‘And this book contains the knowledge those cultists recorded back then....’
Pushing aside his disgust, he opened the book again.
It was packed with contents that would make any human with ordinary sensibilities retch on the spot. But he had no choice. In a situation like this, remaining where he was ant nothing less than falling behind.
“…….”
The dry scratch of pen continued across the notebook. He organized the information step by step.
‘The beginning of learning is imitation.’
That was not a principle limited to Coco alone. He, too, had to imitate the logic of this world.
No matter how terrible the knowledge, at its foundation lay the purest wisdom. It was always ugly humans who misused knowledge. Information itself could not be evil. He needed to find that point.
‘First, I grasp the familiar structures. Fully understanding this text cos first. Extracting only the knowledge that can actually be put to use cos next.’
In many situations, ignorance was a sin. If one lacked the eyes to discern what was right and what was wrong, then humans were the kind of creatures who would clutch a jewel only to throw it into the mud.
The more one knew, the more kindly the world behaved.
More precisely, the more one could force it to behave kindly toward oneself.
“...A rather dreadful thought just occurred to . If my mind were contaminated before I fully understood these books, that would present quite a troubleso problem in its own right.”
“Yes.”
“Sothing else has occurred to
as well. Would you answer it? If that sort of contamination were to occur, would the ga’s convenient system simply ‘recover’ it once I died and ca back?”
“No.”
“Even so, that is acceptable. It may be more productive to be contaminated and altered than to stagnate and rot. To demand perfection from the beginning would be greedy, would it not?”
“Yes.”
“I am not enough of a narcissist to believe I am flawless by nature. Even if I fail, all that matters is improving from there. That is no different from what I have done thus far.”
“Yes.”
“At tis like this, I feel that you are on my side.”
Lee Yeon-woo rolled his eyes dryly.
“Why?”
Across the desk stretched a long mass of shadow.
Coco swayed its tail. It was staring fixedly at the grotesque sentences in the book Lee Yeon-woo had spread open for his studies, as though it were deciphering them.
“Why are you favorable to ?”
“Favorable to .”
“You are doing well. You are growing accustod to the use of intonation. Very good.”
To unravel the questions surrounding Coco, he needed to know more.
Why had this ga beco real and appeared in reality in the first place? Why, of all people, had Lee Yeon-woo been abducted? Was all of this a natural disaster, or soone’s sche?
And to learn that...
it still seed too early.
“…….”
After reading for quite so ti, he pressed his thumb against his temple.
“...If I had known it would co to this, I would have entered dical school....”
For soone with a degree in life sciences, this was a rather high hurdle.
“Can I really understand this from having read a few case reports?”
“Yes.”
“I do not think I can. Does the computer not work here?”
“Yes.”
“If you would at least give
internet access, that would be quite a consolation.”
“No.”
***
The books dealt, for the most part, with human experintation.
“Given that the hotel’s background was ‘a facility built to worship and research the Outer Gods’... it seems the main current of it all runs in that direction.”
Have they lost their minds.
“From being at the forefront of engineering, I have now co to study theology of all things. What a twisted fate. Would you not agree, Coco?”
“No.”
“Do you possess no sympathy?”
But by now, he was used to that degree of indifference. As he organized the docunts, Lee Yeon-woo continued,
“As you already know, most of the research revolved around the power of the Outer Gods.”
“Yes.”
“From weaponizing living creatures and turning weapons into living things, to thods for manufacturing artificial humans... considered from an academic perspective alone, it is quite a stimulating curriculum. A respectable textbook, one might say.”
“No.”
“Correct. Calling these heaps of paper textbooks would be an insult to textbooks. They are closer to the notebooks of madn.”
That they contaminated the mind each ti he read them, as though filth had been dumped over his head, was one part of it.
“They are arrogant monologues with no concern whatsoever for whether others might understand them.”
“Yes.”
“What rude writers. They possess not even the minimum refinent expected of scholars....”
Even so, he could acknowledge the depth of knowledge possessed by the narrators.
He had triggered status ailnts more than once while reading, but setting aside their humanity—which was sowhere below zero—knowledge. That one thing, and only that one thing.
Once he began to understand the contents of the books to so extent, he reached a realization.
“If I were to summarize it, then this is black magic in the figurative sense—or more precisely, a technique of hereditary and ritual manipulation diated through blood....”
“Yes.”
“Since it uses blood, that would make it blood... ma....”
“Ma?”
“…….”
“Blood magic?”
Never mind Coco, who had just blurted out sothing that sounded as if it belonged in an entirely different genre.
“...Am I simply failing to keep up with the sensibilities of the tis?”
A wave of weariness and skepticism washed over him. He had, after all, even stood in line to buy those viral Dubai chewy cookies.
‘No, it cannot be a matter of modern sensibilities.’
If one really broke it down, these sensibilities had been born long before Lee Yeon-woo himself. If he had to define them, they were the aesthetic instincts of the ancestors.
‘Then was the author perhaps in the throes of an especially severe adolescence?’
No, that was not it either. It was not as though only one author used expressions like black magic and blood magic. Even so, saying such words aloud was a little... difficult.
It was the kind of material he had not touched even in the most hot-blooded years of his teens.
‘And now I have beco the one studying it seriously.’
At depth it was revolting, and at a shallow level it was embarrassing, so he was being assailed from every direction. That an engineer well into his forties had to study a subject like this felt like a particularly vicious joke.
“…….”
He steadied himself.
