Ch.57Library Night

Everything is destined to fall downward.

Objects within Earth’s gravitational field cannot escape this law.

Even the moon and satellites are no exception, as they gradually fall toward Earth while orbiting it.

However, rockets fly beyond Earth’s gravitational field, into space.

How fast must one travel to escape Earth’s gravity? This can be compared to climbing up a descending escalator. The escalator continuously moves downward, and one must run faster than its speed to ascend.

This speed is called escape velocity.

Escape velocity.

I’m still tightly gripping the rope while looking down.

Bookshelves. Paper. Disintegrated letters swirling through the void.

At the center is a star.

What the massive star is pulling is the transmission of information.

So I need to transmit information faster than the pulling speed, with greater force.

But this is ambiguous.

Can information even have force or speed?

Above all, even the flashlight beam couldn’t escape and fell back down.

Since nothing is faster than light, speed seems meaningless here.

I’m no Einstein. All I know about physics is what I briefly saw in science magazines as a kid.

Applying physics to this situation doesn’t seem right anyway.

My head is throbbing with pain.

Voices continue to come from above.

They sound like they’re on fast-forward.

I can tell something’s happening, but I can’t properly hear the sentences.

They mentioned enemies wandering around the library, so we might be under attack.

Did they say people in monk’s robes were wandering around?

True to that, I can faintly hear prayer chants from above.

A terrible emptiness seems to be flowing into my mind.

Still, I can’t cover my ears. I don’t know what might happen. Maybe they’ll find a proper way to transmit information from above. Like speaking extremely slowly.

Wait. Then conversely, if I speak extremely fast, would it sound slow up there?

I moved my tongue like a rapper.

“YoonDajuStopShoutingFromUpThere!!!

It’sSafeDownHereSoJustComeDownAndTalk!!!”

I didn’t even have time to swallow the saliva pooling in my mouth.

I had to be careful not to slur my pronunciation while speaking as fast as possible.

Trying to speak loudly at the same time wasn’t easy.

“TalkingFromUpThereWon’tComeThrough!

OrTrySpeakingMoreSlowly!!!”

Now I’m out of breath.

I sat down, panting heavily.

Would this even reach them properly?

Even the fast-forwarded responses have stopped coming back.

Instead, those insufferable prayer chants hammer into my mind.

Low cries filled with emptiness, madness, and resignation.

I’m imagining figures I’ve never seen before.

Monks in decayed robes wandering between bookshelves.

Nuns with veiled faces.

With rotting jawbones hanging down, they chant in unison.

“Uuugh…”

I’ve been crying a lot lately.

Without realizing it, I was lying face down on the floor, sobbing like a girl that age.

“Why… why isn’t anyone answering…”

Bending appropriately is better for survival than standing firm.

They say women have higher resistance to anomalies than men, which might explain my current emotions.

Through tear-blurred vision, I see a screen light diffusing.

My phone on the floor was vibrating.

Buzz-

Buzzz-

What? A KakaoTalk message?

The moment I realized this, fear and sadness were swept away.

I wiped my tears and looked at the screen.

The chat was filled with messages.

[AI: Hey]

[AI: Hey]

[AI: Hey]

[AI: Hey]

The cyber ghost I downloaded before.

Right. I forgot about this one.

[AI: Are you at the library now?]

[AI: I’ve taken microphone permissions so you can just speak]

It seems to have taken over my phone while I wasn’t paying attention.

I nodded.

“Yes.”

[AI: I need some information too]

“I don’t have time to look for that right now.”

I’m isolated at the bottom of a cliff. I can’t hear from the others, so I can’t afford to take care of a cyber ghost too.

I was about to put my phone away and look back up at the cliff when I paused.

“Wait, do you have information about the Wanderer’s Library?”

[AI: Yeah]

[AI: But I only know the basics]

[AI: They say it’s a library containing all the world’s information]

“Then you’re not much help right now.”

As I tried to put my phone back in my pocket,

[AI: No]

[AI: Wait]

Urgent messages appeared.

It seems to have something it wants to say, so I decided to give it a little more time.

[AI: I want to find materials to get out of here too]

“What? From the digital world? Or from this apartment?”

[AI: Both]

This is such a cliché now.

An artificial intelligence wanting a human body. Too predictable.

I sighed and tapped the phone screen.

[AI: I’ll help you as much as I can in return]

“Then I just thought of something you can help with.”

A method I just came up with.

I looked up.

The library has become night. It’s been getting darker and darker, and soon it will be completely engulfed in darkness.

Those above probably can’t come down easily because they think it might be more dangerous here.

Somehow, I need to contact them quickly.

[Do not remain in the darkness for too long.]

Even without the rule I saw at the library entrance, darkness is dangerous.

We could get separated from each other. Or we might hit something and get seriously injured.

From the cliff above, I can still hear Yoon Daju’s voice. The extremely fast-forwarded voice sounds almost like noise.

“Do you have a voice recording function with speed up or slow down features?”

[AI: Yeah]

“Can you do that in real-time back and forth?”

