Introduction to History (2)

The priest glanced between them a few times, clearly concerned about the Archbishop, but he didn’t go against her orders. When the man finally closed the door, an unnatural silence remained. It was the long-awaited one-on-one meeting with the Archbishop, and his body was stiff with tension.

‘Even the voice is the same as Minsun… I feel dirty.’

Only after receiving her permission did Kleio approach. The aura about her and her expressions were completely different from Minsun, but her voice and face were exactly the same. That nose, which was slightly soaring, and the shape of her lips, which pressed gently together… It was a disgusting recall. As the priest instructed, Kleio held her hand and pretended to put his lips on the back of her hand awkwardly. When he politely stepped back, the Archbishop suddenly grabbed his left hand. Kleio was embarrassed, but he couldn’t push her away because he feared that she would be hurt.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Be still.”

The Archbishop ran a finger over where Promise was placed, causing a cold sweat to start dripping down his back.

‘The bishop said she was a priest with enormous divine power. Even if it’s gone, does she notice Promise?’

The Archbishop stopped moving suddenly, and at the same time, a human expression came to her once cold and determined face. The appearance of the grim high priest suddenly became the face of Minsun, which Jungjin knew.

“I’m glad you still have the graduation ring.”

“?!”

Kleio, no, Jungjin’s eyes went fish-eyed. His mouth was dry, and his heart started pounding violently. The Archbishop, still holding his hand, looking at him with a faint smile and a nostalgic expression.

“□□ Ah, how are you? No matter what you look like, you’re still the same. I could recognize it quickly. When you’re nervous, you pull your chin in a little and close your mouth.”

He couldn’t make out the sound of the first two syllables as her lips just moved, muted. Watching his reaction, she moved her lips several times, but the words were distorted and never reached him.

“It’s so difficult to call your name.”

She pulled his hand closer, turning it over and bowing her head over his palm. Her thin but rich silvery hair stretched across his arm like silk. The moment her soft, cold lips touched his palm, Jungjin felt like a bolt of lightning had struck him. She continued to speak, but there was no sound. Her touch was clear, but he couldn’t figure out what the hell she was trying to convey. However, her attempt was so desperate that Kleio couldn’t let go of her hand. A strange foreboding rose in him as he started to put together the pieces. It was one word, with two syllables…

‘Jungjin.’

She was saying his name in inaudible words, in a completely different way from the language they originally knew. As that enlightenment struck him, Regina gently lowered his hand, which had begun to shake.

“□□. Can you now believe that I am □□?”

“…I don’t know what you mean, Holiness.”

Jungjin hadn’t given up his doubts. To imply she knew his real name couldn’t be said to be proof. No, it was hard to be sure that she even had said the name. He had come into this world in the body of another person, but since this world was originally created with references to that world, couldn’t she be another person who only borrowed her face?

“I know what you doubt. You’re not sure I’m the one you know?”

Trying to hide his expression as much as possible, Kleio faced Regina. She was quick to notice, regardless of anything else.

“What should I say first to convince you?”

Regina’s expression lowered as if she were sad, which was enough to give Kleio goosebumps.

“Do you remember that day we met in front of the office in the summer vacation of my senior year? I said that it was cool to wear a white uniform? The days were exceptionally dry, and the smell of the sea was strong. You were tall and could be recognized at a glance from a distance.”

The peace that remained on Jungjin’s face was shaken and shattered. Of course, he remembered that. It was a vacation, but he had to head to the office to deal with some documents. He happened to see Minsun by chance, and he had chewed over that light compliment she offered over and over again. There had been no one else around during vacation, and he had worn those summer clothes because it was all he had.

“Also, I had a long leave of absence, so I graduated the same semester as you. After last semester’s midterm exam, you took me away. Remember when I asked you if you would wear the graduation ring when we were in front of my house?”

