chapter 211

Chapter 211

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Identification Number 0S-000-??

Response Rank ??(-)

Entity Type ??

Entity Name White Frame(-)

Authority Diary(-)

“...Submitting an additional report.”

“Before that, I’ll say this in advance: I will designate this so that only ‘Level 0’ staff members who can complete identity verification may view it. Any staff members listening to this file right now who are not ‘Level 0’—yes, I will state clearly that neither I nor the Association will bear any responsibility whatsoever for any disadvantages that occur after you have listened to this file. While I’m saying it nicely, you’d better leave now.”

“Continuing the report. Ha, it’s truly astonishing. I made direct contact with the Black Cloak. The contact zone was Anseong, Gyeonggi Province. As with the previous file, in the process of investigating the entity named ‘White Frame,’ I came face to face with the Black Cloak. I saw his frame. His portrait, I mean.”

“That person looked truly perfect. The peaceful forest where he lived looked beautiful beyond words. I could clearly understand the Black Cloak’s utopia. He seemed to prefer calm and beautiful things. You could tell just by looking at his eyes—his eyes, those eyes...”

(Deleted content.)

“...”

“...I will separately organize 자료 about the danger of the Black Cloak later. But to make someone lose their senses just by looking—honestly it makes you wonder why a religion hasn’t formed yet. I almost got disposed of too...”

“Please refrain from unnecessary information, sir.”

“Ah, right. Even after receiving treatment, I’m like this.”

“If the sickbed is uncomfortable, shall we move you elsewhere?”

“What, so you can take me to an interrogation room anyway? Let’s just do it here. Then, continuing from last time, I’ll continue the 이야기 about the ‘White Frame.’ To make it easier to organize... mm... if I cut out just that part...”

“To be incorporated into that entity, conditions are required. Either you lived a life good enough to please the Black Cloak before you die, or you are a very young soul who hasn’t even learned good and evil yet. Judging from reports that no similar cases were found overseas, it is presumed that it is collecting souls only in certain regions of Korea.”

“The Black Cloak said this is not a work made for people to appreciate, but a concept closer to a home. When asked how, then, he would explain certain unusual cases reported recently, he answered that it is not the function of the work itself.”

“If it isn’t the function of the work itself, does that mean there is an additional factor?”

“That’s correct. He said that when the souls inside the ‘White Frame’ resonate with the souls of the living outside the work, arbitrary interactions can occur. Well, befitting a mystery that contains divinity, even this one statement was described very ambiguously and fairy-tale-like... but in summary, it’s not all that different.”

“The initiative always lies with the souls inside the frame. If the living earnestly wish for it, they can perceive that will through resonance, but if the soul does not wish it, the living can never perceive the ‘White Frame.’”

“Additionally, in situations that risk breaking the balance between life and death, it has been determined that it does not reveal itself regardless of the degree of will resonance. It seems there are limits to what is permitted to the residents inside the frame, but... I was not able to hear a clear answer regarding this part.”

“You seem to have a conjecture.”

“I’ll explain that next.”

“Thank you.”

“The Black Cloak said that this place is not a prison but merely a home, and if they wish, they can go anywhere. So it seems to have a different feel from the afterlife realms of sacred beings as commonly known. But if they can ‘go anywhere,’ then this place could become heaven, or the path of reincarnation, or perhaps... they could even possess another person, couldn’t they? Of course, this is conjecture. There are no confirmed cases.”

“Now, I will answer the part you just asked about. The matter of what range is permitted to the residents inside the frame.”

“I interpreted this as ‘it only helps the living continue the lifespan they have left, no more than that.’”

“Based on the cases identified so far, direct encounters with the ‘White Frame’ were extremely rare. Such exceptions were usually when the entity was stable enough that even if it directly perceived the resonance of souls, it would not break the balance.”

“Could you give an example?”

“There were cases such as patients or elderly people who, with their own death close at hand, accepted it, or people with extremely strong mental fortitude who do not cling to life and death.”

“It sounds like there is a commonality.”

“It seems that the more the living accept the dead’s death as having great meaning, the harder it becomes to encounter it.”

“Among these, if the living are accepted into the domain of the dead during their lifetime—that is, into the ‘White Frame’—they receive a ‘diary.’ The living cannot know exactly what is written inside it. However, judging from the reactions of those who received and checked the diary, it is presumed to be a kind of representation of a life-flashback.”

“What is certain is that this ‘diary’ helps a precarious life on the verge of crossing into the ‘White Frame’ to conclude their life in a stable and peaceful manner. Is it a reward or gift for the life they have lived? In this case, it could be said that the living pleased the Black Cloak, and since the Black Cloak especially likes good people, he may have judged it a history worth being rewarded...”

“There aren’t many cases found to begin with, but the above case is expected to be an extremely small minority. If the ‘White Frame’ were to spread overseas, it feels like it could obtain more value, so it leaves me with a sense of regret.”

“He said this ‘White Frame’ can be entered by the living as well.”

“...Are you certain?”

“He answered that those permitted by the Black Cloak can. He did not state exactly who those are. If I were to conjecture, wouldn’t his apostles, Hunter Seo Gio or Apprentice Priest Cha Isol, be able to? Since the Black Cloak places special importance on balance, he will not create something that would damage the present Earth, but it is clearly a matter that requires caution.”

