Chapter 489: Rainbow
Faith is, in the end, a form of power.
Maybe not for me, but it certainly is for them.
And simply by taking that faith away, you can already exert a significant influence.
A simple example:
Thump!
"Gah!"
I punched Song A-rin in the head, and only then did she finally open her eyes, clutching her head.
"Ow, that hurts!"
"Ah, you're awake."
"Did you just hit my head?"
"I had to, to wake you up."
"...You're not wrong, but why does my head hurt so much...?"
Song A-rin muttered, gingerly touching her head.
"Could it be a headache from the mental attack, mixed with confusion?"
"Is that it?"
At my words, Song A-rin tilted her head and continued to feel her head, then stared intently at me.
"What happened, anyway?"
"Did it work out?"
"What exactly did you see?"
"...I was having a dream that felt so good it was surreal."
"Did I wake you up for nothing?"
"You were going to wake me up anyway."
"Correct."
Song A-rin and I looked ahead.
"...You really didn't hit me, did you?"
"I told you I hit you once. Have you been tricked your whole life?"
"Yeah."
She answered calmly and stretched out her hand.
Yu Daon, who had been grinning like a fool, suddenly snapped her eyes open.
"J-Jae-heon!"
The moment she saw me, Yu Daon stammered and stepped back.
What kind of dream did she have to act like that?
"Um, well. The weather is really nice, isn't it?"
"Hey, we're in a place that looks like a mental hospital right now."
Song A-rin let out a hollow laugh at Yu Daon's words, then looked at Jang Chae-yeon.
"And why is she crying now."
At Song A-rin's gesture, Jang Chae-yeon opened her eyes.
"...Ah."
She had been crying, but now she looked at me.
"...Thank goodness."
She muttered that and wiped her tears.
"Why is she acting crazy again?"
"..."
As if she couldn't even hear Song A-rin's grumbling, Jang Chae-yeon kept wiping her tears.
Finally,
"...Augh..."
Eileen also woke up, clutching her head.
"She probably didn't have any special dreams."
"It wasn't a dream meant for you, anyway."
Eileen answered Song A-rin's muttering calmly and looked at me.
"Did you solve it?"
"I'm thinking of solving it soon."
I looked at the pupils that were shaking so violently it was fitting to call it 'pupil-quake'.
"Are you going to kill it?"
"I can't kill it."
Eileen took out her gun, and I shook my head, answering her question calmly.
"I tried to kill it earlier, but it was completely useless."
"...That's a bit disappointing."
Eileen clicked her tongue.
"But..."
I looked at the isolation object before us.
"This isn't the god we know."
"What?"
Eileen raised one eyebrow.
I opened my right eye, which I had kept closed.
A stinging pain still remained, but it was significantly less than before, so it wasn't a big issue.
Soon, a semi-transparent window appeared over the pupil.
[Name: Wish Aggregate]
[Age: 2NNN]
[Specialty: Wish Aggregation]
[Talent: - ]
[Background: Everyone makes wishes. But there are also those who devour wishes that have nowhere to go.]
[Weakness: There must be no one left to make wishes.]
Devouring wishes. An aggregate of wishes.
Somewhere, there might be beings meant for people who truly grant wishes.
But at least, the one before me wasn't one of them.
"What do we do?"
Jang Chae-yeon tilted her head and looked at me.
"..."
If I destroy it as is, will the wishes disappear into the sky?
If not, will someone get their wish back?
Where do the wishes it has devoured over a long time go?
At the same time, the manual unfolded.
Rustle!
It only shows up to help after the situation is mostly over. I wish the repairs had been a bit faster.
[Manual for Office Workers]
[Wish Aggregate - Written by Kim A-reum of the Riverside Team, Gangseo Branch]
1. The Wish Aggregate collects people's wishes and grants them.
2. However, as it does not possess human emotions, the wishes it grants are always fulfilled in a strange way.
3. Therefore, when making a wish, one must be as specific as possible, or else be deliberately vague.
4. I will leave the method of destroying this object to someone else.
Is it okay to write such personal content in the manual? You're not fit to be a Management Bureau employee.
Did they conduct some kind of experiment on me?
Thinking that, I read the entry.
'Be as vague as possible.'
That was probably the method my younger sister used.
So she handed the eyes over to me and remained here herself.
"...What are you going to do?"
Eileen stared intently at me.
"It's simple."
My sister didn't write down the method of destruction here, but I think I know it.
"What do you think a wish is?"
"Huh?"
"Never mind. He's just showing off his intellectual vanity with nonsense again."
"Daon."
"Yes!"
Yu Daon immediately hit Song A-rin's head, and Song A-rin glared at me while clutching her head.
