Chapter 123
“…”
“…”
“…”
The three of them were silent at my explanation.
Two of them were shocked by disbelief, and one of them already knew the seriousness of the situation.
Honestly, I thought no one would believe me if I explained it like this, but it seemed that it was just my delusion.
“What we are doing now is like letting out the air from this balloon that is filled to the brim. So that it doesn’t burst from being too inflated.”
It was a ridiculous analogy, but it was the truth and reality.
If we don’t clear the world of ideas, the earth will eventually be destroyed.
That was an immutable truth that I could be sure of because I had experienced the future.
‘Of course, there is another real reason.’
The end of the world happened because we didn’t clear the world of ideas, but it also had to do with the will of the spirits who had witnessed this state.
The collectors didn’t clear the world of ideas.
They didn’t want to adventure and settled for reality, living off what they were given.
Out of hundreds and thousands of worlds of ideas, would you believe that less than 10 were cleared in the next five years in my previous life?
That means the clear rate was less than 1%.
As adventure, romance, passion, and anticipation disappeared, the spirits naturally lost interest in the earth.
‘A world full of huge and massive stories, but if you don’t use them, the audience will eventually leave.’
The spirits dwindled, and the value of the earth in Genesis Net also started to hit rock bottom.
Eventually, the Celestial Corporation, which was in charge of the earth, made a big decision.
They sold this world that no longer gave them any profit from points.
‘Companies move for profit. It’s natural to dispose of a business that doesn’t generate profit quickly.’
That’s how the earth’s time rights went from Celestial Corporation to Exodus.
Exodus’s tellers led the earth to its end as soon as they got its time rights.
They made the stories inside run wild and blended them with reality, causing a rampage.
That’s how the world changed.
Exodus sorted out and arranged these rampaging stories, creating their own order and process.
That was the ‘trial’ that unfolded in the midst of the end.
‘And unlike before, when only certain people could become collectors and do time painting, they awakened all surviving humanity to be able to do time painting.’
The sudden end.
The awakening of the survivors.
All kinds of trials unfolding without any kind explanation.
I lived in that for 10 years.
I watched my precious people die, missed them and sent them off while fearing death.
I ran desperately, looking only ahead.
“That’s why I insist on clearing the world of ideas.”
I didn’t bother to mention anything about the interest of the spirits and the profit of the company. It would have been too much of a burden for them to explain this as well.
“Then…”
Baek Seoryeon opened her mouth hesitantly.
“Everything that each government and clan in this world is doing is…”
“Yes. That’s right. They are bringing about the end of the earth.”
“But why?”
She still looked incredulous.
Of course she would.
From her point of view, it was an incomprehensible action.
But this was reality.
“This earth now has developed various industries using the power of stories. But do you know what? The situation of the earth before the change. Back then, there was a terrible future called global warming looming over us.”
“That…”
“How were people back then? The companies? The nations? They knew that the resources they consumed were strangling their own necks, but they didn’t stop. For the sake of corporate profit, for human greed. They knew but thought it would be okay and let it go.”
But back then it was better.
There were at least some people who recognized the seriousness of the situation and carried out environmental movements and tried to fix it.
But now it’s different. It’s worse than back then.
“People don’t know. How their actions lead this world.”
“I don’t understand. If you know, shouldn’t other tellers know too? Why don’t they explain?”
“Not all other tellers know.”
I had to tell them that I came from the future to convince everyone here. But that was too risky to reveal.
I circled around and gave them a reason they could accept.
“This is a matter that only a few insiders in Celestial Corporation know about. Not all other tellers can know.”
“But you know.”
“I’m not an ordinary teller.”
“Oh.”
“And even if other tellers know that, do they have any reason to tell that fact to people in Hage?”
Basically, tellers had a haughty attitude that looked down on humans.
It was no different from asking a tiger to eat salad to expect them to be kind or give detailed explanations.
They all nodded and accepted my words.
They knew the tellers’ unilateral personality from the rumors.
“Most of the opinions inside Celestial Corporation are that this is just a ‘prospect’ that might happen. But I think differently. If we go on like this, this world will be destroyed.”
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“Then… shouldn’t we tell them?”
“If we tell them, will they believe me?”
“That…”
“Surely, they will think like this. That’s nonsense. They must be saying that nonsense to clear the world of ideas. They are trying to convince themselves with lies. That’s what they’ll say.”
Other tellers would say the same thing to me.
That I was trying to make an issue to increase my viewership.
That what I was saying was a lie.
And there was another reason why I didn’t go around blabbering about this.
If I told someone about this, they would dig into me and ask, ‘Where did you get that from?’
The most difficult thing for me would be that.
I couldn’t say that I came from the future and that I was actually a human in my previous life.
I didn’t know what they would do to me if I revealed that fact.
And if I hid the truth, they would never believe me. What I had to say and what I couldn’t say were intertwined.
‘Seoryeon and Hyerim trust me and don’t have much doubt about it here. But what if other collectors hear this? Or what if the spirits know this? Will they believe me? Will they leave me alone?’
In the end, that’s it.
I can’t tell them, and even if I do, I don’t think they’ll believe me.
The Mayan end-of-the-world prophecy or Nostradamus’s end-of-the-world prophecy were dismissed as nonsense and actually happened.
People will eventually dismiss this as someone’s delusion and ignore it.
