Chapter 500: Age of Exploration (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 500: Age of Exploration (1)
The first time I heard about the Records Stone was during my conversation with the GM.
"There's no reason for me not to believe him. At the very least, the Records Stone corroborates his claim, anyway."
In answer to my question about why he believed Auril Gavis's whole tale that a specific player would open the Gate of the Abyss in the future, he implied it was practically prophesied. The moment the words came out of his mouth, I knew that Baekho Lee probably had some connection to the Records Stone as well, because just like the GM, Baekho Lee was also obsessed with the user Elfnuna.
"Hm, is that so?"
That day, I didn't want to risk doing anything that might set Baekho off, so I set my suspicions aside and didn't mention it. I also figured I should look into it on my own first before asking him about it, but my findings simply confirmed what I already knew.
There's no record of it in the library. Even Versyl looked like this was her first time hearing about it when I asked.
I spent some of my free time looking into it, but I couldn't find any information about the Records Stone. Thus, I was left with only one option: ask someone who could give me an answer directly.
In response to my question, Baekho went silent. However, just as he had told Hyeonbyeol earlier, silence was an answer in itself.
Yeah, so he does know what the Records Stone is.
It made sense for him to keep quiet and think it over before answering me, but the window of time to make it look natural had already passed him by. Nevertheless, Baekho remained silent and stared at me like he was looking into my very soul.
"Bro." He finally broke his silence. He didn't even seem to realize that the smile he'd worn earlier had disappeared. In a cold, low voice, he asked, "Where did you hear about that?"
I felt a strange chill run down my spine, but I didn't let it show. This guy always had hidden motivations lurking behind his every word. So why was he so interested in figuring out my source first?
He must be curious about how much I know.
Armed with that knowledge, I had only one option.
"I wonder." I had to keep my answers vague and avoid being impatient. That was my best bet for getting the upper hand in this interaction. "Does it matter where I heard about it?"
Baekho's eyes never left mine, studying me intently as I shrugged. He appeared to be deep in thought, likely wondering how to approach this conversation.
Was I asking because I really didn't know what the Records Stone was? Or did I already know something, and I was just trying to cross-check information? In that case, how should he answer me? Or could he maybe not answer at all?
As time slowly ticked by, I could feel him carefully running through possibility after possibility and weighing his options. Figuring that giving him more time wouldn't do me any good, I decided to double down. Even though this would seem totally out of left field to him, that just made this move all the more effective.
"Elfnuna."
So I brought up the thing I knew would throw him the most off-balance. No matter how large the tree, if you continued to shake it, at least one leaf was bound to fall.
When I dropped the nickname for the first time in our years of encounters, Baekho's eyes widened ever so slightly. His reaction wasn't enough for me, though, which is why I quickly made my next move.
"You already know that that's me."
It was time to put one of my cards down on the table.
"What do you mean by that?"
His response, while almost instant, was neither positive nor negative—just a simple question. It was a pattern often seen in people who lie. Responding with a neutral question rather than another lie put them at ease.
That meant I needed to push harder.
"Baekho, haven't you noticed? Ever since we first met, not once have I talked about Elfnuna with you." I tapped my finger on the text above my head that said Elfnunna. "Don't you think that's weird?"
It was an inescapable trap. Checkmate.
Crackle.
The sound of burning firewood filled the heavy air between us. Instead of pushing him anymore, I gave Baekho some time to collect his thoughts. Normally in situations like these, the liar was the one least comfortable with prolonged silence.
"Bro..." After a long moment, Baekho finally cracked. "What do you want to ask me?"
It seemed this guy still intended to walk the tightrope. I was familiar with this mindset of his, wanting to give others the bare minimum while taking as much as he could in return. But there was a simple way around it.
"It's not that I want to ask you something."
When the opposition was tightly restricting the flow of information, it was best to put the ball in their court.
Where did I hear that word? How much do I know? None of that's relevant.
"I just want to listen..."
Crackle.
