The one waiting for me in front of the elevator.
The new employee, Kim Heo-un.
"Employee?"
I cannot distinguish people's faces.
They appear like melting mosaics, and their voices are as difficult to discern as old radio recordings.
Thus, I cannot know how much the 'new employee Kim Heo-un' standing before the elevator now resembles Mr. Jang Heo-un whom I knew… but I can be sure of one thing.
'…This is strange.'
This is a strange situation.
And standing beside me is someone who knows that better than I do.
The company's director.
"Hello. You must be the new employee for the Field Investigation Team this time."
"Ah. Yes…! My name is Kim Heo-un."
"I see. …But how did you get in here?"
"...What?"
"Heo-un, you're with the Field Investigation Team, right? Then you shouldn't be able to enter this Security Team area arbitrarily… I was wondering how you ended up here."
Silence.
"And how did you find this elevator? That an employee would be here,"
Hoo Yuwon pointed at me.
"How did you know?"
"...."
My lips part.
"I imitated."
…What?
"I imitated the Security Team to get in, and I imitated the Research Team to know your location."
'Imitated…?'
The moment a bad premonition strikes.
A smile spreads across Kim Heo-un's unseen face.
"But I've already achieved my purpose for joining, so I don't mind being fired for this."
And he looks at me.
"Employee."
My purpose for joining.
·I had something to find.
It was me.
"You don't need to worry. I didn't cause any disturbance. I just came to seize an opportunity for a formal introduction…. I wanted to express my gratitude."
And Kim Heo-un bowed deeply to me.
"Thank you for saving us. Thanks to you, everyone at the facility is alive."
....
Wait a moment.
"Because Mr. Jang Heo-un's wish came true thanks to you, Employee."
The meaning of those words….
"Ah. Unfortunately, my guess was wrong. Mr. Noru."
I realized.
That the two Wish Tokens delivered to Ms. Go Young-eun were both used….
'She didn't use the Wish Tokens to save Mr. Jang Heo-un…!'
After all, it's unlikely that such an intelligent and composed person would suddenly make a careless wish on a Wish Token. If anything…
'She would have been more anxious about the Wish Tokens remaining in her possession.'
Because someone might take them away if they found out.
Furthermore, she might have heard news that the Disaster Management Bureau was doing its best for Jang Heo-un's recovery, but it was uncertain when he would fully recover.
In that case, it would be more logical to use one token on behalf of Mr. Jang Heo-un before any misfortune occurred while holding onto the Wish Tokens indefinitely…
She entrusted the recovery from contamination to the Disaster Management Bureau, as there were precedents like the Security Team.
Instead, she must have made a real wish.
Like this.
Please grant Mr. Jang Heo-un's wish.
And Mr. Jang Heo-un's wish was….
·I wanted to save my precious family.
....
I saw Jang Heo-un's wish come true before my eyes.
One of his family members, under the name Kim Heo-un.
The people at the religious social welfare facility in the region where the orphan Jang Heo-un grew up, which had been completely destroyed by fire.
[An interesting situation. Friend.]
[Moreover. How does the author know that his friend gave him the Wish Token?]
[And doesn't the explanation of the vague ability, 'I imitated,' bother you?]
…That.
'I have a guess…'
The chill crawling up my spine tells me. A conjecture that strikes my mind like a shock.
…It narrows down to a Q&A.
Question: Relationship with Jang Heo-un
"Ah. We are family who grew up in the same facility. Seven out of eight of us died in a fire, though."
Question: Reason for the same name
"At the facility, people who live together are given the same name. Since our surnames are different, we share a name. Because we are family."
Question: Rules shared by the family
"There aren't really rules… but we receive the same education, eat the same food, and sleep in the same place to live up to the name 'Heo-un.' So that we can have the same experiences, fairly."
Question: Example of 'living up to the name Heo-un'
"Ah. It wasn't difficult. For example… sleeping late and waking up late."
....
"Reading poetry at least twice a week, becoming afraid of blood, starting middle school a year early, and dropping out of high school."
And.
"When meeting shamans or people of other religions, we don't introduce ourselves by our names."
....
The last question.
Question: Name of the facility
"Ah, that place is…."
And I already knew the answer.
There were countless strange organizations in this world, but there was only one crazy organization that operated an orphanage in this manner….
"…It's a facility called Love Paradise Shelter."
....
Love Paradise
"Do you know it?"
I know it.
A rather famous cult in Korea in this world setting.
I had seen its name once at the Disaster Management Bureau.
-Human life is filled with fear. A Lover of Paradise awaits you to protect you so you are no longer afraid. Come to Love Paradise.
That was the phrase the agents used when impersonating cult recruiters while handling the 'Ghost Story of the Red Clothes at Exit 4' at Team Baekho, based on my suggestion.
However, more comes to my mind than that.
Because the facility was registered on the
Love Paradise
One of the new religions that became popular in Korea in the early 2000s in the world of
It gained fame on the early internet by recruiting young people with slogans like 'You can meet your ideal type,' or 'We will make you into your imagined ideal type.'
However, in reality, it was an unethical, shamanistic cult that forced its followers to undergo bizarre rituals to become something suitable for a specific being called the 'Lover of Paradise' by remodeling their lives.
And.
