{You’re sharp, kid.}
CRUNCH!
All of a sudden, they reached out—
And the woman pierced straight through my chest.
{Well...... that’s probably why you were able to form a grade in the first place.}
I flinched for a moment, but
I didn’t panic, and instead looked at the hand.
Sllliiide.......
A hand that had pierced through my body.
But I felt no pain.
I’d felt something similar before.
Not long ago—
The souls Han Iseo had called in.
When I provided them with an offering table.
‘It’s like that time.’
Just like those souls had looked around inside my body,
Her hand wasn’t harming my flesh.
It was rummaging through something in that “inside.”
{First, I’ll ask. How did you know?}
“......You said you’d protect me from outside beings.”
{So what about it?}
“If, like you said, encountering those outside beings would be nothing but beneficial to me, I didn’t think there would be any need for you to protect me in a place like this in the first place.”
SQUEEEZE.......
Her hand dug in deeper.
“And from the start, you said this, didn’t you? That in ordinary cases, it would only be pros.”
I stared blankly down at that hand and spoke.
“That means there are cases that aren’t ordinary.”
{Kaha!}
As if it was funny.
As if it was interesting.
The woman smiled.
{What a shame, what a shame. If you had any talent, I would have taken you as a disciple.}
When she pulled the hand she’d stuck inside me back out,
A few things came out clenched in that hand along with it.
‘......Rope?’
Thick ropes—
Were gripped in her hand.
{The gaze of the outside beings will focus on this land all at once. But just as I was the closest and could find you first.}
She held those ropes out toward me as she spoke.
{The ones who will find you after me...... will be those whose ties are connected to you.}
“Connections......?”
{These are the “connections” of the immortals linked to you.}
There were four ropes in her grasp.
Each had a different color, different thickness, and a different aura coming off it.
{Four. That’s a lot. For a resident of a world that wasn’t even known until recently...... one or two would be normal at most.}
She took hold of two of those ropes and spoke.
{These two are not in Outside.}
The ends of those ropes were pointed toward my body.
{Close to you. More precisely, even closer than I am. One is inside your body, and one is beneath your feet.......}
Inside my body and beneath my feet.
{That being inside your body has an overwhelming presence. It must have been an immortal that held tremendous power...... but it seems to have lost much of that power now.}
“.......”
{And I can feel it bears goodwill toward you. That is rather pleasing. Even if it is only a remnant...... it will surely be of great help.}
Hearing that,
A being came to mind.
“......Then what about the one beneath my feet?”
What I needed to be wary of was probably the one beneath my feet.
That’s what I thought, but—
{That cold thing? It doesn’t seem to have any interest in you at all.}
“What?”
By her words,
It didn’t seem like that at all.
“No interest at all?”
{Sometimes there are beings like that. Ones that take no interest in anything else. If it wanted, it could have contacted you faster than I did...... but this one seems to have no intention of interfering with this world at all.}
I couldn’t help being a little surprised.
I hadn’t expected the being beneath my feet to be that kind.
{Well, that’s good news for you.}
When she let go of the two ropes—
SHHHHRAK!—they flowed back into my body.
{If there’s a problem, if I had to choose...... it would be this side.}
She grabbed the thinner one of the remaining two ropes and spoke.
A strangely sharp energy rippled from it.
{This one bears anger toward you. It will probably...... try to harm you at the first opportunity.}
“Anger.......”
{It’s a familiar pattern. In a world so large it would still rank among the greatest even out in Outside...... the evil spirits of that world had this pattern. Evil spirits specialize in interfering with other worlds. It must have pierced this land’s protection and formed a connection to you, yes?}
Evil spirits.
So this connection was what made my case not ordinary.
{Mm, it’s certainly not a good sign, but.}
When she let go of that rope,
It, too, was sucked back into my body.
{Still, it isn’t something you need to worry about much.}
“......?”
{It is an immortal, but not a particularly mighty one. If you meant to contract with outside beings, it is a lesser immortal that wouldn’t even be able to stand its ground amid them. Your value in this land is beyond imagination. If it tries to harm you, it will be pushed aside by those who want to buy your goodwill.}
At those words,
I tilted my head and said,
“Then isn’t there no problem?”
{Up to here, yes.}
Then—
{The problem is this.}
What remained last was—
A rope so thick it couldn’t even be compared to the others.
So thick that one hand couldn’t fully grip it, and it took both hands to hold.
{......It’s far too ominous.}
She stared at the rope in her hands for a moment—
Then, with cold sweat on her face, she spoke.
{Among those tangled with you, the only one that isn’t ominous is the one inside your body...... but this is on a completely different level.}
“......Pardon?”
{If it were only that the aura was evil, that would be one thing. But it is clearly incredibly powerful.......}
Frowning,
The woman muttered in a small voice, as if she couldn’t believe it herself.
{Just how many grades it has piled up...... and how much karma it has committed. Even I can’t imagine it.}
SHHHHRAAAK!
As if it was unpleasant to even keep holding it,
She shoved the rope back into my body, then rubbed at her arm with a disgusted expression.
{I only gripped it like this and peeked at the trace for a moment, and it’s enough to make my whole body break out in goosebumps.}
“......That much?”
{It is not an ominousness that can be explained in words, so it would be correct to say it is beyond that.}
With a frown, as if she couldn’t understand at all,
She looked at me and said,
{You...... what in the world have you been doing to build a connection with something like that?}
Well, how do I put it.
