LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 197
“Is that you, Kana?”
“Yeah?”
With the three of us huddled together, staring at the tiny screen, Da-eun cautiously broke the silence.
“Aren’t you just going to answer? It’s weird that a call is coming when we’re in a dead zone, but, well, if it’s you, Edel… it’s not impossible, right?”
“Could be a phishing scam.”
“…There’s no way a phishing call would come through in a dead zone.”
“Scams usually happen when you least expect them.”
“Who the heck said that dumb line?”
“Dad did.”
“…I meant, it’s a purely rational statement, so arguing against it feels silly. Your dad is truly a warm, wise, and brilliant man?”
“You just repeated yourself two times.”
“I’m emphasizing my point by repeating myself. That’s how wise he was.”
“Da-eun is really good with words.”
Is that why she can do streaming?
“We’re going to lose the call! Just answer it already!”
Da-eun urged as she shoved the phone in my direction.
The call hadn’t dropped during our chat, although we weren’t talking for long.
It wouldn’t have been odd if it had held on this long.
Enough joking around.
I finally picked up the buzzing phone.
“Hello?”
-…Why did you take so long to pick up?!
“Ugh.”
The voice blasted right into my ear as soon as I answered.
Her already high-pitched tone got even louder, making it a struggle to keep my hearing intact.
Even holding the phone a few inches away didn’t help, so I ultimately gave up and pressed it right back against my ear.
-I was so worried!
I switched to speakerphone mode and placed the phone on the table as Edel’s voice echoed through the room.
Rubbing my sore ears, I tilted my head.
“Worried? What for?”
-You’re in Jeju Island, aren’t you?
“How did you know?”
-You think I wouldn’t know? Anyway, what’s the situation there?
“What do you mean, ‘what’s the situation’?”
Is there really any need to ask me about what’s obvious from the news?
I answered her question instead of dwelling on her puzzling thoughts.
“It’s raining so hard you could swim on the streets.”
Wanting to swim? There’s no need to trek all the way to a beach or pool.
Just opening the door and stepping outside would drench you in water.
The only downside? It’s a bit dirty.
But hey, it’s free, so I can deal with it.
-…Swimming on the street?
However, Edel looked completely puzzled, as if she didn’t understand what I was saying.
I thought that analogy was pretty straightforward, yet here we are.
Trying to simplify it for her, I clarified.
“It’s raining so much you could swim, okay?”
-You think I didn’t get that?
“Wasn’t that it?”
-What do you think of me?
“Hmm…”
-No. Forget it. Don’t say anything. Hearing it will just frustrate me further.
Just as I was about to reply, Edel interjected, cutting me off.
…Why ask me if you weren’t going to listen to me?
If she hadn’t sounded so clueless, I wouldn’t have reacted so strongly.
I closed my mouth, feeling slightly annoyed.
-Okay. So other than that, nothing else happened? That’s a relief.
“Is calling that ‘nothing’ really appropriate?”
I glanced out the window.
Where there used to be a road just yesterday, a river now flowed relentlessly.
Even being in a relatively elevated area, it’s bad enough; I could only imagine what it’s like in the lowlands.
-Seeing the worst, a whole island could’ve been swept away, so it’s fine.
“It’s pouring, but it’s not that bad.”
-You don’t know the situation, do you?
“I know it better than you do, Edel.”
I’m the one here dealing with it.
Yet, Edel disagreed with my perspective.
-No. You don’t.
She firmly asserted in a voice mixed with relief and urgency.
-If you really knew, you’d have grasped what I was saying right away.
Edel sighed heavily before continuing.
-…The realms have divided.
“…Huh?”
I lifted my head at her unexpected claim.
Honestly, I didn’t even need to be looking at the phone, but glancing up revealed Da-eun and Yuki sporting equally confused looks.
And while you couldn’t see it, my expression was probably very similar.
“….”
“….”
“….”
Nod.
You too?
Yeah, me too.
The three of us nodded in unison as if we were telepathically connected.
There was a shared sense of camaraderie in our confusion.
At least it seemed like I wasn’t the only one not getting what Edel just said.
“What’s ‘the realm’?”
Eventually, I spoke up, taking on the representative role.
What does it mean, and what does it mean that it’s divided?
-Ah, right. I need to explain that first.
Finally realizing her oversight, Edel cleared her throat.
-The ‘realm’ refers to…
***
Walls of Dimensions.
Though I said it as a wall for easy understanding, it wasn’t something you could actually see or touch.
