WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Alyo

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◈ Surviving Among the Anomalies ◈

Chapter 4: Blue Moon (3)

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『Lee Seung-hoon.』

Its mouth opened. Then countless mouths, not just one, each spilled out their own words.

『Lee of plum.』

『Seung of ascent.』

『Hoon of teaching.』

When many people spoke at once, it was difficult to distinguish their words, but every word Blue Moon spoke came through clearly, as though carved into my mind.

"How strange. I never told you that. How did you know?"

I asked out of pure curiosity, but Blue Moon did not answer.

『You, Lee Seung-hoon, child of Lee Jin-hyeok, son of Song Ye-rin, grandson of Lee Ja-cheol, grandchild of Yang Ok-bun, I ask you this. Why are you unharmed?』

"Then let me ask you. Should I not be unharmed?"

『You, one-eyed one, destroyer of the 6th Division, thorn in Lee Deok-gu's side, Ryu Se-hyeon's nightmare, one who dropped a star, my interest is the expansion of a small universe and the realization of the self. Thus, for a time, I may gain the sight of a two-eyed one.』

My curiosity was satisfied. Since it had kept mentioning names I missed, Blue Moon seemed able to see a person's life.

‘Something I could never have known in the game.’

Had Blue Moon's creator really designed an ability like that? No, I did not think so. At least, the Blue Moon I knew was nothing more than a creation based on the superstition that the moon in the West symbolized madness.

‘The game made real surpasses its creator's imagination.’

Just as they wished, it seemed only natural that beings beyond human understanding would surpass human imagination.

『When a one-eyed one sees the world of a two-eyed one, it is only right for them to be dazzled. A tiny creature unable to adapt to such brilliance tries to strike down the light and fears the unknown. Why are you unchanged?』

"By your reasoning, isn't it because I'm a two-eyed one?"

『You, smoker of poison, one who does not eat selectively, the 127,642nd-best person in the world at handling spicy food, one whose wisdom teeth grew straight, one who has never suffered from an ingrown toenail, you are not a two-eyed one.』

The eyes on Blue Moon, which had been gazing in every direction as though looking down upon the world, focused on me all at once.

『Had you been a two-eyed one, I would have known! Among the tiny creatures I have seen for sixty kalpa-years, only a handful have been two-eyed ones. Yet the small universes they create are beautiful, and I can never forget them. You are not a two-eyed one.』

The sounds of the world vanished.

『Therefore, you insignificant creature, incomprehensible being, floating speck of dust, life without purpose, wanderer who knows not the way, I shall give you an eye.』

A fierce pain erupted in my right eye.

『Prove whether you are one-eyed or two-eyed.』

Something wriggled along my optic nerve and burrowed into my mind. I could not see it, but I was certain it was an earthworm. The intense pain tearing through my head was something I had never experienced before, making it both novel and unpleasant.

At last, when the pain disappeared, I could see two worlds.

My left eye saw the original world.

My right eye saw Blue Moon's world.

『Hello?』

『Hello?』

In the world seen through my right eye, earthworms wriggled toward me.

"Are you all right?"

"Are you feeling unwell?"

In the world seen through my left eye, people approached me in concern.

‘How strange.’

Looking at them made my heart surge as though every kind of emotional paint had been splashed across it. I felt pity, as though looking at a beggar by the roadside. Rage rose in me, as though I were looking at the murderer of my child. I felt overwhelming joy, as though seeing my own newborn child. I felt sympathy, as though looking at a young animal in a cardboard box on a rainy day, waiting for someone to take it in.

All those emotions rose together and mixed within me, until they finally led to one conclusion...

‘They're pitiful, so let's kill them.’

Let's save them by killing them. I did not know why I had reached that conclusion. The only thing I knew was that I could save them by killing them.

"Excuse me? Can you hear me?"

I reached toward the person in front of me. I had to kill them. I did not have a knife, so I should strangle them. No, smash their head with a rock. Wasn't there a good rock over there? But what if they ran away while I went to get it? It was fine. I could kill someone else then.

Whether they knew about Blue Moon or not, the desire rising inside me was stronger than the desire to eat the food before my eyes when starving. It was closer to the instinct to breathe.

"Yes."

That was how I reached out.

"I'm fine. Don't worry."

Then I took the person's shoulder and smiled.

＊＊＊

After making the people withdraw, I wandered the streets. I suddenly wanted to smoke, and after searching for a smoking room, I finally lit a cigarette.

『Who are you?』

Blue Moon kept speaking to me as I smoked.

『What are you?』

『Do you not wish to grant them mercy?』

『Those were not emotions a tiny creature could endure.』

『Do you not understand my words?』

『I shall say it in words you can understand.』

By the time I finished my cigarette, Blue Moon's mouths, which had each spoken different words, spoke as one.

『Why did you not kill them?』

Unlike the force that made the world tremble, the question itself was utterly trivial.

『An ant cannot resist a flowing current. The eye of a two-eyed one, granted to a one-eyed one, is like the current through a breached dam. You tiny creatures have no choice but to be swept away, and within that, I seek a miracle.』

It was not an emotion. It was instinct, my will, an action I had to take.

『I hope for ants to become fish and swim, to become birds and fly. You are not one of them. You are one-eyed. Even after receiving an eye, you remain one-eyed. So I shall ask once more.』

But I did not have to do it.

