Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Between 90 Seconds and 4 Minutes
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Once, questions like that had circulated on the internet.
There's a button here.
If you press it, instead of spending 100 million years in a subspace, you get a fortune.
But the moment you press it, you're locked in a room where you endure eternal agony for 100 million years, though all memory of that time vanishes.
The situation I'm in now doesn't seem all that different.
Except this time, someone is orchestrating it.
It's not some uncontrollable force trapping me—it's a far bigger, stronger entity that has me locked in solitary confinement, holding the door handle.
I need to shatter the game board.
What does shattering the board mean?
To do that, there was one thing I needed to prepare, and one thing I needed to show.
“...”
“...”
Jang Chaeyeon met my eyes and quickly turned her head away.
I'd been on a few blind dates in my life.
Not a single one had worked out, always ending in awkward goodbyes, and the biggest reason was my eyes.
‘Even though we just met, you seem to know me too well—it's kinda scary sometimes.’
‘You read people's minds like it's nothing; it gives me chills.’
‘Not my type.’
‘You look like someone buried in work.’
Anyway, I'd suffered a lot of unfair criticism about my eyes.
Thanks to that, blind dates never ended well for me.
But on the flip side, I was a guy with blind date experience.
“The weather's nice, huh?”
“It's gonna rain.”
“Yeah, you're right. Hobbies?”
“None.”
“Ah.”
Experience alone wasn't enough, it seemed.
As no more questions came, I racked my brain, and she looked at me with a quiet sigh.
“Um... why are we doing this?”
“Doing what?”
“Why keep up this pointless nonsense?”
“To get out.”
“Do you really need something this useless to escape?”
“If I say yes, will you play along?”
Jang Chaeyeon stared straight at me.
Her emotionless eyes met mine several times, and with a deep sigh, she turned to face me fully.
“My hobby is walking. Like I said, I'm an only child, and both my parents have passed.”
“I see.”
“You?”
“Like I told you, I have a little sister... and both my parents are fine.”
“Is your sister normal?”
“Huh? Well... probably.”
“Hobbies?”
“Nothing specific. Working at the Management Bureau leaves no time for hobbies, as you know.”
There are so many deaths that on days I send money to the families, I feel guilty myself.
“...Yeah, true.”
Jang Chaeyeon looked away.
“But why'd you get assigned to desk work instead of Containment Team? With your skills, you could've jumped right in.”
“That's how they assigned me. Fine by me—no dying involved.”
“The Management Bureau has no eye for talent.”
“Don't say that anywhere else. I'm already in hot water because I caught their attention.”
If not for the Butterfly's Dream incident, I'd have lived quietly. How did it come to this?
“How?”
Jang Chaeyeon tilted her head.
Come to think of it, I'd never told her about my abilities. Or the Butterfly's Dream case.
“Well... a lot happened.”
Time was all we had left anyway.
I plopped down next to Yoo Daon, still frozen in the same pose, and started talking. Jang Chaeyeon sat demurely across from me, listening intently.
“Luckily, I could see those guys with my eyes—”
“Hmm...”
“And when I shot them like this—”
“Oh...”
“But that Gas Tong guy was actually nothing—”
“...”
Sometimes she'd brighten up, widen her eyes at dangers as if she were in them herself, and sigh in relief at resolutions.
I couldn't call her a smooth talker, but her listening made storytelling even more enjoyable for the teller. It even got me more into it.
After I finished, she stared at me.
Her eyes seemed a bit brighter now.
“...You're a cool guy.”
“Well... uh... thanks.”
Such straightforward praise was oddly embarrassing.
“...Guess I should tell my story now.”
She placed her hands neatly on her knees and began.
“I awakened this ability and got hired by the Management Bureau right away. ...You could say I got tricked into it.”
“Tricked?”
“They're always short-staffed. Especially for useful abilities like mine—they'll do anything to recruit you. All sorts of methods. Mine was relatively tame.”
Did they really need to go that far, Management Bureau?
“Anyway, I worked on Containment Team... then this incident happened, and my whole team died.”
Jang Chaeyeon spoke flatly.
“Why'd they die?”
“I don't remember.”
“Right, yeah.”
“...”
“...That's it?”
“That's it.”
She sure knew how to tell a bland story.
“...So, how do we solve this? You have a way, right?”
“Yeah, sort of.”
“What?”
“We wait.”
“...I told you, waiting changes nothing. This place won't budge until we break.”
“I know.”
“...Do what you want.”
In the end, she hugged her knees and sat there.
*
A day passed.
I'd realized that in this place, I felt no hunger, sleepiness, or any basic survival needs.
No worrying about starvation was a plus, but being unable to sleep away time was a problem.
“...”
I looked around.
The visible info hadn't changed, but it didn't bother me.
We had no time—yet paradoxically, all the time in the world.
I approached Jang Chaeyeon and struck up a conversation.
She responded, if briefly.
Day two.
No different. No night came, so who knew if it was two days or one.
The change was her starting to talk to me a bit more.
“...You okay?”
“With what?”
“Doesn't it feel hopeless? Scary not knowing when it'll end?”
“Not at all.”
“Why?”
“If I were alone, I'd be terrified, hopeless, scared out of my mind, going insane in no time. But I'm not.”
“...”
“Now Chaeyeon-ssi is here with me. Doesn't feel scary.”
“...”
She stared, then lowered her head and sat back down.
Day three.
No change.
Day four.
Same.
Day five.
Identical.
Day six.
Nothing to say.
On the seventh day, Jang Chaeyeon approached me again.
