Ch.51Truth Game

Tap, tap.

In the corner of the storage room, Choi Serim was typing on her laptop.

I silently watched the scene before approaching and crouching beside her.

What was written on the screen wasn’t a novel.

It was more like notes.

Who thought what, what plans they made.

Like some intelligence agency monitoring persons of interest, the laptop contained information about numerous individuals.

– Foundation Mobile Task Force: Planning to enter the apartment under Foundation orders

– Tall man (hard to see in the dark): Where is this place?

– Person wearing protective gear: Been trapped here too long. Suffocating. Want to live. Want to get out.

– Yoon Daju: Oh, I want to sleep with Dabin oppa.

Good grief.

That last one about Yoon Daju is quite shocking.

Choi Serim calls me in a quiet voice.

“Dabin.”

Tap.

After placing a period next to an unfamiliar name, the typing sound stopped.

Choi Serim is looking at me again.

“Remember when I told you I could read other people’s thoughts?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve been like that since I was young. I kept reading other people’s thoughts.”

“So you write them down in your laptop.”

Choi Serim nods with a bitter expression.

“Yes.”

“Is there any important information?”

“There is.”

Nodding at my question, Choi Serim puts the laptop aside.

“I don’t just read the thoughts of people nearby. Sometimes, thoughts from people far away enter my mind. Like wanting to kill someone, or begging to be saved. Things like that.”

“…That must be difficult.”

“It is.”

Choi Serim’s face quickly turned to one that looked like she might cry.

“It was so hard. Especially in this place. And you know what’s even scarier?”

I just listened silently.

“It’s hard to distinguish whether the thoughts in my head are someone else’s or my own. That’s why I use the laptop. When I feel something is someone else’s thought, I quickly record it. Otherwise… scary thoughts come. What if I’m being overtaken by someone else? It’s truly maddening, right?”

Not knowing what to say, I nodded instead.

Choi Serim laughed dejectedly.

“But I feel it’s useless. This ability. Since I’ve had the ability to read others’ thoughts since birth, maybe. Maybe I’ve already been overtaken by someone else long ago? That’s why I’m so inconsistent. Why I can’t talk to people well… Don’t you think? I was always expressionless. Inside, I’d be happy, then angry, then sad… I was trying to hide it, to conceal it all.”

The concerns she’s sharing are beyond my understanding.

To begin with, the idea of reading others’ thoughts doesn’t feel real. If we weren’t in this apartment, I wouldn’t have believed it.

But.

I can understand how Choi Serim feels.

After finishing my thoughts, I spoke.

“By the way, is it okay for you to speak informally to me?”

“?”

“Time is strangely twisted here, but originally, I’m older than you, Serim.”

“No… Is that so…?”

Choi Serim shrinks back with wide eyes.

“I’m also sorry for controlling your thoughts… Then what should I do? Should I call you… oppa?”

I shook my head with a smile.

“Whose thought is this?”

“Uh, huh?”

Her flustered inability to speak properly is cute.

I stood up and extended my hand to Choi Serim.

“I’ll remember what this feeling is like normally, so you don’t need to worry too much.”

“This feeling… that’s not it…”

While muttering in a faint voice, Choi Serim gently places her fingers on my hand while avoiding eye contact.

“Let’s get back to discussing our purpose.”

Getting back to the main point. I was about to speak calmly when I sat back down.

I didn’t need to go anywhere, so I stood up for nothing.

Anyway.

“You said earlier that you can read thoughts of people far away, right? So there must be someone who knows something crucial. And I think it’s related to the apartment.”

Now for the really important part.

“What did you find out that made you act alone?”

A Foundation research facility established inside an apartment full of anomalies.

Just one step outside, and hell unfolds.

Meanwhile, the surroundings are so peaceful that one could leave if they wanted to. People outside think nothing is happening.

One of the members of the Foundation’s leadership, the Council.

The “Professor” was deep in thought.

Once inside this place, there’s no way out.

Though he had established means to communicate with the Foundation outside, he still couldn’t leave this place.

Information is a curious thing.

Light and electromagnetic waves in the normal world are just phenomena flowing along the surface of spacetime.

They can be mediums for transmitting information, but they aren’t information itself.

Information, once connected, reaches without issue.

Future events.

Countless possibilities that haven’t happened yet.

Every breath of every being living in the same time.

All contained in the same place.

The Professor closed his eyes and used his ability to foresee the future.

The “something” that spoke to him from the future was like that too.

The fifth of seven beings bound in chains.

The worst disaster appearing in all religions and prophecies.

A single movement would turn the world upside down, corrupting good humans. Disease would spread, and groans would echo.

And, at the same time, it was salvation.

Salvation for all humanity. Isn’t that the Foundation’s goal?

“So you’re saying that the future disaster is all because of this person called the Professor.”

I summarized what I heard from Choi Serim.

