Chapter 410
This could already be considered a confession, couldn't it?
"......"
I paused momentarily, inhaling deeply as I brushed Ah-ryeon's hair from behind.
This was why.
How could I possibly leave such a child behind and go elsewhere?
Even in the world corrupted by Infinite Metagame and transformed into pixels, during the 135th apocalypse, Sim Ah-ryeon did not abandon me, who was merely an 'NPC.'
"Ah-ryeon, the guild master――."
And so, in response to this child's most sincere confession, I tried to answer with honesty myself. I tried, but...
Sim Ah-ryeon's head, having curled up with her back to me, had somehow tilted like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
"Ah-ryeon?"
I grasped her shoulders to check on her.
"ZZZ......"
This brat was dozing off.
Right there, incomprehensibly drooling while in deep sleep.
"Ha."
An absurd laugh escaped me.
Really. Was she some kind of protagonist with hearing issues? Does she just say her piece during a heartfelt moment of exchange and then just drift off to sleep?
Even the benevolent guild master was slightly annoyed.
"You little rascal. Truly, you live life the way you want. You cheeky troublemaker."
"Mmmm, bleehe... uhuhuh......"
I gently pinched her cheek, but Sim Ah-ryeon remained in a phase of 'deep sleep' unmoving.
The reason was obvious. For a week, she had relentlessly painted without rest, indifferent to whether her clothes got dirty or not. How could her mental state remain intact?
Though she could maintain her physical stamina by self-healing herself, enabling her to achieve the daunting task of preparing for two exhibitions in a row—something that would make any artist shudder.
But mental vitality was another matter.
Throughout the week, Sim Ah-ryeon had dived into her painting frenzy, neglecting sleep. It wasn't normal.
She probably mustered everything to hold out until my visit, and the moment she saw that the guild master had seen it all—her mental elasticity snapped.
"Uwhh, guuild master......"
"Right, right. Your guild master is right here."
Patting gently.
I put down the comb and caressed Ah-ryeon's head with my hand. My schedule was cleared anyway, so I intended to stay by her side until the troublemaker awoke.
――Tap.
Then, footsteps echoed in the gallery entrance. It was slightly odd.
There was a 'no entry' sign at the entrance. The time had already passed midnight. Who would dare to steal right at the foot of the Tower of Babel?
'Could it be a drunk nearby the casino mistakenly wandered in?'
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The footsteps grew closer. As they were about to turn the corner, revealing the intruder, I prepared to offer a warning.
"Whoever you are, this area is off-limits to the public. I’d appreciate it if you’d leave――"
"Oh dear."
Tap.
Black loafer shoes appeared around the corner. White stockings and a purple skirt with white stripes that covers below the knees.
Hair trailing like willow branches in a pink hue.
"I’m sorry. I understood that this exhibition is held exclusively at night, so I thought it closed by dawn. Did I come at the wrong time?"
"......"
My entire body froze.
Go Yuri.
The overwhelmingly sweet apple fragrance, seeping like an oil slick to my deepest cerebrum, approached from the gallery corner like a shadow.
Tap. Tap.
Go Yuri moved and stood before the gigantic canvas of 『Title: Ten Legs』.
"They've torn off the frame here. Since there's no intention to preserve or manage the piece afterwards, it's intended for this one-time exhibit—thus laying it bare without a frame. Splendid."
"......"
"The dedication to consider how a frame might hinder immersion in an exhibition. It's understandable that Yu Ji-won might be troubled. After all, she painted thinking of the guild master for an entire week—even wishing that for just a moment, you could let go of thoughts for another and focus solely on her work.”
"......"
“A perfectly reasonable exchange."
Carefully, I shifted Sim Ah-ryeon to cradle her securely in my arms.
Of course, Go Yuri was never out of my sight. Observing her every move, picking up on even the faintest indication, with maximum vigilance.
Meanwhile, she nonchalantly strolled through the midnight gallery. Pausing at the pieces, as if they were bus stops.
Ninety minutes passed.
Ultimately, I had to open my lips.
"Why have you come?"
"I heard there was an extraordinary exhibit."
"Is that really all it was for?"
"For now. Not only loving someone’s life but also their death—believing they are beautiful just for existing. Sincerely, truly, genuinely. Opportunities to witness such creations from an artist are rare indeed."
"......"
"I've enjoyed it immensely. Truly."
She bowed deeply before me—before the two of us, including Ah-ryeon.
"If this world is an art, and if only beauty exists, then perhaps the endless repetitions of any regressor’s endeavors exist solely for this moment—so to speak."
“......”
"They are masterpieces, indeed, not a stretch to call them so."
Her praise was lavish.
But those words of acclaim would never reach Sim Ah-ryeon's ears.
Not because she was sleeping.
Simply because Go Yuri's voice, from the start, could reach no one.
No curse. No praise. Not even the simple salutations of daily life.
Her nature was to provide only the response that the person facing her 'wished' to receive.
That was Go Yuri.
"However, both you and I know, right? The world can’t only be described as beautiful."
Except.
I alone was the exception.
"Indeed.”
After the 1,000th regression, for some unknown reason, I was able to hear the voice of this enigma. I had figured out that Go Yuri’s dialogue adapted based on the person she faced.
Such a trick enabled feats like this.
"......"
I glanced around.
The night gallery. Displayed there were the vistas of my deaths, amassed from the 1st regression up to around the 1,000th regression.
