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Chapter 226

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The Concealer III

4

The Hollow Earth Theory.

As the name suggests, it\'s a theory that the inside of the Earth is hollow and contains a massive underground cave.

Similar theories include "Nazis on the Moon" or "The Underwater City of Atlantis."

In short, it’s a conspiracy theory, nothing more than gossip with zero academic value.

Unfortunately, after the advent of the Void, Earth shifted from being governed by physicists to conspiracy theorists. There was indeed a secret Nazi base on the far side of the Moon, and Atlantis was very much alive in the Atlantic Ocean.

Along the same lines, of course, the inside of the Earth was also hollow. As an intellectual, It was almost embarrassing to be unaware of such a simple geological truth.

"Sir."

"Hmm."

"There’s a village. Underground."

"…Hmm."

"There are people living here as well. Should we call them subterraneans? Judging by their appearance, they look like Homo sapiens."

However, the Homo sapiens that Yoo Jiwon referred to had physical traits that differed significantly from modern humans.

-Woo? Ah, ah, woo!

-Woouugh! Oooohooo!

As soon as they spotted us poking our heads out of the ground hole, the subterraneans surged toward us, raising wooden spears.

The subterraneans stomped on the ground and craned their necks toward each other, exchanging barbaric cries of "Ooohooo-."

What was there to hide?

The level of their civilization remained at a typical primitive tribal stage. They weren’t even properly covering their lower bodies.

-Uhooohooo! Hooohooo!

One of the subterraneans, presumably their leader, pointed his spear at us threateningly and spat out unintelligible words.

Even with my linguistic skills, translating their language was difficult, but from the tone, I could roughly guess it meant something like, "Come out, you monsters!"

Unfortunately, they picked the wrong opponent to threaten.

"Excuse me for a moment, sir."

Thud!

Before anyone could stop her, Yoo Jiwon leaped forward and thrust a dagger into the leader\'s throat.

-Uhooohooo? Uhohoh!

-Ooooh! Ohoh! Ough!

A few brave subterraneans attempted to retaliate, but it was futile. Yoo Jiwon pulled out a new dagger and threw it. The blade struck precisely in the center of their foreheads.

As four of them were killed in an instant, the remaining subterraneans had no choice but to flee, terrified of the psychopath who had invaded from the surface.

The entire situation was resolved in just 30 seconds.

Typical of Yoo Jiwon, the head of the National Road Management Operations Team, her clean efficiency was undeniable.

"Hmm."

Jiwon brushed off her uniform.

"They were a disorganized rabble, sir. Hardly worth your attention."

"…Jiwon, as I\'ve said many times, you really need to tone down your casual psychopathic tendencies."

"They threatened us first. Now, let me examine the body."

Thud!

Again, before anyone could stop her, Yoo Jiwon split open the subterranean leader’s skull.

It was a gruesome scene that would undoubtedly earn an R-rating on any platform, but fortunately, there was no need to worry about censorship.

Because inside the body of the subterranean Jiwon had cut open, there was no blood or organs—just emptiness.

"They’re hollow inside."

"An anomaly, then."

"Yes, without a doubt. They resemble the terrain here quite well."

Not only the skull but the entire body was hollow. It would have been strange not to call them an anomaly.

"But sir, look closely at this primitive. Doesn’t he resemble you?"

"What?"

"I’m not joking. Sir, take a careful look."

"……."

It was true.

The subterranean Jiwon had first killed, their leader, bore a striking resemblance to me. It had been hard to recognize at first due to the stark difference in civilization levels.

"…Wait a minute. The one lying over there looks exactly like you, Jiwon."

"Oh."

Jiwon blinked and examined the corpse lying on the ground.

"You’re right. I’ve always been curious about what it would feel like to kill myself, but I never imagined I’d satisfy my curiosity this way."

"That’s nothing to brag about, kid."

"Thank you for the compliment."

The other subterraneans that Jiwon had killed also seemed oddly familiar.

I realized something.

"Take out the map."

"Yes, sir."

I had Jiwon place the chess piece labeled "Doctor Jang" on the map.

The result.

226 words.

Standing tall.

Unlike before, this time the chess piece stood upright on the map without any issue.

The strange phenomenon of another chess piece being pulled in the opposite direction had disappeared.

"…As I thought."

"What’s going on, sir?"

"It seems that these subterraneans are copies of us. Your [Minimap] ability must have recognized them as the same people."

"Ah, I see. So that’s why individuals from the surface and the underground were displayed side by side. Hmm…"

Jiwon’s cold, blue eyes swept over the corpses.

That gaze was ominous.

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To others, it might have seemed like her usual indifferent expression, but I could see through it. Whenever Jiwon was plotting something nasty, her left eyebrow twitched subtly like a dog’s tail.

"Hey. What are you scheming?"

"Oh, nothing at all. It’s just... if your theory is correct, there must be underground versions of everyone on the surface."

"Probably."

"That includes the Grand Witch of the Three Thousand Words and the student council president of Baekhwa High School."

"…So what?"

"It’s unforgivable for these monsters to impersonate your precious comrades. Sir, please let me handle the extermination of these creatures."

This brat.

Could it be?

"Hey, are you seriously happy about getting a chance to kill versions of Tang Seorin and Cheon Yohwa without any risk?"

"Could that even be possible? It was merely a suggestion born out of pure loyalty to Your Excellency."

"You crazy bastard!"

But Yoo Jiwon didn\'t miss the opportunity.

A massacre began in the underworld.

- Ughooook! Ughooook?

- Oooooh! Ughoo! Ughoooh!

