Chapter 1054: Writing
"A monkey... learning human language." Ren She muttered slowly.
"That's right," Chen Junnan said. "This might take a very long time, but whether it's sixty years or seventy, at least we can see the finish line."
"That means the monkey has to regard itself as human," Ren She said. "This is a problem that needs to be solved from the subconscious level."
"Maybe it's already gotten past that step?" Chen Junnan said.
"Do you think..." Ren She stared at Chen Junnan, "that monkey is currently writing *Macbeth*?"
"I don't think so." Chen Junnan stared back at Ren She as he answered.
"What...?" The eyes beneath Ren She's mask moved, as if he was frowning. "The monkey has clearly already regarded itself as human. That means it has learned human language and knows what humans want, yet it hasn't written *Macbeth*?"
"That's right..." Chen Junnan said with a grave expression. "Through my contact with that monkey and the reactions of various 'humans,' I feel like the monkey isn't writing *Macbeth* at all. It's writing something else."
"You mean..."
"*Macbeth* is a path someone else has already walked. The Room Owner thinks that if the monkey can write *Macbeth*, it would be considered extraordinary. But what that monkey is actually composing is all the obsessions trapped in the room holding the monkeys—it's the suffering of infinite monkeys," Chen Junnan explained. "This is a masterpiece that only it could create."
Ren She stood frozen, silent for a long time.
He had made many assumptions before, and the boldest among them was that the monkey had already begun writing *Macbeth* on its own.
But he had never considered that the monkey was writing something else entirely.
Something that would astonish the Room Owner, something different from *Macbeth*.
So he seemed to want to escape, yet didn't want to escape?
He seemed to want to become a god, yet didn't want to become a god?
"Brother Snake, do you know what *Macbeth* is about?" Chen Junnan asked.
"Kid... do you actually know?" Ren She countered.
"Funny you should ask—your humble narrator here really does know," Chen Junnan said. "There was a time when I was really into watching plays, and I happened to catch *Macbeth*. In short, it's about Macbeth and his queen resorting to tyranny and indiscriminately killing innocents to hold onto the throne, becoming mad and brutal tyrants. But in the end, they are overthrown."
"Ah...?" Ren She only knew that this question was an allegory for the "Land of the End," but he never imagined that even *Macbeth* itself carried a specific meaning.
"So how could a normal person guide a group of monkeys to write a story about overthrowing a tyrant..." Chen Junnan said. "The suffering these monkeys endure is also tyranny. Once they truly learn human thought and language, the first ones to be doomed are humans."
Hearing this, Ren She slowly lowered his head and said in a low voice, "So he's already reached this level..."
The eerie thing about the "Land of the End" was that some stories hadn't even begun in some people's hearts, while in others' memories, they were already nearing their end.
Ren She let out a deep sigh and turned to look at Kim Won-hoon.
"...?"
Kim Won-hoon froze. "What is it, hyung?"
"Isn't this a Q&A?" Ren She said. "Where's your answer?"
If Ren She hadn't reminded him, Kim Won-hoon would have completely forgotten this was a Q&A session. He quickly furrowed his brow and said, "Ah! Hyung... about this question, I think..."
Three seconds later, he blinked and asked, "Hyung, what was the question again?"
"He's asking you how the monkey can escape," Chen Junnan said, shaking his head.
"Ah... right... hyung," Kim Won-hoon said. "I think... the monkey could kill the person, right?"
"...?"
Ren She and Chen Junnan were stunned again. Chen Junnan wanted to hiss but held back in the end.
He turned to look at Ren She, but this time, even Ren She didn't hiss.
"There are countless monkeys!" Kim Won-hoon said. "Just have them all attack that person together and kill him. Simple, no?"
"Uh..."
"You don't even need countless monkeys, right?" Kim Won-hoon continued. "Ten of them would be enough to kill one person, wouldn't it?"
Hearing this, Chen Junnan had a strange feeling.
Kim Won-hoon wasn't stupid. He only seemed dumb because of the language barrier.
Although his answer was completely absurd, Chen Junnan and Ren She had both been projecting the story onto the "Land of the End," never returning to the actual question itself.
The Room Owner of the "Land of the End" was a "god." Even if all mortals rose up together, even an infinite number of them, they might not be able to kill them with certainty.
But this question was simply about monkeys and a man.
A man locks up an infinite number of monkeys and forces them into meaningless, hard labor. Why don't they resist?
Perhaps Kim Won-hoon wasn't naturally dumb, or perhaps he simply hadn't overthought it as much as the other two. In his eyes, the method for the monkeys to escape was straightforward.
Kill the room's owner. It would only take a few minutes... no, maybe just one monkey initiating the attack, and the rest would swarm. Then they would be free.
Thinking about it carefully, this might have been what many cities had tried before. But they were ultimately destroyed.
They were destroyed precisely because they didn't overthink things—after all, their relationship with the rulers wasn't like monkeys and men, but ants and flames.
Even if this answer was proven wrong, it was correct within the context of this question. Chen Junnan and Ren She both understood this at the same time.
Ren She blinked and turned to look at Chen Junnan.
Chen Junnan paused, then quickly averted his gaze elsewhere.
Ren She shifted his body helplessly and looked directly into Chen Junnan's eyes.
Knowing he couldn't avoid it, Chen Junnan quickly put on a flattering smile. "Yo, what's up, Brother Snake?"
"The game is over," Ren She said. "Although you only answered one question correctly, chatting with you has been very rewarding. I've learned a lot of things I didn't know before..."
"Don't make excuses," Chen Junnan said. "Brother Snake, are you just giving the kid to him just like that? How am I supposed to explain this when I go back?"
"Just say I rigged the game," Ren She said. "I'll bully you right in front of this kid, even give you twenty slaps across the face."
"...?" Chen Junnan was confused. "What do you get out of that?"
"That way, Qi Xia will have no choice but to stand up for you, right?" Ren She said. "Then he'll come after me, and our deal will be officially over."
Chen Junnan sighed, nodded, and reached into his pocket. He made a fist and placed it in Kim Won-hoon's hand.
"Little Kim, I'm entrusting the kid to you."
With a dejected expression, Chen Junnan stood up and started walking toward the "door." But Kim Won-hoon grabbed his wrist.
"It's okay, Little Kim," Chen Junnan said. "No need to stop me. My mind is made up."
"Hyung, you only gave me a chain."
"Oh? Hah..." Chen Junnan laughed. "Can't fool you, huh... Alright, alright..."
Chen Junnan hesitated for a long time, then pulled the "bag" out of his pocket.
"Little Kim, I don't have much to give you. Here's this 'bag'."
Kim Won-hoon snatched the "word" from him. "Thanks, hyung."