Jindun (2)
Each time the white and black stones come and go, they change places and expand each other’s territory.
It was his first time coming to this world and touching a board game, but Lennok adapted easily.
A game that is a mix of Go and Othello. It is a way of consolidating the situation by eating and flipping each other between the plates with approximately hundreds of eggs.
A simple yet complex game where you can only win if you don’t neglect the small aspects and miss the big picture.
‘It’s not that difficult.’
Lennok thought so and naturally moved the stone.
“Are you worse at playing games than you thought?”
“….”
As if it was natural, everyone was defeated.
No matter how clever Lennok was and his intuition, it was impossible for him to win a game he was playing for the first time against a magician of the level of an Ascendant.
Seeing Lennok like that, Jindun clicked his tongue and overthrew the board.
“Let’s do a few more.”
“All right.”
After that, Lennok focused on playing games with Jindun in silence.
A feeling that feels far and distant like a dream.
Concentrate on exchanging numbers with Jindun in a trance in a vague gaze so that the sense of time cannot be felt properly.
At the last moment, he remembered what was going on outside, but Lennok ignored it.
The fact that Jindun was facing him like this was proof that the whole situation was his intention.
The end of Pandemonium’s Leader’s Cradle. Awakening Jindun from sleep.
If Jindun was fully aware of this whole series of events and made a judgment, Lennok would be willing to hang out with the doctor until the end.
Even after that, the two of them focused on playing the game without saying a word.
count and lose
You lose by making a different move.
However, even in the midst of that, Lennok’s skills were rapidly growing by observing and stealing the tips of Jindun.
how much time has passed
In the midst of playing dozens of games, the moment came when the battle between the two became tense.
The moment Lennok picked up the black stone, Jindun, who was silently focusing on placing the stone, opened his mouth.
“I feel sorry for the other two.”
“What does it mean?”
“The last three passed through the gate. Originally, I would have met them one by one.”
Jindun said that and turned his head.
“Now I don’t have much time either. So I had to make a choice.”
When Lennok followed his gaze and turned his head, he finally realized that they were at the edge of the Cradle Stairs.
At the top of the stairs, you can see the leader who has just pulled the pipe from Jindun’s body.
Even Lennok himself and Ermong looking up at the scene with a shocked face behind him.
As Lennok studied himself and the others, he realized that time hadn’t completely stopped.
Everyone is moving slowly, albeit very little at a really crawling pace.
Jindun and Lennok were engaged in an endless battle between the infinitely divided time gaps.
“It is to divide the consciousness infinitely and fill the intervals with intention again.”
Jindun said as if he had seen through Lennok’s thoughts.
“It’s a much more efficient and safer method than directly setting up the timeline of the world. There is a side effect of not being able to get out of the gap of consciousness if done wrong… … When you have to think about something, there is no better trick than this.”
Does it mean that he artificially extends his sense of time for an infinitely longer time and uses it to think about something?
The fact that he treats his consciousness like a toy is itself surprising, but what’s even more strange is the contradiction in Jin-Dun’s words.
Lennok asked, puzzled.
“I split your consciousness, so why did I even get dragged into that realm?”
“Because this labyrinth is a world of thought created by carving my own mind. If you’ve come all the way into the cradle, can’t you say that you’re actually a part of me now?”
“….”
Jindun’s words that can’t be calm.
Lennok didn’t show it, but he felt goosebumps run down his spine.
It was because it was the proof that Jindun held the right to life and death of all beings who entered this cradle.
Not only Lennok and Ermong Maya, but also the leader of Pandemonium, who had just destroyed Jindun’s life support system, would not be able to escape its influence.
However, Jindun knew all of that, but let his body die at the hands of the leader.
Lennok understood the intent, but not the reason.
“Why me?”
“Because I chose it.”
“What do you know about me?”
“nothing.”
Jindun replied.
“I can’t see anything. That’s why I chose you.”
“….”
“Usually at this age, even if you don’t like it, every time you meet someone, you see some very strange things. How did that friend live, what thoughts did he have, what did he hope for, come to me?”
Jindun clicked his tongue and laughed.
“To be honest, I love seeing that blatant desire. A piece of emotion that no longer remains with me… … It makes a pretty good snack just to watch from the sidelines.”
He said, pointing at Ermong and Maya, who had stopped above and below.
“In that sense, those two have a special meaning. In this labyrinth, the most greedy friend and the most selfless friend. Originally, I would have chosen one of the two to meet, not you.”
“….”
Jindun’s words were very vague, but Lennok could roughly understand their meaning.
Ermong To be precise, Zaun, who was the original owner of the body, is so strong that his exhausting greed is incomparable to others.
Also, he was saying that Maiya, who came here because of the pandemonium, had the least amount of greed.
Lennok, who had been silent for a while, opened his mouth again as he placed the stone.
“I met a thousand dogs.”
“A village lighthouse keeper?”
“….”
Continuing the game casually, Jindun answered.
Lennok was speechless at the odd title, and he laughed.
