal, even an old man lives like a young man. Without one, even a fresh youth dies in solitude."
"Then what's your goal?"
The trader opened his mouth wide and shoved an uncut slice of Victoria sponge cake in whole.
"To live humanely. And even in death, to writhe until the last moment."
The moment his mouth opened, I confirmed he had twenty-seven tongues.
"That's the purpose of my life."
"Noble goal."
"Then what's yours?"
"Mine is just to live like this. I'm content with my current life."
Suddenly remembering something, the trader smiled.
"Interesting."
"What is?"
"That someone inhuman wants to live humanely."
"I'm more human than anyone."
"Yes, I know. I've seen your actions."
-Quack!
With a duck sound from the bag in the corner, the trader said,
"You are human."
The trader emptied his teacup.
"If a human accomplishes the impossible for humans, is he still human?"
"Even so, he is."
"Why?"
I emptied mine too.
"Because making the impossible possible is what humans do."
I finished my deal with the trader and returned home.
[If you wish to trade with me again, bring the invitation and act as you did this time. I look forward to our next meeting.]
I received a new invitation fancier and smoother than the original, but I didn't know the difference.
'I'll have to meet him again if I gather more entities or rare items.'
As soon as I got back, I pulled out the things I couldn't sell.
"Rubber rubber duck, peace to the big toe, WK Special Tumbler."
And the seven-headed serpent too.
"Didn't want to leave me either, huh?"
The seven-headed serpent had value, but since it didn't want to leave me, I couldn't sell it.
"Unknowingly, I've tamed you."
If I've tamed it, I have to take responsibility.
-Quack!
'The time of the prophecy is near.'
The prophesied day was just days away. Until then, I lived an ordinary life.
"You prefer live mice over frozen ones."
I bought various feeds to experiment with what the seven-headed serpent liked.
[IAmADebater: Why is Korea a democracy yet everyone waves it off and hates those who talk politics, fleeing from it? Isn't this no different from communism? What's your take? Let's discuss based on the ruling party and Korea's political system.]
└[Ah fuck off politicscuck]
└[Talk politics in polgal, retard. This is spicy ramen gallery.]
└[IAmADebater: Permanently banned from polgal, impossible. And this isn't far off the gallery's theme.]
└[How the fuck isn't it?]
└[IAmADebater: Just as we get used to spicy and seek hotter ramen, isn't our generation's political apathy—like not voting and just complaining about corruption—like spicy ramen?]
[Plz come soon master.]
I led a discussion in a new community for the first time in a while and got permanently banned.
[Woo! Life's great these days! Me, a third school grad, becoming a reject? Dream come true.]
[Congrats. What's next?]
[I'm smart but broke, couldn't go to final school? Gonna try now.]
I exchanged notes with the New Old Association guy after a while.
[Olden & Sweets Pharma to soon launch diabetes cure Oldenweets.]
[Scammer's scam or miracle drug?]
[A drug curing both type 1 and 2 diabetes? Medical world says impossible.]
[Medical field's fierce divide—who's right?]
I invested all my assets in Olden & Sweets Pharma stock too.
'Time to sleep.'
The usual peaceful daily life.
[All participants, wake up.]
And the extraordinary arrived suddenly.
[Now commencing Act 999 of the Dream Theater: Battle Royale.]
[For those unfamiliar with Battle Royale: There are 99 participants on this island. Fight for your lives until only one remains.]
It was a sudden kidnapping, but I wasn't too surprised. I'd seen Dial TV's prophecy and already identified the entity.
'Dream Theater.'
An unidentified entity that invites people into dreams and makes them dance to its desired script.
[Day 1 is rest. Good rest for good acting. Participants, mingle or relax to prepare for tomorrow.]
Death here means death in reality, and becoming an eternal puppet member of the theater, dancing at their whim.
'That's what the wiki said.'
The game's ending was vague but implied that too.
[You died in the dream and couldn't leave the stage the theater created. You became an actor moving at their will, acting by their intent forever.]
Since it was rest time first, I scouted around and found an open area a bit away. Everyone else seemed summoned similarly, gathering at the clearing.
"Where are we?"
"What was that voice from the sky?"
"I was clearly sleeping at home..."
I watched from afar before heading there.
"...Huh?"
Until an inexplicable noise appeared in my vision.
'My right field of vision is glitching.'
Like white static from a disconnected cable.
'Right eye.'
The first thing that came to mind was the Blue Moon.
The eye from the Blue Moon, whose use I hadn't known until now, activated.
"This is..."
Naturally, its meaning imprinted in my brain.
"The Blue Moon is the entity that sees human lives."
And in that instant, my right eye saw their lives too.
Not their entire lives, but their futures in a parallel world without me.
'Doesn't the Blue Moon's power only show the past?'
Why show the future without me, instead of past or present?
"Is it influenced by the Girl with Closed Eyes?"
If affected by the Girl with Closed Eyes above all spacetime, this change made sense.
'One thing's clear: I need to change plans.'
Escaping alone no longer mattered.
"Nice view."
Because if I don't save them...
"But this is different from the game too."
The world ends.