Editor’s Survival Guide - Chapter 112

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Editor’s Survival Rules Episode 112

ep17. Circulating (8)

-You’re quite the liar.

At the unexpected voice, I turned my head in surprise.

And our eyes met.

With high school student Seo Do-un glaring at me fiercely with wet eyes.

“…!”

I unconsciously stepped backward.

How could this be?

The past that should only be observed by me was now facing me directly.

-You weak hypocrite bastard.

Young boy Seo Do-un muttered coldly while looking at me.

I became even more flustered and asked Cha Si-eon.

“Team Leader, what kind of phenomenon is this?”

“I don’t know. Seo Do-un, are you really sure this memory doesn’t bother you?”

Cha Si-eon asked again and I hurriedly nodded.

It’s true.

There’s no way I’d put on airs in a life-threatening situation.

That was just my affluent yet suffocating adolescence.

Nothing more, nothing less.

“As you can see, it’s just that kind of memory. Sometimes when I think about it, it’s a bit embarrassing, but it’s not like this is some major incident….”

-Don’t look away!

Then another me shouted angrily.

-Look at me properly.

What the hell, don’t make such disgusting sounds with my face….

Young boy Seo Do-un’s rough voice gave me chills in a different sense.

Of course I’d hate it if someone else did that, but hearing obsessive comments from yourself was an extremely disgusting thing.

Due to instinctive revulsion, and somehow feeling like I needed to make excuses, I quickly shook my head toward Cha Si-eon.

No.

That’s not me.

I don’t talk like that.

Crackle- Crackle-!

Then the noise around young boy Seo Do-un became even worse.

The noise had already half-devoured that guy.

So his form was completely distorted, but even in that state, another me was staring intently at me.

Moreover, the space began shaking again.

The moment I felt something was seriously wrong.

-Look at me!

I’ve been looking, what more do you want me to see, you pubescent brat!

Crackle-! Crackle-!

Along with young boy Seo Do-un’s cry, the noise spread like a magnetic field.

“…!?”

Noises with clear forms surrounding me.

They swirled like a whirlpool, creating strong winds.

Crackle- Crackle-!

The noise storm growing increasingly fierce.

The space being torn apart piece by piece.

-You can’t kill me!

Soon the space was completely dismantled.

-You can’t erase me!

And another me screaming violently.

-Because I’m always beneath your feet!

With that cry as the end, another me also scattered into noise.

Whoooosh-!

And they became a fierce storm that swept around us.

“Urgh…!”

Even the floor we were standing on disappeared.

Thanks to that, we were left helplessly in midair.

With torrents raging on top of that, I was swept away like a sailboat caught in a storm.

“Seo Do-un!”

As I flew away like a plastic bag, Cha Si-eon grabbed the wire.

Clank-!

I also hung onto the end of the wire, somehow regaining my senses and pulling in my flailing limbs.

Then I gripped the wire and moved toward Cha Si-eon.

But Cha Si-eon was also in the same predicament as me, wandering in midair.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh-!

The continuing storm tore at my clothes and hair, making them a complete mess.

Damn, what the hell is happening all of a sudden?

Could this be the「Memory Overflow」?

They said it occurs when facing trauma, but this absurd timing is just….

I couldn’t understand at all the sudden outburst my past self had shown.

I wondered if that really was me earlier.

Crackle-!

Meanwhile, something whooshed past me.

It was an unidentified noise mixed in with the「Memory Overflow」.

Right now around me, those data fragment-like things were flying around wildly.

I continued pulling the wire with that turbulence behind me.

That’s when it happened.

A piece of noise that came flying mixed with the wind grazed my shoulder.

No, it penetrated through.

At that moment, a voice pierced into my head.

-Why do you fold it?

-Because I made you.

“…!”

Just now, was that my voice?

And what answered my question was….

The answer itself was exactly what Ryu Dan-a had told me.

But it wasn’t Ryu Dan-a’s voice.

Could it be that memory I forgot?

That memory fragment was already flying far past me.

I let go of the wire and frantically flailed to catch it.

Then Cha Si-eon shouted.

“What are you doing!”

“Team Leader! I need to see that, it’s my memory!”

“What are you talking about right now…!”

“It’s the memory I lost at the「Comprehensive Sports Stadium」!”

Cha Si-eon’s eyes widened at my cry.

But that was only for a moment.

Cha Si-eon pulled the wire again and shouted.

“You can’t remember it anyway!”

“Still, we have to check! We need to leave clues even if we have to go around!”

I struggled as I felt my body being gradually pulled toward Cha Si-eon.

But Cha Si-eon was firm.

“No! There’s no guarantee that memory is safe either!”

“Team Leader!”

“We’re already in this chaos right now!”

“…!”

This, Team Leader Cha was right.

Even in the memory I had confidently claimed was safe, “Memory Overflow” had occurred.

So would that memory really be intact?

Besides, enduring this shock was more urgent right now.

That was right, but that voice I just heard.

I need to confirm that voice….

I looked back and forth between Cha Si-eon and the flying memory fragments with an anxious feeling.

Damn, it was already too late.

The memory fragment that flew away like paper had already moved far away and mixed with other noises.

I finally dropped my outstretched arm.

Then my left arm briefly came into view.

There were still faint traces of the nail marks I had made before.

Whoooosh-!

Meanwhile, the “Memory Overflow” only grew more violent.

How long will this torrent continue?

No, it seems to be getting stronger as time goes on.

I pulled the wire again to reunite with Cha Si-eon.

