There were no kingdoms here.
No armies.
No monsters.
No battlefield.
Only chairs.
And questions.
A reader raised a hand.
GAAFATAA pointed toward them.
"Ask."
The reader smiled.
"Who is the strongest character?"
GAAFATAA stared at them.
...
"Next question."
Laughter spread through the room.
The reader protested.
"Hey!"
"You asked."
"And I chose not to answer."
"Then what's the point of you?"
GAAFATAA raised his pen.
"Questions."
"Not spoilers."
...
Another reader raised a hand.
"Fine."
"When will we understand
what happened to Safsan
when he was born?"
GAAFATAA slowly lowered his pen.
...
The room became quiet.
...
"Interesting question."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
...
Someone from the back shouted:
"YOU KNOW THE ANSWER!"
GAAFATAA smiled.
"I know your question."
"Those are not
the same thing."
...
A few authors
sat among the readers.
One of them leaned forward.
"I have a question."
GAAFATAA:
"Go ahead."
The author looked around.
"Why hide so much?"
...
That question changed
the atmosphere.
GAAFATAA tilted his head.
"Explain."
...
"If the author already knows
where everything is going..."
"...why not tell the audience
more?"
...
Another author answered
before GAAFATAA could speak.
"Because information
and understanding
aren't the same thing."
A reader turned toward them.
"What do you mean?"
...
"You can show someone
the answer..."
"...before they know
what question
they should be asking."
...
GAAFATAA's pen stopped.
...
He liked that.
...
A reader frowned.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
"So you can literally
show us a spoiler
and we wouldn't know?"
GAAFATAA:
"Perhaps."
...
"That's evil."
"No."
A pause.
"That's funny."
...
The room laughed again.
Then—
"Gaafataa."
...
The laughter stopped.
GAAFATAA turned.
SEENEE stood at the entrance.
He wasn't smiling.
...
GAAFATAA:
"You interrupted my questions."
SEENEE:
"I know."
"Then this must be important."
...
SEENEE looked toward
the readers.
Then the authors.
Then back toward GAAFATAA.
...
"It is."
...
GAAFATAA noticed
the book beneath SEENEE's arm.
A Reality Book.
...
"What happened?"
SEENEE walked forward.
"I was looking at the future."
...
One of the readers whispered:
"Whose?"
SEENEE looked at them.
"Nafsan's."
...
Silence.
...
GAAFATAA's expression changed.
"What did you see?"
...
SEENEE placed
the Reality Book
on the table.
It opened.
Pages turned.
...
"I don't know."
GAAFATAA:
"You don't know what you saw?"
"No."
"I know what I saw."
"I don't know
why I saw it."
...
The pages stopped.
A universe appeared.
...
A city.
Different architecture.
Different people.
Different history.
...
Then a man.
Walking.
...
Nafsan.
...
A reader leaned closer.
"What is he doing there?"
SEENEE:
"I don't know."
...
The page changed.
Another universe.
Nafsan again.
...
Another.
Again.
Another.
Again.
Another.
Again.
...
Different worlds.
Different histories.
Different lives.
But one person
kept appearing.
...
Safsan.
...
Not the same Safsan.
Different versions.
Different lives.
Different circumstances.
...
One Safsan was older.
Another younger.
One wore the clothes
of a soldier.
Another looked like
he had never fought
a day in his life.
...
And Nafsan...
found them.
...
GAAFATAA stared
at the pages.
"What happens
when he finds them?"
...
SEENEE did not answer.
The page did.
...
A Safsan fell.
...
The page turned.
Another universe.
Another Safsan.
...
Dead.
...
Another.
...
Dead.
...
Another.
...
Dead.
...
Nobody in the room
was laughing anymore.
...
GAAFATAA:
"He's hunting them."
SEENEE:
"That's what it looks like."
...
"Why?"
"I don't know."
...
"Who sent him?"
"I don't know."
...
"How does he find them?"
"I don't know."
...
"When does this begin?"
"I don't know."
...
"Does Nafsan know
they are different versions
of the same person?"
...
SEENEE looked at him.
"I don't know."
...
GAAFATAA became quiet.
That many
I don't knows
from SEENEE...
was unusual.
...
One of the authors spoke.
"But you have
the Reality Book."
SEENEE looked toward them.
"A Reality Book
can show me history."
"It can show me
parts of what happened."
"Sometimes..."
"...parts of what may happen."
...
He looked down.
"But seeing an event
does not mean
I understand the story
that created it."
...
GAAFATAA:
"You can't see
Nafsan's entire story."
...
SEENEE:
"No."
...
That answer
sat heavily in the room.
...
"I see fragments."
"Moments."
"Results."
"Sometimes consequences
without causes."
...
"I can see Nafsan
walking through universes."
"I can see him
finding versions of Safsan."
"I can see
what happens afterward."
...
"But the road
that turns those moments
into a story..."
...
SEENEE shook his head.
"I cannot see all of it."
...
GAAFATAA looked
at the Reality Book.
"So we know
what Nafsan does..."
"...before we know
why he does it."
...
SEENEE:
"Yes."
...
A reader whispered:
"The answer
before the question."
...
GAAFATAA slowly looked
toward them.
...
Exactly.
...
Then the Reality Book
turned another page.
