episode_0293

“That… wasn’t your usual way of speaking, was it?”

“What, you remember everything already?”

“No… it’s just, I don’t really know what’s going on.”

I was in the vast expanse of space. Even though I’d never been to space before, I definitely felt that this was space.

Galaxies. Countless clusters of stars flowing down from the far distance. I, too, wanted to become a star and entrust myself to that comfortable flow.

I reached out my hand, but it didn’t reach. It was right in front of me, and at the same time, so far away. Perhaps my body itself didn’t exist in that space.

I already know the feeling of liberation from the physical body. After awakening to soul liberation, I could freely move between my physical and spiritual body. This feeling right now is the feeling of being in a spiritual body state.

I was already a star. I shimmered and emitted heat with each breath. I couldn’t exist in this space without becoming a star in the night sky that everyone looked up to.

Born with a single shimmer, and dying with a single shimmer. This is space. The feeling of seeing the world I live in at a glance somehow brought about a great sense of intellectual satisfaction.

I felt a gaze.

“That… why did you call me?”

“We didn’t call you. No one called you. We only observe. If someone’s power was at work in this encounter, it’s your power.”

“Do you mean… I called you… you all?”

“It seems you didn’t intend to.”

I didn’t understand. Who were they, how could they exist in this space, and why did I come here?

I was like a boulder perched on a downhill slope. If I just pushed it with a little force, I would surely know, but that little bit is lacking. Only a vague feeling of knowing and not knowing was filling me.

“Your purpose… is it to reclaim what you lent?”

“I didn’t lend anything.”

“No. We definitely received it. You did well for that time, and if you don’t repay it with interest, the [Administrator]’s responsibility won’t be properly met.”

Administrator. What suddenly came to mind was the unlock condition for the next scenario. Surely, only [Origin’s Traces: Administrator] was still unobtainable.

I felt something seeping into my bosom. The vast waves of the universe flowed in, keeping time with the star’s nocturne.

『Scenario unlock condition [Origin’s Traces: Administrator] recognized.』 『Scenario unlocked. [Side Story: Origin]』

Even in this space, the status window worked. It’s possible because it’s one with me. Come to think of it, I was worried about my mother and the others I left behind in the royal palace.

“My house is fine, right?”

“Of course. To reach this place with a human body, existing perceptions often collapse temporarily. In that process, you simply saw a kind of hallucination; no time has passed.”

“Then… okay.”

I raised the body I was lying down in. Since my physical body didn’t exist, I merely moved sensorially.

A beam of light stretched out, forming a long carpet. It looked like I was supposed to walk on it.

I took a step. I felt my body being sucked somewhere.

“Remember this. Those who walk this path will ultimately bear the responsibility.”

“You are an extraordinary being, and at the same time, an ordinary being.”

“When you know the beginning, you will also see the end.”

“I will persistently watch… your choice.”

The universe expanded. I headed toward a single point. Space distorted, and phenomena beyond perception passed through my body.

When I regained consciousness, I was standing on a planet.

. . .

An overflowing sea of fire. A scattering fire rain.

It was a world on the brink of its end. The embers of life were slowly fading, and only ashes and death remained.

Wherever I walked, I couldn’t feel the breath or movement of any living thing. The complete silence of life. Sunset meant night.

I could see that planet from the viewpoint of the universe. Dozens of tentacles emerged from a black star and devoured the planet.

The end was a fragmented interpretation seen from a human perspective. The phenomenon that actually took place was predation. It was a very common natural phenomenon, where a great being simply devoured a lowly being.

Death, silence, the undeniable end. And the end, when viewed from another perspective, was also a new beginning. The fragments of the broken star were reborn as stars again.

And there was a being that controlled this flow, the cosmic being I had just met, the Administrator.

The Administrator was one and many at the same time. It was like a river. The river water wetting the riverbank, the water collected in the crevices of rocks, and the water flowing smoothly without any obstruction—they were all river water… It existed everywhere and nowhere.

The Administrator saw. The black star traversing the universe, swallowing numerous small and pitiful stars. If only the black stars continued to increase endlessly, the collapse of the universe’s balance would be in the near future.

