episode_0016

“You, how did you get here?”

“I followed Uncle.”

“Hahaha!”

Geomgeomi, held in my two hands, flapped its short limbs. Its cute appearance, like a baby lion from an old movie, made me laugh involuntarily.

“Why did you follow me, huh?”

“I want to play with Uncle.”

To want to play – Geomgeomi’s choice was excellent. Ms. Erica had told me before, but time here in Dreamland flows differently from reality. Even if a year passes here, only a day might pass in reality, and the opposite is also possible in this land of dreams where we stand. Thinking positively, that means even if I play with Geomgeomi for a thousand years, only a day would have passed when I wake up. What a stroke of luck!

“Oh really? Shall we play together then?”

I put down the squirming Geomgeomi and swayed my shoulders, dancing. To the exciting rhythm, Geomgeomi also smiled brightly, wiggling its limbs and rear. Indeed… this is Geomgeomi alright.

We stood in the vast field and danced for a long time. Just as I was about to grab an old tombstone and do a twerk, it felt inappropriate in front of a child, so our dance party came to an end.

“Huff, huff…”

“Hoooh…”

“Geomgeomi, why do you usually live as a spider?”

“…Do you dislike spiders…?”

“No, it’s just a shame you hid how cute you are.”

“Hee hee hee!”

As I stroked the giggling Geomgeomi, a distinct rumble sounded – gurgle. It wasn’t me… so there’s only one culprit, I guess.

“Mmm-hmm…”

“Geomgeomi, are you hungry?”

“No strength, hungry…”

“What do you want to eat? Uncle will get it for you right away.”

Something edible should turn up if we walk. I gently stroked Geomgeomi’s dark hair and took its hand.

“Umm, a person!”

“…Anything else?”

“Bread please, bread! Pooey!”

Phew, Geomgeomi, who had been walking quite well beside me, spat out spiderweb, then hrmph, snorted. Do they usually spit spiderwebs from their mouths?

“Alright, Uncle will get you some bread. So… what do you want to play?”

“I lost my mom, I miss my mom.”

Missing its mom, huh? Well, well, I thought it was an orphan, like me, but its mother is perfectly fine. Feeling a little jealous, am I?

“You miss your mom? Why don’t you just play with Uncle, or should Uncle be your dad?”

“I’ll introduce you to my mom! Mom will like you.”

It doesn’t say Mom will like me. I had a hunch, but since I’d already met Geomgeomi, I decided to go along with it. When I picked up the downy Geomgeomi and gave it a piggyback ride, giggle, Geomgeomi was thrilled.

“Alright, alright, let’s go to your mom. Where do we go?”

“Over there.”

Stomp, stomp, stomp.

Geomgeomi became its own navigator and guided the way. Even while walking straight, if it pointed right, I’d turn right, and if it pointed left, I’d turn left. I was suspicious when it pointed behind me… but if I didn’t trust Geomgeomi, who would I trust? I faithfully acted as Geomgeomi’s personal assistant.

As I walked, admiring the rapidly changing scenery, I grew curious about Geomgeomi’s mother.

“By the way, who is your mom?”

It could be its biological mother or an adoptive mother, you know.

“Mmm, she connects dreams, she weaves webs to create the world, and she loves all children!”

“I wonder if she’ll love me too.”

Though a grown adult, I considered myself a child. Is this what they call a kidult or Peter Pan Syndrome?

“Mom will love you too~”

Geomgeomi’s small hand ruffled my hair. Walking with Geomgeomi, who was humming a tune, clearly happy to meet its mother, I decided to walk very, very slightly slower due to a strange scent. A familiar woman’s scent emanating from the mysterious mother. But I decided to think positively; since I’d already arrived in this messed-up world, whether things went to hell sooner or later, it was all the same.

Squish.

“Stop!”

Screech.

I came to a sudden halt at Geomgeomi’s hand pulling my hair. Next time, check the signal before making a sudden stop.

“Uncle, it’s behind you!”

With a leap, Geomgeomi jumped down from me and landed on four legs. Grrr, grrr – it was as cute as a chihuahua, but the aura emanating from Geomgeomi was considerable. Even if I truly fought it, it would be an equal match, or perhaps even stronger…

Splat, splat, splat.

Something unknown appeared with a sound like mud being thrown onto the ground. A monster that looked like a starfish but swayed with a strangely squishy body. But to my eyes, it was unmistakably something specific. That… creature from a game, whose name ends in ‘mon’.

As I stared at the seemingly harmless creature, grrr, the wary Geomgeomi opened its mouth wide. What, is it going to use some skill?

“Blech.”

Plop.

White spiderweb fell weakly to the ground. In a silence as if the world had gone out, the three of us continued our strange standoff. But the moment to part ways always comes. I thought that moment was now.