It was as if the suppressed bloodlust had been fully unleashed because of me. She thoroughly searched the underworld, hunting down the \'Underground People: Tang Seorin\', \'Underground People: Cheon Yowha\', and so on.

The underground world, which had barely reached the early stages of civilization, mostly perished that day.

And when Yoo Jiwon skinned the \'Underground People: Tang Seorin,\' a surprising item popped out.

“…A witch\'s hat?”

“A pointy hat, to be precise. There\'s also a model train deeper inside.”

“Why are these inside its body?”

Indeed.

Inside the Underground People\'s bodies that imitated Tang Seorin\'s appearance, instead of organs, a witch\'s hat and a train were hidden.

No ordinary human would have such things come out of their body. Nor would they be wearing them externally.

"Ah. From inside the body of the Underground People: Cheon Yowha, a school uniform came out. It’s the uniform of Baekhwa Girls\' High School."

"…I have no idea what this all means."

I didn’t know how the Underground People had stolen items from Earth, but everything related to people’s lost personalities or hobbies was hidden here.

“From Mr. Seo Gyu\'s body, hair poured out.”

"……."

“Inside Miss Sim Aryeon\'s body... Oh. It’s a sketchbook with a short tongue drawn on it. If we burn or destroy it, I suspect the people on the surface will return to normal.”

In many cases, rather than symbolic items, it was simple notebooks hidden inside.

For example, inside the body of the Underground People: Noh Doha was a notebook with [Human Hatred] written on it.

Even after \'Human Hatred\' was removed, Noh Doha still looked at me with such a hateful gaze. It was almost frightening how consistent he was.

After Yoo Jiwon had thoroughly dissected people\'s bellies, seemingly satisfied, she cleaned her dagger and returned.

"Your Excellency. I\'ve been thinking, couldn’t we use this anomaly to our advantage?"

"Use it? For what?"

"This is the opposite side of the Earth. If not for your Excellency\'s terrifying aura, no awakened person could have found this remote place."

In short, Yoo Jiwon said,

"No other place is more suitable for committing the perfect crime."

An ominous feeling crept over me.

"You don\'t need to look so concerned. I\'m only suggesting that we could use this anomaly to correct humans who have personality flaws in various ways."

"Personality flaws, you say…."

“For example, suppose we write \'Narcissism\' on the notebook and put it inside Miss Sim Aryeon’s doppelganger. Wouldn\'t that easily resolve one of the symptoms that have been troubling her?”

"Hmm."

Yoo Jiwon continued,

"Your Excellency could use this place like an editor. You could easily correct and modify your comrades\' personality flaws, turning them into more perfectly functioning individuals."

“…No, that would lead straight to becoming an anomaly. Changing the personalities of those around me at my whim? Are you trying to turn me into a dictator?"

“I think it could be very useful, though.”

“No, no.”

I waved my hand.

"Something similar was done before in another turn, by Tang Seorin. The result was a fallen one."

"Is that so…."

Yoo Jiwon looked around with an expression (which, again, only I could read) of deep regret.

Not that there was much left to look at, aside from the massacre site she had just caused.

"If Your Excellency insists, I’ll be satisfied with just exterminating the anomalies."

"Yeah. We should be thankful we found them before they stole people\'s hearts or brains."

"Understood."

Yoo Jiwon obediently cleaned up the scene and returned to the tunnel we had dug.

She gave up her opinion so cheerfully that I almost absentmindedly followed him back to the surface.

But something felt off.

Following my instincts, I approached the corpse of the \'Underground People: Doctor Jang.\'

When I opened its mouth, to my surprise, a notebook with Yoo Jiwon’s handwriting was hidden inside.

[Doubt about Yoo Jiwon]

[Suspicion of Yoo Jiwon’s loyalty]

[Total distrust of Yoo Jiwon’s character, integrity, and remarks]

"……."

“…Ah.”

Our eyes met—mine and Yoo Jiwon’s, who was already halfway into the tunnel.

She burrowed in like a mole. Soon after, I could faintly hear the sound of her fleeing at top speed, tap tap tap.

If I were to express that sequence of actions in words, it would be something like, \'Yoo Jiwon hid her conscience.\'

I couldn’t help but shout.

“Yoo Jiwon, you bastard! Don’t you dare run away!”

5

There’s a short epilogue.

“Hyung-nim! Thank you so much!”

"Uh, sure."

Seo Gyu, whose hair had returned, clung to my waist, sobbing.

Not only had his hair grown back, but so had his original identity—his memories of having luxuriant hair were fully restored.

Not just Seo Gyu, but others also received the "blessing of normalization." Tang Seorin, who safely returned to being a train enthusiast, even held a bonfire with scrapped trains at the station plaza.

“I, uh, would’ve been fine if you’d just left me alone….”

Aside from Sim Aryeon, who was reveling in her newfound popularity, most people regarded the recent events as embarrassing memories.

Just as we were about to wrap up the bizarre tale of how our doppelgängers had been living beneath the surface, sharing the same ground we tread on daily―

As I returned to the surface and enjoyed my normal routine, a sudden question hit me.

‘Wait. If the underworld had been stealing things from the surface one by one... What about the sun?’

There had been a sun in the underground world, yet the sun still shone brightly in the sky above the Earth.

This meant that currently, Earth had two suns coexisting—one sun that had something stolen from it, and the other that had stolen something.

"……."

I sipped my café au lait and looked up at the clear sky, particularly at the glaring sunlight.

What could the sun of our galaxy have had stolen by the anomalies?

- The Concealer. The End.

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