A storm of light and a hail of flow started separating Clone 2 from Yu Jitae.
“…Kuuk!”
Flung off by the storm, Clone 2 closed his eyes and recalled the coordinates he had received from his lord.
+++
[Conceptualisation (SS)]
– Target: [World of Providence]
+++
That was when an authority was activated by itself – it was the authority Yu Jitae had pre-activated inside Clone 2’s mind.
The ‘World of Providence’ that they were about to soon enter also did not exist in real life. However, the authority would interpret that abstract world and show it to them as an image.
Before long, the curtain of light was unveiled.
And by the time he came to himself, Clone 2 was standing on a hill.
“…?”
It was a green pastel-coloured hill. The beautiful stalks of grass were reaching all the way up to his knees and every tree had red or yellow fruits as the soothing breeze gently tickled his cheeks.
If there was a garden in heaven, wouldn’t this be it? That was the thought in the clone’s mind.
‘So this is the World of Providence…’
And according to Yu Jitae, this was outside [Vintage Clock’s Workshop].
Off in the far distance, over several more hills was a large building resembling a temple. The authority embedded in his head told him that was the [Temple of Providence], where Yu Jitae would have been dragged to by now.
Next to that in the far distance again was an enormous clock tower made out of bricks and piles of wood. That tower was the [Vintage Clock’s Workshop]. Since the white bird apparently treated that workshop like its own house, it was highly likely for it to be near the workshop.
“…Let’s go.”
From now on, Clone 2 had to find the personality of Vintage Clock, the ‘white bird’, as soon as possible.
*
The [World of Providence], a world full of warm breezes.
Climbing over the hills, the clone came across a small village. There was a path going up the stairs to the Temple, and the well-adorned trees that made the village seem like a large garden was a delight to one’s eyes.
People were either looking after flowers or sitting by the flowerbed, sharing conversations.
They didn’t give off an unfriendly aura in the slightest so Clone 2 approached them with a light heart and asked a question.
“Excuse me. There is something I’d like to ask.”
“A young man I’ve never seen before. And, what is your question?”
“Have you seen the white bird living in that clock tower by any chance?”
The people shook their heads.
“When you say white bird, you are probably talking about ‘personality’. It used to fly around sometimes but it’s been a while since I’ve last seen it.”
“Do you mean it almost never left recently?”
“‘Recently’? The ‘personality’ of Vintage Clock always stays inside the clock tower. It rarely ever leaves.”
“Then will I be able to find the white bird if I head to the clock tower?”
“No. It will be difficult. The clock tower is always firmly locked. It is closed shut and generally never opens.”
“It’s locked…? Do they not accept guests?”
“Correct.”
This was different from what he had heard from Yu Jitae. Yu Jitae’s guess was that the workshop’s door was open and that the Vintage Clock had left by going out through the door.
“Then has the door of the Workshop opened recently?”
“That is something I do not really know. Ahh, what about you?” the existence asked another being that was next to it.
“You mean me? Well, I did see someone visiting the Workshop a few times but…”
“I do remember them going back after seeing the locked door.”
Someone had visited the workshop before – the clone etched that into his memories.
“It used to come out quite frequently and chirp in the past but…”
“Yeah. It was a cute bird.”
They talked between themselves before each shaking their head, gesturing that they had no idea. That was when Clone 2’s ears picked up someone else’s voice.
“Hmm, but the Temple didn’t seem to like the personality that much. If I remember correctly, there were probably also some fights.”
Even though he glossed over other sentences, this one induced his curiosity.
“Why would the Temple of Providence dislike the white bird?” Clone 2 asked.
“Of course they wouldn’t. After all, it uses the power of a transcendent authority on its own accord, and refuses to be controlled.”
“Controlled? Is the white bird a subordinate that has to follow the orders of the Temple?”
“Well, that’s not really the case but… they at least wanted to get some respect I guess, because the white bird completely ignored all the Judges’ commands. A proof of that would be how it locked the doors of the clock tower.”
Asking more questions unfortunately did not result in any more useful information. Carrying his feet, Clone 2 summarised what he heard.
1. ‘White Bird’, after suddenly appearing out of nowhere, entered the workshop (clock tower) and started living however it wanted to.
2. The Temple of Providence does not like the existence of the white bird.
3. Someone goes to the clock tower from time to time but cannot go in because of the locked doors.
There wasn’t enough information. Since this wasn’t enough for him to come to a concrete conclusion, Clone 2 started going across other places of the village asking various more questions.
.
.
.
The clone moved.
“Did you…”
Going past the lake,
“Was there someone who recently came to the…”
Crossing the bridge to a nearby garden,
“May I please ask something. It’s about the white bird of the clock tower…”
And in front of the stairs heading to the Temple.
He went around asking every sort of question without getting a satisfactory answer.
It was when he was slowly starting to feel fatigued due to having no success – he finally received a rather serious reply from someone.
It was from an old lady.
“I look at the clock tower quite often, and I have never seen anyone visiting it recently. You can say there has not been a single visitor.”
“Is that so?”
But didn’t someone else say there was a frequent visitor at the workshop?
“When you say recently, how long is it?”
The old lady opened her five fingers.
“5,000,000 years.”
“Hukk…! Five million years?”
“Yes. Or maybe fifty million years, or perhaps even five hundred million years. An everlasting epoch is so long it is hard to discern the exact time after some point.”
50 million? 500 million? Clone 2 was shocked by the astonishingly large number.
That meant no-one had entered the clock tower recently! And that in turn meant that he couldn’t enter the clock tower either.
That was when someone next to the lady said with a deep sigh.
“You see, young man. Please understand.”
“Sorry…?”
