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Episode 850 – Room 303, Cursed Room – ‘Time Machine’ (35)

— Kim Ari

A day of rest.

The next day, Winston suggested we take another day off.

We accepted the suggestion.

Naturally, another day of rest followed.

The break wasn’t bad.

To be honest, it was quite enjoyable to the point that I often forgot this was the Cursed Room.

Winston was kind, his son Joshua was cute, and the bountiful barley field was beautiful.

In the meantime, Winston and Aleph had become quite close.

Looking at the two of them, one naturally thought of a wise old professor and a keen young student eager to learn.

Thanks to this, I was able to hear fascinating and interesting stories every day.

For instance, during lunchtime, this topic came up.

“Mr. Winston, so the ancient civilizations were not one single group?”

“That’s right. There were several wars that transcended the limits of imagination. Honestly, I find it more strange that you consider the ancient civilizations to be a single group.”

The story that the ancient civilizations were not one single group.

It was fascinating when I first heard it, but as I recalled ancient Egypt, it became easy to understand.

Modern people lump together the history of pre-Christian Egypt into ‘Ancient Egypt,’ but what is the reality?

The early dynasties, the Old Kingdom, the First Intermediate Period, the Middle Kingdom, the Second Intermediate Period, and the New Kingdom – there were countless interruptions and successions.

New dynasties frequently wiped out the ruling class of the previous dynasty.

“As long as the great universe has a beginning and an end, interruptions are inevitable. The ruling group of the previous loop clashing with the ruling group of the next loop is not a recent development.”

The ruling class of the old era rides the Ark and engages in a decisive battle with the ruling class of the next loop.

This isn’t something new today.

Such things also happened during the time of ancient civilizations.

If you think about it, the foundational technology of the Ark itself originated from ancient civilizations.

Up to this point, it was easy to understand, but the next part was intriguing.

“To suppress this issue, the concept of royalty was created.”

“Pardon?”

The major difference between ancient civilizations and later civilizations.

Ancient civilizations officially made returners a privileged class called ‘royalty.’

Why was that?

Winston began to explain with a smile.

“Aleph, you mentioned you belong to the Anomaly Response Bureau, right?”

“Yes.”

“And Ari, you belong to the Management Bureau?”

“Yes.”

“Thanks to the evil demon, the end is nearing. The people of the Response Bureau created the Ark to flee. They arrived in the next loop.”

“…”

“When they arrived, the people of the new era had already established the Management Bureau. Many returners who didn’t ride the Ark had also already joined the Management Bureau.”

A world where demons, monsters, and ghosts exist.

The birth of an organization fighting against chaos disasters is inevitable.

When an old organization moves to the next loop, there have often already been new organizations established.

“I have a question. Aleph and Ari, why don’t you fight in such situations?”

“Pardon?”

“Are the Anomaly Response Bureau and the Management Bureau really that different? They seem fundamentally similar.”

“W-well, they are similar.”

“Aleph, do you have any reason not to be loyal to the Management Bureau?”

“Uh…”

“What about you, Ari? Do you feel anger the moment the name of your company changes to Anomaly Response Bureau?”

“…”

I knew there was fighting between the old and new organizations.

However, when asked why they fight, I was at a loss for words.

“After all, aren’t they all human? They are organizations for the protection of humanity. Can’t they peacefully unite?”

Shouldn’t they just combine forces peacefully instead of fighting?

They are the same humans, and their purpose of protecting the world is also the same.

Winston continued explaining with a somewhat bittersweet expression.

“It’s impossible. It’s just impossible. Why is it impossible?”

“…”

“Think about it in relation to modern immigration issues. They have quite a lot in common.”

“Immigration issues?”

“The ruling classes can harmonize. There aren’t many of them. They have special abilities. But below them, it’s difficult. There’s bound to be fierce competition for resources.”

A billionaire in a developing country can easily integrate into a developed nation’s society.

Because they are special, and there aren’t many of them.

They don’t threaten the resources of the average people in developed countries.

Instead, they contribute greatly to the developed society with their assets and taxes.

But when a large number of ordinary people from developing countries start to immigrate to developed nations, that’s when turbulence strikes the developed society.

“The circumstances of returners and those who aren’t returners are different.”

Returners from the Response Bureau can easily be recruited into the Management Bureau.

Because they are special. There aren’t many of them.

They don’t threaten the resources of regular staff in the Management Bureau.

Instead, they contribute greatly to the organization with their superpowers and uniqueness.

However, what about the hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of ordinary staff from the Response Bureau that appeared on the Ark?

They are not special.

They don’t have superpowers, nor the strength to face powerful demons.

People like that are still plentiful in the Management Bureau.

There are just too many of them.

It’s too cramped on Earth to assimilate all of them into the ruling class.

Thus, they threaten the resources of regular staff in the Management Bureau.

“Ari, you could be accepted into the Response Bureau because you are special. But what about you, Aleph?”

“… I would find it difficult. Ordinary humans must be plentiful in the Management Bureau.”

Well, I don’t get the impression that someone like Aleph would be plentiful in the Management Bureau.

Of course, let’s understand Winston’s story contextually.

“That’s where the problem arises.”

Returners can be accepted, but ordinary people cannot.

This is where the issue begins.

“The returners from the Response Bureau began to side with the ordinary folks and initiated a war.”

Returners from the Response Bureau can be accepted into the Management Bureau.

Yet, still, the returners from the Response Bureau instigated a war.

“It’s because they cared for their subordinates. I’m fine, but those who trusted and followed me could not be accepted. I couldn’t tolerate this.”

