164 – 164. Life and the Universe. And the ultimate premise that encompasses everything (1)
“…………………… Uh?”
A stupid exclamation escaped from the manager’s mouth.
At that exclamation, Ahn Su-ho made a puzzled face. The store manager, who had been angry and exchanging swear words with them a while ago, hardened his expression as if he had witnessed an unbelievable fact.
“What is it? Why didn’t you say anything all of a sudden-“
-Wack!
At that moment, the store manager pulled An Soo-ho by the collar. Or should she be embraced by Ahn Su-ho? The distance between them quickly closed and stopped just before their lips touched. The gap where you can clearly feel each other’s breath.
“What is this doing-“
“Be still.”
Embarrassed, Suho Ahn tried to shake it off, but the manager was stubborn. Clinging close to her, she peered into Ahn Su-ho’s eyes as if examining her precious jewels.
“Mixed… ….”
Soon, the store manager muttered in a blank voice. At those words, a flash of light suddenly flashed through Ahn Su-ho’s mind.
‘Mixed?’
I’m sure Wilhelm said that about himself too. Ahn Soo-ho tried to ask about the meaningless expression. However, the store manager spoke first before asking.
“…… Are you a possessor?”
“!! How to do that…… ?”
Ahn Suho asked with a disbelieving expression. How did he find out that she grew up possessed? Could it be that this spirit in front of me is also a possessor? All sorts of questions popped up in his head, but instead of answering, the store manager pushed his body away with a relaxed expression.
“Why did you say that your personality is dirty and arrogant? Okay. Then it’s not strange that you came to me, or that you’re wearing artifacts all over your body.”
“Then you can’t be a possessor like me… ….”
“Nine o’clock.”
The store manager stopped Ahn Su-ho from asking questions and pointed at the watch. If you have something to say, then come back. Ahn Su-ho wanted to solve his curiosity right away, but the manager’s attitude was stubborn.
“…… Okay. Come back then.”
In the end, Suho Ahn took a step back. The anger that had risen to the top of his head had disappeared like spring snow melting with even more embarrassment and curiosity.
As if there was no such thing as anger in the first place.
Ahn Su-ho left the cafe, leaving behind a bad feeling.
That night.
“9:00:15. Did you come just in time?”
I opened the door of the cafe with the ‘CLOSED’ sign on it and Suho Ahn trudged in. Ahn Su-ho sat down in the same seat as in the morning without replying.
The manager sat across from me with two steaming cups of coffee. She offered one of them to Ahn Su-ho. Ahn Su-ho asked with doubtful eyes.
“In the morning, when you say that a bastard gets lost when you drink coffee, and that you don’t want to sell coffee to a guy like me, what did you wind up with? Or what, do you mean eat this and go out to search?”
“Your personality is very twisted. No big deal. Come to think of it, they said they would refund it during the day and just sent it. So, as an apology, I brewed coffee with great care, so let’s have a drink together.”
Ahn Suho sipped his coffee with a disapproving expression. Immediately after, his expression darkened even more.
“…… Isn’t this mixed coffee?”
“You carefully opened the wrapping paper and carefully stirred the spoon, customer. Isn’t this enough for a cheeky bastard? Oh, don’t worry, the saliva and toilet water didn’t burn.”
The store manager smiled and twisted the e-cigarette. Ahn Su-ho tried to sneak away, but unlike the daytime, she spit smoke in the direction where Ahn Su-ho was not.
Ahn Suho was slightly relieved at that appearance. Her demeanor was still unkind and hostile, but she at least looked better than during the day when smoke was being spit in her face.
“Shall we say aloud to each other? My name is Ruel. You?”
“An Su-ho.”
“That’s your original name? Or is it the name of that shell you wear in this world?”
A sharp question that suddenly jumps in.
Ahn Su-ho trembled and hardened his expression. However, he soon replies with a sad face.
“…… You don’t need to know my original name. It’s a shell and a nabal, and I’m Ansu-ho in this world, not someone else.”
“Hmm.”
Ruel drank her coffee while examining Ahn Su-ho closely. Unlike the one given to Ahn Su-ho, it was properly brewed coffee with properly roasted beans.
“By the way… …. How did you know I was the possessor?”
“Because it is obvious.”
“It’s obvious? Are you saying that even in places like actions and speech, there will be signs of being possessed?”
“There is such a thing, but… …. I mean it literally. A spirit can see a person’s soul through their pupils.”
There is a saying that the pupil is the window to the heart. Although it was a figurative expression, it was literal only to the spirit. As he said, Ruel peeped into Ahn Soo-ho’s soul through that window.
“Two souls are now mixed in your eyes. The soul of ‘Ansu-ho’ that was originally in that body and your own soul that came from another world.”
“My soul is mixed?”