“She has Alzheimer’s.”
“…?”
Clone 2 flicked his head and glared at the old lady. ‘Or maybe 5 billion… or even 50 billion…’ The old lady mumbled with hazy eyes.
My word. The clone unknowingly heaved a sigh. He wasn’t expecting Conceptualisation to even interpret something like that.
“However, I’ve also never seen anyone going to the clock tower during the day for the past few years.”
“But, someone else said there was someone who visited the clock tower,” Clone 2 rebutted.
“Then that would be during the night, and not the day.”
“Night?”
This ‘World of Providence’ also had a day and night, and it seemed that most of them were back in their houses during the night.
“Wait a minute. I also do remember someone going to the clock tower at night and knocking on the door quite recently.”
“When was that?”
Clone 2 asked in surprise.
“Who knows… we only know day and night, and as for a specific concept of time…”
“Or maybe, can you at least tell me what time it was?”
“Like I said, we do not have a clear concept of time. Ah, wait! I think it was around 12 at night.”
“Sorry? Didn’t you say you had no concept of time?”
“But I’m sure. It was probably 12 o’clock.”
Clone 2 was ruminating over those words when the adults and the old lady started chatting to themselves.
“Anyway, don’t ask around too much. I do not know what brings an outsider to this place, but you might be picked on by someone if you cause too much fuss. The Temple’s atmosphere is not looking too good.”
“The Temple’s atmosphere…?”
“Apparently there will be a public trial soon.”
Public trial.
Clone 2 nervously listened in as the existences talked with each other.
“Anyway, it’s a shame whoever it is.”
“A public trial. How long has it been…”
“I don’t know exactly how long, but it has probably been around thousands of years since the last one right? How truly unfortunate.”
“Ten thousand… Hundred thousand…”
“It seemed like a tremendously important agenda. The Temple was filled with Judges.”
“There is probably no chance of it being cancelled… Don’t know who it is but it will be very tragic for them. How pitiful.”
Clone 2 felt goosebumps going down his spine. From their conversations, it was clear that the existences were considering the public trial as something extremely negative.
One of them said with a sigh.
“Of course it won’t be cancelled. Never. In the first place, I have no idea why they are calling this event a public trial. It’s more like a predetermined trial.”
“Ey. Buddy. Be careful with your words.”
“I’m not wrong am I? Out of the past 27 public trials, is there anyone who managed to escape the punishment? And it’s not even public. It can’t be a public trial when there is a 100% chance of being convicted.”
The clone rolled his eyes in a panic. 100% of being convicted? Doesn’t that mean he will be proclaimed guilty no matter what?
“We cannot avoid having sacrifices to maintain Providence.”
“I understand that, but it is so frustrating to watch. Frustrating and… also, this time it is a little different.”
“Nnn? How is it different?”
“I went to the Temple just then and saw something; do you know how many Judges have returned to the Temple?”
“How many?”
“Five?”
“Things are looking weird, so maybe seven?”
The existence continued after shaking its head with a bitter expression.
“It was eleven.”
“My word…”
“That’s impossible. Eleven? Why would there be that many Judges gatheri…”
It was then. Light flickered above the sky.
The existences all turned their gazes to the sky and saw a sparkling pillar of brilliant light shooting into the Temple. It was another Judge entering the ‘Temple’.
“How could this be…”
“That makes them twelve.”
“Is twelve, a lot?” Unable to hold back his curiosity, Clone 2 intervened with a question.
One of the beings replied.
“Mhmm? It seems you really know nothing. What do you mean, ‘Is twelve a lot’…”
Clone 2 awkwardly smiled as the existence added.
“That’s all the Judges.”
That was the end of the conversation. Ignoring Clone 2 who was bothering them, the existences began talking to each other. Their conversation continued on and on before soon leading to a topic unrelated to the white bird.
Clone 2 quietly listened to them a bit more.
“Anyway, it’s great that it’s quiet these days.”
“True. The clock tower used to be quite noisy after all.”
Maybe there was some hammering noise or something since it was the workshop of the Vintage Clock. They continued sharing meaningless conversations, so Clone 2 stood up after judging that there was no value in listening any further.
He could only continue carrying his feet without a solid plan.
While moving once again to find hints about the white bird, Clone 2 had to withstand the urge to convey this truth to Yu Jitae. A trial with 100% chance of being convicted – that was their impression of the public trial.
But since he could only contact him once, his lord told him to contact only after finding the white bird and thus, Clone 2 could not tell Yu Jitae about the information he discovered.
It was driving him crazy.
*
“Nn? That boy is gone.”
“A rare outsider that seemed very busy…”
“Anyway, so what’s the reason they’re holding this trial?”
They all turned to one existence, who was the only one that could enter the Temple.
What was the purpose of this ‘public trial’?
“Well, it’s nothing too crazy. You all know, that the current time providence of Vintage Clock is drawing its 7th orbit, yes?”
“Isn’t that obvious? What about it?”
The existence concluded as if it wasn’t that big of a deal.
“The Temple appeared to be wishing for the 8th orbit.”
***
Something could be heard from the midst of his hazy mind.
…ke up…
Someone was talking to Yu Jitae, with an urgent tone of voice.
…Wake… up…
His mind was as heavy as wet cotton, but it was fine. Yu Jitae had dozens of blessings that protected the mind and the body.
One by one, he activated the ones that he had previously locked in order to be pulled by Providence. Slowly, his senses that were submerged beneath the surface of the water vividly returned to his body.
“Hey!”
Light entered his eyes.
He was sitting in a dark world, and the man who had been calling him was Oscar Brzenk.
“Ah, hey! Have you come to yourself?”