Seoul Cyberpunk Story-Chapter 99: Candy

A vast void made of shadow—floating in that darkness, like an island suspended in space, was a massive landmass.

Amber stepped forward cautiously, scanning her surroundings.

This place was a paradoxical space, through and through.

Though it looked like it was suspended in the middle of space, breathable air existed here, and even though one would expect it to be zero gravity, the moment she set foot on it, a solid gravitational pull acted on her.

The environment analysis system instantly displayed data on the AR interface hovering before her.

Oxygen 21%, nitrogen 78%, other gases 1%.

It matched Babel’s atmospheric composition with astonishing precision.

Amber carefully disengaged the seal on her helmet.

Cold air filled her lungs.

“...You really can breathe here.”

It felt both unfamiliar and strangely natural.

When she received that single message from A—“A land has appeared.”—and made her way here, Amber had been expecting something more like a small floating islet.

But the sight before her had completely blown her expectations away.

“You call this ‘a land has appeared’...?”

Muttering to herself in irritation, Amber slowly walked down the street.

It was a street in an environment wholly foreign to her.

Crude utility poles made of cement stood at regular intervals.

Above them, non-functioning power lines hung like spiderwebs, all tangled up.

The road was paved with old asphalt worn by time, cracked in several places.

Faded white paint marks hinted that traffic lanes had once been drawn there.

The streetlamps were even more intriguing.

They were old-fashioned lamps, the kind that had disappeared from Babel decades ago, still hanging from rusted posts.

Of course, the lights didn’t turn on—there was no electricity—but even so, their shapes alone were enough to evoke the past.

The houses came in various forms.

Two-story homes made of red brick.

Multi-family buildings finished in gray cement. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Country-style homes with small front yards.

They were textbook examples of Korean residential architecture from a hundred years ago.

“It feels like I’ve stepped into an AR museum about the Grand Fusion Era.”

Amber reached out and touched the wall of the nearest house.

The cold, rough texture of brick pressed against her fingertips.

Unlike holograms in a museum, these were made of real, physical materials.

As she moved between the buildings, Amber eventually tilted her gaze upward toward the sky.

From the shadowy sea overhead, massive forms swam lazily past.

A Mosasaurus drifting slowly in the distance.

A herd of Triceratops moving in unison.

It was, quite literally, a sea of swimming dinosaurs.

It felt like both a night sky and an aquarium—a strange, dreamlike scene.

Amber watched, utterly transfixed, before snapping herself out of it and beginning a systematic investigation.

She walked down the streets, checking each building one by one.

Though all the houses were empty, their interiors were in shockingly good condition.

As if time itself had stopped, they were frozen exactly as they had been a hundred years ago.

If Amber had been a historian, she’d probably be flipping through the air with joy.

She pulled out her datapad and began carefully documenting everything.

<Investigation Report – Newly Discovered Area>

<Location: Floating continent within shadow space>

<Estimated Area: Approx. 3 square kilometers>

<Environment: Earth-type atmospheric composition; gravity confirmed at 1G>

<Notable Features: City structures perfectly preserved; presumed part of Incheon, Korea, from 100 years ago>

<Lifeforms: Native vegetation confirmed; possibility of microbial life>

<Usability: Capable of housing large populations>

As she uploaded the report to the server, Amber let out a bitter smile.

“You could definitely relocate a ton of people here... but there’s no one to bring.”

Muttering to herself, she continued her exploration.

****

In a secluded corner of this fossilized Incheon—someplace no one was likely to stumble across—I had set up a small hideout.

It was the second floor of an old convenience store building. The place had been a dusty old storage room, but I cleaned it up and customized it to suit my tastes.

A camping fridge for storing pizza.

Comfy cushions.

And a space I could roll around in when I wanted to be left completely alone.

The perfect hideout.

Assigning the survey of fossilized Incheon to Amber had been the obvious move.

Measuring this and analyzing that—boring stuff like that didn’t interest me in the slightest.

So instead, I was using this new hunk of land to test out a new power.

A power born from a fusion of Circle Energy, shadows, and Jinlong’s tech.

