Chapter 246
Chapter 246
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Absolute
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Combined Skill?
I gaze at the translucent window floating in front of me.
What Combined Skill?
...
I glare piercingly at the translucent window, but nothing comes up.
It just says a Combined Skill has been created. That's it. Nothing more.
Usually, there's an explanation. What's going on?
"...What are you doing?"
"Oh, nothing."
I reach out to see if I can touch the translucent window, but my hand passes right through.
I close my eyes, brushing off Eileen's suspicious gaze.
This doesn't make any sense.
I look at what's floating in front of me.
Combined Skill.
What Combined Skill?
I stare at the Combined Skill window, which doesn't even have a name.
Combined Skills with Yoo Daon, Jang Chaeyeon, and Song Arin? Fine, whatever. But Eileen?
Isn't Eileen just a regular person?
I look at Eileen.
[Name: Eileen]
[Age: 21 years old]
[Talent: X]
[Specialty: X]
[Background: She harbors a faint hope as she looks at the man in front of her now. Maybe she can get out.]
[Weakness: She has already given up on everything. Just stay still.]
...
Nothing's changed. No new abilities have appeared or anything.
Wasn't the whole point that something new appeared in the first place?
A nameless, unexplained Combined Skill, and the partner is a regular person.
Honestly, I half-expected Eileen to have awakened some special power here.
"...Can't you do that thing from before? Like ripping or stopping something?"
"Oh, that."
Eileen looks at me.
Her eyes are filled with expectation that I can break out of this situation.
"I can't use that on my own."
"...Huh?"
Eileen blinks at my words and stares at me.
"You can't use it alone?"
"Yes."
"But it's your ability."
"Yeah, that's the thing."
"...That make any sense?"
Eileen stares at me like she can't believe it.
"What kind of ability works like that in the world?"
"Right?"
"So it only works conditionally with another person? Does that even make sense?"
"It's pretty weird to me too."
If I knew, I'd explain it.
"No, seriously. Ha..."
She sighs at my words.
...
After a brief silence, she looks at me.
"Ending up stuck here forever... I mean, it's not so bad for me."
"Ending up?"
"Dying."
Eileen replies to me with a calm expression.
"Dying isn't so bad either."
"I'd rather not."
...
She glares at me with a sulky expression.
"No romance at all."
"Dying together is romance? Cut back on the dramas."
...
I turn my gaze away from Eileen, who's looking at me with an annoyed expression.
[Would you like to use Combined Skill: ?]
I'll use it.
Soon, another translucent window appears.
[Combined Skill: is already in use.]
Already in use?
My bewilderment doesn't last long. Eileen mutters beside me in a puzzled voice.
"The rain stopped?"
"Huh?"
It's true.
The rain has stopped at some point, and a gloomy sky greets us.
"...Huh?"
I exchange glances with Eileen and look down at the cross on the ground.
The cross has turned into a massive gear.
I can't even comprehend what's happening right now.
I pick up the gear.
No pain at all.
An old gear that might've been used in a factory.
Or a part for some huge machine.
Eileen stares blankly at the gear.
"What's this—"
[Not complacent.]
A voice comes from the gear.
[Excels at turning situations around.]
[Can face one's own mistakes and confront them.]
Eileen and I look at each other,
and suddenly we're inside a massive cathedral.
The cathedral itself isn't unusual.
No, it's exactly the same structure as the one we saw. Just no people sitting there.
And,
-clunk, clunk...
The sound of countless gears turning echoes.
Not just the sound—countless gears are actually meshing and rotating.
On the endlessly stretching ceiling, so many teeth are turning you can't even see them all.
A translucent window pops up.
[Name: I Grant Wishes]
[Age: Created 100 years ago]
[Talent: Fulfillment]
[Specialty: Wishes]
[Background: Paradoxically, the one meant to fulfill everyone's wishes could not be human.]
[Weakness: X]
...
"What the hell is this now?"
Eileen mutters in confusion.
The one meant to fulfill wishes paradoxically could not be human.
No way...
-rumble...!
Something descends from the ceiling.
It's a portrait.
Eileen's gaze, having reflexively drawn her gun, locks onto the portrait like it's nailed there.
"...Seniors?"
She mutters in shock.
People in suits are framed in the portrait.
Some hold guns, others stand holding crosses.
"You know them?"
"Know them... sort of."
Eileen's gaze turns to me.
"They're the ones chosen as prophets."
"I see."
-ding!
