The Unidentified One ⅠⅠ
Sure enough, there was indeed commotion on SG Net.
-Anonymous: The Constellations have gone silent out of nowhere. Am I cut off?
-[Samcheon] WitchJudge: I asked my guild members, and they confirmed that they haven't received any messages from the Constellations since yesterday. The last contact anyone had was 28 hours ago. I hope other guilds will speak to their situations as well.
-dolLHoUse: oh no.-Anonymous: Guys, I'm scared. What's happening...?
-OldManGoryeo: Idiots. Always singing their praises to the Constellations, and now they whine like babies who lost their mother because there hasn't been contact for two days. What are you even keeping your balls for? To make egg soup? These guys probably don't even have yolks in their balls LOL.
└Anonymous: Fuck, this crazy bastard gets more annoying every day. Where the hell do you live?
└[Yuldoguk] SwordMarquess: My sword cries out.
Sim Ah-ryeon was being typical Sim Ah-ryeon like any other day, but the Awakeners were unusually restless.
I tried knocking on the door, but there was no response.
"Stay here and shout if you sense anyone spying or approaching.""Yes, hyung."
I stepped into the townhouse, trying to hide my anxiety. I had known the front door's passcode for dozens of cycles.
The living room was dark.
The Saintess lay dead in her sanctuary, surrounded by four monitors casting a bluish glow like a carpet of water and dozens of aquariums like walls of a fortress.
"......"
My mind went cold.
'Strangled.'
The Saintess always had towels on hand to tend to her aquariums, with a stocked towel rack in the living room. She had hanged herself with one.
'Suicide.'
There were no signs of struggle, but I knew that no matter what happened, the Saintess would never have died by suicide. It was not simply because "it wasn't in her character." It was the truth discovered through observing dozens of cycles.
'It’s murder disguised as suicide.'
The Saintess was central to my goal.
In an instant, the Constellations had vanished. The force that held the Awakeners together through external connections and boundaries, and not from within, had snapped.
And it wasn't just that. The ever-present network of communications between guilds that used the Constellations as messengers had also disappeared.
When someone needed to gain another's trust, saying 'the Constellation vouches for our identity' would now be impossible.
'No sign of the security devices being activated.'
I had always taken extreme care to ensure the Saintess's safety.
The security measures that had been so meticulously prepared had all been disabled at once.
'Without even a moment to send me a message?'
I approached one of the aquariums. When I pushed the fish tank aside, there was a hidden compartment beneath the steel bookshelf with a USB inside.
It was a contingency plan we had agreed upon.
I plugged the USB into the computer and opened Notepad.
──────────
Hello, Mr. Z.
If you are reading this, I must be dead.
My death came without any forewarning. From all the observations I've made as [CLA], there were no factors that could have led to my death.
There might be something on the CCTV, but it is hard to imagine that someone who killed me this stealthily would leave meaningful evidence behind.
As you know, the most pressing issue now is the disappearance of the Transcendents, which has unleashed the intangible reins that were held on the Awakeners.
The only Transcendent we can currently mobilize is the anonymous one known as the creator of N.
Using this name, we must post a notice on N and claim, "An entity obstructing the activities of the Transcendents has been born," adding a scene where N is attacked and temporarily goes offline to increase credibility.
But containing the chaos among the Awakeners is impossible.
I am truly sorry that my power was insufficient.
I hope you will find strength again.
- S.
──────────
It was the Saintess's will.
To avoid detection by others, she had referred to me not as 'Undertaker' but as 'Mr. Z'. Clairvoyance was abbreviated as 'CLA', and SG Net as 'N'. Instead of Constellation, she used the term Transcendent.
The 'again' in "I hope you will find strength again" undoubtedly meant 'the next cycle'.
It couldn't be anything but the Saintess's style of a will.
The creation date of the Notepad file was one year and six months ago.
'It was indeed a sudden attack that led to her death.'
If it had been suicide, she would have revised the will.
And if it wasn't suicide, there were only two suspects.
The first suspect was me.
"Ah, hyung. Is the Saintess doing well?"
And then there was Seo Gyu.
After leaving the townhouse, I quietly observed Seo Gyu.
"Seo Gyu."
"Yes."
"Did you ever tell anyone where the Saintess lives?"
He was startled. "Excuse me? No, I wouldn't! You told me never to tell anyone!"
Could he really be trusted?
Although Seo Guy and I had been allies for quite some time, if I were asked whether I could trust him with my life like the Saintess, I would feel it more appropriate to describe our relationship as too light for that.
"Two days ago, you went out briefly after filing an outing report, yes?"
"Y-yes... But why...?"
"Go Yuri spent the whole day back at the dorm that day."
"Did she?"
"But using [Stealth], someone could sneak out without the other party members knowing. And if they had followed you out, the risk of being detected would have been much less."