Ahn Suho asked with an uneasy look.
Soul.
Ahn Su-ho did not know exactly what it was. However, I could guess that mixing souls was never a good thing.
From nob le mt l dot com
Like the erosion of one’s ego, or a battle for leadership between two souls occupying one body. Ahn Soo-ho knew all too well about clichés that often appear in creative works.
‘Come to think of it… ….’
Suddenly, several memories flashed through Ahn Su-ho’s mind.
A few days ago. When dealing with Kali who kidnapped Kang Ha-neul. Ahn Su-ho expressed his sadism by barking like a dog against Carly, who had already been subdued, or begging on his knees. His words and actions are completely different from his usual personality.
Such strange behavior happened today as well. During today’s conversation with Ruel, Ahn Su-ho was overly angry. Normally, even if he was angry, he would have suppressed his anger by thinking about his relationship with Ruel, but he was violently swearing and angry as if possessed by a ghost.
After he came to his senses, he wondered why he acted the way he did, but at the time, he didn’t feel anything out of place. What if the cause of the intense emotions of unknown origin is what Ruel said about the blending of souls?
“If you look at his expression, he seems to have a clue.”
Ruel saw Ahn Soo-ho’s intentions sharply. Ahn Soo-ho weakly nodded his head.
“Certainly, there were times when I felt like I wasn’t myself. Same with today’s work. There were times when I acted as if I had become a different person, but I couldn’t believe it was because of my soul…….”
“Ah. So originally, your personality isn’t that bad, but you cursed at me so much because of the soul mixed in that body? f*ck. I’m giving you an excuse, so watch me accept it right away?”
“I’m not trying to make excuses. Just like that.”
“Yes. I bet you do. You wanted to be polite to me, but because of your mixed spirits, you couldn’t help but get angry. I am a clean soul that is not mixed with anyone, but I am proud of the garbage that I was proud of the first time I asked the guest who saw the first time. I understand.”
Ruel pursed her lips and bit her cigarette. White smoke mixed with sweet fruity scent rose in all directions.
“A clean soul means… …. Are you saying you’re not a possessor like me?”
“Yes. Although I was brought from another world like you, I am a 100% pure natural spirit. Both this body and the soul within it.”
“But how did you know I came from another world? Even if I’m a possessor, it could be that the souls of this world are mixed together. Or, is there any special difference between souls from other worlds?”
“Ah. That? It’s just a touch.”
Ruel said it was no big deal, shaking her hand. She added with her displeased look as her eyes glared at her with her doubting eyes.
“Just because it’s a touch, I didn’t take it like a shaman applauding. All spirits have good senses. Besides, there was circumstantial evidence.”
“Circumstantial evidence?”
“Yes. The way he wears all sorts of precious artifacts all over his body, or the way he talks about being a mass market or a fantasy world. It was similar to other possessors I met before.”
“Another possessor?!”
– Bang!
Ahn Suho hit the table roughly and stood up. Then, the cup of mixed coffee that Ahn Su-ho was drinking fell over and the contents spread on the table. As Ruel was there, he frowned.
“Oh sh*t I just cleaned… ….”
“A different possessor means someone from another world like me?! Who is that?! Where did you meet?! What are your impressions and characteristics? Maybe that person didn’t mention things like the era of superhumans or the Heavenly Demon of Pleasure—”
“Sit down for now. And wipe up anything you spilled. When it dries up and starts to get sticky, the smell remains.”
Ruel threw the dishcloth nervously. Ahn Soo-ho, who received it, swung it across the table while wiping and rolling it.
“Hey, if you wipe it like that, it will splatter all around you!”
“Come on. Wiped everything So answer me now.”
Ahn Soo-ho couldn’t even hear Ruel’s annoyed cry. His mind was only filled with what she said about another possessed person.
“…… Hey. I think you’re misunderstanding something. I’m not sitting here to answer your questions, am I?”
“Then what is it for?”
“What is it? It’s because of ‘that child’ you wear around your neck.”
Ruel pointed to the proof of the Frost Spirit that Ahn Soo-ho was wearing around his neck. Then the cold air that radiated from her necklace intensified just a little bit.
“Unlike the world I lived in, there are no spirits in this world. Even the kids who are sometimes brought to the dungeon are often hunted by hunters, and there are very few cases where they come out of the dungeon safely like me. But how can you pretend you don’t know when one of these bastards wears a normal spirit, a high-ranking spirit that’s almost the level of the spirit king, like an accessory?? What the hell happened??”
“The Spirit King…… ?”
Ahn Su-ho asked in disbelief. That’s right, since he was the spirit that Wilhelm took with him, he had a hunch that he was a high-level being, but he didn’t know that it would be to that extent. No, in the first place, Ahn Su-ho thought of the necklace as a simple artifact, but never thought that it contained a living spirit.