...
SEENEE froze.
"No."
...
GAAFATAA:
"What?"
SEENEE reached toward the book.
Too late.
The page had already opened.
...
There was no war.
...
No destroyed city.
No soldiers.
No monsters.
...
Flowers moved
in a warm afternoon wind.
People walked
through a peaceful town.
A small café
stood near a river.
Someone laughed
inside.
...
One reader blinked.
"What universe is this?"
...
SEENEE stared.
"A romance."
...
Silence.
Then someone laughed nervously.
"A romance universe?"
...
SEENEE didn't respond.
...
The page moved.
A young man
sat inside the café.
No armor.
No weapon.
No blood.
...
He was smiling.
Across from him
sat someone
whose face the book
did not clearly show.
They were talking.
...
The young man laughed.
...
GAAFATAA's expression
slowly changed.
...
He recognized him.
...
"Safsan."
...
SEENEE nodded.
...
This Safsan
was not standing
against an army.
He wasn't trying
to save a continent.
He wasn't fighting
for survival.
...
He was simply...
living.
...
The page showed
small pieces of his life.
Walking home.
Waiting beneath a tree.
Buying something
he had forgotten
he promised to bring.
A disagreement.
An apology.
A quiet conversation.
Another smile.
...
Ordinary things.
...
One of the readers whispered:
"He hasn't done anything."
...
SEENEE:
"I know."
...
"Is he dangerous?"
"I don't know."
...
"Does he even know
about the other Safsans?"
...
SEENEE watched him
laugh again.
"No indication
that he does."
...
The page changed.
...
The peaceful street.
Evening.
Safsan walking alone.
...
Then—
someone appeared
at the far end
of the road.
...
GAAFATAA stopped breathing
for a moment.
...
Nafsan.
...
"No."
A reader said it
before anyone else could.
...
The Safsan on the page
looked toward him.
Confused.
Not afraid yet.
Why would he be?
He had never seen
this man before.
...
Nafsan walked forward.
...
STEP.
...
Safsan remained still.
...
STEP.
...
The distance closed.
...
GAAFATAA:
"SEENEE."
...
"I know."
...
"Stop the book."
"I can't stop
something that already happened
by closing a page."
...
The reader from before
stood up.
"Why is Nafsan
going after him?"
...
SEENEE:
"I DON'T KNOW."
...
Silence.
...
It was the first time
he had raised his voice.
...
The page continued.
...
Safsan spoke.
The words
could not be heard.
Perhaps a question.
Perhaps:
Who are you?
Perhaps:
What do you want?
...
It didn't matter.
...
The page turned.
...
The café again.
...
One chair empty.
...
Flowers
beside a grave.
...
The person
whose face the book
had hidden
stood alone.
...
Nobody spoke.
...
GAAFATAA stared
at the page.
Then at SEENEE.
...
"Was that Safsan innocent?"
...
SEENEE answered carefully.
"From what I could see..."
"...he was simply living
his life."
...
"And Nafsan killed him."
...
"Yes."
...
"Why?"
...
SEENEE closed his eyes.
...
"I don't know."
...
SCRATCH.
...
GAAFATAA wrote the question.
WHY?
...
Then another.
WHY SAFSAN?
...
Another.
WHY EVERY VERSION?
...
Another.
HOW DOES HE FIND THEM?
...
Another.
WHEN DID THE HUNT BEGIN?
...
Another.
WHO IS NAFSAN REALLY?
...
The pen stopped.
...
One of the authors
looked toward GAAFATAA.
"You have a lot
of questions now."
...
GAAFATAA stared
at the Reality Book.
"No."
...
He looked toward
the grave
on the final page.
...
"We always had
the questions."
...
He closed the book.
...
"We just didn't know
which ones mattered yet."
...
SEENEE remained silent.
...
A reader finally asked:
"If Nafsan can enter
a romance story..."
"...does that mean
no Safsan is safe?"
...
SEENEE looked toward them.
...
He could have answered.
Perhaps.
Maybe.
I don't know.
...
Instead...
he looked at the closed book.
...
Because somewhere
across universes...
there were versions
of Safsan
who did not know
they were versions
of anyone.
...
Some were warriors.
Some were ordinary men.
Some may have been heroes.
Some may have been fathers.
Some may have lived
quiet lives.
Some may have fallen in love.
...
And somewhere...
Nafsan was walking.
...
GAAFATAA raised his pen
one last time.
SCRATCH.
...
He wrote:
NAFSAN
Then beneath it:
THE SAFSAN HUNTER
...
GAAFATAA stared
at the title.
...
"SEENEE."
"What?"
...
"If you don't know
why he hunts Safsan..."
"...how do you know
that's what he is?"
...
SEENEE looked at him.
Then at the Reality Book.
...
"I don't."
...
A pause.
...
"I only know
what I've seen."
...
GAAFATAA:
"And what have you seen?"
...
SEENEE answered:
"Safsan dies."
...
A page turned
inside the closed book.
By itself.
...
"And Nafsan..."
...
THUMP.
...
"...keeps walking."
...
SCRATCH.
SPECIAL CHAPTER
THE SAFSAN HUNTER
THE ANSWER APPEARED
BEFORE WE KNEW
THE QUESTION