"Hyung, what are you trying to say—?"
"There are countless security measures unknown to you spread throughout the Saintess's residence. One of them scans and saves the shoe prints of anyone who enters her home. This data is refreshed weekly."
It was a lie.
But my expression and tone did not waver.
"Why are your shoe prints in the Saintess's residence?"
"......"
Silence.
"That's strange?"
A strange voice came from Seo Gyu's mouth.
"I didn't know anything about that."
A gunshot rang out.
Seo Gyu's body fell like a reed.
He had quickly drawn a pistol and aimed it at his palate, firing instantly.
Red blood seeped out onto the asphalt road, cracked as if suffering from untreated atopic dermatitis.
"......"
I clenched my fist.
After calming my heart again, I tried to connect to SG Net.
[Unable to connect to the site.]
The Seo Gyu who died in front of me was the real Seo Gyu.
The possibility that he was a marionette controlled by the Puppeteer, an apostle of the Alienation God, or another entity had drastically reduced.
The two pillars that could influence the nation's Awakeners―the Saintess and Seo Gyu―had collapsed in an instant.
At that moment, my mindset had already shifted to gathering as much information as possible for the next cycle.
It was an all-too-familiar task to me.
I drew my sword and headed to the guild's lodging.
The duo that should always be on guard was nowhere to be seen.
"......"
It was quiet.
The training ground, where members should have been, was empty. Instead, Sim Ah-ryeon lay dead.
In the dining hall, meals were left untouched. The wheelchair that a beloved guild member usually rode was rolling around alone, lost without its owner.
There was no sign of life in the hallways or dormitories. In its place was only German phrases scrawled here and there along the pillars and walls.
[Do not trust the one with pink hair.]
I walked out to the training ground and sank into a bench.
It was summer. The sirens of cicadas screamed their fierce alarm.
Before I knew it, Go Yuri was sitting politely next to me on the bench.
"Have you returned, Guild Leader?"
"......"
"Whew. It's really hot this summer."
Go Yuri flapped her outerwear to create a breeze. Behind her, the sound of cicadas faded out like a whiteout.
"Your ability, it wasn't [Stealth]."
"Yeah," she affirmed simply.
"[Stealth] was just the surface," I muttered in thought. "When your ability activates, it essentially just dulls others' awareness of you. Considering the current situation... your true ability must be [Perception Inhibition]. No, perhaps [Perception Manipulation]?"
"Ah― That's right." Go Yuri smiled broadly. "Guild Leader, you are really amazing! I thought so the first time I met you, but you are truly impressive."
"...I should have realized something was off sooner."
I thought back again to the last cycle, what evaluations Go Yuri, that is, CookingQueen, had received from those around her.
"CookingQueen? I haven’t observed her for long, but she’s not a bad person. She takes good care of her guild members and even volunteers on Sundays. Personally, I believe there’s no one as trustworthy among the Awakeners as CookingQueen."
Witness 1: the Saintess.
The mere fact that she left her will on a secret USB reveals how cautious the Saintess was. She was the one who arranged our first meeting, thinking, 'Perhaps there might be a regressor in this world.'
That such a person would dub someone she admitted she "hadn't observed for long" as "the most trustworthy"?
It was suspicious from the start.
"Oh, you're asking if I know CookingQueen? She’s a really good member. I’ve seen all sorts of things managing SG Net, but I’ve never seen CookingQueen cause trouble. Boring? Not at all. She writes a lot of funny posts and doesn’t act all high and mighty. Ugh. If all members were like CookingQueen, I wouldn’t have to suffer like this..."
Witness 2: Seo Gyu.
Seo Gyu testified that Go Yuri wrote "a lot of funny posts."
But wasn't that strange?
I have never once witnessed CookingQueen writing anything amusing.
-[Satisfaction] CookingQueen: Seeking peace of mind? Join the Satisfaction Guild! Our main base is in Seoul!
-[Satisfaction] CookingQueen: Words are a reflection of thoughts, and thoughts are like mist on a cloudy day, concealing oneself. Why not try using clearer and brighter language?
-[Satisfaction] CookingQueen: Brother, if you ever have a secret you can't tell anyone, feel free to consult me anytime. People are killed by their fellow man, but people also live by them.
-[Satisfaction] CookingQueen: The curses you pour onto others will eventually return unto you. Why not take some time to reflect on yourself? Trust that there is good within you, brother.
Hers was a style devoid of any fun―only steadfast, correct, and upstanding.
In other words, it was the typical 'type of human' that I, the Undertaker, would like.
"Go Yuri."
"Yes?"
"Do you possess the ability to show someone 'the best version' of a person?"
"......"
To the ethically-minded Saintess, a moral human.
To Seo Gyu, who likes a bit of fun, a humorous human.
