Chapter 79

Chapter 79 : Forgotten Being (6)

Though she was not crying, I had the illusion that she was.

I blinked, unable to continue, and only rolled my eyes for no reason.

‘Mm, what am I supposed to do at times like this?’

I did not really know what to do for someone who wanted comfort. I had always made them cry more or ended up getting slapped, so I was only bewildered by why Blue was looking at me with that kind of sorrow.

Soon, as if resigned, Blue turned her head and looked down the stairs.

I looked down the stairs along with her, then belatedly chewed over what Blue had said.

‘Wait, Ghost of Sek?’

I had heard from Retu that I had died once.

I could not tell whether she called me a ghost because I had died and come back to life, or because I was still dead even now.

I seemed far too vividly alive to be dead. Then was it a metaphor?

Just when I thought I had caught one thing, another was thrown at me. Unkind choices pushed me from behind, and under that coercion, I walked down another path following another question.

Blue had declared that my reasoning was all wrong.

And not with mockery, but with heavy sorrow.

“Go find the fragments of your memories.”

“……If you know, you can just tell me directly, can you not?”

“Hearing a story and remembering it are different.”

As if she had given up, Blue wore her usual cold, expressionless face as she turned back to me.

“Do you want to experience someone else’s story?”

“What……?”

“That story is ultimately your story. Do not hear it from someone else’s mouth.”

At Blue’s words, the back of my neck bristled.

[We aim for enjoyable Original Work appreciation and immersive experiences.]

Because it seemed connected to what the system had once thrown at me.

My story. Original Work. Your Regret After Killing Me. Protagonist. Ending.

As I chewed over the words lining up in my head, one absurd thought came to me, and a hollow laugh escaped on its own.

‘No way. I must be mistaken.’

I met Blue’s gaze before eventually looking away first.

Everything else aside, how did Blue know even things like that? What had happened with Sek in that cursed land two hundred years ago?

That question made me hide myself instead.

How far should I trust you?

“How is Gorong?”

I stood up, stretched for no reason, and asked. Blue tilted her head and repeated, “Gorong?”

“Ah, the name of the Gigantic Phantasmal Species in the Second Domain is Gorong. Did I not say?”

“You did not. But how do you know its name…… ah. You can communicate.”

“You could say something like that.”

To be precise, I could communicate not with Gorong, but with the Ruling Phantasmal Species beside Gorong, but I did not bother explaining that.

“There have been no particular changes lately. Rather, it has become quite peaceful since you came by. Its crying has decreased too.”

“Crying?”

“……Even if I explain, it is a sound you cannot hear. Are you going there right away?”

“I think I should.”

Ever since I entered the Second Domain, it was not crying, but I had been feeling something calling me.

I had long since noticed that it was Gorong’s trembling.

Blue, who stood up after me, opened her palm and blocked the way as if telling me to wait for a moment. Then, as though there were a subspace there, she reached into empty air and pulled something out.

It looked like a hairpin about the length of one finger joint, with a snowflake-like ornament attached to the end of a transparent stick.

“Take it.”

“What is this?”

“The blizzard is growing stronger. It will help.”

In other words, it was consideration.

I blinked, then readily accepted it. There was no reason to refuse.

“Give my regards.”

Unlike Blue’s calm voice, her gaze was looking somewhere far away. I nodded and left the Ice Castle, which felt even bleaker today than usual.

---

[“You were alive?!”]

With both ears perked upright, the Ruling Phantasmal Species fussed and ran in circles around the small room. Only after finally calming down did it grab my hand with a face full of excitement and shake it hard.

“That is my line. Has nothing happened?”

[“Something! Does ‘something’ mean a problem with a twinkling star? Kyahaha, just kidding!”]

It was not funny at all.

Perhaps seeing my apathetic expression, the creature, which had been laughing alone, turned serious and spoke again.

[“Gorong’s condition has been very good! My condition was excellent too!”]

“That is a relief.”

I shrugged and looked around the room, which had not changed. It felt as if I had forgotten something, but what?

It also seemed a little wider than before…… ah.

“Did the scarf find its owner?”

[“Aah! You remember it. Unfortunately, it did not find its owner.”]

“Why?”

[“Because that scarf never had an owner from the beginning.”]

The words, spoken with a bright smile, gave me a strange sense of déjà vu.

The word owner seemed to have another meaning mixed into it, leaving me uneasy, but the subtitles did not offer enough of a hint to identify it.

At that moment, Fluffnix squeezed out of my pocket, flew once around the room, and landed on the creature’s shoulder.

Remembering that a similar scene had happened back when he was a crow-tit, I raised my brows.

[“As expected, it really is that one!”]

“That one?”

[“Only that one survived the Predator Species.”]

“Predator Species?”

Unfamiliar words started popping out.

This was why I had meant to come to the creature. It poured out things too excessive to even be called bait, scattered everywhere without order.

On top of that, the creature was fairly good at explaining things.

[“I mean this creature! The Predator Species is the one he always carried around.”]

It seemed to be referring to Woldeer’s form, the one that had been with Sek.

I had said he picked up and ate everything, and it turned out he even had a grand title.

[“They are a different kind of Phantasmal Species from us Ruling Phantasmal Species. Predator Species are rare, and each has its own individuality, so they are difficult to discover. Mo. Re. Than. That!”]

