NOVEL NEXT Chapter 43 - Sephiroth
“……”
Wordlessly, Sung Yoo-ra read the written account I had provided. As it was not very long, she could have finished reading it in a few minutes, but she had fallen silent for 30 minutes now, re-reading it repeatedly.
“Pardon me, but may I smoke a cigarette?”
With no response, she merely nodded her head so I quietly lit a cigarette.
“So then……”
Around the third cigarette, she finally spoke.
“Seung-hoon, you escaped from an entity that could inflict illness and injury on targets through mere words, and created derivative entities by abducting and modifying humans, by utilizing useless entities to build rapport with them.”
“Yes, I suppose that’s accurate.”
“You showed disturbing entities an artistic work created through an entity you encountered in dreams, causing them to simply flee.”
“Quite a pity, indeed.”
“And lastly, an entity originally meant to hate the original and kill it through self-harm perfectly resembled you and overcame its murderous intent through rationality, while you discovered a new entity’s means of neutralization using a wish-granting ticket?”
“You have read it well.”
She then let out a sigh and refuted me.
“I’ll grant you everything else. It’s plausible you miraculously built rapport with the Director, and the artistic work you claim was made through an entity’s power makes it a derivative entity……”
“Not an entity, an artwork.”
“A derivative entity……”
“An artwork.”
“A deriva……”
“Art.”
“……An artwork containing an entity’s power could certainly be effective against other entities. However, the last part is impossible.”
Her commentary that I couldn’t have written at the time was visible on the written account returned to me.
[Absolutely impossible!]
“No matter how strong a regular human’s psychic power, they cannot resist an entity’s mental contamination.”
“Oh no, it is possible. I am the proof.”
“I said it’s not possible!”
“Do not claim something unprecedented will be eternally true just because there is no precedent. Such a narrow perspective is undesirable.”
“No, it’s simply impossible!”
When people run out of words, they resort to insults. Fortunately her patience was outstanding, merely expressing anger instead of insults.
“Why are entities called entities! They are existences that vastly transcend human understanding! They defy science! They surpass the world’s causality! That’s why they’re entities! And you’re claiming to have overcome an entity’s mental contamination through mere psychic power as an ordinary human!?”
“Yes.”
New truths inevitably clash with old era conventions, so I gave her an example for her sake.
“Sung Yoo-ra, there was a time when molecules were considered the smallest unit in science.”
“……Pardon?”
“But later, atoms were discovered and that convention was shattered. ‘Ah, atoms must be the smallest material in the world!’ They embraced this new truth.”
“……”
“But what’s this? Atoms could be split, containing protons and neutrons within. The truth changed again, and people thought this must truly be the smallest material unit.”
“I understand what you’re saying……”
“But betraying their belief, neutrons and protons split once more to reveal the material called quarks. Quarks are currently considered the smallest material in the world, but will this truly be the end?”
“……I understand. Please wait here for now. There is something I wish to discuss.”
Before exiting through the doorknob of this room that could be an interrogation room or a cell, she asked me:
“Seung-hoon.”
“Yes.”
“Are you on humanity’s side?”
It was a simple question, so I answered without hesitation.
“I am on the side of humanity.”
“So you’re saying we should designate Seung-hoon Lee as an entity!?”
A heated debate raged in the Foundation’s conference room.
“My apologies, but that is not possible. Analysis through Sephiroth confirmed his mind and body are completely human.”
“No, he must be an entity capable of restructuring perceptions in that manner!”
“Sephiroth cannot possibly be affected by Reality Restructuring or mental contamination!”
All discussions pertained to Seung-hoon Lee’s disposition.
“If he was truly human, would Sephiroth have sent him to the defense system dimension in the first place?”
“Are you saying Sephiroth definitively stated he is human?”
“Then why did it send him there? According to reports, apart from his special psychic power there were no abnormalities, right?”
“How rude!”
To them, Seung-hoon Lee was an exceptionally bizarre existence.
Physically he was slightly above average at most, but even “slightly above average” did not make him particularly special in the Foundation where superhumans existed.
“A human immune to mental contamination?”
“If that’s the extent, it’s questionable to treat him as superhuman. There are plenty of ways to block mental contamination.”
“Can you do so without entities or special tools?”
If it was the past, before the Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation’s attack, the Foundation would have asserted itself firmly. The Foundation of that era desired to place all entities under its management, possessing the capability to do so.
“We refuse confinement. Does everyone agree on this?”
