NOVEL WEB chapter 18
18 – 18. How Did You Fix the Horizon Coordinates? (1)
I stood alone in the warehouse, maintaining silence for a moment.
I had never experienced a situation where I had to talk about dangerous incidents in the convenience store directly. Although there were guests who were no different from armed robbers with knives or guns, it was all just an occasional happening caused by the intelligences on Universe-1221.
– Store Manager –
“Currently, I am managing the universal disposal bin myself, but once you start working officially, it will be your responsibility, Mr. Kim Hyunwoo.”
– Kim Hyunwoo –
“I don’t know what it is, but it seems dangerous. Wouldn’t it be better if you, the store manager, continue to handle it?”
– Store Manager –
“Why do you think Mr. Kim Hyunwoo is hiring convenience store employees?”
There was something inexplicable in front of my eyes, something I couldn’t put into words, like a common trash can that appeared so ordinary.
– Store Manager –
“It seems like you got scared after reading the new rules, but you can rest assured. Until you leave the universal disposal bin, they are just ordinary waste. Occasionally, there might be exceptions, but for the most part, that won’t happen.”
Thud!
With that, the lid of the universal disposal bin opened automatically.
I used to think that when you threw something away in there, it would disappear like a fourth-dimensional trash can, but now, after hearing the store manager’s explanation and the rules, it seemed that it was no longer that simple.
Swallowing saliva with a deep breath, I peered into the space garbage bin.
As expected, it was just an ordinary trash can.
However, even though the inside was illuminated by a small light, a thick darkness enveloped it.
– Manager –
[Usually, visual information regarding the space garbage bin is censored for the sake of Kim Hyunwoo’s mental health. Normally, such action should not be taken for the sake of maintaining a sense of reality, but it was deemed necessary because we judged that Kim Hyunwoo wouldn’t be able to handle it without becoming familiar with this space.]
– Kim Hyunwoo –
[Censored visual information? Where and to what extent is it being censored?]
– Manager –
[As mentioned before, censoring information that directly affects a person’s brain can cause severe mental damage. At our U.C Convenience Store, we only censor the minimum amount of information for the safety of our staff.]
I couldn’t see anything.
It was because of the censorship of information.
All thanks to this U.C Convenience Store that manipulates my senses and reality.
– Manager –
[However, in order to entrust you with a special task, we need to temporarily suspend the censorship. The censorship will be temporarily lifted in 5 seconds. I hope that you will be able to see what needs to be seen.]
“…Space?”
After 5 seconds, the interior of the space garbage bin slowly became visible.
What was inside was the background of space.
It was the eternal and vast space where stars whispered and silence took its place. The space garbage bin was, quite literally, a place connected to this space, and fortunately, it didn’t seem to be the worst-case scenario that I had imagined.
Was I just being scared for no reason?
– Manager –
[The space garbage bin is an item belonging to the U.C Convenience Store headquarters, which is connected to the ‘Multipurpose Space Gate’ that connects to the destroyed universe. There are no intelligent beings living in that space, making it an excellent space for disposing of infinite waste.]
I couldn’t see any of the convenience store disposals I had thrown away separately.
In other words, what unfolded within this place was space.
Space, known as the vast space that cannot be comprehended by just one human sense, cannot be filled with a few disposals thrown away at a convenience store.
– Manager –
[However, even the headquarters discovered a serious flaw in this space garbage bin after developing it and after decades have passed. The Multipurpose Space Gate itself has no flaws, but problems arose when disposing of waste in this place.]
Sudden!
And suddenly, something green and translucent jumped out from the space and grabbed my wrist.
I don’t know what it was.
I couldn’t recognize its form, or if it even had a form yet, as I still couldn’t perceive it accurately.
However, it felt like muttering something…
-Save me-
I felt like I muttered the same thing.
“Step back. It’s just in time.”
At that moment, someone appeared next to me with a blue light, and a girl with a still raw voice caught something green.
“This is the flaw. When the consciousness of a destroyed universe, memories, and information contained in discarded goods are mixed together, it forms an identity and its physical form is transformed, instinctively seeking survival.”
I looked at the girl, but I couldn’t see her.
