The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 64



Only Krnovel

Episode 64

“Where are you going?”

Quillvien sat up and dusted the back of his head.

“I was here the whole time.”

“No. You were somewhere else.”

Somewhere else?

It was so absurd that I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I was here the whole time. I saw it all from the side, so why are you doing that?”

The bar where the sound of glasses clinking and the laughter of men and women intersect was a place that existed only in my head, a creation of my imagination.

“Lord Winte said it. It’s a tangible illusion. What I saw, Lord Winte… … .”

“You were somewhere else.”

It didn’t seem like the Great One was joking, and Quilbian asked back with a rather serious expression.

“Did I disappear right before your eyes?”

“No. The body was in front of me.”

“Then it didn’t go anywhere. My body was here.”

“Mind. Your mental world was split. Your body was stuck here, but your mental body was halfway somewhere else.”

“What I saw was real? Not a hallucination?”

“Explain what you saw.”

Quilbian slowly unravelled the things he remembered. The music he heard, the smells, the alcohol he drank. Even the various animals gathered there.

“How are you? What were you doing?”

“I was ordinary. I was a guild worker. Well, I don’t remember the details. I remember everything before I woke up, right? But like a dream, when I come to, everything is gone.”

“Interesting.”

“Is this bad? Is this a problem?”

“I don’t know. This is my first time seeing this case.”

Winte’s golden eyes moved up and down, as if they were grading the pigs.

“Don’t even think about dissecting it, please.”

“Depending on the situation.”

“No, why are you changing your words? You said it wasn’t possible because it was a promise.”

“… … What a pity.”

It was a truly pitiful sight.

He was not someone you could feel safe with just because you could communicate with him. One day, he might suddenly snap your neck and dissect you.

“That won’t happen. If I decide to do it, I’ll tell you in advance.”

“Stop saying such horrible things. What are you going to do with my coffee when I’m dead?”

“That’s also a problem.”

Winte crossed his legs.

“Oh, there’s one thing that’s been clarified.”

“What is it?”

“Yes, Nak. According to the information obtained by Altera, your Nak has been flowing in from somewhere.”

“Al Teraga, no, Winte said so. It’s unusual.”

“I am not Altera. You should not identify yourself with the character I created.”

“That’s it, anyway, why my nack?”

“I saw a connection. Nak was closely connected to your mental world. And your mind was connected to somewhere other than here, even if it was just for a moment.”

Winte’s finger pointed towards Quilbian’s chest.

“It’s not here, it’s somewhere else. It’s like I’m inheriting the Nak from another you who exists in that unknown place.”

“… … What are you talking about?”

“It takes a little more time to conceptualize. More importantly, it’s a different phase that’s beyond the designer’s vision. It wouldn’t be strange if the world were to end tomorrow.”

“Stop talking scary and explain. Okay?”

Suddenly Winte clapped his hands.

Clap, clap, clap.

I stared blankly at Winte at his unexpected behavior.

“Congratulations. Your first test subject.”

“Don’t call me a test subject. It’s ominous.”

“It seems that you have become a creature that has deviated from the divine intention. A life that fits very well here. Disorganized and unplanned, yes.”

I felt that Winte’s eyes were particularly sparkling.

“I guess I really should do an autopsy.”

Quilbian jumped down from the rooftop with a frown.

I ran hard even though I knew it was useless. I ran so hard that my body was swept by the air and hurt, and when I came to my senses, I was on the rooftop again.

Winte’s back was visible, resting his chin on his hand and looking into the distance.

“I’ll make you some coffee!”

Quillbian said in a scream.

Winte turned his head quietly.

“Coldly.”

Judging by the way she stuck out her lips in resignation, it seemed like she didn’t need to make an appointment for the autopsy.

I went down to the first floor, sweeping my chest.

After killing all the goblins who preyed on humans and destroying their species, I now live in the same house as a dragon who is seriously talking about dissecting me.

“Why is life so hard? Huh?”

Quilbian lamented to Twella, who was watching from the side. Twella whispered softly as she always did.

“Then die.”

“Thank you for your support. Thanks to you, my will to live has grown stronger.”

I looked up while pouring coffee.

The sixth sense clock caught the golden light shimmering beyond the ceiling.

“Not here, but over there. Where is that?”

It was truly a feast of incomprehensible words.

*

“Mr. Quilbian, if you do this, we’ll be in trouble.”

The old man, who had been reading a document with his glasses half-down, picked up his pen with a heavy sigh.

The pen danced on the paper.

Quilbian had to hide his bitter smile as he watched the black line being drawn without a care.

“Okay, come back and prepare this part again.”

“When is the deadline… … .”

“15 days. There are no extensions and if you are late, your permit will be cancelled, so remember this.”

“Okay. The cost is… … .”

“Go out and go to the left storage area. Next person.”

Quilbian came out holding an envelope of documents.

I moved here with my family to open a store, but things went wrong.

What should I do?

“Would you like to use credit?”

“Oh, yes.”

Quilbian extended his credit to the employee beyond the bars.

“It’s guaranteed by Kodan Trading Company.”

“Yes, that’s right. Is there a problem?”

“The rating here has gone down. You’d better check the guarantee limit again. It’d be a big deal if the payment is blocked, right?”

Is this also holding me back?

After getting my credit back, I left the cooperative. I went into the alley next to the building and lit a cigarette.