It was a problem that the memory was so clear. He could practically see the white complex that stretched on one side of the Dongjak bridge. The streets were as quiet as they were old, with low buildings among those tall trees. On that day, Minsun had been sick, and since Jungjin lived nearby in Sadang-dong, he came to visit her. That quiet autumn night, with the branches of the tall metasequoia trees shaking. The flat-shaped buildings, like well-stacked blocks, seemed to spread endlessly.

On that night, walking with Minsun, the old apartment complex felt like a maze garden. Even though it was an apartment complex where countless people lived together, somehow, they had been alone when crossing the forested road by the river. Just like when she asked if he would wear it, Minsun looked up at Jungjin. Even with her white hair and purple eyes, her expressions were exactly the same as he remembered Minsun.

“I thought I had missed it because I didn’t apply until the last day, but after class, you looked for me and told me that you would get one at the back of the central library.”

He did. He didn’t live in abundance after graduation, but when he was in school, the circumstances of Jungjin were miserable. He had to live with one or two-thousand won every month. It wasn’t easy to pay for the graduation ring due to his situation, and he was only able to get one after holding a part-time job on the weekends. He couldn’t think that the other person had remembered all those trivial conversations. Jungjin called out to her in a softer tone.

“You really are □□…?”

Jungjin was embarrassed. He certainly called her name, but while his vocal cords rang and his lips moved, there was no sound. It seemed that it had been forcibly taken away. He quickly understood what had happened when Regina called his name.

“Were you dragged into this world like me?”

She shook her head quietly. If so, there weren’t many possibilities left. His voice trembled.

“If you weren’t pulled in, then you… Are you the author of this story?”

This time, her head shook more vigorously. It was a strong denial.

“No, not that either. I am not a world writer; it’s not my power.”

Jungjin looked at Minsun. He never knew her well, but now he realized how unknown an entity she truly was. He called out the function of Promise without hesitation.

「Appropriate judgment」

That he could trust.

[—Using appropriate judgment.

—You can judge whether an issue is true or false, and whether an element is appropriate.

*Caution: When using this function, 95% of the ether in the body is temporarily consumed.]

At the same time it activated, his ether emptied out of him, accompanied by that familiar feeling of dizziness and collapse. Jungjin carefully tried not to express his fatigue.

“You have to tell me truthfully. Are you really not the author of this world?”

“I’m not the author of this world.”

As her answer resonated in the space between them, the dazzling light of Promise wrapped between them. Jungjin frowned, going temporarily blind, but on the other hand, Minsun didn’t seem to notice the light. Once it faded, a message remained in its place.

[―According to appropriate judgment, the answer is true.]

Jungjin’s confusion only amplified. Far from arriving at a clear conclusion, his doubts had only been strengthened.

‘In the first place, is this person really Minsun? It doesn’t make sense.’

After graduation, he had heard nothing from him. She didn’t even participate in that common SNS, so he hadn’t even really heard much in the way of rumors. It was said she went abroad to study, and that she was doing research in a European city after finishing her degree. Of course, he didn’t even try to check the validity of that. Something felt wrong here, with this Minsun who remembered those trivial conversations years later. It had only been an important event for Jungjin. He mumbled to himself.

“Yes, if not the author… I could really be delusional about all of this.”

Regina tried to hold onto him as his grip slackened.

“No way.”

Kleio looked down at Regina’s hand, feeling its cold touch.

“If you’re really here, you can’t be so close to me. Yeah, it was weird from the start.”

“□□, listen to me. I’ve always wanted to be kind to you, but you considered that kindness to be an insult.”

Jungjin trembled slightly as Regina looked at him with desperation. As Jungjin knew in the previous world, she was a person who had never been desperate but wore the kindness and indifference peculiar to humans like a wreath. He longed for her, even if she caused him to suffer just by looking at her. No matter what, there was no way that desperation would be for Jungjin. It was naught but a dull and dirty illusion.

“Is this also an element that the author put in for my approval? Bringing people here… What do you see people as?”