Index Messenger Yan
…L5123’s… fourth door.
Index Messenger Yan
Fourteen steps to the right… Twenty-three steps to the left…
Index Messenger Yan
…There’s a staircase.
Index Messenger Yan
How… far down does this go…?
Index Messenger Yan
The sound, it’s getting louder… And I see a dim light…
Index Messenger Yan
…Is it really okay to head inside?
Index Messenger Yan
I guess I have no choice.
Index Messenger Yan
…What’s this…? What are these huge machinations supposed to be…
Index Constituent ???
Welcome~ Welcome~! It must’ve been an exhausting journey here, come on in and make yourself at home~!
Index Messenger Yan
…Who are you?
Index Weaver ???
I’m the Weaver working here!
Index Weaver ???
It’s so nice to see a guest after such a long time. Come on, now! Don’t be shy and step right in!
Index Messenger Yan
A Weaver…?
Index Weaver ???
Yep, that’s what I am.
Index Weaver ???
You were invited by the Prescript, right…?!
Index Messenger Yan
How did you…
Index Weaver ???
The likes of you couldn’t even dream of finding this place without the guidance of the Prescript!
Index Weaver ???
It only invites people here on a very extraordinary occasion, so consider yourself honored~!
Index Messenger Yan
…Does this place have something to do with the Prescripts?
Index Weaver ???
Yes-oh-yes, it has plenty to do with them. This is the birthplace of Prescripts.
Index Messenger Yan
Prescripts are born?
Index Weaver ???
Your face tells me that you must have a lot you’d like to hear!
Index Weaver ???
And that’s good! I was really bored, too, actually… You should take a seat first, here. This will be a loooong story! Here’s your chair…
Index Weaver Moirai
Sorry I have no tea. It’s hard to come by warm water down here… Oh, where are my manners. What’s your name? Are you a Proxy? Or a Messenger? My name’s Moirai!
Index Messenger Yan
H-hold on. Could you please slow down…
Index Messenger Yan
First off, I’m Yan… Yan Vismok… I’m a Messenger. I only started working less than a month ago…
Index Weaver Moirai
Yan! So you were a Messenger.
Index Messenger Yan
Yes… I’ve been delivering Prescripts full of absurd and brutal orders.
Index Weaver Moirai
Oh, I understand. Prescripts are cruel indeed. And knotty, too, which gets some people killed.
Index Messenger Yan
…I had to hear many resentful remarks and screams from the people who received their Prescripts.
Index Messenger Yan
Are you… Are you the one who wrote those ridiculous Prescripts?
Index Weaver Moirai
Yeesh, so scary! Don’t scowl at me so dreadfully, now.
Index Weaver Moirai
To answer your question first…
Index Weaver Moirai
No, I’m not responsible for the contents of the Prescripts. My occupation is to manage these spinning wheels and loom.
Index Messenger Yan
…Huh? Then how are Prescripts “born”…
Index Weaver Moirai
Can you hear this sound? Can you feel the tremor, climbing up your feet and touching your bosom?
Index Messenger Yan
…I can feel a tiny quake, yes. But… what about it? It’s just a small vibration.
Index Weaver Moirai
Wrong! This isn’t a simple tremor.
Index Weaver Moirai
You’re feeling the heartbeat of the City.
Index Weaver Moirai
It vibrates at random frequencies…
Index Weaver Moirai
Those vibrations move this pendulum over here… and I spin the wheels to make threads.
Index Weaver Moirai
Oh, why hear me describe it when you can see it in action? Here, why don’t you come closer and take a look~ A new Prescript is about to be born!
Index Weaver Moirai
The pendulum swings above the threads I spin, inscribing meaning on them.
Index Messenger Yan
…Meaning? All I see are random patterns.
Index Weaver Moirai
It could seem hazy at first. This is the language of the City, after all. You obviously won’t recognize it, no-oh-no!
Index Messenger Yan
The language of the City? Were there more languages left to be found…?
Index Weaver Moirai
Mmm… It’s a different kind from the languages people use. Oh, it certainly is.
Index Weaver Moirai
The thing is… I have no idea what it means, either~
Index Weaver Moirai
But we’ll soon be able to find out.
Index Weaver Moirai
There are fifty-seven spinning wheels here.
Index Weaver Moirai
The threads spun from those wheels are then put in this loom, and I modestly weave cloth from them.
Index Weaver Moirai
Wait just a moment, now~
Index Weaver Moirai
And there it is! Look. A Prescript has been created~!
Index Messenger Yan
No way…
Index Messenger Yan
…‘To Chae-heon. When you see a person on a three-way intersection waving their hand seven times, follow them to their house.’
Index Messenger Yan
It… really is a Prescript.
Index Weaver Moirai
Alright~ No time to be spacing out! We should send this Prescript to a Messenger for delivery, right?
Index Weaver Moirai
Start with this stamp, and…
Index Weaver Moirai
…Let’s see, let’s see~ The code is N… N… Next to L… N920… and 1…
Index Weaver Moirai
There it is! Pipe number N9201 is right here!
Index Weaver Moirai
Now we roll up this Prescript and put it in here. The Prescript will travel along the pipe all the way to the surface.