‘...My thinking is too rigid. There could scarcely be a more rational na for this field. Co to think of it, perhaps this brutal knowledge was rely clothed in imagery that happened to appeal to so adolescents.’
And, above all,
‘If my blood pressure rises and kills
again, I am the only one who loses.’
He was not permitted the luxury of throwing away his life rely because he let his emotions run away with him.
“...Hah.”
Thinking of it that way made him feel considerably better. More accurately, he made himself feel better.
This body could die from emotion alone. Annoying though it was, he had to handle it carefully. He could not endure the humiliation of dying from blood pressure again.
“For now, I understand that this is not sothing that can be mastered overnight.”
“Yes.”
“Whatever my prejudices, the knowledge itself has considerable depth. If properly applied, it could prove useful.”
“Yes.”
“…….”
Just in case, he added,
“...That does not an I intend to invite human guests and conduct practical exercises, so please do not misunderstand. In any case, this was not a discipline I could put to use at once.”
“No.”
“What exactly are you denying?”
At any rate.
It was not bad.
‘No, morally it is a failing grade, but as a tool it is excellent.’
He still did not know where in this hotel such knowledge had been used. He was not at a stage where he could know that yet. Even so, this was the process of exploring a new body of knowledge related to the hotel.
The act of resolving one’s own questions always brought a kind of exhilaration. If only the content itself were not like this, Lee Yeon-woo might have been able to rejoice in a more ordinary way.
“…….”
Which brings , at about this point, to say the following—
“...Magic. I always thought it belonged solely to fantasy, but apparently it possesses substance after all.”
A power premised on certain laws and repeatability.
If so, then this magic, too, could be classified as a technology.
“Yes.”
Coco affird it.
“So it truly does exist.”
“That is astonishing news, in more ways than one....”
This was not the sort of realm that could be cobbled together as nothing more than the setting of a ga.
‘It is an advanced field of study, established over long ages the way science or mathematics is.’
At this point, he could be certain.
“This is not a case of the ga becoming reality. Reality rely accepted the ga’s rules.”
It had gone beyond a classical tafictional collision. External reality and the ga’s internal setting coexisted without friction.
“…….”
“In other words, it is possible to infer that soone designed this enormous frawork with a clear intent.”
So “sothing” that undeniably existed in this world had borrowed ancient wisdom and techniques to drag a once-fictional ga into reality.
“And I got caught in it.”
But why him of all people?
‘With magic existing in reality, I cannot guarantee that karma does not exist either... but even then, unless I was a traitor to the nation in my past life, the quality of my current circumstances is rather poor, is it not?’
He had, after all, lived as a conscientious ordinary citizen with no cause for sha.
“…….”
“Hello....”
“Yes, hello.”
It was not that he felt no anger, but he restrained it in the healthy interest of managing his blood pressure. He had no desire to repeat that humiliating sudden death.
“...I understand well that I must dig more deeply into this field. Whatever design I have been swept into, now that I have been thrown into an unknown world, it is only fair that I prepare at least the bare minimum ans of self-preservation.”
Of course, it would be a very long while before things reached the level of “fair.”
“…….”
“At tis, carefully established knowledge is more effective than crude physical force.”
As it stood, Lee Yeon-woo had no particular way to cultivate strength, and rich knowledge was the only key that could expand both his options and his capacity to respond.
“Now that I have confird that the magic described here can possess this degree of aggression, the possible directions are limitless. I could go beyond simple defense and construct an entirely new system... or perhaps reorganize these chaotic formulas into sothing more efficient.”
So yes, he intended to continue studying. Even so, the lingering discomfort remained.
“So let
ask you this.”
He looked at the black cat.
“Who was it?”
“…….”
“You are favorable to , Coco.”
That much he understood well.
“Your values are often far removed from ordinary human morality, so we frequently disagree, but in essence you respect
and treat
well. And yet at decisive monts, there are tis when you cannot help .”
Why?
“Who is the one limiting us?”
If one assud that a specific functional limitation had been placed on Coco and the others within this system,
then that would suggest the existence of an independent structure of “higher rules” that superseded individual will.
“Are you trapped here too?”
“…….”
“...I do not know whether you realize it, but our cute little teacher has a bad habit of responding with silence whenever a question puts him in a difficult position. Petty though it may sound, I sotis find that vexing.”
“…….”
“I want us to be on the sa side, but... who can say.”
He did not know.
“When will I be able to leave?”
Once again, there was no answer.
***
“…….”
No matter how one looked at it, this thing had no intention of accepting human guests.
“…….”
That was sothing it had already suspected.
In the end, it had known this would happen.
This was that sort of human.
One that could not endure its own incompetence.
“…….”
A great many things were contained within its notion of “incompetence.”
Failing to protect others.
Causing trouble.
Failing to be diligent.
Being swept up in circumstances.
Everything that lay outside its control.
“…….”
As expected.
It has to be you.
You. It has to be you. I need you. You.
Justification. Justification. Justification. This one must take responsibility for this place. The suitable one. Must seize it. Cannot send it away. Lock it up. The only suitable one. Justification. Necessary. Reason. Disaster. A reason to accept what lies outside control. A choice at the cliff’s edge. Legitimacy. Control.
The hotel must be maintained. The beginning is important. It must not break. It is needed. It must endure. It must develop and grow. Help is needed. Help. The suitable one. Help . You can do it. The ga, the ga. As it was then. It must grow. It will grow. What must be done?
Human guest. You. You protect people. Then I will use that.
Use it. Use it.
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
Found it.
A human guest.
Reviews
All reviews (0)