Chapter 44: Runes and symbolism (II)
[Ding]
[Domain Expansion Available. Would you like to claim this domain?]
[Y/N]
The notification seemed to bring a splash of inspiration to his predicament. Maybe he couldn’t use Actualization outside his own Domain, seeing as Actualization was a very powerful technique. Yet he was confused as to how even the instance itself had happened. Was this due to the hint of divinity from the Sanctifier and Redeemer? He didn’t know. Still, he put the thought aside. It didn’t matter.
What mattered was that he had found his younger sister, Cha Ha Rin.
Cha Ha Rin had used the name Cha Hwa Rim for a while, both as her own name and as a fictional identity, so that same name had left an imprint upon her True Name. There was cause and effect linked to the said name, so if Dan Woo used the Concept of Symbolism to Actualize it, he could partially peek into the fate of Cha Ha Rin. It was a stretch, but if he did it well, he could quickly learn where his younger sister, Cha Ha Rin, was being held.
But he failed.
Dan Woo didn’t want to think too hard about it. He turned back to his system and quickly clicked Yes.
The moment he did, a wave of mist quickly engulfed the whole cabin.
Cha Hwa Rim could feel that familiar sensation of her senses expanding beyond her own body. She could feel far beyond what she had before. At first, she thought it would only encompass the cabin, or at least the train itself, yet it went far beyond that. She could feel a connection with the entirety of the transit line, her senses stretching outward for miles.
It was a level of bliss that couldn’t be explained.
But Cha Hwa Rim quickly reined it in. She had work to do.
[New Domain Acquired: Train Through the Seven Rings of Hell]
Dan Woo barely gave the words a second thought as he turned to perform the Actualization, following that same feeling and flow of Meaning. As he did so, the mist continued to emanate from him, connecting with every last passenger, making the visibility inside the train barely more than a haze.
Then, suddenly, every single person in the train felt drowsy as a great wave of sleep enveloped the area.
Was this the trial? they wondered.
Were they supposed to surrender to the mist?
Many of them quickly drifted to sleep.
Cha Hwa Rim was now in a deep state of meditation as she tried to weave together her Concept of Symbolism. With the Concept of Time, she had always possessed a sense of the path, but this was her own Concept. She needed to do it on her own.
She dug deep into herself until she finally came into contact with that abstract Concept of Meaning. The moment she touched it, a wave of knowledge flowed into her mind—deeper insights into her abilities, along with an instinctive understanding of how to wield the Concept itself.
She then turned to the identity of Cha Hwa Rim to draw upon the True Name of Cha Ha Rin.
Using the resonance of Meaning shared across the two names and their subjective significance, she sought out the link of cause and effect between them.
Through that connection, histories, identities, and Meaning collided.
Cha Hwa Rim nearly suffered another breakdown.
It was similar to what had happened in Hanseoung Academy when she had entered the land of Cha Hwa Rim’s memories, only this time Cha Ha Rin’s identity was also mixed into the collision.
Dan Woo struggled to maintain stability as erosion set in once again.
He faced another round of the same identity crisis, no longer certain who he truly was. The memories, emotions, and identities of three different people churned within him like relentless waves crashing against a wall, slowly wearing it away with every passing moment.
It was a barrage from all sides as he sank deeper and deeper. Only when he remembered his sister, his ex-wife, and all those who had been part of Dan Woo’s life, both in this world and the other, did his breaking identity seem to take form once again.
But at the same time, new fragmented memories began surfacing—ones that were not his, yet somehow felt like they were.
These were the memories of the younger Cha Hwa Rim and Cha Ha Rin, memories that Cha Hwa Rim had kept close to her heart. It was a habit born from their sisterhood.
Dan Woo could only glimpse fragments here and there—moments where the two sisters talked, laughed, and enjoyed each other’s company as they drew together.
Dan Woo couldn’t help but laugh as he reminisced, as though the memories truly belonged to him.
As a child, Cha Ha Rin didn’t like reading very much. She would throw tantrums about school and constantly complain about needing to read, count, and basically go to school at all. This continued for quite a while with no solution.
Cha Hwa Rim herself didn’t enjoy schoolwork either, so she didn’t know what to do.
Then she got an idea.
She began using comics to encourage her sister to read, looking for comics centered around school and studies while still being entertaining enough to stir her desire to attend school, all while simultaneously sharpening her reading skills.
The process was rather roundabout. She had to trick her sister into it by stoking her curiosity, reading comics herself before hiding them away like a game.
In some way, it invited Cha Ha Rin into the world of comics and inspired her desire to go to school.
Only...
It did far more than that.
She fell in love with the medium itself, even vowing to become a cartoonist in the future.
The only problem was that her drawing skills were horrendous.
Luckily, Cha Hwa Rim was an artistic soul who loved drawing herself and had even planned to become an artist one day.
So she decided to teach her younger sister how to draw.
And that was how their daily habit of drawing together after school began.
They had so many good memories.
Dan Woo couldn’t help but feel a wave of emotion that was not his own, yet felt oddly like his from its very depths. Even though the memories were fragmented, he truly felt as though he was both Dan Woo and Cha Hwa Rim.
That surge of memories only deepened his resolve to save Cha Ha Rin.
Dan Woo continued to delve deeper and deeper into that stream of Meaning until, finally, he thought he had found something he seemed to know intuitively.
...
Cha Hwa Rim now stood before what appeared to be some kind of exhibition.
She looked around to see countless pieces of art on display, but one immediately caught her eye.
It was a painting that seemed to be a portrait of Cha Ha Rin.
At first, Dan Woo was confused about what she was looking at.
Then Cha Hwa Rim felt that faint link between them through the True Name.
Somehow, the painting before her was connected to Cha Ha Rin.
The only way that should have been possible was if a very powerful Ascendant or Anomaly had created it.
Questions immediately began to churn through Cha Hwa Rim’s mind.
Who could it be?
But before she could understand what was happening, she felt her spirituality and Meaning being pulled through something, dragged into the unknown.
She tried to resist, but the suction force was far too powerful to stop.
Dan Woo could only brace himself for wherever he was about to be deposited.
Maybe...
The Anomaly or Ascendant had noticed him.