Plotter's playful voice was accompanied by a dialogue box beside his animated character.
Rayen, intent on seriously going through the tutorial, paused for a moment and watched Plotter's character finish its waving animation. His finger slightly twitched before tapping the Next button at the bottom of the dialogue screen.
'This guy's everywhere...'
Rayen even wondered if Plotter would be on every electronics in this place.
'What was that guy, anyway? Was he even truly human?'
He rejected his thoughts immediately.
How could someone like that be human? That person had the ability to manipulate objects from afar, and he knew Rayen's entire life story!
What he should wonder was if that guy was even corporeal, including the people behind this ruse. So far, he hadn't met them out of screen. The dead people who were somewhat revived along with him were the only people he had encountered.
'Oh, wait... perhaps it's us that doesn't have a physical body, so we could only communicate with different means?'
Whoever was behind this bizarre situation had the powers to pull the dead in this place. And even the place itself was strange with the ability to distort space.
Adrian's shadow was nowhere to be found after he entered the waiting room. Although that guy had nothing to do with him, but Rayen couldn't help but be uneasy when he didn't see him inside. Something could have occurred in this strange place, and it might also happen to him.
Meanwhile, Plotter's animated character moved its hand to its chin, striking a "thinking" pose. A new line of dialogue quickly appeared along with Plotter's distorted voice sounding from the phone's speaker.
"You must be wondering why you're in this place, Participant Rayen."
Rayen felt like he was playing a role-playing game as he impatiently tapped the screen, cutting off the voice mid-sentence. The anime character quickly changed his pose into a more serious stance, facing Rayen directly. Its expression was now grave.
"So, are you aware that you've died?"
Annoyed by the repeated question, Rayen quickly selected the Yes option that appeared below the dialogue.
'I've already come to terms with my death, okay? Why do you have to rub it on me all over again?'
"I suppose my physical incarnation has already mentioned that. So, what else do you want to know? Don't worry, I will answer your every question."
A series of options appeared on the screen, making Rayen's heart jump in excitement. He waited until all the choices had finished forming, but his expression gradually changed into disappointment when he didn't see what he wanted to ask.
'Why was there no option to ask how I died? What about the people who don't remember their last moments? This is so unfair!'
After a brief moment of frustration, Rayen exhaled and calmed himself. He scrutinized the options he was given only to feel mad again. The original Plotter had already answered these questions back in the interview room!
[What the hell is this place? Was I kidnapped?]
Rayen only finally calmed down when he saw the last two questions he deemed worthy.
[What state am I currently in if I was already dead?]
[Project Idol:Revive]
He hurriedly tapped the second-to-last question.
'A good question, my ass. Just hurry and answer already!'
When Plotter's character suddenly disappeared from the screen instead of immediately answering his question, Rayen's brow raised in puzzlement. Moments later, a smaller version of Plotter reappeared at the back of the empty flower pot icon, dressed in a green gardener's uniform. A "Propagator 1.0" label was written on it.
Pointing towards the pot, the gardener mini Plotter said, "You are currently this. A seed."
Rayen's puzzlement became even more apparent when a frown was added to his already raised brow.
"Not exactly a seed, but just for a better imagery, someone made it like that. After all, souls are intangible, right? But you might be wondering who made it like that."
Rayen tapped onto the next dialogue despite not fully understanding it.
"The World Immortal believes that the human souls are flowers, so they turned out to become flowers."
World Immortal? That immortal just believed on something and it would literally turn out how he believed it? What kind of cheat power is that? And didn't Plotter just say that souls were seeds a second ago? How did it become flowers now?
"Hehe, you're probably thinking that I made a mistake, right?"
Annoyed by Plotter's poetic musings, Rayen tapped the screen again. This guy just wouldn't give him direct answers, physical incarnation or not!
"Human souls go through a cycle, just like how this world does. Most of the time in this cycle, a person's soul will be vibrant and full of life. But eventually, it would wilt and die, leaving nothing behind."
Then what about the seed?
"There would always be exceptions, of course!"
Can't he just say it directly?
Rayen wanted to smack him, but he remembered that this guy had supernatural abilities. That would be asking for trouble, right? He didn't want to turn out like the man with anger issues.
"There are two cases. One case is that some flowers would not wilt at all. These souls would bloom into a beautiful flower and live forever. How that happens is irrelevant to you right now, so I will not further explain it. The other case is that the flower would wilt, but they would leave a point of light behind. We call those things seeds. And that's what you are right now."
The mini Plotter, who was smaller than the image of the pot beside him, climbed inside of it. While acting as if he was taking care of the plant and soil, his voice echoed from the phone, a text bubble hovering above his head.
"Rayen, please grow up into a beautiful flower, okay?"
Unable to find the right words, Rayen remained silent and watched the mini Plotter finish catering to the plant. After feeling satisfied, the mini Plotter patted the soil inside the pot before jumping out of the pot, disappearing entirely out of the screen.
It reappeared at the bottom corner of the screen a few seconds later, no longer wearing a gardener's garb.
It further explained, "Although a seed is technically a soul too, it's just an incomplete one. In other words, you are not fully dead, but you're not alive either. You are just a speck of light, a seed. You were able to remain in this world, but you are no longer a part of its fate. I bet that explanation is sufficient already."
Rayen paused for a moment, trying to process every word that the Plotter on his phone screen had relayed to him.
Ten seconds later, he exhaled and tapped the Next button. The previous list of choices reappeared, but the one he had chosen was now grayed out.
Rayen selected the next question that had caught most of his attention.
[Project Idol:Revive]
"Oh, you're curious about that? Okay, I will explain, then."
Mechanically tapping the screen to proceed on the next dialogue, his mind fell into deep thinking.
"So, as Participant Rayen has already died... we developed a project to revive you!"
The sudden sound of congratulatory jingle snapped Rayen back to attention. Confetti exploded across the screen.