Chapter 98
Rapid ascent.
Since I already knew the location, there was no chance of getting lost. We climbed the mountain at almost a forced-march pace and arrived at our destination.
"So this is it. The scenery hasn't changed at all."
"No ghosts showed up on the way."
"Maybe it's because we already drove them off."
That sounds plausible.
"Dig."
"Yes."
We didn't really have a shovel, but I had a metal pipe I'd picked up from the ruins earlier, so I started digging with that.
But why the hell is Jinseop just staring blankly while I'm digging?
"Song Jinseop. You dig too."
"Yes."
I immediately made Jinseop dig too, and we dug together.
But come to think of it, Jaaldi hadn't dug at all. She'd just kept watch over us like a boss, staying on guard. She was still doing that now.
Of course, Jaaldi was the one who risked her life to help me escape. You could say she was the section chief of my soul, so I couldn't let her do the digging. Dirty work like this was mine to handle.
Anyway, as we kept digging...
Thud.
The feel changed.
"Huh?! What the heck!"
As soon as he saw the hair, Jinseop freaked out. A fake Bureau agent, and he gets startled by a corpse.
"Team Leader. We found a body."
"So something really was there."
"I'll pull it out."
I pulled the corpse out at once.
As expected... the corpse's eyes and mouth were sewn shut.
"Why is there a corpse here?"
"I'll explain the details later. We're still sorting out this whole matter ourselves. Anyway, Team Leader. Setting aside the fact that the body came out intact, its eyes and mouth are sewn shut. What do you think that means?"
Jaaldi crouched down and examined the body.
"The condition of the body hasn't changed. Aside from the stitching, I don't see anything unusual."
"Right."
"The corpse is unchanged... and it's sewn shut. It seems this stitched world is a mirror image of reality. A kind of copy? An imitation? Something like that."
"I came to a similar conclusion."
Then does that mean anything that happens in reality happens here exactly the same way?
"Let's head to the Bureau now. I don't know what kind of Bureau building exists in this stitched world, but whatever shows up, I plan to explore the inside."
"I have a feeling something will show up."
We had seen everything there was to see, so we prepared to head back down.
I grabbed the body one last time to put it back, and suddenly something dropped from somewhere on it.
"Hm?"
What is that?
Some kind of portable GPS device?
Did we drop it when we came geocaching?
For a moment I thought that, but it looked different. Was this something the corpse had been carrying? Jaaldi had just inspected it, though.
As I wondered that and picked up the GPS...
Ding!
Suddenly, a familiar notification sound rang out, and the GPS disappeared.
[You have obtained the item 'GPS'.]
.
.
.
[You can now use the inventory feature.]
[Items claimed from the mailbox will no longer be used immediately and will instead be moved to the inventory.]
What the hell is this?!
There were still new features left?!
And the mailbox? Was that thing just used immediately when you claimed it? I was uneasy and had just left it there without claiming it, but if I’d gotten curious and claimed it, I would’ve been completely fucked!
Damn, I'm losing my mind.
I even debated whether to claim them, worrying there might be a storage limit on the mailbox and they'd disappear if I left them unclaimed. I would've been in serious trouble. The Singing Flower? The Vampire Angel's Heart? If those triggered immediately, it was obviously game over.
Anyway, that's a relief.
I checked the mailbox right away.
[You have 999+ unread mails.]
This fucking mailbox... this is why I hate checking my mailbox. I scrolled down, and every single message was the same.
[Message: ■■■■ is trying to find the regressor.]
I still don't know what this is.
Some insane being is looking for me.
But I do suspect that if something changes, the message will change too. In other words, it's a canary signaling change.
Let's collect the rewards first.
-Reward: Singing Flower
-Reward: Vampire Angel's Heart
-Would you like to claim them?
So I finally get these.
When I claimed the rewards, the attached items disappeared.
I opened the status window first.
——————————
[●Status Window]
Name: Grrong
Title: One Who Activated the Reality Recognition Device
.
.
Loop: 2
Deaths: 19(-1)
[●Death Count by Loop]
[●Collected Endings]
[●Features]
[●Resolved List]
[●Owned Abilities]
[●Point Shop]
[●Mailbox]
[●Inventory]
[...]
——————————
An inventory appeared below the mailbox.
I checked the inventory right away.
[Inventory]
-Item: GPS
-Item: Singing Flower
-Item: Vampire Angel's Heart
The clear rewards were finally in my hands. I'd love to take them out and look, but... not now. I don't know what might happen. Still, this GPS is something I obtained after confirming the real thing in person, so it should be fine.
[Would you like to take out the item 'GPS'?]
So it really does take it out.
The GPS appeared in my hand.
[Would you like to put the item 'GPS' into the inventory?]
When I chose to put it back, it disappeared again.
Good.
I understand how to use it.
Let's figure out the GPS's usage later.
"Still not done?"
"Ah, yes. I'm done."
I immediately followed Jaaldi down.
Now it was time to head to the Bureau.
* * *
We traveled by car.
The scenery outside the window was still the same. But unlike before, stitched people were visible here and there.
The stitched people down there probably all gathered because of Section Chief Lee Dohyung, and the ones here must have been left behind because they're farther away. That's my rough guess.
"We're about to arrive."
