Chapter 718
Time flows for a bit.
The clock ticks away as the guards surrender their bodies to the fatigue and anger of the researchers.
Finally, the program that had been implanted in the machine activates.
Is it because of the engine installed inside?
What echoed was not the sound typically made when operating a machine, but instead a huge, thunderous noise akin to a mine collapsing. Furthermore, with minimal design applied to dampen sound, the engine’s noise was even more intense.
A tremendous resonance.
Could it be merely a hollow sentiment to think that this echo resembles the cry of a newborn baby brought into the world?
A giant wail.
With it, the worm, now aware that it had begun its life in this world, opened its eyes.
The sound of a specially made light illuminating, unlike a standard one.
The massive lights that flared up, making a sound like a burst, were exceptionally bright and intense, assumed to be designed for activities underground. One might even misinterpret it as if the light of a lighthouse were ripped off and affixed to this lumbering machine.
『 ERROR 』
But was it perhaps due to unfinished construction?
The machine did not operate correctly.
It did not move as the designers intended, nor did it behave like the worm series known to Park Jinseong. It would mimic the movements of an actual living worm but then falter, shaking and vibrating as if something was wrong. Unable to withstand the engine’s vibrations, it would veer off course, its tail suddenly whipping up, and its body undulating in an S-shape, smashing into its surroundings in bizarre behavior.
Was it the researchers’ mistake?
Is this an inevitable fate for an incomplete work?
“How can one expect a newborn to be adept? How can one expect a novice to be skilled? To wish for a sprout’s stem to be as firm as a tree is illogical, and claiming a sprout’s cotyledons can shield a person like an umbrella would be deception. The world’s principles ensure that a journey exists between start and finish, a journey enriched by human effort and time. Trial and error, mistakes, corrections, and reflections—all of which blend together to complete existence. Thus, even if people see the same thing, they feel the difference, ah! This is the benchmark of the ego and the standard of the world.”
“Do not measure my world with another’s gaze. Do not evaluate my life with another’s assessment. The world is made solely of the scenery you see; it is your thoughts and judgments that weave together the world. Without me, the world does not exist; with my thoughts, the world thinks; wherever I gaze, the world exists there. Therefore, what you see is the world, and what you think is the world. Judge accordingly.”
“With a created soul. With the soul that resides within this body.”
“Do not doubt. Everything holds a soul.”
Or could it perhaps be due to some magic performed on the machine’s body?
“In ancient times, it was inscribed on clay tablets that when the breath was infused by the One who is great and all-encompassing, a dirt pile was transformed into substance, becoming a living soul with flesh—something filled with the breath of God, known as Nephesh Chaya.”
“Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will bring spirit upon you, and you shall live.”
“To the dry bones He spoke, saying, ‘I will enter you with breath, and you shall live.’ Oh, mighty and great One, by what miracle did you grant life to the dry bones, causing them to rise? Did not those bones, too, receive a neshamah, as the one who formed their shape first did? Oh, great One who fully exists and is praiseworthy; let all breathing beings exalt You, for this is awe for the Creator.”
“Yet life and existence are intertwined with death and their continuation.”
“Oh, Creator trapped in flesh. Inevitable Creator, who seems both as unyielding as leather and fragile as soft fruit. I honor your sacrifice, your death, and the legacy left for future generations.”
Park Jinseong approached the writhing machine.
Then, he brought his hands to his face and forcefully plunged them in, tearing it apart sideways.
The face was halved.
And from the jagged creation came protruding teeth, along with a large tongue that split at the end, shooting forth.
Could it have emerged from the throat?
The giant serpent’s tongue, or perhaps the pink snake itself, slithered out from Park Jinseong’s mouth, wriggling and swimming.
As if imitating a snake.
Then, with the only remaining mouth, he said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
And thus, he breathed life into the machine…
