episode_0004

“Is that all? Didn’t I omit too many things?”

“But you still have the brain to notice that I omitted something?”

No, why has this kid been swearing since a while ago?

“This is not an insult, I’m just stating a simple fact. As you may have noticed, there is a huge difference between your current intelligence and your intelligence when you were in Liliane’s body. Even putting aside the fact that Liliane is not a normal human, you are more stupid than average.”

“Ugh.”

“In the first place, I won’t tell you to judge for yourself whether this is a dream or not, but shouldn’t you at least think about it with your own head? Before you ask me, a complete stranger, if you don’t know.”

Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of anything to refute.

In fact, I’ve heard hundreds of times in my life that I should think about what I’m doing before I move my body, even if it’s only half the time. And every time, I felt a little wronged.

I also think a lot and act accordingly… but the results were a little lacking. It’s so frustrating to hear someone tell you to think more when you acted after thinking hard.

Actually, when I was Liliane, I felt like a lot of thoughts were pouring out of my head, but now there is nothing. Is it like turning off a faucet that was gushing water and then letting it flow out in a trickle?

No… Even so, are you saying I’m this stupid?

“And I have limitations too. Normal conversation is fine, but I have to exert some effort to talk about information you don’t know. And I don’t have confidence that you can understand easily. So I won’t explain it to you because I feel it’s a waste of effort, and it’s all your fault for being stupid.”

hmm..

I was a little upset, but thinking about it, I guess it doesn’t really matter.

So what if I get called stupid since I’m already dead?

If you’re reborn, you’ll be incredibly smart, so that’s fine.

“I remembered it a few days ago, why did I come here only now?”

“This is also a bit hard to explain, but there is no concept of time here, so even if you feel like several days or years have passed, it has no relevance. For example… no matter how much time passes in reality, the time in the book doesn’t change, right? Just know that. It may not have been 5 minutes since you and I started talking, but it may have already been several years in Liliane’s time.”

indeed.

I don’t know.

Still, I can understand it. It’s a setting that sometimes appears in comics or novels. Isn’t it? Or not.

“That’s right, about that memory… Here, I remember my name, my job, my friends, everything, but why can’t I remember anything when it’s Liliane?”

This was something that even Lilianne found extremely strange. It was so strange that she could not help but think that it was the intervention of some transcendent being.

There was no need to think hard about what I was doing here. Just thinking about what I did yesterday made me recall all the little memories, like spilling all the soup while picking at chicken radish on the floor, taking a picture of it and uploading it to the group chat, my close friend getting married next month…

Yes. I was a man! When I was Liliane, I vaguely wondered if I was a man…? Maybe a man…? I think I was a man…? I was a man, but I was not sure, so much so that it was a little frustrating.

Isn’t it strange that I don’t remember this kind of thing? It’s related to death, so that’s fine since this guy told me earlier, but why the rest?

As if that thought wasn’t wrong, the devil slowly nodded his head, which was rather large compared to his body.

“Just as I have limitations, so do you, the previous life or the transference, have similar limitations. Should I say that information that is deemed unnecessary or harmful is automatically filtered out?”

“Recipes for dishes that don’t exist, like the novels you see on the Internet, knowledge about fashion clothes or sundries, politics, medicine, culture, etc.. In any case, it’s something that interferes with normal development.”

“Is that possible?”

“What else is impossible? You probably know that memories are related to the brain. You should realize that it is impossible to understand with common sense when you have vague memories or consciousness in a completely different body.”

aha.

Surprisingly, I hadn’t thought of that. But isn’t it a little strange?

“That’s right.. Lilianne remembered that it was dual core.”

Is this normal?

“Think about what dual core is fundamentally. What is dual core? I’m not talking about knowledge related to technology that you obviously don’t know. It’s not about how it works or what the principle is, but what is it for in the end?”

“Even if you say that… I don’t even know what it is in the first place…”

Dual Core I don’t know the exact meaning of Dual Core, but it’s roughly something like fast.