I’m not an idiot.
‘The other ropes...... I can more or less guess.’
The ropes this being was talking about—
I could guess, at least a little, who they meant.
But.
Well, how do I put it—
“......I don’t know.”
As for that last rope she’d pulled out—
Honestly,
I couldn’t even guess a single thing.
*****
Mirinae kept changing forms as they spoke to me.
They were able to invite me into a world like this.
They claimed they’d only barely gotten a foot in, but
Even so, they had to carry power strong enough to be called a transcendent being.
And yet.
For someone like that to say this was so ominous and terrifying.
‘What the hell is that?’
I honestly couldn’t even guess.
If something had happened that could form a connection with a being that strong and dangerous, no matter what, I would remember it.
But I didn’t have even a remotely similar memory.
{How can you not know? Of the connections here, that was the oldest one.}
“The oldest?”
{About three years? Something like that. More precisely, maybe two and a half years. Does anything come to mind?}
Maybe they thought that giving me the time period would make me guess.
Arms crossed, she looked at me like something should come to mind.
But for me, it only deepened the mystery.
‘If it were within the past year, it would be after the day the world fell, so I could understand it.’
Two and a half years ago.
Back then, uh.......
‘Wouldn’t that be when I’d just gotten assigned to my unit and was getting run into the ground as a cook...?’
Exactly one year ago from now was around my discharge date.
So two and a half years ago was when I was a Private First Class.
Probably around the time I first became a cook.
Back then, I was busy with things like gritting my teeth as I lifted and hauled filthy, heavy slop buckets.
Or shoveling out food sludge clogged in the mess hall drains.
It was so hard just doing that kind of grunt work that I wanted to die—
And on top of that, because I was a cook, I had to learn cooking on the side, too.
I’d never cooked even once in my life.
But the unit’s food-service officer had this weirdly firm set of principles,
And because we were a small unit, we had to put out food that was at least somewhat tasty, they said, and I don’t even know how much they nagged us......
One time a senior told me to add starch to a dish,
So I poured starch straight in without thinking—
And got chewed out for not even knowing the basic common sense that you have to dissolve starch in water before adding it.
‘How the hell am I supposed to know if nobody taught me that...!’
And that time I got my joints kicked—
It hurt so much that even just remembering it now made me feel wronged.
......Anyway.
‘Should I call it ordinary, or a bit below ordinary.’
A life like that was too far away
To form a connection with some incredible being.
{You really can’t think of anything.}
“Yes, not at all. Is that a problem?”
{No, it is not.}
At some point she had become a refined old grandmother, and continued in a gentle tone.
{I hurriedly hid you here because I thought that one might discover you...... but if you do not know, then it may actually be fortunate. With a being like that, knowing the point of contact is more dangerous.}
I’d heard it earlier, too.
If I recognized it, it would be more likely to see me.......
Something like that.
{Right now, when you do not even know its identity, is better for hiding your body from it.}
As she said that,
She pointed at my body with a finger.
{This is why you are not ordinary.}
“.......”
{If it were a normal situation, revealing you to those in Outside would not be a big problem. But...... if you have a point of contact with a being like this, it is better to hide yourself no matter what.}
She said those outside beings want to give power to people like me and interfere with this world.
I’d been debating whether or not to accept that power—
But my situation was one where that 고민 had no real meaning in the first place
“......Wait.
Then.”
“So why did you pressure me to make a contract with them earlier?”
{Mm? Well.......}
She covered her mouth as she smiled.
{If you were the kind of bastard who would sell off your homeland to survive alone, I meant to kick you out without hesitation.}
“......Ha.”
Only then did I understand.
She was definitely favorable toward me—
But that favor wasn’t toward me myself...... it came from those who had placed themselves in me.
{An easy path is not always the right path....... Your answer was acceptable.}
She, too,
Had been trying to find out what kind of person I was.
{So I will hide you.}
“......?”
At some point, something was in her hand.
An antique-looking sword with beautiful tassels.
PAK!
She thrust the sword out—
And the blade pierced into the skin of my neck.
‘......!’
I was so shocked I felt like I might pass out,
But her blade didn’t stop there.
RIIIP.......
{I can hide you from Outside’s gaze with my power...... but I will not be able to stop Outside’s gaze from reaching this land.}
I could feel the sharp blade
Tearing through my skin as it moved.
{You are the only human who can accept Outside’s power in full...... but in this land, there ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) are not only “humans.”}
“......!”
{Perhaps there will be those who try to play games by dragging along those who are not qualified. Those who stick their face into this world like that may be able to find you.}
From my neck to my collarbone.
From my collarbone to the area near my chest, the center of my body.
{Without borrowing Outside’s power, enduring them will be an extremely difficult thing. In hardship, there will be many who tempt you.}
As I gritted my teeth and endured the pain of my skin being torn,
A wide area from my neck down to my chest became marked with an unknown scar—something that looked like letters or maybe a drawing.
Then—
{But, please.......}
SAAAASHK.......
{I pray that your resolve does not change.}
As if like this space itself,
My body was dyed white.
{That will do.}
And.
When her cutting was over—
{If I had my way, I would like to tell you more.......}
KRRRRRRAAASH!!!
{But it seems...... there is not much time left.}
The world that had been wrapped in pure-white light.
That world began to collapse.
