Chapter 36: Incarnations
Under the shade on a hot day, two people sat gazing at the multitudes sharing in much-needed food and refreshments. There was a buzzing of joy and happiness as the fans of Evoque and the crew clamored to meet its members, especially after that wonderful performance that had just been carried out. They really did embrace their name, superseding its very intent.
Right now, Baek Seri sat next to Dan Woo, her eyes glued to him with a clear sense of familiarity.
"So, how was it?"
Dan Woo frowned, confused by the question.
"How was what?"
"The evocation. Wasn’t it glorious?"
Baek Seri said, her eyes twinkling with an uncanny light.
"A nice dinner under candlelight. A slow embrace beneath the cold moon. And that music..." She smiled faintly. "I think we had a wonderful night, didn’t we? Did you appreciate my gift?"
Dan Woo’s face cycled through a myriad of expressions before settling into one of confusion.
"Who are you?"
"Don’t you already have an answer to that?" the girl began. "I heard you had new women in your life."
Dan Woo turned to Baek Seri and began to speak, but before he could say anything, her slender fingers wrapped around his lips.
"Shhhh. No need for excuses. You saw how sad your sister was because of a man," Baek Seri said in a low, sultry voice.
Then her face blinked.
It was no longer Baek Seri sitting in front of Dan Woo.
It was Baek Hari.
"You...?"
"Now do you know who I am?"
"What do you want? And why do you have my sister?"
"Have you forgotten all the beautiful memories we had?"
"So who are you now? Baek Hari or Baek Seri?"
"That..." She fell silent for a moment, as she carefully weighed her thoughts. "That is a bit hard to answer."
She paused again before speaking.
"Let me answer that question with another question. What if one day you woke up in a body that had your same name, the same face, the same memories—but in a different era?"
"What? Like transmigration?"
"Yeah... something like that. What if that happened one day? If you had similar memories and experiences, but you woke up in a body that was fundamentally not yours... would you still be you, or would you be someone else?"
"Huh? I don’t understand the question."
Baek Seri went quiet for a second, going into deep contemplation.
"I see you’ve become familiar with another constellation. The scent is literally oozing from you..." Baek Hari said softly. "The concept of time must be familiar to you, so let’s use that. If I, today, went back to my thirteen-year-old body... would the me from now be different from the me back then?"
"What is the purpose of these questions?"
"You asked who I am."
"I did, but you’re going in circles."
"...Incarnations."
"What?"
"Do you know the name progression of an Awakened?"
"I..."
"Do you at least know the first half?"
"Of course. Spark, Vestige, Core, then Aspect... or Awakened."
"Yeah, you got it. Those are the first four stages." She smiled faintly. "Awakened aren’t really that different from anomalies, are they?"
"Why are you bringing this up?"
"Because one doesn’t really become Awakened until they fully complete their trial, mobilize their core concept, and merge their physical self with their concept self, merging them at the bridge between the anomaly world and the physical world—that is, the spirit world. An Aspect comes out of that merger, leading to a higher order of meaning and existence, as now actualization is possible."
She paused, her expression more thoughtful.
"But then again, the semantic shadow, which comes from the concept self... is another self, isn’t it? It has its own dreams, wishes..."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"This girl, Baek Seri, is a child actress who ached for the screen, yet she was born to a mother who wanted to make her an idol. Her mother wished to live the dreams she had ruined with her own hands through her own child. That girl is herself, yet at the same time she was born from the yearning of the Constellation of Emergence, making her an incarnation of that yearning."
Her gaze drifted somewhere to the horizon.
"Souls are a funny thing. They hold meaning through their memories, desires, and concepts, yet they aren’t fully physical or fully conceptual."
"...Why all this?"
"We are at war, my dear." Her playful smile disappeared, replaced by a darkness that made even the air feel heavier. "I see you’ve gotten stronger... but not enough. You need to wake up."
Dan Woo felt a shiver run down his spine at the sudden seriousness in the woman before him.
"Incarnations are but the rays of the sun, born from an Aspect or an Authority."
Baek Seri—now Baek Hari—pressed her hand against Dan Woo’s chest.