I couldn’t see the girl clearly and her face was filled with dense noise, making it impossible to recognize.
“It doesn’t matter if it just seeks survival, but it injects malicious information into intelligent beings just by existing. If you come into contact with the object for a long time, the mental barrier of the intelligent being melts away and the self is exposed.”
It seemed to beg for help desperately, but the girl casually threw it back into the infinite universe.
“If the self is exposed, the mind can be contaminated. Once the mind is contaminated, it cannot be recovered, so be careful.”
The green color faded away from my view as I screamed.
It felt like I kept repeating the plea for help, but the girl didn’t pay any attention to it.
In the end, as it gradually became farther away, what was once green turned into a dot, and the dot turned into nothing.
“So, Mr. Kim Hyun-woo, all you have to do is push those things trying to escape from the space disposal bin back into space with this mop. Until they escape from the disposal bin, they’re just worthless waste. Simple, right?”
“Is it that simple?!”
The girl who casually gave me the mop didn’t seem normal at all.
What was that just now? Why did she suddenly appear and grab my hand and beg for help?
Could it be that the waste I threw away has transformed like that?
It bothered me even more because it was green.
Moreover, the things I recently discarded were also green.
And yet, what kind of being is that girl? How can she ignore the desperate plea for help and push it back into eternal despair?
“Don’t be mistaken. It’s just a trace of the intelligent beings left in the destroyed universe, created by the combination of those traces and discarded items. It’s nothing more than that.”
“…It’s nothing at all? I was desperately begging for help, weren’t I?”
“To explain it in the words of the universe you lived in, Mr. Kim Hyun-woo, it is a presence similar to a ghost. It is something that wishes for the existence that no longer exists and has a negative influence on the universe. In other words, it’s like a virus of the universe.”
When I came to my senses, I was sitting on the floor.
“But even if it’s a virus, there is no danger until it completely crosses over to another universe.”
Perhaps the girl pushed me and I fell.
“So, you don’t need to be so scared. Most problems can be solved on my side, and as long as I’m watching, I won’t just leave Kim Hyun-woo, a somewhat important human resource, to be disposed of.”
…Somewhat important?
The girl laughed, as if mocking my scared appearance, covering her mouth with her hand. She placed the broom on the floor and disappeared like a hologram, leaving me.
-Store Manager-
[Your scared expression looks quite delightful. This is a gift to show you an interesting sight. How about calming down and enjoying a cool drink?]
It was after that damn Ion drink appeared before me that I realized the girl was the damn “store manager”.
First, I closed the lid of the dimensional disposal bin.
At first, this damn universe seemed beautiful, but it hasn’t been the same since strange things started popping up.
-Store Manager-
[In this universe and Universe-1221, there is a difference in gravity. To fix it for existence in this place, it takes about 6 hours. During those 6 hours, you can use anything and push away the waste trying to come to this universe.]
Once the waste falls out, it can never return.
Originally, finding this small passage after being dumped in the infinite space of the universe was almost impossible, but by surpassing the probability that was nearly impossible while desperately hoping to live, it barely touches the entrance.
That was the story of the waste I saw a while ago, and if that desperation turns into bubbles, it cannot maintain its existence and collapses, leaving behind eternal garbage.
I took a sip of the Ion drink the store manager gave me and stood up.
Well, it does help to calm down a bit.
-Store Manager-
[So, what do you think of experiencing the special task?]
I conveyed my sincere feelings to the store manager’s question.
-Hyunwoo Kim-
[I just want to go home, damn it.]
-Store Manager-
[What did you add at the end?]
-Hyunwoo Kim-
[You’re damn “damn it.”]
-Store Manager-
[I don’t understand why that is included in your impression. Did you hurt your head when you fell?]
Surprisingly, it seemed that the store manager didn’t understand the true meaning of “damn it.”
I should use it often in the future.
-Store Manager-
[I hope there are no problems with your ability to handle accidents. There is more to learn before your official duties.]
But there’s something else? I really feel like I’m losing my mind.
What kind of crazy job is he trying to assign me this time?
Now, the white wizard guest who came with a gun in hand seemed better.