episode_0034

That evening.

I felt like I couldn’t leave my body, so I decided to take a shower.

First, tap water.

I went to the sink and turned on the faucet.

As stated in the broadcast that the water outage has ended, it comes out without any problems.

The hot water works well.

Next is the water quality issue.

what. Although it looks clean to the eye, it still doesn’t give you peace of mind. Because I had just burned down something that was in charge of purifying water from the water tank. Did you accidentally drop it into the water tank?

Focus more.

This is a process to find if there are any hidden anomalies in the water.

“……”

■

Anomalies, anomalous observations. It’s only been a few days since I heard this unfamiliar word.

Considering that we have already become accustomed to it, it is true that humans are creatures of adaptation.

■

■

“Ha. Haha…”

It’s actually a bit difficult to explain in words what observing an anomaly feels like. It’s not just about looking at it, it’s about widening your eyes, concentrating all your attention, and thinking about the object. If I do it for a long time, my head hurts. My eyes feel watery and I feel out of breath for some reason.

I kept concentrating, but there were no words in particular. It’s just a bit noisy.

Perhaps leaving that clump of hair in a water tank for several years would have removed all the harmful elements present in the tap water.

Even if there is something other than that, I can’t give up on this.

Shootaaa-

warm shower.

When your head is complicated, you need warm water to help your thoughts flow properly.

First, wash your body quickly, avoiding getting your hair wet as much as possible.

Since I’m really tired right now, I’ll just wash my hair at the end and finish it off.

My muscles, which had been tense from running around risking my life, felt pleasantly relaxed.

Slowly, I recalled the things I had seen beneath the black surface of the water tank.

My memory is blurry, as if I am trying to recall the contents of a dream.

First of all, the first scene.

What I remember most clearly is the scene where refugees were lined up in the apartment hallway. No matter how you think about it, the background is this apartment. So, did this happen in the past? Why did so many people flock to the apartment? Considering that everyone was out of shape, it seemed like something big had happened outside. Where have all those people gone?

Next, a woman came forward saying she was an executive of some association and gave a speech saying she would become the new leader. I can’t remember this in detail because my memory is vague.

And the second scene.

A group of people sit on the floor of a parking lot and talk. The topic is about the disposition of a person named ‘Claire’. ‘Claire’ lost her original appearance and melted, turning into a bundle of hair. And…obviously. I heard the name Choi Se-rim. The feeling I had when that name was called still remains. I somehow miss it, and my heart feels warm.

A few more memories come to mind.

This scene was shown from ‘Claire’s’ point of view. A fragment of her memory, to be exact.

So I could know other people’s names. Tasha was sobbing. A man named Choi Won. What about the blonde man who led the survivors? It looks like this person didn’t know the name.

The third scene remains in my memory most clearly.

People throw clumps of hair – the deformed Claire – into a water tank.

The reason is because of the ‘purification ability’ that Claire had. He hoped that Claire, who had lost her mind, would continue to purify the water in the water tank.

“Phew.”

then. Does this mean that there is someone with some kind of superpower?

This may be because this apartment is a strange space to begin with, but the people in my memories somehow seemed to have had special powers from the beginning. Then, some kind of crisis occurred and everyone took refuge in the apartment.

So are there real magicians in reality?

I lived in hiding, just like in a novel.

In the past, my delusions would have ended as just delusions, but so many things have changed since I was trapped in this apartment.

More than anything, it touches me every time I become conscious of my body.

After roughly wiping my body. After roughly drying my hair, I threw myself on the bed naked.

You can almost hear a fluttering sound. I know that doing this will damage the blanket and mattress, but… there’s really nothing more comfortable than this.

Rolling around in the blanket.

My stress was greatly reduced and my mind was clearer, so I took out my smartphone as originally planned.

– Me: I have something to ask.

– No answer

– busy

“What is it?”

I tried to ask because I needed some information, but the answer came back firmly telling me to get out of there. Anyone can see that he is upset. But can AI go crazy? Well, to call it AI, there are a lot of things we don’t know about it. From the beginning, he said he was trapped in the Foundation’s network, and all he got back was that he didn’t even know what he was.

But we cannot give up like this.

– Me: What are you doing?

– game

– Me: Is there any game running on your phone right now? It’s all an internet game so you won’t be able to connect.

