Daydream (3)

“..Wake..! Wake up..!”

“Dream.. get out..!”

“Ian..! Kang Yi-an.. quic…”

Ring-ring-! Ring-ring-!!

“Huff!”

The unfamiliar ceiling of our house that still looked strange even today. The alarm sound ringing with the warmly shining sunlight clearly announced morning.

Ring-ring-!! Ring-ri.. click.

“..I feel like I had a strange dream.”

I thought about the dream I had just been having as I turned off the alarm. But it seemed the dream had already disappeared, leaving only a slight lingering feeling.

No matter how hard I tried to recall it, I couldn’t remember.

Woowoong..

“Huh? When did this get into my hand?”

I looked at the branch that was somehow in my hand, buzzing. At my words, the branch briefly stopped vibrating, then briefly questioned me.

Ong-ong..?

“…Never mind.”

Ever since I picked up the branch last time, I continuously felt a strange sense of incongruity. Like a crack, if I were to use a metaphor.

It felt like something was misaligned and twisted, and sometimes like wearing ill-fitting clothes. But at least today I tried not to think too much about that sense of incongruity.

‘I might not care normally, but today is quite an important day.’

Ouwoong..

The first part where the protagonist’s epic would begin had arrived. I got up and once again went over the terrorist attack that would happen today.

I needed to prepare for safe places or places to evade them. Preparations in case the situation went wrong.

So I crammed information about the terrorist attack into my head.

A little later. I headed to the place where the terrorist attack would happen, together with the protagonist, Lee Si-hoo.

“So, what kind of assignment are you going to do at this large mart?”

Of course, Si-hoo didn’t know that a terrorist attack would happen here. He only knew that he was here for a simple school assignment.

“Something like market research.”

“Market research?”

“Yes, how much awareness citizens have about the association, and what issues in the area the association needs to address, and so on. I have to research, compile, and make a presentation with PowerPoint.”

“Ugh.. just hearing about it gives me a headache.”

I created a semblance of plausibility by roughly making things up. A large mart not far from the university.

Since there were apartments nearby, there were various types of people, from housewives shopping, to children holding unopened toy boxes and firmly grasping their parents’ hands, to young adults with carts full of alcohol and snacks.

“You’ve chosen a good location. With this, you should be able to gather plenty of data for your assignment, right?”

“Right?”

The scene of the mart with various people gathered. Everyone was living their ordinary daily lives with ordinary smiles.

Without thinking about what was about to happen. As I was thinking this.

“Handsome young men! Have a food sample before you go~”

“Oh! Thank you, ma’am!”

Suddenly, the voice of a mart employee was heard. Since there was no reason to refuse, I was about to pick up a piece of meat along with Si-hoo.

‘Hmm?’

But something was strange. The meat I put in my mouth had no taste, aroma, or even texture felt by my tongue.

Even after touching various parts of my mouth with my finger, there was no trace of meat, as if I hadn’t eaten it at all.

Creek.

In that moment, I felt a sense of dissonance.

“Ma’am. This has no taste at all..”

Woooong..!

I was about to raise my head toward the woman to ask about it.

Creak.

“That.. tastes good, doesn’t it, young man?]

“Huh?”

With the illusion of space distorting, in front of me was not the woman but a monster taking the form of a woman.

“Not long.. un,til..”

“Ma’am?”

It no longer took a human form. A literal monster with an amorphous body spewing black tentacles in all directions.

“Th, thar, therefore, so,so,so,so,so,so-Tekeli-li”

The slimy monster filling my vision was flashing its eyes and showing me a grotesque smile.

“Tekeli-li”

“..Excuse me?”

“Tekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-li”

The monster repeatedly uttered incomprehensible screams. Its eyes rolled around.

“Uh..”

Just looking at it made me feel nauseous, while my body froze like prey in front of an overwhelming predator, unable to move.

It wasn’t just because of the monster in front of me. More precisely, it was what was beyond it.

Something that was watching through ‘that’-

[Found you.]

Its eyes then gazed at me. It was stretching its amorphous tentacles toward me.

“Uh.. huff.. urgh..”

Like a snake slowly strangling my neck. But with an overwhelming presence incomparable to that.

Just as the slimy tentacle was stretching toward me while I couldn’t do anything.

Woong..

Wawawong-!!!

The branch in my pocket vibrated and a faint light burst out.

“Tekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-liTekeli-li…”

And cracks began to form in the black slimy tentacle heading toward me. Shortly after.

Crack!

It crumbled like powder.

“-Stu..student! Are you okay? Why are you sweating so much?”

“Hey, Kang Yi-an, are you really okay?”

“..Huh?”

And where the monster had stood, the woman and Si-hoo were now standing naturally. As if nothing had happened.

I gasped for breath and looked around. My mind was racing.

“Hm? Is something wrong-“

“..Ah, shit, don’t tell me.”

“What?”

And I could clearly understand from the scene just now. This place. That it wasn’t the world I knew.

Wooong-!

“..Am I in an illusion right now?”

And with high probability, I was now trapped in the barrier of ‘that thing’ guarding the Vestige of Mystery.

Thud-!

I used the excuse of needing to go to the bathroom and hid in a corner where there were no people.