“And it’s because the Professor released something called the fifth god.”

“Yes.”

“You were looking for information in the library to prevent that. That’s as far as I understand.”

Since earlier, Choi Serim has been holding my hand tightly.

“That’s why I need you, Dabin. Because you have incredibly strong endurance. You can view even the most dangerous information without problems.”

“So I’m like a water filter.”

“That’s a bit of a strange comparison, but yes.”

What Choi Serim explained was this:

– She recently found a library containing all the world’s information.

– She could find information there to prevent the future disaster.

– But the information itself was a memetic kill agent. Understanding it causes fatal damage to the reader’s body and mind.

– I have excellent resistance to it, so I can read and understand the information safely.

– Then Choi Serim can read my thoughts to safely obtain the information.

Even summarizing as cleanly as possible, it takes five lines.

It feels like I’ve heard too much at once, but I don’t feel confused.

Rather, my mind feels clearer.

It’s like all my questions have been answered at once.

“Let me summarize in one sentence. You and I need to save the world together. Is that right?”

“It sounds a bit cheesy, but yes.”

“By the way, it’s interesting.”

“What is?”

“The flow of time. You entered the apartment because of a future disaster, but that disaster happened because of what this Professor person is doing in the apartment right now. Don’t you think the cause and effect are going in circles?”

Like a snake biting its own tail.

Cause and effect are all mixed up.

“And one more thing.”

“Yes. Tell me.”

“Why would the Professor want to release this fifth whatever into the world? While claiming the goal is to protect humanity?”

“Dabin, you’re smart.”

Choi Serim smiles and gently raises her hand.

Just as she’s about to pat my head, she hesitates.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing…”

“Is it because of what I said earlier? That was obviously a joke.”

I tilted my head toward Choi Serim.

“Just do it.”

Even though Choi Serim’s ability no longer works on me, just having her pat my head makes me feel at ease.

Pat, pat.

“What I was trying to find out in the library was exactly that. Why would someone who claims to protect humanity release such a thing into the world? Also, was that Professor’s thinking the same as the entire Foundation’s opinion?”

“Do you have any guesses?”

“…None at all.”

Feeling the warm touch on my head, I adjusted my posture.

“Noona.”

“Yes?”

“Can I lie on your lap?”

“What, you want me to be your lap pillow?”

“Yes, noona.”

Choi Serim says, “Here,” and offers her lap.

I carefully placed my head on Serim noona’s thigh.

The warm, soft feeling, and

Two hemispherical shadows partially blocking the storage room light.

There are benefits to being a woman.

Ah… this is nice…

***

A member of the Foundation’s Council. Robin sat at her office desk with her fingers tightly interlocked.

Very rarely, she had a bad feeling.

She didn’t have the ability to accurately foresee the future like the Professor, but for Robin, this was the most certain indicator.

Something is going wrong.

It was like this when the anomalous phenomenon created by CREEP-1002 engulfed her home.

When followers of the emerging religion “Children of the Five” broke in and committed unspeakable atrocities to her only daughter.

And when she had to cast that daughter into eternal hell with her own hands as a leader of the Foundation.

She had the same feeling of needles pricking her back continuously, just like now.

So where? What went wrong and how?

The arrow of suspicion pointed toward the Professor.

Beep-

With a familiar sound, the laptop that only she could use in the Foundation powered on.

Robin sat at her desk and completed the authentication.

[Council -#8 Robin]

[Authority confirmed.]

After a moment, the video began to play.

It was a recording of the Council meeting she had hosted.

The participants were as follows:

Host: #8 Robin

– #4 Professor

– #16 Aile

– #29 Memorizer

– #72 Colonel

Soon, the meeting begins exactly as in her memory.

“Greetings, Council members.”

After Robin’s own greeting, #16 Aile speaks.

“Robin. Please explain once more why you called this meeting.”

Robin had engraved every record in her memory.

After meaningless dialogue passed, the Professor appeared.

“It’s just an investigation.”

Once more.

Robin rewound the video and stared at the Professor’s face.

“…”

Again.

“Just an investigation.”

Again.

She pauses the screen and examines the Professor’s appearance.

The feeling is subtly different.

It was a very slight difference, but Robin could find it.

She made a phone call somewhere.

“I want to know the current location of #4 Professor.”

“Pardon? The Professor should be inside the apartment. Reports are continuously coming in, aren’t they?”

“Were there any signs of manipulation in the reports?”

“None at all.”

Robin ended the call.

A firm conviction took root in her mind.

‘The Professor is deceiving the Foundation.’

Then what she needs to do now becomes simple.

Robin accessed the Foundation’s database again.

Getting permission took, literally, just a few seconds.

[CREEP-201 /Experiment on the Tracker has been authorized.]

[Responsible: Council #8 Robin]

[Experimenter: Council #8 Robin]

After all, she herself held the authority.