We'd returned to our familiar neighborhood. Though this was the stitched world, the buildings that existed were the same. The buildings I knew welcomed us. When you return from a long trip, the first things to greet you are the familiar buildings of your neighborhood.
"Wait a second."
Then Jinseop spoke.
"What's wrong?"
"Um, weren't we supposed to be going to your Bureau, not mine? This is our Bureau's side."
"Ah."
This guy.
He really had no idea the headquarters were actually in the same place.
"Explain."
"Well, the thing is... the two buildings are actually in the same place."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"It's complicated to explain in detail."
"What the..."
It's hard to explain right now.
Because we don't really know either.
"...We've arrived."
Jaaldi said hesitantly.
The car stopped.
"This is unexpected too."
"Ah."
...Even I didn't see this coming.
Ahead.
There are two buildings.
"What the hell."
One is our Bureau building.
The other is the fake Bureau building.
The two buildings stood side by side like twin towers.
"What is that? There's a building I've never seen next to our Bureau..."
Jinseop muttered.
"Get out."
"Yes."
We got out of the car and walked toward the buildings.
Strange.
Far too strange.
Why are there two Bureau buildings existing at the same time in this stitched world? It's so bizarre and suspicious that my heart feels like it's going cold.
The unknown overwhelms me.
"Isn't that strange?"
"Of course it's strange."
"No, not that. The buildings' positions. Do you see it?"
"..."
I was looking.
"It's perfectly positioned, as if it had been built that way from the start. The two buildings are probably in the same location in each world."
"Yes."
"If the two were merged exactly, it would look like this. I always felt the area beside our building was a little empty—so that was the reason."
"Team Leader. You mean..."
"..."
Jaaldi's face grew utterly serious.
What on earth was she thinking now?
"Well... there are several possibilities. Let's go inside first. Then we'll know more."
"Jinseop, follow along. Team Leader, where shall we start?"
"Let's start with the familiar place first."
We went straight into our building.
But when we went in...
"What the..."
It was hollow inside.
"It's empty."
"It's not just empty. There's nothing in here at all."
It feels like they set up a box just to imitate the outside and punched windows into it.
This building literally only recreates the exterior.
"Then the other one too..."
"We won't know until we check."
The fake Bureau building was the same.
"There's nothing inside! There were supposed to be stairs going up and down here, but they're gone!"
As Jinseop shouted, this too was an empty shell.
After looking around a bit more, we came back outside.
"It seems like a mirror image of reality... but maybe it can't copy everything. Well, our building is heavily guarded. It wouldn't just be copied that easily."
Jaaldi said.
"Come closer, Grrong."
"Yes. Jinseop, you stay by the car."
"Understood."
After sending Jinseop off, I stood beside Jaaldi.
Jaaldi stared straight at the two buildings and said.
"What do you think?"
"You mean why the two buildings are one? First of all, the stitched world born from this hospital is a parallel world to ours. It's something that exists in both places at once, some kind of overlap, right? So both worlds' buildings could have been copied. That's a hypothesis for why they exist simultaneously."
"Well... that is a possibility. But..."
"Could the two buildings originally have been one?"
"..."
Jaaldi fell silent.
She was probably thinking the same thing.
Seeing those two buildings standing side by side made me think of that possibility.
Could it be that the two Bureaus were originally one, and for some reason they split into parallel worlds?
And this stitched world failed to recognize that split, so it was output in an undivided state?
This truly goes beyond imagination.
The hypothesis that the two Bureaus were originally one.
The real Bureau and the fake Bureau actually being one and the same.
I had never even considered something like this before.
"Right. I think that possibility exists too. They split for some reason... and became hostile to each other."
"Hostile."
"I wonder if the Bureau's upper echelons know about this."
"If they do know..."
Then...
Was it hidden out of necessity?
Or was it hidden on purpose?
I stood there with Jaaldi and thought.
"I need time, Grrong. And in my opinion, this is an extremely sensitive and crucial matter. It's not something a newbie like you should be poking at."
"That's true."
If the Bureau's upper ranks know about this, then it's top-secret. The kind of secret even section chiefs wouldn't know.
Of course it would be bad for a newbie like me to know.
"Even so, I can't just leave it alone..."
"No. Leave this to me. I'll look into it."
"Wait. You're saying you'll go back and investigate this alone?"
"I'll lay out the plan. It's for your own good."
Jaaldi grabbed my shoulder with a serious expression. From that look, I realized she was trying to protect me.
"Team Leader. Jaaldi and Grrong—aren't we practically soul partners, like mother and son? I've already been by your side this whole time, so how could I do it alone? Let's see this through together!"
Whatever else.
As a regressor, I need to uncover the truth of this major secret.
"You're spouting nonsense again. Anyway, this is really troublesome... Hoo. There's a lot to sort out. For now, let's head back. Grrong, you have to do as I say. Promise me that much."
"Of course I'll follow you, Team Leader. But I still want to get to the bottom of this for sure."
"Yes. I understand how you feel. But if I judge it too dangerous, I won't hesitate. For now, just pretend you don't know. That's the safest option. Understand?"
"Understood."
Jaaldi seemed like she wanted to handle this alone, but she'd never be able to shake off a leech like me.
"I'll look into this matter first and let you know."