"...and see what kind of answer you're going to give me."
The outcome of this conversation was now entirely in Baekho's hands. And he made his choice faster than I anticipated.
"Hahaha, you're seriously intense, bro! Seriously, I can never win against you!"
He suddenly snapped back to his usual self. From my point of view, it often seemed like there were two entirely different Baekhos who sometimes swapped places. I used to be taken aback by the way he could switch personalities at the drop of a hat, but I'd gotten pretty used to it by now.
"I'll tell you everything. So what are you most curious about?"
Ha, this bastard is still trying to play games with me.
If I hadn't had my guard up, I might have fallen for it. I didn't answer him and, instead, just silently waited there, staring at him.
Baekho fidgeted a bit before letting out a heavy sigh. "...Were you really an office worker before?" When I remained silent, he continued, saying, "I'm just curious, that's all. Just what kind of life do you have to live to end up like this?"
What is this guy talking about?
Finally picking up on the fact that I was going to keep silent no matter what he said, Baekho let out another deep sigh. "Hah... All right, I'll tell you. Honestly, I'm pretty sure you're just feeling me out... That must be why I'm so nervous... Well, maybe it would be best to fess up at this point."
"Then answer me."
"Okay. Do you believe in fate?" He paused and waited for me to respond, which I didn't. "Ah, you're not even going to answer that? Then I'm just going to explain this however I want, regardless of whether you understand me or not."
"I told you already. All that's important is what you want to tell me."
"Fine. I got it."
Baekho seemed to give in, noticing that I wasn't planning to give him anything to work with anytime soon. After all, any question I answered, no matter how small, could lead to a major slip-up.
"I'm sure you already know that most ancient artifacts and their old myths were lost when this city was built, right? But did you know that one of those ancient artifacts wiped from the public record was the Records Stone? And that Records Stone is said to contain the entire history of this world. I'm not just talking about the past, but the future as well."
Isn't that just some sort of old myth?
That was what it felt like to me, at least, but I decided to hear his story out in its entirety.
"Anyway, even something like the Records Stone has an ending. Of course, that ending would mean the end of the world. And the beginning of the end was where the Witch came into play... Though I honestly don't know much about that. There's only one thing I really know for sure."
I kept silent.
"Someone destroyed the Records Stone to prevent the end of the world. And because of that, this world still exists today."
I took this in, my silence was not even an act anymore.
"The important thing here is this. The shards of the Records Stone are now scattered all over the world."
As soon as I heard that, something clicked into place in my mind.
The Fragment of Records Stone.
A magical item left behind by Gabrielius. The very same one that sent both me and Amelia back in time.
"Some of the fragments have actually been found. And I've even seen some of them for myself."
That news actually pissed me off a little, given something he said to me a few months ago.
"The Fragment of Records Stone...? I've heard about it before, but I guess it really does exist."
So the bastard had been a liar from the start. I wanted to say something about that, but I didn't want to interrupt him mid-story, so for now, I held my tongue as he continued. We were finally getting to the important bits.
"One of the fragments said this." Baekho paused for a minute before reciting, "And so, blank, an evil spirit from a different world, was able to open the Gate of the Abyss and finally achieve his wish."
The sentence seemed plucked right out of a storybook.
"Since this evil spirit's name wasn't written out in actual letters, it's impossible to say for sure who it is. That's because, in the Records Stone, people's names are written with unique symbols. Something about how it's the true name attached to your soul or something." He paused to see if I had anything to say about that, then continued. "But that's not the point. The main thing is that I've seen that same unique pattern written down on other fragments as well. And they said this."
Ba-dump!
"Blank, who was the first to pass the original test, has opened their eyes in this world."
Only after hearing that did I finally understand why Auril Gavis was so obsessed with the person who cleared the original version of the game. It also suddenly made sense why the GM was so interested in Elfnuna and, lastly, why Baekho Lee was so afraid of being on my bad side.
