Chương 526: Seo Hweol's Memories (3)

That's how it was.

Rewinding time, reincarnating with memories intact, and life growing increasingly unfortunate as it went on—those were all things possible only in a dream.

However, Seo Hweol wanted to deny that possibility.

That all his stories, all his pain, all his life amounted to nothing more than a dream!

That was absolutely unforgivable.

But...

Seo Hweol soon found himself desperately wanting to escape this [dream].

The reason was very simple.

For that simple reason, Seo Hweol decided to research a way to leave this world.

He even used his own death as a tool to study this [world within a dream] and took his own life.

He died at the age of 63.

The 8th life.

Seo Hweol refined hypnosis to its utmost limit.

Through hypnosis, they sought to awaken their brain and realize their true essence.

This was also a struggle [to wake up from the dream].

Under the light, Seo Hweol brainwashed their parents who looked down at them, turning them into Seo Hweol's puppets and erasing their personalities.

After all, they were merely [characters in the dream].

They weren't Seo Hweol's real parents.

Thus, they controlled their parents like puppets without hesitation.

They then hypnotized everyone in the village whom they had once considered [friends], brainwashing them into Seo Hweol's puppets.

Every connection could be used and discarded like a worn-out shoe.

After all, it was all fake.

These replaced existences would, sooner or later, pile up layers of [hatred], gradually pushing Seo Hweol's life into a pit of misfortune.

Seo Hweol toyed with the minds of thousands and brainwashed countless people, turning the entire world into their puppets.

However...

Even after brainwashing the entire world, Seo Hweol realized that they [could not wake up from the dream].

Seo Hweol couldn't figure out what was wrong.

To find the problem, they pushed themself even further, delving deeper into the abyss of their mind through hypnosis.

And finally, Seo Hweol understood.

The reason they couldn't escape this world was because they didn't understand their own essence.

They had to remember who they were 'before they began dreaming.'

Why were they the only one special enough to repeatedly reincarnate within this dream world?

Perhaps it was because the entity known as Seo Hweol was the owner of the dream.

If so, then what kind of being was Seo Hweol [before they started dreaming]?

If they could find the answer, they might discover a way to wake up from the dream.

They had to find out who the 'real' Seo Hweol was.

In short, they had to understand their essence even more deeply.

That was the only way to escape this world.

From that day on, Seo Hweol repeatedly hypnotized themself to look back into their own past and learn about 'themself.'

Seo Hweol fell deeper and deeper into the dream.

It took decades.

Even after having the world in their grasp, Seo Hweol spent decades and finally connected with their essence [before the dream].

Seo Hweol's [essence] was dry and mechanical.

They didn't know exactly what it was, but...

Seo Hweol was merely a terminal, sent [somewhere] by [someone] to search for [something incredibly precious that had been lost].

A purposeless existence, mechanical, only following orders and performing actions as commanded.

Secret Art: Purple Soul Filling the Heavens.

That thing, having fallen [somewhere], mixed with the [fragments] present there and became something new.

That was Seo Hweol.

And then.

—So that's how it is.

Upon realizing this truth, Seo Hweol said: —Was I nothing more than [someone]'s technique?

Seo Hweol committed suicide.

They died at the age of 72.

Even suicide, Was useless.

Seo Hweol still had to wake up under the [new parents] who smiled down at them beneath the light.

And... through Seo Hweol's recent suicide, they understood: —A living being, at the moment of death... reaches the extreme limits of emotion and mind...!

Seo Hweol, who could reach the deepest depths of their mind through hypnosis, realized that the moment of death was the very instant one could reach the peak of the mind.

They didn't know 'why' this was so, but it was something they had discovered after experiencing death several times.

At any rate, Seo Hweol succeeded in reaching the extreme of the mind, and there, they faced the [source of the déjà vu].

They completely understood the structure of the world.

—Hoh...

The reason they could not leave this world.

—Hoho...

It was because Seo Hweol was never the [protagonist of the dream] to begin with.

They weren't even the central pillar of [Purple Soul Filling the Heavens].

