Possessed in a Thousand Novels

5. Extras (2)

“Uhm… Where should I start saying this… Oh yeah. “I like it here.”

Siwoo was silent for a moment.

The silence was a time for her to reexamine what she was going to say.

To avoid saying things that shouldn’t be said.

During the inspection, there were a few parts that were stuck like stones. It wasn’t the part where there were things that shouldn’t be said, but the empty space left by those omissions.

Siwoo filled them evenly.

“One day, I saw myself in another world.”

Adriana rested her elbows on the table, cupped her chin with the backs of her hands, and gave a small nod to her. It means to listen. Even though it was an absurd story, she showed no signs of doubt.

This is why Siwoo wanted to tell Adriana about this. In the original, she did not completely trust the other person’s words, but she spoke to the other person assuming that only what she said was the truth, and she never leaked the story to others.

“Some of the other worlds were worse than this one, but on the whole they were much richer, more peaceful, and more beautiful than this one. I was in another world, living comfortably there. “Without worrying about survival or food.”

So sometimes. No, I envied them quite often.

I thought, ‘It would be nice if I could go to a world like that.’

“I was so envious and looked happy. Still, it was okay up to that point. Anyway, it’s the same ‘me’ who is happy. Seeing myself happy made me happy as well, and gave me vicarious satisfaction. But the problem is… “It was when I started killing.”

In this dark world, Siwoo, an outsider, had no idea how to make a living.

In the beginning, he survived by wandering around villages, helping out in rural areas and earning a meal. However, he soon became a beggar and even that was no longer possible. He would have been lucky if he had not been imprisoned somewhere and treated like a slave.

He wanted to work as a mercenary, but at the time, he was not accepted due to his lack of combat skills and strength, and he was afraid of the slave engravings that his priests would personally engrave to become a slave.

In the end, there was only one way for Siwoo.

Killing people and stealing their property.

“I have no regrets about the murder itself. It was definitely wrong, but those who died by my hands were also criminals… “It was a situation that I had no choice but to survive.”

Even if he were to go back to the past, Si-Woo would make the same choice.

Because, literally, I had no choice. Because there was no other way.

If it had only been murder, Siwoo wouldn’t have suffered this much.

“But a problem arose because of me in another world. Just as I live in another world without committing any sin, wouldn’t the people who died by my hands be able to live happily if they were born in another world… That’s what I think.”

So Siwoo thought.

Individual sins are not just the individual’s responsibility.

Sin is borne by both the individual and the world.

“After thinking about that, when I kill someone, my first thought is, ‘What if that person was born in another world?'”

What if that person was born in Akashiu’s world? In the world of Spirit Siu,If you were born in the world of Chaebol Siu, the world of Sifeng Siu.

If only we were born in a world where we could educate people that crime is wrong and give them warm attention and love.

Couldn’t that person have lived a good and happy life?

“When I looked at it that way, I began to understand the mindset of people in this world. It’s not particularly uncivilized, particularly stupid, or particularly bad… “It’s just that people grew up in this world hearing only such things, so they had no choice but to become like that.”

That question also served as an opportunity for Siwoo to reflect on himself.

Siwoo is a person from the 2000s. He lives in a world of the 2000s, he listens to the 2000s. Even in modern times, he has the most futuristic thinking, which goes without saying in this world. Isn’t this a world where human rights themselves do not exist?

But does that mean Siwoo’s way of thinking will still be relevant in the 2100s or beyond? How long will he be able to remain an enterprising person?

That this is not the case has been proven through Si-Woo who possessed the future world, such as Si-Feng Si-Woo and SF Si-Woo.

Since Siwoo received an education in the 2000s, he only had the mindset of the 2000s, and was essentially no different from the inhabitants of the dark fantasy world.

After all, extras. Beings like Bupyeong Elementary School who are swept away by the waves.

“It was okay up to that point. Doesn’t everyone who is born into this world commit a crime? Even if this world gave you the seed of evil, you are the one who ultimately made it bloom. Until there… It was really hard and I felt a lot of guilt, but I was able to get through it. However.”

But one day.

That moment when, as usual, I killed a person and came back with a lot of silver.

I saw other Siwoos. I saw others living their lives without any sin and without any stains.

And he saw himself.

The self who lives a dirty and ugly life.

“Ah… At that time, I felt a great sense of shame. When he compares himself to others, he feels more humble and wonders what the point is in living like this… From then on, it became difficult to deal with other people. “I was so embarrassed.”