『So I shall ask once more. You, thief of knowledge, one pointed at by your own blood, thief without desire, one pointed at by those in the world beyond the screen, one who wishes to walk every path, who are you?』

I answered Blue Moon's question for the second time.

"I'm human."

As though it did not want to miss a word, Blue Moon's mouths became ears.

"I'm an animal that wishes to be rational, a being that craves true knowledge, an ordinary person who wishes to practice the doctrine of benevolence, a mortal who wishes to preserve the self amid the harmony of the Five Aggregates, and a creation that wishes to love others without reserve."

I threw away the cigarette butt burned to its end and lit another.

"Because I wanted to live like a human, I set my own standards for right and wrong. I simply did not do it because I believed killing them was wrong, even if it was a raging river sweeping the self along."

It had been a long time since someone listened to my story without cursing me or looking at me with prejudice, so I became animated.

"People today argue that humans are animals in the end and that instinct cannot be stopped. But that is not true. There were scientists who starved amid the fires of war, yet preserved their seeds rather than eating them, saving their country's future. There are firefighters who run into blazing infernos where death is certain."

Humans are animals. But because they possess reason, they can rise above their animal nature.

"I was no different."

『You, human, sage, fool, ordinary man, genius, what is it that you wish to do?』

"Nothing special."

My life's goal had always been one thing.

"To live like a human."

『What kind of life is that?』

"Never stopping learning, loving others, living rationally, accepting change, moving forward."

The pain in my right eye disappeared.

『You are a two-eyed one in the form of a one-eyed one.』

Blue Moon began to fade.

『You are a being I have never seen before. A one-eyed one and yet a two-eyed one. I grant you my praise.』

I felt a foreign-body sensation in my right eye again, but this time there was no pain.

『It has been a pleasant meeting after so long.』

"Wait."

『What is it?』

Before Blue Moon vanished completely, I asked, "Why do you do this?"

Blue Moon's mouths opened at once.

『Because you are lovable.』

『Because you are pitiful.』

『Because you are adorable.』

『Because I wish to care for you.』

『Because you are beautiful,』

Words entirely unlike Blue Moon's actions.

『Granting you mercy is my hobby.』

With those words, Blue Moon disappeared completely. I looked around with only my right eye open, but I could no longer see the space where Blue Moon had been.

"Mercy."

I finished my second cigarette, then put a third between my lips.

‘The feeling I had when I first received the right eye was definitely mercy.’

The feeling that everyone in sight was pitiful might have been what Blue Moon felt toward humans.

"Euthanasia."

Murder carried out humanely so someone would suffer no longer.

Because I knew the world of Surviving Among the Anomalies, I could understand Blue Moon's actions.

"As expected."

That did not mean I could accept them.

"Whether they're friendly or not, every Anomaly is dangerous."

After returning home, I went to bed early because I was mentally exhausted.

‘But why did I survive without going mad?’

Blue Moon was certainly a transcendent being. The only ways to survive it were to use a special Anomaly, avoid falling victim to it from the beginning, or raise Mental Strength to 80 or higher.

‘Normally, you can't raise it above 70.’

That was why anyone above 70 was treated as a saint, and anyone above 80 was treated as the pinnacle of humanity.

‘Blue Moon's effect cannot be escaped without becoming the pinnacle of humanity.’

Then a thought occurred to me. There was another way to escape Blue Moon's influence without becoming the pinnacle of humanity.

"Too much is as bad as too little."

Having Mental Strength exceed 90.

If Mental Strength was low, the character went mad and the game ended. But if it was too high, the character also went mad and the game ended.

Still, going mad from having too much was madness of a very different kind.

[Your Mental Strength has surpassed the level permitted to humans. Because you can manifest supernatural abilities through Mental Strength alone, the world has come to recognize you as an anomaly. However, because this power is too great for a human, you become a madman and wander the world.]

A laugh slipped out of me.

"I'm not a madman."

I closed my eyes because I was tired.

"Where would you find someone as ordinary as me?"

I opened my eyes again and reached toward the ceiling. I imagined fire coming from my hand. I imagined moving objects without touching them. Nothing changed.

"I don't even have a Supernatural Ability."

＊＊＊

I had survived Blue Moon's attack, but now I had something to do.

"Should I keep surviving, or should I die while I still can?"

Among the Anomalies were many far more horrible than Blue Moon.

There were countless things that could inflict unimaginable pain and suffering, whether mental or physical. If my memory was correct, the creator went wild, and half of the Dead Endings were Destruction Endings.

"City destruction, national destruction, human destruction, world destruction, Earth destruction, universal destruction."

Even if I lived quietly, I had no idea what I might get caught up in and killed by.

"Now was the only time death could offer rest."

Should I go buy a rope first?

Rain drizzled down as I headed out.

‘This time, it's real rain.’

I saw people walking with umbrellas and turned back to grab mine. Then I stepped on an earthworm crawling across the ground.

"……."

This one was real too. It struggled desperately to live, then luckily made its way into the grass and vanished from sight.

"Sorry."

I did not know whether it would live or die. Earthworms had strong regenerative abilities, so it might survive, but the damage might have been too severe.

"Maybe acting on instinct isn't always bad."

Giving up like this might be nice, but...

"You never know until you try."

Maybe becoming an earthworm and wriggling along would not be so bad.

Footnotes:

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