episode_0142

“The library is now tied to this narrative layer. You probably know that. ”

Of course I know.

I even went and checked in person.

“Do you know why that happened?”

“That’s… … .”

The words trailed off for a moment.

Librarians face a huge contradiction.

No, that’s more like karma.

And the weakness of the librarian is soon my weakness.

If the other person knows this, it will be impossible to know how to continue the conversation.

After talking for a while, I glanced at the ‘professor’.

The professor smiles faintly and casts his gaze toward the door.

[Im Da-bin!]

[Keep calling. I don’t know when you’ll answer.]

Outside the tightly closed door, the group’s voices can be heard.

Words that desperately worry about my safety. But the most dangerous thing of all is none other than them.

I had no choice but to admit my mistake just now.

Above all, the ‘professor’ already knows.

That’s how it feels.

“I know that the librarians of the Infinite Library did this on their own.”

“Yes. If it weren’t for their misdeeds in the first place, the concept of a librarian wouldn’t have existed.”

Also known as [The Librarians of the Wandering Library].

The name of an organization that handles information.

Even before becoming librarians, they used the same name.

Someday, they will wait for a suitable library to take charge of it.

The professor continues speaking.

“They discovered the Infinite Library and immediately broke into it. And in some way, they tied the library to our narrative hierarchy.

They tied the library that used to roam freely here because of their greed. ”

And we planted a management system in the library and created the concept of a librarian.

In the first place, the wandering library didn’t need a librarian because it had the ability to self-correct.

“Even the measure is almost irreversible, so there is no way to restore the library. No, it is more correct to say it is impossible.”

The initiative in the conversation should not be completely handed over.

First, I interrupted the professor and spoke.

“That’s all I know.”

What’s important is the current situation.

The disaster itself was unleashed upon the world.

Famine. War. Starvation. Volcanic eruptions and plagues… … .

Now countless people are losing their lives.

The person who planned all this is right here in front of me.

And he says, ‘This is for everyone.’

He says, ‘I designed the perfect ending.’

Whatever the plan, I don’t fall for the professor’s words.

“So. That library that was tied up caught the attention of the Seven? So that’s why the narrative class we are in became the target? So, if we release the library, we can all live. The way to do that is, for some reason, by sacrificing countless people. Is that it?”

This way, all the cases can be organized into one.

But the professor shakes his head.

“No, my plans are completely different.”

“Then?”

“… … .”

Knock knock.

The professor stood up from his seat.

He was a much taller man than I had expected.

Even taking into account my short height, I feel quite intimidated.

Or is it just my mood?

The professor bends down and picks up something that had fallen on the floor.

It’s a white paper boat.

The sharp anchor is stained with blood.

As the professor ‘floated’ it near his chest, the paper boat began to sail through the empty air.

“As a result of being close to the library where we should be free to roam for a long time, diseases have been planted in humanity. Those diseases are still waiting for their time inside us.

Mr. Im Da-bin is an excellent librarian, but there is a limit to the knowledge you can handle.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You only search and use the knowledge provided by the library. There is no way you could know information that would be a weakness for the library.”

“Just a minute… …just.”

The puzzle pieces are falling into place one by one in my head.

Is this as the professor intended?

But now that everything was shrouded in mystery, the feeling of doubts being cleared away and approaching a single clear answer was an extremely violent pleasure.

“Then the identity of the seven was not the disaster you brought, but ‘disease’.”

“The worst crisis that has befallen us is not the fifth apostle, nor the future disasters that will follow, but the ‘disease’ of humanity brought about by the library.”

The more you repeat it, the clearer it becomes.

There’s only one thing left for me to ask.

“What is that disease?”

“It is a complete fixation. Because of the influence of the library, which wants to record and preserve everything, this narrative layer completely stops the moment our story reaches its ‘end’.”

My mind is dizzy.

Why didn’t I think of it?

As I was moving towards the ending, I didn’t realize it.

It didn’t matter what the ending was like.

“No matter how a story ends, a new story continues. This is thanks to our ability as the subject of life.