“...Bored.”
“Yeah, figured.”
She sat beside me.
I didn't stop her.
Probably two weeks now.
We decided on something more productive.
“...Not writing well.”
“Yeah, well.”
Jang Chaeyeon grumbled, scratching at the wall with a stone shard.
“Just use your ability.”
“That defeats the purpose.”
“Sheesh.”
She set the stone down and sat by me again.
“I'm resting today.”
“You don't have to finish?”
“Tomorrow's another day.”
“True.”
“So rest today. Got more fun stories?”
“What should I tell today? ...The time HR tried paying retirement in monthly salary installments and nearly got their jaws broken by Team Leader?”
“You told that two days ago.”
“Oops.”
“But tell it again.”
Jang Chaeyeon smiled faintly.
“I'll pretend I forgot. Tell me again.”
*
Another week passed.
“Almost done.”
“What is it?”
“Don't look.”
She muttered contentedly, holding the stone shard, and as I tried to peek, she covered my eyes with both hands.
“I'll show you when it's finished.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Let's go somewhere else. Hurry.”
In the end, with Jang Chaeyeon stuck right behind me, marking me—that firmness... no, the feel—pushed me away helplessly.
*
About a month passed.
As I sat still, Jang Chaeyeon casually sat beside me.
“Tell me a story.”
“I'm really out now. Might have to go into crawling on the floor as a kid.”
“Then do it.”
“If I remember. You tell some too, Chaeyeon-ssi.”
“I've told plenty.”
“But I've told more.”
“Hurry.”
“...Daon-ssi spilling coffee on her laptop two days into HR?”
“You told that last week.”
“No way, when di—”
“But I just forgot.”
She smiled softly at me.
She could make that face too?
“Tell me.”
In the end, another meaningless story with Jang Chaeyeon passed the time today.
About two months in.
“...”
“...”
Now, she sat so close our shoulders nearly touched, staring blankly elsewhere.
“What're you doing?”
“Nothing.”
“...”
“...”
A long silence flowed, and we said nothing more.
“...I have something to say.”
“Okay.”
Thud.
Jang Chaeyeon leaned her head on my shoulder.
“Honestly, at first, I regretted it a lot.”
“Yeah.”
“I was scared. Memories of this pain came back.”
“Yeah.”
“I resented a lot, blamed myself. Why did I do that?”
“Yeah.”
“But being here with you... you were right.”
“About what?”
“That it'd be fine with two of us.”
Jang Chaeyeon turned her head slightly, meeting my eyes.
Her breath tickled my nose up close.
“Wanna see the thing I was making?”
“Yeah, sure.”
She stood, took my hand, and led me. I followed.
There I was.
Well, a drawing of me she'd scratched out with the stone.
More detailed than expected—I couldn't help but click my tongue.
“...When'd you start?”
“When I was staring off blankly.”
“...Wow.”
Jang Chaeyeon turned, smiled softly at me.
“Now it's done.”
“That's the end?”
“No.”
She approached again, looking up at me.
“Not scared anymore.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
She laughed out loud.
“Just... wanna stay like this a bit longer.”
A brief silence.
Then a window appeared before my eyes.
[Your understanding of Jang Chaeyeon has increased.]
[Through bond with Jang Chaeyeon, you can now use Combined Skill – Coordinate Rip.]
[Coordinate Rip – 3 uses remaining]
Looking at her, I smiled softly and replied.
“But now it's time to go.”
“Huh?”
Leaving her stunned, I stood.
Explanations popped up before me.
[Coordinate Rip – Shares coordinates you select. She rips and tears them. Remember: coordinates aren't just in reality.]
Eyes that specify coordinates, huh.
I looked at Jang Chaeyeon.
“No matter what happens now, don't panic.”
“...I trust you.”
She nodded, and after glancing at her, I muttered inwardly.
‘Coordinate Rip.’
Suddenly, the world looked different.
Like graph paper overlaid on everything I'd seen, reality warped around me.
“...This is...”
“Shh.”
Had Jang Chaeyeon started seeing it too? I hushed her startled mutter and scanned around frantically.
Seeing the unseen.
I looked wildly, and soon spotted a distortion unlike the rest.
Like crumpled paper only there.
“There!”
I pointed, and Jang Chaeyeon looked, extending her hand, clenching her fist.
-Crunch.
With a twisting sound,
-Swoosh...
Wind began to blow.
Sounds started.
“Huh?”
Yoo Daon's voice.
“...She was right next to me a second ago, when—”
-Thud thud!
Before Yoo Daon finished, someone rushed and hugged me tight.
“...We did it.”
Jang Chaeyeon crushed me in her embrace.
“...We did it...”
“We did it together.”
“...No, what? When did you two get so close?”
Yoo Daon approached, incredulous.
“A lot happened—”
“Shh.”
Jang Chaeyeon pressed her index finger to my lips.
“Keep it secret.”
“...Fine, if you say so.”
“...This isn't leaving me out, right?”
Ignoring Yoo Daon's grievance, I looked around.
Soon, info appeared in my vision again.
[Name: Cube]
[Age: Manufacture Date XXXXXXXXXXX]
[Specialty: Reality Alteration and Absorption]
[Talent: X]
[Background: A cube made far away, possessing reality alteration and absorption functions. Whether it absorbs by altering reality, or alters by absorbing reality—the order is undetermined. Currently absorbed by the cube: a city.]
[Weakness: Coordinates // // // // die die die die die die die die]
[Critical charges.]
[Critical 0->1]
Someone seemed really pissed off.