Chapter 86 of 105

Chapter 86

Chapter 86. I Want to Go Home

We entered a Korean restaurant that looked absurdly expensive.

It was the kind of place that often appeared in movies, where powerful people ate dinner while secretly plotting something shady.

For someone who looked like a wizard, I never expected the Chairman to choose a Korean restaurant.

It was surprisingly ordinary.

Wait.

He didn't choose this place because he wanted to treat me to something fancy, did he?

I'd honestly rather have pizza or fried chicken.

"It's nothing special, so just relax and eat."

"You really didn't have to do all this..."

One dish after another was placed on the table, which seemed a little too large for only two people.

The Chairman silently watched me.

I avoided his gaze and started picking at the food.

If I didn't do something, the awkwardness might actually make me throw up.

Hmm...

I hadn't eaten expensive food very often, so I couldn't even tell whether this was supposed to be delicious or not.

It wasn't bad.

It was just...

Complicated?

The flavors were complicated.

"In-gwang."

"Yesh."

I answered while chewing on the only meat dish that suited my taste.

My brain had already exceeded its processing capacity.

When that happened, it felt like everything inside my head became strangely empty.

Too many things I couldn't understand had already happened today.

I'd been confused and dumbfounded, but somehow managed to convince myself with, Well, if it's a good thing, isn't that enough?

Then meeting Pie had finally helped me calm down a little.

And now the Chairman was stirring everything up again.

"Have you ever considered working under me?"

"No."

I continued chewing while answering immediately.

The Chairman had apparently understood my personality well enough to get straight to the point, so I didn't hesitate either.

Obviously, there was nothing good about offending the Chairman.

But he didn't lose his smile.

It seemed he'd already expected my answer.

"You are the first World Gate user to reach the secret of that world. Even I never expected someone to discover it this quickly."

...

That meant he had always expected the secret to be discovered eventually.

Right?

He'd deliberately hidden a secret that could become a worldwide scandal while knowing someone would eventually find it?

"If people find out that World Gate users can actually feel pain inside the game, it'll cause a huge problem."

"And that isn't all. Haven't you already reached the very origin of World Gate? If that truth becomes public along with what you already know, things will become quite chaotic."

"If you know that, then why the hell did you do it?"

Look at that grin.

He looked like he genuinely enjoyed doing things like this.

Maybe even this entire meeting was nothing more than entertainment to him.

Then...

Was the reason he created World Gate simply because he wanted something interesting to do?

If that was true, then why had he wished for Destruction to preserve the remnants and possibilities of his world?

And what kind of power had allowed him to reach his current position?

Surely this world wasn't something the Chairman himself had created too.

Right?

"If I ask you questions, will you answer everything?"

"Hoho. Wouldn't that ruin the fun?"

Even after my rude question came completely out of nowhere, he remained unfazed.

Was that calm expression simply a mask created through decades of dealing with people?

Or was he really enjoying even this?

"How did you feel when you first came to this world?"

"Ah! I did it! That was how I felt. I suffered quite a lot myself, you know."

The old man laughed happily.

Meanwhile, I sat across from him with a grim expression while continuously stuffing food into my mouth.

I wondered what the employees serving us thought.

Maybe they were surprisingly used to situations like this.

If this were a movie, this was exactly the kind of atmosphere where the Chairman would ask me to handle some dirty work he didn't want to do himself.

Something like...

Go quietly stab this person for me!

"What do you want?"

"Do you really think I would tell you?"

"No."

"What did you talk about when you met Doridoradorfin?"

"You talked about him like he was someone you respected."

"I do respect him. He stands in a position I could never attain. However, I also consider us equals in a certain sense."

"...He said you're someone whose true goal is impossible to understand."

"Hahaha! That's wonderful news! If those two who often remain beside that person understood what I wanted, they might try to interfere with me somehow!"

"Are you planning to do something bad?"

"Perhaps. The truth is, even I don't really know. Would you like to find out for me?"

What kind of...

bullshit was that?

Was his request for me to work under him related to this?

Was he basically saying, Come up with an objective for me!?

Maybe the reason no one could understand his goal was because he didn't actually have one.

If that were the only issue, perhaps I wouldn't have much reason to refuse his offer.

But...

"You've been monitoring me, haven't you?"

"Indeed. Does that bother you?"

"Yes."

Even now, I could sense countless presences throughout the restaurant carefully watching us.

Not only that.

They seemed ready to jump out the instant I tried anything suspicious.

And it wasn't just here.

When I tried to bury the underground kingdom, the Chairman's secretary had immediately appeared.

She hadn't even asked what I was doing.

She'd simply asked me not to do it.

There was no other explanation.

They'd been watching me closely the entire time.

Both inside the game...

and in reality.

Why would I willingly walk straight under the authority of someone who was constantly monitoring me?

What kind of confidence would I need for that?

"Why are you trying to recruit me?"

"...Could you give me a moment to think?"

"You're only thinking of the reason now?"

"No. That's not what I mean."

