Chapter 197
“Hey, Kana?”
“Yeah?”
As the three of us huddled together, staring intently at the small screen, Da-eun cautiously broke the silence.
“Shouldn’t you pick it up? It’s strange that we’re getting a call when we’re out of the coverage area, but if it’s Edel… I mean, wouldn’t it be possible?”
“It could be a phishing scam.”
“…How would a phishing call even happen when we’re out of the coverage area?”
“Scams happen precisely when you think they can’t. That’s how they catch you off guard.”
“Who told you that nonsense?”
“My dad.”
“…I mean, it’s so true that it’s hard to argue with. Kana, your dad must have been a warm, wise, and incredibly brilliant wise man.”
“You said ‘wise’ twice.”
“Repeating it emphasizes the point. That’s how wise he was.”
“Da-eun, you’re really good at talking.”
No wonder she’s able to run her own broadcast channel.
“It’s going to get disconnected at this rate. Hurry up and answer it!”
Da-eun shoved the phone toward me, urging me on.
The call hadn’t disconnected during our conversation, which wasn’t surprising given that it hadn’t been that long.
Enough fooling around.
I picked up the relentlessly vibrating phone.
“Hello?”
“-Why did you take so long to answer?!”
“…Ugh.”
The voice that hit my ears the moment I answered the call was piercingly loud.
Her naturally high-pitched tone was already intense, but combined with her shouting, my ears couldn’t take it.
Even holding the phone a hand’s length away, Edel’s voice came through clearly, so I gave up and set it to speakerphone, placing it on the table.
“-Do you know how worried I was?!”
Edel’s voice boomed from the phone, filling the room.
I rubbed my ringing ears and tilted my head.
“Worried? About what?”
“-What do you mean, ‘about what’? You’re on Jeju Island, aren’t you?”
“How did you know?”
“-Do you think I wouldn’t know? Anyway, how are things over there?”
“What do you mean?”
What could she possibly need to ask me about that isn’t already on the news?
Rather than speculate about her thoughts, I decided to answer her question.
“You could go swimming in the streets.”
Swimming, really?
There’s no need to go all the way to a distant beach or pool.
Just open the door, take a step outside, and you’ll find water flowing everywhere. Why waste time and money searching for a specific place?
The only downside is that it’s a bit dirty.
But hey, it’s free, so that’s a trade-off.
“-…Swimming? In the streets?”
Edel sounded baffled, as if she didn’t understand what I was saying.
I thought it was a pretty straightforward analogy, but she didn’t get it.
Sighing at her lack of comprehension, I rephrased it in simpler terms.
“It’s raining so much that you could swim outside.”
“-Do you think I didn’t understand that part?”
“…You didn’t?”
“-What kind of impression do you have of me?”
“Hmm…”
“-No, never mind. Don’t tell me. I feel like it’ll just frustrate me.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but Edel cut me off before I could say anything.
…Why ask if she didn’t want to hear my answer?
If she hadn’t made it seem like she didn’t understand, I wouldn’t have said anything in the first place.
Pouting slightly, I clamped my mouth shut.
“-So, there’s nothing else unusual happening, right? That’s a relief.”
“Would you call this ‘nothing unusual’?”
I glanced outside.
Where there used to be a road just yesterday, there was now a steadily flowing river.
Considering we’re in a relatively high area, I could only imagine how bad it must be in the lowlands.
“-Given the worst-case scenario I was considering, the entire island could have been wiped out, so yes, this is relatively uneventful.”
“It’s raining heavily, but it’s not that bad.”
“-That’s because you don’t understand the full situation.”
“Shouldn’t I know more, since I’m actually here?”
I mean, I’m literally on-site.
But Edel disagreed with my logic.
“-No, you don’t.”
Her voice, a mix of relief and urgency, was firm.
“-If you knew, you would have immediately understood what I meant.”
Edel let out a heavy sigh before continuing.
“-…The dimension (‘gye’ in korean) has split.”
“…What?”
At her abrupt statement, I looked up.
Not that I needed to keep staring at the phone, but when I looked up, I saw Da-eun and Yuki both wearing bewildered expressions.
I probably looked the same as them.
“…”
“…”
“…”
Nod.
You too?
Yeah, me too.
The three of us nodded at the same time, as if we shared a telepathic understanding.
An unspoken camaraderie passed between us.
At least I wasn’t the only one who didn’t understand what Edel just said.
“What is a ‘gye’?”
I finally stepped forward to ask.
What is a ‘gye,’ and what does it mean for it to have been split?
“-Ah, right. I should have explained that first.”
Realizing her oversight, Edel cleared her throat.
“-A ‘gye’… well…”
____
Dimensional Barriers.
Though it’s often called a wall for simplicity, it’s not something visible or tangible.
It serves as a protective barrier that prevents the internal energy of a dimension from leaking out and also acts as a defensive wall against external intrusions.