"Hey! You really did hit me to wake me up! Otherwise, my head wouldn't hurt this much!"
"You caught me. Anyway, I'll continue the explanation."
"I really want to beat the crap out of you!"
"Isn't this ultimately about granting wishes?"
"Right?"
"Then it's granting the wishes of those who came here."
"Huh?"
Eileen looked at me as if she didn't understand what I meant.
"So, in some way, the people who came all the way here must have made a wish. That's the only way this isolation object can exist."
"...Sorry, I don't get what you're saying."
An inseparable relationship.
One thing I felt while confronting Mara was that everything has cause and effect.
Just as Buddha exists because Mara exists, if there are wishes, there must be a being that grants them.
Otherwise, there would be no way to receive the wishes.
Fundamentally, that isolation object is like a wish-granting lamp.
It's just that the lamp's spout is too narrow and unfriendly, so it greedily hoards the wishes.
"Making it hard to enter this place was also because it didn't want to grant wishes."
"Ah, I get it. So we should make a wish to destroy this thing, right?"
"Correct."
"How?"
"It's easy."
Let's recall the story from the movie about the genie in the lamp.
The protagonist who obtains a lamp with three wishes makes a wish to the genie.
The first wish is to become a prince.
The second wish is to be saved from drowning.
The third wish is to set the genie who granted all the wishes free.
It's the same for me.
Someone who has been granting wishes for a long time deserves a vacation. Or freedom.
I looked at the pupil before me.
"You are free. Let go of all wishes and leave."
Whoosh!
At the same time, its form began to fade.
The pupil blinked, looking at me as if it didn't understand what was happening to it.
It looked at me as if to tell me to stop, then,
Pffft...!
With a sound like something crumbling, it disappeared.
Simultaneously, a strong wind began to blow.
And the sound of something collapsing reached our ears.
"...!"
Though I couldn't open my eyes properly against the wind, I shouted so the others could hear.
"Everyone, let's go!"
At my words, everyone quickened their pace.
Pieces of rock fell from above.
We ran through the interior of the cave.
<Tell me your wish.>
We passed by a strange statue,
"Wow, they really went all out!"
"Aren't you going to run?"
"I know what I'm doing!"
"There's a seat in the car!"
"I get carsick!"
We passed an old man smiling at us,
We ran past all the forests and bleeding snakes, and as we looked out of the cave, gasping for breath.
"...Haa... Haa..."
We turned around, breathing heavily, and looked at the cave.
With a rumble, the cave collapsed.
Soon, something rose into the sky,
"...Huh."
Eileen, standing next to me, muttered as if she couldn't believe it.
"It's pretty, though."
"..."
At her words, I looked up at the sky.
A rainbow was blooming.
Not the arched rainbow we know, but a rainbow that stretched straight up into the sky.
"...If I'd known this would happen, I would've made a more materialistic wish."
Song A-rin let out a deep sigh, and Jang Chae-yeon stared at her intently.
"Love cannot be achieved through a wish."
"Who said I was thinking about you? I had something else in mind."
"You buy engagement rings with money."
"Are you insane, you crazy bitch?"
Ignoring their conversation, I stood next to Yu Daon and Eileen.
"It's beautiful."
"Haven't you seen rainbows often? No, I mean..."
"It's okay. I didn't take it the wrong way."
Yu Daon smiled softly.
"Actually, I've seen rainbows quite often."
"I see."
"I guess I used to look out the window and search for rainbows."
Yu Daon smiled.
"Did we do the right thing?"
"Huh?"
"About you sending the wish far away, Mr. Jae-heon."
Yu Daon looked toward the end of the sky.
The rainbow, stretching even beyond our field of vision, was reflected in her eyes.
"Even if a wish isn't fulfilled, it should ultimately remain just a wish."
"..."
I followed her gaze and looked at the sky.
"Indeed."
Yes. Wishes are better off remaining as wishes.
And so, the five of us stared intently at the rainbow.
Until it disappeared.
*
Lee Ha-neul, the Gangseo Branch Chief, couldn't believe the situation before her.
"So."
Rubbing her aching head, she spoke.
"Let me first clarify the situation again."
"Yes."
"Okay."
"Right."
The three people sitting before her.
The now-famous trio from the Public Relations Team.
Yu Daon, Jang Chae-yeon, Song A-rin.
"...So..."
Lee Ha-neul pressed her throbbing head and spoke.
"You're asking how you can share a husband?"
"Yes!"
"Yep."
"Correct."
"...Ah..."
She let out a sigh, feeling dizzy.
"Just give up? You probably want a virtuous, wise mother-type, mostly like me—"
"An old woman is a bit..."
"You're old."
"Grandma."
"Shut up."
Lee Ha-neul gritted her teeth.