His eyes suddenly changed.

It was the kind of gaze filled with power that I had occasionally seen from the Great Heroes inside the game.

Goosebumps instantly spread across my body.

A cold sensation froze me in place.

This was a human who had survived the destruction of an entire world and crossed into another one with nothing but himself, the remnants of his world, and its possibilities.

There was no way he could be an ordinary person.

Before I became too stiff to move, I quickly transferred the dishes I liked onto my plate.

How many chances would I have to visit a restaurant like this during my lifetime?

"I've considered many possibilities. What would you do if I said this? How would you react if I said that? But seeing you stubbornly concentrate on nothing but eating makes me feel all that thinking may have been pointless."

Please understand.

There was simply too much information flooding into my head.

If I didn't focus on something else, I wouldn't be able to stay sane.

Normally, I wouldn't act like this either.

Stuffing my face at an uncomfortable dinner like this wasn't the usual me.

Chairman, try standing in my shoes for once.

I can't look the person in front of me in the eyes.

But staring somewhere else too obviously would also look weird.

And if I just sit quietly, it feels like my mind will fly away somewhere!

Ah... I want to go home.

I didn't need this world to be some fantasy world.

I felt like I'd thought about this before.

My admiration for fantasy novels had disappeared sometime after I turned twenty.

That kind of life was enough for characters inside games.

Personally, I wanted to stay somewhere peaceful and comfortable.

At this point, maybe it would be easier to simply give up and accept everything.

But what could I do?

More than twenty years of my life were refusing to accept it.

"So if I work under you, what exactly are you planning to make me do?"

"I'll pay you a salary while legally watching how you play the game."

"Wow... unbelievable... Did I do something wrong?"

"Hahaha! Nothing like that, so don't worry!"

The chairman of a ridiculously massive corporation was offering to pay me without making me do any actual work.

The offer was so ridiculously sweet that I felt like I should immediately drop to the floor and shout Hurray! three times.

But seriously...

Did that make any sense?

...

Then again, Dorfin and Pie, who I'd thought couldn't possibly exist in reality, actually existed.

So what was I supposed to do?!

What do you mean, what am I supposed to do...?

You already decided you'd enjoy it...

A little late, but my mind finally began to calm down.

I finally put down my chopsticks.

I still wasn't ready to do anything with the Chairman, but at least I felt a little more relaxed.

"I don't really trust someone who waves bundles of money in front of my face."

"...I don't think you're in much of a position to say that anymore... but I understand your point. You're uncomfortable receiving something when there's no clear reason behind it, correct?"

Of course that wasn't the only problem.

He'd dragged me all the way here without properly explaining anything.

Then he suddenly fed me expensive food.

And he'd filled the entire restaurant with his own people.

Who in the world would trust someone like that?

If he'd called me to his company like normal and said these things there, maybe I would've at least considered it.

But why would I listen to someone whose every action practically screamed,

I'm suspicious!

The more I thought about it, the more I realized there wasn't a single reason to trust this man.

What the hell was wrong with him?

If he wanted to recruit me, shouldn't he show some trust toward me first?

It wasn't like I had submitted a job application and was currently being interviewed.

He was the one trying to scout me.

So why was he treating me like I was dangerous?

"Then how about this? What if I told you you're actually related to me by blood, and that's why I want to treat you well?"

"..."

"Relax your face. I didn't realize you'd hate the idea that much. I suppose you aren't a fan of morning dramas."

There was no way the Chairman would casually throw out such ridiculous nonsense just because he wanted to recruit me.

Even if it were true, I'd probably ignore it.

So...

Maybe he had some reason for saying it?

Earlier, when he'd explained why he wanted to employ me, I'd noticed a slight disturbance in his flow.

Just how much of what this man was saying was a lie?

Then again...

Could someone powerful enough to cross into another world by his own ability really have his thoughts exposed by my crude ability to observe someone's flow?

My head was becoming numb.

Trying to judge everything with my naturally suspicious personality was impossible.

I needed friends beside me who could calm me down.

Pie.

Dorfin.

Anyone.

Those guys who somehow helped organize my thoughts simply by being around me, just like they did in the game.

"...In-gwang. Have you ever thought about something like this? That perhaps this life of mine is nothing more than a play happening in the palm of someone else's hand?"

Was he speaking from experience?

He had already encountered an absurd absolute being known as Destruction once.

It wasn't difficult to understand why he might think that way.

Besides, I'd already wondered whether this world was the Matrix or whether I was simply a brain inside a jar.

So we weren't that different.

"That's pretty much how I feel right now."

"Then imagine this. What if everything I accomplished after living with all my strength... everything I experienced... was merely part of a carefully written script created by someone else? What if the ending was already decided? What if I believed myself to be the protagonist of my own life, only to discover I wasn't... What would you think then?"

"I've never once thought I was the protagonist. And even if I was, I'd rather refuse the role."

"Then have you ever thought this? Why do tragedies keep happening only to me? Why is the world so cruel only to me? Why does it endlessly throw trials and hardships in my path?"