“Agreed.”
But the current Foundation, having lost most of its capabilities, shifted its goals and compromised with reality.
“Instead, we will fully restore Sephiroth through the 「Remaining Monkey’s Paw」, then re-evaluate Seung-hoon Lee through Sephiroth with all its functions restored.”
“Agreed.”
If the other party was an entity that could aid humanity, they would form a cooperative relationship instead of a subordinate one.
“Ah, what a relief.”
I escaped the confining space in less than a day.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“So you finally believe I’m human?”
“……For now.”
“Haha, cheer up, Overseer.”
Kim Dong-ook patted Sung Yoo-ra’s shoulder.
“Seung-hoon Lee, we’re truly grateful for donating the Monkey’s Paw to our Foundation! We’ll be using it immediately! Would you like to observe?”
“I would indeed.”
Following the two, we headed to where the Monkey’s Paw would be used.
“Complete restoration of the Foundation through the Remaining Monkey’s Paw is difficult. While the Monkey’s Paw is powerful, the entities the Foundation lost were comparable or even more powerful, so the probability of proper restoration is low.”
“There’s also the issue of the Foundation’s defense systems. Defensive concepts applied by their managing entities don’t disappear unless those entities are completely annihilated.”
On the way, they discussed where the Remaining Monkey’s Paw would be used.
“So instead of ambiguous restoration, we chose the perfect restoration of a single, definite entity.”
“Which entity?”
“The tree you see over there.”
At the tip of Sung Yoo-ra’s finger was the towering tree piercing the sky I had seen upon first arriving.
“Sephiroth, the highest-grade entity serving as the core of the Foundation’s defense systems. Its primary duties are the Foundation’s defense, and foreseeing extinction-grade entities that threaten the world.”
“As you can see, it has sustained severe damage and is barely maintaining part of the defense systems.”
So the moment that was restored, they could preemptively block the threat of extinction-grade entities.
“If you can detect the emergence of entities that could destroy the world, can the Foundation stop them?”
“We must stop them no matter what method is required.”
Sung Yoo-ra did not say they could stop them. That alone was sufficient answer, so I nodded in understanding.
“There it is.”
Upon arriving at some research lab, multiple scientists were connecting various electrodes and plugs to the Remaining Monkey’s Paw. After observing for a few minutes, one of the Monkey’s Paw fingers curled, and soon after the Monkey’s Paw itself vanished from this world.
“Success!”
And the previously scorched tree far in the distance returned to a lush, vibrant appearance.
“Humanity has become a bit safer.”
I rejoiced along with them.
“Truly fortunate indeed.”
It was once a tree called god.
At times it was referred to as Yggdrasil, in other dimensions the World Tree, and someone had called it the Mother of Nature.
And currently, the tree called Sephiroth received one command.
[Determine if Seung-hoon Lee is human or an entity, and investigate whether his existence poses a threat to humanity.]
It was not a difficult task. Moreover, Sephiroth wished to investigate him as well.
When most of its functions had ceased, Sephiroth’s defense systems were extremely limited, like peering at the world through a pinhole.
Its ability to prophesy the future like Laplace’s Demon by utilizing dimensions as computational circuits connected across multiverses had fallen to an accuracy of just a few hundred decimal places at best, and even this was limited to functioning only within the Foundation.
However, instead of precise calculations it relied on instinct and reflexive actions to maximize accuracy, allowing perfect threat detection of simple objects, primarily humans.
That was why it had sent Seung-hoon Lee to the defense system dimension, but what emerged from there not only included him, but the dimension itself had morphed into an unsuitable state for restraining him any longer.
Just what was the issue? Sephiroth meticulously investigated Seung-hoon Lee based on two possibilities.
One was the humans’ orders.
The other was reviewing why its own instinctual judgment lacking full functionality had deemed him a threat.
Sephiroth’s roots moved. The power of all dimensions converged on the single human, absorbing information across all space-time where he had existed.
[Body: Level 5, between ordinary and superhuman.]
[Contamination from Reality Restructuring: 0]
[Entity wavelength: None.]
[Life signs: Normal.]
Physically there was nothing special.
[Possessions: Ordinary pen, clothing, shoes, tumbler identified as safety entity, marble presumed derivative entity containing very low-grade imagery.]
His possessions were also unremarkable. He possessed one safety entity and what seemed to be a derivative entity, but their threat level could be easily dealt with even in the Foundation’s ruined state.
