Hell's Handbook

Chapter 294: Cracking The Meme

This time, the two men chose to walk toward the forest in the mist. But a journey that should have only taken them a few minutes to complete seemed to have no end in sight. It was as if the mist had extended the distance before them indefinitely.

But Su Jin wasn’t surprised by this. This meme couldn’t be cracked so easily, and the space within the meme’s boundary was a distorted dimension, so the direction they chose to walk in didn’t really matter. They were like an ant walking along a Mobius strip. They were never going to get off the strip.

“It’s here!” When the watch came to the ten minute mark, Kevin turned around as expected. He had that look of horror and Su Jin felt that incredible strength gripping his neck again.

Just like the last few times, it took 12 minutes and 37 seconds from the appearing of the mist until Su Jin’s vision was completely cut off. When he opened his eyes again, he was back at their resting spot.

He checked himself over and there was a glint in his eye. His guess was possibly correct, but he needed to do a few more experiments to confirm it.

“It’s only been an hour and we have to survive 72 hours on this island. What do we do with the rest of the time?” It didn’t take long for Kevin to repeat these words.

“Let’s find a way to gather more people first!” said Su Jin with a smile. Since the meme wanted to play, he was going to play along.

Kevin hesitated, then said to Su Jin, “If… it’s just the two of us, wouldn’t it be easier to get through this Challenge by finding a good place to hide ourselves?”

Su Jin looked at Kevin and shook his head. “That’s impossible. This island is filled with monsters, so it’s impossible for just two people to survive. Besides, did you think the Handbook would allow for such a loophole? If we stay in one place for too long, I’d argue that doing that is the most dangerous thing to do. Besides, my teammates need me, so I will not try to survive on my own.”

Kevin nodded after giving it some thought. He stretched his legs out, then nodded at Su Jin. “Give me a little while more. I should be able to move soon.”

Su Jin nodded, then asked to borrow Kevin’s watch again. Just like before, Kevin handed his watch over without question and the whole thing happened all over again as the two men walked into the mist. But compared to before, Su Jin was a lot calmer. He was certain that he could crack this meme.

“It’s coming.” Su Jin looked at the watch. The ghost came punctually at the ten minute mark and strangled Su Jin. But this time, Su Jin didn’t care how long it took. He was simply waiting to wake up again.

When he opened his eyes again, Su Jin took a deep breath. The first thing he did was to ask Kevin for the mechanical watch on his wrist.

“Mr. Su, how did you know I have a mechanical watch?” Kevin was rather surprised.

“Oh! I noticed it when I carried you just now,” Su Jin explained it away simply and took the watch from Kevin even as Kevin looked at him puzzledly.

“I knew it! So, this isn’t a replay at all. This is simply my imagination.” Su Jin had a gleam in his eye. He had figured this meme out now.

“Mr. Su, what are you talking about? I… I don’t understand.” Kevin looked completely confused.

Su Jin glanced at Kevin, then smiled calmly and said, “You don’t understand? Really? As a figment of my imagination, I’m sure you know what I’m thinking about.”

“A figment… of your imagination? Mr. Su, have you… gone mad? I’m Kevin, the team leader of Team Black-headed Gull. I’m not some imaginary person!” said Kevin sternly. He looked slightly upset now.

But Su Jin raised an eyebrow and said slowly, “Is that so? Then how do you explain this?”

Su Jin threw the watch to Kevin and Kevin caught it. He took a look at the watch and confirmed there was nothing wrong with it. “What’s wrong with the watch? It seems perfectly fine to me.”

“That’s exactly the problem. During the last round, I left a scratch on its surface. But after this round started, it… disappeared,” said Su Jin as he kept his eye on Kevin.

“The last round? Mr. Su, what in the world are you talking about? I don’t understand at all.” Kevin shook his head in frustration.

Su Jin nodded slightly. “Of course, if you’re not real, then it makes sense. All people and items that aren’t real will be reset when the next round begins, just like your watch.”

“Mr. Su, you keep saying that I’m a figment of your imagination. Don’t you think that’s a terrible thing to say? I know best whether I’m real or not and I don’t need you to decide on that!” Kevin became even angrier and forced himself to his feet. “I’m very grateful that you saved me, but I don’t think we should continue working together at this rate. If we meet again on this island, I will certainly find a way to repay your kindness.”