To be precise, The technique [Purple Soul Filling the Heavens] had [mixed with this world] and scattered across its many corners.

And Seo Hweol was merely one of those countless scattered fragments.

Not Purple Soul Filling the Heavens, not anything else. They were merely one of the [characters of the dream], and thus, Seo Hweol was fated to suffer eternal torment within this dream world.

—Hohohoho...

Indeed.

A supporting character of a dream.

That was Seo Hweol.

As a being within the dream, Seo Hweol realized the meaning of their existence.

—Hohoho... Hohohoho.

They existed to [replace] the characters in the dream in case there were too many of them, reducing their numbers and alleviating the fatigue of the [Owner of the Dream].

And finally, they realized a way to escape this world, a way to [wake from the dream].

It was through the power granted to them by their role.

Replacement.

They had to replace the entire world with [Seo Hweol].

In the end, if they replaced everything in this world, nullified every connection they had, and left only themself and the [Owner of the Dream] in this world, Seo Hweol would naturally be absorbed by the Owner of the Dream. With nothing left to do in the emptied dream, the Owner would inevitably wake up from the dream.

In short, They had to reincarnate endlessly until every existence in this world was replaced by Seo Hweol.

If they could endure until then without their personality collapsing, Seo Hweol would finally be free!

And...

Upon realizing this truth, Seo Hweol finally wept bitterly.

—Just why!?

Why must I endure such suffering!?

Are you telling me everything I've built up was meaningless!?

Seo Hweol lived in suffering.

Even though they knew that everything in the world was a dream, they lived in suffering.

To suffer is, ultimately, to accept.

Those who refuse to accept something do not suffer.

Only those who accept something suffer.

Seo Hweol, despite knowing the world was a dream and that nothing held meaning, had still accepted the beings of the world in some corner of their heart.

Even as their sense of ethics wore down, even as they viewed the world as half-fake and treated its inhabitants as disposable tools— Half of Seo Hweol was still accepting this world.

But...

Seo Hweol finally realized that they could no longer endure the pain.

They could not endure that endless time.

Nor could they ever accept such an ending, where every connection from their first life—their only happy life—was completely replaced by Seo Hweol's own wretched self.

Seo Hweol collapsed on the spot.

Who were they?

What was this world?

Who... in the world could have created such a vicious and agonizing dream system?

Seo Hweol sat there, weeping bitterly and agonizing over these questions.

Seo Hweol could have shattered their own personality and erased their memories.

But... Seo Hweol couldn't do that.

Because they had a [goal to wake from the dream].

If they were to forget even that, Seo Hweol would be finished.

Thus, they did not erase their personality.

Instead, they pondered, and pondered again, about how they could escape this world.

Eighty-one years passed that way.

For eighty-one years, Seo Hweol pondered until their body reached the end of its lifespan.

And... Seo Hweol finally made a decision.

—... I will not spend thousands... hundreds of millions of years replacing the entirety of this world and waking from the dream.

He could not endure that long passage of time.

Moreover, they couldn't be sure that the one who would wake from the dream would even be Seo Hweol themself.

That was the worst possible ending.

In that case, they had to choose the lesser evil.

—... In this life, I will end everything.

Seo Hweol shed tears of blood.

They, too, had a heart.

He had emotions.

Though they might only be a supporting character in a dream, a mere tool for the Owner of the Dream...

They still thought of themself as a living person.

From their second life onward, the emotions weren't particularly strong...

However, the connections from their first life, the only time they had been truly happy, were still precious to them.

At some point, they began to see themself as nothing more than a puppet. But even puppets can have attachment.

Even if Seo Hweol thought of them as characters in a dream, Seo Hweol held a strange attachment to them.

Especially after realizing that they themself were nothing more than a supporting character in this dream.

However, Seo Hweol decided to abandon that attachment.

They decided to abandon those connections.

To endure pain is to accept.

But Seo Hweol could no longer accept the connections within the dream...

With that resolve, Seo Hweol began to [fragment] themself.

Though Seo Hweol had often manipulated the minds of others through hypnosis and brainwashing, Seo Hweol had rarely interfered deeply with their own mind beyond pushing it deeper into hallucinations.

