Chapter 163

Chapter 163. Infinite Library (2)

****

Shall I provoke a bit? If the Librarian uses magic, maybe Dr. Chae can figure out what kind of magic it is.

“Shark?”

[What’s mixed in?]

I don’t know exactly either. Blue Rose. An unknown method used to reverse genders. Something from a specific hostile group that went in with Blue Rose. And even the Popo Serum, which was occasionally used for doping.

Just thinking about it gives me a headache. Anyway, I don’t even know exactly what I am. So, I can’t explain it to this clueless supernatural phenomenon.

“Dr. Chae, would you like to interrogate?”

“Ah, yes.”

I got up from my seat, and Dr. Chae sat where I had been sitting. Dr. Chae stared at the Persona beyond the glass.

“A mask, huh.”

[And what are you?]

“I’m a mage. I don’t have powerful abilities like Dr. Kim, nor much knowledge, but still.”

[A traitor working for the Foundation.]

“So, Miss Persona. Have the hostile groups built a constructive and splendid society where the Foundation’s eyes don’t reach?”

[That’s…]

“Funny, isn’t it?”

[We don’t do that.]

“It’s not just the Librarian’s problem. It’s about whether the Foundation is right or wrong. Every day, I reach the conclusion that the Foundation is right.”

What do the hostile groups even do?

Turn people into dolls, red slimes, fuse a few to make corpse golems, kill them for rituals, turn them into octopus monsters, drain hundreds of people’s blood for swords. Listing it all just makes my mouth hurt.

“I’m not here to talk politics. Miss Persona, what kind of magic did you learn?”

[What kind of magic I learned?]

“You must have a school of thought, right?”

[I’m someone with mixed blood to begin with. Closer to a Warlock than a Wizard.]

Dr. Chae pondered this.

A Warlock, not a Wizard. It’s hard to know exactly what it means, but if a Wizard studies the laws of magic, a Warlock gains power through pacts with otherworldly beings.

“I see.”

[If I had to categorize, it’s closer to Abrahamic religions. Not a proper believer, but I made a direct contract with an angel.]

“So, you use light-based magic?”

[Yes.]

Dr. Chae took notes.

“Is there another reason for the mask?”

[It’s a symbol of my group.]

“Understood.”

There was some progress.

I tapped Dr. Chae’s shoulder. It’s not over just by asking what you’re curious about. The most important thing hasn’t been asked yet.

“Right. What were you planning to do with the Returnee? What were you going to use him for?”

[You’re scared of the Returnee, right? Because he could threaten the system you’ve built.]

That’s true. The Foundation can’t easily tolerate someone who knows the future.

If the Returnee is left to act, it wouldn’t be hard for the world’s economic system to collapse or fall into the hands of certain individuals.

There are many supernatural phenomena that can predict the future to some extent… but the Returnee might be able to influence the past.

It’s a complex issue.

There’s one absolute rule.

Time travel is absolutely forbidden. And since the Returnee is no different from a time traveler, the existence of the Returnee is equally unacceptable.

“Just answer.”

[You already know, don’t you? Honestly. The Infinite Library was the Returnee’s only chance. The last chance to live as a human.]

“So, being kidnapped by Librarians and turned into a tentacle monster is living as a human?”

Dr. Chae regretted his choice of words. There’s no good in fighting with this guy.

I laughed bitterly inside.

Still, we don’t need to overly cater to the Librarian’s whims.

After all, the Librarian is the one locked in the containment room.

We run the Foundation.

We can leave the annoying task of catering to monsters to people like Dr. An.

****

We left the containment room.

“By the way, what do you plan to do with the Returnee? Do you have options?”

“It’s obvious. The Research Department will soon submit a document. Proposing to kill the Returnee and extract Tachyon Particles from his brain.”

“Will you do that?”

I don’t know. What’s the right direction?

“I’m pondering. I agree that we can’t let the Returnee exist.”

“Isn’t it in the records? Time travelers are all the same. They get drunk on ultimate power, trying to satisfy their own interests by sacrificing the entire world. Until they meet a higher predator.”

Who knows.

“But is it right to give them a chance?”