Simply put, even if the story of someone going to the market to buy apples ends, the world doesn’t stop. The world continues as other stories continue to wash and peel apples. ”

– But the library changed everything. As a result of being close to the library for a long time, our end was already recorded in the library, and eventually our destiny was planted in our heads.

– Numerous religions remain as evidence of this.

– When the day of judgment comes, believers will be saved and enjoy true happiness in the eternal heaven… … .

– We exist. But at the end of the day, everything stops moving. Our minds will not be able to endure and will collapse. Because they are not made to live forever.

“So I’m going to distribute the ‘cure’ as quickly as possible. That’s my plan, that’s all.”

“… … .”

“Rather than just sitting back and waiting for everyone to meet a terrible end, it’s better to take a step forward. That’s what the Foundation has always done. For all of us.”

– The best way is to wipe out all humanity.

It must be refuted.

The ‘professor’s’ answer is wrong. But my mouth won’t open.

The details of the ‘disease’ I’ve heard are so horrible that even death feels like a comfortable rest.

“Is killing everyone now for the sake of a later resurrection?”

It was only after a long time that I was finally able to open my mouth.

My voice is shaking.

“You say you’re saving humanity. Then shouldn’t someone continue living?”

“No. There is no such thing as resurrection. There shouldn’t be.”

Why is that?

Even I feel relieved when I hear the professor’s words.

“Only death before the end is the best possibility for humanity.”

“The best possible… … .”

“Mr. Im Da-bin.”

The professor closes the distance.

“What you are doing is only clarifying the fate. You are oiling and polishing the bars of the prison that holds us all in. No matter how well-decorated the prison is, there is no denying that it is a place that oppresses our souls.”

The ending of this story itself is the worst ending?

Stop ‘Seven’ and save the world.

Is this ending I was pursuing the worst ending and the one called ‘seven’?

So the moment we reached the end. That is, the moment I stopped ‘Seven’.

The world stops immediately and is swallowed up by the ‘Seven’?

“Our consciousness will be split in two. One will be eternally conscious of itself but trapped, unable to do anything, and the other will be swallowed by the Seven and trapped in oblivion. Completely forgotten, we will not even be able to hope for salvation from outside.”

It’s a clear contradiction.

But ‘Seven’ is such a being. Just like the tragedy the ancients spoke of.

Even if you struggle to escape fate, you cannot avoid tragedy. Even that struggle becomes a process that leads to tragedy.

“Mr. Im Da-bin. Stop going towards the end.”

The professor says.

“It’s a path for everyone.”

“Then let’s stop now.”

I took the pistol out of my bosom.

The professor observes my every move without any sign of panic.

“No, Mr. Dabin. Killing me won’t change anything.”

“Is that really true?”

You are wrong.

The gun was not pointed at the professor’s head.

Crunch.

I feel the cold metal on my temple.

Even though it was a weapon I carried around in my bosom, it was still infinitely cold.

“Let’s meet up sometime.”

“Is there really no salvation for us?”

Just before pulling the trigger.

A myriad of thoughts cross our consciousness.

Webtoon writer. Memories before entering the apartment. Dr. Chen’s contract. The scenery of another world line that I saw when I fell into consciousness. My brother checked my condition and left the ending of the world to me. ‘Good job.’ My brother shot himself in the head. – With this very gun. Everything fell apart into letters and collapsed.

And. A hole in the tablet LCD. I came here from a higher level of narrative hierarchy.

Now I know exactly why.

The most important thing in pistol suicide is positioning. You have to blow out the brain cleanly to die painlessly.

So where the muzzle should be aimed is inside the mouth, the soft palate where the roof of the mouth begins to soften.

But what I chose was the temple side. It was the exact same pose as the ‘hyung’ I saw in my memories.

The finger grips the trigger tightly and moves backwards.

It’s best not to expect to hear a popping sound.

Taang, and.

[“Because you have been completely forgotten, you will not even be able to hope for salvation from outside.”]

– Ghost Story Apartment Survival Diary ————————–

————-Even if the world stops, new stories are created as long as there is external interaction.

I am the savior of this narrative class.