A brilliant light engulfed her palm, and the familiar glowing book began to emerge.
She took hold of the book and opened it effortlessly flipping through its pages and reading the intelligible script perfectly understandable to her.
Yet Dan Woo couldn’t help but feel violated. It was as if every secret he possessed lay exposed before her, and he felt utterly powerless.
After a moment, the woman nodded to herself before gently closing the book and returning it to his chest.
"Good... good. You’re on the right track. Keep it up, and you will become one."
Then she turned and took Dan Woo’s hands.
"Do you remember when I told you I wanted to learn dancing for a role? You went out of your way to learn dancing yourself, just so you could be a good partner for me to practice with."
Dan Woo only looked at the woman before him blankly.
Before he knew it, she snapped her fingers.
Everyone disappeared.
The sounds of laughter and celebration faded into silence as the soft melody of a waltz began to fill the air.
Without another word, the two of them began to dance.
Dan Woo found himself swept into her dance like a puppet as a memory of Han Soo Hee surfaced, forcing him to dance in the same way. It was a strange feeling. His body followed every step flawlessly, yet his mind and heart were unwilling, filled with confusion and frustration.
Before he knew it, the music was over.
The world returned to normal.
"This is goodbye for now... but we’ll meet again."
The face of Baek Hari slowly faded, and Baek Seri’s face returned.
The next moment, she suddenly collapsed into Dan Woo’s arms.
The instant it happened, Dan Woo called out to the people around him as they rushed over to offer medical assistance. Soon enough, Evoque’s van was prepared, and Dan Woo headed to the hospital together with Evoque and their crew.
Doctors and nurses hurried to examine her, and after a couple of tests, they concluded that she was only suffering from low blood sugar. There were no other problems.
Seeing that she was fine and that nothing serious had happened, Dan Woo decided to leave the team to look after her. He still needed to pick up Cha Ha Rin.
He excused himself and walked out, his mind still reeling from everything that had just been revealed to him.
He couldn’t stop thinking about what an incarnation truly was.
Yet when he recalled how Baek Hari effortlessly occupied Baek Seri’s body, a question surfaced.
What if I myself am an incarnation of a constellation?
He remembered the way Baek Hari had inspected the glowing book connected to his core concept.
And what did she mean when she said I should wake up?
The more he replayed that strange conversation, the more he became convinced that he might truly be an incarnation of a constellation.
His thoughts drifted to his system.
What was its real purpose?
Sure, it forced him to act and rewarded him for doing so... but what if that was the point? What if it was slowly wearing him down through countless identities and characters, making him doubt his own sense of self before eventually taking over his body?
The thought sent a wave of fear crashing through him.
But...
He suddenly stopped in the middle of the hospital hallway.
What was the difference between the incarnations in his Acting System and the incarnations Baek Hari had been talking about?
The more he thought about their conversation, the more confused he became.
His head simply couldn’t wrap itself around the information Baek Hari had poured onto him.
Lost in thought, he walked straight into a woman.
"Watch where you’re—"
The woman shouted as she picked herself up.
"Sorry," Dan Woo said, reaching out to help her.
She ignored his hand, ready to scold him, before suddenly stopping when she saw his face.
"Are you Dan Woo?"
She asked abruptly.
Dan Woo looked at the woman in confusion.
Was she a fan?
He still didn’t know how to deal with fans as an actor, but before he could even get a word in—
"Don’t you dare hurt my best friend again, otherwise I’ll skin you alive. Keep it professional on set, otherwise..."
The woman shot him a murderous glare before rushing toward the room Dan Woo had just exited.
Dan Woo was left dumbfounded by the interaction.
He really did seem to have quite a history with Baek Seri.
He watched her disappear into the room, but as she ran, he felt a strange pull coming from her.
It was the same feeling he had experienced back at Hanseoung Academy when something had drawn him toward the rooftop.
Why?
He pushed the feeling aside and glanced at his watch.
It was already time to pick up Cha Ha Rin.
Everything else would have to wait.
He still had to take care of his newly acquired little sister.