episode_0131

Morning. At the hotel inside the apartment.

Robin placed his laptop on the table and began his briefing.

“Then, I will begin the presentation.”

The screen shows a neatly organized PowerPoint document.

[Plan to stop the end]

“Let’s look at the table of contents first.”

Robin looks around the crowd for a moment, then leans over to click the mouse.

The screen flips over with a clicking sound.

– target

– Current power

– Detailed plan

– Expected variables

– After that

A PPT with large letters that is easy to read at a glance.

But there’s nothing special about it.

I thought the Foundation’s leadership would use holograms or something. I can’t help but feel a little disappointed.

“Our goal is to stop the professor and protect human civilization.”

Click.

Robin pressed the mouse again, but this time the screen did not turn right away.

“Huh?”

Instead, a screen-turning animation is played.

The slides on which the table of contents was written fold one by one, turning into paper airplanes and flying into the black screen.

Wheein-

“No. When did you add this?”

“Hehehe.”

Rico smiles as he looks at Robin’s bewildered face.

It seems to be Rico’s work.

“In serious situations… … .”

Finally, we move on to the next screen.

Large letters appear again on a white background.

[professor]

“Professor. A member of the Foundation’s leadership and a senior researcher. His motives are unknown, but it is almost certain that he is planning to destroy humanity.”

The ‘professor’ can see the future.

He has used his abilities to protect humanity and effectively contain anomalies.

He is currently leading an experiment that will destroy humanity. He must know the results.

What on earth is he thinking?

“What he’s trying to do may simply be ‘breaking the chains’, but disasters will follow one after another. In the end, this world itself will be erased. As if it never existed in the first place.”

Robin’s voice became determined.

“Must stop it.”

***

I sat in the corner and listened to Robin’s presentation.

Next to me, Se-rim is blankly staring straight ahead.

“Dabin, wasn’t our goal to get out of here? But… … .”

The face and tone of voice make it seem like he has no idea what’s going on.

“… … .”

For a moment, I felt puzzled.

Sister Se-rim must have been a librarian at one time. Didn’t she know about the ‘destruction’ of the future?

Then I thought of the answer.

Since handing over the authority of the librarian to me, my sister has been quickly forgetting the dangerous knowledge.

That’s fortunate. There’s nothing good to know about destruction and all.

“That has to do with it too. Very much.”

In these cases, it’s best to just get a general idea and move on.

The professor’s plan ultimately leads the world to destruction.

That’s why there’s no way to escape from the apartment.

Because there is no place for us to set foot in a world that has already been destroyed and deleted.

“The outside world is now in ruins due to the Professor’s plan. That’s why there was no way for us to escape the apartment.”

“Ah… … . But can the chronological order be like that?”

“Yes. It was that kind of space from the beginning.”

I took a rubber band out of my pocket.

This is a hair tie that I just carried around with me because I had no use for it after changing my style to medium length bob.

I pulled the round string straight out, then twisted it roughly and tied a knot.

“This apartment is the part where time, which originally flowed in a straight line, became tangled and knotted together.”

Before the knot, there was reality.

After that, there is a destroyed future.

Time cannot move forward unless the knot is untied.

“We couldn’t get out of here unless we unraveled this mess.”

In other words, preparation was necessary to face the future.

Dalgrak.

Jeong Hae-won touches the weapons for no reason and makes a noise.

On the table are weapons taken from the foundation.

These are items that are at the cutting edge of technology or that completely surpass modern technology.

There were some things I didn’t know how to use, so I had to do simple experiments.

“Now we will stop the professor and fix the ending.”

Robin continues his presentation while I speak.

In three days.

We raid the professor’s lab located inside the apartment.

Rico knows where the lab is.

So, spend a few days dedicated to preparation.

“That’s all I have to say. Does anyone have any questions?”

As soon as Robin finished his presentation, Heo Yoon raised his hand and stepped forward.

“What’s next?”

“Huh?”

“If we stop this guy called Professor, what happens next? Can we get out of here?”

Robin thought for a moment, then opened his mouth in a heavy voice.

“At least you’ll get a chance.”

A bunker-like floor reached by elevator.

According to what is written in the exploration log, it is relatively safe for now.

We moved there after deciding that it was a suitable place to practice.

The two people who followed me are Heo Yun and Seok Hyeon-min.

Dan didn’t follow.

The person who initially started looking for a separate practice space was Dan.

I left my hotel room in shambles, testing out my new gun, and since I’ve taken care of the hotel basement stuff, the room won’t go back to normal even after I pull out my card key.

Thanks to this, one room is completely abandoned.

After a while.

Tadadadang!

Debris flies in all directions with a loud noise.

Seok Hyun-min examines the pillar on the other side while holding a gun.

No matter how I looked at him, he had a strange expression on his face, so I approached him and asked him what he thought.

“How is it?”

“No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t look like an ordinary weapon.”

“Huh?”

“Look over there.”

The place Seok Hyun-min points to.

The parking lot pillars were beautifully covered with bullet marks.

“Um… … .”

“They don’t usually gather like that.”

I’m not a military expert, but I can tell this just by playing military games.

Accumulation rate.

The higher this is, the more accurate and better performing the gun is.

“Give it to me.”

“Sister, can you use it too?”

“Yeah.”

Heo Yun, who was watching from the side, silently accepted the weapon.

Tadadang!

The target her gun was pointing at wasn’t some kind of practice target.

Inside the dark underground space.

The tip of the gun spewed fire and a disembodied scream echoed.

“… … Good.”

[shelter]

– This place seems to be a bunker built to prepare for some kind of apocalypse.

