Surviving Among the Anomalies - Chapter 16

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Alyo

◈ Surviving Among the Anomalies ◈

Chapter 16: The Broken Ark

──────

‘What is the core that makes me who I am?’

I wrote and wrote. In a world without night or day, I kept writing with the sound of waves in my ears as my work song.

‘The soul, or the body? Unless an Anomaly intervenes, the existence of the soul has not been scientifically proven. Therefore, I believe it is the body.’

Whenever I grew tired, I ate bread, milk, and cheese, then continued writing.

‘But the body continues to grow. In that process, cells are replaced, so the cells composing my body in the past and my body in the future must inevitably be different.’

I fainted several times.

‘What matters is not the cells, but the memories stored in the brain. Past memories accumulate to create the self known as me and define who I am now.’

I instinctively came to understand when I needed to sleep and how much sleep I needed.

‘The reason dementia is terrifying is because one loses oneself. And the prophecy on Dial TV said that the Anomaly would abduct ninety-nine humans, including me, through dreams and make them lose themselves through the forgetfulness inherent to dreams.’

Time passed like that.

‘Though I know what the Anomaly is, the game’s method of surviving it involves making choices. Back then, I watched from outside the game and could easily choose the option that led to escape based on my accumulated experience. This time, I am an actual participant and will lose my memories, so I cannot use that method.’

By the time a large callus formed on the index finger of my right hand from holding the fountain pen, I realized I had accomplished what I set out to do.

‘Therefore, if I do not lose my memories, I can escape.’

I finished the final page and set down the fountain pen.

[Therefore, if I do not lose my memories, I can escape. With that thought, I set down the fountain pen and completed a means of preserving my memories through the Broken Ark.]

After checking the final paragraph, I closed the notebook. The door to the Broken Ark had not opened yet, so I quietly watched the sea and ate the bread, milk, and cheese I had grown used to.

“What kind of fish live in this sea?”

I threw some bread into the water. Countless schools of fish greedily rushed toward the bread that had landed on the surface.

“Hmm.”

Once the fish gathered, sharks appeared behind them and greedily tore into them.

“I was thinking of going for a swim.”

Then, as the sharks gathered, something the size of a whale appeared, covered in dozens of eyes. It swallowed the sharks whole.

“Better not.”

I stared blankly at the horizon.

“I should take a break.”

They say it’s good to stare blankly at something without thinking when you’re resting, right?

“Then is this sea-gazing? Water-gazing?”

Or maybe wave-gazing.

＊＊＊

After what felt like several days, the door to the Broken Ark opened. When I passed through it, the sea vanished and I returned to the original storage room.

“You have returned. It has been a year.”

“Has a year passed in reality too?”

“No, only ten minutes have passed.”

A table I had not seen when entering had been set up in the storage room, along with tea and several kinds of cake.

“A tea party. You kept your promise.”

“You remembered. I thought you would have forgotten after a year.”

“What I did inside was all about remembering.”

The merchant took a break outside the Broken Ark while we shared tea.

“There’s something I’m curious about.”

“Please, ask anything.”

“What did you do inside?”

The merchant seemed curious about how I had emerged in one piece.

“I remembered my life. Every memory, from the moment I was born until now.”

From the moment I was born from my mother and burst into tears, through the 9,125 days until I turned twenty-five.

And the 285 days of this year, when Anomalies became reality.

“I wrote down all 9,410 days here.”

“I see. But did you have enough time? One year should not have been enough.”

“People do not remember every moment of their past. They only retain impressive and distinctive memories, and those memories accumulate to form a personality. So I wrote down only the memories that stood out to me.”

“Is that so?”

“At least, that’s what I believe.”

Using Notebook in My Head, I replayed memories of the past.

Then I recorded the memorable parts in Notebook in My Head in diary form.

“Now, I will not forget who I am.”

This was the only absolute measure against forgetfulness that I had come up with.

“I see. I only asked because I was curious.”

The merchant held out the teapot. I gladly accepted a refill and put a piece of Battenberg cake in my mouth.

“Some of my customers occasionally enter the Broken Ark when they need time. But for most of them, it does not end well.”

“What happens to them?”

“Out of every ten, six emerge insane. Three throw themselves into the sea, and only one comes out unharmed.”

This time, I split a scone in half, spread jam and cream on it, and ate it. It was quite good. I understood why the British enjoyed cream tea.

“Customers, ah, human customers, tend to overestimate themselves. They enter believing there will be no problem, but the moment they cannot feel the passage of time in that empty open sea, anxiety and impatience quickly drive them mad.”

I ate a cucumber sandwich as I listened to the merchant.

“Those without a goal can’t help it.”

The various choices that appeared before entering the Broken Ark in the game.

[1. Physical training for a year! Bring plenty of supplements!]

[2. Mental cultivation for a year! Bring a book on mental cultivation!]

[3. Learn various skills for a year! Bring relevant books!]

[4. To hell with cultivation, let us rest well for a year.]

Choosing one of the first three options raised the relevant attribute, but choosing the fourth led to a bad ending.

[You have been cast into an empty open sea. You cannot tell night from day, and your only meals are bread, milk, and cheese. After one week, you begin talking to yourself. After one month, you go mad and begin wandering around naked. Before even half a year has passed, you lose the will to live and throw yourself into the sea.]

“A goal. I see. If one has a goal, one does not go mad.”