Without rushing, methodically, I connected 'myself' to the deaths depicted in each painting. I immersed myself.
From the 1,083rd regression, moving backward――to the 5th. To the 4th. Finally, reaching the 1st regression, glimpsed only through a dream of Cheonhwa.
[Total Recall].
To me, this ability was both a curse and a blessing of a lifetime, became over a thousand keys fitting quietly and precisely into the lock named Go Yuri.
"Go Yuri."
"Yes."
"Why did you erase your existence by yourself and fall into the state of being an anomaly?”
"......"
In the next moment.
Like keys and locks grinding against each other, 'voices' reverberated from the canvases spread throughout the exhibition.
"What do you mean?" "I've never fallen into an anomalous state." "Undertaker." "My" "Hmm? Cheon-hwa, dear?" "Oh, of course, it's for humans." "It's sad..." "Undertaker." "Haha, finally caught me!" "None" "Don't you actually know?" "I am as you see, human." "Interesting." "I've never mentioned the next teacher to the young lady..." "With me" "Guild master" "A voice" "Forgetting is sometimes a blessing, you know." "I had no other choice." "Recognizing the thin line between anomaly and human." "That's your ego." "Become one" "Doctor" "Can you hear me?"
The voices echoed endlessly.
Like volleys of gunfire across a battlefield.
But I remained undistracted.
In this space, I couldn't have forgotten with the records of my 1,000 deaths displayed all around me.
A child slumbered embraced in my arms.
A temple that Ah-ryeon had built for me.
Here, it was possible to maintain myself without ever skipping a single moment.
Thus, I wound the desires and wishes of each regression into one strand, one timeline, one key――and reached.
"What do you mean?" "I've never fallen into an anomalous state." "Undertaker." "My" "Hmm? Cheon-hwa, dear?" "Oh, of course, it's for humans." "It's sad..." "Undertaker." "Haha, finally caught me!" "None" "Don't you actually know?" "I am as you see, human." "Interesting." "I've never mentioned the next teacher to the young lady..." "With me" "Guild master" "A voice" "Forgetting is sometimes a blessing, you know." "I had no other choice." "The ambiguity in distinguishing between anomaly and human." "That's your ego." "Become one" "Doctor" "Can you hear me?"
I edited them down.
"My" "voice" "Can you hear me?"
I answered.
"Yes."
I dispelled the curse.
“I hear you. Clearly.”
Go Yuri's lips closed.
“……” “……” “……” “……” “……” “……” “……” “……” “……” “……” “……” “……” “……” “……” “……” “……” “……” “……” “……” “……” “……” “……” “……”
The multitude of paintings and numerous Go Yuris all fell silent at once.
The grating sound subsided. The key reached the deepest part of the lock. And what remained was a single outcome.
"......"
Unlocked.
The whispers died down.
The shadows that had been wailing from the abyssal depths, each proclaiming "look at me first," and "understand me," had vanished.
I faced one person.
I was yearning for answers.
Go Yuri couldn't refuse my wish.
From the beginning, that's who she was.
She smiled.
"It's been a long journey, hasn't it?”
"Humans are not beautiful. Not even you, doctor. You even abandoned everything to take a holiday in hopes of cleansing your soul of its stains."
I inhaled.
"When I take a break, Ha-yul commits suicide. Yo-hwa becomes a deranged necromancer. Dang Seo-rin turns into a lonely dictator. My other companions lead lives of misery. Knowing all this, I still leave.”
"But that's the temporary measure that keeps you human.”
“The moment I take responsibility for those children's lives, I’ll want to take responsibility for every human. I am not a god. Someday, I will undoubtedly break and shatter.”
“Yet some people would call your methods cowardly.”
"Victory is what matters. Having come this far, I must win. For that purpose, I changed the way I live, discarded how I think.”
"Indeed, you speak truth.”
A crack appeared in the corner of Go Yuri's mouth.
"Do you know how to abandon yourself? That is the bare minimum required to walk the lonely path of this void-stained world."
"......"
"Simply being ready to give up isn’t enough. If problems could be solved with such resolve, no one would suffer.”
“Can you still abandon yourself after devising the most outstanding method to do so?”
Tap.
Go Yuri walked past me with her hands casually behind her back.
Slowly.
“You asked why I abandoned myself. The answer to that question is surprisingly simple.”
"......"
“Of course, my goal wasn't to create a unique anomaly named ‘Go Yuri,’ but to save people."
She seemed to whisper to me alone.
"If only I had been a more perfect existence. Go Yuri-god! Behold! I shall be responsible for all of you―like that. Ahaha."
“......”
"But I'm not a god."
Tap.
Go Yuri stopped behind me.
“I don’t ask for much. I was just born into this world, as this kind of person, and this is how it happened—by happenstance. Just like you, doctor."
“You.”
Go Yuri said.
If this world were only beautiful, just the existence of Sim Ah-ryeon's exhibition would have validated the thousands of repetitions.
The world was not beautiful. This world despised humans. It was merely populated by humans born of that same hatred.
Therefore, if I could reach this single answer through my words now, then the thousands of repetitions were not in vain.
"Who are you?"
Go Yuri leaned in, whispering.
"I am a reincarnator."
The revelation struck like lightning.
"A human who is born again and again."
-Exhibition. End.
---TL NOTE: ABSOLUTE CINEMA---