“That’s all I can explain in words. I will submit the rest as a written report.”

“Thank you for your work.”

[Additional report]

Through a later interview, Hunter Seo Gio, an apostle of the Black Cloak, stated the intent that “it is possible to open a door through the contract tree (estimated: Anti-Cat ‘Dana’), but visiting is difficult.” In the case of the other apostle, Apprentice Priest Cha Isol, he showed a reaction as if he did not know of the very existence of the ‘White Frame.’ Just as not all apostles are given the same amount of information, there also appears to be differences in the authorities that are permitted.

It has been revealed that some of the residents of the ‘White Frame’ can be temporarily materialized in exchange for good deeds. It has been confirmed that communication is impossible, but their forms can be found in places with few people. Their form, behavior, and intelligence differ greatly by individual, but in common, they show no will to interact with the living.

Some gardeners have conjectured that they may be ‘children of the Origin.’ Debate is ongoing over whether to identify these as monsters; until it is recorded in the future, terminology will be unified as ‘residents of the White Frame.’

Strict control over this record is requested.

* * *

“...”

“Would you like to visit?”

Juhyeon blinked as he looked at the white frame that appeared before him.

“...Is it heaven?”

“As I just said, it is merely a home.”

“Nice.”

And yet the home I am in right now is this lonely.

Juhyeon was deeply grateful for this wide and luxurious home the Collection Merchant kindly provided, but on the other hand, he recalled the dirty and noisy orphanage.

Though he lived there only until sixteen, it was always Juhyeon’s ‘home.’

‘They said all the kind and young people are in here, didn’t they.’

He carefully brushed the frame with his hand.

“...”

Today, Juhyeon received a letter from Gio.

“...So that’s why you gave me an invitation.”

It was still a hard-to-decipher letter, but within the complex patterns tangled like a drawing, Juhyeon was able to find the word ‘invitation.’ Does that mean ‘Gio’s portrait’ is becoming closer to a person? Perhaps it might be.

With a little fluttering and quite a lot of worry, he waited, and what appeared was this pure-white frame. Gio was waiting for him not in the familiar peaceful forest, but inside an empty frame with nothing drawn inside.

“Mr. Gio, do you want me to visit inside this?”

“The right to choose is always yours.”

“Thinking about it, Mr. Gio has always been like that. You’ve never forced anything.”

“I did not feel it was necessary.”

“Even though it’s a gravestone made for me?”

That day, when Gio called forth Juhyeon’s dead friends.

“...Haha...”

So this is where my family that Dana swallowed went.

“...They were all here.”

“Would you like to visit?”

The same words as before. The same pitch, the same voice.

“...No.”

Juhyeon felt an emotion far removed, yet at the same time, all of this became funny.

“It’s fine.”

“Is it?”

“It’s too big a gift.”

Gio made this merely ‘for a friend.’

What an innocent person. What a simple and clear person. Each time Gio handed him a gift I couldn’t bear, Juhyeon couldn’t help but laugh.

“You really are something.”

He feels childish gratitude at such easy-to-understand goodwill.

“When did you make this? I never heard news that the Black Cloak’s new work came out.”

“It has been quite a while. However, Mr. Yoo Seongun told me that important people in the government and the Association seem to be preventing information from spreading, worried it might become a problem from various angles.”

“Well, yeah. Of course. Good grief—if you create an afterlife realm, what are we even supposed to do...”

As if he wanted to express dissatisfaction, Gio crossed his arms.

“However, I could not keep Mr. Juhyeon’s family contained inside Dana’s body.”

“Don’t become diligent in weird places, Mr. Gio. Every time you become diligent, incidents that are hard to clean up keep happening.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

“Are you only going to keep my words in mind too?”

“Everyone teases me about that.”

“Just kidding.”

Each time, Juhyeon gained fresh strength to laugh at the human-like goodwill visible in this enormous mystery. This direct gift is twisted in method, but its essence is modest.

And Juhyeon was always someone who looked at the inside more than the outside. The same was true of ‘Gio’s portrait.’ Even while feeling awkward about the clean and pure gift Gio offered, Juhyeon ended up being grateful.

“Thank you. It’s a really pretty home.”

If his essence itself had truly been nothing but a mystery, there wouldn’t have been gifts like this.

“You won’t cause an accident with this, right?”

“Of course.”

“I trust you, Mr. Gio.”

“I will repay your trust.”

“Yeah...”

There were so many messy things that my head hurt, but now it’s a bit better.

“...”

After I pass through all the opportunities given to me, someday I’ll enter this place too. If Gio allows it.

‘...That’s enough.’

The living, breathing do not need heaven.

Because I can still walk for a long time yet.

* * *

Meanwhile, ‘The Four-Legged Rainforest Underground.’

“...”

Rustle.

“...Uh...”

Clackclackclackclack!!

“Oof...”

Yoo Seongun blinked.

“Hunter Yoo Seongun, is something wrong?”

“No, it’s just that for some reason I’m seeing a familiar new monster...”

“What are you talking about. If it’s familiar, how is it new? Did you get heatstroke?”

“Things like that happen.”

At the ‘water birds’ nest he ran into in an unexpected place, Yoo Seongun laughed hollowly.

‘Seeing it here, it’s nice.’

Looks like Gio is planning to swallow Earth.

(To be continued in the next episode)