“Humans are like that by nature. With a goal, even an old person lives like a young person. Without one, even someone in the prime of youth dies in loneliness.”

“Then what is your goal?”

The merchant opened their mouth wide and put an uncut Victoria sponge cake into it in a single bite.

“To live like a human. And even if I die, to keep wriggling until my final moment.”

The moment their mouth opened, I saw that the merchant had twenty-seven tongues.

“That is the purpose of my life.”

“That’s a wonderful goal.”

“Then what is your goal?”

“My goal is simply to keep living as I am now. I’m satisfied with my current life.”

Then the merchant smiled, as if something had occurred to them.

“That’s interesting.”

“What is?”

“An inhuman person who wants to live like a human.”

“I am more human than anyone.”

“Yes, I know. I’ve seen what you’ve done.”

-Quack!

A duck quacked from the bag in the corner. The merchant said,

“You are human.”

The merchant emptied their teacup.

“If a human accomplishes something impossible for humans, are they still human?”

“Even so, they are human.”

“Why?”

I emptied mine as well.

“Because humans make the impossible possible.”

＊＊＊

After finishing my trade with the merchant, I returned home.

[If you wish to trade with me again, please bring the invitation and act as you did this time. I look forward to the day we meet again.]

I received a new invitation that was more elaborate and pleasant to the touch than the original, though I did not know what the difference was.

‘Once I obtain several Anomalies or rare items, I should meet them again.’

The moment I returned, I took out the things I had not been able to sell.

“Rubber Rubber Duck, Peace to the Big Toe, and the WK Special Tumbler.”

And Seven-Headed Snake as well.

“Did you not want to leave me either?”

Seven-Headed Snake had value, but I could not sell it because it did not want to leave me.

“I tamed you without even realizing it.”

If I had tamed it, I had no choice but to take responsibility.

-Quack!

‘The time of the prophecy is almost here.’

Only a few days remained until the day foretold. Until then, I lived an ordinary life.

“You prefer live mice to frozen mice.”

I bought various kinds of food and experimented to see what Seven-Headed Snake preferred.

[IAmADebater: Why is it that Korea is a democratic country, yet whenever someone tries to discuss politics, everyone waves them away, avoids them, and runs off in disgust? How is this any different from communism? What do you all think? Let us discuss this based on the current ruling party and Korea’s political system.]

└[Ah, fuck off, you politics addict.]

└[Go talk politics in the Politics Gallery, idiot. This is the Spicy Ramen Gallery.]

└[IAmADebater: I was permanently banned from the Politics Gallery, so that is impossible. Also, this topic does not greatly deviate from the gallery’s subject.]

└[In what way does it not deviate?]

└[IAmADebater: Just as one grows accustomed to spicy flavors and seeks increasingly spicy ramen, is our generation’s political outlook not like spicy ramen? We have grown accustomed to political apathy, do not even vote, and only talk about the country’s corruption.]

[Please, moderator, get here quickly.]

For the first time in a while, I found a new community, led a discussion there, and got permanently banned.

[Woohoo! Life has been great lately! I can’t believe someone from Third School like me has become this wealthy. It feels like a dream.]

[Congratulations. What are you going to do now?]

[I’m smart, but I couldn’t attend Final School because I had no money, you see? I’m going to try attending this time.]

I also exchanged messages with Shingu Hoerang after a long time.

[Alden & Sweets Pharmaceutical Company to begin selling Aldenweets, a diabetes treatment, soon.]

[Is this a con artist’s scam, or a miracle cure?]

[A treatment that cures both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes? The medical community says such a thing cannot exist.]

[A fierce division in the current medical community. Who is right?]

I invested my entire fortune in Alden & Sweets Pharmaceutical Company stock as well.

‘I should sleep now.’

It was the same peaceful daily life as always.

[All participants, wake up.]

Then the extraordinary arrived without warning.

[We will now begin Act 999 of the Dream Theater, Battle Royale.]

＊＊＊

[For those unfamiliar with the concept of battle royale, allow us to explain. There are currently ninety-nine participants on this island. From now on, you will fight for your lives until only one person remains.]

It was a sudden abduction, but I was not particularly flustered. I had already identified the Anomaly after seeing Dial TV’s prophecy.

‘The Troupe in the Dream.’

An unidentified Anomaly that invited people into dreams and made them perform according to a script of its choosing.

[The first day is for rest. Good acting requires good rest. Participants, please get acquainted with one another or rest and prepare for tomorrow.]

Death here meant death in reality, and becoming a permanent member of the Troupe, a puppet in their hands.

‘That’s what the wiki said.’

The game’s ending was not exactly the same, but it carried the same implication.

[By dying in the dream, you were unable to leave the stage created by the Troupe. You became an actor who acts according to their intentions and will obey their will forever.]

Since they said it was a rest period, I looked around and spotted an open clearing some distance away. The other participants were gathering there too, as though they had all been summoned to similar places.

“Where are we?”

“No, what was that voice from the sky just now?”

“I definitely fell asleep at home....”

I watched from afar for a moment, then headed there as well.

“...Huh?”

Until I saw the strange static in my vision.

‘Something is wrong with the right side of my vision.’

It looked like white noise from an unplugged cable.

‘My right eye.’

The first thing that came to mind was Blue Moon.

The eye Blue Moon had given me, whose purpose I had never known, had activated.

“This is....”