“A lady shouldn’t do that.”

I picked up Geomgeomi, who was spitting out spiderweb, gave it a piggyback ride, and immediately fled the spot. Thanks to Geomgeomi, who served well as a navigator even then, the distance from the monster quickly widened.

“I don’t like that, I don’t like that!”

“Even if you don’t like it, endure it; that’s how life is!”

“Ugh, blech.”

Plop, sticky spiderweb obscuring my vision. What is the kid’s mom doing? Her child is uncontrollably spraying webs!

As I ran, clearing the spiderweb covering my eyes, Geomgeomi’s hand suddenly began to give directions, like in a game of ‘follow the leader’.

“Here, there, here, there, there, here.”

“We’re going to your mom, right?”

“It’s a walk!”

Oh, it was a walk. They say a child’s mind is like a rubber ball, bouncing around unpredictably. Unpredictability is a child’s charm, isn’t it? A child might find ‘Uncle’ fun, but meet them a week later and cry loudly, calling them a stranger. Hopefully, Geomgeomi won’t be like that. I emptied my mind and enjoyed the walk with Geomgeomi. We rode on slide-like trees on a ground like a deep blue universe. We stepped on clouds and flew through the sky, then landed lightly with a parachute made of spiderweb. So, this uncontrolled web-spraying is useful sometimes?

“Huff, huff, it’s fun!”

“I’m having fun too!”

How long had we been walking? Just as I was getting tired, whoosh, Geomgeomi, who was on my back, leaped up. A whopping seven aerial rotations! When I clapped for Geomgeomi, who landed with its arms spread wide, Geomgeomi scratched its neck with an embarrassed look. No, seriously, that’s amazing!

“Geomgeomi, want another ride?”

“No! We’re here, that’s our home!”

“…Since we’re at home, are you going back?”

What can I say, I came to be introduced to Geomgeomi’s mother, but now that we’re actually here, I feel a little sad. Isn’t this usually the cliché for parting ways? When I asked in a forlorn voice, Geomgeomi tilted its head, as if asking what I meant.

“No? I’m going to keep playing with Uncle?”

“My friend.”

“Yay!”

After exchanging a fist bump with Geomgeomi, I looked straight ahead. A towering spire so tall it seemed one couldn’t see its end even if one craned their neck until it broke. The massive palace, built solely of spiderwebs, extended thick strands towards the stars and planets embroidered across the sky. Spiderwebs connecting the planets and the palace, like bridges. It felt like I could see something more if I looked closely, but guests were approaching, so I decided to look later.

Pitter-patter, pitter-patter…!

Black masses poured out with a hurried pattering of footsteps. The moment the masses spotted Geomgeomi and simultaneously raised their heads, I was horrified. Eight chosen children, looking exactly like Geomgeomi. Though a head shorter than Geomgeomi, they looked like a family to anyone.

The children called out Geomgeomi’s name in unison, like baby birds chirping to their mother bird bringing food. It seemed there was one child who had overgrown among them. Cute, but the cacophony was such that if you listened quietly, your ears felt like they would burst.

As I watched quietly, thump, the children fell silent, and a giant shadow enveloped me.

Click, click, click, clack-clack-clack, clack-clack.

Something like the sound of hooves, unlike the drawn-out tone of voice. As I raised my head at the powerful vibrations that made my ears ring and my feet tremble, ‘It’ looked down at me just the same. It, looking down at me through the tens of thousands of interwoven spiderwebs, was shining its gray carapace as it gazed at me. White cocoons hanging profusely from its eight distinct legs adorned its noble form like earrings… but honestly, it was more terrifying than beautiful.

As the shadow opened its eyes, tens of thousands of eyes simultaneously gazed into me. Tens of thousands of red eyes, seemingly scanning my entire being: appearance, skin, muscles, bones, soul, heart, and even my origins. I wanted to avoid its gaze, but I couldn’t. The moment it sought to see me, I was seen, and the long leg extending between me and whatever I was connected to was impossible to avoid. A sticky spiderweb, connected to a clicking leg.

Just as I was blankly watching it.

“Mom!”

Geomgeomi placed its hands on its hips and separated me from It.

“He’s my guest! He’s Uncle!”

“And he said he’d be my dad!”

Uh, Geomgeomi.

Geomgeomi, it was a joke. You didn’t play along. What’s that supposed to mean all of a sudden?

“He wants to be loved!”

Do you think she’d like it if you said it like that?

If her previous voice had been strangely drawn out yet imposing, now it was completely different. Faint breaths, drawn out and sticky like spiderweb, yet conveying shyness.

Uh-oh… I don’t want to deal with a widow…!