This barrier is the boundary that separates one dimension from another.
Crossing that boundary doesn’t guarantee access to another dimension, but breaching it is the minimum prerequisite.
And within that barrier lies the dimension, or in simpler terms, a ‘world or realm.’
“-To make it easy to understand, think of a ‘gye’ as a kind of ‘server.’ It’s not an exact term, but it works for explanation purposes.”
A ‘gye’ isn’t an entirely independent world, but it’s not something easily accessed either.
“-Even if they’re on different servers, they’re still part of the same game, right? It’s just that interaction between them is impossible.”
“Edel, you know that modern games allow server interactions, right?”
“-…That’s not the point. Who doesn’t know that? Do you want divine punishment? Honestly, I could just—!”
“Ah, understood….”
Da-eun, who couldn’t resist making a snide remark, shrank back.
Why does Edel have to crush Da-eun’s spirit?
…Then again, considering Da-eun’s accumulated ‘karma,’ it’s not unwarranted.
Ignoring Da-eun’s deflated state, I spoke up.
“In other words, it’s like a burglar breaking into a house and erecting a wall in the living room?”
“-Exactly.”
Edel sounded impressed by the apt analogy.
I sighed, letting the sound of applause from the other end of the line wash over me.
“And so, the wall they set up split the ‘gye,’ and that’s what happened here—in Jeju Island.”
I didn’t ask why it had to be Jeju Island.
From the way she talked, it was clear Edel didn’t know, and frankly, I had more pressing questions.
“What were you doing, Edel?”
“-…”
Edel fell silent.
Well, of course, she would.
She had previously assured us she was vigilantly preparing against any intrusion by Dimensional Creatures.
Yet, they managed to sneak in, isolate part of the world, and set up barriers without anyone noticing.
That was the situation Edel had just explained to us.
Because the ‘gye’ had been split, not only was travel impossible, but all forms of communication had also been severed.
The sudden disruption of the TV signal, the failure of phone calls, and the unusually heavy rainfall—
All of it was caused by the ‘gye’ splitting.
“-…The defenders are always at a disadvantage compared to the attackers.”
After a long pause, Edel offered a weak excuse.
“-I did my best. If I hadn’t, we wouldn’t even be able to have this conversation right now!”
“Mm, sure.”
“-Wow, that’s infuriating.”
“Anyway.”
I cut off her heated tone with a dismissive remark.
“Is there a solution?”
Though I caught a glimpse of Da-eun flinching at my icy tone, I couldn’t afford to care.
If Edel and the other administrators didn’t notice, it’s no surprise I hadn’t either, given my lower rank.
…It would’ve been easier to accept if I could reassure myself with that reasoning.
But my overly high self-esteem refused to let it slide.
‘…’
Not realizing such a scheme was happening so close to me…
Thankfully, it was a relatively mild act. Otherwise—
My gaze landed on Da-eun, who was nervously avoiding eye contact.
“-I’m not certain.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
When had I ever acted only on certainty?
Since childhood, my future had always been shrouded in uncertainty.
Hearing something uncertain now didn’t faze me.
A faint laugh drifted from the other end.
“Don’t laugh—just give me an answer.”
“-…”
Muttering about how things had come to this, Edel still provided a proper response.
“-I have a few hypotheses. No matter how skilled they are, what they’ve done couldn’t have been achieved easily.”
Even if degraded, the world had once been managed by both a former and a present god.
For an enemy to infiltrate such a place and erect barriers unnoticed was no simple feat, Edel explained.
“-They must have either been laying groundwork in secret for a long time or hastily constructed the barrier. I believe it’s one or the other.”
“Which do you think it is, Edel?”
“-Hmm. Probably the latter? I know it sounds unconvincing in this situation, but we’re not that incompetent.”
“Mm.”
Her tone carried a mix of self-deprecation and self-defense.
“-Besides, if we think about the future, it has to be the latter. If their capabilities are truly that exceptional, it wouldn’t bode well for us.”
“True.”
While it’s foolish to rely solely on the enemy being incompetent,
a little bit of hope wasn’t unreasonable.
“-If someone secretly built a wall in your house, what would you do?”
“…Destroy the wall?”
“-And there’s one more thing.”
Even if the barrier blocked all entry and exit,
if you were left trapped inside the barrier with the intruder—
“-Wouldn’t it also be possible to stab the burglar and kill them?”
That’s precisely why you’ve been sharpening your skills for situations like this.
Though Edel’s voice carried a hint of amusement, I was certain of one thing.
At that moment, there wasn’t even the slightest smile on her face.
“-It’s time for you to do what you do best.”
—
Read More at – GENZNOVEL.COM!!
PLEASE JOIN OUR DISCORD AND SUBSCRIBE THE ROLE TO RECEIVE LATEST NOTIFICATIONS!!
Click here -> https://discord.gg/S8c2kGVr2g
Comment