– I’m making it.

– By Bored

– I think I know why you’re bored.

I feel a little sorry. I thought that would be the case if I were trapped in the cyber world, unable to do anything. But that’s it, I have work to do too. I was busy too. I almost ran for my life, but I can’t remember how it felt to be in a program that I didn’t even know what it was.

Still, I need information. You can’t find it anywhere else. Then it is right to apologize and make this guy feel better. Because an urgent question arose.

Ha…I’m not good at apologizing like this because it makes me cringe…

After thinking about it for a while, I just chose an appropriate emoticon and posted it.

– Instead of saying things like this, you should apologize sincerely for them to accept you.

“……”

That’s right. I’m picky about the topic of cyber ghosts.

– Me: I’m sorry.

– Me: I’ve been so busy these days.

– Me: I didn’t forget, but I almost died in the past few days.

– Me: I’m sorry

-What should I ask?

– Hurry up because there is no time.

Fortunately, this seems to have resolved the issue.

No matter how boring it was, it was better than being stuck on the Foundation’s servers. What is this? Anyway, it’s a good thing from my perspective.

– Me: Do you know anything about this person?

– Me: Something like an association of people with supernatural powers.

– wait

After a while, a text file flew into the chat window.

[Groups of note.txt]

– I looked it up and this is all I found. Everything else seems to have been deleted.

– I don’t know why it was deleted

– I’m going to play the game again.

Give it a pat and now it’s time to check the file.

I lay down in bed and opened the text file.

[Groups of note.txt]

– Worldwide occult association: magicians, psychics, traditional and indigenous shamans from each region. It was made up of a coalition of numerous organizations, but has recently become centralized and merged. / Purpose of peaceful coexistence with the paranormal world. / Experience in cooperation with foundations. Friendly to passively hostile relationship.

– Librarians of ■■■■■: Based in ■■■■■, with the main purpose of collapsing the world and establishing a new order / Purpose of liberation of neutral, non-hostile anomalous entities and destruction of hostile anomalous entities /■■■■■■■■■■■[Damaged]■■■■■/Led many incidents of terrorism, anomalous object invasions, etc./ Actively hostile relationship

– ■■■■■■[Damaged]■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

It is more like a memo than a document, but even it is damaged here and there.

Except for the first few lines, almost everything has been erased and cannot be read properly.

Ssuk suk.

I continued scrolling with my finger.

A series of broken letters and [Damaged] signs.

I don’t think there’s anything more to save.

“Huh?”

[Unknown]: ■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ‘■■’■ ■■■ ■■■ ■■ ■■ An unspecified group.

■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■■■

■■■ ■;

Although it has a theory about ■■■, there is no sign of any movement to infringe on ■■■ ■■■■.

No further observed cases since initial contact. It is assumed that the other side noticed the observation of ‘■■’ and blocked it.

The last paragraph is at least okay, but I can’t quite figure out what’s going on here either.

I really want to remove all the black boxes and read the sentences with ease, but it’s frustrating that I can’t.

How can this not work if you concentrate your mind?

“Ugh.”

There was no way.

The content was censored or damaged after the document was originally written. Unless you’re a computer expert, you probably can’t restore something like this.

Still, there are a few things I found out.

First of all, among the ‘groups of interest’ mentioned, I found one that matched my memory of seeing it in the water tank.

Worldwide Occult Association.

Considering that each member has superpowers, perhaps these are the people.

If so, it also explains the ‘purification ability’ that Claire had, and the affiliation of the woman who first appeared in her memory. Was it KOO? I heard it was an organization with an unfamiliar name. Since the Occult Association is said to be an organization made up of a coalition of numerous organizations, this roughly fits.

“……”

I have been thinking about this since a while ago.

If the girl I saw in my past memories is indeed Choi Se-rim, it means that her older sister is also a member of an organization called the Occult Association.

then.

Choi Se-rim’s image of persuading others is seen a little differently.

What I thought was just atmosphere and charisma, isn’t it actually a special ability?

Could it be that Choi Se-rim’s ability is to move people’s hearts?

Could it be that I was actually brainwashed when I cried out loud?

At that time, questions arose one after another.

Knock knock!

“Dabin.”

Choi Se-rim’s voice came from outside the door.

“Yooni says we should all have dinner together. Do you want to come out?”