WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 464: Final Chapter - Childhood's Beginning (2)

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“Do you know this, older sister? A person’s personality changes a lot depending on what they grew up eating.”

“I suppose it would... Meals are experiences too, and differences in experience are what make people different. Even if they aren’t aware of it themselves, they can’t help being affected to some degree.”

That was why Gaeul had tried to cook real food for her younger siblings, even if only once in a while. She wanted to show them that this kind of pleasure existed in the world too.

Gyeoul slowly shook his head.

“What I mean is, there’s an influence far more serious than differences in experience.”

“A serious influence?”

“Yes. One that causes a more direct and decisive change in a person’s mind.”

“...I’ve never heard that before.”

“I wouldn’t have known either if Bom hadn’t told me. Or that there are people who hate the idea of this fact becoming known... They believe it’s an obvious lie. At least on the surface. Even though, deep down, they know it isn’t.”

Gyeoul let out a short sigh.

“Maybe I should call it a lie people tell to deceive even themselves for profit. That’s why they deliberately try to keep anyone from finding out. Through textbooks or the media or anything else.”

A gap always existed between the world people perceived and the world that truly existed. That gap could be socially learned ideology or prejudice, different theories analyzing the same phenomenon, or simply a lie someone told themselves because they needed a justification.

Gaeul asked the next question.

“I understand what you mean. So... what exactly is that fact?”

Gyeoul gave a bitter smile.

“You know the Energy Packs we mostly ate growing up?”

“Yes.”

“They were made to control people’s gut microbiota.”

Gaeul’s expression wavered. She was shaken by the implication that the staple food she had been eating all this time had been a device with some kind of purpose built into it. She did not yet know what that purpose was, but the mere fact that any purpose existed at all was enough to shock her.

Gaeul murmured in confusion.

“I’m sure the ads said they only left beneficial bacteria-”

“They never said that benefit had to be for each individual.”

In other words, if they claimed it was beneficial from a social perspective, then they had not lied.

Gaeul asked again.

“Um, what is that gut microbiota thing...?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. The total collection of microorganisms living inside our bodies.”

Gyeoul explained.

“We are a world for the things that live inside us. Just as we change the world, the things inside us change us too. And that includes our minds.”

“...”

“To go into a little more detail, the hormones and neurotransmitters produced by microorganisms affect a person’s body and thoughts. Appetite, sexual desire, emotional state, stress responses, things like that.”

It was the concept known as the Gut-brain axis, the connection between the digestive tract and the brain. Some people even described it by saying humans had a second brain.

“According to Bom, when a person’s gut microbiota is restricted in a specific way during their growth period, they show fewer signs of social anxiety. Even if their microbiota is restored after they’re fully grown, the tendencies already set in place don’t change. But I guess some people thought of this as a way to cultivate the soundness of society’s members.”

Perhaps she had gotten goosebumps, because Gaeul’s shoulders trembled faintly.

‘And I still softened it quite a bit.’

Gyeoul had personally read the related meeting minutes. By the present day, it had been quite a long time ago. Around the time the government-level Energy Pack support project had been approved, the anonymous Committee Member A in charge of review had rejoiced while giving this assessment: this would improve the civic standards of the people.

That committee member was still active now, and was one of the people Bom had begun intervening in before anyone else to address the gap between reality and perception. Their colleagues were in similar positions. The degree of intervention was far stronger than in any other case.

“In truth, it must have been a phenomenon that existed from long ago. It only became stronger once people who wanted to exploit it appeared... Even half a century ago, the food of poor people must have helped create the minds of poor people, and the food of rich people the minds of rich people. There would always have been a few exceptions, but on average, the latter group’s minds must have been healthier.”

As Bom had said, Gyeoul was one of those exceptions.

The squirrel that had been sitting on Gaeul’s shoulder until then suddenly ran down her arm and jumped to the ground. It stared up at Gaeul after she stopped walking, then soon lost interest and scurried off toward its nest. Gaeul’s gaze followed it for a moment before returning to Gyeoul.

“I understand that even people who believed they were free weren’t actually all that free. That the freedom of perception we were given was far more meager than we thought... Are you trying to say Bom’s rule over humanity will be better than the unfreedom they were already living under?”

“Who knows.”

Gyeoul shrugged.

“Whether it’s truly positive... people will have room to disagree on that.”

That was why Bom had declared that her rule would be as dark as night.

“This is only one of countless problems Bom and I have to solve. Still.”

“Still?”

“I wanted to tell you that the spring of humanity ahead of us has this side to it too. The second childhood that will be given to humanity, now that it has nothing but a downhill road left, will begin with building a world where the luxurious foods of this era are treated as ordinary meals, like they were in the past. And at the foundation of that will be trust in people.”

It was the belief that all of this would become preparation for returning true freedom to people.

After hesitating, Gyeoul added one more thing.

“Of course, to be more accurate, that belief is mine rather than Bom’s.”

“You’re asking me to accept at least that much for now.”

“Yes. There will be plenty of time to watch from now on. Even if you don’t live forever, older sister.”

“...”

If it was hard to trust Bom, then trust the Gyeoul who would be with Bom. At that unspoken meaning, Gaeul hesitated, then sighed softly and nodded. Her younger brother had become an adult after spending time she did not know about in places she did not know, but even so, the Gyeoul before her eyes was the Gyeoul she knew.

“Thank you, older sister.”

Gyeoul said it with a smile. If Gaeul feared Bom, that would have been painful for Gyeoul as well.

“Actually, I saw the question you posted on the internet.”

“Ah...”

“That’s part of why I told you all this. I thought you might have been disappointed by how lightly people reacted.”

Maybe out of embarrassment, Gaeul’s cheeks turned faintly red.

