NOVEL WEB Chapter 908
Park Jinseong’s voice.
It’s a bit different from hearing it directly, but it was definitely the voice Odilia recognized.
However, Odilia flinched at Park Jinseong’s words, trembling, but she didn’t respond to that voice.
She suspected it might be an AI mimicking the voice, luring her in before apprehending her to use as an excuse to make her comply.
Having seen how the Nazis tortured Jews with tactics like “lifting high and dropping,” Odilia didn’t dare to hold onto hope just because Park Jinseong’s voice suddenly reached her ears.
“Just listen. We know your position and can come for you quickly, so take care of yourself.”
Yet, is it an unavoidable instinct to feel hope upon hearing that voice?
Odilia swallowed hard, like parched wanderers in the desert finally tasting sweet water.
The sound of her swallowing, so faint, thundered in her ears for some reason.
And so, Park Jinseong whispered sweet words from afar.
The hardships she’s facing now are merely trials, and trials can certainly be overcome.
If she endures, the trials will eventually end and good days will come, so he urged her to have faith and persevere.
Holding a Bible in one hand, his voice dripped with the sweetness of hope, as he maneuvered a bug to head into another room.
He intended to gather as much information as possible before rescuing her.
What is truly being researched in this Research Institute, what exactly is the grotesque creature they’ve been cultivating like lab-grown meat, and perhaps, just perhaps, he might discover something he didn’t know before the timeline was distorted.
With a flicker of curiosity, Park Jinseong maneuvered the bug.
The bug was so tiny that each step seemed insignificant, but Park Jinseong could easily glance around the room because this confined world was so small.
He surveyed the underground Research Institute as if peering through a passing scenic train window.
There were desks and flasks.
Documents written in Russian.
A mole suspended in mid-air, limbs bound as if it were being executed.
There was ominously bright red soil, and the sight of a person with only their head poking out was struggling to breathe.
A glass tube contained strange plants that looked genetically altered, and horrifyingly, a twisted creature blinked inside another glass tube.
The compound eyes of the bug captured it all.
Then suddenly, a room came into view.
A room draped in green: a green dress, a green hat, green accessories hanging on the walls.
Everything in that place was green, from the blankets to the pillows, the carpet covering the floor to the wallpaper on the ceiling.
A scene reminiscent of a mental hospital’s white room.
It felt less like a space for human habitation and more like an environment designed to drive one mad.
Park Jinseong stopped moving momentarily, observing that scenery.
But it wasn’t just because of the bizarre green decor that suited a madman; it was a piece of paper stuck in the corner of the room.
The paper froze Park Jinseong’s steps.
‘A silhouette of someone sitting in the lotus position.’
The drawing depicted a person seated as if in meditation, with concentric circles radiating from them.
Park Jinseong recognized that drawing.
‘Panchakosa?’
Panchakosa.
The five sheaths of ignorance.
A covering surrounding the human soul and ego.
It was an illustration used during yoga practices, or when training energy known as ‘chakra’.
Right.
On its own, it wasn’t peculiar.
You could see those drawings plastered all over local yoga studios, familiar to warriors training martial arts based on chakras, and even used in meditation centers to guide meditation.
It was a meaningful drawing, but it wasn’t anything extraordinary.
That also changes depending on time and context.
What was originally an unremarkable Panchakosa drawing had now become something special in that room.
Pointed hat.
Broom.
Women’s dress.
The various objects scattered around that room proclaimed its owner to be a witch.
Panchakosa and witch.
Park Jinseong recalled a common denominator between the seemingly unrelated words.
‘Pranamayakosa.’
Did that word pop up in his head by coincidence?
‘A covering of ignorance formed by life force. Breath is the activity of life energy…’
Life force and pranamayakosa…
With no evidence, Park Jinseong felt a sense of certainty.
Those two are definitely connected somehow.
Thinking this, he began to move again.
As he did, multiple scenes came into the view of the bug’s eyes.
Researchers eating meals.
People pulling their hair out in front of weird equipment.
Zombie-like figures wandering around in tattered clothes, with sunken eyes as if they were graduate students.
People using round meat chunks as makeshift basketballs.
Expressionless faces grinding teratomas in a blender.
This was a typical Research Institute scene.
‘Well, I’ve figured out the structure somewhat.’
If only he could properly investigate what was inside.
Right now, he was just a mere bug.
A creature that would perish the moment it stepped on a bug-extermination laser or insecticide trap, perhaps set up by the witch lurking somewhere in the Institute.
Thus, Park Jinseong held no ambitions and returned to Odilia’s room.
Since he knew her position, he could search again later.
There was no rush.
As he thought this while moving toward Odilia…
“You’re amazing!”
The moment he entered the room, Park Jinseong saw Odilia, her face lit up, speaking to him.
There wasn’t a trace of worry on her face; all the annoyance and anxiety had vanished, replaced by pure joy. It was as if, after a torturous journey, she had finally come upon a delightful feast, like someone who had found a sweet opportunity after enduring hardships and trials.
She spoke, looking straight at the bug entering her room, a bright smile on her face.
“What should I do?”
Whispers directed at the bug.
A tone different from the warrior’s deep voice, a kind of ethereal whisper carried by life energy.
That whisper was laced with an excitement that couldn’t be concealed.
It was probably the exhilarating sensation of finally being able to escape this dreaded place, a feeling of hope that she could finally break free from the chains binding her, and a belief that everything would turn out fine now that Park Jinseong had taken matters into his own hands.
And with that question from Odilia, Park Jinseong could only look at her with a puzzled expression.
But that moment was fleeting because the bug outside still remained.
It could see people approaching from afar.
And while watching them, Park Jinseong found himself compelled to think one thing.
‘What in the world is going on?’
This was due to his inability to discern the identities of the individuals heading toward the Research Institute.