But Su Jin remained calm and steady as he said, “Why are you anxious? Even if you leave now, 12 minutes later… oh wait, no, you’re only left with ten minutes. Ten minutes later, we will meet each other again right here and you will not remember what happened earlier.”

Kevin frowned, then shook his head. “Mr. Su, I don’t know what happened, but… can’t you explain things to me?”

“You want an explanation? Very well. To put it simply, in your head, we’ve just escaped from the dangerous bees with human hands and come here to rest. But to me… both of us have died several times already. We’re trapped in a meme but you don’t seem to notice it at all.”

“Let’s not talk about whether what you’re saying is true or not for the time being. Let’s say I really don’t remember the things you mentioned. You’re so sure I’m not real?” asked Kevin.

Su Jin nodded without hesitation. “I wasn’t sure at first, of course. Until I conducted a small experiment.”

“Your experiment… you mean making a scratch on my watch?”

“That’s right. But before that, I already did an experiment on myself. Take a look at this.” Su Jin held part of his sleeve up. There was a hole torn into it.

“Every time we go through one round of this, I would tear this hole a little bigger. But every time we returned to this place, it didn’t return to its previous state. So, I used your watch to do the same test, and in the end… it was restored.” Su Jin kept his eyes on Kevin and went on, “But that isn’t really surprising. After all, I’m the only one who remembers what happened the last round, while you have no memory of it at all. So, my guess is that you never existed. You’re just an illusion from my memory, so whenever we start the next round, you get retrieved from my memory again and you are completely unhurt.”

Kevin fell silent for a while, then said, “Everything sounds logical, but… if I’m not real, then where’s the real Kevin?”

“The real Kevin? Ha! There is no real Kevin. Right from the start, I never met you. In fact, I might still be in the same place where I landed in the forest, or perhaps the forest itself is just my imagination.” Su Jin shook his head.

Kevin broke into a faint but frosty smile. He wasn’t angry anymore and seemed a little curious as he said, “Even if everything you’ve said is true, then… then why me? Out of the 36 owners, why did you end up imagining me of all people?”

Su Jin shrugged. “Simple. Among the 36 owners, besides my own teammates, I only know your name and the name of one more other owner. I’m too familiar with my own teammates, so if the meme uses them to create an illusion, I would eventually notice something amiss. Between the two owners that I know the names of, I know more about you.”

“Mr. Kevin, the team leader of Team Black-headed Gull, you were the most suitable candidate. You came with some information, but there was space for the meme to do what it wanted. It’s too bad… a fake is a fake. There were just too many loopholes.”

Kevin suddenly got up and started clapping. He didn’t have any expression on his face as he said calmly, “Not bad, not bad. You were able to notice all of this so quickly, so… there’s nothing more for me to say. You may leave now.”

Immediately after he said that, he turned into wisps of mist and disappeared. The scenery around Su Jin melted away like it was made from snow and revealed what it actually looked like.

.

“I was right.” Su Jin laughed sadly to himself. He hadn’t landed in some forest at all. He had landed next to a large gravestone. This was where he had landed right from the start, but the meme here had captured him at once and that was how all of this started.

Su Jin was glad that he got lucky. Just like what the clown had said, this was the Island of Mistakes. All the monsters and ghosts trapped here were flawed to a certain extent, and that was why he had been able to understand and crack this meme so quickly.

If it were a complete meme, Su Jin wasn’t sure if he could get past it so quickly. He might have been trapped in it forever.

He checked his surroundings and realized he was in an open area. Besides this large gravestone, there was absolutely nothing else in sight. But that made Su Jin breathe a sigh of relief. If a large number of dangers were gathered here, he would be in trouble.

He took a rest where he was and left after making sure he wasn’t there for too long. He had just resolved the meme and a new one wouldn’t appear for a while to come, but if he stuck around for too long, something else might happen.

Su Jin had asked other owners about their experiences before. Hell’s Bar itself was a place where everyone could exchange their experiences, plus Team Boning Knife had Wu Chen, a very experienced old timer. Based on what he had heard from many other owners, memes did not disappear completely after it had been resolved. After some time, most of them would reappear, so it was best not to stick around for too long even after resolving one.