I’ve arrived at the floor.
Common sense would dictate I should fall onto the surface, but now I see the crumbling Main Hall of Cheonma Church building.
Looking up, I see a rickety structure that has stopped collapsing, with holes here and there. I lower my head and survey my surroundings.
The cold air and stale scent of smoke lightly waft through the place.
This is where the Cheonma died.
Maybe I could see the Cheonma.
Since I can recognize that place right away, I walked towards it.
But there was no Cheonma there. Just a black line drawn behind where the corpse had been in the ruins.
Looking around, there isn’t anything promising.
In the distance, there’s a white castle, and if I head the opposite way, there are houses.
Since I’m in this strange place, I decided to take a look, but it’s as if the debris of the building blocking my way is saying I can’t go there. When I tried to climb up, I couldn’t hold onto the debris.
It just felt like a wall.
Which means, I can’t go that way.
Then I should head to the tower.
I moved forward. Who knows, I might stumble upon the house that existed in the second world.
And I walk along a strangely organized path like a road.
Pitter patter
Comparing my steps with the places I remembered, the difference is huge. This form makes for a considerably longer walk.
Feeling the difference from when I was Choseol, I continued walking.
And then I found a door just standing there. Clearly, there’s a cliff behind the door. But when I open it, a dim yellow light flows into a cylindrical space.
It’s the entrance to Kunlun.
A narrow passage is floating in the center. I tried to enter, pausing once. Then I looked back. I saw a door that connected to another place far away. And all the sides were blocked.
I suddenly realized I wouldn’t see Soo-oh here.
Indeed.
That’s right.
I moved on again. Normally, passing through this door would mean I should be in Kunlun, but this space has never been normal.
And instead of the internal space of Kunlun that should be at the end of the passage, there was a small door.
I opened it, and a truly fascinating sight unfolded before me.
Something with a distorted spherical shape hung in the air, and the sky was filled with objects suspended as if they were sucked in and stopped.
It looked as if it was a moment frozen from the last moments spent with Wonsi Cheonjon.
I looked around out of curiosity to see if anyone would show up. Considering Hyungkesuni appeared twice, Wonsi Cheonjon might show up again.
But he didn’t appear.
Instead, I discovered a girl sitting in a tower that had come to a halt while collapsing, a bit away from the sphere.
A tall girl with purple hair, twice the length of the form I currently had. I had never seen her in person. Because that body had been used by me until the last moment.
None other than Choseol.
I walked over to her.
“Hello.”
“Yes, hello.”
It strangely resembled the way I talk. The rhythm is similar. Or is it that this is not Choseol, but me?
As I thought that and gazed at her, she stared at me blankly, so I pointed at the castle I saw in the distance.
“I’m trying to go there. Do you know the way?”
Then she stood up.
And walked towards the space where the light was warped. Then she grabbed the air and lifted it up. As if a curtain with a painting had been lifted, a locked door appeared from within.
Choseol looked at me and put her hand between her chest, then took it out. A key was in her hand as it emerged.
Choseol approached me with the key, extended her arm to grab mine and brought it before her, placing the key on her palm, gently sliding my finger onto it.
I held the key in my hand.
Most people I meet here are weird. They act like someone I don’t know. There’s no light or warmth. This likely is just a simple illusion.
Daegon and Wonsi Cheonjon are a bit unsettling, but they’re both transcendental beings, so maybe they are different.
Perhaps the memories are just too huge.
As I was thinking that, Choseol suddenly embraced me tightly.
There was only coldness and no warmth, but the soft feeling of her chest attached to me and then fell away.
After that, Choseol gave me a light pat on the shoulder and walked past me, disappearing somewhere without looking back.
As soon as I crossed a place I couldn’t go, she vanished as if she had never been there.
Upon inspecting the key, I noticed it had words engraved on it. The word written is “Warmth.”
Now I have three keys. One is the wordless key. One is “Anger.” The other is “Warmth.”
Shall I try them in order?
The wordless key doesn’t fit in the hole. There’s clearly a space for it, but that key seems like it doesn’t belong here.
So, I pushed in the “Anger” key.
Click and it opened right away. I couldn’t pull the key back out. It was stuck to the lock as if it had been glued there from the start.
Isn’t it normally supposed to work this way? And when I first got a key from Tisah, I think he mentioned it was needed to break through some wall, but the key labeled “Despair” was actually for starting up a train.
Is it that the illusion has no rules, or did I do something wrong? I’m not sure, but I guess I’ll find out by walking to wherever I can go.