“You’re stupid, but that doesn’t mean you lack knowledge, it just means you’re slow-witted. If you don’t give up and think slowly, you can’t not know. This time, I don’t want to wait, so I’ll just tell you.”

“To put it simply, it means both hands. I realized that it was hard and annoying to work with one hand, so I started using both hands. Of course, it would be much easier and faster, right? That’s all.”

“It’s very simplified, but here’s the principle. Is the boat too big to row? Then several people can row it. Is the carriage too big to be rowed by one horse? Then two or four horses can pull it. It’s simple.”

The devil spoke, poking my nose with his trident.

When I heard it, it was definitely simple.

And I can understand a little bit that I could have noticed if I had thought about it slowly.

“And well, the filter isn’t perfect. Even if we exclude this place, which has separate rules, there are quite a few cases where the previous life and the transference people learn regulated information. It would be too hard to block that..”

Only when I got there did I begin to wonder.

Who is the being that has placed restrictions on me and this demon? Why did he place such restrictions? And why does this demon know about it? Most people know it well enough that they can’t even say ‘I don’t know’ even though it’s annoying.

If something is greater than the devil, then it must be God. But if it’s God, shouldn’t he destroy the devil? Why does this guy look so normal?

And the devil in front of my eyes… I don’t know why, but I felt like he liked me.

When I came to my senses to ask that question, the devil was gone before my eyes.

Before I knew it, I was flying in the sky.

It was my first time flying, so I tried to flap my arms hard, but my body was heavy and I couldn’t move well.

‘This way I won’t be late for school.’

When I arrived at school, I tried to find my class, but I couldn’t quite remember it.

‘Oh, right. I graduated.’

It was the weekend so I had no reason to come to school, but I was glad I graduated.

“Mr. Shin, are the documents you said you’d give me at lunch still far away?”

“Going now!”

I jumped up from my seat and the moment I did, my feet gave out and I fell over.

“gu-eok”

I opened my eyes with a sudden throbbing pain all over my body. The room was dimly lit, but I could tell it was my usual room. Thinking about the sensations I felt on my body, I was probably lying face down on the floor of my room right now.

I woke up slowly, shook myself off, and crawled back into bed. The carpet was soft, so it wasn’t like I was on the bare floor, but it was natural for me to feel sore after rolling off the bed. But I’ve never had such bad sleeping habits before, so I thought something was wrong.

But what was I dreaming about? I remember dreaming, but I don’t remember the content well. My head was somehow itchy, and when I tried to remember something, I forgot it again, and when I tried to remember it, I forgot it again.

I thought I remembered it until just now..? I had a feeling it was something important? But if I can’t remember it like this, it must be just a stupid dream.

I rolled over to the center of the bed and instinctively closed my eyes.

.

.

.

Gone.

The devil wasn’t surprised when the woman suddenly disappeared from before his eyes. That was just how it was.

She appears suddenly and disappears suddenly. Even the devil cannot tell when the next woman will appear.

‘I’m tired..’

Even though I have no body or anything, I still feel tired. I tried imitating food to relieve this, but in the end, all that remains is emptiness. It is a contradictory story to feel boredom and tired while being aware of the flow of time in a place that transcends time and space.

By the way, just now was fun. Maybe just now wasn’t the first time I’d met a woman. I don’t know if the expression “first” is appropriate.

Not knowing anything, not thinking of suspecting the devil, not hiding myself.

‘That’s why you’re being fooled.’

The woman was so caught up in the stupid appearance of the devil and the characteristics of the space that she didn’t even think about looking into her current situation. Of course, the devil knew this would happen and it was a trap he had set, but seeing things go so easily as expected, the devil must have had his own thoughts.

Yes. The one who just came was a woman. She must have been a slightly grown-up version of ‘Lillianne’. Who knows when that was, or what it means? Only the devil knows.