The moment I lit the lighter and was about to take a long drag, the machine doll creaked and entered the alley.

The machine doll raised both arms.

– Non-smoking area

“……sorry.”

I threw the cigarette on the floor and rubbed it out. I didn’t feel bad about throwing it away since it was made from cheap leaves.

The mechanical doll turned around, making an old-fashioned sound.

It’s a tough place.

The town I lived in before wasn’t like this.

I shook my head and came to my senses after being immersed in a surge of regret.

What is he doing, a man with a wife and children? Quilbian slapped his cheek. Come on, you can do it.

When I returned home, my children welcomed me.

As I walked over to him and hugged him, saying, “Dad,” all the worries from my co-habitation were washed away in an instant.

“came?”

My wife popped her head out of the kitchen.

I was ashamed to see her. She was a wonderful woman who trusted only her husband and followed him here without complaint.

“Why is that?”

“No, nothing.”

“It’s not nothing. Tell me. What’s going on?”

My wife patted the kids on the buttocks and sent them into the room. I was sitting on the dining table rubbing my forehead when my wife brought me some water.

“thank you.”

“What happened that didn’t go well?”

“That’s right… … .”

It was a time when I was wondering how to explain it.

A headache started to set in. I covered my head and laid my head on the table.

“Why is that?”

My wife came over and shook me.

His shaky vision regained its place. Quilbian looked at the face of the unfamiliar woman.

“Hey, that… … I’m sorry.”

“honey.”

“I, no, I’m not your honey.”

“Why are you suddenly like that? It’s scary.”

“That’s why.”

The door to the children’s room opened wide and two children came stumbling in. They grabbed onto my legs and shook them excitedly, saying, “Daddy.”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s Dad.”

I can’t be cruel to the kids.

Quillbian spoke to the strange woman.

“I’m sorry. I’m just out of my mind. Could you leave me alone for a moment?”

“… … Okay. Let’s talk when it’s sorted out.”

He grabbed the two children by their pants and quickly lifted them up and gave them to the woman.

Quilbian remained alone in the kitchen and looked around.

“This is driving me crazy, seriously.”

I touched the table. I could feel the glossy texture of the glazed finish at my fingertips.

A small voice was heard from beyond the children’s room. It was a lullaby.

“Marriage, children. Things… … .”

Married life was not unfamiliar.

Because I’ve been married countless times in another fantasy, no, in another place.

There is probably no man in the world who has been married more than I have. The number of children alone would easily exceed a thousand.

What’s scary is.

“It’s becoming clearer and clearer.”

After hearing Winte’s words, memories of the ‘strange world’ began to vividly linger in my mind.

In the past, when I came to my senses, the experiences I had here would quickly evaporate from my mind, but as time went by, they became harder to forget as if I had actually experienced them.

Imprinted and imprinted again.

I was so worried that there might come a day when I would get confused about who I was.

Quilbian closed his eyes and felt the Nak.

The Nak hovering inside my body wriggled in response to my will.

I slowly opened my eyes. At the same time, my sixth sense also stretched.

Black necrotic fluid was gushing out from his body.

The nasties that flowed out of his body pooled about a hand’s length from his chest.

A thin line emerged from the black lump the size of a fist and seeped into the heart.

What Winte said was true.

Another me in the strange world was sending Nak to the main body inside the two-faced realm.

They are interconnected.

There were quite a few Nak’s who caught and absorbed the goblins, but why didn’t the total amount of Nak’s increase significantly?

The answer was simple.

The Nak absorbed by the main body was also flowing to other Quilbians located ‘here and there’.

“What is what.”

Quillvian placed his clasped hands on the back of his head and leaned back against the chair.

‘This place’ was a space that even Winte could not grasp. No, if Winte’s words were true, it was a realm that even the great god who created everything did not know.

It’s funny.

There are things that the creator of the world doesn’t know.

“Dad, dad.”

Beyond the door, the voices of children laughing and calling for their father could be heard.

My heart aches. Strangely enough, I love the woman and the children over there.

The emotions of Quilbian, who had made a living here, were completely permeated.

That’s why.

“I’m fine.”

Quillvian took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

Slowly, slowly.

I exhaled every breath until I felt a pressure that made my lungs feel like they were collapsing into a single point, as if all the air in my lungs had leaked out.

When your breath is ragged and your body screams that it can’t take any more.

Quilbian held out once more at the limit.

And then I opened my eyes.

It was a bedroom full of diagonal lines.

Quilbian wiped his face. His palms were covered in cold sweat. He had been running for ten days and nights without sleep, but his body hadn’t shed a single drop of sweat.

I got out of bed and went up to the second floor.

I opened the door across from the stairs, went in, and sat down at the desk.

Notebooks and pens made from high quality paper.

Without having to dip the pen in ink separately, I just put the nib on the paper and wrote, and the right amount of ink flowed out.

Winte called this object a ballpoint pen.

I wrote down everything I experienced ‘over there’ in a notebook. After writing down the entire story of a man in his forties, I drew the faces of my wife and children on the last page.

“This one is all used up too.”

Quilbian closed the notebook and placed it on the left shelf.

Four bookshelves lined up side by side.

Half of them were filled with notebooks.

Record, record again.

I stared blankly at the ‘Quilvian’ record box and then went outside.

(Continued in next episode)