It’s a protective barrier that keeps the energy within a dimension from leaking out and simultaneously acts as a fortress to prevent external intrusion.
That was the wall of dimensions and the boundary separating one dimension from another.
Of course, just crossing that boundary doesn’t automatically mean entering another dimension, but you could consider leaping over the wall as the minimum requirement.
And what the wall surrounds is a dimension, or ‘world.’
-The realm could be understood as a ‘server’ if we’re putting it simply. It’s a name we kind of accepted.
It’s not a completely independent world, but neither can you just come and go.
-Even if the servers are different, we’re still playing the same game, right? Just can’t move between them.
“Edel, there are many games these days that allow cross-play.”
-…That’s one way to look at it. Do you think I don’t know that? Want to incur some divine wrath? Seriously…!
“Ah, yes….”
Da-eun, who couldn’t hold back her comment, shrank back.
Why you gotta bring her down like that?
…Then again, she has piled up a lot of sins.
Ignoring the crumpled-up Da-eun, I continued.
“So, basically, it’s like a burglar built a wall right in the living room?”
-Exactly.
Edel praised my analogy as spot-on.
I sighed, letting her applause echo across the phone.
“And the separation of realms is happening right here. In Jeju.”
I didn’t ask why it had to be Jeju. It was clear from the way she spoke that Edel wouldn’t know, and besides, I had a more pressing question in mind.
“What was Edel even doing?”
-…
Edel fell silent.
Well, it’s no wonder she was quiet.
She claimed to be on high alert against dimensional beings; yet, they snuck in, separated part of the world, and built walls without her noticing.
That was the current situation she explained to us.
Because the realms were divided, it wasn’t just that we couldn’t go back and forth, but all communication was severed too.
Why had our TV suddenly gone out? Why was the phone dead? And what’s with the relentless downpour?
All of it was phenomena caused by the division of realms.
-…The side defending is always at a disadvantage compared to the side attacking.
After a long silence, Edel finally muttered something that was more of a flimsy excuse.
-I did my best. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t even be able to talk to you!
“Uh-huh, gotcha.”
-Wow, this is making me seriously mad.
“Alright.”
I cut off her voice tinged with slight frustration.
“Do we have a solution?”
In her chilly voice, I could see Da-eun flinch slightly.
But at the moment, I wasn’t in a state to care about the little things.
If Edel and the administrator hadn’t picked up on it, it would make sense that I, being lower on the hierarchy, would miss it too.
…It would be easy to take comfort in that.
Yet my inflated pride didn’t allow for such indulgences.
‘…’
How could I have missed this deceit happening around me?
It was relatively minor, but if it were something worse…
My gaze narrowed, catching Da-eun who was checking me cautiously.
-I’m not sure.
“I don’t care.”
When have I ever only chosen to take on certain certainties?
My life has been a tangled mess of uncertainties since childhood.
Now hearing such remarks felt oddly trivial.
A low chuckle echoed from me.
“Don’t laugh, just answer.”
-…
How did I end up in this situation?
The complainant in me found it silly, yet Edel diligently began sharing her thoughts.
-I’ve come up with a few hypotheses. Even if they’re foes, they wouldn’t find these things so easy to pull off.
Even if they’ve fallen, they were once divine beings, and this realm was managed alongside a perfectly functioning deity.
Infiltrating such a place and building walls wouldn’t have been a walk in the park, according to Edel.
-It’s either that they’ve been working behind the scenes for a long time, or they hastily built those walls. I’m leaning towards the latter.
“Which one do you think, Edel?”
-Well, probably the latter, right? Knowing that it sounds like a poor excuse in this situation, but we’re not entirely incapable.
“Hmm.”
It was tinged with self-deprecation…
No, it was outright self-deprecation.
At the same time, it was part defense too.
-And considering what happens next, it must be the latter. Having their abilities that high isn’t a great thing either, right?
“That’s true.”
It’s foolish to sit back and pray that the enemy is incompetent, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong to hope for a tiny bit of incompetence.
-If someone sneaked into your home and built a wall, what should you do?
“Uh… Break down the wall?”
-And another thing.
There’s no entry or exit, so it’s impossible to pass through.
But what if you were left alone with a burglar on the other side?
-Wouldn’t it be possible to stab the burglar?
I’ve been sharpening my skills for situations like this all this time.
There was a hint of amusement in Edel’s tone, yet I could confirm there was no smile on her face.
-It’s time for you to do what you do best.