The hypothesis that this process was influenced by the Nameless Brilliant Cult's Imitator Cult received rave reviews, and it was eventually established as one of the subordinate organizations of the Imitator Cult.
That facility belongs to the Nameless Brilliant Cult.
Jang Heo-un grew up in a Nameless Brilliant Cult facility.
And he joined Daydream Inc. to save the fellow cult members he grew up with….
The orphans from the facility he called 'family,' who were also subjects of the ritual.
'....'
Reaching this point, I understand how Lee Heoun of Pleasant Research Institute is connected….
'That Heo-un was the target of the ritual.'
In cases where the 'Lover of Paradise' is a real person, they sometimes attempt to steal narratives through ritualistic processes that imitate that person.
This is an act that follows the doctrine of the Nameless Brilliant Cult, which seeks to become a meaningful existence in this world.
'They were raising someone who could steal the role of that researcher by imitating Lee Heoun of Pleasant Research Institute.'
Details not recorded in the
The cold sweat that cannot flow down feels like an illusion, as if it's trickling down my spine….
[Ah, imitating someone's life trajectory one by one, creating a role that resembles their story….]
[Perhaps inheriting the spirit of industrial capitalism, they treat stories as if they were processing machine parts….]
[As if expecting the same product if the same process is followed!]
And one of them stands before us.
A replica made after 'Lee Heoun.'
Kim Heo-un bows his head deeply.
"Actually, saying I came just for an introduction was a lie."
....
"I have something I desperately need to ask of you, Employee."
He says it with extreme politeness.
A preposterous statement.
"Just as you took in Jang Heo-un, can you take all of us in?"
…!!
"We can tell. Because we are the same Heo-un. …Isn't Jang Heo-un happy under you now?"
My head starts to ache.
Reason for the request
"…We cannot return anywhere else."
His voice lowers.
"The facility where we were burned down, and to other Love Paradise Shelters… we cannot go. ...We cannot live as we did before."
I didn't need them to tell me why.
'The fire.'
That fire was also part of the ritual to imitate the narrative of a researcher from Pleasant Research Institute….
And Jang Heo-un, who survived that fire and had the narrative of 'survived a major fire at the facility of residence,' was the finished product.
But this person… was one of the people culled and used as material in that process.
"Please, give us the same name that Jang Heo-un received."
....
"Then, we can remain the same people. Because that's how we grew up!"
His voice becomes desperate.
"…It seems meaningful that Jang Heo-un went first. Like the eldest son, the firstborn, receiving the surname 'Jang,' doesn't it? Then we will continue to…."
I raised my hand. Kim Heo-un hastily bowed his head, assuming a posture as if expecting to be touched by my hand….
Smoke rose from my hand.
Rejection
"…What?"
Other excellent choices
▶ Leave behind Lee Heoun's life
▶ Live your own life
"What? But… I…"
Hmph, I heard Ho Yuwon chuckle softly beside the elevator. As if hearing a preposterous suggestion.
And.
"I have already received the Imitator's Divine Power, so, in order to come here…. Therefore, if it's like this, I can't escape–"
"You've become unhappy?"
Screech.
Kim Heo-un is split in two.
Before my eyes, the upper body of the bisected body falls askew, splashing onto the floor with a thud.
Blood spreads.
Blood wets my feet.
And so, for the first time, I could see Kim Heo-un's face.
Because he had died and ceased to be human.
The dead face of the young man in his twenties, with a somewhat dark and gentle impression, quite similar to Mr. Jang Heo-un, was frozen, stained with expectation and despair.
"Now you will be happy forever, congratulations."
And I realize. A Wish Token is personal omnipotence.
Therefore, the fact that seven people simply came back to life, instead of Ms. Go Young-eun or Mr. Jang Heo-un being transported to another world during the process of Mr. Jang Heo-un's wish coming true, says it all.
It was judged that this wish could not have a significant impact on the world.
Because.
- They would die again soon.
"Hello?"
I raised my head.
The one smiling comfortably, covered in Kim Heo-un's blood, looked like a handsome youth.
He was even wearing a worn-out old school uniform. But the emergency broadcast that began to sound made me guess his true identity….
[Evacuation Alert. High-Risk Intruder Containment Failure. Evacuation Alert. High-Risk Intruder Containment Failure. Evacuation Alert. High-Risk Intruder Containment Failure….]
…I think.
'Kim Heo-un said he came by imitating.'
He received the Imitator's Divine Power. That's not something someone who only grew up in the ritualistic facility disguised as a new religion, deep within the Nameless Brilliant Cult, could use…. That means only one thing.
Someone helped.
"Wow, you look pretty cool."
The one who swallowed dozens of fragments of the Sacred Law Scripture, who had become more like a ghost story than a person, willingly and fanatically.
A follower of Lord Name.
"Do you know Lord Name?"
A cadre of the Nameless Brilliant Cult stands before me. And inferring from his speech and actions… a sect.
Not the Imitator Cult. This is…. The Happy Ending Cult.
The sect within the Nameless Brilliant Cult that pursues the most altruistic values. Blessed by Lord Name, they strive to grant a happy ending to those who have no chance of survival in the end times, the meaningless ones.
Their method is mainly death. Because the dead cannot become unhappy.
"It's okay if you don't know. Well, both Fox and Dragon are cool… Let's go together."
The elevator I was riding twists.
"Let us also serve Lord Name together."