The sound of a bell ringing echoes.
-rumble!
A voice booms from within like a hymn.
[I have a guy who owes me money. Please make him pay it back. You can kill him if you want. Please!]
It's a woman's voice filled with hatred.
[Case Number 167812.]
An emotionless voice responds, followed by a click and another voice resounding.
[My mother is very sick. She needs an organ transplant, but there's no donor. Please help.]
It's the voice of a weary young man.
[Case Number 365412.]
The emotionless voice rings out again.
[Combining Cases 167812 and 365412 to extract resolution.]
Soon, something surfaces in my mind.
More like it's 'playing' footage through my eyes than surfacing.
A woman meets a man.
Eyes boiling with hatred, but a bright smile on her lips as she hands him a glass.
The man brings it to his lips and slides to the floor.
The woman smiles brightly, makes a call somewhere, and soon someone hauls the man away.
Meanwhile, a man is visible praying with hands clasped in front of his parents.
Someone lies before him with eyes closed, and he wears an expression like the world has ended.
Soon, someone comes to him, delivers something, and hope dawns on his face.
[Case resolved.]
The emotionless voice declares it so, and the footage playing before my eyes ends.
It feels like lightning struck my brain.
What is a god?
An existence that grants people's wishes.
Sometimes it promises salvation, delivers fair and just judgments, finds solutions where everyone wins.
And usually, such an existence must be perfect.
What is perfection?
It cannot have emotions.
It must derive the optimal result. Anything behind it—stories, human feelings—must be pruned away like branches.
Humans can't do that.
More precisely, the god we want can't do that.
It can favor us for convenience, but it must not scheme our sacrifice for others' convenience.
Thus, a god
[Case 95655.]
The god they made
[Paradise.]
"Mom...?"
cannot be human.
People in white clothes dance on a sunlit hill.
It's the scene we saw.
An emotionless voice overlays the happily dancing figures.
[To ensure lifelong happiness without worries, their wish, removal of negative personal emotions is essential.]
The emotionless voice echoes in my head.
[Conclusion. Implement suppression of negative emotions.]
[Compromise by dividing the personality.]
One person becomes two.
One in the underground, one dancing in paradise.
The two are the same person.
[Excess power converted to energy for miracles.]
People scream as they're swept into the river.
Gems like sparkling jewels fall in their place.
The jewels slowly melt, and soon a rosary forms.
Someone picks up the rosary.
Kim Wanwoo's face appears, and he hands the rosary to someone else.
"...Why..."
Eileen mutters in a dazed voice.
"You're not the Absolute...?"
"What grants wishes isn't an Absolute with a personality. It's a system."
Even to my own ears, my voice comes out steady.
"People have emotions."
There is no perfect god.
People created a system through prayer and serve it as humans.
They made it arbitrarily and serve it arbitrarily.
And the machine bestows grace accordingly.
"Th-then the prophets..."
As if answering Eileen's mutter, new footage arises.
People in Management Bureau uniforms react just like us.
Some get angry, some grieve.
Soon, they watch the footage.
The same footage as us. Some bite their lips like they've been convinced, others shout that they're wrong.
Those who shout they're wrong head to the lower village and get swept into the river.
The convinced ones, or those who submit, begin judging.
They add vitality to the machine.
Like insecure vassals under a perfect king, they prune branches.
They stitch wishes together, gather new people for those who believe in them, continue collection through darkness and clergy, and if needed, even wage holy wars.
All actions are mechanical, with no corruption or embezzlement in between.
In the end, the prophet sheds tears and enters the gears.
Curls up into a single gear.
And the god seeks a new prophet.
"That's me."
No answer comes.
"What about my little sister?"
[Variable control.]
At the same time, my little sister's image appears.
Dressed in Management Bureau attire, she leaves with the collapsing church behind her.
"What is this?"
[Variable control.]
That's the only answer to my question.
...
"Hoo."
I take a deep breath.
Got it.
"Normal people get mad when their family gets taken."
I look at Eileen.
She's clenching her fists, breathing heavily.
Unbearable rage blooms on her face.
-clang!
I hurl the gear to the floor with all my might.
-whoosh!
The manual unfurls at ferocious speed.
[Office Manual]
-click!
[HM - God]
1. God does not know the human heart.
I draw my gun.
2. Thus, it cannot coexist with humans.
Eileen draws her gun too.
[In effect. Lock complete.]
A translucent window appears.
[Critical: 2->1]
The muzzle spits fire.