Beyond the Outskirts, more precisely beyond that. It was an unknown place that few in the City knew anything about.
Though, oddly enough, there were explorers who ventured into such places. Even so, they could hardly be called numerous.
Perhaps I might have known what lay beyond the Outskirts before I lost my memory, but even that was only a possibility, not certainty. That alone made it clear how far removed that place was from the City.
Wilderness where monsters and the unknown ran rampant. In such a perilous place, absurdly enough, a boy and a girl were walking.
The time was night. The boy spoke.
"Wow, it's quiet. So different from the Outskirts..."
And the girl replied. In that manner, their conversation flowed naturally onward.
"Yeah. So this was a world where only beautiful, tranquil things existed beyond the Outskirts?"
"I guess so. Maybe that's why everyone kept quiet and never even wanted to speak of it."
"Ah, you... do you perhaps know stories about beyond the Outskirts? Something in this place is said to grant wishes to those who desperately want them. Want me to tell you?"
"Sure. I always look forward to the stories you tell."
"Could you wait a little? I saw something wonderful over there just now."
The girl wandered off somewhere, and the boy left behind quietly looked up at the sky.
...Stars. A beautiful night sky lay there. A sight impossible to see in the City's murky heavens, where people lived with their eyes fixed on the ground.
Watching that dreamlike scene, the boy began to speak to himself.
"When we look up at our sky... all we can see is a single smear of murky light. But the sky here... I can see the little stars gazing down at us in solitude. The city visible from here can only be heard crying out in pain and despair... so if only... I could stand in some high, lonely place and look down at people while shedding tears with them..."
The boy's voice gradually faded, and soon the world sank into silence with the screen going dark.
To be able to shed tears... I think I understand a little what this is about.
...
How much time had passed in that silence when the girl's voice came from far away.
"Sorry, I'm a little late. A flower I'd never seen before bloomed, and if we listen together while smelling its fragrance..."
In the middle of the girl's words, there came the dry sound of petals falling.
The reason was probably complicated, but... the biggest reason was likely that something had happened to the boy.
The petals that had left the girl's arms were carried by the wind and vanished into the far distance while she stood there blankly.
"..."
The girl quietly looked toward where the boy had been.
And then she carefully approached that place. Had there been even a trace of the boy left here? Looking this way, she began to speak.
"So, at last... you've had your wish granted? From today on, even if not a handful of stars rise in the corner of the night sky... those little stars will be lighting the darkness from the ground instead... So it'll be all right."
The girl... no, the one I know, Stephanette, finished speaking, and the fragments of the distant past from K Corp's origin came to an end.
The viewpoint once again returned to the Guhinhoe research lab.
*
The helplessness, as if my body had been submerged somewhere, finally loosened, and the first thing I felt was confusion.
...Was I the only one who saw that scene?
The expressions I instinctively swept over the Sinners' faces were all blank with shock.
Still, the Sinners, who had been through this sort of thing more than once, each tried in their own way to quickly gather their wits.
I was no different, really... and as the Sinners naturally fell silent, an uncomfortable but not unpleasant quiet hung in the air.
After a little time had passed like that, the brief lull ended and the Sinners were given a little breathing room.
And when people have breathing room, they tend to start asking questions.
Sinclair, the most curious Sinner on the bus, asked the question that had sprung from that curiosity.
"What was that scene just now? It felt like a story from a very, very long time ago."
"When the [Golden Bough] went berserk and generated self-awareness depth... an impurity got mixed in."
Impurity? If that was going to lead to a story about Stephanette... was that the tear?
Given that person's age, the timing would probably fit.
"K Corp's Singularity. The so-called 'tears' of the one that cries."
Right on the mark. Well, if that's all I need to hear, there's nothing more to ask.
They'd probably go on about the origin of the one that cries being something about a person or whatever. There wasn't much else to talk about anyway.
But did Dongrang see that memory too?
I glanced at Dongrang at the sudden question that bloomed in my mind, but all I found there was an irritatingly cheerful smile, with no sign of confusion or curiosity.
"Hm? Is there something on my face? Even I'd be embarrassed if you stared at me like that."
Should I hit him? Borrow the technique of the DH identity and throw a straight punch right at him?
Hold it in. Hold it in, me now... if I hit him, I won't be able to handle the consequences...
"It's nothing..."
Thinking of Vergilius, I desperately suppressed my murderous intent.
Leaving him alone probably wouldn't be a problem. There was no way he'd do anything more underhanded here... though he wasn't exactly incapable of it.
Come to think of it, he was the madman who made a desk for Yi Sang in advance and did all sorts of insane things because he was a fan. Honestly, maybe it wouldn't be a problem if I beat him a little?
...Tch, but I still don't want to get dragged into a private interview. Forget the nonsense and just quietly deal with the enemies.
After clearing away my stray thoughts, I raised my weapon toward the enemies that were once again reviving and charging at us.
When would this tedious repetitive labor ever end? It would be nice if it ended before I collapsed...
*
Before the Guhinhoe research lab had even become familiar to my eyes, the space changed again.
Soon, what fixed itself in place was a road stripped of color and turned bleak. Judging by how the colors were still so drab, this must be inside T Corp's Nest.
Mm-hm. I know the place we arrived at is a road in T Corp, but... why here?
A road isn't exactly a place that can't appear in self-awareness depth, but if it's such a memorable place, wouldn't some other location usually show up?
A small question bloomed in the minds of several Sinners, myself included.
And in most cases, when there's a way to satisfy curiosity, attention naturally turns that way.
The Sinners' eyes naturally gathered on Yi Sang.
Once again, Sinclair, unable to hold back his curiosity, took the lead and asked Yi Sang a question.
"The space changed. Where was this...?"
"What are you talking about? Isn't this the road we pass through every day?"
"Ah... r-right."
...Dongrang. Maybe you should really learn to read the room. Do you have to act even in a situation like this?
I sent him a cold look, even Sinclair seemed put off by that answer.
How shameless.
Of course, our kind Sinner Yi Sang didn't seem to have any intention of withholding an explanation, no matter what Dongrang did.
"This place is... near the grounds of my livelihood..."
"Hm. At night you researched... and what did you do during the day?"
"I was an architect."
To Rodion's follow-up question, an answer no one could have imagined came out of Yi Sang's mouth.
I'd guessed he was no ordinary person ever since he was shouldering the Guhinhoe's finances alone, but he was a successful architect? Then he must have been handling money pretty well.
"Oh~ An architect, huh... that's pretty impressive, Yi Sang."
"Impressive..."
At Gregor's praise, Yi Sang sank into another train of thought.
...Did something happen?
"There were children running through this street in the old days. Not many, but... a few here and there, always catching the eye. Even with nothing more than a discarded ball, they never lost their laughter."
"I'm quite fond of children too! Are they not truly pure lives?"
...No matter how I look at it, this is not a good direction. If he's speaking in the past tense, that means it's not like that now.
Several sharp-eyed Sinners realized that something bad must have happened in one way or another, and their faces hardened...
In that uncomfortable atmosphere, Dongrang drove the nail in with a question.
"But I don't see them now. Where did they go?"
"Children old enough to learn letters were dragged off to various factories. Among them was one I made... a factory I designed myself."
Ah, I really hate this kind of atmosphere. It makes me feel like I'm the guilty one too.
From Hong Lu, no, Youngji-hyung—though he wasn't acting, he seemed fully immersed—a low sigh slipped out.
"Yi Sang..."
"It was a structure optimized for efficiently monitoring people. It was more than convenient for driving laborers onward. Their earnings were not bad, so mine were quite good as well, no doubt because of that."
Most of the Sinners fell silent, and as expected, the mood turned unpleasant.
Meaningless murmurs drifted through the air, everyone wanting to speak but having nothing to say, their mouths only twitching open and shut.
Of all people, the first to find his footing there was Heathcliff.
"Well, even so... you weren't exactly flaunting that money around, were you? You gave it all to the Guhinhoe."
...Acting. Here? Couldn't... not do it?
With Heathcliff clearing the path first, Ishmael, the bus's top honor student, chimed in.
"...Do you remember? The first thing I made after getting a job at T Corp."
"You mean the ID tags?"
At Hong Lu's flowing reply, the resentment carried by Ishmael's role spilled out of her mouth.
"Yes, I made them for lost children. It's funny, isn't it? I thought using them would let more children have tearful reunions with their parents. But... now they're used to manage working hours in every factory. Even I, the one who made them, have to wear one and work."
"What we achieved at T Corp was something like that. So I... ended up clinging even more to mirror technology.
Because I wanted to devote myself purely, purely... to research alone. So that I wouldn't take anything..."
These days I'm always stationed on the bus, so I don't feel it as much, but the City had always been like this.
A society where the powerless, no, even those with power, were exploited.
A place where, uncomfortably enough, everyone walked with their eyes on the ground rather than the sky.
Everyone probably felt something similar. Discomfort, disgust, things like that.
Then, all at once. The world went dark.
"I knew as much from the moment I crossed over to T Corp to avoid exploitation and plunder... Yi Sang? If you don't want to be taken advantage of, you have to make someone else do it in your place. So don't feel guilty."
A voice similar to Yi Sang's... Sang's voice rang out, and the space shifted once more.
The location was... the Guhinhoe research lab. Ah, the flowers that had been blooming so brightly had fallen. Summer, then.
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