And ultimately, in front of me, who believes that a person's life depends on their mentality and attitude, an upright and steadfast human.
Appearing as a different person to different people.
Like a magic mirror.
This was Go Yuri's true identity.
The reason she was loved by all these twisted Awakeners was hidden in this truth.
"...As expected, Guild Leader. This time, I'm really surprised!"
Go Yuri clasped her hands and tilted her head.
But did she really take such a pose?
Was Go Yuri smiling when she smiled? Was she using formal language when she spoke? Did she have pink hair, and maintain a garden in the morning, and stick to a sincere attitude?
Everything about her could have been a lie.
Now that I could no longer trust my perception, I had no choice but to discard all the information I thought I knew about Go Yuri.
"But you don't just have the ability to manipulate perception," I said. "You made Seo Gyu commit suicide."
"Yes. I am a multi-ability user, you see."
"...I now understand why the fairies avoided you. How exactly did you wind up at the Busan Station concourse? The place has so many of these supposedly rare multi-ability users stockpiled there that you could practically trip over them."
"Ahaha, that's true. Sometimes, strange coincidences do happen."
"Why did you do this?"
"Um, I could tell you, but would you trust me if I did, Guild Leader?"
I wouldn't.
At that moment, a loud noise came from the direction of the guild dormitory. With a crash, the concrete outer walls shattered, and the building immediately crumbled to the ground.
Above the rubble, a massive fleshy body expanded to the height of the building in the blink of an eye.
Red and blue veins quivered with an incessant pulse, and the muscles, like tentacles or tails, lashed out into the air.
-Giiielduh leeeedaaarrrr.
-Hyeeeunnnggg.
-...... ......
-Duuuoooc.
Each wriggle of the tentacles ripped through the air, producing eerie noises.
Those noises resembled the voices of the guild members.
The surface of the tentacles was etched with black stripes. As the voices of the guild members rang out, the black patterns undulated in endless ripples.
"......"
A phenomenon that had never appeared in the previous 88 cycles.
I stared at the being that had caused this difference.
"I'm sorry, Guild Leader."
Go Yuri stood up from the bench with an eutcha and dusted off her skirt, walked a few steps forward, and then, with her hands behind her back, turned to look at me.
Her pink hair slipped sideways.
"I think everyone being happy is better. I didn't want to make you sad, Guild Leader. Nor anyone else. So I tried very hard... But unlike the others, your mind is too strong. So you see, my ability was momentarily released."
"Let me ask you one thing."
I looked up at Go Yuri.
"Did I kill the guild members? Was I manipulated by you?"
Go Yuri stared back at me. "...No."
"That's a lie."
"Yes."
My sword drawn from its sheath slashed Go Yuri's neck.
A slash appeared. The pink hair fell down first. Shortly after, Go Yuri's head slid off.
Before her head completely slid off, her lips moved.
"Let's become one, Guild Leader."
Behind Go Yuri, the red flesh flexed and stretched until it covered the sky.
That's the last thing I remember from the 89th cycle.
After that day, I did not contact Go Yuri.
The number of times we met directly could be counted on one hand. We only interacted three, maybe four times over hundreds of cycles.
Go Yuri's ability remains unidentified. If I were to become stronger than I was in the 89th cycle, I might one day be capable of subduing her—that was the conclusion I reached.
Whether that conclusion was correct, I don't know.
One thing I do know is that, excluding the 89th cycle, there was never another cycle where the 'red flesh' appeared.
In the cycles where Go Yuri did not interact with me, she always managed not to cause any major issues until suddenly being killed by a monster or disappearing into thin air, an endlessly harmless Awakener.
"Let's become one, Guild Leader."
What did those words mean?
Was the red flesh a monster? Or a form of contamination? Perhaps the product of a corrupted Awakener, but there was a crucial difference that made the possibility unlikely. Then was the red flesh also a unique ability of Go Yuri?
What was the true appearance of Go Yuri, undistorted by the filter of [Perception Manipulation]?
On the odd occasion, curiosity welled within me. However, I felt no urgency to delve into this mystery.
I had no intention of approaching Go Yuri, at least not until I found a way to completely nullify [Perception Manipulation].
-[Satisfaction] CookingQueen: Seeking peace of mind? Join the Satisfaction Guild! Our main base is now in Daejeon!
From time to time, I would stealthily leave a comment when I saw the nickname CookingQueen on SG Net.
-ZERO_SUGAR: Your diligent attitude is always nice to see ^^...
Soon after, a notification appeared that a comment had been made.
-[Satisfaction] CookingQueen: Thank you! Although this is the world we must live in, if we live without losing faith in ourselves and our hope in others, good things are sure to happen. I hope today is a happy day for you, ZeroSugar!
"......"
Hmm.
I nodded to myself in secret.
Indeed, that was an excellent attitude.
Footnotes:
