Chapter 11 – Meeting with Sunang – Part 2
TL: Eevee
Ed: Isalee
As we got closer to Namsan Tower, a woman was waiting for us.
“How do you do. I am Sunang-nim’s servant, Varie.”
“Nice to meet you. My name is Lee Jinsu.”
Nakran and Flute bowed as a greeting, but they did not introduce themselves. Is she quite a high-ranking person?
If you were to explain what Varie looks like, in a nutsh.e.l.l it would be ‘holy maiden.’ Not a traditional nun, but a modern-day interpretation of what a holy maiden would look like.
Twin tails trailed down the crown of her head. She had silver hair that seemed to give off a purple aura. Because of this, the two red devil horns that sprouted from either side of her head were even more noticeable. An unextravagant but delicately crafted gold hairpin was in her hair, and her clothes were a brightly coloured modern hanbok(1), but the exposure rate was high.
Her eye colour was silver as well so from afar you could see her as if her eyes had flipped over, and so it was a scary thought.
“Sunang-nim is waiting. Please enter.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry, but everyone else must wait inside the foyer.”
“Understood.”
“……Yes.”
Nakran said it as if it were obvious, but Flute seemed quite reluctant. Did Flute want to see Sunang-nim as well?
We followed Varie into the depths of Namsan Tower. It was still exactly as I remembered it. A distant yet familiar memory, as if it had simply frozen in time.
“You may wait here.” Varie said, referring to Nakran and Flute.
If memory serves me right, that was the Namsan Tower gift shop… It feels odd coming to a fantasy world and reading the words ‘SEOUL TOWER PLAZA’.
“Jinsu-nim should come this way.”
Amazing. The elevator is actually working. Surely it’s not going to drop as it goes up?
“Everyone who comes to the tower is amazed by the elevating machine, but as expected, you aren’t surprised.”
“I am amazed that this is still working.”
“It is Sunang-nim’s power.”
Lucky. Everything can be solved with a G.o.d’s power.
“What kind of person is Sunang-nim?”
She’d know best since she serves her from up close.
“That is not something I can discuss.”
Mm. That seems to be blasphemy as well. Best to avoid that.
Ding
What a fond sound of an elevator that’s reached its destination.
The door opened. Memories came back to me as I followed Varie’s careful movements. It was here in the observation platform that I came on a date while admiring Seoul’s night view. Since it was my first date with my first love, it stuck in my memory even more vividly.
Unlike before, the shops that lined the first floor had all disappeared and had been replaced with an elegant appearance. It felt like coming into a Joseon-era royal palace. In a window seat in a corner of the palace, a girl was sitting there waiting for me.
That girl was Sunang, the last remaining G.o.d, the unapproachable absolute.
Varie wordlessly kowtowed, before walking backwards, still bowing. It was like watching a maid in a historical drama.
But what do you expect me to do by leaving me here? Sure I know who she is, but at least introduce me.
What do I do now?
Should I kowtow to begin with as well?
She is a G.o.d, after all. She’ll certainly be older than she looks, so kowtowing would be a good place to start. While I moved as if I were going to pay my respects…
“I do not wish to be worshipped. Come and take a seat.”
Sunang said.
I remember the time in the army when I actually took a seat when they said ‘take a seat’ and got whacked for it, but she might unexpectedly be a more easy-going G.o.d than I expected. But still, I hesitated a bit before carefully sitting opposite her.
My feelings when I first saw Sunang for the first time were…. Odd?
I can definitely feel the dignity of a G.o.d. It was a warmth like the sun yet it held an immense power.
But it’s odd.
She seems like a beautiful girl, but something feels off. It’s as if my head is refusing to compute, like when I try to study mechanical mathematics. I’m seeing it, but not taking it into my head.
“Be at ease.”
Her words that seemed like divine command that instantly loosened my taut chest.
“Don’t try to force it all in.”
The migraine that felt like needles stabbing my brain vanished.
“Just feel.”
The pressure that threatened to crush me, along with my tiredness that made my eyes and brain scream in pain all vanished. I could finally properly perceive Sunang.
“Holy maiden……?”
Sunang’s appearance was exactly like I said, a holy maiden.
An accurate description? I couldn’t recognise it that far. It’s just that she looks like a holy maiden.
Sunang simply smiled at my words.
“I’m sure you have a lot of things you want to ask. Today will not be the only time we will talk, so there’s no need to rush.”
What did I have to ask her again?
You know, right. When you open up Internet Explorer(2) to search something but you can’t remember all of a sudden. And in the end you just type in ‘that thing’ and feel relieved that you’re not the only one out there with that problem.
That was me right now. I had so many things I wanted to ask, but the shock just now just wiped me out. I should make a memo next time I come.
Hm……
“Ah, that’s right. Do you know why the prehistoric civilisation vanished?”
“I do not.”
“……”
d.a.m.n it my head blanked out again.
“We only came a hundred years after the prehistoric civilisation fell for reasons unknown. We know nothing of the events before that.”
“Is the time period of a hundred years accurate?”
Yes, I know that asking a G.o.d a question like this is rude.
But hey. It’s not like you carbon-dated or anything, so how would you know that it was a hundred years?
“As expected of the people from the prehistoric civilisation. The humans here have never questioned it.”
Is that a compliment or an insult?
“I am unsure as well, but since Araepa.s.s said so, it shouldn’t be too different.”
“Who’s Araepa.s.s?”
“To borrow the humans’ phrasing, that would be the ‘demon G.o.d’.”
Hm…… meaning that it might not necessarily be a hundred years. That demon G.o.d could be wrong, after all.
“Although I don’t know what caused the end of the prehistoric civilization, when we arrived it was an age where mana storms were ravaging the land. Araepa.s.s hypothesised that a dimensional gate opened into this land without mana, allowing mana to flood in. ”
“Could humans go extinct due to the entry of this thing called mana?”
“It’s possible. If ma.s.sive amounts of mana enters humans without any adaptations to mana, you could compare it to being dropped off naked in a field of snow in the middle of a blizzard.”
The possibility is there. Although I don’t exactly know what this thing called mana is, I guess it can be compared some kind of ‘ki’. Just like in those martial arts novels, humans will only have a certain amount they can take in, and so if they were to be suddenly exposed to a torrent of it…….. It’s more than possible. But in that case, that raises a new unanswered question.
Then why!
Why did I survive.