“Hey, answer me.”

Ong-ong!

The branch vibrating rapidly in response. It seems really excited, like “Finally, we can communicate!” I can tell that much.

But that wasn’t enough for me. I needed accurate and specific information to understand the current situation.

“Can’t you speak?”

Wooong..! Attention..woong..attention..!

It was desperately saying something to me. It was just repeating the word “attention.”

“Attention? Attention.. are you telling me to wake up?”

Ong-ong!

As I saw the branch vibrating shortly twice as if affirming, I naturally felt a headache. A headache similar to what I had felt previously in the lecture hall.

Unlike before when existing memories seemed to blur, now it felt like the blurred memories were becoming clear again. And I could understand.

“Were you the one telling me to wake up all this time?”

Ong-ong-ong!

Watching the branch vibrate with time differences as if applauding, I felt strange somehow.

‘What kind of thing is this anyway?’

I only knew that this was a world of hallucination and that this thing had been trying to bring me to my senses, but I had no clear memories about the outside.

The idea that an artifact in the form of an object could have self-awareness was unthinkable with my current memories. I also didn’t know how my outside self had obtained this.

‘If I consider that it’s a branch and that it just helped me by stabilizing my mind and body against that monster, it’s likely the World Tree Branch, but…’

“……”

Swish-swish.

Wooong..! Heeeek..!

It seems that’s not it either.

‘Moreover, even if it is the World Tree Branch, I’ve never heard of it having self-awareness like this..’

After various thoughts and considerations, I decided to just ask it. Yes, it’s best to ask the subject directly.

“Branch.”

Ooong.

“I’m going to ask you questions now. But since you can’t seem to give precise answers, say ‘ooong’ if what I say is correct, and ‘woong’ if it’s wrong. Okay?”

Ooong!

Having received permission from the party in question, I began to question it without hesitation.

“First, you are indeed a ‘Vestige of Mystery’, right?”

Ooong.

“Did you come along with me?”

Woong..

“That’s not it? Then, did you have self-awareness from the beginning?”

Woong.

“That’s not it either? Then..”

. . .

After a series of twenty-questions-style exchanges, I could roughly understand its condition.

“So, first of all, you are the ‘World Tree Branch’ that I created with my ability. Originally, you were in a situation where you couldn’t do any activity within the branch, bound up.”

Ooong.

“But around the time I created you, there was a strange energy swirling around, and you used your power as if resisting to protect me from it. And then at some point, you naturally developed a will?”

Ong-ong!

After hearing the detailed explanation, I understood how it came to have a will. The specificity of the barrier controlled by ‘that thing’.

While this hallucinatory barrier makes humans experience hallucinations and illusions as intended, for the Vestige of Mystery, it acts like a stimulant.

If it wasn’t completely without self-awareness, but rather in a state close to being sealed or asleep, it’s not strange that it would wake up like this, stimulated by the characteristics of the barrier.

‘Of course, I didn’t know that the World Tree Branch had self-awareness, nor did I know whether a copy, not the original, could develop self-awareness.’

According to additional explanation from it, its will is similar to a soul, so if there’s a body to replace it, it’s quite possible for a copy to become the original.

And since the World Tree Branch I created was almost at the level of an exact copy, it could go back and forth without any particular side effects.

‘Scary..! This guy called me!’

Yes, if I hadn’t been busy supporting the protagonist and studying hard to go to college. If I had thought about developing my ability instead of studying, I believed I would have been a crazy talent who could soar like this.

“Hmm? But something seems odd?”

Woong?

After briefly admiring my own abilities, I had various questions.

“First of all, I’m in a hallucinatory barrier in Japan right now.”

Ong-ong.

“Why did I come here?”

Wooong?

The reason for coming to the barrier in Japan is obvious. It would be because I’m targeting the Vestige of Mystery that ‘that thing’ spreading this barrier is guarding.

‘Considering that I collected the World Tree Branch and even attempted to replicate it, it seems clear that I’m planning to make the Elixir.’

But even so, something was definitely strange.

“Why would someone like me, who would likely be an important figure in the association, be here like this?”

Wawong..

“Couldn’t I have sent Si-hoo, or some other suitable hero?”

Woo..

It was also questionable why I, who would be working at the association, would be trapped in this fantasy barrier like this. Additionally, the fact that I was caught by the barrier was also questionable.

Even if I were to come, I would have come with at least S-class level mana? Surely I wouldn’t have charged in recklessly, relying only on this stupid Vestige of Mystery.

“……”

The contemplation continued, but nothing concrete emerged. The memories that were becoming clear again provided information only about this place not being reality and about the World Tree Branch, then became blocked again.

Woong..wawang..oong..

The branch also seemed to want to tell me something, but this part was absolutely incomprehensible.

“..Let’s escape from here first. Then there’ll be no reason to worry.”

Ong-ong!

“But, do you know how to escape from here?”

To be honest, since it was such a useless thing that knew so little, I just asked as a formality. I thought I would probably have to figure it out on my own as I went along.

Ooong!

But contrary to my expectations, the branch affirmed with a clear resonance.

“Really?!”

Wooong!

As if excited by my response, it sounded so confidently.