Index Messenger Yan
That’s what Prescripts were…?
Index Messenger Yan
This can’t be… Who made the spinning wheels, the loom, and the pipes, then?
Index Weaver Moirai
I have no clue~ I was led here by a Prescript, too.
Index Weaver Moirai
Oh—oh, my predecessor was waiting for me when I arrived~ But they left after receiving a Prescript one day.
Index Messenger Yan
…Have you never questioned the Prescripts?
Index Weaver Moirai
Not really? I don’t have much else to do, anyway.
Index Messenger Yan
Do you have any idea how many people died because of your stupid randomly generated commands…?
Index Messenger Yan
If this is where all Prescripts are made… Then you could’ve at least tweaked them a little so they’re not as cruel.
Index Weaver Moirai
…I’m doing this because a Prescript ordered me to create and send Prescripts down here, though.
Index Weaver Moirai
If I broke this Prescript, the Prescripts will get me killed…
Index Messenger Yan
What are you talking about! You’re the one in charge of sending out Prescripts!
Index Weaver Moirai
What if there’s another Weaver like me somewhere in another Nest?
Index Weaver Moirai
You don’t possibly think that I’m the only one mailing all the Prescripts for the City, do you?
Index Messenger Yan
Someone has to be making the contents of the Prescripts, but who could it be…
Index Weaver Moirai
In my opinion, that’d be the City itself.
Index Weaver Moirai
The pendulum inscribing patterns on the threads swings according to the City’s motions, like I said just before.
Index Weaver Moirai
Footsteps of pedestrians walking around on the surface… Quakes coming from construction sites… Impacts created from some clumsy person falling on the floor… Echoes of people’s screams…
Index Weaver Moirai
Every little event happening in the City becomes a vibration that moves the pendulum.
Index Weaver Moirai
Even the sound of us talking.
Index Weaver Moirai
At the end of the day, us City folk can never be free from the City.
Index Weaver Moirai
Every deed committed by denizens of the City is ultimately the City’s deed. We’re representing its will in a sense.
Index Messenger Yan
All the cruel things we’ve been committing were out of the City’s volition?
Index Messenger Yan
Why did the City… have to be that way?
Index Weaver Moirai
Because the people are.
Index Weaver Moirai
The City was built by people, and their cruel nature had to naturally reflect on their creation.
Index Weaver Moirai
We were born that way.
Index Messenger Yan
This is a mess… People built the City… and now the City is controlling the people…?
Index Weaver Moirai
Does the order really matter much? I think the point is this! That whatever we do, we’re essentially part of the City.
Index Messenger Yan
All you do is weave cloth in this peaceful bunker… You probably have no idea what kind of brutal outcomes that piece of cloth you make can bring.
Index Messenger Yan
That’s why you can talk about this with such a carefree attitude…
Index Weaver Moirai
You’re right, that’s beyond me. I only do what I was ordered to do.
Index Weaver Moirai
Do I really have to care about that, though?
Index Weaver Moirai
According to the City’s will, its volition… The City’s will matches the will of the people living in it.
Index Weaver Moirai
Did you know?
Index Weaver Moirai
There are beings born out of the City folk’s wants.
Index Weaver Moirai
Humans want to walk the path that’s given to them. They’re afraid to face the consequences of their actions and take responsibility for them.
Index Weaver Moirai
They know that they will only end up going the wrong way if they try to make their own decisions.
Index Weaver Moirai
They’d rather rely on something and expect things from it rather than to live a life of struggle.
Index Weaver Moirai
People without purpose in their lives desiring and yearning for something to open up a way for them…
Index Weaver Moirai
It could be someone wishing for equality amidst the savagery and voyeurism…
Index Weaver Moirai
Or it could be the vain hopes of those who want the City to thrive forevermore, providing for all of its inhabitants…
Index Weaver Moirai
That’s how gods were born; people needed them.
Index Weaver Moirai
They didn’t pop into existence because someone told them to. They can’t be made up by anyone, nor can they be oppressed.
Index Weaver Moirai
You can’t blame anyone for this.
Index Weaver Moirai
So many people, so many residents of the City want them…
Index Weaver Moirai
Thus, they’re the fear that will draw near them, the temptation of happiness… The promises and wishes of all people.
Index Weaver Moirai
Are you starting to get… why the Prescripts came into existence?
Index Messenger Yan
Haha… Yeah.
Index Messenger Yan
Right… It wasn’t my fault.
Index Messenger Yan
People weren’t doing inhumane things because I delivered Prescripts to them…
Index Messenger Yan
Those horrible things were meant to happen anyway.
Index Messenger Yan
You’re right, I think I see it now.
Index Messenger Yan
It’s the City… It’s because people have always been cruel. Humans are born that way… And they have desperate wishes.
Index Messenger Yan
It doesn’t matter if they were pure wishes welled up from innocent hearts or ambitions born from greed, this is the result of what everyone wished for.
Index Messenger Yan
Killing people with my own hands, or taking away invaluable things from others…
Index Messenger Yan
Shuddering in guilt listening to those horrid screams, while I tried my best to seem unfazed.