The creature stretched out a finger and pointed straight at me.

I could have felt displeased at the sudden pointing, but curiosity came first.

“More than that?”

[“Those not eaten by a Predator Species are rare. That is possible because it is him.”]

“You keep saying ‘that one,’ but who is that one? Do you mean Sek?”

[“Yes! Of course! The only hope of the Sovereigns! That noble, yearning-filled name! Se―.”]

At the embarrassing words, I instinctively covered the creature’s mouth. Noble what, yearning what?

“Calm down and explain that part properly. Not praise. The truth.”

Only after confirming that the creature nodded did I let go of its mouth. The creature cupped its cheeks, opened its eyes so they sparkled, rubbed its ears, and sat facing me.

[“The Sovereigns endured long years. The reason their existences did not vanish despite being forgotten by everyone was because Lord Sek existed. The only successor, the Sovereign of Sovereigns. That is you.”]

“How long is long?”

[“The first record has been lost. Even by roughly considering the oral traditions, I remember it was quite long. People sometimes compare his lifespan to the Ruler of the Mist’s, but even that is not precise.”]

I quietly listened as it tilted its head and chattered, then pressed the tip of my finger hard with my nail. It was a habit that came out when I sank into thought.

Among long-lived things, he had lived especially long? Then had Sek possessed memories of his previous life from that long ago?

‘Was that why those memories had faded enough for him to leave behind a picture like that and feel nothing?’

The more I thought, the less I understood him.

My past self.

“What about the Predator Species? This one has not been in good condition lately. Do you know why?”

The creature’s long ears perked and tilted.

Fluffnix, still perched on its shoulder, looked so comfortable there that it almost seemed as though he had mistaken his owner.

I always felt indebted to Woldeer, so I stared half-lidded at that sight before turning my gaze away.

[“It is because he has not finished digesting.”]

“I heard that from him already. Is there no other reason?”

[“It is because he swallowed too many things in a short period. Phantasm fragments, dregs of the Forgotten Beings, even the production method……. Did you go on a gourmet tour?”]

I had nothing to say, so I closed my mouth. It was not as if I deliberately told him to eat them. He ate them on his own. I made that excuse inwardly, then noticed a word that bothered me and chewed over the statement again.

I had vaguely known that Black Mist was a Forgotten Being, but what were their dregs?

“Do you know about Soul Fragments of a Forgotten Being, by any chance?”

Since it was spilling information freely, I should extract what I could at times like this. I needed to confirm whether that really was the soul fragment required to use Deleted Original Work Loading.

[“Black Mist?”]

“Is that mist itself the Soul Fragment?”

[“That is what the Predator Species is currently digesting…… gesting, gesting, gesting―.”]

Before I could even feel startled, I frowned at the creature’s state.

Its clear eyes clouded over in an instant, and it began repeating the same words. Like a broken robot.

The grotesque behavior gave me an instinctive discomfort, and I stood up.

I called Fluffnix, who was still sitting on the creature’s shoulder, but he did not listen to me.

Rather, the way he turned his head and stared hard at the rabbit made it feel as though Fluffnix was the cause of this situation.

At this point, should you not at least put up a warning or error window, system?

Unable to endure the discomfort creeping up, I pulled Fluffnix away. The way he turned his head and stared at me looked full of dissatisfaction, and I frowned.

Come to think of it, why is he not speaking?

“Stop.”

When I finished the subjectless command, the creature’s mouth, which had been repeating as though in error, closed firmly.

Then, as if nothing had happened, it continued its words.

[“―digest. It requires time. There is another method, but it is impossible for the current Lord Sek.”]

The way it behaved felt like time had been cut out and pasted back together, leaving an awkward blank.

So I was reminded once again.

That Phantasmal Species were things that had been made.

At the sudden nausea rising inside me, I covered my mouth.

I had endured the idea that this was a space of text inside the Original Work, and I had roughly let pass the fact that they were all characters appearing in the Original Work, but―

Whenever I discovered a part like this, one that threw away my sense of reality, my stomach turned over.

As though it were warning me.

This place is fake.

You are fake.

Walk along the route that has been arranged.

Only after I finally ran outside and retched dryly several times did my spinning head return to place.

I felt as though Gorong’s enormous eye was glaring at me from not far away.

A fierce wind blew, whipping my hair every which way, and it was no different from the turmoil inside my head.

“Hey.”

I called Fluffnix, who was nodding off again. The creature did not answer.

At this point, even an idiot would know that he was not silent because he was struggling, but because he wanted to avoid answering.

“If you do not speak, I will leave you behind.”

[“Why the threat, Master?”]

“So I am your master?”

[“……This was an unavoidable process.”]

I quietly waited for the creature as he confessed obediently. Fine, let me hear how far your excuses go.

[“I had to block advice that deviated from the route Master had designed.”]

“The Soul Fragment of a Forgotten Being deviates from the route?”

[“I do not know why you are searching for it, but that will take time. Not now, Master.”]

Abnormal Route.

Why did those words come to mind?

When the system was silent, Fluffnix was silent too. That was…… something I had thought was only coincidence.

Do not tell me you are connected to the system?