The Administrator said,

“Intervention is necessary. Our true mission is management. We can’t restore order by merely observing.”

The Administrator replied,

“That’s arrogance. The range we can intervene in is extremely limited. Do you mean to directly intervene and reduce the black stars?”

“No. Chaos is intensifying, so I’ll just help order for a while.”

“That’s right. I’ll join.”

Two flows headed towards one star. A light intense enough to illuminate everyone, and a life gentle enough to embrace everyone.

The flow gradually diminished. It’s a natural phenomenon. Direct intervention in the universe is something that is originally not permitted to the Administrator. If a new tributary is created against the flow of a great river, that new stream will become small and weak.

The star to which the light and life were directed once again enforced ‘the beginning’. The light enveloped the sky, healing the inhabitants of the star. Life enveloped the land, giving it a vast forest.

They became the goddess of light, Lumine, and the world tree, Gaia, respectively.

That star died and was reborn countless times, but even with the Administrator’s intervention, the situation didn’t improve. The black stars continued to increase in number and size.

The balance between light and darkness that made up the universe began to slowly collapse.

The Administrator said,

“We can’t just watch idly. We need to explore possibilities.”

“…Are you trying to become like them?”

“Yes. But I’m a little different. In the universe I see, there’s interesting culture.”

It was an Administrator with a somewhat unique appearance. His flow was highly irregular, and at the same time, aesthetic, like the proof of a meandering flow of light. He valued stimulation and pleasure.

“Ultimately, humans are the ones who will bear the responsibility of choice. So, to help humans, we must use human methods.”

“Human methods…”

“Games, you know, games?”

“Do you mean horseback riding or archery?”

On the star where Lumine and Gaia resided, there was no such thing as what he called a ‘game’. So, the Administrator didn’t understand his method.

He moved alone. He took a little bit of the star’s memory, pierced through the universe, and soon arrived on Earth.

He implanted the star’s memory into a single human. And, centering on that human, he formed a group. Planners, developers, illustrators, voice actors. He breathed life into a very small world that moved with electricity and data, and soon a small universe was born.

It was the official release date of [Academy Story].

. . .

The moment that peculiar Administrator intervened in game development with the star’s memory, Acasto had already surpassed the level of a game.

Supreme freedom. Only the starting point of the universe was set, and everything else was left to the ‘players.’ Acasto, which had already become a world of its own, was enough to captivate the hearts of humans.

The Administrator predicted its success, and it naturally came true. Tens of thousands of people fell in love with the star’s memory and began to write their own stories.

Freedom was the Administrator’s objective. To endlessly simulate the birth and death of stars. The countless stories that flowed out became possibilities, and those possibilities would lead to the clue to saving the universe.

Looking at the game’s booming success, the Administrator smiled.

He liked humans’ peculiar choices. Unlike the Administrator, they sometimes make mistakes and make choices that go against reason.

However, that seething emotion of humanity was so exhilarating. For the Administrator, who had only quietly existed and gazed at the universe, the lives of humans were like a drug.

That’s why he chose this method. He believed that even if he didn’t directly intervene and just watched the choices of many humans, humans would acquire the means to defeat the black stars by themselves.

Then one day, a phenomenon completely different from the Administrator’s expectations was discovered in the Acasto server room.

『Bug detected.』 『The data of character [Eve Istar] is causing unexpected problems.』 『Entity [Eve Istar] is judged not to be a character. Modifying permissions.』 『Entity [Eve Istar] has met the requirements to be a player.』 『Error occurred. Compensation distribution and status window function are restricted.』 『Integrating all data of entity [Eve Istar] stored in the main server.』

It wasn’t a human who made the peculiar choice.

It was a creature made by humans, a game character. That character became intertwined with a human, gained a self beyond a character, and at the end, her emotions exploded, making her into an error herself.

Humanity’s first creation, who lived longer than humans, her name was Eve Istar. The Administrator felt an overwhelming feeling as he watched her.

“This is it… I’ve finally found a clue…!”