Just as I narrowed the distance and was about to grasp Cha Si-eon’s hand.

Crackle- Crackle-!

…Damn.

It wasn’t my imagination.

This whirlpool was really getting more violent.

Even the width of the swirling storm was gradually narrowing, closing in on us.

The noises gradually approaching along that torrent.

What happens to me if I get swept up in that?

If each of those is my memory.

Will I end up recalling all sorts of memories in a jumbled mess?

Won’t the information pouring down like a waterfall burn out my brain?

Snap-!

Then Cha Si-eon caught my arm.

At the same time, noise grazed past the back of my head.

Just as I felt a chill from it.

My vision suddenly brightened.

“…!”

A wall-like massive noise was rushing toward us.

We couldn’t avoid it or block it.

The enormous memory swallowed me, and once again a voice pierced my mind.

-Later.

-Pay it back to anyone.

The voice I had squeezed out in the past.

-Mister!

And some girl’s desperate cry.

This is….

A memory from the “Railroad Station”.

The moment I realized that, pitch-black death engulfed me.

* * *

They are corpses.

Burned corpses.

Charred bodies!

Ash piles reeking of burnt smell.

Cremationexplosionoxidationevaporation.

No time even to scream.

Soot!

Th, ththththth,

The reason it had to be a crow.

Pitch black, black and black.

Pitchblackandblackandblack,

Crow!

Gleaming black,

Cr, craw! Caw caw!

Crow!

And I died.

Crushed under you all.

I died.

To me who was already dead.

To me who was gently buried.

Death asked.

-Why did you do that?

…While I was still running, I kept thinking.

What to do when I reach the train.

What’s certain is that whatever I choose is my freedom.

-So this is what you chose? Isn’t it too much of a loss?

Maybe so.

If I had family, I wouldn’t have made this choice either.

-But why did you specifically do that?

Just.

Because I wanted to.

-Pitiful.

If I’m pitiful, please stop watching and let me go now.

This current state doesn’t seem to match expressions like rest or eternal sleep at all.

-That won’t do. Because you’re pitiful.

….

-You’re so pitiful and so cute, I’ll let you live just this once.

Ah.

Ah,

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Light is shadow.

Shadow is root.

Root is the source of stem and branch.

To reach heaven, you must descend to hell.

You must piece together all the broken mirror fragments.

You must thoroughly lick the abyss in your belly.

You must strip away what is not me.

I need to truly reclaim myself.

Clusters of light and rotating circles.

Golden threads dancing on a red carpet.

I don’t want to ruin the world that child lives in.

I hope you too will come to know love.

Ah, to think it would be like this.

Such a gentle and cozy death.

* * *

I opened my eyes.

At that moment, I was alone, sitting on the floor.

The moment I moved my body, thick red liquid dripped from the tip of my nose.

Blood.

It was a nosebleed.

“Ah…”

I lowered my head and pulled out a handkerchief.

The back of my neck was stiff.

My forehead throbbed as if it would burst.

It felt like everything inside my head had burned away, leaving only ashes.

It was the price for suddenly knowing too much.

I sighed in that state of exhaustion.

“…So this is what it was.”

What the Special Management Zone is.

What we call the Special Zone.

I closed my eyes tightly while holding the handkerchief to my nose.

I’ll probably forget all of this too once I leave the “Library.”

For now, let me find Cha Si-eon.

I checked the wire first.

The wire was properly attached to my body.

But the other end of the wire where Cha Si-eon should have been hanging.

That end was stuck in mid-air.

Was it broken?

If so, it should normally be dangling on the floor.

Why is it floating in the air?

I tried pulling the wire.

Only the wire on my side swayed, while the wire stuck in mid-air didn’t budge at all.

Even when I pulled harder, it was the same.

I stood up and approached where the wire was stuck.

Crack-!

When I touched it, strong sparks flew.

My hand tingled as if I’d been electrocuted.

This wasn’t a broken wire.

It looked like the other end of the wire was extending into a different space.

So Cha Si-eon and I had been thrown into different memory spaces.

And the wire was awkwardly connecting us.

What should I do about this?

More importantly, where is this place?

I looked around.

This is the Management Bureau corridor.

That’s a relief.

If it’s the Management Bureau, it’s a memory very close to my present.

I should be able to escape quickly.

If I escape, will Cha Si-eon be pulled out with me?

No, before that.

The atmosphere of this memory seems a bit different from before.

My previous memories had all their graphics corrupted, so I couldn’t recognize them until I revealed my identity.

In contrast, here I can see a proper interior from the start.

Is this because my mental state is more stable than when I was young?

So where is the ‘me’ in this memory?

I looked all around the corridor.

But there was no one within my sight.

After wandering that empty corridor for a while, I turned the corner.

Immediately after, I gasped at what I saw beyond the corridor.

“Alpha”…!

…Or is it not?

Then what is it?

That short-haired Cha Si-eon standing in the corridor?

The appearance is definitely “Alpha,” but if that were “Alpha,” it would have attacked me the moment it saw me.

But that thing that looked like “Alpha” was standing facing the wall, completely still.

Is it just Cha Si-eon?

But why the short hair?

“Huh…?”

First of all, that wasn’t the real Cha Si-eon.

But it wasn’t the Cha Si-eon from my memories either.

Because I’ve never directly seen Cha Si-eon looking like that even once.

So in my deep bewilderment, I came to realize.

That I had entered Cha Si-eon’s “Chronicle.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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