Book 26 Chapter 21

[Nameless (Nameless)], Step Forward

—For Pastime

"Haaam, I'm sleepy. How about we just go back and get some more sleep? What do you think, Commander? Sounds like a good idea, doesn't it?"

Yawning widely, Nameless looked back at Jang So-ok, who was standing stiffly, his body tensed.

"No. Absolutely not."

Despite his small stature, Jang So-ok was firm when he opposed something. He claimed it was the duty of the Sixth Division Commander to strongly object whenever the Captain tried to slack off, a role that had been passed down through generations.

"Really not?"

Nameless asked in a very subtle voice.

"Even if you look at me with those pleading eyes, what's a no is a no. An intruder is wandering around Macheon Tower, and are you sleepy right now?"

"Yep."

Nameless answered without a hint of hesitation. Jang So-ok, known as the most unfortunate commander in the Thirteen Towers of Macheon, let out an involuntary groan.

"Stay in your post like the captain of the Sixth Division. And maintain your dignity too."

The latter was more elusive than the former.

"I'm sleepy…"

For Nameless, sleep was something that was never enough, no matter how much he slept. He was sleepy again right now. His body seemed to be ordering him to go back and sleep more.

He didn't know why this was happening.

Even when his eyes were open, he felt as if he were still asleep. He had no awareness of being awake. Moreover, he had no memory of who he was in the past. If you asked if he knew who he was now, that wasn't the case either. Apart from his official title as the overseer of the Sixth Dormitory of Macheon Tower and the captain of the Sixth Division leading those children, what else was there? Even this position of captain of the Sixth Division was something he took because someone told him to, and he continued to maintain it out of inertia or habit because no one was taking it away. As a result, the position seemed to have become synonymous with himself, but he didn't care about such positions. He would have no resistance even if they took it away immediately. This was because he felt that the position was not his own in the first place. However, that didn't mean he knew exactly where he belonged. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do either. So he was just staying in this position out of habit, reluctantly.

'What am I?'

It might sound like a philosophical question, but for him, it was literal. It was also a question that followed 'What was I?'

The present exists because of the past. And the future is born from the present as nourishment. These three are a triangle of perfect harmony. Not relative things like high and low, hot and cold, long and short, but absolute values that achieve perfect harmony like heaven, earth, and man, or essence, energy, and spirit.

However, his triangle, his perfect harmony, was broken. With the vertex of the past shattered, he was merely a straight line with only the present and future stretching out endlessly.

He was now a tree without roots. No matter how thick and large a tree is, what's the use if it has no roots? Does it still have meaning?

What's the use of having a high position or being strong?

When he doesn't even know his own real name.

—I am broken.

He had that realization. Because of that, he came to think, 'I don't care.' So he just lived as things flowed. The only clear desire he had was 'I like sweets.' Perhaps that was a remnant of his past left in his body. A past his body remembered. He was certainly happy when he ate sweets. He also felt a sense of contact with his lost past. But that was just a fleeting illusion. When the candy or taffy melted in his mouth and disappeared, his contact with the past was also broken, like a fleeting dream.

So, for him, life was a battle against boredom. He just kept living because he was alive. Sometimes he wondered who he might have been.

At first, he too tried hard to think, 'Who was I? What was my name? And what did I want to do?' There were times when he constantly thought and asked intensely. But as ten years passed and then twenty years, those questions gradually decreased, and his passion for self-exploration also faded. And then, even the questions about his existence became habitual. The longing for an answer was also slowly eroded by the passage of time.

Emergency summonses were actually unimportant. The orders of the commander, whose name he couldn't even remember, were also unimportant. But…

'What kind of guys are they?'

The world he was settled in was slightly shaken. By an unexpected intruder. This was the first time in decades. Moreover, it wasn't a great offensive by Cheon Geom-ryeong, nor an all-out attack by Baekdo. They say the opponents are still children. That part, rather, piqued his interest.

"What kind of children could they be?"

He felt a little interested in the 'otherness,' the variable, that shook his rigid world.

"What do they intend to do?"

And,

"How far can they go?"

He was a little curious.

He would forget it soon if he found out, but it seemed perfect for killing time.

Boredom is a super-powerful enemy that is not easily defeated. Even life-or-death enemies that can make your heart pound just by facing them are no match for this meaningless, unresponsive, and utterly boring boredom.

To defeat boredom, one must first defeat one's own mind. But even he, who boasted an undefeated record, had not yet defeated this thing called boredom. Hopelessly defeated by its absolute strength, he had to continuously provide 'things of interest' as tribute. If he didn't appease this boredom in this way, it might rage and go mad, driving him insane.

Normally, he solved this by sleeping. When he slept, he had no time to think about boredom. He sometimes wondered if the world in his dreams was the real world, or if the self in his dreams was the real self. He could evade boredom through dreams.

But this time, he felt like he could calm his boredom without sleeping.

"Shall I go and find them?"

Seeing Nameless's lips curve slightly upward, Commander Jang So-ok asked,

"Where, Captain?"

"Ah, of course, I'm going to find the intruders. Didn't I just receive that order?"

"Are you going to do as you were ordered, Captain? Do you mean that?"

Jang So-ok's eyes were full of disbelief.

"Hahahaha! No, was I that untrustworthy?"

"Of course not. You've never followed orders properly before. That's why our Sixth Dormitory has so many grudges against the other captains."

If Nameless hadn't had his legendary experience, he would have been subjected to considerable unfair treatment.

"Hahaha, was that so? I didn't know."

"That's because you're not interested."

"Anyway, I've made up my mind, so I'll do it."

He declared with a laugh.

"Sigh… I can't help it. If you insist, I have no choice but to follow."

There was never a time when Nameless said he would do something and didn't. Once he decided, he was a person who would do it no matter what.

"Alright, then let's go to see the intruders!"

He shouted like a child, raising his right hand forcefully.

"Wait a minute! Did you say 'see'? Not 'catch'?"

However, as if not hearing Jang So-ok's objection, Nameless was already striding far ahead. It was starting again. Jang So-ok sighed and chased after him.

"Captain, let's go together!"

He really felt like the most pitiful commander in the Thirteen Towers of Macheon.