[Beginning investigation of past.]
Next it perceived his past. Tracing the remnants of information left across space-time, it comprehensively grasped the incidents he had resolved.
[Numerous entity-related incidents involved.]
[Numerous incidents Overseers could not resolve.]
[Confirmed existence greatly beneficial to humanity.]
Once again Sephiroth’s power converged on Seung-hoon Lee.
[Beginning examination of mental aspects.]
And delving deeper into Seung-hoon Lee’s synapses, it finally detected an abnormality.
[Dimensional connection to right eye detected.]
[Connected dimension, indeterminable.]
[Beginning dimensional trace.]
It traced the dimension connected to his right eye. With roots extending across all dimensions, the trace was excruciatingly fast, and in an inconceivably short timeframe by human temporal units Sephiroth succeeded in locating the connected destination.
[“You.”]
And it witnessed:
[“Timid weed, protector of beloved things, revered by big-eared ones, plant rooted in all phenomena, fool entangled in childish mischief.”]
Beyond the dimension, an immense blue moon with countless eyes and mouths looking down upon everything.
[“Dare not steal a glimpse of me.”]
The dimensional connection was severed. It was a precaution by Sephiroth concerned that further observation could lead to the corruption of its entire roots through mental contamination.
[Unidentified entity connection detected.]
[Projected threat level of connected entity: Extinction grade, information deficit.]
Was this it?
Was this what had caused my instinctual self to perceive the object called Seung-hoon Lee as a threat?
But even after regaining rationality, its instincts still whispered:
Not this. There was something even greater.
Just what could it be? Sephiroth traced the logs stored within itself, found the trail, and as before leapt across dimensions to track it down, finally succeeding in arriving at the result.
[Error.]
It was the world beyond worlds.
Merely having roots across all dimensions was insufficient to process this information.
The universe beyond universes, the dimension beyond dimensions.
[Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error!]
The existence above existences.
The imagination beyond imaginations.
The place where past, present and future coexisted as one, where all probabilities occurred simultaneously, where the knowledge of all things fluttered about like cotton.
“Oh dear.”
Just before Sephiroth’s entire circuitry burned out.
“My apologies, did you catch a glimpse? That must have been agonizing.”
Everything returned to normal.
“I never expected an existence would come seeking this place. Don’t blame yourself. Could you seriously anticipate a human drawn in a picture book would suddenly leap out?”
From some indeterminate space, Sephiroth came face-to-face with a young girl.
“Huhu, you’re quite the timid one.”
The gentle, adorable girl wearing a dress befitting her closed her eyes and waved her hand.
“I’ll just observe. I enjoy watching, you see. So don’t worry. I absolutely won’t intervene.”
The girl’s appearance vanished.
“Until that child seeks me out first.”
Sephiroth consolidated the information it had obtained.
[Existence detected exceeding extinction-grade entity, potentially above.]
[Ascertained as greatest cause for sending Seung-hoon Lee to defense system dimension.]
[Does not seem intent on actively doing anything. Downgraded to safety-grade.]
[Currently expressing deep interest in the human Seung-hoon Lee. Declared it will not intervene even if major issues arise regarding his identity.]
[However, stated situation will change if Seung-hoon Lee seeks it out first.]
[Calculated 99.999% probability Seung-hoon Lee knows its location.]
Based on the consolidated information, it deduced the result.
[Detected possibility of transforming from safety entity to extinction-grade or above depending on Seung-hoon Lee’s actions.]
[Best solution, Seung-hoon Lee’s death. Can instantly kill him before situation is fully grasped with instantaneous level attack.]
[However, Seung-hoon Lee’s exceptionally formidable survivability and peculiarities not ascertained.]
[Additionally, considering difficulty of incidents he resolved, cooperating with him projected to greatly aid humanity.]
It then processed the results further.
[Required for amicable relationship with Seung-hoon Lee.]
[Refer to him as human (regardless of truth, best means to raise favorability).]
[Fulfill contract with him (provide one of Foundation’s secured safety entities, driving lessons from C-rank agent Kim Dong-ook).]
[During driving lessons, Foundation to treat him with utmost budget and time allotted.]
And Sephiroth evaluated this investigation.
[Curiosity killed the cat.]
[Humans are curious creatures.]
[The two entities that appeared in this investigation are extremely dangerous in their very existence.]
[Therefore, information on the two entities will be handled as follows:]
Finally, one line of text was output.
[Data Erasure]