「Let’s suppose there is a certain button.」

The question that began this way was an extension of the conversation Gyeoul and Bom had shared. Which would people choose between unhappiness enjoyed through free will and happiness enjoyed while their freedom was restricted? If there were a button that decided this, would people truly choose to press it?

Gaeul had explained Bom’s method of rule in as much detail as she could understand it. Most of that rule would take place through the control of possibilities beyond human perception, people would not even recognize that rule, and all humanity under that rule would gain eternal life.

「...If you press the button, all of these conditions will apply to you. Would you press the button?」

People’s reactions to this question were, just as Gyeoul had said, uniformly light to an absurd degree.

「MiddleAgedMultipleChoice: Obviously I would. It’s clearly an upgraded version of Afterlife Insurance.」

「NeutralCountry: I could even tap dance on top of the button.」

「Old_Future: Eternal life at a bargain discount is insane. The balance is totally busted. You posted this like it was a real question?」

「HalfHome: The balance is totally busted? If it’s busted, is it bust?」

「LendMeYourStrength: HalfHome, this bastard is doing this here too.」

...

Even after waiting for more reactions afterward, no one appeared who said they would not press the button. Their minds had already been crushed by this era. This too was part of the message Gyeoul had just conveyed to Gaeul.

“That’s all I wanted to say for now.”

Gyeoul jerked his chin toward the path still ahead.

“If it isn’t too hard on you, older sister, let’s walk a little more before we go back in. It’s been a long time since we took a walk like this.”

“...Yes. Let’s do that.”

Afterward, the two walked slowly past an abandoned spring site and old signposts, looked at a small waterfall, and returned. On the way back, Gyeoul spoke to Gaeul.

“Oh, right... I’m thinking of meeting that person tomorrow or the day after.”

“That person?”

“Chairman Go Geon-cheol. The one who has my old body.”

Gaeul closed her mouth.

“It’s about time I tied things up. I can’t keep putting it off forever.”

Go Ah-young, whom Gyeoul considered a friend, was also waiting for the right moment as Bom’s collaborator. In Bom’s plan, the two great groups, Hyeseong and Paradise, were meant to function as one of the mediums that would coordinate the world, and as Gyeoul’s throne.

Gyeoul asked.

“What do you want me to do with that person, older sister?”

“What do I want, you ask...”

“I want to give you more time to think, since your will is as important as mine in this matter, but they say he doesn’t have much time left. According to Bom’s analysis, it’s a mental illness, so if forced life-prolonging measures are taken, he won’t be able to keep his sanity. Not unless his perception of reality is severely distorted.”

And whether through forced life extension or cognitive distortion, there was a high chance it would lead to the Chairman’s mental collapse during their later meeting. The frustration and rage of a tyrant who realized what had happened to him would be that deadly. Gyeoul understood this through Bom. Therefore, the time limit for meeting the tyrant while his mind was relatively intact matched the remaining life of the shell he stubbornly clung to.

“I’m sorry, but-”

Gaeul stopped speaking for a moment, and white breath flowed from her mouth.

“I’m not confident I can forgive that person, and I don’t know what kind of expression I’ll make in front of him. It probably won’t be a good one. That person tried to rape me while wearing your body.”

“I understand.”

Gyeoul nodded sincerely. Bom had told Gyeoul everything Gaeul had gone through, leaving nothing out. When he had first learned the facts, he had felt like rage would drive him insane. It had felt as if fire flowed through his veins instead of blood. To think that Kang Young-il, that venomous bastard, had not been the whole of the terrible things Gaeul had suffered.

If Gyeoul had known only about that incident without knowing Gaeul’s feelings or the context around it, he would not have endured the surge of rage.

The choice between revenge and forgiveness belonged to Gaeul, the victim.

Now, unable to choose either, she looked gloomy.

“But I don’t want to watch the moment he dies in anger and disappointment toward himself either. He doesn’t even realize what he wants... no, he knows, but he can’t admit it. That is exactly why my silence would hurt him even more. He wouldn’t even be able to ask me to forgive him. Because he is someone who wouldn’t admit the very fact that he needs to ask for forgiveness...”

Understanding locked a padlock around the limits of hatred. That was why Gaeul’s sorrow deepened whenever she thought of the tyrant. It would have been easier on her heart if she could simply hate him without thinking.

“If that’s what will happen, I think it would be better for both of us if we didn’t meet. He’ll hate himself until his final moment, but compared to the disappointment he would feel from facing me, that pain would be more bearable. I don’t want to take revenge on him.”

In the end, what killed the tyrant would not be Gaeul’s revenge, but only the weight of the sins he had committed.

‘In one way or another, this will remain a bitter memory for older sister.’

Gyeoul felt sorry for her.

After staying quiet for a while, Gaeul took Gyeoul’s hand.

“Let’s go in. Dinner will be late.”

Gyeoul’s hand was warm, and Gaeul’s hand was cold.

As announced earlier, Anne had prepared a meal for everyone right on time. Gyeoul’s younger sibling Parang liked Anne’s cooking even more than the cooking of their older sister, Gaeul. Anne was the best cook in this hideout. Though that was only a relative evaluation.

The cooking Gyeoul had kept as a fond memory was, in truth, not all that excellent.

‘Of course. She didn’t have many chances to cook.’

Parang scraped the clam chowder soup clean down to the bottom, then took a big spoonful of paella and chewed. The sight was a source of pride for Anne, the cook, and a source of joy for Gyeoul, the older brother.

Gaeul also watched Parang with a pleased look that held not a trace of regret. She had already forgotten the gloom from a moment ago. This moment could truly be called the small happiness she had reached after hardship.

Footnotes:

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