I was testing the white shadow.

It had erased °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° that arrogant, red-beam-spewing, blue-eyed bastard in a single blow, so there was no doubt it was strong—but...

I still had no idea how it worked or how to control it.

I stepped into an open area and started picking up the rocks scattered around.

On my palm, the white shadow flickered like a living flame.

It wasn’t black like normal shadows—it was the complete opposite in color.

If black was a color that absorbed all things, this was pure white—a color that repelled everything.

Cautiously, I touched a small pebble with the white shadow.

And then, something shocking happened.

The pebble vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed to begin with.

It didn’t shatter. It didn’t crumble into powder.

It just... disappeared.

Completely. Thoroughly.

Was it always this fast?

Back when I erased the blue-eyed figure, there had definitely been a whitening process—a transformation phase—and it had taken some time before he fully disappeared.

But this small pebble had vanished in the blink of an eye.

Was it a size issue?

Curiosity piqued, I shifted my gaze to a bigger target.

A large boulder situated right in the middle of the open field.

A dozen or so kids were clambering all over it, playing.

This white shadow doesn’t seem to spread outward...

Thinking that, I placed my hand on the rock.

The moment the white shadow touched it, the massive boulder vanished like a mirage.

[Waaah!]

[Nooo!]

Naturally, the kids who’d been on top of it dropped straight to the ground.

Then, with perfectly calm expressions, they started scattering off to find another rock to climb on.

“...?”

That was... very strange.

Normally when I pulled a prank like that, the kids would get at least a little upset.

Tiny fists punching me.

Tiny palms slapping at me.

Not a single one of those reactions this time?

But now, the kids were acting like nothing had happened at all.

No—more precisely, it was like they didn’t even remember the rock had ever been there.

And at that moment, the pieces in my head started falling into place.

The blue-eyed figure I erased.

Rina Cortez, whom no one could remember.

It was just like the kids now—unable to register that the boulder had even existed after it vanished.

In that instant, I understood what had happened.

The blue-eyed figure and Rina Cortez were either the same person—or at the very least, shared some kind of deep, related connection.

If I framed it that way, Rina Cortez’s disappearance made sense.

I’d erased the blue-eyed figure.

And so, Rina Cortez was erased as well.

...

The white shadow was far more dangerous than I’d expected.

It could literally rewrite the world itself.

Suddenly, that grotesque caterpillar crawling around Dino Park came to mind.

That disgusting thing with its fuzz-covered body...

If I erased it with the white shadow, everyone—no, I—would finally be at peace.

But I didn’t do it.

It was Iris’s beloved pet, and she really took good care of it.

I looked around for one last test subject to wrap up the experiment.

Then I saw a kid toddling past, carrying a giant lollipop.

The candy was about as big as the kid’s own face, so they were holding it with both hands.

I picked the kid up.

The child tilted their head, as if wondering what was going on.

“What’s with the lollipop?”

[It’s candy that A gave me!]

When I asked, the kid giggled and replied cheerfully.

Did I ever give out something like that?

Thinking back, I vaguely remembered tossing candy around to the kids a few days ago.

For some reason, they had this habit of hoarding food I gave them, only eating it right before it went bad. This must’ve been one of those times.

Nodding in vague understanding, I reached out with the white shadow and lightly touched the lollipop for the experiment.

The candy vanished instantly.

[?]

The child stared blankly at their now-empty hands.

They had the look of someone who thought they’d been holding something but couldn’t quite remember what it was.

Tilting their head, they looked around in confusion.

It was a reaction I hadn’t seen even when erasing whole rocks.

And then—

Drip.

Suddenly, tears started falling.

With a face that said they didn’t even know why they were crying.

Ah, crap. Picked the wrong test subject. Should’ve erased the pizza that Angler hid...

I handed the kid a whole bunch of candy and ruffled their hair aggressively.

“Here, eat this. It’s good stuff.”

The kid still looked confused, but maybe because of the pile of candy now in their arms, they started giggling again like usual.

Whew. Good thing this one’s the dumb version of a kid...

Letting out a sigh of relief, I looked down at the smiling child.