They were too clean and my appearance was too ugly to just smile and say that I couldn’t help it.

I couldn’t tell this much to the other Siwoos. That’s why I came to visit the main character.

“Just like that, my relationship with myself, which I thought was my last remaining relationship, began to turn sour… “It became more and more lonely and difficult.”

It would have been better if he had been able to provide some help to himself in the other world, but Siwoo couldn’t even do that.

Isn’t the reason he can continue his life without killing these days because he wanders around the village using the magic he learned from Akashiu and pretends to be a seeker?

A life that only receives and cannot be given back. In a situation where he had no choice but to compare each other’s situations, he forgot how to deal with ‘me’.

Siwoo confessed painfully, rubbing his face in his palms.

“So this is the situation now. My mentality was broken because I had seen so many things I couldn’t see, my hands had already taken the lives of nine people, and my relationship with the ‘other me’ who had provided me with comfort became estranged. Honestly, I feel like I can die at any time now. “Life has no meaning.”

They say life is meant to be lived, but Siwoo has already seen too much.

The village chief lets his daughter, who had just had her first period, in at night to entertain Si-woo, and when Si-woo refuses, he beats her daughter until she has bruises all over her body.

Parents who cooked and ate their own son in the winter.

The sight of a stillborn prostitute freely selling the corpse of her fetus, then receiving her next guest that evening. And people who boil and eat the whole corpse, claiming it is a panacea.

Terrible discrimination, confinement, forced labor, and abuse against outsiders occur in small societies.

A world where people are not seen as people.

Siwoo couldn’t find any reason to live any longer in this crazy world.

This world was too disgusting for me to just be satisfied with being in this world, and this world was too harsh for me to have any ambition to do something.

“So, should I really continue living? If I live, how can I live without being embarrassed by others? … “I’m thinking about that.”

As soon as Siu finished speaking, Adriana, who had been quietly listening to her, carefully opened her mouth.

“So, to sum it up… Are you looking for a way to be true to yourself?”

“Well, if you organize it, it will be like that. “Things are a little different.”

“Hmm… Okay…”

She closed her eyes and was quiet in her thoughts, occasionally nodding her head. Seeing her look like that, Shiwoo got nervous and looked at her.

Since this was a story told by the center of the world, I couldn’t help but feel nervous.

How long did it take for her to nod her head? Her purple eyes brightened as if she had found a solution to her problem. Siwoo flinched for a moment, but Adriana didn’t care about that and spoke lightly.

“You said that sin is borne by both the individual and the world. So, if we change the world and make it commit fewer sins, wouldn’t it be possible to face our ‘other self’ with less sin and more comfortably?”

“But it doesn’t make sense to change the world. “I know how to understand a topic.”

“That’s because there is one person that comes to mind. He’s the guy I talked to yesterday, and he said he was going to change the world. We were supposed to meet again today… Would you like to meet Siwoo too? “It might help.”

Siwoo hesitated to answer.

Perhaps the person Adriana is talking about is Messalina. She was a prostitute who advocated for the establishment of window pipes throughout the Caucasus. Siwoo also remembers her unusual argument because it left an impression on him.

The problem is that she is the person who announces the beginning of the episode taking place in the Caucasus.

What Siu felt while living in this world is that if he wants to live a long time, he must have a good grasp of the subject. Even if Siwoo gets involved, he will only suffer more. To be honest, he didn’t really want to meet her.

But what if it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t live long?

The moment the question arose, Siwoo was nodding his head impulsively.

“Great. “Let’s meet sometime.”

Okay. Even if that were the case, what would he do better than die? He is much better than London Sioux, who even after death cannot commit suicide because he does not know what will happen to him.

Thinking so, Siwoo moved his steps following Adriana.

*

Messalina was waiting in the lobby of the Changgwan across from the Cloud Inn. She had a fierce appearance with her red hair and sharp eyes, but her professional smile masked that so it didn’t really stand out.

She greeted Adriana and Siwoo with an alluring posture.

“Welcome, Adriana. “Is this the gentleman next to you?”

“Yes. This is the person I spoke with this morning. “I suggested that we listen to Messalina together, and he accepted, so we came together.”

“Hello. “It’s called Siu.”

“Great. Let’s sit down and talk first.”

When Siu and Adriana sat down, Messalina immediately started talking.

“Siwoo. Why do you think people commit crimes?”

