Ch.138Professor, Conclusion

People who had been frozen in place begin to move with bizarre gestures.

Hop-

Yoon Daju, who had been still, suddenly jumps up, nearly colliding with me.

“!#@$? !#%$^&”

Yoon Daju says something incomprehensible while climbing onto Jung Haewon’s shoulders.

She’s clutching Jung Haewon’s phone in her hand.

Phone?

I check my pocket.

The phone I was definitely carrying has somehow moved to Yoon Daju without me noticing.

“!@$%”

“#da!%%^”

Jung Haewon and Yoon Daju continue exchanging words in an unintelligible language.

Rather than approaching rashly, I quietly observe the situation.

Only Yebin and I are free from this strange flow of time.

The others just stand still, but there’s a subtle sense of discomfort.

As if a video is being rewound.

Hop.

Daju and Jung Haewon, back on the ground, let out excited shrieks.

Of course, I can’t understand what they’re saying.

It’s just that since everything is rewinding, the sounds are extremely unpleasant.

“Uh!@$%^$!”

The phone is still clutched in Daju’s hand.

I cautiously approach and check the screen.

As expected, nothing appears.

There isn’t even a message saying she connected to the internet broadcast. It’s just a turned-off phone.

In reality, time is rewinding.

My checking that internet broadcast was something that should never have happened in the first place.

Now I can only wait until time returns to the beginning.

“Waah!”

Yebin, awkwardly standing alone, suddenly leaps to avoid Daju who comes charging at her.

Whether Yebin and I are standing here or not, people continue moving along their predetermined routes.

They’re not just moving but rewinding, which makes it difficult to watch and avoid them.

“Come here.”

I grab Yebin’s wrist and pull her toward the door.

“Phew… That was close…”

“Time is rewinding.”

“Yes. It seems so.”

The bizarre scene continued for several minutes, obvious to anyone watching.

“Dabin. Maybe Dabin learned something she shouldn’t have known. That internet broadcast seems to have been the problem.”

“Yeah. That’s not just a possibility, it’s exactly right.”

“What?”

“I should never have watched that broadcast in the first place.”

A story rapidly rewinds before our eyes.

No. To be precise, this isn’t rewinding. We’re watching the process of a failed worldline collapsing.

If I watch this video, the branch splits, and the world ends.

In the end, only one outcome remains: the world being completely deleted after being swallowed by Seven.

Of course, the result is similar to time turning back.

The difference is that it poses a major threat to the already precarious lifespan of the world.

Creak-

The world forcibly twists its massive body to reverse the outcome.

To find the one path where it can survive.

Crack-crack-crack-

A thunderous sound seems to come from somewhere.

A sound like everything in the world is collapsing.

I couldn’t be sure if this process would end safely.

Perhaps restoration would fail here, and the world would be deleted.

That wouldn’t be so bad either.

When the story returns to its original point, only my memory will remain.

So that internet broadcast was a signal prepared for only me to see.

At the same time, it’s a question thrown by my future self at the final moment.

“Why?”

Now I think I understand the meaning of the question.

‘Why can’t I die?’

Because I was a being from a higher narrative layer.

Until the lower narrative layer—this world—is completely deleted, I cannot be destroyed.

At the same time, a question arises.

That doesn’t make sense.

“Whoa.”

I twisted my body to barely avoid colliding with Daju.

I was trying to position myself where people wouldn’t come, but Daju’s movements are completely unpredictable.

Daju.

Jung Haewon.

Serim.

All the other survivors I met at the apartment.

The reason my future self could kill them without any hesitation was because he knew about my origin.

After all, I’m a being from a different narrative layer. So killing the survivors is no different from killing characters in a novel.

That must have been his thinking.

But why did he question it at the last moment?

That’s the strangest part.

‘I won’t be destroyed until the world’s final moment.’

There’s no way I wouldn’t have known this.

“But Dabin.”

“Hmm? What?”

“Your tears. You should wipe them.”

“Huh?”

“Other people will think it’s strange.”

“Yeah. You’re right.”

I had momentarily forgotten that tears were still welling in my eyes.

“Shit.”

“Dabin?!”

Yebin flinches in surprise.

“It’s been a while since I heard you talk like that.”

“Why? Want me to say more?”

I can’t help but smile.

Even my thoughts, which had been heading to extremes, return to normal.

As we break away from the serious atmosphere that had prevailed until now, Yebin is also able to smile a little.

“Yes. It’s interesting?”

“Don’t ‘yes’ me.”

I wiped my tears with my sleeve and cleared my throat several times.

“Ah. Shit!”

No one but Yebin is listening anyway.

After shouting loudly, I slumped against the wall.

What should I do now?

Although I couldn’t reach a conclusion through my conversation with Yebin, my heart feels a bit lighter.

Crying seems to have made me calmer.

The future me who went on to a different worldline, and the current me.

Combining what I’ve learned, there’s one difference.

The source of information.

I came from a higher narrative layer.

Discovering this fact directly versus hearing it from the “Professor.”

The source of truth changed everything.

I feel a bit strange.

When not properly prepared mentally, upon hearing this fact from the Professor, my future self chose massacre.

And failed.

An empty sky with no one. Only Seven greeted “me.”

I still don’t know what the Professor and “I” planned.

But seeing the lament left by “me” in the final moment, the current me can now take a different path.

The future destruction that should have become a non-existent story.

But the fact that I can be influenced by it and make different choices is thanks to the Librarian’s ability.

