INFINITY

097

KIM DOKJA'S POINT OF VIEW

I remembered Han Myungoh boasting about a private yacht at his Maldives villa. He had said this: "The propeller cutting through the water was like a highway on the sea". Now I knew what that feeling was like. If Director Han's boat on the ocean was like the Gyeongbu Expressway then I was currently on the Autobahn.

"It is amazing," Yoo Sangah, Alyona, and I rode on the back of the queen and watched the ripples of Han River with fascination, Alyona was currently napping. As if testing her control, Shin Yoosung led the queen straight through the group of ichthyosaurs. Now Han River had become a safe zone and it was preferable to disembark near Yongsan-gu.

The ichthyosaurs swam after Queen Mirabad like ducklings following their mother. I closed my eyes and felt the cool air against my face. This was a genuine feeling, It was a luxury I wouldn't have enjoyed if the world had remained the same. Shin Yoosung kept mumbling on the queen's head to sync their spirits. 

Yoo Sangah watched Shin Yoosung and spoke with a complicated voice. "By the way, Dokja-ssi. If Yoosung becomes stronger now then won't her future self be stronger as well?" I thought she would ask something like this. "I don't think so," According to the original novel, the disaster that would come was the Shin Yoosung of the 'future of different regressions.' 

She was betrayed by Yoo Jonghyuk and abandoned outside the world, She lost her sense of time and wandered the universe. Then she became part of the scenarios due to the Star Stream's blessing and she became a 'disaster' of past scenarios. Yoo Sangah raised a question. "Then why will the future disaster be stopped if the current Yoosung dies? If the branch is completely different..."

"Have you heard of the Disconnected Film theory?" I can feel Alyona jostle a little, Oh-ho, would you look at that? She's awake all along. "...No." I watched the water and caressed Alyona's head gently. "Put simply, it is like this. Let's assume that the history of Yoosung from the first world is a film."

"Film... are you talking about the film for movies?" I nodded and continued. "Assuming that this world is film one, there must be countless films of the other worlds, right? There could be two films and there could also be 34 films."

"I see, Is that right?" She stared at me as I talked. "What happens when one of the films, with the front broken, sticks to the back of the first film? For example, what if the ripped 34th film sticks to the back of the first film? What do you think will happen if the film is played?" Yoo Sangah seemed troubled for a moment. 

"Then the movie would change along the way... ah, Wait a minute. The two stories will never affect each other?" I nodded with a subtle smile, "That's right." She looks down with a wistful face, "Ah... Yoosung is currently in such a situation. The present Yoosung is from the first film while the disaster Yoosung is from the 34th film. The two stories are completely independent and any changes in our world can't affect the disaster." 

Yoo Sangah was truly smart, "Still, the question remains. Shouldn't the disaster remain if the current Yoosung is killed?" Alyona sighed and sat, "The contents of the film don't affect each other but the two films are connected." Alyona said now fully facing Yoo Sangah, "Huh?" Yoo Sangah asked, still blurred by the question.

"What if the front of the film is set on fire?" Yoo Sangah shouted after realizing. "The rear film... will be on fire as well." Alyona nodded with a closed-eye smile, "The two world lines were connected. If the present Yoosung dies, the future Yoosung would also die. However, any changes to the present Yoosung wouldn't change the future Yoosung. That ambiguous paradox was at the heart of this disaster." Alyona added more.

"Dokja-ssi and Alyona-ssi really know a lot. I've heard of parallel cosmology but I've never heard such a theory before." I awkwardly nodded. Of course, she wouldn't know it. It was a theory that the author of Ways of Survival created. As far as I knew, the laws of Ways of Survival had never been ruined. "Well, I'm smart that's a given. Did you know that in my universe my dad and I figured out time travel?"