“You must have come to me with a purpose, but to solve it, first answer my questions. Tell me everything about that frost spirit you wear around your neck. Where the hell did you meet that spirit, and why is it stuck in a necklace and hung around your neck like that? Everything without exception.”
Ruel said in a strangely exasperated voice. The anger felt implicitly was not a particularly incomprehensible emotion. It’s hard to realize it because of the shape of the necklace, but from Ruel’s point of view, Ahn Su-ho will look like a ruffian who carries his colleagues on a leash like a slave.
“Answer?”
“…… Good. I don’t know much about this elemental either, but I’ll tell you everything I do know. Instead, when I’m done talking, you answer my questions honestly.”
“Good.”
At first glance, it looked as if a deal had been exchanged between the two, but in fact, both sides benefited An Su-ho. The purpose of his visit to Ruel today was to ask about the proof of the Frost Spirit.
“First of all, this artifact is a token of the Frost Spirit… ….”
Ahn Suho continued to explain in as much detail as he knew. But it didn’t take very long.
The only thing he knows is that the Frost Spirit’s mark originally belonged to Wilhelm. And it was only because he came from another world and was free to use frost magic.
“…… Indeed. Did that happen?”
But that was enough for Ruel. In particular, she was able to infer many facts from the story of Wilhelm, who was brought from another world like herself.
“That knight named Wilhelm seems to have a different world from where I lived, but the spirits and magic mechanisms seem to be similar. The spirit must have formed a subordination contract with the knight you mentioned. So, when that knight was brought into this world as the monster of the dungeon, the spirit came along with it. While being forcibly converted into an artifact form by the system of this world. Only then will we be able to give you, the possessor, the spirit in the form of a reward.”
Ruel continued to speak softly with her as if he knew all about her circumstances.
Although she has a human form, she is a high-level spirit chain spirit. The insight to infer ten if you know one was nothing compared to an ordinary human being.
“That child is also very pitiful. After hearing the story, in the original world, a half-god…… Even if it wasn’t until then, he would have been treated as a divine being, but now he’s trapped in a necklace and can’t even open his mouth, and he’s being worked like a slave…….”
Ruel shook his head with a pitiful expression.
From her attitude, Suho Ahn sensed that her background was unusual. She is like that She is the spirit king class, and the fact that she continues to refer to the frost spirit as ‘that child’ means that Ruel himself is at least on the same level as or higher than him.
However, An Su-ho had a part that worried him more than that. Ahn Soo-ho asked Ruel, who was looking around while holding the certificate of the frost spirit.
“Hey. Ruel.”
“Why?”
“You said earlier that it was a system and a reward, but how much do you know about this world?”
As you say. Ruel, like Ahn Su-ho, was not a possessor, but he was explaining the world as if he were a possessor. That kind of attitude was something that even Wilhelm didn’t see.
“Well? It’s the same as if you and I were forced into each other unluckily, but at least you know more about this world than you do.”
“Then do you know that this world is the world of a novel?”
Ahn Su-ho asked a question as if half-opening. Although she thought she probably knew that she had met other possessed people, she also had a hunch that she might not be aware of that fact. Even Wilhelm, who had come from another world right away, might have seen the existence of the Heavenly Demon of Pleasure, but in the end, he was a being trapped in the huge frame of a novel.
However.
“Look at that. After all, I know much better than you.”
“What?”
“The relationship before and after is different. This world is not the world in the novel, but the novel you read was written with this world as a motif. I’ve never read that novel, but it’s kind of obvious.”
Added Ruel. There was a time when it was popular among young gods to spread the stories of their world in the form of a novel to another world, and then snatch the poor souls caught there into their own world.
Ahn Su-ho’s mind couldn’t keep up with those shocking words. Appreciating Ahn Su-ho’s expression that he didn’t know why, Ruel smiled as if he was laughing.
“Whoop whoop.”
She let out thick smoke from her mouth. A sweet fruity scent spread thickly between the two of them.
“Curious?”
There was no need for the object of what. It was a short question, but there was no way that An Su-ho would not have noticed the meaning contained in it.
He nodded with a nervous expression on his face. Then Ruel rested her chin on her table and looked outside for her.
A dark, sleeping alley in the middle of the night, and the expansive night sky above it.
“…… You came to me at the right time too. I don’t know what’s going on, but lately, the high person up there in the sky is in trouble.”
Anyway, I’m a stupid b*tch who doesn’t even know I’m hiding here. A relaxed smile crept across Ruel’s lips as he added that. Soon, she looked away from the night sky and said to Ahn Su-ho.
“I will tell you something special. Life and the universe. And about the ultimate all-encompassing premise.”
At those grandiose words, Suho Ahn swallowed dry saliva.