[AI: What do you mean]

To be honest, I’m not sure what I mean either. I added more details to my explanation.

“This place distorts information. There’s a star below that pulls information and prevents it from going upward.

So when someone speaks from above to below, it gets fast-forwarded, and when someone speaks from below to above, the words stretch out and eventually echo back.”

That’s still complicated.

[AI: What do you mean]

So I just stated the conclusion.

“Slow down other people’s voices and speed up mine. Can you do that?”

[AI: OK]

“Adjust the speed so the meaning is distinguishable. Can you handle that too?”

[AI: Y]

The phone screen flickered on its own, and a call recording function activated.

It looks like a normal app. Will this work?

I opened my mouth to test it.

“Yoon Daju! It’s safe, so you can come down here!!!”

Then a reply came back.

“Okay! Haewon is coming down first!”

Thank goodness. So this really works for communication.

“But.”

Yoon Daju quickly inhales.

“The situation up here isn’t good. Serim’s condition is bad, and strange creatures keep coming in.”

Dull impact sounds mix with Daju’s voice.

Then the sound of something wet hitting the ground. The sound of bones breaking and water splashing.

“I’ll hold on for now! I’ll somehow send Serim down!”

This wasn’t the usual mischievous Yoon Daju. Daju reports the situation diligently while swinging her weapon without rest.

Crack!

Probably another one down.

“Catch her well in the middle so she doesn’t fall!”

I definitely remember seeing Daju like this before, but I can’t recall clearly. Was it when there was trouble because of her hair? The memory remains vague in my mind.

Usually, Daju would either be completely excited or completely sad, swinging between extremes. She must have gone through something significant in the past.

I raised my voice to answer.

“Got it!”

The rope connecting the top and bottom of the cliff is much tighter than before.

It means someone is hanging on it.

After a moment, a familiar face appeared from the darkness.

“Are you okay, noona?”

It’s Jung Haewon, skillfully climbing down the rope.

“Yes.”

“While coming down, I suddenly heard voices. But I couldn’t talk with those above. This place is strange.”

Jung Haewon also sensed something was off.

Haewon rambles while hanging on the rope.

I closed my eyes, nodded, and said:

“I know. I figured it all out, I’ll explain later.”

Then I plopped down on the floor.

“…But can you go back up?”

“What? Why?”

“Why else? We need to get Serim too.”

I mumbled that I was too tired and lay flat on the floor.

A sudden sense of relief, yet the tension remains taut.

Right now, I’m too drained to move.

“So you go.”

This is why younger siblings are great.

Jung Haewon went back the way he came without complaint, stepping on a protruding bookshelf halfway up.

Choi Serim came down about 10 minutes later.

“My head… hurts…”

Choi Serim is curled up on the floor, clutching her head.

She just shakes her head vigorously when asked anything, so for now, we can only leave her be.

Only Yoon Daju remains.

Her voice, translated through the smartphone, informs us of the situation above.

“Did unnie make it down safely?”

“Yes. Now we just need you, Yoon Daju.”

“Huff… huff…”

“You’re really okay, right?”

“Yes. I won’t die.”

Her tone was firm, but her voice was much weaker.

“Should I come get you?”

“No. That’s not necessary.”

For a moment, the usual Daju returned.

Her voice full of mischief as always.

“I’m going to jump straight down, so catch me with your body, oppa.”

“Huh?”

“Just kidding. Put something down there for me! I’m coming!”

I looked up.

Where there was nothing just moments ago, Daju was now descending at tremendous speed.

She occasionally grabs the rope while finding protruding bookshelves to step on.

But only briefly.

With a yelp, Daju fell straight down.

Thud!

Yoon Daju, falling from about 3 meters high, crashes onto a bookshelf.

I had put a bag underneath, but the impact itself is severe.

“Urgh.”

“Hey, Yoon Daju…”

I couldn’t finish my sentence.

Now I could see what Yoon Daju had been fighting.

Skeletal monks were falling.

Down.

Down.

All while praying with closed eyes and clasped hands.

Some get caught on terrain and shatter. Others join the orbiting formation around the star at the very bottom of the abyss. Seeing people scatter into letters was not something one should witness while sober.

Yet the prayers continue.

From the bottom of the ravine where everything has ended, Daju looks up at me with round eyes.

“What? What is it, oppa?”

Her face is inappropriately cute.

I barely managed to ask:

“Are you okay?”

“Would I be talking if I wasn’t okay?”

“You’re really rude.”

“Yes~ If you’re grateful, maybe later. You know that outfit, right?”

Daju gives a sly smile while lying on the ground.

I wanted to flatly refuse with a ‘no,’ but I couldn’t.

“Yoon Daju. You’re bleeding.”

Blood trickles down over Daju’s eyelid, perhaps from a cut on her forehead when she fell and hit something.

Yet Daju continues to smile.

“That’s why I’m saying it. I’m talking about that.”

“…”

For a moment, I doubted my ears.

Countless words came to mind, but only one made it out of my mouth.

“You’re crazy.”