Ch.135We Will Not Be Defeated (5)

The footsteps continued to approach, then suddenly stopped.

The apartment lights no longer flickered. They remained dark.

But the entity still hadn’t appeared.

***

I leaned against the emergency exit wall to rest.

The footsteps continued to echo.

Countless incidents had passed through these stairs.

When I looked up, I was fortunate enough to witness “that incident” from before.

Footsteps.

A woman with a familiar face was running down the stairs.

Her hair was disheveled, and her face was wet with tears.

It was my past self.

And footsteps chasing behind her.

This time, it was the Foundation’s special forces in white combat uniforms.

“Huff, huff.”

Without even glancing in my direction, the other “me” was running as if her life depended on it.

This is a critical turning point.

“Aaah!”

The “me” who had almost shaken off her pursuers tripped over something and fell.

I had tripped her.

Countless branching worldlines.

Countless versions of “me.”

That’s what made it possible.

“Nngh.”

“I” got up again, face covered in tears, but it was already too late.

The Foundation’s forces had already caught up.

“Let go!”

Soon after, “I” was being dragged away by the Foundation.

“Let me go, you bastards!”

Her struggles were meaningless.

Thinking about what’s about to happen to her makes me shudder with guilt.

What I did to myself was too cruel.

“You fucking bastards! Let go! I said let go! Let go!!!”

“My” voice echoes and fades away.

Is it because the voice is identical to mine?

I thought I had become mentally stronger, but my heart still trembles.

“Haaah…”

I closed my eyes tightly and covered my face with my palms.

Back then, the Foundation personnel had stormed the 7th Floor and eliminated all survivors.

Yoon Daju, Choi Serim, Heo Yoon, and Seok Hyunmin—they all died then.

And in that state of shock, I was dragged away by the Foundation to become a test subject…

Now I know.

It’s too late to pretend to be innocent; I’ve already committed too great a sin.

Captured by the Foundation, I became a test subject and arrived at Floor [13A1].

And on Floor [13A1] was a machine that summoned what you wanted but demanded sacrifice in return.

I still remember obtaining food here before.

For some reason, my body had high value, so even small injuries could get me quite a lot of food.

One cut wound was worth about a bundle of canned tuna, wasn’t it?

That’s why the Foundation was after me back then.

Dragged away by the Foundation, I was forced to participate in experiments led by the “Professor.”

First, endless brainwashing to manipulate what I wanted.

What I want is a chain.

A link from the chain binding the Fifth Apostle.

If that’s brought here, the Fifth Apostle will be released, and the world will be engulfed in destruction.

The other me probably stood before the machine after the brainwashing was complete.

And with a tear-filled voice, said:

“What I want is, hic! What I want…”

“The chain link.”

“The link from the chain binding the Fifth Apostle…”

The chain was summoned here, and it was time to pay the price.

I collapsed screaming, with all my internal organs blown away.

Then the Professor would have said in a calm voice:

“Administer the treatment.”

Treatment. The moment the dark red jelly was applied to the wound, new flesh began to grow.

With the jelly forcibly fed to me by Foundation personnel, I was given a brief recovery period.

The sensation of my missing organs regrowing was horrific.

And then, it was time to make another wish.

What I want is the chain.

But, the fear.

“Give an additional dose of sedative.”

Soon, a comfortable feeling numbed my mind.

“What I want is the link from the chain binding the Fifth Apostle.”

Excruciating pain followed.

I screamed.

I tried to thrash about, but I had no limbs to move. My arms and legs were cleanly severed and gone.

“Aaaaaaagh! Aaaagh!”

“More painkillers needed. Be careful not to let the subject die from shock.”

“Aaaaaaagh!”

Eventually, the link was summoned to the apartment, and the Fifth Apostle was released into reality.

And I died, unable to withstand the experiment.

“Experiment successful. Let’s prepare to leave the apartment.”

The “Professor” was about to turn his head but stopped in his tracks.

The worldline began to collapse.

Because this shouldn’t be possible.

The world we live in is a single story.

And “Seven” is an entity that dismantles and annihilates such stories.

The world we inhabit has been almost consumed by Seven.

It’s on the verge of annihilation.

But we can survive thanks to the existence of this “apartment.”

The Infinite Archive. The Wanderer’s Library.