I opened the door and stepped inside.
Inside is the boarding platform where I first arrived.
The railway direction is different. The tracks I passed to get here from the first world have disappeared, and there’s a track leading into a tunnel on a cliff.
I climbed onto the steam train again.
This time, there’s no one to greet me. Again, I think I’ll have to open the door and go to the engine room to turn the key.
By the way, what about the room? I hadn’t thought about it earlier since Eunjai was blocking my way.
I grabbed the door leading to the room and turned it. But it wouldn’t budge. I wondered if it would turn with a key, but there was no keyhole here.
Could it be an object that’s just not interactive?
With no choice, I opened the door to the engine room.
Nothing has changed here. It’s just the same as before.
The difference is that the key that should be inserted is gone, and the lock is secured again.
I tried inserting the nameless key. But it was blocked. The key that went in was the “Warmth” key.
The sound of an absurd car starting up echoed, and the train set off again.
Still, I feel no inertia at all. It immediately entered the cave, and after a while, light appeared.
And the place where the locomotive stopped was inside a collapsed temple.
The place where I was summoned.
Where there used to be nothing but cylindrical walls, now an inconvenient platform and steam train are placed. Since it’s filled with coal inside, it looks like a steam train. But with no sound or steam coming out, I wonder if it’s really a steam train at all.
Maybe there hasn’t been anyone from my memories who has ridden a steam train. After all, if it’s a dreamlike world, it wouldn’t send out what I don’t know.
As the train fully halted, I entered the room with a door leading down to the platform. Just to be safe, I grabbed the handle and opened it to find it unlocked.
An empty room appeared with just chairs crowding around. I looked around, wondering if there was something, but there was nothing. And opening the back door revealed the tracks that the train had passed.
There’s nothing interesting to see.
I got off the train. As I stepped out, sunlight beamed through a round hole in the ceiling, casting a humongous shadow.
A Fishman, about 7.5 meters tall, looked down at me. And then it extended its hand and placed me in front of it.
With a face of no thought from the Fishman’s perspective. But it looked like it had the intention for me to ride. So, when I climbed onto its palm, the Fishman lifted me up.
Come to think of it, I was able to leave because Victoria had lifted me. Once I stepped down from its hand, the Fishman no longer looked at me and sat down, curling up like a baby.
Leaving him behind, I walked forward.
Originally, I had to go down the hill, walk along the coast for a while before reaching the port, but as soon as I went down the hill, the port appeared. It’s a surprisingly compressed port. There’s just a place to board, and that’s it.
I guess I’m to wait for a boat.
So, I stood at the port and waited for a boat, and a ship approached me, coming straight ahead.
Originally, it should have come in from the side, but as I was watching in awe, the boat didn’t slow down and charged right towards me.
Is it aiming to hit me?
The bow of the ship smashed right into the platform where I stood. But instead of me getting hit, the ship crumpled and squished, revealing a door inside it right in front of me.
Who’s the director here?
The door twisted as it crumpled, but when I pulled it, it opened without a hitch.
I thought I was heading to Bern City, but surprisingly, I found myself looking at the Royal Castle. Specifically, I saw the room where Aurora was lying.
And indeed, Aurora is lying on the wide bed inside.
I wonder what Aurora will say when she wakes up.
Thinking that, I approached Aurora.
But Aurora didn’t wake up. Even shaking her didn’t rouse her. She was breathing, but just like everyone I’ve seen in here, she lacked light and warmth.
I looked around.
All the doors until now had pointed towards the castle. If the castle isn’t visible, it means I’m in the castle. So, I peered outside the window.
Out the window, I spotted the castle visible at a distance.
And according to the only rule I’ve encountered, there should be a door. Approaching the door, I opened it easily.
I took a glance at Aurora and stepped inside.
It’s Victoria’s bedroom. On the bed, Victoria is sleeping soundly like Aurora. The blanket is thrown somewhere far away, and the surroundings are messy.
Without thinking, I tidied up the area and covered her with the blanket.
The castle from before is visible through the window. I guess I should go this way.
I opened the window, and instead of the interiors of the Royal Academy I saw earlier, a tall castle wall was visible. This isn’t the castle of this country. Rather, it’s a wall as black as could be.
It seems painted with the darkest paint, lacking any dimensionality.
And beyond the wall, a white castle can be seen.
At the front of that wall,
a girl stands. Holding a long skull staff, she wears an expression that looks almost like a bittersweet smile.
Hyungkesuni.
She stands against the wall, staring intently at me.