“Even though we call them Returnees, we don’t know exactly how time travel works. They might be openly seeing the future, or they might have repeated the same life thousands, tens of thousands of times. So…”

“So, because there’s an infinite possibility of them being malicious or powerful, we shouldn’t give them a chance?”

“Yes.”

Dr. Chae is the magic expert. I hadn’t even imagined the possibility of infinite regression.

“We have power.”

“Yes.”

“Just once. If simple mercy seems foolish, let’s wake him up and talk to satisfy our curiosity.”

“If that’s what the Director thinks.”

****

The hottest topic.

It’s been 15 hours since the Returnee went under general anesthesia.

The Returnee’s bed was moved to the Large-Scale Containment Room, and quite a few researchers gathered, including the Expansion Physics Department with Tachyon observation equipment and the Precognition Department with their pads.

Around the Returnee’s bed were multiple layers of Sealing Magic Circles. Magic circles drawn by Hasti with a black marker, talismans attached by the Eastern Sorcery Department, and even Dr. Chae’s blue mascot.

No one was within 10 meters of the bed.

“Seems pretty scary, huh?”

Bishop Oh nodded.

He was different today too.

The Christian robes he rarely wore.

He had crosses on his bracelets and necklace. He carried a shotgun on his back and a pistol at his waist. Fully armed.

“It’s horrifying. See with your mind’s eye, what the Returnee truly is. Not just a person. Something horrifyingly layered…”

“Is that how the Bishop sees it?”

“I don’t know. Whether the Returnee’s dreams are violent, or if there’s another reason. Problems are arising even at this moment.”

“Will the sealing magic work?”

“Of course. It’s weak, but it can affect the past and future. Magic is less influenced by linear time.”

That’s enough conversation. I raised my hand above my head, fingers spread.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Awakening.

A Foundation nurse turned off the anesthesia machine attached to the Returnee’s body, then injected an epinephrine stimulant into the IV line.

She ran away immediately after the injection.

The Returnee opened his eyes very, very slowly.

He looked around as if still sleepy. We held our breath.

“Ah, it’s you guys again? Please, how many times—”

Just as I suspected. He seems to possess infinite regression or a similar ability. Too dangerous to let live.

“I’m going crazy, seriously, how many times is this? How many times do I have to die in your hands, in the hands of monsters? I’m about to forget Korean, seriously. I don’t want to die anymore. Let me sleep or let me break free. Please, I don’t want to suffer eternally anymore. If you let me stop meeting monsters, I’ll do anything.”

He started disassembling himself with bare hands and teeth. I won’t describe it. It was indescribably horrifying.

The order to kill was given.

Bang!

Gunfire erupted from multiple directions, and the Returnee, now a sieve, collapsed onto his bed.

I feel sick.

Not because we killed an innocent person.

But because we faced a fragment of eternal suffering where even death isn’t salvation. It was incomparably disgusting and nauseating.

“Burn the body without preserving any samples. Everyone, disperse.”

They came as if for a festival, but it was the first time I felt so sick seeing something while working for the Foundation.

A Cleanup Team member was burning the bed with a flamethrower.

Researchers who came to watch or study all left gloomily.

There’s a reason time travel is absolutely forbidden. Isn’t it the most powerful and most horrifying force of all?

****

[Regarding the Returnee]

[Author: Dr. Kim, Expansion Physics Department]

[Uh…]

[Of course, it was an unpleasant sight, but we can’t avoid discussing it, so I’ll leave a record. Did the general anesthesia trigger the restoration of infinite regression memories? What do you think happened?]

[From an expansion physics perspective, it doesn’t seem possible for a single entity to infinitely repeat and modify a timeline. What do others think?]

****

[Regarding the Returnee. Reply.]

[Author: Dr. Kim]

[I’ve decided to think as comfortably as possible. He’s just a crazy humanoid supernatural phenomenon emitting Tachyons. There’s no need or way to think beyond that.]

[On the other hand. Can adding one more drop to the sea of suffering be considered evil?]

[I wonder if ‘regression’ even exists. Maybe it’s just… what we call a soul, or some kind of illusion?]