Thus began the history of war.

“Every time the cycle of beginning and end repeats, war breaks out. The returners of the defeated group are annihilated, and their subordinates are killed repeatedly in every loop.”

They must win.

The losers can’t even leave behind their souls!

“At a certain point, efforts began to break this cycle.”

A choice to stop the war.

“The wise ones argued that returners and non-returners should be culturally separated.”

Culturally separate returners and mortals.

“If a returner from the Response Bureau willingly becomes a member of the Management Bureau, the problem resolves.”

“And what about the ordinary people from the Response Bureau?”

“Do you think people without leaders would start a war?”

“…”

“There will be grievances. However, if the leaders have already joined the next era’s organization, what can be done?”

Thus was born the concept.

“That’s why the concept of royalty was created. No longer are there terms like returners from the Response Bureau or returners from the Management Bureau.”

“All returners are royalty and have a sense of kinship. Therefore, there’s no reason to fight…”

“Somehow, it sounds unnervingly familiar.”

“Familiar? It seems somewhat similar to the concept you know, Songyi?”

“I learned about it in world history. The European countries were divided among each other, but the ruling class of each country were all related and had a sort of kinship. This was one of the efforts to prevent extreme conflict.”

“Indeed, there are similar aspects on a larger scale.”

It was an intriguing tale.

At least it felt intriguing to me.

I don’t know how Aleph felt about it.

…

In the evening, another story came up.

“Moving from the past to the future? Heh, you folks really have a superficial understanding of trains.”

The principle of the Parinirvana Train.

“Sir, could you explain a bit more in detail?”

“Explanation, huh… The essence of a train is something extremely immaterial. The physical form of the train is, in a sense, an illusion. It’s merely a part of a train materialized in a way humans can easily understand.”

“Is it like the tip of an iceberg?”

“That’s a good analogy! Right. The essence mostly lies beneath the surface, and only a tiny part is materialized in a form visible to the human eye.”

The visible train is just a tiny part of the essence.

“It’s easy to compare. It reminds me of quantum mechanics.”

Here, there was a moment of pause.

Does it make sense to throw in quantum mechanics while trying to make it easy to understand?

This seemed to be the difference in perspective between Winston and us.

“The moment you try to measure a particle’s position, the wave function collapses, and the position is determined. In other words, before measurement, a fixed position of the particle does not exist.”

“…”

“Particles exist probabilistically throughout the universe. In a sense, a single particle is like a vague probability cloud spread across the entire universe.”

“…”

“The principle of existence of the train is just like this. Does it move from the past to the future? It’s not like that. The train always exists in every era.”

Some people say that.

Depending on the perspective, there is no fixed position of a particle before measurement.

There is only a cloud of probabilities that envelops the entire universe.

This same logic applies to trains.

Trains aren’t strictly moving from one specific time frame to the next.

There is merely a probability that it exists in all time frames.

“In this context, saying you arrived in paradise. You didn’t arrive. Such expressions are inaccurate.”

“…”

“It’s more fitting to say the possibility of existing in paradise has arisen. It has been extinguished. Do you understand?”

The three of us shook our heads simultaneously, and Winston momentarily stammered.

“Uh, was my explanation too difficult? To put it simply—”

“No, it’s okay, Winston. You’re fine.”

“Yeah. It won’t make much difference even if we hear more.”

Let’s just go with the flow.

Winston was a being born in ancient civilization and had survived until now.

The depth of his knowledge was likely beyond reach for any human under the sky.

Songyi, with a curious expression, asked.

“I don’t really understand, but I know it must be an amazing piece of work.”

“Of course.”

“The fact that a person created the Parinirvana Train… it’s just fascinating. Ancient civilization is the best!”

That was such a childish comment it almost made me laugh.

Not just me, even Aleph looked at Songyi with a ‘this is a bit…’ expression.

However, Winston’s reaction was somewhat peculiar.

“… It’s more akin to excavation than creation.”

“Pardon?”

Oddly enough, Winston subtly shifted the topic.

“Now, even fun stories have to come to an end! We’ll set off tomorrow.”

Having shared so many stories until now, it seemed he was hiding this particular story.

That made me even more curious.

In Winston’s view, the previous stories were ‘trivial knowledge,’ whereas the next story would be ‘real secrets.’

An illusion brushed past me.

You just stay put.

I’ll try to get a grip.

The atmosphere was such that everyone naturally began to rise from their seats.

Songyi approached Winston with a smile.

“Sir, what do you mean by excavation?”

“Heh, Songyi, this part is a bit…”

“Come on! You know we don’t know anything. I’m just an assistant at most.”

“…”

“That’s too much. If you cut it off here, I won’t be able to sleep.”

Ahh! Songyi, are you trying to be cute on purpose?

I’d like to slap her.

Unlike me, who felt incredulous, Winston’s reaction was different.

Look at Winston’s eyes twitching!

In that moment, I realized that Songyi had used ‘beloved one.’

Even an ancient royal who has lived beyond imagination is still human at the end of the day, and a man at that.

But Songyi, can you do this?

What if Winston senses the change and retaliates?

No, wait a minute, thinking it over, the power of affinity works a little on a Great Being, doesn’t it?

No matter how amazing Winston is, he’s not a Great Being anyway—

“The source of the train-based technology is presumed to be Bango. Beyond that, no one knows.”

Bango.

“What’s Bango?”

“The Land of Beginning… That’s enough for now. It’s time for bed.”

 

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