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User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 137
Current Location: Floor 1, Room 105 (Room of Rest) - Miro’s Room
Sage’s Advice: 0
– Han Kain
A very scary story? What could it be?
Miro looked like she was about to open her mouth, but when I approached, she started to hesitate.
“What is it you want to say?”
“A scary story.”
“So what is it?”
Miro, who had been hesitating and gradually stimulating my curiosity, suddenly spoke very quickly, “If the summoned being called out by the Ti Borrower dies, the original body dies too!”
“W-what did you just say—“
If the summoned being dies, the original body dies too!
For a mont, my breath caught and I grabbed Miro’s shoulders with both hands.
“Is it true? Why on earth—“
As I was speaking, I understood the reason.
Although we were using the word “summoning” for convenience, as Grandpa pointed out, the function of the Ti Borrower was completely different from “summoning”. It literally borrowed our past ti and called it out at a future point!
The relationship between the summoned being and the original body was a relationship between past and future. The fact that my past self died but my future self was alive was a contradiction in itself.
“Aaah! W-why did you only say such an important thing now? Did you just realize-—
At that mont, I also realized another way to use the Ti Borrower. The owner of the Ti Borrower could kill the original body by summoning and killing soone who had lent ti even once!
Of course, Miro would have to be able to kill the summoned being.
But the summoned being couldn’t choose when and where they would appear. It was enough if Miro called out the summoned being at a ti and place overwhelmingly advantageous to her.
Why did Miro try to hide this information...
“Why didn’t you say this earlier?”
“...”
“Did you think your companions wouldn’t lend you ti if you told them?”
“...”
“Or, if we seed to threaten you, would you imdiately—“
“N-no!”
If we seed to threaten Miro, did she think about secretly harming us with the Ti Borrower?
Various thoughts crossed my mind. Among them was the judgnt that Miro’s intelligence was indeed considerable. As I felt in the Frozen Hell, apart from her childish personality, her intelligence in these aspects was quite sharp.
I felt sothing similar to a sense of betrayal. But I also understood. The current situation must be very frightening and confusing for Miro too.
When I first entered the Hotel, I often felt a considerable threat seeing Jinchul-hyung’s physique and was wary that he might use violence, so this kid wouldn’t be any different.
I needed to look at this rationally rather than responding emotionally.
Why didn’t she keep it hidden until the end and tell now?
The biggest reason would be that the current would lose the mory related to this conversation as soon as Miro canceled the summoning, but...
If there was an additional reason, it was probably because Miro herself was considering that it might be better to share this information.
This was a mont that needed persuasion rather than anger. I tried to maintain as gentle a tone as possible.
“Were you a bit scared when talking with the Hotel people earlier?”
“...A little.”
“But don’t you think it’s better to share this information?”
“Why?”
I chose the most rational reason I could.
“Our tactics when summoned will differ depending on whether we know this information or not. If we don’t know this information, the summoned being might mistakenly think that even if I die, the ‘future ’ is safe and act overly aggressively.”
“Like Cha Jinchul using the Star excessively while charging?”
“Sothing like that. In reality, the summoned being should try to survive if possible, right?”
“That’s right.”
“What happens in cases where it’s not death but injury?”
“I’m not sure about that part...”
“We’ll need to check that.”
Silence fell in the room for a mont. Seeing Miro’s sowhat anxious and gloomy expression, I felt the need to reassure her.
“Miro, I fully understand that you might be scared of us or wary. But don’t forget one fact.”
“One fact?”
“Who are the people who saved you from the Frozen Hell?”
Miro answered with a bright smile, “You!”
I was a bit flustered.
“I-I didn’t do it alone, we all did it together. The people outside were praying while suffering from the cold, too.”
“Ah, that’s right?”
“Rember that. This isn’t about saying we bestowed grace, so you should repay it. Just as we trusted you and woke you up, you should trust us, too.”
“I understand. Tomorrow, I’ll tell everyone tomorrow morning!”
There was a bit of a lie mixed in.
Honestly, I didn’t think anyone among us trusted Miro. We just agreed to her revival because it was burdenso even to imagine what Ahri and Grandpa might do if we gave up on Miro’s revival.