The Librarian’s ability is optimized for preserving information. It’s in the same context that it’s not affected by ordinary memetic forgetting or anomalies.

Even if time turns back, memories survive and influence me.

Hence the current conclusion.

The moment I watch the broadcast, the world collapses.

But I have the memory of watching the broadcast.

I’ve never actually watched it, but I know the content anyway.

I must not treat others as tools.

I must not think of them as actors in a play heading toward a predetermined ending—the salvation of the world.

Even if everything is suspicious, I should stay true to what I see now.

“I’ll do it.”

Despite my contextless muttering, Yebin nods firmly.

“Yes. You will.”

“Yeah. I definitely will.”

The next moment, the hesitant Yebin firmly grasps my hand.

“Dabin.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of much help.”

“No, that’s not true.”

The time it takes for a failed world to return to its original state.

In just a few minutes, I reached a conclusion.

Even I couldn’t understand it.

Why my heart, which was about to sink into despair, flipped in an instant.

Maybe…

It could be because of the place.

The hotel corridor where everyone is gathered has a much more comfortable atmosphere than the cold emergency exit.

Yeah. Honestly, it’s really cheesy, but let’s just make a clear conclusion about this too.

It’s thanks to other people.

Just having them beside me makes me feel at ease.

Narrative layers or whatever. That’s just how it is.

Thud.

The world barely managed to flip itself over.

People start moving normally again, and the story begins to flow once more.

“What? The broadcast isn’t working.”

“Huh? That’s strange? I’m sure the broadcast was working earlier?”

Glancing over, I see that Jung Haewon’s phone screen only shows a message saying the internet signal can’t be detected.

I know the truth, but this puts Haewon in a difficult position.

“Wow. You’re addicted to internet broadcasts. Addicted.”

Sure enough, Yoon Daju grabs Jung Haewon’s shoulders and shakes him vigorously.

“No, really!”

“Oppa. Haewon is seeing things? Is he hallucinating from addiction?”

Daju now drags me into the teasing as well.

It’s best to react as naturally as possible here.

I casually approached and pretended to examine the phone.

“What? A broadcast was showing?”

“Yes. He says an internet broadcast was showing on the phone, but there’s nothing. We called everyone here for nothing.”

“No, it really was showing!”

Daju asks in a cold voice.

“What was showing?”

“Well, that is…”

Jung Haewon scratches his head.

“I can’t remember.”

“Oh come on!”

Bang!

Jung Haewon gets hit on the head and hangs his head low.

“Stop watching so many broadcasts!”

“No, really, this is so unfair.”

Jung Haewon even stutters, feeling very wronged.

It’s a bit pitiful, but I leave them to continue their squabble and try to move away.

“Huh?”

Serim, who had been in the corner, suddenly stands up and grabs my sleeve.

“Dabin!”

“Yes? Yes.”

Her gaze is so serious that I’m slightly taken aback.

There’s no way the current Serim can read my thoughts. My resistance is so strong that unless I specifically intend it, my thoughts don’t leak out.

Yet I felt like she was seeing through my heart.

“Dabin. Did something happen?”

“No… It’s nothing.”

“You look like you’ve been crying.”

“What? I wasn’t crying. I was just watching Daju and Haewon fight, that’s all.”

“Hmm… Maybe I was wrong.”

“Yes. But I do feel a bit tense. Since we’re putting our lives on the line now.”

“Then that’s good.”

Serim smiles gently and strokes my head.

A sensation I haven’t felt in a long time. The feeling of warmth spreading through my heart makes me close my eyes involuntarily.

“Now we’re going to stop this person called the Professor, right?”

She asks without adding a question mark.

“Yes.”

“Then we’re getting closer to the ending.”

“Everyone will survive, the world will remain intact. That’s how it will be.”

“But Dabin.”

It’s the same quiet voice as always.

After hesitating for a while, Serim finally speaks again.

“Then can we… all be together at that time?”

I thought she was going to ask something profound, but the question was more deflating than expected.

Not that it isn’t important, though.

“Probably.”

We all come from different timelines.

But that doesn’t mean we’ll scatter or cease to exist. Such things won’t happen.

“Right now, the world is almost dying, so the timelines aren’t bound so strictly. I’m not sure if that’s fortunate or not.”

“Then what happens?”

“Well, they’ll sort of merge, I guess?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s true. Families and other people outside the apartment will all be treated as existing simultaneously.”

“I see…”

Serim quietly nods.

She suddenly looks cute, so I decide to act a bit spoiled.

“That’s fortunate, but I’m worried that we really don’t have many chances left.”

“I suppose so. But we have to succeed to survive.”

That warm hand touches my head again.

Pat pat.

A warm and comfortable feeling.

Ah. I could get addicted to this.

“Let’s do our best, Dabin.”

I opened my eyes that had been gently closed.

The preparations are almost complete, and we’ve gathered plenty of necessary supplies, so it’s almost time to proceed.

Infiltrating the “Professor’s” lab to stop his plan and eliminate him.

What worries me more than the failure of the operation is something else.

What the “Professor” might say. Whether I can resist being swayed by his words.

I couldn’t be certain.

Two days later.

Robin gathered everyone.

“We will now execute the plan.”

Her cold voice penetrates the bodies of the people gathered in the corridor.

“The objective is to infiltrate the laboratory and prevent the release of the ‘Fifth Apostle’.”

“And to eliminate the individual known as the ‘Professor’.”