“And there are definitely some tellers who know this fact. They hide it and don’t say anything.”
That’s right, the ‘Pentagram’ department.
They were the tellers who were most active during the end. They seemed to know that the earth would turn out like this.
But even if they knew, I couldn’t go to them and say anything.
They would stubbornly play dumb, and rather corner me and ask where I got that from.
They knew the end that would come later, and they tried to bring it forward.
Trying to use me for their own benefit.
“I don’t want this world to face such a terrible end.”
That’s why I don’t tell anyone, even though I know.
I know the apocalypse that will come someday, and I’m trying to stop it.
To protect the people and the world.
“…”
“…”
“…”
The other two, except for Kwon Jia, had the same reaction as someone who faced an unbelievable reality.
To them, what I said was too absurd and incomprehensible.
And knowing that it was true, it would weigh on them even more.
“Sigh. That’s why I didn’t want to talk much. The truth is, sometimes it’s cruel and heavy like this. If you don’t know anything and just act, it might be better, but once you know, you can’t forget it.”
‘Ignorance is bliss’ is what they say for times like this.
But in this world, ignorance is not bliss. Everyone has to know this fact and join forces to escape from the threat.
But that was too idealistic a picture. If people knew this fact, would they all say ‘Yes! Let’s do our best!’ and hold hands and work hard?
They would panic. Riots would break out, and those who praised the end would commit terror.
The situation would only get worse, not better.
“Oh, by the way.”
I joked lightly to lighten the heavy atmosphere.
“By the way, you have no choice but to go with me until the end, since you already heard this fact.”
‘You know too much. Is that what you mean?’
“That’s right. Usually, it’s the evil organization that says that line, but the difference is that we’re trying to save the world.”
“Hah. I still can’t believe it.”
Baek Seo-ryeon leaned back on the chair and rubbed her temples.
“World destruction and whatnot. The scale is too big. Really, I just wanted to make a lot of money.”
A bit annoyed, a bit disappointed.
She muttered that and straightened up again.
“But we’ve come this far, so we can’t stop.”
The moment I met her unwavering eyes, I couldn’t help but nod with a smile.
“What about you, Hye-rim?”
“I can do anything if Yu-hyun wants me to!”
“Is that your will? Or mine?”
“It’s my will. I do it because I want to.”
There was no lie in her words. I nodded at her as well, and naturally moved my gaze to Kwon Jia next to me.
“Well, then we’re done?”
“Wait. Why don’t you ask me?”𝚗𝘰ѵ𝒆𝒍𝚋Ꭵ𝔫.𝓷𝑒𝒕
Kwon Jia suddenly tackled me. No, you already know, right?
I gave her that look, but she looked dumbfounded and unconvinced. Did I do something uncomfortable?
[Hey, you idiot. No matter what, at least play along a little. It’s so disappointing when you’re left out.]
Then I heard Baek-ryeon’s voice scolding me.
‘Is that what it was?’
Kwon Jia already knew everything, so I thought I didn’t have to ask her.
But thinking about it, it was too selfish to think that she would understand without saying anything.
Sometimes I had to express myself even though I knew.
‘Thanks. Thank you Baek-ryeon.’
[Hmph. If you’re grateful, be nice to me too! After all, I’m your companion.]
‘Yeah.’
I asked Kwon Jia.
“Jia, you can do it too?”
“Of course.”
She answered with a slightly softened expression. Maybe my action was right after all.
“So, what are you going to do from now on?”
I shrugged at Kwon Jia’s question.
“Well, if you want to keep the balloon from bursting as the wind rises, you have to let some air out. For us, that means clearing one world of ideas at a time.”
“Then how long do we have to keep doing that?”
Baek Seo-ryeon asked sharply. Yeah. If you know the ‘why’ and the ‘how’, then the next question is ‘how long’.
That is… I don’t know either.
“I don’t know exactly either, but I have some guesses. Do you know how the worlds of ideas are made up?”
“Just stories?”
“There are many kinds of stories. There are ‘facts’ or ‘history’ that actually happened, and there are ‘tales’ or ‘folktales’ that were passed on by people’s mouths and writings. And there are ‘legends’ engraved in everyone’s memory, and ‘myths’ that everyone idolizes.”
The worlds of ideas are composed of these various things.
“Among them, most of the worlds of ideas that came out are based on ‘history’. Occasionally, folktales and tales are mixed in, and very rarely, there are stories of legends and myths. However, these are very weak compared to the real myths and legends.”
I pointed to the inside of the earth, where the stories were trying to expand fiercely.
“The very heavy and important, [real stories] haven’t come out yet. The important thing is, these real ones.”
The most important world of ideas composed of myths.
The core story that would determine the fate of this earth.
It would decide the future of this world depending on whether we clear it or not.
Will we feel the potential of the earth and leave it as it is?
Will we think that the earth is no longer recoverable and brand it and discard it?
“It all depends on our success.”
And judging that is not our role.
The ones who value it are the beings above the sky, the high celestial beings.
They are the viewers who watch our play, the audience who watch the stage, and the judges of the end.
To entrust my future to someone else.
It was nothing but an anxious and nauseating thing.
‘But I have to do it.’
I have to smile and endure it even if I don’t like it.
‘At least for now.’
As I imagined a future that might come someday, I quietly suppressed my emotions.