The clichéd beginning made it clear that this was not the first time she had said this.

Siwoo had just been talking about it, but now was not the time to express his thoughts, so he answered lightly.

“Well. “There are probably many reasons.”

“I think I commit it for pleasure.”

Messalina’s voice contained strong confidence.

She continued speaking one after another.

“Even though I look so young, I actually stayed here for a long time. Because I’m 22 now… I worked so many hours. Of course, I can’t compare to her older sisters in their 30s and 40s.”

“But there’s something I realized after working for such a long time. “This place, the entertainment district, is the safest place in the Caucus!”

Messalina opened her eyes wide in surprise.

Her gaze moved upward, as if recalling her moment of enlightenment.

“So I thought about it. Why is this place the safest? And then I realized. “Crimes are committed for pleasure, and because this is a place where pleasure can be satisfied, fewer crimes occur.”

Messalina’s tone became increasingly heightened.

Siwoo felt that it was the voice of a demagogue who was deceiving even himself.

“Then wouldn’t it be better for everyone if other places did the same thing as here? That’s what I thought. “The outside world is a place where you can’t freely enjoy pleasure, right?”

There was a hint of sadness in Messalina’s expression as she spoke about the world outside her.

“So, I am building a store in various places outside the entertainment district. Like the third building on Sichton Street or the ninth building on Cottle Street. And in the end, we will install windows throughout the Caucasus and make it a city where you can always feel pleasure wherever you are!”

“So you’re saying crime will go down?”

“Yes! Among my guests, there are several who heard my story and decided to join in the cause, so we will soon be able to initiate an uprising. How is it. Would you like to join us?”

Siwoo pretended to think for a moment and then shook his head.

“I am just an outsider, so it is difficult for me to delve deeply into local problems.”

“Well, since you have the perspective of an outsider… Are you okay. “If you see the changes while you are here, you will sympathize with my cause.”

Messalina smiled suspiciously.

“Then I’ll just go and discuss the matter. Adriana. Watch carefully. “I will definitely change this city.”

“Yes. “I will watch.”

Messalina kissed her palm and walked away with a brisk walk. Her straight back and confident steps seemed to show her confidence.

She is leavingThe woman’s back showed a look of encouragement that she was accomplishing something.

Adriana waited until he was completely out of her sight before asking Siu.

“This is the situation. “What do you think, Siwoo?”

“There are a lot of parts that don’t make sense.”

As if Siu had been waiting for her, she poured out the words she cherished in front of Messalina.

“First of all, the part about committing a crime for pleasure is wrong. It would not be wrong to define pleasure as the ‘relief of desire,’ but s*xual desire is not the only desire for people. “In fact, it’s not like crime doesn’t happen even in this red-light district, right?”

“Yes. “I thought that part was strange too.”

“And the part about the entertainment district having good security. This is also different from the reason Messalina thinks. “The reason the red-light district has good security is because organized gangs manage it, not because people relieve themselves of pleasure in the red-light district.”

“Organized gangsters? “Are there such people?”

“Yes. In these shadowy areas, there are criminal organizations seeking money and interests. The Changgwan side also tends to get help from such people to deal with the truth. The problem is the plan to expand the window. “The wider Changgwan spreads, the stronger the power of organized crime will become, and the lord will not tolerate it.”

“This is my first time knowing that such people exist. Then, the ‘revolt’ that Messalina is said to have caused…”

“I think it might be a group action by gangsters against the lord…”

Si-Woo frowned at the end of his sentence.

Messalina clearly said that among her guests there were several who agreed to join her cause.

It is said that there are people who do not belong to organized crime groups.

However, I did not see such a character at all in the original work.

In the original, when the lord forbade the expansion of Changgwan, gangsters rose up and took over the lord’s castle, and tried to rule by setting up ‘Ebisu’, a collateral blood relative of the Caucasus Baron, as a puppet, but were annihilated by Adriana.

Siwoo instinctively felt that there was a bigger story hidden here.

“I need to do more research to learn more about that ‘commitment.'”

“I heard you’re just a foreigner?”

Adriana playfully scolded her.

Siwoo grinned at those words.

“If you look at old stories and folk tales, doesn’t it seem like a traveler passing by would solve everything? Let’s say it is like that.”

Perhaps in the distant future, a legend like this may arise in the Caucasus.

It is said that once upon a time, a young man passing by solved the city’s problems and suddenly left.