– Beware of raids

And then something starts crawling out of the darkness.

It is exactly as it was written in the exploration log.

– If someone enters the bunker, it will project a reflection of him caught up in the apocalypse.

– If you stay too long, you too will become a part of the apocalypse.

“Eeee.”

“Ugh.”

Faces across the street glowing in the flashlight.

At first it was hard to recognize, but gradually the detailed facial features began to come into view.

Dozens of Heo Yun are approaching this way.

The person is melted.

In the melted area, a tumor grows wildly.

They move around while melted, using different body parts.

Some stick together and move as if they were one body, while others split into two and move separately.

What on earth was happening in the world outside the bunker?

– Don’t contact them.

– Be careful of infection

Heo Yun pulled the trigger without saying a word.

With empty eyes.

Tadadadang!

Plop-!

The gun seized from the Foundation appears to fire a single, heavy shot, but in reality it fires three bullets simultaneously.

3-point shooting that is implemented stably without any restrictions.

Corpses fall before weapons of absurd performance.

“Sister.”

Heo Yun doesn’t even react to Seok Hyun Min’s voice.

“I think we’re done practicing, so let’s stop.”

“Yeah.”

Even as he answers in a blank voice, Heo Yun doesn’t stop pulling the trigger.

Tadadatang!

Phew!

“da.”

“Eeee.”

“… … all dead.”

Only after her own corpses had piled up like a mountain did she stop killing.

Heo Yoon, who was out of breath, and Seok Hyeon Min, whose face turned pale as if he was shocked.

I took them both back to the hotel.

Heo Yun was also mentally at his limit.

But it was impossible to take care of her now.

Me, Seok Hyun-min, and everyone else. None of the people who could take care of Heo Yoon had the luxury of time.

I just wish things would end quickly.

Just a little bit. Just a little bit more and I’ll be able to get out of here.

I really couldn’t help but look forward to meeting the professor.

***

Inside the apartment. The foundation’s research lab.

The professor stood with his body leaning against the desk.

The wind beat mercilessly against the window glass, and the sky seen through the blinds was gray.

“Chen.”

The man named Chen faced the professor in silence.

“This will be the last experiment I’ll do with you.”

Silence fell in the small office.

“… … How do you feel?”

“Well, I don’t know.”

“You started it, you designed the plan.”

The professor continued speaking, his hands resting on the desk.

“When you first did that, I was busy with something completely different. What you did was not ordinary, but I thought it could be resolved if other members of the Foundation got involved. ”

“… … .”

“But the situation was more serious than I thought.”

“It was inevitable.”

“That’s right.”

The professor stretched his hands into the air with a bitter face.

He made a gesture as if he was looking for a cigarette, but there was nothing at his fingertips.

He turned his gaze to Chen, seemingly giving up.

“The beings you brought. Seven were dangerous on a different level than the other beings.

If another being could at best bring about the end, the Seven leave no room for that… … . The dimension is erased, and in its place only oblivion remains… … .”

The professor, who had been muttering to himself, got up and tapped Chen’s shoulder, who was standing a few steps ahead of him.

“I don’t know if this will be of any help, but your judgment was correct.”

Chen. A senior researcher at the Foundation and the first survivor of the apartment.

Dr. Chen recalled a word he had dug into countless times.

[Formula Elementary School].

All the world is someone’s creation.

The ‘creation’ written by a being from a higher dimension goes through a certain process to form a lower dimension.

And the creations made in that lower dimension are in the dimension below that.

A creative work created in a lower dimension constitutes a dimension even lower than that.

A hierarchical structure that is built up layer by layer through this process.

At this time, each layer is called a description layer.

One of the threads we write. The fantasy world we imagine at the bedside before falling asleep may come to life.

So the moment I discovered the true identity of ‘Seven’, I couldn’t leave him alone.

He tried to go above the narrative layer, the reality in which we exist.

What he brings about is complete oblivion, without even a trace.

If he devours our creator, our world will also disappear so vainly.

That was the thought.

We had to protect our god.

For immediate survival, not for faith.

The experiment in which the seven were discovered was carried out without any procedures in place.

The seven who were trying to swallow up the upper dimension were captured and forcibly dragged here.

And then, a plan was made.

Humanity must prepare for extinction.

The calamities that have been bound for eons will be released.

The timeline will inevitably be distorted, and the full ramifications are impossible to calculate.

Perhaps the Foundation will have to throw away all the values they have upheld in an instant.

But that’s reality.

At least we can preserve this narrative stratum in which we live.

It took a great price to stop the Seven.

Who can afford it all?

Chen had a rough idea of how the Foundation’s leadership judged and acted.

As expected, his research privileges were quickly suspended, and the leadership issued a termination order.

Only one person noticed the gravity of the situation and helped him.

There was only a professor.

“I don’t know if this will be of any help, but your judgment was correct.”

The professor repeats.

“I don’t know if this will be of any help, but your judgment was correct.”

He repeats it with the same voice, with the same words and gaps between words, with the same breathing and the same resonance.

“I don’t know if this will be of any help”

“Your judgment was correct.”

Clank.

The scenery of the office is scattered and disappearing.

When he opened his eyes again, Dr. Chen had a thick rope around his neck.

The weight of one’s own body is felt in an instant.

“Cough!”

The air is sucked from his throat, regardless of his intention.

“Kuh-uh-uh.”

It will repeat forever.

In return for meeting the professor.

As a result of taking responsibility for one’s actions and trying to protect people.

Dr. Chen’s consciousness fades.

And soon you’ll be back at the office with a clear mind.

Right now. Just before my mind sinks into darkness.

Around this time, someone’s face always came to mind.