“He definitely denied it, but he was a friend who loved humans more than anyone else among us. So I knew she would go first.”
“…I heard from her the secret of the end of the world and the ascension. I have come to see you to ask you about the story.”
Lennok and Jindun’s eyes met.
“What is Ascension? In a closed world, what do transcendentalists hope for and challenge themselves to go against their destiny?”
“That is a trite question. Do we need another wrapping paper for the great cause of defying fate?”
Jindun replied calmly.
“Ask something more interesting.”
“What the hell is an alkyd?”
“….”
Jindun shut his mouth.
Didn’t he think that Lennok would immediately turn to the question?
But Lennok knew that the noun was just as important as knowing the secret of ascension.
Otherwise, his name would not have appeared in the last message and warning left by Chun-Gyeon.
I just forcibly buried it on the other side of my memory. Lennok had never forgotten its name or existence.
Jindun, who was staring at Lennok, continued the game again.
“You must know that the end of the world has been decided.”
“….”
“When the time comes, the sky will open and the sea of darkness will descend to the earth and the end will come. The end of the open sea is a monster that roams the sea for thousands of years, escaping from the bondage of cause and effect, and it is not an existence that mortals can handle.”
“I know that.”
“okay?”
Jindun laughed.
“Then did you know that this is already happening for the third time?”
“….”
Lennok was silent.
It was because he was touching a taboo that Lennok had dared to speculate on carefully but never dare to speak out.
Maybe the end of this world might not be the first thing to happen.
The old world that Pandaemonium and the church talk about may not simply mean the era of a very long time ago, but really the ‘old’ world.
That this world might be the third completed world after two destructions already.
“To obtain a position equal to that of the world, to escape destruction and to cross over to the next world. We call it the Ascension and we have been constantly in awe of it.”
Jindun, who casually spilled the secret of the ascension, spoke.
“But never since the advent of the Third World has it mattered so much that not a single ascendant has succeeded.”
“….”
“Perhaps the Thousand Dog already knew. That’s why he accepted his end so meekly.”
Jindun slowly tilted his head.
As if someone was worried that it would leak onto the game board… … whispered very little.
Lennok Like only one person wants to hear.
“There is no fourth. This world has been completed through three cycles and is now running towards its end. From the beginning, ascension to heaven was an unacceptable miracle for the inhabitants of this world.”
* * *
Lennok and Jindun continued to play.
“Right. Now you’re putting it all right.”
Jindun, who laughed and stroked his chin, moved the stone.
“You learn much faster than you think. We can talk a little more about this.”
“….”
Lennok frowned at the information that flowed into his head as he ate the stone Jindun had placed.
Every time the game tilted in Lennok’s favor, and each time Lennok’s stone ate the board, unknown knowledge began to flow into his head incessantly.
From the basic principles of building a barrier, to the realm of materialization by containing thoughts and images in it, to the qualifications necessary to interfere with space-time and bend the laws of the world.
It is the totality of the shielding techniques that Jindun has accumulated over hundreds of years of his life.
I didn’t know when I started playing the game, but I realized it while exchanging numbers endlessly, learning tricks, and understanding Jindun’s thoughts.
Efforts to improve the principles of moving stones and the rules of the game.
In all of those elements, the trick and secret of the barrier art created by Jindun were melted.
Jindun had played this game hundreds and thousands of times with Lennok, teaching him in his own way.
Melting the power of complex barrier art, which is impossible to properly accept with the human mind and heart, in the form of a game.
Every time he learns the tricks and understands the advanced theory, the corresponding knowledge of the barrier art is thrust into Lennok’s head.
Seeing Lennok’s sweaty face, Jindun smiled.
“It is the process of assimilating the corresponding knowledge into memory while understanding theories and principles. Resist in moderation and accept it.”
“….”
“Fortunately, your talent seems to be much more outstanding than I expected, so you can connect more things than I thought. I must think that I received one more disciple in my later years.”
“Why me?”
“Can you speak ho?”
Lennok looked up at Jindun’s mischievous smile and asked.
“You don’t know anything about me, so why….”
Same question as before. But the meaning was completely different from the first one.
The gift of Lennok and the bondage of penalties. There’s no way Jindun would have recognized that.
The secret is a source that is so dense that even the Ascendant, who is specialized in seeing, can barely perceive only the other side.
If so, what did Jindun see in Lennok, and is he pouring his knowledge and experience into Lennok?
It was Lennok’s first experience of this kind, so he had no idea that the first Ascendant he encountered would suddenly try to become his mentor.
Because Lennok himself didn’t hate this time so much.
I had no choice but to ask Jindun.
Jindun, who was silent, turned his head and looked at the scenery at the top of the stairs.
“Can you see it?”
“…?”
“In the meantime, he is turning his head to look at us.”
Lennok followed those words and turned his gaze to the leader of the Pandemonium and felt goose bumps all over his body.
It was because he realized that the leader was looking this way in this distant gap where, in fact, time had stopped.
Genius Wizard Who Eats Medicine Chapter 374