Index Messenger Yan
They were all useless feelings eating away at my heart.
Index Messenger Yan
…Exactly. I’m just a tiny part of the world, I can never change the wishes of all people… There’s no way I can defy this flow.
Index Messenger Yan
What I did was part of the City… The will of the City.
Index Messenger Yan
Forging Prescripts out of spite and delivering them could be traced to the City’s volition, not my free will.
Index Messenger Yan
But that equates to my volition in the end.
Index Messenger Yan
The City and I… and every person in this City were one and the same.
Index Messenger Yan
Do you think so, too?
??? 얀샋ㄷ요무
…Moirai. The City must know where I should go next.
(Note)
Index Weaver Moirai
Huh? Me?
Index Weaver Moirai
…Oh, don’t you worry. Just a moment, please~
Index Weaver Moirai
…Alright, here. It’s an invitation to the Library. Prepared just for you.
??? 얀샋ㄷ요무
…As the City wills it.
Index Weaver Moirai
What was he talking to… Or was he talking to me all along? Well, regardless!
Index Weaver Moirai
Back to my post~ Gotta keep my position.
Location: Inside the Library
Servant Roland
Color me speechless… So that’s what the Prescripts really were.
Library Director Angela
Beings… akin to gods of the City… I don’t think I’ve heard or read any mention of such things.
Servant Roland
It does seem like there are some beings out there that fit the description that Weaver person gave. I think I’ve seen something similar a few times, though I don’t know if that actually was one.
Servant Roland
Not sure if “being” is the right word for them, to be honest.
Servant Roland
They’re supposedly created because people wished for them to exist… I don’t know a lot about ‘em, to tell you the truth.
Library Director Angela
According to her logic, the Prescripts would be one such being, created from the collective aspiration of those who want to be given a purpose in their aimless lives.
Library Director Angela
So you’ve seen one yourself, Roland?
Servant Roland
Dunno. I might have, but… I don’t really know what I saw. Heck, I’m not even sure if I saw it at all.
Library Director Angela
That doesn’t count as seeing one, does it.
Servant Roland
It’s just that my memory about the details of it is blurry. And I don’t feel like remembering it for whatever reason…
Servant Roland
You don’t think highly of them, huh?
Library Director Angela
Seeing what one of those metaphorical gods made out of people’s wishes is doing… I can’t see them in a positive light.
Library Director Angela
They seem to lead people to ruin, in one way or another. Is it truly for their sake?
Library Director Angela
What do you think, Roland? Do you think those “gods” are leading the residents of the City to the correct paths as some claim?
Servant Roland
I won’t lie that at a glance, they do look like a weird cult giving their lives to an object that swings on a whim.
Servant Roland
And they’re giving arbitrary meanings to it like how it’s the heartbeat of the City. That’s a consequentialist point of view, shared by many other religions.
Servant Roland
The methods they take may be a complete mess…
Servant Roland
That being said, I don’t think that there’s absolutely nothing good to say about them. They fulfilled the people’s wishes anyhow.
Servant Roland
The results… are another story.
Servant Roland
Even though the so-called gods bring fear and despair to people, they get to live a life that’s richer and more human.
Servant Roland
The goal might have been forcibly handed to them, but it’s still better than nothing.
Servant Roland
Well, you’re free to think whatever you want in the end. You could feel the Prescripts are horrible, or a justified necessity, or whatever.
Library Director Angela
You’re right. Anyway… We should put our personal impressions aside and prepare to receive our guest.
Library Director Angela
I’m counting on you as always.
Location: Library Entrance
??? 얀샋ㄷ요무
Receive a Prescript… And carry it out…
??? 얀샋ㄷ요무
Receive a Prescript… And carry it out…
Library Director Angela
Greetings, dear guest.
Library Director Angela
If I may, I am—
Library Director Angela
…Yes, it would seem that you know me well.
??? 얀샋ㄷ요무
The Prescripts know everything.
??? 얀샋ㄷ요무
The Prescripts represent the will of the City… They know everything that goes on in the City.
??? 얀샋ㄷ요무
They know what I am going to do… What you are going to do. All of it.
Library Director Angela
I… see.
Library Director Angela
Don’t you have any doubts about the Prescripts?
??? 얀샋ㄷ요무
Of course not. The Prescripts are the City’s will, and the City’s volition is my will…
??? 얀샋ㄷ요무
To deny the City’s volition is to deny myself.
Library Director Angela
By accepting that as truth, you’re acknowledging that you have no free will of your own; don’t you feel that it is unfair?
??? 얀샋ㄷ요무
We no longer have to be driven to despair by the repercussions of our choices… We don’t have to be worn down from the pain, standing in the field of thorns on our two feet.
??? 얀샋ㄷ요무
By filling up the part that can’t be achieved alone, our lives as humans can become much more lavish.
??? 얀샋ㄷ요무
I have the talent to walk the path in front of me, if nothing else… Even if I don’t have much happiness, I know where to go in the immediate future. And that’s enough for me.
Library Director Angela
…It’s fortunate to hear that you are satisfied with it.
Library Director Angela
May you find your book in this place.