"..."

"It seems that one has crossed your mind."

Why did Dorfin and the Chairman both speak as if they knew about my past?

Once someone reached their level, could they simply look into such things?

I could understand Dorfin because he was some kind of mystical creature or supernatural being.

But why the Chairman?

Had he investigated my past?

Why?

For what purpose?

"I find you quite admirable. Even after experiencing those things, even after suffering so much, you still haven't given up on life. It made me wonder whether perhaps you were a slightly special human being."

He said something incredibly creepy so smoothly that I didn't even know how to react.

Could I leave now?

Please?

"What if all of those hardships you experienced... all of that pain... had been deliberately caused by someone?"

"...Is there really a God?"

The question slipped out in an incredibly innocent voice.

With things getting this ridiculous, I was suddenly beginning to believe in the existence of some absolute being called God, despite never having believed in one my entire life.

...

Would God forgive me if I started praying now?

What if this wasn't the kind of God who cared about prayers?!

At my sincere question, the Chairman's eyes widened.

Then he burst into hearty laughter.

"Hahaha! Hmm! Something similar certainly exists! But the one who made you that way wasn't anything like a god."

What?

Then something really had been responsible for making my life miserable?

What was it?

Had I committed some enormous crime?

I barely remembered becoming deeply involved with anyone since childhood.

At school or anywhere else, I'd mostly kept my mouth shut and minded my own business.

Had someone hated seeing me stay quiet?

And how did the Chairman know?

Wait.

Was it something like that?

Maybe when he crossed into this world, he'd made some deal with the god of this world?

Something straight out of a fantasy novel?

That actually made me a little curious.

The Chairman personally knew Destruction, an entity with a record of destroying worlds.

Did he know the transcendent beings of this world too?

What an absurd network of connections.

"Then who did it?"

"Me."

"...What?"

For a moment, time seemed to stop.

It became so quiet I could hear breathing from the room next door.

A terrible loneliness settled between the gently smiling Chairman and my frozen self.

Everything around me collapsing.

Everything disappearing.

Everything being taken away from me.

Was he saying...

all of it had been planned by the Chairman?

That couldn't be...

There wasn't even a reason for him to do something like that...

"Think of it as a kind of cloning project. I began it because I wondered whether I could personally create someone like the person you know as Destruction. It was a failed project, however. They all committed suicide."

He looked directly at me.

"Except for you."

"...What the fuck are you talking about...?"

"Hahaha! Of course you'd react that way. You're probably wondering what kind of nonsense this is all of a sudden. In the language of people your age, perhaps you'd call it an abrupt escalation. But this is my decision."

"???"

There was no sign that he was lying.

He seemed completely peaceful.

Calm.

As if he were simply telling me an ordinary fact.

"You were particularly difficult. Wherever you went and whatever you did, people kept becoming involved with you, almost as if you had been born with a destiny to be loved by others. I was rather jealous of that, you know. Wherever I went and whatever I did, I lived as though I had been born destined to remain alone."

Was this...

Was he trying to shake me?

He knew my past.

And now that I'd suddenly learned about the existence of this fantasy-like world, was he deliberately telling me absurd stories to confuse me even more?

"What I wanted was a monstrous human being who could look at the world more coldly than anyone else, completely devoid of emotion. But it was surprisingly difficult. Even changing their appearances to resemble that person didn't work."

The Chairman continued calmly.

"And yet, I succeeded in making Doridoradorfin and Geujajiki Jin resemble their real models to an astonishing degree."

I already knew that Dorfin and Jin inside the game seemed to know an abnormal amount of information.

But...

No.

Ah...

Today really was the day I finally went insane.

"Once could be coincidence. Twice could simply be bad luck. But three times, four times, five times... when misfortune continues repeating itself, wouldn't you start thinking something was strange?"

"..."

"You weren't particularly hated. You hadn't done anything especially wrong. And you weren't born into circumstances miserable enough to naturally explain everything that happened to you."

"..."

"I thought that if I continuously removed the people you gave your emotions to, and removed the places you became attached to, you would eventually become what I wanted."

His expression remained disturbingly calm.

"But even then, you never learned to give up. You continued giving your feelings to someone, again and again. I can understand why you obtained the power of Indomitability inside the game."

I silently stood up.

I didn't want to be part of this movie-like, comic-book-like insanity anymore.

"I am the source of the suffering you experienced."

I stopped.

"And as you already know, you don't really have any method of taking revenge on me. Those two mystical creatures? They cannot easily interfere with this world."

My emotions were about to explode for reasons I couldn't even properly understand.

My rational mind couldn't make sense of anything.

My instincts screamed only one thing.

Run.

So I opened the door and left.

Behind me, the Chairman spoke one last time.

"Do you still enjoy the game?"

My heart pounded violently.

My breathing became faster without caring how I felt.

My mind grew more and more tangled, showing no sign of calming down.

"..."

Even when I looked up at the brightly shining moon...