But I decided to bury such thoughts now.
As the atmosphere seed to ease, Miro’s eyes started to redden for so reason. Was all the physical and ntal fatigue she felt during the day about to burst out in a mont?
“...How about going to the bathroom?”
Coincidentally, I also rembered sothing I needed to do alone.
“I-I’ll be right back!”
“...”
I felt anew through this brief conversation.
This girl resembled Ahri, but she was completely different. She wasn’t an “Administration agent” who would sneer even if stabbed with a knife like Ahri.
Like a middle school student, her personality was childish and emotional. Her quick thinking in the mont was quite sharp, but in the end, she lacked experience, so her thoughts weren’t that deep.
So she might seem persuaded in front of now, but she might change her mind later when she was alone.
I couldn’t leave the problem of conveying such important information to a middle schooler’s whim.
User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 137
Current Location: Floor 1, Room 105 (Room of Rest) - Miro’s Room
Sage’s Advice: 0
Inside my shirt, there’s always a special pen that can write on anything in the world as if it were paper.
If the summoned being called out by the Ti Borrower dies, the original body in the current ti also dies.
After pondering, I added one sentence.
If Miro doesn’t say this fact tomorrow morning, be wary of her.
...This should be enough, right?
As I prepared a minimal safety asure, I felt relieved. From now on, tomorrow’s Kain would handle the problem—
Did
...?
Did Miro summon with the Ti Borrower just now?
A sentence I didn’t write appeared in real-ti on the Status Window. The original body was still awake and not asleep.
“...”
Yes.
Did Miro hide that information? Did you persuade her to tell it tomorrow morning?
That’s right.
Heh~ Han Kain! I believed in you~! Well done. By the way, it’s such a strange experience to talk with my past self.
We could use this like a remote communication thod.
Right? We could use it in distant places like Room 203.
Conversation with another in a different Room 105 is...
Extrely unpleasant.
What’s that bastard laughing and making a fuss about? What? He believed in ? Even though he didn’t know I was here?
In the first place, I’m here, so why is there another “”? Why is soone else looking at my Status Window?
I obtained information here, persuaded Miro, and reduced the possibility of future conflict. But why is the bastard lounging in bed taking all the credit for this—
“Huff!”
I cald my mind while taking a deep breath.
No, I shouldn’t think like this. The relationship between and him isn’t sothing like real and fake. How could the real one die if the fake one dies?
It’s a relationship between past and future. It’s just a kind of ti travel created by the Ti Borrower!
While I was composing my extrely excited mind, “I” who didn’t grasp the situation, asked.
How’s Miro? Is she doing well?
Why is that guy sending ssages so casually? Doesn’t “he” feel the emotion I’m feeling now?
Rember. You must not et .
With those words, I threw the pen on the floor and pushed the Status Window to the corner. “The other ” seed to ask sothing in confusion at my words, but I didn’t feel like answering at all.
Around that ti, Miro, who had been in the bathroom, reappeared, looking neat again.
“Sorry! I’ve decided now. I’ll tell everyone tomorrow!”
“You thought well.”
“...Kain? Did sothing happen?”
“What do you an?”
“No?”
Nothing much happened after that. We talked about the schools we attended and what we’d do when we got outside.
Miro was very curious about the “distant future” or “lost past”, that was, adult Miro, which she herself didn’t know. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much to tell her.
“It’s ti to say goodbye soon. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, though.”
“...”
Does she still have sothing to say?
Her expression was exactly like soone who had more to say...
“S-see you tomorrow!”
“Yeah. See you tomorrow.”
“Today was fun! Tomorrow’s Kain won’t know anything about playing with today, so that’s a sha.”
When I heard those words, an indescribable emotion filled my heart. The fact that another rolling around in bed wouldn’t rember the ti spent with Miro now...
Strangely, it made happy. This was the end of my consciousness.
***– Kim Ahri
Suddenly, I ca to my senses.
What? Just now, I lent ti to Miro—
“...You called out.”
“Yes!”
In front of was a girl who looked so much like .
Well, I should get used to this kind of thing now. It will happen often from now on.