This “apartment” is a bizarre transformation of the cosmic archive influenced by a specific world.

Only the story about the “apartment” is barely sustaining the world.

Because there remains a possibility that by doing “something” in the “apartment,” we can stop “Seven.”

The world doesn’t completely disappear.

In other words, worldlines where Seven cannot be stopped collapse because of Seven.

That’s exactly what happened when I was captured as a test subject and died.

“…”

The “Professor” watches the collapsing laboratory.

Everything turns black and scatters.

All events begin to become as if they never happened.

The “Professor” ■■■ toward his subordinate ■■■.

■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■■■

And time rewinds again.

Back to the moment just before the branch where Seven could have been stopped.

How did I know this back then?

Perhaps just instinct.

Or maybe the Librarian authority I gained later affected the past.

Or it could have been help from Choi Serim, who was the Librarian of the Infinite Archive at the time.

What’s certain is that no one can wash their hands clean of this sin.

Even now, countless “me’s” are dying at the entrance of the apartment.

To leave the apartment, sufficient preparation is needed.

Otherwise, we can’t stop “Seven.”

Even if we force our way out, we’ll just painfully disappear.

Time will rewind to just before going down the stairs, and “I” will go down the stairs again.

This repeats infinitely.

Flicker.

The blinking light.

I got up from my spot again.

The reflection is over; it’s time to “descend” the stairs again.

Waiting at the very bottom is probably a slightly past version of “me.”

The “me” who will be the only one to survive with me until the end.

Lim Dabin.

She’ll reach a different conclusion than my current self.

I can’t imagine what that might be.

I’ve already killed the “Professor” and gained insight from him.

Footsteps echo again.

The sound of my own steps.

Resolute footsteps.

We may be destroyed, but we will not be defeated.

To avoid defeat, all of us must be destroyed.

***

Flicker.

Flicker.

The lights come on, and the interrupted footsteps resume.

Someone gradually emerges from the darkness. I wait, leaning against the emergency exit corridor.

The person coming down the stairs is Lim Dabin.

It was me.

Unlike me in my tracksuit, she wore a white dress shirt with a black coat over it.

There were shadows under her eyes, but her pupils shone brightly.

As if she had gained some new insight.

…And,

Of course, she was female.

The coat sleeves hung loosely due to her smaller frame after becoming a woman.

So there was no other way?

It means if I had remained male, I would have died horribly inside the apartment, or there wouldn’t have been any possibility of saving the world at all.

I attempted to interact with “myself” who appeared from the shadows.

Of course, I didn’t have high expectations.

After all, she’s from a different worldline.

The time of our existence is different, but maybe now it’s possible?

“Um,”

“Yes. Hello.”

A quick response came back.

“Are you trying to go outside too? No, that’s not it. If you can talk to me, you can’t go outside right now, can you?”

“That’s right.”

Her personality has changed a lot. She’s much more talkative and smiles more.

As if I’m no longer myself.

“Ah. You still don’t know. You haven’t met the ‘Professor’ yet. Right.”

“You. Have you already met him?”

“Yes. I met him. Heard a lot too.”

“…You heard things.”

“Yes. Anyway, that means I’m a bit further ahead. I’m the future Dabin. You’re the past Lim Dabin.”

“I guess so.”

While I was lost in complicated thoughts, my future self giggled.

“Ah. Why is this so fun?”

She seems like someone who has let go of everything. Or someone who has become completely detached.

It was bewildering.

Even with the time difference, we’re both the same “me.”

How is it possible that I can’t understand myself?

“Did you meet the ‘Professor’ in the laboratory? I’m just about to break into the lab.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Can I ask… what happened then?”

My future self falls into thought for a moment.

“You’ll be shocked.”

“I’ve already been shocked a lot.”

“Really? Will you be okay?”

Watching my future self laugh as if it were ridiculous, I felt an inexplicable sense of discomfort.

The fear I felt at the very beginning returns.

When I first entered the apartment and faced threats I couldn’t properly understand.

When I was trapped alone in an elevator filled with rainwater.

The internet broadcast started by my future self. When I saw the image of a destroyed world there.

Slowly.

“I” was already taking off the coat.

The white dress shirt underneath was revealed.

The white fabric that was only partially visible before was soaked in blood.

I ask:

“Why do you think this happened?”