Seo Hweol finally began to manipulate and fragment their own mind.

They did not go mad.

The process of fragmenting their personality was painful, but they knew that if they abandoned themself, there would be no more pain.

Seo Hweol began transforming themself into a configuration.

And...

As Seo Hweol transformed themself into a configuration, they finally crossed a 'line' that had remained in a corner of their heart.

Even when Seo Hweol had brainwashed the people of this world, Seo Hweol had never violated their essence.

But after crossing that line, Seo Hweol began to invade their very essence.

Beyond simply brainwashing and turning them into puppets, Seo Hweol repeated the brainwashing process until they turned into configurations, transforming them into perfect replicas of Seo Hweol themself.

Each time they brainwashed one of their [friends], Seo Hweol cried out in agony, tears streaming down their face.

All of them...

They were Seo Hweol's friends.

They might be nothing more than puppets to Seo Hweol now, but they were the ones who had been Seo Hweol's friends in the first life.

They might have held no practical meaning, yet they were meaningful to Seo Hweol.

They were Seo Hweol's heart.

In this way, Seo Hweol began replacing every character in this dream world with a [Seo Hweol] filled with hatred and pain.

They turned the entire world into [Seo Hweol].

After surpassing a certain threshold, Seo Hweol felt the very essence of the dream begin to distort.

The boundaries of the world blurred, and everything began to dissolve into an illusion.

And finally.

When [everyone] had been replaced with Seo Hweol, Seo Hweol was able to behold the [Owner of the Dream].

"... So you were there."

Seo Hweol looked at the [ray of light].

With the entire world replaced by Seo Hweol, only they and the [ray of light] in the sky remained in this dream.

No, to be precise...

It was the [being sealed within the ray of light].

Seo Hweol entered the ray of light.

They felt the sensation of a seal, but it was incredibly faint.

Rather than a seal, it felt more like 'wrapping.'

Within the ray of light was a dark-red glow.

Seo Hweol asked the dark-red light,

"... I ask you. What is the purpose of my existence? I..."

Seo Hweol voiced their [goal to wake from the dream].

"I... my parents... you, my origin—what kind of being are you?"

Who is the [Owner of the Dream]?

What kind of being are they?

And what were they thinking when they created this world?

Seo Hweol merely wanted to know that.

After being born into this world, Just knowing that single truth was the purpose and reason Seo Hweol had struggled to wake from the dream.

And then, the being Seo Hweol believed to be the [Owner of the Dream] spoke.

—Incredible. For a mere supporting character in a dream born from the primordial chaos of Ancient Force to pass the trials meant for the successor @&%(終命者) and reach before me...

[Editor: 終命者 = Ender.] The @&%(終命者) the being spoke of was beyond Seo Hweol's comprehension.

But Seo Hweol could roughly grasp the meaning of what the being was saying.

"... This world... was merely a testing ground for someone else?"

—That's right. A trial world meant to pass on the miracle of the predecessor to the successor. You were nothing more than a supporting character within the dream born from Ancient Force, designed to secure the computational space of the world and maintain the virtual reality until the successor @&%(終命者) arrived. And yet, how did such a miracle occur? Hohuhu, interesting. @&%(終命者) indeed.

With a gloomy expression, Seo Hweol asked the being:

"... Who are you?"

Only now could Seo Hweol understand.

The being before Seo Hweol was not their origin.

It was merely the [Administrator].

It was not the being who held the answers Seo Hweol sought.

And the [Administrator] before Seo Hweol answered their question: —I am... yes. Agate (瑪瑙). Call me... Agate for now.

The moment Seo Hweol heard its [title], they understood Agate's essence.

Its essence was singular.

Hatred.

Yes, Seo Hweol finally understood why, despite being meaningless characters within a dream, the concept of [hatred] had accumulated layer by layer throughout their life.

Seo Hweol understood why their life had been filled only with pain, hatred, and loathing, and why their life had been set to flow in that direction.

Because the Administrator of this world...

Because the very fabric of this dream was built upon the concept of [Hatred (憎)].