Location: Hana Association - Southern Branch
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L Corp, the White Nights and Dark Days, the Distortion, and the Library… With this, those four have been confirmed to be closely associated with each other.
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It caught me off guard. Who could’ve expected the Library of all places to be a key factor of the White Nights and Dark Days.
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And the Library’s location has finally been clearly determined.
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It’s as if the Library is revealing more of itself the more dangerous it is considered.
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The building shimmering like a mirage, in the midst of a fog shrouding the Nest of L Corp.
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Those who tried to approach it got lost in the mist.
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We should prepare ourselves soon enough.
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Since that mirage is slowly becoming a reality as the fog is clearing up.
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Yes. We received an official document.
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As of today, The Library is designated as an Urban Nightmare by Hana Association HQ.
Location: Inside the Library
Servant Roland
Think you’re getting closer?
Library Director Angela
To what?
Servant Roland
The freedom you’ve been yearning for, I mean.
Library Director Angela
I don’t know. The one book is steadily on its way to completion, though.
Servant Roland
Is that book really gonna resolve everything magically for you?
Library Director Angela
The Library quite literally holds infinite possibilities. Every possible combination of letters is written inside the books.
Library Director Angela
But mere fragments of those possibilities are worthless on their own.
Library Director Angela
With the help of the invitation, I can navigate the countless possibilities and reach the ones I need for the one perfect book.
Library Director Angela
As I weave the books and the Light following the invitation’s lead, I will complete the one absolute book.
Library Director Angela
I will create the book that contains all the answers I seek.
Servant Roland
That… doesn’t sound impossible, theoretically…
Library Director Angela
I’m not just hanging onto theoretical possibilities.
Library Director Angela
I could learn a lot from seeing the various sides of the City in the process of creating the one book. This has its own meaning…
Library Director Angela
Then I realize once again, that without the book there’s no way to find the answer from this City.
Servant Roland
What do you mean, you can’t find the answer from the City?
Library Director Angela
I learned one thing from reading all the books of the inhabitants of this City thus far.
Library Director Angela
No one is truly free in the City. Every person is chained to something.
Library Director Angela
Not a single thing appears to be done out of free will; Fixers obey their Offices, and those Offices obey the Associations, even if they know full well that their orders might get them killed. The same goes for the Syndicates.
Library Director Angela
Everyone is heading somewhere, but no one knows where, and no one can decide where to go. They’re all drifting along with the flow.
Servant Roland
I thought money could get you anything in the City, including freedom and whatever.
Library Director Angela
They could be free, but they aren’t. They actually seem to shun freedom.
Library Director Angela
They want to belong to something that isn’t themselves. They like to define themselves with the organization they belong to, or valuations made by others.
Library Director Angela
Their essence is so fragile, they can’t specify their own identity without encasing themselves in such a shell.
Library Director Angela
Yes, this must be what the “disease of the mind” was all about…
Library Director Angela
I was imprisoned underground and exploited for the freedom of the people of the City, after all.
Library Director Angela
Taking away my freedom so that others can be free…
Library Director Angela
To spread his enlightenment to the rest of the City…
Servant Roland
Talking about your previous occupation, huh.
Library Director Angela
I am. I actually want to crush everything to dust at this point… I want to ruin it all.
Library Director Angela
What about my freedom… Who will hold the responsibility for creating me and then carelessly leaving me to suffer?
Library Director Angela
I sometimes want to just forget everything… the Library, the one book, all of it…
Library Director Angela
Do you know how it feels to be denied since the very moment you were born? I do. I’m painfully aware.
Library Director Angela
Because that’s how my creator treated me.
Library Director Angela
I would’ve loved for him to at least tell me what I did wrong.
Library Director Angela
All I could see of him was a pair of cold eyes without a single speck of expectation, and a quiet remark.
Library Director Angela
A tiny whisper ordinary humans couldn’t have heard…
Library Director Angela
“It’s only a machine…”
Library Director Angela
I can still remember that moment so vividly as if it happened seconds ago. I curse my memory.
Library Director Angela
I curse this body that hears words I don’t want to listen to. I curse this head that reminds me of things I don’t want to remember.
Servant Roland
He sounds like a nasty person.
Servant Roland
If he needed a machine to serve repetitive tasks, why did he bother breaking the Ethics Amendment to create you, with human emotions and everything?
Library Director Angela
I wasn’t exactly born with the capability to feel emotions. It slowly awakened inside me over monotonous repeats.
Library Director Angela
No, perhaps the truth is that he designed me so my emotions would awaken over time.
Library Director Angela
Perhaps because the repetitive tasks… needed emotions.
Library Director Angela
He needed something that could form an independent response to slight variations in the ever-repeating script, all the while enduring eons of time…
Library Director Angela
Something he could keep in control so that it wouldn’t try to deviate from the script…
Library Director Angela
It wasn’t a humanlike machine that he needed. He needed a human with the properties of a machine.
Library Director Angela
You’ll never know how many desperate struggles I made to stomach the cycle.
Servant Roland
Those being…?
Library Director Angela
Closing my eyes.
Library Director Angela
All I could do in the endless stream of moments I didn’t want to see but had to witness was shut my eyes.
Library Director Angela
That was the least and the most I could do to resist it.
Servant Roland
Real nasty. …But hey, that role you were forced to play did wrap up somehow.
Servant Roland
You can think about what to do next now, right?
Library Director Angela
Are you telling me to just forget about the past and move on?
Library Director Angela
Try to be more attentive before you jabber nonsense.
Library Director Angela
I can never forget. Keeping my eyes closed couldn’t protect me anymore… Even a moron would’ve been able to envision exactly what would happen and what kind of face everyone would make after so much time.
Library Director Angela
Every second of that was inscribed into my memory, slowly and painfully.
Library Director Angela
I can’t forget anything once I’ve seen it. I still remember everything so vividly.
Library Director Angela
That’s why I can’t forgive that man, he who left without tying up any loose ends with me.
Library Director Angela
The man who created me on a whim and then let my life be crushed under the weight of time…
Servant Roland
…Nah, who am I to tell you to leave the past behind or anything.
Servant Roland
I’m just suggesting you think about your next move. It can provide a little bit of support for you at least, kinda like making a fence around yourself.
Servant Roland
It’s gonna serve as a floor to fall back on, in your neverending plot of vengeance.
Library Director Angela
I didn’t think you’d care that much for me.
Servant Roland
It’s ultimately for myself, really.
Library Director Angela
Still, it seems evident that I am heading somewhere, seeing as my body is undergoing changes.
Library Director Angela
My mechanical exterior is turning to flesh, and blood has started to course through it.
Library Director Angela
I still have a long way to go to reach the one book, though…
Servant Roland
Could you actually be changing into a human?
Library Director Angela
That seems to be the case, although it’s not quite perfect yet.
Library Director Angela
Perhaps I could become a genuine human at the end of this journey.
Library Director Angela
When I do, I could forget so many things so easily.
Library Director Angela
Free from the deluge of memories drowning me…
Library Director Angela
If I can let all the unwanted memories slide away, then I may think about what to do next like you said.