"Big Bro... You haven't said a word this whole time. If you didn't know anything about the Records Stone before this, then this part will pique your interest." While I was still trying to gather my thoughts, Baekho continued his tale. "What's so important about these records anyway? Aren't they irrelevant now that the stone is broken? At first, that's what I thought. But that's not the case. In fact, something in the last fragment I saw came true."
"...And what was that?"
When I finally opened my mouth, Baekho replied with a smirk, "That's a secret."
"...What?"
I glared at him, irritated by his cheeky attitude, but he acted like he didn't care. "I'm not going to tell you. Believe it or not, it's because it's a personal matter. Don't worry, it has nothing to do with you."
If that was true, then there was no point in prying anymore. For some reason, when he said it was a "personal matter," I was inclined to believe him.
"Yeah... I think that's everything there is to say about the Records Stone... so how about I talk about Elfnuna next?"
When I nodded my head, Baekho moved on to the next item on the agenda.
"I made this chat room after learning about the Records Stone. And I waited all this time. That's because I was certain that the person who had the highest chance of clearing the original version of the game was none other than Elfnuna, and obviously, Elfnuna had to be Korean. After that, well, it's just like you guessed. All this time, I've thought that person might be you. But to think I was actually right..."
Baekho then looked at me with wide eyes and asked, "It is you, right?"
All this time, we'd been deceiving each other, unable to have an honest conversation. However, since he was willing to share this much with me, there was no reason for me to hide the truth from him any longer.
I calmly confirmed it for him. "Yeah."
Although he was finally hearing it from my own mouth, Baekho didn't have much of a reaction. He must have already been sure of it beforehand. He simply nodded his head.
"I think I told you everything I can. So, what do you think? Does that answer all your questions?"
"No, not yet." I shook my head. Most of my questions were answered, but one important thing remained. And it might just be the most important question of all. "Why were you keeping this a secret from me this whole time?"
In other words, what was Baekho Lee's angle?
"After hearing you out, none of this seems like something you needed to hide from me," I said firmly.
As I confronted him head-on, Baekho responded with a bitter smile and a slight longing in his voice. "Fate is like a monkey's paw."
"...Monkey's paw?"
I looked at him in confusion, urging him to elaborate, but he simply shrugged his shoulders like he'd already said everything he needed to say. "What? You don't know what a monkey's paw is?"
"I know what it is, but why are you suddenly bringing it up?"
"It's exactly what I said. The things written on the Records Stone are bound to happen, no matter what. However, it's impossible for me to know whether or not what I want will happen."
"...Continue."
"Big Bro, I'm certain that, one day, you will open the Gate of the Abyss. But does that guarantee a happy ending? Your wish might come true, but what about mine? That's why I didn't say anything about the stone until now. I wanted to buy some time to try and change your wish so it was the same as mine."
I think I understood what he'd been thinking. After all, I'd done something similar before.
"Amelia's older sister Laura died."
Back then, I tried all sorts of things to change the future and ultimately succeeded. So maybe Baekho Lee had been trying to do the same. That was probably why he ended up showing his true colors the moment I told him that I didn't want to return home.
"Then why did you team up with the Fallen Scholar?" If he was going to answer everything I asked, I figured I'd ask one more question. "I'm sure you didn't just become buddy-buddy with him because you needed a wizard on your team."
Baekho's expression hardened for a moment before incredulous laughter burst from his throat. "Hahaha... Do you have some sort of lie detector in your head or something?"
A lie detector in my head? How the hell would that make any sense?
"Forget that and answer me. This is my last question."
Although I urged him to get to it, Baekho was slow to respond. "I don't know how this will sound to you, but..."
"It's fine. Just say it."
"That old man... You don't have to worry about him. He's just my Plan B."
"Plan B...?"
"Yes. Things don't always work out the way you want them to, right?"
Baekho smiled then, burying all his true thoughts and feelings deep inside.
"I need to have a backup in case I have to abandon Plan A. Because one way or another, I'm definitely getting out of this shitty place."
***
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