“Do you have sothing to say? Are you still angry about the bacon I ate earlier?”
“...I’m not angry anymore.”
So you were really angry about that until just now.
When I reached out and tapped Miro’s head, Miro dodged here and there. That sight was funny, so I moved to the side—
“...”
“Ahri?”
“...”
“What’s wrong? Why are you suddenly looking at so scarily?”
“...”
I stared intently.
There were clearly traces of soone much bigger than Miro on Miro’s bed. I was an Administration agent, so I could tell these things at a glance.
Miro, feeling my gaze, belatedly panicked.
“Don’t think strange thoughts!”
“What thoughts? Saying that makes think all sorts of strange thoughts?”
“Aaaah! Forget it. Empty your strange thoughts.”
“You still think that works on ? Miro, superpowers should be at least this level.”
Partly to scare her, I split a nearby chair in two with the power of Ancient Blood. Seeing that, Miro shrank back in surprise.
“Again! Ahri is trying to scare again!”
“Kyaong!”
Making a monster sound, I picked up Miro, put her in the blanket, and rolled her.
After giggling together for a while, Miro, who had just poked her head out of the blanket gap, opened her mouth, “Ahaha! But now I really don’t have ti. I told you there’s a 1-hour limit on daily summoning ti, right?”
“It seems like you were with for about 10 minutes, but ti is already tight? The ti used during experints in the day should have been short... You were with ‘soone’ for 30 minutes?”
“Aaah!”
“Did you have fun playing with Kain?”
“I-it wasn’t Kain!”
“...Just now, I thought you were not a middle schooler but an elentary schooler.”
“...It was Kain.”
“Okay, what did you want to say? It’s probably not just for fun.”
While tidying up Miro’s hair that had beco ssy while playing, Miro inford that if the summoned being called out by the watch died, the original body also died.
“I told this to Kain, too.”
“What did he say?”
Miro talked about the conversation she had with Kain. Miro was already persuaded by Kain, and indeed, that guy’s tact wasn’t bad.
I decided to add just a little to this, “Miro.”
“Yes?”
“You resemble .”
“...”
“Of course, if we consider the order, it would be the opposite. I resemble you. Anyway, I just discovered a point where you resemble in your behavior just now.”
“What is it?”
“A tendency to keep secrets. If sothing seems ambiguous, you start to hide it and think.”
“I’ll fix it.”
“No, you should hide what needs to be hidden. Soday when you leave the Hotel and return as an Administration agent, you’ll have more secrets than now.”
“Is that so?”
“But don’t hide information that can’t be hidden.”
“Information that can’t be hidden?”
“If the summoned us die, the original body far away also dies. This is information we’re likely to find out with high probability if Miro uses the Ti Borrower just once or twice in the Cursed Room, right?”
“...”
“Let’s say Miro in crisis called out. If I die protecting you, at that mont the real far away dies too. Could you hide this?”
“I guess not.”
“So there’s no point in hiding this kind of information. It will only create unnecessary conflict. By the way, could we use that tactic you just ntioned in Room 203?”
“Room 203?”
“If you call out and kill , what will happen to rampaging in the mountains of Room 203?”
“I’m not sure...”
“It’s ambiguous. It seems like I would die, but this kind of death might not release my seal but annihilate , so I’m not sure what would happen. Figure it out yourself.”
“Okay.”
“Is that all you wanted to say?”
It probably wasn’t. I just knew. Miro still had more to say.
“I didn’t tell this to Kain either.”
“You’re only telling ? That makes a bit happy. What is it?”
Miro turned around and held the pocket watch close to my face.
“Three sections are filled. Is Morning ? Is Noon Kain?”
“Yes, I’ve used up almost all the ti borrowed from Kain, so I’ll fill it again tomorrow.”
“What about midnight?”
Miro wore an expression that was sowhat confused and fearful.
“...”
“Who is it? Jinchul? Mooksung?”
“The person stored at midnight is .”
...?
“What do you—“
“The midnight section was already filled when I first got the watch. What’s stored at midnight is . from long ago.”
For the first ti in a very long while...
I got goosebumps. A fear of soone who didn’t exist anywhere overwheld .
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